October 16, 2025 • 58 mins
We sit down with ultra runner Dave Proctor to unpack how he ran across Canada, what attention and meditation did for his performance, and why the finish line mattered less than the steps that got him there. The talk moves from ego and validation to stillness, doubt, and the craft of stacking habits.
• Canadian pride and sport as pure attention
• Doing vs being and running across Canada
• Outrunning ego and the Second Mountain idea
• Meditation as training for focus and composure
• Pain vs discomfort and practical reframing
• COVID, a broken foot, and choosing acceptance
• Doubters as mirrors and compassionate resolve
• Post-record stillness, writing, and new identities
• Baselines for runners and habit stacking
• Influences from Terry Fox to Al Howie
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
What's up folks?
Welcome back to the 269thepisode of the Athletes Podcast
today, featuring Dave Proctor,someone who you may not have
heard of because he's notmassive on social media, mainly
because he doesn't need all thatadditional attention.
A couple years ago, duringCOVID, he ran across the country
of Canada, a transcontinental,as they call them.
I personally just drove acrossthe country and cannot imagine
(00:23):
doing this on foot, especiallywhen you come to think about
some of the difficulties thatDave had along the way.
We dive into it during thisepisode.
He's got a book, he's got adocuseries that's coming out.
You folks are going to love thisepisode.
I can't thank you enough fortuning in here today.
I also can't thank PerfectSports enough for being our
sponsor.
That being the primary sponsorof the Athletes Podcast.
(00:45):
They provide us with hydroflash,collagen, creatine, and you guys
know about diesel, the bestprotein on the market.
I take one to two scoops per dayminimum.
And you folks should too.
If you use the code AP50 atJECO, you can save 15%.
Send me a screenshot of what youbuy, and maybe I'll send you
some extra products.
But this is a 269th episode ofthe Athletes Podcast featuring
(01:06):
Dave Proctor.
Here we go.
You're the most decoratedbasketball player in U.S.
history.
World's strongest man.
From childhood passion toprofessional athlete.
Eight-time Iron Man champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes?
From underdogs to nationalchampions.
(01:30):
We're high performanceindividuals to their triumphs,
at least, and life left.
Educate, entertain, and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go.
And so you have a great name.
I have a great name.
This is how we get started onthe athletes podcast.
This will be like a 268thepisode of the show, I believe,
which is absolutely bonkers.
(01:52):
Hey, it's the beauty ofcompounding.
You know it.
It's like putting one foot infront of the other.
And people pay attention overtime.
It doesn't happen overnight, butyou know, at the end of the day,
we uh we have a really coolopportunity to be able to put in
front of people, incredibleindividuals like yourself.
The 269th episode.
(02:14):
As you know, I'm just back fromthree weeks on the road, so I'm
still getting my bearings here,but we got an amazing
individual, Dave Proctor, on theAthletes Podcast here today, the
269th episode of the show, anultra runner, someone who I've
been admiring for years behindthe scenes, but we finally get
to feature on the show today.
Dave, thank you so much forcoming on.
I really appreciate it.
So excited after that day's winyesterday.
(02:35):
Big ALDS.
Success for those days.
3-1 victory.
Tell me about it.
You were watching it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
I was watching it and I love the bullpen.
I'm in love with our bullpen,and we're gonna go to the World
Series.
There's no way that we're notgonna we're not gonna we're not
gonna win.
We're a winning team.
It's a fun team to watch.
It's a fun team to watch.
It's all well-rounded, it's gotgreat leadership, it's it's
everything.
It's the best, it's the best ofsport, you know?
SPEAKER_02 (02:59):
It's this is such an amazing time for sports to be
happening too.
October baseball is the best.
I was able to actually catchgame one in Toronto on Saturday.
What a sensational environmentthat was to be a part of.
You and I have been texting backand forth.
We've pushed this conversation14 hours so that we could have
it, so that we could watch thegame, won the hockey game last
(03:20):
night, came back phase one, youand I were celebrating.
What is it like though for youto be able to motivate an entire
country the same way these BlueJays have been doing that?
Because for you, crossing thecountry, a cross-continental
journey, that was obviously afew years ago now.
Man, you gotta think that thatsimilar Canadian pride is
(03:41):
pushing you every step of theway when you have that journey
that you're trying to go fromone ocean to the other.
Can you explain the mindsetassociated with that?
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Yeah, thanks, man.
Yeah, it's I don't know.
You know, it's it's funnylooking upon the journey that
was after the fact, because, youknow, during the journey, I felt
like I was just busy doing.
You know, and I didn't reallyfeel like I was inspiring.
I didn't really feel like I was,you know, becoming anything.
It was just I was just busydoing.
And there's a lot of doing thatthat that that comes to building
(04:14):
success.
I look upon it now and go, wow,I couldn't have done any more.
I couldn't have done any better.
You know, my 105 kilometers aday across the country was was
the best I could do.
And, you know, if I die in 40years from now, if I'm 84 years
old when I die, I know very wellthat, you know, I've set the bar
the highest I could and I'vedone the best I could during
(04:36):
that summer's effort.
And you couldn't just youcouldn't be any prouder.
If that if that inspires people,that's so rad.
I love that.
I think that that's so coolbecause I found great
inspiration in many otherswho've done bigger things.
And I I I I love that.
I think that we all havedifferent stages in our lives.
And there's a time that you areseeing what other people are
(04:57):
doing and trying to match that.
Other times you're you're busydoing, and other times, you
know, you're coachingthereafter.
You're you're you're you know,and uh, and at other times too,
it's it's it's cool to just be,right?
So I feel like I'm in a stageright now where I'm just being,
but back then I was doing, itwas pretty fun.
SPEAKER_02 (05:14):
How are you able to turn that switch on and off?
I've talked to 270 plus athletestoday over six plus years.
That's a switch that noteveryone's able to turn on and
off, if you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Yeah.
Well, it I think it's because II think it was pretty clear of
what I was trying to do.
And it was very deeply personal,and now I can talk about it
simply because during while Iwas doing it, I was trying to
outrun something.
Hell, you know, duringthroughout the entire process, I
founded a charity and I nameledit outrun, outrun rare.
It was pretty clear that I wastrying to prove something to
(05:50):
myself or outrun something.
And I think the lights the theswitch gets turned off or can be
dimmed, at least, after the factwhen you have proven something
to yourself.
I feel bad for a lot of theindividuals out there that are
continually not reallyunderstanding what they're
running towards or away from ortrying to prove.
(06:12):
And then they're old men andwomen and they're still
fighting.
They're still looking for thatthing, they're still looking for
that pot of gold at the end ofthe rainbow.
And if you're not really clearabout what that is, how do you
know what you're running to?
And how will you know when youget it?
That's that's that's a biggerquestion, I guess.
SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
Well, and I think the issue in our society
nowadays is the fact that peopleare never really satisfied,
right?
Those goal points are alwayschanging.
SPEAKER_00 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know what?
I think the world is set up sothat you're never satisfied
because then they got yourattention, right?
So I I I think the greatestresource in the world, and every
hey, this is this is us divingstraight deep into uh
philosophy, is is is attention.
And I think if you and I were togo around, and if you and I were
(06:58):
psychologists, we're not smartenough to be psychologists, but
let's say we are, let's let'sput that hat on for a second.
If we were to go around and andand test everybody to see who
has ADHD, 99.9% of everybody hasADHD.
It's because you look around andeverybody's attention is
somewhere, most likely on theirphones, right?
(07:20):
And we've been gotten.
Nobody talked about it.
Because you we've been you werebusy waiting for your friend to
come by and play.
You waited.
(07:40):
You just sat there and waited.
Now we don't wait, and we'regiven something every six
seconds or eight eight seconds.
And ultimately, like we're allwe're all suffering from ADHD,
but I think it's it's it'ssocietal based.
And so uh yeah, I I I agree withyou.
I I think it's it's a realinteresting issue, but yet
(08:01):
that's the most beautiful thingabout sport, is it takes all
your attention and draws ittowards the task at hand.
And I think that's the mostbeautiful thing about exercise
and sport.
SPEAKER_02 (08:12):
I could not agree with you more.
This is part of the reason whyI've been so passionate about
this for the past you know halfplus decade.
And I I fell into athleticsprobably a decade plus ago now
during high school and realizedthe benefits.
And you talk about stayingpresent.
I I get to do this once a week,no matter what, if I'm on top of
(08:33):
my planning.
And it this brings me that kindof peace when I'm able to have a
conversation with someone for 45minutes, an hour, learn about
what that mindset is, how thatmindset differs or compares to a
guy like David Goggins with thatstay hard mentality, which maybe
benefits some people, but mightnot benefit everyone.
And to your point, there's a lotof people that are running away
(08:55):
from things.
Do you see that and then try andprovide insight based on your
experiences when you see someonemaybe out there on social trying
to do some crazy feat?
Or are you supporting how do youmanage that?
Because you've gone through thatprocess already, and there's a
lot of people out there that arein the midst of it, maybe myself
even included, when I go pursuea marathon randomly and then,
(09:16):
like, yeah, I can do this ineight months, and maybe that's
an ambitious goal.
Maybe I'm dealing with somethings during that moment.
Do you see that, recognize it,and then try and offer support,
or how do you manage thatsituation?
SPEAKER_00 (09:28):
That's a tricky one because I think everybody in the
world is busy telling oneanother what they should be
doing.
And you know, that's not fairand reasonable and kind.
It's not kind.
You know, there's this reallygreat book, I forget the author,
but it's called The SecondMountain.
And it all talks about thesecond mountain that we climb in
life, but but we have to climbthe second mountain after the
(09:49):
first mountain is climbed.
And the first mountain that weclimb in in this life is when
we're in our 20s and 30s, or ourteens, 20s and 30s.
And it's a lot of it's a lot ofego.
There's a lot of ego involvedthere.
There's a lot of drive, there'sa lot of build, there's
building, family, wealth,career.
There's hyperindependence andselfishness and what's in there
(10:10):
for me, right?
And then upon every mountain,there's a summit, and it's a
beautiful view.
Hey, I saw it, and it'sbeautiful, right?
And then there's this longdescent, if not a cliff.
Some people it's a cliff,hopefully not too jagged and
doesn't hurt too far too hardwhen you fall.
And then there's this valley inbetween the two, and it's an
(10:31):
uncomfortable place.
Some people buy a sports car,other people, you know, it it's
it's a midlife crisis, as youwould say.
But yet on the other hand,there's a second climb there.
And you can't be too frustratedor be frustrated or angry with
people that are climbing thefirst mountain, because you
climbed one too, right?
(10:52):
And and you know, boy, early inmy running life, uh boy, I was
trying to prove something tosomebody else.
I was trying to be somebody.
Hey everybody, are you seeingwhat I'm doing here?
Hey, did you see my 250kilometers last week I posted on
Strava?
Hey, did you see that I went fora 45 kilometer run at nine
o'clock at night?
(11:12):
Hey, how many kudos can I get?
And I'm gonna respond to thosekudos so I can end up driving
that and building more.
And ultimately, you could saythat that's an awful thing.
You could say that, oh hey,that's not really building what
you need, but ultimately you getthere and through that in order
to build something else.
And I believe that everybody hasto kind of do it.
(11:32):
And you see that right now onsocial media with a lot of these
these individuals that aretrying to be social media
influencers, and they're tryingreally hard.
And I sit back and I look and Isay, Wow, that was me.
And boy, that was uncomfortable.
Because no matter what you do,you won't be enough as long as
(11:56):
you're looking out there, right?
And that's that's some somethingthat I try to offer.
Hey, people that are that egoic,people that are that in that
place, they don't listen.
And in fact, they get angry withyou and say, hey, you're an old
man, and what do you what do youwhat do you say?
But I don't think I would havelistened when I was 25 either,
right?
Yeah.
And so I think that ultimately Ithink that a wise person just
(12:19):
sits back and brings compassionand wishes them peace.
SPEAKER_02 (12:23):
Again, having seen what those people are going
through, the mindset associatedwith it is tough for again
turning that switch on and off.
I I look back and I think abouteven when I was going through my
half marathon, marathon prep, alot of emotions.
But you also, again, to thatpoint, as you're climbing, like,
(12:45):
oh, I can do this.
Well, I I just put up 250k thisweek, I just put up 300k the
next week.
Maybe this is something that iswithin my purview to accomplish.
And you have those people.
I love the way you say a lot ofpeople telling they should do.
And I've also tried to almostremove that word because why why
should we do anything?
What's the point of doinganything unless it's providing
(13:07):
you that internal piece?
And sport, athletics providesthat internally, I think, more
so than anything else, whetherit's corporate job success,
titles, accomplishments,monetary, financial success,
like that.
And having gone through it stillin that kind of ego dissolution
(13:28):
phase, are there pieces that youwould have suggested to younger
individuals to seek out?
