The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
We explore thriving as an athlete after 40. Each episode, we’ll dive into tips, hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes and our personal experience. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated
The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
Travel To Compete: Community, Grit, And Growth After 40
We drive home from a strongman meet and dig into why traveling to compete after 40 sharpens focus, grows community, and raises your game. Real stories of grit, the difference culture makes, and how to handle costs, logistics, and recovery without losing the joy.
• why travel builds sharper focus and intent
• meeting new athletes who push different gears
• lessons from a truck pull and teen tenacity
• sharing technique across strength sports
• culture, charity, and choosing the right meet
• costs, packing lists, and recovery on the road
• training deadlines that drive consistency
• sportsmanship over showboating
• building partnerships and long-term community
If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post it on your social media, or leave a review
To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters to Athlete Survival Guide
Now get off our lawn, you damn kids
@masters_athlete_survival_guide on IG
New episodes come out every other Thursday!
Welcome to the Master's Athlete Survival Guide, where we explore the secrets to thriving in sports after 40. I'm John Catalinus, and along with Scott Feich, we'll dive into training tips, nutrition hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes who defy age. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated. Let's get started. Bump dump did a bump, and we're back. Sorry for the analog version of the sad 70s game show thing that we do, but we are in Aurora Studios mobile lab currently in Gibson, Pennsylvania, rolling down the what is this?
SPEAKER_01:Highway 81.
SPEAKER_00:Highway 81. Uh, after we did a competition. Hi folks, I'm Scott. Oh, I forgot to introduce Scott. Oh, by the way, I'm John, and that's I'm still Scott. I'm still Scott. Don't we do that at the end? No, we do that both. No, this is not going well. This mobile thing is throwing me. Uh, it's currently leaf peeping season. I'm looking and I'm seeing, I don't know. I think we're about a week post-peak, right? We're a little late, I think. Just a little late. There's a giant tractor trailer next to us that I'm sure the guy is not watching porn. Uh, let's see. Hi, truck driver. Do you look like you are watching porn? No. Nope. He's just a mouthbreeder. Um, so Scott. Yes, Jonas. We are in the mobile lab because we are coming back from the strength harvest uh strongman competition in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, we are. Shout out to Candace. Definite shout out to Candace. She ran a phenomenal competition today. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
SPEAKER_00:It was great. And this this, in the middle of all my awesomeness of lifting heavy things, I was thinking and in talking to some of the athletes we just met, um, I think there's a lot of positives with traveling for competition. Okay. What are your thoughts on that? That that's where my mind went is talk to me about what you think about traveling for competition. And I mean more than like an hour down the road. I mean, we're not talking down to Rochester here. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:In my mind, when you tend to compete in the area where your gym is or where your facilities are, or even around your home, you're always competing with the same people. You tend to get stale. You know, you know where they're gonna push you, you're gonna push them. Doing these trips, you know, whether it's on a mountaintop, which for us was about five hours, or heading out to Columbus or you know, North Carolina, or like we went to Denver a couple of years ago. Those types of trips where it's a road trip or it's a flight and hotels are involved. One of the things I truly love about it is you meet some new people and they're gonna bring something different out in you, regardless of what the competition is. I mean, we met some phenomenal people today. One of the events today was a truck pull. And the female athletes had the option, there was a Ford escort, which is a little car, and they could pull that, or if they wanted to challenge themselves, they could pull a jacked up four-wheel drive dually Ford truck. It was heavy, it did add some heft to it. There was this one young lady. I'm sorry, I do not remember her name. She was pulling on this thing, and the crowd was going bananas, just rooting for her. She was pulling, pulling, pulling. It took her 45 seconds to get this thing started. But once she got it started, oh my god, it flew. She finished the whole course. Yeah, it was truly, you know, inspirational. Um, I think it's the tenacity of what she did. That's one of those PhD words, by the way.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's right. Not a doctor.
