Win Today
Win Today is a performance enhancing podcast filled with actionable insights and inspiration to come out on top in life. Through captivating interviews and solo episodes, a powerful tool is created and given to listeners to be able to push through any situation in life.
Hosted by Ryan Cass, he delivers messages that align to his purpose of helping people establish a foundation for sustained success, break trends of adversity, and chart desirable courses for life. Win Today!
Win Today
#198 | Beyond The Mile Markers: The 2025 Boston Marathon Experience
Breaking three hours at the Boston Marathon took eight years, countless setbacks, and a total mindset shift—but the lessons I learned can help you level up, too.
In this episode, I share the three key mental strategies that turned pain into progress and pressure into performance. Whether you're chasing a race goal or a personal milestone, you'll learn how to stay confident, trust your process, and turn adversity into fuel. Apply these tools to your own journey—and get one step closer to your version of Boston.
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
- Join The Unshakeable Discipline Community!
- LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/ryanacass/
- Instagram | @ryanacass
What makes Boston so special, in my view, is that it's the pinnacle of running.
Speaker 1:Even if you don't run, you probably know what the Boston Marathon is Just like.
Speaker 1:If you don't play golf, you know what the Masters Tournament is. If you don't watch football, you know what the Super Bowl is. The Boston Marathon is the Masters. It's the Super Bowl. It's the World Series of Running that brings the best of the best in the world to face a challenging course that is lined with tens of thousands of passionate fans and supporters people that love the running community, appreciate the endurance community and want to see you do your absolute best. It is absolutely electric.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Wednesday podcast, a weekly resource thoughtfully crafted to help people build and refine discipline, accomplish their goals, fortify their mindsets and be of service to somebody in this world. My name is Ryan Cass and I am your host, and it is my mission and commitment to deliver amazing episodes to you every week where you will learn from myself or renowned expert in their field. We love helping people win in every aspect of their lives, and you can help us win by sharing the show with somebody that you believe will benefit from it, subscribing and leaving a rating and review. We believe that everybody in this world is meant to do something great with their lives and we're here to help play a role in that. Thank you for tuning in and let's win today.
Speaker 1:If you don't hate running a little bit, then you might not love it enough. That was one of my favorite signs that I saw in Boston this past week and it made me think that the things that we're going after, the things that we love the most, rather the things that are most meaningful to us and hate might be a strong word, but if we don't have a little bit of annoyance or grievances with those things, are they really that meaningful to us? Do we really love it as much as we think, or say that we do? Think about how that applies with relationships. Now I don't want you to think okay, if you don't hate your partner a little bit, that's probably not a good thing. But if you don't get annoyed by your partner every now and then might not love them enough. Or if you don't get annoyed by the pursuit of growing your business and your dreams and chasing your goals, then maybe you don't have the right goals or the right vision in the forefront.
Speaker 1:In the forefront, that's my segue into the Boston Marathon recap, and I am intentional about anytime I talk about running, knowing that not everybody on this podcast is a runner, nor has the desire to be one, which is completely fine. It's to share life lessons and principles that can be extracted from various experiences, and in this case, running happens to be one that I've had a lot of amazing and frightful life experiences from the Boston Marathon. We're going to dig into what makes it special, and we're going to dig into what makes it special A few of the lessons that led to this year being the best race that I've ran in Boston, that can apply to life and things that I'm being more intentional about myself now as well, and, as always, some inspiration for you to go after the big thing or keep going after the big thing, don't stop. So with that, we're going to jump right in what makes the Boston Marathon so special. I've talked about this for many years on the podcast and I won't go as in-depth as I have in the past, but what makes Boston so special, in my view, is that it's the pinnacle of running.
Speaker 1:Even if you don't run, you probably know what the Boston Marathon is Just like. If you don't play golf, you know what the Masters Tournament is. If you don't watch football, you know what the Super Bowl is. The Boston Marathon is the Masters. It's the Super Bowl. It's the World Series of running that brings the best of the best in the world to face a challenging course that is lined with tens of thousands of passionate fans and supporters, people that love the running community, appreciate the endurance community and want to see you do your absolute best. It is absolutely electric.
Speaker 1:And another thing that makes Boston special is that, unlike the other world major marathons, boston has the toughest criteria, meaning that you have to qualify to get in or you can be a charity fundraiser, which has its challenges as well, but there is no other option. There are no lotteries, there are no second chance drawings. It's the oldest marathon in the United States and it's pretty much qualify or raise a lot of money, and those are your only two options, but the charity slots are limited. So a lot of people will choose the qualification route, which, depending on your age group being an 18 to 34-year-old male the qualification standards are to run a sub three-hour marathon, which are changing in 2026 to a sub 255 marathon, and then, depending on how many people register or qualify. That cut line moves to the left. So this past year you had to be six and a half minutes fast. In 2026, who knows what you're going to have to be but the running world is getting faster, which excites me that we get to. We get to keyword work even harder to continue getting in work even harder to continue getting in.
