April 8, 2020 • 26 mins
Mike and I play chess together and today have become great friends over the past months. Recently, he is known for winning the Virtual Backyard Ultra with the assist of Radek. We talk about the pandemic, motivation, and his Perfect Race. I enjoyed this short interview with him, and I’m grateful that I can share his story and be a part of his journey. I look forward to seeing him race in the future and follow in his footsteps at the Comrades Marathon. During this episode we talk about what he’s been doing since races have been cancelled/postponed, and feats he’s doing as well. Thank you, Michael, for your time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode three hundred and forty five, The Pandemic Series with
Michael Wardaine. Welcome to the Pursuit of the Perfect Race.
I'm coach Terry Wilson, and with each episode I bring
stories of athletes to you that share their experiences at
races in order for you to learn how to have
your perfect race. Will hear stories from athletes of all ages,
(00:23):
abilities and races of all distances, so regardless of where
you fin there's something in there for you. Thanks for
spending some time with me today. Now let the pursuit begin. Hey, everybody,
welcome back to the Pursuit of the Perfect Race. We
are talking with Michael Wardain today about his recent race
(00:46):
at the Virtual Backyard ultra type thing, and we're also
going to be touching on motivation with a pandemic and
the quarantine and lockdown and all that fun stuff. Michael,
welcome to the show. I look forward to chatting with you.
It's been fun playing with you and chess and meeting
you in person totally. Man, I'm a huge fan, So
thank you for just being some time with me today.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh, no, no problem, man, I'm really honored to be
on and you are a purest competitor, So I love
battling you daily and chess even during the race we're
going to talk about and yeah, I'm excited to be on.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Well, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So we have to mention your epic win here at
the virtual race that lasted sixty three hours. I think
at one time there was over two thousand people around
the world watching this race and supporting all these runners.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It was truly amazing to see this. What was it
like to actually run.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
It was? It was kind of a dream come true
for me. It was.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It was one of the you know, best best efforts
I remember done for me. It was the longest I'd
ever run, It was the furthest I've ever run continuously
without sleep.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It was.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
The closest I've ever run to home, which was nice
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Close to the family and friends, so that that was
a really interesting part of it.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
But it really challenged me. It pushed me beyond anywhere
I'd been in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And allowed me to tap into, you know, places I
hadn't gone before. And I think that's kind of what
you want when you go to an event or take
part in an event, is you want to see, you know,
where your limits are where the boundaries may be, excuse me,
and then you know if you can kind of excel
or push them further out so that you can do
(02:46):
more and hopefully continue to evolve.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Man, So when you say push you beyond push that
it pushed you beyond where you have ever been. You've
been to some pretty amaz places in the world, but
also in some pretty dark places mentally because you've done
some epic races.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I think you're most.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Known for the World Tour marathons, where you've I think
you did the same year as Ryan Hall.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I've actually done the World Marathon Challenge twice. So I
did it in two thousand and seventeen, running seven marathons
and seven days on seven continents in an average time
of two hours forty five minutes. And then I get
it again in twenty and nineteen, and I did the
seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, and then
(03:36):
added three marathons at the end to make it a
total of ten marathons, which is funny because that's almost
exactly the distance I ran this past weekend in the
course of those sixty three hours. So it's pretty funny,
you know. And I was able to set the ten
day world record and then you know, for marathons, and
then to get this, you know, similar kind of distance
(03:59):
over the course of I guess almost three days.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I guess.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah. Man, So going into it, did you think you
would win? Did you?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean, because there was some pretty tough competition out there.
Oh my gosh, the competition was super fierce.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Man.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I knew. My friend Maggie Guderol was in the race.
Courtney to Walter was in the race.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, I just am yesterday.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Yeah, I mean, they're badasses.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And then there was like Olivier from who's also lives
in Arlington here in Virginia, who's on the twenty four
hour World team, Harvey Lewis Proctor that put the race
on some of my other like Caleb Enough Is like, yeah,
(04:49):
there was like way more studs and just badasses than
I expected.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And I never really.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Knew if I was gonna win, but I knew that
I was gonna, you know, stick around as long as
I could, and I thought that I had the skill
set to do well. I just didn't know what that
I didn't know what that meant, and I didn't.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Know how long I could last. But I knew.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I knew I had the ability to to endure.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
So for people that don't know what actually happened, it's
a four point one sixty six seven mile run every hour.
