Multisport Mindset: From Marine to Endurance and Grad School: Dustin Biggerstaff's Journey

In this episode of the Multisport Mindset Podcast, host Aubrey Hayes interviews Dustin Biggerstaff, a former Marine and aspiring chiropractor. They discuss Dustin's journey from a military background to endurance sports, the resilience built through sports, and the impact of injuries on his training. Dustin shares insights on balancing family life, graduate school, and training, as well as the benefits of chiropractic care. He also highlights the importance of community support through organizations like Team Semper Fi and offers advice for newcomers to endurance sports.

Semper FI Foundation: https://thefund.org 

Align Life Chiropractor: https://alignlife.com/locations/sugar-hill-ga-chiropractor/

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Transcript

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Aubrey Hayes (00:01)

Welcome to the Multisport Mindset Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of endurance sports, training strategies, and the mindset that fuels peak performance. I'm Aubrey Hayes, USAT Level 1 coach, age group athlete, and co-founder of Precise Multisport. Today's podcast is about Dustin Biggerstadt, a former Marine, lifelong athlete, and aspiring chiropractor with an impressive story of perseverance, resilience, and pursuit of excellence. Dustin, how's it going?

Dustin Biggerstaff (00:28)

It's great. And I'm beyond excited to be here, honored to be invited onto the podcast.

Aubrey Hayes (00:33)

Awesome, good stuff. Before we get into Dustin's bio, if anybody has feedbacks or questions for the podcast, there's a link below the podcast that says text us here. You can shoot info directly to it and we'll respond or bring it up on the next podcast. So let's get a little introduction of Dustin here. So Dustin Biggerstaff, he's originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He is a distinguished US Marine Corps veteran and a passionate advocate for health and wellness.

After earning his BS in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from the University of Kentucky in 2009, Dustin served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2011 to 2019 as a reconnaissance Marine, completing boot camp at Parris Island and later stationed at Camp Hildegand in California. As a combatant dive team leader, he competed three times in the prestigious recon challenge, earning you second place in 2017 and first place in 2018.

Following injuries sustained in 2016 and 2018, Dustin medically retired from the Marine Corps and transitioned to civilian life, moving to Cumming, Georgia, where he spent two and a half years supporting the DOD's airborne community and technology cells. Currently, he is pursuing his doctorate in chiropractic at the Life University in Marietta, Georgia, with an expected graduation of June 2025.

Dustin Biggerstaff (01:34)

.

Aubrey Hayes (01:54)

He's married to his wife for 14 years and a proud father of two children, which continues

to challenge himself and continues to challenge himself by planning and competing in various races, including the Marine Corps Marathon and possibly a 24 hour running challenge. So like I always do with everybody, how does that sound when you hear your bio out loud?

Dustin Biggerstaff (02:16)

It makes me feel old. I've been around the sun a couple times, know. Getting ready celebrate my 39th birthday in September and it's hard to believe that I've challenged myself, well, physically, mentally, and spiritually over those years.

Aubrey Hayes (02:18)

Yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (02:29)

even through all the challenges.

Aubrey Hayes (02:32)

Yeah, yeah, it's a lot to go through. mean, just your time in the Marine Corps itself and being a military veteran and currently in the military, I know that could be a challenging experience, especially with a family and just trying to improve yourself internally as well as give back to the organization. Yeah, so, man, that's awesome. So with that.

Dustin Biggerstaff (02:52)

Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Hayes (02:59)

There's a couple of key points there I wanted to talk about, but a lot of people, what we didn't touch is prior to the military. like prior to joining the military, like did you play any sports or anything that led into you wanting to join the military in high school, middle school, things like that.

Dustin Biggerstaff (03:15)

Absolutely. you know, from I hit the ground running essentially is what my mom would say. You know, I used to run in front of her to elementary school and that I didn't really get into sports though until I was in middle school and that fire got lit underneath me from one of the coaches that I had, know, know, coach Michael Miles. And so, you know, through high school, you know, I played all sports, but my main sports were soccer and then cross country and track. And it's so and I played other sports just to keep me in shape.

Aubrey Hayes (03:33)

Yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (03:44)

I also wrestled and kicked for the football team. Yeah, I mean that having that all around sports really helped me stay focused. I didn't like school that much, much like most high schoolers, but I knew in order to stay on the teams, I had to make good grades. And then having the JROTC in high school really helped me out as well, teaching me all this teamwork and perseverance and discipline.

