Tim Martin - "I've done hard things, and I do hard things"

Allison interviews Tim Martin of the Warrior’s Way Podcast, who shares how he went from avoiding running to starting with a coworker-led Ragnar Relay, learning proper gear, and finding a community that pushed him to grow as a husband, father, and man of faith.

Tim founded Warrior’s Way in Michigan as an outdoor men’s workout group meeting year-round on Saturdays, using cinder blocks to symbolize choosing discomfort for growth, followed by devotion and coffee.

He began the podcast to share impactful stories and community lessons, emphasizing “say yes,” preparing now for unknown opportunities, and that manufactured suffering builds resilience for life’s trials.


Tim Martin - https://www.facebook.com/tim.martin.5458498
Warrior's Way Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/7cHmfpkN6zW2cMLpKQcVTL

Races Mentioned
Ragnar Relay Race
Mid-State Mile
Bayshore Half Marathon
New York City Marathon
Ann Arbor Marathon
Chicago Marathon
Boston Marathon
Berlin Marathon
BPN Last Man Standing Backyard Ultramarathon
Tokyo Marathon
Sidney Marathon

Shout Outs
Ben Barker
Doug
Brian
Bradley Thompson
Lance
Chad Wright
Mark Dowdle
Harvey Lewis
Dylan Ledbetter
John
Becca
Cameron Haynes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hi, Record Story family. This is Alice and Gilliard with Runner Story, where every story needs to be heard. And making sure that your run stories this month get heard are our friends from Run Tall who love this brand. Run Tall is a running and lifestyle brand built for those who move with purpose, those who stand firm under pressure, no matter what life are to them. Guys, this isn't just about running. It's about discipline, resilience, growth, and the mindset to keep showing up every single day. So whether you're chasing goals, overcoming setbacks, training for something bigger, or simply becoming a better version of yourself, run tall represents you. So what began as an idea has grown into a movement and a mantra to live by. A community for people who refuse to quit. And also what's really cool about these guys is whenever possible, run tall chooses sustainable and recycled materials because taking care of the places we run is just as important as the models we log. True story. So run proud, run strong, and run tall. And you can use code runner story15 for a discount at shopruntall.com. And you can also find these guys out on our website at runnerstory.com as well. Thank you, Run Tall. Love Charles and the brand he's developed for doing amazing things in the running community, heart of gold. And I love the runner story hat that he created for our collab. They are 10 out of 10, really cool. So guys, go get one. Represent both brands, so much fun. The tanks are great. You guys are gonna love it. Really excited. So thank you, Run Tall, for believing in the runner story community, believing in these run stories. And talk about belief. It's our buddy Tim Martin. He is the voice of the Boyers Way podcast. He dropped some nuggets of wisdom. You guys, running is a growing process. And you guys are going to get so many nuggets of knowledge, so much wisdom drop. I just I can't even begin to tell you. I don't even know what to say about that. Other than his story to be inspired, it's beautiful, it's funny. But also being inspired is one thing, but to continue to go on with that inspiration and just to have that mindset of community is everything to Tim. And he talks about challenge, the comfort. And it's really cool to see somebody who has this vision and it becomes the way that it is. And Tim is a family guy, he's a man of faith, he's a man who loves to run, who loves community. And I love how he says, start preparing now for the opportunities you don't know about yet. True story, absolutely amazing. So thank you, Tim, for what you're doing for the running community. Thank you for what you're doing for community, and thank you for making the running community better and for sharing your story. I mean, absolutely incredible. You guys are gonna be inspired. So the perfect way to launch is for this month. Absolutely. Could think of no one else better. So that being said, lace up those running shoes, get ready, get set, and go run with my friend Tim and his run story. Thanks, Tim, for being on the podcast. I always get so excited when another podcaster wants to be on. It's so much fun. And we're gonna get to talk about the Warriors' Way podcast, which the name is just amazing. And I'm sure that there's like a fantastic story with that as well. So I'm really, really excited. So thanks for being here and wanting to share your story with our community. So, how do we get here? What is your run story and what is the story of the Warriors Way podcast?

SPEAKER_04 3:50

Yeah, I will try to be brief and not just take up the whole time talking about that. But my run story starts like a lot of people's that I've heard, you know, I grew up in high school and when I was younger playing a lot of sports. So basketball, baseball, soccer was my first love, and I'm happy right now because we get to watch some of the World Cup. But I grew up playing sports and running was a form of punishment. So it's what the coach made you do when you were late to practice, or if you were messing around in conditioning. It was I would do everything I could to get out of running. And I've always been a bigger guy from a young age. So I was able to kind of keep my weight under control by playing sports year-round. But after I got out of high school and stopped playing year-round sports, weight started to catch up to me. I was still eating like I was 16, but I wasn't as active. So I gained weight pretty quickly. And so when I was in my late 20s, I had quite a bit happen through life and it found me back into my hometown where I grew up. And I started a new job, meeting new people, and was living really unhealthy. And somebody came to me, I was thinking it was during a Halloween costume contest at work, and our team was gonna be marathon runners. So we all dressed in like track suits and sweatbands, and he brought in a bunch, a big box of his medals for us to wear. And I saw this medal that looked really cool, and I asked him about it, and it was a medal for one of the Ragnar relay races.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

And so I was like, okay, what is that? Because never heard of it. And he's told me about this huge relay race that I think the one he did was in Wisconsin, but they host these races all over the country, and it's basically like 200-ish miles, but it's a relay race. So you get 12 people and each person runs three total times. So every person may run between 13 and 18 or 19 miles, but each one of those runs is split up over like six or seven, eight hours, depending how you know fast your team is. So I got interested in that is okay, this might be my way to start getting active and get in shape. So we talked a group of coworkers into running it, and that's kind of where it started. It was this fun environment that I got to share with other people, this culture that I really never knew a whole lot about because it was brand new to me. I didn't know that you had to buy nice running shoes. I was running in the clearance section, Dick's sporting goods, new balance or under armor shoes from you know the shelf and wondering why I felt terrible. So all these things were new to me and it was really fun. So that's really where the running journey started, and it's evolved a lot from there. Warrior's way kind of evolved from some of the people that I was surrounded by through my running journey as it started and continued to grow. And I was surrounding myself with people that were pushing themselves further than I thought was possible for people to push themselves, and they're striving to do better, they're striving to be better people. So I was kind of getting around this group of outliers that you know is really impacting me for the better, and it was challenging me to be a better man, be a better husband, be a better father, be better in my career, all these things. And faith is a huge part of my testimony. So in church, I was looking around and I just saw so many people that were like I was, where it was kind of just going through the motions, letting life kind of guide them through the path of least resistance. There wasn't a lot of people out there taking control of their life, and I had some of that and I was exposed to some of that, and I wanted to share that with other people. But getting people out to run half marathons, marathons, or ultras, that's not everybody's cup of tea. So, like, how can I make this something that everybody can be a part of? And so about a year and a half ago, we started Warrior's Way. And Warrior's Way, we're in an outdoor men's workout group. So every Saturday morning, we're up here in Michigan, so weather is really good half the year, and it's really bad for half the year. But every Saturday morning, regardless of the weather, we meet outdoors. So in the winter we're bundled up and we do about a 30, 40-minute circuit style workout. And when it started, I was dragging all of my workout equipment from my home gym to the parking lot every week. And then I would forget about it and I would take a hard left, and a kettlebell would roll across my backseat and almost take my door off. So I gotta figure out something else here because this is just too much. So I went to Home Depot and I just bought a bunch of cinder blocks and they're roughly 35 pounds, so they're $2 a piece. And I bought a bunch of cinder blocks, and I just gave everybody that comes, I give them their own cinder block. And it's kind of a reminder that, hey, we're doing something that's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to hold a cinder block, it's uncomfortable to do a squat or an overhead press or a farmer's care. It's on all those things are uncomfortable to do, but it's a constant reminder for all of us that in the comfort of our normal lives to challenge ourselves to find something to do to get uncomfortable with the sole purpose of trying to grow ourselves to be better. So it's been going really, really well. And that's kind of the start of Warriors' Way and how that played in.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Wow. I have a quick question. That is, did you guys win the costume contest?

