#163 - Jamie Riddle, Olympian & Professional Triathlete

Professional triathlete and Olympian Jamie Riddle joins Seth for a powerful, soul-searching conversation that dives far deeper than training stats or race results. At just 25 years old, Jamie shares an extraordinary depth of wisdom as the two open up about faith, identity, ego, addiction, relationships, and the quiet struggle of trying to live with purpose in a performance-driven world.

From growing up in South Africa and losing his brother to addiction, to finding his way back to faith after chasing fame and freedom abroad, Jamie’s story is raw, redemptive, and refreshingly honest. Together, he and Seth explore the tension between ambition and surrender, the battle against lust and ego in the age of social media, and how gratitude, discipline, and daily time with God can realign even the most restless heart.
Jamie’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/jamie__riddle/
Ogg Cast: https://open.spotify.com/show/71eqSJizlSGv56NmAhS6Eg?si=14181dd719844b0f
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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
How's it going, everybody? Welcome back to another edition
of the Stupid Questions podcast.Today in the pod, we're going to
be talking with Jamie Riddle. He's a professional triathlete,
former Olympian, just all aroundsuper awesome guy for the young
age of 25. He's got a lot of wisdom and
experience under his belt and really enjoyed this
conversation. We go deep on religion, we go
deep on just interpersonal things.

(00:22):
And it was a particularly powerful and potent episode for
me because, just Full disclosure, I've been going
through a lot here that recentlywith my wife and I trying to
make its decision on the future and what it looks like for us as
it relates to her job and some other things that we have coming
down the Pike that hopefully I'll be able to share before too
long. But it's been stressful time and

(00:43):
I haven't been spending much time with God in the mornings
and evenings, which I typically do try to do in the past years.
It helps me. It just sets me up good for the
day in an attitude of gratitude and positivity and relinquishing
control the things that I can't control.
And Jamie's story and testimony that he gave today was one that
was deeply rebuking on a number of levels.

(01:04):
I don't know if you can tell in the video, but I start to tear
up a few times just because it'sso hits me square in the eyes.
And it's the best kind of thing.And it's the thing that I love
to have these podcasts for is not just to get good stories out
of people that you guys enjoy, but selfishly it it brings a lot
of edification to my own personal process in my life.
So thank you guys for being here.

(01:24):
Thank you so much to Jamie for making this happen.
And without further ado, I want to introduce you to Jamie
Riddle. Peaceful.
Yeah. Is that something like that you
have custom set up for yourself or is that just the way you
bought the place or? No, it's actually I set up for
myself. I I mean, I don't know if you
can kind of see the little plantthing going on there.

(01:46):
The little water fountain here got red lights.
I'm, I'm, yeah, I just want, I got my first place.
So I thought why not dress it out the exact way I want it?
And I know like if, if I was noton this podcast, there would be
no bright lights. It's all, it's just red in here
and it's like gets me Zen ready for bed.
It's quite interesting. That's awesome.
What time is it there right now?7/20.

(02:08):
OK, so after this you're gonna pretty much bed down for the for
the night. Yeah, Say a little prayer, open
up the Bible and then go to bed.Nice.
That's me. Yeah.
Yeah. So you're religious then?
Yes, yes I am. And yourself.
Yeah, yeah. I grew up Christian, 7th

(02:29):
Adventist Christian, kind of, you know, grew up with that
influence. Didn't really pay a whole lot of
mind to it probably until I was about 21.
Then I decided after spending a year abroad, just kind of
realized that a lot of issues and things that I had going on
internally followed me halfway across the world, and I thought
that I could kind of leave that stuff behind whenever I wanted

(02:51):
to. So Long story short, yeah, that
that trip gave me the opportunity to take a step back
and realize that, wow, what a privilege, an opportunity I have
not just with religion, but withhealth and so many other things.
I realized I had a lot more choice than and was born into
the ability to have a lot more choice than I thought I had.
And so, yeah, that's when I started to dive into it a bit

(03:12):
and try to figure out, you know,why I believed what I believed
to make sure that I understood it.
Yeah. Amen.
That's awesome, man. I love it.
It's pretty much almost identical to my story, so that's
pretty cool. Yeah.
In some ways, yeah. I'll make sure to dive into that
and ask some questions about it.But Jamie, dude, thank you so
much for taking the time. I know you're super busy.

(03:32):
Obviously it's late in the evening, so you've had a full
day ahead, but just want to say thank you so much for taking the
time to jump on and let me get to dive into your story a bit.
Thank you so much for having me.I've seen, I've seen a few of
your like grills pop up them offfor you.
Paige, I have one question for you before we jump into me.
Maybe stupid questions. What is it?
Because I don't see no stupid questions.

(03:54):
Yeah, yeah. So when I first started this,
just a little bit of context, I had a couple of other podcasts
I'd started in the past with some other businesses and before
they were more from the angle oflike, oh, it's a good marketing
thing. Anyway, I ended up kind of
shutting them down as the different businesses shut down
or I, I parted ways from them. But one thing I always knew that

(04:16):
I enjoyed doing was having like these one-on-one conversations.
So when I was in the college, I had this small business that I'd
started called Sway. We made insulated camping
hammocks. So like camping gear and being
young and being from a town thatentrepreneurship was pretty
popular, I got to know quite a few people just through
introductions throughout the city that had done business and

(04:38):
in different respects. And I always loved sitting down
with them because just getting to know their story, like asking
who they were, I figured I couldlearn a lot from their
experiences by kind of trying todraw out what their story was in
a chronological, chronological order.
And that way to understand theircontext before I asked some of
the harder questions. That way I could kind of
discern, well, should I take advice from this person or not?

(05:00):
So through that experience, justlearned that I really loved the
one-on-one conversation. So a few years ago I was like,
man, I should start a podcast because I have some pretty cool
names here on this list and I could just have them on and get
to know them more in a public forum and see how that goes.
So I named it Stupid Questions because I wanted it to be kind
of this non assuming, not super like I didn't want to name it

(05:26):
modern wisdom if you know what that is.
Or I didn't want to like jump after something that seems super
intense because then people might be like, I don't know if I
have anything to offer. So it's kind of a tongue in
cheek thing where, I mean, I in the beginning I think I tried to
ask a stupid question or two, but it just didn't feel natural.
And I was like, well, it'll stick with it.
It's the brand, so you know, Yeah.

(05:48):
Nice, I like it hook line, hook line and sync of the people and
then get get them on ask the deep questions because I think
triathletes try shy away from getting.
I don't know what it is about atleast the short course world,
should I say? As I've come into the long
course world, I've I've realizedthat there is more storytelling.
There is more meaning behind it,but I still think our sport has
ways to go into in terms of likeopening up and yeah, I don't

(06:14):
know, I, I, I like the, I like the one-on-one and, and really
diving into deeper. Yeah, for sure.
How old are you, Jamie, if you don't mind me asking?
25, it's easy for me. It's 2025.
I just follow the year and that's my birthday.
Yeah. That's awesome.
Hopefully you make it to hundreds.
You can get all the way to the next.
That's awesome dude. Well, it's interesting you

(06:35):
mentioned that with the short course thing, because I've
interviewed a lot of people now,160 something, and I've had a
wide variety of ages come on here.
And something I've noticed, it'snot always the case, but I think
that there's like a general stereotype that the younger
people in the short curse world,maybe it's just because they're
a bit younger, they don't have as much life experience.