Aubrey Hayes (04:12)

Yeah, and I would say personally for me, you were a year or two ahead of me. And because we went to the same high school, if everybody isn't tracking that we went to the same high school and like seeing you do all the sports and then being in JROTC, it kind of like was a mentor to me. I was like, well, I can do this. And so I kind of followed your footsteps to the same thing, you know, kicking football team, we wrestled together, all the above. so.

Yeah, it's inspiring to see other people do that. And you had your own reasons. Like you said, you wanted to be involved in sports and stuff, and it actually helped you with your school. And yeah, I can sympathize with that. That is 100 % my mindset when it came to it as well. So do you think having like doing all of those support or competing in all of those supports, do you think it helped build some resilience or like the mindset that you had going into the military?

Dustin Biggerstaff (05:05)

100%. There was nothing better than, you know, metaphorically getting smacked in the face, you know, in these different sporting events. Because we weren't the, let's face it,

Jefferson Towne High School is not the best high school in sports. And so anytime we went up against some of those major names, we had a good team, right? And we worked well together, but sometimes we didn't have the skills. So we had to work extra hard. And sometimes we came out victorious, right? So and that taught me that you're not always gonna get handed the win. And at any given day, any of the champions can be beaten. So having that mindset made me realize that if they can do it, I can do it.

Aubrey Hayes (05:18)

No.

Dustin Biggerstaff (05:44)

And that's why I love both team sports and individual sports because it allowed me the opportunity to challenge myself and let my self shine when the occasion occurred.

Aubrey Hayes (05:56)

Yeah, for sure. Cause like, I know, like playing soccer, our coach pushed us and he, he realized early that we didn't have the skillset. So it was like, well, we're going to be the most in shape, toughest dudes out there. And we were, we ran and we ran and it was tough going from that, like, cause you know how hard you work and you see other people work. So coming from a team sport and then going into wrestling where you're the only person to blame. Like it's you.

Dustin Biggerstaff (06:13)

Yep.

Aubrey Hayes (06:25)

Like it's you on the mat, someone else. And I would, I would definitely argue that that creates so much resilience and like a strong mindset. Like it's, it's me. How do I fix me? How do I continue to work on myself? So, and you think all that fed into like your military aspect. like I, yeah, I could say like for me and you know, Marine Corps bootcamp is way different than army bootcamp, I'm sure. but.

Dustin Biggerstaff (06:39)

Absolutely.

Aubrey Hayes (06:55)

When I got there, I was like, I think I've had harder wrestling practices than what this, what today is. And I would always tell myself that, do you think like there's some of those aspects where you're going through some of those schools the Marine Corps offered that you went through? you're like, I've had harder days. This is easy.

Dustin Biggerstaff (07:13)

Absolutely and and one thing I was gonna say back in high school and even in the Marine Corps one thing that helped me you know make it through that is having that that brotherhood and those those teammates pushing you and You would almost laugh in the face of discomfort It's almost like being in the cage fighter a boxing match and you get hit in the face for the first time that's like your wake-up call to like hey, it's on and And and I attribute a lot of my success to the people that went before me and then the people that helped push me, you know

Aubrey Hayes (07:34)

Yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (07:42)

through along the ways, especially on the days where I, you mentally I felt like I was going to break because, know, as we both know, you know, it's, like 90 % mental and then the 10%, you know, it's just physical. So absolutely. think it helps set me up because we didn't have the best teams, know, so I, we had to collectively push each other. And I remember coach Haydock singing that damn song in the hallway. Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz as we're running up and down the stairs, right. And all we could do is sit and laugh, you know,

Aubrey Hayes (08:05)

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah,

Dustin Biggerstaff (08:11)

That's it, we're running and laughing.

Aubrey Hayes (08:11)

that's all you can do Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I remember that to this day. I tell people all the time and Yeah, that man changed my mindset a hundred percent of what toughness was and I always always talk about the The saying that was written on the wall and I don't even know where it came from but it was like What is it? physical fitness and conditioning is a mockery or

Sorry, toughness is a state of mind without it, physical fitness and conditioning is a mockery. And I never really understood it then and to this now these days I'm like, man, that makes so much sense. Yeah. And he, he definitely pushed that into us. whether we understood the saying or just through physical, just we're going to run you into the ground. So that's awesome. So as we talk about that and that resilience you had, so you, you mentioned having some injuries.

