The Zac Clark Show - From Heroin to Marathons: How Kellen Matthews-Thompson Rebuilt His Life

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

In this episode, we sit down with Kellen Matthews-Thompson – Philly runner, content creator, father, husband, and the founder of Recovery Run Club. Before his life revolved around miles, marathons, and community, Kellen spent over a decade in the grip of opioid addiction. He began using in his teens, eventually turning to IV drugs in his twenties. His life unraveled – until a doctor in treatment connected the dots between the chemistry of the runner’s high and the brain’s need for relief. Something clicked.From that moment, Kellen started running. First one mile. Then another. Then a hundred.Literally – he went on to win a 100-mile ultramarathon and run a marathon every month in 2024 to raise awareness for recovery.Today, Kellen uses running as a bridge – not just for himself, but for others. Recovery Run Club is just one example of how Kellen uses his growing online presence to raise awareness and inspire hope around recovery. There’s a special kind of resonance in this conversation – because Zac is a born-and-raised Philly guy who found his own way back through recovery, service, and showing up for other people. Two men who rebuilt their lives from the inside out. Two men who know what it means to choose a different kind of hard.We talk about:Running as an entryway to emotional regulation and self-beliefLove as the key ingredient to helping others find recovery The loneliness of early recovery and how community closes the gapFatherhood after addictionBuilding something that serves people instead of just saving yourselfWhy running is such a powerful tool in recovery for so manyThis is a conversation about movement, identity, and returning to yourself — one mile, one day, one choice at a time.Kellen: @kellenrunsphillyRecovery Run Club: @recoveryrunclubConnect with Zachttps://www.instagram.com/zwclark/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-c-746b96254/https://www.tiktok.com/@zacwclarkhttps://www.strava.com/athletes/55697553https://twitter.com/zacwclarkIf you or anyone you know is struggling, please do not hesitate to contact Release Recovery:[phone]releaserecovery.com@releaserecovery

All right, welcome back here to the Zach Clark show. Today's guest is a, he's just a stud. And I got to tell you, I saw him and I was so excited to see him because there's, the truth is there's very few people that I actually enjoy following on social media. And this guy is one of them because we are just aligned on so much. We're Philly sports. we're sober and we're runners and uh kellen matthews thompson welcome in brother kellen runs philly on the socials what's up dude let's go i appreciate you having me in oh my god well where do we start

where do we start i mean go birds we'll get that out of the way go birds that was a uh you know an amazing season last season and being in philly when the birds win the super bowl is dude you're out there like running in the tail Gates running in the parade. This guy's running all hours. And you've built a real identity in Philly, like Philly culture. You're out there. Yeah, of course. I feel like, uh, you know, I'm not from Philly, but I feel like I represent Philly really well, kind of just like that gritty, you know, work ethic, getting down to business. Yeah, where'd you grow up? Where'd you from? Upstate New York. I'm from Binghamton. Oh, you're from Binghamton, New York.

bro we used to so i played american legion baseball growing up and we used to we used to have this we used to do a week in binghamton every summer yeah i know the tournament i played in the legion tournament in bengent i actually played for so i went to johnson city high school so i played johnson city how old are you uh 20 or i'm sorry 34 you're 34 yeah i forget sometimes how old am i yeah how old are you bro that makes me feel a little bit better better about you being so much faster than me um so is nardies the pizza shop what's the pizza shop in binghamton nerchise nerchise pizza yeah i love nerchise pizza bro i mean that's when my alcoholism really was alive and well because that team i don't know if i should say this but we would the parents bro we would

play a double header we were we were very good we went to the world series we would kick the shit out of the teams we were playing and then we would drink with the parents at night of course I was smoking blunts with my first base coach on the way to the games. In American Legion Baseball. American Legion Baseball. 17 years old, just graduated high school and just like getting after it. I relate to that. I relate to that.

And then when did you, when did you, did you move to Philly when you got sober? No. So I ended up in Philly after a long journey. That was like kind of my ending point of my addiction. When my addiction kind of started to get out of hand at home in Binghamton, my family kindly just escorted me on the road. Like, you guys got, or you have to get out of here. You're going to have to figure this out on your own. And that's what I did.

They sent me down to a treatment center in West Palm Beach. And then I got involved in the flop houses in Florida, you know. And that was a whole other experience that kind of led me up the East Coast into Philly. yeah are we going to pick this up it'll be fine all right um all right so we'll back to so so i introduced calen here like just to set the stage calen is someone that uh really haven't spent much time like in person right i mean maybe like come across you or seeing you out a thing or something like that but i i started following because of the synergy in our lives but you're really a content creator you're lifting up the the message of sobriety and helping people

I think get well through through your fitness journey and you're very well known in the running community now. Like I go and I see, you know, like the algorithm or whatever it is. Like all the people like you're always tapping into the same. So it's like that community that you've built and I'm, I'm pumped for you, dude, working with big brands. Like you're doing it. I couldn't have imagined the life that I'm living right now. You know, like prior to starting creating content, I was work in construction at a dead end job, you know, living paycheck to paycheck, sober, just not sure, you know, what to do with my life. Like, how can I level up?

I was practicing like the daily discipline thing at the time. And I was like really focused on my fitness and my running journey and lifting weights and staying healthy. But like I just couldn't figure out that next piece of like leveling up as far as like, you know, having a career. and in 2020 my wife's social media page cast in the city exploded and she was like kind of documenting her experiences around philadelphia and like favorite places around philadelphia she's the o g yeah she's the o g she's the she's the one that like got us do people acknowledge that

like josh eats philly and all the other people like like she was so she star she's like she's like she's coined as philly's first ticotker nice yeah she's o g and not only that but like i give her so much credit for where I'm at in my sobriety in my life because like she's the one person that believed in me when nobody else did like literally I'm standing at the edge of a bridge getting ready to take my life and Cass is on the phone like hang on a second like let's let's figure this out all right so let's backtrack a little bit because we want to we want to dig into the story. I don't know about you, but I love the stories of recovery and the ones that end like this where me and you were sitting here talking and I think you got sober in 17. I'm 2011.

There's a lot of years here. You know, there's a lot of mistakes, but a lot of triumph. You grew up in Binghamton, siblings. Yes. So I grew up or I was born into a chaotic situation. my dad cheated on his wife with my mom got my mom pregnant so I'm my mom's only child this happened when my mom was 40 also so my mom's pregnant at 40 working a grocery store job not a lot going on my dad has three other kids with two different women so your mom included or there's three moms there's three moms got it so as you can imagine like there's a lot going on a lot of chaos and my mom obviously as like kind of that single mom role needed to send me

somewhere so she a lot of the time sent me to my dad's place where he had a whole other family so my dad's wife just you know like kind of always made me feel that pressure of like you know you're the other kid like you're just a reminder yeah yeah yeah you're a reminder that my husband cheated on me so like I just kind of grew up with that feeling of just like Like, feeling uneasy, you know. So they ended up staying together. Yeah. Yep.

