Peach Podcast

S3EP08: Beyond Beginners 53 Episodes...What's Next?

Doug & Daryl Season 3 Episode 8

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What in your life are you a beginner at these days?

This deceptively powerful question frames our one-year podcast anniversary episode, challenging us to examine where we're growing versus where we're playing it safe. When we only do things we've already mastered, our lives remain constrained to a small, comfortable sandbox. But embracing beginner status—with all its awkwardness and uncertainty—expands our world exponentially.

Our podcast journey epitomizes this principle. From terrified novices to confident conversationalists 53 episodes later, we've discovered the transformative power of consistent practice and patience. Yet perhaps our most dramatic beginner's journey has been our unexpected dive into trail running and ultramarathons.

What began with a casual interview with an ultrarunner in February has exploded into a full-blown passion. Daryl shares his remarkable progression from reluctant runner to completing a grueling 50K (31-mile) ultramarathon with 5,000 feet of elevation gain. We explore the physical and mental challenges of trail running—from embracing walking uphill to recovering from falls (three in the first lap alone!)—and how these experiences cultivate a profound sense of calm that extends into everyday life.

Looking ahead, we're tackling even bigger challenges: a 50-mile ultramarathon in two weeks, a 103-mile Death Ride cycling event, and eventually a mind-boggling 125-mile ultramarathon in Arizona next year. We've discovered that the willingness to say "I don't know how to do this yet, but I'm going to figure it out" opens doors that would otherwise remain firmly closed.

Ready to expand your own definition of what's possible? Listen now, then ask yourself: what new beginning might be waiting for you?

Speaker 1:

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. Always remember, if you ever feel stuck, all you got to do is just start. Come on, let's go.

Speaker 2:

Welcome back to peach podcast with doug and daryl. Man, oh man, daryl, I gotta tell. Oh man, daryl, I got to tell you. Man, I've had a few people reach out to me and say, hey, you guys forgot to record this week and that was for the Memorial Day weekend. And I got to tell you, daryl and I were back and forth and back and forth, and how about this day, how about that day? And I think we just said we're still in the mode of being beginners. We just said, you know, we're still in the mode of being beginners and I think you and I are embracing progress over perfection. I think there's a part of us that's like damn it, we didn't want to miss. But there's another part of us that's like, hey, you know what? I think it's important that we learn how to miss with grace and embrace it and just move the hell on. So if you're brand new to the podcast, go back to first episode and find out why we are called Peach. Peach is an acronym P-E-A-C-H. It's an acronym. Go find out. Listen on our very first episode and you'll find out what it is. Really cool story If you're a longtime listener.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for supporting us. Please share an episode. Spread the word. We are just a couple of dudes trying to break open things under purpose, energy, attitude, commitment and health. So, without any further ado, let me break it off to you, my boy Daryl. What's going on, man? For me personally, I'm still kind of in a three-day weekend mode, and it's already a week, almost a you know three, four days after. But uh, I'm still on Memorial weekend, man. How about you?

Speaker 3:

Daryl, what's going on? Yeah, I'll tell you what. And I, I, I just you know always, and I always send this out to Doug and all my friends and everything else. I could not not be, uh, uh, more happy that my company embraced wellness days. So wellness days was kind of something that used to happen. If you remember right During uh, companies did that during COVID. It's like, hey, listen, you know everybody's worried about your mental health and all sorts of things.

Speaker 2:

Did they give you every Friday off or every other Friday?

Speaker 3:

So once a month they would give us a half day Friday. They started that Right. And then they then, as it went on, they used to give us one every other Friday, uh during this. And so everybody's saying after COVID ended was please, don't take away wellness Fridays. And so what they do is that they uh break it up and we get four of them a year, and they started in May. So my memorial day weekend started with the four-day weekend, nice friday through monday.

Speaker 2:

so you know, do you get to pick the the fridays or they?

Speaker 3:

know, it's a company-wide thing and it's basically they have, uh, they start may, june, july, august, so they do it kind of for the summer. Oh so, it was a wonderful weekend. Um had a great time. Uh, it was just wonderful. So, and as we were, uh, you know, chatting man, I'll tell you what. Uh, I know it's not officially here, but it feels like summer's upon us, it's getting hot.

Speaker 2:

Um, you see all the social media feeds um, friends, family, graduation, high schools, colleges, all sorts of stuff, and people are heading into new schedules and kids at home or kids leaving, or a whole bunch of new things yeah, yeah, you know, daryl, when I was a kid I used to get out of school like in the first week or maybe the towards the end of may or in the very beginning of june, but it seems like schools are getting out later now for summertime. Is that? Is that true? I mean I don't have any kids anymore. I, I mean I have kids, they're not little.

Speaker 3:

It used to be like mid-June and then it got super early and I agree with you, it feels like they're adding on a week or so. And I'll just tell you, you know, with Ava, she literally gets off on Friday. Yesterday she said I'm through with school. Today's my last academic day. I'm like what does that mean? She goes, we just on Thursday we swim and then we watch a movie on Friday. I'm like you know, I don't know about these schools now. She officially had her. I'm done academically.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, isn't the school in your neighborhood, cause I know Ava goes to a private school, but in your neighborhood isn't that school like a year-round school? They maybe they take two weeks off at a time and then they come back in like a year-round is a big thing.

Speaker 3:

Um, I don't know about you, doug. I mean I couldn't I. I waited for that summer to have that long period of time I've never had to and none of my kids and ava doesn't has never been to a year-round school. I'm sure there's some benefits you get off different times of the year, but no, I like their traditional.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I do too, but I guess if you grow up in the year-round environment you don't know any better. So it just is what it is. But let's move on, Daryl. Let's move on, man. I hear you've been listening to some pretty cool podcasts lately.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I've been running a little bit and I've been listening to some podcasts You've been running a little.