(06:56):
And I mean, you're 25 now. I remember being 21 versus 25.
There's a big jump. And even from 25 to where I'm at
now 33, there's just not a jump in terms of like maturity, but
in just how we process the world.
So I'm wondering if that has something to do about it too.
Because you know, a lot of theseguys that start in the short
course world, you know, with truly short course, you know,
maybe they're 10111213 and doingthat through their teenage

(07:19):
years. There's something to that.
Just. Yeah, I don't know.
It's an interesting question andand thought because I do reflect
some on it back sometimes and mywhole story, because when when
we jump on these podcast, there's there's two types of
versions, right? There's the Jamie the
triathlete, and then there's Jamie the person and and the
actual story. So I always look, I try now when

(07:41):
I look through my lens, I try tosee, you know, Jamie the person
story instead of just the triathlete, because I'm much
more than that. But when I when I look back at
it's a much focused career and ask the questions as to why, you
know, there weren't these big stories in the short corset.
I think it comes down to a few things, One being on the road
and being in such a tight knit knit squad of 60 men and 60

(08:06):
women. It's like you're almost in like
a, you know, like when you go toschool and you're in school and
you don't want to Give your opinion too much or you don't
want to give your personality too much because you don't want
to get bullied for being outspoken or, or thinking that
you have a story or these sorts of things.
You kind of in like AI would like to say like a university
with these guys. And, you know, like for myself,

(08:29):
I've always been confident in who I am and what I believe in.
So I'm quite outspoken in that. But if I reflect back to my
short course career, there was astage where I came from a
country like South Africa where we have stories and we're proud
of our stories and we're proud of whatever we believe in.
And then I went over to the short course world and I had
lost everything that I thought to be true just because I was in

(08:54):
this. Yeah, this environment that
didn't really allow for that growth in terms of, you know,
telling your story or looking deeper into life.
I don't know. I look back and I just, I find
it. I find it interesting.
There's definitely an age concept.
There's definitely, I don't know, Also Europe is slightly
different to maybe perhaps America and South Africa and

(09:15):
these sorts of things. But it is very interesting.
Yeah. Why do you think that?
It kind of robbed you guys of the ability to dig deeper.
I wouldn't say maybe it's a slightly unfair to say it robbed
me of being able to go deep and I wouldn't put that on the short

(09:37):
course system at all for sure ornot.
I had come from a family and a country that is that I just had
such an amazing family and such an amazing community.
And in terms of my faith and, and, and what I believe in.
And yeah, I was, you know, I wasan, I was a naughty kid.

(09:57):
And even though I didn't really fully live out, you know, what I
how I should have been, I still had this belief, you know, And
then when I went overseas and I went over to pursue this dream,
it was kind of like the floodgates that opened.
And it was like, I am free to dowhatever I want.
I can go party. I kind of got money, fame, all

(10:20):
these sorts of things in, you know, in inverted commas.
And it just LED me down a path of thinking that like, it's
Jamie's world and everyone else is just living in it.
And that's how I viewed it eventually.
And then, you know, that kind ofjust let me down a path of like,
just like, OK, realizing that. Wait, no, I.
I, it cannot be the captain of my ship because if I am the

(10:44):
captain of my ship, I just end up sinking it every single time.
And that was kind of the realization that brought me back
to like my beliefs. And then luckily I found that
about a year and a half ago. And that brought immense peace
and immense change in my life. And also the, you know, the the
strength because I had now decided, I decided what to be
true and I decided what, what path I wanted to take.

(11:07):
How old were you in that that journey started where you kind
of spread your wings and went away from home across the pond.
Man, I think like, you know, my first trip overseas was when I
was 16 and it basically every single our winter, European
summer I was overseas. So it was kind of from from when
I was 16 already, I was thought I was journeying out to go

(11:30):
pursue this dream, this crazy, crazy dream.
And yeah, that was, that was my life.
And, and I, I don't regret the second of it.
It's been the most fulfilling and purposeful journey.
And it's, it keeps flourishing into more ways to be purposeful
and, and, and yeah, it's, it's been amazing.
And I, I'm so grateful to have my mom and dad who really

(11:50):
installed that, you know, dream big mentality.
And also at the same time supported me, not financially or
anything, but just support me morally and said, you know,
you're a special kid, you can dothis.
Are you the oldest? Are you an older child?
My mom had six children and I'm the youngest.
Yeah. Wow.

(12:11):
So you got to learn from a lot of the siblings.
How many years between you and the first born?
Many, many years. I think it is if I do, my mom
had a first child when she was, I think 18 and she had me when
she was 42. So what is that 24 years?
It's a massive difference. And my mom had so my mom
contacts my mom had a previous marriage and had four children

(12:32):
and then got divorced and married my father and had my
sister and I. So but we, I don't, you know, we
have, we have family, everything's good.
They're my brothers. They're not my half brothers,
you know. And yeah, it's, it's been when
you have a family that big, it'svery chaotic, but it's been,
yeah, it's been great. Yeah.

(12:52):
Yeah. So you're already an uncle I
would assume on many. Accounts.
I am people. Accounts, yeah.
Yeah, I am, yeah. That's right.
So take me back to, I guess you said South Africa is where you
grew up, but take me back to that, your hometown.
What was it like growing up for young Jamie?
So I grew up in Port Elizabeth and it's now known as a becha.

(13:13):
And it is a very small town, very friendly town.
There's not much to do there. South Africa is probably one of
the most interesting countries in the world.
I would say it is not the safestplace in the world, but at the
same time, it feels the safest. It's not the friendliest place

(13:35):
in the world, but at the same time, it is such like, two
different sides of the coin here.
Yeah. In contrast, but yeah, grow
growing up in, in, in Port Elizabeth, it was like, I don't
know, I grew up with a father that just said, you know what?
He, my, my dad had a dream and his father didn't let him pursue

(13:58):
that dream and shut it down. And I, and I learned later that
the reason my father was so encouraging in my dreams was I
think, or he says because his father shut him down on his.
And even though, you know, he says starting him down on his
dreams allowed him to meet my mother, who allowed him to have

(14:22):
my sister and I, which he will say is his greatest, you know,
moments in his life. It's weird how how the Lord
works, but it and it also it, itoverflowed into him just really
instilling this like the world is your oyster.
You know you are what you make it and and go go and and and
achieve those dreams. Who do you think you're more

(14:44):
like, your mom or your dad? Can I say I like to take the
best traits from both of them? No, no, I'm definitely like,
it's interesting. I I look more, I've got more of
my mom's genes, but I think I'm more like my father in terms of,

(15:04):
you know, how I, I think, view the world and how I want to
maybe conduct my life. Yeah, I would say so.
Do you think that balance has changed?
And yeah, changed since you havejust continued growing to become
an adult and a man. When you say balance, what do

(15:25):
you mean? Yeah.
So you're saying right now like you're a little bit more like
your dad in this way, a little bit more like your mom in that
way. Do you feel like those levels of
similarity have changed as you've gotten older?
Yeah, I think I'm I'm always evolving.
It's an interesting question. I think like there's definitely

(15:45):
certain things that you know, you take from your parents, but
by with traveling and and pursuing such a out there dream,
it's like this Fast forward of life and a lot of lessons
learned and you can't afford your own, you know who you are.
But yeah, I'm not too sure if it's changed too much as I've as

(16:08):
I've grown older, I've always been like my dad is very much
the same as me. You know, he likes to, I don't
know, he he has, he likes to have a story and he and he has
like a lot of purpose behind what he does in life.
And yeah, I think that's kind ofbeen installed in me as well.
Good answer, I'm going to take off my jacket really quick,
sorry. All good.

