Pushing past the boundaries of human endurance, ultra-runner Bo recounts his extraordinary feat: running 237.5 miles in a backyard ultra-marathon. With a potential stress fracture threatening to sideline him, he shares the raw and powerful story of overcoming physical pain, sleep deprivation, and the mental battles that come with such intense competition. His support crew, Ty Gatewood and Megan Hanson, become unsung heroes of this narrative, providing not just assistance but also laughter and camaraderie to lighten the weight of Bo’s exhaustive journey.
As Bo vividly describes his experiences with hallucinations, a phenomenon almost expected in the sphere of ultra-running, were transported into his mesmerizing, dreamlike states on the trails. Beyond the mileage, we get an intimate glimpse of the person behind the runner - a relaxed yet ambitious spirit, contemplating the shift from backyard challenges to the steep inclines of competitive mountain racing. Setting sights on the Leadville 100, Bo discusses his passion for the sport, strategies for success, and the unyielding humor that keeps him grounded amidst the grueling demands of ultra-running.
Join us as we delve deeper into the heart of the running community, exploring the impact of training discipline, the inspiration drawn from running icons, and the anticipation of a 24-hour track race. We reflect on personal growth, the intersection of ambition and coaching, and the powerful motivation derived from a supportive network, both on and off the track. As Bo wraps up his tale, we're left with a sense of gratitude for the camaraderie that fuels his drive, and a shared excitement for what lies ahead in his running career and on our podcast journey together.
Bo Shelby
Instagram:
@b0cephus
https://www.instagram.com/b0cephus?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/bo.shelby
Shoutout to:
The Shelby Family
Gabe Dorn
Megan Hanson
Ty Gatewood
James Lauriello
Alter Ego Ambassador: https://alteregorunning.com/
Miles & Mountains Promo Code: MMyr2
Pushing past the boundaries of human endurance, ultra-runner Bo recounts his extraordinary feat: running 237.5 miles in a backyard ultra-marathon. With a potential stress fracture threatening to sideline him, he shares the raw and powerful story of overcoming physical pain, sleep deprivation, and the mental battles that come with such intense competition. His support crew, Ty Gatewood and Megan Hanson, become unsung heroes of this narrative, providing not just assistance but also laughter and camaraderie to lighten the weight of Bo’s exhaustive journey.
As Bo vividly describes his experiences with hallucinations, a phenomenon almost expected in the sphere of ultra-running, were transported into his mesmerizing, dreamlike states on the trails. Beyond the mileage, we get an intimate glimpse of the person behind the runner - a relaxed yet ambitious spirit, contemplating the shift from backyard challenges to the steep inclines of competitive mountain racing. Setting sights on the Leadville 100, Bo discusses his passion for the sport, strategies for success, and the unyielding humor that keeps him grounded amidst the grueling demands of ultra-running.
Join us as we delve deeper into the heart of the running community, exploring the impact of training discipline, the inspiration drawn from running icons, and the anticipation of a 24-hour track race. We reflect on personal growth, the intersection of ambition and coaching, and the powerful motivation derived from a supportive network, both on and off the track. As Bo wraps up his tale, we're left with a sense of gratitude for the camaraderie that fuels his drive, and a shared excitement for what lies ahead in his running career and on our podcast journey together.
Bo Shelby
Instagram:
@b0cephus
https://www.instagram.com/b0cephus?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/bo.shelby
Shoutout to:
The Shelby Family
Gabe Dorn
Megan Hanson
Ty Gatewood
James Lauriello
Alter Ego Ambassador: https://alteregorunning.com/
Miles & Mountains Promo Code: MMyr2
Oh Shelby, how are?
Speaker 2:you, I'm good man. Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, man, it's good to see you. Good to see you not running 237 miles plus.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, the problem is I can't really run right now. It's still. It's been about two and a half weeks and I'm out of commission at this point, but hoping to get back to it soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to ask you how's recovery.
Speaker 2:This one has been a little bit longer than normal for me. I've been dealing I dealt with a lot of shin pain towards the end of the race and I mean toward the end, as in last 60 miles, last 60 miles, yeah, and it's still kind of bothering me right now. I saw my PT about it. We're optimistic that it's not a stress fracture, but I'm going to have an MRI and look into it, so hopefully that comes back negative.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, hey, let's think positive. And it's just a shin splint. A bad one, yeah, not so severe as a fracture or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yes, Okay.
Speaker 1:so I'm going to put this in perspective. A lot of the runners they listen to the runners that I have on here, so they know. But your 237 miles plus right is a lot different than Coca-Cola 250 or Big Foot 200, moab 240, it's different because you're doing 4.1, 4.2 miles every hour on the hour, no break. It's not like you can go to the aid station for an hour and rest up. You're doing four plus every hour on the hour.
