Episode Transcript
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and it's been a while since I had an episode. I've actually been in the process of transferring from Buzzsprout as a hosting platform to now using Castos. And so there's been a lot going on, as well as moving back to America, and just taking care of a whole bunch of stuff. So I apologize how long it's been since we've had an episode and, you know, all my guests have just booked for, like, the end of September or early October. So here we are with a solo episode just to, uh, keep this show afloat, and also just a topic that I really wanted to talk about. You know, I made a social media post about it, but I realized I, I just wanna do an episode on it as well. I think it's worth talking about and something I'm interested in sharing, and hopefully some of y'all can relate. Uh, maybe it'll be inspirational for you or, you know, at the very least, you know, spreading some information about a couple of things. This episode is gonna be focused on a recent 5K I did. Now, to give a little background on me, I was a varsity cross-country runner in high school. Uh, gold medals, silver medals, uh, just varsity jacket, uh, first person in my grade to have one, actually, pretty much right away. I loved running, you know, and it was one of those things-- To, to tell you the truth, I had done some other sports before, dabbled in basketball and other team sports, and me personally, I'm not a big fan of team sports because at least, at least, I will say in a sense of middle school and high school. Here's why. There's o-oftentimes someone who is forced to be there who doesn't wanna actually be a part of the team or be a part of the sport, and their lack of commitment can bring down your whole game and basically refute all of the hours of practice you put into. As an adult now, I would be much more open to being on a team sport because I think-- and of course there's still gonna be people, but most people who are actively choosing to pursue sports and athletics in adulthood, they're doing it for a reason that they're pretty committed to. You know, it's not like their parents are making them do it. And that's not to say that that happens a, a lot, but there are plenty of, you know, children who don't wanna be on a sports team. Their parents made them do it or maybe they don't get along with the other kids, and so they grow to hate the sport because of their outcastment in the school system, and then it's just a bad time. So I was never a fan of those kinds of team sports, number one. And number two, at that time I, I guess I haven't been in that situation in my adulthood really to really give you a, "Hey, I've changed my mind on it." But at that time, I didn't like being watched. I guess, you know, just the pressure of people watching me perform out on the basketball court or if it was a different sport. Uh, cross country was nice because for the most part it's just you and the other athletes. You know, you're in the woods or on the trail. Maybe there's people watching you along the way, especially at the end typically, but that's it, you know? And honestly, when they're watching you at the end is when you're performing your strongest. For most of us, you know, we're kicking at the end, we're running our fastest at the end. It's through the finish line, right? There's really no need... There's, there's not the same pressure of, in my case, if you make a shot in basketball and it misses, right? Like, I feel like other than your placement in the race, which you might be conscious of as you're crossing the finish line, for the most part, it's very hard to feel the same pressure that you do in a basketball game, a lacrosse game, whatever it may be. Of course, that's not to say, you know, if you trip and fall right before the finish line, and I shouldn't laugh about that, but, you know, it is, uh, embarrassing or, you know, if you have toilet paper on you, because I've heard stories of guys who hopped in the bathroom during the race because they couldn't hold it any longer, and they're running through the finish line, you know, with toilet paper on them. Uh, outside of those more rare circumstances, for the most part, cross country is a solo activity. Yes, you have a team, you have team rankings, especially in high school. You have different ways that your, all your contributions are being weighed to evaluate competing in states or nationals or whatever it is, right? But for the most part, it is you against you, you against the other runners, and then that's it. If you run bad, it has nothing to do with teammate A, B, C, D, or E. It has to do with you, and I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the fact that I had to take full accountability for both success and failure. My success isn't dependent on other people, and my failure isn't affecting other people. Again, could it affect us going to states or nationals? Sure, but it's different in, in my personal opinion than if we're playing a game of basketball, to go back to that example, and I, I pass the ball to the kid whose parents forced him to be there. He doesn't really have commitment a- and he makes a haphazard shot and costs us the whole game. It, it's different than saying, "Hey, I personally feel..." If I, if, if I was the one who missed a shot, you know? But in a, in a team sport, you give other people opportunities, or you're supposed to at least. All this to say, I, I really fell in love with running. However, our coach over-trained us and, uh, we competed a lot back-to-back competitions, running excessive miles every day, and I ended up getting shin splints and microfractures in my legs. Um, and unfortunately, you know, it was not a good time. I actually had to take a break from running, and a lot of people wanted to give me this advice or that. "Do these ice baths, do this for your shins, do this," blah, blah, blah. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm no doctor, so take this with a grain of salt, but honestly I found the best thing was just to take a step back for a while. Did it hurt? Yeah, I love running. Most of the times when I go to the gym, I, I go to do a bicep curl, next thing I know my arms are curling up and down without weights and I'm outside in the woods. That is to say I, I love running. I pursue every chance I get. I, I've, I've ran outside when it was 30 degrees. I've ran outside when it's over 100 degrees. I've ran in complete humidity. I've competed in races in Japan, in America. Super awesome and in, in fact, I'll t- I'll talk about the, the Japanese story here as, as well briefly, although I want to focus on the 9/11 remembrance 5K I did. But I fell in love with running. I had to take a step away from it, but when I came back When I listen to my body instead of just pushing through, what I got was I ran. I took a break for a long time, for years I took a break, and I didn't need to take a break for that much of a time. What happened is I went into the military, uh, there was COVID, there was military, 5Ks weren't happening, and then they were. So I ended up taking a much longer break than intended, but the fruit of that was almost... It was like two or three whole minutes off of my run time. When I, when I took that break and then I, I got back into training myself, listening to my body, and I know a lot of people might contradict me because I'm a huge David Goggins fan, and, and I, I, I do believe in, in pushing past and stuff, but I think there's also a time for rest. And, and a lot of gym guys, even these hardest guys who will, you know, tell you to, you know, push and, and run until all the bones are broken, right? They'll also mention intentional rest. You know, they talk about the difference between laziness and intentional rest. All that to say, uh, it was beautiful. I got back into it, and during my time in the military, I didn't run many 5Ks. I think I only did two my whole time in service just because the schedule and everything, you know, the schedule and it wasn't something I really made time for. And I don't necessarily regret it. You know, I did great at the, at the ones that I did do. In fact, the one that I did is where, uh, in the military, is actually the record that I'm gonna talk about today. And so we'll, we'll fast-forward. I wanna mention and give a little plug for, and I'm gonna read verbatim here from the website, Travis Manion. So the Travis Manion Foundation is the, the group that was putting together the 9/11 Heroes Run, which was the 5K that I did the other day in remembrance of 9/11 and also Travis Manion. You know, and they, they, their expression is, is pretty awesome: If not me, then who? And so I just wanna read here a little bit about Mr. Manion, you know- Marine Corps First Lieutenant Travis Manion. He gave the ultimate sacrifice on April 29th, 2007. Second deployment in Iraq. They were on patrol for a suspected insurgent. Uh, uh, you know, Travis, his fellow Marines, and the Iraqi army counterparts were ambushed. Travis led a counterattack against enemy forces, drawing fire away from his wounded comrades and allowing every member of his patrol to survive. For his actions, he was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star with valor. Today, over 300,000 Spartans nationwide carry forward the legacy of fallen heroes like Travis by leading with character and living at the, "If not me, then who?" ethos. Uh, their foundation does a lot, you know. And so they actually do different events. They've got, like, a summit coming up here. They did the 5K. They do different things. Right now they're doing a lot to help out with the suicide prevention. You know, that's, uh, number one, it's, uh, important cause to the military community, the veteran community in general. But also now in September is when it's specifically highlighted. And so shout out to them. I got to meet some of the people in charge of it here in Jacksonville, Florida area. Uh, great. Uh, from what they were saying, it's all over the world. So hopefully wherever you're listening from, at, at least in, uh, America especially, you know, you can find, uh, them doing something there, uh, in your nearby area or, you know, hopefully you can take a trip to somewhere close by to participate, whether it's a 5K, the speaking summit, or partnering up with another nonprofit, whatever it may be. And so super glad they put this together. I signed up, and, and this is one of the lessons I wanna talk about here is I signed up for this 5K right after running my, my first-- Really, I ran for almost an hour straight in the m- mid-Florida day around 2:00 p.m., 1400. You know, I was out there. It was hot. It was humid. I was drenched in sweat. The kind of sweat where I put my arm down in my car and I lifted it back up and there's just a puddle of water on my, you know, my center console there. So it's, it's, it was hot. I ran for an hour straight. My first real run outside since I've gotten back to America from Japan. And so with that being said, it was right after that that I signed up for this 