(16:33):
Never done that in a podcast before.
Probably not super professional,but it got super hot all of a
sudden. So, So the the question I want
to ask you next then I think I'mreally excited to ask because
just from hearing you talk for the past 15 minutes or so, you
seem to have a level of self-awareness that's I wouldn't
say super common amongst 25 yearolds just because of the life

(16:56):
experience you have. Obviously your parents, which is
really awesome, by the way, to hear that you had such a good
upbringing. Yeah, I wish more people had
that. But in light of that, the
question I would love to ask youis, from your perspective, even
outside of triathlon and everything else you do, who is
Jamie who? Is Jamie?

(17:25):
Wow, that is such a loaded question.
And Jamie is firstly a son of God and that is what I try wake
up every day and remind myself that there is purpose to my life

(17:48):
that extends further than what Iam doing.
And but at the same time, you know, Jamie is also someone with
dreams and goals and ambitions that have been placed on his
heart. And he is at the same time a
very hard working individual that has to at the same time

(18:12):
fight his flesh and his own desires in the world to try and
be a light in the world. And yeah, I think I think that
is who I am. But that's the that's the
question. And right is like the biggest
question I think in the world iswho are we?

(18:33):
And that if you really think about that question, it goes for
me, it goes real, real deep. Who are we and what are we doing
here? Yeah, how do you know that you
are a son of God? Another loaded question.
I love it. I know that I am a son of God

(18:54):
because of what God has done in my life.
I actually got asked this question the other day because
obviously I'm quite outspoken about my faith and I've gone
through ebbs and flows and I've on the exterior, I've done a lot
of bad things and people have seen that.
And you know, when you, when you've done bad things in the
past, your people can condemn you and judge you for that.

(19:15):
Just people that walk the streets, right?
So I got asked the other day, like how, how well, how do you
know God is real? And how do you know that you're
a son of God? Well, I believe that we all, we
all sons and daughters of, of, of God.
And the reason I believe that Jesus is Lord and, and, and this
and, and have such a strong faith is #1 what the Lord has

(19:38):
done in my life. That is my first reason is, is
the change that has happened that I've seen in myself.
I've tried to do the change by myself and I've reached a dead
end every single time. So that's the first reason.
And, and I could go into, you know, the truths of the Bible

(19:58):
and, and, and, and, you know, script verses and, and these
sorts of things. But I think seeing it through my
lens and being like, OK, well, I'll ask the questions and.
Jesus answered them and it doesn't.
It's not to say that it's easy. I would say Chris, being a

(20:19):
follower of Christ is probably the hardest thing in the world
because you really got to look yourself in the mirror.
But yeah, I think that is why I believe I'm that I'm a son of
God and that we all, we all are children of of the Most High.
Good answer. So I feel like it's, this is
also a very difficult question I'm going to ask, so we can

(20:44):
maybe rephrase it a few ways if you want.
But whenever someone says, you know, I found God or God found
me, it's never typically one exact instance or point in time
that they can point to say like,oh, this is it.
I mean, sometimes there are these very overwhelming
experiences that, you know, shift people.
Sometimes it's a traumatic experience.

(21:04):
Sometimes it's just a moment of elation that they have because I
feel like they were communicatedto God through nature or
whatever it is. But for you, you know, the the
gradual change because you said,you know, there's a stark
contrast between, you know, you're at home, you're brought
up a certain way, you leave home.
The world is Jamie's. The world revolves around Jamie.
Jamie gets to make the decisions.
You know, you said you made decisions that weren't great.

(21:26):
You did some quote UN quote bad things.
But then, you know, a year and ahalf ago or so, I believe it was
a year and a half ago, you decide through that experience
that like, well, God is Jesus ismy king, and here's why I want
to follow him because the thingshe's done in my life.
So what to make that shift away from just the ways of the world

(21:47):
to wanting to follow Christ moreclosely?
What were some of the things that was going on in your mind?
Yeah, just within your mind thatkind of led you to want to live
a life that is more in line withwhat Jesus gave us as an
example. Well, the first way I'd like to

(22:07):
answer that is God is is been here.
He's gonna be here and he's always, you know, he's always
been there and he's always open arms.
And if you're right with in terms of, you know, there's,
there's never just one thing. Like there's some radical things
that happen in people's lives where it's such a moment of like

(22:28):
a vision or a dream or, or like something really that grips the
person and shakes them to like really get deep that get those
two roots deep in their life. For myself, there's been
multiple occasions where God hasintervened in, in, in my life.
The first was the loss of my brother at the age of he was 18,
I was four or five. He would he died from a drug

(22:49):
overdose. Rest in peace Reese.
That was the first big earthquake that sent my parents
from believers to non believers.So I'll repeat that from
believing there is a God to avoiding it because how could

(23:10):
you take away my 18 year old son?
You know, that's what my mom's word, sorry.
And and then through that journey of now me growing up
without Christ, I had luckily a friend in school where the
parents just spoke about this man, Jesus.
And there was just the way Jesuslived his life.

(23:32):
And it wasn't about Jesus being the king or being God.
It was just the way this man lived his life and that
attracted me. But that that is a very
important piece. But then we Fast forward the
tape and there's been many points in my life where yo, God
has intervened and and and showing himself.
And you have to be aware enough to see it in some regard.

(23:54):
But I think ultimately to answeryour question, I didn't want to
be an ego centered lustful. I didn't want to have to lie to
tell my stories better. I didn't want to have to gossip
to fit into the crowd. I didn't want to have to shape
myself into a certain way into different groups.

(24:15):
I didn't want to get angry quickly.
I didn't want to be sad. I didn't want to question
everything. I didn't want to live with envy.
I didn't want to have jealousy. I didn't want these things.
And no matter what I did, all those things I just listed came

(24:36):
in. My life ebbed and flowed.
But it was always getting heightened when I lived for
Jamie, if that makes sense. And yeah, it just, it just you
get to the end of the road and you realize I'm here again.
And at what point am I going to,you know, stop living for myself

(24:58):
and try live for something else?I wanted to be, I wanted to be a
light. I wanted to be good.
I didn't want to be held by my addictions in in life.
And that kind of that kind of just led me to, you know, really
asking the question, OK for myself, asking the question for
myself, not for what my parents told me when Sunday school
church, not for what my friends parents told me about this man

(25:20):
named Jesus. I wanted to ask the questions
for myself, and that's what I did.
I locked myself in a room for a month and I read the Holy Bible
and I prayed and I saw changes in my life and I saw the the the
last slightly go away just slightly.
I saw the anger go away just slightly.
I saw the world to be happy increase just a little bit.

(25:42):
And I and I saw this person likeblossom just a little, just a
just a little. And then, you know, it blossoms
a little and you trip up and yougo back to that, that those the
ones come. And it's been that process for
quite a bit until, until surrendering, until being like,
you know what? That is it.
I, I can't, I can't, I can't toyanymore.

