Peach Podcast
Two guys and an occasional guest breaking open topics on: Purpose, Energy, Attitude, Commitment and Health through shared experiences.
Peach Podcast
S4EP03: Green Flags and Trail Tales: Life Lessons at 55
Movement is medicine—not just for the body but for the mind and spirit. In this episode, we dive deep into how physical challenges create mental resilience and a foundation for lifelong wellbeing.
Daryl shares insights from his company's global wellness challenge, where over 20,000 employees worldwide compete in teams to accumulate "step equivalents" through various activities. His team "Force for Good" currently ranks an impressive 3rd out of 2,377 teams! The challenge transforms exercise into a virtual global journey, building community while promoting physical activity—a brilliant example of how gamification can motivate lasting behavior change.
Meanwhile, Doug reveals the profound impacts of his 30-day rucking challenge, walking daily with a 32-pound weighted vest. Beyond the expected strength gains, he's experienced improved posture, deeper sleep, enhanced balance, and a dramatically lower resting heart rate. Most fascinating is how this practice has created a sense of grounded confidence that extends into everyday movements—what Doug calls "presence in my body." His VO2 max has officially moved from "good" to "excellent," proving measurable cardiovascular benefits.
Both hosts are preparing for separate backpacking adventures under the new moon. Daryl's upcoming six-day trek will challenge him with 10+ mile daily hikes between 9,000-12,000 feet elevation—a significant step up from previous excursions. These adventures aren't merely recreational; they're intentional challenges designed to build physical and mental resilience.
As Daryl reflects on turning 55, he shares feeling "exponentially wiser" than at 50, with greater self-respect and openness to new experiences. This leads to a powerful discussion about avoiding burnout by connecting physical challenges to deeper purposes. The solution? Establishing a strong "why" that transcends finish lines and embraces the process of growth itself. Movement becomes most meaningful when it serves longevity—not just living long, but living well throughout all life stages.
Whether you're just beginning your fitness journey or pushing your limits in endurance events, this conversation offers valuable perspective on making movement sustainable, purposeful, and deeply satisfying throughout life.
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.
Speaker 2:Always remember if you ever feel stuck, all you got to do is just start Come on, let's go. Hey, welcome back to peach podcast. Here we are, here we are. We are in the middle of august. It is actually august 15th today. So that is bam dead, smack in the middle, dead smack in the middle of August. It is actually August 15th today. So that is bam, dead, smack in the middle, dead smack in the middle. You know, one of the things I definitely want to bring up, daryl, that we didn't talk about behind the scenes was August is a birthday month for somebody I know, so we'll definitely need to touch on that a little bit and celebrate you. But in the meantime, I know I believe Ava Jo started school this week. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yes, kids all around the world and all around the US have been starting some a week ago, a lot this week, so she started on Wednesday. They bring back kids now during the middle of the week on a half day. They kind of like give them like the half day, you know get them started in like half day and half week, right, and like give them like the half day, you know, get them started, and like half day and half week.
Speaker 2:Right, um and so, uh, I remember when they started doing that, you know some parents were annoyed like what the you know what, what, why, why are we taking our kids to school for three hours? Then we got to pick them up again, like, keep them all day.
Speaker 3:By the way, I asked Ava what'd you do the first day? Nothing. I asked Ava what'd you do the first day? Nothing. There's not a lot you can do in three to four hours. They probably just take enrollment. Let them know the basic things and.
Speaker 2:Josephine, your wife. She's a teacher right or professor down at Sac City, sac State, sac City College, sac City, yep, Sac City College, and so she's in the school environment or scene. Is she? Is she back yet, or is that?
Speaker 3:still, she's about 10 days away. She's starting to go back in and doing all the prep work and all the different meetings. She's in the office today. So, yeah, close Moving back to the real work time. School schedule for many of us.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice, nice, nice. And I know you're and I know at work you are busy. You guys got a big project at your company right now that you're working on and you're helping oversee and guide some integral parts of that. But you were chatting the other day or I saw on Strava the other day you posted up this global wellness thing or something or like a company-wide challenge thing. Tell me a little bit about that. What's going on? Because that's a cool topic and subject. Maybe that's something we can peel back here now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's talk about that. I've been with my company for about 15 years. I'm trying to think at least the last 10 I can remember of us having a global wellness challenge. It's generally this week, it's six weeks. It started on August 11th through the 19th and basically what it is is they encourage you and I'll just kind of read from some of the things it's a fun energy way to prioritize your wellbeing and connect with team members around the world. So they encourage you to get out, walk, cycle, do different things, do yoga, cook, eat better, sleep better, everything else. And so there is an app right now and now there's an app and it's a website and also connects to things like your Garmin, your phone, strava, whatever it is, and it will help track things. Back in the old days, doug, I remember they used to send us a little band you would put on and it was like an odometer and it would track you.
