#161 - Kylexandr Holin, Triathlete and Content Creator

Kylexandr Holin—better known as “Organic Ironman”—joins the pod for a raw and vulnerable conversation about identity, endurance, and fatherhood. From growing up in a single-parent household to nearly losing himself in corporate burnout and depression, Kyle opens up about the turning points that reshaped his life—including the death of a close friend, a life-saving dog, and the quiet strength of his mother.

Now on the verge of fatherhood, Kyle reflects on how triathlon helped him heal, how mentorship and media work with pro triathlete Justin Riele changed his direction, and what kind of legacy he hopes to leave for his daughter, Emrie. This is a powerful story of resilience, humor, healing, and the hard work of becoming the man you needed as a kid.

Kyle’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/organicironman/

Kyle/Justin’s YT: https://www.youtube.com/@justinriele

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
How's it going everybody? And welcome back to another
edition of the Stupid Questions podcast.
Today on the pod, we're going tobe talking with Kyle Zander
Holland. You may know him as Organic Iron
Man or just Kyle for short on Instagram.
He is the biographer behind Jessfrom all his YouTube channel and
is quite the athlete himself, soon to be new father and just
really awesome, well-rounded guywho obviously has jumped on the

(00:21):
pod to share his story with us. So thank you so much to Kyle for
coming on. Without further ado, want to
introduce you to my man Kyle Alexander Holland.
Literally just like a couple of weeks ago, I ordered a big, I
don't know, I forget how big it is, maybe like 30 inches.
A big stupid question saying that I'm going to stick up on
the wall. So I'm so excited for that to

(00:41):
get here. Yeah, it's going to be awesome.
I was thinking about doing like some streaming or something, but
then so that's where we kind of got the idea.
But then it just kind of like stuck and I love it so.
Yeah, that's cool. Where did you get yours?
Etsy I believe she got it through so OK I can send you.
I'll send you the link after this.
Right on, right on. Cool man.
Real quick before we get started, what is your last name?

(01:02):
Hollin HOLIN, Yeah. Oh, it says it there on the
screen you run. Nice.
Yeah, Kyle Xander is my first, my first real name.
Kyle Xander, Nice, Yeah. Is Do you have any family
members with that name in the past or is it your parents got
creative? Yeah, it's actually a funny
story. So I tell us a lot in like
sales, like sales meetings and things like that because it's

(01:22):
such a unique name and I'm told it's the only one in the world.
So my dad has two brothers, Alexand Mitchell.
And whenever they found out, my mom and dad found out that I was
going to be a boy. And my dad said, hey, let's name
him after one of my brothers. And my mom always said, great,
yeah, what? Which one?
And my dad said Kyle and my mom's like, who's Kyle?

(01:42):
So my uncle Alex, very successful, has been in Boeing
for like 40 years, engineer. And then Mitchell was a little
bit more outgoing, kind of a wild spirits.
And when he left the house at 16, he actually started male
dancing. He was, he was a stripper.
And his stage name, his stage name was Kyle Lavender.

(02:03):
My dad thought it'd be hilarious.
So my mom said absolutely no waywe're not naming him after
Mitchell's stripper name. Then at the end of the day, they
were fighting about it. Now it's my two uncle names.
So it's my first name, Kyle, which is my Uncle Mitch stripper
name and then Alexander, which is my other Uncle Alex's name,
so. That's so funny.

(02:24):
Nice man. Well, thanks for telling the
story. Well, dude, first of all, just
thank you so much for making thetime and for hopping on.
It's an honor to get to meet youin person.
I know we've chatted back and forth and probably interacted
some on the roulette lives here over the year and a half or so.
Yeah. Yeah.
Appreciate it, man. I don't.
Know I appreciate it big fan. I mean to some of the names that
have been on here just it's awesome to be a part of it.

(02:45):
Sharpie, Pearson, Kenny Connor, Luke McKenzie.
I think you had Mark Allen and then Tim Dawn, which was like
one of my first like real introductions in the sport.
So it's kind of now kind of be part of it so.
Oh, yeah, man. Well, yeah, I feel the same way.
I'm so honored that people say yes to come on here and let me,
like, pry into their private lives.

(03:07):
Yeah, dude. Well, sweet.
Well, there's a lot of things I'd love to ask you, but the
first question, you probably know what's coming.
But from your perspective, who is Kyle or?
Kyle has had many different versions and updates throughout
his life, and so the current Kyle that you're speaking to

(03:30):
today is about to become a father and someone that.
Next month, right? Next month, Yep, next month.
So about to be a father and someone that really found
himself through endurance sports, which is obviously why
we're connecting today. Yeah, that's awesome, man.
So how are you feeling about being a dad in?
Here. Oh, dude, I'm, I'm through the
roof. I didn't know the protocols of

(03:52):
when you're allowed to tell people.
And we found out very early. We found out four weeks into it
and I was so happy. Like she was like kind of scared
to tell me at first. I just started a new job and you
know, a lot of things were changing in our lives.
But like I was so excited and I was actually filming a video for
Justin and at the end of the video I actually got it on live.

(04:14):
I told him I was like hey I havesomething to tell you and I'm
about to be a dad. So I got his live reaction like
4 weeks into it and I went back to show my girlfriend, her name
is Shay. I showed her the video and she
said why did you tell him? I was like, I don't know, it's
like my best friend, why wouldn't I tell him?
She was like, you're not allowedto tell anyone until like 12
weeks. So I tell people that story all
the time just to show like how excited I actually am.

(04:35):
So I couldn't wait to tell anyone.
But after that I kept it a secret until 12 weeks and when
we got that final ultrasound andthen I started telling everyone,
obviously. Yeah, that's super exciting,
man. I look forward to being a dad
one day too, so I can only imagine what that feels like.
But with the 12 week mark, when you officially like sit down and

(04:56):
you get an ultrasound, how did that affect you in terms of just
like making it a real thing? Yeah, man, I mean, seeing,
seeing the actual like baby growing in there now, I'm not
going to lie. So a lot of the first
ultrasounds and now that I've gone through the process, I
always thought those first ultrasounds were like super like
detailed and you could see the baby's face.

(05:17):
All the no dude, you're seeing like almost like this little
fish. Yeah.
So now every time I look at someone's everyone's baby
announcements, I always zoom in on the ultrasound to see if they
had a good ultrasound technician.
But actually just seeing it, listening to the heartbeat,
dude, I mean, it's, it's unbelievable.
I actually made a joke when whenthe B was kind of doing the
heart rate and their baby heart rate sits at like one 45155

(05:41):
somewhere around there. I was like, oh, she's just
chilling in zone 2. Like, yeah, they'll be.
Had no idea what I was talking about but it was just like a
funny joke I called Shay. That's awesome, dude, man.
Well, yeah, you. So your life's about to change
in a big way then come in a few weeks, do you?
Yeah. I think so.
I mean, you know, everyone kind of talks about Oh yes, it's
definitely going to change. But I think I just, you know,

(06:04):
the partnership I have with Shay, I mean, we're amazing
teammates. So I know it's gonna be, you
know, pretty easy knowing that Ihave like a really strong
teammate behind me and obviouslyI'll do anything I can for her.
So yeah, we'll make it as easy as we can.
So. Yeah, right on, man.
So where are you from dude? Yeah.
So I'm actually originally from Pittsburgh and then I moved out
to Vegas about a little over three years ago now.

