BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 61 – Breaking the Walls of Selfishness: Dan’s Rite of Passage Experience
What does it take to break through the walls of selfishness we’ve built around ourselves? For Dan Schmidt, it was a brutal 24-hour journey through the mountains of Georgia that stripped away every comfort and convenience of modern life.
In this powerful episode, host Ben Spahr leads a raw conversation with host Dan Schmidt about his experience in The Rite of Passage, an endurance challenge led by former Navy SEAL Chad Wright. This wasn’t just another test of grit—without electronics, timepieces, or any knowledge of their route, nineteen strangers walked non-stop through punishing terrain and sweltering heat. The rules were deceptively simple: keep moving, keep eating, keep drinking. But within that simplicity, something extraordinary unfolded.
Dan arrived carrying the same anxieties any of us would feel before such an ordeal, quietly sizing up his teammates and wondering who might falter first. His assumptions were turned upside down when Ray, a tattooed artist from Manitoba battling a bad knee, was appointed team leader. What initially looked like a disadvantage became their greatest blessing. Ray’s visible struggle and unwavering determination became the beacon that pulled everyone forward. “If Ray keeps going, there’s no way in hell we’re not going to keep going,” Dan reflects.
Over roughly 46 miles of mountains, rainforest-like paths, river crossings, and technical terrain, the team faced relentless mental challenges—propaganda blaring through speakers for hours, yelling instructors, and the constant lure to focus on personal discomfort instead of shared success. In the end, Dan came to a profound realization: “Ray was Jesus,” he says, voice trembling. “I thought I could do it, but could I have done it without seeing his pain, his struggle?”
What started as a personal mission to prove something—to himself and to others—became a humbling lesson in selflessness, faith, and the power of community. As ROP Team 12 became only the second group ever to finish with no quitters, they discovered that true strength is never just about individual capability but about collective commitment to a shared purpose.
Whether you’re facing your own mountains or simply need inspiration to take that first step toward change, this conversation about pain, perseverance, and purpose will remind you that growth doesn’t happen in comfort—it happens in the fire.
Listen now at www.betempered.com and take your first step forward today.
Hi, my name is Allie Schmidt. This is my dad, Dan. He owns Catron's Glass.
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Speaker 3:Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 4:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 3:We're your hosts, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives.
Speaker 4:This is Be Tempered. Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast. This is episode number 61.
Speaker 3:Oh good, I'm glad you said that.
Speaker 4:This was going to combo. I didn't want to switch up too much. Today's a special one. I'm here with my co-host, Dan, to unpack something that pushed him physically, mentally and spiritually. This past weekend, Dan went down into the brutal heat and terrain of Georgia and took on the Rite of Passage a 24-hour hike through the mountains, led by former Navy SEAL and ultra-endurance athlete, Chad Wright. No electronics, no time, no idea where you are, just you, your thoughts and the challenge in front of you. Dan, before we dive into this experience itself, I want to go back a little bit and remember talking to you the week leading up to this and even just a few days before, when you're wrestling with some doubt and anxiety. Can you take us through that mindset and what you're going through?
Speaker 3:And you know what's going through your head leading up to it, a lot. There was a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress. The doubt was, you know, have I done enough? What have I done? Why am I doing this?
Speaker 3:There was, there was a lot of things going through my mind leading up to that event and you know a lot of people might look at it and think you know, a 24 hour walk, not that big of a deal, and I kind of thought that a little bit.
Speaker 3:But when you break it down and you actually go through it, it was the most challenging thing I've ever done, physically, but more so mentally. I had no idea what it was going to do to me mentally. And as we talk, I'm sure some of the questions you'll ask will bring up the importance of my teammates that I had around me. And this one's going to be very challenging for me because I got hit in the mouth with a couple of things and we'll talk about it. But yeah, you know, leading up to it, I think anybody who's ever had to prepare for something that you didn't know how it was going to go physically and mentally, you're always going to have some anxiety, and when I met some of the guys the night before when we were setting up camp. I found that pretty much everybody there all 19 guys that were together all had similar thoughts and similar feelings, so I think that's normal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I just was wanting to pick your mind on that for a minute, because it's something I feel like we all battle with. No matter what you're going through, you know you always, leading up to a big event, you always have the anxiety or the stresses of it, and it's just funny, not funny. But looking at it, you know, as you're one of my, I view you as one of my mentors and it's just something where I had no doubt you're going to be able to finish it, and stuff like that. But it's not always an anxiety of failure. Sometimes it's the anxiety of the unknown, which I think would be, you know, one of the biggest things on that. So now, with that in mind, take us into it. You know, tell us about the journey of the weekend, just an overview of what you experienced, before we dive, you know, deep into the heart of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we went down. You know, my wife and I, my second oldest daughter, leah, my daughter Mary and my youngest son, ryan, took the trek down on Thursday and we stopped in Knoxville, tennessee, to do a college visit for Leah, who's going into her senior year at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, right on the river. Which was nice to kind of break up the trip, because where we were headed was essentially Rome, georgia, which is in northwest Georgia, in the mountains, rome Georgia, which is in Northwest Georgia, in the, in the mountains, and so it was nice to, to, to stop and to walk around and to take that visit and, you know, to watch my daughter, you know, kind of thrive in that environment and really enjoy seeing that school. So we went down Thursday. We had had a house rented in in the mountains. It was a beautiful home, beautiful setting. We were looking right at John's, uh, john's mountain, john's overlook, where I ended up having to, uh, to hike to the top of Um. So so we got there Thursday night my time to report was was 5 PM on Friday, so got a good sleep, got a good meal Thursday night.
Speaker 3:Friday, kim and the kids wanted to do some hiking. I, you know, had some work to get done and I did not want to be on my feet, which I kind of regret. As I kind of tell this story, there'll be some things that'll come out that you know, I found out about myself and so they went hiking and I I stuck around and and did some work and did some stretching and, you know, just tried to hydrate. I was, I was very deliberate on, um, my nutrition, on my hydration, because the last thing in the world I wanted to have happen was to, you know, have a stomach incident or or get cramps, was to, you know, have a stomach incident or or get cramps. Um, you know, 24 hours is a long time and uh, so you know, I I spent that time doing that, a lot of time in prayer, a lot of time reflecting, but I, I couldn't, um, I couldn't overcome the anxiety and the doubt that I had in my mind. And so Kim and the kids got back, had everything packed up and ready to go and we headed out to the camp and beautiful setting and I had my tent.
Speaker 3:The plan was to be there at 5, 5.30. Chad and his team, with the 3 of 7 project, were going to show up and kind of talk about the rules, talk about the expectations, and then all of us, which ended up being 19 men sometimes there's women that do this. Excuse me, but we had 19 men from all over the country that you know we sat down, we listened to Chad and then we all got to talk about our why, why were we there? Why do we sign up? Why did we pay money to do this? And it was pretty powerful and you know, going into it, my why was? I wanted to push myself beyond limits that I had ever been to, that I had ever been to, and I wanted to inspire the people around me my family, my friends, my community. Um, but it was, it was more about me and um, boy, that really, that really came to fruition throughout the whole process. But that that was my why, in my, in my mind, um, I was hoping it would strengthen my faith. Uh, it did way more than that and, um, it was. It was really unique and inspiring to hear the other men's stories.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I'll tell you when, when Kim dropped me off and they pulled away, I walked up and there was, uh, there was probably six guys standing there, standing in a circle, talking. There was some tents set up and we're on the edge of a lake, a reservoir, big, tall pine trees. I mean it was a beautiful setting. It was hot, it was, you know, 90 degrees, 70% humidity, which you're not going to get away from. And we knew that, going into it and you know, instantly went up and introduced myself and asking everybody where they were from. And you know what do you do as a man, you know, as a human, that you're not supposed to do. You compare, right, you start measuring these guys up and you start thinking, man, okay, that guy looks like he's pretty, pretty fit, and that guy not so much. You know, I think I'll be fine. You know, you start, you start comparing and, um, man, I, you know again, there there's so many things that'll that'll come out as as as we, as we discuss this. But, um, great men, uh, strong men, I mean men from Manitoba, Canada, from Colorado, denver, colorado, from Miami, florida, from Charlotte, north Carolina, from Indiana. I was from Ohio, we had Houston, texas, we had a guy that was from Scotland, we had a guy that was from Scotland. I mean, we just had, there was men from all walks of life that did all kinds of. You know, whatever we had, ceos of companies, we had, you know, guys that work for power companies, it guy from San Francisco, just amazing men, and I had no idea how impactful they would be on me. And, um, so you know, that was Friday night. Uh, chad showed up.
Speaker 3:When Chad and, uh, if anybody knows, the three of seven project, uh, they, they do a podcast. Chad has an unbelievable story, um, you know, of becoming a Navy SEAL and living a very life, of a powerful life of sin, and but he has a powerful story of how he found faith. And that's what drew me to him was his story. He's a ultra marathon guy. He's run the I think it's the Pocadona 250. He's run, uh, the I think it's the poca dona 250. He's run 250 miles at once. Uh, he's done tons of ultra marathons. He's actually leaving next week to go to the yukon and he is going to canoe or kayak a thousand miles in 10 days with one of his friends who was a former seal, who's paralyzed from the waist down, so he's going to be kayaking with him. It's an unsupported race, which means that what they put in that boat when they start, they can't go get anything else. They have to support themselves and they got 10 days to do it, so that that kind of tells you the mentality that Chad has.