5K, and that was, like, I guess Tuesday, and this, this 5K was on-- And this was Tuesday, you know, by the time I got home and everything. This was Tuesday night. Signed up for a 5K on Friday evening, which was the 9/11 remembrance, the Heroes Run 5K that I'm talking about. And You know, it's, it's not the first time I've done something like this. Last year I signed up for a Lumpia Run 5K here, part of Jax Filipinos, and I signed up I think 12 hours before. I found out about it and signed up, like, 12 hours before it happened. So historically I have a track record of doing last-minute 5Ks. And some people say, "Wow, good for you. You're so gifted or talented," or, you know, "I wish I was born skinny like you." Ladies and gentlemen, the last-minute nature of my endeavors is the result directly of the work I put in. So consistent training, you know, all of it is to... And, and this is a saying for the Navy that I actually enjoyed: always ready, right? We're training for life, for our next-decade body. Shout out to Tien Wong, author of Next-Decade Body. And, you know, we're training to always be ready to do something And it's not just physical training, I mean, that's a huge part of it, but also mentally. Having this mindset of, okay, I'm going to compete wherever I'm at. And one thing that I'm bad at that I encourage you to be good at is pairing grace with your conditions. But there's a balance between giving yourself some leniency and excusing poor performance. That is to say, if you join last minute and you could say, "Hey, I mean, I'm joining last minute. I just competed. I'm not fully recovered, and so I'm not performing at top tier," that's one thing. If you use it as an excuse to give minimal effort and not try at all, and then use it as an excuse, that's a different thing. You know, I joined, I had a, I was fighting a head cold. I had barely slept because I had been so busy moving back from Japan to America. Uh, I had just ran for an hour straight, uh, pretty close beforehand, but I said, "No matter what, we're, you know, we're gonna try, and we're still gonna try our best." And that's the difference between the leniency and the excusing, is the effort level of, of your trying. And so I say that I encourage, don't ever say something is too last-minute unless it's, like, a financial hardship or a time and distance travel burden. You know, whatever state of health you're in, you should pursue that opportunity. And so last minute I joined, and it was a great time. I showed up. I had to show up, like, two hours or so early, which I hate, but I hadn't picked a packet ahead of time. Wanted to get my shirt, which I'm wearing now, you know? So got to do that, and the course was very simple. And it was the kind of course that some people were like, "Wow, I, I'd love to try this opportunity," and some of y'all are like, "Ooh, I would not want to do that," which is it was on the beach itself. It was on the beach and- I'll tell you what, it was, luckily it was mainly a hard sand beach. Of course, there was a portion of soft sand, which we'll get into later on, but, you know, it's different. Even the hard sand, the way it triggers or, or the way, like I'll, I'll say me personally, and I believe this is most people, but, uh, it, it activates the calves so much more. And I don't know if that's scientifically accurate to say it activates them more, but you will feel it more. At least I do. I will say, you know, I'm not a science expert in, in this degree, but I'll tell you what, it, it, it, it must activate something differently because my, my calves are, if you run on the beach, especially in the soft sand, uh, even in the hard sand, long enough training, you'll feel it in your calves especially. Or at least maybe that's just my personal physiology. But yeah, it's, it's a great calf burner. Uh, you know, I used to work on the beach as well, uh, pulling, uh, two coolers on a dolly up and down the beach barefoot, so I used to feel it, that in my calves as well, so. But I got there early, uh, scoped out the course. I got there early because I also like to go to the bathroom, uh, before the race as, as close to the start time as possible. But I also know sometimes, depending on the crowd, uh, there can be a long line for the bathroom, depending on the number of bathrooms and how many people show up. So I wanted to make sure I had time for that. And this is gonna sound crazy, but I got there and I ran a 5K on the beach beforehand to warm up. And a lot of y'all are thinking, "That sounds excessive." And I, I will advise, don't run a 5K before your 5K to warm up unless you're like me in the sense that I've been training for 10Ks. I have been running 10Ks. I competed in a 10K in Japan. I've been training for that. And so the last time, the Olympia 5K was actually what inspired this. I was one of the top finishers in Olympia 5K, but I did not feel well mentally after that race. Everyone was con- congratulating me, cheering me, "Wow, you were so fast. You did so good." And yes, comparatively, I, uh, e- even numerically, that was all true, but the fastest person in that race was slower than my best time historically See, and I believe it's around 18:45. I remember I was pursuing sub-20 for a while, and then when you get sub-20, you're pursuing sub-19. Around 18:45 That is the PR that I have been chasing for such a long time, and that was the number I set after I, I recovered and took time off. And so it's really come down to this idea, like After I got out, after that 1845 race, I didn't compete