39. Inspiring Stroke Survivors: My Journey of Embracing Change Through Running and Breathing Exercises

Are you so sorry about the delay? I know it's been a couple of weeks that I put out a new episode. holidays are upon us i As usual, every year I have a good plan that goes right out the window. It is already chaos. I made it through Thanksgiving made it through Halloween. We are now into early December. Christmas season. Other Christmas ish holidays are upon us and things are just what they are annoying, chaotic and all the things we as parents really love about the holidays. Okay, Episode 38 There was a little bit of technical issues with Rosa Rosa Hart was my guests on that episode. I'm still trying to salvage some of the audio from the video. It is a longer process. I don't know if I'm actually going to be able to save it. So I published episode 38 Then I was listening back and realized there were some hiccups so I unplugged state so you might have heard it you might not have either way. I'm gonna listen back this week, first week of December 1 full week of December. And I'm gonna try to see what I can do there. She really was a great guest. Either way, I'd love to have her back I recorded an episode the week of Thanksgiving. I did not release anything the week of Thanksgiving then I was just annoyed at myself I think so I recorded this week, but I rushed to get it out. I think I needed a week after Thanksgiving. The kids are home for five days during Thanksgiving, which was not the case with my first child, my daughter who's now 21 But it is with the boys. It was a good weekend and a lot of relaxing but also kind of exhausting for all that relaxing. So anyways, with this week, we're back on track a little bit early on Google released episode 39 that I recorded last week a little bit of a solo Shah episode. My friend crispy and joined me a couple weeks ago to record so I'll be releasing episode 40 with him hopefully early later this week or early next week. Recording again this week, couple episodes so getting caught up I'm actually ahead of schedule but that also record them and then I get a little bit behind as a result. Just the way I work at something I'm learning. Anyways, in this Episode Episode 39 I talk about what happened over Thanksgiving weekend, which was I hit the milestone of 5000 miles as a runner for the year. Reminder I did not start running or even enjoying running until two and a half years after my stroke and into my stroke recovery. Hated it my whole life kind of went over you know a little bit of congratulations to myself. I'm proud of it. So going strong, give you the backstory kind of the journey how I overcame challenges all that gun, good stuff, fun stuff. Really just it translates to other things. You can kind of take this and apply it to things you want to do and things about your life. So anyways, enjoy this week's episode episode 39 A Lobos rare podcast welcome back to another episode levels our broadcast. This week we're talking about my successful year of running to 5000 miles. I can't believe I'm saying it, you probably can't believe it. I rarely, if ever heard of very many runners except for extreme. Ultra marathoners are really running and reaching 5000 miles it is still, like I said unbelievable. To me. It has been a lot of effort, a lot of time running. Very boring, very basic. But I will tell you, as a stroke survivor and somebody living with MS. It is quite possible. I don't know if I'd recommend it. It's going to be different for everybody. Obviously, we always say that on the show. Different things work for different people. For me, it was never a goal. It was never the intent. It's just kind of what happened throughout this year of 2023. So I figured since I just crossed that mark over the weekend over the holiday weekend shockingly even to me because I really wasn't trying to get there that this press particular weekend just happened um but yeah, it's a it's something big it's something I want to talk about. A lot of lessons led things I've learned about running about being a stroke survivor be somebody living with MS. It really does honestly like I don't really celebrate these kinds of things, but it kind of means a lot to me and I'm surprised I got there myself. As I'm sure anybody watching this show listening to this podcast, would also be surprised at The surprise of a regular everyday runner did it to my wife is a marathoner. She is nowhere close to 5000 miles, I can assure you, you know, I do share, I'm sharing this journey and this this milestone, not to brag not to. I mean, I do want to show people what's possible, I believe, in well, I don't really even doing things extreme, although I guess this is extreme to a degree. I really just kind of fell in love with running over the last 14 months. It really started this summer of 2022. Yeah, and so we'll go through that whole process where I started, how I got there, how I've gotten to this point, the backstory. Again, I want to remind everybody, I hated running my entire life. I played offensive line, defensive line, basketball. Sure, you know, obviously, sports, you run quite a bit. I was always the bigger guy in every sport throughout every age, you know, from Pop Warner Football, barely making weight. I'd never wrestled, so I don't really know that world, did some ultimate fighting and did some more Thai and jujitsu back in the day, but never competitively. So I never had to wait for that kind of thing. But that's, uh, you know, that's an up and down thing that it's been a part of my life. But again, always being a bigger guy when I was a kid trying to lose weight. That was not the goal. That was not the goal. The running, obviously, I think you could see probably since I started this podcast, and certainly even the summer videoing these podcast episodes. Yeah, lost quite a bit of weight this year. I mean, added benefit, but again, not the intent. The real reason for getting started with running was just to see, could I run? Yeah, like I said, we'll go kind of through the backstory, how it got there, what I did, how the journey began, how it how I overcame some things throughout the year. Some of the challenges I faced and again, some of the other milestones, some of the achievements, some of the surprises, some of the aha moments, and really the lessons that I learned and tips to everybody that he's running, or doesn't want to, you know, like, again, I didn't want to be a runner necessarily. I think, for me, it was more about trying to get into running later in life. And again, I've heard I've said this a number of