Good Life Project - How to Turn Insult into Inspiration | Martinus Evans

Episode Date: June 8, 2023

What turns an insult into inspiration? How can you transform struggle into meaning and purpose? Today we'll discover how one man did just that through what was, for him, and the many doubters around him, a very unlikely path.Martinus Evans had a tough childhood on the east side of Detroit. Football gave him hope, but an injury steered him towards a sedentary lifestyle. A harsh doctor's comment inspired him to embark on a transformative journey, one that would shockingly turn him from an overweight patient to a passionate runner. Defying stereotypes, he finished his first marathon and started the "Slow AF" movement after being mocked during a race. This brand fostered a worldwide community - the Slow AF Run Club. Now an international marathoner, he has collaborated with leading fitness brands like Adidas, Nike, and Oakley, and appeared on the cover of Runner's World magazine. His journey is encapsulated in his new book, Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run. For Martinus, running has become intertwined with his purpose, identity, and sense of meaning - transforming struggle into something that helps feed his family, travel the world, and overcome hardship.You can find Martinus at: Website | InstagramTW: thoughts & mentions of suicideIf you LOVED this episode you’ll also love the conversations we had with artist Lisa Congdon about her thinking that she just wasn't made for a particular pursuit, but then stepping into it and realizing it was not only her passion but would end up being her purpose and profession. Check out our offerings & partners: My New Book SparkedMy New Podcast SPARKEDVisit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Running is everything. It's how I feed my family. It's how I release stress. It's how I travel the world. It's the game changer that took a boy from the Ravendale east side of Detroit, who had two brothers pass, live next to a crack house, go to school, flunk out. All of those hardships that I had growing up made it worth it. Running took me to London one time. I wouldn't have been able to do that if I didn't get into the sport of running. try to get trickle putting or like running on route one on the big serve marathon and like

seeing route one in a way on foot that nobody else would see if they were drive there like running is everything to me so have you ever wondered how some people just seem to have this ability to turn obstacles and insults even into inspiration and just tremendous, tremendous outcomes in life, how they can transform struggle into meaning and purpose. Well, today we will discover just how one person did that through what was for him and the many doubters around him, an extraordinarily unlikely path. Martinez Evans grew up on the tough east side of Detroit. His childhood was marked by a lot of loss, exposure to drugs, and lack of stability. And the only hope that he found when he was younger came in the form of football.

In many ways, it saved him until an injury took it all away and simultaneously sent him into a life that was very different and also largely sedentary after being an athlete for so many years. And that began to affect his health. Out of school, standing for long hours in a job, Martinez was in pain and he went to a doctor to get treatment for that pain. But instead of responding with kindness and understanding, the doc looked him in the eye and told him he was fat and he was going to die. Upset, Martinez responded with a threat that turned into a challenge that became a promise that would eventually profoundly change not only his life, but the life of tens of thousands.

One that his doc actually told him would kill him if he did it. Instead, like football did earlier in his life, it may well have saved him. That moment set Martinez on a path he could never have imagined. At nearly 6'5 and then weighing more than 350 pounds, he began running, then blogging about his journey. And what started in a pretty brutal and potentially demoralizing way. Motivated in part by a fierce desire to prove others wrong, it turned into an obsession and then a passion. And he ended up finishing his first marathon despite not fitting any of the stereotypes of runners, let alone marathoners. He was left largely to figure out every aspect of this new passion on his own because the world he'd stepped into, it just wasn't built for

him. And I know so many people can relate to that feeling. A few years in, in fact, when someone heckled him in the middle of a marathon, calling him as Martinez described it, slow as fuck, Martinez did what he'd come to always do. He not only fought back, he reclaimed the term, wore it as a badge of honor and turned it into a movement. Martinez started wearing t-shirts that said Slow AF whenever he ran and raced and people went crazy for them. They loved them. They wanted to be a part of Team Slow AF too. So he printed up a batch and sold them out immediately and a fire had been lit. T-shirt wearers became a community and grew into the international slow AF run club with over 10,000 members worldwide today with gatherings and racers and apparel and merch and more. And Martinez, now a many-time marathoner

and having completed many, many, many races of all different durations, has become a global ambassador for Adidas and collaborated with major fitness brands like Nike, Hoka, Saucony, Oakley, and so many others. He's been featured on the cover of Runner's World magazine and now can add author to his quill with his new book, Slow AF Run Club, the ultimate guide for anyone who wants to run. And for Martinez, running has been intertwined with his purpose, identity, and sense of meaning, transforming struggle into something that helps not just inspire him and bring joy and passion and energy and excitement to his life, but also take care of his family, let him travel the world, build a global movement, and overcome hardship and inspire others to just not accept anyone else's proclamation of what they can or can't do,

or succumb to any norms that tell them this is not right for you. So excited to share this conversation. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun.

