Marathons are Weak, Run an Ultra Marathon

How to accomplish anything you want. No gimmicks, listen up!

It never always gets worse. That is the mantra that goes through my head as my feet are soaked, blisters are forming jungle rot, and my ass cheeks are chaffed beyond comprehension. It never always gets worse.

“Where is my nut butter? My ass is raw."

Ron Jordan

I used to be 300 pounds, a drinker, and a tobacco user. I was pretty impressively depressed. I was coming off the loss of both my mom and stepmom. Looking back, I didn’t cope very well with either. I decided that I would compartmentalize both situations. I am tougher than loss, or so I thought.

“Grief unresolved will be your worst enemy.” Ron Jordan

Drinking became a hobby.

I started making 20 gallons of beer as a hobby. I bought a kegerator, a tap system, and fancy glasses to drink beer. I would spend Saturdays with the boys, drinking and brewing more beer. I would occupy our entire closet spaces with fermenting wort.

“Beer brewing competitions were my way of proving my excellence in brewing.” Ron Jordan

I would enter competitions, attend festivals, and pour beer for prizes. There are plenty of medals hanging in the garage now as a reminder of the time I brewed beer and was deeply depressed. Then came the day I had to get bloodwork done.

Walking into that doctor’s office, I thought nothing of it. No big deal, get this done and get back to life. Little did I know that my life was about to change.

At that time, I was 30 years old, 315 pounds, married with kids. A week passed, and my results came back. I pulled them up online and reviewed them. Prehypertension was red. That took me by surprise.

I used to be an athlete in excellent health. What happened?

“My heart was failing me, and I had to do something about it.”

My heart was not failing me, but I was failing my heart health.

I said that I loved my family and my life, but how is that possible when I’m drunk and dying in front of them? My actions did not align with my goals. Time to change.

My first step was admitting that I was having a real problem with myself and my wife.

I told her I would get in shape, so I took all that energy I was using to brew beer and get drunk into fitness. Being able to own that was the most challenging part of this process. To admit I was not in control of my own life rattled my soul. A monster woke up from a long nap, and we went to work.

The second Step was getting my diet right.

I couldn’t be drunk or hungover and work out. Those did not align and would not be tolerated long term. I quit everything that was not serving me. This included chewing snuff and alcohol. Cold turkey, quit. I am sure I was going through withdrawals from both, but it didn’t matter.

“Feeling like shit for a couple of weeks was better than dying.” Ron Jordan

I started keto. I ate eggs, bacon, cheese, beef jerky, kale, sardines, and zero sugar. I never realized how much sugar was in beer until I started paying attention to my diet. I never realized how much sugar is in every spice in the spices aisle. I never realized how much sugar is in milk. Sugar is everywhere in the standard American diet.

The third step is fitness.

How am I going to get in shape? I despise lifting weights and running, so I joined a Krav Maga program at my daughter's Tae Kwon Do gym and started C25K (couch-to-5k). I laced up my Under Armor tennis shoes, walked out of my house, and fired up the C25K app. I looked at the workout, and it said a 30-second run. I tried that. I felt like I would die, and my lungs were going to explode.

I cried.

How did I get here? I can’t even run 30 seconds? How is this my life? I threw a pity party for 10 seconds, and then it happened. I decided right then and right there that I would be able to run that 5K.

“There is only Plan A. No plan B. We will execute on Plan A.”

Ron Jordan

The program was amazing. It progressed slowly and at my pace. I enjoyed it. The workouts I enjoyed the most were my Krav Maga classes. I realized I couldn’t fight and that I could learn quickly. The little secret that I didn’t know was waiting for me was the community of Krav Maga students. Those people were just as crazy and broken as I was in their ways. We all helped each other move forward. We all had some trauma we were working through.

Community is Key

When I isolate myself and pull away, it is a red flag that I am not okay. I know that about myself now. Every time I had a bad couple of days and skipped classes or a workout, I knew I was not okay and needed to plug back in. That revelation is something that I carry forward today.

I listened to hundreds of podcasts, read about running, studied martial arts, and listened to podcasts about food and nutrition. I couldn’t get enough information on how to be a better version of myself, so I started my own podcast about a growth mindset.

There was no stopping me, I would get fit and stay fit or die trying.

The last piece is trusting the process.

Look for people who have done what you’re trying to do. If that person doesn’t exist, look at those who are thriving. There is usually a typical process among these people. They chop wood and carry water.

“Every single day they do the ordinary things extraordinarily.” - Ron Jordan.

I knew that to accomplish that 5K, I had to start with stepping stones, which included diet, exercise, sleep, and goal setting. All of these had to be in place for me to accomplish that 5K. The 5K was on the calendar at our local festival. I ran the 5K in 36 minutes. That 5K was roughly six months from getting those blood test results back.

the 100 miler

The blueprint above is the sauce. Now you gotta cook.

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