EP076: Does a 125 Mile Ultra Run Build or Break A Team? Let's Find Out!

125 miles sounds like a distance problem until you’re out there at 1:30 a.m. on a rock face, cold, sleep-deprived, and trying to stay upright. We’re back from the Sedona Canyon 125, part of the Cocodona race week in Arizona, and we’re telling the story from the first impulsive registration click to the final steps into Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff.

We break down the real mechanics of finishing an ultramarathon: drop bags, aid stations, mandatory gear checks, GPS trackers, and why your “plan” rarely survives the first day. You’ll hear what the opening miles feel like leaving Jerome, how the heat and exposure change everything, and why reaching Sedona becomes a psychological checkpoint. Then it gets intense on Hangover Trail, where the route turns technical and the only way through is focus, humility, and strangers helping strangers.

The second half goes deep into the unglamorous truths of endurance running: blister management, medical tent magic, short sleep resets on cots, and the mental weirdness of night miles where hallucinations make rocks look like people. We also talk about what crew and pacers actually do, how they reduce mistakes, keep you fueled, and help you push through the “mind games” that show up late. If you’ve ever wondered whether you could do something this big, we think this conversation will give you both the caution signs and the spark.

Share this with someone who loves hard adventures, and leave a review if you want us to keep bringing back the full play-by-play. What part of a 125-mile race would scare you most: the climbs, the cold nights, or the sleep deprivation?

Transcript

Late Night Start And Guests

SPEAKER_00 0:52

We have two special guests, two special guests from my goodness. Because about a week and a half, maybe two weeks ago, we got back from an epic, amazing event that uh Daryl and Eric did, along with our brother Dave, who filled in and paste them here and there. But I'll let Daryl well, Daryl, before you tell us the framework of this event, why did you sign up? Why did you and Eric sign up for this tremendous event?

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Sure. Um, first of all, yes, uh, it's a late night recording, which will be a new for us. I don't know if we've ever done one at night, Doug. So this is cool. And uh thrilled to have almost all of Team Peach here. This was a group event. Uh a little over a year ago, um, I uh got the opportunity, and Eric and I had kind of started to get into trail running a little bit. At that point, we had done uh a half marathon, we'd done a six hour, I think we had signed up for a 50 miler, and I got sucked into Coca-Dona. Coca-Dona is an event last year. It was its fifth year in Arizona, and it's basically a 250-mile race from a little bit north of uh Phoenix up to Flagstaff. And uh they have an amazing social media, they've got a live stream, they've got social media, and it really sucks you in. And I really got into it. I said, Eric, we got to watch this. We got to see people and they had drones and they had live streams and they had social media and everything else. And uh it was a 250-mile race, but they also had a couple other races, and one of them was a Sedona 125, and it was basically half the distance, and so it was so compelling, and we really got sucked in. To be honest with you, it was a social media suck in. Eric loved it, and then I put on my calendar when the registration was for 2026, and I talked about it and talked to my wife, and she said, absolutely not. Eric said, absolutely not. And my wife said, You can't do it if Eric's not doing it, because she knew Eric wasn't gonna do it. So that morning, I got on at uh about eight o'clock in the morning, and I got on the Sedona 125 on my ultra sign-up, and I'm looking at it, and they had a little clicker of like I think they had 400 spots, and uh literally they were like, there was 300 left, and then there was 250 left. I called Eric and I and I literally, it was about 9:30 in the morning. I said, Eric, what do you think? I want to sign up. He's like, uh, he's at work working, and he's like, I don't know, I don't know. I said, Well, let's just sign up. And he wasn't quite sure. And I and I literally I was looking at it, looking at it, and I called him back and I said, I'm gonna sign us up. And I said, and he said, Okay. Um I said, Well, how about this? Why don't you call Marie and ask her? He's like, No, he said, he said, and he literally said me, no, just sign me up. I'll talk to her later about that. Yeah, I'll talk to her later. So I signed up, and this was June, Eric. So, I mean, we got 11 months, but as Eric said the night before we're leaving, he's like, Man, that year went fast. Um, yeah, and so we kind of had it out there. And since then, of course, as you know, um, Eric and I have done a lot of things, but there's a big difference between a uh little 14-mile jog in Salmon Falls at the base of the Folsom Lake to a 125-mile multi-day event. And um, it was cool. It was always out there, right? And I'll let Eric talk about it. Um, but it was always out there, and um, you know, it came up and uh it happened. You know, we'll talk a little bit about it. You can prepare as much as you can for something like this, Doug, because there's so many logistics and crew and pacers, and you guys were just an absolute tremendous part of this whole thing, and we could not, could not have done it without you. But you never really know until you get there. It's not like all of a sudden there's a playbook of here's exactly how to prepare for 125 miles, two to three days. But that's how it started. You know, I mean, Doug, you've talked about it sometimes. You just gotta hit that sign up button and see what happens. So, um, as Eric says, F A F O or one of those things, and uh that's that's how it happened.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

F out and find out, right? Or F around and find out. But you know what? I like that uh uh reminds me of a quote. Uh 10 Ted, my friend, was reminding me of it that you know, you got because I was telling him about the event and you guys had a strategy and a plan and all that stuff, and then like almost after day one, it's like that plan went out the door, and he said it reminds him of the quote um by Mike Tyson. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Yep. It was uh I was like, oh yeah, that's that's uh but you know what? Regardless of all that, you guys, man, it was amazing. I can't wait for you guys to break it down um section by section. But Daryl, before you break it down, tell us, give us the framework. How many miles, what day did it start, what time did it start, where did it finish? Give us all that, and then we'll fill in the gaps.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Great. So,

The Sedona Canyon 125 Framework

SPEAKER_02 5:45

like I said, um this year, this thing has grown to be basically the largest and probably most um talked about in social media event for ultra running in the US. And uh there is the it's called under the umbrella of Cocodona, which is under Era Vipa, and uh that's a 250-mile and then the Sedona, uh which Sedona basically uh takes place um from a place called Cottonwood, uh which is right outside of Jerome, which we'll talk about Jerome, really cool place. And you basically zigzag your way up north all the way up to Flagstop through Sedona and everything else. It's 125 miles. Now, if you talk to Eric and I, we think it was 140 miles because it felt like it took forever, and it's about 14,000 feet of climbing, so a lot of climbing, both up and down, so about uh 14,000 feet up and about 11,000 down. And as Eric and I will talk about, the downhill is just as hard, or probably not harder, than the uphill. Right. And uh overall, you have 75 hours to do it. Of course, Eric and I had all sorts of plans to get it. We're like, oh, this is a 50, 55 hour if we're slow. And uh let's just say we uh we got in under the 75 hour, we got in at 67. The cool part about this, and uh as Dave and you will see, is uh we start on a Wednesday, the 250s start on a Monday. So about halfway through, we actually ran a lot of the race, probably half of the race with the 250s. Sometimes they were on our trail, sometimes they were off on it. So you got to see not only the people you were running with, but also some of the people that were doing the longer events as well. So pretty epic event. It finishes in a place called Heritage Square in Flagstaff, which is downtown. And uh, like I said, the social media, the live stream, it was it was epic. It was really epic.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

They do a good job at publicizing and and just promoting like what's going on live too, and it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

And along the way, because people ask a lot, there are these things called aid stations. Aid stations could be any, I think the shortest one, Eric, was 10 miles apart. The longest one was 18, and they would either have water, a little food. And some of them they had some tents in the back with some cots. Uh, they had medical, which of course I got to experience. And uh it's a way to kind of refresh yourself and kind of get reset as you go on. So at some point you are going this 125 miles, but in some cases you are kind of going from aid station to aid station.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Thank you for that uh framework of what what uh Sedona Canyon 125 was all about. Now, where do you boys want to start?

Pre-Race Logistics And Drop Bags

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Well, I'm gonna turn over to Eric um because I think the biggest thing, uh Eric, why don't you talk about um maybe start with the night before prepping and the start of the race? So uh welcome Ultra E in the house. I don't know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Good to be here, fellas, for the maybe fourth or fifth time. I think I'm I'm the the the most uh recurring um guest on here. So I'll take it. I don't speak a lot, but uh thanks for having me on. So yeah, um well the night before, well, we try to have a a pretty decent dinner. That didn't go too well. We're trying to do a little carb load. I think the uh restaurant we went to was a little overloaded with with run pre-runners um getting their pre-meal, their their pre-race day meal. So um we kind of just um try to sort out our drop bags basically. So we have drop bags, we have a bag that we can put some change of clothes, um, some snacks, and some other essentials at different aid stations. So it's kind of strategic where you want to put your stuff at. So we kind of went through that and try to organize our stuff as well as we could for this being a first-time event for us. We've never done anything multi, multi-day, multi-night. Uh, I think we did overall, I think we did really well. Although we did forget our drop bags there um in Arizona when we came home. We didn't pick them up at the end of the race. So we we left a few things for donation. I left two drop bags with some shorts and um running shirt, um, etc. I'm not sure what Daryl left there, but yeah, we definitely left there. Uh they send out a picture of about 500 bags with people's names on them and and their drop bag number. And sure enough, I had a bag there, Daryl had a bag there. Anyway, yeah, so that was the drop bag deal. So uh that worked out really well for us. So each time we came to an aid station, we had our own little supply bag of uh change of socks and uh shorts and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

