Most people don't understand why anyone would run 100 miles and honestly, it doesn't make much sense.
Speaker AIt's slow, it hurts, and there's no obvious reward at the end of it.
Speaker ABut we keep coming back, we sign up again.
Speaker BSo what is it?
Speaker AWhat are people actually looking for out there?
Speaker AIt's the Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running podcast presented by Kip Brun.
Speaker AThis conversation was recorded live in front of an audience, so it might sound a little different than what you're used to around here, but if you've been with border lands for a while, you.
Speaker BMight recognize this one.
Speaker AIt felt too important to leave in the archives, so we're releasing it now as a part of this new series tied to the spring equinox, where there's more light than dark.
Speaker AStories about how running gives us life and becomes a tool for getting through hard things.
Speaker AHere I am at the University of Utah interviewing Billy Yang about why anyone.
Speaker BWould run 100 miles.
Speaker BChris brought people into the scene and I just, I feel like your documentaries did a really incredible job of giving it a soul.
Speaker BIf I look at, I think about, you know, the why, which seems, you know, that's been the one that's had the most views.
Speaker BDo you know the stats?
Speaker BAre you aware of how many unique viewers you have compared to total views?
Speaker BMeaning, do you know how many times people have watched, you know how many times I've watched that like with people trying to show them what I'm out there trying to do when I run 100 miles, it's like the go to thing to try and show what I'm doing out there.
Speaker CSorry, I'm getting over something so I will never get used to that.
Speaker CI think my instincts behind that was to make something, to talk to the average person, maybe a spouse, maybe a friend who thinks I don't even like to drive that far and just humanize it.
Speaker CBut tell it from a perspective of.
Speaker CI firmly consider myself like a mid, mid to back of the packer.
Speaker CSo you know, like the leads that I, I may have started covering when I was making, you know like documentaries about like Sally and some of the Nike boys.
Speaker CI can't really relate to that.
Speaker CI do think it's a, it's really exciting and it's definitely a part of our sport.
Speaker CBut I identify a lot more with people who are fighting cut offs to, you know, finishing somewhere around like 24 to 30 hours in a 100 mile race.
Speaker CSo I just wanted to tell it from that perspective and that was my only instinct and I Kind of feel shortchanged because Goo came on as my only sponsor, and they only had, like, a few shekels to throw my way.
Speaker CI was like, all right, yeah.
Speaker CI had this.
Speaker CThis idea percolating in my head, and I thought I'd make it and make myself the.
Speaker CThe protagonist of the subject, which is always awkward, too.
Speaker CAnd I'd never in a million years would.
Speaker CI thought, like, that would be my most viewed piece of content.
Speaker CYou know, like, it just doesn't feel right to me when I've covered people like Sally McCrae and Zach Miller and,.
Speaker BLike, oh, I see.
Speaker BBecause you were the figure.
Speaker BIt felt weird.
Speaker BThe most popular one that you've ever put out.
Speaker BYou're the star, right?
Speaker CAnd then, you know, you go even further and you have.
Speaker CI've had people come up to me and, like, tell me that they found Ultra running because they.
Speaker CThey view that piece of content, and I still feel like a participant.
Speaker CLike, all of this feels very bizarre and surreal to me.
Speaker CAnd even saying out loud at the start of the community run, I'm like, I've been running trails for over 15 years.
Speaker CStill sounds kind of weird coming out of my mouth, because I feel in some regards, I still feel like I just started and then content creation over a decade, and that still sounds weird to me.
Speaker CSo, I don't know, it's maybe just a part and parcel of getting old and just time going by really fast.
Speaker CBut, yeah, I definitely, like, go through some imposter syndrome.
Speaker CLike, people really know me for this stuff.
Speaker CIt still takes some getting used to.
Speaker BI mean, with.
Speaker BI remember, like, trying to get my dad to understand what I'm out there doing when I.
Speaker BYou know, for those who don't know my story, I've tried to run 100 miles 10 times, and I've finished twice.