(06:26):
OK, what, what caused you to move to Vegas?
Yeah, I was. I was working remotely pre
COVID. I was remote for a while and I
actually became an uncle. My sister lives out here.
She moved out here about 8 yearsago.
And I would come out here prettyfrequently about 3-4 times a
year. And she made then she made me an
uncle and I was doing like the FaceTime uncle thing.

(06:47):
And you know, we started to say my name and I was just like
dude. And all day I was just thinking
about this kid and I was like, all right, I just want to be
close. And we didn't really have a real
close knit family growing up. So I wanted to be like that
present uncle. So I said, why stay in
Pittsburgh? I have no family.
Obviously I had a lot of friendsand a big network there, but I
was comfortable enough to, you know, make that jump and I'm

(07:08):
glad I did. Yeah, well, Congrats and that's
awesome family. Super important.
What was your childhood like then?
It was wrong. I mean, I mean, it was, it was
interesting. I, I am Filipino and my mom, so
my mom's Filipino, my dad's Dutch, my dad was in the Navy.
So that obviously equals that. My mom was a Filipino nurse.
So they met. They met that way.

(07:29):
And then we originally, I was born in Jacksonville and then we
lived in Belgium, Philippines, and then we moved to Pittsburgh.
My dad was running the ROTC program at Carnegie Mellon.
They separated shortly after we moved to Pittsburgh.
So it was just me, my mom and mysister for a while.
So you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of tough stuff
that kind of comes in. There's a single parent

(07:51):
household. So just trying to become like
the man of the house that, you know, 8 years old is, is tough.
But I'm glad, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way.
You know, they definitely brought a lot of like traumas in
my life. But now being able to like,
overcome that through whether that's therapy and now
triathlon, you know, I'm sort ofglad that that was my story, so.
Yeah, how old are you? I'm 33.

(08:13):
OK. Yeah.
So we're like basically the same.
I'll be 33 in September. When did you turn 33?
Right November. OK, nice.
Yeah. So you're about a year my senior
then? Yeah, exactly what year did you
graduate high school? So I graduated in 20.
When did I graduate 2011? OK, I was 2010.
Yeah, I was. I should have been 20.

(08:34):
Yeah. But yeah, I was late.
Where? Are you originally from what?
Yeah, so I grew up in, well, I was born in Brevard, NC, which
is like 20-30 minutes outside ofAsheville, very much mountain,
mountain town. Grew up there and then in
between North Carolina. Ended up moving to Tennessee for
College in 2020. Eleven.
Yeah. And then was there until last

(08:56):
October, my wife and I decided to move to Northern California.
Right. Yeah, we.
Were like, let's pay more taxes,let's go to.
California What's going on in Tennessee?
So I went to a college outside of Chattanooga, a private
university called Southern Adventist University, OK.
Cool. Yeah, usually like you're on
there. No, I didn't dude.

(09:17):
So well, I take it back. I mean, so in college they had a
triathlon and I did a singular triathlon and then then I did it
again and that's actually how I like started spending time with
my now wife. She like, we were spending some
time together working on a project at school, and then I
told her about this triathlon coming up and she was interested
in it. I was like, yeah, we're doing
it. So like, that was the first time
we actually trained for something.

(09:38):
It was crazy, man, because I waslooking at a Strava actually the
other day and we would go out for these like 5:00 AM bike
rides with no lights on a busy Rd.
I was like, why did we tried to kill her and me?
It's crazy. That's awesome.
Man, Yeah, but so dude, yeah, Filipino.
I just have to tell you, I livedin the Philippines for a year
when I was in College in Northern Luzon.

(10:01):
Unlike Have you heard of Pogut put?
Yeah, Yeah. That's like northern islands,
right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Northern Luzon, very tippy top, a little bit, maybe a little
further W than just like straight up north.
But yeah, gorgeous, gorgeous country, beautiful people.
Yeah, my mom's, my mom's from Davao, and that's where we lived
when it and me and me, Justin and the gang here, we play Geo

(10:23):
guesser a lot. So we're studying, I'm studying
my ages right now of locations if you're familiar with the
game. I'm actually not familiar.
With the game, we're addicted toit.
So essentially it's a game and you will get dropped a a pin in
Google Maps and you kind of haveto guess where it is in the
world. It's like 6767 rounds we usually

(10:44):
play and whoever is the closest essentially has gets the highest
point around. Oh.
That's like, I'll have to try toplay it sometime.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool dude.
Well, hey, so we have some definitely things in common.
So when I was 16, I don't know if you knew this like I lost my
father. And so, you know, when you're
talking about being man of the household from a young age at

(11:04):
16, I mean, what what does any 16 or 8 year old know about what
it means to be a man? But it definitely does change
you and I think accelerates the level of maturity in some ways
to where you, like, you kind of lose that sense of childhood and
you have to grow up pretty fast.When did you start to realize
that that was the case? And since then, have you ever
tried to kind of recalibrate or go back and just reprocess some

(11:29):
of those moments that you've gone through?
Oh, yeah. I mean, 100% it's, I think I, I
realized really early on, I mean, I still have very vivid
memories of, you know, my dad packing up and leaving and I
just knew that my life changed like after that moment.
I think when things really became a bigger picture of like,
Hey, I got to be the man is kindof when my mom would go to work.

(11:52):
And then I had to like watch my sister between, between when we
get home from school and my mom get home from work.
So I mean that, I mean, that wasn't, you could ask her.
She probably wasn't the best memories for her because I was
probably, I was mean, I was aggressive.
I was just, I didn't know what I, I didn't know what I was
doing at the end of the day, right.
So to kind of answer your question, I think what really,

(12:13):
you know, where I went back was rebuilding that relationship
with my sister. Now she's like my best friend.
Obviously, I moved out here because of her.
So yeah, I mean, just trying to raise her in the best way I
could. It wasn't probably the best.
But now we look back and we're really grateful that, you know,
we're still really close friendstoday.
Yeah, that's awesome. Did you go through a period when
you weren't super close? Oh yeah, it was.