SPEAKER_04 9:30

You know, I don't even remember what happened with I actually just saw that picture this last Halloween. It's somewhere saved on our server, so it floats up every once in a while. But it's crazy to look at that picture because that guy had no idea. Yeah, no idea what putting that first medal around his neck was gonna do to him. So it's fun to look back at that and see where it started.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

That's incredible. What an incredible journey. And then I think the beauty of it is that you went on to understand that it's not just hitting the pavement, but it's also working out together. One of my favorite things is Saturday mornings, is our group, like we get together, we go run, and then we hit the gym together. And there's just something like hard and messy, we're sweating, we're miserable. Right now, we're getting into the heat and humidity of the summer of Alabama. But you're literally the person next to you, and we're all trying to encourage each other. We're like, one more rap, one more thing, like we've got this, like let's keep going. And just showing up for each other, like even though we may not want to, but you know that you have that group that's like they're counting on you, and you told them you would show up. And there's something beautiful about that. So I love that you've created that in Michigan.

SPEAKER_04 10:47

Yeah, it's so true. And it's like none of us are waking up so we we start at 7 16 and we go till about 8 a.m. So we do a workout, we have a devotion afterwards, and then there's a coffee house a mile away, so we go and have some coffee. And we don't do that because we love to work out, but we're not getting out there when it's like this this winter, I think the worst day we had on my car on the way to the parking lot is set negative 20 degrees. And that's enough to make you question your decisions. We encourage people like I'm out there in full snowboarding pants and jacket and snow boots and gloves. But we're not doing that because oh, I'm gonna go get a great workout in this morning. That's just it's a terrible workout. Like nobody's getting a good workout when it's that cold. But it's reminding us that we can do hard things. And I've talked to people about this recently. It's like this concept of manufactured suffering. It's like a lot of our lives are really, really good. Sure, we have bad times, we have bad days, but for the majority of us, we have live pretty good lives, right? And we get really comfortable. So when the trials of lives that will utmost certainly come, when they do come, they completely destroy us. And this concept of manufacturing stress, and we can call it running, you can call it working out, we can call it doing something hard that you don't want to do, whatever that looks like for you. And when you do that more and more and more, the real stress that life brings to you is just easier to handle. Because your body and your mind and your spirit are used to doing hard things. So when the car breaks down or something happens at work or something happens in a relationship, those hiccups that come through life don't completely just knock you off track. It just becomes another challenge that you do. It's another hard thing, and you do hard things, so you're equipped to do it.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Oh, that's amazing. Absolutely. I say that running parallels life so much, and that's why like as a believer, it's anytime I come across an description, I'm like, well, but nope, I totally get that. Like I totally understand that. I'm gonna ask so how did we get the podcast? How did that because you you went into this, but you you saw the need for community, you saw the need for working out, and now you have the Warrior's Way podcast. How did you transition into that?

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Yeah, that's a great question. So last October for our one year celebration, so again, we it's 52 weeks, so this is week 52. There's a guy named Ben Barker. He's an online fitness coach, kind of great guy, Christian husband, dad, all that kind of stuff. And we connected over the last couple of years. But last summer, I had an idea that I wanted him to come up. He's in Arkansas, and I wanted to have him come up to Michigan to lead the workout for us for the weekend and then give kind of his testimony and give us a message on the importance of community. And I planned a whole morning around it. So we were gonna have the workout. I had a friend come in make eggs and bacon, we had fruit and pastries and that kind of stuff. And then we had cornhole boards set up, we had fire pits, some folding, like just some games, and then we had college game day on the TV, just kind of like set up a tailgate style morning for the guys. And we talked through it. He has a podcast as well. We started talking, he's like, Hey, you should really start a podcast, by the way. And like, oh, I never really thought about that. So he had me on his show and we got done, and he's like, Yeah, you should start a podcast. I was like, Okay, that sounds cool. Uh but what am I gonna talk about? I had kind of had the desire to start one, but I didn't really have a direction. So having him come up and lead that workout for the weekend, this is a a ministry of my church, and the church did support him coming up somewhat. So they gave, I think they gave me like $200 towards his trip. But the airfare, I picked I went to the airport and picked them up. I put them in our neighborhood that I live in has a mini lodge in the middle of it, and you can rent these small they look like they're stuck in the 80s, little bed and breakfast rooms. So I put them up there, but like I so I flipped the bill for the rest of it, and I was like, man, that was great, but I can't afford to do that as often as I would like. So the idea kind of hit me to how am I going to get the men that are in Warrior's way, how am I gonna get them exposed to more of the people and the stories that I'm hearing through some of the connections I'm making. I was like, well, I'll just start talking to people and I'll record it. And then I can send them a link and they can see, hey, they these are the kind of people that I would like to have you guys impacted by. And so really it started just for me to share content with the guys in Warrior's Way. And I I've been doing that, I think, for like nine months now. And it started off as, you know, I mean, you know from running a podcast, I'm sure like there's been evolutions of how you do it, but I had no idea what I was doing. Um a friend of mine was like, Hey, if you wait till you have it all figured out, you're never gonna get started. So just start and figure it out. And I had blueprints and okay, this is the topic I'm gonna talk on, these are all the points I'm gonna talk on, and then I was trying to find people to fill those gaps. And it was just exhausting, it was under stress. So I kind of switched my mindset on I'm just going to connect with as many people as I can and I'm gonna hear their stories and I just want to share people's stories. And so what started as just me trying to give something back to the guys, like selfishly, I want to hear people's stories. And if I'm gonna hear somebody's story, I believe that their stories are impactful and important enough that I think other people should hear them. And that you know, I like I love your podcast too, because it's like, hey, I want to highlight people's stories. And it's all about just hey, what's this person doing? Why are they doing it? And let's tell everybody else about it.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