Speaker BAnd my dad is, you know, supportive and, you know, was in my corner, and he's no longer with us, but he was in my corner for me.
Speaker BI was like, you got to watch the why.
Speaker BI mean, just a beautiful memory of sitting with my dad, and that was the time that he kind of got it, you know, Um, I think a lot of people.
Speaker BSo back to that comment.
Speaker BLike, the soul.
Speaker BLike, I feel like.
Speaker BAnd I wonder if you have a different way of wording it or if you agree the way that you presented it, like the.
Speaker BThe monologues that you put before those documentaries you gave it.
Speaker BYou helped give words to us who are out there doing it for any other reason except fitness.
Speaker BYou know what I mean?
Speaker BYeah, like, fitness was maybe number 15 on the list of what we're out there doing.
Speaker BAnd I feel like the why was the first way I could relay to non ultra runners this is what I'm doing.
Speaker BAnd they started to get it.
Speaker BMy dad still said I was crazy, but at least then he got to see it and it started to click for him what it was.
Speaker CYeah, I do think it's a, you know, the old adage of it's 20% physical, 80% mental, but within that 80%, I also put emotional.
Speaker CI put the soul, I put so many other different things under that category and that umbrella because it is a journey of the soul.
Speaker CIt is.
Speaker CYou're putting yourself.
Speaker CYou're intentionally paying four or five hundred dollars.
Speaker CI don't even know what races cost these days, but it's.
Speaker BI just did an episode about it that released this week.
Speaker BYour mind would be blown.
Speaker BActually, it's gone up.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BWe'll talk later.
Speaker COkay.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CBut it's for me anyway.
Speaker CI can't speak for everybody here, but for me it is very much a journey of the soul.
Speaker CAnd putting yourself through the crucible of running a 50, 100K 100 mile involves some like, shedding of whatever, you know, whatever perception you may put out there.
Speaker CAnd then it does reduce you to your true authentic self.
Speaker CAnd.
Speaker CAnd I think there's a lot of beauty in that journey.
Speaker CAnd, and so to hear that, that's.
Speaker CThat's great.
Speaker CI mean, not a lot of people can identify with it.
Speaker CI know there's a lot more like Broey dudes who are just like, just finish it all cost David Goggins, you know, Kevin Haynes type people.
Speaker CAnd I can't really identify with those people.
Speaker CCause for me it's so many, you know, it started with me and my dad too.
Speaker CAfter I lost my dad, is how I found this incredible community of ours.
Speaker CSo there's a lot of emotional connection to, you know, why we do what we do.
Speaker CAnd hopefully I'm glad people can resonate with that.
Speaker BI think this is why your documentaries.
Speaker BIs that on?
Speaker CNo, no, I was like fidgeting with it.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BI think that's why your documentaries about elite runners are so interesting.
Speaker BBecause I think about the Nike.
Speaker BAs you.
Speaker BDid you say the Nike boys?
Speaker BYeah, the 20, 2015, 2016 running of the CCC at UTMB.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BWhen you tell the stories of the elites, you're still telling it soulfully.
Speaker BAnd I think that's why someone like me, I'd give anything to be Zack Miller and have his ability, but I don't, but because you tell it soulfully instead of from the perspective of his performance, even though we can all obviously see the performance is incredible, but you bring soul into it.
Speaker BI think that's what's special about it.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd it helps to have a Zach Miller type who has so much character and gives everyone, like, so much of his time and undivided attention.
Speaker CAnd he's.
Speaker CI have a good friend of mine who underwent like Haglin surgery recently, and I said, hey, Zach, I know you went through something similar, like, do you mind talking to him?
Speaker CAnd he has some questions.
Speaker CAnd you know Zach, it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, no problem, you know, and just like pass on his number.
Speaker CAnd I think that's like the ethos of our sport.
Speaker CIt doesn't matter if you're Jim Walmsley, Zach Miller, you know, you name it.
Speaker CKillian.
Speaker CLike, everyone is so approachable and so kind and generous with their time.
