Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 134 - Cocodona Recap

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Join us for a recap on Cam’s recent Cocodona 250 race - a broken foot, sleepless nights, and a relentless pursuit to make it to the finish line. Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Follow James: https://www.instagram.com/james_g_williams/  Thank you to our sponsors: Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/cam use code CAM for 15% off  Ketone IQ: https://www.ketone.com/Cam use code CAM for 30% off your first subscription Grizzly Coolers: https://www.grizzlycoolers.com/ use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off LMNT: Visit https://drinklmnt.com/cam for a free sample pack with any purchase Timestamps: 00:00:00  Conor Got Robbed & Cam’s a Grandpa 00:02:29  Thoughts Before Running the Cocodona 00:07:22  Cocodona Pre-Race Energy 00:10:58  Courtney Dauwalter 00:13:10  Mile 112 & Miles of Mud 00:16:34  Andy Glaze 00:18:29  Wet Weather, Wrecked Feet, & No Sleep 00:22:23  Mile 212, 67 Hours, & 55 Minutes of Sleep 00:25:03  Ad Break (LMNT & MUD\WTR) 00:27:26  A Goal to Finish Under 80 Hours 00:30:59  “I Can’t Walk, but I Can Run” 00:34:03  Walnut Canyon - 230 Miles 00:35:41  Wildcat Hill to Flagstaff 00:37:51  The Last Aid Station to the Finish Line 00:40:55  Cocodona Finish Line 00:42:47  Cam’s Highlight - Orion 00:43:25  The Keep Hammering Team’s Effort in Cocodona 00:48:26  Pushing Through Running During the Night 00:49:51  The Difficulties of Running After Short Naps 00:53:15  God Bless the Haters 00:56:08  Getting Sick After the Race 01:03:28  James’ Thoughts on Cocodona 01:05:00  The Unknown of How Your Body Will Respond 01:08:30  Conors’ Thoughts on Cocodona 01:11:16  Clearly Not a Poser 01:16:29  Outro - Larry’s Jokes & The White House

Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel, gather up my energy and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I move it's so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. This is a key pammer collective with James Gideon, Williams. And?

Cramer and Haynes. And Connor, Connor. Connor Larry Connor. Connor Larry Connor. We're back. We are so back, baby. The boys are back. All three of us.

Barely. Just touching go to there for a second. Got Western for a little bit. Holy shit. What a disaster. Yeah, I think we can use most of this episode to fill that in a little bit. Yeah. Okay.

But first, I just want to give a shout at. Where are we? 16. Oh, 16. Okay. Larry's truck got broken into the other night. So to the piece of shit watching this, we are coming for you.

Yeah. What is Liam Neeson say? I have a very defined set of special skills, and I will find you. Yeah. So what window did they break? It was the back driver's side. Didn't unlock it or anything.

Just broke it, reached and grabbed it. Yeah. Sad. Well, that's a great intro to this. episode of Shit Talkers Weekly. Yeah, I thought so. It's been a little while, so got to get the people warmed up. It has, yeah. Yeah. Also, congratulations. You are a grandpa. I am. Thank you. Yeah. I just seen that little thing for the first time because I've been sick. Yeah. Well, I guess. So we're trying to be safe with it. So I saw it out here, like Fauci style,

outside with six max masks on. Full hazmat suit. Yeah. I'm your grandpa. It's a nightmare fuel for that baby. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, the baby so far is pretty worthless as far as what is contributing to society. I didn't see it do much of anything.

Still contributing more than me. Yeah, I mean, oh, yeah, definitely, but mostly just eating. Yeah. That's good. Shitting. Well, I guess we'll get into the meat and potato. Potatoes, which is, I think, weren't you doing something last couple days? There was a jog.

I did a jog. Oh, you did a jog. Yeah. How was that? It was good. Oh, okay, good. Yeah. It was a nice jog in some cool country with a bunch of cool people.

Oh, nice. How fun. It was fun. Yeah. No. The old coca doonia. Oh, Coke donut. Coke donut, 250, which is a lie because it's 250, six or seven.

or nine. Just whatever. Rounded up to the nearest hundred. Depends if you took the inside corner or the outside corner. Right. Yeah, yeah. So those little things add up. Yeah, right.

No, I wanted to start at the very beginning. And you were having some thought processes, processes. Yeah, sure. Processes the night before. Yeah. So what were you thinking about laying in bed the night before? Yeah, you know, it's all fun in games. it's all a bunch of

until the night before the race when you're laying there and you're well I'm laying there in bed going staring at the ceiling going it's like nine at night alarm set for 3.15 a.m. Starting at the ceiling going what have I got myself into? I had so many people there.

You guys, Branlon, I didn't even know how many people, 20 people for me. So I looked, it looked like, looked ridiculous because I looked like the biggest diva, which I was very conscious of. Because I'm not like these, this was probably, I would say the most competitive 200 mile plus,

what a multi-day field, that's maybe been assembled. I don't know. I feel like it was the most anticipated for sure. Most anticipated, maybe most stacked. I don't know. There's some great runners there. I mean,

yeah. Biggest names in the sport. Courtney is the biggest name in the sport. And then, you know, a lot of people with a lot of momentum, Max, after winning Moab last year,

Mike McKnight, the most decorated 200-mileer that's ever been. Yeah. I mean, Harold, who is a defending champion, it's just some freaks all the way down. And then there's others too.

There's Finn Melanson, Jesse Haynes. It's just like all these people have had incredible success in the sport. And then me. I'm laying there with this entourage, you know, around the house and this big plan for, I don't even know what, but staring the ceiling going, I

I should not be here. What am I? What am I doing? I was like this whole time thinking something's going to happen. Hopefully the plane goes down. Hopefully something gets me out of this and nothing did. And then all of a sudden it was in six hours, I'm going to have to run 257 miles.

And I am old. I haven't done a 200 in, what was that? It's like eight the eighth year. Yeah. I've been hurt. Yeah. Definitely hurt.

Haven't been able to run or train or do anything to give me confidence. And I'm just like, now it was showtime. And I'm like, I shouldn't be here. And now I'm like roped into this. What am I going to do? So that was my feelings. And I'm like, wow.

screwed up on the flight in every little bump of turbulence we were sitting in the back on we know cam is hoping this plane crash i was i was super you know the thing is and i've said this before you can fake a lot of life there's a lot of people who are not tough but act tough sure not cool but act cool and that's fine and it's not they don't care but they act like they can't care. I mean, you can fake a lot of shit. You can't fake standing on the starting line of a 257 mile race and think that not everybody's going to be paying attention to how you do. And I was like, my confidence was, you know, when I go on a hunt, my confidence is here. It has to be. For this, my confidence was like below ground. So anyway, that's how it started.

Yeah. Okay. So go to bed with those thoughts in your mind. We wake up and head to the start line. You said, 3.15 a.m. alarm. I think we got to the start line around four. Yeah. Right there in that race was going to start at 5 a.m. Yeah. Met up with Courtney before the race. I said a few words to her. Saw Max there. But for me, at the actual start line, minutes before it started, everyone's piled in. The energy was incredible. It was really cool. It's electric. Yeah. And we get to this later, but for me, what was funny is like seeing how high the energy was at the start line and then just slowly watching everybody fall apart.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a pinnacle there before, before the gun goes off. And then it's, yeah, then it gets real right out of the gate. Yeah. Right? You just start climbing. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, there's no turning back at that point. But so race starts at 5 a.m. You know, it starts to get light. And the first aid station that we could see you at was Crown King, which was 72 or 37 miles in. Yeah. I mean, how did it go to that point? Wet, hard.