Speaker 2:That's pretty brutal, that's pretty brutal. Yeah, it is. I mean the way the format is set up, you feel like you're always you're a little bit stressed out the whole time because you're always on the clock. If you have one bad hour you're out, and it definitely makes it tough from a sleep perspective. I think that's definitely the hardest component of it, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I mean, you always have great crew members. It wasn't your parents. This year it was some guy in gal right. What a guy man. Top-notch comedian dude. He was enjoyable and made it great to watch every time he gave an update. So shout out to him. What's his name?
Speaker 2:His name is Ty Gatewood and Megan Hansen was the other member of the crew. Yeah, they've been dating for a while. I love them they're. He's one of my best buddies from college. He's hilarious, one of the funniest people I know. His girlfriend is very meticulous and really kept track of making sure that I was okay from a nutrition and health standpoint. He provided the morale of the group, so it was a good combo to have.
Speaker 1:It was man. The updates were great. It was funny how he went to take a nap. She took over but didn't know what to do. He just put her on blast. So shout out to them, man.
Speaker 2:It was enjoyable.
Speaker 1:So last time you were here, well, the episode was published 9,1322. You were episode 96. I'm on between 211 published right now and 215,216, something like that. Not so much has changed for me. Yeah, I put some rodeo guys on, but I was hitting rodeo guys when I met with you, but it's gotten bigger, larger and more in charge. But for you got a couple questions, man. One thing who do you work for, dude? Who do you work with? Because I see your races. I don't like to look at races, actually, but a young man that I talked to and he's been on the podcast twice now mentioned a couple of your races and we'll get to his questions. But he made me look because I was just going to talk about this backyard, this recent backyard. He made me look at your races, man. They're not your typical races. I mean, you're quite dominant. You're not the dark horse anymore. Okay, so let's start with the recent one. You had the backyard ultra, which you're dominant the Summit Trail Racing and Marble Falls, texas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that was the one that just happened, I guess just a little over two weeks ago. It feels like a lifetime ago at this point for some reason, but I don't know With that injury, probably not. Yeah, yeah, I guess that's the sign that it's still pretty fresh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. Well, that was 237.5 miles. You got seconds, got seconds. Are you mad?
Speaker 2:about that. I'm not mad about it because I okay, coming into the race, that was my goal was to win and that was the sole goal I wanted on my mind, because when you come into a race like that, if you set a goal, say at 200 miles, once you cross that threshold it's easy to stop. Once you hit your goal, like, it becomes so much easier. So I think, being two weeks removed from the race, obviously I wish I would have won because there was a lot on the line. You know, a spot on the US backyard ultra team was on the line and that's something I've been chasing for the past two years. But at the same time, I can't be mad at how the race went down and, like setting a personal record for myself, I'm obviously super happy with how it went down and the guy who won everybody in the sport is so great and I think he deserved it. Obviously he's a great guy.
Speaker 1:Okay, 237.5 miles. How many yards?
Speaker 2:Uh, that was 57 yards so 57 hours out there.
Speaker 1:Okay, your last backyard was the Tartarus and it was in the scorching heat. You got second again, but that's when I found you and I was like dude, this guy's onto something. You ran 166.6 miles. That's still darn good. That's just a year ago, right, yeah, and that race came with its own trouble.
Speaker 2:I think looking back, the heat from that race really played like did a number on me more than I gave it credit for last year. This year the temperature was pretty nice. It was misting on us and that definitely makes a huge factor whenever you extrapolate that over the whole course 57 hours of being out there- With the backyards, though.
Speaker 1:Do you strategically plan those? Do you look them up? Do you know Like chances are? I mean, how are you picking these backyards? Because that backyard was in Texas. The backyard I met you is in Washington.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the way I picked it was I was looking for a silver ticket race because those are the races where you get. If you win you're in. And I was just kind of going through looking at my race schedule and I thought that the way it lined up for me was pretty good because it was the last race of the year. I think I was going to be a peak fitness in my mind coming into the race, although maybe not peak like health necessarily, because I had already just done some recent races. So that was kind of my mindset was I want to be my optimal fitness for this race and I want to find one that would give me the chance to punch my ticket to the national team.
Speaker 1:And that's your ultimate goal.
Speaker 2:Well, now that I've missed out on it two years in a row, I'm starting to. I would still like to eventually get on there, but I'm kind of shifting focus for this next year, just because it's a brutal race. It beats up your body in a way that 100 milers just don't, 100 milers just seem short, relatively speaking.