times on the show. Having a stroke at age 37. Is the midlife crisis, you definitely don't want to have not recommended not really the one I wanted that I much would have preferred a new car. or pretty much anything other than a stroke and diagnosed with a side of Ms. But yeah, yeah, that's part of life. We got things that come our way things adversity, we all face in different capacities. different challenges, I don't pick a stroke, again, is what anybody shooting for. Obviously, I would rather preferred a new car, something else some other stereotypical midlife crisis event. But yeah, you know, and then we'll kind of wrap it up. Because the reason why I do this episode because people always again, talk to me. How'd you do it on my own? Well, you know, I just kind of started doing it. So yeah, I guess let's start at the beginning. We talked about a number of times in the show to breathing is really where this all starts. Yeah, even before that, I think I was working out and lifting weights in 21. And well, even mid 20 started lifting weights because I couldn't really walk couldn't run. I was mildly mobile, mobile enough to get on the bench, do some weightlifting, deuce, various triceps, back, all that good stuff. The kids continue to get back to that. However, yeah, 21 was doing physical therapy. Again, I'm a big proponent of continuing to do therapy until until somebody tells you you can't show up for therapy because I think physical therapy and occupational therapy for stroke survivors even if you're just doing a little bit each year, a little bit goes a long way. Obviously continuing theme on the show a little bit every day a little bit more a little bit, one more, you know, we'll go through that whole thing. But yeah, life before running for me was in a wheelchair and 2020 post stroke post done Ms. Ms. Diagnosis again, I was paralyzed on the right side of my body with the stroke partially paralyzed the left side with Ms. Temporarily, much more temporary than the right side with stroke so I was good giant big hotness. At the time, my stroke I was damn near probably had been on. I had not officially been on a scale over 500 pounds. But I was so, so close at the time, I weighed into the hospital in 2019, that I'm sure at some point, it was over 500 pounds. For EV nine was the biggest I ever saw on the scale, on record, at least in my charts. So not a small guy lost obviously a lot of weight during the initial rehab. I've talked about many times that I was a former alcoholic cigarette smoker, not in good shape. So being you know, 400, some 489 pounds that that weight kind of quickly fell off in the early days after my stroke doing even though physical therapy was really kind of minimal in the early days, I think. Just not drinking and sweating. And eating, eating properly, was a big help to lose probably the first 100 pounds of stuff. And then from there continuing to work each and every day for the last four years. You know, it's a real it's a real commitment. And it's not for our money, but I assure you, I just want you to know that I was you know, damn near 500 pounds, which is a corporate ton of a human being that is like more I actually saw something last week that I'll share with you I saw Well, the watching. I was lucky some something somewhere. They were talking about sea lions and sea lions are like, I think an average of like 500 pounds. So I was not the size a whale, but I was literally the size of sea lion. So So that's interesting. I wouldn't I think it was what was funny about that as a boat. Not particularly funny, but to me. If you encounter a sea lion, they could tear your face off, which is funny only because I was thinking about that as I was the size of a sea lion, adult sea lion and I could probably see here somebody's face off of I had to. I don't know what made me think of that. But anyways, so I was a big ass dude. And I assure you, if I can get to 5000 miles this past year, you could do it too. It's not the easiest. It's not without effort. It's not without commitment. It takes a lot of hard work. It's something that again, I wasn't striving for in the beginning. I really started running because I again I last year less beginning air June of 2022. I was on a family vacation with my family first time since my stroke in COVID and COVID. And I was just like you know what, I think I'm ready for the peloton got the peloton really started biking a lot on really this kind of do a soul lifting, doing a lot of biking because it was kind of easier. He was good for strengthening my legs. And it was a nice way to strengthen my legs without doing your traditional squats and lunges and things that I don't like doing as much. Although getting back to that now. So yeah, running or biking is a really good way to get some cardio exercise, especially trouble walking, you know, I think I would have preferred walking from the get go. However, my walking gait had still been a little bit off and it's still not perfect, it's still not ideal, I think until you're a stroke survivor and encountered that you you know, if you have you know, it's just, it's just different. Everything tastes a little bit. Everything's a little different after stroke. I don't think the MS helps. I don't think it hurts necessarily my case. But some people may experience gait and walking issues and running issues with Ms. So I think it's you know, we all take him for granted him you don't really miss it and until until you go through that you don't realize how much effort goes into walking and how much effort goes into a lot of things in life skills that you just kind of take for granted. I did too. You know, it's again, not the preferred way to go through life. It's not something I want anybody to experience but I do want you to assure you that if you do you know and it's it can be done. It was important to me to get back to walking. It's something that I strive for from the beginning. I wanted to walk I'm six foot eight I gotta stop saying 625 pounds because I'm not 325 pounds or I'm probably going to keep saying it because I now have a complex where I need to sound bigger than I actually am I am well below 300 pounds now not well below but you know I'm in the, I would say in the 250 to 295 range. And the reason I'm saying that is because I really don't Wanna go below 250? But I'm definitely somewhere in between those two numbers I just said, which is good. I'd like to be maybe a little bit up actually add more weightlifting back into the equation. But that's that's that's a goal for 2024. Again, I'm sharing all this because running is something