1
00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,320
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance podcast.

2
00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,200
Speaker 1: I'm Dirk Durham and this week I have a guest

3
00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,599
Speaker 1: who is someone I've been following on Instagram for years.

4
00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: He's a motivational speaker and his attitude on life is contagious.

5
00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,320
Speaker 1: Anytime I start thinking that I cannot physically do something,

6
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: my mind drifts to Sydney and I'm motivated to try harder.

7
00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 1: Sidney Smith, Welcome to the podcast.

8
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,440
Speaker 2: Hey Derk, thank you so much. This is exciting. I've

9
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,720
Speaker 2: been following you for a long time too, so yeah, yeah,

10
00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,000
Speaker 2: and you motivate me. Oh that's that's awesome.

11
00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,520
Speaker 1: Man, that's I don't know, I don't know. I don't

12
00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:52,639
Speaker 1: even know how that's possible.

13
00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:58,720
Speaker 2: But that's one thing. You never know who you're motivating.

14
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,400
Speaker 2: So it's important always share your story because well, person

15
00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,360
Speaker 2: told me your story maybe another person's survival guide. So yeah,

16
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,240
Speaker 2: that's that's true. Absolutely.

17
00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,240
Speaker 1: I had I had someone tell me that years ago.

18
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,800
Speaker 1: They're like, there's someone out there that you maybe you

19
00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,160
Speaker 1: barely even know them, but you've impacted their life somehow,

20
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,880
Speaker 1: some way, just even by meeting them, greeting them and

21
00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:26,480
Speaker 1: having a simple conversation, you've probably impacted someone's life to

22
00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,119
Speaker 1: where they think about that moment or that that whatever

23
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,440
Speaker 1: it was that you told them or the conversation or

24
00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,360
Speaker 1: whatever it was, they think about that a lot, and

25
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,600
Speaker 1: that gives them a reason. So yeah, that's I think

26
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,160
Speaker 1: we kind of all get kind of muddled down in

27
00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,280
Speaker 1: our own little bs of our daily lives, and we

28
00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,680
Speaker 1: kind of like forget about those kind of things. But

29
00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,000
Speaker 1: but then I start thinking, like you know, all the

30
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,120
Speaker 1: little things like when I'm feeling down in the dumps

31
00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,920
Speaker 1: or whatever, I start thinking about the things that someone

32
00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,800
Speaker 1: or something has happened. That that's that's makes me like

33
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:01,480
Speaker 1: shake it off or whatever.

34
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:07,040
Speaker 2: So oh yeah, no, I've had that, like even years

35
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,280
Speaker 2: and years, Like I'll speak out of school and they'll

36
00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,119
Speaker 2: be like five or six years later, you know, they're

37
00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,960
Speaker 2: all grown up with two kids, and they told me, say,

38
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,280
Speaker 2: I remember when you spoke at our middle school and

39
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,520
Speaker 2: you I just in this story and this and this

40
00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:21,880
Speaker 2: really changed my life. Here. I was like, I had

41
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,359
Speaker 2: no idea. I had no idea. You can make impacts

42
00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,960
Speaker 2: on people's lives. So that's that's very true. It could

43
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:27,640
Speaker 2: be infectious.

44
00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,760
Speaker 1: So we'll good, that's incredible, So tell tell our listeners. Uh, tell,

45
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,560
Speaker 1: take us down the path of your story of how

46
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,680
Speaker 1: you even became a motivational speaker.

47
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,880
Speaker 2: Well, it's something fairly newish, like it kind of fell

48
00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,360
Speaker 2: into my lap. When I was in college, I had

49
00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 2: to take one elective course that you know, just to pass,

50
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,280
Speaker 2: you know, and to get my degree, and so I

51
00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,560
Speaker 2: had to pick some course out there, and I chose

52
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,840
Speaker 2: public speaking because they said that was the easiest. And

53
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,480
Speaker 2: I had straight a's through college except for one class,

54
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,080
Speaker 2: and it was freaking public speaking. Because I'm like, I

55
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,640
Speaker 2: hate public speaking. Everyone says it was easy, but I'm like, yeah,

56
00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:15,840
Speaker 2: but you got to do something I absolutely hate, you know.

57
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,399
Speaker 2: I hate talking in church, I hate speaking in front

58
00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,320
Speaker 2: of people. And so I ended up getting like a

59
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,960
Speaker 2: C in that class. But it's still it's still better

60
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,920
Speaker 2: to me. But what ended up happening is is, uh,

61
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:31,959
Speaker 2: you know, I never I said I'll never speak again.

62
00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:33,840
Speaker 2: This is, you know, dumb. I'm glad I got that

63
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,760
Speaker 2: off my list. It was just to get credit for

64
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:41,920
Speaker 2: a class. And then turns out that in twenty fifteen

65
00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,960
Speaker 2: I had my legs amputated due to complications to a

66
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,600
Speaker 2: disease I was born with called Charco Marie Tooth and

67
00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,640
Speaker 2: just a backstory with that. You know, it's it's something

68
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:59,720
Speaker 2: that's a progressive muscular distripty, something I gained genetically sometime

69
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 2: down the road, and it progressed heavily in deforming my

70
00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,280
Speaker 2: feet to the point where I couldn't function. Then I

71
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:09,920
Speaker 2: couldn't do the things I love, such as hunting and fishing,

72
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 2: hiking and all that stuff. And then when I hit

73
00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,760
Speaker 2: about thirty three, doctors kind of gave me an ultimatum saying,

74
00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,000
Speaker 2: you know, we coul get a wheelchair or we could

75
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,320
Speaker 2: try you know, amputation and see what prosthetics will do.

76
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:30,040
Speaker 2: So in twenty fifteen, I did this surgery, and you know,

77
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,760
Speaker 2: it was hard, you know, changed my life. Obviously, it

78
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,120
Speaker 2: was a big decision, But in the long run, it

79
00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,360
Speaker 2: was the best decision I've ever made because I've had

80
00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,920
Speaker 2: so many amazing things happen in my life that's blessed

81
00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,200
Speaker 2: me and my family and has taught me things about

82
00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:48,280
Speaker 2: you know, gratitude and things to be grateful for and

83
00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,520
Speaker 2: how you know, God gives us certain trials in life

84
00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,839
Speaker 2: to make a stronger individuals and purpose to help other

85
00:04:55,880 --> 00:05:00,200
Speaker 2: people that are also struggling and to be the example

86
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:05,279
Speaker 2: to others. And so yeah, I just caught the fire

87
00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,000
Speaker 2: after that point. And someone suggested that I speak to

88
00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,839
Speaker 2: a group of cub Scouts and telling my story. And

89
00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:15,560
Speaker 2: I said, okay, I'll talk to these you know, ten

90
00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,480
Speaker 2: year old boys and telling my story and the challenges

91
00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,800
Speaker 2: that I've overcame and the things that I've accomplished. And

92
00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,080
Speaker 2: it felt good. And next thing, I know, you know,

93
00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,680
Speaker 2: a couple of schools started reaching out and and then

94
00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:30,960
Speaker 2: before you know it, I started going, you know, traveling

95
00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,240
Speaker 2: all over the country. It's not something I do full time.

96
00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:36,839
Speaker 2: I have a nine to five. It's just something I

97
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,760
Speaker 2: enjoy doing. And uh, it's it's been a blessing in

98
00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,760
Speaker 2: my life to share my story. So that's where I'm at.

99
00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,479
Speaker 1: Man, that's awesome to Probably one of the hardest things

100
00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,800
Speaker 1: of that whole story is back to what you were

101
00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,960
Speaker 1: saying about public speaking. I mean, I think for a

102
00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:58,880
Speaker 1: lot of us that's really hard. I know for me,

103
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:05,520
Speaker 1: I struggle public speaking too. I get nervous and I'm

104
00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,080
Speaker 1: always always my worst critic, of course, but it's it's great,

105
00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,039
Speaker 1: like you're like overcoming a lot of hurdles a lot

106
00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:18,040
Speaker 1: of us have on a daily basis, right, you know,

107
00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,320
Speaker 1: back to when you had to have your legs amputated.