You know, I think about thedocumentary that you've just
recently released, sorry, facingthe long yellow line, as well as
your audiobook Untethered.
You mentioned in there atdifferent times the fact that
(13:50):
that ego dissolution, we have asociety now that is set up for
always trying to achieve more.
You've been able to focus onbeing a runner, doing that job,
accomplishing thecross-continental feat, and then
becoming the social media, thentrying to build more on top of
(14:10):
that, gain more attractionafterwards once the goal is
complete.
Can you maybe piece that down asfar as how you're able to
achieve that before expanding?
SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
Yeah.
How do I put this?
I think it's being present.
You know, if I think that if Icould offer one tip to younger
athletes is don't underestimatethe power of meditation.
You know, meditation ultimatelyis focusing upon doing, upon say
(14:46):
your breath, right?
And while you're meditating andyou're quiet alone in a room at
five o'clock in the morning, youknow, you'll have you know
you'll have thoughts.
Like a vehicle will drive by andyou'll say, Hey, that's a loud
vehicle.
That's a thought you didn'tchoose to think.
And to then draw your attentionback to your breath.
(15:07):
And that's that it basically itw wires your brain to not be
distracted, ultimately.
And I know it sounds ridiculous,and every time I meditate, I
woke up early this morning andmeditated for an hour in my
living room in the dark, and tenminutes in, every time I say, I
didn't I don't got time forthat, I ain't got time for this.
But you know what?
(15:28):
It's this world is trying todistract you.
This world is trying to gainyour attention.
How many times have you sat on atoilet and with legs going numb
45 minutes later because you'redistracted?
The world is set up against yourbrain, it knows how to how to
how to hijack you.
You have to take control.
And so ultimately, you know,athletic prowess exists because
(15:52):
of one's ability to focus theirattention.
And that meditation, when you'relike, you know, this is so
stupid.
I need to go be doing somestrength training, I need to go
do a hard speed set, I need togo do this and then hold on.
You know what?
You know, championships weren'tone because of speed sets.
No, they were one because ofmental strength and and
(16:13):
aptitude.
And so I think that ultimately,you know, your question was is
is is moving forward, you know,how do you start here and then
end up there?
Ultimately, I think it's thatyou still hold on to the values
that are that are important.
And that is, you know, I I don'twant fame.
I'm not on social media.
(16:34):
I don't I don't, you know, Iwrote a book for my grandkids
because this book is my story,and it's the proof that we
proctors can do hard things.
I don't want to be famous.
I don't I really don't wantwealth because I it's not good
for me.
My ego is too fragile for that.
(16:55):
And I don't want to be that guythat's on social media that
people are like, oh my goodness,I have to do what Dave says.
No, I I'm not smart enough to bethat guy.
But yet on the other hand, I'mpresent enough that I took, dear
Lord, I don't know how manysteps across the country, and I
ran a record that will likely bestanding for another 20 or 30 or
(17:16):
40 years simply because I did itone power pole to the next.
There's 89,500 power polesbetween St.
John's and and Victoria, and Iran each one of them
individually.
And that's sport, that'smindfulness, that's being
present.
And you know, it's the art ofnon-striving.
It's not, you know, it's notwhat people think.
(17:38):
It's it's just being here,right?
And not being there.
And so, yeah, I I'm still doingthat today.
Hey, for years and years andyears I had this purpose.
I was very purpose-driven.
I needed to go do something.
You know, I've learned thatthere is no pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow.
I'm still insecure at the end ofthe day.
And the only way for me to findmy true happiness is to be
(18:01):
still.
So I'm I'm busy instead of havedriving purpose, I'm being
present these days.
SPEAKER_02 (18:08):
Uh uh, I'm just pausing so that everyone takes a
moment to be present right now,even in this conversation,
recognize what was just said.
You referenced in the RamblingRunner podcast that I was
listening to, episode 608, thatthey that the people who create
you, i.e.
your parents, should also beproud of who you are every
single day, and vice versa.
(18:28):
When you're going through life,you should also be remembering,
hey, this is how I was growingup, and this is how I was taught
to be internally.
You know that decisions you makethroughout life sometimes
dictate how you end up beingperceived.
Hopefully you're perceived inthe way that you were ideally
supposed to be created.
You mentioned this world recordrunning across Canada, no big
(18:50):
deal.
You hold the world record timefor running across Canada, Dave
Proctor.
To put this in perspective, forthose listening, Canada is
nearly 75,000 kilometers wide,over 4,000 miles for those
Americans listening, because youknow we gotta get that metric
imperial system sorted, which isthe same as running a marathon
every single day for more thanfive months straight.
(19:12):
Why would you attempt somethingso crazy?
SPEAKER_00 (19:16):
Oh, why not?
Why not?
You know, I'm a firm believerthat in gratitude, and I'm so
damn lucky to be here.
You know, and number one, I'm solucky to be talking to you right
now, David.
I'm lucky to hopefully live4,000 weeks on this planet, you
(19:39):
know, in this body, in thisskin.
You know, and I remember when Iran my very first ultramarathon
20 years ago, it was a hundredkilometer race, and it nearly
killed me.
Like I I was crippled at the endof that thing.
And then a friend of mine who Imet on the course, we became
great friends, he said to me, Hesaid, Could you imagine Al How
(19:59):
Al Howie did it back in 1991?
I said, Who is Al Howie?
And what do you do back in 1991?
He said, You ran Canada acrossCanada in 100 kilometers a day,
and I said, That's impossible.
I can't breathe a week later.
How do you do that every day?
That's like and ultimately weall look upon what other people
do and we see how we would andwe're like, How is that
(20:20):
possible?
How is Connor McDavid skatingthe way he is?
You know, how is Vladimir GrohJr.
hitting hitting balls the way heis?
Because I when I swing a bat, II I don't swing like that.
And so ultimately, you know, I Ibelieve that we get to live this
life once.
And why not set a scary, hairy,audacious, you know, goal that
(20:50):
is something that's worthreaching, is worth getting out
of bed in the morning, somethingthat terrifies you, something
that you'll probably fail.
But yet boy, don't you want tobe that man in the arena?
Don't you want to be that guywho took a shot at it?
Anyone who reaches high andfails, tremendous respect,
(21:12):
because boy, at least they gotout of bed knowing very well
that they weren't gonna bescreaming from the cheap seats
telling the doers what needed tobe done, they're doing
themselves.
And so, you know, Canada was myEverest.
Canada was the thing that scaredthe crap out of me, but I also
realized that my innate skillset, I'm not a rocket scientist,
(21:34):
I'm not a good-looking man, I'mnot gonna be on the cover of
whatever magazine.
But I've got this weird abilityto run and be cool with it.
I'm not the fastest runner.
There are a lot faster runnersthan I am, but yet on the other
hand, you know, after themarathon, the second marathon,
the third marathon, I don'treally tire as much as others.
(21:55):
So putting that skill set atplay and actually reaching for
something that is terrifying.
Like imagine being in the middleof the country realizing I'm
this broken, but I've still gotthat left to go, and being cool
with it.
That's living for me.
SPEAKER_02 (22:13):
Did the record feel as good as the journey itself?
SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
No.
No, no, no.
The record was kind of meh.
It you know, I I could havesworn I thought it was gonna be
greater than that.
You know, I you know, you workso hard all your life, you wake
up every morning and you thinkabout this thing, and then you
get there and you look aroundand it's not as glorious as your
(22:43):
mind's made your mind made itout to be.
You know?
There were a bunch of littlethings that were miraculous and
surprising for me.
You know, I hell, you know, Igot in the documentary in in in
Chasing the Long Yellow Line,there's a scene at the very tail
end when I hug my father justseconds after touching the Terry
(23:03):
Fox monument in Victoria, and hepulls away from me and he yells
at the top of his lungs in justthis really primitive way, which
is the coolest thing ever.
That's my boy.
And do you know how hard thatwas to get?
Like, I've been working all mylife for for for my dad's
approval.
(23:23):
Like, you know, athletically,you know, that's how you got his
attention.
And you're just one, you know,piece of mechanics in your
pitching delivery away from thedata boy, but you're always one
step away.
And boy, you know, I'm a I'm inmy forties now, and that you
know, that was tough to get.
(23:44):
But then on the other hand, as Isit back now and I look upon the
memories that were, like the therun itself, it's all the little
things that you wouldn't thinkare gonna be memories.
The rain in Newfoundland, thehills in Ontario, the moment
that you saw Lake Superior forthe first time, you know, that
wind gusting across the canolafield in Saskatchewan, and
(24:06):
you're like, you just look toyour right and you look away and
you think, oh, that's that'sjust a field I've been running
in fields.
But that's the memory that comesback now.
It's not the finish line, it'snot the grandeur, it's not it's
not any of that, it's thoselittle memories, and you know,
that was the reward was beingable to string together all
(24:28):
those steps between St.
John's and and Victoria.
And and I I wish something likethat with anybody's craft for
everyone, that they have that atleast one moment like that in
their lives that they could lookback upon and say, Yeah, I lived
this life.
SPEAKER_02 (24:45):
You didn't get that from throwing across your
basement, hitting a mattresswith that baseball with your dad
growing up.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
That was practice.
That was practice, and you knowwhat?
I'm so glad that my fathertaught me that work ethic,
because that work ethic comes inhandy later on in life.
Boy, you know, and I some wouldeven ask, you know, like what is
practice?
(25:11):
I I even your execution ispractice for the next round,
right?
SPEAKER_01 (25:16):
For sure.
SPEAKER_00 (25:17):
What's the next round?
What's the next in it?
What's the next next race?
My race, my my next race mightnot be a running race, right?
But it could be something that'sjust as hard.
Dealing with a family membergetting diagnosed with
something, dealing with mentalillness, dealing with children
who are getting older, and whoknows what's going on in their
lives.
And that might hurt my heart,that that might be more
(25:39):
difficult than running acrossthe country, but at least I did
that in preparation for this.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
We also have to give a big shout out to our partners
at Pioneer Auto Group forproviding us with this Jeep.
We've been doing a coupleepisodes remote, but as we
continue to head into the winterseason here, we're gonna be
using this bad boy.
We're gonna be getting guests inperson here in the lower
mainland.
Shout out to Cody and thePioneer Auto Group for providing
us with this amazing Jeep.
(26:06):
If you guys are looking for avehicle, send me a DM and we'll
get you sorted.
Thanks for tuning in.
Back to the episode.
Well, and you can you know, it'sthose bricks that you lay as a
kid when you're watching someother stud throw amazing pitches
and your dad standing next toyou and saying, You're gonna be
better than him next year,right?
(26:27):
Yeah, it's those baby steps, thebricks along the way, that
year-long spending time throwingin the mattress.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
You know, that's when Oh, and I I think to that
point, you savage, right?
Pitching coming up from single Abaseball and now pitching in the
world in the in the in theplayoffs and being as dominant
as he is and looking at hisfather and his mother in the
stands, like that just meltsyour heart.
And you're like, that a boy,because you're seeing beautiful
(26:56):
success in his laughteryesterday when they when they
won.
It's just stunning.
It was beautiful.
It's it's he's a child, he's a22-year-old kid.
SPEAKER_01 (27:04):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (27:05):
But don't we all as parents look upon our kids in
that way?
And don't we all see ourselvesas children looking on upon our
parents in that way?
And it's it's a circle of life,it's a beautiful, beautiful
thing, and it's success issomething we hope for.
Sometimes you don't get it,sometimes you end up getting
failures and and and misery, butyou know, that's a part of, and
(27:28):
I I bet you you savage as a endup having his misery as well,
too, in life.
You don't get to where you gowhere you are through Skittles
and Rainbows.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:38):
Yeah.
Talk about a decent fourth everMLB start, hey?
You know, come in the LDS seriesand you throw what 12 strikeouts
in a postseason record, 11dream.
Dream come true.
Dream come true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, for him, that wasprobably his best moment as far
as his MLB is concerned, careeris concerned.
What's one moment from that runthat you'll never forget, good
(28:00):
or bad?
SPEAKER_00 (28:02):
Oh, what's one moment from that run I'll never
forget?
Oh, God, there are so many.
I know.
Um, you know, I think it wasgetting on the ferry coming off
from Newfoundland to it's anovernight ferry, and to to to
get to Nova Scotia or to CapeBreton to fin, you know, to
start the mainland of Canada.
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
I end up contracting COVID over in Newfoundland and I
had to run with COVID, and thatwas really uncomfortable.
You know, and there was a lot ofmindfulness and a lot of deep
prayer and meditation that wastaking place when I was running
because the the world was busyconvincing us in that in that
point in time that you couldn'texercise with COVID.
(28:46):
And and trying being withyourself out there in
discomfort, wanting so bad tofeel comfort, knowing very well
that the story that's beenspinning in your head is exactly
what you don't want to hear, andyou're the one telling it to
yourself.