I hated my whole life. So last year got into the biking just by happened circumstances I read a book called breathed by James nester. I talked about the book a ton on this podcast to a great book, a great overall scientific approach and just analysis of breathing and the importance of not just breathing, but nasal breathing in particular. We really opened up my eyes I got, as I usually do, I got totally immersed in it, because it's like, oh my God, I've been doing this wrong my whole life. How did nobody tell me about this over the time, it's the previous three years. So I went headfirst into nasal breathing really off the deep end super intense about it. I still very much believe in it. When I launched survivor science, the community and the blog, it'll be a big part over there, because it's just something you can do. So in hindsight, it's so obvious. And so helpful, probably for many stroke survivors, because again, not everybody but a lot of stroke survivors, maybe former cigarette smokers, or maybe just people that had issues with sleep apnea or has have sleep apnea to some degree. breathing helps with that, it helps with a lot of things, it helps circulation. It's just a really great thing for overall health and wellness. And again, I'm not a breathing expert, but I've taken a lot of classes, I've taken a lot of courses, I immerse myself ended up actually certified breathwork breathing coach. I don't use that per se, but I really just wanted it for me, I wanted to learn, I wanted to figure out what I was doing wrong and how to reverse some of the the negatives reverse some of the the lingering side effects from being a smoker for 22 years. You know, I I want to preface this by the reason I was a cigarette smoker. I mean, it wasn't my grandmother's fault, but she smoked she was 90. So I thought I had these great genetics behind me where I can just smoke forever. bad call. Definitely a bad call. You can but she was all super thin. I was very big, very overweight, don't think that drinking helps. So anyways, I really took to that last year because I was like, oh my god, this is working. And it was one of these things. There are very few things that I've encountered in my life that work immediately. Breathing. When you are a mouth breather for 22 years, or at that point, I was a mouth breather for 39 years. My whole life I just nobody teaches you I didn't learn. I didn't either. You know, I'm sure somebody said something along the way. But I probably didn't listen. I really need somebody grabbed me by the head and be like, we'll listen like that's this is the kind of when somebody does that I definitely listen. But until somebody does, I probably don't I probably brush it off. I've said this before on the previous episode. I think the problem was that I was always here called breathwork. And I was like, What is breath work? Get out of here like I'm breathing, I'm alive. That is true. You have to breathe to stay alive. That is good advice. I would continue to do that. However, if you are like me and you're experiencing you know, you think you're a bigger person, you think you're just reading things that you think I'm insane. You think it's woowoo I promise you it's not it works. You can unblock your nose, I probably have some rhinitis, from previous things I was doing in my life. That should be obviously diagnosed and you should talk to your doctor about that. You just always cite your doctor about anything but breathing for me. I really felt like it opened up some it opened my eyes and opened up some doors. And I realized through all this and it wasn't super clear when it happened. But through all that I learned. I was like, ah, you know what, I don't smoke anymore. I've kind of fixed my breathing. Maybe I could try to start to run because my gait is still been last year was so little off and it was feeling weird, but I felt like I was kind of like always going forward. You know, obviously that he could tell you what, but it just felt awkward as a keynote. I wonder if I just run a little bit if that and I just started running very slow. Very, very slow. I'm still pretty slow. I'm not at the speed I would like to be I have no interest in being a professional runner or professional marathoner ultra marathon is interesting to me because that's a little bit slower. And I've always really enjoyed doing things that other people say I can't do or shouldn't do. Um, you know, but that's that's kind of my journey. So last year, I started getting into running, and I started realizing the power of nasal breathing. I was like, staying. So it started with simple run, walk. Again, I had no goal, I put no pressure on myself. I was just seeing if I could do it. And if I would enjoy it. I did. I was shocked. It seemed to be good. The nasal breathing, kept everything under control. running slowly, I think is the key here for me because I was no longer 20 I realized I was a stroke survivor. I'm somebody who lived with with Ms. I didn't want a super push hard on. So I just wanted to see if I can enjoy running lately. Turns out, I do. And for me, I saw a lot of benefits very quickly, I just saw. And again, it's not without hiccups. But I just realized, Oh, I feel good. I feel like I feel you know, there's lots of benefits of running. good health, good, good circulation. I'm sure there's tons and again, I'm not a professional runner by any stretch, some guy that started running a ton and kind of fell in love with it. Surprisingly, shockingly. And I think that's, that's the key to being a stroke survivor, for me has always been like all these things that I ignored or didn't pay attention to or brushed off or didn't want to do seem to be circling back into my life and its account. Maybe there are benefits to be saying it's like, it's just funny how how winds up working out. Again, breathwork that sounds dumb. Breathing says that sounds okay. To me. That sounds beneficial. That sounds like any other exercise. That sounds like something I would try. Cool. Did it. Wow. Oprah buys Amelie. So yeah. I think there are some things again, that I you know, the journey began with that. run, walk and it's slowly. This sounds so corny. It sounds hopefully it doesn't sound relatable, but I just I started because I'm a stroke survivor, who runs I have MS. I have a family, I have to be careful. I really just started running very sort of small loops and laps kind of in my neighborhood because I felt safe. I felt like if something went wrong, there were plenty of people around. You know, my wife, they know where I live most people in my neighborhood. And