Speaker 1:So looking how much you've progressed over the years, when you first started, even the last two, like last year, till now, I mean chances are pretty big man to get that team. So don't, don't question, don't question. I have faith that next year, man, you got it, you got it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I might have to. I'm going to try again at some point, just don't know when that's going to be yet.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, got it, you got to let us know. Okay, september, you did run, rabbit run, you did the tortoise 100 miler. Yes, yeah. You got first and 21 hours 33 minutes. You beat the second guy almost an hour by an hour, almost just a tad bit an hour. All right, 2022,. You got eighth. Come on, man. Well, what are you doing? Okay, this is the question of the day. What are you doing?
Speaker 2:Honestly, that, oh sorry, go ahead, I'll cut you off, I'll let you finish. No, I'll finish. Okay, now I was going to say the biggest thing was, honestly, as simple as it is, I think, a mindset shift. I mean, obviously a lot of training went in behind that too, but coming out with the attitude of like yeah, I do belong up here racing hard, and like I'm going to go out and from the start, pushing myself and see what happens, like usually I'm pretty tentative in 100 mile race because it's so it's a daunting distance and so I try to start out slow. But this year I was just like let's, let's just go out and see what happens, and I think that was part of it for sure. Kind of blew up on me, but worked out in the long run.
Speaker 1:Okay, once again dominant, though even even eighth place. I mean that's top 10 status man, all right. So if you're questioning whether or not you're going to make the national team, yes, july, you did the Silver Rush 50 miler, you got. You got fourth. You missed podium Right. Yes, yeah, you upset with that.
Speaker 2:No, I think. Honestly I wanted to get top 10. And so, fourth, I was super happy about because that's it was a really competitive race. A lot of people entered that one and that was the first time, I think, that race. I believed I had what it took to go pretty or like maybe to get top 10. But once I actually did it and prove it to myself, I was like, whoa, maybe I can actually do something here heading into this 100 miler coming up two months later. But also my goal in that race was if, if I did finish well enough, I would get an entry into Leadville for next year. And so the Leadville 100 and that was that was what happened. And so next year that's my, my big target race is heading into Leadville 100 next year.
Speaker 1:So you deferred, you're going to do it. Yeah, yeah, Right now. What's your goal in that man? I want to hear it, I want, I want to. I don't want to put you on the spot, but I want to hear it, man, because that race is no joke.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it draws out a really good. I mean, it's really dependent on who shows up, because there's some premier athletes that show up to that one and it's obviously one of the most iconic races in the US, and so it's really exciting to find the like. It's been my dream for a while to be able to run that race, and I have some pretty lofty goals for myself to hit in that race Some pretty, some ones that I'm not sure I can hit. But I'm just excited to put in the work this off season and then see what happens next year. Okay.
Speaker 1:Then you did a couple road races, marathons, right, didn't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was more. Just kind of well, I did want to read qualify for Boston, but on road races I always get injured. I pulled my Achilles and actually had a drop out of a marathon that I did in February and then I went into the next marathon just to have fun more so, and kind of just get it under my belt, because I was still kind of injured at that point.
Speaker 1:But you still did well, thank you. So you're not fully healed, right? So come on, man. Lots have happened. You're killing it. You're no dark horse, you're quite the premier, as you said earlier.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm not.
Speaker 1:I want to compete with those guys, but I wouldn't put myself up there yet You're elite though, man, with the numbers, the races, the races you're picking, I mean 237 miles, four miles every hour, on the hour, no big time. Aid station maybe, top, maybe 10 minutes, tops, as a, as you know, for break, go, go, go. I mean recheck your status, man. Okay, since the last time we talked and I know I didn't make you you know the elite runner that you are. Have you gained recognition, man? Um, have you gained some?
Speaker 2:I don't know about that, but I do. I just recently I've been working with a coach recently and he offered actually to give me a sponsored spot with him. So in that way I guess so. But other than that, you know, I'm just out here doing it just because I love it. So at the end of the day that's just why I want to do it. But that obviously the coaching he gives me and the PT he gives me is through Golden Endurance and so I'm super excited about that and obviously it's a welcome new venture for me. But at the end of the day I just do it because I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, and yeah, we all know that, because if you didn't love it, you wouldn't put your shin to the test as it is right now. Right? So, your coach, are you allowed to say name or no?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. His name is Gabe Dorn.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He Okay yeah, I don't really. I just know he's really smart from like a scientific standpoint, like obviously does a lot, he stays up to date with the latest research, and that's kind of what I like in coaching. I want someone who knows how to optimize training and I don't want to have to think about it and he just takes care of that part for me. Okay, and the and the sponsor is Golden Endurance, and so he offers coaching, and PT is uh, obviously working out for me so far.
Speaker 1:So they're working out for you. It's doing great things, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Keep it Good one to work with. So do you still consider yourself just an average runner?