And you're hanging out with the three other siblings and they know and everyone knows full. Well, I mean, that's a, that's, that's that right there is, is trauma. I mean, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a traumatic situation. And also my dad was an addict had the disease of addiction. And, uh, is he still with us? He's so around. No, he passed when I was 13 from, from just like complications and just kind of like, you know, wear and tear of addiction no shit dude uh are your is your biological mom's around yes yep yep

she's in binghamton she is 74 nice so you got some family kicking yeah but you're gonna carry on the legacy of course i see you with your kids um okay so you grow i mean like yeah i mean like and that's the thing that people always talk about right like is is addiction genetic is it passed down is it biological is it can it be manufactured should I like say yes to all. You know, like I think you can be born into a situation where, you know, you learn to love the shit. And you can also probably just like for me, like I had the brain tumor and I just woke up

one day and they prescribed me these opioids. Next thing you know, I'm like, I'm going to go find that shit. So when do you remember outside of feeling kind of like this misplaced human, do you remember the first time you picked up drugs, alcohol, or like got the release? Yeah, I remember the first time that I smoked... Look at that smile, bro. I remember the first time that I smoked weed was with some of my buddies. And like, it wasn't actually the first time that I smoked weed so that I had tried smoking a couple of times and just, I guess just really didn't get the effects for one reason or another.

And I remember the one time that I smoked and it was like, it was like just this release, relief. And I was like, wow, I want to do this every day. Yeah. Yeah, like I never want to do anything again without smoking first. And that was like the first addiction that I had. And it was like everything I did going to school, going to sports, everything, like we were smoking a joint first. And that was 13, 14 years old. And you're smoking just dime bag, nick bag, grass.

You're finding it on the street. Like, whatever you can get your hands on, right? Yeah. We just had like a couple older brothers, you know, that were supplying the. I mean, it's crazy. Are you hip to any like the the weed culture now? I mean, it's wild. Not really. Yeah. I mean, it's just like so far removed from yeah, drug use really like I know a little bit of like what's going on in Kensington stuff right now. Obviously stuff that's on the street down there. But as far as like, yeah, it's just they're not really smoking flour. They smoke these vapes and oils and juices and dad. I mean, it's like very confusing. I'm out of the loop too, dude. I mean, trust me. But I'm grateful that like. I'm grateful that like. like the drugs were what they were, I probably wouldn't be here, you know, I would have smoked myself crazy. Right. Um, okay. And then high school, are you an athlete? Like, what is your kind of, what, what is your makeup in high school? And obviously like, you know, like you smoke a little

weed. That doesn't mean you're going to end up with a needle in your arm. Yeah. So I was like generally liked by most people. I, I played baseball. You give that off. Yeah, yeah. I played baseball. I was a wrestler, kind of friends with everybody. But like through my, my high school, years. So my dad passed when I was in 10th grade. Okay. Also on top of that, I spent a lot of time at my aunt's house on the Susquehanna River and her house was flooded. So like house was flooded, dad passed away and my uncle passed away from a liver disease. And I kind of like was in the hospital room as he was taking his last breath. And this was all happening like ninth, 10th grade. So it was just like a triple whammy of just like trauma. And I think that that just,

put me in like a survival mode. So like no matter what I was doing, like I started taking prescription painkillers like 10th grade. Um, and found them on the street. Are you, well, so like at that time, the opioid epidemic is really starting to take hold of the United States, especially the, the East Coast and like coming into school in the morning, everyone just had like a couple of pills in their pocket. You know, like it was just accessible. Everyone's parents had like either some oxies or some adderall or some byvance whatever it was and the first time that I tried some opioids it was like that warm hug that like I needed so that's what that's the warm hug it's like the trauma the feeling alone and like that warm hug and that's the thing

that I think only guys like me and you really understand because I've had guys buddies that try it for the first time and they're throwing up or like right yeah i mean i can't tell you how many of my buddies that i used with in high school very similar but they did not take the same path that i took right and it's just like the way that i excelled at taking drugs wasn't like anybody else you know like there was other people that smoked and drank but like i just didn't stop like i put my foot on the gas pedal and i just i just went until you know i was passed out or until everything was gone where some of my buddies were like, all right,

you know, we're going to call it. And I just didn't have that. And I never have. And like, you can see that now in the way that I train or run. Like, you know,

at the end of the day, like my running is, rides that fine line of being like an addiction. Obviously, like if I'm running to the point of getting injured, I need to address that. You know, I'm not doing that today.

But like, that's in my personality. And regardless if, you know, that's going to come out in a positive way or come out in a negative way. You know, that's just kind of my genetic makeup at this point. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and so, I mean, I'm so curious.

And then so you're, you try opiates or opioids for the first time. You get the warm hug. You realize you love them. How long until shit's kind of spiraling out? Because you're 34. You got sober 27. So we're talking about probably 10 years here from that first use to. Yeah, you know, that's a long. It's a long road. Yeah. So through high school, I was able to like, we'll say like get away with using. Right. And my mom was working so much. And my house was kind of just like the place where everyone was coming over to hang out. I had, you know, I had a bong. You know, we can come out, hang out. We'll get beers, drink, take pills. And there's like no supervision. You know, so my my place was the hang out.

Did your mom know what was going down? I think that she knew. I'm not trying to out, mom. I actually had empathy for it. No, I think that she knew. I think my mom was in survival mode also. Yeah. Like, I think that my mom has to her for Hagenthoff. Yeah, yeah. She's had some traumatic stuff happen to her. So I think that she also was just kind of like, you know, trying to turn a blind eye. Unfortunately, you know. And so after high school, I think I was probably, were you an athlete in high school? Yeah. Yeah. I went as far as. So I took a year off after I graduated in between that year was just like full on drug addict. I went from like taking a couple like perks and sniffing perks and stuff like that to like full on like opanas. Well, oxycontin had been taken off the street like my senior year. They turned into OPs and then they started going to Opanas, started to release. And that was like you can crush those up and sniff them. we started to inject them.

Do you remember the OPs when they put the gel in the... Yeah. Yeah. So that was the Oxycontin OP. And they like kind of put the, you know, the speed bump there for people. All you could do is eat them. So Opan. So it was basically oxymorphom.

So I have a story about the OPs. So were you Ivy? Yeah. Yeah. So the OPs come out and I'm like starting to bang drugs. And I convinced myself that I'm going to shoot, like, you know, like, like, like, of course. Of course. And I don't know how or like what was going on.

But I managed to like get a booger into my arm, you know, like through the I don't, I don't like to this day, it's still a mystery. Long and short of it is like I find a way to kind of, I mean, it probably took and to shoot the O.P, which you're not supposed to be able to do anything but eat. Cut to like a half hour later. I wake up on my bathroom floor like, Wow. Blood. And it was just, I didn't think twice that like maybe I have a problem.