it's like, okay, so I just kept doing a lap. And I kept doing like different laps in the neighborhood. And I was like, every day I just like, oh, let's do one more, one more. And then I got to the Strava app, because I knew my wife had used it for running protecting her races. Don't try to friend me over there. I would I literally use it for myself. I have all these devices and thing I keep using is my phone to track all my running because I never move without my phone. I have a Garmin watch and we use it. I don't know why I bought it. I think I thought it would be good. I don't like it. Say I use Strava Yeah, they just cracked it. And I just keep doing one more lap one more lap I push myself a little bit it does take a little bit of pushing yourself, you know running I think the big thing was getting to kinda like the first. So I started this last September very, very lightly doing that run walk. I think I started tracking October 6 to 2022. And I got a little bit addicted because I have an addictive personality I get into things very deeply, very intensely. I but I also really enjoyed it and we're seeing some benefits that I wasn't expecting like, this is gonna sound insane. But since I started running, I noticed my typing and my handwriting getting a little bit better not perfect, not where I want it to be. It's one of those things. Guys proprioception issues where we just like spatial sometimes not too bad, but a little bit. Which I'm actually going to look into more in the coming year kind of thinking about trying yoga, but that's that's a topic for another show. Yeah, but the running just seemed that there seemed to be good positive side effects that I wasn't expecting from that. Because I think again normies or regular people who have not had a stroke probably don't experience that the same way and I don't know I didn't ask again. I don't really talk to new runners. I barely love my wife but I try not talk to her about running because I find her to be very annoying. So I will tell you as stroke survivor or anybody living Without ms or anybody's survived a significant life event, you do what works best for you, of course, always, always on the show, but I kind of kept it to myself. Until now, for the most part, I mean, I've talked about running a lot this year, some people have come out a lot of lies on social media because of like, I'm tired of hearing about running will. You know, but the whole journey was kind of just amazing to me. I was like, Oh, shit, you know. So, last year, I ran 500 miles before the new year that was big. I was like, wow, that that ended up quick because I was running every day, because I was feeling good. I enjoyed it. So again, I built up over time, I just kept adding one more lap, maybe one more mile here and there, you know, I went from probably one or two miles to like, you know, and that was a shock pretty early on, then to two or three, three or four. Before you knew it. I was doing like five. And then this year and 2023 I think I really kicked it up a notch. I started getting to like 10 a day because I was like, Oh, this is really good. Let me do a little bit of running in the morning to get me going for the day. And then a little bit evening. So that was getting up to like 1012 miles later in the year getting to even higher mounts. And by the way, I want to remind everybody that I am insane. I run every single day. I never take my hat off now because I've permanent so I shaved my head on purpose. I still have all my hair so I have all the hair follicles just I'm a redhead. Never liked the red hair. So that is the reason I always wear a hat now is because my head is totally white. Like ever seen somebody's PCs sighs when they're running, that's that's I have I have a runner stand on my head. Very similar to most people who watch 10 That is now. Totally white dome on the side. So yeah, that's staying in. I am never without a hat now because every time I take it off, I look at myself. On camera. I'm like, nope, nope, nope, nope. So yeah, some of the things though, that I did not realize early on, I think was that I still and I still have a bit of drop foot. So I don't think running fixes that but running has helped strengthen my legs, obviously doing it every day. Lifting more would it be even more helpful, I'm sure made some mistakes. I definitely had the wrong shoes in the early days and I had good shoes. I had Brooks ahead hokas But some of them are a little snug on my foot. So I think figuring out the end shoelace. shoelaces are tricky. That's one of the things that I've struggled with over the last couple years is really getting so dumb because I'm a 41 year old male now as stroke survivor, I struggle with tying shoes sometimes it's just one of those things that is a little challenging, you know, probably like using a sharp knife like I can do it. But it takes effort and it takes patience both I'm good on effort. But patience is something I still very much struggle with. So while I could cook dinner, it would take significantly longer than my wife I can tie my shoes it just takes longer than I want to tie my shoes so I was kind of running with pre tied shoes, which is fine but then as I started to add miles and started to do things that started I did encounter some runners toe issues a little bit of dragging the foot I can tell now everything is getting better and stronger because I'm not running through my shoes as significantly as I was earlier in the year and that's that's a big thing. So probably spring of this year I started let's say taking things more seriously and really looking into things is like Oh, I'm running every day like I need to start lifting I need start doing like workouts because I'm tired of buying brand new shoes every couple of weeks because I really was running through the tread and that was because of my size that was also because I was running a lot of miles. And so I've you know I wouldn't say these are big hurdles are not deal breakers for me but can get expensive for some and still, we I'm sure we all struggle drivers have no shortage of doctors, no shortage of medical bills coming through the mail, which are always fun. But yeah, I did lose a few toenails this year. If you've ever read David Goggins books. He has pictures in his book of his toenails. I can tell you my toenails on all my good foot actually, because I think what happened was I was I was it's not so much now but I'm definitely I definitely was kind of leaning towards one side in the early days of running, really relying on it. better, stronger side, which I think actually another