So, as I'm taking inventory, thinking, all right, well, 67 miles is cool, let's go do 100, because, why not? It's only 33 more, just a few extra miles. So I'm on this 100-mile number and then I'm thinking, well, how do I honor these three people that are very close to my heart, and how does it become something official? Welcome to the Win Today podcast, a weekly tool intentionally crafted to help people enhance performance, feel inspired and conquer life. Our commitment is that you will learn from some of the most disciplined, heartwarming and inspiring people on the globe, in addition to receiving a piece of a winning playbook from myself or a renowned expert in their field. My name is Ryan Cass and I'm your host, and it is my purpose in this world to inspire people, to establish a foundation for sustained success by developing systems that will enable you to accomplish your goals, break systemic trends of adversity and chart a desirable course for life. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the top podcasts in the world by subscribing to the show, sharing it with somebody who you believe will benefit from it and leaving a review. Let's connect with our guest.
Speaker 1:People think I'm crazy to put myself through such torture, though I would argue otherwise. Somewhere along the line, we seem to have confused comfort with happiness. Dostoevsky had it right Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness. Never are my senses more engaged than when the pain sets in. There is magic and misery. Just ask any runner. That's the answer. There's magic and misery. Just ask any runner. That's from one of my favorites, dean Karnazes, who is regarded in the running world as the ultra marathon man, someone that defies the limits, shows us really what we have in our minds and, with that, then, what the body is capable of. Love Dean, and just someone that I've admired for a long time in this space. He runs 100 plus 200 plus mile races. And again, there's another example of what we truly have when we are focused and believe in ourselves and don't doubt our abilities.
Speaker 1:And I find it fitting to start with that, because this episode is dedicated to breaking ribbons, a goal that I've been working on for 2023, and something that I've had a vision for since 2021. And in this episode, I'm going to cover what is breaking ribbons. Why am I running 100 miles here in Charleston, south Carolina, on October 21st, across the Ravenel Bridge, 20 laps and, lastly, is pieces of the playbook, and the commitment with this podcast is that you will always get a piece of a playbook, whether it's from me or the guest. I want you all to be able to extract a few things from this, not just hey, here's my goal and here's what I'm doing and why it's special to me, but ultimately give you a tool that you can utilize, put it in your arsenal and go attack a big goal. So that's what we're going to cover today and what breaking ribbons is. Starting with that first, because I want to go from the heart here. Breaking ribbons is what will be an official nonprofit in the future. What it is right now is a vision and a passion project that I've had in my mind and on my heart for a couple of years now.
Speaker 1:For those of you that know me or have seen my social media posts over the years, you'll see that every time I run a race, I wear the same singlet, and since 2014, I had two ribbons on there one for one of my best friend's moms, julia Tomasovic it's one of my best friends Andrew, his mother and her battle with breast cancer. And there was a yellow ribbon on there for a family friend at home, noah Mayberry and his battle with Ewing Sarcoma as a young child. And I figure, with each race that I run, that with their ribbons and the message of stay strong on there, that it'll one honor them, bring awareness of the causes and inspire people, that inspire at least one runner out there that to run for something other than themselves or do something that honors somebody else. And I've been wearing that singlet since 2014. And unfortunately, I'm not wearing it added a third ribbon on there later on due to my grandmother, anita Cass, and her battle with ovarian cancer, specifically paritoneal cancer. So now I've been running my races with the singlet that says stay strong across the chest and each of their ribbons with teal, yellow and pink honoring them. And also, over the years, I've made various contributions on what I've spent on races to their causes and, again, just constantly focusing on something bigger than myself every time I go out there.
Speaker 1:And as I was thinking through it and just thinking about life and on runs running is really my thinking and meditation laboratory I was thinking about the singlet and what I really want to do with it. In this vision, I figure how can I go bigger with this besides just running races wearing their singlets, honoring them. What else can be done? How can we go and take this thing to create more of an impact and drive more focus, drive more focus on it. So 2021 had a vision after running a 67 mile fundraiser run with my brother, nick Lighton. We chose 67 miles. Because he chose 67 miles, rather, because Go Love, which is a child orphanage based out of Peru, iquitos, peru. The town of Iquitos is 67 miles long, so Nick and his wife, caroline, thought of a brilliant idea to go host a 67 mile fundraiser run, and we did that on a one mile loop in Rock Hill, south Carolina, a couple years ago. Absolute blast.
Speaker 1:And that got me thinking well, how do we go bigger for one with, with any goal that I accomplished or anything that that I get to do and have completed? What runs through my mind afterwards is all right, how can we do it again? And how can we do it bigger and better? Or what could have been done better from the last go and so that the next go is even better than it was before? So, as I'm taking inventory, thinking, all right, well, 67 miles is cool, let's, let's go do 100, because why not, it's only 33 more, just a few extra miles. So I'm on this 100 mile number and then I'm thinking, well, how do I honor these three people that are very close to my heart and how does it become something official? And so that got me thinking.