On the hour, you can have the remainder time for rest,
using the bathroom, sleep, whatever, But on the hour you
have to go again for another run.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And you did this sixty three hours in a row.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Uh, And I mean we have to talk about the
time of the last lap for you. Thirty one minutes
five seconds, I think that was it something like that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Like, yeah, unbelievably fast. Yeah, And I didn't know I
heard that, you know that I was. I was lucky
enough to be pushed or assisted by a guy named
Raddick from the Czech Republic, And halfway through the lap,
I heard that, you know, he hadn't started on time,
(06:18):
which you know, makes makes it seem as though he's
not going to be able to continue the race. And
so that kind of gave me the motivation to you know,
switch into a different gear. And I'd done that once
before in the race kind of when I you know,
was emotional with my wife when I was thinking about,
you know, not continuing on and it just felt good
(06:40):
to you know.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Kind of get back to running the paces I'm.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Accustomed to, and it was you know, I wanted to,
you know, try to break thirty minutes, and I wasn't
able to do that, but because I dropped my phone
like halfway through the run, that was the Strava, so
I had to go back and pick it up.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
But yeah, that's just part of it, man.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So I mean, I have to be honest, before this
whole thing, with this race even started coming about, I
feel like there was a lot of people even around
the world with this pandemic, that their motivation was pretty
much in the trash. Can I mean, because all these
races around the world have been canceled or postponed, how
(07:28):
was your motivation with training and how has it been
since then?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yeah? Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean a lot of my events got canceled for
the spring. You know, I was supposed to do the
Catalina Island Marathon and that's kind of when my first
race got you know tabled for me, which was kind
of the second weekend in March, and then I wasn't
able to do like a race that I was going
(07:55):
to for Ultra X in Sri Lanka, which I was
really excited about. And then the Boston Marathon and London
Marathon got canceled, and I know that Comrades is gonna
get canceled. I think they're just, I don't know, deciding later,
but they haven't. Yeah, I think that. I think they're
(08:18):
trying to see if they can make it work, which.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I appreciate, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be tough.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So yeah, flics for Comrades already.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I know it's gonna be but I hope that. I'm
sure that the airlines will be respectful that you know,
this is something that's beyond your control. But yeah, So
I think that when all the races got canceled, it
gave me an opportunity to kind of start chasing after
some of the local dreams that I've had.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
So I switched to doing.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
A lot of fastest known times. So I put up
a fastest known time on like one of the famous hiking.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Trails here called the Billy Goat Trail.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
It's out nine point four miles, and then I two
days later ran sixty five miles around DC on all
the street names that are named after states, so like Arizona, Avenue,
Pennsylvania Avenue, and that was about sixty five miles. And
(09:21):
then the week after that, I tried to take down
John Kelly's FKT on the four State Challenge, which is
on the Appalachian Trail, and he was too strong. I
didn't get anywhere close to his time, but it was
it was really awesome to you know, go after it.
And then I don't know, the week after that, what
(09:42):
did I Oh? And then I decided to run a
marathon around my neighborhood, like just on the same loop
that I used for the Quarantine Backyard Ultra and I
ran a two thirty three marathon you know, like around
park cars and.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
An open course. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So I've been busy, even though like there hasn't been
anything official, like I was just making up stuff for
my me to do. So your motivation is pretty high
right now? Oh man, it's extremely high. I feel like
this is like and it's unfortunate because like, my big
thing I wanted to do this year is run across
the country, like from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean,
(10:22):
and right now it seems like that's not going to
be possible just because of you know, what's going on
and so I'm going to do some other things until
that opportunity arises, I hope.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So one loop around that little block that you use,
how how how long is one? What's the length of
one loop?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
The block loop is approximately zero point four to four okay,
so it's about ten loops to get to the four
point two miles.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Oh my gosh, I had no idea. Is that small?
I just saw like circles all the time.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Yeah, no, no, oh no, it it's pretty small.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So looking forward, you know, when do you actually feel
like this race season will resume or races will start
picking back up and people will actually start racing again.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Uh well, I mean people are racing. So there's a
lot of people that are doing virtual races, Like I'm
actually doing one for the ultra X company this weekend
if anyone wants to join. It's fourteen point one miles,
so like kind of an a sorry, fourteen point one
kilometers so kind of an odd distance. So it's guaranteed
pr which is kind of cool. But like, there's there's
(11:38):
lots of things you can do that aren't official races
and that you can.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Do safely by social distancing or just on your own.