Speaker 1:This has been my third year in a row running the marathon and it has a deep place in my heart because of what it takes to get there, but then also what it took me to get there when I first set out on this quest in 2017. In 2017. And fast forward, this arrival in Boston, the destination, the goal, getting there didn't come without many shortcomings being hit by a car, hospitalized multiple times and my first Boston coming fresh off an injury. Second one, one blowing up and feeling like I let myself down and others down, and this one being the third one. That all right. Third, third time's a charm. We're finally gonna seal the deal with unfinished business. That in 2017, when I had let out on this journey, my goal was not just to go run the Boston Marathon, it was to go break three hours.
Speaker 1:What makes a sub-three-hour marathon special. Why is that a big deal? That's another thing. It's almost like a badge of honor, if you will, in the endurance community. But with the exception of one person in the entire world, elliot Kipchoge, nobody has run a sub two hour marathon. So sub three is the common benchmark that you'll hear in the marathon world. If you can run sub three, that is pretty special. And then within that there's sub 255, 240, 230, 235. So, but sub three is the big one. So special for many reasons in that there's been unfinished business and as long as I live and continue running, it's my wish to continue qualifying and getting back to the Boston Marathon, inspiring people to stay on their journey.
Speaker 1:This one has been eight years and counting now and I just absolutely love it. It's an honor and a blessing to share the stage with the best of the best in the world Chip on the shoulder. Chip on the shoulder. I mentioned that again. The journey is the best part. Running Boston is simply the cherry on top. But everything that you get to do when you're going after something big, that's really where I believe what you should embrace the most, because to get there and this applies outside of running as well you're doing things that you don't want to do, that you know are good to do, but many times you don't want to do it.
Speaker 1:Many times the alarm goes off early. Lacing up the shoes is the absolute last thing that you want to do. It's raining, it's cold, you're sore. Long day at work, you're mentally fatigued, you don't want to go run, but you get up and you go and do it. There are days where you may not want to do the outreaches to grow your business or to focus on business development activities because people haven't been responding. People have been turning you down. People have been saying, no, I'm not going to go on your podcast. People have been chose another provider or a coach or a trainer over you.
Speaker 1:Yet you know that to get where you want to be, you've got to focus on those things that you don't want to do in the moment. That's what makes the journey so special, and remember that when you're going through those things, every time you don't want to do something, and even the mornings that you do want to go, do it and you're naturally feeling motivated. Remember that on the other side of that is the best version of you, a better version of you, one thing that keeps me going and this thing that I'm absolutely obsessed with this concept, this concept of touching your dreams. And this comes from Ed Milet, who is one of my favorite podcasters, authors, motivational speakers. We have a lot of parallels and why we do what we do and our upbringing. He's someone that I feel I very closely resonate to. I very closely resonate to.
Speaker 1:But Ed, who has now amassed a solid financial fortune, talked about when he was growing up as a young sales agent and he was driving a car around that he was actually driving a knockoff Mercedes, meaning that he had I can't remember it was a Chrysler that had a Mercedes body literally taped and glued onto it. So imagine driving your Chrysler or your Honda. I'm looking out at my Honda Civic right now, thinking about what if I put a fake BMW body on it. So it looks like I'm really driving a BMW. But the reason why he was driving that around is because that was literally all he could afford was a $5,000, not even that $3,000 Chrysler LeBaron that had Mercedes parts taped onto it. And when he would be at stoplights he had to be really careful of how quickly he hit the brakes, because the front headlights would literally go flying out if he wasn't careful about his braking and accelerating. So a man that is now inspiring, or has inspired millions of people around the world, used to drive a car that he would have to go and fetch the headlights in multiple intersections because of how quickly he would break or accelerate.
Speaker 1:When he was doing that, though, he talked about his vision that he had and that someday he would be able to provide for his family to where they would never have to worry about money and they would be able to live on the beach that they often would go and visit and just see themselves staying at all the time, and he would book whenever he could make enough money. He would book a one night stay at the Ritz Carlton in Malibu, which is a gorgeous hotel, and he would stay there for a night, and just by staying there for a night, he would see the type of people that would come in and out the door, see how they carried themselves, see how talk to them, see what got them to where they are, and he would stay in a lavish room, and this was something that he dreamed of. That one day, this one night stay is going to be my everyday stay, because I'm going to be on this beach. He calls it touching your dreams. Every time he was able to hit his sales targets and then afford a one night stay at the Ritz Carlton Malibu, he would go there and call it touching the dream. Every time he touched the dream, he felt more and more like he belonged, like this is what he's meant for, this is what he's cut out for.