But to be able to kind of workthrough that and getting to the
(29:10):
fairy and going, okay, oneprovince is down after nine days
of running, and you know, I nowfeel better.
I feel like I'm coming throughCOVID and I'm I'm I'm coughing
and I'm it hurt still, but yetmy fever broke and I'm now back
to running well.
And if I could do that, youknow, whatever comes next is is
(29:32):
gonna be a piece of cake.
So, you know, I think sometimesthat struggle, that baseball bat
upside the head, is the bestlesson.
And so I think that your lowsare will be your highs.
Your lows are your highs, andthat was my low, but then the
high that comes after was was mygreatest memory.
SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
Broken foot or COVID?
What's worse to run on or with?
SPEAKER_00 (29:58):
Uh COVID went away.
You know, my broken foot didn't.
And so the broken foot was moreof a mental exercise than than
than COVID was.
Just because, you know, I took120,000 steps every day.
So it was, you know, 60,000times I I landed on my right
foot.
And even as I say that rightnow, I wiggle my right foot and
(30:20):
it's it's still there.
I'm gonna pay for the sins of mypast.
And I I know that.
But you know, uh the mentalexercise of of not giving it
space, not giving it theattention that it wants, and I
get I I understand why it wantsattention.
It wants you to stop because ina in on a training run, if you
(30:41):
felt that way, you should stop.
Like you're causing furtherdamage.
But yet on the other hand, I'mnot starting this run again.
And if I don't finish this runat this point, and you knew you
were gonna break something.
You knew that something likethis was gonna happen.
But then on the other hand, thegnawing nature of discomfort and
pain, and then how thathighlights all the exit doors on
(31:03):
the sides of the highway, andyou could probably find good
reason to stop anything, anydifficult thing at any one time.
You don't have to look too far.
Knowing very well that I hadanother, what would that have
been, 55 days of running withthat foot in that way 60,000
times, you know, trying tominimize that, that was very
(31:26):
difficult some days because itwas very loud some days and it
was moderate other days, but itwas never quiet.
SPEAKER_02 (31:33):
Can you distinguish the difference between pain and
discomfort for those listening?
SPEAKER_00 (31:39):
I think that discomfort I pain is seem seems
to be something you can'tescape.
Discomfort is something that youcan notice and draw your
attention elsewhere, or drawless attention to it.
Pain loves attention.
Pain only grows with attention.
And so I get but I get it too,right?
(32:00):
Like we all watch David Gogginsstuff, and he draws attention to
pain and uses that as a fuel.
But the vast majority of us, andI would even argue he it doesn't
help you transcend.
Guess he got a bed in themorning for sure.
Yeah, he he he's great atgetting out of bed,
transcending.
(32:22):
Right?
Yeah, that's that's that's atruly miraculous thing that when
you can end up taking pain andmoving it to discomfort and
going like, you know what, thisis something I'd rather not
have, yet it's something that Ican accept because wanting
(32:43):
something to be different thanwhat it is in the moment is
misery and pain.
Like, oh, I don't want this tobe this case, I don't want my
foot to hurt.
Well, your foot is gonna hurt.
Yeah, so you know, I think thatthe there's a case to be made
for avoidance, right?
Avoidance of pain.
Right?
(33:03):
If you can accept pain, nexttime you anybody, any of the
listeners here, when you nexttime you're working out, next
time you're really indiscomfort, do something radical
and ask yourself in the moment,okay, where do I feel this in my
body?
Right?
And can I accept it?
And can I breathe into it?
And it's amazing that your yourpain, that's you know, a nine
(33:27):
out of ten, will immediately godown to a six, and then breathe
some more, and then it'll godown to a three.
And you're not not doing theactivity, you're still doing it,
but it's the most amazing thingbecause we are taught in this
world to avoid pain.
We are taught to that's atomorrow problem.
I'm gonna put that away, I'mgonna dig a hole and bury it,
sit with it, and it becomes youloses its power.
(33:48):
Any alcoholic, anybody who says,Hey, listen, I've got a drinking
problem, and they tell theirfriends, it loses its power.
It's it's amazing.
But pain is the exact samething, and pain becomes
discomfort.
I've got discomfort every day,you know?
So do you.
We all have discomfort.
It's your choice when you makeit pain.
SPEAKER_02 (34:10):
Yeah, my favorite quote growing up, I would listen
to this motivational speech fromEric Thomas, and I'll I might
butcher it, but eventually itgoes something like pain is
temporary, it may last for aminute, a day, or a year, but
eventually it will subside.
And if you can mentally wrapyour head around the fact that
this is a temporary state andI'm still working towards my
(34:33):
goal of achieving it, I can Ican do anything.
SPEAKER_00 (34:37):
Oh, it's called impermanence.
SPEAKER_02 (34:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:39):
You know, sit with anything.
Anything.
You know, you sit and meditate,and that thought is gonna go
away like a cloud.
It's like sitting on the side ofa highway in a lawn chair and
you see vehicles drive by, andyou might be really attracted to
a red Ferrari that flies by,because hey, who's who's not?
But you know what?
Even if you get up and chase it,it's gonna go away.
(35:02):
And it's gonna be replaced byanother vehicle that's driving
by.
And so impermanence, this tooshall pass, right?
As much as you seem to think,like, I'm in serious trouble
here, you're not.
You're doing okay, but you havethis attachment to this
discomfort.
And that's one of the thingsthat you know, I think that kind
of this this what's going aroundsocial media and what's going
(35:26):
around the internet of like thisis how you do hard things and
you just scream and yell and andand and and whatnot.
It's it it's so short-lived, youknow, because ultimately if you
can accept it and just go, hey,this is this, and then move past
(35:46):
it, it takes away all of itspower because ultimately
discomfort has a power over us,it makes us stop doing a thing.
Take away its power.
Beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02 (35:59):
I I think about what we've talked about over the past
30 minutes here, and I'm likewrapping my head around the
fact, like and wondering, doesaccomplishing the record for
running across Canada open yourmind to other goals?
I know running maybe has taken abrief hiatus at the moment, but
other things that you want toconquer as you realize and
recognize, oh, I can do thisnow.
(36:21):
My eyes have been open to whatelse?
Like wheels start turning.
SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
Yeah.
Back to the the the the secondmountain book that we were
talking about earlier.
I've had my life of achievement.
You know, I've been living withthis extreme per purpose in my
life.
And sometimes when you'rechasing something incessantly,
(36:47):
when do you when do you knowwhen to stop chasing?
When do you when do you know?
Do you know what's a reallyawkward thing is when you see a
dog chasing a car incessantlyand it catches the car.
It's it's a that's a weirdthing, man.
You know, that's it's it's afunny, funny moment.
And so, you know, I I I don'tknow.
(37:09):
I don't know.
Now I believe that in order forme to find maybe what's next, I
don't know what's next.
I need to be still right now.
You know, I need to be present.
You know, I was always chasingsomething, and I was chasing
something for a good reasonbecause I had something to prove
(37:32):
to myself, and I proved it.
Now what?
So now I'm lucky enough to bethat guy who proved something.
So I don't know what's next.
I don't know if it's coaching, Idon't know if it's more writing,
I don't know if it's a careerchange, I don't know if hey, I'm
learning how to play the guitar.
SPEAKER_01 (37:52):
Nice.
SPEAKER_00 (37:52):
That's really cool.
Like I've always you know putoff, like I've always said, you
know, since I was in my 20s, Iwant to learn how to play the
guitar, but I was too busy.
And so I'll I'll I'll pick it upnext year.
I'll pick it up next year, I'llpick it up next year.
You know what?
I might I might after a yearfrom now go like, yeah, no, it's
not really for me, but at leastI tried.
Because I've come to realizeover my life that I ran a lot,
(38:16):
and I really didn't do a lot ofother things simply because if I
have some free time, hey, Ibetter go for a run.
I better put in a long run, Ibetter do some a speed set.
And I've come to realize that Ilook around at a lot of my
friends who are in their mid-40sand they're they they they they
cast a wide net in things thatthey enjoy.
I'm like, oh shoot, I'm just arunner.
(38:38):
That's all I've learned how todo.
And so right now I'm busy tryingto learn other things.
And it turns out I'm really,really enjoying it.
Just like the book I read, or Iwrote.
I didn't I'm not a writer, butit turns out I'm a good writer.
I I really enjoyed writing that.
Sat down with a cup ofpeppermint tea and classical
music, and I I I was a writer.
(38:59):
I wrote a book that I'm reallyproud of.
And cool, that that's a reallycool you know, expression of
artistic expression.
I've never considered myselfhaving to have that, but I like
that part of me.
So I'm gonna dig a bit more intothat, maybe this music thing.
Maybe I might go try out for theBlue Jays next year and and and
(39:21):
and be turned away.
Um but you know, either way, Idon't know what's next, but I
also don't want to be too takeit too seriously.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
A lot of people now in life are taking it too
seriously, myself included.
I think about you know, myselfsix years ago setting an
audacious goal to try andeducate, entertain, and inspire
the next generation of athletes.
And when I hear you talking,it's like you know, you had
those goal posts, you achievedthem, and now it's what's next,
or staying still in the moment,being present.
(39:51):
For me, those goalposts are everchanging.
So maybe it was naive of me atthe time to set those goals.
But I feel like now, to yourpoint, I can potentially do this
forever and not have that maybesecond mountain where I'm
descending if I can continue tosimply ascend.
And maybe again, that's mynaivety coming out.
SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Well, no, no, but it but it but to your point, you
like it's it's beautiful.
Everybody's climb.
Like you're climbing your climb,right?
Everybody's climbing theirclimb.
And you know, it's it's abeautiful thing when you see
somebody searching for somethingbecause complacency and uh so
don't get me wrong, uh you know,purpose is a beautiful thing,
(40:35):
right?
You know, Victor Frankel writesabout it eloquently in in Man's
Search for Meaning.
What's the meaning of life?
And how do we end up finding it?
And it's it's through hard workand seeking out and
determination.
That's beautiful.
On the other end of that isbeautiful too, right?
So, you know, anybody that istrying hard to make something,
(41:00):
to prove something, to you know,to to whittle something out of
nothing, I've got a tremendousamount of respect for.
Because those are the thosepeople in this life are doers.
And let's face it, people whoare listening to this podcast
are doers.
They're they're busy doingsomething and trying to pick
little pieces apart fromconversations to be able to do
(41:24):
as well, too.
And I've done that all my lifeas well, too.
I when I run, I listen topodcasts and I take little bits
of Pete Kostelnik and and andand Courtney DeWalter, and like
those little nuggets, they work,right?
They these are wise, wise peoplethat do something that I value.
But you know, I think that thethe need to find is a beautiful
(41:50):
thing.
And and and and I wish you allthe luck, and I wish everybody
all the luck when it comes to,and hopefully you find what
you're looking for, right?
Along the way.
And how would you know?
You don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (42:01):
I think to your point, that's the beauty of it,
is there might not be anything,you know, or there is, and you
get to achieve that.
But along the way, you get tomeet incredible, well, arguably
the best individuals in theworld that you want to be
associating with, trying toemulate little pieces of what
they can do.
For me, that's that's the beautyof it.
(42:21):
Again, whether I'm able toinspire the next generation of
athletes or not, I'm gonna chatwith 250, 300, 500, 1,000
different people.
And like we talked about beforewe started recording, if we can
impact one person, that's aninsane opportunity just there on
its own.
But dealing with those doubtersisn't easy, especially at the
beginning.
(42:41):
I can imagine when you tellpeople you're gonna run across
Canada, there was probably acouple people that looked at you
with some wide deer eyes andheadlights and said, You've got
some crazy goals, Mr.
Proctor.
How do you deal with that?
Was that fuel?
Was that fire?
SPEAKER_00 (42:57):
Oh, it's it's it's totally expected.
And I've always seen thosepeople as being very insecure.
Yeah, as am I, right?
And we all you know have thislevel of insecurity all within
us.
People who say that they're notinsecure, take your mask off,
you're insecure.
SPEAKER_02 (43:12):
Come on, they're just doing a better job at
hiding it.
SPEAKER_00 (43:14):
Or or or just being loud about it, you know, guys
like Donald Trump out there,he's the loudest.
And he's the most insecure.
That guy needs a hug, man.
That guy needs a hug and amother.
But that's oh, yeah, we went, wegot political there, didn't we?
But but but on the other hand,you know, you have to ask
yourself what's doubt, right?
(43:36):
How many times in my life haveyou know I've been talking to
somebody because I'm I'm reallylucky, I'm a massage therapist,
and you know, I practice allday.
I'm treating nine patients latertoday, and hey, for that hour
appointment, we're talkingnonstop.
And it's a beautiful thing.
I love, I love you know, people,but how many times do you hear
(43:58):
people deflect?
How many times do you hearpeople should other people and
lead with insecurity?
And it's so often, especiallyfor people that are dealing with
people that do.