But I think and so I don't.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I don't think we have a good idea right like
when the seasons, Like I think a lot of the
races have expectations that maybe by late summer early fall
that things are going to be back to normal, but
or at least back to being able to have the
events held, or maybe some kind of the event like
(12:13):
maybe some people on one day or some people on
the other day, or something to limit the amount of
people that are together.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
But I don't, I don't know. I don't. I don't
think anyone does.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I mean for people that don't know, the Comrades
Marathon is in South Africa and we're in America, and
we have three four hundred thousand cases in America now,
and I'm almost wondering, could they just ban Americans for
being there? Like I personally wouldn't take events to that
because like it's just their plant safe.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
But man, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I don't know what the right answer is for any
of this, because it's this is something new that I
think that it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
People are gonna be like that live through it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
They're gonna be like pre pandemic and then post pandemic
because it's gonna be a different way of life.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, I agree, or at least it seems like it
will be. Like I've talked to some people like my
parents who said there were there were things like this
that they've lived through in the past, and so then
you know, maybe it'll it'll it'll not be as gloomy
as we think.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, So moving forward, I mean, what are you really
looking forward to in life right now?
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Man, Well, I think that the one thing that's been
pretty awesome is, you know, we've all been forced to
engage with our family on a much deeper level, like
or at least the you know, our partners or the
people that we're closest with, and I think we've found
(13:54):
you know, there's a lot of stuff that we might
have thought we needed to do or you know, was
important to us. But I think right now is when
we're having a really good opportunity to really critique ourselves.
And I know, for myself, like the thing that I'm
(14:15):
missing the most is traveling the world and meeting people
and kind of engaging the environment through kinetically like adventure.
Like I'm missing you know that, but I'm trying to
have it locally and you know, with the people around here.
But like, I'm really missing that And I know that
I've always known that's been important to me, but it's
(14:37):
just been crystallized during this time. And I think it's
going to be pretty awesome. I think people are going
to have a lot of direction and a pretty good
idea of what they want to do when they have
the opportunity and when they're allowed. And I think it's
gonna I know, for me, it's going to make sure
(14:58):
that I'm going to make sure that I take advantage
of every opportunity because you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Right man, Well, I have to ask just a few
interesting questions about this race that you just did. Nutrition wise,
how did you want to use nutrition? I know you
had plenty of goos in there. I saw your hookah
box that lined up with hundreds of gooze I think
(15:26):
it was hundreds. That could be exaggerating a little bit.
Used a brand new pair of hokahs for it, and
you got some burned. You know, what were some logistical
issues that you didn't think about that you ran into
and what did you use for nutrition?
Speaker 3 (15:40):
What was all this like?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Oh? Man?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, yeah, I mean, I think it's funny. I'm actually
waiting for my wife to to get she took a
funny picture of my aid station, and then she saw
Maggie Guderell's aid station and she jumped into action because
mine was just like a hookah box that I had
put some goo products in and I was just gonna
(16:06):
run there and fill up like from the garden hose
and like it was super just you know, minimal, and
and then she like got a neighborhood table set up
and like, yeah, obviously the famous cones became a thing,
but like you know, I think some of the things
I didn't consider was it was interesting I brought Hoka
(16:32):
just came out with like a puffy coat that's supposedly
just like a like active wear, like you're not really
it's not designed to run. And I ran in that
thing like almost every night. Like I wasn't expecting to
wear like a full on down jacket, but I did.
(16:52):
I wasn't expecting to be as cold at points. I
was expecting to use more socks than I did. My
gingy's held up really well. Like I used a liner
and then a thicker like hiking sock, which is what
everyone makes fun of me when they see.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
But it worked super well.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
So I knew that that would work well. I just
didn't know it would work well for like over two
hundred miles. Like I was super impressed with like how
my feet held up. Like I was expecting maybe to
have some issues, like especially when it got really hot here.
We had like seventy degree temperatures and then there was
(17:35):
a little rain one night. But yeah, I think the
biggest thing that that I had trouble with at some
points was like just managing the heat. But luckily, like
I've had some comper sport arm sleeves and I would
just stuff them with ice and that really helped.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
To I saw you put eyes in your sleeves and
put the jacket own over it, Like I was, Yeah,
I was really like my boggle with is like you
want to be cold, but then you want warmth.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I don't. I don't understand this.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, it was actually weird and I didn't understand why
I was doing it myself. And that was actually kind
of later in the race. It was it was crazy
because uh, and I'm still like I don't know about you,
but when you work out like for like a very
high level for many days, Like when I was doing
that mile yesterday, I was just I felt like I
was on fire, like and your body is just like
(18:33):
become so efficient, like you just continue to burn you
you just continue to generate heat. But you're also like
in a split second, you get like super cold, so
like you got to like cool your body down, but
at the same time you're cold. So it's like this
weird like like paradox where you shouldn't like you shouldn't. Well,
(18:54):
then why would you want to put the ice on? Right?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Like why not just sit there?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But like the ice cools you down so much faster,
but then you get a chill and you got to
like it's weird.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
You gotta like manage.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
It because if you don't, you start to get hypothermic
or you overheat, and both are bad.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
So it's kind of.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Like, uh, this balance that you have to maintain.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, but it's also weird because it can flip really
really quickly.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Man.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But yeah, it's a weird thing. Like I was like
why am I doing that too? And then my jacket
was all wet too, so that kind of sucked, but whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And you didn't change shirts once I don't think you
maintained the same shirt throughout.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I changed twice twice, And yeah, I didn't shower like
some dudes were like taking like showers, like uh, I
think I think RADI changed his shirt like every time
or something. My wife's like he must have like somebody
doing laundry. Like I was like, where's my other singlet?