It was just like, am I here? I'm good. Okay, cool. That was wild. I'm not going to do that again. Yeah. On to the next one.

Yeah. Yeah. So we started using opanis, which is oxymorphone instead of the oxycontin. Yeah. And that was like, like, in order to inject those, there was like this whole process of like 99% alcohol. and you had to like cook it down and then like add what it was like this whole process in like

I don't know if you ever heard of cotton fever but like your chances of cotton fever were like skyrocketing so oftentimes like I was dealing with that and it's just like the animalistic behavior that I was reverted to from probably 18 to 19 years old from the opanas and like the pill usage and like the I mean they called it like hillbilly heroin right it was just it was ugly and it got to the point where like my family was like yeah you can't do this here anymore so at 18 you went right to the needle like you yeah it was like uh yeah i was 18 19 years old right self-taught or you had a buddy that was banging i had a couple buddies and it was like one day we were getting some pills and they either had like the instant release opana tens or yeah that's

basically what was available. And they were like, yo, if you shoot it, it's going to feel a lot better. And I was like, loaded up. Actually, the first time that the dude shot me up, it was like a wash. So he like stole the pill and gave me my girlfriend's wash at the time. And I was like, hang on a second. That didn't, you know, he was like, yeah, it's supposed to feel like that. We're the worst.

We're the worst. We're the worst. Yeah, next time you were pumped. Yeah. And then what happens at 19? You dial it back? No, so that's when the first time that I went. to treatment. My brother came down. So I have two other brothers. They're 14 years older than me,

roughly. They lived in Buffalo, New York. My mom calls them as like, yo, Callan's out of control. So they come down to Vampton and they're going to like, you know, try the, yeah, we're going to force you to get clean. You know, like get in the car. You're coming to Buffalo. We're going to take you to Erie Hospital and you're getting clean. I lasted like 12 hours. And. And, you know, like, And the detox. For some reason, they let me use the phone while I was there. It's crazy. So I immediately called my girlfriend. I was like, yo, you got to come pick me up. Is the girlfriend at the time, Cass? No, no, no. This is, yeah. Years before. Her name was Christina. Yeah, yeah. And so she's like, all right, I'll come pick you up. Sign myself out of detox. I guess the hospital called my brother. I'm outside, just kind of like waiting. It's Buffalo in February, freezing cold. I don't have anything. And you're detoxing.

and I'm detox. Yeah. But I'm like, okay, Christine is going to come get me, so I'll be good. We'll drive the four hours back to Binghamton. Absolutely no plan at all. But, of course, my brother shows up and he's like, dude, what are you doing? He's like, now you're going to spend the rest of time on my couch, like, where I can watch you. And I was able to, that was when I was first introduced to the rooms.

And my homie, Ryan Marchison, who has like probably 15 years clean at this point in time. he grew up with him no no no at the so i was introduced him through my brother they both were construction and he did his best to kind of like take me under his wing and kind of teach me the way i was just not ready at that point in time i still just had that urge to use you know like when you're just not ready it's crazy as i know it because i had it too yeah and i wanted to tell someone i couldn't like i just knew i wasn't done and i probably needed more help but like the the desire to use drugs and live like that just overruled that feeling yeah so he did his best to get me in the rooms i probably stayed clean for like six months oh you did yeah yeah you put some time together

six months but it was like the white not like i was in the rooms too every day collected uh 30 60 90 and like the first opportunity i got to go back to banghamton as soon as i hit banghamton lit up yep scored a bag of dope and was right back in the same boat that I was in. So then I started going like I was still living in Buffalo at the time at my brother's house, but like one thing led to another. I found a connected Buffalo. And yeah, it was kind of just like, people know that you started using or were you keeping it to yourself? I was able to keep it to myself and I was able to like kind of, you know, finish my way back to Binghamton back home. and it wasn't long that I was back home before my mom was like still using you know

and it was like load them up white deer run middle of Pennsylvania send you to another rehab you went the white deer okay so I want to talk about heroin for a second because I think a lot of people think heroin is this big bad dirty word which whatever but it's just the like my experience is just the evolution right like how was it explained to you right like once you get to a certain point with the pills heroin is cheaper and it makes more sense and if you're in yeah it went from these pills that cost $8,200 a piece to a bag of heroin which in Binghamton at the time was probably like 20 bucks a bag which is expensive compared to other places. But yeah, that was my experience. It was like one day

the pills weren't available and the pills were hard to come by really because you had to find some with a prescription. They were getting expensive. Everybody wanted them. Yeah, the end of my, I mean, the pills were no like you couldn't get them you were paying dollar two dollars a milligram yeah you know the rocks is set 30 milligrams i was spending like 50 you know like it was why it was out of control yeah so white deer run and then and then sober after that or no you run you run you're running how many treatment centers when i went to white deer run literally every single day i was there i was counting down the days and i was like the minute i leave here i'm musing and you were telling people that no i didn't tell anybody i just was in the back of my head like my mom was

sending me like some money orders to like get some snacks while I was there I was just saving the money orders just like so I was get I like at that point was suicidal that was probably like one of the first times that I was suicidal because when I was there I was like I don't know how I'm going to beat this you know what I mean like I don't want to stop using but I don't want to continue to live like this like I know this is hard doesn't feel good like this isn't who I want to be but the urge to used was just so strong. So I was like, the best solution I could come up with at the time was cop bags when I get home, going to the woods, use them all, and hopefully not wake up. You know what I mean? Hopefully I've, this is, this is it. So yeah, I got dropped off in the,

the van, but I was like, you know, it's scary to do that. You know what I mean? In my mind, I was like, oh yeah, yeah, no problem. This is what I'm going to do. But once I, got home, it was like, you know, maybe I'll just use a little bit and then I'll figure it out. And it was kind of just like that slow progression again until I ended up right back in the same boat again, where my family's like, you're using again. Like this time, you can leave Binghamton. Don't come back until you figure it out. And so that's when I went down to Florida. So your family, despite some of the chaos and the trauma that you grew up with, where they were supportive? They were generally supportive.

Yeah. I mean, like the first couple of times I went to treatment, they were like, yeah, we got to figure this out. You know what I mean? It was like they would sit me down and do the intervention. And they were like, you know, we understand you have a problem. But like you can't continue to use. You're going to die.

And is there any physical fitness during this time? Are you working out? You've got nothing. No physical fitness. I wouldn't have. I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Newport? Oh, yeah.

Newport 100s. Heavy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so once I went down to Florida, that was like... You were in the circuit. The university for drug addicts. Yeah.

You know, my ability to lie, cheat, and steal exploded. You know what I mean? I was a whole new drug addict because, like, all these kids that were down there, they knew shit that I had no idea. You know what I mean? They could come up with money from... Wherever. Yeah. And it was like, I was introduced to...