108
00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,520
Speaker 1: I mean that, like that whole process has got to

109
00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:24,360
Speaker 1: be like so.

110
00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,000
Speaker 2: Impactful. It's not just like, oh I just cut off

111
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,760
Speaker 2: a hangnail. This is something that's.

112
00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:37,120
Speaker 1: Like like just the healing time of becoming to where

113
00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,160
Speaker 1: you know you're where you were amputated, to get that

114
00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,240
Speaker 1: to heal and to be like not painful all the time,

115
00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,240
Speaker 1: and then to try to like dig out of the

116
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,919
Speaker 1: there's got to be some depths of depths of despair

117
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,120
Speaker 1: there too, Right, how did how do you find how

118
00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,119
Speaker 1: did you find your way out of such a dark

119
00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,320
Speaker 1: place and into the light after that?

120
00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:02,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, you nol that it it's not it takes time.

121
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:03,960
Speaker 2: It's not like I woke up out of the hospital

122
00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,920
Speaker 2: bed and been like, okay, I'm I'm ready to to

123
00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:08,839
Speaker 2: to go kill an elk or do an ironman or

124
00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:12,240
Speaker 2: something like that. It it at first, it was actually

125
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:18,080
Speaker 2: really difficult to the especially the day of the surgery,

126
00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,440
Speaker 2: to wake up. And I remember I was in the

127
00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,600
Speaker 2: hospital bed and I looked themder the sheets, and you know,

128
00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,520
Speaker 2: sure enough I knew this day was coming. And it

129
00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,880
Speaker 2: was always kind of a surreal moment, but to actually

130
00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:34,480
Speaker 2: see gone it was it was hard. You know, there

131
00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,400
Speaker 2: was tears in the hospital bed and knowing that, you know,

132
00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,360
Speaker 2: I won't be able to feel cold grass and the

133
00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,360
Speaker 2: sand beneath my pose, and and you know, the fear

134
00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,480
Speaker 2: of the unknown, like am I gonna do activities such

135
00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,600
Speaker 2: as hunting and fishing and the things I love, play

136
00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,559
Speaker 2: with my kids, keep a job. And then my wife

137
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,400
Speaker 2: came into the hospital room, and you know, I'm still

138
00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,640
Speaker 2: down on myself, and I'm telling her, you know, I'm sorry,

139
00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,920
Speaker 2: this is now a burden on you. I was just thinking,

140
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:04,680
Speaker 2: you know, you, you might as well just go ahead

141
00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 2: and leave me, honey. I totally won't judge you for that,

142
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,520
Speaker 2: And she says, you know I could, but the doctor

143
00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,720
Speaker 2: gave us this handicapped parking pass and now that, uh,

144
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,600
Speaker 2: we can get excellent parking at Walmart. I don't see

145
00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,680
Speaker 2: any reason why I would leave you. So, uh, there's

146
00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,080
Speaker 2: there's a there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

147
00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,080
Speaker 2: But that's back to your back to your question, where

148
00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,320
Speaker 2: do you find, you know, to get out of the

149
00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,400
Speaker 2: dooms of stuff like that? Uh, you know, for me,

150
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:39,040
Speaker 2: it it was hard to accept the fact that life

151
00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,280
Speaker 2: is going to be harder at first, and I just overall,

152
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,320
Speaker 2: I'm trying to be a kind person, and ultimately I

153
00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,240
Speaker 2: felt guilty that I was a burden to everybody, and so,

154
00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:55,360
Speaker 2: you know, the thoughts of a suicide came in pretty

155
00:08:55,360 --> 00:09:00,480
Speaker 2: heavy towards at the beginning. But then, you know something

156
00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:05,080
Speaker 2: that I with this disease. I've always felt like life

157
00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,040
Speaker 2: is not fair, but it's just the way it is,

158
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 2: and you know, you have to live with that. And

159
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,840
Speaker 2: for me, I've thought, you know, maybe this, you know,

160
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,320
Speaker 2: why did God give me this challenge? And you know

161
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:21,240
Speaker 2: it's not fair, but you know, I still have to

162
00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,559
Speaker 2: live with it, and I have to have a positive attitude.

163
00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,680
Speaker 2: And when I was thinking of suicide and you know,

164
00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,680
Speaker 2: all these awful thoughts, I still had a young family

165
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,440
Speaker 2: at the time, and I had a little daughter. She's

166
00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,959
Speaker 2: now ten years old, but she was just learning how

167
00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,760
Speaker 2: to walk, and ironically we're learning to walk together. Oh wow.

168
00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,839
Speaker 2: And I just remember learning to walk with my prosthetics

169
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,480
Speaker 2: and she's learning to walk at the same time. It

170
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,280
Speaker 2: just dawned on me that you know, it may not

171
00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:56,400
Speaker 2: be fair that I had gotten this disease, but to

172
00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,800
Speaker 2: her it's not fair that they she'd have a dad

173
00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:04,640
Speaker 2: that may end his life. And I can't control my disease,

174
00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:07,360
Speaker 2: but I can control the outcome of my daughter. And

175
00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,400
Speaker 2: so it just kind of clicked that the purpose of

176
00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:12,720
Speaker 2: life is a lot different than what I thought at

177
00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,120
Speaker 2: that moment. It's not all about me. It's all about Noah,

178
00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:19,000
Speaker 2: my kids, and and everyone else as well. And so

179
00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,480
Speaker 2: I just knew I had to combat this fear and

180
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,439
Speaker 2: anger that I had towards this disease in my situation

181
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,679
Speaker 2: and find myself out of it. And so I heard

182
00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,400
Speaker 2: at church one time the opposite of fear is faith.

183
00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,600
Speaker 2: That is the antidote. But they work the same way.

184
00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,800
Speaker 2: Where you can't see fear and you can't see faith,

185
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,840
Speaker 2: but if in your mind, if you have a belief

186
00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:50,160
Speaker 2: in one and grow and develop that, nurseh you know,

187
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,200
Speaker 2: the fear or the faith, one has a positive aspect

188
00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,760
Speaker 2: and one has a negative aspect. And so I what

189
00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,240
Speaker 2: really started it all was just faith. Is that I

190
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:01,120
Speaker 2: had to believe that I was going to get better,

191
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:05,240
Speaker 2: that God has a plan for me. I'm going to

192
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,400
Speaker 2: trust in him that He's gonna provide me a life

193
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,440
Speaker 2: that's going to be worth you know, hanging on and

194
00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,320
Speaker 2: that's where it all began. And I just kept believing

195
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,680
Speaker 2: that and exercising that faith to where it's turned into

196
00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:23,000
Speaker 2: something beautiful and strong. Yeah, that's awesome. It kind of

197
00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:23,640
Speaker 2: reminds me.

198
00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,720
Speaker 1: I hate to be so cliche, but it reminds me

199
00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:31,040
Speaker 1: of a saying I seen on Instagram, and it said,

200
00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,640
Speaker 1: we all have two wolves inside, and you know, a

201
00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,800
Speaker 1: good one and a bad one, you know, and whichever

202
00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,599
Speaker 1: one you feed will grow, right, So that kind of

203
00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,240
Speaker 1: goes right back to what you said, you know, you

204
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,920
Speaker 1: either feed your faith or you feed your fears. And

205
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,240
Speaker 1: I can, yeah, I can definitely see that. It seems

206
00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:53,880
Speaker 1: like negative thoughts. If you're dwelling on negative then more

207
00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,400
Speaker 1: negative comes. And if you're dwelling on positive things and

208
00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,640
Speaker 1: you know, keeping the you know, shutting out the negative

209
00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:06,800
Speaker 1: stuff just kind of keeps you on track. So just overcoming,

210
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,520
Speaker 1: you know, the part of losing your legs and and

211
00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,520
Speaker 1: trying to find a way to live a normal life again.

