Pod Insights The Nick Bare Podcast 178: IED Survivor To World Record Endurance Athlete | Mike Egan About this episode Marine veteran Mike Egan survived an IED blast in Afghanistan, rebuilt his life after losing both legs, and later inspired millions through his unforgettable viral moment at the G.1. M Ultra.
In this episode, we talk about combat, recovery, service, endurance, and how Mike found purpose through fitness.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
02:07 Mike's Definition of Service
06:18 Why Mike Joined the Marines in 2008 (The Messy, Real Truth)
11:17 First Deployment to Afghanistan and Earning Respect as a Squad Leader
22:52 May 27, 2012
44:55 The Hardest Part Nobody Warns You About After the Military
48:33 Finding Fitness, Coaching, and a New Purpose
54:41 CrossFit, World Records, and Learning to Love Endurance
59:06 152 Miles in 24 Hours
1:04:58 G.1. M Ultra Story
1:13:42 The Viral Moment
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Transcript 12,854 words · 3 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Nick Bare? Before we dive into today's episode, I want to let you know that we just launched the Strength Collection at bpnsubs.com. Now, the Strength Collection is a three-product system to be used around your strength workouts. It is pre, pump, and post. So, the way that I use these products in my routine is I stack pre and pump about 30 minutes prior to my strength workouts. I sip on that and I walk into the gym with pure intention, intensity, and grit and passion. It jacks me up for my workout.
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1:22 Nick Bare? I'm a gym rat meathead at heart, and these products were designed for that lifestyle, that routine.
1:29 Speaker 01 There was a shift in the air.
1:34 Speaker 02 Hey, we need to be ready to push.
1:36 Speaker 01 We needed to be careful where we were heading.
1:38 Speaker 02 Whip motion up! Get the spurt!
1:40 Nick Bare? How was his IED triggered?
1:43 Speaker 01 It was a pressure plate. Stepped on it, and then after that, it was confusion, trying to like get back up and dust myself off, and then realizing, oh, I can't get up. Then it hit. It felt like breathing was optional. I just realized I wasn't done and I want to stay here. I went through about 30 surgeries. It was just like, what does life look like now? I had no idea. I got this idea of going after the world record for the most miles covered in a wheelchair in 24 hours. And when I got to the end of it, that was like, I think I could keep going.
2:20 Nick Bare? What did you want to come and do at the ultra?
2:22 Speaker 01 I wanted to see what broke first. When that torrential downpour came, I couldn't push anymore. I got out of the chair and I started ganking it and dragging it.
2:35 Speaker 01 I knew the race was done for me, but I wasn't done with the race.
2:39 Nick Bare? 27 hours, 110 miles.
2:42 Speaker 01 And I just had like hundreds of messages from people all over the world telling me how it spoke to them and how it lit a fire in them. And I'm just like, holy crap, dude. Like I, I had no idea.
3:01 Nick Bare? So I want to dive into a lot today in our conversation.
3:08 Nick Bare? But I came across a post of yours and it said that you wanted to be remembered for giving back more than you took. What does that mean to you?
3:21 Speaker 01 Yeah, um, for me, that's service in a nutshell. Um, I think being a contributing factor to your community, your people, your circle is the meaning of life to me. Like, I just imagine what do I want to be remembered for is just giving back more than I took. Like it's, it's a, it's a belief. It's a lifestyle and it's something I try and live up to every day. And I am so blessed and fortunate in this life that it's hard to keep up with that. And it's just a constant reminder of like, how can I give back?
4:04 Nick Bare? I mean, obviously.
4:06 Nick Bare? Joining the Marine Corps, getting hit by an IED in Afghanistan, 2012 shifted your life completely. But did that mindset of, you know, wanting to be remembered for giving back more than you took, did that start prior to the accident or was it after?