I love that. And I can a hundred percent tell you, and my editor slash husband slash does all the website and everything, he can tell you we had no idea what we were doing when we started runner story, like and I I I love sharing the story because it was like it was kind of like it was not kind of like it was gifted from above. Like we knew a hundred and ten percent that there was this desire there, which prior to was no desire at all. And I mean, we went to council, like we went to friends, we went to the running community, and we were like, is this even a need? Like, are people gonna listen to this? And it's you nailed it where it's very authentic and very genuine because we never had an intention to go outside of Mobile, Alabama, or outside of like the southern states, like the coastal because it's a running community, but then you realize as a whole just how big the running community is, and also how small it is. Because you can go, like you know, I hope one day you come to Alabama and you run and you realize, wow, I'm connected to people in Alabama. Same if we have friends that go to Michigan and they go run, and maybe they hear they're just warriors way, and they're like, Oh, dude, while I'm in Michigan, I'm gonna go check it out. And so the world isn't as big as we think it is, and you don't realize just how connected we really all are. And I think that's the beauty of connecting our stories, is that there is something so much more than what we are as individuals. And the whole idea too is that yes, we get to run, yes, we get to work out, but that's not all that we are, and it's not who we are, and that's not what I want my identity to be. As a believer, I want my identity to be defined by Christ. Like how he sees me, that's that's my identity, and that's all I need in this world. And so that I hope is one of the things that people take away because running it ebbs and it flows. It goes you know, we get injured, we go through life, life happens. You know, I have friends who've had children, and they're like, I need to step away from running or whatever happens. And so sometimes family or jobs or whatever's going on in the world, in that moment, in that chapter, you're like, Okay, I need to put this down for a moment, but it'll be there when I'm released to pick it up. And so if that's all your identity is and you have to put down running, like what do you do after that? And that's been a hard lesson that I've learned. But I love how you shared that that was the authentic of it, and how it comes you saw like this greater need that it wasn't just for your group, but that there's other believers out there as well who are also connected. Because scripture tells us that that you know we're not alone, there's so many other believers who they may listen to your podcast one day and be like, Wow, that was one heck of a story. I didn't know that somebody else went through what I went through. And I think that's the beauty of our story.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

Yeah, I completely agree. And it also gives folks who maybe they're new to sharing their story, but it gives them an opportunity to talk through it and to share it. And there's people that might be really close to them that have never heard this part of their story, yeah. By share by giving them a platform and a space to share it, that person can open up a whole new relationship for them to adapt to that relationship. So we had a guy come in from Colorado last spring. There's a race that we signed up for, me and a couple friends called the Mid State Mile. And it's a last man standing 20-minute trail loop down in Tennessee. And long story, but this guy from Chic Colorado had a cousin in Michigan, and they came up, he he flew up here to come train with me and one of my other friends for the weekend. And I told my friend Doug, I'm well, you know, if they come up here, they have to come to Warriors Way first, because we're not skipping that at Saturday morning. And so these two random guys, one was from about 45 minutes from here, and then one was from Colorado, showed up to Warriors Way for Saturday morning, had a great workout, and then we went and spent a few hours together running some trails. And I grew really close with Brian from Colorado. And so throughout the year, we stayed in connection. And last September, I think, he ended up starting his chapter of Warrior's Way out in Wiggins, Colorado.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

And he was like, Man, I'm gonna do this. Now he's a firefighter out at the Denver International Airport, and he's like, I'm gonna do this, and I know that there's gonna be people that are gonna be like, Wait, what? What are you doing? Because I had him on my podcast too, and he's like, I'm gonna share some of my story that nobody's ever heard.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

And he goes, I know there's gonna be some people that hear it. And he was able to share some feedback with me just of some conversations that were able to happen just from having those the conversation on the podcast. So that's been really fun too, is meeting people, and they may understand they have a really powerful story, they may not, but I think everybody's got a really powerful story. It's just everyone's a little different, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Oh, a hundred percent. You and it's such an honor to be able to share those stories. To me, it's such a a gift and such a treasure. But we have friends who've been on the podcast who I only know them as who they are now, not who they were 10 years ago, 15 years ago, anything like that. And I'll never forget one of them. His story was about alcohol and drug abuse. And to meet him is to know one of the most authentic, genuine human beings who's like your true hype guy. And you see him, and he'll just bear hug you. And he's like a brother to me. I adore this dude so much. And he kept telling me, You don't want Share my story, you don't want to share it. And I was like, No, probably we we need to we need to share your story. And he sat there and he told me his story, but that his story made me treasure him even more because of what his story entailed. How like you said, we all have a story, we all have these dark chapters that we're not necessarily proud of, or we're saddened by or heartbroken by. But then there's also the redemption and the beauty of it, and hopefully God gets the glory in all of this. But those are the moments and and it just makes me treasure the people who are just hearing your story because I only know you from Instagram, you know, and the things that you shared on my.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

Yeah, he asked me, Hey, can I get your permission to do this? I was like, Man, it's not my permission to give you, it's God's. So if he's telling you to do it, you better listen up. And you know, I have we have some friends down in Tennessee and some friends in Georgia, and they've got some things going on this spring and some races, but once their schedules clear up, hopefully we'll get our third and fourth group going.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So that is amazing. And what obedience on your behalf, too. That's amazing. Wow, absolutely. Okay, so now I gotta know what are some lessons that you've learned from all of this, from running, from the podcast, from Warrior's Way. What are some things that you've learned?

SPEAKER_04 23:27

I think some lessons that kind of tie into all of them together are say yes and be open.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

With running, I was running a little bit and I went from my longest run being six miles to my first marathon in six weeks. And it wasn't because I wanted to do it. I had an opportunity presented and I did not want to do it at all, but I said yes. And it completely changed the trajectory of me with running. Warrior's way. It is a huge sacrifice and it's a huge commitment. It's not comfortable, it's not easy. And it would have been very easy for me to be like, this is the church's responsibility to create something for men in the community. If they start something, maybe I'll join it, but I'm not going to be the one. I've got too much going on. And saying yes has changed my life. So say yes and be open-minded to it. The other thing, it's a it's kind of a motto I take with me is start preparing now for the opportunities that you don't know about down the road.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

There's so many times that I've been faced with opportunities. And if I would have been preparing for this opportunity for the last year, I could have done this. But now I have a few weeks to decide and I'm not prepared. Whether that's in work, you know, getting there's a job opportunity that comes out, and that sounds interesting to you. But if you've done nothing to prepare for that job opportunity, there's a good chance you're not qualified for that opportunity. So start preparing now for the opportunities that you don't even know about. That's what the daily work is for. It's much harder to get up every morning and get your run in or your workout in what you don't have a race you're training for. But those mornings are what make the next opportunity possible. I talked with a guy earlier this week and he's got such a powerful story. But it starts with he started running to get in better shape for when he had his daughter. And several years later, he had a son who had some serious medical conditions. And he was able to help his son because he was in good enough shape. And it's like he started training, but he didn't know it, but he started training two and a half years before that opportunity to be able to help his son. And it's if if he wouldn't have started then, maybe he's not the candidate to help his son, you know? And so those are some some mottos and some mantras that I try to live with.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Wow, those are absolutely incredible. Okay, I gotta know. Do you have a favorite race?