SPEAKER_01:Not a doctor. I am a doctor. Uh, but it was that was the part that meeting those people, you know what's around you for the most part. You get a you know, an outlier. But meeting people like her, meeting people like the two guys that we talked to, and we were like coaching with them all day, that's one of the the highlights I think of traveling. There are others, but what do you think, John?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know, I I guess I didn't even realize about the people because it is like it's weird because it's a new tribe, but it's still the tribe, right? Like it's still people getting after it in a parking lot for no good reason other than to test themselves and and hang out with people, right? So I mean it's it's the same subset of humanity, it's definitely people that are not on the couch eating Cheetos. Not a sponsor, set that up very well, I think. You did. I thank you. Um, the other thing I like is to hear the stories. Yes. Like, so it's all yeah, you know, I mean, in your little group, at some point you've heard the stories, and I'm not bringing up any of mine, none of my stories need to be on this podcast, whatever. But, you know, just talking to people and their fitness journey, their path. Um, it sounds very trite, but the reality is, you know, some of these people like, well, you know, I was a hundred pounds overweight, I lost the weight, I wanted to see where I am. Um busted my elbow three months ago. Right. Or just the fact like Candace's gym is truly like it's approaching cult status. I I think she like I think it goes Scientology and then achieve fitness. Like, I think that's how Achieve Fitness and Wellness. Oh, achieve fitness and well. I'm not that well, so I ignored that part. But you know, she has such a tight-knit group of athletes. Uh, it it was cool to kind of be invited to something where you know they're a little bit of a bubble, and uh, we got to share the day with them.
SPEAKER_01:But that bubble, you know, you say it was a bubble, John. Yeah, and I wouldn't disagree with you, but that bubble let anybody in. Oh, if you were there and you were doing your thing and you were cheering, the spectators were there that were doing it, you know. The the volunteers, she had that the woman, and I and I really I don't remember her name.
SPEAKER_00:We really should have got some names for that. We should have, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry, she told us that she was 49 years old, and she was we were doing the log demonstration afterward to help some of the the athletes. And she said, I'm not a strong woman, I do CrossFit and Olympic lifting. That's my jam, that's where I do coaching. So we're working with her and we're showing her, you know, well, this is your jam, then, because this is where Olympic lifting fits in.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And just the the people talking and sharing, and okay, well, what if I tried this? The difference with what they're trying to do there was phenomenal.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I, you know, I'm glad you brought that up because that was I guess that was a good opportunity that I had would I would not have spoken of having not brought up is the whole like we shared our knowledge with people who either never thought of it that way, didn't know. I mean, we're we're both pretty anal when it comes to training, and you know, you know me, I research everything. No, no, no, no. I re I I okay I prefer the term particular. Okay, okay. He's highly OC particular. Uh does that work? Is that a thing? I'll take that. I'll take that. OCP? OCP. Yeah, yeah, you know me. Um go there. That was an old, like that was many hip-hop roots. Go. Perfect. Love it, go. All right. Um, but it was it was cool to share what we knew with some of the younger athletes, like the teen athlete. Oh, who Antone?
SPEAKER_01:I think his name was Antone.
SPEAKER_00:His father was there competing as well in our group. Yeah, I mean, he he's still of an age where like he's like a baby deer, like he wants his arms and legs to do things.
SPEAKER_01:A strong baby deer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're not ready to do it. So, I mean, he was yeah, he was still a little bit of that awkward teen kind of thing. It was an early teen, too. It was like 13, 14. Yeah, he wasn't, but here I mean, he was strong. He was certainly strong enough to be doing, but I think the best part, the most inspirational part of that kid is again, let's let's use the word tenacity. Yep, he also wouldn't stop, and he wasn't competing with any other teens. It was like old men, old men in him. So I I you know, I think part of the traveling where it was to collect stories like that.
SPEAKER_01:He got the full truck pull. That's very full truck pull, and I mean, there was not a person there that was not screaming at him to keep on going.
SPEAKER_00:And the reality was is that for his for his class, he was supposed to pull the smaller vehicle.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you know, he said, screw that, fuck it, give me the big one.
