How to Finish What You Start

What's up? It's Rob Cressy and I am oh so excited to be sharing this conversation. It is one that is eight years in the making and what I'm going to do is jam about my experience completing the 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon, something that just happened less than 48 hours ago. And what I'm going to do is break this into sections and actually start backwards. So I'm going to give you an overview. I'm going to get into number one, race day in the experience, the mindset that I had, the obstacles that I faced, as well as the way that I set intentions on certain miles to self-create.

I'm going to talk about what I learned, my experience at the finish line. I'm going to get into my why. I'll also be talking about challenges leading up to this from the training to having a new son. And then I'm also going to get into my process for training for the marathon. And then lastly, and certainly not least, now what? Now that this marathon experience is over, what am I going to do next?

So let's start at the end because there's no reason to bury the lead. And let's talk about the actual experience of running the 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon and to set some foundational things first. Number one, I was raised in Pittsburgh. I'm a diehard Penguins and Steelers fan. My dad lives in Pittsburgh and it was actually his first opportunity to meet my newborn son, Maverick. So there's a lot of good things going on there.

Number two, from a strategy standpoint, I used the Jeff Galloway run walk method for running this marathon. And this is something that I used all throughout my training and is completely contrarian to all ways I have ever run in my entire life. For my entire career as an athlete, I've always been someone who prides myself on never walking and pushing through the pain and building that grit. But then through Jesse Itzler and being part of Build Your Life Resume and the Big Ass Calendar Club, Jesse introduced me to the run walk method, which essentially says, hey, once a mile, you can go ahead and walk for a certain amount of time, 30 seconds, a minute, three minutes, whatever you determine.

And essentially, you're running and then you walk, you run and then you walk. So for me, my marathon was run on a mile to mile basis where I ran the mile and then I walked for 30 seconds or up to that post or to that light or to where that person is playing guitar, whatever it is. And the reason that this is important is because what I liked about the run walk method is I had a strategy for how I was running this.

And the beauty of the run walk method, which is very contrarian to what you would think is the walking allows you to create active recovery, which allows you to actually run faster when you are running. Because if you think about if you're going to run whatever, 10 miles, 13 miles, 26 miles, that if you try and run the entire time without walking, boom, you're going to see a natural decay in your speed.

But when you include walking in your process and in your strategy, it actually allows you to be stronger at the end. Number three, time does not matter for me in this. My only goal was to finish the marathon. And in Pittsburgh that day, it was about low 60s temperature, ideal running temperature. However, that does not mean that everything was ideal. And actually, it was anything but because the days leading up to the race, absolutely beautiful in Pittsburgh.

The day of the race, torrential downpours. And I estimate it rained or downpoured on 10 of the 26.2 miles. And when I mean downpour, I mean the golfer in Caddyshack who's having the round of his life and he keeps on going. The rain is coming in sideways and the rain was coming in so hard that for the large majority of the race, I was not able to listen to any podcasts or music because I was concerned that it would ruin my AirPods.

And it was just so much. It was its own animal. So that was one thing. The other obstacle being, I knew this was a hilly course going into this, but holy smokes, Batman. I grew up in the North Hill, so I know that there's hills in Pittsburgh. There's an area called Mount Washington, so this is no surprise. But right around, I don't know, maybe it was mile 11 or 12, we run up this bridge and there's a slight elevation gain.

And then I look and I see these people that are running what looks like up a mountain. And I'm like, wait a second. Is that where we're going? And it was, I believe between miles 11 and 13, there is some insane amount of elevation. And to add context to this, there is 933 feet of elevation gain. And I trained in Sarasota, Florida, which was absolutely flat. So adding hills to this mix on top of the torrential downpours, those were obstacles.

Despite this, I had a smile on my face the entire time. So let's get into my mindset because mindset is oh so important. Mindset is who I am, what I specialize in. My coaching and creating is around mindset. So number one, my mindset for running the marathon in pretty much any race that I have and runs, have fun. So for the first nine miles, we're running through the strip district and through the city and there's people all over the place.