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Favorite race is my first marathon. I was thinking really hard about this because I really enjoy my races, but it's gotta be my first marathon. So like I mentioned a minute ago, I was training for these Ragnars. The longest single run I ever did was six miles. And I had signed up to run the Bayshore Half Marathon, which is a really popular half marathon up in Traver City, Michigan on Memorial Day weekend. So at the kickoff of summer in Traverse City Beach Town. And I signed up for it to run it in 2020 and it got postponed and because of COVID. And then 2021, it got postponed again. Okay. And so I had two years of kind of kicking the can of this monster half marathon. And so September comes around of 2021. And in these Ragnar races, we had been raising money. Our team had been raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. It was just something that gave meaning to all of our training and miles. So for the last four years or so, I had grown a relationship with the folks at MDA. And they reached out to me and one other guy and they said, Hey, we need you guys to come run the New York City marathon with us. And it was six weeks away. And so, as much as I want to say yes to stuff like this, I was not prepared for that. My friend, on the other hand, he had been training to run the Ann Arbor marathon later that month. So he was already in marathon shape and he said, I'm gonna drop the Ann Arbor and I'm gonna do New York instead. This is once in a lifetime if we have to go. I was like, Well, in order to run these majors with MDA, you need to raise money for a charity bib. I was like, Well, I can't raise the money, so I'm sorry, guys. Thanks for asking. And they said, No, you've already done enough with running with the Ragnarks. We just need you to come and do it and you have a free bib. And so then I'm like, Well, my wife's not gonna let me travel to New York and pay for a plane ticket and a hotel at the drop of a hat. And then my friend said, I have miles for your ticket and I'll pay for the hotel. So I had no excuses. Everything I tried to get out of it did not work. That's awesome. So it was it was one of those where I was like, okay, well, I guess we're going. And then we hang up the phone and I'm like, what am I doing? I I never wanted to do a marathon. It was even the half marathon, that's always where I was gonna draw the line. I'm not interested in 26 miles, that's insane. And so now we're going to run New York. It was the 50th anniversary, it was the height of COVID. So they were struggling to get people to run with the charity sponsors that year. And the way the charities work, if they don't fill all their sponsorship bibs, they may not get them the following year. So they needed to fill them kind of at all costs. So my friend Lance and I, we went and ran the New York City Marathon. I did a really crammed six-week training plan to up my miles as best as I could. I wore everything new on race day. It was a terrible, terrible experience. The crowds were awesome because all of the street bars had were all of the bars along the streets had they were pushed outside because of COVID. So the roadways were even narrower. Wow. So there were people everywhere and just the energy of that place. I mean, I felt awful doing it, but what an experience. And so going through that, I finished. I don't know how we finished, but we both crossed the finish line and we're kind of walking back to where our drop bags were. And in my mind, I'm like, there's six world majors, and I just did one of them. If I just do five more, then I get all the world, you know, I get the six stars. And so I was like, hey, Lance, do you want to do another one of these? And he said, I'm never doing one again. I'm done. So I kind of had to switch my plan, but I did talk somebody else into running a couple with me. And so that marathon really was like, I mean, I was, I never knew what the pain cave meant. I had never felt pain mentally or physically like that before. And getting done with it and knowing I don't know where I went during that, but I need to go back and carve out a little more of that. And it kind of gave me that hunger to really push myself. So without that, I don't know that I ever would have been interested in finding out that that place existed. But now that I know it exists, it's kind of one of those necessary evils. I got to keep going back and finding more of it.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

So wow, that is a crazy marathon story.

SPEAKER_04 30:32

Yeah. Yeah. I tell people, so what was your first marathon and the 50th anniversary of the New York City marathon? I live in a place where there's a lot of local ones around. You couldn't have took anything smaller. And arguably one of the hardest of the majors with all the elevation. So kind of ignorance is blissed, I guess, for my first one.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

I just got to know how did you feel the next few days? Because you said you had you crammed everything you could in six weeks. So, what was recovery like?

SPEAKER_04 31:03

So, after that race, because of COVID, they had an extended exit shoot. So you had to walk almost all the way through Central Park to get out. And because we were with MDA, they had a side-by-side waiting with an early exit. So we had to walk 100 yards and then we could get on this four-wheeler and it was going to drive us through the streets of Manhattan back to the fire station where they had a hazmat vehicle set up for us to take showers in.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

This might be TMI, but in my drop bag, I did not bring an extra pair of underwear. And again, I wore brand new shorts for the race, did not have an extra pair of underwear, and I had a pair of jeans with no belt.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

So that was my post-race attire. And then my cousin lived in Manhattan. So we were trying to walk to her condo. Well, every street we were trying to get down was closed. And so we're just me and my friend are walking zombies around Manhattan. I my pants are falling down. It was awful. The next day we go on get on the flight, and I can't, I mean, I can't hardly stand. I thought my legs were broken. I get home and we lived in a two-story. So I'm going up and downstairs that day. And I had to crawl down the stairs backwards, slide down almost on my belly because I could not do the stepping motion. Even going backwards down the stairs, I couldn't do the stepping motion. So I'm like, okay, maybe I spoke too soon about wanting to do another one of these. But you know, after a day, you're like, yeah, sign me up for the next one, right? It's that, it's that, you know, rubber band effect. And I'm like, if I could do this and finish this with six weeks of training and it was awful training, and I didn't know what I was doing. I wonder what a 20-week structured training plan would actually look like. Maybe I could do it. So speed by all means is not my number one priority. I have to go and run in cool places and do some cool races. So I've been able to do the three US majors, which are New York, Chicago, and Boston. And I've ran one other marathon up in Minnesota. So I'm I'm at four marathons now. And they keep just adding majors. So who knows if I'll ever complete all the majors because the rest of these will take some time. I was scheduled to do Berlin this fall, but my wife is pregnant and she's due the week after Berlin. Oh so I told her, well, I think it's two weeks after Berlin. Because I was like, well, if it's two weeks after Berlin, I can probably still go, right? And I was totally kidding. Because yeah, I'm not gonna, I had to defer. So next year, maybe for Berlin, and maybe we'll get back on the major train. But for now, I'm stopped at the three.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Wow. Well, you know what? That is a great reason to pause. Yes. You know, that's that little life is a great reason to just be like, you know what? Maybe next year.

SPEAKER_04 33:57

There's there's not many things that would get me to cancel or defer. I I raced, I did a half marathon last spring on a on the worst sprained ankle I've ever had. I'm not gonna get out of a race, but I quickly emailed and got my deferral for this one because yes, it's it's such a blessing.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Absolutely. So on the flip side of that, and and by the way, congratulations. That's very, very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

On the flip side of that, is there a race that you're like, I want to go back and redo, or you're like, I will never do that race again?

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Yeah, it's the same race. I I want to go back and redo it, and I never want to go back to it all at the same time. Okay. But it's the mid-state mile, so that's the one. It's actually happening this weekend in Franklin, Tennessee. The course is a 1.1 mile trail loop with 340 something feet of elevation, and you have 20 minutes to complete every lap or you're out. So it's a last man standing. It was kind of made famous by Chad Wright, he's a former Navy SEAL, and he has a documentary on YouTube called Just One More. But he took his documentary crew there, and there's that's really the only good documentary footage out there of this race. But Mark Dowdle is going down to it, so that's a big name. He just won the BPN Last Man Standing Backyard Ultra. Harvey Lewis is another big name, but they're both going down this year, and there's some really big people. I know you had Dylan Ledbetter on your on your show a while back.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

I love him, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

Um, so Dylan's a good friend of mine. He's going down. I have some really good friends from up here in Michigan. But last year I went down for the first time, and I have no interest in this format, but I went down because I can't say no to people.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

So you say yes, you're you're like keeping up your mind.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

Yes. I did sprain my ankle last April playing basketball, and it was the worst sprain I've ever had. And then I ran a half marathon two days later with my brother because I knew if if I back out of this, he might back out too, and I might never get him here again. So I'm gonna do it and we'll just kind of roll with the consequences. And they were bad because my ankle was folding over my shoe by the end. I'm really good friends with my physical therapist now, so that's good. I can just send him a text. I sent him a text and he's like, Yeah, that isn't good, man. Let's talk. So I keep his light bills on, he keeps me running. But I went down to mid-state with a giant ankle brace on that was duct taped together because the Velcro is snapping me because the incline is so high. And I got out pretty early. So I lasted two hours, which is just over six miles. And coming from okay, I've done four marathons at this time. I've been running hundred mile months. That's kind of been my goal. So I've ran hundred mile months, I've ran over a thousand miles in the years. I had higher expectations for myself than six miles. And I had my little pity party, you know, after I was out, but then I ended up staying and helping crew my friends and everybody else that were running. And that was my first taste of the ultra community, sure, and how much different that is from the road running community. Both are great, there's some huge differences, and it was just more laid back. People are suffering, I've never seen before when you're out in the middle of the night in a cold trail. So it kind of lit this spark in me. But I would love to go back and do well at that race. I would love to go and and push myself. The good thing about that is it's it's 20 minutes. You got to push as hard as you can for those 20 minutes, and then you got to do another lap. So it really lets you kind of empty the tank on what you are capable of. So I would love to see one day what I could do there, given I'm in better shape, I'm healthier, etc. But at the same time, I hate that mile, and I hate that format. So as much as I want to go back and conquer and do well in that format, I also do not want to. So it's it's a love-hate relationship with that race. Sorry, John and Becca, if you hear this. I love you guys, but I hate your race.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

This is absolutely 10 out of 10. That was great.

