October 29, 2025 • 44 mins
A man sits on a curb after three nights in the woods, ready to surrender. Then a familiar face appears and everything changes. That’s the spark that propels Rusty Nosser, “The Walking Man,” from rock bottom to a life driven by purpose, faith, and relentless motion.
We talk through the moments that shaped him: the hunting accident at 23 that left him blind in one eye, the bleeding ulcer that nearly ended his life, and a years-long family estate battle that taught him to let go of vengeance and hold tight to discipline. Rusty shares the blunt question from his mother — "Are you going to beat this or is it going to beat you?" — that became his daily compass. He breaks down how power-walking became his craft and calling, touching on his experience training the mind to “tolerate the hurt” when the bear jumps on your back in a marathon.
From the Oxford, Mississippi town square to races in Dallas and Eugene, from local headlines to USA Today, from a self-written book to a feature film in development, Rusty’s journey shows how consistent action and a clear mantra can rewrite a life. He’s logged more than 76,000 miles — three trips around the Earth at the equator — waving to drivers, pointing back in thanks, and reminding us that progress is built one step at a time.
If you need a blueprint for resilience, you’ll find it here: faith in a higher power, three achievable tasks a day, strong boundaries with compassion, and a body cared for like the only home you have.
For more on Rusty: https://rustythewalkingman.com/
Out Of The Blue:
For more: outoftheblue-thepodcast.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:22):
Welcome to Out of the Blue the Podcast, a platform
dedicated to celebratinginspirational stories of
resilience, transformation, andthose life-changing moments that
truly come out of the blue.
I'm your host, Renan West,joined today by my amazing
daughter and co-host JackieWest, our marketing manager, a
professional musician, and RickyHiller.
(00:45):
Today's guest is someone whosestory embodies perseverance and
purpose.
Rusty Nasser, known by many asthe walking man, has faced more
challenges than most.
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi,Rusty grew up an athlete and an
outdoorsman and went on to studyat Ole Miss, where he graduated
with a degree in integratedmarketing.
(01:06):
Life seemed steady until aseries of hardships, including
two near-death experiences and adifficult divorce, forced him to
confront life at its toughest.
But Rusty didn't stop there.
Instead, he turned to a passionthat became his calling, a
competitive speedwalker.
He has since earned multipletitles, founded Global
(01:29):
Productions, and has a walkingman a parallel line, and
continues to inspire hiscommunity by showing up each day
in neon gear, dancing throughthe streets of Oxford.
His motto is simple, butpowerful.
You do not give up.
Rusty's journey is captured inhis book Walk of Life From Death
(01:51):
to Glory, which is now beingadapted into a feature film
starring Athlete and performerBrooke Logan.
His story has been spotlightedon Prime 7 media with esteemed
host Logan Crawford, and hislife continues to be a testament
to the power of resilience,faith, and forward motion.
(02:11):
So join us as we walk alongRusty through trials, triumphs,
and the unstoppable spirit of aman who refuses to quit.
Rusty, welcome to Out of theBlue the podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
Thank you, uh Vernon, very much so.
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_03 (02:28):
Oh, you're welcome.
So glad to have you here, Rusty.
So let's you, I know you I I Ireally don't think I mean
Jackie, we'll we'll we'll we'lladd the odd question here and
there, but boy, I think you'vegot a lot to tell us.
So let's start at the beginning.
Remember, we said the out of theblue event to say that really,
if you wouldn't be here today ifit didn't happen, what's where
did it all begin?
SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
I would say toward in the middle of of what people
tell me it was a journey, uh itwasn't it maybe the lowest part
is when you are out there byyourself.
People will learn this, that Iwas on, I was on, I was in a
town, not in my hometown.
I was left there.
I was by myself for three orfour days.
(03:10):
I actually slept in the woods uhtrying to figure out what to do.
I would get up and go to anindoor, outdoor mall.
They had shops on the outside,and you could go inside, they
had shops on the inside.
The man walked in that was frommy hometown that I had not seen
(03:34):
in 40 years, and we embraced andtalked.
I knew who he was.
He went to school with my olderbrother, and we visited for
about 20 minutes, and he finallysaid, Well, let me take care of
my business, and if you're herewhen I come back, we'll visit.
And you know, I had to leave.
I said, That's fine.
(03:54):
And I was at that point that Iwas ready, almost ready to
capitulate because I was tired.
I really was tired.
He came back by.
We talked a little and we saidgoodbye.
He walked out to the curb andgot into his car.
He turned around and went out tothe street to leave, and he got
to the end of the parking lot.
(04:14):
He stopped the car.
I saw him stop.
He turned around and he cameback to the curb where I was
sitting at.
I went out and said, you know,Johnny, you okay?
You know, what's wrong?
He said, What are you doinghere?
And I really didn't want to talkabout it.
I said, No, Johnny, I want hesaid, No, what are you doing
(04:35):
here?
So I told him a little bitbecause he knew all the family
and he knew all this stuff.
He said, No, you come get in thecar.
He said, get in the car.
And I wouldn't get in the car.
He said, You have always beenone of the good guys.
He said, You get in the car.
I got in this car, he took me toa hotel, he put me in the hotel
and gave me$300.
(04:56):
And from that moment on,everything else, as you look
back, went up, up, up, up, up.
So that person, and I wrote thisin the book, that person was my
guardian angel.
That was my guardian angel that,and people have told me,
somebody sent this person downto you.
(05:18):
After all these years, I kind offigured out that it was my
mother because of something elsethat happened.
But from that point on,everything flipped around and
went north, not south.
And I would have to I would haveto point to that.
That was my guardian angel rightthere.
SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
What was the what put you out there on the road
that night?
Was there something going on inyour life?
Did you have was it a divorcething?
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
Or my family, uh, when my parents died, they had
the same will.
And it was just a matter of whodied last.
And I was finding out somestuff, and they they got me,
they took me over there to ahospital of which they released
(06:04):
me.
They did not come get me, andthey they left me out there.
I didn't have a lot of money.
You know, you understand?
I was in hospital for two days.
Uh, I had a laptop computer,believe me, of all things.
And I would I would go downthere to this mall and get on
the laptop during the day,figuring out what I needed to
do.
(06:24):
Luckily, I grew up as a BoyScout.
I hunted and fished all my life.
I took going into the woods,which I understand is not
normal, as a camping trip.
We used to camp.
So that's how I perseveredthrough all that.
And it it passed.
It was, it got to be okay, youknow.
(06:45):
But you you think about beingsafe, you're you're in you're in
survival mode, okay?
So you're looking at a place onthe side of the interstate that
you can see the interstate.
There were woods all behind you.
I knew nobody was gonna comethrough those woods like that,
and that's why I stayed forthree nights.
Wow.
But I made it.
SPEAKER_03 (07:04):
And that's when the gentleman came and saw you at
the after three nights.
SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (07:09):
It's like almost like um, like you say, you you
think it was after years you'vethought about it, you think it
was your mother that sent thisgentleman to you.
I understand that feeling, youknow.
You when you are on your own andum things seem down and
hopeless, even, and thensomething comes you you have to
think that someone out therewhat's out there in the blue,
(07:31):
when we say out of the blue, wetalk about what's out there.
Like maybe that is our mother,and maybe that is people that it
is.
SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
There were people in my whole journey, and there are
there are so many twists andturns on all this, but there
were more people that helped meon the outside than my family
never did on the inside.
And that's why I don't talk tothem to this day.
And and when we finally, wefinally went to had to go to
(08:01):
court about all this, it tookthem 17 years to close a family
estate.
Nobody believes that.
The national media does notbelieve that.
They told me it was somethingworse than that.
I always tell people, I said,well, look, who persevered?
Who persevered?
It was me, not them.
(08:21):
I guess jealousy and greed tookthem down, and I preach that to
this to this day.
Jealousy and greed will take youdown.
SPEAKER_03 (08:30):
I 110% agreed.
My own life experiences wouldback that up a million percent.
I've seen it happen in my life,and I'm sure other people have
it well, people that arelistening right now.
So it's like in the Bible, itsays, I don't like quote quote,
but I can do another Bible show,but vengeance is mind set the
(08:52):
Lord.
I've read that in the Bible.
That's right.
And it's so true that you justgotta let go.
That's another saying I love letgo and let go on.
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
I would go it at one point, I would go up here
occasionally and and and isn'tgetting it off your chest.
I would go talk to my preacherin the church I belong to.
He told me two quotes that Ithat I listened to.
He said, number one, don'tbecome vengeful because all it's
gonna do is destroy you.
(09:22):
And he also told me, he said,Rusty, you're walking through
hell.
He said, You know what helllooks like.
He said, Why do you want to stopin hell?
He said, just keep walking,you'll walk out the other side.
Yeah, you had to to go throughall that stuff.
People uh to this day, theyalways tell me, we don't know
(09:43):
how you survive that.
We don't know how you made itthrough that.
I said, it was probably with thegrace of God because you know
it's one, two, three times thatyou've almost died.
I said, somebody's looking overyou.
And I've heard that a thousandtimes in my life.
Somebody heard it yesterday.
Somebody says, God got a planfor you.
(10:04):
I said, thank you.
I said, but I've heard thisbefore and I appreciate that.
But so it must be the first,it's the first thing that people
say when they when they find outwhat happened, you know.
Uh you're out there, you're 23years old, um, you're on top of
the world, you don't have a youdon't have an issue or problem
(10:25):
in the world.
You go duck hunting.