Yeah. You're ahead of schedule. Yeah. I went out super conservative, just in general, just because I thought to be a lot. honest, I thought there's no way I'm going to finish this race. There's no way. My body has been so screwed up. And this is 40,000 feet of gain, competitive field, a long, multi-day race. And I'm like, there's no way. So I'm just going to do what I can do, not try to go crazy to start. So I was very conservative, probably back. I don't even know where I was in the pack. But just trying to

like okay let's let's get let my body get warmed up get in a groove and so i did and uh was going slow kind of started to pass some people saw andy glaze saw eli saw um Shelby which you know love Shelby feral she's you know has been hurt she broke her foot too um and uh kind of saw her like on this for the first time never met her in person but uh going on this kind of kind of kind of a little bit of a grind uphill. And so we talked and that was cool. But yeah, just it went better than I thought I was going to go. My body was actually like, you know, I was worried about my hamstring for the most part.

My foot I'm used to. It's been broke. It's whatever. It's just like what that injury has done up the chain, which has affected my calf and then my hamstring mostly. So I thought maybe if I don't open up on a long stride that's not going to put stress on the hamstring, maybe I'll be okay. So this is all uphill anyway. It's like 11,000 feet of gain in that first 37. So there wasn't a lot of opening up the stride to get up that hill.

But got up there and didn't feel terrible. 37 miles in, I'm like, I mean, you barely started, even though it was 37. miles it's that's a you know that's further than a 50k but it's barely you barely got started on this race point is my my body felt okay yeah yeah and i know uh Courtney and I think Harry and maybe even Dan came through there almost before they even had the aid station set up flying yeah they were flying through there they do were fucking they went out hot which is cool yeah I mean that's what everybody wanted to see. And Courtney's always a gamer. She's always wanting to push as hard as she can. Dan hadn't done a 200, but he'd been putting in 160 mile weeks of training. It's just a freak.

And Harry, of course, is he looked, I mean, you know, he won last year, but he looked, or it seemed like he was in better shape this year as hard as he was going. Because they got up there to that 30, there was an aid station at 32, and I got up there in like seven and a half hours, because I said it was a grind, and I was going kind of slow. Harry got up there in like five and a half, two hours already. And 37 miles. Yeah, just freaking crushing it. And then, you know, Courtney was right there too. So, yeah, just an epic battle up front.

Yeah, I know after Crown King, we went back, I think some people were taking a nap, but I was glued to the live tracker and then I wasn't by the way I wasn't taking a nap you said some people that oh not you right okay on the team that's great I'm glad everybody's well rested that's good but watching and then I watched Courtney overtake the lead guy she was in solo lead yeah I was like

I know I told her I'm like I said I'm already your number one fan and I was wondering have I underestimated you because the way she took off and crushed that first hundred which sounds insane first hundred miles is that just to say that that's like a good start and it's a hundred miles yeah so but for this race yeah you're not even halfway but the way she attacked and dominated that first hundred miles i was just like i already thought she was a goat but i might have been selling her short

she went so hard yeah so crown king there was a couple aid stations in between but then to feign ranch which was 112 or 108 somewhere right in there. That seemed like when the weather, I mean also coming off of Mingus, that shit really kind of started to go Western. Yeah, I got to 90, so it was before Fain Ranch, I think, pretty sure. Yeah, yeah, no, 90 is where I slept. Okay.

For a little while. That was my first sleep. I made it 90 miles. Thought I'd get, where did I get an hour there? 55 minutes? Whiskey Row, I believe. Steve, right? No. Oh, it was after Whiskey Row? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Or wait, maybe before. I don't even remember. Let me think. I can't find it. Dude, my brain is still thrashed, but I didn't sleep for 90 miles.

Oh, yeah, it'd have been Iron King. Okay. Yeah. I slept for about 55 minutes. I remember looking. I had to make a post about my book. I had to do that stuff because that was the day the book was out. So yeah, I did a post and then I tried to get a little sleep. And then we took off out of there. Eli was there. He just got there and I don't think he'd slept yet. But we took off through the mud. So that's where the mud started and miles of mud.

And you could not, I mean, it was like a 30 minute. It's like 30 minute miles. So like two miles an hour, maybe two and a half miles an hour. Which this is normally where you could run. Because it was just a cow pasture. Okay. But it had been pouring. Yep.

So this cow pasture, which Arizona isn't used to get in a bunch of rain. So that mud was just sticking. Your shoes were like 10 pounds, fellow. Probably only three pounds. But when you're wanting shaving ounces, a few pounds on each feet doesn't help, right? So that was miles of that nonsense. And it was rough. Totally killed.

everybody's time. You know, the race just in general, people could go harder because it was cooler. Normally that first section is super hot. Right. People struggle with dehydration or lack of fluid or whatever, but this year it was hypothermia.

I mean, people were freezing. Hail, rain, there's some snow, I think, maybe up on Mingus, but somewhat, Anyway, I saw snow a few different places. But yeah, this stretch of mud was, it was so frustrating. There might be in the film, there might be a little, me throwing a tantrum at a time or two. But yeah, so then that, finally we got out of the mud

and then started up on the hill. It's like a 30-some-hundred foot climb, 3,000-something foot climb. and elevation gain up to Mingus. And once you got off the bottom of the valley or bottom, wherever that cow pasture was, you got up some more rocks on the single track. It wasn't too bad.

Okay. Still a grind. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Connor was filming at Crown King, which, yeah, that first 37 miles and someone got pulled for hypothermia. Yeah, which is wild, especially thinking of Arizona.

Yeah. Yeah. And also just in, general uh shout out to andy glaze because he does this shit unsupported which is to me is nuts yeah he uh it's it's well okay it's not technically unsupported it's uh drop bags it's pacerless so he does it by himself no pacer's but he still has aid stations and draw bags and things like that which that's a big deal it's definitely different than if it's completely unsupported you're carrying all your shit that would be hard so yeah he he does it with

with no pacer, which is, I mean, I don't want to, I'm just trying to define what, or explain what definition of unsupported and pacelists and things like that, what that means for people who are listening. But Andy, for those that don't know, I mean, he's got a full-time job. He's a firefighter or EMT. And he's like, got the streak of 200 and some weeks. 60. 260? Or do he just hit 270? Okay, 270 weeks of 100 miles or more a week running. And that's, including these races and all this stuff is like normally i mean he did the monster 300 and then i don't know how many weeks ago it was but like a month i think and then now coca donna 250 so and plus hundred mile weeks in between yeah no rollover freaking stud yeah crazy yeah like seeing his story after

coca donna like yesterday or monday you know he posts his watch and he's like zero you know for the week and it's like, fuck. Yeah, and he's just got, I mean, so much passion. Yeah. Because you couldn't do that unless you loved it. He loves it. Otherwise, no one would do that. I guess.

