Peach Podcast
Two guys and an occasional guest breaking open topics on: Purpose, Energy, Attitude, Commitment and Health through shared experiences.
Peach Podcast
S3EP07: "Everything is Fuel": Ruben Cuevas's Story: Gathering Strength
What happens when life completely immobilizes you? For Ruben Cuevas, a mysterious back injury on Father's Day 2019 became the catalyst for an extraordinary transformation that would lead him to complete three Ironman triathlons and a 100-mile ultramarathon.
Ruben takes us deep into the moment when his mobility was suddenly stripped away, leaving him unable to stand without excruciating pain. Rather than surrendering to extended rest, he discovered "active recovery" through stretching and flexibility work, igniting a journey that would completely redefine his relationship with physical endurance. The powerful realization that he'd been taking his mobility for granted became the spark that lit a fire within him.
Throughout our conversation, Ruben shares the profound mental strategies he employed to conquer seemingly impossible distances. Rather than focusing only on traditional physical training, he explains how mastering his reactions to everyday frustrations—from parenting challenges to traffic jams—became his true preparation for ultras. "If I can't be patient and kind right here when the stakes are low," he explains, "then when I'm in deep water in a 100-mile ultramarathon, I'm going to panic."
At the heart of Ruben's philosophy is his mantra "everything is fuel"—the belief that life's challenges, pain points, and obstacles can be transformed into motivation rather than becoming sources of bitterness. This approach extends far beyond running, shaping his approach to fatherhood, marriage, faith, and personal growth. As someone who reads about 40 books annually, his wisdom weaves together theology, philosophy, psychology and practical life experience.
Perhaps most striking is Ruben's perspective on achievement itself. Despite accomplishing feats most consider impossible, he maintains, "If I never ran another mile, if I never read another book, none of those things I put my identity in." His focus remains on modeling perseverance and strength for his family while embracing the principle that "we gather strength as we go."
Whether you're facing a physical setback, seeking motivation, or simply curious about the ultramarathon mindset, Ruben's story offers powerful insights on transforming pain into purpose. Take a listen, then share how you're gathering strength in your own journey.
To get Ruben’s books and follow him on social media see the links below:
Checkout Ruben’s books 📖 and purchase Hardcover Paperback or eBook version here:
Book 1:
Gathering Strength :Everything is Fuel
Book 2:
Gathering Strength Mastering the Mind.
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SPOTIFY show link 🔗
https://spotify.link/VweAWcFBODb
Connect on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ruben_cuevas?utm_source=qr
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Connect with me:
https://linktr.ee/gathering_strength_podcast
Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the Peach Podcast. Just a couple of dudes and an occasional guest breaking open topics from everyday life on purpose, energy, attitude, commitment and health. So, if you're ready, listen in as we live to learn from our losses, gain from our gratitude and laugh as we level up to learn from our losses, gain from our gratitude. And, doug and Daryl, we have an exceptional and I'm excited about this guest we have today. But before we get into the guest and I'll introduce you, I got a little bio on him and every time I read the bio I'm excited about this guest we have today. But before we get into the guest and I'll introduce you, I got a little bio on him and every time I read the bio I'm like, damn, I got to dig into this dude and get into the nitty gritty with him, because there's a lot of facets about the way this man, ruben, lives that I'm inspired about and seek to be like. So we'll get to that in a minute, but before we go there, before we go there, if you're a first-time listener, welcome to Peach Podcast.
Speaker 1:If you want to know what Peach stands for it's an acronym. It's an acronym. Go back to our very, very first episode and you will hear a really fun and cool story about what Peach stands for, what it means and why we are even doing this podcast. If you're a longtime listener, thank you for the support. Please share an episode and I know if you're a longtime listener, I know you're going to want to share this episode. We have an incredible man on with us today. His name is Ruben Cuevas. Did I say that right? The last name, cuevas.
Speaker 2:You damn right, you got it right.
Speaker 1:All right. Ruben is 41 years old. He's a husband of 12 years, a father of two. He's a blue collar man who believes in hard work. He's got deep faith and lifelong growth. He had an immobilizing injury on Father's Day in 2019. Since then, he's completed three Ironman triathlons. He's completed a 100 mile ultra marathon that's where Daryl and I met Ruben. He's completed a 50-mile run, a 30-miler and dozens or so of marathons. Dang Ruben, come on, man. He also hosts his own podcast called Gathering Strength, and he's written two books aimed at helping others find their purpose and power in the grind of everyday life. He also reads about 40 books a year, everything from theology and philosophy to biographies and mindset, because he believes a man should train his mind as hard as his body. I love that man. I just want to make that a bumper sticker right there. Come on, reuben. At the core, he's a man just trying to love well, live with purpose and carry his cross with strength. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Ruben, Thank you so much While you were reading off of those things that I've done. One thing that I want to point out is that I don't put my identity in any of those things you know, like if I never ran another mile, if I never read another book, none of those things I put my identity in. I really am a man just trying to aim upwards, trying to not do the same dumb things that I did in the past.
Speaker 2:And it's a daily awareness.
Speaker 2:And one thing that I frequently say in my podcast when I sign off, is onward, you know it's always onward, onward, you know it's always onward. And back in the, back in, like the, the, the Roman Emperor times they had the, the, the Olympics, and a phrase was coined back in that, back in those days, which is still applicable to today, and it is do not rest on your laurels. And after I learned what that meant, you know, just imagine, back in the day, a Olympic gold medal. He would have a crown of laurel wreath placed on his head and if you, you know, wore that around, you know, after a while, the foliage, that wreath, it would start to get all wilted, it would start to turn brown and it would start to, you know, kind of fall apart, to get all wilted, it would start to turn brown and it would start to, you know, kind of fall apart. And that means that you haven't, you haven't accomplished anything else. You, just you rested on that laurel and you have an old, tainted crown and it's falling apart.
Speaker 2:Think back to al bundy when he scored the five touchdowns at the polk high.
Speaker 3:Championship right. Oh, that is funny.
Speaker 2:That was his one crowning moment of glory and that is what he anchored himself on. Is those five touchdowns in the high school district champions, or whatever it was? And I think that that is, you know, a cautionary tale. Al Bundy and those Olympians who rested on their laurels. They show us what not to do.