Speaker 2:Um, at this point I'd be lying if I just said that, but at the same time I don't, I don't, I'm not. I'm honestly not on the high horse, because I just realize how many people there are that still blow my mind and what they're doing in the sport ahead of me, for example, like Harvey Lewis in the back of the ultra it's insane to me. I can't even have fathom doing what he did, like hitting 450 miles over the course of over a hundred hours.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I barely even covered half that distance and it broke me. So I mean, I still know that there are people on another level.
Speaker 1:Look, look at how long he's been doing this, though, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, and look how you, how long you've been doing it. Oh, apples and oranges, man, I'm just saying Harvey's the best, he's the goat, he is the goat. There are other runners out there you know that we barely hear about. You know the Belgian runners that killed it in the championship, right, yeah, Like.
Speaker 2:Mark, what's his name? Marvin Gertsch or something like that. Yeah, he's a dominant too.
Speaker 1:So, and then you've been doing it for two years. Okay, two years in the backyard.
Speaker 2:Okay, I will say this might a dream of mine this might be weird, but a dream of mine for a while in the ultra running world has to be is to reach the point where your mind is put through so much where you start hallucinating and I kind of experienced a little bit of that last year in the Tartarus, but this year I got a little bit more of a taste of it. It's still not like hallucinations to the point where I, I like, actually knew it. I felt like it was fully real, but I definitely saw some things out there and that was cool to be able to hit or like. I know it's weird, but I feel like it was kind of like a right of passage to make it through that point.
Speaker 1:This is when, if you were on Joe Rogan, you'd like have you ever tried DMT?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is natural DMT right here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm glad you you got that and we. We got a little taste of how delirious you were, Thanks to your friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did a good job keeping people up to date on that stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was great, it was great.
Speaker 2:They did. You see that? They, when they acted out the full scene of how everything that went down in the race. I thought that was hilarious. My, oh no, I didn't miss it, my friend is kind of some improv and he basically pretended like he, he was a or he had Megan. Pretend like she was me and like she ran by and like just I missed that.
Speaker 1:one Might have to go back and watch Okay. All right, so elite status Okay, finally figured that out. I love your humble, your humbleness and just you know who you are. You were someone else, you wouldn't be on this podcast. Okay, my first question. My first question, because I had some other person ask some questions. Okay, who is Beau Shelby?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's tough to answer, man. Yeah, I still need to. I think that's a constant process that you're figuring out, but I can tell you, maybe, what I think right now at this point in time. I think I'm a pretty laid back, chill guy who can maybe occasionally not know. I sometimes have a hard time, like I feel like expressing myself in my emotions, at times even in just daily life. But I always want to be around fun, energetic people and just like people that bring me joy in life and I want to bring people joy in life and I just want to share happiness with people.
Speaker 2:But I think part of me would be hard to explain myself without the aspect of running. I think I will reason why I love it so much. Partially is because it does like you can't avoid the emotional side of the sport, like it's going to bring out the emotions, it's going to make you feel things that you don't necessarily feel in your daily life. It's going to challenge you in ways that you aren't challenged and it's going to an experience like that is going to push you in your daily life as well. So I'm I think I'm a driven individual, I'm a motivated individual to be better, just in all aspects of my life and I think running is a great way to basically motivate myself, even in my personal life. I don't know if that I kind of maybe went off the rails with that question.
Speaker 1:Okay With the running aspect, though. Do you share the same humor as your buddy? That crude you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do. I'm not. I can't claim to be as a quick witted and as he is, but I love being around of you. I love being around people like that. He's hilarious and brings a lot of fun in life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who's doing that? Ai images of you man.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was my buddy Ty. Okay, that was. That was strange. I gotta admit he was strange for that. He was like photoshopping me onto like these elf women and I was like what is this?
Speaker 1:And the flowing hair the long hair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look like a bobby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, I tried. I tried to send that to my buddy and then it went. When I did, it got delegated.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh okay, Instagram probably like, or your text probably like blocks you like. This content is explicit. We can't be allowed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe only a select few were able to share that. Yeah, so all right. So you got the comical side, the sense of humor, as your friend. That gives a little bit something. Okay, other than the racing and the determination. So, james Lariolo, I had him on twice. You know this guy Um.
Speaker 2:I feel like the name rings a bell, but honestly I don't know him.
Speaker 1:Okay, Short dense distance, mountain runner.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I know that's like not not up to your par, but he's, he's great. You know good guy right up your alley, right down the road. I believe he wants to know Are you moving to bigger 100 mountain races or are you going to keep doing the backyard?