(12:34):
I mean, it was, I would say frommiddle school till about my
junior year of college, I would say was that's.
Like the same as me with my sister.
Yeah, we were not, we were not close at all.
We we kind of hated each other. I resented her.
I I was playing college football, trying to keep my
scholarship and she was just outpartying, doing like whatever.
So I was, I was resentful to her.
She was resentful to me. So there was just a lot of back

(12:56):
and forth. But then my mom retired and
moved back to the Philippines. And then that's kind of what
brought us back together was like, Oh my God, it's literally
just me and you here. So we'll figure this shit out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's beautiful, man.
I think that it's so cool to be able to have the, especially as
we get older and start to have our own children and and build
families to rekindle like those childhood friendships because,

(13:19):
man, as kids we can be so mean, just like you just want to
murder that person. But then now it's like my sister
and I are closest as we've ever been.
We're probably the closest tightknit relationship of anyone in
our family. Oh, that's are they?
Is she in North Carolina? Closer to Cali to you?
So she's in Tennessee? Yeah, she lives right out where
we were at. Yeah, she married a great guy

(13:40):
who works for the university that we all graduated from.
So it's. Awesome, so it's you, your wife
and your sister and I'm assumingyour brother-in-law.
All four went to the same university.
Yeah. That's awesome.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So within like, so we're
Adventist or 7th Adventist Christians with we have like
several universities across the United States and some, it's

(14:01):
very common for us to kind of goto those and like, yeah, it's
like think of the Mormons at BYU.
Yeah. And like what kind of what it's
like. Yeah, yeah.
I like that. So dude, what do you when you
process through things, whether that's racing, whether that's
work or life and relationships, do you figure that you are more
of a processor of life through your head or through your heart?

(14:22):
I would say mind, body and soul on that answer honestly because
it it all ties together. Especially when you're like in
the in a dark place on a race orin a training, it's everything.
So you have to think about things I've overcome to make
this thing feel a little bit easier.
I then I, you know, I know I felt a lot more pain in the
heart throughout my life. So my heart rate going up to

(14:45):
17180 on this run isn't really like that bad.
So I would say like all three ofthem kind of coming together
when it comes to training and racing for me.
Yeah, for sure. That's a good answer.
Going back a little bit actuallyto like your mom and your dad,
all of us who are raised by our parents, we are some level of
mix between the two. Who do you think that you're

(15:06):
more like, your mom or your dad?My mom, my mom for sure.
I mean, just like, so a funny story is what I tell people all
the time. So my mom kind of raised me in
like TJ Maxx and Marshalls and within TJ Maxx and Marshalls,
you know, you really have to hunt.
And I, I was a Nike guy. I knew I was a Nike guy very
early on. And so she would make sure that

(15:27):
I, I would go and if she was like, if you want Nike, you have
to go here. So it was it's, you know, so I
would like look for, I would just search through all these
clothes, like just look for a Nike check, look for a Nike
check. And that that type of stuff just
kind of like translated into just it's, it's a weird answer,
but it's kind of translating allmy life of just kind of
searching for, you know, something that's not supposed to

(15:48):
be there, but is there, right. So whether that's, you know,
finding something good in a darkplace, that's kind of like how I
kind of go about everything. And that's why my mom kind of
taught me and, and raised me on a lot of stuff.
She understood that and I was going through a lot without my
dad there and being able to kindof kind of hone me in and just
be like, hey, things are hard, but it can always be harder, you

(16:09):
know, living in the Philippines.And I'm sure, you know, you kind
of understand this as well. You know, when you actually live
or or at least visit like a third world country, you're just
very more appreciative of just of the smallest things in life,
right? So I just kind of just look for
like the light in the darkness is and that's kind of the way my
mom kind of instilled in me. But I will say I do have some of

(16:29):
like my dad's tendencies. My, my sister calls me out all
the time about it. You know, we always made fun of
him growing up and you know, he loved bowling was like his
sport. I would definitely wouldn't say
my athletics came from my dad's side at all, but he he loved
bowling and I always, we always made fun of them for so long.
And now me and Justin in the summer months, we love to go
bowl. Like that's our thing.
I was just like things like that.

(16:50):
I am starting to become my dad in some aspects, but obviously a
very different version. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
No, there's a lot of beauty in that.
I mean, it took me up until likehonestly, about a year and a
half ago now, I went to this retreat.
And so with the way that I lost my dad, like he took his life
when I was 16, right? And you know, for a 16 year old

(17:12):
only guy in the family, 2 younger sisters and mom, there's
just a lot of baggage that came along with that.
But I think one of the biggest things was like, secretly deep
down, I didn't want my mom or mysisters or anyone to ever talk
bad about my dad, even though helike made these decisions that
like, obviously if I could change or, you know, I don't
condone them by any stretch of the imagination.

(17:32):
But for a while, like, I held onto the fact like, Oh, I, I need
to be like him to some degree. But as I got a little bit older
and calloused, I started to likereally shun all of the character
traits that I had that I think reflected him love for music
artists, artistry like painting,drawing type of stuff, just the
creative sides. And I kind of pushed that away
and try to disassociate from it.But when I went to this retreat,

(17:55):
it really taught me through thisexercise we did where I wrote
down like all of the positives, all of the negatives of like my
mom and my dad, and then circle the ones good and bad of what
that I had kind of taken on or had become kind of a part of me.
And for the longest time, I tookthe good and the bad aspects of

(18:15):
like my dad and just kind of wrote them off.
But in this instance, like I wasto sit there and there was a
person kind of holding space forme when I was like, almost like,
thank my father for the good things that he gave to me.
Dude, I broke me down. I was bawling my eyes out.
But it gave me the opportunity to realize like, wow, like I
even though some people do really terrible things, you

(18:36):
can't throw away the good thingsthat they did.
There's a lot to be thankful. Yeah, 100 and I think that's
just really it's form of therapy, right?
That retreat that you went to. I mean, you weren't sitting
there with just one person and just kind of talking about your
feelings. You know, retreats for a lot of
people was actually a little bitbetter than just like one-on-one
situations. And you really do get to really

(18:57):
think, you know, more than just what you perceived.
You know, just like you said, like you try to disassociate
from your, you know, things thatyour dad did.
But you know, the more that you actually sat down, you know, the
actual the writing it down aspect, that's probably like, oh
wow, this is he did give me someof his best traits.
So I mean, the things that I tryto look at look at it like that
as well. So that was that was beautiful.

(19:18):
Yeah. So now as you're coming into
like being a dad, have you thought a lot about?
And it seems like you've thoughta lot about it because like
you're wearing this dad hat. Yeah, you.
Like that? Yeah.
Logo. Yeah.
And I've seen your Instagram post so like, you know, you
know, the big the big day comingup in August and you know,
obviously this is going to be a big part for you, but have you

(19:39):
done a lot of thinking about like with the kind of dad you
want to be? Oh, I, I've been thinking about
what kind of dad I wanted to be for years, way before I met
Shay, way before, you know, I got into any real serious
relationship. I always knew that, you know, I
wanted to rewrite history and, and do it the right way, right.
So I've always just tried to become the man that, you know, I
really thought should have been in my life.