Dustin Biggerstaff (08:42)

Yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (09:08)

in the Marine Corps around 2016 to 2018 if you're comfortable about it, if you want to talk about those or just maybe how it changed the way you trained because you started, you were always in endurance sports but how you started changing your training towards endurance with those injuries.

Dustin Biggerstaff (09:26)

Yeah, yeah. So I didn't run my first marathon until I graduated college, so in 2009. So because I just I needed to be in a

good enough shape to play 90 minutes on the soccer field or wrestle for three minute rounds at a time, something along those lines. But when I was in the service and you kind of mentioned during boot camp, yes, boot camp's tough. It's very tough. It's more mentally tough than it is physically. And I would just find myself kind of giggling about it. And with all that being said, I'd never broken a bone. I'd maybe stubbed a toe, gotten a couple of stitches here and there growing up.

And then here I am, know, 30, I think I was 32 years old in 2016 and we're doing a pre-deployment training and I got stabbed in the eye. And so, you know, it's terrible because most people are like, oh, you know, what country were you in when it happened? And I thought I was invincible. Never thought this, you know, something like this would happen to me. And they actually wrote SOPs after that standard operating procedures because of what had happened, because nobody, it had never happened before, nobody had expected.

So here I am thinking that I'm invincible and then boom and a flash of a second flash of an eye, right? You know, getting stabbed in the eye, it changed the trajectory of my career. And it put me down for a solid six months. And some people are like, that's, that's no time. But when you're used to going and going and going, and I'd had a son that was a year and a half at the time and I'm, you know, four and a half years, five years into my, my enlistment at that point. And it's like, you know,

Aubrey Hayes (10:54)

Yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (11:03)

Damn, what do I do now? So yeah, it changed things, and they told me, they're like, hey, you shouldn't be lifting heavy, because that's what we did. You shouldn't be rocking a lot, because that's what we did. Because they didn't want the pressure to build up in the eye and potentially rupture early. So I had to change it. I had to go out and start running. And running was always kind of my thing, but it turned more into my yoga. It's where I could go and clear my head.

Aubrey Hayes (11:18)

yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (11:31)

When the pain wasn't there anymore, you know, I could go out and just kind of get lost. And I was in the Mecca of beautiful weather and sandy beaches of San Diego. So for me to get out there and run, it was endless. There was, there wasn't enough energy in my system that I could outrun the miles that were, that were out there. So that's where that transition into endurance sports happened for me.

Aubrey Hayes (11:39)

Yeah, for sure.

and did so you couldn't do the high pressure and you still kind of you can't really lead into a heavy lifting and stuff anymore can you?

Dustin Biggerstaff (12:00)

No, this day I can because one of those things that I did after I was cleared from the doctor because they were ready to take my eye out and give me a prosthetic. But I was like, hey, let's give it a month or two. Let's see how it works. And after I started healing up and the pain started to subside, you know, I went and jumped, skydove civilly and I went and did scuba diving on the civilian side so I can hand this paper to the Bureau of Medicine and say, hey, I'm not quitting. So don't quit on me.

So that way I could earn my way back into the teams. Once I showed that, I started testing it, I started lifting, I started holding my breath, like bearing down so to speak to see if it was gonna happen. Because if anybody was gonna hang up my boots, it was gonna be me. So yeah, now I can start lifting, but because I'm more of a marathon endurance runner and ultra runner, I don't lift as much anymore, like as far as heavy. It's more like body weight and calisthenics.

Aubrey Hayes (12:56)

and that makes sense and that's respectable too like the the fact that you went out on your own and was like no like you're not gonna tell me I'm done like I'll tell you when I'm done and that mindset is very rare believe it or not and I wish a lot more people had that mindset in the military at times but you know that's what makes you different that's what makes you elite I would say

as it comes to military and in your sports and as well as just with your education that you're going through now, so You've transitioned to endurance sports. I know I've seen you run you've you're in Marine Corps Marathon You've done you just go out and randomly run a 24-hour challenge by yourself, right? Is it that's what I saw last year I think you try to do that every year right or is that?

Dustin Biggerstaff (13:46)

Yep.

Yeah, so every year around my birthday, so the end of September, I always like to end the old and begin the new with something that's challenged myself both physically and mentally. And so when I got injured that first time, it was in July, and I told myself, was like, there's a Catalina 50-miler that was coming up. I was like, all right, I'm going to do it. I've never run over a marathon before, but I'm going to go do this. And then the recon challenge happened that next April.