So that was for people for people who don't know what a drop bag is and how it works, uh basically it's a it's a bag that you preload with extra shorts or shoes or whatever you want at a station that's gonna be you know 10 to 18 miles ahead of you. And then uh I guess they have a van or a vehicle that takes those bags and drops them where you have uh pre-designated them to go. And so that's what they're talking about drop bags. And they had you each had like five drop bags, I think, or something, at least, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Yeah, we tried to have one at each H station. I think there was a couple A stations we skipped only because they were gonna be uh we were gonna meet up with you guys, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

And and so we had our crew there with some some other supplies that you guys were carrying around for us, which was a tremendous help, man. Big time.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

So we uh we we uh we actually Eric worked out all the logistics, and Eric is just a master at logistics, so just you're too kind, you know, uh hotels and mileage and everything else, and we stayed about uh about a 0.7 miles away from where the shuttle was, and uh we had our five to six drop bags, we had our bags, and we were there at uh 4:30 in the morning, ready to go with our Uber and the Uber that didn't show up. So uh, so our first 0.7 uh miles of the race was us walking with our drop bags down the freeway over to the Spring Hill to get on the bus. So uh Eric and I kept changing arm positions because our arms were so tired. So uh so it was cool. And we got on the bus and uh, you know, we went up to this place. It wasn't too far away at Ben Jerome, and you guys met us a day before we went up there. And Jerome, and maybe Doug, I'll let you kind of talk about it. Was just this amazing, really odd place. It was literally up on the side of a hill. Maybe Doug, talk about Jerome, yeah.

Jerome Start Line Energy

SPEAKER_02 11:53

It was super cool. And you you had some references to Italy.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yes, yes, yes. We were uh traversing up this beautiful steep mountain, and it had the huge letter J on the side of the mountain, and you start uh we looked up earlier, and it's it's there's some historic value to it. I don't know exactly what it what it was, but uh Kevin was telling me all about it. And I really didn't pay attention, but as you're driving up there, you're just getting you're seeing all these houses and stores like built on the side of this very steep mountain. And uh I turned over to Daryl and I said, Man, this looks like you ever been to the Amalfi coast in Italy. And if you've ever been to uh the Amalfi coast in Italy, it's very much like that. It's it's houses and stores built into the side overlooking the ocean. Now in Jerome, they don't have an ocean you're looking over, but uh but it's beautiful scenery, anyways. You got the red, you're looking over at the red rocks and uh over over to Sedona, and it's just the beautiful scenery with uh winding hills that goes up to the top, and then it ends up in this old what what is it like an old mining uh town or old?

SPEAKER_02 12:55

It's called a ghost uh like a ghost mining town or something like that. And it was uh it was amazing. There was all these rusted out cars and this huge, big, flat, dusty area, and you got 400 people that are lining up to go to, you know, I don't know what, but um, it was it was pretty epic. That thing was like legit. Um, the only thing I kept thinking of was the movie Cars. Yes, it looked like that. Yeah, so uh we were there at 5 30 in the morning and we had some logistics, Eric. We had to drop off our drop bags in the right place. We're good at dropping off our drop bags, we're bad at picking up our drop bags. That's a whole different discussion. We had to get a tracker, so Eric and I went down a couple days before and registered, but you physically have to get a GPS tracker, which is a pretty large, but I don't know, two inch by two inch, they put it on your back, and it's a safety thing. And uh, I went over and ordered the largest human coffee of my life, it was like 22 ounces, and I sat there and drank it because I was the last uh little um comfort I was gonna have. And who do we see? We see Dave and Doug and small sprockets. Small sprocket. Oh my god, Emily. I was just like the best thing ever. And it was uh it was probably about I don't know, 5 45 when you guys got there. We left at 6, and it was a little chilly, but the moment that sun came up over that ridge, it warmed up. And um, you know, I'll just uh I'll ask Eric, how did you? I think we were actually pretty calm. We weren't we were kind of ready to go. Um, didn't feel like a lot of nerves, it was a little bit of let's get this thing started.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Definitely different than most of our other starts on some of our 50 milers and 50ks where we're a little apprehensive. But um, yeah, it just seemed like we were really calm. I mean, we'd we'd planned, we'd strategized for months. I think um I think we were just really, really relaxed about this about the start time. We didn't have that deer and headlights look that we had, you know, at Silver Moon when we did our first six hours, uh six hour uh run. So it definitely felt uh a lot more comfortable getting into the start line and not being rushed or or worried about what was to come. I think we were just so over prepared that we just we just um we were just chill.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yeah. Hey Dave, Dave, as a as a runner yourself, you've been running for years. Um what I would love to get your perspective and your outlook. You you show up, we pull up, we got uh smallest progress with us in the car, and and we pull up and we're looking for Daryl and Eric, but there's this energy and this vibe there. What what what was your takeaway from that? What what did you see in our boys? And what did you see just from the people around us? What did you feel? What do you recall?

SPEAKER_05 15:33

I was really surprised. There were so many people signed up for that kind of an event. I was like, are you serious? This many people actually signed up for this thing. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Uh Jerome, like you said, is fantastic. He's an amazing hill town up on a hill.

SPEAKER_07 15:52

Right.

SPEAKER_05 15:53

The whole setting was beautiful. You know, just to be in Sedona was beautiful. It's a lot of work, but man, they were running through some beautiful country. Some of God's beautiful country. I was like, I was like, I wanted to I wanted to be with them in that section.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Right. But let's get back to the starting line with with Daryl and Eric, and you see them, and what what do you see in their eyes? What do you see in their faces? And and what do you see in the other runners' eyes and faces that are around us, right? At the starting line.

SPEAKER_05 16:18

You just see a lot of uh, you know, nervous excitement. These guys have been talking about ready for days, you know, they just wanted to go. And uh that's what I saw. It was just like nervous energy and excited energy, and yeah, you know, beautiful morning. And uh it was cool. It was cool to see look around and just see everybody, you know, like, whoa, here they go. These people are gonna do it, you know. It's uh a lot of energy, a lot of a lot of cool energy, you know. You wanted to be there with them for sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Yeah, part of you wants to wants to think like, man, I want to do this run. And the other part of you is like, nah, I'm cool. I'll just try to grab you.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

So so so let's slow down for a second. Let's talk about this. I mean, David, you've been training a lot. You you did 26 miles with us. I know I'm jumping the gun a little bit, but um registration's coming up in June, man.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I mean, June 3rd, baby, June 3rd.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

It's it's right around your wheelhouse, man.

SPEAKER_05 17:09

You know, it's funny because uh you got, you know, it's only five years that things have been doing it. Five, six, I think this was the six. This was this was the six. So this is like, yeah, and I was thinking, oh, well, you know, an event like this, you know, like the hundred-mile bike rides, you know, they oh they don't fill up, you know, there'll be room. So I was like, oh shoot, so I would have to make a decision very soon for this thing because it sounds like they get filled up. Well, you don't have to make a decision, Daryl will make it for you. No, no, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Don't worry about it. Uh I'll talk to Dolly. You're in, just block out the date next year. Just block out the date. Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm good. That's one thing I'm good at.

SPEAKER_05 17:43

I mean just to do uh, you know, uh uh 50k or something with you guys and just see how that feels and stuff. But I yeah, it it looks very exciting. I mean, I was I when I experienced was like, oh man, this is for real, you know. Yeah, yeah, very huge adventure.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Yeah, it's it it is more of an adventure. I think that's where people it's a it's uh it's an experience and adventure. So I think what do is we're gonna break it down into three sections.

Desert Miles And Early Aid Stations

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Um uh there is a little bit of um, I'll just talk a little bit about what the first section. The first section is going from Jerome. We had a couple eight stops, and then we get to Sedona, which is about 40 miles away. That was really running through some pretty rough, kind of gnarly desert, kind of where you'd you'd think at the like the roadrunner on the side of the road, maybe uh you know, a skeleton, uh, you know, really, you know, rough, you know, sandy middle, no shade whatsoever. Uh, but I tell you what, we left Jerome and they talk about it. I'm just looking at the little uh description here. We basically just went downhill. We dropped over 2,000 feet um in the first 10 10 miles, and we dropped over a thousand feet in a mile. And uh it was no joke. I mean, like it was to the point, Eric, that one section we're kind of doing that roller coaster down where you were just hoping to get down. I mean, it was that sketch. Um, and uh we got down to the bottom and uh we actually got to this weird little, I don't know, road and underpass, and Eric and I almost fell. Eric promised he wasn't gonna get his feet wet, and like five miles into it, he had slammed both of his feet into some nasty muddy water, and I almost fell. And so we were like, okay, cool. And then mile nine is our first river crossing. Um, and uh, and Eric and I basically were like, well, our feet are already wet or muddy, so we crossed it. And we met that really amazing person, or I think her name was Sarah White. She was a runner, she was a serious runner, and I had to help her getting across this. And Eric was probably like almost knee deep. It was uh, I think the Verde River, and it was no joke. I thought, oh, it was you know, no big deal, but it was no joke, and I literally had to hold her arm to help her across. And uh everybody was getting across and um basically taking off there as an Eric and I just took off. So the first 10 miles were cool, downhill, got to cross a river, got wet, went to the first aid station. Um, I thought think we did really good, Eric. Maybe talk about the first aid station, and then we'll talk about getting to Sedona.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Oh, yeah, yeah. The first aid station, we we rolled in pretty fresh. It was probably about 10 a.m. We started the race at 7 a.m. So three hours later we're rolling into the first aid station, and we we felt pretty fresh, pretty confident. Um, it was just getting warm. So, you know, we we we've kind of been in that position already where you come into your first aid station pretty fresh, smiling, feeling pretty confident, just looking forward to the next aid station.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