Me and my first cousin, we weretight, we got a big family and
cousins and so forth.
And we we paddled into a floodedbean field that was on a my my
parents and my uncle's goodfriend, big farm on the
Mississippi River, coal, and andthe the ducks that were falling
(10:52):
down were what you couldn't havemade a movie any better than
what we saw that morning.
We were excited, shooting out ofthe boat, shoot, shoot.
Finally, we decided to get outof the boat.
And I told him I was gonna walkup the tree line and get on up
there some ways and keep theducks flying back and forth.
I walked away, excited to shootit.
(11:12):
We turned, he turned, the ducksfell in, and he shot me at about
40 feet and knocked me off myfeet.
Of course, most people know thatI'm blind in my right eye
because of this, and uh, but Ilived through it.
And that's what I always tellhow quickly your life changes
around.
What you're in that situation,what do you do?
(11:35):
You know, it's it's it'spandemonium, your adrenaline is
flowing, and my poor cousin whohas now passed away, he froze.
He he couldn't move, he didn'tsay a word.
And how do you get out of there?
He he freezes.
I'm shot.
(11:56):
I had to put him in the boat andpaddle out to get some way we're
gonna get out.
And but your but your lifechanges like that, you know.
Absolutely it it does somethingto you, you know.
And I had numerous surgeries andso forth, and it never it never
worked out, but we tried.
Me and my parents went all overthe country.
We went to Boston, went toMiami, Florida, UCLA Medical
(12:20):
Center, Houston, Texas.
Didn't work, but we tried.
And that's what I was gettingback to.
What when it was all said anddone, what my mother said to me
when we got home, and that wasafter almost two years of
wishing and hoping, she was shewas a retired nurse and a
surgical nurse on top of that.
(12:41):
And she was tough like this.
She let you have your pity partyfor about 10 minutes, and then
she sat on the bed and she said,What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna beat this or is itgonna beat you?
And that became my riley cry forthe rest of my life.
I listen, I think about thisevery single day.
SPEAKER_00 (12:59):
I love that she asked you, like she gave you the
option.
I feel like that puts you insuch a position of um
self-empowerment, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
Well, my parents were good about making you uh
think, and that actually becamemy rally cry.
And I have taken it with me forfor up to my life until today.
SPEAKER_03 (13:25):
That is something anybody out there listening, you
can have that's a that'ssomething we all can use.
You know, I love that statement.
I mean, that really comes up.
I I come up across lots of timesthings that I'm ready to, you
know.
I've heard someone say, Don'tquit before the miracle happens,
you know, because that's right,it might be one second away and
you're gonna quit.
SPEAKER_01 (13:45):
I use the analogy of there's a story I listened to
one time called the 51st door.
They said you can go knock on 50doors, and nobody they shut the
door in your face, and you'reabout to ready to give up.
But that 51st door, somebodyopens it and lets you come in.
And things can change like that,you know.
(14:07):
Uh, but this the second time is,you know, is is when I was I had
a bleeding ulcer.
Now, I did not know, I I did nothave any pain at all.
At that time I was married, myex was out of town.
I had gone to watch an old missfootball game with friends, and
I can't, I drove home.
(14:28):
I couldn't, I couldn't, Icouldn't barely make it.
I can't, I had to put my headback on the rest, crawled in the
house, crawled on my knees inthe house, and I had dogs in.
And my dogs were Australianshepherds and they're smart.
And they came in, and the thedaddy doll was licking me on the
face, licking me over the face.
Finally, I got up and got in thebed, and I went to lay down.
(14:49):
I felt decent, went to sleep,woke up about seven o'clock the
next morning, and I couldn'tmove.
I could not move.
All I could do is reach for thephone, and I called my parents.
At that time, I lived on thelake.
They lived 25 minutes away, andI said, Something's wrong, come
get me.
(15:10):
I can't move, and they did.
And when I got, they took me tothe emergency room.
When I got there, they threw twopints of blood on me in a
heartbeat.
I mean, it was quick.
And they got me settled, theyput me in the room, they had
thrown me an ICU, they gave mesome more blood, they gave me
staph infection on top of that.
And people asked me on the TVinterview not too long ago, did
(15:36):
you see the light?
I said, Well, yeah, I did see alight.
You know, uh, I I don't tellpeople all this often enough.
Uh, I actually saw what Ibelieve to be Jesus.
People might think you're crazy,but you when you lived it and
you go through that, and it wasit was like, it's not your time.
You got to go back, you gotta goback.
(15:56):
And I woke up as I'm leaving sixweeks later.
I knew all the doctors there atthe time.
One of them said, I didn't wantto tell you this when you were
in the hospital, but sinceyou're leaving, that Sunday
morning, he said, if you'd havelaid that bed, you'd have been
dead by noon.
(16:17):
You were gone.
He said, You should have beengone now.
I had a hemoglobin of four,which is practically dead.
SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
Oh my god, that's low.
SPEAKER_01 (16:26):
That's low.
That's what I had.
And so that's when peoplestarted saying, you know, you
got you got something else goingon here.
I've even said it, you know, youescape death once, you can chalk
it up to luck, you got deathtwice.
Something else is going on here.
SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
What do you think that is?
Was it something inspiring youto you think it was something
from out of the blue, somethingfrom Ohio Paul, something from
Jesus?
Yes, I do.
Telling you you have a purpose.
SPEAKER_01 (16:59):
I did not believe that at first, but then when you
look back in my story, and thishappened, this happened, this
happened, this happened, and itkept going.
When you thought that the end ofthe road or you got into a tough
spot and you didn't know reallywhat to do, something happened
that opened the door.
And now that I look back afterall these years, yeah, there's
(17:23):
definitely a higher power.
Because I don't think you canchalk that up to luck when it
kept happening, happening,happening, happening.
I believe it to this day, is itwas my mother.
That's what I believe.
But it took me years to figurethat out.
I didn't do that overnight, youknow.
It took me years to do that.
SPEAKER_03 (17:44):
But the purpose now, that's where we go into your
your your journey now.
That's we take us well, wherewhen you started becoming the
walking man when that, how oldwere how old were you when that
began?
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Well, it got me back.
Now I grew up an athlete.
I played football, basketball,baseball, I ran track, I played
tennis, swam, I did all thisstuff.
My former brother-in-law of myex-wife's side, they used to do
a lot of walking around thecountry.
He said, You ought to try this.
(18:18):
Now, what a lot of people callit speed walking.
There's a there's twodifferences.
There's speed walking andthere's power walking.
What I actually do in the mediagot it wrong years ago, is power
walk, which is like that, but alittle bit different technique.
I started doing this.
I end up, you know, I was I wasin North Carolina racing, I was
(18:39):
in Boston racing, I was in NewYork racing, uh, I got sponsored
a little bit in Nashville,Dallas, Texas, Los Angeles,
Eugene, Oregon, and thenewspaper here, I would train
around this town every morning.
Every single Monday throughSaturday, I would walk around
(19:03):
the town square.
The town is a square, it's gotthe courthouse in the middle,
and I walk all around there.
And they found me on Facebookand they wanted to do an
interview, and I wouldn't do itbecause back then I wouldn't
talk about the story.
And my friends got a hold of it.
Go up and tell this story.
I finally agreed to go up thereand I told the story.
(19:24):
Now I knew they would put it inthe newspaper.
I didn't know they were gonnapop it on the front page.
I really did not know that.
That's where I lost control ofthe story that it went kind of
bowel.
Then came the state newspaper onthe sports section.
Then came the USA Today.
They did a video also.
Their video is still on theinternet.
Producers came and we did, wedid four documentaries in
(19:48):
Dallas, Texas, is where the ESPNcame and talked to me.
And he said, You need to writethe you need to write the story.
And I said, I'm not author.
I'm an athlete.
I don't I don't know anythingabout it.
And we kind of we talked, but weparted ways.
But when they popped this aboutthe in the local newspaper here,
they got a hold of it and theysaid, We told you to write the
(20:12):
story.
So I agreed to write the story.
And lo and behold, at the end ofit, the people from California
called me, and I still think tothis day it's ESPN, and they
wanted to come talk to me aboutmy story.
I said, You can come down here.
I'll meet you in Memphis.
I'm not gonna let you come hereyet.
(20:32):
I met him in Memphis and theywanted to buy my rights and I
wouldn't sell my rights.
I wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't do that.
I got a hold of the professorhere at Ole Miss in the theater
department, way up top.
He said, Come over here, I'lltalk to you about it.
And he helped, he said, I'llI'll help you.
And I wrote this thing.
My own words, pretty much my ownwords.
(20:55):
And they it is right there.
I got the whole thing rightthere.
That's that's probably uh closeto a two-hour movie, but it's
there's a lot of things in thein the racing, and a lot of
things that happen along thatway that's gonna make it uh
jaw-dropping because peoplewon't believe all of it, you
(21:16):
know.
SPEAKER_03 (21:16):
Tell us a couple of those jaw-dropping moments.
I'm all curious.
SPEAKER_01 (21:20):
Going through the going through the well, one of
them had to be Eugene, Oregon.
I was up there.
It's 40 degrees and it's mistyrain.
You know how it does in thenorthwest up there.
And uh that was probably themost miserable race there is.
Now, you understand that amarathon is 26.2 miles and
you're out there for almost sixhours.
SPEAKER_03 (21:40):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
Dallas, Dallas was the one where there was a guy
named, and he's in the bookcalled Sato.