212
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:20,280
Speaker 1: Now that's one thing which is remarkable that in itself,

213
00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,439
Speaker 1: to me, is is motivating. But then I look at

214
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,319
Speaker 1: a lot of the other things you do. You you

215
00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,960
Speaker 1: go hiking in the mountains, you go elk hunting, you've

216
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,080
Speaker 1: competed in iron Man, you've competed in triathlon, you've you've

217
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,880
Speaker 1: been in a body building competition. I mean, I mean,

218
00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,800
Speaker 1: you've just checked off a lot of boxes that like

219
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,720
Speaker 1: to do one of those in a normal person's life

220
00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,240
Speaker 1: would be like an accomplishment, right that like a bucket

221
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:54,320
Speaker 1: list accomplishment. You you are checking all these boxes and

222
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,439
Speaker 1: people might think or see like you know, no, nobody

223
00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,560
Speaker 1: sees the hard work, right, no matter what anyone does,

224
00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,200
Speaker 1: they always see the outcome, like the result, like you know,

225
00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,839
Speaker 1: a successful el kint summit on a mountain, you've you've

226
00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:11,240
Speaker 1: you've hiked up to or or you know your your

227
00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:13,640
Speaker 1: your body condition at the end of training for a

228
00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:19,440
Speaker 1: body competition. But the day in, day out training and

229
00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,800
Speaker 1: grueling to get from point zero to to the to

230
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:28,320
Speaker 1: the goal that is that's that's the real stuff. And

231
00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,880
Speaker 1: I feel like not everybody gets to see that, And

232
00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:34,680
Speaker 1: what are your opinions on that? Like you have you

233
00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,040
Speaker 1: probably have put in so much work that nobody will

234
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,480
Speaker 1: ever see, and overcame a lot of little things, like

235
00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:42,480
Speaker 1: little things we take for granted on a day to

236
00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,880
Speaker 1: day just to accomplished those those things.

237
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:50,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it I My wife is uh to the point

238
00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:52,920
Speaker 2: now it's like, hey, when are you just gonna sit

239
00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:58,480
Speaker 2: back and relax honestly, and uh, I My personality is

240
00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,760
Speaker 2: just consist where I have to be doing something new.

241
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,880
Speaker 2: It just keeps my mind out of the gutter. I

242
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,560
Speaker 2: like challenges. I like things that are going to test

243
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,640
Speaker 2: my body to the limits. But that's that's part of

244
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,680
Speaker 2: the fun. Like, for example, in the Iron Man, that

245
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,920
Speaker 2: was still to this date the hardest thing I've ever

246
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,560
Speaker 2: done was an iron Man. But the race itself it

247
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:26,120
Speaker 2: was hard, but that wasn't the hardest part. The hardest

248
00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:31,440
Speaker 2: part was all the training. I had an infection six

249
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,600
Speaker 2: months prior to the race that almost put me out

250
00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,240
Speaker 2: where I you know, they had to drain all go

251
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,200
Speaker 2: in there and cut into my limb and drain all

252
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,600
Speaker 2: the infection just you know, twenty plus hours of a

253
00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:48,560
Speaker 2: week of just training every Saturday completely on my bike

254
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:51,960
Speaker 2: or swimming eight or nine hours and then eating. Just

255
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,480
Speaker 2: in doing that for a year straight, that was difficult.

256
00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,840
Speaker 2: Like even hunting season. It was frustrating when I wanted

257
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,280
Speaker 2: to go hunting, but I had to to go run first,

258
00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,600
Speaker 2: and so that little stuff like that. That was the

259
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,320
Speaker 2: hard part. But that's you know, if it wasn't if

260
00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,760
Speaker 2: it was easy, then everybody would do it. That's that's

261
00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:15,920
Speaker 2: the part that is rewarding, is that that grind. And uh,

262
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,400
Speaker 2: I mean, just to answer your question, it's not easy,

263
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,640
Speaker 2: but that's what makes it worth it. That's what really

264
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,680
Speaker 2: is going to change as an individual, because if it

265
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,400
Speaker 2: was easy, then then you wouldn't see this, you wouldn't

266
00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,560
Speaker 2: have the desire, wouldn't be as cool for you. Rewarding, Yeah, absolutely.

267
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:39,840
Speaker 2: I feel like it's proof to the thought that human

268
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,760
Speaker 2: humans are capable of amazing things in and our abilities

269
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,440
Speaker 2: are way further than what we first you know, the

270
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,520
Speaker 2: first little stop our brain says, oh, I think we're done.

271
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,400
Speaker 1: I feel like we are capable of so much more

272
00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:58,480
Speaker 1: than past that first little speed bump.

273
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:08,960
Speaker 2: You know.

274
00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:12,760
Speaker 1: You you talked about, you know, having that infection six

275
00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:18,640
Speaker 1: months before your your race, and like how many how

276
00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,280
Speaker 1: many of us during elk season have gotten like an

277
00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,520
Speaker 1: ingrown toenail or a little blister on her foot or

278
00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:27,400
Speaker 1: something like, oh man, I don't know if.

279
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:28,840
Speaker 2: I can go down to the hell all the day.

280
00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,760
Speaker 2: It's and you know, it's it hurts.

281
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,520
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, or you know, there's always like

282
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,400
Speaker 1: some little little thing that that's difficult, that's not easy,

283
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,520
Speaker 1: that like will derail a lot of people. Like I

284
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,480
Speaker 1: feel like you're saying six months before that you almost

285
00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,600
Speaker 1: derailed by having that infection. It wasn't just a simple

286
00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,040
Speaker 1: little thing. It's like a lot, you know. And then

287
00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:57,080
Speaker 1: to stay the course, do you just like what do

288
00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,040
Speaker 1: you what do you focus on to stay on that course?

289
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,600
Speaker 1: Do you'd like sit there like looking at that set

290
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,640
Speaker 1: back and think, what is your mind? What's your mindset?

291
00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:06,120
Speaker 2: Are you saying?

292
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,520
Speaker 1: Are you saying, Okay, just we're gonna get through this.

293
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,160
Speaker 1: You know, it's gonna be fine. We're just gonna as

294
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,480
Speaker 1: soon as soon as I can get this healed up,

295
00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,000
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start working hard again to accomplish this. What

296
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,600
Speaker 1: what what do you tell yourself to get there?

297
00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,119
Speaker 2: Then it's gonna be worth it. Like that's that's the

298
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,239
Speaker 2: goal right there, It's gonna be worth it. And I

299
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,720
Speaker 2: don't I think the older I've gotten, you know, I'm

300
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,440
Speaker 2: now in my forties, the thing that's hardest to live

301
00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,159
Speaker 2: with being older is regrets. Right, That's just something I

302
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,080
Speaker 2: just find I don't doesn't go away. And when I

303
00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,000
Speaker 2: had that infection, you know, ultimately I talked to my

304
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,800
Speaker 2: coach and my doctor. I says, okay, I'm out for

305
00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,679
Speaker 2: a few, you know, six weeks. I can't train. I

306
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,240
Speaker 2: basically has started all my endurance over. You know, what

307
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,040
Speaker 2: do I do? And and I thought about it, prayed

308
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:58,479
Speaker 2: about it, and this was this was in twenty nineteen

309
00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,440
Speaker 2: when I did this race, and so I was like, well,

310
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,840
Speaker 2: maybe I'll push the race into twenty twenty, Like what's

311
00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:09,600
Speaker 2: the worst that can happen in twenty twenty. And as

312
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,280
Speaker 2: you can see, I decided not to go that route.

313
00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:14,320
Speaker 2: And had I done, you know, then the race of

314
00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,639
Speaker 2: twenty twenty would have been canceled because of COVID, and

315
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,399
Speaker 2: then who knows what other things could have happened in

316
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 2: my life that would have completely derailed me from the race.