And I was like, you know what, sign me up because I was just healing at that point, right? And then, so yes, every year I try to challenge myself with something more and more outrageous, whether it's the, you know, the Murph or whether it's the four by four by four that David Goggins does, or if it's the 24 hour race, just seeing how many miles I can get. I mean, it's all just a, it's fun to me because

Aubrey Hayes (14:40)

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (14:50)

It's just a self challenge. So if I need to slow down, I will. If I feel like I can speed up, I will. But I'm gonna push myself almost until the wheels fall off.

Aubrey Hayes (15:01)

So you can, is that like, so you say challenge yourself mentally and physically, that's it. And a lot of times in those challenges, you find out a little bit more about yourself, like who you are. You know, some people get real religious near the end there. So you start talking to yourself. Yeah, man, that's awesome. That's awesome that you do that and that you have the capacity to do that and that your family supports that.

And that's the big thing. So you're training for marathons and you're doing these challenges and you're going to school. How do you balance that? Like wife, two kids, and then full-time graduate school. How do you balance all of that?

Dustin Biggerstaff (15:46)

Well, I wouldn't be able to balance it if it wasn't because of a supportive wife and kids. And they actually sometimes push me out of the door because they're like, hey, we can tell you haven't, you know, I haven't ran in a little while. We see you're a little edgy. So like today, my watch was telling me I still needed 53 hours of recovery because of a hard track workout I did on Thursday. But I had a buddy that wanted to get out and run some because he needed that. So I like, you know what? I'm going to go out and run with them. And so we did.

Aubrey Hayes (15:59)

Yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (16:15)

Physically, although I'm a little worn down, mentally that helped me out a tremendous amount. So going back to like why I do this, this helps me nourish and constantly shape my why. You know, through life, through school, through chiropractic, because of my family, it makes me realize that there's so much more important things in life than just for me. So one of my main reasons for staying in shape was for me in high school. And then when I started having kids, it was like, well, I want to be able to set an example for them.

You know, I'm probably the only almost 40 year old dad that's going out and doing this stuff. Right. So when I talked to him, I'm like, Hey, look at your friend. I'm not, doing it in a judgmental way, but what they see as normal, I tried to show them that this isn't normal, but this should be how people take care of themselves. Maybe not to the extreme of going and running 24 hour races, but we shouldn't be doing 24 hour or week long marathons of sitting on the couch and just bedding out. So.

Aubrey Hayes (16:49)

Yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (17:13)

And I also like to express that the only limitations are the ones that you set for yourself. So, yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (17:20)

I always tell athletes and just people in general, like if you want to do it, you're going to make time. And if you want to help yourself get better, you're going to make time for it. When you start making excuses, I have a buddy that's always like, man, I, you know, this happened with the kids, this and this. And I'm like, well, what times you get up this morning? Like, did you, did you wait till the last minute to get up or did you get up this morning and go out and take care of yourself and then get at it? And I would argue a lot of men need,

Dustin Biggerstaff (17:30)

Yeah. Yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (17:50)

need that space and women too, uh, speaking from my experience as a, as a husband and a dad is like, we need that time. So just to be alone, like you said, it's like your, your yoga essentially or your recovery and like just mentally reset your why and get after it. used to always do this run. Um, cause when I was stationed in DC, I would leave the DC armory and I could run past the Capitol down the, um, the national mall.

And I always called it like my freedom run because I'll pass all the monuments. But it gave me it like it was a reset for me. I would run all the way down to the Lincoln. And as the sun was coming up, see the sun come up over the mall.

Dustin Biggerstaff (18:19)

Yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (18:31)

And to me, it was like, all right, I know why I'm doing this. I know I still serve. I know, you know, like it it still brings like chills to me to this day. And I can't wait to get back to doing that. So, yeah, that.

Dustin Biggerstaff (18:38)

Yeah.

Yeah,

so I make time like you said, you don't you have to plan ahead, right? I've never been the type of person that can just sporadically do something, especially with wife and kids and full time, you know, school, etc. You know, like undergrad, right? 12 to 16 credit hours is full time. During this three and half year program, if you're not taking any anything above 25 to 30 credit hours in a quarter,

Aubrey Hayes (18:54)

Mm-hmm.