So I'm stopping and taking pictures with people. There is a Yinzer dressed up as Troy Polamalu. He had black hair and shoulder pads on and a helmet. But like he was as Pittsburgh as it gets. And I saw that guy and boom, I took a picture with him. And then there was a free beer station where a few other Yinzers, and I say Yinzers lovingly because I am one Yinzers being people from Pittsburgh.

We like to say Yinz instead of y'all. It's sort of the Pittsburghese. So there's some Yinzers there, the free beer sign. And they've got a bunch of Iron City beers, which is a local beer to Pittsburgh. Can't say it's the best tasting in the world, but we sort of wear it with a badge of honor. And I'm like, well, when in Rome, I can't pass up a free little Dixie cup of Iron City beer.

I'm going to enjoy this process. So boom, and this is at my, I don't know, three or four. I take my little swig of Iron City beer and boom, I move on. So my goal is always to make something into an adventure because I was documenting this on my IG stories. And this is also something that I plan to have for my best year ever folder, which I have on my iPhone.

The next thing as we get to the mindset is around the weather. So we knew going into this, it was likely to rain. You hope that the temperature is going to stay the same, that maybe the rain is going to miss. Yes, it didn't. And leading up to the race and when the corral, maybe an hour ahead of time, you could hear the chatter. I wore a poncho to the corral because I was expecting it to rain literally the second I got there.

Thankfully, it held off for about 30 minutes before it started. But you could just hear the chatter of people who are running in garbage bags with the head chopped off or with the arms out there. It was a thing for people. But I knew this is where I had an edge because for me, rain is nothing because I did 75 hard and live hard. The mental toughness program in Chicago in the winter.

So I've got a picture of me doing an outdoor workout at 5 a.m. with a frozen water bottle. So for me, rain is nothing. This is just another day in the park for me. And if anything, I frame rain as a good thing because when the rest of the world goes, oh, my God, it's raining out. I'm like, oh, my God, it's raining out. Let's go play. Let's go have fun. Let's use this as a springboard for something else better.

So the rain for me, despite it being the most I've ever run in rain in my entire life, it coming down sideways, it was a zero on my radar. Even though I did have to do some preparation, like putting Vaseline on my toes to prevent blisters because my entire body, all clothes, all shoes was absolutely drenched throughout the way. Another thing that I would say, the story of what I said to myself during all of this is I am built for this.

Boom, here comes the rain. Here comes the hills. It is thunder and lightning at some point. Thankfully, not much, but it did at times. Boom, I am built for this. I am built for this. And this is foundational for me. And that is controlling the story in your head that you tell yourself. I've built a coaching program around this and a life around this because the story you tell yourself is the experience you are going to have in the world.

So for me, boom, I've got a bulletproof mindset. I am a finisher. I am completing this. I'm going to enjoy this the entire way. And that is a story I am telling myself. No weakness. No bitch voice. I'm in charge of this. So normally when I ran my long training runs, I would have a process that I would do. Number one, I would speak my declarations out loud for the first mile to mile and a half.

And this is part of my boot sequence every single day. The I am infinite love. I am constant creation of who I am. I am a force of attraction. I am that I bring magic to life. I'm an overachiever. I'm the happiest person on earth, shining my light on everyone. I am fearless. So on and so on. And I use this every single time to self-create. Because for a lot of people, boom, you wake up for your race.

You go, you try and eat something. And then you move on and you don't do what you would normally do. But not me. This is my opportunity. Crap. I've got four or five hours. I might as well take advantage of these to self-create myself. So the first mile and a half, I spoke my declarations into existence. I self-created myself. I am a masterpiece of health and strength. I felt into it. I created the emotion.