(20:00):
So, yeah, I mean, I've been thinking about for for a long,
long time. And now that it's like finally
here it's. It's killing me because we're
like a little over a month away.And I, I tell people all the
time, I used to buy fake fake Jordans in high school.
Whenever you'd buy fake Jordans in high school, they would come
from China and it would take like three to six weeks for them

(20:21):
to come. And that's the period where I
feel like I'm in. I'm like, I'm waiting so long
for this year. But like, I just obviously it's
not a fake. It's not a fake pair of Jordans,
but that, yeah, I was like, wow,like it's finally here.
Like I can't, I can't wait for that.
And it's funny because, you know, Shay, she doesn't want me
to like push her into into like sports, athletics, things like

(20:41):
that, which I definitely don't want to.
I've obviously very much encourage it, but I definitely
don't want to like, you know, shove things down her throat.
Because I've also seen the othersides too, of, you know,
families and my friends that have had their dad, dad in their
lives. And, you know, they're shoving,
you know, sports down their throat.
And then eventually they're justlike fall out of love, right?
Where, you know, I kind of fell in love with everything that I
came in because I fell into it by myself.

(21:03):
So I'm going to use those same type of tactics with her and
just whatever she's, whatever she kind of leans into, we'll go
all in just like, just like I'lldo on stuff.
So. Yeah, what's her name gonna be?
Or yeah, we're. Gonna We're gonna name her Emery
EMRIE Emery. Nice.
It's a beautiful name. Thank you.
So Fast forward 25 years. She's married maybe?

(21:25):
Or getting married soon. What kind of if I was to ask her
then like, oh, what's your dad like?
How do you want her to respond? Man, just I just want to be that
goofy dude that just loves to dohard stuff.
Like that's just that's why I want her to follow after me.
Like Oh my God, my dad did this.My dad did to the fact that it's
just normal for her, right? So and I just want her to be

(21:46):
somebody that's I just want to be somebody for her that, you
know, is protective of her. She feels very, very safe and
she feels real love around me, right.
So, you know, a little bit on mysister's side, you know, without
having my dad there and having that like true dad love.
She didn't really know what lovewas supposed to look like.
A lot of her relationships were very questionable.

(22:06):
She she put herself in some, youknow, weird situations because
she didn't know. And then once she found her
husband today, you know, she sawwhat real love was supposed to
look like, but it took her a long time, a lot of trial and
error where that's something that I don't want for Emory, you
know, I want her to know what, you know, love and self worth is
really what really is. So that way, you know, when it
does come to the the day that she gets married, she picked a

(22:28):
guy, not not because of something that her dad didn't
give her. It's something like that, what
true love is supposed to feel like.
I'm glad you said that, man, because I feel like there's a
pandemic, an actual pandemic of,of like fatherlessness, even
with dads that are in the home. But like a dad who shows like
you're saying through example, like that's how we all learn how
to be adults, right? But especially for girls, I feel

(22:50):
like it's especially hard when they don't have a dad in the
picture. Yeah, 100%.
You know, I want her to see, youknow, I come off from a bike
ride and I go and kiss Shay and kiss, you know, kiss her mom.
I go and hug her mom all the time, you know, and her mom are
laughing at stuff like I want her to see those things because
I didn't get to see those things.
And you know, myself, I didn't know what really love was too.
You know, I was trying to chase these things I was hearing in

(23:10):
movies and songs. I didn't really know what love
was either. So, you know, I just want to
show her what true love is supposed to be like and what
true happiness supposed to be like with, you know, another
partner. Yeah.
What happened in your life that started to give you the light
and direction to look toward it?Where like Love Actually is and
what it should look like in a relationship?
Yeah, I, I would say actually once my, one of my best friends

(23:31):
died growing up, we were high school friends.
It was, it was, it was a really tough moment for me.
I was, it was around the time mymom was ready to, you know,
start to retire and move back tothe Philippines.
My sister was getting Rena readyto move to Vegas.
And I, I just felt like very alone and it put me in a really
dark place. I was, that was the probably the
most depressed I've ever felt inmy life.

(23:52):
I felt like I had no one, even though I still had like a really
big group of friends and, you know, I would see people every
day. But just like that loss like
really hit me and I was really big.
So like after, after college, I graduated in 2014.
I was like climbing the corporate ladder and you know,
within that corporate ladder, you know, going to happy hours,

(24:12):
you go on these lunches, you're drinking cigar bars.
You know, I was just a very unhealthy, very unhealthy state.
I was just digging a really big hole.
I got up to like 330 lbs and then and then Matt and then my
that's who, that's who passed mybuddy Matt.
And that it just, it just kind of woke me up like, dude, it's
and, and it brought me some pretty dark alleys to, you know,

(24:34):
very similar situations. You know, what the, the thoughts
that your dad had that much likewhere I was in life.
And it, it got to the point where it was, it almost
happened. And I, I actually looked at my
dog Millie. I've had her, she's, she's about
to be 12. I've had her since college.
And I looked over at her and I was just like, I can't, I don't

(24:54):
think I could do this. So, you know, I was telling
people Millie's like saved my life.
And from that day on, I got intothe gym the next day and I
started moving my body. And this is like a couple years
before I really got on triathlon, but I started moving
my body again. I started to train with one of
my buddies. He played in the CFL and he
would train me. We would just go back, do

(25:14):
college football drills because,you know, football I would say
is one of the only sports where when it's over, it's really
over. Like you're not just going to go
pick up on a game, you know, on a weekend with a couple guys to
go play a game of football. Really like when the last time
you put on that helmet is, is probably the last time you're
ever going to put on the helmet.So, and being able to like do
the same type of drills and, andjust kind of workouts that I was

(25:35):
doing in college, like I was just feeling so much better
about life. And then that just kept it just
kept trickling down into where we are today.
So I would say, you know, losing, losing my friend, going
through that dark day and then literally the next day getting
into the gym is what really liketurned the light on for me.
Yeah, wow, man. Yeah.
So there's a lot to unpack therebecause I was looking at even an

(25:57):
Instagram post that you shared with Shay and she was doing a
little monologue about, you know, when you're coming
through, you didn't like your swim, you didn't like your bike
and you're kind of being hard onyourself.
And and she was going through just, I guess, bringing light to
the fact that you had put in so much work for so many years to
to come to these moments. So for you, you know, as you

(26:20):
started to step away from that lifestyle, trying to be
obviously more healthy physically, but mentally, what
were some of the trainings that you really did have to do to get
to where you wanted to go? As far as mentally?
Mentally, yeah, Physically, I mean, you can impact all, yeah.
I think the mental side came from therapy just because I knew

(26:42):
how scary that day was and that's definitely not normal.
And I'm glad to have the awareness of that.
So once I started moving, I was like, OK, I'm feeling better,
like moving around now. Let's try to look like what's
really under the hood in the brain.
So, you know, I went to AI, wentto a therapist.
We went pretty, pretty deep for,you know, about 8 to 9 months,

(27:03):
like almost like 2, sometimes 3,three times a week, just kind of
depending on schedule. But yeah, I mean, it was it was
very intense. It was very intense and that
real and it, and it just kind ofand, and what I really loved
about that therapy was that it wasn't just, you know, leaning
back and just giving me praise and all these things.