Speaker 2:Oh, those little pedometers that count your steps. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's all, and it's all based on steps. That's kind of the currency.
Speaker 3:So, for me you know I'm Garmin or Strava or my Garmin it'll see how many steps I do per day. If I do 10,000 steps a day, if I also go lift weights, there's a something I will lift weights for 30 minutes. There's a calculation of weights for 30 minutes equates to so many steps. So whatever you do above and beyond steps, it equates If you go cycling, if you do power lifting, if you do yoga, and it's a great way to kind of track things, and so at the end of the day I got 22,000 total steps on a team. Okay, but that was your total was 22,000.
Speaker 3:That was, and so maybe I. I walked 10,000 steps roughly and I exercise different things in the equivalent of that. I got 22,000 steps for the day.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's pretty cool of that, I got 22,000 steps for the day. Oh, that's pretty cool, yeah, and it's a. It's also a big team thing. So there's 2,377 teams. Each team has up to 10 people, so there's roughly about 20,000 people in our company from all over the world, right? So last year we were doing battle with the Japan team and the team from Brazil, and this I'm on a team.
Speaker 2:This is a competition, then.
Speaker 3:It is a competition.
Speaker 2:It is a very friendly competition. Very friendly.
Speaker 3:Right, okay, our team is called Force for Good Force for Good and we've had a lot of the same 10 people on there. We started doing things. A lot of them do variety of activities. Some of them are big bikers, um, and then some of them are big runners, and so we we kind of encourage each other. Uh, so it's really cool. Uh, we're we're finishing our first week and then, based on the number of steps, you get our total team. Over the first six days. We have like 800,000 steps and it takes you on a map around the world, right, so, right now, we just made it to the destination in Guatemala and then it comes up on the website You've made it to Guatemala, and then it gives you some fun facts and art about Guatemala.
Speaker 3:So you learn about it. So it's kind of like an interactive what do you call it? Gamification you make, make digitally, game exercise, so it's really fun.
Speaker 3:And, by the way, guatemala um is one of the first places that had hieroglyphics, basically those things you see, like the writings on the yeah, yeah yeah walls dating back to 200 and 250 bc and it's very consistent with the mayan writing and, um, if you look at it, picture, sounds and descriptions are basically what turned into our language. So not only am I getting healthy, doug, I'm learning some stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome, and so, being that, it is a little light competition going on there, how is what you said? You're good for Force for good. How's force for good? Where are you guys standing this week? Man, where are you at?
Speaker 3:We are in position number three out of 2,377 teams, so we're wow, that's pretty damn good. Last year we finished in the top 10, right. We've got some big cyclists, so they're already anticipating their weekend rides. Right.
Speaker 2:You know so Tim.
Speaker 3:Calder is yeah, he's going to be pushing it this weekend. We've got some people back east and everything else, but it's a fun thing and everybody's excited about it. So and I think a lot of companies do this they encourage wellness in general across the whole year, but having these challenges and everything else are really fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so do you notice a little more interaction or engagement with your team, with your immediate team that you have?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, about a week ago there were some emails flying. We started off the first day and everybody's getting and we were like 22. And there was a little encouragement from one of our senior executives to kind of step it up. Um, also, within our team, the 10 people you're at a ranked list oh wow, number one, and you see, you, you see who's. Who's the Teddy Pagaccia or whatever?
Speaker 3:um, at the front of the front of the line, and then you see who's bringing up the rear. So you give a little encouragement both ways, very nice.
Speaker 2:And I believe you and Eric, on a little side note, have started your ultra training for some big events coming up, so you should be putting on some big numbers pretty soon here, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, and, by the way, they keep encouraging me about Daryl, how long are your long runs this weekend? I've got some extra motivation.
Speaker 2:And Eric's like oh shit man.
Speaker 3:He's like I'm not on the team, Daryl, you go for the extra couple of miles, but you know, um, if you think about it, what do we talk? A lot about health, fitness, but also community right and a little bit of accountability with your, with your friends and your teammates. We have that with team peach and everything else I'll give an example Uh, I was Monday night, I was in Houston.
Speaker 3:Uh, we, I had worked out in the morning. I actually flew out, um, flew out there. Uh, during the day I got in and it was about eight 30 at night. Normally I might've just finished up and knocked out some emails, maybe scrolled on my phone, looked on the TV or something else like this, and it was eight 30. And I said I need to go for a walk.