I created the power. I visualized it. Boom. So that was part of my process. And then usually for the first five miles during my long training runs, it was pitch blackout when I was running. So I would just be with myself and my thoughts. And thankfully, in Pittsburgh, there's people cheering everywhere. And there's new sights and sounds because I'm going through neighborhoods. So I didn't listen to any music or podcasts or anything, probably for the first nine miles.

Because secondarily, it was raining so hard, I could not listen to anything. Because as I said, I was concerned that my AirPods were going to break. Because I didn't know if they were waterproof or not. And it was raining so much that I was like, are my ear balls about to get electrocuted? And with this, I tried at one point to put them in. And it lasted for about 30 seconds. Because one of the things that I did on my training runs was I would use them as an opportunity to work on my personal growth and development by listening to podcasts and coaching programs.

So one of them was I was going through John Patrick Morgan's being a client magnet program for the third time. And I would usually listen to an hour plus of it. And I was really excited to do it again on this run. It was part of my routine. And unfortunately, I only got to listen to it for about 30 seconds. Because the second I put in my headphones, boom, the heavens came down.

And I was like, well, this isn't working. It is what it is. But one of the things that I did do when the rain subsided, which I had done on exactly zero training runs in four months, was I listened to music. And more specifically, one playlist. There is a Peloton playlist that every time I'm riding the bike, I can favorite a song that I like, something that pumps me up and motivates me.

So I've got a playlist of 50 or so songs that get me going when I'm working out. For whatever reason, I felt that was the energy of what I wanted to listen to. And as the hills became harder and the miles got larger or longer, or the more that we added up, all of a sudden, the calves that I had, my calves became on fire. And my legs became more weaker or I noticed the pain in them a lot more.

So here comes my bitch voice a lot more. Now you're running through pain. So boom, I throw on the podcast to start, or the podcast, the music to start getting my juices flowing. So that's a playlist that I listened to. One of the things that really helped me, which I intentionally did, is I listened to Andy Frisella's 75 Hard podcast on winning the war with yourself. And it's the original one he created back in 2019.

And I did this because I wanted to reactivate in myself my 75 Hard mindset. All of the reasons why I did the mental toughness program, why I did the live hard program, why I paid my dues every single day. And I just thought there and it reactivated in me. 75 days is a small price to pay to become the best version of yourself. It's going to teach you skills you will have with you forever.

Grit, discipline, mental fortitude, mental toughness, consistency, focus, discipline, you name it. And boom, I knew there was a reason why I did 75 Hard. And oftentimes in life, you don't know what obstacles are going to be ahead, but you prepare for what's difficult when it's easy. And for me, boom, I'm running a marathon. It's uphill and it's pouring rain. Ain't no thing for me because 75 Hard taught me conditions are never perfect.

When everybody else is complaining, oh my God, it's raining. I'm like, boom, let's go. I'm built for this. So for about 45 minutes, I'm listening to Andy Frisella speak about the origins of 75 Hard and mental toughness. And boom, it snapped me right back into it. And it just gave me life and energy and inspiration. So I listened to that and then I listened to music. So with this, my cheering squad in person was three people.

My dad, my wife, and my son. And Pittsburgh is screwy because there's bridges everywhere. There's rivers, there's street closures. So it was not conducive to people jumping around and seeing them at various places. Because of this, they had to strategically pick where they were going to see me. And they chose mile 20 and at the finish line. So for me, I'm going to fast forward to mile 20. And I know this is where I'm going to see them.

And going into this actually before I fast forward, one other mindset nugget for you. I chopped up the marathon into four quarters. So the NBA playoffs are going on right now. And I'm like, all right, the first quarter is miles one through seven. Quarter two, miles seven through 13, aka a half marathon. Quarter three, miles 13 to 20. And quarter four, miles 20 to the finish line. In doing so, allowed me to frame my mindset on how you handle the magnitude of running 26 miles.