317
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:24,720
Speaker 2: So I just said, you know what, it's going to

318
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,680
Speaker 2: be worth it. I'm going to give it my best,

319
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,280
Speaker 2: because I'm not going to regret it if I don't

320
00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,520
Speaker 2: give my best. If I don't finish, that's one thing.

321
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,000
Speaker 2: I could always sign up and do this again. But

322
00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,600
Speaker 2: if I if I don't even show up to the course,

323
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,119
Speaker 2: and don't even try. Then it's it's not going to

324
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,640
Speaker 2: be rewarding, because that's that's where it is. Same thing.

325
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:50,120
Speaker 2: Like like we talked about elk hunting that this last

326
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,760
Speaker 2: fall or this current fall, sorry that we're in, I

327
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,840
Speaker 2: guess it's still fall. I just shot an elk last

328
00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,679
Speaker 2: month and my biggest bull to date. You know, I'm

329
00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:02,879
Speaker 2: super stoked about it. But when I shot him, I

330
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,680
Speaker 2: shot him down at the bottom of this canyon and

331
00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,840
Speaker 2: it you know, I knew when I saw him he's

332
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,680
Speaker 2: one of those bulls you just don't be like, well,

333
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:13,960
Speaker 2: he's too hard to get. I'm not going to pass.

334
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:15,720
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a once in a lifetime thing

335
00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,880
Speaker 2: by far, And I went and I shot him, and

336
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,719
Speaker 2: and the best thing about elk cunning is having buddies

337
00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,920
Speaker 2: with you because then you feel confident getting him out

338
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,320
Speaker 2: of there. Right. Sure, we spend all day breaking him

339
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,479
Speaker 2: down and you know, boning him out and getting him

340
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:32,639
Speaker 2: up the hill. And you know, my buddy was like,

341
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:34,720
Speaker 2: you know, you should have shot him from the road

342
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,560
Speaker 2: or you know, to see if he would have came

343
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,960
Speaker 2: up the road. But I look back at it now,

344
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,840
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm glad that he was in the

345
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,840
Speaker 2: worst hell hole. Otherwise this reward wouldn't be as as great.

346
00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,480
Speaker 2: I mean, it would felt like I mean, don't get

347
00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:50,600
Speaker 2: me wrong. If they're sitting on the road, that's awesome.

348
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,119
Speaker 2: But at the same time, just to earn that bull

349
00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,120
Speaker 2: has now made it more of a memory and every

350
00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,119
Speaker 2: you know, this is my first bull that I'm actually

351
00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:02,440
Speaker 2: going to mount, and now I will remember that elk

352
00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:04,679
Speaker 2: and that experience of the pack out more than just

353
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 2: you know, if I were to shoot him on the road,

354
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,880
Speaker 2: and so it's got to be worth it and that

355
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:12,880
Speaker 2: those are the moments you got to live for. Otherwise

356
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,760
Speaker 2: having regret, it's just an awful thing to have. Absolutely, yeah, yeah,

357
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:23,400
Speaker 2: living with regret it sucks. I know. Over the years,

358
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:24,119
Speaker 2: I've been elk.

359
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,080
Speaker 1: Hunting, deer hunting for thirty I don't even know thirty five,

360
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:31,240
Speaker 1: forty forty years, but thirty five plus years, and like

361
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,679
Speaker 1: there's some some times I can think back to where

362
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,640
Speaker 1: I didn't give up my all or I gave up

363
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:44,280
Speaker 1: on whatever, and then I had to live with that

364
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,399
Speaker 1: regret for a whole nother year. But then it's not

365
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,399
Speaker 1: just another year. It's it's that one little thing that

366
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,960
Speaker 1: always like gnaws at your the back of your mind.

367
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: I to this day there's still someone some do overs.

368
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:02,560
Speaker 1: I really wish I could of just because I gave up,

369
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,440
Speaker 1: you know. You know, I like to talk a big

370
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 1: game and say, you know, don't ever give up. But

371
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,640
Speaker 1: that's a lot of that is me talking to myself,

372
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,879
Speaker 1: don't ever give up. I have to give myself that

373
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:15,440
Speaker 1: my pep talk every now and then because it, Yeah,

374
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,119
Speaker 1: you do face hard, hard hunts or hard things, and

375
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,359
Speaker 1: it's like, well, do you want to you know, you

376
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,080
Speaker 1: want to think about this for the you want to

377
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:26,879
Speaker 1: carry that monkey on the back of your back for

378
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,080
Speaker 1: the next year or the rest of your life.

379
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:30,119
Speaker 2: No, I don't.

380
00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,560
Speaker 1: So yeah that I can definitely see see that you

381
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,440
Speaker 1: don't want to live with regrets. How hard was it

382
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 1: to relearn to walk?

383
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,840
Speaker 2: I can only imagine, just be.

384
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,639
Speaker 1: It's got to be a whole new process versus like

385
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 1: and I hate to even compare this, but I had

386
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 1: ankle surgery here a couple of years ago, and I

387
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,760
Speaker 1: had to go into a bunch of physical therapy and

388
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,919
Speaker 1: I could walk, but it wasn't right, you know, I

389
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,719
Speaker 1: had to they had to show me how to do

390
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 1: it right. So I would learn how to use that

391
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:09,080
Speaker 1: ankle again properly, but with muscles that I've used in

392
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 1: the past to walk. Now I can imagine everything is

393
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: different now with prosthetic limbs, with prosthetic legs to walk,

394
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 1: you're using some of the same muscles but differently, and

395
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,160
Speaker 1: there's probably some other muscles that coming into into play

396
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:25,359
Speaker 1: to learn how to walk.

397
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,680
Speaker 2: What was that like? Well, it it is different for

398
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,080
Speaker 2: like a single amputee versus a double amputee. Like a

399
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,720
Speaker 2: single amputee guys that I've I've hunted with with my charity,

400
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,879
Speaker 2: they they struggle with like the fatiguing and then the

401
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:47,399
Speaker 2: other leg. For me, where my struggles is because I

402
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 2: don't have an ankle, a lot of my stability comes

403
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,359
Speaker 2: into my knees and my hips, Okay, and so one

404
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 2: of the things you know, when I train at the gym,

405
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 2: those are things I like to focus on, is you know,

406
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 2: stability on my hips, mostly because that's what's gonna help

407
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 2: with my walking. But to answer your question, like how

408
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 2: hard was it to learn to walk? You know, prior

409
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 2: to having my legs amputated, I wore those forest gump braces,

410
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,720
Speaker 2: those big metal things, and so you know, ironically, I

411
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 2: got those braces when that movie came out, and so

412
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,440
Speaker 2: everybody at the playground would always say, you know, run

413
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 2: Sydney Run. So that's and I still have those braces.

414
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 2: But because of those braces, they actually kind of helped

415
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 2: me understand the mechanics of relying on a device. And

416
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 2: so I actually picked up pretty well on the prosthetic,

417
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,040
Speaker 2: but I still had pain. Like when you first lose

418
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 2: your limb, your your your limb is huge and it's

419
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,359
Speaker 2: got to loose size. And then your they change the

420
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 2: shape of your socket that go you know, the socket

421
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 2: goes around your limb and that changes, and then you

422
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 2: have to have soft because throughout the day the volume

423
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:07,879
Speaker 2: can change based off like sweat, your diet, inflammation that

424
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,639
Speaker 2: your calf muscle because it's got a atrophy completely. And

425
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 2: then it was about probably going this yo yo about

426
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 2: a whole year. Did I feel confident where I could

427
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 2: walk throughout the whole day and not have any pain.

428
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:23,679
Speaker 2: And then when it came to hunting, that was you

429
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,959
Speaker 2: know another element because now I'm adding pressure on my back,

430
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,159
Speaker 2: which is more weight inside my socket, which is you know,

431
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,199
Speaker 2: this hard carb fiber. So I got to adjust to

432
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 2: that I'm more top heavy, and so the carbon fiber

433
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,199
Speaker 2: has a different response based on my weight, and so

434
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 2: I got to adjust to that. Sissy sticks. I know

435
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 2: Bryce Bishop with the Peaks equipment. He got me some

436
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 2: of those trekking poles. Yeah, I use those for hunting,

437
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 2: even when you know the trail is actually not treacherous.