And I get it, I I likely becauseof my running, I make people
feel insecure about what they'renot doing, and that's not my
(44:20):
intent.
But with that insecurity thatcomes out is really interesting
because I think that you end uphaving people that deflect that
that that you know resort to todoubting.
And their doubt towards you isthat their doubt on towards
(44:41):
themselves.
And you know, ultimately I couldget angry and attack back, but
that's not really thecompassionate thing to do
either, because hey, I'vedoubted myself, why shouldn't
they doubt me too?
You know, I've doubt uh doubtedother people because they're
doubting themselves.
The world is full of doubt.
Like, are you really sure thatwe could can do this, that we
(45:04):
should do this?
And especially something asaudacious as 7,000 plus
kilometers across the countryevery day.
Like the weather, the hills, thethe mosquitoes, the hell, I
would I I was so lucky outthere.
There wasn't a big wildfire Ihad to run through.
You woke up in the morning, theheadwind was the headwind, or
(45:27):
the tailwind, or the sidewind.
There was so much that was outof my control.
Should they have doubted me?
Of course they should have.
Why if they didn't doubt me,they would be foolish, right?
And so, yeah, you know, if ifsomebody's doubting you, that
just means that you've set agoal or set something that's
(45:48):
large enough worth doubting.
Good.
SPEAKER_02 (45:52):
Yeah, you're on the right track.
SPEAKER_00 (45:53):
If you're not doubting it yourself, set a
bigger goal, yeah, right?
Or set a goal in the in means toget to something that you should
probably doubt, right?
Because then you're living, thenyou're on that razor's edge, and
that's a beautiful, beautifulplace.
So yeah, oh dear lord, I I'vehad a tremendous amount of
doubters, but I think that theadvice that I would give
(46:14):
anybody, any young athlete, ifsomebody's doubting you, deep in
your heart, don't say it outloud, because then it's just
being passive aggressive.
But just deep in your heart saythank you.
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02 (46:27):
I like the passive aggressive route saying thank
you.
I like Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (46:32):
Yeah, especially with the Blue Jays playing the
Yankees last night.
And boy, it's really, really funto beat the Yankees.
Hey, I'll I'll be the first toadmit.
SPEAKER_02 (46:40):
Well, and hey, if you can do it with a smile on
your face throughout the entireprocess, and you know, if they
doubted you, and it's you know,some people will use that as
fire, that chip on yourshoulder.
I've heard that again, maybethat's the younger ego state.
But if you can get to that statewhere you're you're almost stoic
with it, you're like, yeah, youknow, this is pretty crazy.
I am gonna try and do it.
(47:00):
And you know, maybe I don'taccomplish it.
But again, if I can do thenecessary steps along the way,
I've reverse engineered it to apoint where I think I can.
And whether I do or not, I'mgoing to be so much farther
ahead for having done it ortried or attempted this.
SPEAKER_00 (47:16):
Right.
I think that sometimes, youknow, when it comes to self-
some sorry, when it comes todoubters, I think the thing that
triggers us the most about thatis because we deep down kind of
know they're a little bit right.
Come on, come on, like thinkabout it.
You know, if it triggers you,it's not them, it's your
trigger.
(47:36):
If you're if you're concernedwith doubters, with people
saying you can't, it's becausethat's triggering a little part
of you deep down that goes, uh,yeah, this is hard.
Hey, you know what?
You're not gonna be doubt,you're not gonna be bothered by
doubters if you set your yourbar really, really, really low.
Like, hey, can I step over thisbar?
(47:57):
Yeah, of course I can.
And anybody who doubts that,like, but you're not taking a
risk.
But what if you set the bar sohigh that the risk was actually
exponential?
And that's the beautiful thingabout being in the middle of the
arena, is you you're actuallyputting yourself not in harm's
(48:17):
way of others, but in harm's wayof you actually knowing very
well that I knew I couldn't dothis.
SPEAKER_02 (48:24):
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Were you always like stoic,Buddhist mentality?
I've heard kind of a couplereferences doing my research.
But I think that it's like, youknow, in the preparation for
trying to go for a world record.
You've got the worldchampionships that you run 16
miles longer than you would haveever thought have going through
(48:44):
that, the preparation that'sassociated with such a physical
feat.
Uh I'd love for you to kind ofhighlight maybe a tidbit.
I'm sure you go into more detailin your books about this, but
you know, when you are trying toachieve such crazy feat, you've
obviously been exposed to manualtherapy as a thought therapist.
But uh where do you maybe set abaseline and say, hey, these are
(49:07):
some of the minimum requirementsthat you should be different?
I use the word good.
How would you suggest youngathletes, people who are
pursuing the sport of runningspecifically because it's gained
so much attention over the pastdecade, I'd say?
Uh guys like Zach Bitter, who isepisode 199 on the show, Braden
Mills, who's a guy locally here.
(49:28):
Everyone's picked up the sportof running in some capacity.
COVID played a large part inthat.
Barriers to entry are low.
You know, you grab a pair ofrunning shoes and you get out
there, right?
What are some of those otherkind of baseline pieces that you
would suggest for athleteswanting to get into the sport of
running and how they could setthemselves up for success?
SPEAKER_00 (49:47):
Yeah, I think ultimately it's a sport of
doing.
You know?
It's a sport of of quietlydoing.
Out there every single step ofthe way on a run, but it's just
you and and and and and physics.
And so it's going out andputting in the time, putting in
(50:09):
the effort.
It's it's it's it's just aneffort-based exercise, it's an
effort effort-based activity,and there's a lot of pride that
can be taken with actually goingout and doing something that you
were busy trying to talkyourself out from, moving away
from comfort, moving towardsdiscomfort, and proving to
(50:32):
yourself that you're not a slaveto comfort, that you're that
you're a king.
There's an old stoic philosophyquote that says, Desire for
comfort makes slaves out ofkings, whereas patience and
discipline makes kings out ofslaves.
And we get to decide if we'regoing to be a slave to comfort,
hitting the snooze button in themorning one more time, having
that extra bowl of ice creamafter dinner, comfort, you know,
(50:55):
your slave to comfort, becausewe get to decide, or becoming a
king or a queen, where you getout of bed, you finish that run
strong, you do your last set ofweights when no one's looking,
and you're not posting itonline, and only you know, and
you get in the shower after thatworkout, and you have that
(51:17):
little smirk on your facebecause you know you did it.
You know you did it.
And so that those little momentsof little bits of stacking pride
and and accomplishment andknowing and not having to prove
anything else and anything toanybody else outside of yourself
that you could do hard things,getting in that shower and
turning the dial down and going,you know what, this warm shower
(51:40):
feels nice, this cold showerdoes me good.
Uncomfortable, but does me good.
These little moments, thoselittle things, those little
habits, those little stacking ofhabits, thousands of habits a
day, that's what makes it,right?
If you have to go and be like,oh, hey guys, do you see these
habits that I did?
(52:01):
Hey, hold it.
Can I get some applause forthis?
And in fact, I'm gonna go intosocial media and I'm gonna I'm
gonna tell you about my habitsthat I've done, and I'm gonna
get the applause, and I'm gonnaapplaud you upon your habits.
What what what happens whenthose those that applause goes
away?
Then you're left with yourself,right?
And if you haven't learned tolove yourself from within, then
(52:24):
you are, you know, then you'reyou're you're then you're
sitting duck.
Right?
You do this for yourself, right?
Because in the end, no one'sgonna be there for you.
You have to be there foryourself.
So the advice that I have to toto to younger people is is
notice when you do somethinggood, that you're proud of
(52:47):
yourself, that you work throughsomething, and put a little
asterisk and a little gold starbeside those things, and notice
the habits that you want to moveaway from.
Because when you look at guyslike Zach Bitter, your your
previous guest, that guy stackedhabits for years and years and
years, and he doesn't talk aboutthe little things, about
choosing this breakfast overthat breakfast, because those
(53:09):
aren't sexy, but they stack andthey matter.
SPEAKER_02 (53:14):
I think back to a quote, Emmett Smith, Dallas
Cowboys all men are createdequal, some work harder in
preseason.
And uh to your point, you know,not a lot of footage,
documentation during preseason,but that's where that
foundation's laid.
Uh you you got ahead of me.
You gave uh that best piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, Dave.
(53:34):
I can't thank you enough forcoming on this show, for sharing
your knowledge or wisdom.
I can't wait to run this backagain.
Like I mentioned, we'll getstaffed on the pod here, maybe
do a dual cross-Candidate tourcombo, highlighting the two of
you, maybe just letting you guysriff on experiences from going
across the country.
I just did it three weeks in twoseparate sprinter bands, and I'm
(53:55):
gasped.
So I can't even imagine how youguys did it on foot.
I I do want to leave a minutehere for you to share where
people can find you.
Obviously, you've created someincredible momentum when it
comes to your foundation, whatyou've been able to achieve as
far as highlighting others,raising funds.
But you've got a documentary outthere facing the long yellow
(54:18):
line.
Vera, never leave it.
If I said that correctly,probably not.
That's located on Vimeo, as wellas your audio and book
untethered.
But the floor is yours here,Dave.
I again can't thank you enoughfor coming on.
I want to give you that minuteto highlight where people can
seek you out because I believemore people should be sharing
your story.
That's what we're doing here onthe Athletes Podcast today.
(54:38):
But the floor is yours.
SPEAKER_00 (54:40):
Yeah, well, thanks a lot, David, and I appreciate
that.
Yeah, yeah, I I'm I'm hey, youknow what?
You can find me at Ron Proctoron Instagram.
There's not going to be anycontent there.
You're just going to see, youknow, all the posts and all the
everything from the run acrossCanada three years ago.
Yeah, so I'm not reallyanywhere.
You could end up sending me amessage on Instagram or Facebook
(55:02):
Messenger, and and you know, I'mhappy to jump on the call with
anybody.
I would prefer to hearsomebody's voice than than
texting or whatever.
My phone, my my my book is isUntethered, the comeback story
of one of the longest, fastestruns in history.
That's found on Amazon.
As I mentioned before, it was abook written for my grandkids
that aren't born yet, let's faceit.
(55:22):
And it's it's a story about howwe do hard things.
And it's it's written foranybody who wants to take a
couple little nuggets frompeople that have done hard
things, that want to do hardthings.
And and the book, or sorry, andthe the movie Chasing the Long
Yellow Line is gritty.
(55:43):
It's exactly how it happened outthere.
The filmmaker capturedbeautifully all these drone
shots of Canada, and you see megrow a really long beard, uh,
get really, really skinny, andyou know, achieve something that
I've been chasing all my life.
And it's beautiful.
It's not the pump your fist inthe air, nothing ever bothers
(56:08):
me, I don't feel pain.
You want to see pain?
Yeah, it's it's there.
It's very uncomfortable.
But anybody who wants to findsomething and achieve something,
there's something there for foryou.
And I and I appreciate you guys'attention on that.
SPEAKER_02 (56:24):
And if you guys enjoyed this episode, I can
guarantee you you will enjoylistening to the audiobook,
watching the documentary.
Please, please, please go checkout Dave Proctor's work,
Canadian Legend, someone who I'mgonna continue to hopefully stay
in touch with, follow along asyou continue to seek out other
ambitious goals to conquer.
I do want to ask you one morequestion.
I always do this, but people whoinspired you, is there
(56:46):
individuals that you'd like tohighlight right now, give a
little kudos to, whether it'sparents, coaches, teachers?
I always feel like there'smoments here where we can
highlight and maybe spread alittle love and highlight those
individuals.
SPEAKER_00 (57:00):
Yeah.
Number one, Terry Fox, you know,the greatest, I believe the
greatest Canadian ever lived towhoever was busy doing, you
didn't want to be, he was busydoing, right?
Al Howie for setting the bar.
Right?
I so, so appreciate that.
And and anybody who comes behindme on on wanting to run across
(57:21):
Canada and find themselves outthere.
My father, Randy Proctor, he'snot a perfect dad, but he's one
hell of a you know a greatleader, and I I I love him so so
much.
My old track coach coach, LoxleyWalters.
But ultimately, you know, mykids, they uh they're truly
wonderful people and they makeme want to be a better man every
(57:43):
day.
I'm a I'm a really lucky guy tohave them in my life, and and I
want to I want to grow oldlooking looking down, or not
down, aside alongside thesewonderful people.
Just very lucky to be their dad.
SPEAKER_02 (57:56):
Hey, I'm a very lucky guy to have been able to
spend the past hour with you,Dave.
Sincerely appreciate your time.
I can't wait for others tolisten to this episode.
It's a doozy.
And for those who enjoyed thishour, you got so much more
content to consume with thedocumentary and the book.
Dave, thank you so much.
This is the 269th episode of theAthletes Podcast.
Thank you folks for tuning in.
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (58:15):
Take care.
SPEAKER_02 (58:17):
I just wanted to say thank you folks for tuning in to
the 269th episode of theAthletes Podcast.