IV crack use IV dilaudid use and the flop houses or halfway houses that I was in down there were like promoting this like they were just charging the insurance and we're like

have at it every addict you can bring to my house I'll give you $350 bucks bring people in we were at you were in the middle of like the sober living

yeah West Point West the Florida shuffle exactly yeah yeah I was the I open So the treatment facility I originally had gone to, which was really good, was the watershed. And funny enough, that's the last treatment center that I went to, except it was down in Texas. It was like a different branch.

But after I had relapsed at the watershed, like at their ILP program, and they were trying to send me back. And of course, at that time, I was like, no, I'm not going back. I had already heard like on the street that like, you can go to this place. and like it's co-ed you can use like i was like all right i'm going to go check this out uh the place was called millennium so the the the insurance card's like an amex right i mean like if you have insurance you're able to go get housing and then if you can recruit more your buddies to come live there and bang their insurance they're welcome to have like they're happy to have you yeah it's pretty much the more the merrier you know because these people were you running game

like were you bringing people to them and getting paid on i mean i i i would look at it It's like, you know, if I ran into other people that were using on the street and like, you know, we're chopping it up, I was like, yo, you can come stay at our place. You know what I mean? And like, yo, you got insurance. You know, so it was like a free free get high ticket. You know what I mean? So. And yeah.

So while I was there, I seen an experience just like awful, awful. People die and built. people dying prostitution like just the worst of addiction literally and it was like there was no it was just it was ugly it got ugly and luckily by chance this girl mariana had come down like i had talked her into like coming down like planted off like i was clean stuff like that as soon as she got down here she was like you're not clean like what's going on but she was like you know what you can come to virginia with me stay at my dad's house he owns a construction company company, you can get clean, start working for him. And when I got there, I got into a Suboxone

maintenance program. And that was like the first time I was able to like accumulate some like life skills and like kind of bridge like a little bit of a gap between like that animalistic living and kind of like normal society. And that's where this is where Suboxone does have a place in the world. Right. I mean, it. Of course. It kept you. I mean, I think Suboxin, especially the new like the new stuff what is it sub sub subcate or something like that i think that those are extremely important i mean you know i feel like it has its place it's not for everybody i think the sublocate is massive yeah that's the injection yeah if it's something that can essentially i mean once you're clean off the opioids you take the injection if you stop taking the injection you have no withdrawals right

It's like general, no physical withdraws. Obviously, you do with like the mental side of things. I had a buddy that was on subs for eight years or something like that. And just he did three injections and he's been cleaned for like 18 months or something like that, which is massive, my homie potter. So in Virginia, you're on the sub maintenance. You're taking the subways every day. You're kind of starting to get some activities of daily living going.

You're with this girl, Mariana. And the problem is at that point in time, like I forgot I was an addict, right? so i was like oh i can drink and like go to the rave you know take some molly and just be normal you know like i was just like partying like a normal person at this point in time so i'm thinking to myself like man i missed out on this yeah like i wish i did this when i was 18 this is great until it wasn't great until like i'm like in a hotel room with 500 capsules of molly just like losing my mind from taking too much mdMA right and then like here we go again one and too many a thousand is never enough exactly and at that point in time the guy that I was

working for was like okay this guy's crazy we're gonna send him to a job in Philly and that's how I then ended up in Philly that was like she was construction the so mariana's dad was involved with a construction company I was working for that company in Virginia yeah the owner of the construction company then I ended up at his house at one point me and Mariana didn't last long, obviously. I'm a crazy person. And yeah, so Jesse at the time sends me to Philly. He's like, yeah, there's a job up here. I have a house with guys. Go up there and you can start working in Philly and figure it out. So at that time, I was still on my suboxin at that time. And that's 20. This is 2015, probably, 2015, 2016. So this is like getting to the end of the road.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. At first for a while, I was. was kind of bouncing back and forth between Philly and Virginia to go to my sub-doctor. I don't know why I didn't think to like, hey, let's try to get a new sub-bops doctor. Well, that's like, once we have it and it's in place for guys like me and you, it's like, I got to hold on to this. And nothing can be messed up. And as long as I have my thing, like, I know I'm not going to get sick. Yeah.

Yeah. So I wasn't willing to put in the legwork that I needed to put in. And eventually I just full on relapsed back to it. Were you running around like Northeast, Camden? or what kensington you were in kentington yeah yeah so um the end of my story i pretty much because we were telling you were down i mean we were down in kentington yeah kensington is a rough place man it's a whole another whole another animal down there i uh i actually like so this is 2000 the end of 2016 early 2007

I am going down to meet Cass. So in 2016, Cass and I are reunited at Moonrise Music Festival. Is Cass from a – Cass is from Baltimore. And you knew her how? Literally zero mutual friends. We met at a music festival. She was dressed as Pocahontas. I had a Native American headdress on.

And I walked up to her. I was like, yo, let's take a picture together. You know? and yeah the rest was history the first time that like so the first time i met her was it you were you were loaded in 2015 yeah i was on subs taking ecstasy just like yeah embedded in rave culture okay and uh in 2015 when we met at moonrise we had like you know a few months where we were talking i was talking other girl it's just like you know living the life yeah yeah we ended up calling it off the following year in 2016, same music festival. She's having like a pregame party at her place. I stop by.

We reconnect. And at this point in time, I'm like right on the verge of like stopping taking my subs, starting to use street dope again. And so from like August 2016, towards the end of the year, we're still talking. But what would happen is I would go down to Baltimore and I'd be like, yo, I'm on my way. And then, like, for, I don't know why I would think this is a good idea. I'd, like, get, like, an eight-ball crack and be, like, shooting crack or smoking crack in the car on the way to Baltimore. But, and then I'd get, like, sidetracked and end up, like, in a motel. You know what I mean?

Or, like, cop in what they would call, like, Scrapple or Scrabble in Baltimore. And she's, like, calling me 15 times. You know what are you at? Like, yo, where are you at? And I'm, like, coming up with these crazy. The crack distorts everything. Yeah. the crack because for me when I started smoking crack

time went out the window I always tell this story there was a morning where like I'm living at my parents I smoked crack on night and I dropped one of my last rocks like down and underneath the car and I'm like it's like 6 a.m and my neighbor's like going to work in a suit and tie and I'm like taking the seats out of the car to try and get

this last hit of crack and I'm just like good morning you know like totally normal and this guy's got to be like what what is going on it's almost so bizarre that he probably doesn't expect it to be drugs like yeah the the experience with crack is just like it's it's crazy because like unless you've experienced it you can't really explain like it's so what it's like whenever i like i can talk about it all talking about crack still gives me the i was going to say it's like a bubble guts

like the yeah i can even sometimes like if i smell like vinegar Because, like, I would... Well, I smelled it in the street in New York, for sure. Yeah. People burning, Sam's like... Yeah. Yeah, so, um, cast is starting to recognize this something's up. She wasn't exactly sure what it was.