Speaker 2:

Why are you going to make me laugh? Daryl's been running a little bit. We'll get into that in a minute, but tell me a little bit about some of these podcasts. You've got some good facts.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I was listening to a podcast, modern Wisdom, which I greatly enjoy and that the CEO from whoop on and for us that you probably know whoop is one of the wearable items that you wear and it's a little bit different. I, like Doug and I were talking before the podcast, everybody looked into it. Should I do it? Oh my goodness. And it tracks a lot of things. It doesn't have a face on it, so it's not like you look down and I can see my time or my steps. A lot of it it tracks, does track a lot of those things.

Speaker 2:

It definitely got very big, Strictly a monitor for heartbeat sleep time, sleep, pulse all that Big into rest and recovery.

Speaker 3:

One of the first wearables and that's where they really did. But one of the things in the CEO from whoop and we'll put the we'll put the link into the description. It's a really good one. He talked about all these wearables and stuff, cause it whoops been out for about 11 years now. They get so much data in right, so they have all this stuff. So they were talking about trends and stuff. So I'll ask you, doug, so 2024, I'm sorry 2024, I'm sorry 2023, because we'll go 23 and 24. What was one of the fastest growing sports In 2000,.

Speaker 2:

oh, in 2023, that was probably during, so COVID was 2020. Yeah, COVID was over 23.

Speaker 3:

Don't overthink this. Okay, I have the same.

Speaker 2:

Running. Nope Pickleball running no pickleball. Oh, pickleball, You're right.

Speaker 3:

Pickleball is huge and and, uh, he said by far. And then he said something I thought was very interesting and he said well, that. They said well, that was in 2023. What was in 2024? Globally, the fastest growing sport in the world is called paddle. Paddle P-A-D-E -L and it's basically a combination of tennis, squash and racquetball and it is literally the fastest growing sport around the world. So think about, you're in a glass case and everything else, but you are actually playing more like squash or tennis and I'm like P-A-D-E-L. So if you want to look it up, it's the fastest global sport and everything else. And I literally had somebody say to me on a call last week hey, I'm starting to play paddle, so I've never played it. You want to look it up? P-a-d-e-l, it's basically the new trend.

Speaker 2:

I am definitely going to look it up, because I never. I guess I'll just bypass a pickleball and go right to paddle.

Speaker 3:

Exactly. Why are you going to go with second?

Speaker 2:

fiddle Right, exactly.

Speaker 3:

Anyway, it's a really big. The other thing that was really cool is they're big in tracking sleep right Sleep patterns.

Speaker 2:

Right, right.

Speaker 3:

And they said what? What um country in the world goes to bed the latest?

Speaker 2:

What country goes to bed latest? I would say not us, not the us. Um, I have, I don't have a clue, daryl, give it to me.

Speaker 3:

Saudi arabia really the average person goes to sleep past 1 am wow, that's part of all the people they track you know and think about it. They stay up super late. They go do a lot of these uh coffee things at night, a lot of social things. They don't a lot of people don't drink in Saudi Arabia, but they go to these things, dude. They don't go to bed till one o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 2:

That's crazy, that's good. Those days for me are long gone, man.

Speaker 3:

I know, and so they had all these ones, and he says, well, let me throw out this other one. It's like hey, what country drinks the most, right? And uh, they were like Ireland. Well, that's not the surprise, right?

Speaker 1:

So that's kind of a boring one.

Speaker 3:

So um so. Anyway, it's really cool. Like you said, he loves the big data and seeing all these trends and all this. But this new thing, paddle P A D EL I'm going to look it up. I'm sure they'll be popping up all over the place around here.

Speaker 2:

Well, you see, you go by the big fitness clubs, now the ones that are all inclusive with the tennis courts. Now all the tennis courts are turned into pickleball courts, but I guess they're going to be turning into paddle courts. Now I don't know, I don't know. Unless that is that played indoors. Outdoors it's a little bit indoors, it's a little bit indoors. It's a little bit indoors, because racquetball is off the wall too right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's off the wall with glasses and all this. Anyway, I'm going to go check it out and so it should be cool. And the other one which definitely, doug, we're talking about future episodes and everything else is Peter Attia, who's really great. Yeah, he had a really awesome podcast around injury prevention and, man, I'll tell you what I think about you, doug. When I literally listened to it, I thought about you.

Speaker 3:

You've talked a lot about, hey, I'm doing this a lot of the stuff I do now for my health, but I really want to be able to play with my grandkids in 10, 20 years, right, right, right. And he had the saying and, of course, he spent a lot of time being a doctor and everything else. You know. He said we're all going to have um going into a marginal decade. I hate to say, you know we probably don't want to talk about it, but there's going to be some decade that's going to be the last decade of our life. Uh, not something great to think about, but you know um, and how do you know when that decade is?

Speaker 2:

you know, I guess you have to, just you got to just plan it out and just that. That's, that's crazy. So what do you do? How do you get ready for your final decade? What?

Speaker 3:

does. He say a lot of things they talked about. It was like, hey, you need to train now, right, it's the last decade of your life, like an athlete, um, and he was a doctor and he said you know, the number one people complain about as they go into later in their life is what's getting taken away from them physically. That is the single, like something I used to be able to think about. You have conversations. I used to be able to do this. I used to be able to go do that. I can't do that anymore.