January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're gonna die. Don't shoot him! We need him! Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. As we have this conversation, sort of an interesting moment in time, especially for you. I mean, you're an eight-time marathoner, maybe more by the time we're actually having this conversation. Hundreds of other races founded this incredible community of runners, over 10,000 people around the globe, global ambassador for major brands like Adidas, collaborating with all these other

major brands, cover of Runner's World, Men's Health, really changing the paradigm, not just for running, but really for acceptance of all people, all bodies, all humanity in all forms of movement. And I want to go into a lot of those different elements too. But if we take a step back in time, you coming up on the east side of Detroit and Raven Dale, would the possibility, would the seed of you being who you are doing what you're doing now have even been something you could have conceived of? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

And people always ask me like, hey man, why aren't you smiling? And that's the reason why, like, if you know and know where I've been, you'll be smiling too. Cause it's like, you just made it out. It's like a secret that nobody else has known. So take me back there a little bit. Cause so for those who don't know Detroit and the different parts of Detroit, Rivendell, especially Rivendell when you were

coming up, tell me about your day-to-day life as a kid because you grew up in a pretty tough place. Yeah, man. So I grew up, like I said, east side of Detroit. I actually grew up next to a crack house. Just imagine every day of your life going to school, having to pass this house and all the other things that come along with it, whether it's people outside, whether it's people on the ground, whether it's people in your backyard. You know, those are just things that I grew up with every day and just thought it was normal. Actually, before the age of 10, I had two brothers pass. So I had a brother who were actually in the drug game. And, you know, you know what they say with people who are in the drug game, either in debt or in jail, he ended up passing. And then I had a brother die by suicide when I was 10.

And I ended up seeing his body. So, you know, that was something as well that I went through in life as well that had a lasting effect on me. Right. From that point on, I also battled with thoughts of suicide, right? Cause seeing that at 10 and then realizing, well, if he did it and he used it as a reason to whatever problems that he was doing, I can do that as well. Yeah. I mean, such a brutal experience at such a young age. And also at an age where you're sort of like you're forming your model of the world and what's okay, what's acceptable, what's not acceptable. And like, what are the coping mechanisms or behaviors

that like are, you know, like are available to me to turn to. And if you're struggling and you see something that is quote normalized, even within like your family, like I don't imagine the messages that were coming in were some healthy, but also some really unhealthy and dysfunctional. Absolutely. And that was just the thing growing up, you just was trying to make it. So around that age, you know, my mother and father broke up. So I was in a single parent household, bounced back and forth between houses until my father moved to Mississippi. On that point, you know, I think one of the most saving graces of me was to play football. So in high school, I didn't even start playing football until like my junior year. And that was a saving grace for me. So as I were out playing football,

some of my friends in the streets were still doing things in the streets in the passing. It's just making it hard for me to believe that if I wasn't playing football, I would probably be in that same situation where they're with them because that's what we did. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because you describe football as almost like this was a natural thing for you. But the way I've heard you tell it, like you were not a kid where you're like, OK, so born and raised as an athlete, constantly training all the time out there. You sort of shared some of what you went through, what you experienced. Who are you as a kid? What's your identity? You know what? Nobody has ever asked me that. I would think I was just a normal kid in Detroit doing normal kid things, whether that's mischief, whether that's being on the block.

I spent a lot of times riding bikes, for example. I remember getting in trouble a lot because my mother would be like, don't leave within a three block radius. Like if you can't hear me scream your name, you went too far. And I always went too far. Me and my friends will be in whole different other neighborhoods, sometimes like different sides of the town. So, you know, we'll drive from or like ride our bikes from like the east side of Detroit to like Southfield, which is almost like 20 or so miles outside of the city and just be riding bikes, doing stuff, going to parks, experiencing life. I would say that's what I did. While I wasn't athletic per se of uniform sports, like didn't play any organized sports, but I played a lot of sports on the street. So there was always a basketball court or a basketball hoop on the street. Our friends,

we always used to play football on the yards and get yelled at by our parents and their parents as well because grass was a status symbol. And that's what we did. We just played football in the grass, in the front yard. And like, that was his life. So what makes you, when you hit high school, what brings you to football? What brings you from just playing around the yard to saying like, this is something that I want to be a major devotion for me. And also, was it an easy step in or like, was there some resistance along the way? It was definitely some resistance. I way it was definitely some resistance i really didn't want to play football i really didn't want to play football but being the size that i was

you know in high school i was already six three you know i was teetering around 300 pounds i was maybe about 270 280 and i grabbed the football coach's attention. Like, you know, you see somebody that big walking down the halls and you're a football coach, you're going to be like, what are you doing? Are you playing football? Why aren't you on somebody's field? And during that time, I was a C plus average student, C plus, maybe C minus D plus. Like my grades wasn't necessarily where it needed to be.