Speaker 1:Whenever I come downstairs especially getting ready for Boston I have my shoes all in a closet. I call it my locker room because it kind of smells like one with a bunch of sweaty shoes in there, as you can imagine. But I have a little whiteboard up where I go and grab my hat and my headphones and it just says up where I go and grab my hat and my headphones and it just says touch your dreams on there. Every time that I'm going out for one of these runs or workout sessions, I'm touching the dream in that I'm doing something that's going to get me on that big stage Boston. I don't want to be out there, but every time I do and hit a tough workout that I don't want to, or even when I do want to, I'm one step closer to hey. I deserve this future reality and I'm touching it right now, going through these tough grind sessions, because it's not going to be easy out there on the Boston course.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I do, and this is to the importance of visual indicators. The Boston Marathon, the world majors they all have a celebration jacket, so you'll see people that often wear a Boston Mar soon as they release them and I leave it hanging in the closet right next to my hats and everything. I don't wear it until after the race because I believe you got to earn it still. But I see that and that's my reminder that, all right. If you really want to put that on and feel like you earned it, not just put it on because you bought it and you wear it now, which again, if that's you, hey, peace, but that's not me but if you really want to put this on and earn it, then you've got to and you get to go out and earn this workout and go touch your dream and go put in the miles and be a good example for others that want to push their bodies and minds further and harder than they believe possible. That's part of what keeps me going when I don't want to have a visual indicator of what success looks like and what it means to you.
Speaker 1:What does it mean for you to touch your dream? What are the activities that align with touching your dream? Maybe it's not a 4. Workout, but I would be willing to bet there are things, or at least one thing, that you can do that will get you closer to where you want to be. And maybe that thing isn't what you want to do, or it's not the most glamorous or glorious thing, most fun thing at the time, but when you get to experience that moment, when you get to turn right on Hereford and left on Boylston, which are the last two turns of the Boston Marathon, it makes it all worth it and there's nothing like it. So that's what really. That's what one of the many things that fuels me fuels me, and I knew that this year was going to be the year that I would finally hit the sub three hour mark on the Boston course.
Speaker 1:What makes the Boston course so challenging is that there's not one bit of it that is completely flat, and especially coming from an area where that's really all we have to train on here in Charleston, south Carolina, with the exception of a bridge, makes it a little bit more challenging. But again, why wouldn't we want the greatest challenges in the world? The Boston course starts out with about 5K downhill, pretty much downhill. There's some rollers in there but it's pretty easy to cruise. And then you're on rolling hills for another few miles, flattens out slightly and then after the half marathon point, that's where it starts to get fun and we'll talk more about kind of what the exact race day looked like. But mile 17 through 21, through the town of Newton, are what you'll usually hear a lot of people talk about the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill, which is the crest of mile 20 going into mile 21.
Speaker 1:So I knew that if this race was going to be the one that this was going to take, being very conservative, overly conservative early on and patient, more patient than I've ever been before, because I damn sure wasn't allowed about to allow 2024 to repeat itself 2024, I came out the gate hot it was a warm day, about 70-ish, mid-70s degrees at the start, which is uncommon for Boston and I figured, hey, I'm going to still go out and run a PR race and break 250 on the Boston course, and I believe that my training did align to that and up to the time my training was encouraging in that hey, I know I can hit these paces, but primarily on flat ground, and I know adrenaline is going to help. I know the Boston energy is going to help and ended up at mile 14 completely bonking have never walked in a race other than in a marathon before, but put my body completely on overdrive and the last 12 miles of that race were absolutely devastating and I felt as if I completely let myself down and let others down in 2024. And that was not going to be the case this year. So I love declaring what we're going to do as a means to get that thing done, and I wasn't going to change my target this year, meaning that I'm not going to say, oh, maybe I'll break three because of fear from 2024 recreating itself. The plan was to go in there, break three hours, and that's what I told people I was going to do. And we made some smart adjustments, came out the gate at about a manageable 6.30 pace and held on really tight, and patience was the name of the game. What I did differently and here are the lessons that might as well jump into the race plan now what I did differently in 2025 versus 2024, I actually went back to my first Boston in 2023, where I went in there and that was while I still had an IT band injury.
Speaker 1:So I went in there purely with the expectation or the assignment to do my best and if I could break three then awesome. But I knew that that was likely going to be a huge stretch, given that going into that race the weeks leading up I was having trouble walking and had to really reduce my mileage a lot. 2024, again came in there thinking, okay, this is going to set my all-time personal best, not make any adjustments for the weather and completely destroyed myself this year sub three, no matter what, we're getting it done. So we're going to stay conservative and patient and really enjoy the course and the environment and appreciate everything that it has to offer. Last year I was not looking to the left and the right to enjoy the crowd and everybody that was out there. There was many times as I was running that I didn't even realize all the cool things that we had passed, all of the cool signs, all of the monuments, monuments, and I kind of regretted it a little bit that man, I was so focused on an outcome, no matter what, and being stubborn that I'm going to hit this target because, well, that's what I said I was going to do and it doesn't matter if it's warm out. I chose to kind of put my head down and grind and not take in the environment.