Speaker 3:

He said, you know now some people, you know loneliness is a big deal. Maybe they were a miserable person and their family and friends don't want to hang out with them. Reality is, you know, some people's cognition fail them, but he said in large numbers, two thirds of them in their final decade. The physical part is what they miss most. Yes, and there's a bit of freedom for pain, doug, that he said in this, but a lot of it's just you're restricted in your activities, right, um, you know, and that's, and that's really what we have to. You know, we have to work on and that's a lot of the work you do now, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, you know it's funny, I, I, you know, I live with my dad right now. He's 83, he'll be 84 in October and he's got a bone on bone torn meniscus in one of his knees and his other knees really messed up too. But, man, every time we drive somewhere out of his he lives on this country route, country road, two lane highway kind of a thing, and we'll drive down about three, sometimes five, six miles at this one point and he says, you know, son, I used to walk this back and forth every day. And when he describes it you can just hear man it's like because right now, with his knee, he's very tentative and apprehensive to take a step anywhere, because sometimes it just slips out of nowhere, out of left field, and he's like, oh shit, you know and it's.

Speaker 2:

I can see man a lot of times he is just wishing he could be walking again and it's just. You know, it's a great point that Peter brings up that. You know you've got to train like this decade is your last decade. If you are mobile now, do not, do not take it for granted, you know, because it will catch up with your ass and the next thing, you know, you're going to be wishing or reminiscent. I used to do this and I used to do that instead of still doing it, because there are 80 and 90, 95, 90, a hundred year olds still walking three to five miles a day. You know, if they, if they can do it, then why not you? Right, why not you?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so definitely there's some great things that a physical therapist on there will definitely bring that in Um and look at seeing you can do an injury prevention that. So that'll be part of it. But, doug, yes, do you know what this week is?

Speaker 2:

No, this week is uh, what is this week? It's the last week of May, right?

Speaker 3:

Correct, and uh, this is our 53rd episode we're recording. This is our 53rd episode 53rd and we had a phone. We had a bonus episode. So this is officially our one year last episode. Next week we start our podcast on June 5th last year, so this is our 53rd and we will have completed a year after we record this.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that is pretty cool, daryl.

Speaker 1:

Man, time just flies.

Speaker 2:

I knew we were coming up on a year here and there, but the exact date or whatnot I haven't really. I knew it was sometime in June. We recorded our first episode and wow, and we just went, man, every week, brother.

Speaker 3:

Every week, every week, and remember we had the one which was the bonus week. Remember we did a bonus week, we did a bonus week.

Speaker 2:

Which we didn't realize was going to make up for the week we missed. Last week we were we were.

Speaker 3:

Our brains were ahead of us.

Speaker 2:

We were planning for success. Yeah, very cool. Hey. So, daryl, you know what? Let's pause there for a second man, or maybe we could save that for next week. You let me know. But what are we going to do, man? I mean, we're at it. This is, you know, after a year we committed to a year. So that year's up, man Like what are we? What's going to change? Are we going to keep going? What's you know what's on your mind, man?

Speaker 3:

Onward.

Speaker 2:

Onward, ah, ruben, ruben, ruben Ruben.

Speaker 3:

But we'll talk about. I've learned so much about so many different things Community, a lot of different things, had conversations with a ton of different people, opened up so many different doors and, trust me, I know, doug, you and I get more out of this than we ever hear from other people. It's a, it's really a blessing to be able to reach out, talk about different subjects, research things, um, it's you know? Uh, you know what? Why don't I hit you with the question as we kick off this podcast into the subject? We're going to go a little deeper into. Um, you know, one of the great questions we have, which somebody asked me that we ask people is hey, have you read any good books lately? Right, that's always a good conversation starter. We like that, and I got a new one, and there was one I heard and they said what in your life are you a beginner at these days?

Speaker 3:

now let me repeat that, hey, hey what in your life are you a beginner at? Generally I'm like hey doug, tell me about what you do doug, what are you good at? How about if I say hey doug, what are you not good at? What are you just starting at? You know?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I love that question. That's a great question and, to be honest with you, I I always feel like I I haven't. I haven't gotten anything in my life right. I'm always restarting and a beginner. I'm always learning man, and trying to evolve and do something better. But it's like, for example, daryl, that's a great question because this podcast was, you know, we didn't ask the question, but we knew the concept back then, we knew about being a beginner back then. But you know, getting more specific and asking the question and being intentional about being a beginner man, that that's uh, right now I can't say I'm a beginner at anything, cause I'm just in a season of my life where a few things are kind of messy and I'm just trying to navigate and and keep the ship afloat and and get through it and get through the other side so that I can begin anew. And then I got a few things I'd like to begin as well. Are you a beginner in anything right now, darrell?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think so, but let's go back to this. A year ago now, we were absolutely beginners in this podcast game.

Speaker 2:

We were terrified beginners.

Speaker 3:

We were terrified. We said we were going to start in May and then we're like what do we do? We had to research.

Speaker 3:

You had to phone a friend and get some help and get some things. But you figured it out and all of a sudden you started editing and now you're a great editor and social media and interviewing and talking to people. So you kind of think about it, doug, back to your point what are we going to do? Going forward, right, right, Um, a year ago we would have answered that question. We're like hey, we're starting a podcast and, um, the thing I, I like and I read a little bit into the question when the person asked it Doug, if we only play games that we can win or if we only do things that we're good at, our scope, our sandbox, our proverbial sandbox, is pretty small. Wow, I do X. That's who I am, that's what I do, right? So the reality is, if you do more things, or you try things, or you're at the beginning of more things, your, your scope can be bigger, your life can be bigger.

Speaker 2:

Right, and it really comes with a willingness to fail, a willingness to be shitty at something for a season, but if you just keep at it, you will. We find the skills, build confidence and competence and, uh, you know, in time, with some grace and some persistence and patience, you could be mastering something you were totally afraid of.