But you're dating here. You guys are dating. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We're like back and, I mean, because pretty much during the week, like, I could play it off like I'm normal. Like, I'm, you know, using opioid. Like, I could play it off. Like, everything was good.

And then on the weekends, I would just, like, let loose, you know? So I, one weekend, I go down to Baltimore, spend all my money. And this is the weekend where I'm like, this is it. On my way home, I'm going to stop. There's a bridge that crosses over the Susquehanna on 95 going back from Baltimore to Philly. Yeah, no. And I was like, I'm going to, I'm getting suicidal again at this point, right?

So like my world is collapsing. I hadn't paid rent in a while. like I'm lying to everybody all of my resources are the wells running dry again and this time it's not like I'm at home where I could be like you know oh mom I'm like I need to go to rehab again like I have no health insurance like this point in time like it's not looking good so I was like you know I'm going to drive back to Philly I'm my way back I'm going to pull my truck over it and I'm just going to jump off the bridge it's like like I said it's like this is like December or January like right at the end of the year, 2016, 2017.

And when I'm heading back to Philly, Cass calls me. And she's like, yo, what's going on with you? And, like, at first I'm like, nothing. Like, don't worry about it. I'm just going back to Philly. Like, it's nothing. She, like, hangs up the phone, calls me back again. She's like, dude, are you sure there's nothing going on?

Like, what is going on? And that's when, like, I just, like, broke down and was like, this is where I'm at. Like, I don't know what to do. like I don't want to continue to use but like I don't know what to do like I keep ending up in the exact same spot no matter what I've tried and she was like listen I'll come up to Philly tomorrow we'll figure out insurance we'll get all this stuff squared away just make sure you make it home what a hero crazy um and yeah we pretty much like at that point in time I had come clean to like her the guys I was working for at the time my buddy's John and Joe which

They were extremely supportive at the time. And everyone was pretty much like, okay, we're going to come up with a plan. We're going to get you into treatment. I was being evicted out of my apartment. Like, I had a dog. There was a lot of moving parts at the time. And, yeah, it was basically like another, like, 45 days where, like, the guys I was working for were giving me, like, a hundred dollar a day allowance. And at this point in time, I'm, like, going down to Kensington cop.

Even after the bridge moment? Yeah. You don't get an achievement. pretty much like I had to wait until the the insurance kicked in like I couldn't immediately get into to whatever treatment I probably could have at this point in time but I didn't realize yet I hadn't called enough places to figure out okay there's places that will get you in but I was able to get an allowance for like I would say it was like 45 days in literally like 43 days I'm down in Kensington and I just scored some bags and I go to pull out

in a traffic on Frankfurt and Orleans street without a blinker and Philadelphia PD pulls me over comes up to the car. Excuse me, sir. Any drugs in the car? And I was like, no, points his flashlight down and I just have bags of dope on my lap. And he's like, what's that? And at that point, I knew he pulled me out of the car. They kind of like threw me around a little bit. And like typically down there like they're kind of just like take the dope and like all right get out of here but for whatever reason this guy was like yeah you're coming down to the round house and i sat for 18 hours went through the worst withdrawals um there was a guy in there like there was a couple guys in there high on PCP like screaming all night long so this was like my first experience with any sort of jail

you know and i was like this isn't for me i know that for sure um Like I had gotten out after 18 hours and immediately on the phone had gotten hold of the watershed down in Houston, Texas. I made it down there and I literally hit the ground running as soon as the, you know, which are all kind of wore off a little bit like immediately into the big book. Surrender. Immediately like what do I have to do? Any other times that I had bent to treatment was like the exact opposite of what they were

telling me to do. Like how can I sneak a cigarette? at how can I do that? You know what I mean? It was like how can I beat the system? It's like when I work with families, it's like sometimes there just needs to be this surrender that we can't. We don't know if it's going to happen unless we try.

You know, and you hung on the road. I mean, one, first of all, Cass. I mean, like, choking up hearing that. Yeah, I got a meter because that's like so beautiful. And like, it's why I always say like, one of the most valuable things we can do to another person who struggles just love them like she was the one person still loving on you and and it saved your life of course yeah cas you know and still to this day like she's like i just said this on another podcast like she's like the guiding light right

like i have so much ambition motivation energy to do things you know what i mean but it's like depends on which direction that light is pointed in, right? Because I can put it into negative shit in a heartbeat, you know? So, like, I need someone like Cass to be like, yo. She saw it in you, though. Yeah, of course. You always had a good heart. Right?

I mean, that's fair. Yeah. So you get out of the way and then you move back to Philly. You move back right with, you know, with, again, with Cass, dude. So Cass, uproots her life in Baltimore, moves to South Philly. What? Yeah, bro. Moves to South Philly gets a little apartment.

You had 45 days sober, 30 day, whatever you had. Before, I was still in treatment. And she has my dog, my German Shepherd at the time, uproots her life in Baltimore, moves to Philly, finds a job, like does all this, like, investigating to figure out, like, what halfway house I'm going to, goes to the place, like, checks it out, make sure, like, you know, it's legit so I I wasn't under a court order to go to a treatment although I had two DUIs that like were pending I hadn't gone through the court process yet um so when I got back I was like you know I think it's a good idea if I go to sober living like all these other people are going like

it's it's probably just best for me at first so I uh I did sober living for the first six months I was out while she was living in South Philly. We were kind of like doing like on the weekends. I could get a weekend pass and go hang out with her. I was going to work every day. Still with the construction company? Yeah, same guys. Yeah, John and Joe. They, they were like pretty much like hawks over me. You know what I mean? I made sure like straight to work, straight back to the halfway house. I went to a meeting every day. And at the, okay, so let me let me back up a little bit to the treatment facility. One day I was sitting in on like one of the meetings that they have in the lead physician, Dr. Bender, was like the teacher, like, giving like a lecture on running in the

effects of that it has on the brain. No shit. And when he broke it down. In rehab. When he broke it down on the whiteboard, he had like, it releases endorphins, opioids, morphine. And when I seen like running and all of those things together, I was like, huh, maybe I'll go try to run in the morning. So the next morning, I went out in the driveway of the pH.

Because at that point in time, I was like into the Ph.P part. I went out smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, drinking. So, you know what I mean? Like eating awful. The most unhealthy. Yeah, yeah, I was like still going through it. And yeah, I struggled through a mile. But like I, while I was running that mile, I remember like, yo, when you put your body

in uncomfortable situations, like you're going to get rewarded at the end of that. And so like the rest of the time I was in treatment, I was there for 90 days. This is probably like from day 30 to 9. I ran every day, a mile in the morning. So now I got like the treatment facilities like, yo, Callan's out there running in the morning. So now like not only is it like the endorphins of feeling good from running, but now I have like my peers and people like looking up to me as, you know, like.

