Five Ways Running Can Transform Your Life with Zack Selleck
Nov 23, 2023Season 2Episode 107
Zack Selleck
#107 - Ready to break free from your comfort zone and embark on a transformative health and fitness journey? You're in luck! In our latest episode, we sit down with Zack Selleck, a plant-based endurance runner from Michigan who has run the gamut from 5Ks to ultramarathons. Zack's story is one of determination and resilience, peppered with life-changing decisions that ultimately led him to the healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle he leads today.
Topics Covered:
Learn the 5 ways running can help transform your life
Listen for the practical tools to integrate running into their hectic lives
Hear his unique insights on maintaining motivation and implementing lifestyle changes that stick
Today’s Guest
Zack Selleck
Zack is a plant-based endurance runner from Michigan. He is married with two children, 14 and 11. He has been running since 2011, starting recreationally with 5k's and now getting more serious with ultra marathons and endurance runs/races like the Run to Montreal, and The Speed Project and R3. In addition, he is an amateur photographer, so he is able to combine his hobbies of running and taking pictures. He is excited to talk about how running has changed his life and how he has reaped the benefits from better eating, exercise, and pushing his limits.
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
#107 - Ready to break free from your comfort zone and embark on a transformative health and fitness journey? You're in luck! In our latest episode, we sit down with Zack Selleck, a plant-based endurance runner from Michigan who has run the gamut from 5Ks to ultramarathons. Zack's story is one of determination and resilience, peppered with life-changing decisions that ultimately led him to the healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle he leads today.
Topics Covered:
Learn the 5 ways running can help transform your life
Listen for the practical tools to integrate running into their hectic lives
Hear his unique insights on maintaining motivation and implementing lifestyle changes that stick
Today’s Guest
Zack Selleck
Zack is a plant-based endurance runner from Michigan. He is married with two children, 14 and 11. He has been running since 2011, starting recreationally with 5k's and now getting more serious with ultra marathons and endurance runs/races like the Run to Montreal, and The Speed Project and R3. In addition, he is an amateur photographer, so he is able to combine his hobbies of running and taking pictures. He is excited to talk about how running has changed his life and how he has reaped the benefits from better eating, exercise, and pushing his limits.
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Hey, my friend, are you wondering why should I run and how will running benefit me in my life? Or maybe you have a friend wondering the same thing, as you're trying to get them to run that 5k or half marathon with you. If that is the case, this episode is for you. Our guest, zach, will answer those questions while sharing his inspiring story. So sit back, relax and enjoy the conversation. Oh yeah, don't forget to share this episode with your friend as well. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here is your host, richard Connor.
Speaker 1:
Hi, my friend, welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Today, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Zach Selick, who is a plant-based endurance runner from Michigan. He is married with two children, ages 14 and 11. Zach has been running since 2011, and he started recreationally with 5ks and now getting more serious with ultramarathons and endurance runs and races like Run to Montreal and the Speed Project and R3. In addition, he is an amateur photographer, so he is able to combine his hobbies of running and taking pictures. He is excited to talk about how running has changed his life and how he has reaped the benefits from better eating, exercise and pushing his limits.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the show, zach. Thanks so much, richard. I am excited to be here. I am excited to have you here to share your story and, specifically, how running has changed your life, because I have seen that in many of the guests and many of the folks that I know about how running has made such a positive impact in their lives. So excited to have you share your story. Your story in this topic is so important because this is the primary mission for Inspire to Run is to inspire folks to run right to make a change in their life and make running a big part of that. So happy to have you here. Well, thanks, I really appreciate it. Yeah, so you know I've read a little bit about you and your bio, but let's just hear you know from you a little bit about you, know how you got started in running and what that was like for you.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, absolutely Well, I was always really active. In high school I played football, basketball, baseball. In college I was pretty active as well. I did lifted weights still played recreationally and then right after that got a really high stress job. After I graduated I was on call on weekends during the week made it really difficult to do kind of active things or join teams or any of that stuff, and so just slowly got out of shape and it was kind of progressive and I finally was like man, I'm a little out of whack here.