Speaker 3:

Yep, Yep. So if you ask me, Doug um, what am I beginner at? I'm a beginner at this trail running thing.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

And if you start to be real honest with it, right, it literally came off a podcast in February, big time man.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it's like you know it's almost took an entire freaking year for you, and I don't even know that you said you're. You've said you're a runner yet but I mean, not only are you a runner, but you're doing shit. That's just blowing things out of the water right now. You know to, you know, to get you to run a 10K it was dragging ass. It's like, ah well, okay, I mean you did it, but you hated it, you didn't like training for it. And then all of a sudden, ralph Ralph comes on in an interview in back. It was a February.

Speaker 3:

February.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and uh talks about his hundred mile ultra run and the fricking next weekend. You're out there running with Eric and you saw these little dirt trails on the side of the paved trail and you said, hey, let's take the little dirt trails. And those little dirt trails have turned to uh, let's see what have you done so far, daryl?

Speaker 3:

um, I've done, um, I've done two uh half marathons, um, and half marathons is a relative term because it's it's not 13.1, it's more like 14 and a half. Yeah, on trails on trails, trails um, and I've done, uh the 27 mile, uh, silver, moon silver moon now six hours of non-stop six hours of running.

Speaker 3:

Eric did 31 ish, right. Um, we're going to talk about the race we just did and we were supposed to be uh done, six hours of nonstop running. Six hours of running. Eric did 31-ish Right. We're going to talk about the race we just did, and we were supposed to be done with that.

Speaker 2:

So that was my first more than 26 miles. We did our first 50K Right, you guys finished.

Speaker 3:

You guys completed that two weekends ago. Yeah, we're going to talk about that, yep.

Speaker 2:

And I'm signed up for a 50 miler in two weeks. So you go from a 50 K, which is 31 miles or something, and some change, to a 50 miler, that that's. That's like 20 extra miles, daryl, shit. And with elevation that.

Speaker 2:

And the thing about ultra running is, you know, regular running, like half marathons and marathons on the pavement, they typically don't include a lot of and I say typically, not always. There are some out there on pavement that include elevation gain over the course, but they're typically kind of, you know, somewhat flat and they might have maybe, you know, a few hundred feet to maybe a thousand feet here and there, but with the ultra running I notice a lot of times not every time, but a lot of times they have significant elevation gains. So this last ultra, the 50K that you and Eric did up in Pollock Pines around Jenkinson Lake, you guys did that 50K and it had, I believe, five, was it 5,000 feet of climbing? Yeah, it's about 5,000 feet of climbing overall. And so tell me, let's break that down, daryl, I mean, you were, I mean, how many times have you done a 50K before?

Speaker 3:

Never, never, right, so you were trying something new. You were a beginner and elevation, and elevation and elevation with elevation I hold you fully responsible for this doug I don't know what you're talking about, man so when we did silver moon and eric got through and eric crushed it at the end and got that extra lap and got like 30.6 miles oh he said to him why didn't you keep running and you could have done your first 50k yeah yeah, I remember, and then, and then, so we're supposed to stop running.

Speaker 3:

So we actually found this one 50k, uh, it's up at sly park, um, uh, which is not very far from here, beautiful, beautiful, and I'll tell you what I I mean, doug, everyone's well you're. You know, I've got this stupid disease like you talked about, like we just sign up for things and we do them, and the good part, doug, they're not far out.

Speaker 3:

We pick something maybe three, four or five weeks out and then we do it and we're in pretty good shape. So we decided to go do it. It was different. This was one that truly was pretty big, elevation, right. It's a little bit up in the mountains, the Hills, and it was outdoors and, uh, we gave it a try, um, you know, six hours we knew this was going to be closer to eight ended up being about eight and a half total, um, and it was cool.

Speaker 3:

And the nice part and I know we've talked about it before when you're in pretty good shape on something and you're kind of trained, you just got to keep training and so it wasn't like we had to do some huge thing. We definitely went out and did some more hills we're actually running hills now and did a lap around. So we tried out portions of the course, um, and it was different. And the one thing I am enjoying, doug, is it definitely is everything's new. Like this was a different event, um, and so it was really cool. Um, so the preparation we ran. I ran my first. I think I ran my first 45 mile week to have never done in my life. So that's how much.

Speaker 3:

I trained a couple, a couple of weeks in a row. As you know, Doug, you really got to put a lot of miles out there to get your body ready for this kind of physically time, time on your feet. Um, yeah, so it was cool. It was, it was super cool. Um, I was really glad we signed up for it and then we just had to do it.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. What'd you? You know you had expectations, and then you had the unknowns. You went up there and checked out the course. You did a lap around the lake, but did you? What did you? Was there anything you learned that you maybe weren't prepared for? Or is like oh my gosh, even though I came up here and did this, I had no idea it was going to be like this or what threw your head. What'd you learn, daryl? No idea it was going to be like this or what, what, what threw your head.

Speaker 3:

What'd you learn, daryl? Yeah, so we went up there and did a little bit of the uh, um, the kind of uh scouting of it and all this. We took a, we took a lap around the lake, right, right, and we did so. We did eight and a half of the 31 miles, so we only did a portion. Um, tell you what? The trail wasn't always flat and sometimes they're up and down, but there were sideways and then it was sideways this way, and if you run around the lake one way, you think about just the way the mountain is. The mountain is always going to be a little bit slanted toward the water, right, so you run one way around the lake and, man, one foot hurt really, really bad at the end.

