Marathon Mindset: From Tragedy to Triumph-Jared Ewing's Journey

Jared Ewing shares his incredible journey from a life-altering accident to becoming a resilient marathon runner. After being hit by a car and facing the possibility of losing his leg, Jared underwent multiple surgeries and a challenging rehabilitation process. His determination and positive mindset led him to not only recover but to excel in endurance sports, completing numerous marathons and setting ambitious goals for the future. His story is one of inspiration, resilience, and the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity.

Jared Documentary: https://youtu.be/fZHCkHWqhNY?si=_HQ1R1mwZ2R6YSQp 

Follow on all platforms

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@PreciseMultisport

Website: www.precisemultisport.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/precise_multisport 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554769354126&mibextid=wwXlfr&mibextid=wwXlfr 

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2460038 

Intro Music: Tonight At Eight by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Outro Music: Climb by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com 

Transcript

Aubrey Hayes (00:01)

Welcome to the Precise Multisport podcast, where we dive deep into a world of endurance training, strategies, and mindsets that fuel peak performance. My name is Aubrey Hayes, level one USAT coach, age group athlete, and co-founder of Precise Multisport. 

Today we have a great story for you. It's about resilience and perseverance that Jared Ewing went through ⁓ over the past four or five years. Jared Ewing is an Army veteran and a current endurance athlete. Jerry, welcome to the podcast.

Jared Ewing (00:00)

Yeah, thanks for having me on, man. It's a complete honor to be here. I'm glad that Shaq introduced me to you. yeah, just looking forward to talking to you and sharing my story.

So folks, let me jump into it. Jared was in the United States Army National Guard when he suffered a severe injury, a fluke accident, if you will. And since then, he's been training in endurance sports, specifically marathons and other ⁓ long running events. And ⁓ that was driven by his road to recovery from his accident.

and then eventually on to seeing some great results in success and running. So, Jared has a great story and I think everybody can relate to it or get something from it and just know that there's more to life that you can dig deep, that you can persevere, and you can get through tough times. So, Jared, if you would, let's talk a little bit about the event that happened to you on that day.

Jared Ewing

Yeah, so just to back up a little bit, so my running journey started in 2017. I ran my first marathon there. There's a bucket list. I had turned 30. I thought for sure I was one and done. But I was hating life through it. Got done with it. But I didn't know my butt from my elbow. Totally won it. And so I was thinking to myself, hey, if I actually trained up and actually knew what I'm doing, I wonder how fast I could go. And at this time, too, I was getting into like,

David Goggins and Cameron Haynes and all these guys the iron cowboy and I'm like if this dude could do you know 50 full iron man of 50 days of 50 states like I wonder if I could do like, know three marathons in five weeks in Ohio And so that's what I ended up doing the next year But lo and behold that was in the fall. I made that happen And I was you know, I thought you know life was going good. I had two years into the CST and So the winner was coming up is December of 2000

Aubrey Hayes (00:38)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (01:06)

And 18 and I was up in Cleveland, Ohio me and some friends is a long night And we were leaving the bars. We caught up an uber and so we were walking down to the uber pickup zone And when i'm on the sidewalk, I heard screeching tires I saw a flashing light and I kind of turned to the right to look at it It looks like this car is coming directly at me. And so I get thumped pretty good I hit the ground and when i'm on the ground my adrenaline's gone

And it feels like my legs kind of like on fire, but I thought for sure, hey, like I'm a tough guy. Let me just get up. And I couldn't get up. And so I thought that was weird. So then when I looked down at my leg, I saw my leg pretty much flayed open like a steak. I saw my bone there. There was blood. My leg was mangled. My pants I was wearing was all over the place. And then all the people that were with me were just screaming and crying.

And so lot was going down and just from being in the army and everything, having first aid training and stuff, I knew about shock. I didn't want to go into shock. I know that was all bad. So the only thing I could really do was like, Hey, like, let's not be looking down at this. Let's look up. Let's try to find a focal point and try to focus on our breathing. And so that's what I was doing now. In the meantime, I'm very conscious the entire time, unfortunately. So with every pulse of my heart, it felt like there was a shock, a burn.

just a scruciating pain going through my leg. And so all I wanted to do was just make it to the ambulance, just make sure the ambulance got there. And it seemed like it was just, like it took forever. And so by the grace of God, these two strangers that was with me that night that I just met, they kind of rushed over to me and they were like, you know, let's make a tourniquet out of our belts or whatever. And so was like, yep, that's a great idea. So let's do that. So they pretty much took their belts off. I told them, you know, high and tight as we're taught.

Aubrey Hayes (02:35)

Sherman.

Jared Ewing (02:54)

And they ripped on it and it hurt. But I thought for sure that was the best chance of possibly saving my leg. At this point, so many questions were going through my mind at that time. It was just like, am I going to make it to the hospital? Am I going to see my family again, my friends, my goddaughters? And then I thought for sure. I saw my leg. I was like, this is done. I had all these goals and stuff I wanted to do. ⁓

You know, eventually want to do an Ironman. I've wanted to run all these majors for marathons. And I thought for sure my, my, my, those days were over. And so they get me into the ambulance and we make it to the hospital. And so I'm in the ER, they're cutting all the clothes and stuff off me. And so I knew it was about to go down. Like I knew I was going to be taken back to the OR. And so they're asking me questions and I'm kind of answering them. And they told me, Hey, before they put me out, they said, Hey, you know, your leg's pretty mangled. We're not sure if we can save it.

And I told him, at this point, I don't even care about my leg. I just want to stay alive. was like, do your best. said, do your best and we'll fight together and we'll just see where it goes from here. And then before they put me out, I was like, hey, just make sure you get ahold of my parents. I know I love them and just tell them, hey, they got to get here, but don't give them too many details. Because I knew mom and dad in the middle of the night getting that news, it wasn't going to be good. So next thing you know, I'm waking up in the ICU.

And so the first thing I do is I gotta check to see if I still got my leg. So I look down and I kind of see my foot there. So I was like, whew, you know, it's like, okay, that's, that's a big goal. Like that's a big thing. And then I was like, I wonder if I could move it. And I really couldn't move my foot, but I could move my toes. And when that happened, I kind of had this overwhelming sense of like, everything's going to be okay. Like, Hey, I still got my leg. I think we're going be all right. So I just, I go out cold. Obviously I'm hitting that button and I see you there.

put me out and so a hours later the doctors come in and they said hey your leg was pretty mangled it took a lot of debridement a lot of time to get a lot of stuff out of there and they said unfortunately your calf muscles were so damaged we had to remove those along with your Achilles tendon and as you could think that was pretty daunting to think about because I was 32 I was like wow I got a whole lot of life to live that's a long time and not have like I just don't have them no more

And so, you know, I'm kind of good. I don't know how I get this mindset, but I just, you know, I sat there for a couple of seconds and really thought about it and processed it. And then at that point I was like, is it's this, we had to turn the switch. Like we got to think about moving forward. We can't think if we can't focus on the past, we can't focus on what ifs. What we don't have no more. We gotta be grateful and thankful for what we do have and let's move forward. So moving forward, I had about, I had three more major surgeries in the hospital, right?

And on that third major surgery, they tried a muscle flap. So we had to get that bone covered down in my leg because there was a huge gap, about two inches by five inches, where I still had bone exposed. And so we had to get that covered. We didn't want any infection to get in there. So they had this surgery called a muscle flap, where they took a piece of my lap muscle from my side, and they were going to put it just to cover the bone. And then once they could do that, they could just theoretically just close me up, and we could move forward.

Well, that muscle flap surgery was supposed to be six hours. turned into 15 hours. So unfortunately it didn't work. They tried three or four times to kind of get the blood supply to work to that muscle and it wasn't happening. So they didn't know that from the original accident, all the blood supply down there just wasn't, it didn't work no more because it just all got hit, compacted and shut everything down. So, but last ditch effort they put in this material that this company, Polinovo makes, it's a mid-choice.

It's a like a BTM it's called product, but it's basically made out of like pig or cow like material and the matrix. So they put that in my leg last ditch effort to kind of just save the leg. And so when they woke me up and they told me the surgery didn't work, but they put this material in my leg, they told me, hey, this material is made for burn victims. It's not meant to go on exposed bone. It's not it's not supposed to work, but this is supposed to buy us some time. And said, OK.

And then they were like, hey, we need to start thinking about our future options. And I was like, well, what are they? And there wasn't many. The one option is obviously amputation. And the other one was, let's try another surgery where we take a muscle from your other leg, a vein from your other leg, and we'll try to get it moved over there, and we'll try to redo the muscle flap. I wasn't too keen on that, because if I was going to amputate my leg, I wanted my good leg to be good.

I would have no more of these taken no more pieces of me. So I had thought about it. I prayed on it and I just came to, you know, just a nice call and conclusion like, Hey, I guess if this doesn't work, we're going to amputate. So I had already in my mind thought my leg was gone. I was looking forward. ⁓ I was looking up hospitals and stuff and other places where I could possibly go have my leg amputated and recover at, but three, three to four weeks later, they take a look under the.

the patch and lo and behold that material was working in my leg. So they, you know, the doctor's eyes were huge. They weren't expecting it to work. So by the grace of God, it was taken to my leg. And so at this point, this is when the big decision has to be made now. Like, okay, now that we can keep the leg, should we keep the leg? And so doctors came in, they're kind of moving my leg around, trying to get me to test out my foot, everything like that. And they were just basically telling me like, Hey, like

The future if you keep this leg, you know the future of your activity, you know, you're we're not too sure of it They said if you keep the leg you're gonna no longer be running marathons They're like, but if you amputate there's plenty of people thriving on on running prosthetics and stuff like that And I kind of knew that you know, I'm in the military That's not no news to me and I figured with me in my mindset I'd get a running prosthetic and prosthetics and I'd be perfectly fine

And so we were wondering, do we keep it or not keep it? And at this point I said, Hey, like I've already, this is the funny thing is I had already ran like four marathons. So when they told me, Hey, you're never having to run marathons again. I was just like, ⁓ okay, cool. Like I don't even like running. I just do it just to challenge myself, but I hate running at this point. I was like, that's fine. Some people can't even say they've ran one marathon. So I was totally like, Hey, like that's fine. But I really, sat there and I thought about it, prayed on it. And I was like, Hey.

Aubrey Hayes (09:03)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (09:18)

At the end of the day, let's keep this leg because in the future I can always amputate it if it's bothering me. But if I amputate it right now, I'd be wondering my whole life, what could I have done with that leg? So we decided to keep it. And so from there, we had to start to plan on rehab and basically. well, so I ended up spending six weeks in the hospital. Then they moved me to a nursing home for four weeks. And after the nursing home, basically insurance was kicking me out.

Aubrey Hayes (09:40)

Mm-hmm.

Jared Ewing (09:44)

And I had to go somewhere. So my, had a friend in the Akron area that allowed me to live in their, in their living room, their extra living room. And, ⁓ that was huge because I was still, so my army unit was in Columbus. I was still getting weekly surgeries up in Cleveland. So I was like, I kept making that two hour drive, which turns into four hours with the driving once a week, especially with my leg. Like that's not good. my, so my friends allowed me to live in their living room was huge. So I basically.

Aubrey Hayes (10:07)

Yeah, that's a lot on you.

Jared Ewing (10:12)

Once I got there, I was like, all right, I know there's a YMCA near here. So I said, that's, Jared, like you've got three other limbs to move and we've been in the hospital and nursing home for too long. Let's start moving. So I basically was still using a walker at this point. ⁓ so I was just walk using my walker to get to my car. And I knew if I could make it to my car, I could drive to the YMCA. And once I could get to the YMCA, I could move and I'd just be healthier mentally and physically.

And so that's what I did. I took myself to the Y and I would just get on the weight machines and I'm just do a nice little rotation, moving, you know, pretty much all the muscles. And then one day I just got a little bit brave and I was like, Hey, let's get on the treadmill, see how far we can go, you know, or let's just go a quarter mile to get off of there. I'm a big person when it comes to getting stronger each day or getting better. hear that all the time. And so that was just always my mindset.

So I said, let's get on this treadmill for a half mile and let's get out, not half a quarter mile, let's get off. So that was the game plan. And so every day I'd show up, I would work out on all the weight machines and then I'd go get on that treadmill. I'd go a little bit farther, a little bit farther each and every day. And eventually I could get up to one mile and then I could go two miles. And this is still all like walking, right? And so this is where...

Aubrey Hayes (11:28)

Was this during still getting surgeries done or is this after all your surgeries were complete?

Jared Ewing (11:31)

Yeah

So I still had like more surgeries to go but I'd call more basically procedures Because once we knew that material on my leg was working We still had to have more procedures of packing more of that material into my leg and then once it was Fully like covered and stuff like that. Then we could have one last skin graft to cover it up So I was still you know walking around that ⁓ the ymca with my walker and like my bandaged up leg But just getting after it ⁓

each and every day and so you know this is when the walk jog routine kind of like went off in my head like hey like this is actually like a real thing this thing works like you can go farther distance if you just say man you just walk that's fine so each and every day i would do ⁓ like a walk jog routine i would go a little bit farther or maybe i would jog a little bit more but usually i was walking at most most of it

And each day little bit farther before I knew it, I could do a 5k on the treadmill. And at this point, I think we were around like April. So it was like four months after the accident. And so at the very beginning of April, I had my last and final surgery. They closed up my leg. so moving forward from there, I just, again, just try to get stronger, walk farther on that treadmill. And I think it was July is whenever they

Doctor cleared me to go back to the guard. So I moved back down to Columbus. And when I got to the unit, they basically told me, you you can still like just go work on yourself for half the day and then come in here and work for like half the day. So that was huge as well. So I continued going to I continue to go to Ohio State's Rec Center every morning and just grinding away for four hours at the rec center. Just working on myself, going a little bit farther. Before you knew it, I could do six miles on the treadmill. Before you knew it, I could do nine miles and then

Aubrey Hayes (13:02)

Yeah, that's a lot of help.

Jared Ewing (13:16)

That's when it is kind of like just really sparked an interest in my head. Like, Hey, like if I continue this process, I can go a little bit farther. I wonder how much farther I can go. And so I knew the Columbus marathon was coming up. It was one of my favorite marathons. And so that's in October. And so early September, I got myself up to nine miles. And then I said, Hey, if I sign up for the half marathon for the Columbus marathon weekend, I bet you I can do that. And so all I did was.

I kept my miles the same mostly throughout the week, but then every Saturday I'd go one more mile than the previous Saturday. To me, that was just made sense. So I was like, okay, let's say this Saturday we're doing 10 miles next weekend. We're doing 11 miles next weekend, 12. And so we got a week before the marathon and I was basically like, Hey, like, let me go ahead and try my own half marathon. So I don't screw the pooch show up and all they have all these people there. And I just fail on my face or whatever the day of the, of the marathon. And so.

Aubrey Hayes (13:50)

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

head.

Jared Ewing (14:11)

The weekend before I did my own half marathon at work. And so then I was like, well, if I can do 13, maybe I can do 14 or 15 miles. So at last chance, last shot, I signed up for the full marathon thinking I was going go 16 or 17 miles and then call it quits. So the morning of the marathon, that was the goal was to go 14 or 15 miles. And so I made it to the half marathon mark. I had two buddies with me.

They only did the half, so they kind of looked at me like I was crazy. They gave me a hug and they went off and finished their halves. I texted my parents and said, hey, I got a couple more miles in me. Keep your phone on you. You might have to pick me up at some point. And so I was pretty much working a walk jog routine every mile. was pretty much at the beginning, I was jogging three quarters of a mile, walking a quarter mile. And once I got up to a mile 16 or 17, that's whenever my ankle started really hurting.

Felt like I had like glass going on in that, in that bad leg and that bad ankle. And so I was really just asking myself every, at every new mile, I'd say, can I go one more mile? And the answer was always yes. But it was like, Hey, but we're going to have to change up this routine. We're probably gonna have to walk more. And I was okay with that. So one mile at a time, I kept on go one more mile, one more mile before you knew it. I got up to mile 21, mile 22. And at this point I knew I was going to finish this thing by all means necessary. Even if I had to walk or crawl.

because I knew if I could just finish this thing, this would be one heck of a story to tell and I'd be able to prove to myself what I really have. And so I just did that. And by those last three or four miles, I was literally walking three quarters of a mile and just jogging like a quarter of a mile. But before you knew it, I crossed that finish line, the full marathon in five hours and 55 minutes. it was just beyond, just, words can't even describe it. It's still to this day, probably my proudest moment ever.

I learned so much about myself, but yeah, I crossed that finish line and it just taught me a whole lot about myself, that's for sure.

Aubrey Hayes (16:06)

would you say that obviously as a turning point it sparked your interest to like just keep pushing the envelope with the marathon from there?

Jared Ewing (16:12)

Yeah, just in general. Well, from there, ⁓ to me in my head, I kind of thought like, like you did this, you don't have much more to prove. Like you really don't. And so I really wasn't sure where to go from there, but I knew that like, running was kind of good for my leg. And so this was in 2019. So as we know in 2020, COVID happened. And so like a lot of other success stories that happened through COVID. So when the gyms all shut down, I had nothing else to do, but go outside and run.

So I went to the trail that's near the home and it's a good one. It's it's a bunch of miles. So it's nice and easy out and backs. And so I was like, okay, well, you're if you're shut down in jam, I'm just going to go run because the running is the best thing for my leg. So because I'm lacking those muscles, I don't, have poor circulation in that leg and long behold, running is the best thing. Swimming doesn't quite do it. Biking doesn't quite do it. It's for some reason, the pounding of my foot on the ground helps pump that blood.

So I need to go run every day. just as you know, if you go do something efficient every day, you're going to become more and more efficient. over the COVID era, I was just going out and just every new day was a new PR. It was a new distance, a new PR.

Aubrey Hayes (17:18)

Yeah, of course, yeah.

Jared Ewing (17:26)

Um, I still wasn't, I had no real speed to it, but I could go a little bit farther each day. And then I started throwing in, you know, pushups at every mile air squats, every mile. I was just going nuts. Need and have to, you know, having to work out all these other body parts. And, uh, it got to be about like 2022. So two years of doing that. And that's when, uh, the marathons were coming back. And I was like, dude, I gotta see how fast now I can do one. Like I've been running every day.

I know I can do one faster in five hours, 55 minutes. And that's whenever I got a hold of Shaq and he was gracious enough to come ⁓ help run with me. And we ran that and I think I ran it like 440. And that's when the, that was the Columbus marathon in 2022. And once I did that, again, just the curiosity bug was like, man, if I really threw down some real training and stuff, I wonder how much faster I could go. And then I knew, you know, my PR with my two.

Aubrey Hayes (18:04)

Was that the Kentucky Derby Marathon? The Columbus Marathon. That's right. Yeah.

Jared Ewing (18:19)

When I had two good legs was like a 415 or something. So I was like, man, how cool would it be to be able go faster with this leg than when I had two good legs? just.

Aubrey Hayes (18:25)

PR now, yeah. Before we get into

like your current success on marathons, because I mean, you're crushing it now. What kind of mindset did you have as you went through that, through your injury? So obviously you talked a little bit about like, man, like, this is it. I'm too young to kind of have this. But then you talked about your faith and how you prayed. And do you think...

that spiritual self of you helped get through that and like just what kind of mindset you know obviously it's probably a roller coaster of emotions how did you stay grounded through that process or were there just times you were just like man this this is rough and kind of give us some insight on that

Jared Ewing (19:05)

Yeah, so

I would just say man like I got a little like more spiritual as you know post accident but I had always been someone that's a believer in god and jesus, but I really you know, I think what did it for me was really just like Getting big into like david coggins and cameron haines and these guys because I mean ever since I was a little kid I had this this thing this pedestal where I put like military people, you know, like, you know navy seals this and that and

I was like, man, like I looked up to these guys. I was like, these are the people I wanted to be. And so whenever I found David Goggins and Cameron Haynes and like those sorts of people, I was like, man, like the things they're saying is kind of like exactly what, how I think, you know? And it's like, I've always been, when I was in the military, I was always about like, hey, like let's grind. Let's work this, let's get, you know, best shape as I can, because you never know. You want to be in your best shape for you. you can do your job the best of your ability.

And, ⁓ I was like, man. And then at that point too, I was like, Hey, like I want to run these, these multiple marathons are really going to have to start working hard to start beating down these legs. And so I constantly was doing things, ⁓ in the morning, like I would, I'd show up at like 4 a.m. at the gym, go run like three miles. And then the gym would open up. I'd go work out for a couple of a couple of hours, and then I'd go run back outside and run. And I was just doing this because I really believed in that Goggins mindset of really like,

Callison in your mind like just doing hard things every day to prepare yourself for the future. And so what I think lo and behold You know, it's coincidentally, you know this accident happens and I think that you know It was a little bit easier for me because I had that mindset a while like a long time Like I had been grinding and putting myself through hard things each and every day So I think that allowed me to be more ready for the moment

Aubrey Hayes (20:54)

Mm.

Jared Ewing (20:58)

And also what a huge coincidence was, you know, the doctors told me because of the, of my, my running the marathons, the shape I was in, that's the whole, another reason why I was able to keep my leg as well, which is just like wild, like, Hey, like I started focusing on really beating up my legs, working out my legs, running a lot. And then lo and behold, I was able to keep this leg because of all that work I had been doing, but go back to the mindset. Yeah. And just ever since I was little,

Aubrey Hayes (21:18)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (21:24)

Like I would hear these cliche things and I always took it to heart. You know, it's just like, you know, treat people the way you want to be treated or, you know, go out and do hard things or, you know, it's just like, don't focus on the negative. Like all these things, like you can just all these quotes, right? And I'm like, well, they, must be there for a reason. So I've always had that like mindset. And then when that accident happened, it was like, all right, Jared, we go, we got, are you, you know, you got to, got to now talk.

Walk the walk. You can't just talk the talk, right? Yep. And so I pretty much put that to use. again, I was like when I did it. So I didn't have many like big, big lows and I'm just, you know, thankful for that. But I think it's because of this, this mindset that I was able to just have throughout the years and just again, then just making me a little bit more spiritual and just being blessed, just like I'm still alive. So throughout the whole process, I mean, in every single

Aubrey Hayes (21:53)

Yeah, practice what you preach now. Yeah.

Jared Ewing (22:20)

moment of it. I've just been blessed through it all and so I can't help but just be thankful and grateful and sure every day when I wake up and I see my leg and I feel it like every day it's a I have obstacles with this thing every day. That's a little you know I try to not tell people but at the same time it's probably good to get that out there but it's like no matter what even right now I can feel my leg like twitching a little bit.

⁓ I have some sort of annoyance with it 24-7, but running is what actually makes me feel free of my leg. I don't feel that leg when I run and I think it's because my mind is just so many other places it's focusing on all the other pains, know, everything that you think about when you're running. So I feel free of the leg when I do that, but yeah, just, just...

Aubrey Hayes (23:04)

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Jared Ewing (23:10)

know, blessed to have that good mindset, but it just helped me get through it all.

Aubrey Hayes (23:15)

Yeah, having that resilient mindset and doing hard things makes you resilient. You know, there's there's plenty of studies done on doing things you don't want to do builds, builds resilience and actually I believe I saw something that talked about how the brain actually grows with resilience and there's some there's some combination of that. So, yeah, being able to do. What's that?

Jared Ewing (23:20)

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, chosen suffering.

I chosen suffering. Yeah, because why? Yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (23:40)

chosen suffering. Yeah, there's

a method to it. It's not that everybody's crazy and they love to suffer. It's the it's what you get from the suffering that everybody's searching for. And the reason the you having that gave you the ability to to fight through a tough situation and come out on top honestly.

Jared Ewing (23:45)

Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I just think you know all of us are gonna have tough times that are gonna come up You know that this life isn't easy. It's not fair. There's gonna be curveballs There's gonna be you're gonna get punched in the face. You're gonna get knocked down and it's just Building yourself up to be ready for those moments when the time comes and so that's why I continue continue to choose, you know be intentional about these hard things that I'm doing just in case a like

Aubrey Hayes (24:17)

sure.

Jared Ewing (24:24)

I know first hand life can change or end in the blink of an eye and I know first hand that tomorrow something big could happen and I just want to be prepared for it.

Aubrey Hayes (24:33)

Nice man. getting back to your current marathon goals. So we talked about the Columbus Marathon and then you talked about trying to beat your past PR 415. So how many marathons have you ran since your injury and kind of walk us down that, you know, give us a synopsis of where they were. It doesn't have to be every one of them.

maybe your most memorable ones and in the times that you're aiming for or aiming for now.

Jared Ewing (25:06)

Yeah, so now I'm up to 37 marathons and I've did seven ultras. So pretty much I tell people 44 races of at least a marathon distance. ⁓ But basically I had four before the accident. So I've done 40 races after they told me if I kept the leg I was never doing marathons again. ⁓ So some big achievements have been that

Aubrey Hayes (25:29)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (25:33)

Last December at Keowa Island in South Carolina, I ran a 301 marathon. I was shooting for a sub three. I'm pretty sure I had the cardio and everything, but it's my own fault. I showed up late to the start line. There was no corrals. And for the first two miles, I was fighting through people, man. And just, I gave it my all, but a 301 and some change. so that's the fastest marathon I have did to date. And yeah, you know,

Aubrey Hayes (25:38)

Wow. Wow.

⁓ yeah.

Was that a BQ for you?

Jared Ewing (26:01)

No, I have well see here's the here's the thing right? So I tell people all the time I'm lucky but it's weird because I'm not so lucky uh, so So yes, like i'm 38. So for me to actual like by normal standards a bq is three hours stuff to sub three, however I am a i'm a paraathlete So I have different qualifying standards So basically i'm a t44 paraathlete

Aubrey Hayes (26:01)

No.

Jared Ewing (26:29)

because I'm missing my calf muscles, I have no function of that ankle. So I basically run with people who are below the knee amputees. That's the category that I was placed in. So for me to qualify for Boston, they're very gracious. I think it's like a four hour that I have to be able to do. And I think to get like free, like your race cover fee, like the 300 bucks to get that covered, if you can run like below a 325 or something, you get that.

Aubrey Hayes (26:47)

Okay.

Jared Ewing (26:58)

like waved and so I've been able to do that the last couple years is because I've been able to run, you know, the sub 325. so yeah, so that's how I've gotten into Boston and Chicago is through that. But so yeah, then the other big achievement was last year I ran the JFK 50 mile. And so that was a fun time. I did that in like seven hours and like 25 minutes, but uh,

That was definitely a learning curve. The Appalachian Trail is no joke. You basically run a half marathon on the Appalachian Trail. And I just knew like, Hey, this isn't me. I'm just going to walk through this. I'm going to let people pass me. I, but I told, was telling people, but when I hit that tow path, I'm going to start taking souls because the tow path is, where I train every day here in Ohio pretty much. And I can, and so I sent it for the tow path.

Aubrey Hayes (27:29)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (27:47)

So you run on the Appalachian Trail for like a half marathon. Then you run like a marathon on the tow path there. And then you go like eight miles of back country highways. So I sent it on that tow path. And then when I got to those highways, man, my legs were toast. So those last eight miles were rough, but ⁓ we did it. so my ultimate goal in all this, I had this crazy idea, hey, let's run a marathon in all 50 states. I thought about this like two years ago.

Aubrey Hayes (28:05)

Yeah, test.

Jared Ewing (28:16)

And I was like, hey, like they told me I was never run marathons again. That's why I'm in all 50 states. And so that's kind of just been like what I chip away at. But then each year I try to find a big goal to do something that's really going to get me outside of my comfort zone. And I think the two easy ones are always like, let's go. Let's see how fast we can go. Let's see how far we can go. And so this year, the big goals were ⁓ podium at Boston. It was a that's.

running my first 100 miler and then try to run a 255 marathon. So those are the big goals this year. And at Boston this year, I just made podium in my para division. got second. And so that I appreciate it. Yeah, it was ⁓ something that I thought I might be able to do after looking at all the times last year. So it gave me that belief that I could do it. And so just over a year, just worked my butt off for that and I was able to accomplish it. So now

Aubrey Hayes (28:56)

That's man, that's awesome.

Jared Ewing (29:12)

It's it's trading for this my first 100 miler which is coming up in July and then I signed up for this marathon called the marathon project Which is happening in Arizona in December and I'm gonna try to shoot for a 255 marathon and the reason why I chose 255 was Just to give myself some leeway to make sure I get that sub 3 that I've been searching for But other than that, yeah, just each year just try to chip away at these 50 states. I am at 22

Aubrey Hayes (29:32)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (29:37)

After this year, I should be probably I'm thinking like 25 or 26 by the end of the year and then yeah But then also throwing in big goals. So ⁓ I think next year In 26, I've been talking to you know, Shaxman trying to get me to do an Ironman forever And so I think I'm turning 40 40 next year. And so I think that's gonna be the big one for next year. So I think shit

Aubrey Hayes (29:54)

Yeah.

Well,

you need help with plans and stuff, we can help you out. We've got a really good full distance coach, ⁓ Josh. He's awesome. He's hitting 8 hour, like 830, 845 full Ironman. It's like dude is a monster. Yeah. And he'd be more than happy to help. So yeah, man, you're out there crushing it.

Jared Ewing (30:05)

For sure. For sure.

Wow. Heck yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (30:27)

injury did not hold you back, I would almost say that it it pushed you forward a little more more I guess it just gave you that drive like I gotta do something and that's pretty awesome to see ⁓ you don't see a lot of people bounce back from something like that so pretty pretty awesome

Jared Ewing (30:34)

Yeah.

Yeah, I just, again,

it's a daily reminder of, man, get off your butt and go move and go do something. And again, running is the best thing for it. So running is just every day. It's allowed me to get a little bit faster and it just helps me, you know, in general, more mental than physical, honestly. I think that's how I've gotten through it so well too is, you know, running has helped me on that mental aspect, but it's definitely a reminder of just being grateful and thankful to be here today.

Aubrey Hayes (30:59)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (31:11)

to be able to run. You know, the good thing, you know, the thing that like with Boston is so I'm with all these para athletes in this tent and it just humbles you. You're like, man, it's just a reminder of all these people that are going through all these tough things, man. Way worse than what I've had to go through. And they're out there running a marathon and it just humbles you and it reminds you like, hey, like there's people who aren't alive. There's people who wish they could run and can't.

And so now I feel like it's kind of my duty to make sure that I go out there and I'm pushing these limits and I'm out there running every day for the people who can't or, you know, just in general. But, and then I just have this curiosity bug. Honestly, I tell people, I'm very curious now. It's like, I'm sure with two good legs, I would have been curious, but with this leg, I mean, you tell me I'll never run marathons again.

I gotta keep on saying how farther can I go? How much faster can I go with this leg? It's like a true curiosity. But it just, that always helps me as well.

Aubrey Hayes (32:13)

Nice, yeah. If you could give one bit of advice to anybody getting into endurance sports or other people kind of in your position, you know, maybe para athlete, you know, someone that is new to the scene in the para athlete world, what would that be?

Jared Ewing (32:29)

I've kind of searched search out people, know trying to search out like good people and people that are doing things that you want to do or that you could possibly do and Because that's gonna give you this it's gonna give you this little switch It's gonna go off of your head and you're gonna say hey, you know if they can do it, know Why not me? Why can't I do it? and I think the more that the more that you find these you seek these people out and you kind of just You know, you're following them and then they're just inspiring. Yeah, it's gonna

Aubrey Hayes (32:37)

Mm-hmm.

Jared Ewing (32:57)

get you to want to go out there and do more. And ⁓ so yeah, I mean, that's it. And then it's just having a belief in yourself. Just believe in yourself. But I know that can be hard. And that's why, you know, when you see other people doing things, like, why not me? And then it will push you to do it. then, and then, yeah, just, you know, continuing to, if you can choose, you know, choose to do these harder things, choose the harder route. I know it's easier said than done. But yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (33:25)

wise words man and if anybody wanted to follow you and follow your journey where could they follow you at?

Jared Ewing (33:33)

Yeah. So on, on Instagram, I go by Jay Rod. It's J R O D four or five one three. And then I'm on Facebook as well. Jared Ewing and I'm on LinkedIn as well. ⁓ Jared Ewing on there. And then as well, I have a documentary out that, ⁓ could probably cover down on my story. It's about 14 minutes long. It's on YouTube. If you look up Jared Ewing extended, ⁓ because the full title is Jared Ewing extended poly novo.

like documentary or something like that. if you just start to put in those few words, it will pop up. You'll see my face on there and then, and yeah, watch it. And then I just ask people to, know, if you get something from it, share it, share it with somebody for sure. And I hope people get something from it.

Aubrey Hayes (34:17)

Yeah, for sure. And I'll get the link from you. We'll share it in the show notes here for everybody so you can have easy access to it. Jared, man, I've heard your story multiple times from Shaq, our buddy Shaq, and hearing it from you hits a little different. ⁓ know, the big thing we talk about in the military is resilience, right? They always preach resilience. ⁓ And

You definitely resemble that. You showcased resilience. You showcased that people can go through tough things. I know it was a traumatic event for you, but it's an inspiring story for others. I just, I hope that you continue to leverage your story to help others and to push other people. And I know I'll be in contact with you and I hope I can be anywhere near as fast as you in the marathon sometime soon.

I just hit a 319. I'm working my way down. ⁓ But I'd love to come out and do some races with you. And we've talked about before the show doing the Bourbon Chase, which is a Ragnar relay race, 200 miles with six people. So hopefully we can get that going. And ⁓ I look forward to seeing your journey to Ironman. I think you will find that that is a ⁓ transformative experience for sure. ⁓

Jared Ewing (35:13)

Awesome. Heck yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (35:40)

I know coming across a marathon finish line is awesome, but man, something about when you hit the red carpet in an Ironman, it's the emotions are crazy. Like I can't explain it. My first one, it was just like, and I'm sure you felt this way with training before is like you hit that red carpet and you're like everything that you did, like the past like six months to a year just flash. And you're like, my gosh, everything I just went through, put, put myself through all the people that supported me. And so

Jared Ewing (35:47)

Yeah.

Aubrey Hayes (36:08)

It's an emotional experience and I can't wait to see you get out there and knock that out.

Jared Ewing (36:14)

Yeah, man, I appreciate again. I'm just honored to be on this podcast with you It's been a pleasure talking to you meeting you and I appreciate it I appreciate you giving me your time to allow me to share my story Like I tell others any chance I get I want to share my story and it's about just allowing others to kind of

Aubrey Hayes (36:25)

Yeah.

Jared Ewing (36:34)

You know, see that there's other people out there going through tough times and just, you know, give them some bravery to, you know, stand up and start fighting for themselves. And then again, we all have obstacles in life. We all have stories to tell and there's not one person that does it. And if my story can help them share their story, help them set up and be brave enough to share their story. ⁓ that's it makes it all worth it. And again, ⁓ I might've went through some really hard times. I might have hard days still.

But whenever people get something from my story, it makes it all worth it. Every single second, it makes it worth it. And so you have me on here to share it. I really appreciate it. And again, I just hope it motivates people, inspires people to go out there and just try to be better, try to work on themselves and become better at whatever they're trying to do. And again, if they do that, I have a feeling they're going to inspire others.

And I think that's what this role is about is you inspiring somebody and then them going off to inspire other people. And this huge chain reaction of inspiration and people just doing awesome things. So yeah, appreciate it.

Aubrey Hayes (37:41)

Absolutely brother, but alright so that it's all the time we have today but ⁓ if you guys would like to submit questions you can ⁓ click the link below it says text here and It'll take you directly to a text thread that you can send to us Also, you can reach us at precise multisport.com forward splash contact us or www.precise multisport at gmail.com

If you're looking for a coach, please reach out. We're always taking on new athletes. And lastly, one more time, Jared Ewing, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. And it was great having you.

Jared Ewing (38:16)

Thank you. It was an honor.