And she's like, oh, and then she found it and
(19:56):
I was like, no, that one's I don't think that
one's the one.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
I don't anyhow.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, she like every time I was such a jerk,
Like every time she would have like and I think
anyone who's crude for anyone knows that you like have
everything laid out and you're like, I've got everything you
could possibly need. And I'll be like I need that
you know, black sock with the you know in gingy
(20:21):
label on it that's in the back right of my dresser.
And she's like, come on, man, like really, like that's
what you want now, like or like you never drink tea.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
I want to tea.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
With like comb honey in it, but only stirred to
the right, you know, Like I was never like that,
but like I was basically, like, you know, people would
go get like sushi and I'd be like, I don't
want sushi anymore, you know, But every I think some
pizza though, Oh my god, yeah I had like Poopa
(20:55):
Tella is one of our favorite pizza places in the area,
and so yeah, my wife picked me up. I probably
had four pizzas over the course of the three days.
There were supposed to be five, but Rosie, my dog,
ate one in the middle of the night, so I
(21:16):
didn't get that one.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Man.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, wow, Well, I think we just should go ahead
and wrap up here.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Mina.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
This is your first time on the show, and I
haven't got to talk to you first or got to
talk to you about an actual race, So I have
to ask you the common question I asked everybody on
their first time here, And that's what's your definition, Michael
of a perfect race.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Actually, it's pretty top of mind right now because I
feel like the race that I had at the Quarantine
Backyard Ultra was probably my perfect race. Like I felt
like I was challenged. I felt like I had to
problem solved. I felt like I had to display endurance.
(22:05):
I had to stay mentally strong and physically strong. I
had to be able to manage my emotions at different points,
both highs and lows. I feel like I had really
incredible competition. I feel like that really is something that
(22:27):
I'm looking for in a race. I want people that'll
make me better, and I think to go beyond anywhere
I've gone in the past and to like experience like
I actually experienced like this moment where I was of
(22:48):
just absolute clarity, where I was like I can do
this forever, like I really literally can just keep doing this,
and it was I don't know if it was then
or what, but it was like, I I don't want
to do anything else. I'm completely content, I have everything
(23:12):
I need and I'm ready. And yeah, that was super
awesome and it was unfortunate that it ended.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, so it seems like you're about to get emotional
with this answer.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Yeah, I totally was.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, man, Yeah, I mean I feel like I'm still
kind of raw because I haven't really slept still since
the race. But no, no, I slept four hours last night,
so I'm at four hours and forty five minutes since
(23:53):
since last Saturday. So I think, you know, that's that's
that's quite a quite a run for me, and I
was actually thinking. I was joking with my wife last night,
like I almost just I was like being kind of
like a petulant like Toddler. I was like, I feel
like I just want to stay up to see how
long I can stay up, you know, and until I
just absolutely like collapse, which I just think would be
(24:17):
so interesting, like what is your actual fit, Like is it,
you know, one more day, or like is it actually
seven days or ten days? Or like actually, how long
can you stay up? If you had to stay up?
But then you know, I actually have to, you know,
I have work that I have to do, and I
don't want to make a mistake, and I feel like
(24:40):
i'd get sloppy, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So well, Michael, I really appreciate your time. Before we
hop off here, hoppy you will follow you, yeah, if
anyone wants to follow me.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'm on a lot of the social media platforms and
I am quite active. So I am on Instagram as
you know, the one that I feel like a lot
of people resonate with, and I'm at Mike Wardion and
that's m I K E W A R D I
A N like Delta Indian Alpha Nancy, And I'm the
(25:13):
same at Twitter, and then Facebook is just Michael Wardian,
you know, and I have an athlete page there. I'm
also on Strava if people want to follow me there
if you want to, you know, look at the goofy,
run around my block or whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Oh, Mike, I really appreciate your time today, and I
hope for playing you in chess some more.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, man, for sure. Good luck with that King Scamba.