Speaker 1:Ruben.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad you said that because I'm going to tell you I was listening to I think it was one of your last. I was listening to the last two episodes over the weekend and just getting reacquainted with your stuff, and I always pop in every once in a while when I need. What I love about your podcast is, you know, it's man, it's completely and perfectly designed for a quick fix man, like just a quick little. We always need these little corrections during the day, whether you realize it or not. It's always good to get a little nudge to remind you who you are, what you're doing, where you're going. And that's what I love about your podcast, because it gives me that in a quick moment. I mean, most of your episodes are 15 minutes, 13, 15 minutes long. It's just enough. It's not too long. If I'm in the middle of something, I won't find myself saying, well, I don't have time. I got plenty of time, man, for that, for a quick little shot in the arm.
Speaker 1:And the reason I want to say what I loved, what you just described right now, is something I think was very similar to what you talked about in your couple last episodes, and then it inspired me and compelled me to reach out to Eric and Daryl the morning of, or the day or the night of, their event. They just did a 50K, their first 50K. So congratulations, daryl. That was awesome, brother, you and Eric, nice, yes, huge shout out and kudos to you guys and I, based on what you shared, ruben, I was able to convey back to them like, hey, guys, this ain't about you know what you're doing, you're, you know you're loved, you're awesome regardless. And you did the work to show up to the starting line.
Speaker 3:And I've been telling people for years, man, if you've made it to the starting line, you won, you've won because you've done the work to get there, about meeting at the start line, Ruben, you were standing off to the side and you had this. You had a little glow to you, you had a little confidence and you had a shirt that said fear God. Right, and literally we were. We're about ready to go and, by the way, that was my first ever ultra, anything right.
Speaker 2:So I'm like petrified 30 minutes and I see you over there and Doug's like that's a nice shirt, man, and that's how we met you for the first time was at the starting line, right, um, so it was super cool, yeah, that shirt. Um, it really is. You know, bait for like-minded individuals to make a comment and, um, it is a magnet for other people. You know it's, it's thought-provoking, you know people think fear god, like, oh, I need to be scared of God. But the word fear, biblically, as it is understood today, are two different things.
Speaker 2:Fear God means have reverence for him. Fear God means be in awe, be awestruck at you know everything God is, rather than you know, being like, hey, terrified, or you know, anything like that. Yeah, sure, fear him in that aspect too. But more so, fear God means look at God with reverence and and all of his majesty and glory.
Speaker 2:It's hard to to fathom and comprehend, hence the little phrase fear God. You really got to. You have to dig into it and it really takes someone to hold your hand to be able to tell you what those little things are. And because I do read a bunch of different books by a wide swath of different individuals, reading those books helped me to grasp the deeper concepts of the Bible, because the Bible, it is tricky to read, and if you're reading it unaccompanied by, like anyone else, then a lot of that stuff just goes over your head. So, yeah, one of the things that I do recommend is read good books, and that really puts those thoughts into the forefront of your mind to where it's like man, I am imbued with strength. I am a child of the most high god. No weapon formed against me is going to prosper these.
Speaker 2:My, my time is now you know, come on y'all you know, hey, um, one thing that I like to do is intertwine like a rapper or some pop culture person.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:With. You know a theology, but hey, in the words of John Cena he says that my time is now.
Speaker 3:This is all that we have.
Speaker 2:You know, there's not going to be. There's not going to be later. We aren't promised tomorrow. Our time is now. Let's live it, let's embrace it, let's get after it and be that warrior in the garden.
Speaker 1:Stay prepared. We just went to church, man, we just went to church just now, man, come on, come on here we go.
Speaker 3:So, Ruben, let's jump into it real quick. I do want to let you know that from the time we saw you, we did our six hour and and I walk up there and I'm thinking, man, I'm going to do a six-hour event, and as we're walking up to the start line, people were like, oh great, you know what are you doing? We're doing the 100-mile, we're doing the 24-hour. We were like doing the six, I felt like I was doing a 5K on that race.
Speaker 3:I'm telling you and then I walk up to you and you had your fear, god, and they're doing the countdown and we're like, well, doing the hundred miler and uh, I'll tell you what, every time we passed that corner, uh, with your trailer and your wife and your family, and she had the little counter, every time I'd yell over there I was like how's? Ruben doing man. How's ruben doing she'd?
Speaker 3:be like thumbs up and everything else, and so there was doubt. So we'll definitely get into it. We did just do our first 50K. It was a bit of a mountain course, which was cool, so it got about 4,000 feet of climbing. We just did that this weekend. 5,000 feet of climbing. And I'll tell you what. You know, afterward you get that great feeling, but you know, in the life we're leading now I'm not thinking about that. You know it's like Sunday, and then Monday is today and I'm thinking about onward. Like you said, we in fact that's one of our text messages back to each other we gradually laid each other and say onward, so it's a great thing. So, uh, doug, I'll turn it over to you. You got some questions and I'll pepper some in here. So thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, daryl, thank you, cause we, daryl, I want I just want to let the listeners know, daryl, we are going to interview you, daryl, and I'm uh, got in connection with the owner of the guy who ran that event, that 50Ks. It was a beautiful course out in a beautiful area, out in Pollock P in the Sly Park area, and it was absolutely beautiful watching you and Eric come through and get your time and make sure you can continue on and then seeing you guys finish strong. That was absolutely awesome. So I got an interview lined up next week, hopefully with the owner and you so you can talk about your experience and he can share a little bit more about what he's doing. So thanks for taking a backseat this week to allow our boy, ruben to come on Rub. He's doing. So thanks for taking a backseat this week to allow our boy, ruben to come on Ruben.
Speaker 1:This is our third season of podcasting and in this season we are talking about there's an overall theme of setbacks to comebacks, so let's just start it off there. In your bio you talked about a mobilizing injury you experienced on Father's Day. Can you describe that injury and how did it affect your life, and what was the turning point that led you to start training, to get back into doing all these amazing things you've done?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. So Father's Day 2019, we were scheduled to do some Father's Day activities. We were going to go to the movies, catch a little matinee and then lunch, and just enjoy Father's Day. So I'm in to go to the movies, catch a little matinee and then lunch and just enjoy Father's Day. So I'm in the garage, I'm doing some workouts, I'm on my final set, I'm bent over doing upright rows, just a nice little 20, lightweight, and I'm going to be setting the bar down and we're going to get on with it.