Speaker 3:

Right. And then, and then all of a sudden you turn around and you have to run the other way around the lake and the other. So I think the big thing is is like it's not flat and it's. It wasn't just up or down, it was sideways, and some of those sideways things, doug, hurt, yeah. And then the other thing was um, is you just and I know we've talked about this before you have to embrace walking, you have to. It's a, it's a part of, uh, trail running, it's part of hiking. It's a little bit more like hiking, doug, do you know what I mean? Um, but uh, anyway, it was really um, it was really good. So that, and uh, also, we did our eight and a half miles and as we drove back home from that time we're like, well, we have to do that, uh, I don't know three, three and a half times, and so there's a little bit of oh crap, this is going to be harder than we think, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but you guys, you guys did awesome. Man, it was really cool, um, that you were up there and, and that area happens to be almost in my backyard it was, like you know, 10, 15 minutes away. Real quick, though, darrell, I did. I know you. I forget what did you? Um, I know you. On your other, on your half marathon, you uh went out for a training ride or a training run and fell and messed up your hand Was. Was there any uh injuries or anything on this, this particular run?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think it's not really a race unless I've fallen and this time I happened to uh had uh fell several times. We have the hashtag stay vertical, but that has not been something I've been good at, uh. So this was a little bit um, you take off and you get everybody together and it doesn't take long. It takes like a mile or two and everybody kind of um kind of spreads out on the course, right, you know people are far away, but the beginning it's a little bit tight and then you got to pass and it's not like on a road race, you just pass, right, you know, right next to the single track and I was. I was less than two miles in and this guy says, hey, I'm passing on your right. And I said, yeah, no problem, I'm all good, I'm all good.

Speaker 3:

And I turn around and look at him and I hit a rock and I fall and um and uh, he's like I am so sorry and I was like it's not your fault, and he just kept going and, uh, I gotta admit the first lap doug, I fell three times three times.

Speaker 3:

I'll say it first lap, say it first, lap. And I was so mad at myself, I was so frustrated and uh, that, and Eric's like it's fine, it's fine, don't worry about it. And I scraped up my hand and as I got to the first um water station, I walked up to there and it was bleeding a little, uh, bleeding a little where I put my hand down and the lady already got radioed. Ahead there's a tall guy coming and I think he needs medical attention because as I'm going up to get my, my drink or something else, she says you're the one that fell right. And I'm like how does she know this Right? And I found out they called the head.

Speaker 3:

So she bandaged it up, it was fine. So after the third time and I was so mad at myself, I was so frustrated, we hadn't even started climbing. This was the flat loop. I was so mad at myself I ran up to Eric and I said hey, eric, can you stop for a second? He says yeah. I said hey, can you just get down on one knee? And he looked at me like I was crazy, like he was like, and I said, no, get down on one knee. And he says okay, and he put his knee in the dirt and I was like damn Eric, why are you falling? I said look, you scraped up your knee and he busted up laughing. He's like all right, no more falling.

Speaker 3:

I said great so my thing is, eric and I both fell, you know, that's my thing, he had dirt on his thing.

Speaker 1:

You know, that's my thing he had dirt on his thing.

Speaker 3:

Uh, so we had some funds, we had some highs and lows and what was cool about this is it's 31 miles is 50 K. So you do the first lap around the lake, do the second lap, you go halfway and then you go on a horse trail and you actually do some big climbing. You go over these things and, as a as we were buried to enter into the uh, that lap, we saw some horses and Eric and I started running fast. We're like I do not want to be behind horses, you know what I mean. So we did that, we had a really fun time. And as you're finishing your third lap, you get to 26 miles, which is cool, it's a marathon. And as we're coming up the hill, all of a sudden we hear you up there, because we didn't know you were there.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 3:

Yelling like you were, like a boot camp instructor Come on high knees bring it in and we were so awesome and excited to see you. So, thank you, tell us about. You decided to come out and give us some final support.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I wanted to show up in the beginning just to kind of send you guys off, but we had a solar guy coming out and we had to take care of some things here and I told my dad. I said, hey, I'm gonna go up to the lake and, uh, you know, try to catch these guys, because I know it's a, it's a. I know you passed the camp three times for the thing and so I was hoping to catch you on one of those turns and or at least see you can and and then also see you come in on the finish. But, um, I said, do you want to come? And he's like, yeah, yeah, let's go.

Speaker 2:

So we drove up there, parked and it was like a ghost town man, nobody was there yet and I think there was a couple people that had finished already, a couple of young, young bucks man sitting around in the circle, uh, just talking about the thing and, um, and then all of a sudden, we were there for about maybe 20, 30 minutes and then, uh, I kept asking people that were coming in. I said, hey, have you seen tall guy out there? He's really tall, six, seven. They're like, oh, yeah, he's out there. He's out there Like they all knew you, and um.

Speaker 2:

And then, sir, sure enough, we saw you coming around the turn and I just started yelling come on, let's go pick it up, you know, and then just clapping for you guys and cheering you on, and I didn't know at what point you were, but when I saw you you guys had finished your third loop and then you had to go run back out.

Speaker 2:

I think you had like a five mile five mile, finish out and back to make it official 31. And so it was good to see you guys send you off on that and then see you come back in and finish and man, the whole time I'm just watching you guys going. Damn man, I can't believe these guys have freaking, have run all that elevation, all those miles for all these hours. You know cause it's. You're out there all freaking day long man all day.

Speaker 2:

But, uh, you guys hit the, the weather, the money man it was. It wasn't too, it wasn't cold, it wasn't too. I don't think it was too hot, I wasn't running, but, um, where we were it was perfect. Yeah, it was beautiful and we're right next to the lake and just a great event. I got to talk to um troy and one of his employees. Troy's the guy that is the owner of these events. We'll have him on uh, on this. I want to talk to him. He's apparently he's done a crap load of ultra marathons and now he doesn't run much anymore, he just golfs but and he puts these events on all over the place. So we he's passionate about putting these events on, and so big shout out to Troy for uh. Is it, what's it? What's his company called? Do you remember Troy's ultra running or something like that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's uh, uh Troy's trail, uh trail club or something like that, trail running and uh he, literally for two to three months he puts literally an event on every weekend or every other weekend and he takes a little bit of break in the summer and he does it again, or every other weekend and he takes a little bit break in the summer and he does it again. Yeah, just being there. I mean, the people are, are they wonderful, nice?