(27:24):
It was really just like, Hey, listen, you, you fucked up and
but this, but This is why now this is what it would look like
when you do things the right way.
So, you know, she she did a really good job of just like
understanding me as a person andI didn't really feel like I was
just a client and it was somebody that I actually felt
really trustworthy because I I don't like things sugar coated.

(27:44):
Like I want things raw. Give me the truth right away.
So the fact that, you know, she was talk to me just exactly how
I needed to was something that really helped me mentally.
And then honestly, the physical part of it as well with the
which is exercising. That also helps mentally too.
I mean, you just get like such abetter like clarity after like a

(28:04):
workout And then yeah. So I would say just between the
therapy and then just getting mybody moving again was something
that really took me out of the out of the darkness.
Yeah, it's something I think that's so special as well, about
just kind of crossover between therapy and endurance sport.
So there's this process called like EMDR therapy.
You ever heard of it? EDMR.

(28:25):
Or EMDR, I can't remember what it stands for but it has to do
with bilateral stimulation. So like moving two sides of your
body. Sometimes it can be done with
like sounds and clicking, but basically you do some type of an
activity where you have that bilateral stimulation where the
brain is firing left and right. And then you can reprocess

(28:46):
through memories And for whatever reason, it kind of
helps with the logical and the emotional sides of like getting
to the root of what's going on. And then, you know, whatever
kind of relation you need to draw or conclusion, you need to
draw internally to find peace with whatever the event or thing
is that you've gone through triathlon.
And it really helped with that because like I was held at
gunpoint at one time and it, it like messed me up, dude.

(29:07):
And I went and did this therapy and it was sitting in a chair
and there was this lady or this guy who was doing like the sound
thing by both sides or sometimesI held buzzers in each hand,
kind of reprocessing this memory, trying to find peace
with it. And it's I was like, it kind of
clicked. I was like, oh, this is
literally with triathlon. It's like I can be on my bike

(29:28):
and pedaling for hours, so I should try to do this.
And like literally it became a time especially like the long
Zone 2 rides when you don't haveto focus on keep the power or
whatever as much. It became such a just an amazing
form of being able to work through craziness.
Yeah, I would say I felt that onmy first run.
I picked up, I honestly picked up.

(29:49):
I picked up Triathlon Kovid. I just went on a run.
The whole city of Pittsburgh wasshut down.
So like I'm just gonna go for, I'm gonna go for a run.
And I felt that instantly like afterwards.
And then I was just hooked afterthat.
I was, I was obsessed after thatfirst run.
I my first run was like 5.6 miles.
I used to track in like the Nikeapp and I was just obsessed.
I was like, I feel amazing. And then it's just another drug.

(30:12):
I just was like, I'm addicted. I'm in.
Yeah. Or did you ever have to let go
of other drugs? Did you?
No, no, I never had. I never had a drug problem.
No, never. So talk to me about.
Another, another jug of just like, wow, this is like, this
feels good. This feels good, Yeah.
No, it totally does. And I've gone out on many a bike

(30:33):
ride or run an Earth swim, like upset about something.
And then you push really hard and it's amazing how the spirit
breaks after the body does. So if you can break the body,
almost like breaking a horse, then the world's problems don't
ever seem as intense when you don't have the energy to waste
on them. Yeah, exactly.
And I've been dealing with that.I'm sure you saw I've been

(30:54):
dealing with a back injury sinceDecember, and man, not being
able to physically move the way I'm used to, it was rough.
I mean, work seemed a lot like work was a lot harder than it
ever has been. And I was like, it's not like
that the work picked up. It was just like, now that I
don't have this thing that make it feel a little bit easier,
it's just like, whoa, something's off here.
So yeah, man, being able to, youknow, really break down your

(31:17):
body, it just translates to likeevery other bucket in my life
for. Sure.
Yeah, yeah. What is the latest with your
back? Yeah, it's good.
Yes. Last week was my first full
week. I think we did almost almost 13
hours. So that's good.
Happy about it. Yeah, I'm happy about it was.
That was a long road. I wouldn't wish that injury on
my worst enemies. That was herniating a disc is
not fun. Yeah, well, how did it actually

(31:40):
come about? Like the herniated disc?
Yeah, I actually think, I actually think it's a pretty
funny story. It was in December.
We were going to Florida with mygirlfriend's family for vacation
and we had an early flight. We were getting out of the Uber
at like 520 and I pulled her luggage.
It was 30 lbs as we weigh our bags after before every flight
and I pulled her bag out of the Uber like this.

(32:01):
I was like oh something's something's off.
I was just in so much pain the whole flight down to Florida.
Like 11 out of 10 paying had a good deal like right after I it
was a mess. But during that time we were
pregnant, we didn't know. And I think it's just like a
weird sign of telling me to likekind of slow down, focus on Shay

(32:21):
because her first trimester was like really rough.
So I think it was like a sign from whatever anyone believes
in. There's a sign from above that
told me to like, hey, slow down.Let's focus on Shay right now.
Because all she has been doing is focusing on you and your
racing and building your brands.Let's focus on her and the baby
right now. So I, I think that's why I think

(32:42):
that's the best way I look at myinjury.
Like yes, it sucked, but it alsogave me a chance to like kind of
slow down and really focus that energy on Shay and the baby.
Are you religious? So I actually grew up, I grew up
in Catholic, so I'm Filipino, right?
So I mean, I think outside of the actual Vatican City, there's
the most like Catholics in. In the Philippines.
Out here in the Philippines, Yeah.