Speaker 1:And there's this one run where I figured in an ideal world not a perfect world, but ideal. We don't have these ribbons because each of these cancers have a cure to them and we'll get to keep these people that have been in our lives, that will live with us forever with their spirits. We get to keep them physically here longer. In an ideal world, the ribbons don't exist. And when you win a race if you're a runner or know about running, you've probably seen clips when the winner crosses the finish line, they break tape or they break a ribbon. So I figure, all right, breaking ribbons. That sounds like a really cool name. I'm gonna do something with this. I just don't know what, when and how, but I'm gonna keep this name in my back pocket and I'm gonna do something to honor these three and then also inspire people to seek to do things that are greater than themselves.
Speaker 1:Running isn't for me. Running for me isn't just here's the Ryan show. Let's go run all these races. It's a lot of things and it's a lot of things that are far greater than myself. So breaking ribbons that is the genesis of it. That's how it came about, and this year, every race I've ran, I've got a breaking ribbons singlet now and I'm gonna keep running every single race with that, and what breaking ribbons will become eventually is its own 501C3 nonprofit.
Speaker 1:But for now, where it is is we've got the singlet, we've got the vision, and the next step with that to really be a Kickstarter for this is on October 21st, here in a few short days, I'm going to be running 100 miles on the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, south Carolina. For those that are in Charleston or familiar with the area, you know that the Ravenel is our one big hill. It is a massive bridge, really an architectural masterpiece, that connects downtown Charleston, the peninsula, with Mount Pleasant, and this bridge expands over the water two and a half miles, so round trip is five miles. We'll be doing 20 laps and just to create more of a visual picture, if you're going over this bridge from the peninsula to Mount Pleasant so you're going over one two and a half mile side you've got about a mile and a half of incline and then you get over really what is a false flat and then you have a 6% grade that takes you the remainder of the distance down into Mount Pleasant and flipping that backwards. If you're going from the Mount Pleasant to the peninsula side, you've got about 0.6 miles, or close to three quarter miles, but 0.6 of a 6% grade incline going up and then you have that false flat again and then a mile and a half of gradual downhill.
Speaker 1:So what this means is, over time, over the course of 20 back and forth, is that the, the legs get a good bit of pounding, the quads get a good bit of pounding and and that's why I chose the Ravenel bridge because when I look at what is the greatest challenge that we have here locally in Charleston, south Carolina, it is Without question the bridge. We have one of the largest 10k races in the country here every year the Cooper River Bridge run 10k race and it starts from Mount Pleasant and goes over to downtown and that is the. So you go over the incline side and that is the, the famous incline that everybody talks about. And for the people that don't train for it or Get a little too excited and have the adrenaline take over for the first two miles. There's a lot of people that don't have a whole lot of fun with that 0.6 mile climb and that's what can steal a lot of PR some people.
Speaker 1:So I'm choosing that because one, it is a Challenging distance 100 miles to it is the greatest challenge that Can possibly be thought up here in Charleston, south Carolina, and I don't know I'm sure somebody has done it, but I don't know of many people that have gone back and forth 20 times and I also look at, you know the, the ribbons that I have on my chest, and these three people and and what they endured, and I figure what better way to honor them than to continue putting my body through grueling tests, because I know, no matter what pain I experience on Saturday or in any other race, it's not going to be worse than what they went through in the, in their various rounds of chemo treatments and a lot of sacrifices that they needed to make physically to to stay here with us, and these people are absolute warriors, all three of them, and so this is what I'm choosing to do to to honor them, and I put out a fundraiser and I told people exactly why I'm doing this and what this is about and, ultimately, what this is going to lead to is One there's going to be three families that are handpicked with the help of the Thomas, ovech, mayberry and Cass families. I'm going to pick three families that have a loved one fighting a various form of cancer right now, and we're going to Provide them with every penny that comes into this and give them the opportunity to To experience life. I want them to be able to take this and have an amazing experience with their family, or do something that they haven't been able to do yet, or go take a Vacation with their family, go buy necessary Materials, anything, anything there's. There's no limitations here, and I'm choosing to go directly to the families versus to a nonprofit organization because of speaking to the families that I'm honoring, they would rather it go directly to another family versus to an organization that Contributes the funds to research. So that's another. That's why we're going that route, and I can't wait to personally connect with these three families and inform them that they've been, they've been selected to receive these funds and go and Create joyful experiences with their loved ones. So I can't wait and it puts a lot more meaning behind actually getting this thing done so part of the fundraiser, I put an option in there to be sponsored per mile versus the flat donations.