Oh Man, you have a good day, all right, you
two man later.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Thanks for tuning in today. I hope you're able to
learn something from today's episode. If you enjoy the show,
please take him man to leave a review on iTunes
or share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe
so you never missed an episode. If you'd like to
see pictures from this athlete's race, learn more about who
I am, what I'm.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Doing, or be on the show yourself.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
To share your story, check out my website at coach
Terry Wilson dot com.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Until next time, continue the pursuit
Speaker 4 (26:18):
M
Episode three hundred and forty five, The Pandemic Series with
Michael Wardaine. Welcome to the Pursuit of the Perfect Race.
I'm coach Terry Wilson, and with each episode I bring
stories of athletes to you that share their experiences at
races in order for you to learn how to have
your perfect race. Will hear stories from athletes of all ages,
(00:23):
abilities and races of all distances, so regardless of where
you fin there's something in there for you. Thanks for
spending some time with me today. Now let the pursuit begin. Hey, everybody,
welcome back to the Pursuit of the Perfect Race. We
are talking with Michael Wardain today about his recent race
(00:46):
at the Virtual Backyard ultra type thing, and we're also
going to be touching on motivation with a pandemic and
the quarantine and lockdown and all that fun stuff. Michael,
welcome to the show. I look forward to chatting with you.
It's been fun playing with you and chess and meeting
you in person totally. Man, I'm a huge fan, So
thank you for just being some time with me today.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh, no, no problem, man, I'm really honored to be
on and you are a purest competitor, So I love
battling you daily and chess even during the race we're
going to talk about and yeah, I'm excited to be on.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Well, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So we have to mention your epic win here at
the virtual race that lasted sixty three hours. I think
at one time there was over two thousand people around
the world watching this race and supporting all these runners.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It was truly amazing to see this. What was it
like to actually run.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
It was? It was kind of a dream come true
for me. It was.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It was one of the you know, best best efforts
I remember done for me. It was the longest I'd
ever run, It was the furthest I've ever run continuously
without sleep.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It was.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
The closest I've ever run to home, which was nice
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Close to the family and friends, so that that was
a really interesting part of it.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
But it really challenged me. It pushed me beyond anywhere
I'd been in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And allowed me to tap into, you know, places I
hadn't gone before. And I think that's kind of what
you want when you go to an event or take
part in an event, is you want to see, you know,
where your limits are where the boundaries may be, excuse me,
and then you know if you can kind of excel
or push them further out so that you can do
(02:46):
more and hopefully continue to evolve.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Man, So when you say push you beyond push that
it pushed you beyond where you have ever been. You've
been to some pretty amaz places in the world, but
also in some pretty dark places mentally because you've done
some epic races.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I think you're most.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Known for the World Tour marathons, where you've I think
you did the same year as Ryan Hall.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I've actually done the World Marathon Challenge twice. So I
did it in two thousand and seventeen, running seven marathons
and seven days on seven continents in an average time
of two hours forty five minutes. And then I get
it again in twenty and nineteen, and I did the
seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, and then
(03:36):
added three marathons at the end to make it a
total of ten marathons, which is funny because that's almost
exactly the distance I ran this past weekend in the
course of those sixty three hours. So it's pretty funny,
you know. And I was able to set the ten
day world record and then you know, for marathons, and
then to get this, you know, similar kind of distance
(03:59):
over the course of I guess almost three days.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I guess.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah. Man, So going into it, did you think you
would win? Did you?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean, because there was some pretty tough competition out there.
Oh my gosh, the competition was super fierce.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Man.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I knew. My friend Maggie Guderol was in the race.
Courtney to Walter was in the race.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, I just am yesterday.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Yeah, I mean, they're badasses.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And then there was like Olivier from who's also lives
in Arlington here in Virginia, who's on the twenty four
hour World team, Harvey Lewis Proctor that put the race
on some of my other like Caleb Enough Is like, yeah,
(04:49):
there was like way more studs and just badasses than
I expected.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And I never really.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Knew if I was gonna win, but I knew that
I was gonna, you know, stick around as long as
I could, and I thought that I had the skill
set to do well. I just didn't know what that
I didn't know what that meant, and I didn't.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Know how long I could last. But I knew.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I knew I had the ability to to endure.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
So for people that don't know what actually happened, it's
a four point one sixty six seven mile run every hour.