Speaker 1:And one thing with Boston is, if you really want or need some energy, you get to rely on the crowd. That's what makes it so much different than your local marathons is that you can look to your left and right. You have thousands of people you can go and give a high five to, and every time you do, you feel this jolt of adrenaline and boost that the crowd really does carry you. And I'm thinking back, man, in 2023, this is exactly what you said Every time you need a boost, go and smile, give people high fives. So that was a huge aid this year in that, from mile one all the way to the end.
Speaker 1:And I had to remind myself a few times when I was getting a little in my thoughts and in my head hey, enjoy, look to the left and right, give the kid a high five, give the kid a little smile something. And every time I did that, I felt myself just all right, almost like this sense of calm that, hey, we're good to go, man, everything is to plan, we're staying patient, collected, running a smart race, and we're enjoying this. It's something that when I think back on my career. So my first lesson here is to enjoy the process and enjoy. Allow yourself to enjoy whatever it is that you're going through.
Speaker 1:When I think back to when I started my corporate career, I didn't take a vacation for the first three years and that's not something I'm proud of. But once I did, I came back and realized, wow, I can actually enjoy life a little bit and not risk my career Meaning. No one's going to be upset that you took some time off. Who's going to be upset that you're taking care of yourself? Who's going to be upset that you're living a little bit, knowing that it's going to allow you to show up more in a genuine way for others. It's going to allow you to reset, recalibrate, rejuvenate your mind.
Speaker 1:So my reminder to myself professionally about this is to smell the roses, smell the roses, in that you can still move fast and go hard and enjoy what life's given you and enjoy what the process has given you. So enjoy the moments. Slow down for a second, maybe, if you're not running a race, but slow down, meaning like soak in the environment. Look at the signs. Give people the high fives. It's not going to completely diminish your plan. You can't get me to go more than two to three months now without at least taking a day or two off to go and enjoy life or touch the dream, do something, enjoy the process. I believe that's one of the big things that really helped me this year is that I would often sometimes I'd again caught myself at various miles around mile 10, getting a little in my head especially, and I would, uh then just remind myself, hey, enjoy it, look, look, you're okay and boom, we'd still be on pace, still be on plan, so you can enjoy what you're going through and still achieve what you want and still arrive at the destination. I mentioned that mile 10 was really the first mile that I really started getting in my head.
Speaker 1:One thing that you never know about the marathon is you never know when it's going to test you mentally and physically. You know at some point it's going to happen. It's going to happen at least once, if not multiple times. And when you're out there for two to three hours and even more, there are plenty of opportunity for the mental demons to come and pay you a little visit and get you to question what you're doing. Should you really still be out here and is this worth it? Usually it comes a little later, but there are surprises and that's the beauty of it. That's part of the beauty of the process and the journey and why training and why touching the dream is so important, so that when those moments arrive, you've already been there, you know what to do, you've got this unshakable sense of belief that you're meant to belong and push through this thing. So mile 10 was really where it's starting to warm up a little bit, but generally beautiful conditions and I'm feeling my stomach starting to turn over For the first time ever.
Speaker 1:In the Myrtle Beach Marathon in March, I threw up my entire breakfast at mile three, so that was a 23 mile suck fest after that. So mile 10 at the Boston Marathon, I'm getting that similar feeling and I'm sitting there like please, no, please, not right now, and had a little conversation with myself and that, hey, there's no way that we're not achieving our goal here and there's no way that we're not making this sub three hour happen. We're good to go. Just we're going to get through this little, this little patch, this little, this little demon that's visiting us. We're going to, we're going to shoo him off and we're going to keep going these 16 miles. Cause at that point I did have some of those thoughts like how the heck are we going to go 16 more miles and maintain this pace? So at this point I'd sped up a little bit and I'm going low to mid 630s, but really holding myself off because I know I've got those low 620s and even faster in the tank. And I caught myself on a few occasions looking at my watch that I was there and really pulled the reins back. Another time that the demons really came to visit me again is the last two miles where I know at this point I could run a eight-minute mile, even slower, and still break three hours, even slower and still break three hours. And that option becomes quite appealing when you are quite fatigued. At that point I'm a big sweater and at this point I'm sweating like crazy because it's pretty warm and I am ready to be done and ready to be done.
Speaker 1:When you're running a marathon, one of the worst things that you can do is runner's math Meaning. Okay now, if I, my brain is mush. But if I run a 621 here and then a 619, and then a 618, I can run approximately this time. So when you start doing the calculations, that's where you know okay, hey, we need to be done here. So, at 24 through 26, I'm at the point now where, okay, sub three is a lock and I can feel myself, my body, wanting to go into these slow paces, these eight minute paces, because that's appealing and we can do it, and then my mind is saying absolutely not, we're not doing that right now. And it's this beautiful argument that you get to be witness to and ultimately in control of. Like no, we're going at 640s right now. We just gave up a couple seconds on 23, slowed down a little bit, but we're going. There is no option and this is only temporary. This is a minor blip on our life timeline, this little moment of pain right now, which is an absolute blessing to have.