Speaker 3:
Right about that time actually at my job I had a buddy that was running and running quite a bit kind of in the mornings or on the weekends and finding time to do it, and he was like you know, you should just run a 5K. And I was like a 5K, I'm like I can totally run a 5K, no problem. I was active, like. I just still had this mentality of like oh, I'm still this athlete that I used to be. So we trained a couple of times before the race and then went out there and it was somewhat humbling and embarrassing. I was out of breath. All of a sudden I was getting passed by everybody. I couldn't believe just how far I'd let myself go. And so during that race I was just like this is crazy. I'm 30. I should be in great shape. Still. I've got plenty of life left. And I wasn't. And so by the time I got done with that, I just had made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to let myself keep sliding down that path. And so I didn't know what that meant or what to do. But I was like I'm going to keep running. Oh, I think that's a good activity. I should be able to do a 5K, so why not keep working towards that and seeing if I can improve my time? And so, luckily, I had this buddy who encouraged me to kind of keep going. He had been running like half marathons, which just seemed inconceivable to me at that time.
Speaker 3:
After having experienced a 5K like I did, but signed up for more races, got stuff on the calendar, started trying to train, I didn't know what I was doing and I was like I know I can just go out there and try to run faster. And so that's all I did. For the next I don't know year or so I would join a 5K. I would do a little bit better, and progressively I started getting a little bit better shape and so I was like, oh, maybe I'll try a 10K. I was like 5K times getting down, I was losing some weight, I was feeling better. It made me want to eat better, and so it's kind of this just progressive thing. So finally did a 10K.
Speaker 3:
That went pretty well, did a few of those and then my buddy moved away, went to Nashville and he was like you should come down here and do this rock and roll half marathon in Nashville. It was like there's going to be bands and it's going to be a good time. We're going to eat and drink and do whatever. It was like, oh yeah, I can do that. So I went down there, ran this half marathon and right at the end of the half marathon the marathoners were getting ready to do like their kind of second loop. You could see them kind of going back out for the second piece of that and I just remember thinking at the time like there is no way ever that I would do that.
Speaker 3:
I'm like exhausted, if anybody's ever done that half marathon. It's like there's a lot of hills and it was definitely challenging, but it kind of got in my head like man, there's people that do this. And it was such a like a positive community All the way from these five Ks to 10 Ks to this half marathon. Everybody was just up and Adam are ready to go. And I was like this is why I need my life, this positivity, this encouragement, all of that stuff was so good. And so after a little while I started getting my head like I could maybe try a marathon.
Speaker 3:
And around that same time I had a couple of my cousins were like, yeah, we should totally sign up. So we kind of signed up on a whim, did the Grand Rapids Michigan kind of marathon, finished it. It was like that was pretty amazing. Never want to do it again. I was sore, everything hurt. I was just like that was great, but just like so many other people, after a little while you kind of forget how bad that pain was and we're like, oh, you know, I could totally do it again. So did a few more of those. And then one of my same cousins was like we should do an ultra marathon, which was kind of funny to me, thinking back to kind of where I started. But I was like, okay, it was like 33 miles and we did it, we finished it and I was like, man, I'm an ultra marathoner now. This is crazy.
Speaker 3:
So from there it kind of just progressively kept going. I got a running coach. It was actually a Canadian guy that I met, darren Welderick, who runs a big kind of running group there, and that helped. He helped kind of get me ready for some of these longer runs. And then I started trail running and that kind of changed my life from that standpoint.
Speaker 3:
And so I kind of got off the roads and into trails and those guys were doing 100 mile runs, 50 mile runs, and so encouraged me to like you can keep going farther, like you don't have to stop, and I just again just kind of felt physically better as time progressed. It was definitely gotten to better shape. And now all of a sudden that seemed feasible and so I've done several 50 mile runs since then and some of the adventure runs that you referenced kind of in the beginning. So it's been an exciting kind of journey of kind of self discovery and after, what do I do after college? How do I stay in shape? You know, what do I do next? And finding some passion and direction in my life was a good thing.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that. Thank you for sharing your stories, zach, and I can relate to a lot of what you said, probably up to the half marathon point, probably nothing after that, but we'll certainly talk about all of it. But I appreciate what you said, some of the things that you shared. The first is your friend first getting you into it some time ago.