Speaker 3:Chili is one of that's. Chili I don't know what his real name is, but Chili's somebody that works with Chad with the three of seven. He's an ultra marathon guy. That's how he and Chad met, you know so, two guys that are very, very physically fit. Chad's brother, blake, who you know, he kind of runs the three of seven project. I don't know behind the scenes, but he's. He's been on mission trips everywhere and then Cornbread, and Cornbread was, uh, kind of like a father figure to Chad. He's a, he's a he.
Speaker 3:He looks like his name sounds uh a man of faith, though, and and there was times during the walk that, uh, he was it was very uh instrumental in our team success. Um, because we success? Because we were ROP Team 12, which means we were the 12th team to do this, and they started a couple years ago. The only other team to finish with no quitters was ROP Team no 1. Wow, so our goal, going into it after Chad left that night, he gave us some. He gave us some instructions, some things that we we had to do that evening to prepare for the pickup, um, Saturday morning and, um, you know, we. One of those instructions was we needed to divide into two teams and we had to have a team leader and we needed to discuss our goals and the things that we wanted to accomplish. And we did, and we had some, some former military guys there who were very instrumental in, and again, our success.
Speaker 3:And the biggest thing we came away with as a group was that we wanted to complete this together. We didn't want any quitters, and so, whatever that took, that's what we wanted and that was our goal and, uh, as a team, so it was very uh military, like something I had never been through before. So we divided into two teams of nine. We had a team leader and as we went throughout the day, when we were doing the uh, the training, you know, we were in in file formation. We were in dual formation, which means you're in a straight line. When you're in dual formation, the guy next to you, you're in the same line. You keep that formation the whole time. If the trail got skinny, we had to go into a into file formation, which meant one team went in front of the other and you, you kept that pace and you only went as fast as your slowest guy and that became the most powerful thing.
Speaker 3:The two guys that we selected as our team leaders, Um, one was Ray from Manitoba. Uh, not a very big guy, long hair, tattoos everywhere, very soft-spoken, uh, very kind. Uh, he was a tattoo artist. Um, he was one. He's not one that you would look at and think of as as a leader, Um, but he was. And then the other team leader was Casey, and Casey was local, he was from the area and he had done jujitsu with, with, with Blake, and those guys are the three to seven project, so he kind of knew him, Um, and Casey was somebody if you looked at.
Speaker 3:If you're judging someone, you would look at and think well, he don't look like he could do that and do this, you know, do the the ROP and um, but he was selected as as team two's leader. So I was on team one and I had, uh, ray is as our, our team leader, in case he was on team two. So that was, uh, that was Friday night, you know. So that was Friday night, you know, and we had to set up camp. So each of us had our own tents and it was a thunder and lightning show that night and it was loud and it rained, and it wouldn't have mattered if it was loud and raining or not. None of us were getting much sleep, you know, because we all felt the same way, those nerves of anxiousness. And when Chad left, well, you know, I think Scott from Colorado asked the question, you know, what time should we be ready tomorrow? And Chad said anytime between 4 am and 8 am. That's four hours. 4 am is pretty early. So we all or most of us, I think went to bed around 9 pm Friday night and or at least tried to and laid in our tents and listened to the thunder and could see the flashes of lightning and then listening to the rain. And, you know, you're just left with your thoughts. And you know that was challenging because, you know, here I was afraid I'm going to miss my 3 15 AM alarm, which was crazy because we're in a tent in the middle of the woods, you can hear everything, uh, and every single guy there had their alarm set for 3 15. So the odds of all of our alarms not going off were highly unlikely. But, um, and that was the anxiety. So, um, it was. It was a stressful evening, um, to say the least.
Speaker 3:But one of the the other, the caveats to that was there were four guys they kind of did a roll call that night, and there were four guys that, um, that weren't there and two of those guys they knew were, they knew were running late because their flights were delayed or something was going on. One of them was from San Francisco and another was from Miami, florida. There was a guy that rolled in about halfway through when Chad was kind of going over things Jamie, he was from North Carolina, jamie, he is from North Carolina and um, so, um, alan from Miami ended up showing up towards the end of Chad's talk, and then we had another guy show up after Chad got done and left, uh, from San Francisco, but we were left with one guy that we didn't know. They hadn't heard from him, we didn't know if he was going to make it or not. That was Wesley, from Houston, and so before we all went to bed, we were talking.
Speaker 3:You know, it was our responsibility to make sure we caught those guys up on the rules because, if you well, for one, chad's a pretty intimidating guy. I mean you, he's all over Instagram and Facebook and YouTube and he's a. He's a. He's a pretty intimidating guy. I mean, he's all over Instagram and Facebook and YouTube and he's a big man. I'm guessing he's 6'4", he's got a big red beard and he is very deliberate when he speaks, he can get very loud and he can get very angry and he is in control of us for 24 hours.
Speaker 3:So, you know, none of us wanted to screw up and, uh, which is remarkable, because if, if anybody out there's ever been on vacation with someone or been at an event with someone who's just not a good seed, you know how quickly things can unravel and how that person can make your life not fun. And um, so that was a concern of mine with with all these, you know, all of us men coming together from all across the country, all different walks of life. You just don't know what kind of people they are, you know, are they going to be like me or are they not? But they were, they were, they were, they were all like me, which was, which was amazing, and way better than me, for sure. So we had one guy that hadn't shown up.
Speaker 3:Well then you start, you start thinking is this a mental game? You know, did they just say there were four guys? Three of them showed up, as the fourth guy just an imaginary guy, or is he really going to show up? So we talked about keeping guys up throughout the night, that way, if he showed up, we could. Hey, we got to be up at four. You know, we got to be ready to go at 4am because Chad said when the two white vans show up to pick you up, you got five minutes to get in dual formation of your teams. Load the vans and we're gone. So we knew, whenever they showed up, we had five minutes. That was it, and this is military style. So there's no, you know, no messing around and um, so we all got up three, 15, the fourth guy never showed up through the night.
Speaker 3:We're sitting in the uh, the, the picnic, the shelter house or whatever at you know, ready to go. Everybody's ready to go. At four we got our bags packed, um, all these things, and um five o'clock comes, five, 30 comes, we're all sitting there. Of course we're exhausted and you know, we hadn't even started thinking, holy cow, how are we going to do this? And it was a little before six and we saw truck lights coming back, or lights coming back to the parking area where we were at, and it was a truck and pulls up, backs up and the guy gets out, and we all assumed that it was maybe a cadre, another somebody who was part of the three of seven, and um, he gets out and he starts walking up right then the two vans pull in. So it's go time.
Speaker 3:That was our fourth guy. That was Wesley. He drove all the way from Houston, texas. He'd worked the day before. He got in his truck and drove through the night, got hung up in traffic in Louisiana, all different places to get over to Northwest Georgia, and he just happened. He had no idea what time we were leaving. He just happened to show up literally five minutes before the van show up. So he was on our team because we were short one guy, so that made our numbers even. So. We had nine guys on team one and nine guys on T2. And here comes Wesley, so he makes our ninth guy on team number one. We catch him up to speed, you know. I mean you can imagine the exhaustion that he felt and we all thought, holy cow like this guy paid the same amount of money that we did to do this. He drove, you know, he had the faith and the fortitude just to keep going, knowing that he could have showed up and we'd have been gone and he'd have made that trek for nothing. But by the grace of God, he made it there.
Speaker 3:The vans pull in, we get into dual formation. Chad shows up, starts barking orders. You know it's, uh, the heat's on, it's go time, and we load the vans and, um, you know, by this time my heart's racing and, uh, I don't know what's to come. You know we're, we're, uh, it's, it's dark, it's about six o'clock and uh, they take off. And then we've got about a um, it was 30, 35, 40 minute drive to a trailhead and um, I to a trailhead, and we're not allowed to disclose the trails that we were on, but it was we started off. It was similar to any trail.
Speaker 4:Maybe anyone's been on at a state park, only this was in the mountains in Northwest Georgia, so it was a pretty good, good climb. Let me stop you right there real quick. I just have one question before you get into the what's the age gap here? I don't know if you guys talked about your ages.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we did a lot of talk.
Speaker 4:We had 24 hours Just for our listeners.
Speaker 3:before you do it, it's just so, we had I believe Casey was the youngest. Casey was the local guy. He was Team 2's leader, um, I think he was like 27 or 28. And then I believe our oldest guy was in mid fifties. A majority of us of the guys were were in that forties range. Um, you know, late thirties to you know, maybe upper forties, um, so you know, not young by any means. Um, and and. To take on a challenge like this, I think says a lot about the mentality of the men that did it. Um, and and and I'll. I'll back up a little bit.
Speaker 3:So the three rules for the rite of passage, there's only three. I mean, it's pretty simple. You have to move, constant movement. You, there was at no time in that 24 hours where we ever able to sit down, so we were on our feet, moving for 24 hours. You had to eat. You had to fuel your body. You had to eat, even though there were many times when I did not feel like eating. You had to eat. You had to because we were burning about 300 calories per hour. And you had to drink. If you didn't drink, you were not going to make it. If you did those three things, you would make it.
Speaker 3:But if one of those went away, there was no way you were going to make it and we were instructed that we would need to carry roughly three liters of water. So three quarters of a gallon of water is what we carried on our back. Any of the food that we had, we carried on our back. We had raincoats that we carried on, you know, in our, in our backpacks Again, all the snacks. I had an extra change of socks. We had to have headlamps with battery backups. I had trekking poles. Probably half of the guys had trekking poles, the other half didn't.