tangent, but I think now both sides are finally equal. But yeah. So over the summer, I took a brief break to visit the school for my daughter and during that I just kind of took three days off from running, which is actually I've only taken four days off since October 6 sub 20. Time to from running. That's how important I think running is to me now. Again, I could probably do it a little less, but I just enjoy the benefits that I get from running and its benefits I never thought I'd do and never thought I'd be run ever. I certainly never thought I'd be a runner. In 2018 When I had my stroke I certainly never thought I'd be a runner at age 40 and 41 Oh stroke post Ms. So I do you know a cow. I'm gonna keep hammering that home because I literally thought I'd never be that guy. Those are and is probably the most I'll ever talk about running again. But yeah, I just again, I wasn't doing it for weight loss. I was really just doing it to see if I could do it. It turned into more than I ever thought or expected. I think a couple months ago probably some end of summer I realized you know what? I'm doing a ton of miles I'm doing a bunch of miles every day I started doing I do use the indoor terminal sometimes. Because in summer here in Florida, it's a it's a it gets annoying. I am not adverse challenges. I'm not adverse to weather I always run in a hoodie and a hat. Doesn't matter if it's 95 or 100 140. That is part of just what I do. I like getting that sweat in. I have to wear a hat because I don't want that shaved head to get burnt because I tried that early on. That was that was a mistake. I learned that lesson the hard way. Which is funny because I'm again I'm 41 been a ginger my whole life shaved my head for most of my life since I was like, like I've been shaving my head since first grade because I saw my first grade picture where I was wearing a turtleneck and a crew crewneck sweatshirt and I just said Nope, we're never doing this again. So I was shaved my head since probably second grade. I still don't understand why my youngest, who is also redhead insists on having hair. I don't get it. But that's him. But anyways, so. So yes. And of this past summer, I was like, You know what? I've been learning a lot. Things going pretty well. So again, not a goal. At the time. I just like I was like, you know, we I've been taking this seriously. How do I get a little faster? How do I get a little bit you know, I don't want to be a marathon racer, I just want to take a little less time. So I've put in the work to improve my running again, get back into lifting, especially on the legs. But I also decided at this point, at the end of summer I was like you know what? I borrowed a lot. I probably could examine if I changed my diet. Could I lose a little more weight? Again, if you're running this much and you want to get to this level had he like yeah, I wanted to start to see some of the benefits exterior wise I guess because all the internal things like you know, I had a lot of revelations. I really love music, running listening to music running and listening to podcasts running just like bringing your mind there's a lot of good benefits there. Again, you don't have to run your watch, just probably sit at your desk if you would rather. But it got me thinking differently. And it got me changing my diet. I I'm son. I'm like keto but not really keto. I'm kind of keto. Which is weird because he does pretty rough stuff here. Because I love torturing myself because she doesn't really she does good for me. Let me preface that. As a former alcoholic and premium beer drinker for 22 years I feel like I've had enough carbs in my life so like I I approach it very differently than somebody else might. You may enjoy a carb I definitely enjoy a car but I also don't really need bread in my life like I don't enjoy bread that much. I if I was in Italy a bit different story. If I was over in Europe, it definitely would be a different story, but I just realized I don't really need bread. I don't really need cereal. So yeah, it was I tried keto for a little while in September. really worked out did a lot of it in October to October was a big month. I am still pretty keto but I'm like not I'm not trying I can everything if I if it's keto and I enjoy it, I'll eat it if I feel like having a fucking car but I will have a carb you know I am mindful is where I'm getting to, I guess. But I started going keto in September, and I continued drying and I actually saw myself getting better and getting faster. Now you know, again a big a big big dude. Right? So for me losing a few pounds, I could sleep a few pounds off on but I noticed Oh, right, you dropped some pounds. Your speed and time usually improves just as a byproduct. So I kind of took advantage that I could go on keto. Turns out that works for my body because I again I don't miss the carbs. I don't need carbs to have enough carbs to probably last me the rest of my life if I really wanted to cut carbs out entirely. So a lot of good benefits. And I will tell you in September I started getting very close to a marathon. I think I might have even run a marathon and mileage in September but October was a big month. seven or six miles I was running a marathon almost every day I think there were a couple of days in October where I did not run a marathon I have since a scale that back a little bit but I still do a lot of miles in November so pretty pretty close to strict keto again I'm not you sir I have a stroke and you have MS and you have three kids and a wife like you know the thing is the thing I learned is I could do it if I want to I could do it all the time fine too. But I also don't want to be one of these miserable people that's always like you know I will use it I will be clear I will use it as a yet another excuse to get out of things in my family life. But like going out dinner, Sorry, can't cheat. Dinner Party. No thanks, Quito. I don't want to be an inconvenience. I don't want to go because I'm on keto. Really I just don't want to Well, yeah, keto was a big one. And yeah, I guess because I was because of the damn near 800 Miles October and another I don't know where we're gonna end up with. Well, I'm not gonna be at the same for November. It was available last November. But somewhere around September's ago I make it to 5000 miles for the year which would be pretty impressive. And yeah, I guess this is a long way of saying I just kind of built up over time I kept doing one more lap every day for a year well one more lap and one more mile those kind of add up. And before you know it if you want to do it you