again at all, uh, only sparingly over the years. I got out of the military, then I was busy, then I was traveling, and then blah, blah, blah. And so that 5K, I guess it was last spring, you know, the Lumpia Run, I- the- my, my PR was way faster than the top athlete's time, if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember the exact time, but I remember saying that the top athlete was still slower than my best time, and that really hurt. That really sat painfully inside of me. You know, I, I couldn't believe it. And so looking at that race day, you know, people were saying, "Well, you, you found out and signed up only 12 hours before the race happened." And again, there's some leniency and grace to be had, but for me, there, there was no excuse, you know, because I had been training. For the past two years, I have been running for almost an hour to two hours straight every other day, um, with different breaks for different other workouts I'm doing and stuff, but that was the issue. I had gotten so used to 10K training that I finished that Lumpia Run 5K, and I felt a whole 5K inside of me, ready. A whole 'nother 5K. And for me, that was the worst feeling in the world, to feel like I could run another 5K right now. I feel ready. My body was used to 10K. It was used to slowly jogging a 5K and then doing a faster paced 5K. That's how I had been training. So that's why, and that's just the background I wanted to give you that context for why on Friday, this is previous Friday, 9/11, that I ran a 5K before my 5K to, to make myself think I was doing a 10K, to get back in, to get my body trained, and it worked very well. I jogged on the beach. It was almost 100 degrees at one point. I mean, it was a hot day. It was around 90, between 96 and 100, depending where you were at, and it was humid, and the sun was out on the beach. I mean, just walking from my car to the venue, I was sweating. It was a hot day. And mind you, this was, we were starting at 1800, that is 6:00 PM EDT, because we wanted to, you know, uh, have the cooler side of Florida, and it's, it's hot even into the night here because of the humidity and just the temperature in general. But that being said, you know, we Sorry, I'm looking out the window 'cause it's pouring rain, and I could hear it. It's, like, always doing this every day now. And with that being said, that aside, you know, we were on the beach. I warmed up, and we got to the starting line. We're on the beach. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of muscular, in-shape people, veterans, active duty. And I'm looking around, and I'm, I'm a little nervous. There's people who have done this course many times before, and I'm always extra nervous when I haven't ran the course before, you know, 'cause I've had situations in the past where the course was not clearly marked, and so I was just a little nervous about that. I'm looking at these people who... They, they, they seem serious. They've got all the American gear on, 9/11 gear on. You know, a lot of them knew people who were lost during 9/11. A, a lot of them were veterans, first responders. I mean, really in-shape people. And so I was feeling like it was gonna be very tough competition, but still gauging the crowd. I, I hadn't felt-- I hadn't-- I just hadn't felt something like this person is the person who's gonna be the biggest rival. And then right as we're about to start, this guy pulls up pretty close to me, and I said, "Oh, no." Uh, shout out Joshua White. I actually got to talk to him afterward. You know, tall, very muscular, and, you know, there's pictures on my Instagram of, of he and I, and I'll tell you what, I mean, it was, it was quite the interesting day They fired the, the gun to start the race, you know. I don't know if they actually fired a gun. I think they may have just said go, but, yeah, I, I can... It was a huge crowd. I mean, w- horizontally this was quite the start because they had a little section of cones, but there were so many people and we ended up just spreading out across the beach. And so this was a lot of people starting at the same s- uh, starting line compared to stacked or layered. I've been to different races where they layer it by your time that you think you're gonna get, and so this was not like this. This was just like a mass wave of people all across the beach. And we start, and as predicted, this guy next to me, Joshua White, he's like the first person out the gate and he's the furthest ahead. I'm trailing right behind him. And of course, as we're running, mind you, on the sand, here comes this strong wind right down the beach, and this wind is blowing down the beach right at us. And I tried to run right behind him so that he would block the wind. You know, there's actually a professional term for it in NASCAR racing where you go right behind another car, and there's terms like drag coefficient and all this stuff that I'm not gonna get into, but that's what I was trying to do. But while he was huge and muscular, he was also very lean, like, you know, like an athlete and so it wasn't helping much. But I'm, I'm trailing behind him, and he's going fast. And I... You know, it's that game of I wanna pace myself, but I don't wanna let him get too far ahead because there's this idea, yeah, maybe he'll get far ahead and then trail out, or there's an idea that he's gonna maintain the same pace. So I'm debating. You know, we just started. Um, you know, I'm keeping in mind my energy level. I already ran a 5K that day. I ran, you know, for an hour