(26:03):
I can't play this game. And that's not to say that I
don't fail today. That's not today.
Not to say that I don't wake up every morning with the same
prayer, less like me, more like you, but it's just a full
understanding that the changes in my life of who I am today for

(26:24):
me was not possible by myself, you know?
And yeah, I feel very in a safe place to talk about these things
because it is it's bold statements, but it is honestly
the truth for me and always. Sorry, I'm rambling, but I
always say this to, I always saythis to like, because I in
triathlon, there's a, it's a, it's a very agnostic atheist

(26:47):
viewpoint. I think in a lot of the people
that all, or just not really searching.
And, and I always say this to people that ask me, you know,
why do I express it on the top of my lungs?
Or why do I talk about it so much?
And it's like, well, if I, if I believe in my heart that this is
the truth, that Jesus is Lord and I've, and I and I believe

(27:07):
that with everything I have, then it is on me to tell them
the good news and hope that, youknow, we're going to be partying
in heaven one day. Because another question is
like, are you scared to die? And it's like, no, because I
know what's off, what's coming next.
But my biggest fear is I do not know who's going to be there

(27:28):
with me. And if I can do anything to try
and make sure that as many people can be, then of course
I'm going to do that. Of course I'm going to do that
if that's my belief, right? So someone's listening to this
podcast is not a believer of Christ.
And maybe he's been hurt by religion and all these sorts of
things. And I and I have grace and, and
I and we can open up that conversation and I'm, I'm never
going to shove anything down anyone's throat.

(27:49):
But that's just my viewpoint. And I would like people to
understand my viewpoint. I don't know who gets into
heaven. I can't answer those questions,
but from my belief, you know, it's through, it's through
Jesus. Well, the beauty is I think also
that we don't have to make that decision because like humans in
our sinful state is my belief that like we don't we don't have
the ability to judge, you know, based on the heart.

(28:11):
You can't see that. All we can see is the judgments
that we make externally. And you know, for me, you know,
you just because you share a little bit about losing your
brother at a young age, which ishorribly traumatic.
So thank you for sharing that and for, you know, just, yeah,
just sharing it and being vulnerable.
So I lost my dad when I was 16 and none did I lose him, but

(28:31):
like, I lost him to suicide. And there's a lot of opinions
around there, you know, about, well, do people who commit
suicide because they're killing like they're do, do they make it
to heaven or not? And I've come to this place a
piece of knowing like, well, youknow, I don't really know what
it's going to be, but I'm so thankful that I don't have to
make that decision or anyone else does because like only God
knows at the end of the day, youknow, what was going on in my

(28:52):
father's heart in that moment or, you know, the weighing the
his life out on the scales as should be.
And so there's that thing that, and I think that that's a place
of comfort and peace because we don't have to make that
decision. And it also brings a point of
comfort and peace to me to know that well, as a human, I can't
understand everything. Like, I feel like I do have a

(29:12):
relationship with God, but at the same time, like I don't know
all the insurance and outs and how to answer all these
questions for, you know, why do good things happen to bad
people? Bad things happen to good
people, You know, in each individual instance?
It's impossible to tell, but I think it's really amazing.
Going along with what you were saying a second ago.
I'm losing my train of thought here, man.

(29:34):
I totally lost it. I can save you.
I just want to say that is yeah,that's super powerful as well.
Yeah, I, the same time that I lost my brother, my grandfather,
my mom's father also committed suicide.
And yeah, it's, it's a terrible thing.
And I and I would agree with youthat we, we do not know the

(29:55):
answers. And, and I'm, I'm so glad that I
do not have to be the one to answer this, but for a God so
perfect and a God so loving, in my personal opinion, I think,
you know, he's got his, He's making the right choices.
He's making it into the pearly gates.
So yeah. Well, it's good you said Pearly
Gates. That reminded me of what I was

(30:16):
going to say. So you were mentioning earlier,
you know, if you know, why do you proclaim it with the at the
top of your lungs? It's so fascinating to me.
The thing that has hit me between the eyes the hardest
over the years is that as I grewup and got older, so one thing I
was really passionate about werelike video games and Movies.
OK, when I was especially my younger teenage years, and I

(30:37):
would go see a movie over the weekend and you tell everybody
about it and you talk about it at school.
And you know, you talk about this and you go play together
and it's like it, it just completely overtakes the
conversation because out of the heart, out of the mud into the
heart, That's what's going to come out of your mouth, right?
So that's what was going on inside.
So if you've met, if you met somebody who saved you or you

(30:57):
had someone save you from, I don't know, some jumping off a
bridge or whatever it was like, how could you not go and tell
people? So that's what always kind of
hits me is if I don't have that desire inside to go out and
share or to tell a story about how my life has been saved.
And it probably wasn't that legit and it wasn't that good of
a movie. It wasn't that great of a game.
So it's like, yeah, that's the best way I know how to explain

(31:21):
it, which is exactly what you said.
Just remind. Me of that, it's a great way to
explain it. And like, you know, the the
Jamie of two weeks ago when he was going through a bit of a
wrestle with something. And the Lord is like, you know,
maybe if you caught me on that that week or when you put this
podcast up, like, yeah, I would still believe that, you know,
I'm never going to change my belief.
But you know, this is a this is a journey.

(31:42):
This is all the journey. And everything we do is a is a
journey and there's ebbs and flows and sometimes you scream
it a bit louder than others and sometimes you scream a bit less,
but there's that's where the grace comes in, right.
And yeah. Yeah, life's a bunch of cycles.
It's interesting that you were saying, you know, you the ups
and downs. And I want to ask you
specifically because you talked about, you know, lust there a

(32:04):
bit and an addiction and, you know, just bad habits.
And you know, I don't know exactly what your struggles have
been, but it's like as a male, especially in the Instagram age,
it's super difficult when you come across just stuff that's
like almost pornographic all thetime across your feeds.
And like that causes us all to fall into lust constantly,

(32:26):
whether you believe or don't believe, like you can be pulled
down that down that road. And that's a it's a tough battle
to to fight. So for you, as you had do have
these ups and downs like what keeps you getting back up and
seeking like the face of God andforgiveness whenever you know
it, It can be really tough. Yeah, no, for sure.
And before I jump onto that point, it's like that, you know,

(32:49):
sometimes the hardest, the hardest is when you, when
you've, when you've, you know, the conviction.
So like, you know, like, if you don't think looking at Instagram
models all day long is if you don't think that's, that's
necessarily a bad thing. Like it's, it's a lot more
peaceful in your heart. But when you, when you seen the
damage it can cause in your lifeand it's, and see how far that

(33:10):
addiction can roll into your life.
And, and you know, the, the, the, the snowball effect of
that, when you fall into those things, it's a lot more
difficult. And I would agree with you in
today's age, it's probably the most difficult.
It's it's, it's the most difficult, the hardest it's ever
been. There's there's two things that

(33:31):
that I've come to come to realize is the the the early,
the early I was into, you know, my faith.
It was like, OK, well, you know,he has Jesus.
He's he's he said all these wonderful ways to live and he's
called us to be holy. He's called us to be set apart.
He's called us to live to this higher expectation.
And it's like, OK, let's go. Let's not jot these rules down.