Speaker 3:And, um, it did that little, that little little nudge yeah, little nudge and thinking about it, and I went out for a walk. I walked Monday, I walked Tuesday night, above and beyond the thing. So I got a couple of miles in and got some fresh air and, you know, felt good about it. So, um it, it, it. We all know it works, right. You always talk about, you know, structural tension, right, you're, you're, you're, mr Structural tension at a workplace.
Speaker 3:It's really cool the thing about this and you'll love this. It's six weeks, okay. So some teams start off really well, right, and then they just really fade because, you know, the first week excitement, our big thing, I think, why we do pretty well, is we really are consistent over the six weeks. So it's kind of like your, your challenge and I want to hear you know a little bit more about you're not too far away from finishing your 30 days, but very similar. It's not just a I did a big rock or I did a big challenge for a week, right, it's nice to have a period of time to get it more consistent.
Speaker 2:Right, Right, so yeah, so, uh. Well, first of all, congratulations to you and your team at third place, third standings or whatever in 20 and 2000 teams.
Speaker 3:That that's bad-ass man, but uh, if any, but Doug we've had the Ricky Bobby texts go around if you're not first you're so we we're very happy about third, but we also realize that, yeah, no one's gonna nobody's gonna remember third place yeah exactly you got to get them going, daryl.
Speaker 2:Come on, man, get, tell them, listen in on this episode. We're gonna come on force for good. Let's go, let's get some steps, get cooking. Whatever you got to do, man, get get it moving. But uh, yeah. So rucking, rucking, man, I've got Darrell. So I've got three days left of my 30 day challenge. And again my challenge was was coupled with a nutrition challenge as well, which I've lost a great amount of fat. Um, feel good, clothes are feeling good, um, but then so I also added in rucking for 30 days.
Speaker 2:And one of the reasons I added in rucking, if you recall on a previous podcast, is I'm having some serious foot issues and so running has been out for me. But I needed to find something that I could do to create movement and add a little more stress on my body so that I can challenge myself. And revisited rucking and I'm like, okay, let me do that. So I've been rucking, which is basically walking with a weighted backpack, or in my case, I use a weighted vest. It's a 32 pound vest and just been hitting that every day, man, and walking a minimum of three miles a day. I think there's been one or two days where I've walked two and a half miles. It was just kind of like a recovery day, but most days are three, and then I've worked up to four and even five miles and feeling good, feeling strong, and it's crazy because I'm not, you know, I'm out there and I'm just walking and I definitely feel the tension on my shoulders and back and I noticed my posture is getting better. I'm standing more straight, more erect, because my back muscles are getting strengthened. I noticed that when I don't have the vest on throughout the regular course of the day, I am. I stand with much more like a stronger presence. I just feel more grounded, more centered. My balance is great, you know, doing regular everyday things, picking up things off the ground or squatting down or whatever. It just feels like I'm just moving more fluidly throughout the day, feeling real, just confident in my steps, confident in my movement, feeling good man.
Speaker 2:There are some days, though, I will say, like yesterday, I challenged myself and I really put the move on coming up this one mile hill. It's the last hill before getting back to the house and it's just a mile up, up, up, up, up, up. A little over a mile actually, and I'm just busting a move man, just cranking it out. Cranking it out, I felt good, I felt strong during the challenge, you know when I was challenging myself. But I tell you what I woke up this morning and I'm like holy crap, man.
Speaker 2:I feel like you know, I feel really tired and feel really exhausted this morning and I couldn't figure it out for a moment and then I realized like, oh shit, that's right. I pushed myself on that last mile on the ruck yesterday. Plus, I did my ruck a little later than I typically do at the peak heat hours of the day, so I was rucking in about 90 degree weather, maybe 92 degree weather off the pavement and then adding that extra force. But I'll tell you what, Daryl, my VO2 max has increased. My VO2 max feedback on my Garmin watch would constantly say good, good, good, good, even while I was cycling, even while I was doing HIIT classes and all that. But I'll tell you, the last week or maybe two weeks, I've been noticing the feedback I get is my VO2 max is excellent. It has gone from good to excellent.
Speaker 2:Yes, and again, my resting heart rate has dropped probably another few points. I think it got down to 42, 41. I noticed it was down around 39 the last couple nights and I'm like holy smoke, like I'm resting deeper and harder. So there are some little benefits you wouldn't think about or notice that are foundational in, just in, you know, longevity that I'm really excited about. So this rucking for me, although 30 days is going to be over in three days, I got three more days. I already got my rucking out today. So in three more days, Monday will be my last day of the 30 day challenge and then after that I'm going to take a couple of days off because I'm going on a backpacking, a three day backpacking trip where I'll be carrying anywhere from a 35 to 40 pound backpack on my back, which I'm excited about Cause I'm like, okay, like I'm, I'm used to that now.