straight outside like two days beforehand. You know, we're on the beach. And so... And I was dehydrated. I, I regret... I felt, I felt very dehydrated, which really stung. That was the worst part actually. Uh, you know, they didn't, they weren't giving out waters or anything, and I had only brought one and it was not enough. I mean, I, I had sweat so much just from running beforehand and just from, again, just from walking from my car to the venue and back. So, uh, I was dehydrated, but we're out there running, and really by this point clouds had come in and storm clouds are heading our way. Like, I'm talking about dark black thunder clouds. And so we've got the wind, we've got the clouds. It's actually very cool conditions, uh, considering, you know, Florida humidity and everything. And so I was super excited though because I said, "Wow- You know, I am second place right now, and if I can maintain this, this would be pretty awesome. And the goal eventually was to pass him. And... Sorry, I had to sneeze. Oof. I, I miss Japan in the sense that I did not have allergies in Japan like I do in America. I think it's the tr- types of trees or something, but anyway, the goal was to eventually pass him, so right now try to keep pace. Don't let too big of a gap build, but also don't burn out trying to keep pace with him. And it was different from other races. Because of the strong wind, I couldn't hear. I was trying to listen, is anyone coming up behind me? How far is the crowd behind me? And I don't wanna look back. I, I don't know how scientifically accurate it is, but former coach told me that every time you turn your head to look back behind you, it takes one second exactly off your run time. And I've seen races, in fact I was part of a race where the difference between first and second place was a, less than one second, so it really matters, uh, when it comes down to it. So I don't know how accurate that is, but I've always been paranoid and superstitious around looking back. You know, they say when you're turning corners, that is the most efficient time to try to glance back at an angle so you're not, uh, you know, causing as much of a time delay to your run time. That being said, a third gentleman joins us, a gentleman who I, I don't know his name. I didn't get to speak to him, but he was tall. I mean, he was, I wanna say between 6'2" and 6'4", uh, at le- I mean, I, it, it could be an exaggeration, but he looked very tall. He had a long stride, and he passes me. But I look behind us, you know, I take the opportunity, and it's just us three. There's a pretty good distance between us and everyone behind us, so I'm looking and I'm like, "All right. I gotta keep up with, uh, just us, us three will be the, you know, the leads." And so it became a back and forth, me and this tall gentleman. Um, I end up repassing him, and then falling back behind him, and then getting back in front of him, and I think after the second or third time I was like, "I cannot allow him to, to pass me again," and so I had to really kick into gear. By this point, Mr. White, he's all the way- You know, he had gotten ahead of us now at this point, seems like between 30 to 90-second lead on us at least. I mean, he's getting further and further away, and it, it gets to a point where I'm, I'm looking and he's becoming a silhouette, right? So it was a bad time, and so my one goal is, is to catch up to him or to at least stay behind him to a degree and in front of everyone else. If I could get, considering this was my first 5K race back in America after living abroad and having not raced a 5K since last spring, you know, my goal was just, hey, being a top, at least top 10, preferably top five, most preferably top three. And so that tall gentleman, he starts trailing behind me, and eventually he faded off. I thought he was gonna be second or third place, but he ended up disappearing. I'm not sure what place he got overall, but, uh, he ended up falling behind. And so, uh, you know, it's just me, Mr. White in the distance, and The gap between us seems like it's widening and then it's shortening. We get to finally the halfway point on the beach, we're turning around and and this is where I really was maybe too cons- too focused on my time rather than my health. They had a little water table with cups on it, and the, and the person wasn't handing you the cup, which I believe is more efficient. It's like grab it yourself. And I'm like, "I need to grab this without physically stopping, without slowing down." There's more people catching up. You know, there's still a good distance behind me, but there's people catching up. And so I try to grab the water cup and I just knocked it over. And so I got no water, and mind you, I was so dehydrated too. I, I hated feeling dehydrated during a run. Like, you could just feel it in your, in your, in your mouth, in, in my stomach. I actually got a terrible cramp, uh, which is also a terrible thing. You know, I, I mean, it was just a really bad cramp, but I'm like, I, I just gotta ignore it because right now I'm close enough that I might be able to close the gap between me and the guy who's in first place, and I'm far enough ahead that if I end up getting tired, there's a bit of a lead way between me and the people behind me. But they're catching up. At the same time, however, I turn around the corner and I'm just shocked to see how far ahead me and Mr. White are. You know, we're turning around and we're passing people. We ended up later on near the end of the race passing people near