I really didn't care about school during that. So I remember the football coach approaching me and being like, hey, school is almost up. We're having football tryouts. You should try out. And I did. I tried out. This was actually my sophomore year. So they're approaching my sophomore year. And I tried out and I get all the way to the point where it's GPA time. So like you pretty much got to show proof that you're actually eligible to play

football right right right and this is also the same day where you get your football pads like them checking your gpa and you getting getting access to the equipment room was the same day right so this is big like this is at the moment it's make or break this is big this is the day that most people who are like trying out football is relishing because it's like, I can't wait to hit somebody. Like all the trash talking you've been doing, you know, we've been doing drills, conditioning, just, you know, regular drills. Right. Like without hitting each other. So like this is the day where it's like, oh oh yeah, like we're going to hit some people today. He lines the coach, the head coach lines us all up in the line, goes down the line of like calling somebody's name, yelling out the GPA and like telling you to go to the equipment room.

It comes to my name and I didn't have the grades for it. And I was far away from it. i was very far away from it as well and the coach embarrassed me man like just publicly yes huh you know i remember him being like evans and i'm like yeah come here and he's like you know damn well you didn't have the grades to be on this football field. Why are you here? And me just be like, I came to play football. Y'all told me to come play, and I'm here. He was like, you're wasting my time.

You're wasting everybody else's time. While you are here trying to play football, your butt should have been in summer school getting your grades together to be on this field and this is happening like you standing in front of everybody else man what's that like it was embarrassing oh man it was embarrassing but i think like that was the i wouldn't't say tough love, but like, that's what I needed. Like nobody has ever, I wouldn't say stand to stood up to me, but like there has never been an adult to have pushed back on what I've been doing throughout life. And until that time, because you got to remember, I was a single parent household. Brothers participated in the drug game like we i ran the streets how i wanted to run the streets you know my mother worked two jobs so

nobody was at home to watch me right imagine being like i remember getting my first house key in the first grade heritage giving me to you on a lanyard and being like, don't let nobody in the house. And what did I do? I let everybody in the house, friends or whatever. Right. Like, cause there's nobody there to say otherwise. So that football coach was the first person to, you know, like I said, stand up, discipline, give me something that I didn't have.

And it was embarrassing. And I did not like that feeling. I did not like that feeling. That moment I was like, okay, I know what I need to do. Like, so I didn't make the football team my sophomore year, but I remember being like that whole semester and telling myself, like, I need to make these grades so I can be on the football team. I mean, it's interesting, right? Because something that where for a lot of people, that sort of public dressing down would have been demoralizing and basically said, I'm out, that's it. Like I'm done. It might not have been a great behavior, right? But at the same time, there was something in you that said, no, I'll show him. Yeah. You know, I'm actually going to go back. I'm going to actually do what I need to do to step back in here and say like, you're

on, you're ready. Yeah. Where's that come from? John, I think I just have a problem with authority. It's like the early parts of a pattern, right? I think that's what it is man i think i just had a problem with authority i didn't like anybody to tell me something i can't do when i know i wanted to do it and that just pissed me off i'm pretty sure as we continue to go like

and continue to talk you'll see a pattern of somebody telling me i can't do something pisses me off and then I go out and do it. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing.

Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. The Apple Watch Series X is here.

It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum.

Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. So you end up on the team, you end up playing, and I guess you're, you know, like you're you end up with a scholarship for football to end up going to school.

Yeah. Go to school and then you come out. Yeah. It seems like there's this short window where everything changes. You come out of school. You're now a quote, ex-football player. And you got to go into the real world and start taking care of yourself. For a lot of people, especially because it sounds like football became really sort of

like a core part of your identity for a chunk of years, really formative years. When you leave that behind, it can cause all sorts of mayhem. I'm curious when you sort of like step out and you're like, okay, I'm not leaving school, but I'm also, there's a part of my identity that seems like there's no logical way for me to stay with it anymore. What's that like leaving that behind and trying to figure out, who am I now? Chaos. Chaos. So yeah, I ended up losing my football scholarship because the football coach quit. I ended up transferring to a completely different school. I went to that school with, I don't know, 3.7, 3.8 GPA. Because, you know, you got the perks of being as a collegiate athlete. So you got a study table, you got tutors, you got all of this stuff, right? You got the excuses of being an athlete that kind of let you kind of coast throughout school, more or less. So I transferred to a school back home in Michigan, right? Well, you know, like I said, I'm from Michigan.