We continue to grow here, and weappreciate you being along for
the ride.
It means the world to me.
Check out our sponsor, PerfectSports Supplements.
Use the code AP15 to save 15%.
And if you haven't yet, hit thesubscribe button below.
I sincerely appreciate you folkstuning in.
Have a great week, and we'll seeyou next week for another new
(58:38):
episode.
Bye.
What's up folks?
Welcome back to the 269thepisode of the Athletes Podcast
today, featuring Dave Proctor,someone who you may not have
heard of because he's notmassive on social media, mainly
because he doesn't need all thatadditional attention.
A couple years ago, duringCOVID, he ran across the country
of Canada, a transcontinental,as they call them.
I personally just drove acrossthe country and cannot imagine
(00:23):
doing this on foot, especiallywhen you come to think about
some of the difficulties thatDave had along the way.
We dive into it during thisepisode.
He's got a book, he's got adocuseries that's coming out.
You folks are going to love thisepisode.
I can't thank you enough fortuning in here today.
I also can't thank PerfectSports enough for being our
sponsor.
That being the primary sponsorof the Athletes Podcast.
(00:45):
They provide us with hydroflash,collagen, creatine, and you guys
know about diesel, the bestprotein on the market.
I take one to two scoops per dayminimum.
And you folks should too.
If you use the code AP50 atJECO, you can save 15%.
Send me a screenshot of what youbuy, and maybe I'll send you
some extra products.
But this is a 269th episode ofthe Athletes Podcast featuring
(01:06):
Dave Proctor.
Here we go.
You're the most decoratedbasketball player in U.S.
history.
World's strongest man.
From childhood passion toprofessional athlete.
Eight-time Iron Man champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes?
From underdogs to nationalchampions.
(01:30):
We're high performanceindividuals to their triumphs,
at least, and life left.
Educate, entertain, and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go.
And so you have a great name.
I have a great name.
This is how we get started onthe athletes podcast.
This will be like a 268thepisode of the show, I believe,
which is absolutely bonkers.
(01:52):
Hey, it's the beauty ofcompounding.
You know it.
It's like putting one foot infront of the other.
And people pay attention overtime.
It doesn't happen overnight, butyou know, at the end of the day,
we uh we have a really coolopportunity to be able to put in
front of people, incredibleindividuals like yourself.
The 269th episode.
(02:14):
As you know, I'm just back fromthree weeks on the road, so I'm
still getting my bearings here,but we got an amazing
individual, Dave Proctor, on theAthletes Podcast here today, the
269th episode of the show, anultra runner, someone who I've
been admiring for years behindthe scenes, but we finally get
to feature on the show today.
Dave, thank you so much forcoming on.
I really appreciate it.
So excited after that day's winyesterday.
(02:35):
Big ALDS.
Success for those days.
3-1 victory.
Tell me about it.
You were watching it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
I was watching it and I love the bullpen.
I'm in love with our bullpen,and we're gonna go to the World
Series.
There's no way that we're notgonna we're not gonna we're not
gonna win.
We're a winning team.
It's a fun team to watch.
It's a fun team to watch.
It's all well-rounded, it's gotgreat leadership, it's it's
everything.
It's the best, it's the best ofsport, you know?
SPEAKER_02 (02:59):
It's this is such an amazing time for sports to be
happening too.
October baseball is the best.
I was able to actually catchgame one in Toronto on Saturday.
What a sensational environmentthat was to be a part of.
You and I have been texting backand forth.
We've pushed this conversation14 hours so that we could have
it, so that we could watch thegame, won the hockey game last
(03:20):
night, came back phase one, youand I were celebrating.
What is it like though for youto be able to motivate an entire
country the same way these BlueJays have been doing that?
Because for you, crossing thecountry, a cross-continental
journey, that was obviously afew years ago now.
Man, you gotta think that thatsimilar Canadian pride is
(03:41):
pushing you every step of theway when you have that journey
that you're trying to go fromone ocean to the other.
Can you explain the mindsetassociated with that?
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Yeah, thanks, man.
Yeah, it's I don't know.
You know, it's it's funnylooking upon the journey that
was after the fact, because, youknow, during the journey, I felt
like I was just busy doing.
You know, and I didn't reallyfeel like I was inspiring.
I didn't really feel like I was,you know, becoming anything.
It was just I was just busydoing.
And there's a lot of doing thatthat that that comes to building
(04:14):
success.
I look upon it now and go, wow,I couldn't have done any more.
I couldn't have done any better.
You know, my 105 kilometers aday across the country was was
the best I could do.
And, you know, if I die in 40years from now, if I'm 84 years
old when I die, I know very wellthat, you know, I've set the bar
the highest I could and I'vedone the best I could during
(04:36):
that summer's effort.
And you couldn't just youcouldn't be any prouder.
If that if that inspires people,that's so rad.
I love that.
I think that that's so coolbecause I found great
inspiration in many otherswho've done bigger things.
And I I I I love that.
I think that we all havedifferent stages in our lives.
And there's a time that you areseeing what other people are
(04:57):
doing and trying to match that.
Other times you're you're busydoing, and other times, you
know, you're coachingthereafter.
You're you're you're you know,and uh, and at other times too,
it's it's it's cool to just be,right?
So I feel like I'm in a stageright now where I'm just being,
but back then I was doing, itwas pretty fun.
SPEAKER_02 (05:14):
How are you able to turn that switch on and off?
I've talked to 270 plus athletestoday over six plus years.
That's a switch that noteveryone's able to turn on and
off, if you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Yeah.
Well, it I think it's because II think it was pretty clear of
what I was trying to do.
And it was very deeply personal,and now I can talk about it
simply because during while Iwas doing it, I was trying to
outrun something.
Hell, you know, duringthroughout the entire process, I
founded a charity and I nameledit outrun, outrun rare.
It was pretty clear that I wastrying to prove something to
(05:50):
myself or outrun something.
And I think the lights the theswitch gets turned off or can be
dimmed, at least, after the factwhen you have proven something
to yourself.
I feel bad for a lot of theindividuals out there that are
continually not reallyunderstanding what they're
running towards or away from ortrying to prove.
(06:12):
And then they're old men andwomen and they're still
fighting.
They're still looking for thatthing, they're still looking for
that pot of gold at the end ofthe rainbow.
And if you're not really clearabout what that is, how do you
know what you're running to?
And how will you know when youget it?
That's that's that's a biggerquestion, I guess.
SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
Well, and I think the issue in our society
nowadays is the fact that peopleare never really satisfied,
right?
Those goal points are alwayschanging.
SPEAKER_00 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know what?
I think the world is set up sothat you're never satisfied
because then they got yourattention, right?
So I I I think the greatestresource in the world, and every
hey, this is this is us divingstraight deep into uh
philosophy, is is is attention.
And I think if you and I were togo around, and if you and I were
(06:58):
psychologists, we're not smartenough to be psychologists, but
let's say we are, let's let'sput that hat on for a second.
If we were to go around and andand test everybody to see who
has ADHD, 99.9% of everybody hasADHD.
It's because you look around andeverybody's attention is
somewhere, most likely on theirphones, right?
(07:20):
And we've been gotten.
Nobody talked about it.
Because you we've been you werebusy waiting for your friend to
come by and play.
You waited.
(07:40):
You just sat there and waited.
Now we don't wait, and we'regiven something every six
seconds or eight eight seconds.
And ultimately, like we're allwe're all suffering from ADHD,
but I think it's it's it'ssocietal based.
And so uh yeah, I I I agree withyou.
I I think it's it's a realinteresting issue, but yet
(08:01):
that's the most beautiful thingabout sport, is it takes all
your attention and draws ittowards the task at hand.
And I think that's the mostbeautiful thing about exercise
and sport.
SPEAKER_02 (08:12):
I could not agree with you more.
This is part of the reason whyI've been so passionate about
this for the past you know halfplus decade.
And I I fell into athleticsprobably a decade plus ago now
during high school and realizedthe benefits.
And you talk about stayingpresent.
I I get to do this once a week,no matter what, if I'm on top of
(08:33):
my planning.
And it this brings me that kindof peace when I'm able to have a
conversation with someone for 45minutes, an hour, learn about
what that mindset is, how thatmindset differs or compares to a
guy like David Goggins with thatstay hard mentality, which maybe
benefits some people, but mightnot benefit everyone.
And to your point, there's a lotof people that are running away
(08:55):
from things.
Do you see that and then try andprovide insight based on your
experiences when you see someonemaybe out there on social trying
to do some crazy feat?
Or are you supporting how do youmanage that?
Because you've gone through thatprocess already, and there's a
lot of people out there that arein the midst of it, maybe myself
even included, when I go pursuea marathon randomly and then,
(09:16):
like, yeah, I can do this ineight months, and maybe that's
an ambitious goal.
Maybe I'm dealing with somethings during that moment.
Do you see that, recognize it,and then try and offer support,
or how do you manage thatsituation?
SPEAKER_00 (09:28):
That's a tricky one because I think everybody in the
world is busy telling oneanother what they should be
doing.
And you know, that's not fairand reasonable and kind.
It's not kind.
You know, there's this reallygreat book, I forget the author,
but it's called The SecondMountain.
And it all talks about thesecond mountain that we climb in
life, but but we have to climbthe second mountain after the
(09:49):
first mountain is climbed.
And the first mountain that weclimb in in this life is when
we're in our 20s and 30s, or ourteens, 20s and 30s.
And it's a lot of it's a lot ofego.
There's a lot of ego involvedthere.
There's a lot of drive, there'sa lot of build, there's
building, family, wealth,career.
There's hyperindependence andselfishness and what's in there
(10:10):
for me, right?
And then upon every mountain,there's a summit, and it's a
beautiful view.
Hey, I saw it, and it'sbeautiful, right?
And then there's this longdescent, if not a cliff.
Some people it's a cliff,hopefully not too jagged and
doesn't hurt too far too hardwhen you fall.
And then there's this valley inbetween the two, and it's an
(10:31):
uncomfortable place.
Some people buy a sports car,other people, you know, it it's
it's a midlife crisis, as youwould say.
But yet on the other hand,there's a second climb there.
And you can't be too frustratedor be frustrated or angry with
people that are climbing thefirst mountain, because you
climbed one too, right?
(10:52):
And and you know, boy, early inmy running life, uh boy, I was
trying to prove something tosomebody else.
I was trying to be somebody.
Hey everybody, are you seeingwhat I'm doing here?
Hey, did you see my 250kilometers last week I posted on
Strava?
Hey, did you see that I went fora 45 kilometer run at nine
o'clock at night?
(11:12):
Hey, how many kudos can I get?
And I'm gonna respond to thosekudos so I can end up driving
that and building more.
And ultimately, you could saythat that's an awful thing.
You could say that, oh hey,that's not really building what
you need, but ultimately you getthere and through that in order
to build something else.
And I believe that everybody hasto kind of do it.
(11:32):
And you see that right now onsocial media with a lot of these
these individuals that aretrying to be social media
influencers, and they're tryingreally hard.
And I sit back and I look and Isay, Wow, that was me.
And boy, that was uncomfortable.
Because no matter what you do,you won't be enough as long as
(11:56):
you're looking out there, right?
And that's that's some somethingthat I try to offer.
Hey, people that are that egoic,people that are that in that
place, they don't listen.
And in fact, they get angry withyou and say, hey, you're an old
man, and what do you what do youwhat do you say?
But I don't think I would havelistened when I was 25 either,
right?
Yeah.
And so I think that ultimately Ithink that a wise person just
(12:19):
sits back and brings compassionand wishes them peace.
SPEAKER_02 (12:23):
Again, having seen what those people are going
through, the mindset associatedwith it is tough for again
turning that switch on and off.
I I look back and I think abouteven when I was going through my
half marathon, marathon prep, alot of emotions.
But you also, again, to thatpoint, as you're climbing, like,
(12:45):
oh, I can do this.
Well, I I just put up 250k thisweek, I just put up 300k the
next week.
Maybe this is something that iswithin my purview to accomplish.
And you have those people.
I love the way you say a lot ofpeople telling they should do.
And I've also tried to almostremove that word because why why
should we do anything?
What's the point of doinganything unless it's providing
(13:07):
you that internal piece?
And sport, athletics providesthat internally, I think, more
so than anything else, whetherit's corporate job success,
titles, accomplishments,monetary, financial success,
like that.
And having gone through it stillin that kind of ego dissolution
(13:28):
phase, are there pieces that youwould have suggested to younger
individuals to seek out?
You know, I think about thedocumentary that you've just
recently released, sorry, facingthe long yellow line, as well as
your audiobook Untethered.
You mentioned in there atdifferent times the fact that
(13:50):
that ego dissolution, we have asociety now that is set up for
always trying to achieve more.
You've been able to focus onbeing a runner, doing that job,
accomplishing thecross-continental feat, and then
becoming the social media, thentrying to build more on top of
(14:10):
that, gain more attractionafterwards once the goal is
complete.