Speaker 3:You know anything that you thought you might need. There was a mandatory list that we had to have. But then anything beyond that you could, you could take it. So you know I was probably carrying, I'm guessing, 12 pounds. You know when, when my water and everything was. You know I was probably carrying, I'm guessing, 12 pounds. You know when my water and everything was full, roughly 12 pounds on our back. I will say this our team one leader Ray Ray is what we called him from Canada, his bag. I think he had the entire province of Manitoba in his bag. I mean it was heavy, and of Manitoba in his bag. I mean it was heavy and he was one of the smallest guys and that will come up here as we kind of talk about this.
Speaker 4:So yeah, that was the age range anywhere from late 20s to mid-50s. The reason I ask that, before we dive in, most of our listeners are in that gap for the 20 to 50s range. So put yourself in this situation and just imagine going through it, you know, because you know that's a huge, I mean it's a pretty big age gap, like I mean, casey draws you down there with 28. So you're talking about from 20s to late 50s, I mean mid late 50s.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mid 50s, yeah, so I mean mid late fifties.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Mid fifties, yeah, so I mean you're talking, yeah, a lot of our listeners you know yeah 20, 30 years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and really, you know, it wasn't like, uh, you know, we all, we all laughed about it. Uh, there's not a lot of information out on the rite of passage. Um, there was recently, I think a couple months ago, they, uh, the three of seven project, put out a video of, I think it was ROP, team 11, I believe Uh, it may have been a different team number, but, um, I, we all joked around that we all probably watched that video a hundred times each. You know, trying to pick up little tidbits. You know, even I went as far as trying to watch as they videoed in the van, the trailheads that they, that they left from, and then listening as the, you know it got into the evening where they were at that night, you know, okay, I know where that's at, you know, and then try to map those points and be like, oh boy, that's a, that's a long ways away from one another.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, looking at the times, what time? You know I was trying to look in the van on the video to see what time it was when they left. You know we all did those things and what the people were wearing. What shoes were they wearing, what bags were they carrying, what kind of shorts or pants or tops, where they were. You know all those little things just to to try to gain some sort of advantage. You know that, that maybe you weren't thinking about, and really some of that stuff did help. You know, your shoes are extremely important, the socks that you wear are extremely important, how much you're carrying on your back, I mean all those things over a long period of time are very important and and it and they proved to be important, but, uh, that wasn't the most important thing.
Speaker 4:I think the thing that would help me most with that video is that, the one that where they, uh, they had a couple of kids or people drop out with what was it? How many minutes left or how many miles left?
Speaker 3:was it. It was dark, it was close to the end, so it at least been within the last eight hours, right, yeah?
Speaker 4:so you're over halfway through and, yeah, that had kept me pushing, I think oh yeah seeing that, but yeah, yeah, so take us into it.
Speaker 3:Here we go yeah, so you know, we started off on the trail and, and chili was the lead for us again, chili's ultra marathon guy and and ultra marathon is anything over a marathon, so that could be, you know, 28 miles, all the way up to a hundred miles, 300 miles, that's, I mean that's and he looks like a runner, you know he's, uh, so he, he's in our van. He says that when we get here, I'm going to take off, you guys get into your formation and you follow quickly. And so you know, we did, and you can imagine two vans, guys getting out, nervous, hadn't slept, you know, for two days or whatever it was. It was a little chaotic and um, that's when I, that's when I realized this is going to be a mental battle, because they were trying to create chaos. And, uh, they were. They were also doing a good job of making sure that we work together as a team.
Speaker 3:And, um, so, so Chile took off, and there's a lot of yelling and, uh, screaming from Chad and, and you know, we finally got it all together and took off and caught up to Chile and, and you know, and, and the time the clock started. So you know, I'm we're kind of looking at the sun like, okay, it's, we're just past sunrise, so this time tomorrow we'll be, we'll be finishing up. So we took off and pretty good pace, good conversation. We throughout the throughout the 24 hours, they have what they call resupplies, so we ended up having five total resupplies. Um so, the first, the first resupply, I don't again and I should have said this in the beginning, but we were not allowed to have any time tracking device, any GPS device. No phones, no watches, no, nothing. We didn't know what time it was unless you could read the sun. So in the woods.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you know, the first resupply, I'm guessing, was roughly six miles and and so by the time we got to the first resupply, it was getting pretty warm. Uh, you know, it wasn't terrible in in the, in the woods, because you had the shade, but you know the shade doesn't do anything for the humidity. So, um, you know, we were all drenched by the time we got to resupply. Number one and the rules, the resupply, you know refill your water, refill, you know any snacks that you want. They had, you know they had all, any and all kinds of granola bars and honey and applesauce, and you know all the things that you can think of that you would need. Uh, you know quick, easy calories that you could, could eat while you're walking bananas, oranges, uh, all those things.
Speaker 3:But we had 10 minutes and we were, you know, again, we're in dual formation, you know, standing in a straight line together, you know, just like you would think of in any military setting. And Chad started the clock 10 minutes. And you know we had to work together as a team, helping each other refuel your water bottles or your camel packs or whatever. You know. However, you had your water and then there was all kinds of electrolyte stuff you could mix in, which was which was extremely important in that heat, uh, to get those electrolytes in, and and that 10 minutes felt like one minute. I mean it went that quick, um, but what I found throughout that that time was those resupplies became very vital because it gave you something to look forward to. Because, even though we weren't, um, moving during that time, we weren't allowed to sit down, um, you know, we had to, you had to be very proactive in what you did and, uh, being efficient and helping all the guys and make sure everybody got the water that they needed. Because, again, what was our goal? Our goal was to finish as a team, and so we did, got back into dual formation and we lined back up and and took off and it was an uphill climb and and the, the next terrain that we hit was very, very, not not super, not super steep, but it was, um, like a gravel fire road. So, um, you know, like 57s, uh, gravel, pretty, pretty thick gravel, walking, uh, somewhat exposed to the sun, and and by this time, uh, you know, it was probably 10, 11 o'clock out, that, you know, during the day, so the sun was, was high enough where, where we could feel it and, um, you know, I, I started About that time, I started to notice in my mind, when it would get quiet, you would start to drift a little bit, you would start to find yourself asking why.
Speaker 3:You know, why am I—this sucks Like, this is not fun, it's hot. We just got started. You know, I mean, we got a long way to go. Where we just got started, you know, I mean we got a long way to go. And it was about this time we had Cornbread who was walking with us, and Chad was in the back with Chili, and Cornbread was kind of walking beside certain guys and having conversations, and a man full of faith and you could hear these conversations, which were vital to hear guys talking, even if it was random conversations, which there were, many of those that were funny and uh, but the man they were ended up being so important throughout that time because it took your mind off of yourself and and the pain that you felt you were going through.
Speaker 3:And I, you know, I, I heard cornbread talking to somebody about Jesus and about faith and about how, um, you know, just just all kinds of different things about the Bible, and it was, it was between resupply one and resupply two where I noticed that our team one leader, um Ray Ray, was starting to struggle.
Speaker 3:Ray Ray was starting to struggle and Ray had had told me the night before, when we were kind of packing up our bags at camp, that he had an issue with his knee, with his left knee, that sometimes it would kind of give out a little bit when it was under stress. And I remember thinking, man, that's probably not a good thing going into a 24 hour trek, but Ray was our leader and you know you could start to watch. Not a good thing going into a 24 hour track, but Ray was our leader and you know you could start to watch him a little bit and see him really favor that knee and it wasn't as bad going up. But when we started to come down you could really really notice the struggle and the pain. And so um cornbread had went up to Scott, who was from Colorado. He was a mountain of a man, probably six, four, six, five, just a big guy, super nice guy, and uh.
Speaker 3:I heard him mention something about. Uh, he said do you hear that? It's kind of like, well, you're what? And he's like you hear that silence? He said that's not a good thing. He said when there's silence in this group, he said it's a bad thing. He said guys are starting to wonder, starting to question things. He said you need to speak up and ask everybody to restate their why. You know why they're here, why are they doing this? And so Scott did, being the leader that he is, you know he shouted, know, he shouted out hey, everybody, I want to hear your why again. And and so we all at that time went, you know, man by man. Again, we're trekking, we're moving, we're climbing a mountain on this fire road and and we're all, we're all stating our why. And so that was a great thing, that was a great thing to hear everybody's why.
Speaker 3:I think mentally it was, it was definitely, definitely needed. And, um, we, we get close to resupply number two and we're coming down now we're coming down a fire road and, um, chad's wife Brooke would, would show up and take pictures. So we've got a lot of pictures which we'll link uh to to the end of this podcast so people can see the group and see some of the pictures during the trek and we saw Brooke and their dog and so we knew we were getting close. But it was really this time, going downhill, that you could really see Ray Ray struggling. And I mean, like I told my wife Kim, I said if you, if you've ever seen Forrest Gump and the part where Forrest has the knee braces on when he's a kid, and that truck's chasing him and he's running and he, you know, he just it looks like he's a robot you know, and it just really struggling.
Speaker 3:That's what. That's what Ray looked like. And so, um, again, scott from Colorado, who was uh, he was, I think he was two guys back behind Ray Ray he said, ray, let me take your pack. And um, and he took his pack and he carried it, which was a big help for Ray, but he was still struggling. So, you know, throughout that our way down, you know, we kind of passed Ray's pack around. We wanted to keep his pack closed so that he had water and he had food when he needed it. Because there would be times as we would go and somebody would yell hydrate and eat, hydrate and eat. Everybody would yell hydrate and eat, and you'd take a drink of water or a drink of your electrolyte drink and you'd eat a granola bar or whatever. And that was important. So I was able, I went up right behind Ray Ray and carrying his pack, and that's when I saw the struggle, I saw how, I mean, I thought he was going to fall, I thought I was going to have to catch him and that's how labored his walking was and I said, I said, ray, you eating in a while, do you need something to eat? And he could tell that it was a different voice. And uh, when he turned around, he, he, you know, he looked me in the eyes and uh, I'll uh. He looked me in the eyes and I'll never forget that look. It was a look of pain, of struggle, of despair. But he kept going and he said I'm good. So I gave him some water.