the start of the race, right? So that is just an amazing feeling. Uh, and you know, again, we'll, we'll, we'll get into a little bit later on the people who are, you know, going slower and, and talking about everyone's personal challenges. But as we turn back, you know, we turn around and now I'm thinking the wind's gonna help us, but it does what wind does and it changed opposite directions to blow against us on the way back too, you know? That's what it seemed like at least. I turn around and it's just all ominous storm clouds, like we are running into a storm. And, and luckily it did not rain for the first half of the race. The second half of people on, on the slower end of the run, you know, people who were between I, I wanna say 30 or 35 and 40 minutes that it... I mean, it was pouring rain. It got terrible. And so I'll, I'll never forget it. It's such a cinematic moment where I, I turn around and Mr. White is in the distance, almost a silhouette, and it's just ominous storm clouds and lightning and thunder, and it was like a movie scene where I'm like, "I gotta get this guy." It felt like an anime archrival, the way he was just in the distance. He had the storm weather and, and the silhouette. I mean, it was so cinematic and- The best part, I guess, was I'm slowly catching up to him, and he keeps glancing back, you know. And he, and he's trying not to. And I know we all, as runners, we're, we're trying not to glance back, but at the same time, we, we get paranoid because you wanna know, like, how much closer is this guy getting? Because it's a, it's a balance of I don't wanna just keep getting faster and faster and burn myself out, and this guy's nowhere near me, but now I'm gonna be even more tired later on and maybe get passed by someone else. Uh, but so we gotta look back to calculate, like, you know, I... Is, is he close enough that I... Is he far away enough that I can give a little bit but not a lot? If that makes sense. You know, it's all, it, it really is a game of calculation. And so, you know, we're, we're racing each other, and eventually I catch up to him, and once I'm in the area of catching up to him, I say to myself, "I have to pass him and stay ahead. I just cannot afford to go back and forth with him right now." And so I said, "It's gonna take more energy." And here's the thing. I couldn't tell, was I catching up to him because I'm, I'm putting out more, or is he putting out less or, or both? Um, I passed him and You know, I did not look back. I said, "Don't look back, just go. Go faster and faster and faster." And so I'm pushing and, you know, you're running on the beach past all the, all the people coming, coming that way, you know. And eventually I look back and I was like, oh, wow, he's a lot further behind me than I thought, but I don't want to relax because behind him now are other people who were maybe a little more slow in the start, and now they're catching up to him, and it's like, hey, any one of those guys could pass us. I said, this guy may have slowed down just to have me have the lead for a little bit, and then he's going to come charging through the finish line and just completely pass me. And so I'm pushing, I'm pushing, and now it became a race of forget him. I've passed him. He's far enough behind. Now I need to race me, because I pulled out... I had my watch on, and I'm looking. I'm like, can I get sub-20? And it was like, no, no, probably not gonna happen. At that time, it was... I was around 17 or 18 minutes, so I knew I was not gonna get the, the 18:45 PR. And I'm looking in the distance at the... So the way the finish line was, you're running on the beach, and then you make a left, cut through a soft hill, a soft sand hill, get onto the pavement, and then go through the finish line, and by that area was a lifeguard tower. So I'm like, hey, I can, I can visually see how far... Well, I couldn't calculate the distance, but I'm like, I know that we've only got a little bit left. I can see where I need to run to, and I'm trying to calculate, okay, I'm around eight... We're already at 18-ish minutes. Can I make it to that place and, and the finish line in the next two minutes and whatnot? And, and ultimately, you know, and that soft, that soft sand hill at the end was, was killer. I, I... That was terrible. I have our times here and, and how poetic is this? My bib number was 100, and I'm not a superstitious person. I'm a man of God, but I tell you, I couldn't help but smirk when I, I got that 100. I was like, you know what? That is such a beautiful number. I've had some janky bib numbers, you know, numbers I was like, ugh, this is an ugly number. When I had and saw that 100- That was beautiful. But ironically or fittingly enough, my, my archrival I'll say for this race, Joshua White, he was 300. And it was like, what are the chances those two perfect, you know, 100 markers, 100 and 300. It would've been even greater if he was 200 because I did end up getting first place and, you know, he was close behind me as well. Uh, I finished with an elapsed time of 21 minutes and 42 seconds. He finished at 22 minutes and 7 seconds, so he ended up not too far behind me. What's even crazier, though, is behind him, I'm reading the name here, Paul Davis. I didn't get to meet him or see him I don't think really. If I did, we didn't talk much. Um, he was at 22:09. That means he was only two seconds behind Joshua White, which means Mr. First Place, um, almost became, a- after he went to second place, almost became third place. I mean, that means they