4:29 Speaker 01 No, it was after. My definition of service changed drastically from when I signed up for the military to join the Marines to where I am today. And I think when you're in the military, you have this clear trajectory of service and what your purpose is. And when I got injured, I could no longer do that anymore. I had to find what is service to me now. What I saw as service was taken away. How do I be of continued service? And, you
5:09 Speaker 01 know, one of the things I actually shared, and I realized, and I don't really talk about it, is I found out what the true meaning of service is from my, God, he's got to be in his 70s now, my 70-year-old neighbor. I got injured and one of the hardest things for me to do was to bring my trash can up the driveway. I struggled, like, every week, I just, it's hard to push something up a driveway in a wheelchair. And a couple of weeks after I moved in, I noticed my trash can was at the top of my driveway, like every time, like clockwork. As soon as trash truck came, it was at the top of the driveway.
5:51 Speaker 01 And I was like, who the heck is doing this? And I put up cameras so I could see who was doing it. And it was my neighbor. Every, every, every time trash man came, that trash can was up at the top of my driveway, so I didn't have to fight that battle. And he didn't do it for gratitude or satisfaction. He just wanted to be of service. And I was like,
6:15 Speaker 01 My idea of service changed in a small act of kindness of just doing the thing for others without seeking recognition. And I was like, that's how I want to live my life. So.
6:28 Nick Bare? It's a very important recognition, like service without the recognition itself.
6:36 Speaker 01 Right.
6:38 Nick Bare? You know, I, it makes me think of, um, on social media, when you see people going to feed homeless, hungry people in the streets, but they're filming it with a GoPro. And I see the good, I see the good in it of, I want to show people that we can all contribute to society and help those of less need.
7:07 Nick Bare? But the flip side is like, I want credit for it. I want to be praised for the generous acts of service that I'm doing. And that's why selfless service is so unique and different because you're not doing it for the recognition. You're not doing it for the pride or the praise. It is, it's this invisible type of service that you're doing it just because you feel the responsibility and obligation to serve others.
7:38 Speaker 01 Right. No, I, I agree. And, and I empathize with the, the social media aspect of it of, I think it's, it's good if your intent is good, right? Like, what is the intent of posting this? Are you promoting what you're doing? So other people contribute to what you're doing and get that giving mindset and spreading that? Or is it for self gratification? And as long as whatever your intention is in service, as long as it is in good intent, that is true service.
8:10 Nick Bare? And honest intention.
8:12 Speaker 01 Exactly.
8:14 Nick Bare? So you joined the Marine Corps in 2008.
8:18 Nick Bare? What guided that decision?
8:22 Speaker 01 You know.
8:22 Nick Bare? Where were you at in your life at that point?
8:25 Speaker 01 I was a mess at that point. So I um I got out of high school, you know. The time I joined the military, a lot of guys, you know, we still remember the time where we watched nine eleven happen and and it impacted us a lot.
8:43 Nick Bare? How old were you?
8:47 Speaker 01 That was, I was twelve, thirteen. So I was middle school.
8:53 Nick Bare? During nine eleven?
8:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
8:57 Speaker 01 And it had like a profound effect on my generation and and is an impactful age and a lot of my friends at the time joined the military and I was like, that's something I want to do. Um but I kept putting it off. I went to college for a couple of years. And then in the midst of, you know, not being successful, lacking discipline in my life and purpose. I was like, I I need to do this. Now is the time to do this. If I don't do it now, I never will. Um and I was like, I I just walked into recruiter's office and and signed up, didn't tell anyone. And uh went to boot camp three months later.
9:38 Nick Bare? What did you go to college for?
9:40 Speaker 01 Originally, architecture. Um didn't go down that road. I think I've changed, even after I got out of the military, went back to college, changed my major like three times and got my degree in psychology, never used it. Nothing, nothing stuck.
9:56 Nick Bare? That's funny because when I was in high school, I wanted to go to to college to be an architect.
10:02 Nick Bare? And then I I realized I just wasn't smart enough to be an architect.
10:05 Speaker 01 It's hard.
10:07 Nick Bare? It's it's really hard. You know, I uh I didn't get into any of the schools I applied for when I was in high school. And I got an Army ROTC scholarship. So I could apply that scholarship to to any school as long as I got into the school. So I was like, I want to go to Penn State. I want to go to South Carolina University. I wanted to go to Calhoun Charleston, which would do ROTC at the Citadel. Didn't get in any of those schools.
10:37 Speaker 01 Yeah.
10:37 Nick Bare? So IUP was my last resort, but I wanted to be an architect when I was, when I was younger. So in 2008, when you enlisted,
10:48 Nick Bare? what, what were you doing work wise? Was it, was it post out of college, like your career path? What, what were you set on at, at that point?