can I'm I'm just as shocked as anybody listening or watching this podcast. It's It is impressive. I'm proud of it. It's not something to celebrate forever. It's kind of like Okay, did it now get by now I gotta get back to work. But again, by 1000 miles that takes a lot of people like several years was it a commitment? Yes was a time suck also Yes. Was it a lot? You bet. Should everybody do it? Absolutely not. But I was determined at some point to to do this to prove to myself I could do it to prove not really to prove to anybody else but myself. Sometimes I'm my best and worst competitor I definitely do think so extreme but I think that is part of being six foot eight and 300 plus pounds. Always have was a former competitive eater. You know it sounds dumb but when I was a big drinker in high school in college, you know, I was always late to the party I was kind of the bar crusher or my friend group. I like doing challenges and chugs that other people couldn't do I've done every milk challenge I've done the five minute challenge gallon of milk in five minutes gallon of water five minutes gallon orange juice and five minutes I've done all three of those got my name on a plaque for five pound burrito. I mean you know again I major league eating was a thing early in the 2000s it still is a thing but it's never got to Coney Island Nathan's table but I definitely make qualifiers and Virginia and Norfolk and up and down the East Coast compete in a lot of eating competitions said after to that nine to give that let that go go by the wayside because it was one it's not really a sport being honest. It's just a bunch of idiots saying who can eat the most food in a certain amount of time which is a funny but at some point It sounds Iran. So. So yeah, definitely a guy that's in two extremes. But I think these are the kinds of extremes to me that are beneficial. Um, you know, I don't know what to say about getting to this 5000 milestone, it's 5000 miles and milestone. I mean, it's, I hate to sit here and say it's impressive, but I am kind of unimpressed with myself, I gotta be honest, like, again, I don't really talk about this on the show, I try to really highlight other people or other things. But I just, I feel like this show and the survivor science brand that is that I've been trying to get to build all year it kind of like, obviously, that took a little bit of a hit because of all the running. But I feel like this was a big milestone for me, because I really want to show people what's possible. I've stroke. I don't want people to feel hopeless. I know, I really felt hopeless. I felt confused. I felt so many things. When I had my stroke. There are a lot of good resources. But they're hard to find. They're they're not clear. Some of them are good. Some of them are not as good. I know this, this particular episode is a lot about me hitting 5000 miles, but it just want to show people what's possible. It's like, I remember specifically, when I had my stroke very shortly after one of the neurologists that I met with, he's like, you're not going to be better in two or three days. And, you know, to my, to his credit, clearly, it was not two or three days, it's not two or three years. I've said that before. But I do feel like I'm in a place where I'm starting to unlock things. Getting to a point where I've hit a couple plateaus, I'm sure I will continue to hit plateaus, as we all do. Whether you're a stroke survivor, or caregiver or a family member, it doesn't matter if you're any part of this equation, if you're a regular person living a life that are plateaus are things to overcome challenges we face. And I really hate sometimes people call me inspirational, but I really I just want to be an inspiration for other people that are, you know, maybe younger, maybe older, doesn't really matter. If you want to change and you have a desire to get better and change and make some some real significant changes in your life. You know, I just want to assure you, it's hard. It's not without effort, it definitely takes a ton of effort. It does take time. That's an annoying thing you hear probably over and over and over, especially if you're still in the early days. I still think back to all the nurses and people that I worked with and impatient and like they were they were trying to be very kind very helpful, but it's very annoying to hear it in the early days. Because it's like, Man, I'm paralyzed. Like you don't know what that feels like. And they don't, but they no they don't. And they're not wrong. It does take time, it may take less time, it may take more time, it may be an ongoing process eternally. You know, there are things that I would like to be better at now that I am not that right yet. Like typing for one. It is very difficult for me to kind of overcome that one. It's not that I don't work on it. It's just proprioception and my hands over the keyboard. They just don't like stay still the way I'd like them to. How I fix that is something you know, I will share with everybody when I figure it out. You know, for now I'm packing the keyboard to death where all right. I do rely on the microphone and talk to type a lot of the times because it's easier and it's faster and I shouldn't but I do. You know, I think that's a challenge we all face and stroke. Survivors are things we should do that we don't do, and are things that we realized sooner or later. If I practice this a little more work. Anyways. Yeah, sorry, I'm all over the place. But the big takeaways for me that I learned as a stroke survivor, living with MS becoming a runner in my 40s. Again, this is not this was never the ideal plan. I don't think anybody necessarily plans for a midlife crisis, but I assure you this is the one you don't want. However, some thoughts are listen to yourself. Come up with a plan that works for you. I've been very meticulous in my I do want to process that I do listen to people but only to the degree where my you know if they're saying something that comes up and they're concerned about my safety. If they say something about Well, you shouldn't do this every day. Well, alright, that's that's probably a fair point, but I'm checking in with myself. After my body recover Am I feeling good? Am I being smart? Being safe? Am I taking all my medications? You know, every day when I go on a run, I do a little stretching. I do it probably different than other people. I do what feels right i by slowing down. That's a big, big, big, big, big takeaway fixing the breathing. going slow. going slow for me has been a that's how I've been able to maintain running every