So we got University of Michigan. We got Michigan State. And like these are considered public IVs in the state of Michigan or just in the universe. And then all the other schools are schools who are pretty much competing with them to say like, well, we're not MSU or we're not U of M, but we're just as hard or we have just as the rigor. Right. So I go to one of these schools, Central Michigan University. So it's a school,

mid-tier school that has a chip on its shoulder that has two public IVs. And they're like, we're going to be toughest, toughest nails because of it. So I transferred there with my 3.7 GPA, get there on an academic scholarship. And I flunk out my first semester, 1.7 GPA, get there on an academic scholarship, and I flunk out my first semester. 1.2 GPA. It was just a complete culture shift, man. Imagine, like I said, tutors, study table,

all the other perks that came with being a collegiate athlete, transferring to a whole nother school, having those habits or that aura around you, but nobody else's care and fucking out, getting into 1.2. And I remember talking to some of my professors and being like, but I was here for every class. Like, don't that count for something? And they was like, but you didn't do any work. And, you know, it was one of those things where in my previous school, me showing up to class counted as a percentage of my grade because I was on the football team, right? Like I had that privilege and I went to this other school and they did not care. Actually, some of the courses that I took, they pride themselves on having a certain amount of a failure rate. So for example, I was taking an anatomy class. I had a 30% failure rate in this class and they pride themselves on having a 30% failure rate

for anatomy and physiology. When you talk about a disruption, you go from being somewhere where you're on scholarship, where you've got all the support in the world, and then be somewhere where all of that gets taken away overnight. And you basically end up a semester into that basically saying, all right, I'm tapping out or getting tapped out. Probably some blend of both of those. What's going on in your head? You're like, all right, I'm tapping out or getting tapped out. Probably some blend of both of those. What's going on in your head? It's like you're like, all right, so what do I do now? I would say this is another incidence where imagine coming home for the winter break, your first semester back from school, all your family.

It's like, oh, college boy, blah, blah, blah. You don't tell anybody. And it's the week before you need to go back up to school. And that pit in your stomach is there. And it's getting deeper and deeper of like, I have a truth that needs to come out because people are expecting me to go back to school. And that may not be the case.

So locally for me, the school has this opportunity where you can appeal to the board, to the school board. And they have like this panel that you have to like write a letter to and sitting in front of a board of six people behind a desk and like me shaking, literally shaking, trying to read this letter of why I came to the school with a 3.7. And then my first semester, I have a 1.2 and it sucked and it sucked. And I remember as the board was pretty much, you read the letter and then the board pretty much argues in front of you, whether or not you should stay like they vote right then and there of, uh, I don't know if it's stories compelling. I don't know, blah, blah, blah.

Somebody's like, well, you know, he came from another school GPA and then you try to get it into there. And like one of the guys like, well, if we let him in, like, who's to say he's not just going to flunk out of gear and me interject to say, well, if I get back in, that's something you ain't never got to worry about. And I guarantee you that I got back in by one vote. And from that point on, I was like, I know what I got to worry about. And I guarantee you that I got back in by one vote. And from that point on, I was like, I know what I got to do. I got to prove them wrong because they think that I'm just a kid from Detroit. I don't belong here. And I know damn well that I do belong here. Yeah. So did you?

Yeah. So I ended up going there the next next semester I ended up getting like a 3.5 and eventually graduated and then continued on with life. Yeah. Again, it's this pattern showing up. It's interesting. The way you describe the board arguing in front of you, it's almost like, was that performative in part to try and rile you up to sort of like argue your case more fiercely or, or you like kind of like set you up to really know that if, if they let you back in, like you're in by a thread and you better really, really show up. Like, or, or was that just their legit, like the way that they dealt with it? Like you wonder what was really happening? Well, from, from what I hear from other people,

from what I hear from other people that went through that same situation, everybody went through that. And I know some people that they voted no on. Yeah. That's tough. So you keep showing up and you keep saying, just watch me. And then you keep actually like honoring, like whatever it is that you've been challenged

to do, you triumph over it. A couple of years out of school, you're in your early twenties, you're out there, you're working. And it sounds like you're working a job where basically you're on the floor a lot and your body is starting to hurt and you, you end up in a doctor's office and this becomes a huge turning point in your life. Yeah. I was working at men's warehouse.

You know, the commercials, you're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it. I was there wearing suits every day and hard bottom shoes every day, eight to 10 hours a day, commission sales. So you only eat what you kill is what we say in commission sales. You only eat what you kill, right? So you're there. You want to be there because that's the only way that you're going to make money. By being there and being on my feet that long in those hard bottom shoes, developed some hip issues, right? So there's some hip pain from being just on my feet.

So I went to go see a doctor, which then orthopedic surgeon. This was my first time ever meeting him. And I remember just sitting on the table and, you know, he was like, oh, like you're in pain. Like you have some hip pain. This is what you're here for. And I'm like, yeah, I'm telling them,

you know, work at men's warehouse on my feet, wear these hard bottom shoes, also play football. So I don't know if like any of that stuff has to deal with that, but I just want to get you up to speed and him be like, okay. Like, well, I know why you in pain. Me, what's that? Like, you ain't looked at me. You ain't touched me. You ain't run an x-ray. And he was like, it's because you're fat. And I was like, what? Cause I was, I was just trying to make, making sure like you said my back. He was like, it's because you're fat. And I was like, what? Because I was just trying to make sure.