Speaker BI think of like, Zach, you know, the figures who've shown up in your.
Speaker BIn the documentary work that you've done, from Zach to Tim Tollefson, David Laney from the, you know, the Nike boys.
Speaker BDo you.
Speaker BI mean, when you're looking at bringing their stories out, I mean, how.
Speaker BWhat's the level of intention?
Speaker BLike, are you sort of driving, like, the storytelling?
Speaker BAre you really just like trying.
Speaker BJust trying to capture it?
Speaker BAnd who we have come to believe Tim Tollefson to be, is that just really who he is?
Speaker BMeaning what you captured in these documentaries of this nice guy who's out there giving everything he's got.
Speaker BLike, do you feel like you're really, truly capturing who they are off the clock because they seem like they're also your friends, you know, when you're not at work?
Speaker CWell, I think that's my intention with anyone, regardless of where they are, from front of the pack to.
Speaker CI did a story on this very, maybe not even middle of the pack, like cutoff chaser when he ran Leadville.
Speaker CI did a film for La Sportiva.
Speaker CDidn't come out on my channel, but that was every bit as gratifying because I think my instinct with anything is to have a fully fleshed out protagonist, a hero that you can root for and tell a three dimensional story.
Speaker CIf you can't tell a three dimensional story, if you can't connect with that subject, you know, what are we talking about here?
Speaker CThey're just another fast runner.
Speaker CThey're just another like faceless, nameless runner.
Speaker CYeah, but it's with everything, right?
Speaker CI mean, that's the power of story is if you connect with someone through storytelling and just kind of bring their true, authentic selves to life.
Speaker CI think that's where we're kind of at the crossroads at the sport, of the sport becoming really, you know, fascinating with live broadcasts and everything else.
Speaker CBut it's.
Speaker CIf you can't.
Speaker CIf you can't get the viewers to connect with the subjects through a story, through, you know, like making them, rounding them out into, you know, not just about, like, how fast they can run 100 mile race, but, like, who are they beyond when they take their trail shoes off?
Speaker CLike, that's my.
Speaker CThat's always my instinct.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI mean, so you kind of touched on it when the sports evolved a ton since the first content that you put out.
Speaker BWhat's your take on where it's at right now in terms of where it was?
Speaker BWhen I think about where it was, I'd characterize it this way, is that there was, I think of the Anton Kaprickas.
Speaker BThere were these personalities, I feel, that were much stronger, and I don't know why that is.
Speaker BIf they were just great storytellers that were able to bring them forward.
Speaker BUm, and today it doesn't feel like those.
Speaker BIt's as strong.
Speaker BAnd I don't know if there's.
Speaker BIt's the storytelling.
Speaker BI don't know if I'm just a jerk or what it is, but how would you characterize where it was in 2015, 2012, and where it is today?
Speaker CI just think we have a lot more players and that goes for athletes and content creators and podcasts.
Speaker CI mean, you name it, there's just a lot more media.
Speaker CSo maybe the noise is amplified, but I do think the opportunity to tell some really great stories and, you know, have the means for anyone here, like, if you wanted to become a content creator, if you wanted to tell stories about your best friend running the first hundred miles, like, it's never.
Speaker CThere's never been a better time.
Speaker CAnd so I'm really excited about that.
Speaker CI do think I have two feet, like both my feet kind of firmly entrenched in both camps of like, I want to bring as many people into the sport as possible because I do think it's transformative.
Speaker CI do think it's the best freaking community out there.
Speaker CSo many people are welcoming, so many people welcome me.
Speaker CAt the same time, I do think there is a way to grow it responsibly and to grow it with integrity and.
Speaker CAnd to grow it in a meaningful way where we don't lose that soul, you know, we don't just get the bros showing up and saying, like, yeah, I'm gonna.
Speaker CI'm gonna crush Leadville.
Speaker CAnd I, I don't, I don't mean to be dismissive.
Speaker CYou're not naming that, but you know what I'm saying?