Are you in touch with those people? But do they see what you like your, your glow up? Like do they know? I think that there's a couple people probably from the treatment center that still follow me on Instagram. That's a, that's a good question. I mean, you know, like the statistics of people. Yeah.

So, I mean, I honestly haven't had anybody reach out to me in a while to be like, yeah, it's crazy to see you got to look up the dock. Yeah. I actually tried to at one point and I didn't, I didn't see anything. I know that he's, the watershed has closed down since then. So I know he's not there. So I should have to, I should actually try to look him off. That would be dope.

Dude, your smile is just contagious. You know that. You've been told that. Like, it's just contagious. It makes me want to go wrong. through a fucking big wall for you, which is why I get what Cass did for you. Okay, so you start running in treatment. You move back home.

You're under tight watch. Six months goes by. And then you guys move in together. Is that the deal? And you're like going to meetings. But I want to get to the part of the story that I think is important because, you know, there's a lot of opinions on how people get sober and stay sober. And I don't give a shit.

You know, like I've been pretty open about the way that I did it and do it. And I would say, like at this point, 14 years into it, running and physical fitness is probably just as important as some of the things I do, you know, meetings, whatever else you want to call it therapy. So you, you were talking a little bit earlier about like a year, a year and a half in, like your things are getting better. You're kind of crushing life, but you really grab the hold of the running thing. Where does that pivot or shift happen? Yeah. So it was kind of like, um, Honestly, for the first, what is it, 26, I would say for the first, like, two years, it was, it went from running and just kind of went into fitness in general, gym, CrossFit.

I recognized it, like, there was something to, like, being competitive and, like, working towards something. Like, I almost need, like, a battle, you know what I mean? Or, like, a war to fight. I need something, like, at the horizon to chase. and it like is that addiction piece of me that gives me something to focus on something to run towards um so during the pandemic is when i really leaned into running my buddy john sullivan great dude uh he's a navy veteran he was like yo you think we can run 100 miles never run an ultra marathon before i think is this dude sober or you just had met him

if he's not sober i just met him yeah yeah i just met him through like fit and stuff like that he was like probably same thing he was like yo you're you're a dog like let's hang out yeah and uh yeah he was like yo let's let's try to run 100 miles and this is very beginning of the pandemic we decide we're going to try to run the skukle river trail from start to finish from frackville pennsylvania to the art museum it was like november 16th 2020 we went out and uh that first time i ran like 90 miles with like a snickers bar and a bottle of water Just like zero preparation. No idea what I was doing.

Part of it was easier though, right? Yeah. You didn't think about the goos and the gels. Like I remember those early days of running like I would whack back like a half of Pepsi and just go. You know, like. Yeah. So I ran 90 miles first time I tried to ultra marathon really. And from there I like really caught the bug of like training, following a program.

I ended up hiring a coach. And from there. I like let the, like, my competitive nature kind of get the best of me and it's kind of evolved into what it is today. And I've run everything from a 108.75 miles and 24 hours to, you know, a two hour and 43 minute marathon working on a sub 235 right now. You're going to get it. Philly, right? Yeah.

So go back. Okay. So, but, but just like for the, for the person at the, the kid out there, right, who maybe doesn't love AA, maybe doesn't love therapy, there exist. And I think it's important for you to share, like, what running has meant to you in your recovery journey. Yeah, I think that it's really at the root of it. It comes down to a daily discipline thing. And I think it's kind of like the same principle of going to a meeting every day, really.

It's kind of being grounded in something that's bigger than yourself. And like the recovery, I'm sorry, the running community and running in general has become that for me. And I get asked all the time, well, aren't you addicted to running or like, what happens if you can't run? Like, what's going to happen then? And I think that that's a valid question to ask. But I think that I'm going to find something else positive to put my energy into. At this point, I feel like there's been such a large separation from, you know, the life that I was living previously. and I have a strong enough support system around me to, you know, be able to figure something

out, but I would say that for the person who's struggling with like being able to sit in the rooms and like kind of follow that cookie cutter recovery, um, idea, I think that there's other options out there. And for me, it has just come down to like doing hard things, you know, and like being disciplined. And I truly. believe that the person that I am today as an adult is like the person that I needed as a kid. You know what I mean? Like my 14 year old self would be like, bro, you're so cool, you know? And I think that like evolving into that has, you know, transformed my life.

Do you, uh, it's fucking, that's, that's heavy. That's just heavy. Um, I never thought about that way. That was cool. do you have kids i have a daughter she's two and a half her name is wild wild yeah my i mean i'll have to give credit again to my wife she comes up with the creative ideas and so your life like your life just to break it down i mean you are constantly creating content right around i mean is that the deal i mean because because here's the other thing that i kind of want to myth bust

here is you know and i i don't i don't do it as much as you like i'm i'm running a business here i have a platform from some of the stuff I did on TV or whatever it is. But I actually have a lot of respect for people that are creating content because it's it's a daily discipline, like to your point. And it's hard work. It absolutely is. It's funny because like just yesterday morning cast came downstairs and she was doing something. She's like trying to talk to me and I'm just like locked in on my phone. And she's like trying to figure it out. And she was like, oh, I see. She's like, you're doing your daily routine. You got to get your post. step before you can talk to anybody you know and it's just like like you said it's like a daily

discipline of like i know that similar to running with content like consistency is the biggest piece of it if you can consistently create and consistently feed the algorithm and consistently work on your craft whatever it is right it could be content it could be running whatever it is that you're working towards if you can just like hit that daily deposit it and get one percent better every day and continue to just like tap at it like nothing is going to stand up against something that's like that persistent you do you enjoy it i i do i do and i i have always been creative like i was like into graffiti and like you know art as a kid and i feel like you have an eye for what's cool yeah i have like i get a similar feel from creating videos and

like yeah it's fun it's fun to like it's paying the bills too right yeah yeah yeah the like you said like the life that we're living right now i could have never imagined and so the message i'm hearing is like anything is possible i mean that's really i mean that's it i mean you're just a kid from binghamton right like a just a kid from binghamton that wants to take his life and is now literally i went from being on the streets in Kensington like the people like when you drive down the street in kensington and like you see the people that are out there i've been yeah like that was me like that was that was me and that's where i was headed if i didn't change something either there or

dead right so like if if i can come from that to content creator even a even a marathon or period you know what I mean? Let's take time out of it just to be able to complete a marathon, ultra marathon, be a dad, be a husband. Yeah, I mean, I think there's experience. I mean, for me, like, run around Camden, you, Kensington. It's like, it's almost like I'm fearless in a little bit. Like, you know, come, come hang out with me for a day. Like, like, because you will do anything to get high. Literally anything. Yeah, there was nothing that was going to stand in my way. And I, and I use that now and oftentimes like when things get tough in a race like people are always like yo like how do you like where does your mind go when it gets hard and like I'm like pro if I can go through

opioid withdraws like I can run hard for another six hours 10 hours like as soon as I stop running the pain goes away like this is my I'm choosing to suffer right now before I wasn't I mean, as much as it kind of was a choice at the same time, like, you can't just choose to turn it off. People recognize you in Philly? Of course. Yeah. I mean, I was just up in New York for Diplow's Run Club last weekend.