Speaker 2:No, my goal, at least for this next year, is to focus really on the mountain races and to try and dial that in and see how competitive I can be, especially at Leadville. I want to test myself in that race Just because I like the challenge that the backyard presents, the aspect where you really don't have a good reason to quit ever, because most people in life can do four miles in an hour. That part is challenging because that one really pushes your brain to the very maximum limit. At the same time, it breaks your body in a way that I just don't want to be broken right now. I want to be able to bounce back quick and be able to keep running without a lot of injury. I think that'll be a race I come back to at some point, but right now I want to focus on the quote unquote shorter distances.
Speaker 1:Okay, shorter distances as 100. Yeah, exactly, okay.
Speaker 2:I mean, I have a lot of respect for the 100 mile, like, don't get me wrong, it scares me ahead of time, but I think it just doesn't break you in the same way.
Speaker 1:Okay, understand, understand. Okay, you ran with the tortoises. Are you interested in running with the hares?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah, you're right. In that 100 mile race I did last year, I was in the quote unquote tortoises, so like the amateur division and this year coming up, the prize that you win for winning the amateur race is to get a free entry next year as a hair and so while it's, it's like less than a month after Leadville.
Speaker 2:So that part scares me because I'm going to have to do two tough 100 milers back to back. But I can't say no to a free entry like that. So I think I'm going to do that one too. Would you be able to defer? I don't know. I haven't talked to the race directors about that, so that's something I need to consider for sure, but at this point I'm probably doing both.
Speaker 1:He wants to know, and that was a question from him. He wants to know about Leadville Silver Rush. He wants to know details. How did you feel? How was it overall?
Speaker 2:Yeah, how was it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I went with a crew of like I say crew, not like in the traditional way where they're like necessarily helping me out, but like a group of people from the Denver area that I'm friends with at local clubs and I was actually new friends with these people. So I think that experience first of all, just going out there with those people ahead of time, like sharing, like the pre-race, like night before and like the day morning of type stuff really was a nice aspect that I hadn't experienced in the past, Because like it kind of gave you that extra juice that you know you're riding like-minded people who are all about to do this hard thing together and I enjoyed that aspect of it. So I was in a good place going in mentally. And then during the race I just decided beforehand I kind of made up my mind like this time I really want to see what I'm made of. And so in training I had already ran like half the course a couple of times just to see how hard I could push myself on the climbs, and I came in with the mindset of you know what, I'm going to push myself as hard as I can on the uphills, within reason. Obviously I don't want to completely gas myself out, but I wanted to be almost empty feeling at the top of each climb and then to just try and recover it while running as fast as possible on the downhills was my strategy and, honestly, for a 50 mile distance, I think that strategy works out pretty well, Like it's okay to get your heart rate a little bit up on the climb so you can recover on the downhills, and I think that was a big aspect of what helped me at least go faster this year.
Speaker 2:Obviously, nutrition was also a huge bump for me. I used to just be willy nilly, just whatever is at the eight station Oreo Skittles, peanut butter, jelly sandwiches, just whatever, just shoving my mouth and not think about it. But that leads to upset stomachs and not optimal performances. So I switched to gels for this race and it just took all the thinking out of it. It made it way easier on my stomach and I think that I owe a lot of credit to that as well. The nutrition side of things. Any gels in particular, I personally love Huma. Huma is like it's a smaller brand, but they use a lot of natural ingredients. It's just easy on the stomach, and then I also really like spring, but that stuff can get a little expensive. But just the natural brands were putting down a goo or a cliff. I like those brands but sometimes they feel a little thick and hard to get down.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's true. That's why I had to ask it, because when you say gels, I'm like, no really which one? So that's why. So, thank you, huma.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I think it's inevitable by the end of a race, no matter why you're going to get sick of it, you don't want to take another one, but you just got to forge yourself at that point.
Speaker 1:Exactly, just like sometimes you get sick of just drinking water. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You get sick of existing sometimes in these races. You're just like this is so hard, but that's just how it goes.
Speaker 1:Right. So when you got fourth, you said you wanted to be top 10, right, Following the chances of getting that pass to Leadville. How was your reaction when you knew your place and what's in store for you by getting fourth?
Speaker 2:I guess yeah. So throughout the race I didn't really know for sure if I could actually get top 10. So I think when it was actually happening in reality, I was like man, this is awesome, this is something I've wanted for a while and like to be running up towards the front. It's an out and back course and so, coming back against the crowd and stuff, people were just cheering you on and stuff, and that gave me a lot of extra motivation, because everybody's out there in their own journey. People are coming from all over and they're all experiencing pain. It's inevitable for everybody. And so I drew on their determination and grit too while I was running back against the crowd.