Like, you said my back? He's like, no, it's because you're fat. And then he goes on this whole rant of like, you're fat. You need to lose weight or die. You got a stomach. It's a pregnant woman. You know, you need to start walking on the track. You need to go buy walking shoes, all this other stuff.

And I'm still on. I'm fat. Like, who are you? Like, who are you? So as he's going down running all these things that I need to do and so on and so forth, I remember being like, screw you, man. I can run a marathon if I wanted to. And he laughs and tells me, that's the most stupidest thing I've heard in all of my years of practice in medicine.

Mr. Evans, if you run a marathon, you will die on that course. Like, that's dumb. And we had some more choice words, and I ended up storming out the doctor's office. As I was in my car ruminating, I drove past a running shoe store, made an illegal U-turn. I walked in there, and I said, I need running shoes and I need them now. Got home, got on the treadmill and couldn't run longer than 15 seconds. I fell off the treadmill. I remember as like I'm on the floor, I got these two guys looking at me that's on the

treadmill on either side of me like, hey, bro, are you all right? I get the hell up out of there. And as I'm walking home from the fitness center to my apartment, I'm ruminating. I'm thinking about all the things the doctor's saying, like, you dumb. This is dumb. You'll die on the course if you ever try to run a marathon. You fat. You need to lose weight or die. And a part of me was like, damn, like maybe this doctor is right. Maybe I am dumb. Why would I think that? And as I was reaching out for the door, I have this tattoo on my right wrist. So I had a sleeve on, right? And as I reached out to the door, I ended up glimpsing at the tattoo. It says no struggle, no progress. It's from the famous 1857 speech of Frederick Douglass.

There's no struggle. There's no progress. Those who favor freedom yet deprecate agitation is men who want crops without plowing up the land. It's men who want rain without thunder and lightning. It's men who want the ocean without its awful roars. Struggle may be a moral one. It may be a physical one. It may be both moral and physical, where it must be a struggle in order to get progress.

That rang in my head. And I was like, I know what I need to do. I got to go through the struggle. I got to go through the struggle. So next day, got on a treadmill and I ran for 20 seconds. Day after that, 30 seconds. And every day I just kept coming back, getting a little bit better, a little bit better until minutes became miles. And then I started running races, 5K, 10K.

And then eventually I was like, it's time to sign up for that marathon. As you're doing this, at some point you decide, okay, so this isn't just my journey. I'm going to start sharing what I'm doing. And it sounds like you did that really early on. I mean, this was, I think, long before even like that first marathon. Sounds like almost in the very beginning of you just starting out. Yeah. And you start basically blogging. This is back in the day when blogging was sort of like the thing to share. I'm curious about that impulse, you know, like that where you're like, I need to actually make this not just about me. I need to, even if nobody's reading this,

I need to share it. I wish I had something prolific for you, but it literally came from, I remember sitting there and talking with my wife, my girlfriend at the time, not my wife, and being like, you know what? I'm going to write a blog about this. I think this is what people do, right? They go on journeys and then they blog about it, right? And my wife being like, yeah, I guess that's what they do. If you want to do it, you should do it.

Yeah, write the blog. I'll read it. I was like, okay. So yeah, I wrote a blog alongside of it. I named it 300 pounds and running. I thought it was a clever name. Also, it's a shout out to my favorite NWA song, 100 miles and running. Initially, I just started out talking about my journey. I ran for this many miles. It sucked. This is how I felt about it. My girlfriend made me mad. So I went for a run and you know what? I feel good afterwards. So it was more or less like a personal journal, right? Online journal is, but they call it back in the day. And initially it was my girlfriend, a couple of friends from school and my mom reading it. And eventually just with the sheer consistency of doing it, as well as like going

out to fitness blogging conferences, then we know that there was even the thing. So there was a conference called fit blogging, fit social back in the day. And I would just go and it would be other people blogging about their journey as well, whether it's weight loss or just fitness and doing the same thing. friends. And then all of a sudden, you know, you start to see comments or like you hear from people who you've never met before who are just out there. And in some way, they're sharing something about what you're sharing is making a difference for them. It's the wildest thing ever. Because that's not why you started it. Right. I'm so curious. It's the wildest thing ever.

Or back then, for strangers, I didn't know. Just to be like, hey, man, good job. Or hey, man, you're inspiring me to run my own race. I thought it was weird. Back then, I was like, why would somebody else read this? That read something for somebody else that they don't know and be invested. And some of these people were invested and reach out to me when, let's say, like I was writing blog posts on Mondays, I post on Mondays. And if I didn't write one or miss one, like they're sending emails of like,

hey man, just checking in on you. Hope you ain't quit. Love reading your stories. Keep going. I thought that was the wildest and weirdest thing ever. But who knew that I was a pioneer in what, like, pretty much what everybody does now. Yeah. I mean, it's amazing.

Mayday. mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is?

You're going to die. Don't shoot him, we need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist,

whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary.