(33:03):
Tim Tebow does a lot of retreatsdown there in the Philippines.
And I'm sorry. I grew up.
I grew up in Catholic school. I did step away from the church
once I got into college, even though I went to like a liberal
arts Catholic University. I kind of just stepped away just
because, you know, it was shoveddown my throat.
It was just shoved down my throat.
And I was just like, this is thelast thing I want to do on a
Sunday. You know, you play on on in

(33:24):
college, you play your games on Saturdays and then you go out
Saturday night. So the last thing I want to do
is go to church, you know, Sunday morning, right?
So I kind of stepped away from the church a little bit.
So I would say I'm not as much religious as I am spiritual now,
you know, I just a lot of the things that I've experimented
with, I just became a little bitmore spiritual than religious.
But a lot of the stuff that the church, you know, indoctrinated

(33:49):
in me still kind of holds today.You know, like I'm, I'm, I
still, you know, want to hold the, I still want to hold the
door open for the old lady, you know, the things, things like
that, right? So I would say that, you know, a
lot of that stuff still is instilled in me.
But as far as like actively going to church, that is
something I do not do right. Yeah, but you so your
relationship or believing in God, like who is God to you?

(34:12):
Man, who is God? To me, God is.
God is like the person that created all of this.
You could look at God as a man, you could look at God as a
woman, you could look at God as anything you want, in my
opinion. Do I think it was a blonde
haired, you know, white guy in Jerusalem?

(34:35):
I don't know. Like as far as his story, I do
think there's a man named Jesus,but as far as like what the
Bible's telling me, I'm not 100%like convinced about that.
But I do know there's a higher being.
There is somebody that created this.
There isn't. There's somebody that's, you
know, we, you feel it, you feel that sometimes, right?
There is something there. I just don't know if it is like

(34:58):
the God that the Catholic Churchlike told me who it was supposed
to be like in all of the, the textbooks and things like that.
I don't think it's just that person.
I mean, historically a blonde haired guy in Jerusalem just
doesn't equal right. So it's like things like that.
So, but no, I do think there's ahigher power and I do know that
there's somebody much higher than us.
Yeah, thanks for unpacking that.Do you think that it well, let

(35:22):
me ask you this with like that relationship with God or you
know, you said you you sometimesyou feel it or you know, what
are some things you've experienced that have just
cemented in you that like, yeah,there is a higher there is a
creator. I would say it's my like my
angels really. So like my grandfather and then

(35:44):
my best friend Matt. I mean, there's been times where
like I felt them just, you know,there was a time when I
actually, so where me and Justinmet, it was actually an upstart.
And when I got that job, I went on a hike right after I got the
offer and I just like looked up and I just felt my grandfather
just like knowing that he was like super, super proud of me.

(36:05):
Like I felt him there and just like, good job.
Like if things like that, I really feel more of my angels
than anything because the peoplethat I've lost, I feel like
their souls like still kind of hold on to me.
And like I feel those feelings. There's a lot of times where you
know, me and my me and my friendMatt, we have we, you know, me
and him laughed at like very particular things.
And there'll be things I'll see in my life where I like, I'll

(36:26):
laugh like really hard where I'mcrying that I know the only
other person that's going to laugh that hard is Matt.
And like sometimes I'm like, I feel like he's sitting in the
front seat with me type of thing.
So I definitely feel my angels more than anything for sure.
So if you get the opportunity orwhen you get the opportunity to
like meet Matt again face to face, what are what is the first
thing you think you'll say? Oh dude, he's going to say he's

(36:47):
proud of me. I mean, I carry so in the back
of my triathlon jersey, you know, I put his name on there.
I mean, everything that I do is because of him because I know
how I that's when I, that was the moment I realized how
fragile life was. And you know, I'll never take a
day for granted again after that.
So, you know, I know he was justgoing to be proud of me.
I mean, there's been times I wasracing because I'm very close

(37:09):
with his mom and dad still when I tell them stories all the
time. And there was a recent story,
the second time I did Boulder 70.3, he was with me 1000%.
Like I was on the bike just hammering it and I was like,
dude, he's with me right now. So things like that, man, I was
just like, wow, it's just, I know he's going to be proud of
me. I mean, because I could have, I
mean, where we grew up, I mean, you know, I, I could have been

(37:30):
just like him, you know, I couldhave fallen into drugs.
I could have fallen into a, you know, a really bad, you know,
bad crew. And I probably couldn't,
wouldn't be here. So, you know, once you know, he,
you know, chose the route that he did during that time, I
actually did separate because, you know, I was in college and I
was trying to keep a scholarshipand I knew he was going down a
bad, a bad road. And that could have easily been
me. So now that he's gone, I try to

(37:52):
do my best to, you know, really live for him and do everything
in his in his honor because, youknow, he taught me so much and I
probably want to be the same person I am today without him.
And then obviously after his passing out, I mean, I'm a very
different guy after that for sure.
Yeah man it is crazy how when welose something or someone close
to us it it just really underlines the fragility of life

(38:14):
and how we can be here 1 moment and just be totally gone the
next. I know, man, I take it for I
take, I take every day. Every day is just thankful and
just, you know, I'm I'm happy every single day because I could
be dead. So that's our that's the way I
try to look at things. Yeah, for sure.
So Speaking of like, friends andclose friends, tell me about
your relationship with Justin, because for those who don't

(38:35):
know, like, you obviously help him with his YouTube.
You get to be obviously a very close friend and confidant.
Like, how did you meet him? How did this whole thing kick
off? Like, yeah.
Yeah, so we we were working at Upstart at the same time.
And at Upstart there was a Slack.
There's a Slack chance for everything.
And you know, these these, you know, a lot of these large
organizations, they try to, you know, bring people into these

(38:57):
groups and just like minded people.
And there was a channel on Slackcalled Fit Starters.
And essentially it was just likea fitness channel for all the up
starters, people that are just into fitness.
And that's I was already about ayear into racing when I joined
upstart and Justin posted one ofthe days is like, Hey, I'm doing

(39:19):
an Iron Man. I'm like, what?
Who is like, who is this guy? So he's like, here's my tracking
info sent like the Iron Man tracking like how to track him.
I watch him like, Oh my God, this dude just won.
Like who is who is this guy? So like after after that
happened, I reached out to him. I was like, dude, you really
just won that. Like that's crazy.
You go see, Oh yeah, this is my second win.

(39:39):
I'm like, what? So we started getting connected
that way and he was a little bit, he was at a higher level
than I was as far as positions. He was in marketing.
I was on the recruiting side andI was like, he's like younger
than me. He's like a manager.
And I'm like, who is this guy? He's winning 70.3.
I'm like, who is this guy? I started chatting with him on

(40:00):
Slack. And then, you know, I was asked,
I was like, dude, can you be my mentor?
You know, just kind of he's he was also in the company for
about two years before I was. So he knew like the insides and
outs and obviously I wanted to climb within the company.
So I feel like this was somebodythat could really understand me
as an athlete as well as someonethat's working full time and
just, you know, how to kind of get to that next step.
So I asked him to be my my mentor.