SPEAKER_04 38:06

And I will be back.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

So okay, that's fantastic. All right. So shifting to a routine. Do you have a pre-race routine?

SPEAKER_04 38:17

Yeah, my pre-race routine is I typically wake up pretty early because I don't sleep well. I get really nervous for some reason. I think my anxiety comes from making sure that I'm gonna wake up race morning and not have stomach issues and stuff like that. So I end up the nerves actually end up causing stomach issues. But I typically wake up in plenty of time where I have the house to myself. It's quiet. And I usually drink some electrolytes or carbs, and I eat the same thing. It's either sourdough bread or a plain bagel with peanut butter, honey, and banana. So I'll eat, I'll sit there and eat that and just kind of sit in the quiet of the house or the hotel room or wherever I'm at. And I really like to spend some time in prayer and just thanking God for bringing me there healthy, thanking him for the family and the support that I had throughout that training block to get there because it's not just the runner that makes sacrifices, it's everyone around the runner that makes sacrifices. And before I go and kind of compete in a race that is easy to make all about myself, I want to make sure that I'm spending time thanking those that made it possible. It makes going into the race, it takes pressure off yourself. I'm not trying to go out there to prove anything to anyone. I'm just trying to go out there and be thankful that I'm able to do it. So that's kind of my pre-race routine is just to be quiet, get by myself, and spend some time to reflect.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Oh, that's a beautiful thing. I love that. I love how it it also gets you in the right frame of mind. So that's that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

Yeah, it helps calm you down a little bit because there's there's enough to get you nervous. So sure. Sitting there and being thankful helps kind of take the focus off yourself.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Absolutely. Absolutely. So you cross the finish line and you're done. What does post-race routine look like to you?

SPEAKER_04 40:04

So I typically try to grab something to eat pretty quick because I don't like eating during races, which has been something I've had to really figure out with the ultra running, because you can't not eat. So I usually take a couple gels during my race, but I try to rely on my water and electrolytes.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:23

And fueling just the gels and that kind of stuff don't sit well with me. So usually it's very early. I've eaten something maybe five, six hours ago, and I'm starving now. So my wife is phenomenal at finding the best restaurants wherever we go. So like the last half marathon I did, I was basically a fun run with friends training for the ultra. But we crossed the finish line and she already had the spot. So all I have to do is get in the car and she already knows where we're going. So something where I don't have to think is great, but I'm usually pretty hangry. And then I'm usually a day or so later, I'm trying to figure out what the next race is going to be.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

I'm one of those where if I'm left without a goal in my future that I'm pressing myself towards, I'm like a dog. I'm going to tear the house apart. So I try to have something continually rotating and scheduled out. This summer is going to be interesting because I really don't have anything and it that's intentional. So I'm trying to take a minute and just slow down. So my next race isn't until December at the moment. So it's going to be a long block for me not to have something schedule. Sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

So what is a favorite running item? You will not go run without this item.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

This was another tough one. Like items. So I'm a big fan of colorful and fun shorts. I'm a big fan of colorful and fun socks. But if I had to nail it to one item, it's got to be my watch.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

I will not go on a run without my watch. This might be like my Achilles heel, but like if when I wake up in the morning to go for a run and my watch is showing it's a low battery, I'm running in the afternoon so I can charge my watch. Like I'm not, I'm not running without my watch. So yeah, that's something where my watch typically keeps it charged for a very, very long time, which makes it difficult when it comes time to charge it because it's enough time for me to forget where I place the dongle that charges the watch. So uh yeah, it's kind of like I go to bed looking like, okay, I got 13%. That'll get me through a run tomorrow morning. I better find this before Sunday, you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

So clearly, speaking of the shorts and the socks, this means that you've definitely evolved as a runner. So do you have a favorite brand? Like, let me ask you this. Do your socks and shorts match? Like, how does this combo, what does it look like? Because you say I like fun colors. Like, what is what is what are we talking about, Tim, here?

SPEAKER_04 43:00

So Cameron Haynes has a collection on his, I think it's the keep hammering collective, where he has some pretty eccentric shorts. So there's like some orange and brown camo ones. They look like Gucci knockoffs. There's trees and bears, like anything that's loud and colorful and just kind of fun. Running can be so boring. I like to have fun with it. I really don't care if my socks and shorts match. I just want it to be colorful. I got a lot of black. I wear a lot of black as well because it's just easy. I don't gotta give it any thought. So like I have all my the races, the marathons that I've ran. I typically try to find a pair of shorts from the Expo, like a running pair of shorts that I can run in and train in and you know, kind of have something, a piece of memorabilia that I'm actually gonna use. So like I have my New York marathon shorts, my Chicago marathon shorts, Boston. I think I only bought the jacket at Boston, and that was expensive enough for me not to buy anything else. But yeah, that's kind of my thing. If I find some real fun shorts, my feet I've been blessed with not really many feet problems with running. So it really doesn't matter what socks I wear. I'm gonna be pretty good. So like I have a pair of Bucky socks that I run in. I have Ninja Turtle socks, especially around holidays like Halloween and Christmas when we're doing like the local 5Ks. I'll dress up for that stuff. I'll there's actually a local one here that my wife and I run with our kids, and we push our kids in the stroller and it's the festival of lights. I wear frostiest snowman, she wears Rudolph onesies, like full head-to-toe costumes. The kids dress up as elves, and we zip tie cardboard sleigh to the side of the jogging stroller to run down the street. And this might be the last year we can do that because my daughter's getting too big to be in the stroller, so we might have to switch it up. She might have to run in front of us like a Rudolph or an elf or something. But they love it.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

They get some hot cocoa, we put the shield down so they're kind of like bundled up and warm. And then yeah, it's a good time.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

That is awesome. I love that so much. So speaking of shoes, so road shoes, what's your favorite? And then trail shoes, what's your favorite?

SPEAKER_04 45:18

So I've kind of lucked out when it came to shoes. So I told you before I was running into clearance under armor from Dick Sporting Goods, and a friend of mine's like, you need to get fitted for running shoes. I'm like, These are running shoes. They say running right on the box. And they're like, No, man, you need to go to a running store and get fitted for running shoes. And I'm thinking this place is just gonna try to upcharge me something I don't really need. But my knees and ankles and hips and shins, everything just hurt after like a mile run. So I'm finally like, okay, I'll bite and I'll go try this out. And I got into a pair of New Balance. And I never knew that your foot could feel like that running. Like this is how it's supposed to feel. Like your body isn't supposed to hurt. So I ran in New Balance for a while. And then I have a friend who spent some time overseas, and he's really good friends with somebody who works at New Balance. So he's like, hey, if you guys need new balance, let me know. And we place the order with a discount code. So I'm able to get a pretty good discount on New Balance. So I've stayed in them because it's hard to justify how much money it costs to spend on shoes when I can get a couple hours off. And I like the new balance shoes. So I run in all of New Balance. I'm in the fresh, I've had all the fresh foam versions. I'm in like the 1080 B15, I think now, 14 or 15. So for trails, I only knew one brand. I went with New Balance and I run in the New Balance Heroes.