Speaker 3:That's I'm telling you, yeah, not have had a better. Uh, pick the better 30 days to before your backpacking trip.
Speaker 2:You basically do this every day.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and and the the fact that the the 30 day challenge ends with about a two day rest in between going backpacking, I I'm excited to uh excited about feeling strong because I'll have two days of rest after that and then throw the backpack on and just go have a good time. Now you've done the trip that we're going to do. You've done it before. So I think from the parking lot to where we set up our tents and stuff, it's just over three miles, but it's all uphill. It's a beautiful hike, so I'm looking forward to that. It's not a super long hike up to our spot where we set up camp, so I'm looking forward to getting up there and enjoying it. I'm looking forward to carrying my backpack and feeling that rucking sensation and knowing all the benefits that I get with it as well.
Speaker 2:But, Daryl, as I think about what I'm about to set out and do, it always reminds me of the fact that I had to bail on the trip that you and I were intentionally originally going to do with my nephew-in-law, Mike, who is a massive backpacker, and you and him and me were going to go on a massive trip and I had to bail because I've got these foot issues going on. So tell me a little bit about what, where you're going and what you're going to be doing, and I mean cause you guys are going to be doing some insane, which I was looking forward to, man, I really was looking forward to the challenge, but I just don't want to be the guy who needs to be airlifted out or has to stop the trip for a day, or, you know, everybody turned around because you know my foot's all swollen and blown up. But, um, what, what do you got going on?
Speaker 3:Well, let's, let's go back to the origins of this. Uh, we've been, uh, doing two to three of these backpacking trips. Paul Harms, who's a great friend of ours, has been doing these for a long time in Desolation Wilderness. He got me back up there and then he got you, and we've done several of these and they're great. And, by the way, I don't think there's too many better places in the world to backpack other than Desolation Wilderness, right In the middle of Tahoe, just amazing. So Doug got the idea that hey, let's reach out to Michael. I know he does a lot of this backpacking stuff and he does very good. And there's, there's us and we thought that we were more on the medium to advanced compared to Michael.
Speaker 3:Michael has a PhD and we're in kindergarten, right, and so when, when, when Mike, when Michael started, he's like where do you want to go? Do you want to stay in the US? I mean we were like blown away. And anyway, he organized a trip down in the eastern Sierras, a little bit more closer to LA, a little bit north and east of LA and some great places like Mount Whitney and other places. And he finally came up. And when you're talking to Mike right, you're not talking to Michael You're not talking about hey, let's go do this. He's got itineraries and maps and locations and altitude training and everything else.
Speaker 3:So we're going to do what's called Evo Loop and it's a six-day trip. It looks like I'm going to be on there for three or four days. It's going to be three people Michael, his brother and myself. I'm going to be three people Michael, his brother, uh, and myself. I'm going to have to turn around cause I need to get back for work. Um and uh, they're going to finish the loop and I've got it. We're working out some different things, but it's, it's pretty, it's pretty insane. Um, like you said, we do about three to four miles, by the way, that's just getting there. When, once you're up there, doug, when we're up there, we hike a whole bunch more, so you're probably doing miles in the day when Darrell says we do, he's talking about what we've done in the past, done in the past.
Speaker 2:He's going to segue into what he's about to go do with Michael and Michael's brother.
Speaker 3:So I want to read the first day of itinerary, Friday 822,. We do a day hike from T Trailhead to Sabrina. It's a 10.5 mile hike and it's starting at 9,000 feet, climbing up to 11,000 and back down. That's not even considered the first day of the hike. That is basically our acclimatizing to the elevation. We'd actually don't start till the next day. And that's 10 and a half miles, 10 and a half miles.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, and you're already up there. Oh my gosh, yeah, that's nuts.
Speaker 3:So, um, doug, trust me, I might need to work on getting your foot problem over the next couple of days because I might be getting airlifted out and then the next day. So, if I kind of net it out, it's around 10 miles to 11 miles a day and you kind of come up and down between starting at 9,000 feet and then getting up to almost 12,000 feet. So it will be an experience compared to us, what we do on our normal trips, you can imagine when you're doing this 10 miles a day for six days, weight is a massive, massive factor. So Michael's given me a ton of tips on little different things, equipment to buy different things, and so it'll be very different for me.
Speaker 3:Like I said, just because of work, I got some huge project that I'm working on right now. I can't be there for the full six days, so I'm going to be out there for about four. The last day I get to, I get to hike back by myself, uh, which Michael says no problem, I'll point you in the right direction. Um, so we'll see if you have a different co-host in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 3:Uh, but I'm excited. I'm excited and a little nervous.