Got to be miserable. I don't know. Yeah, so saw him. Yeah, shout out to Andy. Great job. Wow. Yeah. Okay.

So coming down off of Mingus Mountain, down into Jerome. just for people listening, we had two camera crews, unfortunately, for you. But we were swapping. I didn't notice. Yeah, we picked you up again. When you came down into Jerome,

it was wet. It was pouring. It was. But the thing is, that stretch from Mingus to Jerome, I freaking passed people. I was reeling people in. So by myself,

had nobody with me or whatever, ran with Shelby for a while, which she had her pacer, which is just a stud, I think top 10 at UT&B, she said. And they were going good. I went to pass her and Shelby said she was just getting ready to put her poles away. She's like, oh, I was just getting ready to send it. I'm like, can send it. Go ahead.

I'm right on you. And so she went, she's feeling good and I just followed along behind. And yeah, we were going good. And then she ended up, I don't know what she. she did, maybe I had to go the bathroom or something, but I passed and, you know, they were back there and then I just took off and I just started reeling in probably, I think I passed about at least four people maybe, maybe five, and then got down into Jerome and soaked. Yeah. And my feet were disaster. Yeah. So definitely Macy will have to throw some images up at the feet,

but they were thrashed. So for people that I don't know, also, Also, when your feet get wet and your skin gets wet, so there were some river crossings, but mostly it was the weather, pouring rain, and when your socks, shoes, feet, skin are wet, gets really soft. Soft skin for 200-some miles, not a good combination. So because my feet were so soft,

and Jerome was at, what was that mile marker, do you know? Uh, 130. Let's see. Uh, one, just shy 130. It was like 126. Okay. So after 130 miles with soft skin on your feet, it's a mess. Yeah.

It freaking hurt, dude. I mean, your feet looked like they were attached to a cadaver. I mean, it, it's like, and I don't think people realize on these races, too, if you're trying to, you know, it's not like I'm going to win this thing. But I want to, I don't want to get embarrassed. So every second is valuable. Either you're moving, running, walking, hiking, eating, getting bandaged up, or trying to somehow, I got to sleep for five minutes. Yeah. Oh, sleep.

But it's that not you, there is no down, real downtime. No. It's like you have to be doing something productive to, to, that's going to help you to keep moving or you're moving just in general. or your problem solving. And it's like, it never stopped. So it's like for 84 hours for me, it was go, go. That is exhausting. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, at the aid stations, there was never a time where it was just like, all right, relax for a second. You're getting your shit worked on or whatever. It was brutal. And as someone who hasn't seen that before, I mean, it's tough. to like see the condition you're in and be like all right you got to keep going and not be like hey this shit is now on my conscience something happens to you you know yeah it's not good for you yeah i mean i don't i don't even know what i looked like i know there's times where i was

and you'll probably talk about about where i was talking but the words yeah were incorrect yeah so that that was next for me is when we picked you up at fort tuttle and uh Yeah, that was brutal watching you come in there. What mile was that? That was 2, 12. Yeah, so by this time, I had slept, I think, the one time for like 55 minutes. And after 200, so this is probably 60 hours in? Let's see, yeah, it was, yeah, when you came in, yeah, would have been right in there.

because you came in right at 12. Okay, at 12, let me think. So 12 at night. So 5 in the morning to 5 in the morning to 5 in the morning to 5 in the morning. 12 at night, let me think. What would that? It had been like 67 hours then? Yeah, 67 then.

Okay, so in 67 hours, right, exactly 67, I slept 55 minutes. Yeah. And you could tell. Yeah, and again, as someone who hadn't seen it before, I didn't know, like, I'm thinking there's no way this fucker takes an hour nap and he can talk afterwards, you know? Because I couldn't talk. No. I mean, you were putting words together and we have footage of it, but it's like putting words together that just like, I don't know what the fuck you were trying to say. But so here's that word.

Your brain breaks pretty much. I mean, I remember they have to do a wellness check there or something like that, but that guy came up and he's like, hey before you leave we got to we got to do a mental wellness or health or something check and I was just like looking at him going I'm like who the fuck is this guy talking to you and it's like he's looking at me but I couldn't figure out why he was talking to me and so then I was just like then I just I remember saying thank you and walked away and it's just like yeah I was a mess at that time yeah and there was some good chunks in there that you didn't remember like before you went to sleep crazy. And then also physically wise,

not in the best shape either, you know? No, I had Taylor with me at that time. It was a grind that night. I mean, it was a grind. I can't even, I don't even know. I don't even know. It was a mess. But again, for me,

which didn't think I should even be there, didn't think my body was going to hold up, now I'm 212 miles in. It's not bad. No. Okay. I still had a goal at that time I remember, maybe as delusional as I was, but I wanted to finish in the 70s. Yep.

So under 80 hours. And I was, you know, whatever. I can't remember. I guess 67 about. But so I thought to myself, well, if I can, I had at that time about 40 miles to go. And I'm like, trying to do the math in my head, which I couldn't. do. But I'm like, well, let me sleep. I need to get some sleep. Obviously, I couldn't talk. And I was hurting. So I wanted to get two hours there because I thought, well, if I had,

I can't remember what I was thinking in my head, but if I had nine hours or some thing in my head to get 40 miles, if I got, if I slept two hours, maybe I'd be back on my game and I could take off. I had a, I had like a 17 mile section, I think in the morning. Yep, by yourself. Yeah, or whenever I started. So I started at like three something by the time everything got squared away. And I needed to, I had 40 miles to finish. I had a time I was trying to get. So after an hour, then I couldn't sleep for the other hour because it's too hot in the

van. We had the heater crank because I was freezing, but then I was way too hot. So anyway, I did get an hour there. So if it's like, yeah, or maybe that was where I got 55 minutes and 45 at the time before. But anyway, point is, is I got a little sleep. Problem was I got up. My body was broke. Yeah.

Yeah, I could not take a step. And as I said, they're going to check you, right? Because they want to make sure people aren't going out because this is a, this is three in the morning. I'm going out with no pacer. and that this part of the trail was not is like a million trails and it wasn't and then at night it's hard to see some of those flaggings so a million trails taken off from whatever trail you're supposed to be on so you need to be on your A game and they want to check that out but I can't go over to get checked out and I can't walk because they're going to be like how do you expect to

get through this if you can't move so in my head I'm like I have to act like I'm fine even though I couldn't do shit. Could barely stand. So I somehow limp over there. You got to go in to this back room to get checked. And I just was like, okay, right now I just got to be on stage. Went over there, walked sort of normal. And he asked me something, yep, you know your name?

Sure do. Yep, you're going to knock this thing out. Going to get this finished off. and yeah we got 40 miles to go just like kind of had been practicing he's like okay good to go well good luck and i'm like all right thanks and then made it outside and it was like it's all i had yeah yeah i mean there was i don't know if it was from the over compensation or what but that left leg i mean it was like walking on a two by four is what it looked like you know it was Yeah, it was rough leaving there.