Speaker 1:
I love that you mentioned that, because that is a common way for someone to get into running in a very influential way. So see, someone who you're close to, you have a connection to you, say hey, let's go do this race or come to the gym with me. So I love that that happened for you. And I also appreciate what you said about not exercising and just kind of getting really kind of drawn into your work. And it happens over time. It's not overnight, but you could easily kind of get out of shape and whatever that means right If you're not eating healthy or whatever that means for you. And then making that commitment to make a change and that's the part of it that is truly inspiring is that you could recognize that you know things have changed for you, probably not in a positive way, but to make that commitment to yourself that you want to make a change in a positive way. So hats off to you for that.
Speaker 3:
I appreciate it. Yeah, it's a. It's a progressive thing, both good and bad. Nothing happens overnight. The bad doesn't happen overnight and the good doesn't happen overnight. So make the commitment to yourself is really important.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah for sure. And you know I had a similar experience a few years ago, you know. So my story is a runner in high school track cross country didn't run after high school, you know, just got started with life, college, kids, career, kind of all at the same time. And then you know, and then just a few years ago I kind of found myself kind of in that corporate like travel a lot, you know, probably very unhealthy diet and, you know, not really taking care of myself. And then at some point, you know it's the same kind of thing like, oh, you know, I need to get active again, but not really doing much other than periodically going to the gym or periodically running, you know, five K race. And then for me it wasn't until getting into obstacle course races where I'm like this is something I can do and this is something I want to do and I think this is going to help me. You know, just personally kind of grow. So that was kind of the turning point for me. I love that.
Speaker 3:
I mean there's so many different options out there. It doesn't need to be marathon running. There's obstacle courses, there's these adventure races. We're doing all kinds of other activities canoeing and biking and all that stuff. I mean, just find something that works. It doesn't need to be a particular thing, it just needs to be something. So just find that something for you. I think is important.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, absolutely. And then you know, kind of thinking about the obstacle course races there is, you know. So the ones that I did were Spartan races and they have three levels. They call Spartan sprints, spartan super and Spartan beast, and the beast is equivalent to a half marathon plus a certain number of obstacles. So I'm kind of chuckling as you're talking about, hey, you finished your half marathon and you see the runners going out for their second loop, for the full marathon. That's exactly my thought when I'm finishing the beast and I'm thinking about all the folks who are doing the ultra, you know, the Spartan ultra, which is, you know, that distance. So until you get there it, just for you know, feels like super far away, probably farther away than it really is for you to get to that point Totally agree, yeah, everybody's kind of on their own timeline as far as that stuff goes.
Speaker 3:
But yeah, I mean, it really is like just being consistent and showing up and at some point you're going to, you know, toe that starting line and you may or may not be ready, but it's just getting out there and trying it and surprise yourself. I think you, you know, I've surprised myself several times where I was like, man, this is going to be hard, or I'm, you know, I'm going to finish this, and you know it's one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, absolutely. So you know, so tell me about you know, the things or the ways that running has transformed your life. I'm really, really fascinated by this. I'm, you know, having a lot of conversations with runners who have different experiences, different paths, and one of the things I love about these conversations is to hear about, like, how is it really helped them? And I think, you know, when you think about fitness, you think about running. More than likely, the first thing that comes to mind is really just about, like, losing weight or or getting fit. You know, but there's so much more that that running is, but there's so much more that running provides. So, like, what are the ways that it, that it's, helped you? And I know you mentioned about, also about kind of losing weight as well, so that I assume that's part of your story but share a little bit about, like, the ways that running has helped you.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, absolutely, I think for me. I mean, it was really just a health thing at first and I had no intention of like, oh, I'll become an ultramarathon, or like that was not on my radar at all. Really it wasn't until it's like progressing and reading books and like trying to figure out like, where am I going with this? That, that that stuff happened. So it was really just starting out with the basic like yeah, I'm heavy, now what am I doing with my life? Let's try to figure that out.
Speaker 3:
But I think, like for the first thing was just having something to train for and so having a race out there. And I always just had one like, oh, in a couple of months I've got this race. And so I was always kind of able to back into it, to go, okay, I'm doing this race, I don't want to die while I'm doing it. So what are the three things I kind of need to do to get myself prepared? And that really made a big difference for me and I've done that now for 14 years. I've always just had something out there and they've gotten bigger and harder and, you know, taking more training and some of that stuff. But having something that you're working towards, I think is super important. So I would say that's probably number one.