Speaker 2:And yeah, just, I think, once I came across the line and I knew at that point that I was going to get a free entry and, honestly, at that race I felt the most pride for myself ever. That I felt after race, because I sometimes can be detached from that. And this time I was like, yeah, I feel like I really worked for it and just saw myself kind of bump up to. I just saw my ability go up, way up, and that was good to see after all the work that was put in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, heck yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Then you look in your DMs and you see my response. I was just like just all for it, man. I was like, yeah, you're like a deferred, I'm like but still yeah man.
Speaker 2:I know you've been. I really have appreciated you encouraging me a lot. I think you're one of the first people that believed in me before I believed in myself. Even so, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I'm a coach for a reason. Yeah, no man, you're. It's very fascinating to see you do your thing in the backyard. That could only imagine seeing you doing the out in backs and the mountain races that you do and are successful. So yeah man it was pretty cool that. To know that you got the Leadville man, so congrats. That's huge Just knowing that a lot of people try to do that. They don't finish if they do, but then yeah, thank you so much I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:I actually I love it. I mean looking forward because the Leadville 100 is also an out in back, so I'm looking forward to that aspect. I will say the run rabbit run 100 was an out in back course and I was hurting really bad this back have and so I in that race. I was very fortunate to have a pacer with me. His name is Ben Wells. He's a great guy in the running, ultra running community around here in the foothills of Colorado but he you know he's a great guy was doing all the thank yous and the supporting people on the way back cause I wasn't in the mood to talk in that race so it can be positive and negative.
Speaker 1:And that's when you won first, by almost an hour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had extra motivation cause my buddy was actually in second behind me and I've run with him before and I've got a lot of respect for him. He is super strong climber on uphill and really good at closing on those races, and so I knew he was hot on my heels and his name is Jacob Warnke. He's a good guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, shout out to him. Yeah, sorry I did a lot of shout outs here. Hey, no, it's all good man, I shout him out.
Speaker 2:I shout him out.
Speaker 1:So you said when I asked I had a question, he's done with this question. James is done with his questions. Thank you, james. He's a loyal listener man. That's pretty crazy how he likes to dissect the runners.
Speaker 2:So I'll have to give you his name again after the podcast.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, for sure, for sure. So I asked you earlier what has changed. You said nutrition and you have a coach. Shout out to your coach. What else has changed, like, do you have a social life, do you?
Speaker 2:I mean, I mean, I like to think I have a pretty vibrant social life. I go through waves where I'm just like social all this like a ton for a span of like a month and then I just kind of wear myself out and I just need to be by myself and like I can't for like weeks at a time. I just like don't do anything social, just because I need some time to regroup. But what's been nice recently is I've made a lot of friends in the running community, I'd say, over the course of the past year. And you know you get you kill two birds with one stone. You meet great people, you get to be social and you also share the joy of running and so get training and social both sides of that.
Speaker 1:So that's been fun. Biggest name you've met.
Speaker 2:I mean I got to meet Jim Walmsley like two years ago at Silver Rush, but that wasn't. He's not like a friend. I can't claim that. It's hard to say like I think there's. There's just a ton of good runners here in the foothills. It's hard to like pin down one specifically. But I met Zach Miller briefly at a race recently. I met Jimmy Elam. That guy he's been on fire lately. So hard to narrow down to one person but me and some legends. Okay.
Speaker 1:What have you focused on since you started running? What's your main like? You've been focused on, like more recently or Just since you started running, man, because, dude, you're not a beginner, you haven't been a beginner. I'm curious what is it? What have you been focused on since starting till now, man?
Speaker 2:And has it changed.
Speaker 2:Well, I think you're. I think the main focus for anybody, no matter what level you're at with running or even whatever would be especially for me, is just to enjoy it. You gotta enjoy it first of all. If you're, if you don't like that part of it, you're not gonna continue. I mean, you can go through, like when training gets really hard, you can go through months or two months at a time where you don't really like it that much. But over the long haul, like the, I'd say, the one thing that's been consistent throughout is that I just enjoy it and I think I get a lot of confidence from running and, yeah, it just makes me feel empowered to just live out my day to life. So in now, this past three weeks or so, not being able to run, I can tell it has affected me a little bit, so I avoid having to take these breaks.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, but it's also healthy to take a break every now and then.
Speaker 1:What makes your shin feel better?
Speaker 2:Obviously at this point rest. It's actually recovered quite pretty quick. But I think if it's like a muscle thing, I think I do need to start putting some strain on it, and I know my coach wants me to start doing more calf raises, more squats, things like that. I think you know loading it progressively to get it healthy again, I think is a smart move instead of just always laying off of it.
Speaker 1:So Treadmill works. Treadmill workouts work on a incline, oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a good advice actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But hey, I'm not your coach, so I'm just saying I might try it out, though that's easy, it's easy. But you know, just talk to your coach. Just talk to your coach. How do you plan your schedule, man?