were almost neck and neck through the finish line. And what I gotta say here honestly is, is kudos to you, Mr. Paul Davis. You're 48 years old according to this chart here. I'm 24. Josh White was 29. You came in third, only two seconds behind a 29-year-old and, and only, uh, you know, a, a c- a good, a couple of seconds behind me really, um, and, and you're, dare I say, you're exactly twice my age so, uh, congrats. Although I, you know, I never underestimate a middle-aged man when it comes to running. Those are probably some of the toughest people when it comes to running. That and one time a nine-year-old girl, like, sprinted past me at a, at a 5K. So I mean, you never know. Sometimes people are just good at running, and there's no inherent cause for it. Like, they're just good at running. And so yeah. Now, this isn't a victory story. It is, and it isn't. I like to say that I won the battle, but ultimately I'm losing the war. You, if you've been paying attention, you know that my PR is 18:45. I ran 21:42. That's what? Three... A- almost a three-minute difference, right? A little more. And so it was very disheartening. It was great, but that's not how I see. People say, "You, you won. You know, you, you caught up to and passed the, the guy who was first place," and blah, blah, blah. And for me, I say I got lucky that he wasn't running 18:45. I've been to 5Ks where people ran 17:45. So yes, do I feel like I, I trained for this? I did. Did I work hard? Did I, did I show up and run a 5K before that? All these things, yes. Did I push myself through, you know, stomach cramps and dehydration and, and just, you know, physical soreness? Of course But as I am chasing the silhouette of Joshua White on the beach and then passing him, there's a silhouette beyond both of us. There's a silhouette of, you know, the 2021 or 2022, whatever year it was, version of me that was running 18:45. He was well beyond us. That, he was three minutes ahead of us. That would've been down half the beach, you know? Halfway down the beach from, from me, from Joshua White, from Paul Daves And so it really opened my eyes to perspective, you know? And I was talking to people there. Some of the people there, you know, this was their first 5K after recovering from, they had pulled a hamstring or something. You know, people had broken ribs. People had fought cancer, you know? And so I know some of you listening are like, "You know, Mr. Whiskey, you're talking about you ran under 25 minutes. For me, that's a win." For some people, running under 30 minutes is a win. You know, it's all proportional to our health, our training, our personal records. And so I just wanted to share this story, you know, talk about perspective. I wanna talk about something I'm bad at, which is having some grace and leniency, saying, "Hey, I w- And, and it, and this is what I'll go into. In Japan, there was confusion around the 10K. There was confusion because it was all in Japanese. I didn't understand. I accidentally ran 12.5K. So while I placed in their top runners, that was according to a time that had an extra 2.5K added to it. So I see that as, as a loss. I, I messed up. I ran an extra lap, a extra 2.5K. I could have been maybe first place, or I could have been in the top five if I had followed, if I had been able to follow the course correctly. Other people say, "Mr. Whiskey, you ran an extra 2.5K and were still one of the top runners with an extra 2.5K on there in a different country- Running your first 10K ever. And so I wanna encourage everyone, in light of my lack of grace and leniency, to, to have that with yourselves, and some- it's something that I'm actively working on. But to also not spend too much time looking at these victories as victories. You know, if there is a version of you, former or that you're chasing, that would've done much better, then focus on that as well. And I say that in the sense of, don't diminish this victory, right? But it should be a baseline. So next 5K, I wanna run less than a 21:42 and toward an 18:45, and if I can ever f- break that 18:45 record, I mean, you know, that would be awesome. However, people did bring to my attention that I was running on sand, against the wind, all these other factors that slow us down. If we had been on hard land, would I have ran maybe less than 20 minutes? Possibly, but I don't know. I don't wanna focus on those what ifs. I do wanna focus on what I could have done better and what I would like to do better in the future. So, uh, it was a great time. You know, obviously first place overall, first place for my age ca- category and group as well, so that was super awesome to have that. And I am grateful for the opportunity, of course. First of all, as I said in my social media post, thank you to God for my health, for giving us these bodies that we can improve and train upon. And, you know, ultimately, I do want to highlight too that a lot of the 5Ks I do are charities. And so it's not just about me racing against myself. You know, I could go do that in the woods with a watch if I really wanted. It's also about being a part of a community, of meeting people. Like I m- I met Mr. Y. I met some other people I talk to. You know, having that camaraderie, coming together to support a cause. And I encourage you, if you've never done a 5K, whether you want to walk one, do a mixture of jogging or walking, do a power walk, or start training for one, I encourage you, beyond just the racing itself, the camaraderie, the donations to charities that are making impacts in suicide