Speaker 1:I talked about the return on inconvenience a few months ago when I was talking about what got me through this 150-mile race that I did in October. When we look at a marathon or some challenging event on your life timeline, zoomed out, it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of your life, meaning that those tough moments, this little, tiny fraction of your life, can then give you lessons, wisdom, insight, ability, confidence, belief to push through events for the next five years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. So just by pushing through these additional two miles that I really don't want to I'm proving to my body and my mind hey, we are resilient, we can get through anything. We're not slowing down here, we're going to pick up the pace, we're going to turn on the gas even more for these final two turns on Hereford and Boylston, and we're going and just by doing that, that's serving me well right now that I get to share this message, I get to share some tips, I get to provide some wisdom and insight that can be used not just right now, but someone can go back and listen to this a year from now, five years from now, I can go back and listen to it. We've got this repository that has compound dividends for yourself and others. I love this return on inconvenience concept.
Speaker 1:So those were the two times that the demons came to visit and what allowed me to get through that, as I just mentioned some of it there, but really where I was telling myself. There is just trust in your training and ability. You've been through this. You've pushed past a 23 mile suffer fest a month prior to this, when you threw up your entire breakfast at the Myrtle Beach Marathon at mile three and then still qualified for Boston 2026. After that and ran 26 hard miles. You can do this. You've been running up and down the bridge at 5 o'clock in the morning at a lot faster paces than this when you've been tired, you can do this. You've been out with the boys on Tuesday mornings in Hampton Park running pretty fast clips even when you haven't been feeling that great. You can do this. Trust in your training how do you trust in your training? You show up even when you don't want to Prove yourself right. There was no way that the demons were going to win. And at mile 10 and at mile 24 and through 26, really thinking about going back to the training, going back to the moments, completely trusted that I was prepared and we were going to get it done, the last thing that really helped me. So when I think about what I've shared so far, enjoy the process, trust in your training and your ability and reframe the situation that you are going through.
Speaker 1:As I was traveling up to Boston, I've been reading this book Extreme Balance Paradoxical Principles that Make you a Champion, by Joe DeSena, who's the founder and CEO of Spartan, and I'm getting ready to go to the death race in June on Joe's farm. It out to me in the book and I'll read an excerpt here is focusing on the process and focusing on the outcome, and, as I was reading this chapter, it talks about how you should hate losing more than you rather not hate losing, but play to win and not to lose, meaning that losing is not an option In these scenarios. This is from the book. There are a few strategies for improving.
Speaker 1:Double down on your drive to win Rather than let thoughts of losing creep in. Stay focused not only on winning the bout, but on winning every minute. In every exchange. The goal is to win and move on, and this ought to stay the same, whether other people expect you to win or not. Work on your relationship to losing so that it is something you hate rather than something you fear. If you're favored to win, either based on your ranking, going into the match or being in the lead halfway through, and you find your mind drifting to thoughts of losing. You want your self-talk around it to be something like no way on earth am I letting them get back into this match. Keep pouring it on. That's very different from oh no, what if I blow this lead? That would be so embarrassing. The latter is fear-based and harmful, while the former is helpful. Don't think about winning or losing, but stay focused on the process, which is where the chapter begins.
Speaker 1:Just as you change tactics throughout a competition depending on what is and what isn't working, you'll benefit from developing multiple attitudes and ways to focus. We don't judge something as good or bad on principle, but rather on its impact. If it helps you, then it's the right thing to do. What really helped me is those first two bullets double down on your drive to win and reframing. There's no way that I'm not running this sub three hour marathon. There were a few miles a few times where again, oh crap, I'm really not feeling good. Oh smokes, we gave up a few seconds back to the course, meaning these miles weren't on pace. Don't know if we're going to be able to hold on.
Speaker 1:Sure, those thoughts did visit, but then it was immediately met with what I just mentioned there. There's no way that this isn't happening today. There's no way that I'm letting myself down or my buddies down. There's a lot of people that are tracking me that know that this is what I want. There's a lot of people that are tracking me that know that this is what I want. There's no way it's happening. And even that it didn't allow fear or that mental demon to creep in and have an extended visit. And I really do believe that that's part of being unshakable is that every time we're met with a mental demon because no matter who you are, you're going to be met with them, but no matter when you're met with them you've always got a response that's going to make it go away and not allow it to win, or it's going to have to fight really freaking hard to hold on to you, really freaking hard to hold on to you. So enjoy trust and reframe. Those are the three things that really helped. That also can be applied outside of running and endurance. So some cool things from race day and an actual recap. I realized that as we're flowing through this, it became more of a here's lessons and things to extract and not so much of here's how everything actually went. So with that, I get really excited when doing recap episodes, since there's not many of those. But with that, how did it actually go? Start to finish? So really cool.