You guys were on pace at that at that point as well, Eric. We were on we we we we were on pace. Looking good. You guys are feeling like, okay, man, we got this bad boy send the bag. 55 hours is coming.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Yeah, yeah, we we uh we had that, and then uh we had 15 miles between that and the next aid station, and that was a pretty um that was a little bit more of an even. I think it was about uh 1,500 feet up, 1500 feet down, a little rollers, a little there. It started to get hot. Like I said, we were out in the middle, kind of exposed, we're feeling really good, but all of a sudden you're 25 miles in, and we get to the next aid station a little bit worse for wear, mainly because uh it was just hot, it was hot, dry, yeah, just kind of like dusty and there. And uh, let's say we went into that next aid station, and let's say if the first aid station was like a Hilton, uh, I think this would be like a Motel 6.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Um Tombo, leave the light on.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

So, hey Daryl, did this was I think this was the aid station where we we first pulled out our um ice bandanas to fill them up, and they were running low on ice. So Daryl got like the last of the ice in his bandana. The guy was helping him stuff his bandana, and so he wrapped it around his neck. And I come over, literally, we just bought these things, we've never really tested them out. So I go over and he's like, I might have a little bit more ice. At the bottom of this cooler. So he's like, I'm holding the ice bandana open on one side, and the other side of it, I'm not really holding too well. And so he puts the ice in, it's maybe a handful of ice left. He puts it in and then it just falls right out the other end because I let it go. And he looks at me like, This is your first time using this. And I'm like, hey, this is my first time using this, by the way. So anyway, we had a little laugh, and then um he he scraped up a little bit more ice for me. Anyway, but that was just a fun, funny thing there. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

And uh this uh the this second, the first one was this beautiful like camp campground and benches. This next one was like two ten two uh pop-ups with like 20 chairs with about 70 people. Eric and I were in two different spots. I didn't even have a chair. I sat like on a I don't know, like a garbage bin or something like this. There was people in uh people with cots. And Eric, you saw that one guy use like he he was laying in the cot looking out, and your comment was he looked like his dog had died. He was just staring out in his face. Like this dude, this dude was not well.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

And so, in all fairness, yeah, he was probably one of the 250s.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

So he was mining for two days already.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Yeah, and uh so we got a little bit of like wake-up call. 10 miles, everybody's fresh, 25 miles, the 250 people are there. Um, Eric had some people that have puked all around him.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

People were so hold on one hold on one second, because you guys are gonna say the 250 people are there, and and the people who aren't connected to this race aren't gonna understand that. Yeah, so people there are people who did sign up for the Cocodona 250, and they started their race on Monday, and then the Sedona Canyon 125 started their race on Wednesday. So there are certain points where the Cocodona meets up with the 125ers and the group gets larger, and so this is what they're talking about now. They're the 120 for Daryl and Eric are starting to blend in with the 250 milers that have been running for a few days at this point. So go ahead, Daryl.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Yeah. Yeah, no, I think that's a really good point. And um, it was uh because the the the everybody has a bib both on the front and the back of their packs, and then they were slightly different. But then Eric and I at that eight station were like, oh, here's the 250s. That was one of the meetup points. So for about the next uh 40 or 50 miles, they were oftentimes on the trail with us, and you could tell they were different. Um, we were, I don't know, Eric, six, eight hours in, they're 48 hours in, right? Um, they were they were rough and they were had pacers with them. So Eric and I take off from this aid station, and everybody just says, get to Sedona. And Sedona is where Doug, you, and Dave were, and that was mile 40. So we had 15 miles, or 15 or 16 from mile 25 to I think 41. And this was a big section, 2,600 feet up, 2,600 feet down, and you get out of the desert into Sedona. And Eric, that's when it started to become real. We we got on some, we had two really big climbs, and the thing about Sedona is you could see it in front of you. Remember, Eric, you could just see you could see this, you like 25 miles away, this huge red rock, this huge beautiful area, and it was awesome. And then you were like, we have to actually go there. Yeah, and somehow we gotta get to the top of this freaking uh station, endless climb. And um then it became real. And I think we were supposed to meet you guys, I think somewhere in the five to seven range. I think we didn't show up until 9 or 9:30. Uh, we actually had to put our headlights on, uh, but it was absolutely beautiful, and that then everybody said, get to Sedona and figure it out.

Reaching Sedona And Crew Support

unknown 25:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Get to Sedona, you're about a third of the way through, and then you kind of start the second half of the race. And um it was rough, but it was beautiful. I mean, the only thing, Eric, and I'll just throw it out there, is as hard as that section was what part of you're you're basically climbing, running, hiking into Sedona. I mean, so as bad as it was, it was probably the most beautiful scenery I'd ever seen in my life. So it's kind of like it kind of took your mind off, even though it was painful.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

Yeah, yeah. There was this sunset that just kept getting better and better as the sun went down. I think uh we ran into Doug and David leading into Sedona, right? And um, they were able to um find a couple of spots where they could cheer for us. We were actually coming off the trail, running across a road and getting back on the trail again. So that was pretty cool seeing them and then getting up there towards the top of Sedona and seeing those uh that sunset, that first night sunset was pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Yeah, you know, Eric, let's talk about that just for a quick second. Uh, because I think you know, people who are considering doing this want them to understand the importance of having support and people there to cheer you on and surprise you at certain points of the trail when you can. And what did that feel like and what that meant to you and Daryl when you're because this was a point before you got to Sedona, you didn't think you were gonna meet us for hours later. Then all of a sudden Dave and I, we pop up on, we saw this one road that we can come on and actually surprise you guys and cheer for you a little uh, you know, hours earlier before you got to Sedona, and we said, Yeah, let's go, let's go do that. They they might like the encouragement. What did that feel like to you guys? How how did it oh man?

SPEAKER_03 27:14

You you remember us coming off the trail and seeing you guys the smiles on our faces. It's like we were surprised, but we're not surprised because you guys end up doing stuff like this all the time, and you guys are always you guys are always there, even if it's just in spirit or sending a text when we're out on a run. You guys uh send uh a video, uh a quick video or something like, hey, congratulations, or you know, keep going, keep pushing. But so seeing you guys was was kind was not surprising, and it was it was really refreshing to see our people out there. We're out in Arizona, right? We're we're 900 miles away from home, and we're out in the desert running, and then all of a sudden we see you guys on the side of a road. You guys shouldn't be there, but you're there, right? So it was so so cool to see you guys, man.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Just I I I don't know what happened, but somebody like five feet away from Dave left a small can of Coke, just uh cold coke. And uh, I don't know who did it, it was really nice. And I happened to pick it up ice cold, and I and I downed that thing and uh with ice cubes. And I'm just saying it wasn't any aid whatsoever. Nobody was helping me, but I'm just saying it happened.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

It happened, and all I could say was, hey Daryl, don't don't grab that can of coke. It's it's uh it's it's against the rules. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:30

I got my belt buckled, you can fire me, right, Dave. Uh and a comment that we heard a lot a few times was uh, because you know, because you guys didn't know there was a road coming, you're just doing trailers and there's a road, is uh people are like, oh my gosh, civilization, this is great. See some people in some cars, you're like, Oh.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Sure, we hadn't seen hadn't seen much of that for the first half of the race uh until we, you know, once we left Jerome and getting out of Jerome onto the onto the trails. So yeah, that was it was it was crazy seeing here.

SPEAKER_05 29:02

Yeah, and then you guys, we surprised you guys because you didn't know, but we knew that just another mile up you were gonna see us again at the top of the road.

SPEAKER_07 29:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:10

And I mean you guys did that pretty much the whole race.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

We'll talk about the other parts at the end, but you guys are sneaky. I think uh Doug was following my following, I was sharing my location, so following my iPhone, it was pretty accurate, huh, Doug?