And then again, like you said, going by yourself 17 miles, it was like... Yeah, and so here's the crazy thing. I got over to the sidewalk over there and I'm like, got away from everybody. So I'm kind of in the dark, a little bit on the edge of the light of the parking lot or whatever the four was. And I'm over there just kind of gathering myself going... I was leaning over on my, on my poles. And I'm like, what am I going to do? What am I going to do here?

So every step was like, I don't know, I can't even. People think it's playing it up, whatever. But every step was hurt. So step, another step, another step, another step, kind of slight a little bit of try to jog a little bit push push with the poles a little bit after a few minutes I'm going yeah I'm running and it's just like there's a saying I can't walk but I can run and I'm like I sure the couldn't walk but I could run and I I I've been busted out that seven mile section you flew through it and I don't know how but I'm just like

I still wanted that hope of that 79 hour finish. So I got through there and you guys are probably watching the tracker and you can see like the miles per hour. You know that if most people by that time, they might be 2.9 miles per hour. If you walk, you can walk three miles per hour if you're steady. If you're running at that time at that stage in the race, if you're in the fours, four miles per hour, four point something, you're moving. And so I'm sure I was, you know, in the fours. Yeah, Courtney texted me that on that, she must have been watching or something on that stretch and just said,

you're doing amazing. But yeah, so I busted that out. And I was kind of in the game for the 17, this marathoner from Drew maybe was his name. He had been tracking me. And he ran up that trail that I was coming down and then ran with me. and he just lives up there in Flagstaff or somewhere around there and trains for the marathon. But so we ran together.

The sun was coming up. I saw an elk that morning just totally by myself. I'm just actually feeling not terrible for 200 miles in. And yeah, got that section knocked out and showed up with aid station and saw there was like room for about three cars and six of, but there are six cars. there all for me. And I'm just like, what the fuck? Why is there, I said I want two cameramen at a time. I don't want four guys here. So that's like, I come in. I should be in a good mood. But instead, I'm pissed at everybody. Yeah. Do you think, I mean, do you think you actually saw that elk? Or do you think it was like an omen?

No, I saw it. I saw it for sure. Because when I was, I was probably two, two miles into that trail too. When I, when you were coming down, it and watching you run. I kept seeing you look off and I was like, is he hallucinating? Yeah. Is he actually looking for shit? No, I was looking. Yeah, I was looking. Yeah, I saw an elk probably about five miles from where I saw you guys.

But yeah, cool country up there. It's awesome. Yeah. Reminds me like San Carlos. Yeah. No, it was nice. Yeah. So then from there, that 17 miles stretch brought you into a wildcat.

Oh, no. What was the name of that? It was right before Wildcat. Wildcat was the last one we saw you at. Yeah. It was like, I think. Walnut. Walnut.

So then eight miles, I think, to Wildcats. So I picked up Taylor and I was with Ryan, who's just a stud. We were back and forth the whole race. Yeah. He's just a, you know, he wins these things. He's just a beast. He said, you know, you'd be way ahead of me if you didn't spend so much time in the aid stations. And I'm like, well, dude, in the aid stations.

A station is where they put me back together because I can barely do this. So he would like get out of the A station before me. You guys would bandage me up and then I would pass him. And so we were together, me, him and Taylor and then that Drew ran with us a little bit too. I think it's Drew, but a super nice guy. And we made it through that eight miles. And then we got to Wildcat. And at Wildcat, you see the radio towers up there and you're like,

it's not too bad i mean so just go over that hill down into flagstaff but this time we're at what do we got left 20 miles 20 miles yeah so 20 miles i'm like this doesn't look that bad and um so i went i said i'm going i had my hank william shirt on yeah i'm like i don't want to cover this up i got to stuff everything in my fanny pack that i need and uh we'll go fast and light here because i want my my hank william shirt not covered up by the pack for the finish it's a ways to the finish 20 miles at the end of that race and then it wasn't just if we wouldn't want to the radio tower it's fine but we went way the hell some other way big loop 10 miles and then you start going up and it was a it was a grind up there i think we did the math and it was like 3200 feet that last climb it was a pole the the cool part was

me taylor and ryan kind of stayed together and that was fun um and uh jeff browning ran down over the top and then was like turn around and ran with us. And so I was kind of running with him and I'm just like, what the fuck am I doing running this fast? Ryan said I'm out. I'm like, I can't, I'm not burning my matches on this right now because now we're in the sun. And Jeff is like super fired up. Yeah. Loves, just loves this whole thing. He's the OG. I love, you know, Jeff Browning is like a legend. So I want to run with him. But sometimes, you know, to quote him, what you want and what you need or do different things.

I didn't need to run with them. Right. And even though I wanted to. So he turned around. He was doing a long run. He wasn't doing the race, but his truck was parked back down the bottom or something. But we ended up getting up and over that.

And that was a grind and dropped down, saw some cool people coming up the trail, super really steep going up, but super steep going down on dead legs. is like two foot drop-offs and stuff. My legs actually were okay at that time. And then we got down and there's the last aid station, 3.9 miles from the finish.

And I was sitting there. And there's so many ups and downs in these things. But I'm sitting there and I'm like, okay, we got less than four miles, which seems like nothing. You know, I'd walk the dog here four miles. At that point, I'm like, could anybody ever quit at this point of a 256 months? Because I felt like, it wasn't like I wanted to quit, but it was on the table. Yeah.

It was, okay, I'm not going to sit. Let's just, let's just put our options out here. We could quit. We could. And there's two runners coming hot. Yeah. Like a Dante or something like that. I can't remember.

Dante. Yeah. Super nice guy. And then Shelby was coming. And she'd been saying she was hunting me all night. And she's a machine. So I'm like, okay, I could just sit here, lick my wounds. They'll probably pass me because they were coming hard.

Yep. And I wasn't going hard. But I look over at Ryan and I'm like, well, there's only one way to end this thing, get this thing. Oh, we got to go. You ready? And so we sat there for just like a second and just got up, just started covering more country. Not fast, but you can, you know, there's another saying at Ultras, beware of the chair because clock's not stopping. Yeah, right. So if you're sitting in the chair, you're just burning time.

And I just said, hey, we just got to get up and go. So we did and got in there to the finish had, you know, then once you get down, there's a little more climbing than what you'd want on that, it's kind of rolling on the side of the hill on the shoulder of the mountain there, which they tell you, like, oh, all your climbing's done. So when they say it's done, and you see like even a 10 foot little hill, you're like, what the fuck? I thought we were done.

What is this shit? When you're done, you're done. So, you know, whining a little bit, but get up there. Then once you start dropping down into Flagstaff, you go through this park, then you start seeing people. Then it's like getting exciting.