Speaker 3:So we round the corner and we can see the vans. We can see that, hey, we're at resupply number two. I'm not the only one that thought this cause. We all talked about it afterwards, but you know it was in that moment. I thought there is no way that Ray's going to make it like there is no way. I, you know, just watching him. And we are not 10 hours in, we haven't even got to the heat of the day and this guy can barely walk. And we know we're getting ready to climb some mountains with some rocks.
Speaker 3:So we're getting close to the vans and Jamie from North Carolina yells out you're not quitting Ray. And he kept saying it you're not quitting Ray, you're not quitting Ray. And so we made it to the vans and resupply. You're not quitting Ray, you're not quitting, right. And so we made it to the vans and, uh, resupply, we're all again filling up our water and our, our food and everything. And I thought, man, there ain't no way he's going to keep going.
Speaker 3:But 10 minutes was up, we got into dual formation and raise it the front of the pack and um, you know, we stood there for a little bit and Chad had his brother, blake um, get up and and and give us a little bit of a talk, kind of a pep talk, but he wanted us to think about again why we were there and um, to really reflect on our lives and all those things. And he, he quoted a couple of Bible verses and and Chad said, hey, we're going to, we're going to take off, and when we do, I want you to take 30 minutes as you're walking and not talk. I just want you to really think about what Blake said. And so.
Speaker 3:So we took off and Ray was still trucking, and it was about this time that Casey, who was the lead at team number two, he was really struggling too. I mean he was, and his attitude wasn't wasn't a lot like everybody else's. I mean, you'd ask somebody, yell out how's everybody doing? And they're, you know, good, great. You know everybody was pretty positive and Casey's, like this sucks. I mean he was, he was just brutally honest, you know. And uh, so it was.
Speaker 3:It was kind of comical to hear him say that, because that's really what we were all thinking. And uh, so we, we take off, and and now we're on a road, uh, fully exposed. You know, it'd be like walking in preble county. You know there's a alfalfa field on one side and a grass field on the other, round bales, and and, uh, yeah, the sun's just blaring. And so we're walking and we're thinking and, um, it w, it was good, it was hot, it was very hot.
Speaker 3:Um, and that was, uh, that was a challenging time, even though the road was flat and solid. I wanted to be back in the woods because the ground was a little softer on those trails. Now, it it sucked on those fire roads with the gravel, but, uh, the trails were good. So you know, we, we, we make it through um that phase and we're, we're headed to um. Next stop is resupply, number three, which should be dinnertime, and we knew, based on again watching that other video a hundred times, that there was going to be some type of food other than a granola bar. And so we, we end up during that trek. Somehow we made a wrong turn. Oh no, now remember, we don't know where we're at or where we're going.
Speaker 3:I mean, we're in no electronics yeah we are in a very remote area in the mountains and we happened to be on a fire road. Well, come to find out that was planned. They knew where we were going and they didn't count those miles in our trek. But it was a very long walk and we got to a spot and Chad was like hold up, guys. He said halt. And so again, we're in dual formation and we halt. And he said about face and we turn around. And when we turn around, you could look ahead and you could see this trail of rocks and it was like a vertical climb. So we're all looking at this thing thinking no way, there is no way we're climbing that. And he proceeds to tell us that chili led us in the wrong direction and we made a wrong turn and what we're looking for is a blue mark on a tree it should be on our right side and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:That was a bunch of BS.
Speaker 3:And, but regardless, you know, we all maintained a positive attitude. I mean, there were times we were. You know, somebody said, hey, you need to recite your favorite movie line, you know. So each guy went through and as we're walking, you know you're reciting your favorite movie line and all this stuff sounds, you know, inconsequential, like it doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 3:But you know, when you, when you're um, when you're on your feet for that long and your legs are on fire and your feet hurt, and you know everything hurts, you know you got a 10, 15 pounds on your back that you're carrying, it's hot, you're drenched in sweat, um, you know, those little things, this comedic relief was, uh, you know, super impactful and just helped us all get through it. There were times when we'd talk about Jamie was big on. Hey, just around the corner there's going to be a grill, there's going to be a smoker up there. What are we putting on the smoker? We'd talk about whatever meat you're going to cook and all those things. Again, it didn't seem like much talking about it now, but at the time, when you're in the moment, those, those were vital, um, distractions that you needed.
Speaker 4:What was your favorite movie line? Let's hear it.
Speaker 3:Oh, you're killing me, small from the sandlot. So, um, so, yeah, so we we find our way back to where we missed, our turn uh again, which was BS, but that's okay.
Speaker 4:Was there a blue mark on the tree?
Speaker 3:There was a blue mark on the tree and and yeah, it was, it wasn't obvious at the time but when we, when we all reflected back that you know, then the next morning somebody asked Chad and he was like yeah, that was planned.
Speaker 4:You think I really get lost in the woods? Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know how many times we've done this.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:And and chili kept saying he knew the woods like the back of his hand, and so we kinda, we kinda knew, but we ended up making it to resupply number three, and, and that was dinner, and they had Bojangles, which Bojangles is like KFC.
Speaker 3:You know it's it's fried chicken and they have grilled chicken. No grilled chicken, but they, they, you know. They said, hey, you need, you need the protein, you need the fat, you need those carbohydrates and you're going to need it because you're going into the toughest part of the rite of passage. And so, you know, ate chicken and and refueled, and they actually gave us 20 minutes here, which again only felt like five.
Speaker 3:But, um, you know, we were able to get our packs off, get everything filled back up again no sitting, you know, getting an actual food, not a granola bar or applesauce or honey or whatever. And so we lined back up. It's starting to get dark, you know. The sun's going down and in the woods it gets really dark, and so we leave resupply. Number three and turn the corner we're in dual formation and there's a river. And number three and turn the corner, we're in dual formation and there's a river and the road goes through the river. So we walk through the river and it's about, maybe right to the bottom of your calf, so your shoes are fully submerged, you know, and most of us have two pairs of socks on with hiking boots or hiking shoes, whatever you got, and it felt good for a minute yeah, but then you got wet feet and you're hiking in wet feet and and you know, you know it's not dark yet, so you know you might be 12 hours in.
Speaker 3:So you're halfway through walking with wet feet, the sun's going down and now we're, uh, we're in a Valley and you know, when you're you're at a Valley, you know what's coming next. You got a big climb, so I can't say that the mountain that we climbed, but but, um, you know, we started this climb and I am glad that it was dark, because this felt like an incline that was never going to end, and he called it Copperhead road, and they called it Copperhead road. It was a fire road again, it was gravel, um, because of the Copperhead snakes, and they usually come out, I guess, at night because it's cooler and it had rained. So, uh, we didn't get rain, but it had rained where we were, where we were hiking. So you know it's dark, we all got headlamps on and, uh, you know we're we're looking for snakes, and copperheads, I guess, are very aggressive. So, uh, the last thing any of us wanted was, uh, was to get bit by a copperhead snake, cause that'd probably been game over. Yeah, so, um, we did see one copperhead snake, but luckily nobody was hurt. There was also a spot where there was a rattler, a rattlesnake, that somebody almost stepped on, but a man from San Francisco spotted it before they stepped on it. And then we saw a bull snake, which I guess are not aggressive, walked right by it but it was a pretty big snake. So you know we're watching for snakes.
Speaker 3:The terrain was all over the board. I may have said that earlier, but you know there were, there were parts of the trail that you could barely see in front of you. That was like a rainforest. So poison ivy, poison oak, all those things, all kinds of thorns, logs. I mean it was challenging. And in between the resupply three and resupply four, we pretty much all had figured that resupply four was going to be on top of the mountain and it ended up being. But there was a spot that they called the wormhole.
Speaker 3:So we climbed the gravel road, the um, the copperhead road that Chad called it, and we get to this spot where the trail narrows. So we all go down into file formation and we take off and this is where it truly is like a rainforest. I mean it is um, we're on the, we're on the side of a mountain, so the the trail is not flat, you know. So you're walking on uneven ground, rocks, stumps, you know everywhere it's.
Speaker 3:This is not a path that's taken by a lot of people and, um, you know I I'll go back to Ray, um, as, as we kept going throughout the day, chad put Ray and Casey and Wesley at the front of our group, because you can only go as fast as your slowest man. And that was really hard for me in the beginning until I noticed the pain that Ray was in because I wanted to go faster. You know, a lot of us wanted to go faster. You know, we thought there was a point of time in the beginning where we had asked Chad, you know, what's the most miles that any ROP team's ever done, you know, and it was like 50 plus and we thought, well, we can beat that. But as we went we realized that wasn't the point. You know, the point was what was our goal? Our goal was to finish with every man that we started with. And so you know, I know how I'm struggling going up Copperhead Road. I know how I'm struggling walking through that water, walking on the hot asphalt, with that heat bearing down.
Speaker 3:And wet socks and wet socks. But Ray, you talk about an inspiration and he inspired every. You know, all the 18 guys that were behind him knew that if Ray kept going, there was no way in hell we were not going to keep going. And he was still walking the same way, like Forrest Gump, with them knee braces. I mean it just looked like every step was just excruciating. And so, you know, he leads us to the top of of Copperhead mountain and we get to this spot again they called the wormhole. And when we left resupply three after we'd eaten our chicken, uh, blake had said hey, make sure you guys all take an extra piece of chicken, put it in your pocket. Think about that, put it in your pocket. I didn't have any pockets, so I luckily had a Ziploc bag and I put a uh, a um a leg a chicken leg in my Ziploc bag and put it in my pack.