SPEAKER_00:Nope. Nope. Just in case you're counting that as the fur F first F bomb from Scott, by the way. So this episode will cost another dollar to publish. But we haven't done pickleball yet, so we're good. Oh, we just didn't know. Okay, so Cheetos, pickleball, and an F bomb. We're good. All right. We've checked. Thank you, folks, for the uh we are done with the Masters. Nine minutes in, and we're we've we've checked all the boxes. You know, the other thing I like, and this wasn't really the case because I it was a lot of an event for me. It was difficult for me. It was not difficult for Scott. But when when they are difficult, when you're traveling for something that is truly a test of your sport, whatever it may be, the the traveling a distance has always held me with focus. I think you, you know, you're on the plane or in the long cart ride and you're thinking about the event. You know, you get to the hotel, you get situated in, you check all your stuff. Like I got my whatever equipment I need all laid out already. Your dentures? Yeah, yeah. All right, thank you, Candace. Yeah, so I wear a mouth guard because I cracked a tooth in the gym. Uh, one of those 60S mouth guards. And uh today, Candace decided to brand it. Put your dentures in, Grandpa, before you left. So that's what that will be going forward.
SPEAKER_01:That was great.
SPEAKER_00:But I I think the focus because you know what? You don't have to worry about the load of laundry in the basement or walking the dog or should I get groceries, right?
SPEAKER_01:Just the day to day it's gone for 24, 48 hours.
SPEAKER_00:Right. I I agree. I mean, I I took, you know, I took time off from work so we could travel. So that's nice because I mean, if it was a an you know, quote unquote home event, I would have worked that full day, woke up in the morning to compete. So there I think focus is sort of built into traveling for competition. Um which I uh I don't know if any either of us have said it explicitly, but travel for an event. Like, I don't know what your sport is. Go somewhere far ish away to do it.
SPEAKER_01:It's a culture thing too, John. I mean, you know, yes, in your sport, and again, whatever your sport is, it doesn't matter. You know there's a culture, you you know what your tribe is like, and we've spent a lot of time on in our podcast talking about the the feeling, the the sort of community, the tribe that really gets you there. We need a thesaurus, a thesaurus.
SPEAKER_00:I always I had to think about it before I said it. Thesaurus, but we we need other we need other words besides tribe, but the tribe is completely correct.
SPEAKER_01:Cultural community of support.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Just came up with that one. No kidding, just came up with that.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, I'm impressed.
SPEAKER_01:But again, what whatever you call that group that supports you, you you know them. You go somewhere else, and you know you're gonna see that sort of mentality there a little bit, but to see how they bring it together. And one of the things that you know Candace told us last night when we talked to her, because we we got in early, we brought some equipment down to help out. Um, we had to weigh in and whatnot. And she said, you know, we got a basket raffle, she always does basket raffles and stuff like that to help um the think pink for breast cancer. Well, she had a woman compete today who is uh a breast cancer survivor. The woman just absolutely kicked butt. She came in second in a group, couldn't be prouder of that person, don't even know or couldn't be prouder of her. Well, at the end of everything today, you know, all the money that was raised, all the everything that was raised was supposed to go to think pink. Candace turned around and gave everything to this woman. Yeah, that was cool. That's what this is. That's what sports are at our point anymore. Yeah, you do stuff because yes, it makes you feel good. Yes, you know, you want to compete, you want to push yourself, whatever it is. But that putting a smile on someone else's face because they've been through hell. You know, so I mean it it that's the try, at least in my mind, that's the biggest part of it that I love.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean it in this digital age, think about how we've like created sort of our extended family by traveling, right? Yeah, like I have people that you know we see a couple times a year, but you know, I see them electronically almost every day. Uh Tony King comes to mind from uh the grip side of things. I I love Tony, I cyber stalk you, Tony. Um, because I wish you were my neighbor and we could hang out and have a bonfire in the hills of Kentucky. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wow, you play the banjo so well while you're driving. I know. Excellent. Um, you know, the other thing about traveling is it it it's hard, it's hard to put my finger on it, but it's like the whole atmosphere is different. Like, I mean, I know it sounds dumb, but you know. We expect it from you. Phoenix is not Buffalo, right? Denver is not Buffalo, Mountaintop, Pennsylvania is not Buffalo. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I know, it's what I do, it's what I bring to today's recording. But it it just shows that you know you're in a whole different environment, which I think is is helps you as an athlete again, regardless of the sport. You know the other thing about traveling? What's that, John? You tend not to travel on a whim, you tend to travel to events that you signed up for in advance. You know, I I I applaud, I like recommend traveling to places that you've signed up for in advance because uh and we were talking about it before the podcast. It it drives your training if you have a deadline for lack of it. I know where you're going, right?
unknown:Welcome to New York.