(33:51):
Let's stay away from every single rule and let's let's do
this. And that just that just that law
just led to condemnation and death.
And it just let me further down the rabbit Oliveson because you
know, you do it shame, guilt andjust the IT is just also a
stable effect. Yeah.
And then but then there's other lens where you should be looking

(34:14):
at how Jesus asks us or says we should look at it.
It's just is is grace and the fact that you have been called
to live to this higher self. Now, if I said to, if I said to
someone, listen, you can be all the all the fruits, all the
fruits that the Lord says, you know, choice, peace, slow to
anger, self-control, all these sorts of things.

(34:35):
If I listened that to someone and I said, would you like to
live like this? Would you seriously like to live
this like this? If it's possible, I'm pretty
sure all men would say yes. All humans would say yes.
So, you know, you talk about like, you know, falling into,
into sin without being angry tooquickly or without being selfish
or jealous or whatever the case may be, all lust.

(34:56):
It's like, well, we, we are going to constantly fall into
that. But it is, you know, it is, it
is the act of repentance and, and really being like, OK, well,
you know it. It looked fancy from the outside
and looked appealing and looked,it looked fun.
And then, I mean, you know, whatwas it in the end?

(35:18):
And I'll be the first to say, you know, I, I, I had sex before
marriage. I, I multiple times.
And, you know, now I'm 25, I've forgotten half of them.
And I don't look back on a single time.
Like, oh, that was amazing. You know, some people say it's
a, it's a moment shared between two people.
And when I think about my memories and my past, I never,

(35:39):
I'm never thinking about that, you know, so there's so many
things we could jump into. But it's like, if I believe that
Jesus is Lord and he lived this way and he said these things to
be true, then let me try it out and let me live like that and
see if my life improves and see if my fruit gets yeah, better
and, and more. Does that mean I'm not failing?
Hell no. I'm failing constantly all the

(36:00):
time. But yeah, that answers the
question. No, it answers the question
really well. I, I think you said it well,
like, you know, there's the, thetime when in the Bible, one of
the disciples, I forget who it was, is asking, you know, how
often should or maybe even been a Sadducee or Pharisee or
something. But asking Jesus, you know, how
often should you forgive someone?

(36:21):
And he said 70 * 7. And really what he's saying is
every time you forgive that person.
And and I think that's what's beautiful about our relationship
with God is that we do have the opportunity to continue to fail,
not with like not abusing that grace.
And I'm, well, I can always ask for forgiveness, but we do
falter and we do fail. But knowing that, you know, just

(36:41):
like any heavenly Father would never turn away their son or
daughter in their right mind that, you know, God's the same
way. So it's, it's a beautiful thing.
So let me ask you this. Yeah, Yeah, go for it.
I, I just, I've always struggledwith this and like my, my, my,
my and, and answering this question because it is like
you've got this endless grace, but you shouldn't abuse it,

(37:04):
right? It's like this, It's like this,
it's like this. Always picture this like seesaw
where you just like towing like this the whole time.
And I like to the, the, the metaphor that I use as like, as,
as a triathlete because some triathlete has tuned into this
and thought, what the hell, Whatpost tomorrow?
And this is not a triathlon, buthe has a triathlon metaphor for
you. You know you want to the, the

(37:27):
best triathlete you can be, so you get the right coach, you put
the right plan in place, you setout the best intentions for
yourself. And on that road, you want to go
to bed at 8:00 because you know that helps you recover.
You want to eat well. All these things that you set to
live the most, the best triathlete life you can do.
And you go on this journey, right and you sleep late, right,

(37:48):
and you fail. Does that mean now that you're
not a good triathry, you're not putting the right?
No, because the next night you're going to bed at 8:00 and
you're trying to get back and eventually you will start
constantly hitting that 8:00 PM bed.
What if that's your goal, right?Another another example is we
don't want to get injured because injury leads us to not
to walking and not running. And it's the same thing like we,

(38:09):
we train and we try not too hardon our threshold sessions so
that we don't get injured. And, you know, that's the plan.
But we do get injured. And when we get injured, we take
time, we regroup when we come back.
And I think that is the most triathlete version metaphor for
this. Like sin is like you try walk in

(38:29):
the set apart life and that is your full hearted intention.
And again, only your not heart will know, But then you're going
to fail. You're going to slip up.
You're going to do these things.But all you waking up the next
day is saying, no, I still want to be the best human possible.
Or are you waking up saying, OK,well, I'm injured now, Let's
like just stay injured and let'skeep just injuring myself.
That's that is a pretty cool metaphor, I think to make it

(38:51):
slightly easier. And who am I to say?
I don't know if that is 100% correct, but that has helped me.
No, 100% yeah, I think that thatdefinitely, that definitely
rings true. And at the end of the day, like
you said, only the person withinyourself, like you will know
what your true hearts intention is and God sees that.
So yeah, it's a it is a beautiful thing for you, though,

(39:14):
you know, you're talking about, you like your daily routine with
God. Two questions.
What is that routine, if you don't mind sharing, like
morning, evening or morning onlyor whatever it is.
And then whenever you fall out of that routine or that habit,
what things do you notice about yourself and your perspective
for the day? And just what is your experience
like when you skip that or forget about that?

(39:37):
Oh man, it's look, I, I do fail,but I do everything I can to
make sure that I do not in, in terms of starting my day with
the Lord. And I've always thought I've,
for the last year and a half, I've always started my day with

(40:00):
my quiet time. And I've never ended my day with
quiet time. And I've recently introduced
like, ending my day with quiet time as well, which has been
really, really nice, you know? Yeah.
And so how I wake up. I always drink some water, have
my coffee. I will either sit in silence or

(40:21):
I'll put some worship music on and put my red light therapy on.
I know I sound like such a geek.I put my red light therapy on.
I put my math down. I open my Bible and you know,
some days I feel encouraged to read and some days I just, I
don't and I just want to take a deep breath and just say a
prayer and be be grateful. Starting your day with gratitude

(40:43):
is such a hack. Now this is for someone who
believes or doesn't believe, like just starting your day and
being thankful for where you are, that you have a breath and
that your family is, is good on that day is, yeah, such a hack
to start the day. I also use techniques that are
outside of like, I guess faith in terms of like I tried, I've

(41:03):
said this before in a podcast. I tried picture the perfect
morning so that it can get my mind into a flow state.
What is it? Past experiences and future
predictions make your current reality.
So I try, I try reframe my past experiences and by making future
predictions. So I do a bit of visualization

(41:23):
and then y'all going to bed. I just, you know, rather than
grabbing the phone and going down that rabbit hole on
Instagram, I try just, you know,open up the word because yeah,
but I am the type of person thatyeah, I'm quick to fail so I
need to put my arm on as much aspossible, if that makes sense.
So, and I go through ebbs and flows, man, like I really had on

(41:44):
Sunday service, I really had, like I felt the Holy Spirit
really was, you know, very present and, and it just showed
me the goodness of the Lord. And like that feeling, that
weight, that weight lifted off your shoulder, that peace and
that willingness to just be fruitful is something that, you
know, you can only experience ifyou if you surrender.
And. And yeah, I think, yeah.