Speaker 3:But, uh, matt in front of me is from Indiana. Um, he had, he had a whole chicken breast in his pocket sticking out. So so the whole time I'm walking, all I see is this chicken breast sticking out of Matt's pocket. Holy cow, um, and and that's a kind of another thing I want to back up to is, you know, chad talked about the night before how you know you, you want to look ahead, you know, and, and you may only be able to make it to the top of the next ridge, but then there's going to be a point where you're only going to be able to make it to the next tree, and then there's going to be a point where you're only going to be able to make it that next step. And I had Matt in front of me and Matt was a couple of years younger than me, from Indiana, um, super guy, great guy.
Speaker 3:And uh, I see the back of his heels when I go to bed at night, because that's all I was watching was his feet. So, head down, because you really couldn't look up. If you looked up, at any point you could trip. You know, with uneven terrain or a rock or a stump or whatever it was. And so, uh so, matt's heels are etched in my mind, along with that chicken breast in his pocket, and uh so, um, you know, we're going through the wormhole and Chad had given us a speaker. It was a Bluetooth speaker. He called it the turtle and it was. It was a pretty decent size and he said you need to. You know, the rule of this thing is it can't hit the ground. Anybody can carry it, but the the speaker side's got to be facing out. We're thinking what the heck is this why are we carrying a Bluetooth speaker?
Speaker 3:Well, we found out we're in the wormhole, which we found out was about. We were about three hours in the wormhole, which is again like rainforest. There were trees down, big trees down, covered in poison oak. We had to climb over it. Under it and you get to a tree. And what happens? You stop because you're trying to get. You know, you got to figure out how to get over. We got 19 guys in a row. Well then, the screaming starts. Boy, you stop. And what you know? Keep going, figure it out. You know. And we, I think there were three down trees throughout that track, that three hour track.
Speaker 3:Well then, all of a sudden, this voice starts playing out of the music box and it was like propaganda from the early 1900s, and it was this guy. Uh, and I've got it, um, and it went on for about five minutes and what it was trying to do was make us crazy. The mental and this whole process was what was the most difficult thing again that you, you cannot prepare for, and I'd never been through anything like that, where where someone was trying to deliberately change your mind, to make you quit. That. That played over and over and over and over again for three hours, and it was like being at a concert. That's how loud it was.
Speaker 3:So what they were trying to do was to get us to go crazy, to get us to not be able to communicate. You know, because we, you know, we keep saying hydrate neat, hydrate, neat. Well, you couldn't hear. It was so loud. Uh, to me, it just annoyed me, you know. So I started whistling the Andy Griffith song as loud as I could, and then everybody would yell different things here or there, but you couldn't avoid it. Like it was, it was just constant annoying, over and over and over.
Speaker 3:And uh so, luckily, we made it out of the wormhole and then made a climb to the top of the mountain and made it to resupply number four. So by this time we're trying to guess. You know what time is it? We've been, we've been tracking pretty far in the dark, so we were guessing it was probably one, two o'clock and uh. So now you're getting, you're tired, you know, your, your legs hurt. I can feel, um, I can feel some blisters on my feet. Um, you know, your ankles are hurting, your legs are hurting.
Speaker 3:You know, there's numerous times, you know there was, there was a couple of times where Matt in front of me, I could, I could see him, you know, start to sway a little bit, you know, and you could tell he was struggling, you know, and I'd hand him a pack of honey, you know, and it was amazing what honey can do for you, that, that, that bolt of sugar, and you know he straightened back up and make it, but it was struggling. You'd either carry their pack or you'd hey, have you eaten? When's the last time you drank here? Take this, take that. You know, um, the electrolyte. I had some some electrolyte chews that you could take. We had some caffeine chews that you could take to try to help keep you awake. But the harder it got, the stronger we got as a team. And that was so vital. And you know who kept going? Ray Ray Kept going. Man, it was amazing and again he was that inspiration for all of us that he just kept taking that step and that's what all I thought is I'm just going to keep watching Matt's heels and I'm going to keep taking that step and physically I felt pretty good. I mean, my feet hurt but I could deal with that. You know I it was uh, we had some some great conversations. Uh, you know, chad and Chili they were, they were great. You know there'd be times they'd come up and have conversations and these guys are pretty famous really in the world of podcasting and ultra marathon running and and, uh, public speaking and all those things. But man, they are just down to earth, good old boys from Georgia, just, you know, just Southern twang and so great conversations just about life and faith and everything in general.
Speaker 3:So we made it to resupply number four and in my mind I'm thinking that's the last resupply. Like we're at the top of the mountain, we're going to, we're going to head to the bottom and it's going to be close to sunrise. And so we go, you know, resupply four. We get all our stuff ready to go and, uh, you know, chad says, hey, this is what you came here for. Like, this is the rite of passage and this will be the most technical, difficult trail you've been on yet. Keep in mind, we've been awake for 48 hours. I mean, the last really good sleep that I had was Thursday night. Here it is Saturday night at you know, I don't know, two o'clock in the morning. I've been on my feet for, uh, you know, 16, 17 hours, whatever it had been. And so Chili takes off and, uh, I don't even know how he knew where he was going, because I did not see any trail whatsoever.
Speaker 3:There were boulders everywhere, you know, you're drenched in sweat. You'd already went through who knows how much poison ivy and poison oak and thorns and thistles and all those things. And then, if anybody thinks about, you know what bugs do. When there's a light and it's dark outside and you got a light on your head, you can imagine the bugs flying in your mouth and your nose and your face. So you were, you know, constantly just swatting at the bugs, trying to keep your head down, to make sure you know each step, that you didn't roll your ankle or fall on on rocks, because, um, these were some big boulders that we were going across and there'd be there'd be times where we'd we'd get into a path, and it was a pretty tight trail and there were times when you could tell there was a big cliff to your right, and so it was.
Speaker 3:It was very technical. We got to the bottom and and there was, um, there was a spot where we trekked down and went kind of behind a waterfall slick, pretty pretty, um, serious terrain. But you know who kept going? Right, right, ray kept going, and, man, that that that was tough for me and I felt pretty good. Um, there's a funny story. Billy, he's a, an ex Marine, um, from Indiana, and, uh, he was struggling as, as we were getting down towards the bottom of the mountain and uh, uh I think it was Scott from Colorado had a five hour energy and he gave. He gave it to Billy and it was like somebody gave him Ritalin.
Speaker 3:I mean he just like started talking about. He was like woo, you know, he was going crazy talking about this and that, and and, uh, it was great for Billy and it was great for for all of us. And I was like whoo, you know, he was going crazy talking about this and that and it was great for Billy and it was great for all of us.
Speaker 3:And I was thinking man, that thing wears off. I hope he's going to be okay. But again, it was one of those things where we're tired. You know the steps are tough. It's getting real, real challenging. You're exhausted and you know Billy's just chatty Kathy, you know, just letting her, letting her go.
Speaker 3:So it was, it was it was needed at the time for all of us to hear him talking about just random stuff. And so you know, we come out of the bottom and we're making our trek up and, um, we're climbing another, another fire road and I see the vans and we're all under the whole night. We're like looking at the sky, like we're climbing another, another fire road and I see the vans and we're all under the whole night. We're like looking at the sky, like we're just waiting for the sky to change, which you can't really see in the woods. And we make it to the vans and the two vans are there and they got all the stuff out there, all the granola bars and the water and everything's out. And I'm thinking, reason apply, number five, like we have got to be, like it has got to be so close. But you know they're playing mind games with us and you know the a lot of the guys did really good and we'd say, hey, what time is it? And they'd say, oh, it's six, 30 at night, you know. So you just weren't, you know, you just knew it didn't matter, 24 hours was 24 hours. Whether we went 20 miles or we went 60 miles didn't matter. And so we resupply same thing 10 minutes.
Speaker 3:Here we go and we take off into the woods and Chad's leading us and we go, I don't know, maybe 30 minutes into the woods and Chad says halt, and he says about face. And so we all turn around and face him and he said and throughout this time you could start to hear the birds singing. And he said, and throughout this time you could start to hear the birds singing, you know. So I told Matt I was like, hey, yeah, we're here, those birds don't sing in the dark, and then you could start to see the sky change. And so we did an about face and Chad said congratulations, you know. You finished. And man, matt, let out a big, you know, yeehaw, big yelp scared the crap out of me and we were all. I mean, it was just a sigh of relief.
Speaker 3:And so we walked back a certain distance and then Chad talked a little bit about faith and about what we had just done and told us. He said I want you to reflect, I'm going to release each one of you individually to head back the path towards the vans and we'll load up. Uh, you know, keep it at when you get back to the van, keep it in in dual formation. I mean, we're still on a mission, right? Uh, you know, the mission is not complete. And so he released, you know, each one of us individually where we were kind of alone with our thoughts and, um, you know, that was a.
Speaker 3:That was a interesting time to really kind of reflect back on what we had just done as a team. And you know, one of the guys actually passed out at that time. Yeah, he passed out three times, you know, I think just from exhaustion. And you know, you, just, you just keep going. I mean, it's amazing, the power of the mind. You know what you can persevere through when you truly just don't stop. And that's what I learned from Ray, that's what I learned from Casey, from Wesley. You know, here here Wes drives all the way from Houston, shows up right before we leave.