Speaker 1:From the start, and I was in Athletes Village, which is where you basically your staging area, before you go to the actual starting corrals, and on the way over to Hopkinton, which is where the race starts, I had two pairs of headphones my headphones that I was going to wear during the race, my wireless ones, and then another set of wired headphones, the old school ones with the dongle that connect into the iPhones that I was listening to on the bus ride just to conserve energy, and the wireless ones and is also a plan B should the wireless ones not work. So they called us to get up from the athlete's village to go walk over to the start line and I was in group four, wave number one. So first starting wave, behind the pros, and I was literally about to throw away my headphones, like I don't need these anymore, I'll keep the dongle, since I use this from my work phone and no big deal. So I decided to. Maybe I'll need it for something. The headphones too, like I'll just, I'll hold onto them. So I walk over and the first person I see in the starting corral is Truett Haynes.
Speaker 1:Now, that name may be familiar to some of you, but if you don't know who Truett is, he is the son of Cameron Haynes, who is a legendary figure in the endurance world, known for being one of the best bow hunters in the world. But also this guy is just an absolute animal out of Oregon and one that many in the running and endurance world look up to, as he not only goes on these legendary bow hunts, but for the longest time he was balancing being one of the best bow hunters in the world, in addition to running a half marathon a day at his nine to five work break. So while he was still sponsored by Under Armour and making God knows how much, he still maintained his day-to-day hourly nine to five, which was really cool. So he's just an absolute savage runs marathons, ultra marathons, really fast. Even at his age today still pumps out very quick times in the low twos. His son, coming from that family line, is also an absolute savage and works out with David Goggins and originally broke David Goggins' world record for most amount of pushups in 24 hours. Truett recently rebroke his own world record and he's the current Guinness World Record holder for most pull-ups done in 24 hours 10,001. And he's absolutely ripped and runs marathons while wearing jeans, so he's made quite a name for himself.
Speaker 1:So there's this big Jack dude that's wearing jeans and no shirt. I'm standing right next to him. So that's Truett Haynes. So give him a little fist bump. Hey, truett, what's up? Man, love your stuff. And then I see that he's struggling with his AirPods and he's taking them out of the case, putting them in, and he keeps doing that. And I know what that's like when your AirPods aren't connecting or maybe one of them is not working. You play this game where you put it in the case, take it out the case, put it in the case, you start praying.
Speaker 1:I know that Truett's ran marathons in his jeans, with wired headphones as well, just being a little more diabolical. So I'm sitting there like, all right, I do want this thing for my work phone, but there can always be another one. And this guy's struggling right now and you need some music for the Boston Marathon or at least to do what he's doing. He was going for a PR, which he accomplished. He ran a 2.38. I will say that the headphones were easily responsible for at least 30 seconds of that. So he could have been a 2.39 without those headphones in the beginning.
Speaker 1:But anyway, I tapped him again. I said hey, man, you want some old school headphones? And he graciously accepted and was really thankful for it. He said what's your name? And I told him. I talked to him for a couple of minutes there and he said my name is Ryan Cass and, by the way, I do host a podcast and you're somebody that I would love to have a conversation with. I've been thinking about you for a while and I'll shoot you a note. And he said yeah, shoot me a note. So still haven't heard from Truett, who knows.
Speaker 1:But nonetheless I know that that was just an opportunity to do something for somebody. Even if it was Truett or not, someone struggling with their headphones, I would have given them away. But pretty cool that it's the Guinness World Record holder of the most amount of pull-ups done in 24 hours. And I gave him another little fist bump at the end and said PR or ER, right? And he said yep, and we both went on our way. Obviously, he went and absolutely smoked it, but that was really cool from the start. And then going back thinking about, hey, there's no way this isn't going to happen. I'm asking the running gods now. I said, hey, man, I did a good deed, give me that sub three Kind of, but not really. I didn't expect that to be the reason why we accomplished the goal, but it was really cool.
Speaker 1:So, starting down again, I mentioned that the first 5K is downhill. I'm loving my Saucony Endorphin Elite 2s that are probably the springiest shoe I've ever ran in and it just feels like I'm cruising, like easy, easy going running Came out a little hot. It's hard not to when you've got literally thousands of people that are also running quick right next to you. So I'm looking at my watch, thinking this 620 literally feels like a 750. And then this 635 literally feels like a 745, eight minute mile pace. So I just sat there and just enjoyed it and really soaked in every little bit. I'm smiling and really loving every bit of it as the race goes on, really catching it, catching a good groove and we've already mentioned the demons that came to visit at mile 10, but overall, just continuing to remind myself, just to enjoy it.