438
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 2: I still like that. But you know, challenges for me.

439
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,879
Speaker 2: You know, a sage brush because I can't feel the ground.

440
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 2: I can't feel when that sage brush grabs your feet,

441
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 2: you know, because I'm trying to scan scan the horizon,

442
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 2: trying to look for animals. Uh steep going downhill just

443
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 2: because my my toe doesn't flex downwards, so I'm basically

444
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 2: walking on the edge of my heel. That's kind of hard.

445
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 2: Uh goll league upheels nice because that my my foot's down,

446
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 2: you know, kind of digging in anyways because it's flat, right.

447
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's that's kind of the gist of prosthetics.

448
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 2: It could take a beating. I I've had experiences where

449
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 2: I've broken my prosthetic in the mountains. You know, I

450
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 2: get blisters, I get sores, just like everybody else. It's

451
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 2: just in different places. Yeah, do you do you once

452
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,400
Speaker 2: you kind of once you get I would assume it's

453
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,200
Speaker 2: just like anything, the more you use it, the tougher

454
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:57,880
Speaker 2: it gets. Right.

455
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 1: So you know, if you're if you're training for one

456
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: of like a marathon or whatever, training for elk hunt

457
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,040
Speaker 1: maybe if you've been sedentary for a little while and

458
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 1: then like, okay, I'm gonna start picking up my training here,

459
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:13,480
Speaker 1: I would assume like you probably in the beginning start

460
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: having some blisters, but then you will it'll like things

461
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: can target toughening up right. You know, by the time

462
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,360
Speaker 1: elk seasons there, it's pretty good. But then you get

463
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 1: on some other train and you may experience some other

464
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 1: other other issues with blisters, but it probably develops more

465
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 1: of a callus there. Eventually probably use it and lose it,

466
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:36,360
Speaker 1: or use it or lose it.

467
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, I mean the beginning, like you taw archery

468
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 2: season starts in August, and you can't to replicate, you know,

469
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 2: to train for hunting. The best way to train for

470
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 2: hunting is go more hunting, go hunting more, I guess,

471
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 2: And so usually August is when it's like those first

472
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:56,400
Speaker 2: few hikes or you know, oh that kind of hurt

473
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 2: and then by the time I'm hunting in October November,

474
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 2: I'm a row But yeah it uh, I would say, yeah,

475
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 2: the blisters are pretty much healed and calloused over and

476
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,439
Speaker 2: and my muscles are you know, a little better shape

477
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 2: for for for hiking. So it it's just like, yeah,

478
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 2: just like anybody else.

479
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:25,160
Speaker 1: So now bodybuilding, you shared some some pictures and your

480
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 1: bodybuilding story on Instagram and I didn't even know you

481
00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 1: were training for that, and then you showed your before

482
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,719
Speaker 1: and after pictures and I was like, holy cow, Like

483
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:42,480
Speaker 1: what a what a transformation? An incredible transformation, And like

484
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,640
Speaker 1: working out a lot is is one thing, but then

485
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:51,919
Speaker 1: there's got to be an insane diet control, you know,

486
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,639
Speaker 1: to get into that kind of in that kind of

487
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 1: shape to look like that.

488
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 2: Can you talk about your your training and then also

489
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 2: your diet working for your for body your bodybuilding competition. Yeah, yeah,

490
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,920
Speaker 2: you're not the first person that says, WHOA, I didn't

491
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 2: even know you were doing this, And there was a

492
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:13,199
Speaker 2: reason for that.

493
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 3: Like it, I I was playing basketball about a year

494
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:23,679
Speaker 3: ago and I tore my mcl and you know, I

495
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 3: couldn't run and do the you know basketball for a while.

496
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 2: So I decided to hit the weights, and I just enjoyed,

497
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:34,679
Speaker 2: you know, lifting weights in the iron and talking to

498
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 2: guys at the gym and seeing that you know, they've

499
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 2: done you know, bodybuilding shows. And I just kind of asked,

500
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 2: you know, what do I do help me? What do

501
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 2: I need to do? I'm curious about it. And so

502
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 2: my biggest demise is I can exercise all day long,

503
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 2: but when it comes to food, I love to cook,

504
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 2: I love to smoke, I love to to Food is

505
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 2: a social thing for me, and I eat, you know,

506
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 2: poorly most of the time. Right, So that I knew

507
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,040
Speaker 2: that was going to be the hardest. Every time I

508
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 2: tried to lose weight for something, it's it's always the

509
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 2: pizza and the cookies that end up getting after me.

510
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 2: The smoked meats, oh yeah, the smoked meats. So I

511
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 2: just I just decided, you know what, this is kind

512
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 2: of a new iron Man for me. It's something I

513
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,520
Speaker 2: you know, it's it's in good puts me in a

514
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 2: good headspace to have a goal that's hard in mind.

515
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 2: And so I just told myself, I'm going to do

516
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 2: a show in October and and and go for there.

517
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 2: So how it looked out, I gave myself about a

518
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 2: year to prep for this show. I was two thirty

519
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 2: six when I started, and it just what it looked

520
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 2: like was in the beginning, I would, you know, eat

521
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 2: high proteins. My calories would be pretty high, about thirty

522
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 2: five hundred, and I just have a high protein to

523
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 2: try to bulk up, tried to get strong, lift heavy,

524
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 2: and then I continued that from about oh December till

525
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 2: May ish is when I started what they call the cut.

526
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 2: And so I figured out, you know, how much weight

527
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 2: or how many calories I needed to cut back before

528
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 2: I started losing weight and then minus five hundred calories.

529
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 2: So I kind of measured everything that I ate, weighted

530
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 2: everything that I ate, logged everything that I ate, and

531
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 2: then I watched my scale. If I started losing weight,

532
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 2: then that's what I knew where I was supposed to be.

533
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 2: So I went from like thirty five hundred calories to

534
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 2: twenty five hundred calories and then I kept that for

535
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 2: a while and I was hoping to lose about a

536
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 2: pound and a pound and a half, and then I

537
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 2: dropped to two thousand calories because sometimes I would plateau,

538
00:30:55,160 --> 00:31:00,240
Speaker 2: but I for food wise, I ate probably a whole

539
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 2: elk all by myself because elk has the best protein

540
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,480
Speaker 2: per calorie ratio, and when you're trying to keep for

541
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 2: calories low and your protein's high, like for my macros,

542
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 2: if I weighed about two hundred and twenty pounds, I

543
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 2: wanted to try to eat two hundred and forty grands

544
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 2: of protein, which is that's a lot of food. And

545
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 2: so you know with you know, mountain hoops, protein shakes

546
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,360
Speaker 2: and elk, and I fish a lot, so I caught,

547
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 2: you know, kept all of my fish that I would catch.

548
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 2: I just kind of developed a diet. I got a

549
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 2: little creative with like different egg whites and chicken, but

550
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 2: ultimately I had to cut out the things I loved,

551
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 2: which was pork, you know, you know, starchy foods, bread,

552
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 2: you know, heavy breads, pizzas, sugar, soda, all that. And

553
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 2: that was the hardest part of the bodybuilding show. Actually

554
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 2: the muscles. There are just muscles that I had. I

555
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 2: don't think I really grew any stronger. I didn't get

556
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 2: stronger in the gym. It's just when you lose all

557
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:07,280
Speaker 2: that weight from doing all calorie deficit, that's when it

558
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 2: shows up. And that is the hardest part is just

559
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:14,560
Speaker 2: the food. So were you did you avoid carbs at

560
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,000
Speaker 2: all costs or were you mixing in some carbs some

561
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 2: like clean stuff. I do what they call a carb

562
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 2: rotation or so on leg day and back day, which

563
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 2: were my largest groups of muscles that I was exercising,

564
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 2: I would have more carbs. But ultimately the goal was

565
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,479
Speaker 2: to be about one hundred carbs for the day, except

566
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 2: for the last month. The last month is when it's

567
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 2: extreme cutting. I was anywhere from twenty five to fifty

568
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 2: and very irritable and angry, and I was a little bitchy.