The other thing that sounds like it's going on with you because you describe it as, okay, so like I start out 20 seconds, then 30 seconds, then a minute, and then a mile, and then eventually I'm running 5Ks. But when people start running

in the running community, the running community has a certain traditional look and feel, and there are certain assumptions that are made about like who's in this community and who's not really in it. And when we figure out like, what are the training protocols? How do you do this? Like all the different how to's and who is in, it's built around an assumption of like who they're actually speaking to. You're not that person. Absolutely not. You've got to literally sort of like make everything that you're doing up from zero along the way because nobody's speaking to you. Absolutely. And back then I thought that was just normal. I thought it was just me. I thought I was the problem. I think that's the beautiful part of not knowing what you're not knowing when you're going through a journey.

You just don't know that isn't the right way to do something. You just make it work. So I remember downloading four or five different cost of 5K programs and hodgepodge in them together right and some of them be like you know week eight day three run for 30 minutes straight congratulations you ran a 5k and i'm like well i can't run that fast like what do they mean and then me do the bath like 30 minutes three miles are you saying that I should be running this in 10 minutes, like a 10 minute mile? Oh, like that's not what I'm doing. Well, I guess I need to add some more days to it. that my ingenuity and just following down that path in order to make something work that

traditionally and historically wasn't made for me and making it work. And like I said, like, I guess it was the naivete to know that this wasn't supposed to be for me, that I just continue to go anyway. Yeah. I'm curious also, because once you actually start, when you're training, when you're on your own, when you're doing this, you know, like in small bits, that's one thing.

But once you start showing up at places where there's a community, once you start showing up at races and you start looking around, you're like, huh, okay. I seem to be the outlier here. What's going through your head? You know, is it again, the sort of my genius voice saying, oh, like I will be the outlier here. What's going through your head? Is it again,

the sort of my genius voice saying, oh, I will make a place for me in this space. Or I'm just curious, what's happening in your head as you keep stepping into this? Back then, it was just pure survival. So for example, my first race, my first 5K, it was a local 5K. It was relatively small. So let's say no more than 300 people there. I lined up way in the back, further than everybody. Like I lined up behind moms with strollers, with dogs attached to them. And nothing against them, but I thought a mom of two with a dog attached to them is going to like walk or run

faster than me. And it really wasn't until that race where things started to click when the gun went off, you know, I'm going through and I'm like, damn, these moms are in my way. Like I thought they were going to be faster than this. And then like I passed them and then start passing some other people. And about halfway through the race, like I'm passing all these people that I thought who were faster than me or who theoretically was better than me or better runner than me. And like I'm passing them up. For me, that point there in that moment was like, whoa, I am better than what I think I am. I need to give myself more credit for what I'm actually doing here because people were surprised to see this big man pass them. I made it a game.

At the point, I made it a game. Talk a little trash like freight train coming. Get out your way. Get out your way. It's hard to stop me. And I think from that moment, even though traditionally and historically it wasn't for me, I knew instantly that moment after I ran that first 5k, I can be out here and I can compete with the rest of them and do what I need to do. It sounds like there was almost like a switch that flipped where it's sort of like, oh, this is for me. Right. But also, and I need to do it in a way, I need to make it for me.

I need to actually understand how to do this in a way that supports me because it seems like nobody else has come before and sort of created the path. So I need to actually create that path yourself. I mean, you end up saying yes to this over and over. Eventually you find yourself in your first marathon. I think it's late October when the first one was.

Am I right on that time? So it's like you spend a serious investment of time and energy and resources and you're reinforcing this sense of like, I'm stepping into the, not just the activity of running, but the identity of, I am a runner. This isn't just what I do. This is also who I am. And then you go out and you run a marathon and you finish this. And then a couple months later, you get in a car accident, which pulls you out of the ability to do this thing, which has now become a central part of your identity for like a chunk of time. I have to imagine that was really hard at that moment,

especially because like you're early in this and you're really building momentum. It sucked. Oh man. I think those were some of the hardest parts of my life to go through, right? I got very depressed, had some suicidal ideation. I think I was more upset that it was taken away from me. Like it was one thing if I decided to put down running and I'm like, all right, like that's great. But for this car accident to take it away from me for, you know, seven, eight months, it was not my best day. I was not fun to be around because I was sad. I was depressed. I was all these things. Right. And it was also one of those times where one of my biggest relevations when it comes to

just being the man that I am now. And that was, I remember driving and, you know, it was like I was in Connecticut at the time. So it's a brisk, it's like one of the first 50 degree days, sun is out, you see somebody barbecuing and people out running. And I remember telling myself like, man, you know what? If I ever get to run again, I'm going to do it with the amount of joy that I wish I would have did it. I'm just going to do it. I'm going to have fun.