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Oh yeah, it was very accurate. I was more accurate than the the GPS, but the GPS helped because the GPS had the stations on it too. So that was the combination of the two was uh was really good. I'm glad we did that. But let's fast forward to Sedona now. It's it's I think it was closer to 9 30 at night. You guys are coming in, and uh, you know, Dave and I knew, I mean, we had planned to be there at 6 p.m. when that was your strategy, your plan. And then we're watching the uh the uh the GPS thing, the satellite GPS tracker that they make you wear for safety. Like, I don't know, man. I don't think it's gonna be 6 p.m. I don't think it's gonna be 6 p.m. And so sure enough, it was just uh, you know, another hour went, seven, eight, nine, and nine thirty, and you guys showed up and it was a great man, what a great place and the energy and the people, all the support for people there waiting and all that. What what went through your mind? You see the big archway you got to run through and over there the the thing electrical thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Uh I think I think that was like I felt like when we saw you, we had our experience with you there and we left. I was like, okay, we're in an ultra race. Eric and I watch enough of these on, and you go into this, and by the way, you got to check in, you go over the mat, you go through the thing, you have to kind of check in with the people. And instead of just right going to the normal, you know, find one of the open chairs. If there's an open chair, you guys led us back to your car with the chairs, and everything was open. And I was like, oh my God, it was like it was like heaven. You know, literally, you guys took our water bottles, we were able to do our, you know, we had to get ready for the night, we had to put our um warm clothes on, everything was there. That's when I realized this thing was for me, Eric, this thing was bigger than anything we'd ever been to. It was cool, and we literally had to change, we did our feet, you guys. Uh I think I think you guys put us in the driver's side and kind of gave us a little bit of time to kind of rest because we were about ready to leave um overnight in a very, very challenging climb. But I tell you guys, seeing you guys, it just it was like just this huge, awesome, refreshing. You guys were so positive. That's when I walked away from there going, Hey, we're in an ultra event and you need crew and pacers, right? Um, it was just like a warm blanket. I don't know how to describe it. We're literally going off and gonna go climb the hardest thing that we've ever done in our life, probably, Eric. We'll talk about that in a second. But seeing you guys was probably one of the biggest sources of joy I had in the whole race.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Yeah, then you guys kind of kicked in with your survival uh instincts. You know, you you guys were like, Do you guys want something to eat? What do you want? You guys were taking orders and running back to the tent and grabbing food for us and soup while we were changing and everything. Man, that was huge. That just that was just one less thing for us to think about that we probably didn't factor in in our in our aid station rest stops that we would have that luxury. But man, that was a luxury. I mean, I was like kind of feeling kind of guilty that I was like, yeah, I'll take a soup, I'll take a coke. Um, yeah, if they got some chips, I'll take some chips too. Man, you guys came back like three or four different times with whatever we needed, and uh that that made a huge difference in our transitions because we we were just really just focusing on getting from aid station to aid station and then getting in, getting some rest, getting some food, not knowing that we would have you guys like that. We've never done something like this, so it was definitely a cool, cool, uh convenient experience.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

I wanted to make a little comment about that. It's uh it was interesting. I mean, you guys were just so happy to see us. And Daryl, I even said, guys, tell us about your day. Tell us something else other than just give us some information of something else, you know, other than like running in the desert and and uh eat house. But it's like uh, but it was it was eye-opening. That's when I was like, oh jeez, man, this is a serious thing. We're in it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

We're in it.

SPEAKER_05 33:18

And and of course, you know, Doug and I are like, oh man, okay, we need to bring this next time. We're gonna bring this, we're gonna bring us Matt, we're gonna do, you know, like a lawn chair, and that opens up, you know, just different things. We we start kind of this is way more. I had no idea the importance of the crew, you know, to help you guys out and then let alone the picture later on.

SPEAKER_03 33:38

But but wasn't that amazing though how many other crew members and family members that were at the aid stations for their one person, maybe there were sometimes five, six people um catering to to like one person doing their race. Right. And um so many different groups doing that. It was it was pretty pretty nice to watch.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

And the one other thing too is that the the crew community, which is part of the running community, um, which they're they're all just absolutely outstanding. If you needed anything, man, anything, you could ask another crew for anything or or runners, whatever like everybody was there together, like it was one big unit that had all these individual parts, and everybody was gonna make sure everyone was taken care of. We didn't need that. I think you guys uh made sure we were prepared and we made sure that we had what we needed for you as far as we knew, because none of us knew this was our first big multi-event together at the time. So you know, I think at uh the first stop we we knocked it out of the park as best we could. There was a lot of learning lessons that Dave and I took away at the end that man, we I wish we had this, I wish we had that. But you know, as we progressed, we we it got better. So it's we we stayed at that stop for about I think you guys uh you pulled in at 9 30, and I believe uh it was close to 11:30, and you guys, you know, your legs were rested, but you 11:30 at night, man, in the desert, it the freaking degrees dropped big time, and you had this hill to climb.

Hangover Trail Night Survival

SPEAKER_00 35:01

It was more than a hill, it was definitely more than a hill.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

I tell you what, when we we walked out of there saying goodbye to you guys, and by the way, that was our first mandatory gear check. So you had to go up and because I mean you're going into the night, right? And it was cold. So you actually had to go and you had a checklist, you needed this, and gloves and long pants and a light. So we had to go through our little space blanket, our check. And uh, I looked down, it was 1122 when we uh we walked away from you, and we're at 1122, and Eric and I were smiling, laughing, and we were almost like we're leaving 1122 to go climb. I don't know what, but we're gonna do it, and we'll see you guys uh basically from there. We're gonna see you in 30 miles, right? Which um we did not know that was gonna be almost a day from from there. Was it that long, Daryl, from the time we still about 18 hours. So about 18 hours, and uh felt like a day. And uh so we took off and um, you know, just uh didn't know what we were going into. And this uh next 40 miles was probably really the the defining part of the race. And so uh we left in it was called the the hangover trail, and you go uh from Sedona and you go climb this uh it called a hangover trail. And the hangover trail is about four miles to get there, right, Eric. We had to walk through some roads and and some things there, and the hangover trail is about 8.9 miles, and uh it's pretty intense, and it's on a side of a rock, and they actually uh have some areas where you're actually on your hands and knees and kind of climbing up the rock, not just walking around it and going up. And um, they had little uh LED lights. And uh, once we got in there, Eric and I were bundled up to go to the night. And Eric, what about four miles in? You're like, I'm sweating. Remember, Eric, you were just like sweating to death, and he goes, I gotta take this stuff off, I gotta take these base layers on. So Eric actually stripped down naked, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:00

I had to get my tights off, man.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

It took off his tights, and I'm like, look it over, he's freaking naked, and it's like one o'clock in the morning, it's like 30 degrees outside, and he's stripping down and he's like, Don't take pictures. Like, I'm not taking pictures, I'm just laughing.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

So um, he would have taken pictures of you.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

I saw the hell yes, damn Aaron. And uh and uh and then uh and then we got to the point where we had about um two hours of probably um, you know, this wasn't just about getting through. This was just really making sure you were safe, making sure you don't die, right? Right. Uh we had a lot of people that you could see with their lights on all over this place. And this was by far the most challenging in artist um of the entire race. It was 2,600 feet up, 2,600 feet down. And Eric and I never knew what we were really into. Um, we'd done about half of it a couple days before to kind of get a sense. The cool part about this, and I'll just make a couple comments, then I'll turn over to Eric, is everybody knew this was sketch. So, like you would come up to people and you would stay with them, right? So there maybe we come up on a couple people lights, we'd stay with them to make sure they were okay. Everybody helped each other out. And there was one point about halfway through, there's about what, eight to ten of us, Eric, that were all kind of helping each other get along. And um, there was one point where we get to the hard part where you basically have to climb straight up. Uh, you actually, Eric took my polls and I got on hands and knees and climbed up on this. And um, you know, we met Nigel, um, the guy from uh back east, who was an incredible 250 runner. Uh, and his pacer was there, and he was just a stud. And he was helping us and go here and go there, or try this and try that. And uh he was it just everybody helped each other out. Um, and it was a little bit of survival. I mean, this is when we got to the hard part of the trail, Eric, it was 1:30 in the morning. And um, and uh there was a couple times, and I'll let Eric say, Eric and I got through two or three of the most challenging sections. We got past this one, and we didn't know if there was other ones. And Herrick gave me the biggest hug of my life, and it was a like just like, I'm just glad we're alive, right? And we were hugging on the trail at 1:30 in the morning. I'm not talking like like a little pat on the back, like man hugs, I'm glad we're not dead. Yeah, exactly. Never, ever, ever forget that in my life.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Right, yeah. We survived that climb and we kind of felt like we got to the top of the major climb and just like hugged it out. Like, man, we actually made this, we did this. Because we looked at that place like two days before we scouted it during the day, and we were gonna start climbing the steep portion of that um a couple of days before the race, and it was really windy and it was daytime, and so you can really see how far the drops are in the daytime. At night, it's I don't know if it's more beneficial to do to climb it at night because you really can't see how far down it's just black. So you don't really have that uh depth perception of how far down if you slip. But it was pretty, pretty epic um getting up to the top of there and and just uh just kind of celebrating uh little milestones at a time. Like we we were we talked about the hangover trail for many days, many months, thinking let's try and get there in the daytime, let's try and get there with a little bit of light so we can get to the top of it, see if we can survive that. But we ended up doing it at night, like with like you said, with a bunch of other folks that were there was a couple people in front of us that were afraid of heights, and they basically said, I'm afraid of heights, but they were still following directions to a couple of people that were trying to help them get up, and they and they got up. It was amazing how many people were up at the top of that. You can feel that um sense of just relief that they had gotten to the top of that climb together.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Wow, that's awesome!