Speaker 3:You know he's probably going on three days of no sleep. At least he got out of a car, jumps in a van and we've been tracking for 24 hours. I mean I had been able to rest, you know, and I mean just amazing men, amazing strength, amazing leadership. I mean the power of a positive attitude was, was came to the forefront and um, it was. It was a life-changing event for me and, um, it didn't really hit me until yesterday morning but you know, we made it back, we all loaded in the van and I don't know, it was maybe a 30-minute drive back to camp where our tents and everything were, and that's kind of when it hit me. As far as the exhaustion, you know we're all kind of our heads are like bobbleheads because we're falling and it's hard to stay awake. Um, you know some of the stats. I guess that was kind not counting the little turn that we made, that we missed.
Speaker 3:So Chili said he thought it was 46 miles. Regardless, it was a lot of miles and you know you may look at that listeners and think, okay, that's a little over. You know two miles an hour. You know that's nothing, I can do that and maybe you can, you know, I know you can actually uh, if I can do it, anybody can do it. But you got to remember what our goal was and our goal was to finish as a team and you're only as strong as your weakest link. And so, whether Chili was going to or not Chili, whether Ray Ray was going to walk one mile an hour or three miles an hour, that's what we were going to do. We were, we were not going to leave him behind and he was not going to quit and um, so you know we did. I'm saying we did 46 miles and, uh, one of the guys did his steps uh, cause we have a group text now and and, uh, he had 127,000 steps. Um, you know we burn roughly 300 calories per hour, so you can do that math.
Speaker 3:Uh, I drank uh, there was a couple in between the resupply stations um, most at least drank three liters of water each time, or a couple of times I drank a gallon, um, you know so, four and a half, five gallons in 24 hours, that's a lot of water, uh there, but it was needed, um, and so I don't know how many calories we took, but that was one of the things I wanted to make sure of is that I, I, I did not want cramping or stomach issues to be a factor, so we made it, you know, and that, um, that was, um, that was a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of exhaustion, but, um, things really didn't hit me until until yesterday. But I'll stop there. You can ask me what you want now.
Speaker 4:Biggest question I got right now what's a raised? Why, when they're saying the wise what was raised, why so?
Speaker 3:Ray, um, ray was a tattoo artist, or Ray is a tattoo artist up in Manitoba in Canada and he had just recently found Christ. Uh, I don't know the whole story about that. Uh, I don't know the whole story about that, but, um, you know, when we sat down back at camp and changed our clothes and Chad's dad and some of the family uh, cornbread's family was there, they'd made breakfast for us and, um, you know, we all that's kind of when it all hit us, that you know, we all that's kind of when it all hit us. That not hit us. I mean, we all knew that Ray was. The reason that we were able to finish was by him continuing to take those steps. But you know, we all got to kind of say, give a short reflection.
Speaker 3:And Ray talked about that time that I, you know, I mentioned where we were in between resupply one and resupply two, walking down that fire road and and, and I was standing behind him and Jamie yelled out you're not quitting, you're not quitting.
Speaker 3:And he said in that moment he knew that he had to just give it up to the Lord that he had to, you know, say, hey, give me the strength to continue to go on and uh, and he did, uh, it was obvious and, um, you know it was man, it was so powerful and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Yesterday morning, you know we was fortunate enough where we rented the house and Kim came and picked me up and the kids, and you know we got to say our goodbyes to all the all my brothers. You know that we had just spent some blood, sweat and tears with and made it back to the house so, obviously exhausted, took a shower and laid down. I think I slept for seven hours, you know, on on Sunday and was able to have have dinner with my cousin and her husband that live in Atlanta. They came up and met us and had dinner, so it was nice to kind of get up and move around a little bit hurt.
Speaker 3:I was a little sore my feet hurt a little bit, um, but wasn't, wasn't terrible, and then went back and went to bed. And then, um, yesterday morning, uh, woke up and again the house that we were were blessed to rent looked right at the mountain that I was on top of the night before, you know, in the dark, and so, uh, so I sat there and something told me that I needed to grab a pen and a paper and I needed to write down some things, and so this is going to be difficult for me, but this is what I wrote down yesterday at 6 am in the morning, I was sitting outside. It was a little foggy, and it's remember the purpose. It says I signed up, I trained hard, I told people what I signed up for, I did everything I thought needed to be done, I prayed, I I signed up for, I did everything I thought needed to be done. I prayed, I trusted in the Lord.
Speaker 3:But what was the purpose? The purpose was not about me. The purpose was for God to show me how selfish I am. The purpose was to be shown how, if a group of men can let go of all their me attitudes and come together as one unit with Christ, at the front of the line, which was Ray. Jesus was Ray. God showed a group of 18 men from all over the country what he could do in one man for our ROP Team 12. I thought I could do it, but could I have done it without Ray? Could I have done it without seeing his pain, his struggle? When I didn't believe he could do it, I didn't believe, I didn't believe. I didn't believe, I didn't believe. Ray made me believe Because I saw Jesus in Ray. I am selfish that's all I kept hearing. In my mind the day after was how selfish I was and I I think that's human nature. Right, we're all selfish people. Uh, whether you believe it or not, you are. You know, when I, when I signed up for this thing, I did it because, you know, I thought maybe I'd be an inspiration to others to show, show them that, uh, you know, if a 46 year old father of five business owner can do this, that you can. Anybody can do it and they can. But it was. It was so much more about me. It was so much about me being fulfilled by hearing other people tell me how awesome it was, how crazy it was. Why would you do that? You know the encouraging texts and phone calls I got last week and the day before. You know the videos that I received from, from you, your family, you know all, all you know my, some of my best friends, that made me feel good. Right, but it was about me and this life ain't about me. Right, but it was about me and this life ain't about me. And so, you know, when I back up to where I was, I was standing behind Ray. Before we got to that, um, that, that resupply, number two, and, uh, I said something to Ray about hey, when's the last time you've eaten and drank? And he turned around, you know cause? He heard that, that different voice. And I said to Ray about, hey, when's the last time you've eaten and drank? And he turned around, you know, because he heard that different voice. And I said, you know, he looked me in the eyes as he struggled to walk. I'm telling you right now that was Jesus. I mean, he didn't hit me at that time, but boy, does it hit me now. It hit me yesterday.
Speaker 3:How, how you can do anything if you have the faith to do it. You just have to let go. And so I encourage any of you out there who haven't taken that step. You know you're holding back from doing something, for whatever reason. You're sitting on the couch, you know you. You thought about doing a 5k, you thought about just even getting up and going for a walk. Just do it. Right, if I can go for 24 hours on my feet moving, not stopping, you guys can do anything. I mean, the human mind is such a powerful thing, but you got to use it and so that's, um, you know, that's what I learned.
Speaker 3:I learned that I'm a selfish man and, uh, I'm very selfish and I'm I'm going to do my very best to not be selfish and and try to continue to see the good in people, to continue to encourage people, but not for myself, you know, for Jesus because, uh, you know, without him being in Ray, um, you know, if Ray would have quit, I mean, who knows what would happen?
Speaker 3:Who knows what?
Speaker 3:The snowball of events of of other guys quitting, who knows if I could have made it? I can tell you right now, there's no way I could have done this on my own. Like there is a zero chance. I could go out in the woods, follow that same path for 24 hours by myself. No chance at all.
Speaker 3:No chance, but the power of a team is what got us all through it. The power of a team is what got us all through it and, more importantly, the power of Ray. He's a special man and here's someone who's a tattoo artist that you would look at and never in a million years think he would. If you're judging someone which I did because I'm selfish you would never think that he could get through that, and here he's the reason I got through it, so I'm so. You would never think that he could get through that, and here he's the reason I got through it. So I'm I'm so grateful for Ray. I'm so grateful for, for, um, you know those, those 19 men that I got to do that with. Uh, it was very powerful for me and I hope maybe somebody gained something from from me me telling my journey.
Speaker 4:So a couple of things to bounce off. That first one before you dove into that. The only thing I kept thinking the whole entire story is is I was wondering when you talked to at the beginning about kind of judging and you know Ray, when I think about that you guys put them up front and he was, you would imagine, would he be the weakest link? Is that what you would think when you started? Oh yeah, a hundred percent, that's what I thought. So, and he was the one that if you didn't have Ray and maybe you're going shorter distance or maybe you had your watch and everything and you know you can hike those miles Would you have gone a faster time? Like, do you feel like he paced you guys? Right when you say that you could? And the only thing I keep going back to is, um, he was probably your strongest link in the whole mission.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent, a hundred percent.
Speaker 4:So, a you would look at him as like a weaker link. B he probably could have slowed you down. See, he taught you the most. Oh yeah, and he was the strongest link.
Speaker 4:Absolutely and that's just amazing to me. I will say I probably should have started with this, but Dan texted me and told me you know very little about the trip to begin with, but I wasn't going to read it because I wanted this to be very raw. And when you tell me the story, just you know my first thoughts, my first impressions I wanted to be able to share on the podcast. But the one thing that I kept praying about when you went on your trip, and what I texted you too, is I know you'll do great and you'll finish, but praying God talks to you out there, that he breaks through the walls. I'm sure once you finish you'll feel invincible. Remember to stay in the moment out there. Enjoy it. It's what you train for.
Speaker 4:So many times you worry about the end goal and not enough about the process, which is where the memories come from. Enjoy every second of it the views, the pains, the conversations. What a blessing this is. Have a blast. We are proud of you. Can't wait to hear the stories Come back. And it feels like jesus. You know he did that out there. You know you. You enjoyed the process. Yeah, it doesn't seem like you're worried about the end or when it was going to come. You just enjoyed it and I'm so thankful for that. I do want to dive into some of these.