So think about this very similarly to the way that you would goal setting. In anyone who read the book Traction or what the heck is EOS that talks about rocks and various ways to goal set. Here's how I did it. The big goal, run 26.2, finish the marathon. Breaking that down into a rock. All right, we've got four quarters. Each rock, I broke down into one mile, aka my run-walk method. So each time, I was only running one mile at a time.

Boom, let's get to mile one. Let's get to mile two. Let's get to mile three. So I was able to shrink my focus. And while listening to the 75 Hard podcast, it snapped back into me one of the biggest game changers I learned during my 75 Hard experience. And I remember on day 11 of 75 Hard, it was the hardest day earliest on where we were doing twice a day workouts. And I just felt it.

And I was like, man, there is 64 more days of this. This feels like a million years. And the magnitude and the weight of it just almost overwhelmed me. And it wasn't until I was able to reframe it and switch my perspective and say, wait a second, your focus is misplaced. This is a growth opportunity. You should appreciate every single day in every single moment. Instead of worrying about getting to the end of day 75, let's sit there and say, all right, let's make this workout the best workout I can.

Let's do this one set of 10 the best that I can. Let's read these 10 pages the best that I can. So I shrunk my focus. And doing so in this marathon helped me so much. Because all I did was run and then walk from mile marker to mile marker. And then I knew I was going from one to two to three to four to five to six to seven. Boom. First quarter's done.

And I was very much in playoff mindset. All right. Boom. First quarter. Now time for quarter two. And oftentimes when I would get closer to the back end, so let's call it mile five or six or seven. I'm like, all right, let's close this quarter strong. And I would do this every single time. And doing so gave me such an advantage because I could see on people's faces and the way that they ran.

And I even heard some of the things that people said. There'd be people who would be running with somebody else. And they'd be like, well, let me know if you want to stop. It's okay. Just let me know. And there was sort of some like confusion and uncertainty on do we keep going? Do we stop? Is it okay? Should I be the one who says let's stop? Should you be the one?

And to me, that just spoke about a lack of strategy, which I think for a lot of runners, and I didn't know this until I ran this marathon. So certainly I'm preaching to my old self. But I learned this. Having a strategy, there was no thinking for me. Boom. When I got to that mile marker, I'm walking. I'm sitting there. I'm drinking my water. I'm eating one of my gummy blocks. Maybe I'm going to walk to that streetlight.

Then I go. Whatever. I just, I go with the energy that I feel. Then I keep running. And then I wait until I get to that next mile marker. And I start the process all over again. So I never had to compromise with myself and say, when do I run and when do I walk? I knew exactly when I was doing all of those different things. So back to mile 20. I know I'm going to see my family.

But as you get to the later miles, things certainly start to get more challenging. And this really hit home for me. Because on mile 13, we get to the top of the hill. And my calves are on fire. And I trained for this diligently. And I'll get to the training in a little bit. So I was prepared for this. And at no point during my training was my legs burned out by mile 13.

I was good. Actually, through my first 20-mile training runs, I didn't really feel overwhelming exhaustion or pain. Of course, I had to run through some things. But not like this. I get to the top of this hill. And I'm like, my calves are on fire. And from that point, my legs were on fire for the next two-plus hours, the next 13 miles. So my family's ahead at mile 20. I'm mile to mile.

So I decided to set an intention for my miles on the higher-ups. And here's what they were. Mile 19 to 20 was the Maverick Mile. That's the name of my son. So I knew in between my miles 19 and 20, I was running towards my son. And I was running for him to show him an example of what is possible. Because my purpose in life is to be a positive force for good that leads others to what's possible, including my son.

So at age 41 years old, boom, I completed a marathon for my son. Between mile 20 and 21, the My Family Mile. Because at mile 20, boom, I was able to see my family, my wife, my dad, my son. It just so happens when I saw them, it started a downpour again. So it was a great experience seeing them. Knowing that, boom, I got some extra energy. Knowing that, I'm running this mile for them.