And then they're doing the live stream interviews, and you make it down into, I mean, is just epic yeah um i mean that that the ending there like once you got into the town kind of everyone's waiting and cheering i thought that was super cool people are honking and yeah yeah the energy there kind of it comes back up similar to the start line which is really cool to watch people get so broken down and they get lifted back up um like they'd finally accomplished this seemingly impossible task at the beginning you know feels feels feels

daunting to start. It's a long way, dude. Yeah, I know, I mean, this is such a stupid comparison, but even in like the 50Ks I run, I'm like, okay, I know it's not going to be perfectly 31 miles. And I know when I hit 31, I'm going to be pissed at every extra step I got to take. So how did you feel at mile 250, knowing that you had six and a half seven left? Yeah, I felt like I got f*** over. It's like this is the Kogodona 250. I this where's the finish line yeah this should be right here but uh I told Jamil we saw him on the sidewalk there coming in I said you know what I said I was piss this was long but I changed my mind we got seven free miles we paid for 250 seven on the house I said so thank you yeah so yeah

but by that time you're it's all good you made it yeah that the attitude is it the same back there away. Yeah, but coming into the finish was super cool. You and Ryan, you know, stayed together. You fell back a little bit because your live stream interview. Yeah. And then you sprinted. This is what was nuts to me. You sprinted

in the road to catch up to him. And obviously, you didn't run a full mile at this pace, but it had to be in the sixes. I would think. I mean, you were Holland. And you said something to me. which was you hadn't really tried to open up since your hamstring injury. I hadn't, no. Which is crazy. That was a good sign because not only did I catch up with Ryan,

but also my hamstring didn't snap. So I'm like, and right now I feel my, I don't feel my hamstring. I mean, there's a few things that I feel, but I'm not terrible. I did Piscay yesterday. Yeah. And it's like, good? No. But it didn't, I felt worse.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I mean, that's a great sign. I mean, my body held together somehow. I met, I mean, you know, when we do this film and people have seen this, but so many, you know, little Orion, it's Orion. Orion, yeah, Orion, yeah. Little Orion was like the highlight for me, cutest little guy. And that was so cool. Yeah.

I mean, such a, that family, I just, I was energized just by, you know, I saw him at Munn's Park, I think it was, and then they came to the finish with the book. Dad said he ordered the book and he hadn't got it yet. So by the time I finished, they'd got the book. And they were at the finish line and he ran in with me. And, man, I'll never forget that. I'll never forget, you know, how everybody from Taylor to Logan, who is, Rihanna's husband, to Adam, who paced me, to the Recovery Strong brothers, Shaw brothers,

to you and Connor. And I mean, Speedland guys, Kevin and Dave, this is like, I'll never forget how selfless and helpful you guys were to help me, basically help me achieve this goal of getting my old, broke ass to the finish line and I just can't I can never repay everybody's effort because it is this is not a small thing to to dedicate that much time sure you know three and a half days for you guys of course I'm running but you guys are driving figuring out how to sleep oh brandlin and Caleb too um figuring out how to sleep where everybody's going it's like it's a big deal it's hard Yeah, I mean, there were a lot of logistics to, to handle for sure.

I know for Connor and I, we had a blast. Did you? Yeah, I thought it was fun. I thought, you know, it was, I thought Connor really stepped up to the plate with taping your feet and shit. Oh, yeah. That was super cool. But just hopping from aid station to aid station and watching you come in broken and then leave, you know, just like there's no other option but to keep going. It's pretty incredible.

You know, Brantlin and Caleb were definitely more vocal about how inspiring it was. I don't often vocalize that just because I'm like, you know, if you're inspired, do something about it. But it was, it was incredible to watch. I haven't seen anything remotely close to that, you know, to watch somebody come in how you were later on in the race and just like, there's no option. I have to keep going. I have to take another step. And especially when you had every right really to not even stand on the start line. I mean, broken foot, hamstring.

you know your granddaughter was expected soon 57 years old and yet there you were and you finish in the top 20 it's incredible uh with that you know i know i told you i gave you a little a little shout out to the doubters and the haters in my interview yeah but that is that like mile 234 235 so i was calling it a little early but i had faith yeah thank you yeah it was super cool yeah it's uh there's no way to ever describe what it takes to finish one of these things but it takes a lot trust me i'll i mean i don't i don't know how you were feeling but i could see you know yeah it's it's for those people out there and that's what i wanted is in my live stream interview i did say i said i know people are going to see this they're going to be like that looks amazing and it is amazing but it's very very very hard

You will be miserable. So yes, this, of course, in the sun, heading to the finish line, of course, this looks amazing, crazy. This is what I've always dreamed of. There's going to be times at two in the morning when it's pouring and you're by yourself where you're like, what am I doing here? Yeah. So, yeah.

I mean, it's all good. Aripa, Jamil Curry. Amazing. Amazing effort on putting together. a number of an incredible advance, but the 250s, the crown jewel of it, they have a 125 and they have an 80 mile or two. But the amount of effort and work they put in for that live stream

and to make it a good experience for runners to, basically this is a life-changing endeavor, one way or another, whether you finish or not. Sometimes people fail and they've got to come back. They got to go back to work and shore up. up some weaknesses and then get back out there. But regardless of finish or not, it's going to change your life. Yeah. And so shout out to those guys for doing such an amazing job. And the volunteers are incredible. I think the athletes, I don't even know how to describe the athletes

that do these things. It's, they're not normal. I mean, they are got to be some of the toughest people out there. It's as hard as it gets. Yeah. I think what was really cool about the live stream is when you came in, it was funny. I had a couple people that I haven't talked to in a while text me and they were like, am I seeing things or are you on the live stream with Coca-Dona 250? And I'm like, are you watching it? They're like, yeah, you know, I've been tuned into the live stream. Like, that's pretty cool. Yeah. I think they're doing a good job of spreading kind of the sport and, you know, at certain times it had a ton of people viewing it, 13,000, 14,000 people. So it's pretty cool. I did want to ask, before we get into the darkness of recovery,

During the race, it seemed like to me that the nights were when, like, shit was hard, like, cold, dark, tired. And then when the sun would come out, it almost seemed like you got a little boost of energy. Yeah. So, yeah, how do you kind of navigate that, knowing that that's going to happen? Yeah, that's just the name of the game. There's, you know, you push through, it gets dark a little bit, you know, you got some good daylight hours. Yeah. So you can push through.

But midnight, you're still kind of riding the evening sun, evening energy, but then around midnight starts to wane a little bit. One or two in the morning gets really rough. Yeah. Three, you can kind of smell that sunrise coming a little bit. Four, maybe the sky's getting a little gray. But that time, and when normally you're sleeping every night, your body's saying, wait, what's going on is when we sleep?

Roughest time, for sure. when you just really got to focus on covering miles and they're going to be slow but once that sun starts rising it's just like we're as humans we're just used to like okay day starting everything changes yeah the sun gives you life gives you energy yeah um and i know i asked you this before but i thought it would be good to ask on the podcast again when you are tired and beat down and you know you come into the aid station and you sleep for 30 minutes 55 whatever it is how hard you're is it to wake up and know you got to put all your shit back on and get back out there and log more miles you can't think about it yeah i mean you can't you get you get energy into that or

you give energy to that you're taking energy from what you what you need to propel yourself so it's just the name of the game yeah anytime if you woke up and said i don't think i can do it i need more time wheels are going to start coming off i think so i'm just like like it's just I don't know it's just just not it's not really debatable or it's not really up for discussion it's just like no I said I'm going to leave by this time I got to get up and get start getting my feet put back together start getting some calories in and and get going so yeah yeah I'm just focused on what do I need to do to get moving yeah because I'm thinking like you know it's hard for people to get up after eight hours of sleep doing nothing the day

and yeah i mean all i do is tell everyone to shut the up and let me go back to bed well those people that struggle with that aren't going to be doing this race yeah well that's true it's uh it's a unique set of challenges it's multi-day okay so ultra is how they work i'm sure most people listening know but 50k is the shortest ultra an ultra is anything over a marathon 50 miles That can be a long day for people for sure because it's 19 more miles than a 50K. But it's still the same day, right? You get it to the hundreds. Okay, now you're going through a night, but it's just one night.