569
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie. My wife said. I was on

570
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 2: PMS for the month of September.

571
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: Man, I feel that anytime I do, like try to

572
00:32:54,960 --> 00:33:00,160
Speaker 1: do carnivore or keto, dude, I get so pissy. I'm

573
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 1: just like a grouch and like walking around bambug, I'm like,

574
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 1: what the hell's wrong with you?

575
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 2: Man?

576
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 1: Like why are you so grouchy? And then it's like, oh, yeah,

577
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 1: because I don't have any that comfort.

578
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 2: Food to just like, oh, chinnamon rolls or mashed potatoes

579
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 2: or any of that fun stuff to eat. But man,

580
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 2: it's not fun to eat strict that and you just

581
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 2: said it, like that's a lot of us. That's our

582
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,960
Speaker 2: biggest nemesis is you know, working out, and that's one thing.

583
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 2: But they say you can't outwork out a poor diet.

584
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 2: Right No, absolutely, not, Like even if you when I

585
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 2: was doing the Iron Man and I was you know,

586
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,959
Speaker 2: thousands of calories I was burning on a regular basis,

587
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,479
Speaker 2: I still had a good old tire belly like it was,

588
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 2: you know, a beer belly. And it's just because I

589
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 2: was eating so much carbs and sugars to try to recover. Right, No,

590
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,680
Speaker 2: I learned a lot about my body in this competition.

591
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 2: Like I could still like I've had pizza a few

592
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 2: times since my competition. I could still find waste to indulge,

593
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:10,680
Speaker 2: but I I mean I would eat like a whole pizza,

594
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 2: and now I can be okay with just a few slices.

595
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,720
Speaker 1: Right did it kind of almost change? Like I found

596
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 1: I feel like after I've eaten really strict for a while,

597
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 1: I don't like the things I used to love. I

598
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: don't like them as much. I mean I still kind

599
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:28,719
Speaker 1: of like them, but it's not like, oh, I have

600
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,720
Speaker 1: to have my mashed potatoes with my steak, my elk steak,

601
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:32,280
Speaker 1: or whatever.

602
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:36,400
Speaker 2: It's like, eh, I'm good with or without it. Oh, correct,

603
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 2: your body responds when you're eating clean for that long.

604
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 2: Your body responds to port or bad foods, you know

605
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 2: pretty well. Like for example, our neighbors brought us some

606
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 2: Christmas cookies and I tried one. I'm like, oh, that

607
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 2: was good. So I tried another one, and my whole

608
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:55,919
Speaker 2: body was like, oh, you suck eras I just felt

609
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 2: like I ran into like a pole. And it's so

610
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 2: I quickly learned that eating clean, you're just you're doing better.

611
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 2: You think better, you feel better, you know have you know,

612
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,360
Speaker 2: I have more confidence, and uh, you know, you'd be

613
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 2: more efficient. Like even when I was you know, I

614
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,319
Speaker 2: was training for this competition. You know, the carbohydrates that

615
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 2: I could have was rice, and I it's amazing what

616
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 2: a cup of rice could get me two or three

617
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,439
Speaker 2: miles on the mountain, just just a little bit of rice.

618
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 2: What those carbs could do. You know before I would

619
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:30,719
Speaker 2: have to eat, you know, a box of donuts to

620
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,960
Speaker 2: get that kind of carbohydrates effectively in my body. So right,

621
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:35,839
Speaker 2: I noticed that too.

622
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,440
Speaker 1: One time, I ate keto all summer and then a

623
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,000
Speaker 1: couple of days before Elksen. I'd been I'd been hiking

624
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 1: this hill every day, this steep ass hill, and I'd

625
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 1: hike it, and with zero carbs, I was just I

626
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 1: would struggle it take a you know, just like fu

627
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,400
Speaker 1: one foot in front of the other. And then a

628
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,479
Speaker 1: couple of days before I left for my elk hunt,

629
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,719
Speaker 1: I grabbed I was like, you know what, I think

630
00:35:57,760 --> 00:35:59,880
Speaker 1: it's it's close enough. I'm gonna I'm gonna eat some

631
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: And so I got me a couple barbecue beef burritos

632
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 1: from the deli at the store, at the at the

633
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:07,719
Speaker 1: gas station, and.

634
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:08,239
Speaker 2: I ate those.

635
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: Man, I flew up that hill. It was like I

636
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,319
Speaker 1: was I had rocket fuel. It's like, holy cow, like

637
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: doubled my time up and down. It's like, holy cow,

638
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,279
Speaker 1: that was awesome. But that doesn't that doesn't work like

639
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 1: that when you've been eating like crap all the time, No,

640
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 1: it you're slug then yeah, yeah.

641
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 2: Because well, because your body already has all that glycogen

642
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 2: storage in you, it always all that flat storage in you,

643
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,680
Speaker 2: and so when when you already are just adding to it,

644
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 2: it does nothing but makes you feel like crap. It

645
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 2: doesn't burn like a like a like a fire inside

646
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:45,840
Speaker 2: it's so, yeah, you did the right thing. By that's

647
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 2: that's probably the best time to have that kind of

648
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 2: food is when you know you're gonna burn it off.

649
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: So you're Elk, you got a heck of a bull. Elk,

650
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,640
Speaker 1: you were talking about how what what kind of a

651
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 1: tag was that?

652
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 2: Was that?

653
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 1: A like did a rifle tag? And for how long

654
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:12,680
Speaker 1: was the season? And tell tell us about that?

655
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got blessed. I was given a tag my

656
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 2: brother in law, he kind of worked out some magic

657
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,240
Speaker 2: with a friend of his that owns cwn U property

658
00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 2: here in Utah. And it was a tag that not

659
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 2: normally like there's there's you had a chance at a

660
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,439
Speaker 2: bull because it was very late season, which I've never

661
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 2: hunted late season bulls like that. So I mean, i'd

662
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:44,440
Speaker 2: really you know it it like you know, I'm a

663
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 2: big fan of watching Corey Jacobson films and Elk one

664
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 2: on one stuff and so you know, I I, you know,

665
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:53,359
Speaker 2: I blow phelps and so I thought, oh, I could

666
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 2: call a bull in, but at that time of year,

667
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,160
Speaker 2: they don't like to be called It's more like a

668
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 2: mule deer hunt, right, And so I was just it

669
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 2: was kind of out of my element, you know, to

670
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:10,359
Speaker 2: not call or to try to locate. Instead, we're just

671
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 2: basically going up on these ridges. It's here in Utah.

672
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:19,719
Speaker 2: It's a transition unit. So what they told me that

673
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 2: this hunt could be where it was a five day

674
00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:28,520
Speaker 2: hunt and it could be anywhere from seeing a couple

675
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 2: elk the whole trip, or seeing twenty or thirty bowls

676
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 2: the whole trip. Wow. And prior to this hunt, we

677
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 2: had a really nice snowstorm in late October and it

678
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:46,719
Speaker 2: just triggered all these elk where every day we were

679
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:52,560
Speaker 2: seeing probably eighteen or nineteen bowls and that's it was awesome.

680
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 2: Like it was like, I've never been a part of

681
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 2: a hunt where you see that many elk. I mean

682
00:38:57,880 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 2: where I live. I live in you went to mountains

683
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,640
Speaker 2: northeastern part of Utah. It's an open bowl unit. And

684
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 2: you know, if you see a spike elk in this

685
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 2: open bowl unit, that's a trophy. Yeah, and you may

686
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 2: not ever see another elk ther whole time. And so

687
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,759
Speaker 2: it was really hard to to pass on an elk.