Speaker 3:

oh yeah people are at. The people don't, you don't even know. They're like ringing a cowbell when you come in.

Speaker 2:

Each time they had a huge tent of supporters for you guys that that they were just there for someone else, but they're cheering everyone on as they're coming. You know, it was really cool to watch the environment.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it was really cool and you kind of reflect in everything else. And I've got to know Troy, I've been at a couple of his races in there and it's great and it was really cool. I got a text from Ralph, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And he said afterward congratulations, he saw something on social media. He, congratulations he might be saw something on social media. He says, give me a call, we'll go through the race recap, right, so I mean, I didn't even know, ralph. You know what I mean. You know, two months ago. Now he's checking up on me to see how we're doing. So, really, really cool and um, it was good.

Speaker 3:

And you know, when you start to reflect, doug, you know like you can do so much more than you think, right, um, and the trail running is different, right, it's not like, like when we go run, shamrock, I mean, we're running real hard, focusing on time, and you still want to finish a trail run. You know, in a good amount of time and you want to do this. But the end of the day, it's about the experience in finishing. You've got to hydrate. You're going to be out there for eight hours. You gotta, you gotta prepare yourself. You gotta, you gotta. It's a little bit more of the long game, um, but you know I look at it and you know we, uh, we went from doing five and 10 Ks to, you know, half marathons to. You know, we had a wonderful time running up in the mountains for 31 miles and, um you know, we could drive home that night and be with our families or our friends and not be totally wrecked right, tired beyond belief, but not totally wrecked.

Speaker 2:

Right, Right.

Speaker 2:

So what's interesting though, Daryl, is you finished a 50 K and now, as you said earlier, you're signing up. You've signed, you've already signed up. You and Eric have signed up for a 50 miler. Tell me what's what's going on in your mind. Uh, was it? Well, let me just throw it out there. You know you also, you and Eric also signed up for a year from now.

Speaker 2:

A year from now, um, just under a year from now, um, a 125 miler out in Arizona. Um, there's a famous name for it, and they usually do. It's really known for its 250 mile event, but within that event, there is a 125 miler, there is a 50 miler, there's a marathon, there's a bunch of mini events within that event, and so I think you were saying the 250 miler was sold out in a matter of moments. Uh, you were able to get into the 125 miler and, uh, we're trying to get to get the team together to go out, Cause only you and Eric are running that. But, uh, Dave and JR and I, we are, you know, very much into like, how can we position ourselves to be out there for support and, you know, strategize and be there for you guys at certain points to cause.

Speaker 2:

I know when you're out there running and you see a familiar face man, it lights you up, it just feels good, it there's, it does something to you mentally that supports you physically while you're out there as well. So we're trying to get that going. So, but right now I mean that 125 milers is a year out and you're already signed up for a 50 miler. What's going on? What's going on in your head, Daryl? Talk to me, man, Break it down, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I blame you. I blame you. What the hell you blame me? You got us all into these podcasts and no, I'm just joking, uh, but I, uh, I listened to this one podcast cause I'm on trail running and the title talk about a cool title. It's called distance to empty. Oh wow, it's a really cool thing and they bring people on that do these events and stuff, and one of the themes at the end is have you found your distance to empty? That's a really cool little phrase, right.

Speaker 2:

And so so I think, there's a bit.

Speaker 3:

You know, I get really hyped up. This is called Cocodona 250, is the big race that Doug was alluding to, and it's basically you go from outside of Phoenix up to Flagstaff, um, and that's this multi-day type thing. Eric and I signed up for what's called the Sedona 125, which is about half it's really half of that, which is still a multi-day thing, and when we signed up to it it's a year away. It's a bit of an adventure, right, and to your point, people come down, you have crews and everything else, so it's going to be kind of a vacation and a thing.

Speaker 3:

And then you start to go well, man, if I'm going to do 125 mile next year, I should try to get a 50 mile in this year, right, right, and so there is a little bit of that, you know, because I don't want to be running these things in the middle of summer, in July and August. I just I kind of feel like, after doing 30, it's like, okay, what's the next thing? And it's not a bravado thing, it's more of a can I do it, right, and it's a length of time. So the 50 miler we're doing up in cool um, which, uh, we ride up there a lot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And the trails are really the Auburn ravine trails in there. And, uh, it's on June 14th. It starts at 7.00 AM in the morning. We think it should take us somewhere between 12 to 14 hours, so it won't be an overnight, which will be cool, and we're just preparing and looking for it. Right, a lot of stuff on the internet. You can watch videos, you can talk to people and all this stuff. So we're training but also we're preparing for it. So I'm really excited about it. I told Josephine about it a couple a little bit ago and I said hey, josephine, would you mind getting me a father's day gift? And she goes what is it? I said will you let me run in this 50 miler? She's like sure, go for it. So, um, uh, and I'm not saying I want to find my distance to empty, but I kind of feel like there's a little bit more out there, doug, and I want to see what that is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, you're about to find out, I'm about to find out, you're about to find out when, hopefully, you're not empty after 50. Yeah, because you know it's well, maybe for this season it may be you get to empty and it kind of wakes you up and says, ok, well, now I know what I got to do. Yeah, now I know what I got to do. That's exciting, though, man I'm uh, you know, I part of me is living vicariously through you and Eric just doing that that thing, and another part of me is like saying, thank God I got foot issues, cause I do not want to be suffering like that. Uh, and I love suffering. Man, I'm in all into joyful suffering, but, uh, there's just something about that, that, that man that's I think that's on the borderline for me of I don't know man, you know that's that that might just be pushing it beyond joyful suffering into just plain suffering, but that's cool.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to go back to. I'm improving in learning, doug. I'm going to go back to those things.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes. So, overall, Daryl, how does this impact your Daryl's life? Just your overall, your, your marriage, your being a dad, your as an employee? You know a friend you'd like is do you notice these things spilling over into other areas of your life? If so, how? If not, why not?