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Yeah, so uh so you get through a hangover trail and then you get to this thing called Schnebley Road, and you're like, no problem, we're five miles away.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Well, those are so good, Sondaryl. Snebli Road. Let's go climb a road. It's all it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

This road was literally like a death ride road, it was like that steep. It was uh anywhere between 80, 12% grade, and it went on for five miles, and uh it was just it was straight, it was flat. I mean, not flat, it wasn't like a whole bunch of rocks right there, but everybody's on it. It's a big uh fire road, and we just walked up and everybody's struggling. We did that. Eric and I at one point took a stop, we talked about taking a dirt nap because I think we kind of came off the high of the hangover trail. We got tired, right? And we wanted to sleep and we were a little off and hungry. Uh, but we powered through, met some awesome people, talked to them all the way up. And the only cool part, Eric, is we saw the sunrise come up. Remember that morning on that really, really difficult. And uh we we got up to this top part, and all we said is this is get to Snebli, it's get to Schnebley. And Eric and I, Eric and I didn't quite understand all the sleeping arrangements. We said we're gonna get to the Snepley aid station and we're gonna take a nap. And we literally just said, we're just gonna find a dirt patch and just crash. Um, and so we finally, finally got

Schnebly Reset Sleep And Medical

SPEAKER_02 42:11

there. We go up to this thing, and it was a really cool station. There was a fireplace, there was food, and I literally am scouting out where I'm gonna go, literally, just fall and sleep, right? And uh, and all of a sudden I saw these tents, and I was like, Are the are those tents for sleeping? They said, Yeah. So you just open up the tent. There was two cots, and uh you'd have thought we were like in the Ritz Carlton, and we laid down there and it was cold as shit. Remember, Eric? Yeah, and we're freezing and we're shivering. Eric had a there was a uh Eric had a sleeping bag. So he got a sleeping bag, I had a couple blankets on me, and all of a sudden I woke up about 15 minutes later, and the sun had come up. And Eric, what did you describe it? It's like when the sun comes up on a tent, it was like hotboxing the tent, dude. It just turned from like like 30 degrees to like 90 in like like 20 minutes, and we were sweating, and I think we were just kind of all jacked up, and uh, we opened this up and we slept for about um about I don't know if we slept too much, but we we rested for about an hour, and then we said, okay, well, let's kind of get our stuff going. And um, I took off my shoes and I had grown a I had grown a sixth toe. And uh I looked at my toe and I was like, Oh, Eric. He's like, Oh, and so Eric and I had already made plans, we had needles, we were gonna pop blisters and everything else, and it just my feet looked really bad. Yeah, and so Eric starts to bring out the needles, and we're about to do surgery, and Eric says, Hey, you know what? I think there's a medical tent over there. Um, so I went over in the medical tent and uh got taken care of. Uh Eric, I think you went and kind of did all your stuff and got all ready.

SPEAKER_07 43:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

Um, but I'll tell you what, that Schnebley and that that one hour of sleep was the biggest learning of our entire trip. Somehow we walked in. There thinking we were gonna die. And an hour and a half, two hours later, we had about an hour's sleep. I went to the medical tent and we literally like reset ourselves. Eric, talk about what that felt like. What did it feel like going in and going out? We were like two different human beings, and that was only about 90 minutes of being there. So talk about the reset that we really learned there.

SPEAKER_03 44:21

Yeah, yeah. So we've practiced with coming into aid stations before, but never like um sleep deprived or more than 24 hours or I I I think it it helps, it rejuvenated us. We we had food in our stomach, we had sips of coffee, you got your feet taken care of. We got a little bit of a r rest, and man, we felt and we were talking like this was the start of a new race, right? We were planning on doing uh aid station to aid station. So every aid station we'd come into, we'd know we'd be a little tired, get some rest. And I don't know, our attitude would just be like super high at the beginning, um, getting ready to tackle the next 18 mile or 16 mile segment. So mentally, it was it was pretty cool because we're we were moving along and we were never getting our getting too down, getting too tired. And as soon as we'd move out, we were just like ready to tackle the next segment. It was pretty it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

And that next segment was from Schneebli to Muns, right? Muns Park.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Big old Muns Park. We had one, we had uh we had yeah, by the way, when we started, and I'm I'm gonna let Dave take over and he's gonna talk about the next session. Uh next uh uh session we had, but um Eric and I all had one thing. No matter what we do, okay, we're gonna make it to see Dave, right? Dave was 70 miles. Dave was like a marker out there. You can't die until you see Dave. You know what I mean? He'd been training for this. He'd been training, and we're like, I don't care if we make it to miles 71, we're gonna make it to freaking 70 and see Dave. I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Yeah, that was our that was our biggest thing there. It was that was that was the main thing that we talked about. It was like, we can't let our boy Dave down. He's been training for this. He got himself a uh a running vest and he's got some nice running shoes, and he's been out there putting in the work for his first 26 miles. So we we definitely had a big goal to get to Muns and to meet up with you.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

Yeah, yeah, we we the only problem is we had this little thing called 18 miles with not enough water in front of us. But um, hey, I'm gonna make one uh one comment here, and then uh I I kind of want to fast forward and move on. I walked in the aid station, the medical station. These were true EMT type people. Eric actually was in a chair outside the medical tent, and he was he was listening to all the things in there. And the the lady looked at my feet and she said, Okay, she kind of talked about it. She's gonna have to pop a blister, she's gonna have to go below my toenail, all this kind of really ugly stuff. And a lady walked in and was having heart palpitations. And the lady said, Hey, I gotta take her first, right? And so, so, so they took her. And Eric, I think when we were in there, there were two people that had heart conditions, right? Um, that you heard you were listening a little bit, and then I was taken care of. They they worked on my feet for 30, 45 minutes. They literally put back my feet, taped it, cut things, pop stuff, medicine, and literally I walked out of there like a new person. Eric, when I walked out of there, I wasn't limping or anything else. I can't I can't tell you I can't tell you. I don't know what I would do without those medical people there. They were just absolutely amazing. They treated everything from feet to you know, people had cuts to people who had heart issues, people had dehydration. Um, Eric, I think you said that they had uh their medical people, but they called a couple times and talked to a doctor, you said. Um so they sound like there was a doctor on call. So this was a very, very well-run um event, and every aid station had a medical tent.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

So, Dave, we're gonna uh the boys are gonna fast

Dave Paces The Second Night Spiral

SPEAKER_00 47:52

forward. They're going from Schnebley to Munns Park, they're running. They've got uh, I forget how was that an 18-mile stretch?

SPEAKER_02 48:00

18 miles, yep. Yeah, and then uh long stretch, but but not not too hilly. Um, so even though it was long, right, Eric, and it felt like it wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

And you were going into the forest now. You were it with the going into the forest. The terrain was changing a little bit, and you were like, okay, you guys were all happy and excited. You were happy. I remember we had contact with you or something. There was this joy in your text message, or or even on the phone. I think we were talking on the phone, but it was a different scene when you showed up. You're like, what we like, where'd they go, man? So Dave, tell me a little bit about what you were what was going on in your mind. You you knew you were gonna meet these guys up at miles 74-ish. And uh, and you were gonna run through the night. Well, it the first plan was you were gonna meet them around noon or something like that, but you guys didn't get out of uh MUDs until I think it was uh I have it here, 8-8 p.m. How did you prepare for them? What was going on through your mind? I mean, I was with you, but I want to hear from your perspective.

SPEAKER_05 48:52

Well, yeah, so that was on uh what was that Thursday evening?

SPEAKER_00 48:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 48:57

So Doug and I were like Wednesday, then Thursday, we're thinking morning, maybe 10 to 12, and then it was afternoon, and it was so I was like, I was just like, what kind of clothes? I'm like, okay, I'm gonna wear my day clothes and run in the day, and then I'm gonna bring my night clothes and this whole thing, you know. You guys you guys did the whole thing for that whole all those days. I'm just doing one day, and I'm like, okay, what do I'm like freaking out, like you know, by the time we got him there and then we took care of him when it was gonna be a couple hours, I'm like, okay, I am I'm gonna be running in the night with my headlights, you know, with my belly lights. So I was like, okay, I'm just gonna. It was kind of funny because I was anxious, I was excited and anxious to go as well, you know, and I'm kind of waiting, waiting, waiting, and then I'm just eating all kinds of food. I eat dinner, I ate dinner at Snebli, or was it?

SPEAKER_07 49:49

Nebli's Snebli.

SPEAKER_05 49:50

The beans with uh pasta. Oh, yeah, you were to the next station and we had uh BLTs, I think, and yeah, and then they made pancakes with eggs, and I'm eating that as I'm going through. You you definitely were eating a lot of pancakes. I was surprised how much we were eating.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Hey Dave, Dave thought he was running the 250, man. Come on, dude.

SPEAKER_04 50:10

When you guys are talking about you were so hungry, I was like, I'm freaking gonna eat a lot of food.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

When we uh we were about five, we were about 30 miles in, and uh Dave goes, I think I had three dinners tonight. I was like, three dinners?

SPEAKER_05 50:24

He goes, I had three full dinners, yeah. Yeah, and I've been hydrating for days, you know. Oh man, you were pounding the water that day still tapped in the high desert. So that was a whole thing, you know. That was a whole but uh it was cool. I mean, it was again adventure, is all the biggest word I can say is adventure because I'm like, I'm leaving this completely. You guys dealt with this always, but this completely content little place with food and medics, and then you just take off into the woods with your headlights. You're like, oh shit.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

This is about to get real now. Off to the next uh segment and adventure. Hey, hey, David, I I I did feel kind of bad that we rolled in to Munz to pick you up a little late. We wanted to run with you a little bit in the daylight in Arizona. So what I did was um I found a small like right when we started off, I found a flat spot, maybe a little downhill, and I was like, hey, let's just run a little bit so we can at least say we ran you you ran some before we do the night hike kind of thing. So I I think you appreciated that a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 51:23

We ran a little bit, warmed up a little bit, which was totally cool because like I said, the whole adventure, and oh my gosh, you know, you guys, oh my gosh, that winding road going around, felt like we were going in circles and the same bridge over and over and over. But the um but it was super cool. We didn't I didn't think we thought it was gonna be the sun come up, but I'm like, oh man guys, I think that's the sun starting to come up. We we gotta be close, we gotta be close, you know. And then, but it was super beautiful to to run that daytime stretch that we did the next morning. A little bit, yeah, super beautiful, cool country, the woods and the grass and those.