Speaker 3:We had go ahead so I mean, I'm thankful for you, I'm thankful for you know, everybody that reached out. I, you know, I went back to the Y this morning and my buddy Murph, you know, was there. And, man, as soon as I saw him, you know, I just like got emotional again. I'm like good Lord Dan, what is going on? Like I'm like a baby. I mean, I spent two hours yesterday morning with Kim, you know just, I just couldn't control it.
Speaker 3:I've never, ever, ever felt like that, um, and, and you know, I didn't even get into some of these guys stories that, uh, that they shared with me, you know, as, as we were, as we were walking, I mean there's again, what do we do the podcast? Everybody's got a story right. Again, when we do the podcast, everybody's got a story right. And, uh, I mean, there was just some stories that were just, I mean I'm blown away. That I'll never forget, um. And yeah, I don't know, man, I I've never, I've never felt like this before, um, and again, my, my, yeah, I'm sore, I got blisters, um, but it's that never, uh, that never came to my mind, especially when it got dark, because all my focus was on Ray. You know, my focus was on, man, if Ray keeps taking that step. You know, there's blisters, I can feel them, but it don't, they're not, they don't hurt. You know I'll, I'll heal and recover from that. You know we we're going to finish together as a team and um yeah, and we're in the selfish part.
Speaker 4:I mean we're all selfish, we know that. And then it talks about in the Bible, about you know we're all sinners and and you know how I felt the other day with Tim during that podcast it took me a while to try to shake that and I got very emotional about that. So you know, I get it, I absolutely get it, and I feel like when we get emotional and when you go through stuff like this, it's the Holy Spirit speaking in you. I mean, that's honestly what I feel.
Speaker 3:But some of the questions I had for you what was the hardest moment of the 24 hours, whether it was physically, mentally, emotionally, what was the? What was the hardest so early on for me was really hard. Um, I don't remember where we were at, it was still it was. It was hot, um, it was during the day and, um, my mind had started to wander, my legs were hurting, you know.
Speaker 3:It got to the point to where and I think probably everybody has been there where, whether you're working out or you're doing something, and you get to that point where you're just like, okay, that's enough, I'm done. Um, there there was a point that and again, it was early on, it may have even been before the first resupply where I was like, okay, like my mind was wandering, I was racing, I was just, you know, questioning everything and um, but I just kept, you know, I I think at that time I'd never had honey, pure honey before, and so I had a honey packet in my, in my bag, and I took that out and and took it and uh, man, it was like within 30 seconds, my whole mental, everything changed.
Speaker 3:Just that shot of sugar, uh, you know, really kind of woke me up. So that was a sign for me, that, um, you know, hey, it is very important to make sure that you continue to eat throughout this thing, because you're burning so many calories so fast that you need that fuel so early on for me was probably harder than later physically, but the mental was challenging throughout the whole thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, was there a point where you ever truly thought about quitting? Knowing you, I don't know if there would be a point where you really thought about quitting. I understand the thinking about why, like why am I doing this? Like I get that point where you talk about that, but was there ever a point when you thought like man, maybe I should just stop?
Speaker 3:No, I don't ever quitting. Never really crossed my mind Again seeing Ray up there struggle to walk Um, you know, that was just like when I noticed it for the first time. That was like if he makes it, there's, there's no chance I'm quitting. So I really tried to not think about quitting Um, and there was not really a point where I I thought, yeah, I'm, I'm done.
Speaker 4:I figured you didn't know what's something that surprised you the most during the experience the mental challenge you know and probably a different mental challenge than you thought it would be Right. I mean when you think mental challenge about a 24 hour walk, I would think the quitting part, but it's not that.
Speaker 3:No, no it was just the mental of it's hot. I mean it was 90, I don't know 95 degrees, 90 degrees, 70% humidity. It was hot.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Um, it was challenging. So anything you can think of complaining about you could complain about. I mean, it hurt, drenched sweat again. Bugs, thistles, thorns, briar patches, gravel you know somebody yelling at you to stay in line. I didn't even talk about when, if somebody had to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, let's hear this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if somebody had to go to the bathroom, so if you had to pee, only one team could stop to pee and you stopped as a team. The other team had to keep moving, so there had to be one team moving at all times. And so, you know, team one got a piece, so we, we turned to the right and pee, and team two would take off, and then we'd have to get back into formation. We'd have, we'd each have, we gave ourselves numbers, so we were always in the same line and the same order. So I was number five and team number one. So, you know, ray, ray would say hey, uh one, and then two, three, all the way back down to number nine.
Speaker 3:Once we got everybody, then we took off and then we would yell up ahead hey, team one is on the move. And uh, that way team two could stop and pee and we could catch back up. So we did learn as we went how to work that you know to where. Um, you know, if one guy had to pee, we all went ahead and peed. And you may think dehydration and all that stuff. We were drinking so much that we had to pee, which was a good thing. Um, now, if you had to go number two uh, which only a couple of guys did and I am grateful I was not one of those guys.
Speaker 4:I was curious.
Speaker 3:I was going to ask y'all fair, there was a lot of gas and, matt, if you're listening to this, you know what I mean, cause I was behind you the whole time Um, but if you had to go number two, you went into the woods again. Your team would stop and you went into the woods and then you had to pack out your wiping materials. You couldn't leave that. So we all had Ziploc bags in case that happened, and so, luckily, I did not have to partake in that, um, but a couple of guys did. So, uh, yeah, it was, uh, but still that other team had to keep moving or somebody has got to go number two.
Speaker 3:That takes a little bit of time, right? So then you had to catch up. You had to, you know, pick up the pace and, uh, you know, we got Ray Ray, you know, and he, but he man, he persevered, he pushed through, he was, he was the rock, um, you know to, to get us caught back up. And, and Chad wasn't easy on him, you know, there was a lot of times where he was, he was, you know, he was pushing and he wasn't, he wasn't trying to get anybody to quit, but, um, it was definitely not encouraging words that you would expect to hear from your youth basketball coach.
Speaker 4:Right. So when, when you said you were carrying Ray Ray's pack and you guys would try to stay up close to him, did you guys switch numbers then?
Speaker 3:Well, we would switch. We would switch numbers, but we weren't stopping to pee or anything. So as long as we were in that line, we were good Um so otherwise we would still stay in our regular formation.
Speaker 3:But at that time, you know, like when I went up to number two, um, you know we would still, if we would have had to have stopped, we still would have set our regular numbers even if we weren't in that rank. So, um, you, you learn real quick, uh, about how important it was as a team, because, again, you think about, you know that seems so inconsequential where you're, you're numbered and you're in lines. But as you go throughout the day and you get into the night, it's so important that you've got that man in front of you that you've been looking at his heels, you know, for for 13 hours or whatever it is, that you've got that regiment, you know, and that's all military stuff that I'm not familiar with. So that was. You know what they're. What they're trying to do is to get you to if, if Chad or Chili or somebody's yelling at you, I want you to be like, give me a break. You know they want to. They want to put plant that seed in there of of dissension, uh, you know, of doubt, to where you maybe start talking bad about. You know one of them, to one of your buddies. Well, what's that do, that's a cancer, right?
Speaker 3:And uh, you know, man, our team was so strong where it was just positive, like, hey guys, embrace that yelling, you know, embrace it, that wakes us up, you know. And there was, you know, luckily for us, there was probably only two or three times where we really got ripped and, um, I think the last time was a was a pee break and, uh, team two. It was when we were off course and and team two stopped to pee. We made, uh, we kept going around the bend and we thought they were moving. Well, they were getting yelled at because they hadn't got back into formation and casey, or what the team lead didn't call out the numbers and make sure you had to count for every single guy every single time, like there was no man left behind.
Speaker 3:We thought they were walking and they weren't. Well, here ch Chad sees a stop to pee and, oh man, I mean, it was a ripping. It was one of those where you were, like you know, because he said boys, I can make your life a living hell. And uh, that was not something we wanted, because I felt like we were already there yeah, so.
Speaker 4:So this isn't all my thing, but how, how did you guys pick the leaders? Because obviously it wasn't you guys didn't know each other, you. But how? How did you guys pick the leaders? Because obviously it wasn't. You guys didn't know each other, you didn't. Um, I'd imagine you guys probably didn't have a speech together about how you're going to try to you know a speech to become a leader. How did those leaders come forward? How'd you guys decide on those?
Speaker 3:So after Chad left the night before, we divided up into our teams, you know um, just kind of randomly, and again we didn't have all the guys there yet, but um, uh, so we divided up in our teams, we kind of went one direction, you know, team one went one direction, team two went another. We talked amongst ourselves and then we kind of came back together and uh said, all right, who who wants to be the team lead for each group. And I don't remember exactly, it wasn't like Ray jumped out. I think somebody may have have recommended him and recommended Casey and again two guys that you would. If you were judging which I was, you wouldn't expect that they would be your, your leaders. But it couldn't have have been more right.
Speaker 4:Well, that's what I'm trying to picture in my mind, because you said Casey struggled as well. Quite a bit right, oh yeah yeah. So it seemed like two guys that struggled, probably maybe the most. I don't know if I can say it, I mean, I wasn't there, obviously, but I wonder if they were in the back of the pack and you guys didn't see that struggle.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it could have went very bad.
Speaker 4:Exactly, and you guys didn't see that struggle. Yeah, you know, you know it could have went very bad Exactly, cause it didn't seem like Ray was complaining about it. You guys saw it more than he said it.
Speaker 3:I didn't hear Ray complain once.
Speaker 4:Right, so you think about that. What if he was in the back of the pack?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it would have been bad because.
Speaker 4:Why aren't?