Dustin Biggerstaff (19:14)

because they're not on semesters, they're 11 weeks. You're not gonna graduate in time. So I mean, we're gassed to the floor the entire time. So your adrenals are shot, your cortisol levels are flat lined. So I have to find time to help reset myself or I'm just gonna be drowning in misery of schoolwork. And like I mentioned in the beginning, school has never been my favorite thing. And I never thought I would go back to school after 15 years of getting my undergrad. This was now...

was going to be my third career. So my why had to be bigger than driving 45 minutes to an hour in Atlanta traffic. And if anybody knows about Atlanta traffic, it's terrible.

Aubrey Hayes (19:53)

Yeah, I couldn't imagine man Yes It's still bad. I mean anytime over 30 minutes in a car is just miserable man Especially when it's like sit still like you're just sitting there like oh my gosh. I got through so many books while living in DC like yeah So with that you talk about going into your third career, you know, we're talking about training for endurance and your why and everything so How has chiropractic school been?

Dustin Biggerstaff (19:55)

So it's not DC traffic, but it's still bad.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Aubrey Hayes (20:23)

And then has it changed your outlook on training and recovery in general with sports?

Dustin Biggerstaff (20:29)

Yeah,

I mean, sorry to cut you off, but yeah, absolutely. So, and I just want to back up a little bit. I didn't get adjusted my first time. I've never seen a chiropractor until I finally had that downtime due to my injuries in the Marine Corps. They started introducing it to the DOD, at least in the Marine Corps around 2016, 2017 timeframe. And so it helped me so much that I sought out that service when I was in the VA system when I got out.

Aubrey Hayes (20:49)

Mm-hmm.

Dustin Biggerstaff (20:58)

And the chiropractor that I was seeing at the time was like, Hey, have you ever considered to go into chiropractic school? Now, mind you, I've never lived in Georgia. We only moved from California to Georgia because a mutual friend that we have, Xavier Martinez, his family lived in Woodstock. So I was like, you know what, let's give it a try. We want to be back on the East coast, the Southeast. It's close enough to the beach, but far enough away from home that nobody can just drop in. Um, so, and lo and behold that right down the road is Life University. So going through the program.

Aubrey Hayes (21:09)

Yeah, yeah.

Dustin Biggerstaff (21:28)

I was always kind of skeptical because I was like, oh, well, this is just a feel good thing to get you out of pain. But I've seen so many miracles, you know, from kids that are colicky, not able to poop, all of a sudden are able to, you know, kids and people with ADHD symptoms, having reduced symptoms and off of medication, you know, all these different things. And now that I'm in my last six months and I graduate in June, now that I'm in my last six months, I've been doing my internship and I've been out and a practice.

getting my hands on people, seeing these miracles that happen every day, seeing them every day, instead of just being that one person that goes and maybe see every once in a while. So it has taught me to be proactive, you know, when it comes to endurance sports and health in general, because it should be a reactionary thing. You shouldn't be, you know, taking your nutrition for a marathon after the marathon. That just doesn't logically make sense. You wouldn't wait until your engine on your car blows up, right?

until you change the oil. So we have to have these constant maintenance things, even if you're not in pain. So it's changed a ton of things from a holistic approach when it comes to my endurance. And I would say that my trajectory of my peaking is still going up. I don't think I've hit my PR yet in a marathon. I don't think I've hit my PR yet in a half marathon. And I think now that I'm not in a seat for 12 hours a day,

and driving for another two hours a day, I'm gonna continue to see myself progress. So I think year 39 and year 40 are gonna be huge for me.

Aubrey Hayes (22:55)

Yeah.

awesome. So you talk about and I know you're not a certified chiropractor yet so I don't want you to have to say anything outside of your realm but with chiropractor so I started getting adjusted a couple years ago. I started having a lot of lower back issues. I think it's from sitting in the car a lot right and so when I started going and get adjusted not only did it help me with my lower back issues but my digestive system got much better as well.

Can you speak to some of that with getting adjustments, like how it helps with internal organ function, not just the structure of the body?

Dustin Biggerstaff (23:45)

Absolutely. So from two cells, your mom, your dad make 70 million cells, right? It's amazing, right? But the first organ to grow is your brain. And then from the brain comes your brain stem. So this is the electrical system of your body. Now from that brain stem and then your spinal cord comes all the nerves that go to those organs. And then the organs are created. So it would make sense to almost relate it to like the circuit breaker of your house, right?