Can you maybe piece that down asfar as how you're able to
achieve that before expanding?
SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
Yeah.
How do I put this?
I think it's being present.
You know, if I think that if Icould offer one tip to younger
athletes is don't underestimatethe power of meditation.
You know, meditation ultimatelyis focusing upon doing, upon say
(14:46):
your breath, right?
And while you're meditating andyou're quiet alone in a room at
five o'clock in the morning, youknow, you'll have you know
you'll have thoughts.
Like a vehicle will drive by andyou'll say, Hey, that's a loud
vehicle.
That's a thought you didn'tchoose to think.
And to then draw your attentionback to your breath.
(15:07):
And that's that it basically itw wires your brain to not be
distracted, ultimately.
And I know it sounds ridiculous,and every time I meditate, I
woke up early this morning andmeditated for an hour in my
living room in the dark, and tenminutes in, every time I say, I
didn't I don't got time forthat, I ain't got time for this.
But you know what?
(15:28):
It's this world is trying todistract you.
This world is trying to gainyour attention.
How many times have you sat on atoilet and with legs going numb
45 minutes later because you'redistracted?
The world is set up against yourbrain, it knows how to how to
how to hijack you.
You have to take control.
And so ultimately, you know,athletic prowess exists because
(15:52):
of one's ability to focus theirattention.
And that meditation, when you'relike, you know, this is so
stupid.
I need to go be doing somestrength training, I need to go
do a hard speed set, I need togo do this and then hold on.
You know what?
You know, championships weren'tone because of speed sets.
No, they were one because ofmental strength and and
(16:13):
aptitude.
And so I think that ultimately,you know, your question was is
is is moving forward, you know,how do you start here and then
end up there?
Ultimately, I think it's thatyou still hold on to the values
that are that are important.
And that is, you know, I I don'twant fame.
I'm not on social media.
(16:34):
I don't I don't, you know, Iwrote a book for my grandkids
because this book is my story,and it's the proof that we
proctors can do hard things.
I don't want to be famous.
I don't I really don't wantwealth because I it's not good
for me.
My ego is too fragile for that.
(16:55):
And I don't want to be that guythat's on social media that
people are like, oh my goodness,I have to do what Dave says.
No, I I'm not smart enough to bethat guy.
But yet on the other hand, I'mpresent enough that I took, dear
Lord, I don't know how manysteps across the country, and I
ran a record that will likely bestanding for another 20 or 30 or
(17:16):
40 years simply because I did itone power pole to the next.
There's 89,500 power polesbetween St.
John's and and Victoria, and Iran each one of them
individually.
And that's sport, that'smindfulness, that's being
present.
And you know, it's the art ofnon-striving.
It's not, you know, it's notwhat people think.
(17:38):
It's it's just being here,right?
And not being there.
And so, yeah, I I'm still doingthat today.
Hey, for years and years andyears I had this purpose.
I was very purpose-driven.
I needed to go do something.
You know, I've learned thatthere is no pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow.
I'm still insecure at the end ofthe day.
And the only way for me to findmy true happiness is to be
(18:01):
still.
So I'm I'm busy instead of havedriving purpose, I'm being
present these days.
SPEAKER_02 (18:08):
Uh uh, I'm just pausing so that everyone takes a
moment to be present right now,even in this conversation,
recognize what was just said.
You referenced in the RamblingRunner podcast that I was
listening to, episode 608, thatthey that the people who create
you, i.e.
your parents, should also beproud of who you are every
single day, and vice versa.
(18:28):
When you're going through life,you should also be remembering,
hey, this is how I was growingup, and this is how I was taught
to be internally.
You know that decisions you makethroughout life sometimes
dictate how you end up beingperceived.
Hopefully you're perceived inthe way that you were ideally
supposed to be created.
You mentioned this world recordrunning across Canada, no big
(18:50):
deal.
You hold the world record timefor running across Canada, Dave
Proctor.
To put this in perspective, forthose listening, Canada is
nearly 75,000 kilometers wide,over 4,000 miles for those
Americans listening, because youknow we gotta get that metric
imperial system sorted, which isthe same as running a marathon
every single day for more thanfive months straight.
(19:12):
Why would you attempt somethingso crazy?
SPEAKER_00 (19:16):
Oh, why not?
Why not?
You know, I'm a firm believerthat in gratitude, and I'm so
damn lucky to be here.
You know, and number one, I'm solucky to be talking to you right
now, David.
I'm lucky to hopefully live4,000 weeks on this planet, you
(19:39):
know, in this body, in thisskin.
You know, and I remember when Iran my very first ultramarathon
20 years ago, it was a hundredkilometer race, and it nearly
killed me.
Like I I was crippled at the endof that thing.
And then a friend of mine who Imet on the course, we became
great friends, he said to me, Hesaid, Could you imagine Al How
(19:59):
Al Howie did it back in 1991?
I said, Who is Al Howie?
And what do you do back in 1991?
He said, You ran Canada acrossCanada in 100 kilometers a day,
and I said, That's impossible.
I can't breathe a week later.
How do you do that every day?
That's like and ultimately weall look upon what other people
do and we see how we would andwe're like, How is that
(20:20):
possible?
How is Connor McDavid skatingthe way he is?
You know, how is Vladimir GrohJr.
hitting hitting balls the way heis?
Because I when I swing a bat, II I don't swing like that.
And so ultimately, you know, I Ibelieve that we get to live this
life once.
And why not set a scary, hairy,audacious, you know, goal that
(20:50):
is something that's worthreaching, is worth getting out
of bed in the morning, somethingthat terrifies you, something
that you'll probably fail.
But yet boy, don't you want tobe that man in the arena?
Don't you want to be that guywho took a shot at it?
Anyone who reaches high andfails, tremendous respect,
(21:12):
because boy, at least they gotout of bed knowing very well
that they weren't gonna bescreaming from the cheap seats
telling the doers what needed tobe done, they're doing
themselves.
And so, you know, Canada was myEverest.
Canada was the thing that scaredthe crap out of me, but I also
realized that my innate skillset, I'm not a rocket scientist,
(21:34):
I'm not a good-looking man, I'mnot gonna be on the cover of
whatever magazine.
But I've got this weird abilityto run and be cool with it.
I'm not the fastest runner.
There are a lot faster runnersthan I am, but yet on the other
hand, you know, after themarathon, the second marathon,
the third marathon, I don'treally tire as much as others.
(21:55):
So putting that skill set atplay and actually reaching for
something that is terrifying.
Like imagine being in the middleof the country realizing I'm
this broken, but I've still gotthat left to go, and being cool
with it.
That's living for me.
SPEAKER_02 (22:13):
Did the record feel as good as the journey itself?
SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
No.
No, no, no.
The record was kind of meh.
It you know, I I could havesworn I thought it was gonna be
greater than that.
You know, I you know, you workso hard all your life, you wake
up every morning and you thinkabout this thing, and then you
get there and you look aroundand it's not as glorious as your
(22:43):
mind's made your mind made itout to be.
You know?
There were a bunch of littlethings that were miraculous and
surprising for me.
You know, I hell, you know, Igot in the documentary in in in
Chasing the Long Yellow Line,there's a scene at the very tail
end when I hug my father justseconds after touching the Terry
(23:03):
Fox monument in Victoria, and hepulls away from me and he yells
at the top of his lungs in justthis really primitive way, which
is the coolest thing ever.
That's my boy.
And do you know how hard thatwas to get?
Like, I've been working all mylife for for for my dad's
approval.
(23:23):
Like, you know, athletically,you know, that's how you got his
attention.
And you're just one, you know,piece of mechanics in your
pitching delivery away from thedata boy, but you're always one
step away.
And boy, you know, I'm a I'm inmy forties now, and that you
know, that was tough to get.
(23:44):
But then on the other hand, as Isit back now and I look upon the
memories that were, like the therun itself, it's all the little
things that you wouldn't thinkare gonna be memories.
The rain in Newfoundland, thehills in Ontario, the moment
that you saw Lake Superior forthe first time, you know, that
wind gusting across the canolafield in Saskatchewan, and
(24:06):
you're like, you just look toyour right and you look away and
you think, oh, that's that'sjust a field I've been running
in fields.
But that's the memory that comesback now.
It's not the finish line, it'snot the grandeur, it's not it's
not any of that, it's thoselittle memories, and you know,
that was the reward was beingable to string together all
(24:28):
those steps between St.
John's and and Victoria.
And and I I wish something likethat with anybody's craft for
everyone, that they have that atleast one moment like that in
their lives that they could lookback upon and say, Yeah, I lived
this life.
SPEAKER_02 (24:45):
You didn't get that from throwing across your
basement, hitting a mattresswith that baseball with your dad
growing up.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
That was practice.
That was practice, and you knowwhat?
I'm so glad that my fathertaught me that work ethic,
because that work ethic comes inhandy later on in life.
Boy, you know, and I some wouldeven ask, you know, like what is
practice?
(25:11):
I I even your execution ispractice for the next round,
right?
SPEAKER_01 (25:16):
For sure.
SPEAKER_00 (25:17):
What's the next round?
What's the next in it?
What's the next next race?
My race, my my next race mightnot be a running race, right?
But it could be something that'sjust as hard.
Dealing with a family membergetting diagnosed with
something, dealing with mentalillness, dealing with children
who are getting older, and whoknows what's going on in their
lives.
And that might hurt my heart,that that might be more
(25:39):
difficult than running acrossthe country, but at least I did
that in preparation for this.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
We also have to give a big shout out to our partners
at Pioneer Auto Group forproviding us with this Jeep.
We've been doing a coupleepisodes remote, but as we
continue to head into the winterseason here, we're gonna be
using this bad boy.
We're gonna be getting guests inperson here in the lower
mainland.
Shout out to Cody and thePioneer Auto Group for providing
us with this amazing Jeep.
(26:06):
If you guys are looking for avehicle, send me a DM and we'll
get you sorted.
Thanks for tuning in.
Back to the episode.
Well, and you can you know, it'sthose bricks that you lay as a
kid when you're watching someother stud throw amazing pitches
and your dad standing next toyou and saying, You're gonna be
better than him next year,right?
(26:27):
Yeah, it's those baby steps, thebricks along the way, that
year-long spending time throwingin the mattress.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
You know, that's when Oh, and I I think to that
point, you savage, right?
Pitching coming up from single Abaseball and now pitching in the
world in the in the in theplayoffs and being as dominant
as he is and looking at hisfather and his mother in the
stands, like that just meltsyour heart.
And you're like, that a boy,because you're seeing beautiful
(26:56):
success in his laughteryesterday when they when they
won.
It's just stunning.
It was beautiful.
It's it's he's a child, he's a22-year-old kid.
SPEAKER_01 (27:04):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (27:05):
But don't we all as parents look upon our kids in
that way?
And don't we all see ourselvesas children looking on upon our
parents in that way?
And it's it's a circle of life,it's a beautiful, beautiful
thing, and it's success issomething we hope for.
Sometimes you don't get it,sometimes you end up getting
failures and and and misery, butyou know, that's a part of, and
(27:28):
I I bet you you savage as a endup having his misery as well,
too, in life.
You don't get to where you gowhere you are through Skittles
and Rainbows.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:38):
Yeah.
Talk about a decent fourth everMLB start, hey?
You know, come in the LDS seriesand you throw what 12 strikeouts
in a postseason record, 11dream.
Dream come true.
Dream come true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, for him, that wasprobably his best moment as far
as his MLB is concerned, careeris concerned.
What's one moment from that runthat you'll never forget, good
(28:00):
or bad?
SPEAKER_00 (28:02):
Oh, what's one moment from that run I'll never
forget?
Oh, God, there are so many.
I know.
Um, you know, I think it wasgetting on the ferry coming off
from Newfoundland to it's anovernight ferry, and to to to
get to Nova Scotia or to CapeBreton to fin, you know, to
start the mainland of Canada.
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
I end up contracting COVID over in Newfoundland and I
had to run with COVID, and thatwas really uncomfortable.
You know, and there was a lot ofmindfulness and a lot of deep
prayer and meditation that wastaking place when I was running
because the the world was busyconvincing us in that in that
point in time that you couldn'texercise with COVID.
(28:46):
And and trying being withyourself out there in
discomfort, wanting so bad tofeel comfort, knowing very well
that the story that's beenspinning in your head is exactly
what you don't want to hear, andyou're the one telling it to
yourself.
But to be able to kind of workthrough that and getting to the
(29:10):
fairy and going, okay, oneprovince is down after nine days
of running, and you know, I nowfeel better.
I feel like I'm coming throughCOVID and I'm I'm I'm coughing
and I'm it hurt still, but yetmy fever broke and I'm now back
to running well.
And if I could do that, youknow, whatever comes next is is
(29:32):
gonna be a piece of cake.