Speaker 3:To be quite frank, I'm, I'm, I'm, the more I look at this itinerary and I look at the different things. But also going with someone like Michael and his brother, they do pretty much one extended trip like this a year. They've done this for many, many years, so he's very, very seasoned. He plans us out to a tee and I'm really excited to learn a lot about how he does things and everything else. It will be probably a little bit, a little bit more um, a little bit more intense, uh, than our, our time, but it should be very fun.
Speaker 2:I think you know, daryl, I'm actually really excited for you because where you have brought your fitness to as of late, um, you know, I think I think if you were hiking with us on the you-point-whatever mile and then setting up camp, I could see you saying, okay, let's go. And then you dragging all of us on another, an additional five-mile, six-mile hike just to go explore, and then the next day wake up, come on, we're going to go do 10 miles here. So I think it's, I think this is totally in your wheelhouse. So I think it's, you know, I think this is totally in your wheelhouse. Um, you know, if I can encourage you to not get anxious about it but to embrace it, because, man, you're physically, you're dialed in, like, physically, you got no problems. And what I'm also excited for you is that this is the kind of shit that you want to intentionally go do to mentally prepare for like 125, 125 mile Sedona run.
Speaker 2:You know it's like this is like, cause you don't know, you have no idea what to expect, michael's done this and you see the itinerary and you're like, oh shit, this is a whole nother level. Well, that's what you're about to go do in May. Well, even even before May, you, I think you guys are doing some crazy hundred-mile, or in October, but you don't know. But you step into it, and so I want to encourage you to let this just be one of those moments where, okay, how can I remove the anxiety, increase the excitement and just trust the process? Let me show up. All I can do is show up and do my best, man, be in the moment, to be present, right, to just live in that presence and give that gift to yourself, brother.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, I want to give a little bit of comparison. When we go backpacking and when they do so, you remember, we, we show up at the day, we're all there. Maybe we take one or two cars and we have our packs, and then we're we're like, how heavy is your pack? And we put one on and we're like, oh, that's light. And then you might've dropped it on the scale that morning to see what it is and you're like, oh, that's too heavy, that's too light. Generally, this is a discussion we have as we're leaving the parking lot to go hiking. I said to Michael two months ago hey, michael, roughly how much does your pack weigh? He said, oh, you know what? Um, I did my first trial weight run, um, a couple of days ago and he loads all his stuff up on multiple months in advance, weighs it and then looks at different ways to go take it down. He, he knows four months before how much his pack weighs. We basically throw it on as we're leaving the truck.
Speaker 2:I'm texting Eric the night before. Should I bring this? Should I bring that?
Speaker 3:And we're bringing it. And he, literally he said he had just done the night before his first trial run on the weight of his backpack. Like four to five months ahead of time. I was like this is some next level stuff.
Speaker 2:That is great and and then we got, we got. Uh, you know, and just to compare again, I were you, I think you were in the group text with uh, daryl, eric and dave and dave's like and dave's all, because I know this ain't in mike michael's text thread but in dave's text thread I'm bringing the jameson he doesn't care about the extra weight, he's just like no can you imagine? I can't imagine bringing an extra bottle of jameson on on the trip.
Speaker 3:You're going on like, no, not, that ain't gonna happen no, but it, uh, it'll be fine, it'll be, it's, it's. It just worked out that way that it's the same weekend, so we'll get to compare notes and have some great pictures and anytime you can be out at nature. Oh, my goodness, I know where, where you're going to. That spot, it's just gorgeous. It's just gorgeous where you're going.
Speaker 2:Uh, I want to a couple of things. One I was just noticing and I was going to put this in the group text, but I'll share it here with you. First is, pay extra special attention on Friday night. Uh, because Friday night is a new moon, and a new moon is opposite of the full moon. Where the full moon is bright and shiny, a new moon is dark, and so, man, you're going to have a particularly extra clear view of the sky, as long as there's no clouds and stuff of just catching more stars and shooting stars and satellites or whatever the hell is up there and some UFOs, who knows. But yeah, so on Friday evening is the new moon, so pay extra special attention to that.
Speaker 3:The other thing is oh, sorry, the, our first night that we're going to be up there next next Friday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, wow, yeah, exactly, nice First night, that first night, and uh, you'll be out in the of nowhere. And what a great night to have a new moon, all the stars, it's just going to be tons of stars. There'll be no light blocking off the stars, out our phones which we can text satellites. So, uh, you know, if there's any, if you can text an image, or just let's try to check in with each other from your mountain Ridge to our mountain Ridge. That would be kind of cool If we can satellite link that and, uh, get some messages across. Um, we'll, we'll, that'll be fun to do that will be fun.