Sato was a champ, and that's whyESPN came and talked to me
because I upset Sato.
Those moments like that you willnever forget in life.
And it's it was like after allthat had happened, all the good
(22:02):
stuff was coming behind it, see.
I go out there every morning,still, I put in five or six
miles every morning, and peopletoot the horn, they still toot
the horn.
That was a focal point of thewhole town, was people would
toot the horn and wave, and Iwould always point at them.
And I I did it in the newspaperwhen they did the article.
I said, I didn't want them toget the wrong idea.
(22:24):
I said, that is my way ofrecognizing you.
So they would toot the point,and I would point at them, and
that's gonna be shown in themovie too.
You know, that's what I did.
You know, it it's it's it's it'sbeen a hell of a journey.
Uh I didn't ask for it, but youknow, when it came and happened,
you you know, you you got toopen the door, you know.
(22:44):
You know, and I always say thiswhen you do a marathon, it's you
against you.
And you it all boils down toyour mental toughness because
that's you know, no matter whoyou are and how well you are,
the bear is gonna come jump onyour back.
And you have to be ready for it.
(23:07):
You have to be in the rightmindset to push through that uh
to get to the end.
SPEAKER_03 (23:12):
That's that must be something that anyone that does
cross-country long-distancerunning must deal with that.
SPEAKER_01 (23:18):
Sure.
I don't care who you are, it'sgonna hit you, and that's where
your mental condition comes in.
You have to be strong-minded.
A marathon is gonna hurt.
You train yourself to toleratethe hurt.
That's what you do.
You train yourself to toleratethis hurt.
They asked me not too long ago,was I gonna race again?
(23:38):
I said, guys, I've you know, 10years of doing professional
marathons and training likethat, because it takes a lot out
of your day.
Oh, yeah.
All I did was eat, sleep, andtrain.
You know, you get to a point youmaybe gotta have Yeah, you know
what the training is.
I mean, you're training thatyou're training three or four
hours every morning, and it's Itell people it is not about just
(24:02):
the training, it is about whatyou eat.
SPEAKER_00 (24:04):
I just wanted to say that something that I thought
about when you were talkingabout being ready for the the
bear to jump on your back, um,kind of at all times.
Um I went back to a race that Idid um a 5k in high school.
(24:25):
And um I remember my coachsaying, You might be nervous
right now because you haven'tstarted physically running yet.
But the race doesn't start rightnow necessarily.
You are the way that you areright now is the way that you
(24:50):
are while you're running, is theway that you are when you're
done with the race.
So just be in everything thatyou've been working on in
yourself now and when the racestarts and through it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:04):
I'm I'm the kind of person now.
I know you don't know this.
I am I am five foot eleven, Iweigh about 192 pounds this
morning.
I keep in shape.
And when you when you I can I'mthe I'm the guy that goes from
here to here real quick.
(25:25):
I have a mindset.
I I that's how I think.
I go from here to there realquick, and I can do the same
thing out there.
I can I change my pace, I canchange, I can walk on the heels
of my feet first, or I can comedown on the balls of my feet
first.
Then I throw them off.
I say, look, I can actuallychange the way I walk and rest a
certain group of muscles.
(25:46):
I learned that over the years.
Uh your muscles get tired andyou change the way you do it.
I can walk with my legs, or Ican walk actually with my hips
and leave my legs, you know, doit.
I've always been veryquick-footed, very quick-footed.
I'm still pretty quick today.
You know, I work on it everyday.
I believe now that if I everstop, it's over with, it's done,
(26:08):
I'm done.
They, you know, they said ESPNsaid I had a God give me talent.
I never thought about that.
I never, you know, it's what Idid every day.
You know, it's just my naturalDNA.
So I don't think about it.
I just like I told them, look, Ijust do what I do because I can
(26:28):
do what I do.
And that's to them, you know,they see it different to me.
I never thought about it likethat.
I never did, you know, I neverdid.
SPEAKER_03 (26:37):
So well, I think, Busty, this is such an amazing
thing to hear about this, howyou always choose to get
stronger.
And um, that's been like, and Ilove your your powerful motto,
which is you do not give up.
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
I think that's don't never give up in life.
Never give up, never give up.
And you know, it there could be,you know, other things that
happened and so forth, but uhwhen I hit that mindset, you
know, that I'm gonna make it andthings were happening good, then
you I've I was feeding myself.
(27:16):
If if I if something didn't workout quite right, I'm gonna make
it work out, I'm gonna find away to make it work out.
You know, that's how youpersevere in life.
Uh you know, success does notdrive up in your driveway.
You have to go out there to it.
And that's just my motto.
I mean, just go get in life whatyou want.
(27:38):
You know, you you don't justbecause too many young folks get
out there and it's something canbe hard, they just give up.
They just give up.
No, you don't you don't do that,you know.
You gotta go get it.
You gotta go get it.
You gotta go get it.
SPEAKER_00 (27:51):
And also, like when you when you've chosen something
to remind yourself that youchose this, you're choosing
this.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
I choose it.
I do.
SPEAKER_00 (28:01):
Yeah.
So that card, like you canwrite, I choose I choose this.
And like if you forget, you canjust look at the card, like, oh,
I choose this.
SPEAKER_01 (28:10):
I choose this.
That's exactly right.
Uh I I do not having come from,no, we grew up in a in a big
family, you know.
Well, parents taught us well,and whatever the hell, because I
didn't live down, you know, withthem in this latter part when
all this mess happened.
I didn't always look back.
(28:31):
What in the hell happened tothem after my parents left?
I do not know.
They've always told me that yourparents are turning over in
their grave.
I said, Well, they probably are,because if my mom and daddy were
still living, they would neverhave let this go on.
Never, it wouldn't happen.
I could tell you they were thatkind of people.
You know, we always were closenicked family.
(28:52):
But having said that, you getyou get into the winning
attitude, and you're going thisway, and that's what you're
gonna do.
You know, if somebody don't wantto do it, fine, you have a nice
life.
I'm going this way.
You know, I've already been thatway.
And I try to teach peoplewithout being a teacher, you
(29:15):
know, take the extra step.
Go the extra mile, it's nevercrowded, you know.
And if you if you if you get tothe if you're gonna get to the
top, sometimes the top can belonely, but it's peaceful, you
know.
So I'm a happy person.
Yeah, I'm a happy person, andand I treat everybody good and I
(29:39):
do what I need to do, and I usemy head about what I'm doing out
here.
That's not always easy aboutwhat you gotta do, but I
persevere.
You know, I'll I'll figure a wayout.
That's why they call meMacGyver.
Yeah, I'll figure the way out.
SPEAKER_03 (29:54):
God bless you.
God bless you, Russell.
This is good stuff.
I think we've when we're talkingabout the Audience that we play
to with Art of the Blue,everybody's, you know, we want
to figure out what is it aboutwhat's out there.
And I think your life shows thatwhatever is out there, you've
you've identified in your heartand mind as to be your mother,
(30:15):
and you've identified as youhave higher power.
And it's it's like that is aloneuh isn't enough.
You have to be able to act onthese things.
You can't just like a lot ofpeople will um a major uh issue
people have sometimes I think isthey think they're gonna
manifest it by sitting andthinking and manifesting, but
(30:37):
you have to get out there and doit.
It's like if you if you if youdon't get out there and do it,
even if it's just a little bitevery day towards that goal, I
think you're gonna see somethinghappen.
They will get to the top.
Like, I think I love what yousaid about that extra mile
because it's not gonna becrowded.
Think of that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:55):
It's not there.
That's right, it's not there.
SPEAKER_03 (30:57):
You know, not a lot of people take going the extra
mile, that's why it's notcrowded.
SPEAKER_01 (31:01):
That's right.
But you know, and I I always tryto tell people everything I did
and have done, it's in my heart.
I do it because I want to do it,I do it because it's me.
There's nothing false aboutthat.
I do it because I love it, and Ihave I have pure intentions
(31:22):
about it.
And when you when you come fromthat way, people tend to feel
this when I've talked to them,that the emotion of it and what
you your excitement in doingthings, it it it rubs off on
people.
They they see this to be true,you know.
Um and I just use my my mytalent of what I do out there uh
(31:45):
because I enjoy it.
I mean, I can put on like I toldyou, I was a DJ in college and I
can put on music.
I know music, and I that's partof the story was I use I used
headphones at first.
I went out there and I woulddance in the street out there to
this stuff, and that's howpeople started watching me do
all this stuff, you know.
And uh you you might not thinkthat a man is 70 years old can
(32:09):
step it.
I can step it because I've neverquit.
I've never quit.
And lifting weights helps youtoo.
I lift a lot of weights and keepmyself, my muscles, you know,
toned and strong.
Strength tree.
I've been doing that for 20years.
That's why I was telling you, ifI ever stop, it's over with.
SPEAKER_03 (32:26):
I hear you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
But I keep on doing it every day.
I keep on doing it.
SPEAKER_03 (32:30):
That's a really good message for people that hit the
ages 65 and above.
Don't stop living your life.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Because if you do No, don't do no, don't do that.
Don't don't stop at, you know.
Uh I have I have been out herefor almost 20 years walking in
the streets out here, crossed76,000 miles last week, last
week trying to make a hundredthousand miles.
SPEAKER_03 (32:56):
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
Oh, I crossed it last week.
SPEAKER_03 (32:59):
Oh, your total mileage for not just one week.
SPEAKER_01 (33:03):
The total mileage, yeah.
I mean, I keep up with it everyday.