Yeah. So, you were like pacing Diplo, right? Yeah, yeah. That was cool. How do you? I mean, that was just, you just did you. You just got in there. You got in.

So I was working with ultra running. Yeah. Yeah. So like, like, they put me up towards the front. And like, I kind of got like that little bit of a VIP experience. But yeah. And then obviously I'm probably faster than most people. Definitely faster than diplo.

So I just scootered up there. But he ran a PR, which is great. Yeah. I think it was, I put it on my page that it was 1936. I think it was 1956, which is fast. Yeah. I mean, that's cruising. Yeah.

Yeah. So 25K. Jesus. I'm such a mess right now. Am I running? It's so bad, dude. It's so bad. I sit with you.

It's the gift of delusion that we have. It's like how, you know, like I sit with you here. And I'm like, maybe I should just go all in on the running thing, you know, because it's just, it's, I love it. I really do. And so people like, is that, is that you and Kat? I mean, you're like a Philly couple a little bit, right? Just this morning, Cass was like, when we were at the Eagles game, some, some guy came out to me. He was like, yo, I love your content. You're a huge inspiration. Cass was like, nobody came out to me at the game. She's like, everybody recognizes you now. Nobody recognizes me anymore.

I was like. But she's rude for you. Yeah, she beats the shit out of the other side of this thing. right now she's honestly up in the air about like she kind of just wants to be a mom and kind of like back off and let me take the reins again because for a while while I was trying to figure out the content thing and like I was a project manager for a construction company the same one that I had been working for and like it came to a point where I was like having to ask off of work a lot because Cass is getting all these opportunities we're going here we're going there and they were like dude you got to you know you got to make a decision here so I mean you don't have to show up as a running content you don't have to show up

to a lot of these events that are just soul-sucking. Like, you can kind of just do your, like, brands want to work with you because you're, dude, our manager, Cassonized manager, Alex is also, she's the goat. Yeah. Yeah, she's, she's really good at her job. And she, yeah, gets us a lot of opportunities and we can kind of just pick and choose which ones are going to work best and which ones, you know, sit the best. You don't have to do anything that, you know, doesn't feel organic.

I don't have to look, though. You got the cool look. know like i'm like graying and balvin like i got you fit check went crazy bro so here's yeah this is where i want to i mean like i got a hit on this before we go one so i dm so i like i'm a runner too but kellen's fast as fucking so i dm them and i'm like bro when did it happen for you he's probably sitting there like because because i watch this guy's running every day he's out there clock in six minute miles six 19 six and like you know you go on the strava hole and like i just gets so jealous of you. I'm just saying this out loud. And what did you say? You said basically

like up the mileage and just learn to run hard, I think is really. I mean, really the biggest thing is just stacking the miles consistency. I probably seen the biggest jumps when I started to add more volume. And I kind of like 24, I guess I should mention this, I ran one marathon a month while bringing awareness to the disease of addiction. So as you can imagine, I ran a lot of my last year. I probably averaged like 70 miles a week last year. And I think that probably was the largest jump. What year? We need 25 or six? 25. Yeah. 25. Yeah. So that was probably the largest jump in my fitness was like that volume increase. Obviously, that's tough to do. You have to take care of your body. You're tired at first. Like trying to manage that while being a dad and create content was

tricky um but now that my body's used to it i mean i'm adding intensity in i also have a great coach cori smith run your personal best he's a dog and uh yeah like i said we're gonna run a fast marathon her month for me i'm gonna have you diagnose me and then we'll then we'll then we'll finish with the fit check um because that's just fun yeah so i'm a i'm heading in new york because this weekend, Sunday, this episode will probably come out right before it or right after it. So we'll find out how I did. My, so my PR's at 313. I ran it at Grandma's marathon up in Duluth, Minnesota, because it was supposed to be flat.

So that race, it's hot. I was clipping, bro. I was like sevens on, like every mile seven, seven, seven, which is where I needed to be. And I start singing shipping up to Boston at like mile 21 out loud in the streets. Like I did it. Like, I qualify for Boston, baby. By mile 22, I'm on the side of the road, pukin. You know, like, it's just, it happens so quick.

I was just talking to my buddies about it this morning. It's like, you get like two warning miles. There's like a mile where it's like, okay, this is getting hard. And then you're like, man, this is getting really hard. And then all of a sudden, the floor just comes out from underneath you. Gone. Got it. Yeah.

What am I going to do? So I ran New York. I saw you on the bridge. That's really how we met, like in New York on the bridge last year. Yeah, yeah. So I ran New York last year that happened. I went out to run a 235. I ran the first half in like 118 and then ended up running like a 254, I think, which is a great time to run.

But the last, you know, half marathon. Be grinder. I had to dig. I had to really dig deep in like, you know. And what do you, what is that fuel? Like it's just bad day. Yeah. So like I said, I ran a lot of marathons last year. So I think it was a mix of, you know, just a lot of volume on the legs. And, you know, sometimes you just don't have it that, you know, some days just doesn't chop out the way you wanted to. But I had the same experience in Boston. And I went out hot, ran a great first half. And then Heartbreak Hill, walk run, cramped up in the med tent, getting icy hot on my legs. I got to hear this shit because it's just, it reminds me that, like, there's a humility and all this.

So I heard a good quote once to said, everybody wants to run a fast marathon. Nobody wants to run the two or three bad marathons, slow marathons it takes to get there. Yeah. I'm kind of there right now. I mean, I went 313. Then I went, I had a good New York last year, 316. It was a good day last year, too, which sucks that you didn't have it because the weather was like it's part of the whole thing. So I had a decent New York last year

I mean I would love to go Sub 310 this year But I just I need to change something Because I keep going through these blocks And I feel good And it's just not It hasn't clicked yet on kind of race day

And my my I'm not fast enough So I guess that's my question Like how did you get faster Or were you just a gifted athlete I mean I've always kind of been an okay runner Like running us just kind of come naturally like i have like a natural stride like you know but yeah yeah really once i started

working with like tempo threshold workouts that's when it was really like okay i can start to see like incremental gains as like okay i can hold this pace longer it's really once you start to add that intensity in start to do some tempo runs some VO2 max work get on the track you know The tracks are best. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I was at the track this morning. What do you use?