Speaker 3:
Without that, it's like you have these big periods of inactivity and that consistency is really hard. Trying to find that motivation is really hard. If you have something out there, you can really create that discipline of okay, I've got to get up, I got to do this run. Here's my plan. I'm big on like lists and checkoffs and you know I would lay out my training and go, okay, did I do my thing today or not? And checking that box made a huge difference for me. It was like something as simple as that, like, yes, I did my thing, and then, moving out with my day, I would say that's number one is just figure out what that thing is that you can work towards, find some direction that way, and it will be amazed at what you can do with it for yourself.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, for sure, and you know you didn't use these words, but I feel like to some extent it's a little bit of sense of accomplishment, right Even before you reached that end goal. It's doing those daily workouts and checking those boxes and kind of doing everything leading up to it, so yeah, yeah, that's totally it, I think you know, and it builds on itself.
Speaker 3:
It's like once you're you know, it's like oh man, five k's pretty easy or 10 k's pretty easy. It's like your mindset changes to what that next thing is.
Speaker 3:
Again, I never intended to like I'm going to do a bunch of these long races, but just it was like, well, what's my next thing? That I really want to push myself towards what's interesting out there that I could do, and that was really helpful over time. Very cool, very cool. I think secondarily to that is just kind of surrounding yourself with good people. I feel like I've done a good job of that over the last I don't know 10 years.
Speaker 3:
You know, as I realized, like I don't know everything, I don't know what I was doing when I first started. I didn't know how to do any kind of nutrition, I didn't know how to eat right, I didn't know the workouts to do all that stuff, and so I think, finding somebody that can kind of guide you in it at first it was just a friend, but from there I did, I got a running coach and that was helpful. I was like, oh man, what's a speed workout? What's a hill workout? Like I haven't done these things before and oh, I should have pace goals and like, over time, that that really helps like, okay, now I can kind of create my own plan because I'm getting this baseline of knowledge and it's somebody that that's going to help push you even on days where you don't feel like doing it.
Speaker 3:
Having that accountability to either a running group or a coach or whoever it might be, made a huge difference.
Speaker 3:
And then just seeing what they're doing, I mean I think the you know, a lot of the things that I got into were because these people are doing it and they're like, oh, we need another person to come with us, or why don't you try this thing? And so having people around you that are you know you don't set these internal limits that I think it's easy to do when you're by yourself. But having this group of people are like you could totally do it, you're doing this, and that was just like me, that kind of stuff was all true motivating for me to like, okay, yeah, like let's try that. Okay, yeah, I'll do that. Training, because I've always been one to like be willing to push myself, but I just need some direction and how to push, and so that was nice to have some people around. So I would say number two is you know, find some people that you know are kind of interested in what you're interested in and willing to kind of push you, even if you don't want to be pushed.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, 100% agree. I love what you said about that surrounding yourself. But, you know, with the right people and you know I love to quote sayings but I never really get them right but it's something like you're the average of the five people closest to you, kind of in your life. So you know. So you're absolutely right. You know the quality of those people is really going to determine, you know, your mindset and your actions not determined, I would say influence, right, your interactions. So totally agree with that. And then you know, in the coach part, completely relate to that. I mean, that's my story.