prevention, in cancer awareness, in whatever it is. There's pretty much a 5K for everything. I found the other day an ice cream 5K, right? There's Halloween 5Ks coming up where you run in costume. There's all kinds of stuff. And if, and if you don't, uh, find one for a cause that you support, by all means, try, uh, hosting one. You know, it's, it's something really beautiful and amazing to bring together all these different people, like I said, not just People like me who are racing themselves, but people like me back in the day where I was coming out of injury recovery and, and I wanted to see where I was at. And like I said, there are people who, for them, this 5K, it's a milestone. It's a marker of what they can do, and it's where you really push yourself. Like I said, you could go in the woods and train yourself and push yourself, but when you have those people running right next to you, you have people cheering you on, you got people trying to beat you, it really brings out a part of you that races a lot harder than you're alone in the woods. Trust me. And so I encourage everyone listening, you know, I know this episode was a bit of a story, and, you know, it wasn't super, uh, compounding on lessons and stuff like that. But I do hope maybe it offered some perspective or insight. Like I said, I wanted to hop on here, do a solo episode, 'cause I know it's been a fluctuating time for the podcast, and also just because I think it's important to share the story to hopefully inspire. Uh, again, to recap, if you have a last-minute opportunity, don't be afraid to pursue it. And it's not just about physical fitness. When I did my comedy show, that time I got reincarnated as a cowboy in Japan and had to perform comedy to save the world, it's a funny, long title, but man, promoting it, you know, I have to say it all the time. That was a last-minute opportunity. I was given three weeks, almost less than three weeks. At one point it was gonna be one week's notice, but we, we arranged it for three weeks to put together a one-hour comedy show, to promote it, to create promotionals, to spread the word, to network, to put together websites and different links, and- I say all that to say, you know, whether it's last minute open mic for comedy or poetry or singing, whether it's a last minute event or opportunity speaking on stage, whether it's a 5K or maybe it's a HYROX or maybe it's a Spartan race or obstacle course, whatever it is, don't be afraid to pursue it. I think it is better to pursue it at not 100% than to never pursue it or to not pursue it at all. I think it's better to, if you're sore because you've been in the gym all week, go into it with the leniency and grace of knowing that you're not at 100%, but that you still put in full effort. Again, use leniency and grace to not be overly harsh on yourself, but don't use it as an excuse to not perform at your fullest, and, and try your best. Remember that the ultimate race, whether it's 5K, basketball, lacrosse, or something business-wise, isn't against the people we're chasing after on the, on the beach or in the office or whatever it is. It's ourselves. It's either what we did in the past, our top performance, maybe it's who we wanna be in the future. Maybe it's just a slightly better version of ourselves. You gotta be training. One thing I keep in mind too is, you know, I'm competing against the version of me who ran a little bit faster, who trained a little bit harder, who studied a little bit more, right? I... and for me, that is more motivating than thinking about, well, there's someone else out there. There's someone else out there who is doing this right now. And yeah, of course, I'm, I'm worried about the competition. What about the other guy who shows up at the starting line and he runs a 17 minute? Sure. But for me- If I had been passed by someone who ran an 18:45, it would not have been as heartbreaking or as wrenching as this moment where I was in the front of the whole group in first place, and three minutes ahead of me was my own s- past self. For me, that, that phantom, that who I was or, and who I could be, that is a more dangerous and upsetting rival than if I had physically seen someone else running there. And because of the power that holds, it is more motivating and more a cause for me to have discipline and commitment to training than just having an archrival. I think it's great to have friendly rivals i- in the, in the, in the physical world, uh, you know, other people, of course, like, um, you know, Mr. White and other people that I've met at 5Ks and 10Ks and other events. But wow, me against me, you know, and I, I know that's such a cliche saying that all these gym guys and military guys say, but it really is the truth. I mean, it really is the ultimate person that we're fighting every day to grow and perfect, uh, whether you're fighting the version of you that you hate now and you wanna change, or whether you're fighting against the version of you that is better that you wanna become again and surpass. So, ladies and gentlemen, you know, celebrate the victories of the battles you're winning, but keep in mind the war. You know, you have to look at the big picture as well. I hope that this has been inspirational to you. Um, you know, definitely let me know if you're gonna be doing any 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathon, whatever it is. I encourage you to try something new to push yourselves and to just work on improving yourselves, not just for yourself, but to help serve others.