Speaker 3:So we're, uh, literally about a week away, uh, from both away, from both of us entering some backpack trips. It's going to be a wonderful time. There's nothing better than being out in nature. I do remember the last time I was up there it was Dave Vigil's first time, right and he had that kind of aha moment about a half day in that he hadn't used or even thought about his phone.
Speaker 3:Yes, that he hadn't used or even thought about his phone. Yes, and you're just so much more present up there. It does take a little bit. You're you're, you know, you're used to reaching for your phone and everything else and then, you know, and yeah, we take a few pictures here and there. But you know, your, your memories are your pictures when you're out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's nice because we don't other than pulling it out for a. If you see a really, really cool scene, you want to take a photo. But other than that, you know the phones are tucked away and in the backpacks. It's a great time to kind of just unplug, right, unplug that's the word I'm looking for is unplug and just be present. It's so beautiful. I'm excited to see some of the pictures you bring back, because that's an area that none of us have been and you'll go and it'll, you know, hopefully you come back with the excitement, encouragement, say, hey, we all got to do this, we all got to do this. Maybe not on the michael level, but you know it's up to you to go out there and kind of uh, you know what do you call that. When you go reconnaissance mission, you know do some recon and okay, would this team, peach can handle this part, but I don't know about the whole thing. But we'll see, we'll see, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Hey, but there I mentioned earlier, go ahead. What are you going to say?
Speaker 2:No, the whole goal is if I come back you'll be back, but again, as I mentioned earlier, this is a birthday month for you, brother.
Speaker 3:And you'll be.
Speaker 2:Actually, you'll be out in the middle of nowhere. I think you'll probably be hiking all by yourself on your way back, because you're cutting your trip a little short, because you're just really busy these days with work. But um, on your birthday. So what? What year are we celebrating here?
Speaker 3:uh, double nickels. Oh okay, yeah, 55, 55, so halfway through the decade, I know my god, I know.
Speaker 2:and what do you? What so, 55 daryl? What? What have you learned five years into your 50s? What can you remember? What was going through your head when you were about to turn 50, entering a new decade, and now that you're halfway through, what else have you learned? Wow?
Speaker 3:Wow, wow. That's a pretty deep question. You must be taking the cards the deep and deeper. I'll tell you what I feel like I'm exponentially more wiser and more in tune at 55 than I was 50. I think. A lot more self-respect I was 50. Um, I think a lot more self-respect, uh, you know, kind of self um learning and doing things. If you kind of take a step back to you know I probably done more of the last two to three years on things that I hadn't done before. Right, it doesn't matter if it was cycling, if it's ultra running, if it's climbing things, if it's doing different things with my wife and Ava than I had before. So, um, podcasting everything.
Speaker 3:So just uh yeah, I'll definitely have to think about that for our our next, uh, our next podcast. But, um, but yeah, 54 was an amazing year. I'm very happy about it, very excited about the goals and the plans and everything else coming up, but, um, definitely, uh, enjoying life more and, uh, you know, doing more and uh, doing them more with the why. Um, I read an article this week and it talked about the dark side of endurance sports. I won't go into it, but it was some people get burnt out, yeah, right, yeah. And you know, and we've talked about some people that say, let's say, you do a 50 miler and you get to it and you cross that line. You're so excited, doug, or you do a marathon or something, and then you're kind of depressed and you're like, have that letdown, because all you were doing was trying to finish this one task.
Speaker 3:And one of the biggest items they talked about is people that have longevity, always have a strong why. Yes, longevity, always have a strong why. And the why is not the finish line. And so when I kind of think about it and I know you've been a huge, you've really taught me so much about this, doug. You've been talking about it for a long time really getting that into it. It's about the process and everything else. So it's not a finish line, it's not just hey, here's what I did in 54. It's just here's the progress I'm on. So you know, I think that would be one thing is just making sure think over the last. If I, if I take it back to your original question, I feel like I have a much, much stronger idea of what my whys are, um, of why I'm doing things, than I did when I was 50.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love hearing that, darrell, because you, you, you are someone I remember when you first were getting into just being more active, more cycling and running and this, and that you know you're, you're very goal-driven, very focused, you know goal-oriented and, um, you know driving and driving and driving and so to have you actually, and that that can easily lead to burnout Absolutely Easily. If you don't have a bigger, why like, okay, it's okay to have a finish line, but as long as that finish line is connected to something much bigger, beyond you even, you know something that leads you into service, something that leads you into longevity, something that leads you into hey, this is going to help me when I'm 90, you know. And circling back to the whole rucking thing is, you know it's a 30-day challenge, but you know me that 30-day challenge is not for the sake of doing rucking for 30 days, it's like okay, where is this going to fit into my life for the rest of my life? And I'll tell you, daryl, that the whole rucking experience, I can't see it not being part of my life for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:How awesome will it be if I'm still rucking at 70 and 80 and 90 years old? Of course the weight is not going to be the same and it may not be 32 pounds, but until then I'm going to graduate up to 35 pounds, 45 pounds, and build up while I can so that I can ruck and keep my mobility and strength going with just walking with a little weight added on. So I love that you. That was a good. We should dive into that topic about burnout and get that. Yeah, send me that article.