SPEAKER_03 51:59

We almost didn't make that. We almost didn't make it to that because we were we were on our last leg on the way down to that last aid station. And at three o'clock in the morning, it was like going around in circles, uh just trying to find it. And it was cold. That was brutal.

SPEAKER_05 52:14

I mean, it was uh it was cool because we talked a lot and we visited with some people that wanted to come hang, and we talked about the guy, uh the software guy and the the ladies, and you know, and then uh and then yeah, you just keep going and going, and pretty soon you know, people start are starting to lose their stuff. It's like people are getting edgy. Yeah, what do you mean they lose their stuff?

SPEAKER_00 52:35

Dave unpack that, break that. What do you mean they start beating their stuff? Are we hallucinating? Like what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 52:41

Hold on, but before we get there, um, you know, Dave took off into the abyss, which we found out later, which is called the second night. And that second night, um, shit gets real. And thank god it wasn't just us because uh it was about an hour in, and I think I told Dave, I was like, Dave, I'm I told him, I said, I'm struggling, I'm pulling to the left. I was like, I I literally was struggling with my equilibrium, right? And uh, I want to let Dave kind of talk about it. Um, I can tell you right now that if Dave wasn't there, I'm not quite sure what would have happened. I think we would have got through it, but not very well, because Eric, I definitely struggled. Eric struggled, and the next day we found out how many other people struggled. So why don't you just talk about, you know, you were part paper paster, part chaperone, part like medical psychological, um, you know, counselor on the way back.

SPEAKER_05 53:33

Yeah, so totally, like you said, you know, all those things, you know, the emotional and the the physical and the all those dynamics. And I was like, all of a sudden I'm like, man, having the having the crew and then the pace, I was like, oh shit, this is actually important stuff, man. I was like, you know, things are getting, yeah. And Daryl's like that, and I'm like, okay, okay, you know, let I go, guys, let's let's get some food. Like, I did everybody take a drink. I'm like, Daryl, drink your hydration bottle, you know, drink the hydration pack one. And you know, just kind of like, you know, I don't want to say babysitting, but just like, you know, basic stuff that you know, like we do on the bikes, like, hey guys, when's the last time we drank?

SPEAKER_03 54:13

You know, yeah, well, you're the only one making sense because we were he and I were already starting to get into that little hallucinating kind of deal. Yeah, which was like the second night, lack of sleep, and you were the only one that was saying, thank goodness.

SPEAKER_05 54:24

Yeah, and so it was really strange because it was like, oh yeah, and then towards the end, you know, it was uh it was just you know, and then I I won't I feel terrible. I can't complain, but I'm like, I'm starting to hurt a little bit here and there, and then I was hallucinating. I mean, I saw the rocks and trees with like signs, street signs, and like I saw all these images on it, kept thinking there's uh civilization just like a hundred yards over, you know, and so it wasn't there.

SPEAKER_02 54:51

Yeah, I think I I I think the only thing I could think of, like Doug, I was thinking of like Wizard of Oz when you go into like this evil forest or something like that. Right, it just the farther we went in, the weirder it got, Doug. I mean, like literally, and uh there was this one thing where there was like a cattle grade little bridge, and we went over it one time, and then about an hour later, we went over it again, and we literally, no joke, thought we were going in circles, and because it felt like the exact same bridge over and over and over again, and uh, I don't think we were, but it felt like that, and uh yeah, we definitely uh wanted to petition them to change the colors of the bridge like everyone was the same color.

SPEAKER_05 55:38

I'm like, dude, really to use some different paint or something, there's got to be something different with these.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

With their with their crew too, so it wasn't just you guys. There's definitely there's a definitely section on the trail where people thought they were in a loop.

SPEAKER_03 55:52

Yeah, and especially at night in the middle of the night, you can't really see where you're going, so you feel like I'm just not making any progress. Daytime, I'm sure it would have been a totally different thing if we were in that section during the day and we wouldn't have been just mind effing ourselves the whole the whole night. It's worse.

SPEAKER_05 56:08

That section was a that was the popular comment was uh mind effing was like it was mind effing us, like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:17

I was getting frustrated. I was a couple of runners and walkers in front of me, these ladies that were chitty chatting, and um they were they were not letting me by. I don't know if it was on purpose or on accident, but I got a little irritated. I shared that with Daryl, and he's like, Oh yeah, you really are kind of going downhill, letting these ladies get to you. So I like I stomped my feet and I stayed back a little bit, stomping my feet, making dust and big baby I was.

SPEAKER_02 56:42

Um I've never seen Eric. He literally put both of his hands in his pockets, and he just like was a little like he's like a kid that threw all his toys out. He put it he wouldn't take him out, he just walked, he didn't talk to anybody, he was walking about.

SPEAKER_05 56:57

He was too tired, too spent to open his stop and get his bag out and get his gloves. He was like, I'm too tired. I I go, we're gonna stop. No, I just want to keep going. I don't want to, and he just buried his hands and he literally followed my feet, like yeah, every step. Thank God I had you to follow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was interesting. I mean, I like I said, man, the that is serious stuff. Uh, you know, the crew and the pacers, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:21

Yeah, and um let's talk a little bit about the hallucination because I I really hadn't had that before. Um I I you didn't hallucinate Doug once. I saw about a thousand different things. Every time I had walked by a little piece of wood, I knew it was wood. It looked black, but guess what? It looked like a can of hairspray or a rock with the face on it, and you knew that it wasn't, but that's what you saw. Right. And I and I saw that for like two hours. I mean, and even even Dave, you weren't out there as long as we were, but you saw those same things. It was really bizarre. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

That's crazy. That's and and that's uh, I think I saw a uh an Instagram reel with the it was an interviewing people on all their hallucinations, and the stuff they saw was just crazy. I'm like, man, that that that's that's the real deal. But Dave, I want to just highlight that your section was went went from uh from Munts Park to Fort Tuthill, or I don't know, Tuthill, whatever. Right, which was a 26-mile uh section, and the the first part of that was 18 miles, and that 18 miles ended at a uh an aid station where you guys attempted to refuel and get a little bit of rest. And then you after that you had about eight more miles to go to get to Fort Tuthill aid station, which you guys rolled into about 10:30 a.m. that day. And that was that was an awesome aid station. It was a huge uh old army warehouse, and they had a big section closed off with like about 50 cots in it if people wanted to come in and sleep. They had amazing food and stands and cool vibe with some music and chairs for people to sit down and uh hot you know, and medical and all that stuff. So it was a really, really cool sp spot. But Dave, anything between the uh that eight station and Fort Tuttle that that because you did get to run in the daytime with them, right? I mean you ran till till freaking 10 30 the next day, from eight o'clock at night till 10 30 in the next day.

SPEAKER_05 59:21

Yeah, it was um it was super cool. Like Daryl said, you know, if the if he had if they had a motel six, this this one that we were at before Tet Hill was like um a shack with a hotel sign on it. It wasn't even a motel, it was somebody's they had like these little nuggets, and you know, I had to get I had to go make these guys like a cup of noodle. I'm like, you guys need to eat something. They're like, we'll wait till the next one. I'm like, no, you guys gotta get some food. So I'm bringing them their food, filling their waters. But the first thing I did was go get them a tent. I would look at all the tents. I'm like, these guys need rest. I'm like, well, I'm afraid for these guys, they need some kind of rest. So I went found a tent with two. I'm like, oh, perfect. And I just put all my stuff in the doorway, and then I went and tried to get the guy. I'm like, hey guys, go over, I got a place. So stuck from there, gave him a cup of noodle soup just to get something in them, and then uh that rest was great because we we were like celebratory in the morning, huh, Daryl? It was uh and Eric, it was just we were like the sun was warm, we were praising God.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

It was like and uh it was we had and we sun came up, we had eight miles, we kind of felt like we'd gone through the hardest part, and all of a sudden, guess what? I look over and we're kind of moving. I'm like, Oh, I think we're doing it, I think we're running, and so we ran a little bit, and everybody just it's uh the the concept of getting a little rest, seeing the sun come up, and so that was a very fun last eight miles. We had a great time. Remember how beautiful it was? Oh my goodness, there was beautiful scenery, some nice meadows in there, and then we met you pine trees, yeah, pine trees, and uh we rolled into that really nice aid station. And the cool part about that eight station is that was right at the 99 or 100 miles, so we did say that we did our hundreds of little extra, so you guys had a hundred then.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:06

Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

And just a just a little uh elevation note. Uh Sedona's down there around 4,000 feet, and um Fort Tuttle's in Flagstaff, and Flagstaff is 7,000 feet. So by now, you've guys not only have you, you know, ran in the dark a couple times and in the cold and all that stuff, but you've also over that period of time have climbed an extra 3,000 feet from Sedona. Good stuff. So you're

Fort Tuthill 100 Miles And Emotion

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

at Fort Tuttle. You guys roll in. Did you expect to see a big warehouse like that and all that stuff? And what what was going on through your mind when you walked in there?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:37

Be honest with you, we're just so happy to actually find the aid station because it felt like every time you got close, you were like, Where is it, where is it, where is it? And this one we saw, and it was huge, right? Art took a yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