Speaker 3:you moving. You know what I mean. Were in the back you know kind of falling pretty far behind and you know they would have seen it right.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:We wouldn't have. You know, my focus is on Matt's heels, so that's all. I'm looking at is his heels just taking that step taking that step taking that step. So yeah, I thought about that on the ride home yesterday. I thought, man, if Ray and Casey would have been in the back, that could have been.
Speaker 4:And in the back that that could have been, and your, your team in particular, I mean for what it? Meant to you. Yeah, seeing him struggle if he was in the back and we.
Speaker 3:It's just the way that little things like that some people call a coincidence, some people, yeah, I think when I think you know, chad probably recognized um, maybe that and maybe it was to put him up there to get him to quit you know or to try to try to push him a little more. Whatever the reasoning is, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4:Or break your team.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah and, um, you know, because again there were times when I thought, man, we should be moving faster. I know Alan from Miami. He's done a couple of ultra marathons, big guy mountain of a man.
Speaker 3:Um, you know he talked about in the reflection time how at the beginning he was like man, this is a slow pace, like we need to we need to pick it up, we need to go faster, get something out of this and and then I think it probably all clicked for all of us. Uh, about the time it clicked for me when we were coming into that resupply number two and uh, you know, just seeing ray ray's struggle, uh, to where it was like, okay, this ain't about how many miles we do, this is about making sure that Ray finishes.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you were totally disconnected no phone, no watch, no clue where you were or what time it was. How was that like for you? Was that a mental challenge as well, or did it feel good to be disconnected and not have any other worries except just a mission?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that didn't bother me. You know it'd been nice to track my steps.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it would have been nice to do that, but it wasn't a challenge. It wasn't a challenge for me and in fact I I think I got like 68 text messages and so if I haven't gotten back to you, I will um, coming back to the real world today, um so um no that wasn't't. I thought maybe that'd be tough, but it it wasn't. We had such great leaders and men in our team that we had distractions to not think about probably felt good being disconnected.
Speaker 3:It did it really did. In fact, yesterday, you know, driving home, I I mean you see my, my notes here, I spent, you know, three hours just essentially most of the stuff that I just talked about just writing down, because Kim said, you know, my wife said you need to, you need to get this on paper. So you remember this feeling, you remember the struggle, um, because she could tell how much that it had had impacted me, which is awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, awesome. So talk about the leadership of Chad right, what his presence bring to the challenge.
Speaker 3:Uh, it was, it was a little surreal, um, you know, when you, when you follow somebody on social media, watch videos, watch documentaries on them, and you know their story, you know, you feel like you know them Right, and um. So when they pulled up that first time, it was almost like, wow, there's Chad, you know, and um, but he was just as down to earth as you and I are. You know, he was, uh, he was intimidating, uh, I mean, he's not, he's not thick and big, but he's tall and he's a burly looking guy. I mean you look him up, uh, look up the three of seven project, look up chad, right, um, again, he's, he's got a huge uh challenge coming up here, going down the yukon river a thousand miles and, um, it was a surreal thing. But man, there's just just a down-to-earth guy. You know he likes hunting, he likes fishing, he's a runner, he's, you know, he's driving old Dodge pickup trucks, you know. I mean he's just, uh, just normal, just like we are.
Speaker 3:Was he a drill sergeant type the whole entire time, or was there times that no, no there were times where he was just like you and I having a conversation and that was, you know, that was probably the most refreshing thing was um, was that to have Chad and chili and cornbread? You know, as we're trekking, you know those guys would just be random spots throughout our group just having conversations, asking questions, you know whatever. And it was a good conversation and that was, yeah, that was very refreshing.
Speaker 4:So, looking back to where you started, at nearly 300 pounds, could you ever imagine doing something like this?
Speaker 3:Absolutely not yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no way.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I was that person that may be listening. Where you know you, you look at where you want to be, but you don't know how to get there. Where you want to be, but you don't know how to get there. And, uh, you know, hopefully, what our ROP team 12 did maybe can inspire someone just to get off the couch and go for a walk and and just remember, all you got to do is take that step. You don't have to go do 40 plus miles, you don't have to go do something for 24 hours. Just get up and go for a 20 minute walk because, um, when you do, your mind will be opened, your body, your blood will be flowing and it'll help you. And then you can just slowly increase and you have to have patience and you have to recognize that it takes time. You know I didn't go from almost 300 pounds and in the fall of 2022 to where I'm at today, um, quickly. You know it took time and, uh, when I finally recognized that that once you start stacking those little wins over and over and over and over, that compounds that you'll, you'll get to where you want to be. And, um, you just got to start by taking that step and, uh, that first step is the hardest part and, and you know, for me, probably the hardest part throughout this whole thing was that night before. I mean, if I, if I'm honest with myself, I was struggling so bad mentally because of the doubt and the anxiety and the unknown of what's going to come.
Speaker 3:Uh, you know, last week's podcast, we talked about it. I was very nervous, right, and I talked about that and and that's okay, right, but I hope, as, as you know, whatever the next thing I do, um, down the road, I hope that I recognize that you can't focus on the things you can't control, right, I wasn't going to control that course. I wasn't going to control, you know, all those things that were 100% out of my control, but I was trying. And that's where faith comes in, and you know my faith journey is growing, and you know my faith journey is growing.
Speaker 3:This rite of passage for me was a big step in the right direction of getting closer to Jesus and learning more about faith and what it can do for people, and so, but I know I'm not done, you know. I know that there's going to be something else that I'm going to do, that I'm going to continue to push myself and continue to surround myself with with like-minded people who want to get better. And, uh, that doesn't mean that you aren't 300 pounds, that doesn't mean that you're the most physically fit person in the world. It means that you have the mindset to where you want to get better every single day, just a little bit. And I think, if, if everybody can take that mentality every day and just do something to make yourself better, even if it's just as simple as reading a book, um, you know this, this world would be a better place, which is what I want.
Speaker 4:So I don't know if you'd be able to answer this one, but how does this reshape how you view challenges ahead?
Speaker 3:Well, I can tell you this it really makes me think I can do anything. I don't know what that means as far as what, what the next challenge is, but I know I'm going to start looking. I know I'm going to start looking. Uh, my, my goal is every year is to push myself to have that feeling that I had Friday night before the event, um, of that anxiety, of that doubt, of trying to overcome those fears, because that's where growth happens.
Speaker 3:You know, growth doesn't happen watching Netflix. You know growth. Growth doesn't happen eating a cheeseburger. You know growth happens through struggle, it happens through pain, it happens through difficulty. That's where we get stronger, we get better, that's where we learn things. You know, I've never learned anything by um, learned anything by um. You know, being ultra successful, uh, I, I learned so much throughout this struggle about me and about how selfish I am, and and you know that's what they they talked about Take one thing from this. Don't try to take 10 things. Take one thing from this, and that's the thing that I've taken away is how selfish I am and how I'm going to do my best to not be that selfish person.
Speaker 4:What would you say to someone stuck in their own battle right now, just take a step.
Speaker 3:You got to take a step. You know you, um, you can sit around and you can worry about it. You can think about it, you can talk about it, complain about it. But if you don't, you can talk about it, complain about it. But if you don't take that step and get out of whatever situation that you're in I mean, your home can be a trap. Your mind can be a trap. It can be a very powerful thing, but it can also be a very dangerous thing. So if you're stuck in something, you have to take the step. You have to take a step outside of whatever it is that you are stuck in. Do something different. Push yourself, challenge yourself. Sign up for a 5K, go walk in the woods, Go do something that will get you out of that rut that you're in. If you don't, you're going to go crazy and you're never going to get out of it. You have to push yourself.
Speaker 4:And that rut gets deeper and deeper.
Speaker 3:It does.
Speaker 4:And the big thing is, like you've said it before, keep it small. Yeah, and one thing that I always struggled with was don't say when I wake up tomorrow I'm going to do it, and then, all of a sudden, what happens the next day? You know what? When I wake up tomorrow, tomorrow is when it starts tomorrow. No, like start now and they continue and build on it tomorrow. Is there anything else you want to add that you can think of?
Speaker 3:No, I, you know, I'm grateful for anybody who's made it this far. Uh, listening, we're we're going pretty long here and I apologize for that, but, uh, this was very powerful for me. Um, you know, I hope, I hope some of my brothers that, um, you know, are part of ROP team 12, get to listen to this and can reflect on, maybe, what it meant for me and maybe similar to them, uh, you know, they're, they're amazing men, um, leaders, I know, in their communities and their work and all that they do. Uh, no doubt, and I am, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to, um, to sweat with them, to struggle with them, to, uh, you know, to face all those difficulties. So, um, you know, I love those guys and you know it'll be. I'm excited to, to maybe get to train with, with some of them again. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 4:I uh Galatians. That's my favorite verse in Galatians is you know, share each other's burdens. If you think you're too important, well, guess what? You're not. I just it seems like that's your trip. Man, like you, share each other's burdens. You got through it together, and now there's two rock teams that got through it. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And you're one of them. That's right, so that's amazing. So, dan, with this story, what you did out there in Georgia wasn't just a physical feat. It was a defining moment discipline, suffering and transformation. It reminded us all that growth doesn't happen in comfort. It happens in the fire. I want to leave our listeners with two quotes captured the spirit of this episode. Every transformation begins with a choice to start. What feels impossible at the beginning becomes unshakable strength in the end. Discipline carries you through the fire and the fire changes you. And then, from former Navy SEAL and ultra endurance athlete, david Goggins and one of my favorite quotes, the only way we can change is to be real with ourselves. If you lie to yourself, how can you grow? You have to be willing to suffer to find the real you. And until next time, guys like share, share and go out and be tempered hi, my name is ali schmidt.
Speaker 1:This is my dad, dan he owns catron's glass thanks, ali.
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