SPEAKER_03 46:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 46:49

And I really like them. They feel really good. My problem is I'm a big heavy runner, and there's a lot of foam of those. So after 200 miles, I've pretty much broken down the insole to where it's not supporting my foot anymore. So that I love the shoes. I just don't get a lot of time out of them before I have to replace them. So I did try to go with some hokas for this last race, and I just didn't never felt comfortable with them. So I ended up running in old shoes, which I thought was gonna be a problem. I got through it, but I have had the speed goats. That would, those would probably my second trail shoe. If I had to pack two, I'd pack my speed goats.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

Okay, okay, awesome. A new balanced guy. I like it. I'm here for it. Do you listen to music at all when you run?

SPEAKER_04 47:37

I used to. Okay. So part of why New York was so bad was I was still trying to raise money for MDA, and I gave everybody an option. If they could donate $10 to my fundraiser, they got to choose a song to put on my running playlist.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Oh, cool. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:53

So it could be as good or as bad as they wanted. I didn't give any rules, so they could pick whatever they wanted.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

And my idea was I'm going to be running with my friend, but there's going to be a time where I'm going to hit the wall that I keep hearing about. And I'm going to put my headphones in. I'm going to listen to this music and I'm going to think about the people that donated to make this happen. It's going to emotionally pump me up and I'm going to get over the wall and I'm going to be okay. And in the middle of that race, at mile 14 or 15, I'm trying to connect my Bluetooth. I didn't download anything. I didn't know about that. So none of the service will work because you're part of 50,000 people and you're in New York. So all the buildings are blocking all the signal. And I spent a mile and a half trying to get my headphones and my phone to work and it wouldn't work. And I wasted all this energy and my heart just sank because what I counted on let me down basically. And so from that day on, my aftershock headphones have been in my running drawer. They haven't been charged again, and I've never used them because I am not going to count on something. I don't want to, I don't want to train with something that I can't run with. And I don't want to run with something that I don't trust.

SPEAKER_03 49:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:06

And it was basically, I don't trust the technology of my phone having signal of some of these longer races, it ends up killing my battery on my phone. And then, you know, when I'm done and I want to take a picture, my phone's dead. So I'm like, you know, I'm just not going to run with music. So in training, it's been a lot of fun because it's made me slow down and be more present. Like I'm typically running early in the morning. So I'm watching the fog come up, I'm watching the sun come up, I'm watching all the animals wake up and the trail, like even the paved trail that I run goes through some wooded areas. So it kind of just helps me to just disconnect and get in my head, work through whatever comes up and just kind of be present rather than trying to distract myself and suppress all of that. And then when you're running with other people, I'm the person that if I sit next to you on an airplane, I am going to talk to you the whole time. I also do take social cues. So if like you're putting your headphones on, I'm not going to tap you on the shoulder to talk. But man, if I sit next to you and you carry on a conversation, good luck getting me to stop. So when I'm running with other people, I'm meeting people and I'm talking to them the whole time because it just helps pass the time, helps distract both of you from what's going on and it can just be fun.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

Absolutely. I love that. Some of the best conversations I've had have been on the pavement with people. And it could be silly, it could be super serious. It could be, I mean, just loads. I so yeah, I totally get that. And it's different when you're running by yourself too, because you're like, man, it's so boring, it's so quiet.

SPEAKER_04 50:35

Yeah. I've seen some people that they run on busier roads too. And just it's so dangerous, man. There's people, people that are driving, especially on roads where you there's not a good shoulder, there's not a good sidewalk. Like that's the one promise I made to my wife is I won't run on roads like that because nobody's paying attention anymore.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 50:53

It just it just takes somebody to be, you know, six inches, eight inches over the line, and you could lose your life. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:59

I just want to get home to my kid. I just want to get home to my family. Yeah, absolutely. So let's shift a little bit to recovery because you did mention your ankle sprain. So, what does recovery look like to you these days? Like, do you have a favorite recovery tool?

SPEAKER_04 51:14

Theragun is like that is one thing. It stays charged more than my running watch does. I never used a foam roller before last year when I was struggling with my ankle. So a foam roller, I typically do that when I'm in the middle of a really heavy training block and I'm hit, I'm getting a lot of miles logged. That second half of the week, I'm usually spending a little bit more time with the foam roller and the theragun. But recovery for me, the last year or so, has almost been like preventative recovery. And so it's like it doesn't have to be crazy strength training, but trying to do some form of strength and mobility to be able to handle the miles that I'm asking my body to do to where I'm not dealing with the repercussions of, okay, if I don't do all the strength training and I do all these miles and I get hurt, now I've got fall of week to physical therapy now again. If I just do a little physical therapy all throughout the day and all throughout the week, then I'm more equipped to be able to handle the miles. I'm less prone to injury and it keeps moving better.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

That's awesome. I'm a huge proponent of strength training. Absolutely. So, Tim, let's say that somebody comes up to you, you know, you guys are working out at Warrior's Way and they're like, hey, listen, I want to get into running. What is a piece of advice you'd give to them on how to get started?

SPEAKER_04 52:32

The piece of advice I would give them is start now, don't wait. So many people think they have to be able to run a full mile without stopping, or they have to run a 5K, or they put limitations on themselves and they're like, well, I'm not there yet, or they'll run down the block and they're like, oh, I can't even make it to the end of the street, and they just quit because they can't run, or that's what they think. So start where you're at. When I started running, I did the couch to 5k. I know there's tons of people have talked about that, but it's it's 90 seconds to run for 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, do that for 10 minutes or 15 minutes. And there's plans to meet you wherever you are, wherever your fitness level is. And the people that are in that community want nothing more than for you to join that community. Absolutely. So, like when you think, oh, I'm not gonna go join this run club because I'm a slow runner or whatever it is. The people that are in that run club want nothing more than for you to join, even being a slow runner. So it's one of those things where you'll never get to where you want to be unless you start. And everybody that starts has to start somewhere. So a lot of people look at the miles and uh races I've done now, and it's still hard. Some like yesterday I had a three-mile run, and that three mile run felt harder than some half marathons. It's like start now, don't let the way you feel distract you from like, hey, this is a process, it's a growing process, but it it can also like a lot of people have weird misconceptions about what running is. Yeah, like they think it has to be a certain pace. And it's like running is just moving your body. Like it's literally, it doesn't have to be anything more than that. And pride, I think it's in the way of a lot of us, and myself included. There'll be runs where I look at my pace and I'm like, oh man, I don't want to post that. But nobody cares.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

You nailed it. I think it's just showing up in the community. Again, Tim, you said it so well in that people just they want to cheer you on because they know how hard it is. Whether you guys are running in the snow in the negative 20 or down here in the south, it's 120. Like it's awful in the south right now. It's so hot and human and torrential downbourne, but you still show up. And I think there's been a sh a real cool shift in the run culture in saying that we're no longer hearing as much, like, oh, well, what was your pace? Or, you know, like what was your time? Everyone's been asking lately, like, how are you feeling? How was the race? Like, what did you like about? Like, we're we're shifting away from that, which I love. I get so giggled when I hear that because that I'm like, that's what running is. Because yeah, some may be going all out that they can, and I think everybody does. It's just at a different level and at a different pace. And we're all in different I I love what somebody said on this podcast, and that is every pace matters, just like every person that shows up matters. And so every pace matters. And I I just I love that so much. And so I love that that is shifting. And I hope more and more people, especially anybody that's listening that's new, that like you said, has these misconceptions, or they're afraid, oh, I'm not good enough to come, or I'm not fast enough. That when you when you said what you said, and that is that people just want to show up and they just want to cheer you on. Like, so just show up, just be a part of it. And that's it right there. That's the running community.