Speaker 1:It was a beautiful day. At the start it was about 52, no clouds, which good and bad for Boston. Boston has no shade on it. So a sunny day you're going to be cooking, even if it's in the 50s, which eventually got up to about 60. So a little warm towards the end. But one thing I did was at every water station, which I found were a lot more packed this year, so it was a little more difficult to get in and out of there. But I would grab two cups, one to slowly sip on and then one just to dump on my head because I am a very heavy sweater and just get nasty out there. So extra, extra water for the win.
Speaker 1:But going along the, the sights, the sounds are just unforgettable. And at mile 13, that's where Wellesley college is, that's the scream tunnel and that's where all the women are out and they're asking for kisses from the runners. I did not kiss any college women. I just would kiss my hand and touch their signs and just show some appreciation, but none of that. But there were a few people that literally stopped right in front of me and we're going at about a 6.15 pace because it's tough not to let adrenaline catch you, literally coming to a full stop just to kiss some random college woman. So didn't really like that part. But you know what it's the Boston Marathon. You're supposed to have fun.
Speaker 1:So going through, I knew that staying patient was going to pay off for the hills and the Newton Hills. So at mile one thing I forgot is that there's really only three turns on the Boston course. So you go straight for about 15 miles and then about 16 miles and then you take a right-hand turn onto Commonwealth Ave and that takes you through the town of Newton. So the turn, the right-hand turn, at the fire station, that's the first big hill, just before you're technically in Newton. But I believe that's actually the hardest climb in the race of the four hills. I forgot that before that one on mile 16, race of the four hills. I forgot that before that one on mile 16, that there's another big hill and then you come downhill for a while and then you turn right. So I thought for a minute, did I really just zone out so much that I missed the fire station hill, because this climb literally feels just like it? And sure enough it was not. So another thing that again just makes Boston so challenging is that there are a lot of rollers, even on the downhill sections. There are a lot of rolling hills early on. So that's something to prepare for.
Speaker 1:But took the right and one thing that I did this time going up the hills. Again, I love to pick a target on the left and on the right, just to view through my peripherals and not really look straight up at what's to come on the climb. And so I would pick something on the left, just to as soon as I hit that in my peripheral vision I became parallel with it. Then I would find something on the right. So it's just these little games that you can play and make up and was having fun going up these climbs. That's also where I remember last year that I was really falling apart and made it through 14 miles at a quick pace and then that's where the wheels fell off and I remember telling myself, as I saw someone walking up the hill, so I said, hey, good luck man. But I remember thinking like that is my shadow from last year and I'm going to beat him and we're not going to recreate this. So now I'm racing against me, racing against my shadow, and everybody that we get to pass up here that's walking. Remember that that was you at some points last year.
Speaker 1:And we've worked harder, we've been patient throughout this process, throughout this race, been more diligent about the prep and we're trusting in our ability. So, first couple of climbs are good to go. You come down a big hill going into mile 19, and then you've got heartbreak hill, the illustrious heartbreak hill, which my soundtrack, my mix on SoundCloud, which, if anyone wants a killer killer playlist, which, if anyone wants a killer killer playlist. My buddy Ed got me hooked on SoundCloud but I made this awesome mix. And at mile 21, we're going up Heartbreak Hill and I'm having fun.
Speaker 1:But then there's this song and some of y'all may laugh, but I had this song in it on the playlist that came up right there at 21. It's Letter Cook by Glorilla, and I don't really care for the lyrics too much, but just the beat, just the beat. That song came up right as I started climbing Heartbreak Hill and I'm just jamming, I'm smiling, running up Heartbreak Hill and I'm bopping my fingers, I'm playing the drums and at that point I knew, at that point there's no way again. Just solidified it, there is no way that I'm not making this happen, because after that, after you get over a heartbreak, it's five miles downhill into Boston Again. As always, there's still the hills, but it's five miles and you're steady cruising. You just got through the hard part.
Speaker 1:So I remember getting to the top of Heartbreak Hill or afterwards and just yelling like the stage is set. And I'm yelling out loud stage is set, the stage is set, let's dance. I also said that right at the half marathon point. I came across the half at about 127. So I knew at that point okay, we have some buffer time, but the stage is set, we're making this happen. Get off heartbreak, the stage is set. We get back into another mix on the playlist and then just jamming.
Speaker 1:And at mile 21, that's also where Boston College is now. So along the route you've got Wellesley College, which is a predominantly women's school, and then Boston College, which is a predominantly rowdy school, and the Boston Marathon is a party for them. So they're out there. But this is also again where you can get energy from the course. They're out there about a quarter mile long just all having a blast. They've been out there for a while. They're screaming, they're loud, and this is really where you can get some energy.