No, no, it was good. Rolling in there to get to 100. I'm I I'd say about a couple of miles before that, I did a little video recording for my wife, and all of a sudden I kind of got a little emotional. I got felt a little emotional letting her know that hey, we're we're about to get to 100. Daryl and I have never been uh further than 76 miles for him and and 50 something for myself. So coming in in into Fort Tuttle, getting to that 100 miles was pretty emotional. Kind of uh it was a little overwhelming for me. I got I got a little teary-eyed, I'm not gonna lie. I kind of ran up ahead of them so the guys wouldn't see me with my tough self, right? And I just was like just a little overwhelmed with it, man. And then it was it's been a little it had already been a long couple of days already, and I just I really thought uh we were we wouldn't get to 100 when we first started out doing this, and then when we started getting a little deeper into it, like 40 miles, and I'm like, man, it's gonna be hard to get to 100, let alone 125. So I think that just all that all the emotions of of of the buildup to that was uh kind of overwhelming me. But rolling into that aid station and getting to 100 and and refreshing and getting an hour's sleep and seeing you guys, and then we saw uh our brother uh Kevin showed up and surprised you guys. Yeah, that was really nice to see him.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

And yeah, hey, hey, Eric, um, I I I uh I want to say one thing there. Um, you know, one, you never know exactly how this is gonna turn out, right? Right, right. And Dave, I'm gonna let Dave talk about Dave. Dave later told me, I was like, he's like, I didn't think you guys would make it. I'm like, what are you talking about? We wouldn't make it, but um, but to be honest with you, that walk in, getting to a hundred miles, was emotional, like Eric said. And also there was a feeling like we're gonna effing do this. Yeah, when we when we kind of got to that hundred, we were like, like, we're gonna get this done. And uh, I can't thank Dave you enough. I can't thank Doug enough. And Eric and I have talked about this. Dave, you guiding us into that hundred miler, going there, Doug, and you had everything laid out. We would not have done this without you. And uh, I can't thank you guys enough. That was probably the uh the most uh satisfying, but also emotional. Uh, because after that, it was just like get it done. But um, that was a big epic, epic event going to Fort Tuttle.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:10

Yeah, you know, one thing I wanted to say is that we talked about this coming in that last mile into Fort Tuttle. Is just a few years ago, these guys just broke their hundred miles on a bike, you know. Right. Not long a few years ago, these guys started cycling and then they broke the hundred mile on the bike, and now we're doing it. Now they're doing a hundred plus miles and running on foot, which is crazy to think about. I'm like, wow, these guys advanced in this adventure, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

My wife keeps asking me why, why, why do I have to do these things? I don't have to do these things, but uh, it just happens to that I have a I have a a brother, a friend that likes to do these things as well. And so I think they'll have a and I have a lot in common as far as like challenging ourselves. And you know, it goes back to maybe high school playing ball and stuff and just being competitive, but we're not competitive with each other. We're just I think we're competitive with ourselves, and so we challenge ourselves. It makes it easier to make these decisions to do to do hard things like this, especially when you got somebody else to do them with with all the ups and downs. And uh man, if this don't bring you closer as as brothers, man, nothing will. I mean, it it was a it was a crazy, crazy good experience.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

Yeah, let me ask Doug something real quick. Uh Doug, um, you were there and you saw us come in. What was your feeling? Because I felt like when we were there at Fort Fort Tuttle, we were like a team. This wasn't Eric, this wasn't Daryl, this wasn't Dave. We were like a frickin' team. Yeah, it was talk about when we uh when we walked in.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:36

It's just you know, seeing your faces. I mean, you guys obviously looked exhausted. You had been through uh the uh the eights like David said, the eight station prior was you know, like a motel six kind of thing. Yeah, and uh and again, God bless them for even coming out there and having something, you know. So don't no we're not trashing them, we're just we're in the middle of nowhere, yes. Yeah, yeah. So um, so you know, thank you. Thank you for doing that, Eight Stage and people. You guys are all awesome. I knew then, just like you guys knew we're doing this whole thing. That's when I knew. Like, actually, I knew you were gonna do it from the beginning. I like I I knew you were gonna do it unless you broke something. I just didn't know how you were gonna do it, how you were gonna look doing it. And it was just a validating sense of sense like, okay, these guys got it getting it done. And I, you know, my job is to make sure that they rest when they're supposed to rest and they don't try to go out and and it's okay to take, you know, the hour or two nap. It's all good, man. We ain't we ain't racing nobody. We're just let's get across that finish line. And so just seeing your determination, your camaraderie, the brotherhood, uh, even mine being there with you guys and and the uh energy to want to serve you uh on a level of just whatever you need, man. Whatever you need, just ask. And you, you know, you needed sleep, and that was easy, you know. And Eric had his little blankie in the car. I went and got his blanket for him and brought it to him, and I let him use Dave's pillow, his special pillow that it stayed in flag. That's a donation. Oh, it did. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:07

We all uh we all donated something back there. We all left something in in Arizona.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:13

Yeah, I do do want to say one thing real quick, just because Doug's on that subject. But Doug, uh, you know, I was there, we we Doug and I helped do that, but Doug was amazing. He was trapping you guys, he he clocked you guys, he was really good. And thank gosh that he he did do the find me, you know, the find me through the apple. Yeah, uh, because that helped a lot. I mean, as we know, that damn bot dot did not move, man. We're like, we're still four miles, we're still four miles away, four miles away. But uh, but Doug was amazing, he was super great, you know. He's I kind of just followed him his lead, but he was really, really amazing in making sure everything was good and you know, getting there on time, and you know, so it was super cool. So Doug was was really amazing with that. That will be like every other time.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:57

Yeah, well we're all we're all getting ready to see Doug. You know, you know, you're gonna get a big old smile, a big old hug, and some some positive affirmations, and you know, all the good vibes, yeah, all good.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:09

And and Kevin, let's forget, Kevin, let's not forget Kevin uh who lives in Arizona. He drove, he made the drive up, which was at least a couple hours away from him at that point, and uh came up to just hang and be with you guys, and it was cool, man. And it's got like Eric said earlier, you know, when you see somebody familiar, you know, like it's like being home for a second, you know, and it it does it fills your soul up, man. You you forget about the bumps and bruises in that moment, just in that moment, because you you remember again once you start moving again, but it was good. It was it's it was a beautiful thing to be a part of to watch you guys suffer like that because I know suffering provides growth, and man, you guys grew like crazy on that trip. But that's that's Fort Tuttle. Go ahead, Daryl. You were gonna say something?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:51

Yeah, so we uh we leave there and uh thank you guys took

Final Push Into Flagstaff

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

some cool videos. We walk out and you walk out of the thing and you almost walk out, and you got a little, you know, they're they're cheering, they got some cowbells, and that you're heading out there. It was really cool. And uh we took off, and Eric and I had 26 miles to bring it home. So you actually go to uh the uh Flagstaff Athletic Club, which I thought we'd go to the athletic club. We actually went to the parking lot right next to the athletic club. It's like okay. I was like, oh, this cool athletic club. No, no, it's just a parking lot, right? You know, um, so that was uh that was 15 miles and then uh, or I think 14, and then we had 12 coming home. So we got to Flagstaff, yeah, met you guys, uh did a real quick reset uh with you and then headed out for the last 12. And the last 12, you're actually at night, you're in Flagstaff, and you go up to the observatory and kind of go real high up out of Flagstaff and you come back and you call it a day. And uh, even though it's 26 miles, it felt like a victory lap. Um, it was hard as hell, but you knew you were gonna get it done. And so um, I don't know, Eric, just that last 26 miles.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:56

You mean at least 11, the last 11 or 12.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:58

Yeah, I think I think overall when we left, uh yeah, from uh from the uh the the last 12 when we left Flagstaff, that last 12, right? And we took off at night, um, we knew we were gonna get it done. It did get a little cold, but um, Eric, take us home, talk about that last 12 miles, and then we'll talk about uh seeing you guys at the river um and uh and crossing the finish line.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:20

Sure, sure. So so what I remember of the last uh I think it was 11.6, whatever that close to 12, was that we were initially trying to talk David into joining us for that last 11 and a half miles, but apparently uh he and Doug may have had a beer or two in between the last eight stations after we dropped them off in Fort Total, which we don't blame them. So we missed you on that last segment, but that last segment for Daryl and I, I think really put a mark on our hearts and our minds as to like the accomplishment that we were just about to do, the things that we'd gone through. We we talked a lot um on that route about just reflecting on everything that we had gone through. And it that section was still not easy. It got really cold for us up there. It got to the point where we were both shivering. I'm running in place, doing a bunch of like kid movements to try and keep myself um warm. Um so it wasn't the easiest, but it was it was definitely gratifying knowing we were sitting at the top of Flagstaff, coming back down into the city, and we'll we'll we'll soon be finishing. But um I'd like to share at the end of the at when we got down into Flagstaff, there was probably uh about four or five miles that we ran through town, through some trails, and so the hallucinations were still happening. We were seeing Daryl seeing things, I was seeing things. I think he saw somebody laying on a rock with a blanket, and it was just a rock when we came up to us, so that was kind of funny. Um, we got to the point where we we got a little giddy. We were talking about finishing, we were knowing we were gonna finish, and um, I'd never really heard Daryl just laugh, unexpectedly laugh and then non-stop laughing. So he laughed, and I started laughing. We I'm not sure what we started laughing about, but all of a sudden we're laughing at you know, like little kids for about two or three minutes about something or another. That's awesome. Um it just it it just that just kind of burned into my memory as uh seeing the enjoyment uh on Daryl's face and and his reactions to uh some hallucinatings and some uh times where I jumped out of my skin when I saw this giant deer in that little in that little section when we were down into town, and I found a swing, uh, a little rope swing that I'm jumping on, and so he decided to take a video and he's laughing and I'm laughing, and it just seemed like it was fitting. It was it's gonna be a memory that I'll I'll always I'll always cherish. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:49