On the hour, you can have the remainder time for rest,
using the bathroom, sleep, whatever, But on the hour you
have to go again for another run.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And you did this sixty three hours in a row.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Uh, And I mean we have to talk about the
time of the last lap for you. Thirty one minutes
five seconds, I think that was it something like that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Like, yeah, unbelievably fast. Yeah, And I didn't know I
heard that, you know that I was. I was lucky
enough to be pushed or assisted by a guy named
Raddick from the Czech Republic, And halfway through the lap,
I heard that, you know, he hadn't started on time,
(06:18):
which you know, makes makes it seem as though he's
not going to be able to continue the race. And
so that kind of gave me the motivation to you know,
switch into a different gear. And I'd done that once
before in the race kind of when I you know,
was emotional with my wife when I was thinking about,
you know, not continuing on and it just felt good
(06:40):
to you know.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Kind of get back to running the paces I'm.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Accustomed to, and it was you know, I wanted to,
you know, try to break thirty minutes, and I wasn't
able to do that, but because I dropped my phone
like halfway through the run, that was the Strava, so
I had to go back and pick it up.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
But yeah, that's just part of it, man.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So I mean, I have to be honest, before this
whole thing, with this race even started coming about, I
feel like there was a lot of people even around
the world with this pandemic, that their motivation was pretty
much in the trash. Can I mean, because all these
races around the world have been canceled or postponed, how
(07:28):
was your motivation with training and how has it been
since then?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yeah? Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean a lot of my events got canceled for
the spring. You know, I was supposed to do the
Catalina Island Marathon and that's kind of when my first
race got you know tabled for me, which was kind
of the second weekend in March, and then I wasn't
able to do like a race that I was going
(07:55):
to for Ultra X in Sri Lanka, which I was
really excited about. And then the Boston Marathon and London
Marathon got canceled, and I know that Comrades is gonna
get canceled. I think they're just, I don't know, deciding later,
but they haven't. Yeah, I think that. I think they're
(08:18):
trying to see if they can make it work, which.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I appreciate, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be tough.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So yeah, flics for Comrades already.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I know it's gonna be but I hope that. I'm
sure that the airlines will be respectful that you know,
this is something that's beyond your control. But yeah, So
I think that when all the races got canceled, it
gave me an opportunity to kind of start chasing after
some of the local dreams that I've had.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
So I switched to doing.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
A lot of fastest known times. So I put up
a fastest known time on like one of the famous hiking.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Trails here called the Billy Goat Trail.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
It's out nine point four miles, and then I two
days later ran sixty five miles around DC on all
the street names that are named after states, so like Arizona, Avenue,
Pennsylvania Avenue, and that was about sixty five miles. And
(09:21):
then the week after that, I tried to take down
John Kelly's FKT on the four State Challenge, which is
on the Appalachian Trail, and he was too strong. I
didn't get anywhere close to his time, but it was
it was really awesome to you know, go after it.
And then I don't know, the week after that, what
(09:42):
did I Oh? And then I decided to run a
marathon around my neighborhood, like just on the same loop
that I used for the Quarantine Backyard Ultra and I
ran a two thirty three marathon you know, like around
park cars and.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
An open course. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So I've been busy, even though like there hasn't been
anything official, like I was just making up stuff for
my me to do. So your motivation is pretty high
right now? Oh man, it's extremely high. I feel like
this is like and it's unfortunate because like, my big
thing I wanted to do this year is run across
the country, like from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean,
(10:22):
and right now it seems like that's not going to
be possible just because of you know, what's going on
and so I'm going to do some other things until
that opportunity arises, I hope.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So one loop around that little block that you use,
how how how long is one? What's the length of
one loop?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
The block loop is approximately zero point four to four okay,
so it's about ten loops to get to the four
point two miles.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Oh my gosh, I had no idea. Is that small?
I just saw like circles all the time.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Yeah, no, no, oh no, it it's pretty small.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So looking forward, you know, when do you actually feel
like this race season will resume or races will start
picking back up and people will actually start racing again.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Uh well, I mean people are racing. So there's a
lot of people that are doing virtual races, Like I'm
actually doing one for the ultra X company this weekend
if anyone wants to join. It's fourteen point one miles,
so like kind of an a sorry, fourteen point one
kilometers so kind of an odd distance. So it's guaranteed
pr which is kind of cool. But like, there's there's
(11:38):
lots of things you can do that aren't official races
and that you can.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Do safely by social distancing or just on your own.
But I think and so I don't.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I don't think we have a good idea right like
when the seasons, Like I think a lot of the
races have expectations that maybe by late summer early fall
that things are going to be back to normal, but
or at least back to being able to have the
events held, or maybe some kind of the event like
(12:13):
maybe some people on one day or some people on
the other day, or something to limit the amount of
people that are together.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
But I don't, I don't know. I don't. I don't
think anyone does.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I mean for people that don't know, the Comrades
Marathon is in South Africa and we're in America, and
we have three four hundred thousand cases in America now,
and I'm almost wondering, could they just ban Americans for
being there? Like I personally wouldn't take events to that
because like it's just their plant safe.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
But man, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I don't know what the right answer is for any
of this, because it's this is something new that I
think that it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
People are gonna be like that live through it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
They're gonna be like pre pandemic and then post pandemic
because it's gonna be a different way of life.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, I agree, or at least it seems like it
will be. Like I've talked to some people like my
parents who said there were there were things like this
that they've lived through in the past, and so then
you know, maybe it'll it'll it'll not be as gloomy
as we think.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, So moving forward, I mean, what are you really
looking forward to in life right now?