Mile 21 to 22, I titled The Music Mile. So I throw on my podcast. It's on shuffle. And I love the way that life works sometimes. Because you know what came up? Eminem's Lose Yourself and Foo Fighters, My Hero. Boom. I could have ran through a brick wall at that point. The music is just, it's flowing with me at this point. I loved it. Mile 22 to 23, the Michael Jordan Championship Mile.

Boom. Boom. I'm envisioning what would Michael Jordan do running this marathon, getting to mile number 23. Miles 23 to 24, the Mamba Mentality Mile. Boom. I'm running this mile for Kobe Bryant. Ever since his unfortunate passing, I've really taken to heart the Mamba Mentality. When I'm sitting there on the Peloton doing rides, boom, I'm hashtag Mamba Mentality. I'm activating that. And on my Peloton rides, whenever I would get an opportunity to push myself, boom, I'd move that number up to 61.

And then I would do more. And I would say, what's up, Kobe? So on this run, during miles 23 and 24, I would say, what's up, Kobe? Boom. I knew how he would get down. Miles 24 and 25 were the support mile. And I've got to give a shout out to everyone who sent me a message or an email or thought about me over that weekend. There was just an outpouring of good vibes and love and positivity from so many people in so many of the communities that I was a part of or I am part of.

My friends, my family, the Build Your Life Resume community, the Arete community. People from Pittsburgh, people from Chicago, people I went to college with, just everywhere. It meant the world to me. And I thank you. So if you were one of those people, mile 24 to 25, I ran for you. I thought about all of the people that sent me those messages and I ran for them. Then miles 25 to 26.2 was my mile.

I let it soak in. Boom. Enjoy the experience. Let this be the thing that I sear into my brain as David Goggins would say, the callous mindset, you're building it. Boom. All of this training was done for this moment. So let's soak this up. And I want to talk about that final mile or two because I learned something extremely valuable. At mile 24, exactly, as I'm about to cross mile 24 and I know I'm about to walk, a baseball-sized lump comes in my lap, my left hamstring as a cramp.

And I feel it and I'm like, whoa, this is not good. And anyone who's ever run long distances and I experienced this when I ran the DC marathon eight years prior at mile 21, I'd got a cramp in my leg and I just kept running because I know if you stop, it'll seize up. So this was extremely uncomfortable for me. And I knew I cannot let this seize up. So I kept moving, but that sort of triggered something where I'm like, all right, I'm aware of what's going on in my body.

So I find a way to get through it. It goes away and I'm now about mile 24 and a half and boom on my mind. Of course, it's logical. I'm counting down the miles, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. And then of course I'm running backward or doing that. How much is left backwards? Six miles, five miles left, four miles left, three miles left, two miles left. And all of this with my legs on fire and being like, I'm ready for this bad boy to be done.

But I also want to accomplish this. And boom, this is going on. And then out of nowhere, I get this hot flash in my body where throughout all this, it's been pouring rain. My temperature is good. My body's good. I'm in control the entire time. I just feel a hot flash and I've been hydrating, eating gummies. And I'm like, huh, notice your body. And one of the things, and one of the reasons we're going to get to my why in a second, but the framing of why I was running this in the first place is because when I ran the DC marathon, the Marine Corps marathon eight years ago, I passed out at mile 25 and a half with a heat stroke and a body temperature of 107 degrees.

And I almost died on the course. So this is acutely at the top of my brain where it's like, hey, maybe I didn't listen to my body last time. I was finishing strong. I could see the finish line. I'm going to finish strong, get my time. Boom. I'm going to make this happen. That didn't get to happen because I ended up in a medical tent. So this time, boom, I feel a hot flash and I'm like, I don't know what this is, but I just got a giant cramp in my leg.