I have it on my phone on my myApple here.
Yeah, and I put it, I keep upwith it.
We did a we did a documentarywhen I hit 50.
I have now hit hit 76 past76,000 miles.
Wow.
One of my one of my fellowrunners who's on Facebook with
(33:24):
me, but I've never met him andmight not ever meet him.
He told me that.
He said, Rusty, he said, do youknow that at the earth at the
equator, around the earth at theequator is 24,901 mile.
SPEAKER_03 (33:39):
You've gone around three times.
SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
Three times.
It's 74,703 miles.
He said, You have been aroundthe earth three times.
You know, but you know, and Iappreciate that because I tell
people that now he told me that.
I didn't, I never thought aboutthat, but it's true.
(34:03):
You know, that's a lot of miles.
There's a lot of issues outhere, you know.
It's it's uh and I and I tellthem, they said, I'm gonna go
out there and walk with you.
I said, Well, I've been doing itfor years.
I haven't seen anybody meet meout there yet, you know, before
coffee, before I go, you know,but yeah, it it's I enjoy doing
that, and people have gotten soused to seeing me out there, you
(34:26):
know.
Like I said, they'll they'llwave and they'll hunt the horn,
and they still do it to thisday.
And people, I will stopsometimes and even talk to
somebody, you know.
But I am, I am probably when I'mwalking and did racing, I'm not
the same person.
Every great competitor has amean streak in them, and I have
(34:48):
one too.
You know, I just it's like youwant to, I don't know if I
describe it right, you want tofight.
You want to do, you know, I'mgonna fight.
It's like I did, yeah.
It's like I did football.
I'm gonna take you down, I'mtaking you out.
You know, I have that mentality,and the light switch comes on
when I go out there, but I keepit out there.
(35:08):
I keep it out.
SPEAKER_03 (35:10):
Well, you use it, you use that for a good purpose.
It's that's you know I canrelate to this almost like last
week.
Something happened in my life,and I got angry about it and
ended up making myself do moreto overcome it.
And I found myself doing likeI'm working on my own challenge
(35:30):
because I had I had gottencancer, and then I got a thing
in my brain, and I lost theright my right leg, and not lose
it physically, but I lost mybrain, wasn't reaching it.
And I have been fighting to getthat back, and when this this
thing happened, and all of asudden I was so mad, and I
channeled that right into doingsomething, and I got all the
strength came to me.
(35:51):
That anger became like a fire,and it's so important.
I can't you can't forget that.
That anger isn't a bad thing,it's almost like your animal
self being part of you.
I have making it part of thewhole time, you know?
SPEAKER_01 (36:05):
Yeah, and you are exactly right.
I mean, I was like that in in inin football.
I was like that when I got tocollege, played a lot of
basketball, got really good at II mean, I look back and you
know, you you have that mainstreak, and every I don't care
if you're Tom Brady, who youare, you're gonna have a main
streak in if you're if you're anathlete.
You have to win that.
SPEAKER_03 (36:26):
You gotta win.
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
Yeah, you want to win.
And that's what I'm saying.
You have you have that at thatattitude.
SPEAKER_03 (36:30):
You have to get a covaco.
Win so many things in yourself,in the world, everything.
SPEAKER_01 (36:36):
And and I'm I'm kind of a uh I'm kind of a hyper
person myself.
You know, I walk fast every day,you know.
I walk out, I can move walking,you know, and move around and
and but it's all good.
You know, I I I try to treatpeople like I want to be
treated.
SPEAKER_02 (36:53):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:54):
I will help somebody if they truly need help.
Okay.
I've always been that way.
My my parents taught me that.
Um, you do what you can to helpsomebody.
I don't mean you go overboard.
I'm not helping you for life,but I will help you.
Because if if you givecontinuously give help to
somebody, then they're gonna getdependent on you.
(37:15):
They're not gonna get up and doit themselves.
So you have to have you have tohave boundaries.
And but to help them go and pushthem in the right direction,
I'll be there all I'll be thereevery day, you know.
I'll be there every day.
SPEAKER_03 (37:28):
What we've been hearing is sort of Rusty
Nasser's uh guide to having agreat life.
And that what what would yousay?
That's right.
If you would have okay, we'regetting near the end.
We want to leave everybody withthe final um uh speech of some
sort that uh to writeinstructions.
Now what would Rust RustyNasser's what would you list a
(37:49):
bunch of things that you say uhI don't care how many, three,
five, list a few things that youthink are essential to real
living a full life, Rusty, andgetting all your dreams to make
them come true.
What would they list be?
SPEAKER_01 (38:02):
Yeah, based on yeah, based on my personal life, okay.
I'm gonna say number one, yougotta have faith in God and
gotta have faith in yourselfbecause, like I told you, if you
don't have that, you're gonnamake this a lot harder than what
it needs to be.
Number two, you gotta go outhere and make up your mind.
(38:24):
This is what you're going to do.
And you know, you can you canstart on your own journey by
yourself and do what you need todo.
You might have friends aroundyou, you might have family, they
might not support you.
You you have to kind of in yourown way distance yourself.
It's not that they're badpeople, they just can't go where
(38:45):
you're going.
SPEAKER_03 (38:46):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (38:47):
And and do it one step at a time.
And when you start makingprogress and you start
understanding what you're doing,how much better you feel, then
you'll take the next step andyou'll go to the next step.
Um whatever that step is.
You you I always strive to bethe best person I can be every
(39:10):
day.
That's my goal.
I want to be better tomorrowthan I am today.
And that just means that youstay constant in what you're
doing.
Consistency leads you to whereyou need to be.
And the number one word that youneed to go to have to get there
is what I did is discipline.
(39:32):
You better learn discipline.
I get up every morning at about4:30.
I get up and eat a little stuff.
I go out there and hit thatstreet every single day except
Sunday, because it puts me in agood mood.
You become a positive persondoing this stuff.
You don't have to accomplisheverything at one time.
(39:52):
You accomplish, I wake up, Isay, look, I got three things
I'm gonna do today.
A, B, C.
And when you do that, thosethree things, you have you have
felt that you have accomplishedand you feel good about what you
did.
If you're trying to look at 15to do and you can't do it,
you're gonna feel like you'redefeated.
Right.
(40:12):
Just do three things.
That's all you need to do.
And every day you just moveforward higher and higher and
higher.
And tell people the last thingmost of the take care of your
body.
It's the only place you've gotto live.
Your body's the only place yougot to live.
So you better take care of it.
If you don't have time to workon your your wellness, you're
(40:35):
gonna you're gonna find it,you're gonna find time to to
work on your illness.
So true.
And and so that's true.
I eat healthy, I really do.
But I had that cheat day onSunday.
You know, I'm going for my MMs,and I'm going for something like
that because I'll eat them.
But you gotta have a you gottahave a cheat day, okay?
SPEAKER_03 (40:54):
Yeah, you gotta have a little fun.
SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
I and I do not share my MMs with nobody.
I don't.
I eat every one of them I can.
I'll eat them.
I eat every one of them.
SPEAKER_03 (41:04):
Well, I can tell you this.
What wrapping it up, I'm gonnasay everybody's listening.
If you follow the things thatRusty is explaining here, here's
a man who's how many marathonshave you run?
Maybe over 20, 20, 10 years ofmarathons and probably a few a
year.
SPEAKER_01 (41:19):
No, I I did, I did, I did 10 professional marathons.
I did, I trained for one everyyear.
Uh 10 years.
And that's what I did.
That's what I did.
But I but I've been out therefor 20 years walking.
SPEAKER_03 (41:33):
So, yes, I'm just gonna say, you've run 10
marathons.
You've covered almost 75,000miles on walking.
And if you're gonna take someadvice on how to live a good
life and live it right, this isthe man to listen to.
Live it right, find a connectionwith your find, get get God or a
(41:53):
higher power in your life.
Say what you're gonna do, do it,and follow the instructions of
Rusty.
Get out there and make ithappen.
Don't quit.
Don't you do not.
Here's I'm gonna say it one moretime.
You do not, according to Rusty,you do not ever give up, right?
SPEAKER_01 (42:13):
Don't give up, don't give up.
Go the extra mile, and you willfind out that things happen when
you just think you're gonnaquit, is when it happens to you.
Because that's what happened tome.
I was about to give up untilthis happened to me, and that
man came, and it all turnedaround.
So, yes, it can happen, it doeshappen, and it will happen.
(42:35):
And I tell them all the time,keep going, keep going, you
know, it'll turn out good.
SPEAKER_03 (42:41):
So, thank you, Rusty.
Author of walk of life fromdeath to glory.
Yes, soon to be a motionpicture.
So if you want to get a moviemade about your life, listen to
Rusty and do not you say it,Rusty.
I'm gonna let you have thehonor.
What is it, that phrase?
SPEAKER_01 (43:00):
What are you going to do?
Are you gonna beat this or is itgoing to beat you?
SPEAKER_03 (43:05):
You do not give up, and that's Rusty Model.
Thanks for joining us today,Rusty.
What a great, inspiring episodeof Out of the Blue, the podcast.
Thank you, Jackie.
And um, oh my god, I hope to seeyou again, Rusty.
We're gonna check back with youbecause we're gonna follow you
along your career and yourwonderful things exploding.
SPEAKER_01 (43:23):
I'll I'll certainly appreciate that.
Jackie, I'm good to talk to you.
See you too, dear.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
Yes, thank you for your inspiring story.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01 (43:31):
I appreciate it, my dear.