SPEAKER_00:Welcome to New York. We're in New York. Yep, the Aurora Studios mobile lab has just crossed the border. Cross the border into New York. We're we're uh closer to Aurora Studios.
SPEAKER_01:I think I can see it from here. Yeah, can you? Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00:It's still a beautiful fall day. But um, no, that, and we've talked about that before, right? Like signing up for something. Golf tournament, taekwondo tournament. Well, the softball guy that we talked to. The softball guy we talked to today. Again, we suck with names. If we've learned anything from today, it's like, hi, I'm John. What's your name? Right? Or Scott, because you shouldn't introduce yourself as John. It's a terrible idea. Oh, yeah, it is. Yeah, for everybody. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, that's it. Go to the cyber stalking comment that you made a moment ago. Sorry, don't you? The people that you know, okay, we're gonna compete against person X or person Y. And you see them on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, and they've done six repetitions, or they uh went this far in X number of seconds, whatever it is. And because of their presence, you almost develop a picture in your head of what you think they are, but then when you meet them, they're a different person. Yeah, that's true. And I think that's important, at least to me, because one of my uh many, many weaknesses is that uh what I see of you is kind of the picture I get right away and who you are, but then when you sit and talk to somebody, you know, you learn their story a little bit. I mean, we walked out of there today easily with what a half dozen new friends. Yeah, we had people coming up to us telling us that they're coming to the Love Lake Ben event next August. I mean, already just the tribe expands again. Thesaurus. The cultural community of support expands.
SPEAKER_00:Can I tell you that the one thing I dislike about what you just said? The cultural community of uh support? No, the fact that you said you're one of your many weaknesses. That's my line. Don't don't be stealing my thunder by being all self-deprecating. That's not fair.
SPEAKER_01:But like I at least announced them. For you, we have to point them out. Well, it's because they're so few and small.
unknown:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:And who had Johns will like shit 15 minutes in. Was that on the checklist as well? It is now. Nice playing uh Masters Athlete Survival Guide bingo. We should have a bingo card. We should do that. What the the softball guy?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, purse and gun bingo. I've never heard of that before. Purse and gun bingo. I love that. Those aren't two separate events, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:You don't shoot the person with the purse.
SPEAKER_00:It's not, yeah, it's not like you shoot the purse or anything like that. It's it's the Western New York equivalent of a meat raffle. Yeah. Uh it's just it. I don't know. It's a great concept. I love it. Um okay. So those are some of the great things. Are there are there cons? Are there bad things for traveling?
SPEAKER_01:I think the travel back, depending on your sport. Yeah. Like you and I both said it. We stopped not too long ago, grabbed something, filled up. Getting home and high pie, in case you're wondering. We'll get to the studio in about three hours, give or take a couple minutes. Yeah. When we get there, getting out of the truck to unload.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, folks, that's where the master comes into master's athlete. Right. Just the body stiffness. I think that that's a big thing on these type of days. You know, because well, we decided to do really a 24-hour turnaround. I mean, we're we left home yesterday at one o'clock. We're gonna be home tonight at what, seven o'clock ish? Somewhere in that point.
SPEAKER_00:Why is your why is your clock on the military time? Just makes it easier, so I have to think. If you're in the military, shut up. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So it's that, you know, and and the body gets beat up. But the advantage of the quote unquote home field events, home stadium, home whatever, is you don't you can be home within an hour in an ice bath or a hot tub, uh, enjoying your favorite um brown liquid.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. The Masters Athlete survival guide does not endorse drinking bourbon uh as a during the event.
SPEAKER_01:We don't endorse it. After we fully endorse it.
SPEAKER_00:Fully endorse it. Yeah, there you go.
