WhozYourMama

How Chasing Discomfort Turned a DJ Into a Marathoner and a Better Human

• Michelle Kreft

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What if the soundtrack that moves a dance floor could also carry you through mile 24? We sit down with Ryan “DJ Lush Bunny” Jesena to unpack a transformation that began in lockdown and ended at a marathon finish line—powered by purpose, disciplined coaching, and playlists engineered for cadence, not just vibes.

Ryan takes us back to the track where he watched athletes grind in silence while the world stayed still. One conversation with a coach reframed everything: don’t train without a purpose. That simple rule set a clear goal—finish a marathon—and forced every habit to line up behind it. The early days were brutal: half a block left him breathless and sick, so he rebuilt from the feet up with barefoot strength, form work, and patience. The results stacked fast. He lost 40–50 pounds, quit drinking, stabilized sleep, and found more energy and clarity at work. The race mattered, but the deeper win was identity: someone who trains with intent.

Music became a tool, not a distraction. Ryan explains how BPM shapes effort—under 120 for base miles, faster tempos for intervals—and why mixing genres keeps the mind engaged when the body fades. He maps marathon playlists like DJ sets, syncing songs to course segments and expected fatigue so the right track hits exactly when the wall does. We dig into practical tips for beginners: build purpose first, use cadence to control pace, protect your morning routine, and let consistency lead before chasing speed. The most powerful insight is philosophical: comfort rarely equals happiness. Measured discomfort—hard sessions, honest feedback, the sting of failure—creates growth and a fuller human experience.

If you’re starting from zero, curious about using music to guide training, or ready to trade ease for meaning, this conversation will hand you a blueprint. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a nudge, and tell us: what hard thing will you choose next?

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SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Who's Your Mama, a podcast focusing on tomorrow's future, which are our kids, educators, teachers, parents, all encompassing with the goal of understanding that our brain is a muscle that we can exercise to control the speed in the direction that we want. Let's go, y'all. The time is now. Ryan Jacenna, also known to so many, literally around the world as DJ Lush Bunny. Welcome to Who's Your Mama?

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, Michelle. Hello, everybody.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's a pleasure to have you on here, and so many things in a short period of time to go over. But one of the things that uh prompted me to ask you to come on was having the good fortune to know you in so many different areas. And one specific area that I wanted to zone in that I think would speak to so many people is around perseverance, how we push ourselves in life, how music can impact that. And specifically your journey when you decided during the pandemic to take on running. And more than that, I often say run, run bunny. But you didn't just take it on, you took it on to a marathon. So we don't have marathon time, at least today. But help us come on that journey. That what what sparked you to start that during the pandemic?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I think one of the key things that really hit me on the pandemic was, you know, while everybody was in their house, in their rooms, uh isolated, um, and really not moving too much, like I felt like this wasn't the way that I wanted to kind of go out in my life, you know. And um I was fortunate enough to live somewhere that has a track and field course nearby. And every morning I would go there for a walk. And um there was this coach that would train athletes, track and field athletes. Some were high school, some were college, and some were going to the Olympics, and to just kind of witness how they worked and how they did their process and learning and growing, like, you know, kind of dropped a seed within me. And eventually I joined them, you know, just went up to the coach, was like, hey, if I give you 20 bucks, would you just allow me to train with you guys? And at first he was hesitant to do so.

SPEAKER_01:

Why do you think he was hesitant?

SPEAKER_00:

I think he was hesitant because he trains people that had a purpose. You know, he doesn't train people just to like learn how to run. And once I've identified with him that like, you know, then train me for a purpose, and that became the marathon. So that became a goal. You know, he was a coach that wasn't, you know, his brain wasn't designed just to train someone to run. And you had to have this purpose, and it helped, you know, give you this kind of you know, fire, give you this um process to work towards. And uh, and and and he needed that and he wanted that from me. And so the marathon became that flagpole. And mind you, at this time in my life, I didn't run or probably haven't run in 15, 20 years since, you know, and was in my 20s, and you know, I was uh a bit overweight, and uh, you know, I was told that we're mean my knees were bad. And so these were all just kind of really things against me in picking up running. Uh, I had plantar fasciitis, I had all these injuries throughout my body. Um and yet, like I was determined to kind of take this on. So, like my first week, I ran barefoot just to get my feet straight.

SPEAKER_01:

Was that because of his suggestion, or you decided that on your own? Did you have a discussion either way?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, it was a suggestion because I couldn't even run half a block. Literally, I tried to run half a block, not even run, jog half a block. And I was out of breath. I was throwing up, I was my body wasn't used to it to it, and it you know almost broke me just to jog half a block. So he had to completely deconstruct my body and my form. And the only the first step was to strengthen my feet.