And you take care of yourself.
You too.
Okay, have y'all have a goodone.
SPEAKER_03 (43:36):
You too.
Bye, everybody.
Thank you for joining us here onOut of the Blue.
Out of the Blue, the podcast.
Hosted by me, Vernon West.
Co-hosted by Jacqueline West,edited by Joe Gallo.
(43:59):
Music and logo by Vernon WestIII.
Have an out-of-the-blue story ofyour own you'd like to share?
Reach us at info at out of theblue-thepodcast.org.
Subscribe to Out of the Blue onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcast.
And on our website, out of thebluepodcast.org.
(44:24):
You can also check us out onPatreon for exclusive content.
Welcome to Out of the Blue the Podcast, a platform
dedicated to celebratinginspirational stories of
resilience, transformation, andthose life-changing moments that
truly come out of the blue.
I'm your host, Renan West,joined today by my amazing
daughter and co-host JackieWest, our marketing manager, a
professional musician, and RickyHiller.
(00:45):
Today's guest is someone whosestory embodies perseverance and
purpose.
Rusty Nasser, known by many asthe walking man, has faced more
challenges than most.
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi,Rusty grew up an athlete and an
outdoorsman and went on to studyat Ole Miss, where he graduated
with a degree in integratedmarketing.
(01:06):
Life seemed steady until aseries of hardships, including
two near-death experiences and adifficult divorce, forced him to
confront life at its toughest.
But Rusty didn't stop there.
Instead, he turned to a passionthat became his calling, a
competitive speedwalker.
He has since earned multipletitles, founded Global
(01:29):
Productions, and has a walkingman a parallel line, and
continues to inspire hiscommunity by showing up each day
in neon gear, dancing throughthe streets of Oxford.
His motto is simple, butpowerful.
You do not give up.
Rusty's journey is captured inhis book Walk of Life From Death
(01:51):
to Glory, which is now beingadapted into a feature film
starring Athlete and performerBrooke Logan.
His story has been spotlightedon Prime 7 media with esteemed
host Logan Crawford, and hislife continues to be a testament
to the power of resilience,faith, and forward motion.
(02:11):
So join us as we walk alongRusty through trials, triumphs,
and the unstoppable spirit of aman who refuses to quit.
Rusty, welcome to Out of theBlue the podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
Thank you, uh Vernon, very much so.
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_03 (02:28):
Oh, you're welcome.
So glad to have you here, Rusty.
So let's you, I know you I I Ireally don't think I mean
Jackie, we'll we'll we'll we'lladd the odd question here and
there, but boy, I think you'vegot a lot to tell us.
So let's start at the beginning.
Remember, we said the out of theblue event to say that really,
if you wouldn't be here today ifit didn't happen, what's where
did it all begin?
SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
I would say toward in the middle of of what people
tell me it was a journey, uh itwasn't it maybe the lowest part
is when you are out there byyourself.
People will learn this, that Iwas on, I was on, I was in a
town, not in my hometown.
I was left there.
I was by myself for three orfour days.
(03:10):
I actually slept in the woods uhtrying to figure out what to do.
I would get up and go to anindoor, outdoor mall.
They had shops on the outside,and you could go inside, they
had shops on the inside.
The man walked in that was frommy hometown that I had not seen
(03:34):
in 40 years, and we embraced andtalked.
I knew who he was.
He went to school with my olderbrother, and we visited for
about 20 minutes, and he finallysaid, Well, let me take care of
my business, and if you're herewhen I come back, we'll visit.
And you know, I had to leave.
I said, That's fine.
(03:54):
And I was at that point that Iwas ready, almost ready to
capitulate because I was tired.
I really was tired.
He came back by.
We talked a little and we saidgoodbye.
He walked out to the curb andgot into his car.
He turned around and went out tothe street to leave, and he got
to the end of the parking lot.
(04:14):
He stopped the car.
I saw him stop.
He turned around and he cameback to the curb where I was
sitting at.
I went out and said, you know,Johnny, you okay?
You know, what's wrong?
He said, What are you doinghere?
And I really didn't want to talkabout it.
I said, No, Johnny, I want hesaid, No, what are you doing
(04:35):
here?
So I told him a little bitbecause he knew all the family
and he knew all this stuff.
He said, No, you come get in thecar.
He said, get in the car.
And I wouldn't get in the car.
He said, You have always beenone of the good guys.
He said, You get in the car.
I got in this car, he took me toa hotel, he put me in the hotel
and gave me$300.
(04:56):
And from that moment on,everything else, as you look
back, went up, up, up, up, up.
So that person, and I wrote thisin the book, that person was my
guardian angel.
That was my guardian angel that,and people have told me,
somebody sent this person downto you.
(05:18):
After all these years, I kind offigured out that it was my
mother because of something elsethat happened.
But from that point on,everything flipped around and
went north, not south.
And I would have to I would haveto point to that.
That was my guardian angel rightthere.
SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
What was the what put you out there on the road
that night?
Was there something going on inyour life?
Did you have was it a divorcething?
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
Or my family, uh, when my parents died, they had
the same will.
And it was just a matter of whodied last.
And I was finding out somestuff, and they they got me,
they took me over there to ahospital of which they released
(06:04):
me.
They did not come get me, andthey they left me out there.
I didn't have a lot of money.
You know, you understand?
I was in hospital for two days.
Uh, I had a laptop computer,believe me, of all things.
And I would I would go downthere to this mall and get on
the laptop during the day,figuring out what I needed to
do.
(06:24):
Luckily, I grew up as a BoyScout.
I hunted and fished all my life.
I took going into the woods,which I understand is not
normal, as a camping trip.
We used to camp.
So that's how I perseveredthrough all that.
And it it passed.
It was, it got to be okay, youknow.
(06:45):
But you you think about beingsafe, you're you're in you're in
survival mode, okay?
So you're looking at a place onthe side of the interstate that
you can see the interstate.
There were woods all behind you.
I knew nobody was gonna comethrough those woods like that,
and that's why I stayed forthree nights.
Wow.
But I made it.
SPEAKER_03 (07:04):
And that's when the gentleman came and saw you at
the after three nights.
SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (07:09):
It's like almost like um, like you say, you you
think it was after years you'vethought about it, you think it
was your mother that sent thisgentleman to you.
I understand that feeling, youknow.
You when you are on your own andum things seem down and
hopeless, even, and thensomething comes you you have to
think that someone out therewhat's out there in the blue,
(07:31):
when we say out of the blue, wetalk about what's out there.
Like maybe that is our mother,and maybe that is people that it
is.
SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
There were people in my whole journey, and there are
there are so many twists andturns on all this, but there
were more people that helped meon the outside than my family
never did on the inside.
And that's why I don't talk tothem to this day.
And and when we finally, wefinally went to had to go to
(08:01):
court about all this, it tookthem 17 years to close a family
estate.
Nobody believes that.
The national media does notbelieve that.
They told me it was somethingworse than that.
I always tell people, I said,well, look, who persevered?
Who persevered?
It was me, not them.
(08:21):
I guess jealousy and greed tookthem down, and I preach that to
this to this day.
Jealousy and greed will take youdown.
SPEAKER_03 (08:30):
I 110% agreed.
My own life experiences wouldback that up a million percent.
I've seen it happen in my life,and I'm sure other people have
it well, people that arelistening right now.
So it's like in the Bible, itsays, I don't like quote quote,
but I can do another Bible show,but vengeance is mind set the
(08:52):
Lord.
I've read that in the Bible.
That's right.
And it's so true that you justgotta let go.
That's another saying I love letgo and let go on.
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
I would go it at one point, I would go up here
occasionally and and and isn'tgetting it off your chest.
I would go talk to my preacherin the church I belong to.
He told me two quotes that Ithat I listened to.
He said, number one, don'tbecome vengeful because all it's
gonna do is destroy you.
(09:22):
And he also told me, he said,Rusty, you're walking through
hell.
He said, You know what helllooks like.
He said, Why do you want to stopin hell?
He said, just keep walking,you'll walk out the other side.
Yeah, you had to to go throughall that stuff.
People uh to this day, theyalways tell me, we don't know
(09:43):
how you survive that.
We don't know how you made itthrough that.
I said, it was probably with thegrace of God because you know
it's one, two, three times thatyou've almost died.
I said, somebody's looking overyou.
And I've heard that a thousandtimes in my life.
Somebody heard it yesterday.
Somebody says, God got a planfor you.
(10:04):
I said, thank you.
I said, but I've heard thisbefore and I appreciate that.
But so it must be the first,it's the first thing that people
say when they when they find outwhat happened, you know.
Uh you're out there, you're 23years old, um, you're on top of
the world, you don't have a youdon't have an issue or problem
(10:25):
in the world.
You go duck hunting.
Me and my first cousin, we weretight, we got a big family and
cousins and so forth.
And we we paddled into a floodedbean field that was on a my my
parents and my uncle's goodfriend, big farm on the
Mississippi River, coal, and andthe the ducks that were falling
(10:52):
down were what you couldn't havemade a movie any better than
what we saw that morning.
We were excited, shooting out ofthe boat, shoot, shoot.
Finally, we decided to get outof the boat.
And I told him I was gonna walkup the tree line and get on up
there some ways and keep theducks flying back and forth.
I walked away, excited to shootit.
(11:12):
We turned, he turned, the ducksfell in, and he shot me at about
40 feet and knocked me off myfeet.