(40:23):
So, you know, we would have likebi weekly meetings, just 30
minutes of just like talking about, you know, our lives work
and, you know, just any questions that I had for him.
And one, one of the second meetings or one of the early
meetings that we had, I told himI was like, yeah, I'm actually
moving to Vegas. He goes, dude, I live in Vegas.
And I was like, I'm moving to this city called Henderson.

(40:44):
He goes, I live in Henderson. I'm like, what?
This is crazy. This is crazy.
Well, eventually I moved. Eventually I moved out here.
And then he invited me over to our swim.
We have an awesome swim group here in Henderson.
There's usually anywhere betweenabout four to about 7 guys at
any given day. And he just brought me under his
wing and he was just letting me swim with him.
I was learning a lot. I was getting faster.

(41:05):
I was like, this is awesome. And then during that time,
obviously he was still racing. And then, you know, I was
looking at his socks. He's doing really well.
And then he was talking about going pro.
And you know, I was watching YouTube a lot and you know, I'm
seeing Sam's videos, Lionel's videos.
At that time, I really didn't know how big they weren't in the
sport yet. I mean, I knew them good, but
like I was still very, very fresh into the triathlon scene.

(41:26):
And you know, these guys, these pros, they have these YouTube
channels. I mean, the things that you're
doing are kind of nuts. Like do you kind of want to film
something and and get some like a Instagram reel or something
like that? Because you know, that's kind of
what I was doing. I was doing like the Instagram
reels is more of like a vloggingthe journey type of thing.
And I was like, I would love to do that for you.

(41:46):
He was like, all right, how muchI was like I just kind of want
coaching. I was I was getting, I was
getting coached by some some guys back in Pittsburgh and it
was like good, it was decent coaching, but I could not break
the six hour mark like 6 out. Like I wanted to go sub six
hours since I started like aftermy first race and I just wasn't
getting there. I was kind of close like 6/26/10

(42:08):
I was getting close, but I told Justin I was like, dude, I want
to, I want to get in, I want to get in and get coaching and I'll
do whatever you want to do on the media side.
So that's kind of how the the relationship started as kind of
I wanted a coach by obviously someone that I trusted.
And then I did have some some media skills I could bring to
the table instead of paying, youknow, the 2 to $400.00 a month

(42:29):
that coaching usually cost nowadays for athletes.
Yeah. So how long ago was that the
beginning of that start? Oh man, that's it's been over 2,
two years now or three years since I met him.
I think the channel is about 2 1/2 years.
Yeah, 2 1/2 years slack. They're slack.
Yeah. Real life.
Real life is picking me. Yeah.
So with the the journey, how's it been going with the YouTube?

(42:52):
Like obviously your skill set has continued to grow and expand
in that in that arena. Yeah, you just been awesome.
And you know, I think the the best thing is with Justin, it's
that, you know, we shoot stuff that we just do.
It's not rehearse, you know, it's not like rehearse.
It's not like a script. Like, you know, he doesn't say,
hey, come from up this day. It's you know, what's also cool
about our training and him beingmy coach is that we're

(43:14):
essentially doing the same workouts each day, just
obviously very different intervals and levels and watts
and and times and all that stuff.
So like today is today's, today's Tuesday.
So we swam this morning and thenwe ran, I swam with him.
I'm going to run later. He ran right after.
So like we're doing the same stuff every day.

(43:35):
So it just was easier to like bring a camera.
It was like, OK, well, you know,if you're going to ride 4 hours,
I ride, I'll ride 3 and I'll film for an hour.
So it's just like very, no pun. It's very organic, right?
So it's, it's not something forced and it's just something
fun to do, right. And I love just kind of
documenting the journey. I mean, that's how Organic Iron
Man really started was, you know, I wanted to document the

(43:56):
journey and kind of cool that I could, you know, bring that same
type of vibe into, you know, what we're doing with Justin.
Yeah, that's awesome. So the more important question
though, is did you break six hours?
I did. I did, yeah.
So I think here I'll pull up. I'll pull up the time.
So done. 870 point threes now one. 870 point threes yeah, I've
done a couple Olympic, done a couple Olympics, did a first

(44:19):
full in Maryland, slight asterisk next to it because the
swim is cut short. So I still don't feel like a a
real Iron Man yet, but the the first full will will come.
So all right. So the best time before I
started training with Justin wassix hours and 25 minutes in

(44:39):
Boulder and then after work, andthat was in 2022 and then Indian
Wells, which is usually Decemberof every year.
Any I was 2023, I did 528. So that was, that was a big jump
just working with. And so as soon as that happened,
I mean, I was already hooked before.
I was already hooked before that.

(45:00):
So but after that I was like, dude, I'm all in.
Whatever you want me to do, I'lldo so.
What is your What is your new goals now?
What are your aspirations? Your goal is sub five, dude, I
definitely could do sub five. You know, I definitely could be
a sub 30 minute swimmer and I just need to bring that.
That's half marathon down sub two hours.
If I could run like a 150, I could be in this sub five hours.

(45:21):
So obviously the injury wasn't great, but we're building back
and hopefully we're building back better so.
Yeah. Do you have plans?
I mean, it's gonna be, I imagine, hard to still train
with the baby girl on the way. But are you, do you have any
plans to race the rest of this year?
Yeah, so I'm going to do one. I'm going to do 1 triathlon this
year in October. It's like a local, it's like a

(45:41):
local race here in Vegas called Pumpkin Man and it's going to be
an Olympic distance and it'll becool because you know, Emory was
going to be a couple months old.So you know, we'll have her in
the stroller out. It's going to be nice and cool.
So not a full commitment of likea 70.3 with like the money and
things like that. So something local just to like
get my feet wet again. And yeah, it's in my backyard.

(46:02):
So I'm definitely gonna do it. I'm going to do a race this
year, but definitely not like mytypical cadence like I've been
doing. Yeah, for sure.
So what professionally like withwhat you're doing, you're still
working with Upstart? No.
So I actually got laid off. Wait, I'm.
Sorry, 2023 yeah, I mean tech tech just been a rough market to
be and honestly the last the last couple weeks.

(46:24):
So yeah, so I got laid. I got laid off at tech systems
and then now I'm working for agency that essentially supports
venture capital firms. And whenever those VCs invest in
these start-ups, you know, they could be anywhere from a two
person shop all the way up to like a 40 to 60 person shop.
And they don't have what it takes to do true talent
acquisitions. So I kind of act as a internal

(46:47):
recruiter for a lot of these start-ups.
So that's I'm still in the tech space, but definitely not for
startup anymore. I'm sorry.
Do you like where you're at? Yeah, I love it.
I mean, I love tech recruiting. It's a it's a form of sales, but
instead of like selling a product, I'm selling like, hey,
do you want a 10% raise with some equity?
Like, you know, so it's a littlebit, a little bit easier.
And I just like having an impacton people's lives.
I mean, there's been so many times where I place people and

(47:08):
you know, they're like, dude, you completely changed my life.
Like now me and my wife could buy a house and like all this
stuff. So stuff like that.
It's very, it's very meaningful work for sure.
So if you were to Fast forward your life, you know, 15 years,
20 years, where do you think that you would want to be on all
fronts from professionally to getting your sub 4 Iron Man to,
excuse me, 70.3? Yeah, sub 5, sub five.