Speaker 2:Well, in the past I literally didn't do much planning at all. I'm like not one of those people who knows when the lotteries are and like things like that, and I was like missed stuff and I'm like, well, I guess I want to do that race, but it already signed up too late. So I'm kind of not. I'm not much of a planner, just in life in general. So in the past I would just kind of just kind of choose them as whatever was still available. But this coming year I'm going to be a little bit more picky. I'm a little bit more picky, trying to find races that are competitive locally, that also offer similar profiles to what I'm going to be experiencing, really leading up to Leadville 100, because that's going to be my main focus for this coming year. And so right now, as I'm heading into the year, I want to progressively build up in distance, and so I'm going to be looking at a 50K earlier in the year and then maybe a 50 mile closer to mid-year leading up to the 100 later.
Speaker 1:Okay, Now is that decision that you and your coach has made.
Speaker 2:That's kind of just what I think mentally for myself. I kind of presented to my coach and he didn't have a problem with it. It's kind of at this point, kind of I'd say more. I think he also thinks it's smart. But I think mentally it helps me to kind of build that progression up to like work on speed early in the year and then slowly build up to distance. I think is a smart way for me to do it at least. Maybe it doesn't work for everybody.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's next? I know recovery is next, but what's next, man? I know we talked about it a little. The national team is what you're wanting to work on, or are you going to do a backyard next year?
Speaker 2:I think I need a break. I just like I've gotten injured. Both I've enjoyed my experience, but both times I did one I've gotten injuries. That kind of set me back a little bit. Obviously, this is a good time to be injured, I think if you had to pick, because holiday season, it's a good time for this. But yeah, I think I just don't want to do long-term damage. I want to be in the sport for a long time, and so right now I'm putting that kind of on the what do people say on the shelf for a second, and I'm going to focus on the 100 mile mountain races, because I think there might be something there for me, because I enjoy those races and then, beyond that, I'm always looking for new challenges. So something that I haven't necessarily I haven't put on my calendar, but something that intrigues me, is a 24 hour track race, seeing how far you can go in that time, because you can also qualify for the US team on that version of a race too, and so that might be my alley in the future.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, harvey's good at that too. Man, he's really good at that.
Speaker 2:And Courtney, the waltryer, camille Herron, all those people there they're a little bit better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, all right, well, that's good, that's good, okay. So last time you were here, man, I was like you know, bow knows backyards, right, and you laughed just like you did. Now I think it is bow knows distance. Are you good with that?
Speaker 2:Sure yeah, I'm okay with that. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:All right, Now you got the hurt done. You're recovering. Are you going to do anything fun over the holiday season?
Speaker 2:I like to think so. I'm going to go hang out with. Primarily what I have on the calendar right now is to hang out with my family. I'm going to go back home to Oklahoma and other than that I don't have a lot of plans. I would like to put something on the calendar for New Year's. Don't really have anything set in stone, but maybe a ski trip. I love snowboarding, so hopefully you're going to get to go snowboarding over Christmas or over New Year's. What about you?
Speaker 1:You got something coming up. I'm going to Vegas for a day just to go see a band and then come back.
Speaker 2:Is it Toby Keith, by chance? My parents are going to Vegas to see Toby Keith.
Speaker 1:No, I'm seeing the red clay strays, man, they're from Alabama. They got this little. They're like rock. They're not considered country, they're like rock Americana and if you listen, you probably heard of them. They're getting big. And yeah, man, they got this like this twang to them with the fifties sound, the old fifties sound in it and the guy has range and the only way I can see him is if he's traveling to Vegas or Colorado.
Speaker 2:They hardly come out here, so but I guess I kind of like read their S, like uh, is that kind of where you're like read their music, or or I'm not super well versed in that, but or like Tyler Childers kind of.
Speaker 1:Yes, a bit, but yeah, yeah, but not tooth. They're not folk at all, they're like uh, this is called Americana. It's not country, it's Americana. Now, Okay. It's not the average country and they're, they're rock. So you could say Southern rock, but they got the fifties feel to it, man, and there's nothing like it. And the guy, his voice. But I'm seeing them. They're not opening, but uh, they're in the middle of, uh, um, turnpike.
Speaker 2:Travador switch. Yeah, they're from Oklahoma actually, so they're decent, but right, clay Strays.
Speaker 1:Okay, so they're a step up from them.
Speaker 2:Okay, I got a round turnpike cause that's my uh, my uh home state right there. But I'll, I'll take your word for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're not generic, they're. They're just two country kind of they. They're old stuff. It was good, but yeah, very Clay Strays man.