Speaker 2:And then so I bend over, I grab the bar and I'm like one, two, and then, all of a sudden, I felt like Zeus took his trident and just stabbed me in my back and I was just like, oh. So I end up going down, taking a knee, and I try to stand up and I try to stand back up and I can't, I'm immobilized, I'm just down. Back up, and I can't, I'm immobilized, I'm just down. And so I try to, you know, take, take some breaths, and then I try to stand up again. Can't stand up. Go figure, right, I've never had that. I've never had that sensation. I've never had that feeling. So I'm like I don't know what's going on. So I call out to my wife. I'm like hey, you know, holly, come out and help me stand up. And she thought that I was just messing around, because it's not beyond me to pull a practical joke, right. So she thought that I was messing around, um, but I, I wasn't messing around. Uh, I, I tell her that I'm gonna need help standing up. And then she's like all right, uh, so she, she grabs my hand, both of my hands, and I go to stand up and as I stand up, I like force it. I'm like, and then, once again, zeus, with this trident just hits me right in my back, my lower back, all the way to like the testicles, just electric shot. Oh. And then I, I like, pass out. I, I pass out standing up. But luckily, my, my wife, being the guardian angel that she is, she catches me before I fall. I wake up on the ground and I'm like what just happened? And she's like are you messing around? Oh, are you serious? Yeah, she thought I was messing around. I'm like no, I'm not messing around, I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 2:And I thought that I was in trouble. I thought that I did something wrong. You know, it was probably just my, my guilty conscience, you know, plaguing me. You know I've always been like a little bit of a troublemaker, not so much in my adult years, but you know, there's always just that sense that karma is going to come back around and pay me for something that I did, you know, back in the day. So I thought that I was in trouble.
Speaker 2:And so, um, uh, to make a long story short, the fire department comes and, um, oh damn, oh yeah, yeah. So the fire department, they have to come because I'm like out. And so the fire department comes and they're like, oh yeah, you know we've seen this plenty times. You uh, blew it, blew a testicle. I'm like, no, why, right. And then so, um, I ended up driving. I drive myself, or my wife drives me to the hospital. Um, they, they do all the scans and, mri, uh, there's nothing, nothing happens. And lo and behold my wife. She's a nurse. She had one of her friends that she hasn't seen in like decades. She was my nurse and they had to check the twig and berries and everything.
Speaker 1:So it was her friend as a nurse and the doctor you know seeing me in a vulnerable position.
Speaker 2:The twig and berries, they were all good, so thank God, thank God for that. They really don't know what happened. Um, but I, I was immobilized for like a week and a half, like two weeks. I felt like an 80 year old man, Wow, and it really humbled me. Um, it was painful just to like be lying in bed. I, I couldn't, I couldn't even move my legs. Just the simple act of twisting to grab the seatbelt to put it over my body.
Speaker 2:Just doing that, it was excruciating. Oh man, yeah, so I've never experienced that. It was a humble.
Speaker 1:So they never found out what what it was.
Speaker 2:No, no, wow, what happened how?
Speaker 1:did you like you just healed one day, or yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:so what? What happened was I? I end up going home and I'm just taking it easy, feeling like an 85 year old, uh frail, uh man, right, and I'm lying on the couch and um, you know, taking it easy but after like three hours is like all right, I'm bored out of my mind. You know I want to hurry up and heal. So I start to go online and I stumble upon a phrase called active recovery. I've never heard of it before because I've never been injured before, so this is the first time that I have sustained a injury. So, rather than just like lying down on the couch and giving myself an excuse to be lazy for the next two or three weeks or however long, I'm proactive in it. Some of the proactive recovery tips was stretching. I've never did any stretching before not once, never, and so.
Speaker 2:I've been, you know, working out for like the last 20 years, so I was like all right, you know, rather than just sitting on the couch and watching, you know, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all five of those movies I'm like let me go on to YouTube and let me try the stretching thing.
Speaker 2:Rather than you know, for me stretching or yoga, it has always been kind of like a negative connotation with me, where you would imagine like a skinny man with wispy chest hairs and a man bun, just kind of being feminine and you know, a little bit kind of feminine.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And that's just something that wasn't attractive to me. That's why I never pursued it. But there was this phrase, phrase, stretching for strength. I can get down with that, you know, stretching for strength. And then the guy teaching it, he was a masculine man. I was like, all right, the website is called body weight warrior Excellent, um, excellent, channel. It really helped me and put me on on this path to flexibility. Um, uh, flexing for strength, or being flexible for strength. And now I, I, I stretch every, every night, every, every single morning as part of my morning and nighttime routine, and I haven't had that injury ever since. And so, oh yeah. So after I was, after my mobility was taken away, I had the realization that I was taking away, or I was taking for granted my mobility, just the simple fact to be able to walk.
Speaker 2:It's such a luxury until, yeah, yeah, taken away and there's that old song you don't know what you have until it's gone. Right, my, my strength, my mobility, it was gone. Nothing, like I said, I felt like an 85 year old man. And so, after, after about, like you know, that week and a half of slowly, uh slowly, making small gains and and these stretches that I was doing, it was almost, or orgasmic. It was like, oh, this feels so good, oh, wow, like I've never felt that. I've never felt that way before, and, um, I, I was able to uh develop my own stretching flow, my my own, my own routine, just based on some of the things that I've learned. About a week and a half goes by and prior to the injury, I never ran. I would maybe run like one mile and I would feel like a beast.
Speaker 1:So you hadn't done any of these marathons or any of these events prior to this? Nothing.
Speaker 2:I never stretched, maybe ran like one mile and I felt like a beast. I felt stretched, maybe ran like one mile and I felt like a beast. I felt elite, right. So, after I was healed and I knew that I was taking for granted my mobility, my ability to walk, my ability to run, I wasn't doing enough of it. I was like, you know, I'm going to celebrate, I'm going to celebrate my strength, I'm going to embrace it and I'm going to honor, I'm going to honor the strength and the gift that I have.
Speaker 2:Uh, health is wealth, um, yes, so, so, um, once I started to be able to, uh like, walk strongly, I, I, I started cycling, because that that was another way to actively recover, and then I put the bike aside and I started to run, and then I just didn't stop. So, mile three, on this one particular run, I felt like Sam Frodo. There's a scene in Lord of the Rings. It's Frodo Baggins and his buddy Sam, and they're walking to Mordor and then, all of a sudden, sam stops. And then Frodo is like what's the matter, sam? And then Sam is like if I take one more step, this is going to be the farthest that I've ever been from home.