Speaker 3:

Um, I think they definitely have. Um, I think before, I think I'm, I think I'm more calm, um, there's something that, uh, you know that, uh, I, I saw and I truly believe this um is being mentally tough. You learn a lot about the mental aspects of a lot of the stuff we do, the endurance stuff, doug, it's so mental right, um, it's just so and I think there. But also I think I'm becoming physically more calm, right, you know, like, when you're out running on like this, this, you know this, um, you know 31 mile or a 50 mile, you could be real nervous.

Speaker 3:

I remember when I was first boxing you'd get in boxing you'd be so tense One round you would be gassed. Remember, like, right, and if you can just kind of calm yourself physically down, it's going to be okay. It's going to be a long day, it's going to be all this different things there you can kind of preserve things. So I definitely seem and I'd love to get some feedback from you we hang out quite a bit. I just feel more calm and also I'm learning a lot, right, I'm learning, I'm researching things and everything else, and so I know it from a work perspective, when we get into difficult times or big, big, hard things to go do as a leader.

Speaker 3:

You have to be calm and all this. But I just, if I look at it, I think I'm very, I think I'm very focused and disciplined, but I think I'm calmer and I'm not stressed on things. I don't when I think about going out and going training. I'm not like stressed about training when I'm doing these events. Sure, there's some apprehension ahead of time, but it's more excitement about the uh, the experience. So I think I think it's actually helped me mentally, but also I think it's focused on me being more calm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're either more calm or you're just tired as hell. No, I'm just kidding, no, no, you're definitely, definitely it brings that calm, you know? I want to circle it back to gosh early on, when we first started this podcast that you had, you had linked on to a word for your, just your, your in your psyche, in your, your life. That word was peace. Um, do you find that word still still floating around? Is it still part of this process?

Speaker 3:

or yeah, absolutely yeah absolutely, and yeah, absolutely and uh, and it's. You know, I really thank all the different people, right, our, our, our peach group, the podcast, everything else, uh, also, I have someone to do it with. I'm not doing this alone. Eric is doing every one of these with me, so you kind of have somebody you can kind of you know, weigh things off of um and get feedback from you.

Speaker 3:

And uh, you know, um, I can tell you right now, when we saw you, man, I'll tell you what there's pictures of us. We were smiling and hugging. We're so excited to see you. Just hearing that voice, eric's like I heard that voice and I didn't even see him, but I knew he was there, right, you know, he's like you had like a present, so it was uh, it was really cool and uh, we also talk about community a lot and everything else. So, I don't know, I feel like we're uh, we're kind of living what, uh, what we said we do, um, you know, and uh, it's only been a year. Doug, this will be our, you know, one year. Uh, podcast, you know thing. Next year will be a year or two, wow.

Speaker 2:

It'll be year two. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, let's shift real quick and we'll keep this real short. We're going to shift from running to back on the bike. Daryl, back on the bike in a few weeks, several weeks, a handful, plus a couple of weeks Cycling 103 miles, doing our annual death ride.

Speaker 2:

And you know, last year, david and JR and DC they were. They had that thing beat. They were about to come up the last summit and finish, because after you get to the top of the last summit, it's all downhill for 17 miles, 17, 18 miles. So they just needed to climb that one last hill, but they got stuck on the mountain in a hail storm. And so I know, dave and JR I don't think DC is joining us this year, but Dave and JR are coming. We're all you know, team peach will be out there representing, and we're all committed to getting it done together. So I'm excited about that. What about you, darrell? You've been running so much. Uh, any apprehensions or any concerns about your cycling? And plus, I know your Haley bike isn't quite back in your hands yet. Is that correct?

Speaker 3:

It's not.

Speaker 3:

It's not. You know, I have been cycling a little trying to get some seat time and everything else. I'm going to hit some hills this weekend. You're ahead of me. You've been crushing it up there, uh, in your area. Um, a little bit nervous, um, but I'll, I'll focus on, you know, the same way that we have, kind of for these ultra running events. I'm in good shape, but there's a difference between being in good shape and being in good shape, knowing how to ride for eight hours right, and he'll. So definitely hills. So definitely I'll be working on that too.

Speaker 3:

Um, hey, I want to call out one thing after last year, these guys had it done and I'll tell you what death ride is a probably, I think, generally about I think a third of the people don't complete the six passes. So it's not. There's no, no knock on that. It happens, right. Um, last year was kind of unique because there is the weather and the hail and all this stuff. So it's a very thing and I had no idea if dave or jr or dc would want to go do whatever they're like, screw that man. I, you know, right there, dude, jr and david, they have the best attitude. They are like we're getting this thing done. We were on a call last night with them and they are fired up. Man, I'll tell you what I'm I'm super excited. They might we might be chasing them, doug, you know, I can tell man they're fired, I hope so I hope so, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm excited to get. I just, I think this. You know the over the years it's been a mix of I don't know, or, or yeah, you know I'm, I'm feeling this or I'm feeling that, but last night on the call it was a unanimous we're kicking this damn mountain's ass together, we're all getting it done. You know, like there was no hesitation from anybody on the team, and even with you and Eric, you guys haven't had a lot of seat time on the bike, but you guys are in fricking tip top shape and and just like with ultra running uh, you know ultra cycling, I guess we can call it it's more mental than it is physical. You have the physical body to get it done. You're just going to have to remind yourself, with that endurance mindset, to keep pressing on when you hit them hills.