And typical you guys were like, what the hell is that car doing up there? It's on white car. He was freaking the the Doug and Dave trackers. You found us on the side of the road, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:00

Real quick before that, though, I I jumped on my find my iPhone and I saw Doug back at the hotel, and you were like, these mofoes are sleeping. We're about to finish. Where are they at? We're almost done, and they're still at the hotel. And then here comes this random car, no cars out there in the in the middle of the night, in the in the early morning, no cars. This white car goes, passes us up on the trail, and then backs up onto the street. And I'm like, Oh my god, that's them.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:25

Yeah. So it's cool. So you kind of uh you're you run a little bit, and we got through at the river section, and we had about two miles, and uh we ran it in. It was really awesome. It was great having us all there about 2:30 in the morning. We uh got picked up on the live stream, got to give a quick shout out to uh Maria, Josephine, and Ava, and uh ran all the way in. I was glad that we're able to run it in, felt good, and you make that right and you go through Heritage Square and uh you see it. I I will say one thing. We were on the river and we're and I I always have this thing we get to the end of our runs where it's like I kind of don't want it to end. I know that sounds kind of crazy, right? But like like three days, and I was like, oh my god, it's gonna be over soon, it's gonna be over soon. Uh, but turn into Heritage Square, seeing you guys, giving Eric a big hug. And the cool part, I got to give Era Vipe and them and the whole Coca Donut. We all got to celebrate together. Wasn't that cool? Yeah, we all got to get there together, get me and Dave come in there and take pictures with each other and everything else. And uh that was one of the cool experiences. And uh I I've only hugged a few people that hard in my life, but when I hugged Doug and I hugged Dave, those were those were legit, right? So those were those were like you know, I survived. I survived. So yeah, uh, that was cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:45

It was cool watching you guys uh come across that finish line, man. It was like wow, they they freaking did it, man. 2 30 in the morning. Yeah, and you guys weren't eager to like Daryl said, you you weren't eager to jump in the car and let's go to the hotel. You see you're you hung out. You soaked it all in, you you stayed, and but then it got kind of cold. You're like, all right, let's go.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:06

Yeah, we we were definitely running in on adrenaline. So the plan was to a half a block away from Heritage Square finish line, we were gonna start running, but like two blocks away, this guy comes up to us and says, Hey, who are you guys? And I'm I just got kind of startled, like, who are you? And and so he saw, I'm with the uh the live stream. And then so I, you know, I couldn't speak. Daryl spoke for us, and so he started giving out all the shots for us, and then so all of a sudden Daryl starts running, and we're still like two and a half blocks away in the middle of the night and tired, and uh that was impressive. So he starts running. I start running before you know it. We're we're not just like uh jogging, we're running down the street like someone's chasing us. And this guy, he's in regular clothes, he's holding a camera and he's running with us, and he's breathing hard, and he's trying to interview us, and then he gets in front of us while he's running backwards, wow, um, videotaping us. And I just thought that was pretty amazing. I don't know who he was, but uh shout out to him for the camera live streaming, dude. And then when he we get to the finish line, you could hear on the live YouTube he him and his buddy congratulating each other. He says, Hey, that was a great job, good job. So they're congratulating each other on on doing their part. So that was pretty cool to listen to on the live stream.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:19

All

Finish Line Live Stream And Afterglow

SPEAKER_02 1:16:20

right, boys. I I want to I want to call out uh one thing. I've listened to that video a lot. Um uh Dave and Doug, you both took videos and uh we crossed the finish line. And Dave says, Dave said twice, I can't believe they finished.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:34

And the way you said it, Dave, you were like, I can't believe they haven't finished, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:39

Well, he saw us in the depths of hell for a while there.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:44

And then on the mental and the physical feet, I was like, Oh man, that's gonna be brutal. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

And then uh then if you replay the live stream, uh the guy at the microphone that was calling people out, he sits there and it's like, and another from Rancho Cordova, Eric Solgado, 125 mile finisher. And I was like, oh my god, we've got that recorded. It was the coolest thing ever.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:07

Yeah, yeah. I may have watched that a few times, a couple hundred times already.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:12

A couple hundred times, but hey, I want to uh make you know, this this is uh longer than our usual episodes, but it's every every bit of it is worth it. And uh, but I don't want to go too long, guys, and but I don't want to uh leave anything off the table here. I want to make sure we got it all and we're digesting

Biggest Takeaways And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00 1:17:28

and everything. What what what's your biggest takeaways from all this? What'd you get? What was it worth?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:35

I'll I'll go. Um I I kind of been able to think, I think it's like three things. I think um for me, other than the preparation, I think having the right attitude I think is number one, having a team and uh just figuring out how to problem solve. There's nothing Eric, you and I could have done to totally prepare ourselves for this. So we just kind of had to kind of problem solve along the way. And I just think I want to continue, you know, attitude, being part of a team, and just trying to problem solve when things get tough. So that's kind of what I take away from it.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:10

I have to say mine probably sounds a little more cliche, is that you can do whatever you put your mind to. Like Daryl and I five years ago, six years ago, we weren't runners, we weren't cyclists. We're still not runners and cyclists. I think we're just we're just 50-something year old men that are trying challenging ourselves to to do hard things and live healthy lives and and and physically, and that actually turns into uh mental toughness. So uh I'm appreciating and and soaking all that in, and I'm looking for some more of that. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:44

Awesome. And you are a runner in a psychosteric. Yeah, you are oh Nesta. Dave, what about you? What'd you what'd you learn? What'd you get out of it?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:53

Um honestly, uh my biggest take on it was uh like these guys keep saying, uh team effort. You know, it was a team effort, and there was a little bit of joy and love and and everything, you know, just uh the whole camaraderie of it. But definitely, definitely, you know, preparation is pretty huge, but it was uh definitely definitely team effort for me. I was like, damn, this this is definitely a team thing. Well, we couldn't have done it without you guys, dude.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:23

I know it would have been we may have been able to, but it would we might have we might have still been out there. But uh with you guys there, dude, it was huge. You guys uh we keep saying it was huge, but it was tremendous, tremendous knowing you guys were gonna be there for us.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:37

Yeah, it was cool. It was cool to help do it and help be part of it and be in there. That was very cool. I I I love, I can't wait to do try to do a 50k with you guys. Um, you know, so I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:52

All right, uh Rio do Lago in October. Sign them up. Next one going.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:57

Get them going.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:58

Doug, Doug, uh, what's your takeaway?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:00

So, yeah, definitely the the whole team, the brotherhood, the brotherhood, man. What uh you know, if you're if you're part of a group, a small group of uh friends, go sign up and do some hard shit. Just go do it. And don't have it, don't have it figured out. Don't have all your I's dotted and t's crossed, you know. Do that together because that's where the strength and the bond grows is in doing it together. Of course, like David says, definitely prepare, prepare, prepare. But you know, it's okay if not all the I's are dotted and t's are crossed. As long as you got your your your brothers right next to you, you're gonna get it done. And each one of us brings a special talent, a special gift. Um, so that is the uh huge takeaway is you know, go do some hardship, man, and enjoy it, have fun, do it, but do it with others. There's times and seasons to do hard stuff on your own as well. But uh, you know, when you're taking on extremely big stuff like this, you know, build a team, build a community, build the brotherhood, build some love, build, build whatever you gotta build, but build. The other thing I I'm taking away is that you know, a few years back in was it 2023 or 2022, I changed my identity to, you know, someone who wanted to run to to a runner. And I I lived that and I own that. And despite the injuries I'm going through, it was a it was a gift and a pleasure to be part of the running community as a runner. I wasn't I wasn't on this team as a non-runner. I was there as a runner who was giving my role was support on this time. And you know, there's there's so many aspects and elements to a runner, and when you embrace all of it, man, you're you get to be part of all of it. And so uh I really embraced that. I didn't say that to anyone, I was just out there being a being a runner and in a different role on this trip, and it was freaking awesome. And I can't wait till I get through these damn injuries so that I can, you know, be on the trails with you guys at some point. But in the meantime, man, I learned a lot about the in-between. And so if when when I'm out there on a trail and we're inviting uh crew people and pacers, you know, I know what to ask for. I know how to make sure they're prepared as well. So it's it's a beautiful thing, man. Those are my takeaways, and that uh, you know, I'm just grateful. Thanks for allowing uh Dave and I to come alongside and support you guys the way we did and uh and being a part of this experience with you guys. And uh man, I can't wait till we continue to do some more of these. Yeah, I mean, I agree. Yep. But that's

Sign-Off And Next Year Talk

SPEAKER_00 1:22:26

it, man. Uh, unless anybody has any last words of wisdom or love or anything you want to share, I'm just gonna sign off like I always do and say God bless and peace out.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:37

Peach out, peach out, peach out June third, June third, boys. June third, eight o'clock in the morning. You're all getting signed up. Coca Donut Canyon 2027.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:51

So much for peace out. Uh all right, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:58

Thank you all.