Speaker 2:And it's really traumatic, right. So he takes that step and then he just continues. And then so, when I was at mile three, that was the farthest that I've ever ran. And then so, when I was at mile three, that that was the farthest that I've ever ran. And then so I said, and so I said to myself, if I run one more step, 3.1, that's going to be the farthest I've ever ran.
Speaker 1:That's cool.
Speaker 2:I ended up running six miles. And then when I, when I come back home, I, I'm, I'm, I'm in like, I'm in like a state of like, uh, euphoria. I'm like, wow, I've I've never done that, I'm in uncharted territory. And then I'm like, wow, I've never felt this way before, I've never experienced that. I didn't even know like people really do that, like me, just a regular guy. And then that parlayed into reading more, learning more. And then it got into the idea of a marathon. My sister she presented she's a couple of years younger than me and she was starting to run, she was doing like 5Ks and she was like, hey, come and sign up, come and sign up and do this run with me. I'm like, why am I going to pay to run? I'll just run around my house.
Speaker 1:Hey, ruben, hold on one second, hold on one second, uh, because you're you're throwing out man, you're you are people. Ruben is lit up, man, this boy's ready to go and I appreciate the knowledge you're dropping here for the listeners because, man, I hope they're taking notes and reading between the lines, because there's a lot of good information here. But, daryl, I want to just back up real quick, because you spoke about active recovery and Daryl and I really want to make a point to make sure we're adding value to people. Daryl, can you elaborate on active recovery real quick? And then I'm going to fast forward back to Ruben again, because now he's going into, he's running marathons. Now that's the next step he's going to be talking about, it sounds like.
Speaker 3:But, darrell, you know it's funny uh, active recovery, you know, um, so you just did. Did that just pop into your mind, cause when you you look about it, just you put a few things really about low intensity exercises. They talk about walking, gentle, stretching aid and it's really about just getting like blood flow going right and everything else.
Speaker 3:And there's a lot of different things there and there's a lot of them, and the bottom one is yoga, and stretching is the number one, right? Um, and I went to that website that you said, as you were talking, do that, do that. There's some serious exercises in there. So, um, this, this, this just kind of lit a fire in you and really got like the blood going to your, to your muscles and everything else Sounds like uh something really good and my wife and I have been really doing.
Speaker 3:and, even though I don't like it, when we get home from a run, you know you go on YouTube and YouTube is amazing, isn't it, Ruben? You can literally go on there and you just type in, you know, post, post, running, stretching, and we've been doing those and those are, those are big items. So, um, amazing, uh, active recovery definitely something I'll look into a little bit more. But man, there's a whole, whole science behind there online. I'd never even heard about that before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I like how you, how you, how you said that you know it's so many times we'll have an injury or we'll have a schedule conflict and we use that as an excuse to rest on our laurels. And something shifted in you when you said no, you know what? How can I get proactive? How can I create movement? Because movement is medicine, movement is medicine, man. And so that's what it sounded, based on how you were sharing your story. It sounded like something clicked, that the switch flipped and you, and then you got into it, you threw on your man bun and you got down and started doing some stretching. And here you are, man, and you were uh, you were left off for talking about your. You said your sister was running marathons or five Ks or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, um, she, prior to this injury, she would, you know, she would participate in, like you know, fun runs, 5ks here and there. And so she presented the idea. She was like, hey, why don't we run the San Francisco half marathon? You know, both of us were starting to run more, and my sister I've been working out she just like kind of started at that point to take it like a little bit more seriously. And so I thought to myself I'm like you know, if my sister is brave enough to run 13 miles, I am, you know, a hundred times stronger than my sister. So I'm like you know what I'm going to talk if you're, if you're brave enough to do the half marathon, I'm going to do the full. Then you're, if you're brave enough to do the half marathon, I'm gonna do the full. Then, and then so I I ended up doing it.
Speaker 2:Um, the, the san francisco marathon that year was in september. I think I signed up for it in august. Just like boom, just like that. And wow, little did, a little did. I know that. You know, people are supposed to train like for like a very long, long time for a marathon, but I'm glad that I just signed up for it and I was just willing to to do it.
Speaker 2:You know I was going to learn. I was going to learn really quick on what I was made of. I was going to going to just learn. I was just open to learn.
Speaker 2:I was open to on a journey, on a on a adventure, I was open to, on a journey, on a adventure and I was just willing to try. And being a father, one of the things that I want to exemplify because I do not want to be a hypocritical father where I'm saying, hey, try, try your best, do things that you're uncomfortable with. I want to do that, you know. So I want to show my son that, hey, if I'm telling you to do something, it's because it's more than likely right. You know, stepping out of your comfort zone, trying your best, willing to lose, willing to. You know, be uncomfortable If I'm, if I'm saying that to you, I need to, I need to embrace that in my own life.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so I signed up for it.
Speaker 2:To make a long story short. Uh, I ended up finishing in like four hours and four minutes, and prior to that, uh, you know the the little bit of time that I had to prepare for it I would go onto the forums and I would read what like other, what, some of the other knowledge, some of the other wisdom that other people have had have had to say about marathons, and one thing that I realized is that a lot of people project their own inadequacies, their own fears, their own shortcomings out there into the internet and they say, hey, just because I experienced this, this, this is what's going to happen to you. You're going to have bad knees, you're going to shit your pants, your toenails are are all going to fall off, and this and that, and blah, blah, blah. And then so me going into those forums and reading all of these bad things that were going to happen, none of it happened, um, and not only in the marathon world, but people do that in the Ironman triathlon world, they do that in the, in the, in the ultra world.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I, I, I haven't had any injuries. I haven't had anything, and it's not because I'm training super hard or anything like that. Maybe I'm lucky, I don't know. But if you are in the wrong forms, you will absorb the fears of other people. You know, it's kind of like if you watch Jaws and you go into the ocean, you're going to be thinking about sharks everywhere.
Speaker 1:I still do, man. That messed me up back in the 80s man. Yeah, so that was a great experience.
Speaker 2:I thought that that was just for people on the internet. I didn't know it was for everyone. And my eyes were opened and there's so much humble pie was eaten there. Having know having a 65 year old man with a big long beard running in, like, in, like, uh, chanclas pretty much beat it, beating me up going up a San Francisco hill. He, he's running faster than me up a hill and I'm just like what's going on? How's?