single day. Is it annoying? You bet. I would love to run the same amount of miles and shave probably an hour off my time. However, the trade off is I don't get hurt. I continue to run every single day. Twice a day. Again, that's a lot of time. But it works for me for now. Will it work forever? I don't know. But I think I'm going to scale the mileage back office. Now. I don't know what the next goal would be really. I mean, there's no reason to run 5000 miles every every year. But I did kind of start with a goal of mine of like reaching 2000 This year, I have a stick to it two and a half X that but um, again, that was not the intent. Fixing the diet losing some weight those things make sense now because those shapes some time off. last big thing I would say is really paying attention to shoes as a runner. This sounds probably obvious some me hate earning not wanting to listen to other runners, shoes and shoe laces. I was like now if the shoe does, yeah. chooses personal preference, too. I do recommend finding shoes that work for you. It might take hairs on another one as a subscriber pay attention to tying your shoelaces I've noticed that. Yeah, sounds so obvious. It's so dumb now. But like once I really forced myself to take the extra minute to tie my shoes and tie them properly. Turns out shoes should be tied properly, it probably helps on there are different patterns for race for running, or tying your shoe laces something I never knew until somebody shared it with me on Twitter. Started a couple different ones found one that worked for me. Yeah, tying your shoes. So obvious in hindsight, but when you're a big fat guy for most your life, you kind of get used to just like tying them loosely. And you know, I used to wear Jordans and things like that and cool sneakers. Very much sneaker head. never really cared about tie laces Well, wasn't really running. So it didn't matter. Now I tie them properly, and it helps quite a bit helps with you know, good socks, also for blisters. Because that's gonna happen if you start running 20 plus miles a day. And again, I built up to this, I did not start at 2020 miles a day. Yeah, I mean, there's tons of insights, I could probably go on forever about running. But I really the Alessi who I really is like, for me, we're talking about running today. But for you, it might be something else something you want to challenge yourself with something you just want to see if you can try if you're any good. A lot of the things I talked about here is strokes related. But I feel like they could really the things I talked about could relate to anybody at anytime. I mean, I know plenty of people who have not had a stroke or a stroke. So I really had no I had no health issues. They just think they hate running. And I did too for the longest time. And it wasn't until I just questioned it and got curious about it and really asked questions like How could I fix this? How can I enjoy running? You know, and I stopped saying I don't want to and I just changed my mind. I was like I want to try? And I did try? When that's yeah. How do you go from zero miles in? September of 2022 to 5000 miles by November of 2023. You just keep asking why not? How can I fix it? How can I do better? Again, why not is a big one. Again, I love proving people wrong. Oh, you couldn't possibly run 5000 miles a year your your stroke. So I was over 300 pounds? Well, he really is motherfuckers not that anybody really cared. But yeah. To me, it's just like, Yeah, I can do it. You could do it. I assure you if you you know as always, if you have questions, thoughts, suggestions, tips. I'm going to be kind of launching survivor science here a couple weeks. Both the blog, which seems to be full of free resources, people that I've worked with and connected with over the years that's really what I wanted to do with it. communities bring people together, professionals, and really just people that are going through the same thing to have a place to communicate, to get to know each other, what's working for you what's working for them, what's, you know, had a very collaborative space. I had a good call with a friend earlier today. You know, she's a great coach. She might be the right fit for somebody in the community, there are people that I've vetted, that I bring into the community, people that I like to be about I enjoy. This is probably the reason I don't have millions and millions of followers because I'm not an asshole. On social media, I don't tell people what to do, I just kind of share my experience my tips. You know, we're on LinkedIn. I don't have as many connections as I could have, because I don't care about the number. And I prove that by really never adding people. You know, I have a fair amount, but not 1000s of 1000s. I don't have 50,000 followers on LinkedIn. Because why? Because I probably wouldn't want to talk to 49,980 of them if I had 50. You know, but do you have those connections that I've made over the years and people that I really enjoy? Because I feel like as so so are, and a former bodyguard, I feel very protective of my community and very protective of the people that I bring into a space on both sides of the equation to the survivor themselves, the caregivers, anybody that's associated with the survivor in their family. Same with coaches and with professionals, like, you know, I want you to work with people that I have bedded. Yes, so probably be hiccups at times, people will not connect the way I would hope. But the reality is, you know, sometimes people just aren't a good fit, but at least you know, they're vetted by me. There's somebody that I trust somebody that I want to work with some of that I have worked with, I mean, the only reason I wouldn't work with this person, in particular I spoke with today is because she and I are such good friends that I don't know that I would listen. Which is obviously that's something that happens when you have friends that are coaches, you know, they're almost too close on. You know, I thought about it. I've worked with survivors, but I think working long term with survivors, I want to bring them together, but I I can't exhaust myself and my resources and my time with each and every individual structure. Of course, I could help everybody a little bit. But I think when it gets to an ongoing relationship, I think, yeah, for me, it behaved Sukkot sounds. So they're appointing people in the right direction in this case, and bringing the community together versus helping one off individuals for like, long periods of time. So yeah, we'll leave that there. That's kind of what I'm