SPEAKER_04 55:52

Yes, absolutely. I just had an ultra that I did just over two weeks ago, and I was finishing with a couple of guys, and they just had me cracking up the whole time. But they were just talking about when I go into work on Monday, the first person that asked how fast I ran, I'm gonna punch them in the face. And I'm like, I'm and I'm like, I'm laughing because I've literally had people walk up to me at the end of these big races, like, oh, what was your pace? It's like, well, it's not, it doesn't, it's not about what my pace was. It's I finished 50 miles and it felt terrible. And here I am. But then you see, you know, you were just saying that, and I was like, you know, there's a lot of people that asked me how that race went. There's not a single person that asked me what my pace was. And I was like, Oh, yeah, that's kind of nice to not have to try to defend a 16, 17, 18 minute pace.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

So I love it. I and I I hope it continues. I hope it grows.

SPEAKER_04 56:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

And in that, and it just completely shifts, you know. I because I'm not gonna be an elite runner. Most of us aren't at that level where like you said, where Boston's calling us and saying, Hey, we want to pay for your full trip to come, you know, be at the start line of this, you know, like it's we we all put in the work and it and it's in a different way. So I love that.

SPEAKER_04 56:57

It cost me $11,000 in charity fundraising for Boston.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

So not including your airfare and all the other stuff, right?

SPEAKER_04 57:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:05

Yeah. So I may not have qualified, but I beg to argue that that might have been harder.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

So oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. Oh, listen, fundraising for different things is a whole nother ball game. That's a whole nother marathon in itself.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

Yes, it's exhausting, but man, it makes it it it makes it worth it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 57:23

Absolutely. Oh man. Okay, so I gotta know. Goals, what are we looking at? Like what's because you said your next race is December. So what are we looking at coming up for you?

SPEAKER_04 57:34

So December is a race, it's actually at the same course as the mid-state mile, so the 1.1 mile loop, but it's a different format. You sign up for an hour time frame. So I know they have a 6, 8, 12, 24, and 40. They may have a three hour, but last year I went back and kind of got my revenge from my terrible race. I got my revenge on that in December in the 24 hour. So this year I'm going back to do the 40 hour. Wow. And so the format's 1.1 mile loops. You have 40 hours, and you do as many loops as you can in 40 hours. So you can eat, sleep, quit, slow down, speed up whenever, however, you want. It's just at the end of 40 hours, however many loops you got, that's your number. So I'm going back and doing that in December, just the first weekend there. My goal, I did have a really big goal for that. And these ultras that I did this spring, the marathon this summer was all gonna kind of play into that goal. I've let go of that just for now because I'm gonna have we're gonna have our third child in October. So I really don't want to put expectations on myself to have to do what I'm going to, what I will have to do to reach that goal in the October, November months. So I'm going down just to have fun with everybody that's going down. I'm gonna, I'm gonna be up on my feet for a very long time and I'm gonna suffer well. But I originally wanted to get fast and I wanted to push to get 100 miles in the 40 hours, which it would take an awful lot. That would be about 35,000 feet of elevation in 100 miles there. So that was my original goal. The amount of training it would take to get there. I don't know that I have the capacity to commit that. So I'm going in. I want to do my best. My long-term goal, I do want to finish the world majors. So I need Berlin, Tokyo, London, and Sydney now. I believe by the time I get anywhere close to that, they'll probably have Cape Town in that list as well. I think that's on the list for next year. So I may never catch that. That might be a lifetime goal for me. But yeah, those are my big goals. I'll probably choose something this summer local to go out and run, just something small, but just to keep me training for something, but nothing that's going to require too much.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

Let's say that somebody's listening and they love the idea of Warrior's Way, of the weekend with the guy, you know, every Saturday morning with the guys. Are you looking to, because you know, you've already said that, you know, Colorado's getting one, you know, you're looking at Tennessee, Georgia. Are you, if somebody's listening and they want to connect with you, are you saying, are you open to it? Are you like, yes, like I want to help as many men as I can? Like, what does that look like? Do you have goals for Warrior's Way?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:21

Yeah, absolutely. So I would love there to be a Warrior's Way in every city in the country. There's also other really good groups that are similar to this. So if somebody is listening and they want to start one or they want to know how they can find one, by all means reach out to me. I do have some resources that I can put you in touch with to help you find maybe there's one, a location of something going on similar to us in your area that you can join. Maybe there's nothing going on in your area and they need someone to start it. And by all means, I want this all over the world, not just for myself, but because I really believe that if we want to change our communities, we have to start with first changing our families. And if we want to change our families, it's got to start with men waking up and leading well. So the Warriors Way is all about the men. Our church does have a ladies' fitness group as well. They're a little bit more private and not out there sharing it all, but not to say that church and faith and fitness should only be for the men. By all means, I think it should be for everyone. Sure. I just happen to be running the men's group, so that's the one I have influence over, and I want to talk about it. So I've had people reach out to me on Facebook, like, well, when are you gonna start something for the ladies? I'm like, well, here's the link. There is one, you know, go go jump in.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:34

Or if you want to start something else, I'll help you get one started. But but I'm not gonna come run the ladies for you this week, and I need you to do that. So if you're willing to step up and take ownership of it, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:45

And that usually doesn't warrant very many responses, but okay, Tim, let's say that there's this moment when you're running or you're working out and you're like, man, this is hard. This is so difficult. Do you have a favorite mantra? Is there something that you tell yourself to keep going?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:01

I've done hard things and I do hard things. The way I was raised, we didn't really talk too much. And I'm not, I we don't need to on just my background and the way I was raised, the things I've been through in life. But a really tough race, if that's my biggest problem, I'm doing pretty good in life. If me running through and my legs cramping or I'm dehydrated, if that's my biggest problem that I'm struggling with, there's some people that would give anything to have my problems. Yeah. So like when I go through that, it's like I've done hard things and I've gotten through them. God's got me through them, He's given me the strength to endure. I try to remind myself of scripture. I try to, you know, God give me the strength to endure, give me the strength to suffer well. God does not say that the Christian life will be easy and without trial and without struggles. He actually says quite the opposite. He tells us in the scriptures that your life will be full of trials.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:52

But with him, you can overcome them. And you can be the salt and you can be the light that points other people towards him by the way you handle yourself during those struggles. So I try to make it less about a panic moment of oh no, what's going wrong? But like, okay, God, give me the strength to endure, give me the wisdom and clarity to figure out what's going wrong and how I can fix it. And sometimes you can't fix it. Sometimes it's just gonna be a bad day. And we have bad days, but my worst day on a trail, if that's my worst day, there's some people that are really in trouble. And uh, I try to remind myself and keep that perspective.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:25