I've been running through this the entire time. I have a bulletproof mindset, but I am going to be smart. And this is what I learned that, and I've got to give a shout out to Jesse Itzler because he inspired me when he ran Ultraman and they documented the experience on his IG stories. And he had calculated at the end what it would take for him to finish it. And he and Kevin walked the last few miles and they made it happen and they accomplished their goal.

And I remembered this and I remembered how inspired I was about what he did. And I thought to myself, I was like, you know what? I'm at mile 24 and a half right now. And I've been kicking ass and I know I am going to complete this. But now my body is telling me something's going on here. So you know what I'm going to do? I am going to slow down. And this was the first time the entire run that I deviated from my run walk method.

But guess what? I did so in the best way possible. It wasn't my weakness saying, oh, Rob, your legs are tired. It was actually the opposite. It was my mind saying, hey, Rob, listen to your body. Remember what happened last time. Your goal is to finish this marathon. So I walked mile 24 and a half to 25. And I thought about Jesse and how proud and inspired I was of him walking and finishing that.

And I sat there and I was like, this is what I came here to learn. This was the learning experience for me because an older version of myself would have said, don't worry about this. Just keep running through it. And who knows what it would have been. But it was one thing that happened that I don't know what it was. So I got my heart rate down and I walked to mile 25.

And from there, boom, my bulletproof mindset comes back in. So I say, you know what? I'm in charge of the story I tell myself. I'm in charge of how I'm going to finish this race. So what I would do is I would do bursts of running and walking. So I would say, I'm going to run to this stop sign and then I'm going to walk. I'm going to run to the end of that garbage can and then I'm going to walk.

Because even though I had slowed down, I still knew I had something in the tank, but I wanted to be smart. So boom, ran for 30 seconds, walked for 30 seconds, ran for 30 seconds, walked for 30 seconds. And now we're at, I don't know, mile 25 and a half. And I'm walking. And I just sat there and I saw all the people cheering. And I could not have been happier to be walking at that moment.

And it was perfect for me because some people would say, what? You walked a mile 25 and a half. And I said, I had the biggest smile on my face because remember where I started? The goal is to finish. I'm not running for a time. I'm enjoying this and I'm soaking this in. I'm building this and I'm creating myself. So the narrative that you must run at the end, that's just a story we create for ourselves.

I am in charge of this story. And I just smiled and I enjoyed every single step along the way. And then of course, I see the 26 mile marker. So around that is the turn to head home. So of course, I'm going to run that. So I'm walking up to it and I run in an unbelievable gift. I see my wife and my dad and my son on the right side. We picture them immediately.

So I run up to them. I give them all a hug and a kiss. I'm so excited. We're all emotional. And then I cross the finish line. And it was such a moment for me because I know all that went into it. And it was eight years in the making and running through the pain and the adversity and the challenges in the story that I told myself and the way that I used it to create myself.

And I said, I did it. And I raised my fingers in the air and I was so proud that I'd accomplished the thing that I'd set out to do. And forever, I will be a marathoner. And I am proof and inspiration that you can do anything. That even if you have a near-death experience running a marathon, don't let that stop you. Because if I can do it, you can do it and anyone can do it.

And while I was doing my training runs, every single one, I would finish with both hands in the air and visualize myself crossing that finish line with my wife and my son sitting there smiling at me. And boom, every single time I did that, I'd been in that moment tens of 20 of 30, 50s of times. I ran for that moment. And it's the best thing in the world. And I was like, oh, my God.

So that was my experience running the Pittsburgh Marathon. And the moments and days after and as we speak right now, I can barely walk. And the pain never felt so good. And I certainly attribute this to the hills. I attribute this to the hills and running 26 miles. Because running up and down hills is a different animal. And it makes me laugh because I can barely get up out of my seat.

And walking down one step is a thing where I make an audible noise. I'm making a lot of noises right now. But it never felt so good. So as I touched on my why, this was my redemption story. That I am in charge of changing the story I have in my head. No longer was there an asterisk when someone said, hey, Rob, have you ever run a marathon? Well, yeah, I ran a marathon.