Speaker 1:And while I'm growing up, while I'm grateful for everything that's come in thus far, I like the Donation per mile, which means that, yes, I get to go run a hundred, but I have to finish the 100 miles to honor the commitment and to actually get the Donation that is committed by that person. So, for instance, if someone pledges a dollar per mile and I only run 12, then Only $12 comes in. So this is contingent upon me getting the job done on Saturday. There's no way out, there's no excuses, and this is the type of pressure that I love to put on myself, because not only have I said that this is a goal, it's written down, but now I'm putting it out there on multiple platforms, multiple outlets, that, hey, I'm going to do this thing and you can sponsor me per mile. I get to be, and I have to be and I'm going to be a Person of my word. I don't care if, come mile 77, that I can hardly walk, I will. I will walk for 23 miles if needed. I don't care, I'm not getting off that bridge unless the big man upstairs says it's time for you to go home. So ideally that doesn't happen on the bridge, but that's the only way I'm getting off and that's it. This is why I'm doing it, why it started, and here's what's going down. So if you'd like to support the fundraiser link is in the show notes or you can go to Pledge it org slash, breaking ribbons and what I want y'all to extract from this and going into the playbook this, this goal here, this is something that, again, it was a vision that I had on a run a couple years ago and I remember writing it down, basically just to keep it in the back pocket, like, hey, do something with this.
Speaker 1:And that's another thing that I Recommend y'all doing is anything that you have even the slightest idea that you may want to do something about it, or you have this, this inquiry, in your mind and then you go on about your day and you forget and I got crap what was that really cool thing I was thinking about? Make a little, make a little note and I love using the notes feature on my iPhone for this if I think of something really cool that, hey, I might want to do something with that or I might want to bake that into a speech or maybe some day, one day I Can make a product with that. Then I write it down and then, once I do that in the phone if I'm on the run Then when I get home or when I get to my nearest paper source of paper and pen, then I actually write it down and I've shared the stats about why you should write things down, why it's important, a million times. I won't go down that route here. The other thing with this is that I don't have every little detail mapped out for the nonprofit yet. I don't have every little detail mapped out even for this run yet, and we're approaching race day.
Speaker 1:I believe in again putting things out there to where it forces you to take action. So I've said this is what I'm gonna do, I've written it down, I've created a fundraiser page. Doing these things is placing me deeper, deeper and deeper into the action zone, meaning that when you value being a person of your word and saying you're gonna do what you say you're gonna do by putting it out there, hey, this forces me to figure the rest of the details out by October 21st. And the other thing is that a lot of folks can have some of the greatest ideas in the world or the most genuine goals, the most genuine meaning behind why you wanna do what you wanna do, and we'll sit and ponder about every little detail and get stuck in analysis, paralysis, to where you're ultimately leading yourself to inaction. I often bring this up in my corporate role that I would rather our team go down because of creating opportunities, which really making a mistake is really just creating an opportunity.
Speaker 1:I am A-okay with us not succeeding in the short term because we've taken action on something, versus us not succeeding because we sat around and talked about the idea forever or talked about the project forever and didn't execute the reason why? That's why they invented erasers and that's why they invented white paint, because when you're looking at a canvas, you can sit there and look at it all day long and envision the picture that you wanna paint for your life, or you can start freaking painting and if you make some errors or decide you know what, I wanna go down this route, then you pick up the eraser or you pick up the white paint, you paint over it and you keep going. Don't stare at a canvas for so long, throw some paint on it or, in this case. Hey, this is what breaking ribbons is. I still don't have the nonprofit filed yet, anything like that, but it is going to happen and I'm figuring it out along the way. That's it, this life is. One, it's beautiful and it has an abundance of opportunities. But two, it is short, it is temporary, and don't stare at the canvas for so long. That's one of my rules now. Don't stare at the canvas for too long and ask yourself am I painting or am I staring at a blank canvas? So those are my two things, folks.
Speaker 1:If you have a great idea of something that you wanna do, any vision put it down on paper, get your iPhone out, use the Notepad and then two, put yourself into the action zone, put it out there. It forces you to take the next step and the next step and the next step, and it makes it a lot easier when it's connected to your heart. This is something that has a lot of meaning behind it. Therefore, moving forward on it is it's not difficult. Am I learning some things along the way? Am I finding better ways to do things? Absolutely absolutely. But there's true meaning behind the goal Connection over content.
Speaker 1:So those are the three things, folks, if you wanna come out, on October 21st, I'll be on the Ravenel Bridge here in Charleston, south Carolina, for just a few hours. Be out there for a little while, Could use some support, would appreciate some support. And there'll be more along my social pages. We'll be posting updates throughout the day. Can't wait to go and get this done and ultimately impact three families, and in the future we're gonna go bigger with this. This is going to be a long standing thing. This is gonna be a nonprofit and another thing that's just added on to the list of things that I get to do in this world to help people and create an impact. And that's the last thing I will leave you with and something that I say all the time.
Speaker 1:If you wanna change the world, start off by helping one person. Go volunteer somewhere once in a given week. Go and help someone with something they're struggling with. Reach out to one person. We'll never know the impact, the true impact of all of our actions. And I think that's an amazing thing as well, because sometimes the simple things that we may do to help someone or a group of people, in that moment you may think, okay, I helped these five people with this one thing and that's it. One of those people, or all five of those people, may come back years later. Hey, I remember that time you helped me with XYZ, for that little piece of information you gave me to accomplish my goal Change the world folks. Help one person, put connection behind the things that you want to do. It's going to get you deeper into the action zone and I wish to see some of you on October 21st. Thanks so much and win today. Thank you.