And you can push you one night. Little kids, they stay over with their friends. Stay up all night. And those little f*** can do it. So you can stay up all night running to get 100 miles done. The multi-day, which is anything over 100, you know, the 2, 250, 300, like Arizona Monster Taylor just did. But anytime you get over 200, now we're talking multiple nights.

A whole different game. Whole different game. It's a whole, it's, it's, you cannot predict how it's going to go. You can predict pretty well hundreds because there's just not the variables on the sleep and the nutrition and how people are going to navigate the night or the second night. It's not the first night. The first night's okay.

It's the second night when your brain starts, if you hadn't slept that first night, your brain starts doing weird things. That's where the hallucination starts. That's where poor decision-making starts. That's where maybe drive will start to wane. But so that's why 200s are this wild card, which you don't know what's going to happen.

Yeah. I mean, I don't think I'll ever tell. touch 200 miles, but you never know. It's rough. I mean, it's rough, but now, oh, good, baby. 100%. Yeah, I don't even remember those hard times. Yeah.

So you always say you'd like track athletes, ultra runners, to talk more shit. I feel like now is your chance. You had some people doubting. Somebody called you, you can't do this. You're an influencer. Yeah. You know, people doubting that you would even finish. Top 20.

Let's hear it. Yeah. Give him something. Come on, baby. Hey. I'll be the anger translator. Fuck you. Yeah.

There's really, I can't blame them for doubting me. I mean, if you look at just the circumstances, sure. There's not a lot going my way. I mean, what would be the positive? Or what would, What would give somebody confidence that I could finish? Got that dog in you.

Yeah, right. Everybody says that shit. So, yeah, I mean, that's one reason why I like events like this. Because, like I said, you can go through life pretty easy and fake a lot of shit out there. Right. You can act tough. You can act smart. Maybe you're not that smart.

Maybe you know a few little things. You can, you can, uh, tell all these war stories from high school about what the athlete used to be all that that's fine all just words show me yeah show me okay yeah i hear all that that sounds great show me this is a chance where you don't have to say shit you just say i'm lining up for this 200 mile race and i'll see at the finish and if you can do that you don't have to talk about shit yeah do you right now That's good. I feel like there's not much anyone can say now.

I can't imagine there is. There will be. People will come up with something. God bless them. God bless them. No, I mean, to be honest, I had to prove to myself as much as anybody that, you know, like I said, I did that interview before. And I'm like, I got to prove that I am who I say I am. I mean, like I said, words are cheap.

Yeah, right. And I did, I've done some 200s, but when? When was that again? Yeah. Was that how many years ago? Fuck, you still got that in you? And I'm like, I don't know. I guess you got to find out.

But yeah, so I proved to myself that, you know, even after having no confidence that night before wondering what the hell I was thinking, it's like this is, you know, these are all freaks. I'm lining up with freaks trying to run with them. And it's just like, I'm old. What am I doing? So, yeah, I mean, it's, it feels. good to, I don't know, it feels good to do what I set out to do.

I mean, it's a really big challenge. Yeah. Well, people might be wondering, you know, we said it was touch and go. Maybe they think that was part of the touch and go, which it was, but I think most of the touch and go came after the race. God. Yeah. So, I mean, here's the crazy part.

This, okay, first of all, this race is really hard. In example, the hospital. said 30 runners came in from the race. So 300 and some runners. So 10% head to go to the hospital, which that may be a deterrent for some, but for a lot of people who do stuff like this, that's going to be in a lure. They're going to be drawn to that because it's like, whoa, okay, that's a challenge. That's what I like. But the reason why I know how many people went to the hospital is, and it wasn't necessarily from the race, I don't think. No. But after the race, I don't know if my immune system was so shot from getting less than two hours of sleep in in 84 hours.

And I was just wide open to anything out there. But I got sick as hell. I have never been so sick. So I went to the hotel. I was feeling okay. I actually slept pretty good that first night. And then, yeah, woke up the next day. And I was supposed to fly out, I think, that day.

And I could not get out of bed. I mean, I was just like, I would take a sip of water and puke. I would let alone food. So for I think three days or something like that, I didn't, I could barely eat. This is after my body had just used everything and more. And it needed fuel to recover. I couldn't even get water down. So I thought, yeah, I didn't really know what to do.

I thought, I hate, not hate whatever, doctors, hospitals. I just don't hate them. I just never go. Because usually they say, well, you know, whatever. Keep your chin up, champ. You go take an aspirin and we'll see in the morning. But so they hadn't really done much for me before. And I was just going to ride it out and just be like, no, this is just some little,

I don't know what this is, but I'll be fine. Wasn't fine. Could not sleep. Could not eat. Could not drink. So finally, Connor came in after, I don't know what day this was, you know, pushing back my flights because I couldn't leave this hotel room. And he's like, what do you think about going to the hospital? And I'm like, yeah.

Because I was like, yeah. I didn't know, I didn't know what to do. And we went over there and, you know, got IVs and EKGs and all this shit. And, you know, the doctor said that she had seen like 10 people with, what was that? Neurovirus. Yeah, a norovirus. And, you know, I told her, because she did all the stuff. It was just like, well, yeah, you're good.

You're, you know, you could have had rabbo, rabdo, but now I've got two IVs since then, so it's hard to say. There's a little bit, you know, the markers were a little high, but not up to 10,000 like they would say would be rabdo. So they gave me this stuff, this anti-nautious stuff,

because I puked in there twice, puked like six times in the hotel room that morning. And then I was done. And then I was like, oh, wait, wait, wait. I said, so why was I puking? Because it's like this was so unrelated to race stuff, like the follow out from the race stuff. And then that's when she told me about the neurovirus.

And I'm like, I said, so you think I just got that? And that's just a coincidence? She's like, yeah. And I'm just like, okay, cool. Well, that was fun. Fucking terrible timing. Oh, my God. Terrible timing to get neurovirus.

Yeah, because she said she'd see, I think, 10 or 15 people that day with it. Because it had people that had been on the Arizona Trail. I don't know. I don't know how the fuck works. But anyway, we saw people on the waiting room puking and coughing and all sorts of other shit. You want to have a fun time? Your kids want to go to the amusement park? Yeah.