Yeah, I trained for it. But no, I didn't finish because I had a near-death experience running the DC Marine Corps Marathon. That was always the narrative in the story. I never liked the asterisk because I had trained all the way. I was prepared. I had an amazing time. Boom, I did everything correct. But the result was not what I wanted. Now, I had my redemption. And I love the way the universe works because somewhere around mile 20, I saw one person wearing a shirt for the DC Marine Corps Marathon.

And it was the world's way of saying, Rob, I got you. And I also did this, as I had mentioned, for my son to show him what's possible, to be the example for him that he can do anything he sets his mind to. So let's get to some of the challenges on top of what I faced running a marathon. And the biggest one was actually around my son. I've got a newborn son who's six months old.

I'm a first-time dad. And he was born in November. And my marathon training started at 5 a.m. on January 1st. I ran six miles. And the name of my podcast is Best Year Ever. And every year is my best year ever because it's a mindset, it's a lifestyle, and a way of being. So this year, my way of setting the tone for having the best year ever was by going for a run at 5 a.m. for six miles.

This is something that I had never done before. At the time, I was not running. I was not training for anything. But that's what I did. I said, you know what? This is going to set the tone for this. And why do I say that? Because creating time with a six-month-old son is a challenge. Anyone who's a parent or has a newborn child knows that you quickly realize that when you thought you had eight or nine or 10 hours previously, that time gets zapped to like one and a half or two.

Or time is a lot more, you have to be a lot more intentional about it. So for me doing training runs of a minimum of an hour to run six miles all the way up to three plus hours to run 20 miles, that's kind of challenging. So I had to create the time in my schedule for this that also worked for being there for my wife because I didn't want to just have her with the son all the time when I was training.

So for anyone who says, I don't have enough time to dot, dot, dot, that's just an excuse. So please throw that in the trash. What I did is I created time and I did so by doing my training runs starting at 5 a.m. or as early as I could in the morning. So let's now get to my process for training for the marathon. And I'm someone who is an athlete. I've played sports my entire life, never professionally or collegiately or anything like that.

I'm just a guy who loves all things sports, being competitive. So basketball, tennis, golf, darts, running, skiing, snowboarding, water skiing, kneeboarding, you name it, I'll do it and I'll be good at it. So for me, I want to come in and if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right. And with this, my preparation started by putting on the calendar a half marathon. And I did this in February.

So that became my motivation because I noticed when I would just go for a casual run for three miles, it didn't have the same energy because I was just doing it to work out. But the second that I put my first race on the calendar, boom, I knew why I was doing it. And speaking of whys, there's also a larger why. I was part or I am part of the big ass calendar club for Jesse Itzler.

And there's a thing called a Misogi. And a Misogi is something that you do once a year and you put it on your calendar. And it is something that is so hard that when you do it, the benefits of it last all of the remaining days of the year. And imagine this, you do something every single year that is so memorable that it is so hard. Imagine the type of life you're going to live.

So for me, my redemption story, running the 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon, that was my Misogi. So I trained for four months for this. Boom. Boom. I was running at least four, usually around four days a week. Mileage of ramped up from three miles up to 13. And then once I got to 13, I was like, let's keep this party going. Let's get this Misogi done sometime in the next two months. So I was actually challenged finding a race because living in Florida, as it gets hotter, that's not really race season down here.

So there weren't a ton of options for me from a marathon standpoint, but it just so happened. I found the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 1st. Boom. So after I ran that half marathon, signed up for the Pittsburgh Marathon and it was on. So the thing that I really focused on was ramping up my big mileage, my big run. So 13 to 14 to 16 to 18 to 20. Those were my big runs.

And one of the things that I was a challenge around having the sun was, I would normally run my big runs up for my half marathon training on Saturday mornings. But the thing is, I would run at, I don't know, 6 a.m. and go and run 10 miles. So I would be back at, I don't know, 8 a.m. And I just run eight miles. So I'm getting something to eat and drink and I'm showering.