688
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 2: But when you see on the first day, I think

689
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 2: we saw fifteen bowls and uh, you know, I was like, oh, lead,

690
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:23,759
Speaker 2: I don't want to shoot one on the first day.

691
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 2: Then the hunts over, I already got worked off, and

692
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 2: all my buddies were saying, don't shoot one on the

693
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 2: first day because we don't want to go back to

694
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 2: our wives. Let's just try to this as long as possible.

695
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 2: Let's enjoy this, Let's let's sit back and enjoy it.

696
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,440
Speaker 2: I mean we were we were we were cush hunting,

697
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,680
Speaker 2: like we I brought my camper and we were you

698
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:43,319
Speaker 2: know that had a you know, heater in it and

699
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 2: stuff like that. So we we were having a good

700
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 2: old time. And and the second day hit saw a

701
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:52,360
Speaker 2: few more bulls. I saw really really pretty five point

702
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,960
Speaker 2: like score is not something i'd chase per se. But

703
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 2: if there's there's a difference between oh that's a pretty

704
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 2: pretty bowl and there's another one that makes your butthole flinch,

705
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:06,240
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, and this this

706
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 2: this bull had that and so but at the same time,

707
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 2: I don't I saw him on the second day and

708
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 2: I wanted, I want to shoot this big, huge five

709
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:19,799
Speaker 2: point I mean, just super mature body, but he was

710
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:25,120
Speaker 2: uphill it was like six hundred yards, and I just

711
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,799
Speaker 2: didn't feel comfortable. Shooting that distance. I could, but I

712
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 2: didn't feel comfortable because it was just an awkward position.

713
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:34,960
Speaker 2: So we tried to get a shot and never could

714
00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,360
Speaker 2: get him. And then I spent the next two days

715
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 2: trying to find him and never did. And then it

716
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:42,600
Speaker 2: just so happened to be where we found this other

717
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 2: bull that ended up being bigger. Oh wow. And you know,

718
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 2: in the meantime, I was, you know, passing three hundred

719
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 2: inch bowls through fifteen's and that was you know, that

720
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:55,840
Speaker 2: was really hard to do to pass an elk that size.

721
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 2: And then when I saw this bowl, it just is

722
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:00,359
Speaker 2: the same thing. It was just like you just know, yeah,

723
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,399
Speaker 2: that's it's just there's just next level. You know, your

724
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 2: heart starts sinking, your eyes your eyes start you know,

725
00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:11,560
Speaker 2: watering because it's just so beautiful. I love it. I

726
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 2: love it it. That's that's so awesome.

727
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you got to enjoy that experience a

728
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:21,440
Speaker 1: hunting one of those cwmus. You know, some people will

729
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,439
Speaker 1: sit here and they'll they will throw rocks and poo

730
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:25,279
Speaker 1: poo on that.

731
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,960
Speaker 2: Oh it's privately, no, nope, I'm out.

732
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:33,279
Speaker 1: You know, you get all the comments and it's like man,

733
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 1: sometimes normal guys should get that opportunity, you know, every

734
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 1: now and then, which I'm all for. You know, it's

735
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,919
Speaker 1: not always some rich dude getting those tags. It's it's

736
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:52,479
Speaker 1: cool to see regular guys that you know would really

737
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,840
Speaker 1: appreciate it get that kind of a hunt. And some people,

738
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,879
Speaker 1: I mean, how many people would turn down an opportunity

739
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 1: to do that if somebody said, hey, why don't you

740
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,520
Speaker 1: come up here and hunt? Nobody's turn that down?

741
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 2: Right, So I knew this was a once in a

742
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 2: lifetime thing for me too. I mean, I don't I

743
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of money to mount animals, and

744
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 2: so I I knew this was one that I would

745
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,319
Speaker 2: have to mount because I knew I wasn't gonna get

746
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,960
Speaker 2: another shot. But yeah, you get you do hear the

747
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,400
Speaker 2: negativity and it's usually the same loud group that's against

748
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 2: the cwm US. I know a lot of operators. What's

749
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 2: nice is a lot of other these operators will work

750
00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:36,800
Speaker 2: with my nonprofit charity where we give you know, kids

751
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:41,319
Speaker 2: that are terminal an opportunity to hunt elk on these properties. Yeah,

752
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,400
Speaker 2: the way they treat the property like the elk, the

753
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,840
Speaker 2: very healthy animals, beautiful properties and really the way people

754
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,440
Speaker 2: forget and you taw you could draw for these units.

755
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,839
Speaker 2: In fact, in this this unit that I hunted in

756
00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:58,239
Speaker 2: of course, there was you know, guys that buy the

757
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 2: tags every year. They have a lot of money. But

758
00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 2: the guy that shot the biggest bowl this year was

759
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 2: was a public land guy that drew that put his

760
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 2: name in it and drew it. He shot a three

761
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,640
Speaker 2: sixty bowl. Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome.

762
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:16,240
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to hunt a CWMU here a

763
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:20,640
Speaker 1: few years ago, twenty twenty two, and there was a

764
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:23,240
Speaker 1: guy and his son. The guy had drawn a tag

765
00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,560
Speaker 1: and yeah, he got to stay at the same place

766
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 1: I got to stay. They even provided a guide for

767
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,560
Speaker 1: him they. I mean, it was awesome, like that guy,

768
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,040
Speaker 1: you know, was out there just living living the dream.

769
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:41,839
Speaker 1: So I think it's a good program, you know. I

770
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 1: feel like everybody should get a chance someday to to

771
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:46,080
Speaker 1: go on that.

772
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:46,319
Speaker 2: You know.

773
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,799
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, with the drawing systems, it makes it tough. You know,

774
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,360
Speaker 1: it's really hard, especially utahs is you got to be

775
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: invested for a lot of years to to draw a tag.

776
00:43:55,760 --> 00:44:01,560
Speaker 1: And but but anyway, so what's next, what's uh, what's

777
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:03,600
Speaker 1: on the horizon. Do you got any or do you

778
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 1: or maybe you don't want to share what your next

779
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 1: big goal is. Man, you've checked some pretty impressive boxes. No,

780
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,600
Speaker 1: there's there's always something on my mind. I'm working on

781
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: one right now.

782
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 2: This I usually don't go this long, but I wanted

783
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,959
Speaker 2: to find something that kind of resonates with me. And

784
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 2: there's one that I've always wanted to do, and that's

785
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,920
Speaker 2: to swim the English Channel. It's from France to England.

786
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:37,759
Speaker 2: It's it's a marathon, but it's a swim. But it's feasible.

787
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,560
Speaker 2: It's really hard. You know, my my wife right now,

788
00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:46,840
Speaker 2: it's not something she's eagerly anxious about. There's something that

789
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:49,400
Speaker 2: I'm probably going to do this year is to swim

790
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 2: to Alcatraz Island and back. So I'm working with a

791
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:56,200
Speaker 2: charter company out there to see what it costs and

792
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:58,120
Speaker 2: see if I could, you know, maybe do a charity

793
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:02,480
Speaker 2: event where I can raise money for that swim. And

794
00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 2: you know, I just there. You have to swim at

795
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,359
Speaker 2: a certain pace otherwise the current to go to out

796
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:12,200
Speaker 2: to Alcatraz will push you off course where you're actually

797
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,640
Speaker 2: not going forward, you're going sideways. And so I have

798
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 2: to qualify for that to swim to Alcatraz Island and

799
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:23,680
Speaker 2: back and they so that one's probably something that would

800
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 2: be the next one that's coming up twenty twenty five. Awesome.