Speaker CLike, it's like, I think you can have both, but at the same time for me anyway, because the soul is so important that I do.
Speaker CLike, I feel like it's my.
Speaker CIt's imperative within me to grow it in a very meaningful way.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd you've got your, you know, talk about a number of your feet are in a lot of different areas.
Speaker BLike you, you know, was it.
Speaker BWhen it comes to the Western State broads, Western states broadcast or anything, like you're kind of in a lot of places, you're on stage at, you know, Trail Con and stuff like that.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BIf, if you had the time you had now that you had in 2015, when you were, it seemed like you were putting out more of your own documentaries on your own channel, do you see any stories right now that you wish you had time to tell that you could tell in the same way if time was available to you?
Speaker CYeah, I would definitely.
Speaker CSo one of my responsibilities, I'm part of the 15 member board of Western States Board of directors and I'm also tasked to direct and produce the live broadcast.
Speaker CAnd it was an interesting challenge.
Speaker CFirst year it was almost exclusively.
Speaker CThe spotlight was almost exclusively on the elites.
Speaker CWe did get some pushback about, hey, I want to hear more mid to back of the pack stories.
Speaker CMy initial instinct was like, well, people aren't tuning in for that.
Speaker CPeople want to see the excitement of the front of the pack.
Speaker CAnd then.
Speaker CBut then I also was like, hey, wait a minute, there has to be.
Speaker CWhen we're talking about connection and when we're talking about having a rooting interest, why can't we do that?
Speaker CWhy can't we tell the story for the 14 hour finishers to the 30 hour finishers?
Speaker CAnd so that was my mission last year, specifically to amplify the mid to back of the pack voices a lot more.
Speaker CAnd I went to Western States training camp with the sole purpose of following and like just riding with people and like, hey, are you running the race this year?
Speaker COh, let me talk to you.
Speaker CAnd just got their stories, put it out on social media and people loved it.
Speaker CPeople absolutely loved it.
Speaker CAnd then tied it back around when they finished during the live broadcast.
Speaker CI mean, yeah, the live broadcast of the race and everyone's like, oh, I remember that girl.
Speaker CShe.
Speaker CShe's.
Speaker CShe was this person.
Speaker COr like, that guy was that.
Speaker CAnd, like, again, like, just going back to the power story.
Speaker CThat is the power story, and that is how you get more people into the sport.
Speaker CIt's like, you know, you just.
Speaker CYou just make the community a lot more accessible.
Speaker CAnd maybe people draw inspiration from who knows whom, like, not necessarily the front of the pack.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI mean, even, you know, your LA Dodgers, even the, you know, the elite sports, you know, like the big sports, they are uninteresting without story.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BAnd so we don't notice it as much because it's, you know, they do it so well.
Speaker BThey, you know, we root for a certain team or we root against a team because the story is being told so well.
Speaker BI think that, like, that's, you know, what you talk about doing at a training camp and all that.
Speaker BLike, you know, you build that anticipation going into, you know, Western states, and people will jump on.
Speaker BPeople outside the sport hopefully, will jump on and want to do it.
Speaker BBut is there somebody you see right now that you wish you had time to tell a more robust story about a newcomer or someone who's crushing Anton Kapricka, maybe, you know, getting inspired and going back out, you know, what he did in Leadville two years ago, you know, is there anything that's interesting to you right now?
Speaker CWell, I don't think the imperative's on me.
Speaker CI think, like, what you're doing is plenty interesting because, like, getting to know you a lot more.
Speaker CYou have this fascinating entrepreneurial background.
Speaker CYou're doing all these different things, had all these different pots being stirred at the same time.
Speaker CAnd the first time you came on my radar was when you did that interview with Scott and Brian from Path Projects.
Speaker CAnd I was like, oh, this cat's kind of like, he has an attention to detail, to putting out quality.
Speaker CMaybe not the numbers where you should be, but your intentionality and your attention to putting out a good product so that people will want to tune in is.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd I think just like that, telling of the entrepreneurial story, I think that's also fascinating in how we're talking about media and, you know, like, what goes.