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Man, Well, I think that the one thing that's been
pretty awesome is, you know, we've all been forced to
engage with our family on a much deeper level, like
or at least the you know, our partners or the
people that we're closest with, and I think we've found
(13:54):
you know, there's a lot of stuff that we might
have thought we needed to do or you know, was
important to us. But I think right now is when
we're having a really good opportunity to really critique ourselves.
And I know, for myself, like the thing that I'm
(14:15):
missing the most is traveling the world and meeting people
and kind of engaging the environment through kinetically like adventure.
Like I'm missing you know that, but I'm trying to
have it locally and you know, with the people around here.
But like, I'm really missing that And I know that
I've always known that's been important to me, but it's
(14:37):
just been crystallized during this time. And I think it's
going to be pretty awesome. I think people are going
to have a lot of direction and a pretty good
idea of what they want to do when they have
the opportunity and when they're allowed. And I think it's
gonna I know, for me, it's going to make sure
(14:58):
that I'm going to make sure that I take advantage
of every opportunity because you never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Right man, Well, I have to ask just a few
interesting questions about this race that you just did. Nutrition wise,
how did you want to use nutrition? I know you
had plenty of goos in there. I saw your hookah
box that lined up with hundreds of gooze I think
(15:26):
it was hundreds. That could be exaggerating a little bit.
Used a brand new pair of hokahs for it, and
you got some burned. You know, what were some logistical
issues that you didn't think about that you ran into
and what did you use for nutrition?
Speaker 3 (15:40):
What was all this like?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Oh? Man?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, yeah, I mean, I think it's funny. I'm actually
waiting for my wife to to get she took a
funny picture of my aid station, and then she saw
Maggie Guderell's aid station and she jumped into action because
mine was just like a hookah box that I had
put some goo products in and I was just gonna
(16:06):
run there and fill up like from the garden hose
and like it was super just you know, minimal, and
and then she like got a neighborhood table set up
and like, yeah, obviously the famous cones became a thing,
but like you know, I think some of the things
I didn't consider was it was interesting I brought Hoka
(16:32):
just came out with like a puffy coat that's supposedly
just like a like active wear, like you're not really
it's not designed to run. And I ran in that
thing like almost every night. Like I wasn't expecting to
wear like a full on down jacket, but I did.
(16:52):
I wasn't expecting to be as cold at points. I
was expecting to use more socks than I did. My
gingy's held up really well. Like I used a liner
and then a thicker like hiking sock, which is what
everyone makes fun of me when they see.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
But it worked super well.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
So I knew that that would work well. I just
didn't know it would work well for like over two
hundred miles. Like I was super impressed with like how
my feet held up. Like I was expecting maybe to
have some issues, like especially when it got really hot here.
We had like seventy degree temperatures and then there was
(17:35):
a little rain one night. But yeah, I think the
biggest thing that that I had trouble with at some
points was like just managing the heat. But luckily, like
I've had some comper sport arm sleeves and I would
just stuff them with ice and that really helped.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
To I saw you put eyes in your sleeves and
put the jacket own over it, Like I was, Yeah,
I was really like my boggle with is like you
want to be cold, but then you want warmth.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I don't. I don't understand this.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, it was actually weird and I didn't understand why
I was doing it myself. And that was actually kind
of later in the race. It was it was crazy
because uh, and I'm still like I don't know about you,
but when you work out like for like a very
high level for many days, Like when I was doing
that mile yesterday, I was just I felt like I
was on fire, like and your body is just like
(18:33):
become so efficient, like you just continue to burn you
you just continue to generate heat. But you're also like
in a split second, you get like super cold, so
like you got to like cool your body down, but
at the same time you're cold. So it's like this
weird like like paradox where you shouldn't like you shouldn't. Well,
(18:54):
then why would you want to put the ice on? Right?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Like why not just sit there?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But like the ice cools you down so much faster,
but then you get a chill and you got to
like it's weird.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
You gotta like manage.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
It because if you don't, you start to get hypothermic
or you overheat, and both are bad.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
So it's kind of.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Like, uh, this balance that you have to maintain.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, but it's also weird because it can flip really
really quickly.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Man.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But yeah, it's a weird thing. Like I was like
why am I doing that too? And then my jacket
was all wet too, so that kind of sucked, but whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And you didn't change shirts once I don't think you
maintained the same shirt throughout.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I changed twice twice, And yeah, I didn't shower like
some dudes were like taking like showers, like uh, I
think I think RADI changed his shirt like every time
or something. My wife's like he must have like somebody
doing laundry. Like I was like, where's my other singlet?