Speaker 1:whatever you read, I good we should dive into that topic about burnout and yes yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, send me that article, whatever you read. I'd love to, I'd love to dive deep into that. And because that's very you know, especially our audience, people who follow us man, you gotta have, there's gotta be a purpose, there's gotta be something connected to why you're doing all this stuff, Otherwise you're going to mentally and emotionally beat yourself up and then eventually physically is going to catch up and it's just going to be a train wreck. So you can avoid that and unfortunately for some people who like to just go full throttle all the time, in order for you to achieve that kind of mindset, that kind of lifestyle, you have to dial it back a little bit. You have to slow down a notch or two and be patient and trust that if you just sink into the process, your speed is going to increase, your endurance is going to, everything is going to get faster and better if you're willing to slow down and you'll last and you will last.
Speaker 3:Yeah, one thing I wrote down and I meant to bring up, but you brought it back up. The one thing I really loved about cycling oh, I love cycling is being outdoors and seeing all the things. The longevity Loved it Just helped me. Just love the way my body felt Running and trail running was way harder than cycling there for different reasons, but the one benefit I loved more than anything out of especially trail running and I think, like you mentioned it, uh, the rocking is my mobility improved.
Speaker 3:Yes, and man, that is one of the best things when you feel like, hey, guess what? I feel just a little bit more, I got better dexterity, I move side to side better. Um, you know, I, I and I've just you mentioned it you mentioned not just about rucking, about better mobility when I do trail running, cause trail running is not on flat and everything else. There's a little bit of ups and downs, so you're kind of concentrating a little bit more. I just feel better on my feet. Yeah, isn't that a big item? And I was curious when you mentioned the mobility, do you feel like that also with rucking?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, and I, if you listen back, I was saying that you know my balance feels better.
Speaker 2:I feel, confident in my stance and when I'm bending over, just picking up something you know, just doing daily tasks, you just feel I don't know. There's this sense of presence I have now that feels like hey, I don't have a 32 poundpound pack on right now, this is easy doing this. Or picking up and getting that and wanting to just do the like I don't use a dishwasher, daryl Like I wanna get up, stand there and do the dishes by hand, because there's this sense of confidence and wellbeing that is coursing through my veins just from rucking and it's just like it's all connected to my. You know me, it's. Everything needs to be connected to longevity, and not just I don't want to just live long, I want to live well, I want to live. I want to be able to move when I'm old, you know. So if I can't, if I, if I'm a couch potato and I'm 80 years old, that that's not. That's not the vision I have.
Speaker 2:I have the vision of still driving, still living on my own, being able to still rock and hike and travel and ride my bike and do all those things when I'm 80 and 90 years old. Why? Because I've seen it. I've seen elderly people in that state of life, state of being golfing, driving, living independently, hiking, like, okay, well, why not me? You've got to start now, start now so that you're doing it. Then it's not going to be on the same level, but who cares? Who cares as long as you? Mobility, mobility, mobility, man, it's huge. So, yeah, I'm with you on that. The benefits of trail running, definitely. And your mind too, darrell, when you're running on the trail, you can't just zone out man, you've got to focus, nope.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely. You've got to focus. So we can't end this podcast without talking about the event of the week, maybe the month, maybe the year in the world of podcasting.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, you mentioned something about this and you got to tell me, man, because I know you're living up in the country with your dad but I mean the whole world knows about Taylor Swift making her first appearance on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelsey, her boyfriend.
Speaker 3:I heard about it a couple days ago and it happened, I believe, on Tuesday of this week. There was over 13 million views on YouTube alone. Within the first 24 hours there was 10 million people that actually listened to it concurrently, why it was going and it was over two hours. And I will say, as I was flying back, I downloaded it and I listened to it on the plane on the way home and it was really good. And I don't know much about Taylor Swift other than her music and, of course, my daughter and everything else. Man, she is one really cool cat and she came off so good and so confident and it was really cool.
Speaker 3:And, of course, jason and Travis started this podcast in 22. I saw just looking at it and it's very popular podcast. Two brothers, both awesome NFL players, both Super Bowl champions and everything else, have a really cool podcast players. Uh, both Superbowl champions and everything else have a really cool podcast. And this is where actually, um um Travis called out that he would like to meet Taylor Swift and then it kind of happened and we all know where it's gone, um, but it was really a great, great broadcast. Um, they talked a lot about her heiress tour, about their relationship, uh, about what she does a lot of things, um, she introduced a new album that she has coming out.