I don't care if I lose weight. I don't care if I lose weight. I don't care if I gain weight. I'm just going to run because it was the thing that made me happy. And it was my thing and it was taken away from me. And I just want it back so much. When you start to realize that it's coming back, that had to have been an amazing feeling like, oh, this is actually, it's not gone forever. Like I get to step back into this. And it sounds like, you know, when you do, not that every step is fun, not that there's no struggle, especially when you're running distance, but it sounds like there's a level of just presence and savoring in the game you end up marathoning and like doing all sorts of races again comes a point fairly soon after that where it sounds like i mean you're talking about how you would kind of jokingly trash talk as you were sort of like running past people in the early days but you're in a race and somebody trash talks you and once again what this person says you turn it upside down yeah and effectively create like a movement from it.

So take me there. So, yeah, man, this was probably marathon four or five. And just imagine like you're jamming, like running a race, people cheering, yelling at you, giving you high fives. You got your headphones on. You got your favorite tunes playing. You're singing along. And then out the corner of your eye, you see like somebody doing like big gestures out the corner of your eye.

So you're like, what? Like, what's going on? So you take your headphones out and you know he's saying something. You don't know what he's saying. So you say, like, what? What's going on? And he's like, you're slow as fuck. Go home. And then again, what? Go like, you're slow as fuck. Go home.

And then again, what? Go home. You're slow as fuck. And, you know, there's this quote that's like, you know, some of your biggest credits would be individuals that who are not even in the arena or something like that. Right. And I remember saying to him, like, you're not even running the race. Like, you're not even in an arena. Like you're not even in an arena. Like, why do you have something to say about me and what I'm doing?

Like you're sitting here and you're drinking, you're drunk, you go home. I finished the race and that experience resonated with me. I think as a big middle finger to him, I started to wear slow af on across my shirt to all the races that i started to run from that point on and like people found it hilarious you and the mean how many high fives i got people laughing uh and it's not like laughing at you like they're laughing with you because they understand the joke of like i'm slowing off right it got so popular that people was like hey man like do you sell these shirts and the entrepreneur spirit in me was like well i do now

so i sold the first weekend i opened it up for sale I sold 500 shirts in the first weekend. Unbelievable. Couldn't believe I had something, right? So people started getting these shirts. They started to wear them. More people started to buy them. And somebody reached out to me. I was like, hey, man, you have a Facebook group or something? I want to hang out with these people who also got these shirts.

I occasionally see somebody at another race wearing it. I want to be able to hang out with these people. Is there a group or a community? And then I was like, there is now. And it kind of grew from there, right? It kind of grew from like this small community that had about 40 people. And we were, you know, figuring out what races we were all running just so we can like run together and have fun. Because, you know, the thing was, you know, we're all running these races. We're in the back of the

pack. Sometimes we can get lonely, especially when you don't know nobody else. Like there's not many people cheering for you at that time. So we just figure, hey, we'll just get together, run races together. The pandemic happened. So this community, by then, you know, we grew to a couple hundred members in there. And it went from a couple hundred members to, next thing you know, it was a thousand members. Next thing you know, it was like 3,000 members. And then we started to get some press. So, you know, we got shout outs in New York Times and a couple other places. And, you know, it went from 3,000 to like five and five to like 10,000 members.

And throughout all that process of individuals growing and coming into the community, I would just give the members what they wanted. So I would ask them all types of questions. Individuals would be like, hey, like, I wish we had some training plans that fit our speed cool i made training plans what else do you need hey you know you know what would be cool like i wish we had like some some exercises that had modifications so then i hired a a personal trainer to come in and do live streams and inside of the app right and i just started just to continue to serve this community of individuals that we all had more or less the same goal which is where we're to run races and have fun and celebrate our bodies you know from there like that's where like the idea

for me to like write my book came from i mean what what's it like for you because i mean this happens in a relatively short amount of time you go from being told by a doctor you know like he's basically just like railing into you really offensively you basically challenging him saying just watch me like i'm gonna run a marathon and from what i remember back then also you also didn't know at the time that marathon was at 26 miles. Really quick learning curve there. To literally like fast forward, not too long, like a handful of years, you first showing up, running the first marathon, finishing. And then this one guy who's essentially heckling you as you're running, you know, you again saying like, no, no, no, no, no. You don't determine

what I say yes or no to, or who I am or what I get to do. And basically wearing what was told to you as an insult, as a badge of honor, as something that was like fun and prideful, turning it on its head. And then realizing that there were so many other people like you who resonated with that feeling and that message that it became literally like a movement with 10,000 plus people around the world gathering, running, moving their bodies, supporting each other. You effectively go to being a role model, to being very front and center, and then actually very front and center because the media starts to pick up your story. Right. And now you're really, really getting a lot of exposure to the point where like you're on the cover of magazines, you're in like big campaigns with huge brands and representing what's that experience like for you?