Speaker 2:this old man running faster than me. Right now he looks 80, but here he is and that's why I love the endurance world, because you are surprised so many times and if you don't see it with your own eyes it's hard to believe. You think that it's just internet people but they're out there. They're walking amongst us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's great to hear the backstory. We've been kind of collectively together. It's been about six years now since we've been kind of actively five, six of us doing endurance sports. Um, we've been doing them a little bit separately but we started cycling and then Doug uh did uh the CIM. It's uh about two and a half years ago, I guess now two and a half years.
Speaker 1:That's a marathon in Folsom.
Speaker 3:Yeah the C, that's a marathon in Folsom. Yeah the CIM the California Marathon.
Speaker 3:And we've got a little bit more into running. These communities are great, like you said, all shapes and sizes, all positive, and the more we're in, more endurance ones and the ultra groups and other things. Man, I'll tell you what they are the most inviting, collaborative, encouraging people out there. And if you're running around there and you're feeling bad and you're in your own pain, cave and you see somebody else, that's you know, just, you know doing it, uh, it's a, it's a, it's a great thing. So, yeah, yeah, don't, don't read the energy, uh, internet, get out there and do them.
Speaker 1:Stay in your lane. Stay in your lane the bottom line.
Speaker 1:Hey so we, we, we met you at the uh, you were doing a hundred miler, um, and I love your. I mean you. You know, in your bio I mentioned you've done 30 milers, 50 milers, but let's fast forward to the hundred miler, because that's all compiled and compressed together and brings you up to this moment where you're doing 100 miles now. But walk us through strategically, mentally, spiritually, how do you, how do you prepare a training regimen leading up to a hundred mile race? Because I know, when I was training for a marathon, you know I'd go out for a 15 mile run, an 18 mile run, a 20, I think 20 was the furthest they had me training, and then you know the six I had to just figure out on marathon day. But I can't imagine, on a, on a training for a hundred mile run, you don't say hey, honey, I'm going out for an 80 mile run today to train. Like, how do you train for that?
Speaker 1:Again, physically, spiritually, mentally, what, what was your, what did you come up with? And and how did it? Uh, you obviously finished. You finished your a hundred miles, congratulations on that. Um, and and how did it all? How did it all pan out? While you were on the course?
Speaker 2:Well, the year 2023, that was a big year for me. I did a bunch of marathons, ironmans and ultras that year. And then so 2024, I took a little bit of a break and I was starting to feel greed, the insatiable appetite for more. I wanted more PRs, I wanted more, more miles. So I was like, hey, you know, I'm starting to feel that I need to, I need to pump the brakes a little bit. Um, because you know what? What's the point? You know I already set out to do everything that I wanted to do. Now, get into the hundred.
Speaker 2:How I trained for that one, I already had like a base for it. So I I knew I was strong enough to endure long miles and then. So what I had to do was prepare myself mentally. Um, going slow for me is, I mean I. I know slow or pace is relative for everyone, but I knew that I was going to have to. I knew I was going to have some 15 minute miles and 20 minute miles out there, and that was going to be for me.
Speaker 2:So one of the ways that I prepped myself was to manage myself day emotionally. For example, I have a six year old daughter. She is she's challenging, she's a she's a sour patch kid. She's sweet, and then she's. She's challenging and then. So one of the ways that I prepped for the a hundred mile was, I said to myself, if I can't be patient and kind right here, when the stakes are low, when I'm in the comfort of my own house and my daughter is pushing all of my buttons, if I can be patient and calm right now, then when I'm in deep water in a 100-mile ultramarathon, I'm going to panic, I'm going to freak out, I'm going to have my own tantrum.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Even sitting in traffic. If I am experiencing road rage, if I'm, you know, cutting in and out of lanes, if I'm being rude, if I'm gassing, breaking and gassing and breaking, if I can't just be calm and patient in traffic, then I'm going to lose my cool out there in the ultra marathon.
Speaker 1:If.
Speaker 2:I can't, you know, be kind, and be kind and encouraging to my coworkers. If I can't, you know, do a little bit of extra around the house. If I can't do my, do my daily journal. If I can't, you know, do all of these little things, then when it comes time for me to rise to the occasion of whatever obstacle I was going to face out there on the course, then the likelihood of me not overcoming that was going to not be good.
Speaker 1:Ruben, hold on one second man. For people listening right now, what you said is absolutely gold man. If you're listening to this and you weren't taking notes, people, I want you to rewind about a minute's worth maybe a minute and a half and listen to what Ruben says again. Again, I'll summarize what he's doing. He's training his mind to be disciplined and respond with actions of kindness and love. He is taking the steering wheel and managing his emotions, because that's what it takes out there, that's what it's going to take, and he's doing that in everyday life.
Speaker 1:And, ruben, you just described that we have every one of us has. We live in a training ground with the moment we wake up, how, if you're married, how you speak to your spouse, how you respond to your daughter, the moment you walk into the office or the moment you get on your first work call, how you respond, what kind of energy are you putting out. That's the energy you're going to get back. And, man, that was just brilliant. I love that training ground. Dude, that was awesome. Sorry for interrupting you, but I just that was so awesome. I had to make sure that I just really drilled it into the listeners right now that what you just said was massively valuable, not just for training for a hundred mile run, but the man, the benefit is like doing that after the run.
Speaker 1:Guess what? You're probably going to still be that dude who's being patient with the daughter and and kind with people and doing and and cooling traffic and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So go on, ruben, take it back over from there, man um, another thing that I did um for for this race was I didn't obsess about it. I didn't I mean just plainly simply, I didn't obsess about it. I lived my life. I didn't change too much. I signed up for this race December 28th and the race was April 12th or something like that. So I so, so I chose this race with not that much time, because I didn't want it at the end of the year October, november, because I didn't want to obsess about it. I didn't want to have like the, the uh, the, the ax man hanging over my head for the entire year. I'm like man, I want to get after it right now. But the thing about that is I signed up for it in December. I had a good, I think. I ran two marathons and an ultra in 2024.
Speaker 2:But towards the end of the summer I started to work more on my flexibility. I started to read a lot more, I started to write a lot more. I started to read a lot more, I started to write a lot more, I started to weight train more. And then that reoccurring thought I was trying to stuff it down for a long time Like, hey, the 100 miles still out there, the 100 mile. But then I was also battling with that greed, the insatiable appetite for more, more miles, faster times, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:So 2024, I had to pump the brakes on that, but it kept bubbling up. It kept bubbling up and I felt that that was going to be one of the things if I didn't do. I was just going to think about it forever, no matter how much I kept pushing it down. So I, I finally signed up for it, trained I. I I only had like what? Uh, I trained. I only had like what? Four, eight, 12 weeks to really train for it. I got in some long runs, I embraced time on my feet. I did it with no coaches, no training partners. It was just me, my thoughts, god, my family, the good, the bad, the ugly.