SPEAKER_01:You know, if that, but now let's talk travel more than just driving. Like when I went out to Denver last year for nationals, okay, flew out a few days earlier to acclimate, didn't fly back until like later the day after the cop. So I was able to go back to the hotel, get a hot shower, you know, sort of unfreeze the muscles, so to speak. So I I guess there's a real difference in my mind between the driving day of back to I'm gonna stay there a couple of days, even if we had, you know, we had gotten another hotel room tonight. You you still get a little bit of a rest.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But it's not the same. No, yeah, I right, you're right. I I hadn't thought about that. But as I sit here and my back is tightening up, I'm like, oh yeah, he's he's right. That that's that's wise. You know, the other thing to consider is the the financial outlay. I mean, for this one it wasn't considerable, but like when we competed in the Shaw Classic, right? That's a flight and a rental car and a couple days a hotel and and some restaurants. And you know, I have you know, I have like liquid needs that you know we gotta go get certain liquids from the grocery store. Uh Gatorade. Gatorade. Yeah, you're talking about Gatorade, right? Oh yeah. It's that brown Gatorade they sell liquor stores. Caffeine. Oh, yeah. And there's caffeine, which is brown, but does not contain alcohol and it's not sold at liquor stores. Debri mixed it, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, you know, whatever. Um, but there is there is a fine, you know, there is a financial impact, so I can understand why you know that weighs into, you know, do I want to go do this competition in, I don't know, Iowa, right?
SPEAKER_01:But it goes back to what's your purpose?
SPEAKER_00:What is my purpose?
SPEAKER_01:The purpose of life. Oh man, I'm not going into crumb conversarian.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I thought I thought you were gonna go with Patty told me what my special purpose was, isn't that from the jerk? It might be.
SPEAKER_01:I think it might be. All right, anyway, sorry. No, one of the things we've always said about is you know, get yourself off the couch, put the Cheetos down, not sponsor, and figure out what do you want to do? Is it strongman? Because I mean, strongman is near and dear to mine and John's hearts. Is it pickleball? Is it bowling? Is it softball, volleyball, whatever your thing is? And then you have to decide to what level. You know, join a rec league in your area at the Y, or you know, there are pickleball clubs that are being put up. That's true. Towns are building, you know, indoor-outdoor facilities for them. That's true. Uh, you know, YMCA pools, the the YMCA in Lockport has this massive pool that you can buy a Y membership and go swimming. Whatever your thing is, that's where you need to decide. Okay, the first step, getting off the couch. The second step, how much do I want to get off the couch? How far do I need to get off the couch? Yeah, is this for me to feel better about me? Is it to lose a couple pounds? Is it to when I'm walking in the grocery store that the knees don't hurt quite as much because you know you got some grease in them because you're doing, you know, whatever your sport is. Could be competitive walking, I don't care. But do something. And then once you're doing it, is it I want it for camaraderie? I want it to just better myself, I want to see how far I can push myself, I want to beat others. My brother, who was a college all-American wrestler, you know, Timmy just started coming to the compound what six, eight months ago, something like that. And for him, he's a hell of an athlete, but it's he wants to push himself and he wants others to force him to be pushed. So it's that's his thing.
