AJ and Erika: A lot goes into training for and running a long distance race. It is not easy at all. That's why we have an expert on mental toughness, grit and resilience joining us for this episode. If you've done a run Disney race, you've probably seen him out on the course. We are so excited to have fireman Rob here with us today. Hey there friends. Welcome to episode number 46 of one more run in the podcast. AJ, you're Erica. And we host this thing to either give you something to be dreaming of being at Disney. You know, you can listen to it just dreaming of being at Disney or hopefully you're inspired or feeling. Some of that. And today is like all of it. We're to talk lots of Disney stuff with Fireman Rob. We're also going to get lots of helpful tips from Fireman Rob and we're going to get inspired and believe it or not, Erica is going to cry. And so it's par for the course, guess, today. That's right. And I'm super excited about today. We're talking about grit, right? Resilience, mental toughness, things that I think we think a lot about. And if you were thinking about a firefighter or military or something like that, but it takes all of those things to accomplish something like a half marathon. Right. You need those skills. And so we're talking about it today. Let's get a couple of things done before we jump in with Fireman Rob. Erica, you want to read today's review? Totally. This review comes from Beelo6. Yes, and this is Brian who we met before the marathon. Yes, yes I do. He says, while I am an experienced run Disney runner, I find a ton of value in the One More Run podcast. Even after multiple run Disney weekends, I pick up great tips and tricks from AJ and Erica about how to better navigate race weekend. From expo strategy and corrals to race morning logistics and park tips. The show does a great job balancing practical advice with the fun and excitement that make Run Disney events so special. It's super clear that both AJ and Erica love the Run Disney community, and that comes through in every episode. Whether you're running your first Run Disney race or you're a seasoned runner looking to fine tune your race weekend strategy, this podcast is absolutely worth a listen. That was so sweet. Awesome. Thank you for that. really nice. I know. I know. And in chapter four, nah, we appreciate it, Brian. That's, that's really nice. And we love that you guys leave the reviews. It lets us know what we're doing right. And it also helps people understand what's on the show. Totally. mean? So that five star rating really goes a long way. And if you've left one, thank you. And if you left one, get on it. Hey Jay. Just kidding. Only leave a five star review if you think we deserve it. That's right. Okay. Erica last week. Yeah, we introduced the idea of our support crew. And if you're familiar with Patreon, that's basically what it is. That's the platform. We're calling it the support crew because it's the perfect way for you to get like extra content and all that while supporting the show. Basically, if you join that, you get a bunch of stuff, right? And you also help make this possible for us. You're offsetting our costs, but we're going to thank you by giving you stuff that's worth it. Yes. Right. Bonus content. We'll send you some stuff in the mail and all that. You can check out the website, AJ and Erica.com and you can learn more about it. If it's not for you, that's totally fine. You know, if you want to be on the crew that makes this whole thing possible and get some extra stuff, we'd love to have you. Yeah. Okay. You want to talk about upcoming topics, Erica? What do we have coming up next week? Yes. Next week's episode is titled, this is supposed to be fun. And we have a special guest. We have the two, guys, Adam and Tom. Yep. So Tom's been on the show, ⁓ talking, ⁓ know, strength and all that stuff, ⁓ you know, him as a two, two guy and these guys clearly know how to have fun. They sure do. We're going to be talking about making sure that you're having fun on the, on the course. Yes, it's hard, but you're also supposed to be having fun. That's right. So we're going to have a good time with that next week. All right. Let's dive into our interview today with fireman Rob. You've probably seen him on the course. He literally does. the dopey challenge or the two course challenge or any of these things, ⁓ in full firefighter gear, head to toe. It's incredible. We've seen them on the course several times. ⁓ and so, ⁓ I asked him, Hey, would you be willing to come on the podcast and talk grit, right? Resilience. Cause clearly I mean, I've seen them on the course late in the race where he's digging deep, you know, to, get to that finish line. so no one better that I could think of to talk about grit and resilience than fireman Rob. All right, friends, this is super exciting. I say that a lot, Erica, you know I say that a lot, but like we just keep getting more and more and more exciting. And today we have a guest on who I've seen on the marathon course several times. And I've said, Hey, every time, ⁓ because his name is on the back of his, his, ⁓ firefighter outfit. you're going to know him as fireman Rob. We've probably all seen him out there. Erica, you've seen him on the One thing I love about it is that we're doing run, walk with stop for the restroom, whatever. And he seems to go at like one. Steady solid pace. So we'll pass him and then he'll pass us and then we'll pass him So I'll actually I've seen him like five times in one race because he is steady It seems like he never changes speed, which is awesome. I'm super excited to talk to him fireman Rob Thank you for being on the podcast and welcome to the show. ⁓ my gosh. I can't tell you this is like walking down Main Street Walking up to the castle and being invited in This is amazing. Thank you so much. We are so excited to have you. Obviously you do the Disney races, you do other stuff. like, you've got a whole nother thing going on, but like we're Disney focused. And so I hope you don't mind. We're going to like ask you a bunch of Disney questions and some other stuff too, but we love going Disney. If you're okay with that. That makes my day. I've been a, I've been a Disney person since I was young. We went as a family and I still, as an adult, I can't get enough of it. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, so we've seen you on the course, right? A bunch of times in full firefighter gear and I've never asked you and I don't actually don't know really the real reason. Can you tell us why you do that? Right? Like I'm guessing it's not just because it's like a costume like the rest of us are dressed in a costume. I'm guessing there's a deeper purpose there. Can you share why you do that? I'm a really poor packer and a planner. No. So actually I've been a firefighter for 26 years. started in 2000 in the city of Madison in Wisconsin. I've been there forever and I worked at ground zero. I worked at 9-11 as a rescue worker. I got there the day after the towers fell. Also a military veteran. was a medic. And on the 10th anniversary of September 11th, Ironman Wisconsin landed on that. And I really wanted to, at that time I hadn't talked a lot about it at that time. any of the mental health issues that I was going through. And so I wanted to do something for people to take away whatever they could from my actions, not from my words. And so I came up with this brilliant idea of doing the run portion of the Ironman in my full fire gear. ⁓ yes, it's not a smart idea. and so on that run portion, I got something that I never thought I would, ⁓ for myself, ⁓ from the pain from The people just saying thank you so much for doing this and it trailed into something that I never thought possible to date. I've done 1400 miles in my fire gear for run races and I've done 23 full Ironmans 31 half Ironmans and a multitude of different marathons half marathons, but it's all to just let people know that they're not alone in their struggles of mental health And I think it's a universal language of the pain, the struggle that you go through on these races. And to do it at Disney, it's just a different level of amazement because like Walt Disney said, to all who come welcome, you know, this is your place. And that's what I feel every single time I go and fire gear on those Disney races. is amazing. know. First of all, Thank you for your sacrifice and your service for everything that you just mentioned. Wow. That's, that is amazing. Yeah. And what's your, what's your symbolizing, right? And motivating all of us. Like what looks like a fireman out on the course is so much deeper than that. And so we're so excited to even just dig even deeper. So yes, absolutely. Thank you. I love that. What run Disney races have you done? We've obviously seen you at the marathon a few times, but have you done other races? Yeah. So I've done, ⁓ the, the dopey challenge. I think it's the last three years now. I just got done doing the springtime challenge. Um, that was very warm. We were spectating that race and you came by. So we were screaming for you. was so happy for the cloud cover this year. Um, and I I've done, um, I'm actually going to be doing the October race, uh, this year, the wine and dine. And, you know, I just, I, I want to keep doing these cause I love doing them. And my wife, Always just said just just go and do it. This is this is what you need. This is you know, I go walk the parks I have a shirt that says life is a walk in the park and as did ⁓ Mickey Mouse walking through the park. That is literally what I need to ⁓ Center myself. Yeah. ⁓ that's so great. That's awesome. You have a favorite race We ask people that all the time. Do you have a favorite of all the Disney ones? I would say all of them Yes, honestly, yes. Yeah, the answer is yes. I mean can't, you can't get that same. It's different. I've raced all over the world and you don't get the same kind of people in races all over the world. That's it's a different type of person that does this race. It's a different motivation behind the race and just going through the parks. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Even, even those back roads, like the, the Hills that they have the on-ramps. Those are even great. Yeah. Everything, everything, but the, ⁓ the path from the Magic Kingdom parking lot to Animal Kingdom. That stretch is pretty rough. know, that is rough. Yeah. With this water treatment plan or whatever that is. ⁓ it's so beautiful though. Yeah, sure it is. Hey, they have added like Star Wars and stuff back there. So that has made it a little more enjoyable for sure. But the funny thing is I go through it during the light. And so it's not as it's, it's almost interesting to see because the light show is not as good. Yeah. We've said that before. We've said every time we've done it, we're like, I bet this is amazing if you're fast, you know, at night, I this was so cool. Right. Yeah. That's awesome. ⁓ question. What do you want other runners on the course? I'm thinking run Disney courses, right? But what do you, I guess it could be any race, but what do you want other runners on the course to know when they see you out there? Right. You're in your full gear. What do you want them to know? I think that, ⁓ we all have struggles. We all have challenges in our lives. And we put ourselves out there in these races and you put yourself out there when you do something that challenges the norm There's not a lot of people that do marathons or half marathons if you think about it from the grand scheme of population So when they see me out there, I want them to just think that ⁓ that their struggle is it's okay to not be okay and The pain that you feel that day doesn't have to trail on to the next day and I think That's for me. It's very painful doing it in the fire gear, you know, and I smile and I say hi and all that stuff. But there's a lot that's underneath that that I struggle with every single time I do it. ⁓ But I want people to realize that when they see me in the gear that ⁓ we're all more than just one thing in our lives. And I think that's the greatest thing that I can give other people is for them to take away whatever they need from me doing it that day, from seeing me on the course and finishing and and just being out there, ⁓ whatever they need that day, and hopefully it trails onto something greater and bigger in their lives. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, when you pass someone who's struggling or they're passing you, they're, you know, or same speed, whatever, and they're struggling real hard, right? What's that conversation usually like, you know, between you and them? You know, I always tell them, you know, you're doing great today. You're doing great. Just keep it going. Just keep it going. You're out here for a reason. And I think everybody needs, everybody has a why. You know, nobody signs up going, well, this just sounds neat. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think anybody, I mean, if you do, I'm sorry. That's, that's wrong. Well, that might be why you signed up. You know what I mean? Like, ⁓ we've found that is that we signed up because the metal looked cool or the idea sounded fun. And then you deep into the training and your Y needs to be a little bigger than that. You know what I mean? Yeah, it totally does. The metal is pretty cool. I come on, let's get let's be real. We have a question for you in a minute. Stand by. We got a question for you. I love it. But yeah, like you said, the Y has to be big. And I think kind of give you a story. So my dad, my parents always took us when we were younger to Disney World. And we went almost every single year and, and my dad passed in 2019 of cancer and he worked at Disney Disney at kind of for about four years at the when they're older, they moved down there. And he went to all my races and everything like that. And ⁓ every time I go, he worked at the confectionary, which is funny because he was a diabetic. ⁓ no, but, okay. know. But every time I get to go through there or even go there to the parks, ⁓ there's a special feeling. That's a special feeling that my dad's there and he's, he's watching me and you know, you just go back in time. It's a, it's it's a special feeling that I've never gotten on any other race. That's good. That's awesome. We're going to, we've got to follow up question later about knowing your why. So we're going to dig deep into that in a minute, but we still have more Disney questions for you. I love it. Rob, is there anything that you think people might get wrong or maybe misunderstand when they see you out on the course in full gear? Yeah. You know, every once in a while, every once in a while, somebody's like, ah, well you're making us look bad. And it's like, well, no, because I know it's crazy, but it's one of those things where, um, You have to look at why you're doing it. You know, goes back to that whole thing is like, I'm not trying to make people look bad because I paid for my registration, right? They paid for their registration. So it's their race and it's my race and I can, you know, and I think, ⁓ sometimes people get so in their head that they're comparing themselves to other people. And, and definitely for myself, I did that for many years, you know, and especially in the fire service, we have a lot of that, ⁓ where, you know, trauma comparing or trauma competition. And so I think the one thing that a lot of people get wrong is why I do it. And I think that's, that's the biggest, ⁓ thing I want people to understand is that it's not just out there to show how tough I am or strong. It's to prove to other people that we can do more than just exist. I love that. ⁓ is that your, kind of like your purpose statement or whatever behind why you do the firefighter urge you have like a, like a purpose. thing. So I mean, yeah, my mantra is your strength is in your passion. And I think that actually my son, he's he just started in the fire service. He's just turned 19. Cool. And he just got a full time job. He's down here in Raleigh, North Carolina. And he got that on his arm. He got a tattoo of that his arm. And I have that on my back. Very cool. ⁓ question for on the course. And this actually is a person like I'm asking because I don't know how to handle it. You know what I mean? Like I've told you, I've said, ⁓ Hey, fireman Rob. And then I kept going. Right. Like, cause I don't, I had this like tension between like, I don't want to bother somebody, but I also like, ⁓ my gosh, it's fireman Rob. You know, like what's your preference, right? I'm sure it changes from like mile three to mile 23. You know mean? I'm sure those are different times or whatever, but what's your preference? Do you want people to say hi? Do you want them to talk to you? you like. Or do you just want to be like in your zone? Cause you're trying to do something hard. What's your preference? No, you know, my biggest thing is, uh, is being part of the moment. You know, you can't be bigger than the moment and the race is the race. And I love when people say stuff. I love when people, um, talk for a little bit and I love, know, some people will stop and take pictures. And I'm like, I love that because they're part of that moment in their lives. And so many times we, um, missed those because we're focused on a finish line that isn't. right there. We're right here right now. And so don't miss out on those opportunities. And I love that people say stuff and I love that people give high fives and pat me on the back, whatever it is, because that means that they're acknowledging what it is that we're doing in that moment. Totally. Yeah, it's awesome. So you kind of just mentioned this. Do you like it when people treat you as a character stop and ask for a photo with you? I love it. I tried to be a character a long time ago. I was a lifeguard for Disney. was on the college program and I couldn't dance. They require a lot from the lifeguards way more than just saving lives, right? They do. They do. We had those red shorts. looked like Baywatch. I love being a character stop. It's A character stop. right. So if we see you on the course at this upcoming marathon, that's our next race. It's okay to say. Hey, fireman Rob, can we get our picture? That's okay. Totally. Completely. And I, and I'll usually pull us off to the side and stop. So we get a good picture. Not the one that we're like, we're all blurry and Like that was a fireman Rob. looks like it. That's awesome. So speaking of characters, do you ever stop for characters? I've only ever seen you moving, right? Like, do you stop? Yeah, I have a strategic path. like I, you know, this is kind of funny, but I want to be the first balloon guy. ⁓ yeah. Yeah, that'd be awesome. But I have I know my pace and I know what I can do. And so like, especially in the marathon, it's harder and but I do stop for characters. I have my my characters that I love ⁓ Lilo and Stitch. ⁓ I actually have a great picture of the marathon last in January. ⁓ It was was it ⁓ Chewbacca? Yes. And I'm leaning on it. That's great. So tired and I'm leaning on Chewbacca and he's just holding me up. I'm like, this is a great picture. Just a big fluffy pillow for you. I'm going to hang right here for a second. Yeah, but I love stopping for those. It's fun. It's part of the it's part of the allure. It's part of the experience. Right. Definitely. Yeah, that's awesome. Do you have a picture in front of the castle? Because I can only imagine that like full gear standing in front of the castle is an amazing picture. Have you ever done that? I do. did the last time I have actually a great picture from in front of the castle and it's one of my favorites. It's actually my favorite picture that I took last year was an apcot. I veered off the course a little and sat next to Walt ⁓ at apcot. I have that picture on my phone as my screensaver because he was my idol. One person I love to meet is him. Yeah. ⁓ that's so cool. Yeah. Awesome. Um, when we've seen you on the course, you seem to be going at one steady speed, which you just mentioned you kind of your, your plan. Um, have you ever had to kick it into high gear to avoid the balloon ladies? Oh, yes. And when you say high gear, it's not like fourth or fifth. It's like two and a half. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I've had to kick it into high gear every once in a while and, and, and jog and run. And usually I try to get it in the beginning. Yeah, okay myself a little extra time. Yeah. Yeah, also, you know run Disney Club is a great way to get ahead of the game and I do that too as well. So ⁓ it's it's a lot of planning on my my part and I've done it many years for with Iron Man where I had to do the swim in the bike and give myself enough time to run in my gear. Yeah, and so I a lot of planning in my head and I can usually crunch the numbers pretty well. Yeah. Wow, that's impressive. Yeah, totally. ⁓ we didn't ask before, like how much, ⁓ does this stuff weigh? Right? Like I'm sure it's hot, but I'm sure even more than hot. It's heavy. Yeah. Yeah. It's between, ⁓ like 40 and 50 pounds of gear. ⁓ my word. Wow. 40. ⁓ my gosh. I can't even. We're like, I'm like, man, this cotton shirt is so heavy. I need to get a dry fit shirt. can't even imagine. used to wear the air tank. haven't, I had a knee replacement and so, and I got older. Surprising. I tried to stay younger, but I didn't. And, ⁓ used to wear an air tank for many, many years, which adds another 35 pounds. Holy moly. so, ⁓ yeah. Wow. That's so impressive. It's a new day. That's crazy. Okay. We're almost at today's topic of grit and resilience, right? Like we're, almost there, but we just have so many questions about running at Disney. Finish this sentence. If you don't mind doing the Walt Disney world marathon in full firefighter gear is an honor. ⁓ It's you know, it's an honor to be able to do it for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice who struggle every single day and to pay homage ⁓ to Roy and Walt who inspired not just children but adults to be able to dream and Find who they are no matter what anybody else tells you you are and I think that's it's just such an honor That's so sweet. Very cool. Thanks for sharing that. Okay. So before we move on, we ask everybody on our podcast, this question, it's divisive. If you've ever heard our show, Erica is team Main Street. am team finisher metal. ⁓ And right now I really don't know which way you're going to go because you talked about how special Main Street is because of your dad. And before you said that, I totally thought you were going to be on my team when you said metals are awesome. So now I really am not sure how this is about to go. So would you rather on a Disney half marathon, have a finisher metal or go down Main Street? You can only have one. Which do you choose? I'm going to go Main Street. knew it. It blows my mind that people there in the morning and I don't think, I don't think, and if you look close enough, it's kind of like one of those things. Like, ⁓ you'll see me cry pretty much every single time I go down Main Street in my gear. Yeah. Because it's, it's just such a powerful moment. Um, have you ever spectated on main street? I'm sure not. Cause you, do most of these races. No, do most of them. Right. Right. And that was us as well. But this, this year we had the opportunity to spectate on main street. weren't doing the half marathon. Right. And, uh, man, we cried almost as much cheering as we did, you know, uh, going down, going down. So yeah, it's a special place for sure. Oh, it's amazing. Yeah. Cool. All right. Well, you're on Erica's team. Okay. So the real reason we invited you on the podcast was to talk grit, resilience, mental toughness, all that stuff. Just get some strategies from you, get some perspective, hopefully some motivation and all that stuff. And you're a, you're an expert in it, right? You demonstrated on the course like that, that you, you embody it, right? So we'd love to get your insights on how we can become better athletes by strengthening those skills. So as runners, we focus really heavy on the physical training required, right? How important is the mental toughness though, for long distance races, like a half. or a full marathon. Mental toughness is such a critical aspect for endurance athletes because when you look at it from a perspective, you train in a controlled environment, whatever environment you're in. You're on a treadmill, you're in your neighborhood, ⁓ and sometimes when it's raining out, you don't go because, I don't want to get wet. The day of the race is unknown. You don't know what your stomach is going to feel like. You don't know what your body is going to feel like. You don't know what the conditions are going to be. Did I get enough water at that last aid station? The mental side of these races is so critical to finishing or finding that that why of out why you're out there ⁓ because when you get to those dark places and a lot of times in training most people don't get to those dark places because they don't allow themselves to because it's not that important or it's you know, it's it's just comfortable enough to just I'll cut it short today because I had a long day of work ⁓ Race that you don't have that luxury. Right. And so if we don't prepare ourselves mentally to be able to push past those moments and, find that next character or find main street, ⁓ it's, it's going to be, it's going to be a struggle to, ⁓ appreciate what you're actually doing. And I think the one big thing about mental strength is it's being in the moment. Like you were saying, ⁓ you know, do you like being a character stop? I love being a character stop because that means that I'm in the moment. I'm not thinking the race is bigger than what the mission or the message that I'm out there for is. And so mental strength comes back to just being in the moment and figuring out why. Yeah. Yeah. We've said before that, um, it's, it's like, it's not, if something's going to go wrong, it will. Right. Right. And so your bus is going to be late. The rain is going to hit when there's a 0 % chance of rain. They're going to cut the course short because it's hot. Like something's going to happen. The number of people we know that have tripped on the little turtles on the road and then gone down, you know, like something's going to happen on your race. My headphones died and now I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, I have no music. My stomach hurts. You know what I mean? My stomach hurts. It's gonna happen. So I'm with you that like, the more I can prepare for that at home, like when it rains at home, I actually go for that run like intentionally because I'm like, It's rained on so many of our races, but I need to practice this. You know what I mean? And so I totally get what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely. Rob, do you have any suggestions that you can share on ways that we can develop or practice mental toughness? Yeah, I think putting yourself into situations that challenges your comfort. What I do a lot of is I call it tolerance training. So I'll put on a sweatsuit or I'll put on something, a weighted vest. and I'll go on my training runs or my training