Speaker 1:The first title of my book is called.
Speaker 2:Everything is fuel and, um, I love that, that, that that that's what I use. Like you know, the, the things, the things that were used to try to keep me down right. I internalized it and I use it for fuel. I firmly believe that it is the downfall of the man who cannot transform those negative aspects of life into positivity and use it to propel themselves. It is the man or woman, the adult that has all of these negative influences and they have no expression for it. They can't get it out other than becoming bitter, nihilistic, depressed. They have no outlet for it. It's hard, but you can use it for for fuel. It's nothing new. The these, these principles and concepts. They've been since forever.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And then also man, you you have. You know, there's a great, there's a great biblical story. Um, it is john, chapter five, where jesus, or a man, he was paralyzed for 38 years and he wants to go into some water, and then jesus. Jesus asked him. He says do you want to be healed? And and the man says I, I, but I can't walk into these waters. Jesus says, pick up your mat and walk. And then he picks up his mat and he walks. And then so you have to ask your question Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be strong? Do you want to be financially secure? Do you want to be delivered from whatever problem? You have to have faith in God that those promises are yours, and you have to pick up your mat and you have to walk.
Speaker 1:I love that. Amen, man, amen. We've been in church all day here, ruben, all day. Obviously you're a man of God. You are faith-filled. How does that play a role into or how did that look? I want to tie it into the 100 miler and you kind of touched on it here and there, but take us through while you're running. Share some key moments during the run where you called upon your faith. What were some of the challenges and struggles? Because even the strongest man of faith is going to have weak moments Like man can.
Speaker 1:I do this man, this hurts, or we're going to go down that road. But how did you use your faith in those moments to kind of bounce back, so share the moments that you might have had some weaknesses. And then how did your faith guide you through and get you through?
Speaker 2:Well, a funny weak moment that I had for myself. It was at mile 40. I don't know what hour of the night that that was, but it was in the middle of the night and there was a low flying helicopter. I don't know what it was doing, but it flew really low and I was like man. And so don't get me wrong, this was a joke that I said to myself. You know, maybe maybe a bad joke, but I was like man. I hope that that helicopter crashes in this vineyard. I hope no one dies, but I hope that it crashes so that the race can be canceled and I can say hey, you know, I was going to do 100 miles.
Speaker 1:The helicopter crashed.
Speaker 2:And you know so the race had had had to be canceled, but the helicopter didn't crash, so I was, you know, stuck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bro, you know what. Thanks for keeping that real, because you know what. I'll be having thoughts like that too. Man, it was like you want to. You want any excuse to get out of that pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not my fault, you know the helicopter crashed. I had to, I had to postpone, but anyways the helicopter didn't crash. Um mile 40 through like 75, I don't really remember. I do, but it's just one blur of darkness, dust and my headlamp, so they all kind of just like blur in together Right Mile 85, that's when I start to feel really deep fatigue, deep fatigue. And man, I had to be that man for my family. That shows them what it looks like. What does it look like to keep going? What does it look like?
Speaker 2:There's a book written by Steven Pressfield. It is called Gates of Fire and it chronicles the battle of Thermopylae. And there is this really great story the Spartan children. They had to go into a gogi and that is where they're separated from their mothers and they go amongst the Spartan men and they're getting trained up. But if the Spartan boys, if they mess up, they have to go and hold on to this tree and the Spartan men just whip them, wow, wow, wow. And this Spartan men just whip them, wow, wow, wow.
Speaker 2:And this one boy, he was very like hardheaded. Um, typically those boys they get like one whipping and then they fall. You know, they, they voluntarily let go. But this kid, he did not let go. He kept getting whipped, whipped, whipped and, uh, to make a long story short, he ends up dying and it's one of his friends, is very sad and the Spartan man comes up and and consoles the boy and he's like you know what. That was unfortunate, but what he did show you was that you can separate your, your mind and your spirit can separate from the body and you can endure so much. And he may have died, but he showed you and everybody else that you can continue to take pain and punishment and, and, and it goes on to really, um, hearken on that phrase he who has a why can bear anyhow and that boy uh, he, he just took on that that punishment, for his own reasons of why right um, but but my why to endure?
Speaker 2:that was I wanted to be that man to exemplify the honor of honoring your strength, honoring your body, being able to push through that, being able to separate yourself from the pain and focus on a goal, and I didn't want to have to have my son or my daughter or my wife have to look for people like that on the Internet.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I wanted them to know that their dad, my wife, her husband can be that in just this one aspect. And if I can turn it and point that energy in any other aspect, my daughter knows that I will, I will push and pull for her. My son knows that I will push and pull for him. And you know, I, I've, I've always been, I, I've always I'm not always, but as of lately, like I've just been that guy to if I'm going to do it, if I say I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. And now I expect that from from my son. If you say you were going to do it, you know, do it. You don't need to run a hundred miles, but whatever you are going to do, it's going to, it's going to cost you something.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Be ready to pay for that.
Speaker 1:So, ruben, I think what's important right now for people listening because you're living at a really high frequency right now, very high level, um, strong, strong commitment. And you know there's a few people I know in my life Daryl's one of them who they do, what they say they're going to do. There's areas in my life where I'm still trying to nurture and foster that and and move through that, and that's that's why I, you know, I try to surround myself with guys like you and Daryl, and you know it's it's it's important. You said something, you mentioned something about that earlier who you surround yourself with, it really matters.
Speaker 1:But for the listener who is struggling right now, for someone who is stuck in that hole of just like I'm not good enough, I can't be like that. Well, that's Ruben, I can't do that. Or that's Daryl running a 50 care or whatever you know, like I can't even do that. So why should I even listen to these guys? Is there any anything you can share about who Ruben was and what you had to overcome to get to where you are now? I mean, did you ever slack? Did you ever give up? Did you ever? What was it like man?
Speaker 2:Big, big time. Um, so, the, the family that I came from, uh, my, my father, he, he od'd, when I was like two, you know on. You know, I think like heroin was like a new drug back in the day okay and so, um, alcoholism, incarceration, drugs, street life, all of that.