Take them to the ER wait room. That's way more fun. Yeah, really. So, yeah, I mean, the doctor was great. The nurses were great. everybody's great i left there mostly taking um that uh what is that zofrin zofran yeah zofran so for the nausea so i could eat and once i could start getting calories in my body was like thank you yeah that this is great we could have used this a few days ago but yeah so they gave me uh

and also gave me something to sleep so i slept like i don't know how much that night got up the next day and it had some golden grams. I was like, good to go. Got a little bit frisky and got sick again, but my stomach wasn't quite back. But man, brutal. Yeah, that was, I mean, we had an extra room key to your room and we were like, we're going to walk into this room. This guy's going to be dead. I mean, it was rough. I know. I've never been that sick. No. And I don't know. We don't, we didn't test for the, what the fuck was it again? Neurovirus. Yeah, we didn't test for it. She's just saying she'd seen people with same symptoms and this and that. I mean, because I did say, I said, could it be food poisoning? Because, you know, you know, aid stations and food's sitting

around and I'm just eating anything? She's like, well, could be, you know, I mean, but the point is, I don't care what it was. I was sick as fuck. Yeah, with terrible timing. Yeah, it was awful. Yeah, it's rough. But, man, when you did wake up that morning, was that Saturday, Sunday? Because we flew back on Sunday. Yeah. And you were like feeling better. It was like, oh, yeah. We did it.

We'd been there so long. My God. Yeah. Yeah. I was already, like, at the end of the race, I was like, I was already feeling pressure because so many people were there for me. And I felt, like I said, I told you guys. I was just like, I said, I don't want this fucking crowd of people around me. I feel like a diva and I'm some dips shit that's not even part of, like, not elite, not whatever.

Why do I have 100 people here? So I want. And plus, I'm like, I'm like. I need to get, I need to get this finished so we can get the out of here. So you guys can go home to your families because it's a big commitment. And so I felt pressure to get done to get everybody home that had helped me. You know, the recovery strong, tailored. Everybody's got jobs and shit to do, Adam.

Bradley Caleb have shit to do. You guys don't have anything to do. Yeah. But everybody else. But I wanted to let everybody get, and then after that, I wanted you guys to get home because it's like I'd been there already all week and now I'm three extra days or whatever the hell

just not leaving this hotel room so yeah I wanted I felt I was feeling pressure just to get let's just get the out of here yeah I'm glad we stayed oh man fuck I couldn't have flown anytime sooner than when I did I mean there's no way no no I couldn't

I couldn't move yeah It's rough, but somehow got through it. Yeah. But what was, yeah, so let's hear your guys' thoughts on this thing. Give me a summary. Summary. Probably, not probably.

The most incredible display of human will, one, from everybody involved, all the athletes, really. Yeah. I don't understand how like honestly you you were really in good spirits most of the time. And I just, I know how I get when I'm in pain and I'm in a asshole. And a lot of people were in good spirits. I'm like, damn, I need to be a better person. But yeah, so I'd say definitely the most impressive display of human will I've ever seen. I'd also say that it's just like kind of it's it seems like time moves differently for the runners

compared to the people watching or or the crew who's like okay we're parked in a parking lot and you know being idiots for four hours waiting for you to come in but you're running or moving the whole time so it's kind of trippy just thinking about like or when riana is back at the Airbnb sleeping and you're running through the night. It's like, that's brutal. Yeah. So a lot of it is too, is like, okay, you know, there's a lot less to complain about for sure when people are pushing themselves that hard. Yeah. And, you know, I don't know, I don't know why all those people went to the hospital. I mean, normally it's a heat related injury. This was hypothermia, I think, or the mud or just like, normally it's a lot of little things that add up.

up to get you off the course. But even the most elite of the elites, Courtney dropped at 108. Max dropped at 130 some. No, no, he dropped it right at that wild cut hill. Yeah. Yeah, 2.30. Michael Vestige, I think, is his name. He won the original Kokaduna.

He lives right there. He dropped. I don't know why. Yeah, 166, I think. 166. It's just like, is Jesse. Haynes who I mentioned who won Moab before Max did he dropped oh he did yeah I didn't know that um so this is like these are the best of the best and for whatever reason I don't know I mean

you know it's like these guys I mean it's a it's a real reason to get those guys off the course right I mean this is what they do this is their job so it's like it's hard and you can't you don't know what your body's going to do. You don't know if your body's going to respond or if you're, it's just, it's just such an unknown. Because any one of those people I mentioned, I would put money on, well, Courtney, I thought she's, you know, win and break the course record. And she's the toughest human I've ever seen. So for her to drop, it's insane. Yeah. But, you know, legit. it's like yeah right it's i don't doubt she had to right it's exactly it's just weird it's just weird how you can't you think you know like you think you know like okay this person she's gonna do

this uh this guy probably get second this guy should get third because he's a beast and then who knows yeah i mean it's not like she you know some little minor thing no with any of them um yeah i mean watching them drop was that's kind of when it started to get you know it's kind of when it started to get serious is like no somebody told me Courtney dropped I'm like no no she didn't I saw the post pop up and it said well my runs over and I was thinking she gonna like she's sleeping so what she means and then it was like no she's dropping and I was like no way I thought I thought somebody had screwed out yeah because somebody told me I don't know if it was an age station or maybe it was you it said Courtney dropped I'm like no she didn't I was like there's no way yeah but yeah shit's

serious yeah really serious yeah really serious And I don't know if like that first day was so cold and wet. She's so, you know, slight. I don't know if the cold really zapped her, you know, because it was so unanticipated. Most people for this race do heat training. Yeah. They're training in a sauna because it's going to be a million degrees. And now all of a sudden it was hail and rain and snow and wind.

Brutal. Yeah. Because what happens is like you have these circumstances you're anticipating and your problem solving for those circumstances and then it's a whole other like the exact opposite of this challenge yeah it's hard but i was i was blown away by the carnage that this race caused yeah it was uh it was rough larry did you have any thoughts yeah i mean you and i kind of talked about our thoughts and mine are similar to yours but i think the biggest kind of stand out for me from the whole race was that second night coming into fort tucson

when there was just there was no life in your eyes whatsoever like you were just and you were dead and James and I were talking while you were getting that 55 minute power nap before you roasted alive and we were like dude I like I don't know if he's going to be able to keep going yeah like we'd never seen you like that we'd obviously been with you for the past few months like watching you kind of deal with the the aftermath of the foot causing the hamstring injury and not being able to finish that 50K and then not doing Boston. And I think for me it just kind of all came together. And it was like you had every reason to not even to not even start, you know, like you could have had a million very valid excuses to not even put your body through that, to not even put yourself through that.

And yet you chose to anyways. And that same night, like, you had your first grandbaby born. It's like you had a million reasons that most people would completely understand to not be there in the first place. And then it just really struck me when you were stepping out after you did the whole mental health thing. And before you kind of went around that corner in the darkness and had your heart to heart moment with yourself. But you looked at everybody who was there and you were just like, You were like 40 miles. You're like, let's just do it.

He's like, I'm just gonna, I just gotta get this fucking over with. Yeah. And you just, like, I washed you limp off. And I was like, dude. Like, to me, it like hit, like, all the times I think about like, oh, you know, it's too late to go to the gym today. Or, you know, I don't really feel like running because I, you know, ran yesterday and I'm sore. Whatever bullshit excuse that everybody comes up with. But it really put into perspective, like, none of, none of those are valid.