So, you know, I think sometimesthat struggle, that baseball bat
upside the head, is the bestlesson.
And so I think that your lowsare will be your highs.
Your lows are your highs, andthat was my low, but then the
high that comes after was was mygreatest memory.
SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
Broken foot or COVID?
What's worse to run on or with?
SPEAKER_00 (29:58):
Uh COVID went away.
You know, my broken foot didn't.
And so the broken foot was moreof a mental exercise than than
than COVID was.
Just because, you know, I took120,000 steps every day.
So it was, you know, 60,000times I I landed on my right
foot.
And even as I say that rightnow, I wiggle my right foot and
(30:20):
it's it's still there.
I'm gonna pay for the sins of mypast.
And I I know that.
But you know, uh the mentalexercise of of not giving it
space, not giving it theattention that it wants, and I
get I I understand why it wantsattention.
It wants you to stop because ina in on a training run, if you
(30:41):
felt that way, you should stop.
Like you're causing furtherdamage.
But yet on the other hand, I'mnot starting this run again.
And if I don't finish this runat this point, and you knew you
were gonna break something.
You knew that something likethis was gonna happen.
But then on the other hand, thegnawing nature of discomfort and
pain, and then how thathighlights all the exit doors on
(31:03):
the sides of the highway, andyou could probably find good
reason to stop anything, anydifficult thing at any one time.
You don't have to look too far.
Knowing very well that I hadanother, what would that have
been, 55 days of running withthat foot in that way 60,000
times, you know, trying tominimize that, that was very
(31:26):
difficult some days because itwas very loud some days and it
was moderate other days, but itwas never quiet.
SPEAKER_02 (31:33):
Can you distinguish the difference between pain and
discomfort for those listening?
SPEAKER_00 (31:39):
I think that discomfort I pain is seem seems
to be something you can'tescape.
Discomfort is something that youcan notice and draw your
attention elsewhere, or drawless attention to it.
Pain loves attention.
Pain only grows with attention.
And so I get but I get it too,right?
(32:00):
Like we all watch David Gogginsstuff, and he draws attention to
pain and uses that as a fuel.
But the vast majority of us, andI would even argue he it doesn't
help you transcend.
Guess he got a bed in themorning for sure.
Yeah, he he he's great atgetting out of bed,
transcending.
(32:22):
Right?
Yeah, that's that's that's atruly miraculous thing that when
you can end up taking pain andmoving it to discomfort and
going like, you know what, thisis something I'd rather not
have, yet it's something that Ican accept because wanting
(32:43):
something to be different thanwhat it is in the moment is
misery and pain.
Like, oh, I don't want this tobe this case, I don't want my
foot to hurt.
Well, your foot is gonna hurt.
Yeah, so you know, I think thatthe there's a case to be made
for avoidance, right?
Avoidance of pain.
Right?
(33:03):
If you can accept pain, nexttime you anybody, any of the
listeners here, when you nexttime you're working out, next
time you're really indiscomfort, do something radical
and ask yourself in the moment,okay, where do I feel this in my
body?
Right?
And can I accept it?
And can I breathe into it?
And it's amazing that your yourpain, that's you know, a nine
(33:27):
out of ten, will immediately godown to a six, and then breathe
some more, and then it'll godown to a three.
And you're not not doing theactivity, you're still doing it,
but it's the most amazing thingbecause we are taught in this
world to avoid pain.
We are taught to that's atomorrow problem.
I'm gonna put that away, I'mgonna dig a hole and bury it,
sit with it, and it becomes youloses its power.
(33:48):
Any alcoholic, anybody who says,Hey, listen, I've got a drinking
problem, and they tell theirfriends, it loses its power.
It's it's amazing.
But pain is the exact samething, and pain becomes
discomfort.
I've got discomfort every day,you know?
So do you.
We all have discomfort.
It's your choice when you makeit pain.
SPEAKER_02 (34:10):
Yeah, my favorite quote growing up, I would listen
to this motivational speech fromEric Thomas, and I'll I might
butcher it, but eventually itgoes something like pain is
temporary, it may last for aminute, a day, or a year, but
eventually it will subside.
And if you can mentally wrapyour head around the fact that
this is a temporary state andI'm still working towards my
(34:33):
goal of achieving it, I can Ican do anything.
SPEAKER_00 (34:37):
Oh, it's called impermanence.
SPEAKER_02 (34:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:39):
You know, sit with anything.
Anything.
You know, you sit and meditate,and that thought is gonna go
away like a cloud.
It's like sitting on the side ofa highway in a lawn chair and
you see vehicles drive by, andyou might be really attracted to
a red Ferrari that flies by,because hey, who's who's not?
But you know what?
Even if you get up and chase it,it's gonna go away.
(35:02):
And it's gonna be replaced byanother vehicle that's driving
by.
And so impermanence, this tooshall pass, right?
As much as you seem to think,like, I'm in serious trouble
here, you're not.
You're doing okay, but you havethis attachment to this
discomfort.
And that's one of the thingsthat you know, I think that kind
of this this what's going aroundsocial media and what's going
(35:26):
around the internet of like thisis how you do hard things and
you just scream and yell and andand and and whatnot.
It's it it's so short-lived, youknow, because ultimately if you
can accept it and just go, hey,this is this, and then move past
(35:46):
it, it takes away all of itspower because ultimately
discomfort has a power over us,it makes us stop doing a thing.
Take away its power.
Beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02 (35:59):
I I think about what we've talked about over the past
30 minutes here, and I'm likewrapping my head around the
fact, like and wondering, doesaccomplishing the record for
running across Canada open yourmind to other goals?
I know running maybe has taken abrief hiatus at the moment, but
other things that you want toconquer as you realize and
recognize, oh, I can do thisnow.
(36:21):
My eyes have been open to whatelse?
Like wheels start turning.
SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
Yeah.
Back to the the the the secondmountain book that we were
talking about earlier.
I've had my life of achievement.
You know, I've been living withthis extreme per purpose in my
life.
And sometimes when you'rechasing something incessantly,
(36:47):
when do you when do you knowwhen to stop chasing?
When do you when do you know?
Do you know what's a reallyawkward thing is when you see a
dog chasing a car incessantlyand it catches the car.
It's it's a that's a weirdthing, man.
You know, that's it's it's afunny, funny moment.
And so, you know, I I I don'tknow.
(37:09):
I don't know.
Now I believe that in order forme to find maybe what's next, I
don't know what's next.
I need to be still right now.
You know, I need to be present.
You know, I was always chasingsomething, and I was chasing
something for a good reasonbecause I had something to prove
(37:32):
to myself, and I proved it.
Now what?
So now I'm lucky enough to bethat guy who proved something.
So I don't know what's next.
I don't know if it's coaching, Idon't know if it's more writing,
I don't know if it's a careerchange, I don't know if hey, I'm
learning how to play the guitar.
SPEAKER_01 (37:52):
Nice.
SPEAKER_00 (37:52):
That's really cool.
Like I've always you know putoff, like I've always said, you
know, since I was in my 20s, Iwant to learn how to play the
guitar, but I was too busy.
And so I'll I'll I'll pick it upnext year.
I'll pick it up next year, I'llpick it up next year.
You know what?
I might I might after a yearfrom now go like, yeah, no, it's
not really for me, but at leastI tried.
Because I've come to realizeover my life that I ran a lot,
(38:16):
and I really didn't do a lot ofother things simply because if I
have some free time, hey, Ibetter go for a run.
I better put in a long run, Ibetter do some a speed set.
And I've come to realize that Ilook around at a lot of my
friends who are in their mid-40sand they're they they they they
cast a wide net in things thatthey enjoy.
I'm like, oh shoot, I'm just arunner.
(38:38):
That's all I've learned how todo.
And so right now I'm busy tryingto learn other things.
And it turns out I'm really,really enjoying it.
Just like the book I read, or Iwrote.
I didn't I'm not a writer, butit turns out I'm a good writer.
I I really enjoyed writing that.
Sat down with a cup ofpeppermint tea and classical
music, and I I I was a writer.
(38:59):
I wrote a book that I'm reallyproud of.
And cool, that that's a reallycool you know, expression of
artistic expression.
I've never considered myselfhaving to have that, but I like
that part of me.
So I'm gonna dig a bit more intothat, maybe this music thing.
Maybe I might go try out for theBlue Jays next year and and and
(39:21):
and be turned away.
Um but you know, either way, Idon't know what's next, but I
also don't want to be too takeit too seriously.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
A lot of people now in life are taking it too
seriously, myself included.
I think about you know, myselfsix years ago setting an
audacious goal to try andeducate, entertain, and inspire
the next generation of athletes.
And when I hear you talking,it's like you know, you had
those goal posts, you achievedthem, and now it's what's next,
or staying still in the moment,being present.
(39:51):
For me, those goalposts are everchanging.
So maybe it was naive of me atthe time to set those goals.
But I feel like now, to yourpoint, I can potentially do this
forever and not have that maybesecond mountain where I'm
descending if I can continue tosimply ascend.
And maybe again, that's mynaivety coming out.
SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Well, no, no, but it but it but to your point, you
like it's it's beautiful.
Everybody's climb.
Like you're climbing your climb,right?
Everybody's climbing theirclimb.
And you know, it's it's abeautiful thing when you see
somebody searching for somethingbecause complacency and uh so
don't get me wrong, uh you know,purpose is a beautiful thing,
(40:35):
right?
You know, Victor Frankel writesabout it eloquently in in Man's
Search for Meaning.
What's the meaning of life?
And how do we end up finding it?
And it's it's through hard workand seeking out and
determination.
That's beautiful.
On the other end of that isbeautiful too, right?
So, you know, anybody that istrying hard to make something,
(41:00):
to prove something, to you know,to to whittle something out of
nothing, I've got a tremendousamount of respect for.
Because those are the thosepeople in this life are doers.
And let's face it, people whoare listening to this podcast
are doers.
They're they're busy doingsomething and trying to pick
little pieces apart fromconversations to be able to do
(41:24):
as well, too.
And I've done that all my lifeas well, too.
I when I run, I listen topodcasts and I take little bits
of Pete Kostelnik and and andand Courtney DeWalter, and like
those little nuggets, they work,right?
They these are wise, wise peoplethat do something that I value.
But you know, I think that thethe need to find is a beautiful
(41:50):
thing.
And and and and I wish you allthe luck, and I wish everybody
all the luck when it comes to,and hopefully you find what
you're looking for, right?
Along the way.
And how would you know?
You don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (42:01):
I think to your point, that's the beauty of it,
is there might not be anything,you know, or there is, and you
get to achieve that.
But along the way, you get tomeet incredible, well, arguably
the best individuals in theworld that you want to be
associating with, trying toemulate little pieces of what
they can do.
For me, that's that's the beautyof it.
(42:21):
Again, whether I'm able toinspire the next generation of
athletes or not, I'm gonna chatwith 250, 300, 500, 1,000
different people.
And like we talked about beforewe started recording, if we can
impact one person, that's aninsane opportunity just there on
its own.
But dealing with those doubtersisn't easy, especially at the
beginning.
(42:41):
I can imagine when you tellpeople you're gonna run across
Canada, there was probably acouple people that looked at you
with some wide deer eyes andheadlights and said, You've got
some crazy goals, Mr.
Proctor.
How do you deal with that?
Was that fuel?
Was that fire?
SPEAKER_00 (42:57):
Oh, it's it's it's totally expected.
And I've always seen thosepeople as being very insecure.
Yeah, as am I, right?
And we all you know have thislevel of insecurity all within
us.
People who say that they're notinsecure, take your mask off,
you're insecure.
SPEAKER_02 (43:12):
Come on, they're just doing a better job at
hiding it.
SPEAKER_00 (43:14):
Or or or just being loud about it, you know, guys
like Donald Trump out there,he's the loudest.
And he's the most insecure.
That guy needs a hug, man.
That guy needs a hug and amother.
But that's oh, yeah, we went, wegot political there, didn't we?
But but but on the other hand,you know, you have to ask
yourself what's doubt, right?
(43:36):
How many times in my life haveyou know I've been talking to
somebody because I'm I'm reallylucky, I'm a massage therapist,
and you know, I practice allday.
I'm treating nine patients latertoday, and hey, for that hour
appointment, we're talkingnonstop.
And it's a beautiful thing.
I love, I love you know, people,but how many times do you hear
(43:58):
people deflect?
How many times do you hearpeople should other people and
lead with insecurity?
And it's so often, especiallyfor people that are dealing with
people that do.
And I get it, I I likely becauseof my running, I make people
feel insecure about what they'renot doing, and that's not my
(44:20):
intent.
But with that insecurity thatcomes out is really interesting
because I think that you end uphaving people that deflect that
that that you know resort to todoubting.
And their doubt towards you isthat their doubt on towards
(44:41):
themselves.