Speaker 2:There's an old phrase that the blind will lead the blind. And when I look back on my life, it's no wonder why I went down the roads of trouble that I went down. It was because, you know, I didn't have men who. There was no conversation of mindset, there was no conversation of taking care of yourself. It was just, hey, let's see how many beers we can pound and let's see how many people we can fight knock out. And so I had a hard time all the way into, like my mid 20s, 21s, and then I went on that journey of trying to get sober. That's when I started to really lean into God. I had nothing else to lean into other than God. And hey, that's when he embraces you. He wants you to come with your weaknesses, your inadequacies. He wants you to come broken so that he can patch you up, he can restore you, and then you give the glory to God. And then he's like, hey, if I can polish this dude, he was a turd.
Speaker 3:He was this and that.
Speaker 2:And now look at him and you know one thing that that one thing that I want to point out for myself, or, you know, point out to to some people, is that you know this endurance mindset the miles is just the medium, but you put it into your financial stability, you put it into your relationships, you put it into your everything. It's not just a hey, all I do is run. That's just one little aspect. That is a luxury. Everything else that I have to have done in order for me to put in these miles needs to be done, and I find that the best training and the most powerful workouts that I have is when my plate is clear, the bills are paid, the house is in order, the lawn is mowed, et cetera, et cetera. Because if I can't have the necessities checked off first, then I need to be devoting that energy that would be going to a workout or to the miles. I need to have my foundation, all of my bases, checked off first. So, for those who think that it takes some superhuman willpower, it doesn't. What it does is man. Find your why. Read good books, read the good books. Have some poetry, have some scripture etched in your heart, in your mind. Believe it, fight for it. Yes, keep going in your mind. Believe it, fight for it. Yes, keep going. Get ready, get ready to be knocked down a million times, but rise, rise again and keep, keep going.
Speaker 2:You have, you have to be a fighter. You have, you, you have to fight for it. You have to fight for it, otherwise, you know, hey, there is a immutable law, it's called the uh law of of entropy. And even if you order something, if you put a room into order over time, it's going to fall into disarray. As soon as you're done mowing your lawn, the grass starts growing. As soon as you're done painting your house, the paint starts to fade. The caulking starts to fade. Everything, everything needs to always be put into order, otherwise it falls apart. Wow, you have to dig into it, you have to.
Speaker 1:There's no one's going to do it for you.
Speaker 2:You are dropping some nuggets today, brother you don't even want anyone else to do it for you. You are dropping some nuggets today, brother, you don't even want anyone else to do it for you. You have to be the one. No one else can want it for you. You have to want it yourself. And you got to put these up.
Speaker 1:He's got his fists up right now.
Speaker 2:people, that's what he's saying.
Speaker 1:You got to put these up. Hey, ruben, I want to just touch a little, or Daryl, you had a question for him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, hey, ruben, I want to touch on something you mentioned, one of the things that not just ultra running, but kind of in life. You know one of the things you said in your training you've got to get comfortable with slowing down, right, yeah, like like it is. It's still like you said. You might have some 12 minute miles, some 15 minute 20. Who cares? You keep moving it forward, right, and it's about the journey and everything else there, and that's one of the biggest things is doing that.
Speaker 3:I remember so, very similar to you, I stopped drinking, I got sober a couple of years ago. One of the big things in my life I needed to do was slow down, do the next right thing, and sometimes, when I'm doing these longer events with ultra running, everything else is guess what? I'm okay that I did an 18 minute mile up a hill, I'm fine, I'm good, right, that's such a hard concept. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes you got to slow down and learn along the way and everything else. Can you talk about that for a second? Because you know, overall, I have more peace when it's about accomplishing something rather than just getting it done as fast as possible. So I'm just curious what your thoughts are on that, but I'm still learning that. I've learned that in my personal life, probably with sobriety, but I'm also learning that as far as running these ultra events as well.
Speaker 2:There's a really good book. It is called the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and I would recommend that book for you and that that will kind of like really put that concept on the forefront of your mind. Really good book. But yeah, slowing down it is a practice. But yeah, slowing down it is a practice. When you think about it, what's the rush?
Speaker 2:What's the rush? What's the rush? It is a freaking practice. As far as going slow, I mean, who are you? Usain Bolt? Are you Usain Bolt? Are you trying to be the fastest man ever? Are you trying to be the strongest man ever? Embrace the limitations. You are who you are. So let's say you had the opportunity to go faster, further, but it's going to cost you something. What do you want to pay for that?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's going to cost you maybe some quality time with your wife or your loved ones. It's going to cost you quality time away from something else you can get faster. It's just going to cost you something. So you have to ask yourself what am I willing to pay for? More speed, for more time, for more strength? Now, when I ask myself those questions, it's going to cost me my mornings with my daughter you know that, those precious moments and it's going to cost me time with my son. It's going to cost me time with my wife. It's going to cost me time with my son. It's going to cost me time with my wife. It's going to cost me time reading. Now, what is it to gain the world but lose your soul? What is it to get a faster pace in your miles but your relationship with your significant other or your children or whatever that crumbles? What is that? So, getting back to slowing down.
Speaker 2:If you want to go fast, go alone if you want to go far if you want to go far, you know you have to take some, some people with you. That that's something that is really challenging. Challenging for me because I, I am effective, I am efficient and when you do, bring people along with you, they will slow you down.
Speaker 3:I know so well what do you want.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to be able to tell you what's right or what's wrong, but you will have a tugging on your conscience. Listen to that.
Speaker 1:Hey, ruben, I just want to that you know. I just want to pause everyone again. You know I'm just. You know, listen up listeners. You guys are here Daryl. Awesome question, Ruben. I loved how you answered that and what Ruben is saying and again correct me anywhere you want.