Speaker 2:You listened to country on your runs at all.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I've been talking about having some country guys or you know, uh, americana, americana, there's the, if you're not part of Nashville, you're Americana. And uh, I've been hanging out with them and putting them on blasts, like I put the runners and you know the rodeo guys and, yeah, man, their beats per minute matches my beats per minute, especially this one guy that he's from Kansas city, Marty Bush. I had him on and uh, yeah man, he had uh baritone and the baritone voice and beats per minute I was like dude, I was listening to you while I was running and, man, it was perfect.
Speaker 1:And then he was like, yeah, I normally go one 28 beats per minute.
Speaker 2:I'm like that's it Maybe he's a runner, he's looking out for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was like see runner, see, but no he, so he's going to. They're going to go see Toby Keith.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they just, I think, got invited by some friends. So it's funny because they live in the same town as Toby Keith and they can go see him right down the road at the local bar if they want to, and they do occasionally. So but it's funny they're going all the way to Vegas to go see a guy because they're basically their neighbor, you know right.
Speaker 1:He said he's cancer free. The other day he said he's free, yeah, yeah, he's cancer free. And man, his that song, man that he played on that music award, the country music award, dude, just hit the fills, man, you know. And.
Speaker 2:I don't know his new music. I might have to go check that out.
Speaker 1:Well it's. It's a cover of Willie Nelson's man. Oh God, what is the what? The old man I forgot your, your parents, are going to listen to this, like, yeah, they gotta be disappointed. Shout out to your parents man, the best crew in the world man, yeah you got to see him in action.
Speaker 2:They, they crude me at my hundred mile mile race too and obviously crush it and I it's uh, I like sharing those experiences with my parents and obviously I like sharing it with my friends too, like I like sharing it with people I'm close to, because it was like an intense experience that everybody gets to share together. Heck yeah.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, I thought they were crewing you in Oklahoma, but it was your buddy. But, dude, your buddy killed it, comically.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:He's just stand up. So Bo Bo knows distance. Right, I'm pretty much done. Have I missed anything? Do you want to add anything?
Speaker 2:Um, I, I, uh. I guess one thing I want to say is, um, I feel like some of my biggest I want to shout out kind of my biggest uh supporters who have been kind of backing me and giving me go for it. I think in the this last 200 mile um, or plus, my they, uh, they sort of um I don't know, gave me, they propelled me or reminded me of, like you know where I came from, my roots, and I draw a lot of inspiration from that. And so, um, my hometown community that I was like I grew up in a small farming town and uh, a lot of people you know they're uh hardworking people and stuff like that Um just real, uh, honest, humble, loving community, and so I just felt a lot of love from them during my last 200 mile race.
Speaker 2:My small hometown at Hollis, and obviously a lot, a lot of people I've met since moving out of there. Um, but I just I'm very grateful for, uh, all the people who have, you know, shown me support along the way, cause I was reading messages, um, as I was getting into the hard moments later in the 200 mile race, and it did honestly propel me to keep going at points. Yeah, I read your last, uh, instagram and your Facebook as well.
Speaker 1:And uh, yeah, man and I, it was heartfelt. And uh, just knowing that you went uh extra nine miles after the race, knowing that you went uh extra nine miles after you know, or nine hours at, knowing that you know you're, you can't take much on your leg yeah, it says a lot. So, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Any more shadows. I know that's it. Okay, I'm brought to your hometown. Yeah, all right man.
Speaker 1:So I said it once and I'll say it again man, you're, you're quite the runner, you're elites, you're premier Right. I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say it because you're going to.
Speaker 1:You're going to you're going to understand that, dude, you are quite the runner and you need to believe it. And, uh, it's awesome to see you be successful. Be the runner that you are. And, dude, how humble you are. Man. Now, we wouldn't have this conversation I wouldn't say this stuff if you weren't humble, but, dude, you're a huge fan of the race If you weren't humble. But, dude, you're a hell of a runner. You need to believe it. I have faith in you. When I saw you do the backyard, you were the dark horse, but now it's after. James Lary Allo told me you know your Deets and your stats and everything else. Uh, you're onto something. You're getting better each day, each year. National team is right up your alley man, right up down the road. Give yourself a chance. Start believing in yourself. Know that others are confident that you're going to make it, man.
Speaker 2:So I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Shout out to you, bo. I cherish the moment that we're talking actually and I appreciate your friendship. And man, keep killing those miles, man, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for all those kind of words. I'm excited to see where your podcast continues to grow too. Obviously, it's been fun to see. Yeah like started out seems like it's just kind of like a hobby and now it's kind of blown up, so it's cool to see you as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you Till next time, bo. All right, sounds good. Thanks for having me have a merry Christmas and a happy new year, man, and I'll see you as well.