Of course, most people know thatI'm blind in my right eye
because of this, and uh, but Ilived through it.
And that's what I always tellhow quickly your life changes
around.
What you're in that situation,what do you do?
(11:35):
You know, it's it's it'spandemonium, your adrenaline is
flowing, and my poor cousin whohas now passed away, he froze.
He he couldn't move, he didn'tsay a word.
And how do you get out of there?
He he freezes.
I'm shot.
(11:56):
I had to put him in the boat andpaddle out to get some way we're
gonna get out.
And but your but your lifechanges like that, you know.
Absolutely it it does somethingto you, you know.
And I had numerous surgeries andso forth, and it never it never
worked out, but we tried.
Me and my parents went all overthe country.
We went to Boston, went toMiami, Florida, UCLA Medical
(12:20):
Center, Houston, Texas.
Didn't work, but we tried.
And that's what I was gettingback to.
What when it was all said anddone, what my mother said to me
when we got home, and that wasafter almost two years of
wishing and hoping, she was shewas a retired nurse and a
surgical nurse on top of that.
(12:41):
And she was tough like this.
She let you have your pity partyfor about 10 minutes, and then
she sat on the bed and she said,What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna beat this or is itgonna beat you?
And that became my riley cry forthe rest of my life.
I listen, I think about thisevery single day.
SPEAKER_00 (12:59):
I love that she asked you, like she gave you the
option.
I feel like that puts you insuch a position of um
self-empowerment, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
Well, my parents were good about making you uh
think, and that actually becamemy rally cry.
And I have taken it with me forfor up to my life until today.
SPEAKER_03 (13:25):
That is something anybody out there listening, you
can have that's a that'ssomething we all can use.
You know, I love that statement.
I mean, that really comes up.
I I come up across lots of timesthings that I'm ready to, you
know.
I've heard someone say, Don'tquit before the miracle happens,
you know, because that's right,it might be one second away and
you're gonna quit.
SPEAKER_01 (13:45):
I use the analogy of there's a story I listened to
one time called the 51st door.
They said you can go knock on 50doors, and nobody they shut the
door in your face, and you'reabout to ready to give up.
But that 51st door, somebodyopens it and lets you come in.
And things can change like that,you know.
(14:07):
Uh, but this the second time is,you know, is is when I was I had
a bleeding ulcer.
Now, I did not know, I I did nothave any pain at all.
At that time I was married, myex was out of town.
I had gone to watch an old missfootball game with friends, and
I can't, I drove home.
(14:28):
I couldn't, I couldn't, Icouldn't barely make it.
I can't, I had to put my headback on the rest, crawled in the
house, crawled on my knees inthe house, and I had dogs in.
And my dogs were Australianshepherds and they're smart.
And they came in, and the thedaddy doll was licking me on the
face, licking me over the face.
Finally, I got up and got in thebed, and I went to lay down.
(14:49):
I felt decent, went to sleep,woke up about seven o'clock the
next morning, and I couldn'tmove.
I could not move.
All I could do is reach for thephone, and I called my parents.
At that time, I lived on thelake.
They lived 25 minutes away, andI said, Something's wrong, come
get me.
(15:10):
I can't move, and they did.
And when I got, they took me tothe emergency room.
When I got there, they threw twopints of blood on me in a
heartbeat.
I mean, it was quick.
And they got me settled, theyput me in the room, they had
thrown me an ICU, they gave mesome more blood, they gave me
staph infection on top of that.
And people asked me on the TVinterview not too long ago, did
(15:36):
you see the light?
I said, Well, yeah, I did see alight.
You know, uh, I I don't tellpeople all this often enough.
Uh, I actually saw what Ibelieve to be Jesus.
People might think you're crazy,but you when you lived it and
you go through that, and it wasit was like, it's not your time.
You got to go back, you gotta goback.
(15:56):
And I woke up as I'm leaving sixweeks later.
I knew all the doctors there atthe time.
One of them said, I didn't wantto tell you this when you were
in the hospital, but sinceyou're leaving, that Sunday
morning, he said, if you'd havelaid that bed, you'd have been
dead by noon.
(16:17):
You were gone.
He said, You should have beengone now.
I had a hemoglobin of four,which is practically dead.
SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
Oh my god, that's low.
SPEAKER_01 (16:26):
That's low.
That's what I had.
And so that's when peoplestarted saying, you know, you
got you got something else goingon here.
I've even said it, you know, youescape death once, you can chalk
it up to luck, you got deathtwice.
Something else is going on here.
SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
What do you think that is?
Was it something inspiring youto you think it was something
from out of the blue, somethingfrom Ohio Paul, something from
Jesus?
Yes, I do.
Telling you you have a purpose.
SPEAKER_01 (16:59):
I did not believe that at first, but then when you
look back in my story, and thishappened, this happened, this
happened, this happened, and itkept going.
When you thought that the end ofthe road or you got into a tough
spot and you didn't know reallywhat to do, something happened
that opened the door.
And now that I look back afterall these years, yeah, there's
(17:23):
definitely a higher power.
Because I don't think you canchalk that up to luck when it
kept happening, happening,happening, happening.
I believe it to this day, is itwas my mother.
That's what I believe.
But it took me years to figurethat out.
I didn't do that overnight, youknow.
It took me years to do that.
SPEAKER_03 (17:44):
But the purpose now, that's where we go into your
your your journey now.
That's we take us well, wherewhen you started becoming the
walking man when that, how oldwere how old were you when that
began?
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Well, it got me back.
Now I grew up an athlete.
I played football, basketball,baseball, I ran track, I played
tennis, swam, I did all thisstuff.
My former brother-in-law of myex-wife's side, they used to do
a lot of walking around thecountry.
He said, You ought to try this.
(18:18):
Now, what a lot of people callit speed walking.
There's a there's twodifferences.
There's speed walking andthere's power walking.
What I actually do in the mediagot it wrong years ago, is power
walk, which is like that, but alittle bit different technique.
I started doing this.
I end up, you know, I was I wasin North Carolina racing, I was
(18:39):
in Boston racing, I was in NewYork racing, uh, I got sponsored
a little bit in Nashville,Dallas, Texas, Los Angeles,
Eugene, Oregon, and thenewspaper here, I would train
around this town every morning.
Every single Monday throughSaturday, I would walk around
(19:03):
the town square.
The town is a square, it's gotthe courthouse in the middle,
and I walk all around there.
And they found me on Facebookand they wanted to do an
interview, and I wouldn't do itbecause back then I wouldn't
talk about the story.
And my friends got a hold of it.
Go up and tell this story.
I finally agreed to go up thereand I told the story.
(19:24):
Now I knew they would put it inthe newspaper.
I didn't know they were gonnapop it on the front page.
I really did not know that.
That's where I lost control ofthe story that it went kind of
bowel.
Then came the state newspaper onthe sports section.
Then came the USA Today.
They did a video also.
Their video is still on theinternet.
Producers came and we did, wedid four documentaries in
(19:48):
Dallas, Texas, is where the ESPNcame and talked to me.
And he said, You need to writethe you need to write the story.
And I said, I'm not author.
I'm an athlete.
I don't I don't know anythingabout it.
And we kind of we talked, but weparted ways.
But when they popped this aboutthe in the local newspaper here,
they got a hold of it and theysaid, We told you to write the
(20:12):
story.
So I agreed to write the story.
And lo and behold, at the end ofit, the people from California
called me, and I still think tothis day it's ESPN, and they
wanted to come talk to me aboutmy story.
I said, You can come down here.
I'll meet you in Memphis.
I'm not gonna let you come hereyet.
(20:32):
I met him in Memphis and theywanted to buy my rights and I
wouldn't sell my rights.
I wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't do that.
I got a hold of the professorhere at Ole Miss in the theater
department, way up top.
He said, Come over here, I'lltalk to you about it.
And he helped, he said, I'llI'll help you.
And I wrote this thing.
My own words, pretty much my ownwords.
(20:55):
And they it is right there.
I got the whole thing rightthere.
That's that's probably uh closeto a two-hour movie, but it's
there's a lot of things in thein the racing, and a lot of
things that happen along thatway that's gonna make it uh
jaw-dropping because peoplewon't believe all of it, you
(21:16):
know.
SPEAKER_03 (21:16):
Tell us a couple of those jaw-dropping moments.
I'm all curious.
SPEAKER_01 (21:20):
Going through the going through the well, one of
them had to be Eugene, Oregon.
I was up there.
It's 40 degrees and it's mistyrain.
You know how it does in thenorthwest up there.
And uh that was probably themost miserable race there is.
Now, you understand that amarathon is 26.2 miles and
you're out there for almost sixhours.
SPEAKER_03 (21:40):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
Dallas, Dallas was the one where there was a guy
named, and he's in the bookcalled Sato.
Sato was a champ, and that's whyESPN came and talked to me
because I upset Sato.
Those moments like that you willnever forget in life.
And it's it was like after allthat had happened, all the good
(22:02):
stuff was coming behind it, see.
I go out there every morning,still, I put in five or six
miles every morning, and peopletoot the horn, they still toot
the horn.
That was a focal point of thewhole town, was people would
toot the horn and wave, and Iwould always point at them.
And I I did it in the newspaperwhen they did the article.
I said, I didn't want them toget the wrong idea.
(22:24):
I said, that is my way ofrecognizing you.
So they would toot the point,and I would point at them, and
that's gonna be shown in themovie too.
You know, that's what I did.
You know, it it's it's it's it'sbeen a hell of a journey.