walks. Also, I'll go out to places that I don't know and I'll walk those because a lot of times when we run our neighborhoods and we run our normal routes, we get comfortable with it. We know exactly how far it is that we have left to run. When you get to Disney, you know the course, but you don't run it enough to understand where I'm at. You're at the water treatment plants. You're like, I don't know how far it is to get to Hollywood Studios from here. And so your mind plays tricks on you. Like, can you do it? Can you make that? And so I think the more that you can create those uncomfortable situations at home and, in your training regiment, the better you're going to be in the long run. And also at the same point that you can push yourself is a key. So many people stay in those comfort zones and say how many people, like you asked if sometimes I have to run in my gear and I do, and I train like that as well. I train on Hills. I train on all that stuff. to be able to handle those situations. Cause if I didn't, if I have like, ⁓ I can walk all these. could, but there's been days that that doesn't work well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Awesome. Thank you for that advice. I will sometimes, like we have lots of paths by our house. Sometimes I'll run a, you know, my route, even if it's four miles and I don't want to get too far from it, I'll run it back. Not backwards. I've run the course backwards just to, just to change it up. I guess if I ran it backwards, that would be real interesting. Definitely. I'd be ready for anything at that point. Yeah. ⁓ by far. I want to talk about this idea of emotional control, right? Like how would you define that? And then how important is it that we, that we basically kind of have control over our emotions, right? Or at least aware of those as we do these things. Yeah. think, I think you hit it on the head first too, is that awareness, you have to have awareness of your emotions. Like when you're out on those course and you, and you get angry that somebody cuts you off or you get angry that you know, you didn't have the space that you needed or somebody's slowly walking on the right and on the left side. Those are all things that are, ⁓ controllable, you know, the emotions are controllable. It's your reaction that you have to control in those moments. ⁓ understanding that when you're tired, when you're in pain, when you're struggling, your emotions are so critical to understand and be aware of, because that is when you can pretty much destroy your mental health if you don't take the time to understand them. And so especially on these courses, kindness, kindness matters. Kindness matters. Love matters. All these things. And I know a lot of people like, ⁓ that's, that's really neat. but honestly, the number of races I've done 1400 miles in my fire gear and races, and you can imagine people have cut me off. You can imagine people have gotten in my way and all this other stuff. But if I took the time to address that or, or waste my energy on that anger or frustration, I missed out on that moment in that race to be better or to acknowledge somebody that is doing an amazing race. ⁓ you know, like Kyle and Brent P's when they, when they push during the races, all that kind of stuff, you don't want to miss those opportunities just because one thing went wrong. emotional control is so critical, especially in, in, races, because You like you said, you're going to have bad times. You're going to have moments where you doubt yourself, but why let that get control of you? My dad said a great, great quote one time, control the controllables. And it's so true. Totally. When that, when that thing happens to you, right? What, what advice do you have? Like that person cuts you off or the weather hits or you know, the race starts late, any of those things. And they have the potential to derail your race. Right? What's your advice? What do need to do in that? There's a great Jaco Willink. He was a Navy SEAL and he had this great statement. He said, anytime anything went wrong, my statement was good. Yes. Because I can't do anything about it. Right. The only thing I can do is continue to move forward. And I think that's whenever something like that happens, you just go good. Yeah. And then you continue to move forward because you're better than what that situation is. why your passion, your purpose. is so much bigger than that one moment. Love that. really good. I love it. If it's mid-race and our emotions have gotten the best of us, what can we do to put out that fire and regain some control? I think, you know, stop at a character stop or stop at a water stop. Appreciate, like that's the thing. ⁓ It's the appreciation of what's going on. There's all these volunteers out there on those days that are out there because of us. They're not out there to get praise. They're not getting aid, they're not anything. You stop and appreciate what's going on there and you can re-center yourself because it's taking that moment to appreciate the time and we get limited amount of time and to be able to race at Disney, let me tell you, every moment is so precious. Every moment is important and I think if people can really kind of focus themselves on why they're there, and focus their mindset that I'm here to have a good time. And there's a ton of people here that are supporting me. Okay, let's keep going. I think that's the best advice for halfway through. Stop, figure out why you're there and then keep going. Do you have any other suggestions on that? Mine is give somebody a high five. know what I Something about that. physical connection with another person or whatever. That's mine. Do you have any other ones? Well, for me, it's like encouraging someone else. Yeah. Which we're all kind of saying the same thing, like get out of your own head. I've seen you do that where you go past someone and you're like, oh my gosh, I love your outfit. Yeah. You know, whatever. And it just removes the pain you're in for a second. Correct. And at least like fire some different neurons or something. And I don't know the medical behind that, but yeah. Totally. That sounded, that sounded exactly right. I think it was, I think it was, was a scientific. Neurologic degree. ⁓ man. ⁓ the physical side of running is obviously a big deal. What is your take on pushing past the pain? ⁓ how do we know the difference between being tough and making smart long-term choices? I'm not the kind of guy ask. Erica isn't either. either. either. Skip. No, I think, you know, I think I've been in the fire service for 26 years and I was in the military as a medic and the amount of pain that I'm in every single day. I have a knee replacement and you know, thank God for Stimeth Nephew because they gave me another chance at this because I was bone on bone. wasn't