Who do you use? Temple. I'm at Temple track 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. You can get in? Yeah. They have public hours from 5 a.m. to like some days it's not easy to find track. That's my big business idea is to have a, uh, somehow have a track.

But like it's, you'd have to have them everywhere. Yeah. I mean, in New York, though, there's a, there's a good amount of tracks here. I mean, you got Brooklyn, the West Highway. Like for me, like sitting here right now, like East River's closed. You can go all the, upper west you can go over to brook yeah i mean it's just i mean they're kind of far away they're kind of far yeah they're kind of far you know and like i have one track workout a week for 16 weeks like and i'm on

the road travel i mean that's the other thing like if i if i really want to commit to it i got to tell everyone to fuck off and i'm gonna run for for 12 months or 12 weeks because it's you know i don't know what else to tell you but i love it okay so the last thing is the fit check where did that come from like it's your thing and i dude i found myself in that one post you comment i was like bro like i'm just like this is kind of your thing like the standing like the fit check and it's just consistency but you you blew it up yeah so like obviously people have been doing fit checks forever but like once i threw the strava stats over it like people were like mindful it was like everybody wanted to do a fit check and uh and honestly came from cass

cast was like yo you should start telling people the clothes that you're wearing because she could see that i kind of was like enjoying like getting cool running pieces and wearing them out of everyone was like, yeah, where'd you get that? And she was like, yeah, you need to start posting that. I was like, that's stupid. Not doing that. And then, of course, first time I do it explodes. And then I just like every day kept it up.

For a minute, it kind of got to the point where I was like, man, what am I going to wear now? You know what I mean? It was like trying to keep up with it. You can run some shit back. I don't think people, you don't think yourself that seriously. Yeah. I mean, I was. I was mixing it up.

And yeah, that was really. Is it every day? You do it every day? I was for a while. Yeah, I was. Now I've kind of gotten away from doing it every day. I mix it up and kind of just toss them in every once in a while. I really, the content that I really enjoy to create is kind of just like documenting my process, you know, of like preparing for these races like that.

Just like daily monotony of just like doing it over and over again, like motivation. And are you all self? Are you all? I mean, Cass maybe helps you a little bit, but it's no. I got to. So my homie angel now, he's, he's. He's out there with me a lot. Like he was at the track with me this morning.

Yeah, I definitely need a camera guy a lot of the times now. But, I mean, the phone is great too. I mean, that's what I built my brand with is just like setting up the phone on a ledge. I hope people listen to this one. I mean, they will because you got, you got a following. And like, I just, I got goosebumps talking to you, Callan, because it's, it's fucking, your story is so much like mine. Like the way we talk about drugs, the way we talk about the addiction, even the way you talked about the warm hug. And here we are like sitting here having this like beautiful conversation just about running and life and content creation, your beautiful wife and your child wild.

Like there's a good life available to even if you're not, fuck, addicted to drugs or like like like there's just like the change is possible. Of course. I think that's the best. Yeah. I mean, this life is obviously available to anybody ever. he's addicted to something right and i mean a huge portion of the country right now is it to do sugar food phone like whatever it is you got that shit out in nutrition right now like during marathon training bro all as i eat is ground beef and rice which is kind of sit in avocado which is

kind of see to think about i mean 90% of the meals that i eat just because like it sits in my stomach well right like i can carb load easy just add more rice and in like i don't have to think about it on race day just like it's just the same thing that I've been eating so it's not like oh what am I going to carve load it with it's just like you're locked in same thing every day sitting here talking you next year I'm gonna fucking drop it 242 in New York that's good is there help I mean like some guys got to have help bro like taking some shit I don't fucking know man I mean that's the like the mental part of it though right like Cass is always like dude you're crazy is your coach yeah my coach is great dude I went from

350 to 313. That's not like, I mean, my coach isn't telling me to eat ground beef and right. You know what I mean? Like at the end, my coach gives me a good plan and helps me with race strategy. Like I ran a 16 or a 15 58 5K in June. He helped me with that. You know what I mean? That's fast. That's really fast. That's really fast. Are you, I mean, do you think you can get down to the Olymp? I mean, like, are you going to push it or? I mean, in my mind, I think to myself like, man, I can maybe like, it's probably obtainable. It's like, I mean really if you're delusional enough like anything's possible right I think that if you're delusional enough anything is possible that's the tagline right there yeah I would say right like if you believe in yourself enough like you can go get it I think that if everything lines up I can stay healthy I continue to compound it's well within well within range I think I have three years to try to tackle the standard if I was able to I think it's down to two six 16 right now, which is three years of just health, young youth, all that kind of thing. No, until the next, you would have left to qualify for the OTQ, which, you know, it would, I'm not saying I would go to the Olympics, but even to be a part of the OTQ marathon would be so crazy. And there's the opportunities at doors. I mean, like, last night, I'm in a room with Meb. I'm in a room with the dude, New York Nico, who just said this sick documentary on the, dude, did you watch it?

I didn't watch it. I got it started. I watched it on my way back. I mean, bring tissues. You're going to cry, bro. It's like he follows these four runners from last year's marathon. They all, like the one dude had a stroke and started running and not eating food to kill himself so that his kids didn't know that it was suicide. Wow. And during that process, fell in love with running and got healthy, lost like 150 pounds.

And then last year ran. Like, it's just. it's why we love running right like we can sit here and talk about times and I can get all gassed up about the bullshit but like at the end of the day like no one gives a fuck about my time besides me right right that's like it's cool it's cool to run fast it's cool to be fit and all that stuff but at the end of the day like I always say I posted a trial real the other day and it was like I was standing at the Philly 10k and watched like the last three runners come through and I was like dude like that's way harder you guys

tap me into some of these Philly races. Yeah, there's some good ones. I always see you and I'm like, fuck, dude, I would have done that or like, like, I need, and I need to, that's the other thing I think you do a good job of. You race. Yeah. Like, you go out and race. My coach has been on me to do that.

I don't race enough. Like, I do the marathon and then I'll run the next marathon. Like in between racing, I think is helpful. Yeah, I think my goal coming up on this next year will be to in this, in the spring, do a half marathon and a full marathon through the summer, do like two or three, five, K. pays and then in the fall do a half marathon and a marathon that way it's just like you're constantly pushing towards something something to work for obviously I'm definitely blessed to have you know the ability to just like sign up for races and do that yeah we're definitely a privilege um but

I mean I'm gonna lean into it while I can yeah don't be ashamed of that bro you you worked your ass off to get there like in more than most so I don't I don't carry that shame people will be like you get in you i'm like bro i get in new york every year because we have 130 people raising money and we're giving we've built this foundation that it you know so it's like we got to get you flying the flag anyway that's it callan runs philly tell people how they find you uh yeah tick tock instagram youtube at callan runs philly follow me on strava yeah go birds let's get it let's get it bro that was sick