801
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:32,560
Speaker 2: Are you a pretty strong swimmer? Yeah? I swim in

802
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:35,400
Speaker 2: high school and in college. I mean with my disease

803
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 2: because my feet were deformed, it was just it was

804
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:41,319
Speaker 2: something that I could do well at. The disease is

805
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 2: in my hands as well, but it's it's uh, I've

806
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:48,000
Speaker 2: been working with the physical therapist I'm on. I got

807
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,240
Speaker 2: on tier T here a couple of years ago. That's

808
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 2: kind of helped me retain muscle, and so the disease

809
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,800
Speaker 2: hasn't really affected that badly. There's some days it's bad,

810
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 2: but for the most part, I'm still able to use

811
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:04,920
Speaker 2: my hands. Do you feel pain or is it just

812
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:11,560
Speaker 2: loss of function? Both? Pain just because uh, the arthritis

813
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:16,080
Speaker 2: and it everything's really feeble, like I have a broken

814
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:20,600
Speaker 2: wrist that still hasn't healed, and then just functions. So

815
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:24,640
Speaker 2: like fatigue, So like with swimming, if I get too tired,

816
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 2: then my hands can't they cramp up like this like

817
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 2: a I guess while we're on a podcast, so kind

818
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:31,839
Speaker 2: of like a monkey hand where it just kind of

819
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:34,799
Speaker 2: closes up, grip yep, and so to swim, I want

820
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:38,320
Speaker 2: my hands open, so I can, you know, like paddles

821
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,279
Speaker 2: and to hold that position is it can be hard

822
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:46,719
Speaker 2: when my disease gets gets bad. Oh wow, yeah, right on.

823
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 2: Well man, what are any closing thoughts you'd.

824
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:53,000
Speaker 1: Like to give our listeners as far as motivational stuff,

825
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:57,440
Speaker 1: I think we'd all like to hear a little bit

826
00:46:57,480 --> 00:46:58,240
Speaker 1: of the good stuff.

827
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:04,280
Speaker 2: Well, one of the things I love to talk about,

828
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:10,279
Speaker 2: and this, you know, applies to everybody, I think, not

829
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:14,840
Speaker 2: just hunters or is one of the things what I

830
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:17,920
Speaker 2: when I go out and I public speak. The topic

831
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:23,040
Speaker 2: that I am most passionate about is gratitude because it

832
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 2: honestly is the most powerful thing that we can have

833
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:31,319
Speaker 2: as human beings. Powerful feeling besides love, is to to

834
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 2: have gratitude. And one thing that I learned through many

835
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:40,719
Speaker 2: lessons in life is, you know, is you have to

836
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 2: be grateful for what you have. And the more things

837
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:46,640
Speaker 2: that you spend focusing on what you're grateful for, you know,

838
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,680
Speaker 2: you won't find any time to sit around and say, well,

839
00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:52,359
Speaker 2: I'm not grateful for this, or I'm you know, woe

840
00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:58,040
Speaker 2: is me and this sucks. It has a powerful force

841
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:02,160
Speaker 2: behind it to where I try to practice gratitude every day.

842
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 2: I make it a goal in the morning, especially in

843
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:07,040
Speaker 2: the morning, because I feel like that's when my mind's

844
00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,360
Speaker 2: the clear where I could set the tone right for

845
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 2: the day to think about at least two things that

846
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,839
Speaker 2: I knew in my mind that I'm grateful for. And

847
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 2: you'd be surprised, like that does not get old. There's

848
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:25,040
Speaker 2: always something to be grateful for, you know. My even

849
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:27,720
Speaker 2: with my situation, I could say that I'm even grateful

850
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:31,719
Speaker 2: for my trials because it's taught me things that I

851
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:35,200
Speaker 2: don't think I could have gained anywhere else. Taught me

852
00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:39,320
Speaker 2: things like patience and perseverance and compassion for other people

853
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:43,960
Speaker 2: with disabilities. That has rewarded me in life like it's

854
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,320
Speaker 2: made me a better husband, it's made me a better father.

855
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:51,080
Speaker 2: That's given the patience and over chaos, has helped me

856
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,520
Speaker 2: get stand out at work where I've gotten promotions. And

857
00:48:55,560 --> 00:49:00,239
Speaker 2: all these attributes were something that I gained because of

858
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 2: this trial. So I mean I could safely say that

859
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 2: I would never change my life for anything else. So

860
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,120
Speaker 2: as I guess to add on to that or to

861
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:11,239
Speaker 2: close of that is, I I think maybe reconsider some

862
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:14,080
Speaker 2: of the hardships that we've had in our lives as

863
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:17,800
Speaker 2: opportunities to learn from and and find ways to grow,

864
00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:21,120
Speaker 2: where these are just stepping stones to your success.

865
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:22,280
Speaker 3: Yeah.

866
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:25,319
Speaker 2: Wow, I love that, I really do. I think that's

867
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:26,400
Speaker 2: a huge point.

868
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:30,240
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of us skip that, skip

869
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:33,000
Speaker 1: that gratitude getting up in the morning. You know, I

870
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 1: think all the other things with life and all the

871
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:39,760
Speaker 1: other clutter, you know, whether it's you know, politics, news,

872
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:43,160
Speaker 1: social media, whatever it is you're facing with your day

873
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:47,840
Speaker 1: to day grind, it's easy to lose lose that focus

874
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:51,239
Speaker 1: on gratitude.

875
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:52,600
Speaker 2: Especially in the morning. Like what's the first thing most

876
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 2: people do when they wake up? What do they go for?

877
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:58,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, they go for the new the news, or their phone,

878
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:02,200
Speaker 1: their phone, Yeah, they're gonna get the or social they.

879
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:05,040
Speaker 2: Want to see who's who's like this, or who's doing that,

880
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,239
Speaker 2: or who's doing this. Of course social media it's got

881
00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 2: some beautiful things to it, but a lot of times

882
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:11,759
Speaker 2: people look at like, oh man, I wish I was

883
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:14,680
Speaker 2: doing this, I wish I was doing that. And in

884
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:17,239
Speaker 2: the end, it's just you know, to start your day

885
00:50:17,239 --> 00:50:20,279
Speaker 2: where you just wish you were somebody else. Is not healthy. Yeah,

886
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:24,680
Speaker 2: I starting your day with envy. Just practice, yeah, practice gratitude,

887
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 2: then look at your phone, you know, just try it,

888
00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 2: try it out. Yeah yeah, I'm going to do that.

889
00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:30,799
Speaker 2: I'm going to do that.

890
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,680
Speaker 1: So Sidney, where can people find you? If they want

891
00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:38,920
Speaker 1: to follow you?

892
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:42,360
Speaker 2: You could? I'm pretty active on social media, I guess

893
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 2: with with Instagram. I haven't caught on to to Snapchat,

894
00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:49,560
Speaker 2: although my kids think I should. I don't. I'm not

895
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:52,319
Speaker 2: going to do that, but I can. I can only

896
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:55,920
Speaker 2: keep up with really one snap or Instagram. Facebook. I

897
00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:59,520
Speaker 2: don't do really much on TikTok, but uh, Instagram, that's

898
00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:02,640
Speaker 2: trying no the tri I underscore, no feat and then

899
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,160
Speaker 2: our Facebook is just Sidney Smith. I'm probably the only

900
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:08,680
Speaker 2: Sidney Smith that doesn't have legs, so I think that's

901
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:10,359
Speaker 2: one easy way to find me that way.

902
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 1: So right on, Well, I appreciate you coming on telling

903
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,480
Speaker 1: you sharing your story. Like I said, I've been following

904
00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:19,719
Speaker 1: you on social media for years, it seems like, and

905
00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:25,719
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed I've enjoyed your motivation and and I just

906
00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 1: wanted everybody else to be able to enjoy it as well,

907
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 1: so thank you for.

908
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,759
Speaker 2: Having for coming on. Hey, I fell honored, Dirk. I

909
00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:33,400
Speaker 2: mean it's like I said, I've been a fan of

910
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:35,719
Speaker 2: what you guys do and I look forward to seeing

911
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:38,000
Speaker 2: you at the Hunnecks be here in a few months. Yeah, yeah,

912
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:40,520
Speaker 2: I can't wait to hope to see you there. Good deal. Thanks,

913
00:51:40,640 --> 00:52:10,240
Speaker 2: thanks again,