Speaker 3:

So you'll get it done. Yeah, we'll get it done. So, doug, a year ago, if somebody would have said to us, what in life are you beginner at these days? We would have said to us, what in life are you beginner at these days? We would have said a podcast. So maybe a question we're going to ask ourselves next week is what do we tell ourselves about next year? Somebody says, as we look out there, but, doug, it's been an absolute honor and it's been great. This podcast came from me bugging you because you're so great speaking and you have a knack for this thing, and then we really solidified it on a bike ride about a year and a half ago, and then we started it. I just want to thank you. It's just been an absolute great year. I've learned so much about myself and others, so just thank you for being part of this.

Speaker 2:

Oh, darrell man, Thank you, brother Shoot, you know I was dragging my feet and uh, you know, as we were, it was actually on a run that we solidified it. Yep and um, you know, when I said you want to do it with me, you didn't hesitate. You're like, really, let's go. I'm like, uh, you know, and here we are, here we are, man, it's just, uh, you know, if you want to go fast, go alone, you want to go far, bring others, bring others, and so let's take it. Let's see how far we can go, daryl, let's see how far, who knows, we might have have to bring us on, bring on some other co-hosts, man, so we can go even further.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Get the whole team on here and just, uh, you know Babylon and see what the hell's happening. But uh, yeah, so big race or big, big cycling event coming up. We got um, 70 miles, 7,000 feet of climbing in, uh, in a week from now and then after that you and Eric are doing a 50 mile run with 7,000 feet of climbing and then after that will be death ride. In between that will be a lot of training rides and, uh, I I assume you and Daryl, or you and Eric, will be doing some running as well. And then, uh, and then I got my buddy, ted, his annual um birthday challenge down in Danville. That'll be fun. I can't do the pushup part with him because I'm still in physical therapy with my shoulder, with issues with my shoulder, but I think I can do burpees, daryl. I can do anywhere from seven to 10 pushups, but after that, get in between, I can keep doing burpees for several minutes, or even I did 30 minutes of burpees the other day and it wasn't an issue on the shoulder at all. So I told Ted maybe I'll do burpees while he's doing pushups and then we'll walk in between. We're going to walk some crazy, enormous amount of steps, but that's his thing. He's kicking butt. I want to bring Ted on to this podcast because he's doing a fundraiser, he's raising awareness and stuff for an organization he's working with, and so I want to bring him on within a week or two and just interview him. He's a cool dude. I think you and him will connect really well. He's very mindful and strategic. He's been laying down some awesome numbers I'll let him share all that on the podcast about how many steps he's doing, how many pushups daily he's doing, how many planks he's doing. It's just crazy, man. Let's talk about consistency. This dude has just locked it in and is nailing it out of the park. I got nothing but deep respect for this man and I look forward to introducing him to you and to the podcast listeners.

Speaker 2:

Whose turn is it for quote card? Yours, yeah, so I got to get you a quote. Let's jump to quote card. Quote card time, and it is my turn, as you said. So here's one I just grabbed. It's nothing fancy, but it is in line with fitness. So here we go. The mind is the most important part of achieving any fitness goal. Mental change always comes before physical change. I'm going to say it one more time, and then you tell me what you think when you hear that quote. The mind is the most important part of achieving any fitness goal. Mental change always comes before physical change.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think the mental part is by far and I think especially a lot of the stuff that we do, doug, which is more of the endurance is long term thing the mental is always a huge part of it, more than anything. Pretty much everything we do for our fitness and everything else. There's going to be highs, there's going to be lows, but there's flat out going to be times where you just want to stop right or something goes wrong. Right, and you got to figure out how to problem solve. Um, trail running they talk about. You. Better learn how to problem solve, cause it's not if you're going to get in a pain cave or if you're going to get in a bad thing, it just how do you manage yourself out of that? And so I've even heard people talk about that. They look forward to getting into the pain cave, right, because they know it's coming in, the that dread, and just how to go deal with it.

Speaker 3:

So, you know, unless you're injured, doug, as we've talked about before, which is a very different thing, right, you know, for the endurance stuff we do, it's really on just adapting and problem solving. You know things there and you know I'm getting better at that, but also, as you problem solve. One of the things you might problem solve is maybe I need to train better ahead of time, right? So it's not like you can just go out there and your mind is going to get you through a 50 mile run or a 50 mile run. But also, doug, I'm just curious to hear what you think. I don't fret as much over things. My mind actually focuses on trying to deal with the problem instead of anxiety, and anxiety is stress which just kills your body, and so to me, I think more the mental thing is just how do you problem solve?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I'm, I'm, I'm with you too, daryl, and uh, it's. You know, once I think I've gotten, I think years ago something happened to me mentally where I just, if I've committed to doing something, I stopped worrying about it until and I think I've mentioned it to you before how many times we're going to ride that hill. You know cause, mentally we can ride that damn thing, you know, three, four or five times before you get to it, and then all of a sudden, then you got to go deal with it again in reality. So I figure there's something inside of me that clicks, that you know what I'll. I'm going to mentally and physically deal with it one time. In the meantime I'm just going to train for it and keep it going.

Speaker 2:

So, yes, but definitely mentally. It's just that commitment and execution and just trust the process. But definitely the mental thing is where it's at and I think all your endurance training and all that stuff you're doing is massively preparing you for those situations, and not just on trails, but in life, man, in marriage and work and being a dad, being a friend, all that stuff you know so good on you, man. Let's keep on rocking and rolling. Let's keep getting it going. Good on you, man. Let's keep on rocking and rolling, let's keep getting it going. So for now, we will just sign off this uh one year episode and uh, and see what the the new year of podcasting brings us. So I'll sign off, as I always do, and say god bless, and peace out, peach out, peace out, peach out, we're out, we're out.