SPEAKER_01:

That's where that's interesting because you talk about purpose and a lot on Who's Your Mama with so many different cheap walks of life is about intention, and we'll get to that part about your music, about everything we do with intention, being consciously conscious, I I say, and he it sounds like he was trying to see if your purpose and intention was actually going to be the driver because versus him driving you. It's synergistic, but uh uh you can't make somebody have that fire in them if they're not willing to do the work, and that's exactly yes, like you can't teach the hunger, you know. So that was right, that's right. You need a horse of water, we could do these things better. Exactly. So so then okay, so you went through that that that part, and then it had this continuum, and you you started to see the momentum. How how would you describe that process as it went on during the pandemic and in any area of life? I'm not limiting it to that, and then as things started to open up.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you know, one of the things I started to notice was that I was coming out of the pandemic with more energy. I lost about 40 to 50 pounds. Um, I also stopped drinking. Um, and although my only goal was to finish one marathon, it gave me this driving force to just to do this one marathon. And, you know, I felt like coming out of it, I had never felt better in my life, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that can you expand on that? What you mean by better in your life?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, one of the ways is that, you know, my sleep had been kind of streamlined. So I was no longer having this regular sleep pattern. So I was waking up every day at 5 a.m. Um and going out running. And it the habits kind of just built and I just compounded uh physically and mentally. Uh, it also helped me at work. I had the energy at work, I had the resolve to do and improve uh in my work. Um, so it just touched every aspect of my life, even though running was just the primary component uh that drove it. And also like not drinking, like really allowed me to kind of clear my head and really understand what I wanted out of my life and what you know that means uh and how running uh kind of evolves within me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, that that's I as somebody who mourned running like a family member when multiple injuries I no longer could, but for decades actually I did, and and I completely understand where you're coming from and just overall exercise and mindfulness and how that provides clarity, and you know, if if you can't do something else, finding something that connects with you so it doesn't feel like work. So then speaking of that, because you your full-time job is not DJing, um, although you do put a lot of time and energy into it, and it's incredible. What would you say was so it's too it's two questions? One how do you how did running impact what you listened to when you ran? And also how did this journey that you're still continuing on, did you find impact your music, genres, all of it?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you know, music plays a big role in my life, but also specifically just when you're starting out running. Uh cadence is an important aspect of building running and really maintaining a zone where you're not over kind of running yourself, reaching going too fast too far. That you know, it gets easy to lose track of that, and music really helps uh in guiding you and establishing, you know, your cadence to not overrun, not push yourself too hard or not slack off too much.

SPEAKER_01:

So I've certain genres that you listen to at certain miles, or how do you choose?

SPEAKER_00:

It just differs because each run has an intent or a purpose. There are runs that are just meant to build bass, and that typically means it's a slower pace, slower tempo, uh, you know, less than 120 beats per minute. And then there are some runs in which you know you want to build speed and power, and that's when you're just cranking up the volume. So even though I DJ mostly electronic and house music, my musical taste run the gamut of like, you know, folk guitar-driven uh music all the way to heavy metal. So my spectrum of musical taste uh really helps me uh because I'm not stuck in a particular genre. Um, you know, it really helps me kind of craft the perfect soundtrack for whatever run I've designed myself to. So even for my marathons, I design my own soundtrack uh to my marathons that keeps up with the route and the pacing that I do.

SPEAKER_01:

Have you been keeping actually on this on that note? Do you have your specific run bunny tracks?

SPEAKER_00:

I have, I would say, a good amount of tracks. Yeah, I have a good track when I just lean on when like, hey, when things are going tough. It's usually when things are going tough, like you're the you know, like the last three or four miles where you just need that extra umph. There are just songs that I will lean in, lean into and be like, all right, let's go, let's do this. And uh they're faster, faster tempo, typically base heavy. And uh that that usually gets me to the finish line.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I'm sure that people listening would love to know what uh what tempos in BC had for people that are especially as uh different times of the year and trying to get that motivation and thinking that a marathon may not be in their cards, but just getting out and walking and and all of that, so the the bunny beats, I just to get that that momentum, like you said. Um, so as we're we're coming to an end, one thing that I was I wanted to ask you, and it's a broad question, but knowing what you don't know now and what you've experienced at this point in life, if you could tell your younger self a few things, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you know, I think the main thing is uh don't get too comfortable. Um, you know, early on in life, uh, you know, I chased comfort. I thought comfort would give me happiness. So in my 20s and 30s, you know, I found the most comfortable bed, most comfortable pillow, the most comfortable everything, because in comfort and safety, I felt like that's gonna bring me happiness. And looking back, it really doesn't. And, you know, now I'm in pursuit of discomfort, of you know, doing hard things, uh, um, you know, pain. Uh these are things that provide us challenges, but also allow us to grow. And those are the things I'm very interested in now is just pushing myself, how far I can go, how much I can tolerate, how much uh I can feel, and building those relationships with failure and learning from it, from pain, building a relationship with that, because to me, that's really the only way we can grow and have a full human experience in our time here.

SPEAKER_01:

I completely agree. It's been a common theme with other guests that I've had on recently that talks about the difference between understanding fear that holds you back versus pushes you, and we're never too old to grow in life. And the importance of who we surround ourselves and and what that looks like and knowing ourselves, and and a big part of that is um pushing pushing our own limits and and and the boundaries expand in growth. So, and a big part of that is music, and your music speaks to so many people, and thank you for sharing your story. So, with that, I always close off on who's your mama because it's about let's take action. So let's go, y'all. The time is now.

SPEAKER_00:

Y'all, y'all, the time is now. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, thank you, Ron, Lush Bunny. Thank you, Sean. Thanks for having me. Thank you for tuning into Who's Your Mama? And I look forward to collaborating from a community standpoint for the next episodes.

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Michelle Kreft

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