Speaker CLike, maybe people aren't inspired to be content creators.
Speaker CMaybe they want to start a brand, an outdoor brand.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd you're telling those stories, so.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CI mean, I think the onus can be on everyone in here who has any level of interest in storytelling.
Speaker CIt could be audio, it could be video, it could be, you know, a substack.
Speaker CYeah, but there's all.
Speaker CThere's so many stories, especially as the sport expands.
Speaker CAnd so sorry if I'm not like landing on person in media at the top of my mind, but I do think there's just like a million one stories, especially as the sport is evolving and growing.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd.
Speaker CAnd how they found the sport.
Speaker CAnd you know, people are like, do they come from a drug addiction background?
Speaker CDo they come from a background where they're sedentary and overweight?
Speaker CSo, yeah, there's a.
Speaker CThere's so many stories out there.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CThat can be.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker CI mean, told.
Speaker BAnd I think what you.
Speaker BI mean, so I was putting out documentaries and by the way, from a quality standpoint, without Ben, wherever Ben is, it wouldn't be what it is without Ben.
Speaker BSo shout out to Ben.
Speaker CYeah, shout out Ben.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYou know, I release documentaries and I put out, you know, and I put a lot of work into the monologue.
Speaker BI don't know where you got it from.
Speaker BSo this is my question.
Speaker BSo people like me were looking at you doing documentaries, I mean, as a primary person, to say, oh, he's telling these great stories.
Speaker BI've got an eye for the story, but I want to do this thing where at the beginning I pull them in emotionally.
Speaker BThat's, you know, that's a, that's your calling card, from my perspective.
Speaker BWho, who is your.
Speaker BSo you inspired me.
Speaker BWho inspired you to do what you did?
Speaker BIs there.
Speaker BIt doesn't.
Speaker BI mean, not necessarily in running.
Speaker BA filmmaker, Is there a storyteller?
Speaker BIs there an author?
Speaker BLike, how.
Speaker BWho do you point to?
Speaker CYeah, I mean, I, I did look to people like, Jimmy Chin is a great storyteller out there.
Speaker CI feel like rock climbing in general is maybe about a decade in front of trail running.
Speaker CAnd so there's a lot of rock climbing content that I absorbed and I thought is really cool.
Speaker CLike, I don't know if you ever saw Valley Uprising.
Speaker CCamp four produced that.
Speaker CAnd it just told the origin story of, of like Yosemite Valley.
Speaker CAnd I thought it was just like a really, like, I related to it a lot.
Speaker CAnd I remember thinking, I still have this bigger vision of like telling the story of American ultra running and how it came to be to the incredible growth that we see in the upticks and you know, from ultra marathon man Brian McDougal, I mean, Chris McDougall and born to Run and what an impact that made and all these like interesting cats and characters.
Speaker CYeah, that came along.
Speaker CBut at the end of the day, I think my inspiration has to be myself.
Speaker CAnd let me explain, I.
Speaker CBack in 2014, when I first produced the content that I was putting out on YouTube, I did it for somebody like myself.
Speaker CUltrarunning is a very weird thing.
Speaker CLike, we love it when we're, like, in the middle of it, but just to get that initial momentum, to get out the door, you need some motivation.
Speaker CI need motivation.
Speaker CLike, I need motivation before a race, before I'm about to do an ultra marathon.
Speaker CIt's not like going out to eat a steak dinner.
Speaker CYou don't need any motivation.
Speaker CYou're like, I'm hungry.
Speaker CYeah, I'm gonna have a nice glass of cabernet and, you know, nice rib eye.
Speaker CAnd, like, I don't need any motivation for that for.
Speaker CBut for something that we purportedly love, which is time outside, like that initial push to get outside.
Speaker CWe need it.
Speaker CSo.
Speaker CSo I was thinking about somebody like myself who just like, what.
Speaker CWhat's going to get me out there?
Speaker CBut also just.
Speaker CYeah, continue to go back to that well of inspiration.