Speaker 1:
Four years ago, when I got into obstacle course races, I did my first race without a coach. I didn't know what I didn't know and then afterwards I'm like I could do this better. But I definitely need help. I need someone to tell me what to do. But I will say that to the coach I have now through underdog fitness, who I brought on the show a few times and you know we go on Instagram live and we got a great, you know relationship and partnership. You know he did more than just told me what to do. He helped push me to do the things that I never thought I could do before Right, which was the journey I was on. He was that push, though, to say yes, you can, right, and here's how we're going to get you there, which has been, you know, tremendous, so I can completely relate to you know what you shared there.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I like that. I mean, I think that's totally true. You know, coaches have seen everything under the sun and you know, I think they can. They can see in you what you can at first, and I think that's that's a great part of having somebody that's willing to sit down with you, create a plan and then help you execute on that plan.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. And then you know, and I'm sure it's the same with your coach we've become really good friends right over the last four years working together and it's more than you know the coaching and the fitness part of it. We've just become really good friends, which is great, yeah, that's a side benefit for sure.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I think the next thing is just, you know, the power of saying yes. You know, I think as I was getting into, you know, after college and working and kind of getting into this bubble things, kind of closed in a little bit on what I was doing, I was, you know, I just had my first child, like things were kind of slow and you know that was okay for a time. But I think you can get stuck in that mentality of I go to work, I come home, I take care of kids, I clean, we, you know, do whatever on the weekend, and then it's back to Monday, we get going again. And I think, you know, having a coach going, finding people that are interested in what you're interested in, really helps to kind of get yourself outside of that. And so you start realizing, man, there's other things to do out here too. That would be good for me to push boundaries, to explore, to figure out you know what the next thing is. Actually, the coach that I had from Canada. He had basically started a big race, this run to Montreal, which is basically run from Toronto to Montreal relay style. He, the first year that I said yes to it was 10 people and it was 600 miles or something. And so I was like, okay, yeah, I'll come do that, because I was in the group. I barely got to see everybody else that was in the group. But I was like, okay, yeah, I'll come to Toronto and run with a bunch of Canadian people that I've never met. Sure, that sounds great. So I mean it, like doing that kind of stuff really got me outside of my comfort zone, is like or now in an RV for the next two days, but met some great people. It was so hard and it's so rewarding to get that done.
Speaker 3:
And then, a few years after that, there was another race that was very similar, called the speed project, which was a race from the Santa Monica pier to the Las Vegas sign. But that one had like 20 teams, a lot of international teams. It was only six people Run through death valley, like things that I'm pretty nervous about doing some of the stuff that the running group was super fast and I've never been that fast when it comes to running. I can endure for a while, but running fast is gonna be challenging. So Doing that with that group was kind of amazing. And then we did the run Montreal. I've done that three times now, which has been a really cool experience.
Speaker 3:
And then most recently, I think just a couple years ago, I did our three, which is at the Grand Canyon, Start at one rim, go all the way down, all the way across, go to the other side and then come all the way back around. So it's a little over 50 miles and a lot of elevation Doing that stuff. But you know, thinking back to like when I started just trying to get through 5k, it's just amazing I feel how far my mentality of you know I can figure this out. Yeah, this is scary. Yes, I would normally be really nervous about this, but I got other people that will do it. Let's say, yes, that's made a huge difference my life, just not just in running but just in life in general, of just being open. So running brought that to me, which is pretty cool, that's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:
And so first graduation, on all those scary races, long races and I love what you said about you know saying yes and you know you touched on a little bit about it's not only about fitness but it's also in other areas of your life. So it's really wonderful to see kind of the benefits that you're getting here from in your fitness related activities, kind of just in your broader you know kind of life.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I agree, I think it's. You know it started with that and then you know you want to do better. I'm sure you experience some of the same thing with your racing. You get those things done, you start putting those behind you and you want to be a better person. You want to make things the best that they can be for your life, and I certainly happened with me. I mean thinking about habits and how do I progress from here? I think I had a bunch of bad habits kind of leading up to this and I think I've replaced most of them with really positive things. Like I started eating a lot better. I'm plant based now. I've been that way for 10 years. That was a big change and lost a ton of weight with that. I think I improved my running, which has been great.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I didn't like to get up early. Now I get up early most days. I'm usually up by 530 and I go run 10 you know, 6 miles, 10 miles or whatever it might be on the weekends a lot longer. I never would have done that leading up to this. So it's just interesting like over time, that May start with running, but it really transforms all these different aspects of your life and, like you know, I want to be a good dad, I want to have energy, I want to Age well, I want to be healthy and it all kind of feeds into each other. So it's, it's been a good progression that way. Very cool, very cool. Have you experienced something similar yourself?
Speaker 1:
just a curiosity yeah, you know, just thinking about what I mean. First you talk about the races. My goal for the races typically, if I've never done it before, it's really just a finish right. If I've never done it before, I don't have a benchmark. I'm like I just want to finish it, especially if it's really daunting for me. But then after that looking to do better and then kind of set a goal is this okay? Well, if I did X, then you know, through some training sometime I could do why. And then I go into the next race kind of without mindset, like how do I do it better than I did before? Not only you know my time, but also how I'm feeling and how I'm running and you know doing all the other things that I should be doing properly, like proper fueling and nutrition and Pace and stride and form and all of those things. But yeah, I would say that this is really my journey. In particular you're talking about how it's helped me and like other parts of my life. So for me.