If you have a pinched line that's from your circuit breaker to that outlet or to that TV that you're trying to work, it might flicker or it might not turn on at all. So the bones that surround that is like the conduit that protects that line. So if we're as chiropractors are moving those bones back where they're supposed to be and that flow of electricity, that flow of fluid, because it's also vascular as well and lymphatic, it's going to help that flow.

Aubrey Hayes (24:26)

Mm-hmm.

Dustin Biggerstaff (24:45)

not be impeded. So you're going to have full transmission both from the brain to the organ and then from the organ back to the brain. So people that are having IBS, are having gastro issues like GERD, you know, they're having acid reflux, they're having urinary incontinence. We can help as chiropractors can help with all of that because we're connecting the brain to body and it's allowing it to optimize functionally. And we're only putting in an impulse that allows the body because the body is smart.

The body is constantly combating things that are coming from the outside, whether it's temperature, whether it's you standing up and trying to keep balance, trying to keep your eyes on the horizon. It's always trying to adjust. We don't have to do that. That's an automatic thing. But if you're constantly doing things that are slunching forward or driving or other things that are these other micro insults to the body, we as chiropractors can help get rid of that interference and then

Educate you and teach you how to prevent those from happening again because ultimately I don't want to keep seeing you as a patient I want to educate you to the point where you know all the right things to do kind of like a triathlon coach You want to educate that athlete well enough so they only have to come to you for fine-tuning So every time you come to me, I want it to be you know once a week Maybe once a month so that way you're doing all the things 23 hours a day that are keeping yourself from getting back to being in an injured state

Aubrey Hayes (26:12)

Okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I've never heard it explained that way. And I hope that helps everybody else understand the importance of alignment and through through chiropractic or through through chiropractic practice. So that's pretty cool, man. And that's just years of learning and putting into it. And man, you're gonna be out in the field soon, per se, and getting to make a difference in people's lives. And that's exciting, dude. That's super exciting.

Dustin Biggerstaff (26:39)

Yeah.

And one more thing I want to say is like, don't wait until you're an adult to get checked, right? You think about it from conception, right? A mom might be carrying that baby and the baby's all weird inside the womb, right? And then a lot of births are traumatic, right? Whether they're doing a C-section, using forceps, and that's putting a lot of strain on the nervous system. So as they're starting to develop, you want to have babies getting checked as early as possible to give them the optimal opportunity to develop

how they're supposed to, right? You don't want a constant, you know, line of the plumbing to be clogged up and not allowing that flow to go through. So if you have kids, I would encourage you to have them at least checked to see that their neurology is good.

Aubrey Hayes (27:25)

noted. Okay, awesome. Well, that's pretty awesome. And I'm glad we got to hear that. And do you have a practice that you're going to when you graduate? Have you have you looked into that yet? Or where people could find you if you were going to be out there practicing?

Dustin Biggerstaff (27:40)

I do.

Absolutely, so I'm located, I live in Cumming, Georgia, but the office that I'm shadowing at, or not shadowing, doing my internship at is called Online Life of Sugar Hill. So it's just a town right down the street from a 20 minute drive. And they have offered me a position, so I'll be coming on board as soon as I graduate in the middle of June.

Aubrey Hayes (28:05)

Awesome. Well, if you guys want to check out Dustin Biggerstaff and get straightened up and get back on track, then now you know where to find him. And I want to jump from the chiropractic side to what your shirt says there. And if you can explain a little bit about Team Semper Fi, if you're if you're able to right now and what they've done for you and the why you represent them when you race.

Dustin Biggerstaff (28:32)

Absolutely. So there's a lot of great foundations out there, right? Nonprofits. One of the ones that has impacted me the most and has been with me since day one of medically retiring is the Semper Fi in America's Fund. Now, initially people think, Semper Fi, that's only the Marine Corps. That's only because it started out because of Marine Corps spouses back in 2001. But since then they've grown to service all active duty,

and veterans and their families that have been critically injured, ill or wounded due to a service-connected injury. So this offers to all branches of service. So I fall under the umbrella of Team Simplify under this foundation and they have a system called Recovery Through Sport. And then as you can imagine, my sport of choice is running. So a lot of these marathons that I've been able to do to include the Marine Corps Marathon coming up in end of October,

has been because of the Semper Fi in America's Fund. So they have different, again, different programs like the Runners' Battalion that offers a 34-week program for people that may have zero experience with running a marathon to all the experience in the world, but they're still taking them through a guided virtual program no matter where you're at in the world. And then that culminating event bringing the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October.