Speaker CAnd.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd so it was for me, like,.
Speaker BMe, I would say this about you and I would say this about myself.
Speaker BLike, I think about.
Speaker BI feel like I represent kind of the everyman.
Speaker BLike, I'm.
Speaker BI'm just a. I'm an average person.
Speaker BI probably, you know, have some overlap with 80 cent of the.
Speaker B80% Of the people in the field and that I'm not trying to win this thing.
Speaker BI'm not going to.
Speaker BBut there's something, you know, there's something mysterious that, you know, calls me out there that I just.
Speaker BI just have to do it.
Speaker BLast night, after we had dinner, I went.
Speaker BI was like, okay, I'm going to do a little bit more prep.
Speaker BI'm going to.
Speaker BI'm going to watch some of your documentaries.
Speaker BAnd I turn on the Y and it starts.
Speaker BI mean, this is.
Speaker BI'm just saying how effective they are.
Speaker BIt starts and I'm like, oh, God, I gotta sign up for something.
Speaker BBut I can't right now because of my lot in life.
Speaker BI can't.
Speaker BAnd so I closed it.
Speaker BSo I didn't watch anything in preparing for it because it's too effective.
Speaker BWhat you're saying of, like, when you say that, it's for you, it's because you represent this average person in the space of, like, we've got a taste for it.
Speaker BWe've done the 10k, then we went to a half marathon, then we did a 50k, and then we did the 50 miler, 100k, 100 miler, and when you have the taste that, you know, content like yours is that thing that, you know, making your case for more brand deals for you, you push over the edge into people to going and, you know, handing over their money to a race director, which we have a race.
Speaker CThis is a commercial part of the podcast.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BOpen range.
Speaker BNo.
Speaker BAnyway, yeah, so I just think that's what, you know, you have clearly have plenty of evidence.
Speaker BAnd here's more.
Speaker BIt's just that you've inspired.
Speaker BYou inspire people to go sign up for races, which is the best part of this community.
Speaker CWell, why do we keep going back to that?
Speaker CWell, like, why do we keep.
Speaker CI mean, when you're running out there, like mile 64 of 100 mile race, you're not like, skipping through a forest.
Speaker CIt's painful, it hurts.
Speaker CYou're puking, you're on the side of the woods, you're, you know, like, you're, you're being nudged by your pacer to, like, keep moving forward, to keep one step forward.
Speaker CAnd for some reason, at the end of all of that, you cross the finish line.
Speaker CAnd maybe not right in that moment, but the next day, two days later, you're like, yes, let's do it all over again.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker CLike, why do we keep going back to that?
Speaker BWell, for me, it's.
Speaker BI don't have.
Speaker BI have this internal person that I believe I am, and I don't have external evidence.
Speaker BAnd so it's this thing I believe about myself that to me, I've so grabbed onto the 100 miler because it's external proof of who I believe I am inside.
Speaker BAnd I don't have any way of showing it in my own head unless I go do a Hundred miler.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI've done businesses.
Speaker BI've been entrepreneur for a long time.
Speaker BI've done a lot of different things that.
Speaker BBut to me, I don't think of those things as mattering something about me going for 100 miler and even DNFing 8 out of 10 times.
Speaker BBut that is where I'm telling the story of who I am.
Speaker CWhy did you dnf8 out of the.
Speaker CWhere did I want to start, man?
Speaker BWell, it's because I'm not very good at.
Speaker CNo, okay.
Speaker BI. I had so my why never required a finish.
Speaker BI could satisfy my why for running 100 miles without the finish line.
Speaker CInteresting.
Speaker BI didn't have until number 10, which was a documentary that Ben and I did together about Zion Hundred Miler last year.
Speaker BMy 10th effort was the first time my why required A finish line.
Speaker BAnd then I.
Speaker BThen the whole time, I never, it was.
Speaker BThere was never even a chance that I was going to say no.
Speaker CAnd what was your.
Speaker CWhy prior to that?