And then I come back and my wife's been with the baby for the last four or five hours. She's like, here's the baby. And you're not exactly feeling like entertaining at the time having just done this. And I was aware of my wife having a job during the week, Monday through Friday. Her weekends are very special to her. So all of a sudden, me doing training runs on Saturdays and then being a little bit more energy depleted on those days, I realized wasn't serving her.

So you know what I did? I said, you know what? I'm going to be a better husband and father and I'm going to change my training runs from Saturday mornings to Friday mornings because I'm an entrepreneur and I create my own schedule so I can do whatever I want. So I started to run at 5 a.m. on Fridays for my long runs. And doing so worked because my wife's parents help us with childcare during the week watching our son while we are working so they can come over at 9 a.m., which allows my wife to work and get ready and allows me to recover from my long training runs.

And it gives us the space to have even better weekends. And that was a big thing for me and for my wife because I created a lot of space and energy by shifting that. And it was also a fun energy for me because I don't know very many other people that are running upwards of 20 miles on a Friday morning. So next thing as it relates to my process, injuries. Didn't have many of them, but when I went from miles 13 to 20, all of a sudden my toes and my feet needed a little bit more care.

I ended up having to buy another pair of shoes or a new pair of shoes that were a half size bigger because my toe ended up, essentially my toenail is going to fall off and it's called runner's toe. Anybody who's ever run long distances, it's an extremely common thing. It's not overly painful, but it's noticeable, but it's something that I had to do. And then the other part where injuries came in was on the tapering.

After I ran my 20 miles, which was two weeks before the marathon. All right, you've hit the mark. Now let's get your body healed. And I'm someone who's worked out four or five days a week for the last 15 years. So all right, I'm going to keep working out four days a week. I'm going to do some running. Maybe I'll move it back to three or five or nine miles. Nope. Had to move that bad boy down to three miles, down to two miles and down to one mile because small little dingy injuries started to pop up.

My shin would hurt or my toe would hurt or something would hurt on my other leg. And I was like, you know what's most important? That I come into this healthy. So because of this, the last two weeks for me were very uncommon. I actually had to prioritize rest and being healthy going into the race. So that's everything that led up to this. And now that this is done, let's get to now what?

And for me, I think about this as a springboard for momentum. And in the back of my mind is something that Tim Grover says in his book, Relentless. He says the cleaners, the best of the best out there in the world, when they succeed, when they win the championship, they say done next. They don't rest on their laurels. Think about Nick Saban when he wins a national title. He's in that interview and he's already like, yep, we're already looking forward to next year.

And for me, yes, this is a major accomplishment. Yes, this is something that's on my life resume. Yes, I completed my Misogi. At the same time, I am not resting on my laurels. I am using this as a springboard for building momentum and what's next. So as I sit here at the beginning of May, I look at what my word of May is, and it is springboard. And I am using this to triple down on myself and saying, all right, how can I be better, add more growth, have more fun, show up better, be a better husband, be a better father, be a better everything, be better in all areas of my life.

And this isn't just business. Business is only one bucket of our life. This is about living my and our best life. And using these things, these big moments, these accomplishments, these overcoming obstacles and challenges as springboards for building momentum. Because nothing great ever came from our comfort zone. So when you have a big accomplishment like I just had, boom, let's use this and say, all right, this is the new standard. What is next?

And that doesn't mean I'm running a bit of a trillion marathons. It just shows me what's possible. And now I'm looking to create the next challenge. So I appreciate anyone who made it all this way. It shows that you're interested in my journey. And for that, I thank you. I appreciate your support. And I hope that you hear yourself in all of this. And I encourage you to think about the way that I process my mindset, my strategy, my goals, my vision, and how that applies to you. Because as I said, I'm a positive force for good that leads others to what's possible. So what is possible for you?

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