SPEAKER_00:To what level? I have an interesting semi-related aside, and that would be. So it is a widely known fact that there are many things that I can do in this world. Parallel parking not being one of them.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I want to get one of those cars at parallel parks for me.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, uh, dude. I would I I am all in for that. I cannot. I will circle any block for like if I lived in Manhattan, I think I would just have to abandon my car somewhere. Like, there you go, take my car because I can't park it ever. But so, love of my life. Karen sends me a thing for this national championship. I'm like, I appreciate her like supporting my athletic endeavors, and then I see she was not supporting you, she was making fun of you. You mocked. Mocked at my limitations, which are many. Oh, they are many, for sure. I don't I don't disagree. I I you know the the the traveling for sport, the the other con kinda is the you know, essentially you're gonna go compete on a on a deserted island. You have to bring all the supplies you need for the most part. You mean our lack of chairs today? Yeah, you gotta remember chairs. You gotta remember drinks. You gotta change. We brought chalk. We did bring chalk. We had chalk, we didn't have chairs. Um, you know, you gotta remember to bring warm enough clothes, cool enough clothes, belts, wraps, tapes, uh, you know. Atrex cassette. That was fun. Like, you know, if you're a golfer, do I have enough golf balls? If you play pickleball, it's like, do I, you know, do I need this? Do I need a hat? Do I need sunglasses? What do I need? Um for the most part, you can panic, and there's usually a Walmart next to you. But you know, for example, uh, I was talking to a guy today who really won who was new to the sport and really wanted to use a weight belt. He went to Dix. And Dix is our local sporting good chain. I don't know if they're national, international, what they are. But uh, you know, he walked in a sporting good store and they they don't have things like that anymore because they don't stock them because everybody gets stuff from Amazon. So he was a little upset. Well, there's one guy that was switching belts with one of the super hobbies. Right.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Now the other the other, I guess this is uh either a pro or a con, but the one guy only travels to events where his wife is interested in something in that area. Uh they recently traveled to somewhere that had a trainer Joe's that she likes to go to. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you mean um one one of the, I think it was the teen athlete that it was his family. His family. They also like to travel somewhere because he's into some collectible and they sell it at this really great store near the competition. So, you know, it's the sort of that balance with your partner is like, yeah, I'm going to compete, but let's make it sort of a mini vacation. Yeah. Long weekend type of thing. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I don't know if that's a pro or a con, but I think that could be well.
SPEAKER_01:I think it builds family love, which to me is an incentive. Is an incentive, yeah. 100%. A family love.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. Where where is the studio's mobile lab right now? We are heading towards Corning. Oh, Corning, New York, home of uh Glasswork. Glasswork. Yeah. How exciting is this? I like this mobile stuff. It was kind of fun. It is kind of fun. Um so competition. You got any other last thoughts? On the competition itself? Well, I'm tra I'm traveling for competition. Not no, nobody cares what we just did. I came in third place, by the way. I beat John. It's all that matters. He weighs 100 pounds more than me. It's not a full 100 pounds. It's 99.7 pounds.
SPEAKER_01:99.6. Yeah, okay. Fair enough. Um, traveling for competition. You know what? Is that a yay or a nay? Yeah, I really enjoy it. I don't, I love the people that are around us and they are truly friends in every sense of the word. Jamie out in Syracuse, Tim at East Ave in Rochester, you know, uh our friends in the area that you know work out at the compound. I think if everything else being equal, I enjoy the traveling of it more because it's just new people, different people. I mean, like I said, the Candace is, as John put it, Candace's cult. And uh it's a like we went there yesterday to do the stuff, drop the stuff off for and whatnot. And she's got this studio that is her gym. It was jammed with all these people, you know, women of different ages just working out with each other, inspiring each other, putting stuff on their inspiration board, you name it, they were doing it. So in my mind, I if I had the ability, I would most definitely want to travel more to the competitions that we do.
SPEAKER_00:Have you ever? And I'm thinking it have you ever traveled to a competition that you've left and regretted traveling to that competition?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Have you? Yeah, I don't know that they have. Well, tell so tell me more about that. There's the people there. Oh, you didn't like the people?
SPEAKER_01:People were arrogant, they you know, they were they put on a mask and pretend that they were stronger than they were, they would uh you know, just they were out for themselves. Yeah, in my mind, competition, and I know that I'm a little bit a lot of different to say you're a lot different in this mentality. If I can coach you on the spot and you can beat me, I'll be happy.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, when you say beat me, you mean like succeed my score, not like flatellate you, right? Correct.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, if you can lift more, more repetitions, you know, finish faster, truly out. I really that to me, and I know that I'm different in that. I I don't care about the trophies, you know. He says he won today, by the way. Yes, I did. Um, I beat John handily. Handily, uh totally even. It's it's about as much as I think we talk about tribe, it really is that tribe to me. You know, I mean and I'm gonna go sort of off script on this. Uh Candace allowed us to announce for the comment. On our next event, which happens to be Love Like Bent 3 next August. And the people, I mean, you got people walking up to us that are just giving us money already. We're like what 10 months out from that event?