Aubrey Hayes (29:40)

Mm-hmm.

And that's pretty cool. I did not know they offered all of that. And so how do people get involved with Team Semper Fi if they wanted to? And just look it up and shoot a message or?

Dustin Biggerstaff (30:04)

Yeah,

yeah, yeah. And I'll share a link with you when we're done. But Simplify and Americas Fund dot org. If they just Google that or bring up that link, as long as you are, I believe it's 10 % or maybe it's 30 % or higher post 9-11 VA rating, then you qualify. So they should definitely look into it there's tons of resources from retrofitting, you know, your house and your vehicle. If you're an amputee, they have entrepreneur programs.

They have, again, different sporting programs. I'm going through a neuro-fitness program and budgeting program right now that helps you fine tune your budget and make sure that you're financially sound. The neuro-fitness helps people with PTSD, people that have suffered with TBIs, people that have memory issues and or anxiety. And all of this is sponsored by community athletes and people that donate. And 97 % of the proceeds that come in

go to the service members and their families. So they have one of the very lowest overheads from any nonprofit that's out there. So that you can ensure that everything that you donate and everything that I raise and so on and so forth is going to those service members.

Aubrey Hayes (31:09)

wow.

That's awesome. last question about that is like, so it's team simplified, but sister services. So Marine Corps, Army, Navy, everybody can apply if they meet those requirements, right? It's not just Marine Corps.

Dustin Biggerstaff (31:26)

Absolutely.

Yes, and I would encourage everyone to apply whether they think they qualify or not because it's a definitive no unless you ask, right? So don't disqualify yourself without even seeing if you're qualified.

Aubrey Hayes (31:45)

That makes sense. Good deal, man. And so I highly recommend. I'll probably look into it once I get out of the military for sure. I think they have a lot to offer. So I appreciate you sharing that with us,

Dustin Biggerstaff (31:59)

Well, don't wait until you get out because you can still become a community athlete even before. So if there's a foundation that you're looking to represent, then you can do that while you're in. So like if you're wanting to go to the Marine Corps Marathon, for instance, or the Boston Marathon, which is happening on Monday, they have community athletes that they raise the minimum requirement and then they get a bib to go run those races. And then while you're there, you're being wined and dined with this community of community athletes.

Aubrey Hayes (32:03)

okay.

Dustin Biggerstaff (32:26)

that have raised the funds to this culminating event, whatever that might be.

Aubrey Hayes (32:30)

Okay, awesome. Alright, and I have one last question for you today and I just want to if you could provide any kind of advice for anyone thinking about getting into endurance sports like brand new to it or maybe just getting back into it. What would that advice be to them?

Dustin Biggerstaff (32:50)

Have grace. Nothing. It seems like this elephant, right? That I'm going to eventually do a marathon. I'm eventually going to do a 50 miler, but you don't eat an elephant all at once, right? You've got to take it one step at a time. I can't tell you the number of runs that I've been on that I think I have it in the bag with all my years of experience. But you know, I think back to the days when I first started and all I can do is smile.

because it's a journey. So ask your friends, become part of a tribe in your community. Those are that have like-minded goals. So that way you guys can support each other. That's probably my biggest piece of advice. Define your why and why you're wanting to do it. And at the end of the day, it should be to have fun, essentially. So don't just be out there being miserable for no reason, all right?

Aubrey Hayes (33:46)

Yeah, for sure. And that's some great advice and I hope everybody takes that and applies that to themselves. So, but man, thank you, Dustin, for joining us. It's been great catching up with an old teammate, friend and mentor. You truly represent resilience, dedication and showcase the positive attributes of a man, a father and a husband in a community. And we really appreciate that. And I appreciate you coming on today.

Dustin Biggerstaff (34:13)

Awesome, thank you so much for having me, Aubrey. Or should I say Sergeant Major?

Aubrey Hayes (34:15)

Yeah for sure and yeah

one day and for everybody out there if you're looking for a coach all pm coaches are taking on new athletes that's whether it's running triathlon or strength training click the follow button on the podcast or youtube if you like to follow us and you can submit questions either on the link at the bottom of podcast or precise multisport at gmail.com or at precise multisport.com

Thanks everybody for joining us today. Alright, wait one real quick.

Dustin Biggerstaff (34:46)

Awesome.