Speaker 1:I remember even last year, when I was dying, I still found a way to, at least for the Boston College part, pull some of that energy in and pick up a quick pace, until I was then quickly dying again on the inside. But this year I'm going at them giving them high fives. You know, let's go, I'm hyping them up, or at least I'm telling myself that. And then I got myself in trouble because, as I looked at my watch, I'm like uh-oh, I'm tired, and I had ran that quarter mile of literally just giving high fives at like a 530 pace or something like that. You don't feel it in the moment, but then, as soon as you come off it a little bit, you certainly feel it.
Speaker 1:So that was one of the highlights, though, and one of my favorite signs second favorite sign, besides the one from the very beginning was if you throw up, at least you're wearing a bib, because you're running bib. So I was really just again enjoying the sights and everyone and appreciating everything, and every time you need a little boost, you can lift your hands up and encourage people to get louder and cheer you on. So there was that, and then we had a wicked headwind, actually from about Heartbreak Hill until so the final 10K was it's warm, there's a good headwind coming at us, which I will say it did help cool me down because my heart rate was up there and again I get really hot when I'm out there but it certainly wasn't favorable when you're wanting to really really pick it up on those last few. So, doing my absolute best to manage about a 640-ish effort at this point in time and had a couple that dropped in the 650s. I'm battling through those thoughts, doing the runner's math, like all right, yeah, we can run an eight-minute mile and did not choose that option, although very, very appealing. But it's tough not to go through those final two turns. So at this point, got pace where it needs to be. So at this point, got pace where it needs to be.
Speaker 1:I remember I kept visualizing that by the time I would be making that final left onto Boylston. So right on Hereford, left on Boylston, theford, when I was downtown and just sit there and visualize what that clock is going to say. And it's going to say somewhere around 253 to 255-ish, maybe 257 if I'm really slowing down, but it's going to be somewhere in that range and I'm going to be making this final turn, knowing that I've accomplished the goal, got plenty of time and I'm going to give it my absolute best, going down making this final turn. There's tens of thousands of people at this point that are literally 10, 12, probably 12 rows deep on both sides of the street that are just screaming, hooting and hollering. If you've got your name on your bib, they're calling out your name. They're doing everything they can to pump you up and I don't have my headphones on at this point just because I really wanted to soak in everything and it's tough not to make those two turns. Knowing everything it took to get there, and even going back to 2017, I think about that time when I first set this goal. I still keep going back to those days. It's tough not to have a stream of tears just rolling down your eyes and knowing what everybody else has been through to get there as well.
Speaker 1:One of the cool things about Boston and these bus rides where you're talking to people is you hear about their journeys and it's not uncommon that people are taking five years, 10 years of overcome unthinkable odds just to qualify, just to get there. All of that is coming to life right there, in those final moments. As you make that left turn, you've got three-tenths of a mile. You can see the finish line, which it seems like it's a mile away but you somehow find and muster the effort and energy and pace that you didn't think you had to really experience and feel some magic. Crossing that finish line.
Speaker 1:I cried a bit and I called my mom and she was the first person I called and I know she was going to be tracking me and it was special to her as well, special to the family that you know. They know what I've been through, they know they've been in the hospital rooms with me, the ERs, during some of these scares, and I remember talking to my mom and she's like I did it. I finally did it. I can't even put together sentences and you know, she, I'm tearing up a little bit too. It's tough not to think about it or talk about it without tearing up. When something means something to you, why wouldn't you tear up a little bit? You know, like what's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1:It's my wish that everybody gets to experience Boston, ideally as a runner, but even as a spectator. There's so much energy, it's truly electric, even the days leading up to it. There's nothing like it, and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to do this, the opportunity to inspire at least one person along their journey to go and do big things. Go, chase after the biggest thing, the scariest thing that you want, because you'll learn a ton about yourself, you'll discover a version of yourself you didn't know existed and you'll inspire at least one person in your life or around you to do the same and push themselves. It's such a beautiful thing that we get to do and this life is such a beautiful thing that we can make whatever we want. So it's my wish that this serves as some inspiration for you and remember that when you're going through something, when you're in the pursuit to enjoy the process smell the roses, hear the birds chirping, literally and figuratively meaning take time for yourself. You can go hard and you can enjoy, you can suffer and you can appreciate.
Speaker 1:Remember to trust in your training. How do you trust in your training and your ability? Put yourself into the arena frequently there's no other way around it and reframe the dialogue in your mind. There's no way that you're not going to lose. Rather, there's no way you're going to lose. There's no way that you're going to let the other person win. Imagine that response, which is confidence-based, versus oh man, what if? What if this doesn't happen? What if this person that's fear-based? So think about that energy, enjoying, trusting, reframing. There's nothing that you can't do. Really appreciate all the support along the journey. A lot more big things to come in the endurance world and always, always, always, push yourself, push your body, push your mind, and you will always discover new limits and you will win. Today, thank you so much.
_pp.JPG)