Speaker 3:Can you imagine you have a podcast and basically you've got Taylor Swift on and she announces a new? I mean it probably will be one of the other, maybe other than the Trump podcast on Joe Rogan, probably one of the most listened to podcasts of all time and she was really cool and really down to earth. She was on this tour. I forget Didn't it go on, doug? For a couple of years? It was this crazy tour. It just went on forever. I think there was over 150 shows or something like that over a couple of years. So she's been home this summer, right, and she really got into baking bread and so she talked a lot about baking bread, like really really normal type stuff.
Speaker 3:And she had this one term, doug, that she used and a lot of people picked up on it. She called it green flags, right. So when you hear stuff that's negative oh there's some red flags you always hear that, oh, there's red flags. She talked about green flags right, which is the opposite, which is positive. She talked about when she met Travis Kelsey. Uh, all of a sudden, you know, she realized that a lot of his friends were the same friends that he's had since he grew up. She goes that's a green flag, that's great that he can keep friends. So that term green flags, you're going to hear a lot about it, but isn't that a cool term?
Speaker 3:You know red flags I've never heard that before, but green flags is hey, that's a good sign, and um and uh. So it was uh, it was pretty cool. So I got it was a really good listen and I'm really glad I did it. I don't know if I'll listen to the Jason and uh, travis Kelsey, new Heights. It was pretty interesting. I hear a little bits and pieces, but I got to admit I was very impressed listening to Taylor Swift, really, really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll have to definitely take a listen, daryl, I'm going to follow your lead, man, I'm going to follow your lead. But you mentioned the red flags and green flags. It reminds me of McConaughey's book Green Lights oh, yes, where he's talking. Yeah, it sounds very similar. There's green lights and red lights, and maybe they're feeding off each other on that one. I'm not sure, but it's a cool concept, it's a cool theory, something to definitely look into. I'm curious to hear how she used it, in what context, and I'll tune into it this weekend. My friend, I'll tune into this weekend and then, when we come back, I will definitely let you know what I thought of it.
Speaker 3:I'll tell one story that I thought was interesting on the podcast. So Jason and Travis talked about on their podcast. Travis said he wanted to meet her. He went to a concert and I believe he went to a concert to see her at Arrowhead Stadium where he plays Right.
Speaker 1:OK, so he went.
Speaker 3:She was playing at the concert where they play football, the Chiefs and he went and listened to her Right, Right. So he went, she was playing at the concert, uh as where, where they play football, the chiefs and he went and listened to her Right, Um, and then he kind of called out hey, why don't you come to Arrowhead and watch a game, Right?
Speaker 1:So that was kind of like it was kind of his open invitation Talk about shooting your shot man I mean, you know for Taylor Swift, right?
Speaker 3:So somehow it got organized and she was going to go watch him play a game, right? Yeah, she actually went with some of his friends. They got out of the bus on the car and Taylor Swift walked in through the general admission gate and walked up to the suite. Really Didn't take a back door or a side thing or everything else. She was just in her chief's thing. Can you imagine you're in line like we are at the Niner gameiner?
Speaker 3:game by stadium and turning around and you see Taylor Swift walk by you. I thought that was really cool that is cool, very cool. I mean, I mean, like you know, I mean probably one of the most famous singers in the world. Yeah, she went through. She went through the front date, through the turn turn styles, like everybody else did. Wow.
Speaker 2:That'll be cool Listen. Yeah, so that is that on the the episode.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, she talks all about that, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll have to check it out. I'll have to check it out for sure. I'll let you know if I give it a red flag or a green flag. No, I'm just kidding. Hey man, what this has been a fun. Just casual talk and a great topic. Great week this week. Daryl man, I want to just wish you all the best on next week. And gosh, are we going to record before we go for next week?
Speaker 1:Yes, or do we?
Speaker 2:want to record. Do we want to take a week off and record something when we get back and give an update on how the trip went?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think we'll see. We'll definitely give an update on the uh trip back, but if we get one of our guests that we have lined up, we'll probably do both. But, um, definitely we'll do a recap and, uh, very excited, there's nothing, uh, I'm I'm very I just wrote down the new moon Um, very excited about that. That will be awesome for both of us.
Speaker 2:That's going to be real. We're going to be in two great places, man to experience incredible nighttime sky. So well, with that said my brother, uh, we'll see what we'll see, uh, whatever podcast land brings us and uh and takes us for next week, If not next week, we will definitely reconnect the week after to follow up on our backpacking trips. Until then, ladies and gentlemen, God bless and peace out, Peace out, Peach out, we're out.