It's fun. I'm not going to lie. It is fun. But you know, I think one of the things that comes from it is being able to live in your purpose. Right. And I think throughout this journey, I was bumping along just trying to figure out what my purpose was. Right. Now that I have my purpose, like it feels amazing to be able to inspire individuals, to be able to have the mission that we have,

which is to get 1 million new people to start running. It just feels amazing, right? Because it's less about me now, and it's more about the other individuals out there. So it kind of has taken a life of its own. Which really brings you to the book also. You've got this great book out and what's so interesting is essentially you wrote the field guide that didn't exist when you stepped into this. Like as you're out there looking for something that says, how do I do this? You know, on every level from like, what's the mindset? Like what's the physical approach?

What do I wear? Like literally it almost felt like you're taking notes the whole time and every note that you took and every question that you were asked by somebody. And every time somebody is like, do you have a plan for this? And you're like, here's a plan. It's like, everything goes into this book because for those million people that you're trying to inspire to run, now you have something where you can basically say it's all in here. I mean, from the outside looking at it, it feels like that was a lot of what was behind the book. Is that similar to what was going on in your head as you were putting it together? Yeah. I wanted to write the book that I wish I had when I first started running. Most running how-to manuals are written by elite

athletes, former elite athletes or coaches of elite athletes telling you how to run like them. And for a 300 pound man or somebody else who might be overweight or for somebody else who may be intimidated about getting into the sport of running, these books are not helpful for them. For example, I went for a run, but nobody probably have told you like, hey man, maybe you shouldn't wear cotton underwear your bits are gonna burn up did you know like there's this thing called bloody nipples it feels like the friction if you see people who are running races you'll see like a blood stain from like their chest area that runs all the way down or for example you think

you're gonna go run you know you're gonna wake up in the morning you're not gonna get something to eat because you think like running on an empty stomach is going to help you lose weight or lose those couple of pounds. What if I told you I did that and I got lightheaded and had to call my wife to come get me? So like these types of things were not in the other books. And these are all the things that I had to learn the hard way. And what people that I've trained had to learn the hard way as well. So I'm just serving the purpose of being the person or being the change I want to see.

I recently heard a quote that says, you know, the best way to complain is to make things. And I think that's what I was doing with this book was complaining. Yeah, it's funny. You and I have a mutual friend in Tina Roth Eisenberg's founder of Creative Mornings. And actually I remember her saying to me years ago that she had a rule, which is the third time she complains about something, she has to fix it. She has to do something to fix it. She's like, she's not allowed to complain. Like again, she just has to fix it. And that's basically what you're saying. You know, it's amazing because it's everything. It's a living, it's an identity. You're in support of a huge and fast growing community. I mean, when you look back over this experience, what do you feel like

running, not just the act of running, but the identity of a runner, stepping at the identity runner, like the sense of community, all of these different things. What do you sense is sort of like has made, what about all of that has made the biggest difference in your life? What's the biggest impact or change that this has all brought to you? The biggest impact or change running has brought to me is that for me, running is everything. It's how I feed my family. It's how I release stress. It's how I travel the world.

It's the game changer that took, you know, a boy from the Ravendale east side of Detroit who had two brothers pass, live next to a crack house, go to school, flunk out. All of those hardships that I had growing up made it worth it. There was one time while running, like running took me to London one time. And I was in London running around to each of the pubs looking for trickle pudding. Like somebody told me, hey, you going to London? Like go, a proper pub will have trickle pudding. I don't know what trickle pudding is, but this friend was like, you're going to want some trickle pudding.

And I had so much fun running to pub to pub and just going in and talking to the pub owners and be like, hey, man, like this is going to be a very weird question. By chance, do you have some trickle pudding? I don't know what it is, but do you have it? And they'll look at me weird and it's like, oh, no, we don't have any trickle pudding, but like try the next pub and then I'll run there. I wouldn't been able to do that if I didn't get not get into the sport of running. And there's so many instances in my life, like whether it's running in London to try to get trickle putting or like running on route one on the big serve marathon and like seeing route one in a way on foot that nobody else would see if they would drive there.

Like running is everything to me. I love that. It feels like a good place for us to come full circle too. So in this container of good life project, if I offer up the phrase to live a good life, what comes up? To live a good life is to live in your mission and understand that all of the things that you've been through, it's a setup for all the things to come. That's a good life.

Thank you. Hey, before you leave, if you love this episode, say that you'll also love the conversation that we had with artist Lisa Congdon in a very different context about her thinking that she just wasn't made for a particular pursuit, but then stepping into it and realizing it was not only her passion, but would end up being her purpose and profession. You'll find a link to Lisa's episode in the show notes. already done so, please go ahead and follow Good Life Project in your favorite listening app. And if you found this conversation interesting or inspiring or valuable, and chances are you did since you're still listening here, would you do me a personal favor, a seven second favor and share

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because when podcasts become conversations and conversations become action, that's how we all come alive together. Until next time, I'm Jonathan Fields, signing off for Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist,

whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required. first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary.