The Athletes Podcast
The Athletes Podcast is a leading source of information, inspiration, and education for anyone interested in optimizing physical performance, maintaining good health, and living an active lifestyle. Join David Stark as he interviews some of the world's biggest athletes and fitness professionals, The Athletes Podcast provides practical advice, expert insights, and real-world strategies to help listeners achieve their health and fitness goals.The goal is to entertain, educate & inspire the next generation of athletes!
The Athletes Podcast
Running Across Canada: Mindset, Pain, and Presence with Dave Proctor
We sit down with ultra runner Dave Proctor to unpack how he ran across Canada, what attention and meditation did for his performance, and why the finish line mattered less than the steps that got him there. The talk moves from ego and validation to stillness, doubt, and the craft of stacking habits.
• Canadian pride and sport as pure attention
• Doing vs being and running across Canada
• Outrunning ego and the Second Mountain idea
• Meditation as training for focus and composure
• Pain vs discomfort and practical reframing
• COVID, a broken foot, and choosing acceptance
• Doubters as mirrors and compassionate resolve
• Post-record stillness, writing, and new identities
• Baselines for runners and habit stacking
• Influences from Terry Fox to Al Howie
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What's up folks? Welcome back to the 269th episode of the Athletes Podcast today, featuring Dave Proctor, someone who you may not have heard of because he's not massive on social media, mainly because he doesn't need all that additional attention. A couple years ago, during COVID, he ran across the country of Canada, a transcontinental, as they call them. I personally just drove across the country and cannot imagine doing this on foot, especially when you come to think about some of the difficulties that Dave had along the way. We dive into it during this episode. He's got a book, he's got a docuseries that's coming out. You folks are going to love this episode. I can't thank you enough for tuning in here today. I also can't thank Perfect Sports enough for being our sponsor. That being the primary sponsor of the Athletes Podcast. They provide us with hydroflash, collagen, creatine, and you guys know about diesel, the best protein on the market. I take one to two scoops per day minimum. And you folks should too. If you use the code AP50 at JECO, you can save 15%. Send me a screenshot of what you buy, and maybe I'll send you some extra products. But this is a 269th episode of the Athletes Podcast featuring Dave Proctor. Here we go. You're the most decorated basketball player in U.S. history. World's strongest man. From childhood passion to professional athlete. Eight-time Iron Man champion. So what was it like making your debut in NHL? What is your biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes? From underdogs to national champions. We're high performance individuals to their triumphs, at least, and life left. Educate, entertain, and inspire the next generation of athletes. Here we go. And so you have a great name. I have a great name. This is how we get started on the athletes podcast. This will be like a 268th episode of the show, I believe, which is absolutely bonkers. Hey, it's the beauty of compounding. You know it. It's like putting one foot in front of the other. And people pay attention over time. It doesn't happen overnight, but you know, at the end of the day, we uh we have a really cool opportunity to be able to put in front of people, incredible individuals like yourself. The 269th episode. As you know, I'm just back from three weeks on the road, so I'm still getting my bearings here, but we got an amazing individual, Dave Proctor, on the Athletes Podcast here today, the 269th episode of the show, an ultra runner, someone who I've been admiring for years behind the scenes, but we finally get to feature on the show today. Dave, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. So excited after that day's win yesterday. Big ALDS. Success for those days. 3-1 victory. Tell me about it. You were watching it.
SPEAKER_00:I was watching it and I love the bullpen. I'm in love with our bullpen, and we're gonna go to the World Series. There's no way that we're not gonna we're not gonna we're not gonna win. We're a winning team. It's a fun team to watch. It's a fun team to watch. It's all well-rounded, it's got great leadership, it's it's everything. It's the best, it's the best of sport, you know?
SPEAKER_02:It's this is such an amazing time for sports to be happening too. October baseball is the best. I was able to actually catch game one in Toronto on Saturday. What a sensational environment that was to be a part of. You and I have been texting back and forth. We've pushed this conversation 14 hours so that we could have it, so that we could watch the game, won the hockey game last night, came back phase one, you and I were celebrating. What is it like though for you to be able to motivate an entire country the same way these Blue Jays have been doing that? Because for you, crossing the country, a cross-continental journey, that was obviously a few years ago now. Man, you gotta think that that similar Canadian pride is pushing you every step of the way when you have that journey that you're trying to go from one ocean to the other. Can you explain the mindset associated with that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, it's I don't know. You know, it's it's funny looking upon the journey that was after the fact, because, you know, during the journey, I felt like I was just busy doing. You know, and I didn't really feel like I was inspiring. I didn't really feel like I was, you know, becoming anything. It was just I was just busy doing. And there's a lot of doing that that that that comes to building success. I look upon it now and go, wow, I couldn't have done any more. I couldn't have done any better. You know, my 105 kilometers a day across the country was was the best I could do. And, you know, if I die in 40 years from now, if I'm 84 years old when I die, I know very well that, you know, I've set the bar the highest I could and I've done the best I could during that summer's effort. And you couldn't just you couldn't be any prouder. If that if that inspires people, that's so rad. I love that. I think that that's so cool because I found great inspiration in many others who've done bigger things. And I I I I love that. I think that we all have different stages in our lives. And there's a time that you are seeing what other people are doing and trying to match that. Other times you're you're busy doing, and other times, you know, you're coaching thereafter. You're you're you're you know, and uh, and at other times too, it's it's it's cool to just be, right? So I feel like I'm in a stage right now where I'm just being, but back then I was doing, it was pretty fun.
SPEAKER_02:How are you able to turn that switch on and off? I've talked to 270 plus athletes today over six plus years. That's a switch that not everyone's able to turn on and off, if you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, it I think it's because I I think it was pretty clear of what I was trying to do. And it was very deeply personal, and now I can talk about it simply because during while I was doing it, I was trying to outrun something. Hell, you know, during throughout the entire process, I founded a charity and I nameled it outrun, outrun rare. It was pretty clear that I was trying to prove something to myself or outrun something. And I think the lights the the switch gets turned off or can be dimmed, at least, after the fact when you have proven something to yourself. I feel bad for a lot of the individuals out there that are continually not really understanding what they're running towards or away from or trying to prove. And then they're old men and women and they're still fighting. They're still looking for that thing, they're still looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And if you're not really clear about what that is, how do you know what you're running to? And how will you know when you get it? That's that's that's a bigger question, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and I think the issue in our society nowadays is the fact that people are never really satisfied, right? Those goal points are always changing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And you know what? I think the world is set up so that you're never satisfied because then they got your attention, right? So I I I think the greatest resource in the world, and every hey, this is this is us diving straight deep into uh philosophy, is is is attention. And I think if you and I were to go around, and if you and I were psychologists, we're not smart enough to be psychologists, but let's say we are, let's let's put that hat on for a second. If we were to go around and and and test everybody to see who has ADHD, 99.9% of everybody has ADHD. It's because you look around and everybody's attention is somewhere, most likely on their phones, right? And we've been gotten. Nobody talked about it. Because you we've been you were busy waiting for your friend to come by and play. You waited. You just sat there and waited. Now we don't wait, and we're given something every six seconds or eight eight seconds. And ultimately, like we're all we're all suffering from ADHD, but I think it's it's it's societal based. And so uh yeah, I I I agree with you. I I think it's it's a real interesting issue, but yet that's the most beautiful thing about sport, is it takes all your attention and draws it towards the task at hand. And I think that's the most beautiful thing about exercise and sport.
SPEAKER_02:I could not agree with you more. This is part of the reason why I've been so passionate about this for the past you know half plus decade. And I I fell into athletics probably a decade plus ago now during high school and realized the benefits. And you talk about staying present. I I get to do this once a week, no matter what, if I'm on top of my planning. And it this brings me that kind of peace when I'm able to have a conversation with someone for 45 minutes, an hour, learn about what that mindset is, how that mindset differs or compares to a guy like David Goggins with that stay hard mentality, which maybe benefits some people, but might not benefit everyone. And to your point, there's a lot of people that are running away from things. Do you see that and then try and provide insight based on your experiences when you see someone maybe out there on social trying to do some crazy feat? Or are you supporting how do you manage that? Because you've gone through that process already, and there's a lot of people out there that are in the midst of it, maybe myself even included, when I go pursue a marathon randomly and then, like, yeah, I can do this in eight months, and maybe that's an ambitious goal. Maybe I'm dealing with some things during that moment. Do you see that, recognize it, and then try and offer support, or how do you manage that situation?
SPEAKER_00:That's a tricky one because I think everybody in the world is busy telling one another what they should be doing. And you know, that's not fair and reasonable and kind. It's not kind. You know, there's this really great book, I forget the author, but it's called The Second Mountain. And it all talks about the second mountain that we climb in life, but but we have to climb the second mountain after the first mountain is climbed. And the first mountain that we climb in in this life is when we're in our 20s and 30s, or our teens, 20s and 30s. And it's a lot of it's a lot of ego. There's a lot of ego involved there. There's a lot of drive, there's a lot of build, there's building, family, wealth, career. There's hyperindependence and selfishness and what's in there for me, right? And then upon every mountain, there's a summit, and it's a beautiful view. Hey, I saw it, and it's beautiful, right? And then there's this long descent, if not a cliff. Some people it's a cliff, hopefully not too jagged and doesn't hurt too far too hard when you fall. And then there's this valley in between the two, and it's an uncomfortable place. Some people buy a sports car, other people, you know, it it's it's a midlife crisis, as you would say. But yet on the other hand, there's a second climb there. And you can't be too frustrated or be frustrated or angry with people that are climbing the first mountain, because you climbed one too, right? And and you know, boy, early in my running life, uh boy, I was trying to prove something to somebody else. I was trying to be somebody. Hey everybody, are you seeing what I'm doing here? Hey, did you see my 250 kilometers last week I posted on Strava? Hey, did you see that I went for a 45 kilometer run at nine o'clock at night? Hey, how many kudos can I get? And I'm gonna respond to those kudos so I can end up driving that and building more. And ultimately, you could say that that's an awful thing. You could say that, oh hey, that's not really building what you need, but ultimately you get there and through that in order to build something else. And I believe that everybody has to kind of do it. And you see that right now on social media with a lot of these these individuals that are trying to be social media influencers, and they're trying really hard. And I sit back and I look and I say, Wow, that was me. And boy, that was uncomfortable. Because no matter what you do, you won't be enough as long as you're looking out there, right? And that's that's some something that I try to offer. Hey, people that are that egoic, people that are that in that place, they don't listen. And in fact, they get angry with you and say, hey, you're an old man, and what do you what do you what do you say? But I don't think I would have listened when I was 25 either, right? Yeah. And so I think that ultimately I think that a wise person just sits back and brings compassion and wishes them peace.
SPEAKER_02:Again, having seen what those people are going through, the mindset associated with it is tough for again turning that switch on and off. I I look back and I think about even when I was going through my half marathon, marathon prep, a lot of emotions. But you also, again, to that point, as you're climbing, like, oh, I can do this. Well, I I just put up 250k this week, I just put up 300k the next week. Maybe this is something that is within my purview to accomplish. And you have those people. I love the way you say a lot of people telling they should do. And I've also tried to almost remove that word because why why should we do anything? What's the point of doing anything unless it's providing you that internal piece? And sport, athletics provides that internally, I think, more so than anything else, whether it's corporate job success, titles, accomplishments, monetary, financial success, like that. And having gone through it still in that kind of ego dissolution phase, are there pieces that you would have suggested to younger individuals to seek out? You know, I think about the documentary that you've just recently released, sorry, facing the long yellow line, as well as your audiobook Untethered. You mentioned in there at different times the fact that that ego dissolution, we have a society now that is set up for always trying to achieve more. You've been able to focus on being a runner, doing that job, accomplishing the cross-continental feat, and then becoming the social media, then trying to build more on top of that, gain more attraction afterwards once the goal is complete. Can you maybe piece that down as far as how you're able to achieve that before expanding?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. How do I put this? I think it's being present. You know, if I think that if I could offer one tip to younger athletes is don't underestimate the power of meditation. You know, meditation ultimately is focusing upon doing, upon say your breath, right? And while you're meditating and you're quiet alone in a room at five o'clock in the morning, you know, you'll have you know you'll have thoughts. Like a vehicle will drive by and you'll say, Hey, that's a loud vehicle. That's a thought you didn't choose to think. And to then draw your attention back to your breath. And that's that it basically it w wires your brain to not be distracted, ultimately. And I know it sounds ridiculous, and every time I meditate, I woke up early this morning and meditated for an hour in my living room in the dark, and ten minutes in, every time I say, I didn't I don't got time for that, I ain't got time for this. But you know what? It's this world is trying to distract you. This world is trying to gain your attention. How many times have you sat on a toilet and with legs going numb 45 minutes later because you're distracted? The world is set up against your brain, it knows how to how to how to hijack you. You have to take control. And so ultimately, you know, athletic prowess exists because of one's ability to focus their attention. And that meditation, when you're like, you know, this is so stupid. I need to go be doing some strength training, I need to go do a hard speed set, I need to go do this and then hold on. You know what? You know, championships weren't one because of speed sets. No, they were one because of mental strength and and aptitude. And so I think that ultimately, you know, your question was is is is moving forward, you know, how do you start here and then end up there? Ultimately, I think it's that you still hold on to the values that are that are important. And that is, you know, I I don't want fame. I'm not on social media. I don't I don't, you know, I wrote a book for my grandkids because this book is my story, and it's the proof that we proctors can do hard things. I don't want to be famous. I don't I really don't want wealth because I it's not good for me. My ego is too fragile for that. And I don't want to be that guy that's on social media that people are like, oh my goodness, I have to do what Dave says. No, I I'm not smart enough to be that guy. But yet on the other hand, I'm present enough that I took, dear Lord, I don't know how many steps across the country, and I ran a record that will likely be standing for another 20 or 30 or 40 years simply because I did it one power pole to the next. There's 89,500 power poles between St. John's and and Victoria, and I ran each one of them individually. And that's sport, that's mindfulness, that's being present. And you know, it's the art of non-striving. It's not, you know, it's not what people think. It's it's just being here, right? And not being there. And so, yeah, I I'm still doing that today. Hey, for years and years and years I had this purpose. I was very purpose-driven. I needed to go do something. You know, I've learned that there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I'm still insecure at the end of the day. And the only way for me to find my true happiness is to be still. So I'm I'm busy instead of have driving purpose, I'm being present these days.
SPEAKER_02:Uh uh, I'm just pausing so that everyone takes a moment to be present right now, even in this conversation, recognize what was just said. You referenced in the Rambling Runner podcast that I was listening to, episode 608, that they that the people who create you, i.e. your parents, should also be proud of who you are every single day, and vice versa. When you're going through life, you should also be remembering, hey, this is how I was growing up, and this is how I was taught to be internally. You know that decisions you make throughout life sometimes dictate how you end up being perceived. Hopefully you're perceived in the way that you were ideally supposed to be created. You mentioned this world record running across Canada, no big deal. You hold the world record time for running across Canada, Dave Proctor. To put this in perspective, for those listening, Canada is nearly 75,000 kilometers wide, over 4,000 miles for those Americans listening, because you know we gotta get that metric imperial system sorted, which is the same as running a marathon every single day for more than five months straight. Why would you attempt something so crazy?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, why not? Why not? You know, I'm a firm believer that in gratitude, and I'm so damn lucky to be here. You know, and number one, I'm so lucky to be talking to you right now, David. I'm lucky to hopefully live 4,000 weeks on this planet, you know, in this body, in this skin. You know, and I remember when I ran my very first ultramarathon 20 years ago, it was a hundred kilometer race, and it nearly killed me. Like I I was crippled at the end of that thing. And then a friend of mine who I met on the course, we became great friends, he said to me, He said, Could you imagine Al How Al Howie did it back in 1991? I said, Who is Al Howie? And what do you do back in 1991? He said, You ran Canada across Canada in 100 kilometers a day, and I said, That's impossible. I can't breathe a week later. How do you do that every day? That's like and ultimately we all look upon what other people do and we see how we would and we're like, How is that possible? How is Connor McDavid skating the way he is? You know, how is Vladimir Groh Jr. hitting hitting balls the way he is? Because I when I swing a bat, I I I don't swing like that. And so ultimately, you know, I I believe that we get to live this life once. And why not set a scary, hairy, audacious, you know, goal that is something that's worth reaching, is worth getting out of bed in the morning, something that terrifies you, something that you'll probably fail. But yet boy, don't you want to be that man in the arena? Don't you want to be that guy who took a shot at it? Anyone who reaches high and fails, tremendous respect, because boy, at least they got out of bed knowing very well that they weren't gonna be screaming from the cheap seats telling the doers what needed to be done, they're doing themselves. And so, you know, Canada was my Everest. Canada was the thing that scared the crap out of me, but I also realized that my innate skill set, I'm not a rocket scientist, I'm not a good-looking man, I'm not gonna be on the cover of whatever magazine. But I've got this weird ability to run and be cool with it. I'm not the fastest runner. There are a lot faster runners than I am, but yet on the other hand, you know, after the marathon, the second marathon, the third marathon, I don't really tire as much as others. So putting that skill set at play and actually reaching for something that is terrifying. Like imagine being in the middle of the country realizing I'm this broken, but I've still got that left to go, and being cool with it. That's living for me.
SPEAKER_02:Did the record feel as good as the journey itself?
SPEAKER_00:No. No, no, no. The record was kind of meh. It you know, I I could have sworn I thought it was gonna be greater than that. You know, I you know, you work so hard all your life, you wake up every morning and you think about this thing, and then you get there and you look around and it's not as glorious as your mind's made your mind made it out to be. You know? There were a bunch of little things that were miraculous and surprising for me. You know, I hell, you know, I got in the documentary in in in Chasing the Long Yellow Line, there's a scene at the very tail end when I hug my father just seconds after touching the Terry Fox monument in Victoria, and he pulls away from me and he yells at the top of his lungs in just this really primitive way, which is the coolest thing ever. That's my boy. And do you know how hard that was to get? Like, I've been working all my life for for for my dad's approval. Like, you know, athletically, you know, that's how you got his attention. And you're just one, you know, piece of mechanics in your pitching delivery away from the data boy, but you're always one step away. And boy, you know, I'm a I'm in my forties now, and that you know, that was tough to get. But then on the other hand, as I sit back now and I look upon the memories that were, like the the run itself, it's all the little things that you wouldn't think are gonna be memories. The rain in Newfoundland, the hills in Ontario, the moment that you saw Lake Superior for the first time, you know, that wind gusting across the canola field in Saskatchewan, and you're like, you just look to your right and you look away and you think, oh, that's that's just a field I've been running in fields. But that's the memory that comes back now. It's not the finish line, it's not the grandeur, it's not it's not any of that, it's those little memories, and you know, that was the reward was being able to string together all those steps between St. John's and and Victoria. And and I I wish something like that with anybody's craft for everyone, that they have that at least one moment like that in their lives that they could look back upon and say, Yeah, I lived this life.
SPEAKER_02:You didn't get that from throwing across your basement, hitting a mattress with that baseball with your dad growing up.
SPEAKER_00:That was practice. That was practice, and you know what? I'm so glad that my father taught me that work ethic, because that work ethic comes in handy later on in life. Boy, you know, and I some would even ask, you know, like what is practice? I I even your execution is practice for the next round, right?
SPEAKER_01:For sure.
SPEAKER_00:What's the next round? What's the next in it? What's the next next race? My race, my my next race might not be a running race, right? But it could be something that's just as hard. Dealing with a family member getting diagnosed with something, dealing with mental illness, dealing with children who are getting older, and who knows what's going on in their lives. And that might hurt my heart, that that might be more difficult than running across the country, but at least I did that in preparation for this.
SPEAKER_02:We also have to give a big shout out to our partners at Pioneer Auto Group for providing us with this Jeep. We've been doing a couple episodes remote, but as we continue to head into the winter season here, we're gonna be using this bad boy. We're gonna be getting guests in person here in the lower mainland. Shout out to Cody and the Pioneer Auto Group for providing us with this amazing Jeep. If you guys are looking for a vehicle, send me a DM and we'll get you sorted. Thanks for tuning in. Back to the episode. Well, and you can you know, it's those bricks that you lay as a kid when you're watching some other stud throw amazing pitches and your dad standing next to you and saying, You're gonna be better than him next year, right? Yeah, it's those baby steps, the bricks along the way, that year-long spending time throwing in the mattress.
SPEAKER_00:You know, that's when Oh, and I I think to that point, you savage, right? Pitching coming up from single A baseball and now pitching in the world in the in the in the playoffs and being as dominant as he is and looking at his father and his mother in the stands, like that just melts your heart. And you're like, that a boy, because you're seeing beautiful success in his laughter yesterday when they when they won. It's just stunning. It was beautiful. It's it's he's a child, he's a 22-year-old kid.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00:But don't we all as parents look upon our kids in that way? And don't we all see ourselves as children looking on upon our parents in that way? And it's it's a circle of life, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing, and it's success is something we hope for. Sometimes you don't get it, sometimes you end up getting failures and and and misery, but you know, that's a part of, and I I bet you you savage as a end up having his misery as well, too, in life. You don't get to where you go where you are through Skittles and Rainbows. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Talk about a decent fourth ever MLB start, hey? You know, come in the LDS series and you throw what 12 strikeouts in a postseason record, 11 dream. Dream come true. Dream come true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for him, that was probably his best moment as far as his MLB is concerned, career is concerned. What's one moment from that run that you'll never forget, good or bad?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, what's one moment from that run I'll never forget? Oh, God, there are so many. I know. Um, you know, I think it was getting on the ferry coming off from Newfoundland to it's an overnight ferry, and to to to get to Nova Scotia or to Cape Breton to fin, you know, to start the mainland of Canada.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I end up contracting COVID over in Newfoundland and I had to run with COVID, and that was really uncomfortable. You know, and there was a lot of mindfulness and a lot of deep prayer and meditation that was taking place when I was running because the the world was busy convincing us in that in that point in time that you couldn't exercise with COVID. And and trying being with yourself out there in discomfort, wanting so bad to feel comfort, knowing very well that the story that's been spinning in your head is exactly what you don't want to hear, and you're the one telling it to yourself. But to be able to kind of work through that and getting to the fairy and going, okay, one province is down after nine days of running, and you know, I now feel better. I feel like I'm coming through COVID and I'm I'm I'm coughing and I'm it hurt still, but yet my fever broke and I'm now back to running well. And if I could do that, you know, whatever comes next is is gonna be a piece of cake. So, you know, I think sometimes that struggle, that baseball bat upside the head, is the best lesson. And so I think that your lows are will be your highs. Your lows are your highs, and that was my low, but then the high that comes after was was my greatest memory.
SPEAKER_02:Broken foot or COVID? What's worse to run on or with?
SPEAKER_00:Uh COVID went away. You know, my broken foot didn't. And so the broken foot was more of a mental exercise than than than COVID was. Just because, you know, I took 120,000 steps every day. So it was, you know, 60,000 times I I landed on my right foot. And even as I say that right now, I wiggle my right foot and it's it's still there. I'm gonna pay for the sins of my past. And I I know that. But you know, uh the mental exercise of of not giving it space, not giving it the attention that it wants, and I get I I understand why it wants attention. It wants you to stop because in a in on a training run, if you felt that way, you should stop. Like you're causing further damage. But yet on the other hand, I'm not starting this run again. And if I don't finish this run at this point, and you knew you were gonna break something. You knew that something like this was gonna happen. But then on the other hand, the gnawing nature of discomfort and pain, and then how that highlights all the exit doors on the sides of the highway, and you could probably find good reason to stop anything, any difficult thing at any one time. You don't have to look too far. Knowing very well that I had another, what would that have been, 55 days of running with that foot in that way 60,000 times, you know, trying to minimize that, that was very difficult some days because it was very loud some days and it was moderate other days, but it was never quiet.
SPEAKER_02:Can you distinguish the difference between pain and discomfort for those listening?
SPEAKER_00:I think that discomfort I pain is seem seems to be something you can't escape. Discomfort is something that you can notice and draw your attention elsewhere, or draw less attention to it. Pain loves attention. Pain only grows with attention. And so I get but I get it too, right? Like we all watch David Goggins stuff, and he draws attention to pain and uses that as a fuel. But the vast majority of us, and I would even argue he it doesn't help you transcend. Guess he got a bed in the morning for sure. Yeah, he he he's great at getting out of bed, transcending. Right? Yeah, that's that's that's a truly miraculous thing that when you can end up taking pain and moving it to discomfort and going like, you know what, this is something I'd rather not have, yet it's something that I can accept because wanting something to be different than what it is in the moment is misery and pain. Like, oh, I don't want this to be this case, I don't want my foot to hurt. Well, your foot is gonna hurt. Yeah, so you know, I think that the there's a case to be made for avoidance, right? Avoidance of pain. Right? If you can accept pain, next time you anybody, any of the listeners here, when you next time you're working out, next time you're really in discomfort, do something radical and ask yourself in the moment, okay, where do I feel this in my body? Right? And can I accept it? And can I breathe into it? And it's amazing that your your pain, that's you know, a nine out of ten, will immediately go down to a six, and then breathe some more, and then it'll go down to a three. And you're not not doing the activity, you're still doing it, but it's the most amazing thing because we are taught in this world to avoid pain. We are taught to that's a tomorrow problem. I'm gonna put that away, I'm gonna dig a hole and bury it, sit with it, and it becomes you loses its power. Any alcoholic, anybody who says, Hey, listen, I've got a drinking problem, and they tell their friends, it loses its power. It's it's amazing. But pain is the exact same thing, and pain becomes discomfort. I've got discomfort every day, you know? So do you. We all have discomfort. It's your choice when you make it pain.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, my favorite quote growing up, I would listen to this motivational speech from Eric Thomas, and I'll I might butcher it, but eventually it goes something like pain is temporary, it may last for a minute, a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside. And if you can mentally wrap your head around the fact that this is a temporary state and I'm still working towards my goal of achieving it, I can I can do anything.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's called impermanence.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, sit with anything. Anything. You know, you sit and meditate, and that thought is gonna go away like a cloud. It's like sitting on the side of a highway in a lawn chair and you see vehicles drive by, and you might be really attracted to a red Ferrari that flies by, because hey, who's who's not? But you know what? Even if you get up and chase it, it's gonna go away. And it's gonna be replaced by another vehicle that's driving by. And so impermanence, this too shall pass, right? As much as you seem to think, like, I'm in serious trouble here, you're not. You're doing okay, but you have this attachment to this discomfort. And that's one of the things that you know, I think that kind of this this what's going around social media and what's going around the internet of like this is how you do hard things and you just scream and yell and and and and and whatnot. It's it it's so short-lived, you know, because ultimately if you can accept it and just go, hey, this is this, and then move past it, it takes away all of its power because ultimately discomfort has a power over us, it makes us stop doing a thing. Take away its power. Beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02:I I think about what we've talked about over the past 30 minutes here, and I'm like wrapping my head around the fact, like and wondering, does accomplishing the record for running across Canada open your mind to other goals? I know running maybe has taken a brief hiatus at the moment, but other things that you want to conquer as you realize and recognize, oh, I can do this now. My eyes have been open to what else? Like wheels start turning.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Back to the the the the second mountain book that we were talking about earlier. I've had my life of achievement. You know, I've been living with this extreme per purpose in my life. And sometimes when you're chasing something incessantly, when do you when do you know when to stop chasing? When do you when do you know? Do you know what's a really awkward thing is when you see a dog chasing a car incessantly and it catches the car. It's it's a that's a weird thing, man. You know, that's it's it's a funny, funny moment. And so, you know, I I I don't know. I don't know. Now I believe that in order for me to find maybe what's next, I don't know what's next. I need to be still right now. You know, I need to be present. You know, I was always chasing something, and I was chasing something for a good reason because I had something to prove to myself, and I proved it. Now what? So now I'm lucky enough to be that guy who proved something. So I don't know what's next. I don't know if it's coaching, I don't know if it's more writing, I don't know if it's a career change, I don't know if hey, I'm learning how to play the guitar.
SPEAKER_01:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:That's really cool. Like I've always you know put off, like I've always said, you know, since I was in my 20s, I want to learn how to play the guitar, but I was too busy. And so I'll I'll I'll pick it up next year. I'll pick it up next year, I'll pick it up next year. You know what? I might I might after a year from now go like, yeah, no, it's not really for me, but at least I tried. Because I've come to realize over my life that I ran a lot, and I really didn't do a lot of other things simply because if I have some free time, hey, I better go for a run. I better put in a long run, I better do some a speed set. And I've come to realize that I look around at a lot of my friends who are in their mid-40s and they're they they they they cast a wide net in things that they enjoy. I'm like, oh shoot, I'm just a runner. That's all I've learned how to do. And so right now I'm busy trying to learn other things. And it turns out I'm really, really enjoying it. Just like the book I read, or I wrote. I didn't I'm not a writer, but it turns out I'm a good writer. I I really enjoyed writing that. Sat down with a cup of peppermint tea and classical music, and I I I was a writer. I wrote a book that I'm really proud of. And cool, that that's a really cool you know, expression of artistic expression. I've never considered myself having to have that, but I like that part of me. So I'm gonna dig a bit more into that, maybe this music thing. Maybe I might go try out for the Blue Jays next year and and and and be turned away. Um but you know, either way, I don't know what's next, but I also don't want to be too take it too seriously.
SPEAKER_02:A lot of people now in life are taking it too seriously, myself included. I think about you know, myself six years ago setting an audacious goal to try and educate, entertain, and inspire the next generation of athletes. And when I hear you talking, it's like you know, you had those goal posts, you achieved them, and now it's what's next, or staying still in the moment, being present. For me, those goalposts are ever changing. So maybe it was naive of me at the time to set those goals. But I feel like now, to your point, I can potentially do this forever and not have that maybe second mountain where I'm descending if I can continue to simply ascend. And maybe again, that's my naivety coming out.
SPEAKER_00:Well, no, no, but it but it but to your point, you like it's it's beautiful. Everybody's climb. Like you're climbing your climb, right? Everybody's climbing their climb. And you know, it's it's a beautiful thing when you see somebody searching for something because complacency and uh so don't get me wrong, uh you know, purpose is a beautiful thing, right? You know, Victor Frankel writes about it eloquently in in Man's Search for Meaning. What's the meaning of life? And how do we end up finding it? And it's it's through hard work and seeking out and determination. That's beautiful. On the other end of that is beautiful too, right? So, you know, anybody that is trying hard to make something, to prove something, to you know, to to whittle something out of nothing, I've got a tremendous amount of respect for. Because those are the those people in this life are doers. And let's face it, people who are listening to this podcast are doers. They're they're busy doing something and trying to pick little pieces apart from conversations to be able to do as well, too. And I've done that all my life as well, too. I when I run, I listen to podcasts and I take little bits of Pete Kostelnik and and and and Courtney DeWalter, and like those little nuggets, they work, right? They these are wise, wise people that do something that I value. But you know, I think that the the need to find is a beautiful thing. And and and and I wish you all the luck, and I wish everybody all the luck when it comes to, and hopefully you find what you're looking for, right? Along the way. And how would you know? You don't know.
SPEAKER_02:I think to your point, that's the beauty of it, is there might not be anything, you know, or there is, and you get to achieve that. But along the way, you get to meet incredible, well, arguably the best individuals in the world that you want to be associating with, trying to emulate little pieces of what they can do. For me, that's that's the beauty of it. Again, whether I'm able to inspire the next generation of athletes or not, I'm gonna chat with 250, 300, 500, 1,000 different people. And like we talked about before we started recording, if we can impact one person, that's an insane opportunity just there on its own. But dealing with those doubters isn't easy, especially at the beginning. I can imagine when you tell people you're gonna run across Canada, there was probably a couple people that looked at you with some wide deer eyes and headlights and said, You've got some crazy goals, Mr. Proctor. How do you deal with that? Was that fuel? Was that fire?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's it's it's totally expected. And I've always seen those people as being very insecure. Yeah, as am I, right? And we all you know have this level of insecurity all within us. People who say that they're not insecure, take your mask off, you're insecure.
SPEAKER_02:Come on, they're just doing a better job at hiding it.
SPEAKER_00:Or or or just being loud about it, you know, guys like Donald Trump out there, he's the loudest. And he's the most insecure. That guy needs a hug, man. That guy needs a hug and a mother. But that's oh, yeah, we went, we got political there, didn't we? But but but on the other hand, you know, you have to ask yourself what's doubt, right? How many times in my life have you know I've been talking to somebody because I'm I'm really lucky, I'm a massage therapist, and you know, I practice all day. I'm treating nine patients later today, and hey, for that hour appointment, we're talking nonstop. And it's a beautiful thing. I love, I love you know, people, but how many times do you hear people deflect? How many times do you hear people should other people and lead with insecurity? And it's so often, especially for people that are dealing with people that do. And I get it, I I likely because of my running, I make people feel insecure about what they're not doing, and that's not my intent. But with that insecurity that comes out is really interesting because I think that you end up having people that deflect that that that you know resort to to doubting. And their doubt towards you is that their doubt on towards themselves. And you know, ultimately I could get angry and attack back, but that's not really the compassionate thing to do either, because hey, I've doubted myself, why shouldn't they doubt me too? You know, I've doubt uh doubted other people because they're doubting themselves. The world is full of doubt. Like, are you really sure that we could can do this, that we should do this? And especially something as audacious as 7,000 plus kilometers across the country every day. Like the weather, the hills, the the mosquitoes, the hell, I would I I was so lucky out there. There wasn't a big wildfire I had to run through. You woke up in the morning, the headwind was the headwind, or the tailwind, or the sidewind. There was so much that was out of my control. Should they have doubted me? Of course they should have. Why if they didn't doubt me, they would be foolish, right? And so, yeah, you know, if if somebody's doubting you, that just means that you've set a goal or set something that's large enough worth doubting. Good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you're on the right track.
SPEAKER_00:If you're not doubting it yourself, set a bigger goal, yeah, right? Or set a goal in the in means to get to something that you should probably doubt, right? Because then you're living, then you're on that razor's edge, and that's a beautiful, beautiful place. So yeah, oh dear lord, I I've had a tremendous amount of doubters, but I think that the advice that I would give anybody, any young athlete, if somebody's doubting you, deep in your heart, don't say it out loud, because then it's just being passive aggressive. But just deep in your heart say thank you. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02:I like the passive aggressive route saying thank you. I like Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, especially with the Blue Jays playing the Yankees last night. And boy, it's really, really fun to beat the Yankees. Hey, I'll I'll be the first to admit.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and hey, if you can do it with a smile on your face throughout the entire process, and you know, if they doubted you, and it's you know, some people will use that as fire, that chip on your shoulder. I've heard that again, maybe that's the younger ego state. But if you can get to that state where you're you're almost stoic with it, you're like, yeah, you know, this is pretty crazy. I am gonna try and do it. And you know, maybe I don't accomplish it. But again, if I can do the necessary steps along the way, I've reverse engineered it to a point where I think I can. And whether I do or not, I'm going to be so much farther ahead for having done it or tried or attempted this.
SPEAKER_00:Right. I think that sometimes, you know, when it comes to self- some sorry, when it comes to doubters, I think the thing that triggers us the most about that is because we deep down kind of know they're a little bit right. Come on, come on, like think about it. You know, if it triggers you, it's not them, it's your trigger. If you're if you're concerned with doubters, with people saying you can't, it's because that's triggering a little part of you deep down that goes, uh, yeah, this is hard. Hey, you know what? You're not gonna be doubt, you're not gonna be bothered by doubters if you set your your bar really, really, really low. Like, hey, can I step over this bar? Yeah, of course I can. And anybody who doubts that, like, but you're not taking a risk. But what if you set the bar so high that the risk was actually exponential? And that's the beautiful thing about being in the middle of the arena, is you you're actually putting yourself not in harm's way of others, but in harm's way of you actually knowing very well that I knew I couldn't do this.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Beautiful. Were you always like stoic, Buddhist mentality? I've heard kind of a couple references doing my research. But I think that it's like, you know, in the preparation for trying to go for a world record. You've got the world championships that you run 16 miles longer than you would have ever thought have going through that, the preparation that's associated with such a physical feat. Uh I'd love for you to kind of highlight maybe a tidbit. I'm sure you go into more detail in your books about this, but you know, when you are trying to achieve such crazy feat, you've obviously been exposed to manual therapy as a thought therapist. But uh where do you maybe set a baseline and say, hey, these are some of the minimum requirements that you should be different? I use the word good. How would you suggest young athletes, people who are pursuing the sport of running specifically because it's gained so much attention over the past decade, I'd say? Uh guys like Zach Bitter, who is episode 199 on the show, Braden Mills, who's a guy locally here. Everyone's picked up the sport of running in some capacity. COVID played a large part in that. Barriers to entry are low. You know, you grab a pair of running shoes and you get out there, right? What are some of those other kind of baseline pieces that you would suggest for athletes wanting to get into the sport of running and how they could set themselves up for success?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think ultimately it's a sport of doing. You know? It's a sport of of quietly doing. Out there every single step of the way on a run, but it's just you and and and and and physics. And so it's going out and putting in the time, putting in the effort. It's it's it's it's just an effort-based exercise, it's an effort effort-based activity, and there's a lot of pride that can be taken with actually going out and doing something that you were busy trying to talk yourself out from, moving away from comfort, moving towards discomfort, and proving to yourself that you're not a slave to comfort, that you're that you're a king. There's an old stoic philosophy quote that says, Desire for comfort makes slaves out of kings, whereas patience and discipline makes kings out of slaves. And we get to decide if we're going to be a slave to comfort, hitting the snooze button in the morning one more time, having that extra bowl of ice cream after dinner, comfort, you know, your slave to comfort, because we get to decide, or becoming a king or a queen, where you get out of bed, you finish that run strong, you do your last set of weights when no one's looking, and you're not posting it online, and only you know, and you get in the shower after that workout, and you have that little smirk on your face because you know you did it. You know you did it. And so that those little moments of little bits of stacking pride and and accomplishment and knowing and not having to prove anything else and anything to anybody else outside of yourself that you could do hard things, getting in that shower and turning the dial down and going, you know what, this warm shower feels nice, this cold shower does me good. Uncomfortable, but does me good. These little moments, those little things, those little habits, those little stacking of habits, thousands of habits a day, that's what makes it, right? If you have to go and be like, oh, hey guys, do you see these habits that I did? Hey, hold it. Can I get some applause for this? And in fact, I'm gonna go into social media and I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you about my habits that I've done, and I'm gonna get the applause, and I'm gonna applaud you upon your habits. What what what happens when those those that applause goes away? Then you're left with yourself, right? And if you haven't learned to love yourself from within, then you are, you know, then you're you're you're then you're sitting duck. Right? You do this for yourself, right? Because in the end, no one's gonna be there for you. You have to be there for yourself. So the advice that I have to to to to younger people is is notice when you do something good, that you're proud of yourself, that you work through something, and put a little asterisk and a little gold star beside those things, and notice the habits that you want to move away from. Because when you look at guys like Zach Bitter, your your previous guest, that guy stacked habits for years and years and years, and he doesn't talk about the little things, about choosing this breakfast over that breakfast, because those aren't sexy, but they stack and they matter.
SPEAKER_02:I think back to a quote, Emmett Smith, Dallas Cowboys all men are created equal, some work harder in preseason. And uh to your point, you know, not a lot of footage, documentation during preseason, but that's where that foundation's laid. Uh you you got ahead of me. You gave uh that best piece of advice for the next generation of athletes, Dave. I can't thank you enough for coming on this show, for sharing your knowledge or wisdom. I can't wait to run this back again. Like I mentioned, we'll get staffed on the pod here, maybe do a dual cross-Candidate tour combo, highlighting the two of you, maybe just letting you guys riff on experiences from going across the country. I just did it three weeks in two separate sprinter bands, and I'm gasped. So I can't even imagine how you guys did it on foot. I I do want to leave a minute here for you to share where people can find you. Obviously, you've created some incredible momentum when it comes to your foundation, what you've been able to achieve as far as highlighting others, raising funds. But you've got a documentary out there facing the long yellow line. Vera, never leave it. If I said that correctly, probably not. That's located on Vimeo, as well as your audio and book untethered. But the floor is yours here, Dave. I again can't thank you enough for coming on. I want to give you that minute to highlight where people can seek you out because I believe more people should be sharing your story. That's what we're doing here on the Athletes Podcast today. But the floor is yours.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, thanks a lot, David, and I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, I I'm I'm hey, you know what? You can find me at Ron Proctor on Instagram. There's not going to be any content there. You're just going to see, you know, all the posts and all the everything from the run across Canada three years ago. Yeah, so I'm not really anywhere. You could end up sending me a message on Instagram or Facebook Messenger, and and you know, I'm happy to jump on the call with anybody. I would prefer to hear somebody's voice than than texting or whatever. My phone, my my my book is is Untethered, the comeback story of one of the longest, fastest runs in history. That's found on Amazon. As I mentioned before, it was a book written for my grandkids that aren't born yet, let's face it. And it's it's a story about how we do hard things. And it's it's written for anybody who wants to take a couple little nuggets from people that have done hard things, that want to do hard things. And and the book, or sorry, and the the movie Chasing the Long Yellow Line is gritty. It's exactly how it happened out there. The filmmaker captured beautifully all these drone shots of Canada, and you see me grow a really long beard, uh, get really, really skinny, and you know, achieve something that I've been chasing all my life. And it's beautiful. It's not the pump your fist in the air, nothing ever bothers me, I don't feel pain. You want to see pain? Yeah, it's it's there. It's very uncomfortable. But anybody who wants to find something and achieve something, there's something there for for you. And I and I appreciate you guys' attention on that.
SPEAKER_02:And if you guys enjoyed this episode, I can guarantee you you will enjoy listening to the audiobook, watching the documentary. Please, please, please go check out Dave Proctor's work, Canadian Legend, someone who I'm gonna continue to hopefully stay in touch with, follow along as you continue to seek out other ambitious goals to conquer. I do want to ask you one more question. I always do this, but people who inspired you, is there individuals that you'd like to highlight right now, give a little kudos to, whether it's parents, coaches, teachers? I always feel like there's moments here where we can highlight and maybe spread a little love and highlight those individuals.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Number one, Terry Fox, you know, the greatest, I believe the greatest Canadian ever lived to whoever was busy doing, you didn't want to be, he was busy doing, right? Al Howie for setting the bar. Right? I so, so appreciate that. And and anybody who comes behind me on on wanting to run across Canada and find themselves out there. My father, Randy Proctor, he's not a perfect dad, but he's one hell of a you know a great leader, and I I I love him so so much. My old track coach coach, Loxley Walters. But ultimately, you know, my kids, they uh they're truly wonderful people and they make me want to be a better man every day. I'm a I'm a really lucky guy to have them in my life, and and I want to I want to grow old looking looking down, or not down, aside alongside these wonderful people. Just very lucky to be their dad.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, I'm a very lucky guy to have been able to spend the past hour with you, Dave. Sincerely appreciate your time. I can't wait for others to listen to this episode. It's a doozy. And for those who enjoyed this hour, you got so much more content to consume with the documentary and the book. Dave, thank you so much. This is the 269th episode of the Athletes Podcast. Thank you folks for tuning in. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Take care.
SPEAKER_02:I just wanted to say thank you folks for tuning in to the 269th episode of the Athletes Podcast. We continue to grow here, and we appreciate you being along for the ride. It means the world to me. Check out our sponsor, Perfect Sports Supplements. Use the code AP15 to save 15%. And if you haven't yet, hit the subscribe button below. I sincerely appreciate you folks tuning in. Have a great week, and we'll see you next week for another new episode. Bye.