Like when you're pushing and when you have the mindset that it's like there is no other option Like it really everybody says that you know everybody kind of says that but watching someone actually live that to me was I mean and I've been I've been around a lot of really really strong tough individuals in in my life so far and that to me was like was like a fucking And that was a pretty strong moment for me. So that, yeah, that was, I think, the biggest takeaway from. Yeah, I said this to Branlin too, but it was like, everything else I've seen you, you're basically invincible to me.

It's like, you know, you are Superman. So to see you in the state you're in, basically beat down and boiled down to your core and still have that same discipline and motivation was like, this is for real, you know? Yeah. Well, thank you guys. I mean, yeah, that was a rough patch right there, I'll tell you.

Yeah, but that's what we're saying is like, that's the rough patch, but you're still, that's who you are at your core. If I could get, if anyone would listen to one thing I've said this whole time, it would be, this is just who you are. It's not this, you can influence or bullshit that whoever said that said. It's like, show up that you do it. You know? It's the real deal.

Yeah, thank you. I don't know. I don't know. I don't feel tough most of time. And at that time, I just felt like this is just what I got to do. And when you just don't give yourself any options, you know, 40 miles is a long way. It's like, in 40 miles, yes, again, when you do 200 already or 200 and whatever, 14 already.

It's like a small percentage of that, but not that small. It's not, what is it, 20%? It's like, it's still like, that's 40 miles can take a while. Yeah. Did you go on a 40 mile run today? Nope. I've never got on a 40 mile run. Right.

So it's like, it'll test. That's what I say. When people see all this stuff and they see the finish line and they see the cool photos and they're going to see this video. Maybe if I look as crazy as you guys say, maybe people think differently, but you'll see all this and you'll see how amazing it looks. It is really hard.

Yeah. Don't be fooled. Get prepared. Because it is really, well, actually, so Truit said, so said something like, so all in all,

was it not that bad? You know, since your leg held up and things like that, or I don't know what he's referring to. But I was like, like, well, no, it was that bad. And I said, I don't know how I finished this one or any of the other ones I've ever done. That's how hard they are.

I have no idea how I did it. It is so hard. It's just like you can't explain how bad it hurts. Yeah. I hope we're able to convey that. And I think we will be able to. I mean, we got some good footage of you in the pain cave for sure. So yeah.

Yeah. No, I mean, I think two big advantages I had. Well, no, not two, more than two. But Connor and Rihanna with their medical background, it's just like they'll get in there and do whatever it takes. It's not like, oh, I'm a guy. I'm not going to touch some other guy's leg type thing. It's just like, no, this is, we've got to get, we've got to treat this.

Yeah. So it's, that mindset is different. and Rihanna was just doing everything. And then even Kevin from freaking Speedland, stud. And he's in there just fixing my feet because my blisters and things like this. And it's like having people like that, I couldn't have done it without those three people right there for sure. But then you have Taylor, who I trust as a pacer. And we've been together so many times in the mountains.

And he's a stud. He knows what to do. He knows what to take. He knows what good decisions to make. Adam, you know, selfless went out there pace with me, even though sometimes I'd say, like, I don't need a pacer during the day. Yeah.

You know, I don't want to deal with somebody else. I don't want to talk. But he was great. He was fine. It's like, even though if I got kind of pissy because I was tired and didn't thought I wanted to do section by myself, you know, I would or he would go, you know, then Logan went with me,

I think on a couple night section. And he's a great runner. He did good. Doesn't talk, which is perfect. Yeah. So yeah, it's like without, and then the Shaw brothers who were in that whole team, they would get there and just get everything set up. I mean, coffee, bed.

So I could get in there and just, you know, other than Fort Tuttle when I was like, where the fuck I'm sleeping? But just so, I don't know. just can't believe how giving and selfless every person was on on that was supporting me on my team. I felt like I had way too many people there, but every person contributed and contributed to my success. Yeah, it was cool.

Can't wait to do it again next year. You know, luckily, our memories suck. Because I'm already thinking it's just like, wasn't that bad. I mean, wasn't that bad? Wasn't that bad? Getting sick was, but that's not going to happen every time. No, no.

It really wouldn't have been that bad without the sickness. Yeah, I mean, your brain is so messed up. You're just like, yeah, let's just forget all that brutal stuff or you felt like you'd rather be dead. Man, that was tough, dude. Yeah. These 200s are legit. Yeah.

I mean, what are you going to do? I don't know. But yeah, got her done. Yeah, we did. Got the buckle. Yeah. Don't know how. Damn buckle.

Damn buckle bunnies. Yeah. Well, good shit. Do we have anything else on your note list? I think that was it. Speaking of buckle bunnies, I got a joke. Okay. There we go.

We've had too long of a podcast without anything getting cut out. Yeah. What do you call A lesbian dinosaur? Cizor Sumpinusk. What is it? A lick a lot of pus.

I was going with the scissor. But yeah, lick a lot of puss. That's a good one. He's been saying that one around the house all day. He's been practically. See how good he was? Yeah, no stuttering.

No, look, look. No, he just fucking. I know. Tell a joke. Look at me, boss. Are you proud of me? Well, I, did find okay we're done with ransom canyon and the big jubbies but we're now we're on friends and

neighbors have you guys seen this show with john ham it's on apple is it good yeah really funny uh i know yeah kind of funny i mean it's just good oh yeah so to watch it that's my pro tip i uh watched an episode of naked attraction have you seen this show this is not really not It's on HBO. It's British. And basically they bring in one one contestant. And there's five people to choose from. But they start, they just expose the lower half and they're butt ass naked.

And they show everything. The lower half? Really? God. And they do close-ups. What? Of their penis? Fetus.

Vigina. There's this one stick out of vagina. We were like, looks a little off. Like, what's going on there? Tranny. I asked you a wildcard. there. Yeah, you got to be careful. It's like, all right, we called that one from the beginning.

Yeah, wild. So, I don't think I'll be watching anymore, but. Yeah, right. Yeah, we've already got the popcorn going for tonight. Yeah. Good shit. Yeah. Well, I don't know. That's good. Larry, you got anything to close us out? That's it. I just have my joke that I've been saving all day. Okay.

Are we, uh, are we going to have Brian on? Brian. Who? Cohen. Who? Cowan, Callan? Oh, yeah, yeah. Brian Callan, yeah. I got to ask him.

I never asked him yet. I know he wants us to go to the show. So, oh, I can go into the White House. I know that. Yeah. That's pretty sick. Yep, yeah. So we'll have to get that.

I got to figure out who I can take. We've got to capture it, though. Yeah, so I got invited by. RFK and some people call him 47 47 Big four sev Big four sev yeah

so yeah I think we'll be making a road trip boys let me see if I got the invite they're supposed to email me the invite I call him big four five well he's both the two time the double champ

the double champ does what he wants The devil champ is here no I don't have my invoice or I mean my invitation yet but yeah so that'll be fun yeah he will have to decide who you can take because this is going to have to have his mouth shown shown shut because your your background check yeah yeah okay yeah tranny yeah drop them all right guys thanks for tuning in to shit talkers weekly the koko dona 250 recap thanks to everyone and help me be successful especially

Without these two fs right here, I swear there's a chance I wouldn't be here right now. It was not good for a while. And I told these guys, thanks. You guys probably saved my life. So thank you, James and Connor. Yeah. All right, guys. Keep hammering.