Speaker 1:
My journey has been around doing things I've never done before and overcoming fears. So it's, you know, mostly physically related, like you know, climbing up a rope or doing monkey bars or anything to do with heights, like mostly that. But it's transferred over into my life and, like I do hard things in my life, maybe it's difficult conversations right where I would have avoided in the past. Now I'm kind of leaning into those conversations or situations. So I definitely see this. You know my journey of doing things I never done before, doing things that you know scare me. I've seen that kind of transfer. You know another parts of my life. I will say some of the physical parts. Like you talked about getting up at five thirty in the morning, for me that's still tough. That's still tough to do. I do. I do get up early in the morning. My body is conditioned to do so, but I'm not entirely as happy about it as you are. So maybe I can learn a little bit from what you're doing there. But yeah, but just you know other parts. I do feel better.
Speaker 1:
Like I went through this whole period of time that year after I did my first obstacle course race, where, you know, when I got a coach, I was eating better. One of my goals was not necessarily to lose weight, but to lose body fat and then become stronger and become a faster runner. I was doing all those things that year. Honestly, like right before the pandemic, I was probably in the best shape of my life and I was sharing my story and I was excited and that got other people excited and I don't share that too too much on the podcast, but that's actually one of the reasons why I started the podcast was as a way to share my story because you know, for some folks, I hope that it is inspiring to them as well as share stories like yours. So that's, that whole journey is a large part of what led me even to start this community in podcast.
Speaker 3:
I think that's so great. I mean, pandemic is good for something. It was a challenging time. I feel like you know you can either come out of that real bad or or better, I think, and you chose better, which is good, and I certainly never enjoy getting up, even now. But it's just part of what I got to do to get it done, and so I'm with you. It's hard to. It's hard to wake up, especially in the winter, and put on your stuff and go outside and be cold, dark and snow on you.
Speaker 1:
And here we are, like it's right around the corner, so it's coming. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:
I think kind of the last point is just, you know, kind of back to you know, being the best version of yourself. I think that I'm all about that now. I think trying to optimize, trying to figure out, you know, can I get stronger, faster, better? I'm getting older, I'm going to fight that as hard as I can. So, since having the running coach, I don't have him anymore Now I have a strength coach and so I've incorporated that into running.
Speaker 3:
Trying to be, you know, doing pull-ups, push-ups, doing weighted best stuff, like that is pretty cool. I'm eating a little bit differently, getting a little bit more protein. That's helped my running. I think that's made me a way more durable so I don't get hurt quite as often. So, like anything I can do to try to improve, I'm all about it. So I think that you know I'm 180, shifted from when I was 30 and now I'm 44. And I think I'm a better person. I'm going to keep trying, trying to figure out the best way to do that kind of not just physically but emotionally and spiritually and just in general with my family and everything else. So it's a process that I'm still trying to figure out, but I want to be better, I want to do the best I can every day that I'm alive.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that. Thank you so much, zach, for sharing you know your five ways that. You know running has really transformed your life and I love to see how you know it had the benefits for you physically, but also in other areas of your life, just kind of as we talked about and I have some shared experiences there as well. So you know, I love to hear from you. You know, throughout your journey, what would you say was probably the most difficult thing that you had to obstacle, that you had to overcome, and how'd you do it?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I think, similar to you. Like I traveled a lot for work, I traveled a little less since the pandemic, but trying to fit in some of this training being on airplanes, having late dinners, so trying to just figure out kind of with the calendar and trying to puzzle in the workouts has always been a challenge. So now I'm doing a little less of that, which makes it think a heck of a lot easier. But you know, sometimes it would be that really late night run and I would not want to do that after a big dinner or something like that.
Speaker 2:
But I would be like I got to get it in.
Speaker 3:
Like, where else am I going to put it? And so it created like a really good set of discipline for myself to know, you know, I'll do it no matter what. Like, okay, I don't get done until 12.30 at night. I guess that's what it's going to take, and I'm just willing to do that if I know I've got some big thing that I'm working towards because I want to do that well, and so I just don't give myself a lot of excuses. But that took time to develop.