Speaker BMy son had a tumor on his liver that had to be removed.
Speaker BAnd it was like this.
Speaker BI. I felt like I needed some sort of.
Speaker BI didn't know how to handle the pain.
Speaker BMy pain of watching my son go through that I needed to suffer in some way.
Speaker BLike, it was this.
Speaker BI'm not saying it was healthy, but it was me saying like.
Speaker BAnd my wife had just given birth to my second child.
Speaker BIt's like, so she's going through some pain.
Speaker BMy son had a tumor and it's like I was looking for something in the pain because I was healthy, I was able to run 100 miles or I was able to at least try, you know, and so I needed to get out there and feel.
Speaker BI needed to go out and feel something for myself because I was by my wife's side, but she was the one going through all the pain.
Speaker BI was by my son's side.
Speaker BHe was going through all the pain.
Speaker BSo my first 100 mile attempt was I was in that space of needing to feel the suffering for myself.
Speaker BAnd so I got to mile 80 at the Zion Miler that year and it was just.
Speaker BThat one was just a mistake around things I didn't know about.
Speaker BWater and a water bottle falling off the side of a cliff.
Speaker BJeremy Cox, I don't know if he's here.
Speaker BHe dropped it.
Speaker BBut, yeah, everyone has a story sometimes.
Speaker BI just wasn't training.
Speaker BI shouldn't have started.
Speaker BBut I thought, God, I'd rather DNF because I'm not ready than not start.
Speaker BI was telling florists we lived for a summer in Amsterdam, which is 12ft below sea level, and I was signed up for Wasatch and I was like, no, I'm not going to do Wasach.
Speaker BThen I thought, why not just dnf?
Speaker AWho cares?
Speaker BAnd I timed out.
Speaker BI made it to Upper big water, mile 48 at the cutoff, and I thought I would rather DNF that than not have started.
Speaker BSo a lot of it is, yeah, I just needed to be out there suffering and finding the end of myself.
Speaker BI wish the end of myself was more consistently on the other side of a hundred mile finish line, but I find the end of myself in the 20s, in the 20s and 30 miles.
Speaker BBut then this last one was, oh, yeah, my why is to finish.
Speaker BThat was my only why, was to finish a hundred miles.
Speaker BAnd when I did that.
Speaker BThat was.
Speaker BI was second to last place.
Speaker BI was 35 and a half hours.
Speaker BZion has a very generous cutoff and I'm thankful for it.
Speaker BAnd yeah, I want to be clear,.
Speaker CThat wasn't a judgmental question.
Speaker CI was just genuinely curious.
Speaker BNo, I wouldn't receive it as that.
Speaker CHow's your son today?
Speaker BHe's great.
Speaker BI mean, he's.
Speaker BAfter that happened, we had this horrifying moment where they couldn't figure out what was on his liver for six weeks.
Speaker BSo he had pneumonia.
Speaker BAnd then they said he has to be clear of pneumonia for six weeks before we can operate and we can't biopsy.
Speaker BAll we know is that his liver is completely consumed by these tumors.
Speaker BBut we don't know and we won't know for six weeks.
Speaker BSo we had this six week period when my wife was pregnant with baby number two of we don't know.
Speaker BI mean, it was just this.
Speaker BIt's even hard to think about eight years later, seven years later.
Speaker CNow, is there any crossover in that mentality of that ultra mindset of just like, keep putting one foot forward?
Speaker CYes, as a. Yeah.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker BI mean, that's the thing.
Speaker BSo I often think, do ultras help me live my day in and day out life better or do I push really hard in my day in and day out life better so I can be a better ultra runner?
Speaker BAnd really the answer is yes.
Speaker BBut ultra running, because I'm ambitious as an entrepreneur, I try things that are really hard and that's what I most prefer is to try things that are really hard or that may not be possible.
Speaker BSometimes they are and sometimes they aren't.
Speaker BUltra running is the ultimate in helping me.