And you know, ultimately I couldget angry and attack back, but
that's not really thecompassionate thing to do
either, because hey, I'vedoubted myself, why shouldn't
they doubt me too?
You know, I've doubt uh doubtedother people because they're
doubting themselves.
The world is full of doubt.
Like, are you really sure thatwe could can do this, that we
(45:04):
should do this?
And especially something asaudacious as 7,000 plus
kilometers across the countryevery day.
Like the weather, the hills, thethe mosquitoes, the hell, I
would I I was so lucky outthere.
There wasn't a big wildfire Ihad to run through.
You woke up in the morning, theheadwind was the headwind, or
(45:27):
the tailwind, or the sidewind.
There was so much that was outof my control.
Should they have doubted me?
Of course they should have.
Why if they didn't doubt me,they would be foolish, right?
And so, yeah, you know, if ifsomebody's doubting you, that
just means that you've set agoal or set something that's
(45:48):
large enough worth doubting.
Good.
SPEAKER_02 (45:52):
Yeah, you're on the right track.
SPEAKER_00 (45:53):
If you're not doubting it yourself, set a
bigger goal, yeah, right?
Or set a goal in the in means toget to something that you should
probably doubt, right?
Because then you're living, thenyou're on that razor's edge, and
that's a beautiful, beautifulplace.
So yeah, oh dear lord, I I'vehad a tremendous amount of
doubters, but I think that theadvice that I would give
(46:14):
anybody, any young athlete, ifsomebody's doubting you, deep in
your heart, don't say it outloud, because then it's just
being passive aggressive.
But just deep in your heart saythank you.
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02 (46:27):
I like the passive aggressive route saying thank
you.
I like Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (46:32):
Yeah, especially with the Blue Jays playing the
Yankees last night.
And boy, it's really, really funto beat the Yankees.
Hey, I'll I'll be the first toadmit.
SPEAKER_02 (46:40):
Well, and hey, if you can do it with a smile on
your face throughout the entireprocess, and you know, if they
doubted you, and it's you know,some people will use that as
fire, that chip on yourshoulder.
I've heard that again, maybethat's the younger ego state.
But if you can get to that statewhere you're you're almost stoic
with it, you're like, yeah, youknow, this is pretty crazy.
I am gonna try and do it.
(47:00):
And you know, maybe I don'taccomplish it.
But again, if I can do thenecessary steps along the way,
I've reverse engineered it to apoint where I think I can.
And whether I do or not, I'mgoing to be so much farther
ahead for having done it ortried or attempted this.
SPEAKER_00 (47:16):
Right.
I think that sometimes, youknow, when it comes to self-
some sorry, when it comes todoubters, I think the thing that
triggers us the most about thatis because we deep down kind of
know they're a little bit right.
Come on, come on, like thinkabout it.
You know, if it triggers you,it's not them, it's your
trigger.
(47:36):
If you're if you're concernedwith doubters, with people
saying you can't, it's becausethat's triggering a little part
of you deep down that goes, uh,yeah, this is hard.
Hey, you know what?
You're not gonna be doubt,you're not gonna be bothered by
doubters if you set your yourbar really, really, really low.
Like, hey, can I step over thisbar?
(47:57):
Yeah, of course I can.
And anybody who doubts that,like, but you're not taking a
risk.
But what if you set the bar sohigh that the risk was actually
exponential?
And that's the beautiful thingabout being in the middle of the
arena, is you you're actuallyputting yourself not in harm's
(48:17):
way of others, but in harm's wayof you actually knowing very
well that I knew I couldn't dothis.
SPEAKER_02 (48:24):
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Were you always like stoic,Buddhist mentality?
I've heard kind of a couplereferences doing my research.
But I think that it's like, youknow, in the preparation for
trying to go for a world record.
You've got the worldchampionships that you run 16
miles longer than you would haveever thought have going through
(48:44):
that, the preparation that'sassociated with such a physical
feat.
Uh I'd love for you to kind ofhighlight maybe a tidbit.
I'm sure you go into more detailin your books about this, but
you know, when you are trying toachieve such crazy feat, you've
obviously been exposed to manualtherapy as a thought therapist.
But uh where do you maybe set abaseline and say, hey, these are
(49:07):
some of the minimum requirementsthat you should be different?
I use the word good.
How would you suggest youngathletes, people who are
pursuing the sport of runningspecifically because it's gained
so much attention over the pastdecade, I'd say?
Uh guys like Zach Bitter, who isepisode 199 on the show, Braden
Mills, who's a guy locally here.
(49:28):
Everyone's picked up the sportof running in some capacity.
COVID played a large part inthat.
Barriers to entry are low.
You know, you grab a pair ofrunning shoes and you get out
there, right?
What are some of those otherkind of baseline pieces that you
would suggest for athleteswanting to get into the sport of
running and how they could setthemselves up for success?
SPEAKER_00 (49:47):
Yeah, I think ultimately it's a sport of
doing.
You know?
It's a sport of of quietlydoing.
Out there every single step ofthe way on a run, but it's just
you and and and and and physics.
And so it's going out andputting in the time, putting in
(50:09):
the effort.
It's it's it's it's just aneffort-based exercise, it's an
effort effort-based activity,and there's a lot of pride that
can be taken with actually goingout and doing something that you
were busy trying to talkyourself out from, moving away
from comfort, moving towardsdiscomfort, and proving to
(50:32):
yourself that you're not a slaveto comfort, that you're that
you're a king.
There's an old stoic philosophyquote that says, Desire for
comfort makes slaves out ofkings, whereas patience and
discipline makes kings out ofslaves.
And we get to decide if we'regoing to be a slave to comfort,
hitting the snooze button in themorning one more time, having
that extra bowl of ice creamafter dinner, comfort, you know,
(50:55):
your slave to comfort, becausewe get to decide, or becoming a
king or a queen, where you getout of bed, you finish that run
strong, you do your last set ofweights when no one's looking,
and you're not posting itonline, and only you know, and
you get in the shower after thatworkout, and you have that
(51:17):
little smirk on your facebecause you know you did it.
You know you did it.
And so that those little momentsof little bits of stacking pride
and and accomplishment andknowing and not having to prove
anything else and anything toanybody else outside of yourself
that you could do hard things,getting in that shower and
turning the dial down and going,you know what, this warm shower
(51:40):
feels nice, this cold showerdoes me good.
Uncomfortable, but does me good.
These little moments, thoselittle things, those little
habits, those little stacking ofhabits, thousands of habits a
day, that's what makes it,right?
If you have to go and be like,oh, hey guys, do you see these
habits that I did?
(52:01):
Hey, hold it.
Can I get some applause forthis?
And in fact, I'm gonna go intosocial media and I'm gonna I'm
gonna tell you about my habitsthat I've done, and I'm gonna
get the applause, and I'm gonnaapplaud you upon your habits.
What what what happens whenthose those that applause goes
away?
Then you're left with yourself,right?
And if you haven't learned tolove yourself from within, then
(52:24):
you are, you know, then you'reyou're you're then you're
sitting duck.
Right?
You do this for yourself, right?
Because in the end, no one'sgonna be there for you.
You have to be there foryourself.
So the advice that I have to toto to younger people is is
notice when you do somethinggood, that you're proud of
(52:47):
yourself, that you work throughsomething, and put a little
asterisk and a little gold starbeside those things, and notice
the habits that you want to moveaway from.
Because when you look at guyslike Zach Bitter, your your
previous guest, that guy stackedhabits for years and years and
years, and he doesn't talk aboutthe little things, about
choosing this breakfast overthat breakfast, because those
(53:09):
aren't sexy, but they stack andthey matter.
SPEAKER_02 (53:14):
I think back to a quote, Emmett Smith, Dallas
Cowboys all men are createdequal, some work harder in
preseason.
And uh to your point, you know,not a lot of footage,
documentation during preseason,but that's where that
foundation's laid.
Uh you you got ahead of me.
You gave uh that best piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, Dave.
(53:34):
I can't thank you enough forcoming on this show, for sharing
your knowledge or wisdom.
I can't wait to run this backagain.
Like I mentioned, we'll getstaffed on the pod here, maybe
do a dual cross-Candidate tourcombo, highlighting the two of
you, maybe just letting you guysriff on experiences from going
across the country.
I just did it three weeks in twoseparate sprinter bands, and I'm
(53:55):
gasped.
So I can't even imagine how youguys did it on foot.
I I do want to leave a minutehere for you to share where
people can find you.
Obviously, you've created someincredible momentum when it
comes to your foundation, whatyou've been able to achieve as
far as highlighting others,raising funds.
But you've got a documentary outthere facing the long yellow
(54:18):
line.
Vera, never leave it.
If I said that correctly,probably not.
That's located on Vimeo, as wellas your audio and book
untethered.
But the floor is yours here,Dave.
I again can't thank you enoughfor coming on.
I want to give you that minuteto highlight where people can
seek you out because I believemore people should be sharing
your story.
That's what we're doing here onthe Athletes Podcast today.
(54:38):
But the floor is yours.
SPEAKER_00 (54:40):
Yeah, well, thanks a lot, David, and I appreciate
that.
Yeah, yeah, I I'm I'm hey, youknow what?
You can find me at Ron Proctoron Instagram.
There's not going to be anycontent there.
You're just going to see, youknow, all the posts and all the
everything from the run acrossCanada three years ago.
Yeah, so I'm not reallyanywhere.
You could end up sending me amessage on Instagram or Facebook
(55:02):
Messenger, and and you know, I'mhappy to jump on the call with
anybody.
I would prefer to hearsomebody's voice than than
texting or whatever.
My phone, my my my book is isUntethered, the comeback story
of one of the longest, fastestruns in history.
That's found on Amazon.
As I mentioned before, it was abook written for my grandkids
that aren't born yet, let's faceit.
(55:22):
And it's it's a story about howwe do hard things.
And it's it's written foranybody who wants to take a
couple little nuggets frompeople that have done hard
things, that want to do hardthings.
And and the book, or sorry, andthe the movie Chasing the Long
Yellow Line is gritty.
(55:43):
It's exactly how it happened outthere.
The filmmaker capturedbeautifully all these drone
shots of Canada, and you see megrow a really long beard, uh,
get really, really skinny, andyou know, achieve something that
I've been chasing all my life.
And it's beautiful.
It's not the pump your fist inthe air, nothing ever bothers
(56:08):
me, I don't feel pain.
You want to see pain?
Yeah, it's it's there.
It's very uncomfortable.
But anybody who wants to findsomething and achieve something,
there's something there for foryou.
And I and I appreciate you guys'attention on that.
SPEAKER_02 (56:24):
And if you guys enjoyed this episode, I can
guarantee you you will enjoylistening to the audiobook,
watching the documentary.
Please, please, please go checkout Dave Proctor's work,
Canadian Legend, someone who I'mgonna continue to hopefully stay
in touch with, follow along asyou continue to seek out other
ambitious goals to conquer.
I do want to ask you one morequestion.
I always do this, but people whoinspired you, is there
(56:46):
individuals that you'd like tohighlight right now, give a
little kudos to, whether it'sparents, coaches, teachers?
I always feel like there'smoments here where we can
highlight and maybe spread alittle love and highlight those
individuals.
SPEAKER_00 (57:00):
Yeah.
Number one, Terry Fox, you know,the greatest, I believe the
greatest Canadian ever lived towhoever was busy doing, you
didn't want to be, he was busydoing, right?
Al Howie for setting the bar.
Right?
I so, so appreciate that.
And and anybody who comes behindme on on wanting to run across
(57:21):
Canada and find themselves outthere.
My father, Randy Proctor, he'snot a perfect dad, but he's one
hell of a you know a greatleader, and I I I love him so so
much.
My old track coach coach, LoxleyWalters.
But ultimately, you know, mykids, they uh they're truly
wonderful people and they makeme want to be a better man every
(57:43):
day.
I'm a I'm a really lucky guy tohave them in my life, and and I
want to I want to grow oldlooking looking down, or not
down, aside alongside thesewonderful people.
Just very lucky to be their dad.
SPEAKER_02 (57:56):
Hey, I'm a very lucky guy to have been able to
spend the past hour with you,Dave.
Sincerely appreciate your time.
I can't wait for others tolisten to this episode.
It's a doozy.
And for those who enjoyed thishour, you got so much more
content to consume with thedocumentary and the book.
Dave, thank you so much.
This is the 269th episode of theAthletes Podcast.
Thank you folks for tuning in.
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (58:15):
Take care.
SPEAKER_02 (58:17):
I just wanted to say thank you folks for tuning in to
the 269th episode of theAthletes Podcast.
We continue to grow here, and weappreciate you being along for
the ride.
It means the world to me.
Check out our sponsor, PerfectSports Supplements.
Use the code AP15 to save 15%.
And if you haven't yet, hit thesubscribe button below.
I sincerely appreciate you folkstuning in.
Have a great week, and we'll seeyou next week for another new
(58:38):
episode.
Bye.
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