(42:07):
Thank you for sharing. Yeah, I think it, I think it
what you said is so true. It's such a hack to just to be
thankful whether you're religious or not, because I put
you in the frame set of the to just go throughout the day.
It's like putting on a pair of glasses where you see the world
through a lens of gratitude rather than a lens of oh, the
world's going to hell in a behind basket today or oh, this

(42:28):
is going on. And don't get me wrong, there's
a lot of terrible things that are going on.
But one of the most powerful books that I ever wrote was
written to get, what am I sayingread.
One of the most powerful books I've ever read was this book
called The Hiding Place by Cortin Boom.
And it was about her and her sister, Long story short, were
put into Nazi concentration camps and her sister and her in

(42:51):
one of these, I think it was Dachau.
I can't remember which camp it was, but her sister essentially
is dying, OK with her in these barracks and she's getting
beaten up by fleas as she's likebasically dying.
And her sister who's been who's who's dying is in a place of
gratitude saying, you know, well, I'm so thankful to just be

(43:12):
here and to be alive and be withyou.
And she's finding gratitude in these small moments while her
other sister, who is not well but not dying is just in a place
of complete despair. And rightfully so.
I mean, people are getting killed right and left.
There's terrible smells, you're dirty, the food's terrible.
But just that ability to have gratitude in a moment like that

(43:33):
is super inspiring. So yeah, it definitely, it
definitely makes a difference. And I think it it allows us to
live longer, like physically live longer, yeah.
Yeah, no, I've seen, I've seen it.
No, I've seen it, Yeah, changed my life around.
And I think like there's even, Imean, if we take again, the
faith out of it and we just lookat like the neuroscience behind

(43:56):
it, they've they've proven that anxiety and gratitude can't live
in the, it can't be in the brainat the same time.
So like if you if you choose to be grateful, like it could help
with anxiety, these sorts of things.
But yeah, I mean, that is that is an incredible testimony of
gratitude. My bet that is that is powerful
that you said. Yeah, yeah, you have to check it

(44:19):
out. It's a great book.
So shifting gears a little bit, let's talk to some a little bit
of triathlon. So I'm curious in in a
transitory phase here, How does triathlon enhance our endurance
sport and training? Enhance your life as an
individual and even enhance yourrelationship with God, you

(44:40):
think? Well, how does how does
triathlon enhance myself spiritually and also just my
life in general? Correct.
I think like it, it, it's, it's,it's been very interesting
because initially, like it was just this dream to be world

(45:00):
champion, right? It was just this dream that, you
know, I wanted to be world champion.
And as I pursued that dream and I had achieved certain things on
that trajectory, like when I hadachieved those things, I'd
always learned something about what, what achievement meant or
what success was for me. And it always taught me
something. And then also the failures

(45:20):
always taught me something, right?
As as we know, success and failure will both teach you
something. Often times failure more so.
But I think like once I in particular the Olympic dream,
achieving that made me realize that like the yeah, the
destination is not it, it's justnot it.

(45:41):
So the pursuit of being a triathtriathlete and a professional
triathlete is something that is extremely difficult and it takes
you to the ends of your being inall facets.
Like physically is the first. But because you're pushing
yourself physically, mentally, you're having to take yourself
to new, new heights. And because you're taking

(46:02):
yourself to new heights mentally, your emotional
stability is shifted because when you work so hard mentally
and physically, you why do we get Moody?
Why are we short as triathletes?Why are we borderline bipolars?
Because we we training starts and now we have to work on an
emotional state stability. And all of those three things

(46:25):
has led me to relying more on myspiritual to strengthen the
three, which is, I guess self self-explanatory.
But like, I think as I started pursuing the dream, it was like,
OK, you know, just about the training hours and how much more
I can train and, and how much faster I can get and all these

(46:46):
sorts of things. And, yeah, I've come to realize
that that has not allowed me to grow into the best triathlete
possible. And as soon as I learned that,
as soon as I started to prioritize things like emotional
well-being or spiritual well-being, I've able to, yeah,
make the sessions count better instead of being out there.
You know, I think I think a happy athlete is a faster

(47:07):
athlete. Lawrence Vandlingen always says
you can't separate your emotion from your emotion.
And it's super true. So yeah, I think that's how
triathlon has allowed me to elevate myself in in my general
triathlete life, but then also my the other facets of my life.
Yeah, beautiful. So what?
What's taking the most mental bandwidth for you right now?

(47:28):
What's on your mind the heaviest?
I think the because no matter how much you want to be
selfless, triathlon is still a very selfish pursuit I want to
be doing. So it's a catch 22, right?
Like if I become a better for professional athlete, I have a
bigger platform to do good. But on that journey of becoming

(47:49):
a professional triathlete, I have to prioritize myself.
I have to put myself on the camera.
I have to talk my journey, my story.
I have to, you know, miss certain friend gatherings or
whatever the case may be. You know, when I go overseas now
for 12 weeks to to go pursue I manual championships, I'm the
way from my community. So it's a catch 22 in terms of

(48:11):
like, you know, I'm, I'm wantingto, I'm wanting to do good, but
from the best way for me to do good while still following the
passions and that I have is to be a bit selfish.
So that is sometimes the biggestmental struggle for me is the
selfishness that I have to do ona daily basis.

(48:34):
Do you think that there's a way to do it when you're not selfish
or you don't I. Think there there is a balance,
but pursuing anything extraordinary in this life, in
this life that we've given requires some sort of selfish
tendencies. And that it's not crazy.
Like a simple example is my my girlfriend and their family are

(48:54):
having a dinner at the house 20 minutes away.
And it's like, you know, Jamie, would you like to come?
Oh, thank you so much for the invite.
But I've really had a big day and I've got a big day tomorrow.
So I'm going to have to skip, but I'll see you guys on the
weekend. So it's not like extreme
selfishness. It's just small things that do
like I don't want to say weigh me down, but it is if dude, I've

(49:14):
got the best job ever in the world, like I've got the best
job ever. I'm so grateful for the position
I am in. Like the best things I have is
actually insane. But if there's anything I have
to say that's like this part of the job is not the best, is, is
that selfishness? Tell me what it's been like for
you being in a relationship withthe things you have to juggle,

(49:36):
not only with the social media stuff, but being a professional
triathlete, you're trying to have your, you know,
relationship with God, which takes some time, and then
building these other relationships.
What is it like for you my? Partner is honestly the best.
SO in it's, yeah, anything that is beautiful and worth pursuing

(49:58):
is going to be difficult. But yeah, we have a very like
sound relationship. It's, it's very fruitful.
So in that regard, it's, it's, it's been amazing.
And she is my rock. But as you say, there is, you
know, I'm very active on social media.
I've got quite a big following. There's a lot of attention on
me, you know, I, I do, you know,and I think any human with that

(50:23):
much attention or, or that much like, yeah, attention, your,
your ego will get inflated regardless of what you believe
in or what you're trying to do every single day.
Like people liking and loving and sending you messages and
saying you're great. Like naturally your ego gets
inflated. And it is, it is a, it is a

(50:46):
balance of making sure that you know, you have people in your
life that you have around you that keep, now I want to say
keep you grounded because I believe I'm grounded.
But it's just like understandingwhat is real and what is, I
guess fictitious. And I guess also understanding,
you know, what the purpose is behind the social media or

(51:06):
whatever these things are. But yes, I would say pursuing
what I'm trying to pursue in my inside, like all in my spiritual
life would be far easier if I was a cattle farmer in South
Africa, right? But it's a lot harder.