Speaker BSo I don't care if I DNF 100 more times because I'm pulling from that over into trying to be a better dad, trying to be a better husband, a better entrepreneur.
Speaker BThere's a lot of people in my sphere that I have influence over with within that and it makes me better in all of them being able to put one foot in front of the other.
Speaker CYeah, I almost want to reframe.
Speaker CWhat's your why to just why not?
Speaker CWhy not give it a go?
Speaker CI am inspired by your story and like just people like you who just go out there and try different things.
Speaker CI think being an entrepreneur is far more scary than going out there and run Wasatch.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CBecause there's a lot more at stake, clearly.
Speaker CBut.
Speaker CBut it also underscores, you know, maybe where you and I might align is that we all like this is this thing that we call life, and this is my cheesy moment here.
Speaker CBut we all, like, get one shot at this.
Speaker CI mean, really, like, we all get one shot at this.
Speaker CLike, I have somebody who was.
Speaker CWho just got diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.
Speaker C49 Years old, healthy, he's a running buddy of mine, and just, like, knocked their life, like, completely upended their life.
Speaker CAnd it's just, like, now the focus just becomes about, like, how do we.
Speaker CHow do we make it another day, another week, another month?
Speaker CSo I don't know.
Speaker CAnd in the wake of, like, what I saw in Los Angeles, with the wildfires and the devastation and people losing their lives, their homes, like, why not just take swings in life, you know?
Speaker CI lead a very unconventional life.
Speaker CMy wife Hilary and I and our dog, Charlie Salami, we live in a tiny home.
Speaker CWe live very simply.
Speaker COur North Star is to just experience life in all the myriad of different ways, through travel, through community, through trying hard things.
Speaker CAnd I think so far, that steered us in the right direction in us living our most authentic lives.
Speaker CWe'll never have hundreds of thousands of dollars, Will, you know, like.
Speaker CBut we've tasted that.
Speaker CShe's had a corporate past.
Speaker CI've had a corporate past, and we.
Speaker CWe didn't find a whole lot of fulfillment.
Speaker CThat's us.
Speaker CLike, that's our North Star.
Speaker CLike, it's not for everyone.
Speaker CBut I do think, like, why not?
Speaker CYeah, why not try things and see where you land?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BWhat's the worst that could happen out on the trail?
Speaker BMy favorite.
Speaker BThis is my favorite thing about it is that it's.
Speaker BIt's the great equalizer of all.
Speaker BLike, when you're out on the trail and you're suffering and it's late in the race, whether it be you're suffering through a half marathon or a 10k or the 100 miler, there's just this thing that gets built out there that's in line with that of, like, you.
Speaker BThe people that you meet in the way that you meet them and the way that you connect.
Speaker BI have a friend who's an evolutionary biologist named Alex.
Speaker BAnd, you know, he was saying the same chemicals that are firing in your body late in a race build.
Speaker BThey're the bonding chemicals.
Speaker BAnd so, like you, you're building these deep, rich bonds with people that bank accounts don't matter, like, none of the stuff that matters.
Speaker BThere's something about trail running that is the great equalizer to me in terms of suffering.
Speaker BWe're all getting beat up by it.
Speaker BWe're all working through our own thing.
Speaker BWe all have our own whys.
Speaker BBut it's, it's a, it's a powerful equalizer.
Speaker CYou really could be running next to a dirtbagger who lives out of the bed of his truck or a venture capitalist.
Speaker CYou just don't know.
Speaker CBut everyone out there is on equal playing field and none of that other stuff really matters.
Speaker BOne of my DNFs, I was running next to a guy who played for the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker CHe was, oh really?
Speaker BHe, he was second string and he had just retired but he was like yeah man, I just want to just need to keep doing hard stuff.
Speaker BI'm like wow.
Speaker BAnd as which is harder, the NFL or running this 100 miler?
Speaker BAnd at the moment he said the 100 miler I was like I'm stronger than NFL players.
Speaker BBilly, thank you.
Speaker CThis is a lot of fun.
Speaker CThank you guys so much for coming out.