Yeah, I was gonna, I was just about to say, what a perspective. Man, that's amazing. I appreciate you sharing that. Tim, with all the running that you've been doing, do you have a favorite distance, whether it's training day or it's race day? Is there a favorite distance that you just love to go out and run?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:42

I mean, my ideally kind of this is the mile I'm gonna go do pretty much on average is a six-mile run.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:50

It's a good hour run. I like getting out there and doing it. Or when I trained for my first 5K, I took a week off of running after my 5k so that I could recover. So I'm not trying to be little slower miles. Again, start wherever you're at. I took a week off of running to recover from a three-mile race. Sure. But my daily miles, they're usually about six miles a day. The marathon will always be a favorite distance for me just because of how much it really that was really what stepped me into endurance suffering portion of running. Even the Ragnar's and stuff I did, like there were tough parts during that, but it was a tough conditioning day at soccer. Was it wasn't like my body is failing me, my legs don't feel like they can take another step. My mind is everywhere but here, like the marathon did. So, like that marathon, that distance is it's short enough that you can push really hard. Even the people that are coming in dead last, they're giving everything they possibly have to that. I've ran ultra, I've ran 50K's and 50 milers, and both of those were easier to complete than the marathon.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:53

And wow, it's a completely different race, it's a completely different style of running. So that marathon still holds a special place in my heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

Okay, wow. Tim, when you're not running, what fuels your soul?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:05

I like to spend time in nature. So my wife is really big into camping. So when we started dating, I never did a lot of camping growing up. Okay, she did more. So when we started dating, we started going camping more and more. And we do some pretty big camping trips every year. We take our kids camping with us, and we're still in a tent. We like rustic tent camping out in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. Those kinds of things refill my soul. So camping, hiking, doing some canoe or kayak trips, really anything out in nature, mountain biking, that kind of stuff. When I spend time where my cell phone can't be reached, and it's just me and some nature, I come back from that completely recharged. We just spent a week with the family down in Florida for vacation.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:51

And it was great, but I did not come back recharged at all. I come back way more recharged from a rustic campground that. Three hours from my house in the middle of nowhere. Some people are their version of torture, and that's it in Florida is their version of paradise. I enjoyed it. I'm not trying to say they enjoyed it, but I came back and I looked at my wife. I was like, we need to get rid of it so I can relax.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:21

I totally get that. I understand. This has been absolutely amazing. I would encourage anybody that is not following Warriors' way to go follow you. Thank you so much for being obedient and as a brother in Christ and saying, hey, I'm gonna create Warriors Way. What you're doing in the community is absolutely phenomenal. Do you have any final words of wisdom for all of us?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:46

Yeah, I guess with all of this, uh one thing that I want people to know is that they are capable and able to do so much more than they think they do. I think that will keep us from doing and experiencing and trying a lot of different things. And it doesn't have to be running that's something that I found a lot of purpose in. It doesn't have to be working out in a room fitness program. It could be something that if it's picking up an instrument or picking up a hand and a sketchpad and exploring your creativity again because so many people forget what it was like to dream about doing something that they didn't know that they could do. And then trying it and failing and getting better and better and doing it. You know, I'm reminded about that all the time with my little ones. They are consistently failing over and over and over again. And every single time they fail, what do they say right before that? Hey, watch this dad, and then they fail. Hey, watch this dad, and then they fail. And they're just excited to try. So that would be my encouragement is that you're capable of so much more, you just gotta try. Believe in yourself and try.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:55

You are amazing. I hope people will go and follow you. I hope that there are guys out there that say, I wanna be a warrior way, and that they come and join a longer story. That would be absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:07

That would be incredible and all honor and glory to God. But I would love to help people on that path. So, yeah, by all means reach out.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:13

Absolutely. Thanks, Tim.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:14

Yes, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:25

I gotta say, thank you, Tim, again, because your story is the perfect timing as training has begun and you get into a new training session, and it's been a long time since I've hit a training block like this. And the fact that Tim just kept saying, be excited to try and say yes, be open, and the training days to make the finish lines possible, has just been something that I needed to hear. If this was for no one else, this episode was for me. And I'm incredibly grateful for Tim and what he's doing and just all the things that he shared, and I appreciate that so much, and I'm internally grateful. So thank you, Tim. Thank you for your story, thank you for sharing your heart and your message and your faith. It was absolutely incredible. And guys, if you want to check out Warriors Way podcast, please do that. And if you want to create a Warriors Way group, please reach out to Tim. He's absolutely incredible human being. He's honored to be able to do that and he would love to talk with you. So he is an amazing human being. So thank you, Tim, for your story and for your heart of gold. And I just truly appreciate you. And again, thank you to Run Tall for making Tim's story possible. Don't forget to go to shopruntall.com and use that discount code RUNYORSTY15. That's for anything on the website. There is an exclusive hat that we collabed with, it looks great. Charles did a fantastic job at Run Tall to make his vision and our vision come together, and he just he nailed it 10 out of 10. So I wear that hat proudly. And guys, check it out. It's a great brand, it's got a great message. Every design, product, and message is created to inspire, remind us that there's strength through consistency, hard work, and perseverance, and they do a great job. And it's all about community with Runtaw. So thank you to Runtaw. Guys, if you haven't downloaded the Runner Story app, make sure to do that. It's on Apple and Android. We'd love to have you. It's super user-friendly and it's free. Gray Gildyard from Gileard Tech Services did an outstanding job. I'm really proud of this app. And I literally cried when I opened it when I saw it. I was like, it's real. We made it runner-friendly. And I say that because I hate technology. So I said, what is it that apps annoy me the most? And we're gonna do the opposite of that. So we hope you guys enjoy this app. We love the feedback. Thank you for believing and being part of Runner Story. And thank you to Gail Your Tech Services. Guys, sit down with Gray, reach out to him. He would love to build you a website, love to build you an app. He is the go-to for all things story related because everyone has a story online. If your business is online, there's a reason why it's there and it has to be there. And so Gray can help your story be told through a website and through an app. He does an outstanding job. So make sure you reach out to him. He believes in this podcast so much and believes in the running community, and we're incredibly grateful for Greg Gilliard and Gilliard Tech Services. Thank you again to our Runner Story family, our Patreon supporters. I absolutely adore these guys and love them. I was really excited because through this collab, we got to give them a free hat for Montal. And so thank you again to Charles for making that possible. And for our Patreon family members, I hope you enjoy the hat. So much fun. And if you want to join our Patreon family, we'd love to have you. It's a great time. They're a great group of people that are leaders in the community and they're doing great big things and they make it better every day. So thank you to our Patreon family members. Thank you to Dave. If you've not checked out the blog, you can. It is also on the app. Super easy, guys. Did I tell you to go download the app? You should go download the app. There, you'll find the blog that Dave puts out. So easy to find. It's amazing. And internally grateful for him for doing all he does for writing from his heart and his feet from Runner's store. He does a great he literally writes from his soul. There we go. Great job. So thanks, Dave, for doing that. Scott and Stefan, they do such a great job with scheduling and reaching out to people, and they love this podcast. And so I'm tur I am again eternally grateful for these guys and the love that they have for this podcast. And thank you to everybody who listens, shares, comments. Thank you for being a part of someone's story. Thank you for being part of this community. Thank you for showing up each Wednesday. And we are incredibly grateful to each and every one of you. And so with that, go run your story because every story needs to be heard.