Uh I didn't ask for it, but youknow, when it came and happened,
you you know, you you got toopen the door, you know.
(22:44):
You know, and I always say thiswhen you do a marathon, it's you
against you.
And you it all boils down toyour mental toughness because
that's you know, no matter whoyou are and how well you are,
the bear is gonna come jump onyour back.
And you have to be ready for it.
(23:07):
You have to be in the rightmindset to push through that uh
to get to the end.
SPEAKER_03 (23:12):
That's that must be something that anyone that does
cross-country long-distancerunning must deal with that.
SPEAKER_01 (23:18):
Sure.
I don't care who you are, it'sgonna hit you, and that's where
your mental condition comes in.
You have to be strong-minded.
A marathon is gonna hurt.
You train yourself to toleratethe hurt.
That's what you do.
You train yourself to toleratethis hurt.
They asked me not too long ago,was I gonna race again?
(23:38):
I said, guys, I've you know, 10years of doing professional
marathons and training likethat, because it takes a lot out
of your day.
Oh, yeah.
All I did was eat, sleep, andtrain.
You know, you get to a point youmaybe gotta have Yeah, you know
what the training is.
I mean, you're training thatyou're training three or four
hours every morning, and it's Itell people it is not about just
(24:02):
the training, it is about whatyou eat.
SPEAKER_00 (24:04):
I just wanted to say that something that I thought
about when you were talkingabout being ready for the the
bear to jump on your back, um,kind of at all times.
Um I went back to a race that Idid um a 5k in high school.
(24:25):
And um I remember my coachsaying, You might be nervous
right now because you haven'tstarted physically running yet.
But the race doesn't start rightnow necessarily.
You are the way that you areright now is the way that you
(24:50):
are while you're running, is theway that you are when you're
done with the race.
So just be in everything thatyou've been working on in
yourself now and when the racestarts and through it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:04):
I'm I'm the kind of person now.
I know you don't know this.
I am I am five foot eleven, Iweigh about 192 pounds this
morning.
I keep in shape.
And when you when you I can I'mthe I'm the guy that goes from
here to here real quick.
(25:25):
I have a mindset.
I I that's how I think.
I go from here to there realquick, and I can do the same
thing out there.
I can I change my pace, I canchange, I can walk on the heels
of my feet first, or I can comedown on the balls of my feet
first.
Then I throw them off.
I say, look, I can actuallychange the way I walk and rest a
certain group of muscles.
(25:46):
I learned that over the years.
Uh your muscles get tired andyou change the way you do it.
I can walk with my legs, or Ican walk actually with my hips
and leave my legs, you know, doit.
I've always been veryquick-footed, very quick-footed.
I'm still pretty quick today.
You know, I work on it everyday.
I believe now that if I everstop, it's over with, it's done,
(26:08):
I'm done.
They, you know, they said ESPNsaid I had a God give me talent.
I never thought about that.
I never, you know, it's what Idid every day.
You know, it's just my naturalDNA.
So I don't think about it.
I just like I told them, look, Ijust do what I do because I can
(26:28):
do what I do.
And that's to them, you know,they see it different to me.
I never thought about it likethat.
I never did, you know, I neverdid.
SPEAKER_03 (26:37):
So well, I think, Busty, this is such an amazing
thing to hear about this, howyou always choose to get
stronger.
And um, that's been like, and Ilove your your powerful motto,
which is you do not give up.
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
I think that's don't never give up in life.
Never give up, never give up.
And you know, it there could be,you know, other things that
happened and so forth, but uhwhen I hit that mindset, you
know, that I'm gonna make it andthings were happening good, then
you I've I was feeding myself.
(27:16):
If if I if something didn't workout quite right, I'm gonna make
it work out, I'm gonna find away to make it work out.
You know, that's how youpersevere in life.
Uh you know, success does notdrive up in your driveway.
You have to go out there to it.
And that's just my motto.
I mean, just go get in life whatyou want.
(27:38):
You know, you you don't justbecause too many young folks get
out there and it's something canbe hard, they just give up.
They just give up.
No, you don't you don't do that,you know.
You gotta go get it.
You gotta go get it.
You gotta go get it.
SPEAKER_00 (27:51):
And also, like when you when you've chosen something
to remind yourself that youchose this, you're choosing
this.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
I choose it.
I do.
SPEAKER_00 (28:01):
Yeah.
So that card, like you canwrite, I choose I choose this.
And like if you forget, you canjust look at the card, like, oh,
I choose this.
SPEAKER_01 (28:10):
I choose this.
That's exactly right.
Uh I I do not having come from,no, we grew up in a in a big
family, you know.
Well, parents taught us well,and whatever the hell, because I
didn't live down, you know, withthem in this latter part when
all this mess happened.
I didn't always look back.
(28:31):
What in the hell happened tothem after my parents left?
I do not know.
They've always told me that yourparents are turning over in
their grave.
I said, Well, they probably are,because if my mom and daddy were
still living, they would neverhave let this go on.
Never, it wouldn't happen.
I could tell you they were thatkind of people.
You know, we always were closenicked family.
(28:52):
But having said that, you getyou get into the winning
attitude, and you're going thisway, and that's what you're
gonna do.
You know, if somebody don't wantto do it, fine, you have a nice
life.
I'm going this way.
You know, I've already been thatway.
And I try to teach peoplewithout being a teacher, you
(29:15):
know, take the extra step.
Go the extra mile, it's nevercrowded, you know.
And if you if you if you get tothe if you're gonna get to the
top, sometimes the top can belonely, but it's peaceful, you
know.
So I'm a happy person.
Yeah, I'm a happy person, andand I treat everybody good and I
(29:39):
do what I need to do, and I usemy head about what I'm doing out
here.
That's not always easy aboutwhat you gotta do, but I
persevere.
You know, I'll I'll figure a wayout.
That's why they call meMacGyver.
Yeah, I'll figure the way out.
SPEAKER_03 (29:54):
God bless you.
God bless you, Russell.
This is good stuff.
I think we've when we're talkingabout the Audience that we play
to with Art of the Blue,everybody's, you know, we want
to figure out what is it aboutwhat's out there.
And I think your life shows thatwhatever is out there, you've
you've identified in your heartand mind as to be your mother,
(30:15):
and you've identified as youhave higher power.
And it's it's like that is aloneuh isn't enough.
You have to be able to act onthese things.
You can't just like a lot ofpeople will um a major uh issue
people have sometimes I think isthey think they're gonna
manifest it by sitting andthinking and manifesting, but
(30:37):
you have to get out there and doit.
It's like if you if you if youdon't get out there and do it,
even if it's just a little bitevery day towards that goal, I
think you're gonna see somethinghappen.
They will get to the top.
Like, I think I love what yousaid about that extra mile
because it's not gonna becrowded.
Think of that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:55):
It's not there.
That's right, it's not there.
SPEAKER_03 (30:57):
You know, not a lot of people take going the extra
mile, that's why it's notcrowded.
SPEAKER_01 (31:01):
That's right.
But you know, and I I always tryto tell people everything I did
and have done, it's in my heart.
I do it because I want to do it,I do it because it's me.
There's nothing false aboutthat.
I do it because I love it, and Ihave I have pure intentions
(31:22):
about it.
And when you when you come fromthat way, people tend to feel
this when I've talked to them,that the emotion of it and what
you your excitement in doingthings, it it it rubs off on
people.
They they see this to be true,you know.
Um and I just use my my mytalent of what I do out there uh
(31:45):
because I enjoy it.
I mean, I can put on like I toldyou, I was a DJ in college and I
can put on music.
I know music, and I that's partof the story was I use I used
headphones at first.
I went out there and I woulddance in the street out there to
this stuff, and that's howpeople started watching me do
all this stuff, you know.
And uh you you might not thinkthat a man is 70 years old can
(32:09):
step it.
I can step it because I've neverquit.
I've never quit.
And lifting weights helps youtoo.
I lift a lot of weights and keepmyself, my muscles, you know,
toned and strong.
Strength tree.
I've been doing that for 20years.
That's why I was telling you, ifI ever stop, it's over with.
SPEAKER_03 (32:26):
I hear you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
But I keep on doing it every day.
I keep on doing it.
SPEAKER_03 (32:30):
That's a really good message for people that hit the
ages 65 and above.
Don't stop living your life.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Because if you do No, don't do no, don't do that.
Don't don't stop at, you know.
Uh I have I have been out herefor almost 20 years walking in
the streets out here, crossed76,000 miles last week, last
week trying to make a hundredthousand miles.
SPEAKER_03 (32:56):
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
Oh, I crossed it last week.
SPEAKER_03 (32:59):
Oh, your total mileage for not just one week.
SPEAKER_01 (33:03):
The total mileage, yeah.
I mean, I keep up with it everyday.
I have it on my phone on my myApple here.
Yeah, and I put it, I keep upwith it.
We did a we did a documentarywhen I hit 50.
I have now hit hit 76 past76,000 miles.
Wow.
One of my one of my fellowrunners who's on Facebook with
(33:24):
me, but I've never met him andmight not ever meet him.
He told me that.
He said, Rusty, he said, do youknow that at the earth at the
equator, around the earth at theequator is 24,901 mile.
SPEAKER_03 (33:39):
You've gone around three times.
SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
Three times.
It's 74,703 miles.
He said, You have been aroundthe earth three times.
You know, but you know, and Iappreciate that because I tell
people that now he told me that.