(47:32):
I'd love to be sub five, honestly, 15 years from now,
man, Obviously I would love to just still be considered a cool
dad from from memory. And honestly, I would love to
continue where I'm. I still love tech recruiting,
whether that's going to be in house or agency type of work.
You know, I love recruiting and having that impact on people.
And I love tech Tech's tech's booming right now.

(47:54):
So I, you know, I love being a part of that.
And as far as where I wanted to be with like Justin and where
we're at, I would love it just to continue to grow.
I mean, it's growing organicallyagain, no pun, but yeah, I just
wanted to, I just wanted to keepgrowing.
And I really love like the, you know, the now when I go to
races, whether that's with him or without him, you know, people

(48:14):
just come up and like, dude, I love your words.
Like I love this video. It helped me do this.
It helped me do that. So again, being having a more
impact on people's lives is, is something that's just very
meaningful for me. Yeah, that's super special, man.
Well, yeah, you definitely put it in the work.
I mean, two years continue to ifyou continue to keep doing it.
There's one thing I've learned in this life.
It's just that consistency ends up paying off and and does

(48:36):
amazing things. Like even the podcast I've been
doing it now for. Yeah, it's been 2 years now
actually, like in a few days I think.
Yeah. Thanks man.
Yeah, it's been really fun. But even if I was to completely
stop this tomorrow in this, the number of people that I've
gotten to meet one-on-one, it's just so cool to sit down for an

(48:57):
hour or so with people and hear their back stories and the
things that they've done. Because it's really given me a
lot of perspective on how I justchew through just the thoughts
in my own head, the different things I've got going on.
So I can only imagine that you've gotten to experience
similar things with seeing more and more people and just the
work that you do. Yeah, it's cool.
It's, you know, we went from barely knowing each other to

(49:20):
becoming really good friends andnow we're travelling the world
together, which is really cool. I mean, we've been to some
really cool places already and Iwould love that to continue.
So I mean, I, it's funny, I see,I see Talbot, you know, going on
going to Frankfurt without what,you know, without final there.
I don't think I could do that. You know, I, you know, I, as far
as, you know, a lot of other athletes have asked me like,

(49:40):
hey, can you shoot this? You can shoot that.
You know, I was like, if, if like my schedule lines up, I
will. And I'd be open to it.
But I like, I just like doing itfor adjusting because it, again,
it's that organic feel. It's, it's not something I have
to script. It's just me and my buddy just
essentially together and we're filming it.
So yeah. You ever think you could or
would you have any interest in never turning that like side of
your life into a business? I can see it.

(50:02):
I mean, we're, I mean, the jump from last year to this year is
pretty significant. So I mean, I think, I think last
year I only made about 1000 bucks in net just from
everything that I was doing. But this year it's a lot more
than that. So it's, it's kind of cool to
kind of see it growing. And but again, you know, what's
really cool is that, you know, he has a full time job that pays

(50:23):
the bills. I have a full time job that pays
the bills and triathlon is just a fun hobby that we get to do.
So it's not like we have to, youknow, make this thing work for
us to, you know, feed our families.
Our families are fed and essentially our families are
just bad that we hang out so much and talk to each other so
much. So it's it's more or less just
like, let this let this thing grow and see where it comes.
But yeah, right now it's really just like small incremental

(50:45):
goals of, you know, you know, wewant to get to like 5K on
YouTube. We want to get 5K on Instagram.
He already hit that very early on.
I think. I think Oceanside kind of helped
with that a little bit on that fast bike split.
But yeah, just setting these like small incremental goals
that are very achievable and then, you know, continue to
build on that each year is wherethe world growth is going to
come. So I'm really excited to see

(51:06):
what, 15 years? And I don't know if Justin will
still be racing pro in 15 years,but at after 15 years and
whenever his racing is done, youknow, at least the fact that we
still had an impact on people's lives, especially on the
amateurs side, right? We see a lot more of the
amateurs reaching out to us and asking us questions, and a lot
of his questions and answers I'dreally always tie back into the
amateur side because we know that's where most of the target

(51:28):
audience is. And being able to, you know,
impact these people's lives in apositive way is like very
meaningful for both of us. So money aside, it's just
something fun that we love to doand something we could build our
friendship around, so it's really cool.
Right on, man. So what's next on the docket for
you in terms of travel? Yeah.
Next, we're looking at Boise. Boise's Boise's one that's

(51:49):
coming up the end of this month.And I'm not saying that he has a
good chance. He has a good chance of having a
really good day. So he's been putting in a lot of
work. So I would love that.
And then Emmy comes and I won't be able to do a lot of his other
races. I think he's targeting Cozumel
and a couple other races at the end of this year.
So definitely won't be able to join that.
But we'll definitely do the racerecaps.

(52:11):
We'll do all the training stuff.But after after Emory's here at
the end of the year, we'll 100% be focused around her.
I'll go and shoot all the recapsand whatever videos I can do.
Yeah, cool man. Awesome.
Well, dude, thank you so much for taking the time.
Let me jump into your life storyand everything that you've got
going on. And it's been fun to see the
trajectory, obviously from your past perspective and where

(52:32):
you're going into the future. I wish you all the best, of
course, and especially with being a dad, that number one
thing. Super exciting times to be
alive. But yeah, thank you so much for
being on man. Man, thanks for having me.
Excited to kind of see the feedback of this.
Yeah, it'll be fun. It'll come out in just a few
days. My man.
All right, Seth. Appreciate it man.
Thank you so much to Kyle for coming on the podcast and let me

(52:55):
dive into his life. Really amazing to see him come
through such a depressive state,overcome the things that he has
overcome, and to just now becomea father in the best way
possible is such a cool journey,one that I look forward to
jumping on the train of here in the future before too long.
But make sure to go check out Justin's YouTube channel so you
can support those guys. Give them both a follow on

(53:16):
Instagram and YouTube. I'll link them in the show in
the descriptions. Also check out the other show
notes descriptions for the stupid question sucks.
If you want to help support the podcast there and if you are
listening on Spotify or at the podcast, if you could comment,
review, leave a like if you can do that or a follow on this
platforms that really helps. And if you're on YouTube, you
know the drill, like comment, subscribe, leave a notification.

(53:38):
What am I saying? Hit the notification bell.
Those things really continue to help grow this podcast.
Thank you guys so much for beinghere and I will catch you in the
next one piece.