(51:26):
Like heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Like, you know, King Solomon in in the Bible, like had all this
wisdom and always prayed for wisdom.
But like, when you've got that attention, it is it is a lot.
I've actually got a quote that really did it for me.
If the spotlight shining on you is bigger than the spotlight
within you, it will kill you. So if I let everything shining

(51:51):
on me be brighter than everything that's supposed to
come out of me, I believe it will lead to, it will lead to,
you know, the death. So I try to remember that.
That's going to be a great real.I'll just say that.
I'll clip that up. Man, that.
That's beautiful. Yeah.

(52:12):
So what are you capable of? What do you believe that you're
capable of? I need Jesus knows, brother, I I
man, what am I capable of? That is amazing.
Like I think I'm capable of a ofof a lot in this world, but like

(52:33):
as a vessel, right? I think like I've always been in
this situation where I've I found myself being the vessel to
a lot of things my whole life, whether that being the vessel to
my sponsors, right, Whether thatbe.
And when I talk about vessel, I'm just talking about the, the
communication from, you know, A to B.

(52:53):
So I've been the vessel for sponsors.
I've been the vessel for my country in some regard.
I've been the vessel to tell people in our country.
I've been the vessel for my family and I've been a vessel
for the good news. So I would like to believe in
terms of what am I capable for? I think, you know, I truly

(53:14):
believe that if I can get my roots deep in my faith, I think
the Lord will bless me with a lot because it would be yeah, it
would be for his his the king, for the yeah, his the growth of
his Kingdom. However, in saying that, like
that doesn't come without incredible work.

(53:35):
Like let's not get it skewed. Like I am working incredibly
hard to be the best triathy in the world.
And when nice comes, I'm going to stand in our start line ready
to try and win that damn race. But I just have the peace if I
never achieve it. But I don't know.
I, I, I, I do feel, I do feel like something great is on the

(54:00):
horizon, whether that's in triathlon or whether I pack it
up and I become, you know, some evangelist somewhere.
I don't know. That's, that's, that's really up
to, up to the Lord. But I'm not, unfortunately, I'm
not in a place with my faith to really like, stand up and walk

(54:21):
where the Lord is calling me just yet.
And I'm happy to admit that. But I'm working on that, right?
That contentment, that peace, the confidence, like to be able
to say I want to win that world championship race, but if I
don't, that's OK. You know, it's one thing said,
it's another thing practiced. I do believe you that I think

(54:41):
that you would maybe not initially after you had a
terrible race, you know, you would be like, oh, this is
great, you know, but I think that you would get back to that
mindset. But to be able to adopt that
frame of mind and that perspective and that contentment
takes a lot that I don't think is even necessarily all nurture.

(55:02):
So for you, like your confidence, you know, after
talking to you for the past hour, I watched some of your
YouTube videos, did a little research on you, like you have a
tremendous amount of confidence and optimism.
Where do you think that that truly stems from?
And has that always been there, even through, like, you know,
your dark days when you were kind of, you know, ran away from
home, to use a metaphor or whatever it was?

(55:26):
Yeah, I think I have always beenconfident and that is I can't
say I can't pinpoint that on exactly.
And I think I'm becoming more confident the more I believe the
truth or what I believe to be true.
And unfortunately my confidence sometimes comes off as

(55:47):
arrogance. I've I've been, I've been told
that. I mean, the biggest thing from
people that get told to me when they meet me is like, Oh, I
didn't, I didn't think you were like this.
So that that is something that weighs on me sometimes is that
my confidence can be taken the wrong way.
But at the end of the day, you know, I, I, that is something
that I need a definite shift. But to go back to the question
about, you know, being at peace with, if I don't become world

(56:12):
champion, it, it really just stems down to like, I do believe
that yes, this life is an incredible gift and it is this
amazing, you know, like thing that you can pursue and love,
but the real reward is waiting for us after this life in what I

(56:35):
believe, right? So the real, real reward is
there. And I actually, I actually, so
my obsession is, is podcast, butunfortunately not triathlon
podcasts. It is like, yeah, I'm I'm
absolutely obsessed. And I and I heard, I heard this,
the theology theology. I can't say the word no.
There we go, Sir, explain it like this.

(57:00):
We in our like everyone in in, in their being wants to pursue
extraordinary things for a numerous reasons.
We can't say what their reasons are, but there's definitely a
piece of that because like, if Ibecome world champion, people
will remember my name and my name will live on forever, I

(57:23):
guess. And that's, we know that's not
the case, right? Like who was the Kona world
champion in 2013? Now, we could probably go check
it out, though. We don't know off the top of our
heads, right? But I think there is this
willingness of want from all humans to live on forever and
that's why we do what we do. But as soon as I realized that,

(57:46):
you know, we are going to live on forever in the afterlife is
like, well, it doesn't. I don't want to say it doesn't
matter what I do on here on thisearth in terms of achievements.
What really matters is like the the person I am.
And if I can. And ultimately that just comes
down to loving our neighbor, right?
So I don't know, but you are right.
It's not always I'm always not always a complete peace with

(58:08):
that, with that idea of not being world champion.
But for the most part, I. Yeah.
Well, and there's pieces. Well, whenever things,
especially when things are outside of our control, just
accepting as an answer to find closure on something that I
don't know and I won't know, like, and that's OK because I

(58:28):
think most of us, we obsess overcontrol and the things that we
can't control especially. And but being able to realize
that I don't understand and I'm not going to and that's OK,
isn't something easy to swallow.But when you're able to finally
put that pill down, it brings a great deal of contentment and
peace, especially with things like injury or whatever.

(58:49):
Because as soon as you let go ofthe rain to say, you know what,
I can't go out and train or whatever it is like you just
have to heal. And then you know, when you
realize it's out of control and you can let it go.
I don't know. It's just it's peaceful because
you know how long. You're gonna have to worry
letting go you 100% on the money.
Like let letting go is Yeah, letting go and saying, I don't

(59:10):
know, I, I believe that being, being a skeptic is a good thing.
I believe that being a hyper skeptic is, is a bad thing.
And I think like there's a very fine line between the two, but
like, ask questions, be curious.But at the end of the day, if
you're going to try poke, poke holes into your beliefs or poke
holes into every single thing like it's going to, it's just

(59:30):
going to eat you up. So for myself, like that is
true, just just letting go and letting it be.
Let whatever's going to happen is going to happen.
All I can control is the person I'm trying to be every single
day. And that's that's literally it.
Well, I have to say, especially before we get too close to the
end, thank you so much for sharing in the way that you have

(59:52):
today. Because for me personally, the
past few weeks have been going through just some crazy stuff in
the background with me, my wife,just figuring out what the
future is going to be in a number of fronts.
And there's been a lot of stressinvolved in like I have been
obsessing to try to control something that I cannot control,
which is how she feels about just to be frank and open and
honest. Hopefully she doesn't care if I

(01:00:13):
share this. But like, she's deciding, you
know, if she's going to stay in this job or not.
And we like moved halfway acrossthe country for this job.
And I have been stressing day and night because like, I
finally am getting to know because I recently moved to
Northern California. I really like this area of
meeting new friends and people and have found my space.
Obviously, I have this little room for a podcast studio.
Like there's a lot of things that are going really well.