And she's like, oh, and then she found it and
(19:56):
I was like, no, that one's I don't think that
one's the one.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
I don't anyhow.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, she like every time I was such a jerk,
Like every time she would have like and I think
anyone who's crude for anyone knows that you like have
everything laid out and you're like, I've got everything you
could possibly need. And I'll be like I need that
you know, black sock with the you know in gingy
(20:21):
label on it that's in the back right of my dresser.
And she's like, come on, man, like really, like that's
what you want now, like or like you never drink tea.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
I want to tea.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
With like comb honey in it, but only stirred to
the right, you know, Like I was never like that,
but like I was basically, like, you know, people would
go get like sushi and I'd be like, I don't
want sushi anymore, you know, But every I think some
pizza though, Oh my god, yeah I had like Poopa
(20:55):
Tella is one of our favorite pizza places in the area,
and so yeah, my wife picked me up. I probably
had four pizzas over the course of the three days.
There were supposed to be five, but Rosie, my dog,
ate one in the middle of the night, so I
(21:16):
didn't get that one.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Man.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, wow, Well, I think we just should go ahead
and wrap up here.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Mina.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
This is your first time on the show, and I
haven't got to talk to you first or got to
talk to you about an actual race, So I have
to ask you the common question I asked everybody on
their first time here, And that's what's your definition, Michael
of a perfect race.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Actually, it's pretty top of mind right now because I
feel like the race that I had at the Quarantine
Backyard Ultra was probably my perfect race. Like I felt
like I was challenged. I felt like I had to
problem solved. I felt like I had to display endurance.
(22:05):
I had to stay mentally strong and physically strong. I
had to be able to manage my emotions at different points,
both highs and lows. I feel like I had really
incredible competition. I feel like that really is something that
(22:27):
I'm looking for in a race. I want people that'll
make me better, and I think to go beyond anywhere
I've gone in the past and to like experience like
I actually experienced like this moment where I was of
(22:48):
just absolute clarity, where I was like I can do
this forever, like I really literally can just keep doing this,
and it was I don't know if it was then
or what, but it was like, I I don't want
to do anything else. I'm completely content, I have everything
(23:12):
I need and I'm ready. And yeah, that was super
awesome and it was unfortunate that it ended.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, so it seems like you're about to get emotional
with this answer.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Yeah, I totally was.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, man, Yeah, I mean I feel like I'm still
kind of raw because I haven't really slept still since
the race. But no, no, I slept four hours last night,
so I'm at four hours and forty five minutes since
(23:53):
since last Saturday. So I think, you know, that's that's
that's quite a quite a run for me, and I
was actually thinking. I was joking with my wife last night,
like I almost just I was like being kind of
like a petulant like Toddler. I was like, I feel
like I just want to stay up to see how
long I can stay up, you know, and until I
just absolutely like collapse, which I just think would be
(24:17):
so interesting, like what is your actual fit, Like is it,
you know, one more day, or like is it actually
seven days or ten days? Or like actually, how long
can you stay up? If you had to stay up?
But then you know, I actually have to, you know,
I have work that I have to do, and I
don't want to make a mistake, and I feel like
(24:40):
i'd get sloppy, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So well, Michael, I really appreciate your time. Before we
hop off here, hoppy you will follow you, yeah, if
anyone wants to follow me.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'm on a lot of the social media platforms and
I am quite active. So I am on Instagram as
you know, the one that I feel like a lot
of people resonate with, and I'm at Mike Wardion and
that's m I K E W A R D I
A N like Delta Indian Alpha Nancy, And I'm the
(25:13):
same at Twitter, and then Facebook is just Michael Wardian,
you know, and I have an athlete page there. I'm
also on Strava if people want to follow me there
if you want to, you know, look at the goofy,
run around my block or whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Oh, Mike, I really appreciate your time today, and I
hope for playing you in chess some more.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, man, for sure. Good luck with that King Scamba.
Oh Man, you have a good day, all right, you
two man later.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Thanks for tuning in today. I hope you're able to
learn something from today's episode. If you enjoy the show,
please take him man to leave a review on iTunes
or share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe
so you never missed an episode. If you'd like to
see pictures from this athlete's race, learn more about who
I am, what I'm.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Doing, or be on the show yourself.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
To share your story, check out my website at coach
Terry Wilson dot com.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Until next time, continue the pursuit
Speaker 4 (26:18):
M
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