I didn't, I never thought aboutthat, but it's true.
(34:03):
You know, that's a lot of miles.
There's a lot of issues outhere, you know.
It's it's uh and I and I tellthem, they said, I'm gonna go
out there and walk with you.
I said, Well, I've been doing itfor years.
I haven't seen anybody meet meout there yet, you know, before
coffee, before I go, you know,but yeah, it it's I enjoy doing
that, and people have gotten soused to seeing me out there, you
(34:26):
know.
Like I said, they'll they'llwave and they'll hunt the horn,
and they still do it to thisday.
And people, I will stopsometimes and even talk to
somebody, you know.
But I am, I am probably when I'mwalking and did racing, I'm not
the same person.
Every great competitor has amean streak in them, and I have
(34:48):
one too.
You know, I just it's like youwant to, I don't know if I
describe it right, you want tofight.
You want to do, you know, I'mgonna fight.
It's like I did, yeah.
It's like I did football.
I'm gonna take you down, I'mtaking you out.
You know, I have that mentality,and the light switch comes on
when I go out there, but I keepit out there.
(35:08):
I keep it out.
SPEAKER_03 (35:10):
Well, you use it, you use that for a good purpose.
It's that's you know I canrelate to this almost like last
week.
Something happened in my life,and I got angry about it and
ended up making myself do moreto overcome it.
And I found myself doing likeI'm working on my own challenge
(35:30):
because I had I had gottencancer, and then I got a thing
in my brain, and I lost theright my right leg, and not lose
it physically, but I lost mybrain, wasn't reaching it.
And I have been fighting to getthat back, and when this this
thing happened, and all of asudden I was so mad, and I
channeled that right into doingsomething, and I got all the
strength came to me.
(35:51):
That anger became like a fire,and it's so important.
I can't you can't forget that.
That anger isn't a bad thing,it's almost like your animal
self being part of you.
I have making it part of thewhole time, you know?
SPEAKER_01 (36:05):
Yeah, and you are exactly right.
I mean, I was like that in in inin football.
I was like that when I got tocollege, played a lot of
basketball, got really good at II mean, I look back and you
know, you you have that mainstreak, and every I don't care
if you're Tom Brady, who youare, you're gonna have a main
streak in if you're if you're anathlete.
You have to win that.
SPEAKER_03 (36:26):
You gotta win.
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
Yeah, you want to win.
And that's what I'm saying.
You have you have that at thatattitude.
SPEAKER_03 (36:30):
You have to get a covaco.
Win so many things in yourself,in the world, everything.
SPEAKER_01 (36:36):
And and I'm I'm kind of a uh I'm kind of a hyper
person myself.
You know, I walk fast every day,you know.
I walk out, I can move walking,you know, and move around and
and but it's all good.
You know, I I I try to treatpeople like I want to be
treated.
SPEAKER_02 (36:53):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:54):
I will help somebody if they truly need help.
Okay.
I've always been that way.
My my parents taught me that.
Um, you do what you can to helpsomebody.
I don't mean you go overboard.
I'm not helping you for life,but I will help you.
Because if if you givecontinuously give help to
somebody, then they're gonna getdependent on you.
(37:15):
They're not gonna get up and doit themselves.
So you have to have you have tohave boundaries.
And but to help them go and pushthem in the right direction,
I'll be there all I'll be thereevery day, you know.
I'll be there every day.
SPEAKER_03 (37:28):
What we've been hearing is sort of Rusty
Nasser's uh guide to having agreat life.
And that what what would yousay?
That's right.
If you would have okay, we'regetting near the end.
We want to leave everybody withthe final um uh speech of some
sort that uh to writeinstructions.
Now what would Rust RustyNasser's what would you list a
(37:49):
bunch of things that you say uhI don't care how many, three,
five, list a few things that youthink are essential to real
living a full life, Rusty, andgetting all your dreams to make
them come true.
What would they list be?
SPEAKER_01 (38:02):
Yeah, based on yeah, based on my personal life, okay.
I'm gonna say number one, yougotta have faith in God and
gotta have faith in yourselfbecause, like I told you, if you
don't have that, you're gonnamake this a lot harder than what
it needs to be.
Number two, you gotta go outhere and make up your mind.
(38:24):
This is what you're going to do.
And you know, you can you canstart on your own journey by
yourself and do what you need todo.
You might have friends aroundyou, you might have family, they
might not support you.
You you have to kind of in yourown way distance yourself.
It's not that they're badpeople, they just can't go where
(38:45):
you're going.
SPEAKER_03 (38:46):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (38:47):
And and do it one step at a time.
And when you start makingprogress and you start
understanding what you're doing,how much better you feel, then
you'll take the next step andyou'll go to the next step.
Um whatever that step is.
You you I always strive to bethe best person I can be every
(39:10):
day.
That's my goal.
I want to be better tomorrowthan I am today.
And that just means that youstay constant in what you're
doing.
Consistency leads you to whereyou need to be.
And the number one word that youneed to go to have to get there
is what I did is discipline.
(39:32):
You better learn discipline.
I get up every morning at about4:30.
I get up and eat a little stuff.
I go out there and hit thatstreet every single day except
Sunday, because it puts me in agood mood.
You become a positive persondoing this stuff.
You don't have to accomplisheverything at one time.
(39:52):
You accomplish, I wake up, Isay, look, I got three things
I'm gonna do today.
A, B, C.
And when you do that, thosethree things, you have you have
felt that you have accomplishedand you feel good about what you
did.
If you're trying to look at 15to do and you can't do it,
you're gonna feel like you'redefeated.
Right.
(40:12):
Just do three things.
That's all you need to do.
And every day you just moveforward higher and higher and
higher.
And tell people the last thingmost of the take care of your
body.
It's the only place you've gotto live.
Your body's the only place yougot to live.
So you better take care of it.
If you don't have time to workon your your wellness, you're
(40:35):
gonna you're gonna find it,you're gonna find time to to
work on your illness.
So true.
And and so that's true.
I eat healthy, I really do.
But I had that cheat day onSunday.
You know, I'm going for my MMs,and I'm going for something like
that because I'll eat them.
But you gotta have a you gottahave a cheat day, okay?
SPEAKER_03 (40:54):
Yeah, you gotta have a little fun.
SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
I and I do not share my MMs with nobody.
I don't.
I eat every one of them I can.
I'll eat them.
I eat every one of them.
SPEAKER_03 (41:04):
Well, I can tell you this.
What wrapping it up, I'm gonnasay everybody's listening.
If you follow the things thatRusty is explaining here, here's
a man who's how many marathonshave you run?
Maybe over 20, 20, 10 years ofmarathons and probably a few a
year.
SPEAKER_01 (41:19):
No, I I did, I did, I did 10 professional marathons.
I did, I trained for one everyyear.
Uh 10 years.
And that's what I did.
That's what I did.
But I but I've been out therefor 20 years walking.
SPEAKER_03 (41:33):
So, yes, I'm just gonna say, you've run 10
marathons.
You've covered almost 75,000miles on walking.
And if you're gonna take someadvice on how to live a good
life and live it right, this isthe man to listen to.
Live it right, find a connectionwith your find, get get God or a
(41:53):
higher power in your life.
Say what you're gonna do, do it,and follow the instructions of
Rusty.
Get out there and make ithappen.
Don't quit.
Don't you do not.
Here's I'm gonna say it one moretime.
You do not, according to Rusty,you do not ever give up, right?
SPEAKER_01 (42:13):
Don't give up, don't give up.
Go the extra mile, and you willfind out that things happen when
you just think you're gonnaquit, is when it happens to you.
Because that's what happened tome.
I was about to give up untilthis happened to me, and that
man came, and it all turnedaround.
So, yes, it can happen, it doeshappen, and it will happen.
(42:35):
And I tell them all the time,keep going, keep going, you
know, it'll turn out good.
SPEAKER_03 (42:41):
So, thank you, Rusty.
Author of walk of life fromdeath to glory.
Yes, soon to be a motionpicture.
So if you want to get a moviemade about your life, listen to
Rusty and do not you say it,Rusty.
I'm gonna let you have thehonor.
What is it, that phrase?
SPEAKER_01 (43:00):
What are you going to do?
Are you gonna beat this or is itgoing to beat you?
SPEAKER_03 (43:05):
You do not give up, and that's Rusty Model.
Thanks for joining us today,Rusty.
What a great, inspiring episodeof Out of the Blue, the podcast.
Thank you, Jackie.
And um, oh my god, I hope to seeyou again, Rusty.
We're gonna check back with youbecause we're gonna follow you
along your career and yourwonderful things exploding.
SPEAKER_01 (43:23):
I'll I'll certainly appreciate that.
Jackie, I'm good to talk to you.
See you too, dear.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
Yes, thank you for your inspiring story.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01 (43:31):
I appreciate it, my dear.
And you take care of yourself.
You too.
Okay, have y'all have a goodone.
SPEAKER_03 (43:36):
You too.
Bye, everybody.
Thank you for joining us here onOut of the Blue.
Out of the Blue, the podcast.
Hosted by me, Vernon West.
Co-hosted by Jacqueline West,edited by Joe Gallo.
(43:59):
Music and logo by Vernon WestIII.
Have an out-of-the-blue story ofyour own you'd like to share?
Reach us at info at out of theblue-thepodcast.org.
Subscribe to Out of the Blue onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcast.
And on our website, out of thebluepodcast.org.
(44:24):
You can also check us out onPatreon for exclusive content.
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