(01:00:34):
But her happiness right now, it needs to take precedent over
those other things. And I'll be honest, I can.
I've been married eight years. It's been hard for me to like,
put her back in that place whereshe honestly should always be as
being #1 and yeah, it's like, it's been super tough to, to
connect with God on these thingsbecause I'll go on a bike ride
and I haven't like really yelledto God in quite a while.

(01:00:54):
But I was just like the other day, just like yelling.
Like, what do you want? Like, I feel like you left.
You let us here and now there's this is we've got this going on.
And like, I'm just destroying myself on this hill climb, which
is a beautiful thing because when you get to the top, you
realize, like, oh, this doesn't matter as much.
But it's been really rebuking inthe best way possible to hear

(01:01:14):
what's been going on in your life and just the the
perspectives that you have, especially around the daily
connecting with God, because I've been letting that go for
far too long and want to get back to it and waking up in the
morning and having that, that one-on-one type, because even
Jesus had that right, like in the mornings and he took time
apart from his disciples to go and just be alone in the quiet
of the morning or evening to connect with his father.

(01:01:37):
So I just wanted to say thank you for sharing the way that you
have. It's it's been refreshing.
And that much needed absolute pleasure, man.
I think yeah, it's encouraging to that.
I always like before I always before these big moments and big
moments podcast, whatever the case may be, I try to say prayer
that the Lord will, you know, lead, lead me.
And sometimes the podcast goes the whole way without talking

(01:01:58):
about Christ and that's fine. But sometimes it just clicks and
it and it flows and and the right person is going to hear
this and it's going to be it's going to be awesome.
But yeah, to touch on what you just said, like, isn't it it's
just so funny, Like it's so reversed, like pursuing Christ
is putting yourself lost. And that concept is so against
the grain of what everything we've ever always been taught.

(01:02:20):
And it is the most difficult thing.
And I always try preferences like people that listen to this
and the way that I would speak about the Lord and how on fire I
am and all these sorts of thingsthat that there will be a
misconception or a conclusion drawn that I've got it all
figured out. And or at least I believe this
guy believes he has it all figured out what the case may be

(01:02:41):
if they don't believe, but that is not the case.
Like the struggle that you're facing.
I've got certain ones in my life, you know, like I was Moody
just yesterday and like making small things a big, a big thing.
So I think that's why community is so like super important.
Like to like be, just be like sometimes you're stronger in

(01:03:03):
your faith and, and you share itand boom, you help me just get
back on the bandwagon. And sometimes I'm stronger in my
faith and I'm, I'm, I'm on a good run now and that's great,
but you never know. You never know.
Yeah, that's the beauty of community 100%, man.
Well, I guess one more thing. I just want to ask you before
you go to give you a chance to talk about it.
I know we. What's my FTP?

(01:03:24):
Yeah, what is your FTP? You you asked it, I want to
answer now. My FTP.
Honestly I haven't done it in a long time.
I would guess somewhere between 390 and 400.
I I that is a real guess. I'm about 7171 KG.

(01:03:45):
I would need to pull up my T100 numbers but I did for the two
hours I think. I think I did like 365
normalized so I would. I'm pretty sure I could go at
least 394 for an hour. I don't know.
I'm just looking. That's 2.5 watts per pound.
I'm trying to see how much I would have to hold to stay with

(01:04:05):
you 3. 16 That's the word. That's like my VO2 effort.
How much do you weigh? I weigh 123 to 124 lbs.
I'm pretty small. 5 foot 5 1/2 inches, 25 lbs.
And you less than you, whatever that is, into kilograms.
I don't even know a. 120. 5 lbs two KG.

(01:04:26):
I think it's like 50. Yeah, 5657.
Yeah, yeah. Well, Alex's weight.
Maybe there's hope. Yeah.
So before closing it out, tell me a little bit about your
podcast where people can go check it out and listen to it as
well. And obviously your YouTube will
make sure to link all that in the show notes and everything
too. Oh, sweet.
Yeah, we just started that it's it's the complete opposite to

(01:04:48):
everything that you've just heard right here.
So across my social media and across my YouTube, I'm
authentically Jamie in in in thetruest sense in terms of this is
really what gets me on fire. And that's why I'm so like, you
know, upbeat is because this is the stuff that I really like.
I've just, I just have a passionfor it, right.
So you'll see my YouTube channelas a mix of like, you know,

(01:05:10):
training sessions and these sorts of things, but I'll always
try and it's not a faith driven YouTube channel.
It's really just a life driven YouTube channel.
Also with my social media, I trycarry a strong message on cost,
which is the pod past I host with Nick Thompson and Johnny
Summit is anything but that. It is showing that it's showing
the other side of the human. It's joking, it's banter, it's a

(01:05:32):
it's a lot of fun. Which said that on Sam Laidler,
which is pretty insane. That's the ability of being a
friend with these guys. You can abuse the relationship.
But yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Cool man Sweet. How do you spell it?
Odd cast, you said? Odd cast.
So how how it started is the thethe the merchandise is called

(01:05:52):
ogging. And the boys made a group chat
and they were too lazy to start.Let's go jogging, they said.
Let's go ogging. So it's now ogging and the
podcast is called Ogg Cost. So Ogg cost.
OK, sweet. We'll link at the show.
It's awesome, dude. Well, Jamie.
It's honestly terrible. It's it's honestly a terribly
great podcast, so I think you'llenjoy it.

(01:06:15):
I will check it out sweet man. Well Jamie, again, thank you so
much for taking the time. Dude, I know it's late.
You're going to be going to bed soon so hope you sleep well but
looking forward to seeing how you continue to perform and just
build the following that you do and make an impact for God which
is awesome and with your racing and hope your relationship goes
well and everything else in between dude.

(01:06:37):
Hey, this is actually awesome. I really enjoyed this.
I did not expect it to turn thisway, but I absolutely loved it.
I had a great time. And for sure there's going to be
people that TuneIn that tune straight out because it's not
for them. And that that's fine, that's
fine. But there's going to be some
people that really enjoyed this.So I'm pretty stoked to hear the
response. Yeah, thanks for what you do as
well. Yeah, thanks, man.

(01:06:57):
Thank you so much to Jamie for coming to the pod and sharing in
such a deep way. Again, this was a deeply
profound episode for me because the edification involved to hear
someone tell their story in the way that Jamie did and the
things that he's been going on has been going through, it was
really deeply personal and impactful for me.
So thank you so much, Jamie for coming on the podcast again and

(01:07:18):
sharing and such a beautiful way.
All the best to him as he continues to race throughout the
rest of the season and for the world champs and nice if you
meant to this point the podcast,just want to say, please make
sure to check out the show notesin the descriptions for all of
Jamie's stuff, for all the stupid questions stuff, the
socks, the newsletters that and the other.
And if you are listening on Spotify or Apple podcast, if you

(01:07:39):
could comment review and like follow that podcast there, the
podcast there. It really makes a big difference
for me. And if you're on YouTube, like
comment, subscribe and turn on the notification bell.
That continues to help grow thispodcast a ton and I really
appreciate it. Hope you guys enjoyed the sign.
Got it hung up finally and I will catch you in the next one
piece.