working on here in the last month, a year going into December. So we'll have some news on that next week. I do have an episode that I recorded last week, which I'll released probably this week. Which is really good. There was a heart episode, Episode 38, which came out last week, I had to put a pause on that I should have fixed it. I'm trying to scrape together what overall do I can kept cutting in and out it looks like we're gonna have to invite her back on the show. So for now, I switched over to a different platform. Try this out. See, I think it'll work a little better. I can see there's no lagging today. You know, it's it's a good platform. It's great. I just don't think it works in every case. I think it's a really good platform for four to two or more people that are podcasting that are more of a different setting who have different tools and technology. I think now we're on restream I think it's better for the everyday guests, so to speak somebody that's maybe not as technically savvy. Andrew has had my friend Chris being on last week he's a he's a great friend former coworker. He's a heart attack survivor so that that'll be out probably after this episode so so I recorded with him last week I'm doing it this episode right now. Probably release his episode next week because I didn't want to release it during the holiday week and I didn't want to release it right after because everyone is exhausted. I'm exhausted and we'd need it. I'm going to have Thanksgiving I stayed home with my daughter Parker having a stroke and Ms. And a 21 year old daughter is that when your significant other so if you want to go with her and the other two kids to somewhere you don't want to go out comes the old I don't want to go card and I have had a stroke and I need to stay home with my daughter so she's not lonely because she doesn't want to go either. But we had a nice Thanksgiving. She and I are at the gym. Yeah. So hopefully you're having a good holiday. We're going to do a couple more episodes before the end of the year. That's what's going on with the show. Lastly, where I watched and watched a bunch of stuff. In the last week, I had been reading some books let's see We got up on Audible because I've not actually been physically reading any books lately. Really into I go back and forth with Audible. Sometimes I love Audible for like, a couple of weeks and then sometimes I have to go back to the physical books. So what am I reading some by David, David Eagleman, which actually is his older lawyer ish book. But I've talked about Livewire, which is another good book of his read a couple of years ago. We're all in this together finally finish that by Tom Papa. reading an old book from architecture school, which is interesting to me because I did not appreciate the book at the time. Obviously, like most college kids do not give a crap about it. The Life and death, life light and The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which is a really good book. If you're interested in that. I think it's one of the reasons I've always loved Europe is because Europe is so much smaller than the United States very much more condensed get places very cheap by train. You can go different countries very quickly. Yeah, just love the European cities, the European experience, just the various vast cultures you can get to very quickly when you're over there speaking, you know, carps been thinking a lot about 2005 I spent the year in Rome and I think the goal for next year is to take a trip to Rome. I really wanted to go over to Europe with my family and then COVID happened and the stroke happened and I grand plans of going on a trip with my daughter graduating high school to to Europe with my wife and daughter and leaving the two boys at home because they are under 10 and would not appreciate it but um we'll see. We'll see we'll see we'll see. Just man I could do a whole episode Not really distrokid talking about Rome, or some books on Rome that I've been reading I'm just like, you know, I get whimsical and whatever about my time in Europe in Rome, I just got could not talk about it forever. I really love it very fondly. My wife is from Chile. We spend time in Santiago. I mean you Damar and up and down today so that's always been fun. Haven't done it as much in the last couple of years it's my brother in law mood seats finally. Unfortunately but yeah love Chile love South America love Europe Love Will the United States as I as well. Just I just love different cultures. It's super fun. Oh, and the last thing which I wear I watch on Netflix. I am I just watch glamorous, which is ridiculous. But very cheap. I think CBS show some reason I decided to take advantage of Black Friday sales and re subscribe to peacock for the year although I regrettably got the one with commercials and I cannot stand commercials. But yeah, if you love garbage TV as much as my daughter I do. Below deck is back out watching below deck down under gonna check out below deck Mediterranean probably breezed through that before the end of the week. So I'm sure I'll have new stuff dug up next week on Netflix. Good comedy specials over on Netflix as well. So if you're into that, oh, and I can't wait till next week's episode, I am taking a stand up class with my daughter this coming weekend and I'm really looking forward to it because I love stand up. I miss stand up. I just wanted to do something with her that she didn't want to do, but would agree to and really excited to see how that goes. Click my daughter. So my daughter is on a podcast next year. Which isn't a month unrelated thing next year like next week. Yeah, so she and I also know podcast she and I are very similar in nature. We are both very opinionated people with a lot of thoughts on a lot of stuff and we watch a lot of the garbage CV and I don't know what the podcasts are gonna be about, but she wants to get into podcasts and I want to help her with it. I think we're gonna have a great show the two of us a very, very weird show. It's a father daughter. She's She just turned 21 I just turned 41 last week so she Yeah 21 to 41 father daughter show. We do not have a name yet. We seem to be struggling with that although it is the hardest part of a podcast or she always coming up with a good name. So more to come on that in the coming weeks. Really excited about that. So that is yet another podcast to look forward to in this house, which is yeah, why I'm redoing the office downstairs to make an official studio On this house so I've been battling. I've enjoyed this episode but I need to go eat dinner so I will leave it there