Speaker 1:Ruben or Daryl is the event. It isn't just the starting line and finish line, it's your relationships before you get to the event. And, man, if you can't show up after an event and share the experience in a excited, enthusiastic way with your significant others and your family and be there to still take out the trash and follow up and say how was your day, baby, or let's play catch son or daughter, obviously running 50 miles or a hundred miles, you know there's going to be some flexibility in there. But, man, if you can go into what I'm hearing you say, ruben, is if you can go into these things and get your mind off of the pace and focus on the overall purpose, like, hey, we're all trying to get fit because we want to have better relationships, we want to have more energy, we want to be more because when we're fit we're operating at a higher level, a higher frequency, and we can give more to those we care about around us, because the truth is is when we're on our deathbed, we're not going to give a damn at our finish time of the 100 mile race, we're not even going to give a damn. We did a 100 mile race. We're not even going to give a damn. We did a hundred mile race. What we're going to give a damn about is that I hold my daughter's hand long enough, that I, that I share a glance across the room with my wife, that I instruct my son enough now to did I show him you know, through my experience, you know the grid that I show him patience, that I show him love, that I show them patience, that I show them love, that I show them how to be present. You know the things that matter. I have to imagine I'm not not having been on my deathbed. I've been in some close calls. But uh, you know, I know, even in those close calls, some different questions arise, other than how fast can I get this done? So I loved how you broke that down, ruben. That is so, so good, so good. I do want to be mindful.
Speaker 1:We try to keep these episodes close to an hour anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and we're coming up on that time and, ruben, I could interview you for three hours, bro. I mean, you got so much. So what that tells me is we're going to have you back. We're going to have you back. But before we start moving on to just closing this episode out, we always close with a quote card, and I think Daryl has something ready for us today, which we love having our guests.
Speaker 1:And Ruben, I'm going to just let you have this one. I don't even know what the quote is, but I can't wait to hear what you're about to say. But, ruben, you've written a couple books. What are the name of them? We're going to drop the links to your books, so make sure you send me the links to those books so I can put them in the show notes. And then also and you got your own podcast going on how much has your physical life kind of impacted or moved and shaped what you've written and what you speak about in your podcast?
Speaker 2:Well, I wrote the two books because I had all of those thoughts just floating around in my mind and I just had to get it out Right. The title of the books, the first book is Gathering Strength Everything is Fuel and it is primarily about resilience how to turn the good, the bad, the ugly, into fuel, right? The second book is titled Gathering Strength Master ugly into fuel, right? Uh? The second book is is titled gathering strength mastering the mind. Mastering, not master your mind. Uh, because you know the mind, it is always changing. There's all these influences on us, and the book is about the things that I did to help me master, or help me with the process of mastering my own mind, or help me with the process of mastering my own mind, and there's a whole bunch of practical tips backed by research, philosophy, evolutionary biology, theology. And one of the things that really floats my boat is when all you know theology, evolutionary biology, psychology, sociology, all of the ologies when they all say the same thing, then that really gets my antenna buzzing and I'm like, oh, I need to pay attention, I need to see what's being said and I need to implement it.
Speaker 2:Gathering Strength is the name of the podcast and that term, gathering Strength. That was a quote written by Marcus Aurelius in his book Meditations. He wrote a excerpt from his favorite poet, virgil, and the phrase is in Latin. It says Vietes equidit iundo we gather strength as we go. Now, I think that that is beautiful, because we gather strength as we go.
Speaker 2:You have to go, you have to. You can't just stay and have everything perfect. You're you. You can't just, you know, sign up for things and get the strength here. No, you, you gotta go. You need to gather strength as you go. So you need to try, refine, try again and keep that process going over and over. So, gathering Strength the books and the podcast are all sorts of ways to help you gather a little bit of strength as you embark on life, your journey, whether it's mentally, physically, spiritually and because nothing in life is free financially as well. All of these little tidbits have really sparked my curiosity, made me more of a critical thinker, made me more of a conscientious human being, a being, and I believe that the world needs more strong men, more strong women, and the way you do that is you gather strength as you go.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen, wow, said Ruben. Wow, man, that was awesome. What an incredible episode, daryl. Come on, man. What'd you got for me, daryl? This was a divine connection, brother, because you brought the heat, and thank you. Our listeners are going to be so blessed just to listen in and hear some of these nuggets. You've dropped these life lessons, these legacy lessons, and I just want to say thank you, ruben, thank you for being on our show. We're not done yet, and I just want to say thank you, ruben, thank you for being on our show. We're not done yet. We're going to Daryl. If you're ready, man, we're going to just move on over to quote card. This is the part of the episode where either Daryl or I will secretly bring a quote Neither one of us knows what the quote is and then myself or Daryl and the listener will respond with what that quote inspired from them. How they're going to respond. So it's Daryl's turn to bring the quote. So go on, daryl, what you got for us.
Speaker 3:Sure, and uh, I couldn't have picked a better one. And uh, it was funny, I got it from. There was a race in Arizona called the Cocodona five, uh two, 50 this last week. It's a crazy 250 mile ride. Uh run ultra from Phoenix to Flagstaff and at the end, uh, they, they were doing uh things with some of the runners and the best quote I have from one of the runners who came in second, they, uh they asked him about the race and he said yes, strength and fitness help, but they're not everything. If you know how to manage yourself and have a strong, why you'll get it done. Yes, strength and fitness help, but they're not everything. If you know how to manage yourself and have a strong, why, you'll get it done. Ruben, how does that hit you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Sounds like an iteration of Frederick Nietzsche. He said he who has a why can bear anyhow. Yeah, why would someone do 250 miles? They have to have a big why and millions of whys.
Speaker 1:They have to have an inexhaustible bag of whys Says the 100 miler? Yes.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And when I saw that you read 40 books, doug and I are in a book club and it's a men books club that we started during COVID and we read books and we just got through reading the book you mentioned, uh, with Nietzsche and everything else. And um, uh, I was, uh, I was riding in Hawaii up a volcano and a guy that rode next to me said have you read any good books lately? So that's one of our catchphrases. So when we're when we were on the silver moon, I was running next to someone you know and yeah, we've got a lot of time out there I said have you read any good books lately? They looked at me like I was crazy, right, so I should have. I should have found you. So, um, I can't tell you, doug, how awesome that you saw his shirt that said fear God and reached out to him.
Speaker 3:It's a it's a blessing to have Ruben in our lives and your, your podcast, your books, and thanks for being here today.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, Ruben, why don't you give a big hello, big give a hello to your, to your family and and your sister, since you told her how strong, how much more stronger you are than her. You might as well just say hi to her on the podcast. She already knows what's up.
Speaker 2:Denise, my, you know, my son Lucas, my, my daughter Liliana, my, my beautiful wife. She's my at last, and man onward always onward.
Speaker 1:Yes, amen, amen. All right, we're going to sign off, like we always do, and I'm going to just say God bless and peace out, peace out, peace out, we're out, we're out.
Speaker 3:Outro Music.