able to do anything for two years. I got a partial knee replacement and since that partial knee replacement, I've done 401 miles of in my gear. But that pain, you have to identify what it is and why it's there. And don't be scared to get something done for it. Like that's my knee. was, I just, I just let it go because I'm always in pain, my neck, my back, my arthritis, all this stuff. But I, I didn't have to be in pain in my knee and it was, it was amazing. It's so I think the one big thing is, is listen to the pain. ⁓ don't give it priority. Okay. But at the same time, have somebody smarter than yourself. I dress it. Yeah. Because I'm not the, I'm not the guy that's a, smart one. Yeah. Yeah. I've had to, with my running coach, like get clarity between like, he's like, if it's sharp pain, you stop, you know what I mean? Like anything else, if it's like a four out of 10, you, you push through that kind of pain. You know what I mean? But he said, it's, if it's sharp, then stop. Uh, I can't even imagine having a knee replacement and doing another 400 miles. Oh my gosh. My goodness. But you know, the funny thing is too, is that I, and I, and I love that you asked us Erica, because I think. a lot of people think of pain as a stop. Right. even if like, let's say you're running in the marathon, you're going to get pain. You're going to get tweaks. You're going to get all these things. It doesn't mean that you can't move. Right. And I think that's the defining difference is that you can still complete things in different ways. Yeah, totally. And there's a difference between pain and like discomfort, right? Cause a lot of times, know, especially as new runners, Well, like I remember the beginning of like, well, this is hard and it hurts. So I should stop like, no, no. Yeah. ⁓ can you talk, Rob about, I've seen you say this, ⁓ on submit to us, right? That strength isn't the absence of struggle. It's choosing tomorrow. Even when today hurts. Can you talk about that? Just like, what's the meaning behind that? Yeah. So, you know, I think when, when people have to look at their lives and when people look, You know, and a lot of times I talked to first responders and I've talked in corporate and all that stuff. And I think a lot of people don't understand where strength is or what strength is. I think that the incendiary need to find, ⁓ what motivates you, what, what lights that fire. And even in the darkness, there's, there's a little fire. If you can find that strength to find for tomorrow's to, to fight for that tomorrow. ⁓ I think that's the biggest thing that people need to understand is that struggle doesn't mean that you're failing struggle doesn't mean that you're done. Yeah. Struggle means that you're going beyond what other people thought was possible. Totally. And, that's the fun part of life is that if you have struggle, you've pushed yourself. Yes. You've tried to find that next level and you've tried to find that the main street or the, or in your case, AJ, the metal. ⁓ It's so important to understand that and that not all of us live full. A lot of us live three quarters full and that's okay. We have a dear friend and mentor who taught us that why you do something determines how well you do something. How important do you think it is that we know our why? ⁓ is the quintessential part of life. ⁓ I've struggled with mental health. ⁓ pretty much most of my adult life. went to 9-11 when I was 23 and came back a different person. And since then, I've ⁓ struggled many times. And understanding your why is many different things, and it changes throughout life. But now my why is so much bigger than ⁓ just one thing. I struggle a lot. And so having that why and coming back to readdressing what it is or how it changes is critical to living. And it's so important that people understand that. Yeah. Thank you for being vulnerable to share that, that even now, like, I mean, you look, you look awesome, but you know, like, I you just look awesome, but like we're all struggling, you I mean? And you've gotten specific things, you know, and remembering our why. So thank you for, being vulnerable with that. Do you have any like examples of like situations when knowing your why during a race or during training or whatever is really critical? I think at the start and about four miles from the finish. Yeah. I think the start is always stressful because you have all those people there. No matter what race you're doing. it's daunting to look at the finish line, but if you have your why, it takes you mile to mile. It takes you half a mile to half a mile, whatever you want to do. It's so important to just not try to look at a race. Think if you looked at your life and you, and you got to somebody said, Hey, you're going to live to 60. Think about how different you'd look at your life. If you just looked at, get to only go to 60. No different than a marathon. If I just look at the finish line and I don't look at every single mile along the way. I'm going to be so stressed out. Yeah. And so understanding your why may be 26 different things along a marathon, but that's okay. But you, like you said, it's, it's identifying those things. And for me, it's always at the start because it's the most stressful part. Once you start moving, everybody moves in the right direction. Right. Yeah. For sure. Dory. Yeah, exactly. You mentioned those last four miles, Like ⁓ when I'm hot, my body hurts, I'm clearly dehydrated, you know, all of those things. You know, I'm looking for advice, right? Like, I got four miles to go and I don't know if I can do four miles. The biggest thing that I can have people say is I'm worth this. I am worth this right now. I am worth this pain. I am worth this step. Whatever it is. You have to think that you are worthy of that. And I think that's the biggest thing that people could tell themselves. And when you're in that moment, I know it's hard, but I think it's so important that people have that self-confidence and that self-worth that I put myself out here. I'm tired. I'm not feeling it, but I'm worth this pain. I'm worth this time. I'm worth this effort that I'm putting forward. I love that. I've never heard it put that way. And I really liked it. You know, this whole time I've been thinking it's a thing that it's AJ's turn for this question because I'm over here crying, but now it's my turn. So it is your turn. You want me to fill some time so you can gather yourself? Yeah, I might need a box of Kleenex here in a moment. I'll go find it. You know, one of my things, Rob is that, and Erica does this too. She has a Freire mantra and I have mine. Like mine is I can and I will. Like that's my last four mile thing is when I'm just not sure. Like I tell myself that I can, you know what I mean? And I will watch this, watch me do it. You know what I mean? Erica's. I haven't come this far to only go this far. Basically. Oh, yeah. That means a lot. Sorry. I'm just like, I'm like, can I take notes? I need to go back and listen to this podcast. Everything that Rob is saying. I'm like, this is good. This is so good. This is so good. I love that. I mean, you're, you are worth it. I've never heard that. Like someone put it in that context in terms of running. You know what's crazy is these are things that I tell other people all the time, but it's so hard to believe it sometimes about yourself. It's ridiculous. It's so crazy. Trust me. I get up on stages and I speak and I listen to myself speak and then I get done and I go, why aren't I doing all those things? And I tell stories about it. And I sit here and I go, but I say that in the beginning, you know, I'm not here to motivate you. not here to inspire you. I'm hopefully here to give you one. that you take away. And at the end of the day, if you take away one piece and make your life better, that was worth it. Well, you've definitely parted more than one piece for sure. And we still have more questions. So I hope you're willing to hang around. This whole time I was thinking, man, this gonna be like the most impactful episode we've ever done. So good. I love it. Okay, I will move us along, sorry. Rob, how do you define resilience and how important is it for us as long distance athletes? You know resilience and I and I put it at the most simple aspect Resilience is showing up You show up for life you show up for a race you show up when you don't want to that is resilience ⁓ I think a lot of people think of resilience as putting yourself in uncomfortable situations ⁓ It is that but at the simplest term it's showing up and as a first responder I know a lot of first responders They go to their jobs and they do their jobs and they show up really well But they never show up for themselves or they show up their other families when they get home and that's the sad part. Mm-hmm So we need to show up for ourselves at all times Is that what I'm hearing for you from you right now at all times and and it's hard It's not it's you know I think a lot of people talk about mental health and and they don't address the one Elephant in the room is that mental health isn't a nine to five job? Mental health is a 1 a.m a 2am, a 3am, when no one else is around but you, yourself and your head. And that's where you have to show up for yourself. And you got to figure out on these runs, this is where I figure out lot of my ability to self talk. ⁓ And it's helped me long term with my mental health at 2am when I'm struggling. Yeah, middle of the night is not my like if I wake up or whatever that is. Yeah, it's usually not at 3 p.m. when I'm surrounded by people. Right. Right. It's not convenient. Yeah. I mean, genuinely, as cliché as it sounds, like just sometimes naming it, verbalizing it, whatever, really, really helps like find someone that you can talk to about it for sure. Yeah. That's huge. Rob, so much of race day is outside of our control. We've kind of talked about this. How can we prepare ourselves for the things that we can't control like the weather or the course or other runners, things like that. Yeah. How do we, how do we prepare? Cause we talked about it before, but like, how do we go in ready? I, know, I think when, when you go in, let's put it this way, bad things will always happen, but you can control your reaction to them. And that can start every single day of your life. at the Starbucks line at the not having a fast pass and waiting for an hour, whatever it is, just be in the moment and be okay with it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. If we're lacking or just needing to develop some of these skills, Rob, like grit, resilience, just mental toughness. What's the, can we start in terms of developing these skills, right? Like what's a good first step if, we're just like, ⁓ no, I'm not good at that at all. I think you hit it on the head identifying it. Okay. If we can sit down and write these things out, I love writing things out because it actually reminds you and the longer term, if I just sit here and I talk about it, ⁓ I have no accountability for what I told myself or what I told myself I didn't have. Sure. So if you sit down with yourself and go, I really want to work on my grit and after that it's finding resources, find a book. Find a YouTube, find whatever it is that you need for yourself. Yeah. Because we're individuals. Yeah. And it's important to understand that. I love the writing it down because you skew things over time. Like I, it's kind of like a, when we were on a weight loss journey, we wrote down how much we weighed as embarrassing was as it was, you know what I mean? We wrote it down so that the next week we could say, wow, I am two pounds less than that versus was I in the whatever range? I'm sure it was good enough, but we write down our paces, right? And Erica and I talk about journaling a lot. Like we love writing stuff down because if, if it's going the wrong way, you know, you know what mean? And you got to be honest with yourself. So I love that, that suggestion of writing it down. Yeah. And it helps you map it out. That's the other, that's the second part of it is like you write it down and then you map it out. Like how many of, how many of us nowadays will go someplace without having GPS? Right now? Yeah. No, you, you put in where I want to be. And you put in the GPS and it says, well, this is how you're to get there. Well, that's exactly what we have to do with our lives. Yeah. I mean, it's no different. Yeah. Totally. We just don't like to. Yeah. That I think that right there is exactly it is I just don't like to, you know, but when I, it's funny how when you do write it down or you come up with a plan, right? Like the thing you've been avoiding forever and you just write it down and then you're like, okay, so this 12 week plan that I've written out is actually doable, you know, but I just had to write it down. So. I love it. Yeah. That's so good. ⁓ Rob, we know that you're an author public speaker. You've got, mean, you're a podcast host, like you've got tons of resources. What would be helpful for our, our runner audience? Right? Like are there any resources you have that, that you think would be helpful, ⁓ based off the topic today? Yeah. So I have two books I wrote. ⁓ I speak about seven, ⁓ catalysts is what, ⁓ my first book and that's what I speak at. And, when I go and do keynotes and things like that and the catalysts are passion ownership. Decisions emotional control resilience faith over fear and mental strength and how those all combined together is you know You got to find your passion first You got to find that purpose once you find that you can start to take ownership of your life or take ownership of your decisions and your decisions will be strategic and Tactical so the everyday decisions or the and the long-term decisions and you have to have the emotional control To not get distracted by the outside things which creates that resilience to have faith in yourself over all the fears that surround us and inevitably giving you that mental strength to live the life that you are destined to live. So I have that in the first book. And then the second book was my most vulnerable one. It's a fighting for tomorrow's and, ⁓ it took me a long time to write that and probably about eight times. I didn't want to publish it because it was vulnerable and At the end of the day, it's about leaving a legacy. It's about leaving a legacy that's going to make the next generation better or at least one person in the next generation better. And so that's, those are two resources. ⁓ the podcast that I have, Forged in the Fires ⁓ podcast with Fireman Rob, it's about mindset. And I have people from all over the range of everything from military to CEOs to all sorts of athletes. ⁓ and it just talks about different mindsets because like I said before, you have to find something that identifies with what you need. Yeah. That's awesome. If we follow our friends, follow you on Instagram or we listen to the podcast, whatever, like what on average, like you said mindset, whatever, what kind of things can we expect? that a weekly podcast? Like what kind of posts can we expect on Instagram? If you know, give us the teas, we'd love to know what, what people can expect. ⁓ I love it. Yeah. No, my Instagram is all about, ⁓ motivating, ⁓ putting perspective in life, ⁓ giving people just a, a little boost. and as far as the podcast I put out, ⁓ it's about it's weekly and, one is an information session, which is like a short jab, like, you know, five minutes. ⁓ and then I have a guest on, ⁓ the following week. And so, yeah, there's over 400 episodes in there for people to dive into many, different years of stuff. But, ⁓ Yeah, it's, just been an adventure and it's fun. Well, you got 400 episodes. We need to ⁓ talk to you. We need, yeah, we need to talk to you after the show and, and get some advice because we're in the forties. I've been doing it for seven years. Yeah. I love it. Hey, there's a, there's a demonstration 1400 miles in full firefighter gear and 400 episodes of a podcast for seven years. That's resilience right there. I think you got the miles wrong. How many miles in 1400? Okay. Okay. think I have 14,000? I was thinking it was more. I pay attention. Well, it's just seems like a billion in my mind. So 400 with a new knee and with the, with the weight of the gear. I felt like it multiplies to like, how much the gear weighs 50 something pounds. Yeah. 40 to 50. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And the tank weighs 30. Yeah. Yeah. that's We got stats. ⁓ my gosh. I love the stats. I've actually done, so it's funny. I've done 94 miles in swimming and I think it was something around 1500 miles of biking. Wow. Since I started in 2011 is when I started all That's incredible. Wow. I know. That's amazing. Holy cow. Well, Rob, thank you so much for all of the helpful information today and for the inspiration. You give all of us, including AJ and I on the race course. When is the next time that we get to see you at Rent Disney? Wine and Dine, I'll be at Wine and Dine to start the season off. love it. It's, yeah, I'm actually just doing the 10K and the half. I'm actually going to spectate the 5K. Oh, cool. If I can. Yeah, I'll spectate the 5K in full gear and just cheer people on and, and yeah, and enjoy it. And then I've got the Disney Marathon weekend. Yes. That's when we'll get to see you. We'll be cheering for you on the half and then we'll, ⁓ we'll see you out on the course for the full, sure. Yeah. Hopefully it's a little cooler this year. Next year. Yes. Awesome. Anything else you want to cover? A fireman Rob before we let you go, we we've had a blast. ⁓ like this has been, I'm just truly an honor for us. Anything else you want to say or throw out there before we wrap it up? ⁓ no, I just, you know, the Disney quote, it's fun to make the impossible possible. I love it. Thank you so much for joining us today. We really, really appreciate it. I'm to make sure that all of our friends follow you if they don't already do that and check out those resources. You are going to love it. Thank you, Rob. Thank you. I appreciate it. AJ, I think this might've been our most inspirational, helpful episode that we've ever recorded. He is such a strong person mentally and, you know, just physically, like being able to go all those miles and all of his gear, but just, ⁓ like he was talking about with the grit and resilience. mean, there's so much to glean from, from what he said. I love the, you're worth it. know, I know we spent a long time on that and knowing your why, you know, we just talked about mindset like I loved it. loved everything about it. was everything. was hoping the conversation was going to be, and then some. Yeah. I think it's going to be really helpful for our listeners. I hope so. Go check out fireman Rob on, on the things, right? Check out his books, check out podcasts. ⁓ like just check, check it out. Like he, we see him on the course and I've never gone through the action of like following all the things. And then I did. And that's when I was like, Hey, can you come on the podcast? Cause it's so good. So, ⁓ we're super grateful for that. It was, it was a ton of fun. ⁓ That's all I have for this episode. don't really have any run Disney news. We don't really have any training updates right now. Training for wine and dine, which we're not doing, but that and a marathon. can all kind of start pretty close together, but that's not till later, I think in June. And so right now we're just kind of in maintenance mode for that. So nothing really to talk about there. So we're to sign this sign off, call it a day. If you don't mind, leave us a review, follow us on Instagram. And if you joined the support crew this week, One, thank you. And two, we'll have an after show with some few extra questions with Fireman Rob. Yeah, you don't want to miss that. And so this is where we just kind of kick our shoes off and grab something to drink and just chill, right? And it's less structured and all that. And we just ask them, you know, a couple extra fun stories, you know? And so join us for that if you're a part of the crew. Thank you so much for listening to this episode and we will catch you next week for another episode of One More Run. Thanks for joining us for this episode of One More Run the Podcast. If you like what we're up to, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Instagram. You can find links to all of that at AJNerrica.com.