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:I'm coming to the event. When is it? Where are the hotels in the area? You know, what are the events so I can start training? Here, here's 50 bucks, that type of thing. Those are the people I want to be around. Not because they're doing something that benefits what John and I stand for, but because they're genuinely good people. The comp that I left, and I won't let's I won't say what sport it was because it was not strong, man. Okay. And you know, the people, the place, none of it. I I would not go back, even if you paid for everything for me. Oh, wow. Because the people were just it was ugly. And it got to the point where somebody did something at the event and they're showboating and whatnot. And was it me? It was not you. You weren't there with me. Thank God. I just when I compete, I do enough to win. If that's what I have the ability to do. In this one, I got to the point at the very end where I was going to embarrass you. Nice. And that's not who I am. And that was another part of it. That I didn't like who I became at the end of it. And it's my fault. But yes, to answer your question very long-windedly, yes, there is once in you know all of the decades of competing that it's something I would never go back to. Never.
SPEAKER_00:That's funny, because I I thought I was making the point that I never regret traveling, but you know, now that you mentioned sort of the athlete, like the other athlete experience, I have certainly regretted competing with some people because there's some people that do it uh I don't want to be reductionist, but wrong. Like, especially as a master's amateur, doesn't matter athlete.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're not getting paid. You're doing this for love.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're not dial it down, LeBron. I mean, come on. You can show boat all you want, you can stomp around, you can you know, you can make almost enemies of people instantly. No one's inviting you back to stuff. Like I think when we did Highland Games, I think one of the tenets of Highland Games is be a good athlete and you'll be invited back. And I don't mean like win, I mean be, you know, help tear down. Uh, this might be a shout out to our friend Josh Beattie. Oh, 100%.
SPEAKER_01:But that is right, that's how I met Josh. Right. And one of my absolute favorite people.
SPEAKER_00:Is he? I thought I was your favorite people. I said one of. Oh, okay. Let's check and make sure I made the list after trout's me today. You know, that's the reason that you're on the list. But I mean, I went to Tucson to compete in uh Highland Games uh World Championships. I came in last. I came in last time.
SPEAKER_01:Hold on. No, no, no, no. You don't get to self-deprecate. Okay, what's up? You were invited to go to the National World Championships, and then I'm like, that's true. And yes, folks, that's the last time in this podcast that I will like John on the back.
SPEAKER_00:I must owe him money or something. But yeah, for a while I did refer to myself as the worst of the best. No, we had to call you Mr. Number 15. 15th in the world? Yeah, for sure. But again, I got trounced. And you know what? I had personal records in every event that day. I competed above and beyond my training, as you're supposed to in something like that. And I came in last. And to an athlete, I mean, some of those guys are still friends. Uh, I had the best time, it was incredibly enjoyable, and it was, you know, it was Tucson. It was hard, it was hot, uh, it was a high-level competition. I mean, it had so many things that could have gone awry, and it just didn't. And maybe, maybe that's it. The the traveling is is sort of like either you need to be in it to win it, or you need to find yourself a good group of friends, right? Well, I think that's a lot of why we do what we do, John.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, again, go back to it, it's the people. The the guy you spent while I was loading, uh, doing all the work, and you were doing nothing.
SPEAKER_00:Ha ha, he's not wrong.
SPEAKER_01:You spent half an hour talking to the gentleman who started a foundation because his friend died in his 30s.
SPEAKER_00:Scott, we suck at names, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know. Um, but I mean, you know, we spend half an hour talking to him, listening to his story and what his foundation does and how they help folks. And I mean, now they're going to do some partnership stuff with us with love like that. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's that to me, at this point in my life, is why I do the things I do.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. You know, there's nothing wrong with my brain. Do you remember the movie That Thing You Do with the song? Who doing that thing you do? That's where my brain went. Good, because I have no idea where you're. Not a sponsor. There you go. Thanks. Um, all right, so I think this is a good place to wrap it up. And you know why? Because we're we're in the mobile app. We just had a delicious lunch. Yes. I think I had pie. I think I have to pee. I'm still Scott, folks. I'm I'm John, and hopefully we see an exit soon. Thanks, folks. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post it on your social media, or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters to Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.