Speaker 3:
There was plenty of times where I skipped runs or I'm like, oh, it's so cold out there, I don't want to do it. I really don't do that anymore. Like, if something's on schedule, I'm going to get it done one way or another, I'm going to fit it in. And so that was probably like the most difficult. But now I think I'm over that piece of it and I think that makes all the difference. I think being consistent makes everything much simpler in your life if you're willing to just go out and do what you say you're going to do. And so I'm going to try to keep that up.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that. Yeah, I mean travel for me. I still haven't really figured it out. I'm getting better but I still haven't really figured it out. Like you said, you know, early starts, late dinners, it's just being on an airplane, it's just really hard. So I've been fortunate for, you know, the last three years that I haven't traveled as much as I did previously, but it's all coming back right and now I've got to kind of figure this out.
Speaker 1:
But one area, you know, I agree with you, one area that I said I would never do would be run in inclement weather, right, especially in the winter. I'm not running outdoors, I'm going to run on a treadmill and I don't have anything to do with that. But you know, things have really changed over the last three years and I am running outdoors and unless it's like really bad weather right it's, you know it's really heavy rain or you know really slippery conditions, more than likely I'm going to try to do my runs outdoors, especially if they're longer Running runs, right, I prefer to do it even with the cold versus doing it on a treadmill these days. So definitely with you on that part.
Speaker 3:
Treadmill is great and I use that a lot. I used to have one in my house. Now I don't. Now it's like, okay, outside is my option and on the road is the same thing. It was like you know, I'll do a treadmill there. But you know, running and traveling is probably one of the best things that you can do. It's like all you really need to do is bring some shorts and your shoes and you're good to go. Yeah, that took away some excuses for me, because I was like almost every hotel has got a treadmill. I could figure that out.
Speaker 3:
It was a great way to see cities, you know, and map out you know where I want to go and they're like, oh yeah, I'll just run there now. So that was kind of fun too. So I tried to make it fun. I tried to like map out where I was going to be and like, okay, it's going to be an adventure, I'm going to try some things out. I found trails all over the place. I found, you know, routes around cities and that helped. So maybe try that when you're out near next, next day.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah for sure. So, Zach, love this conversation, love hearing your stories and, again, the ways that running is transformed your life, and you know, kind of, as we wind down here, what would be the one thing that you would say to our community to inspire them to run as a way to kind of make a change in their life.
Speaker 3:
Well, I think I think it's. You know, like I said, I don't think it necessarily has to be running, but I think some kind of physical activity is needed. I think, you know, you kind of get outside being a kid and all that kind of changes Like, well, I don't really need to run anywhere, and I have people tell me all that that all the time, like I only run if somebody's chasing me. And you know you get all those, all those people that say stuff like that and it's like, okay, well, maybe it's biking, maybe it's. You know, it's something, just find something. It's going to make you feel better, it's going to change how you think about things, it's going to make you more level headed, it's going to get that excess energy out, it's going to help you sleep better. All those things are just kind of cumulative to your health. And so I would say, you know, do it for your kids, do it for yourself, make a change, do it for two weeks and see if it makes a difference. You know, if it doesn't, I'd be surprised.
Speaker 3:
I think, like for me at least, doing anything for about 30 days, especially health related, you know it makes, it makes a huge impact and it's like, why would I go back? You know, I feel that way about eating. I feel that way about running. I don't. I don't want to go back to feeling that way again. I don't want to go back to feeling like, oh man, I'm out of shape, I'm not healthy, I don't want to go to the doctor, I don't know what they're going to say or what they're going to find, like I want to. I want to do the best I can. That doesn't mean nothing bad will ever happen to you, but I want to improve my chances the best I can.
Speaker 1:
Love it, love it. Thank you so much, zach. How can our community find you and follow your amazing journey online?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, Well, a couple, a couple places. I'm on Instagram and I'm on TikTok. It's the same name for both of them it's great Lake's Runner 40. So feel free to follow along. It's their public so happy to add you and as a friend and and love to for people to follow along.
Speaker 1:
I think it'd be great, all right, all right, we'll put that information in the show notes to make it easy for our listeners to find and follow you. So once again, zach, thank you so much for coming on the show and, with that, have a great day.
Speaker 3:
Thanks so much, Richard.
Speaker 2:
Much appreciated that's it for this episode of Inspire to Run Podcast. We hope you are inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community and also please rate and review. Thanks for listening.