10:57 Speaker 01 Um, like pre joining the military, what was my career path? I had no clear direction at that time. I was honestly, I was like, where do I fit in? And what makes me feel good about what I'm doing in this life? And I think I, I felt that loss of direction. I was just taking odd jobs, you know? I started working when I was 13 years old. I started my own lawn mowing business. Uh, just doing like had ad in newsletters and I was just doing lawn mowing. Then I went in like the service industry and I, I worked at a veterinary hospital. I was doing, I was just like, what, why am I here? Like, what am I passionate about?
11:41 Speaker 01 And I just, I couldn't find the thing. Um, and I was like, maybe military is where I find that answer. And I, I, I lacked structure in my life. I lacked people pushing me and I knew I would get that in the military.
11:58 Nick Bare? You were an infantryman, correct?
12:00 Speaker 01 Correct.
12:01 Nick Bare? Did you choose the infantry or did the infantry choose you?
12:04 Speaker 01 I chose to go on the infantry. Um, I scored really high on my ASVAB. And they were like, you shouldn't just go straight infantry. You should, you should do something else. Um, and I did three years with Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team. It's called FAST Company. It's like a branch of security forces. Um, basically we're.
12:29 Speaker 01 Quick reaction force for embassies under threat or hostage situations, stuff like that. Never really got fully utilized. Most people don't make a habit of attacking US embassies. So it was just like a lot of really good training and traveling and doing stuff with that unit. But I made sure infantry was in my contract. So I had a five-year contract, a longer contract, so I could get that infantry time in.
12:57 Nick Bare? And where are you from originally? Where'd you grow up?
12:59 Speaker 01 Houston.
13:00 Nick Bare? Oh, so you're truly Texas.
13:02 Speaker 01 Texas boy through and through.
13:03 Nick Bare? Okay.
13:03 Speaker 01 Yeah.
13:04 Nick Bare? There's not many of you in this area anymore.
13:07 Speaker 01 No, there isn't.
13:08 Nick Bare? So your deployment in 2011 to Afghanistan, was that your first deployment?
13:13 Speaker 01 That was my first real combat deployment. Yeah. It was at the very end of 2011 and majority of 2012, I was in Afghanistan, or the first half.
13:22 Nick Bare? And you were squad leader while on that deployment?
13:25 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
13:28 Nick Bare? What was that rotation like from the time you landed in Afghanistan,
13:34 Nick Bare? right up until you guys got hit?
13:39 Speaker 01 As a squad leader, coming from that background, especially in the Marines, coming from Fast Company, I was a higher rank than most guys in the infantry. And it was very long journey of earning their respect because I was in charge of guys who had already deployed to Afghanistan. And here I come, a corporal in the Marines, putting in a squad leader position and guys already did a pump to Afghanistan and lost guys and seen stuff. And I had no experience in that. So the workup was challenging. It pushed me in ways as a leader. I was like, how do I lead these guys?
14:22 Speaker 01 When they only see me for what I haven't experienced and what they have.
14:31 Speaker 01 So the workup was hard, but it was rewarding in the pursuit of earning their respect to becoming a leader when it came time for it to count most. And...
14:47 Speaker 01 During that workup, it was just leaning on them and their experience and saying, hey, I know what you provide to this team, you know, because I had, I had three team leaders that had a lot of experience in working with guys. And a lot of them, I probably took their position as squad leader going into this deployment. But I was like, I need to lean on you for your experience in Afghanistan, and I can provide all the extra training that you don't get in the infantry that I got in my previous unit and bring that to the table. And I just approached them of, tell me what I'm doing right, and then tell me what I'm doing wrong. And I think I sat down and had that conversation with them.
15:31 Speaker 01 Like honestly, I was, I said, let me know, no, no repercussions for telling me, like, tell me what I can do better. And when I had that conversation with my squad, they were like, okay, here we go. And there was a shift in that workup. And it was, it was awesome.
15:49 Nick Bare? It's a very interesting inflection point for a leader that a lot of people outside of the military probably can't understand the pressure. You know, I was an officer going in to the army. And when I arrived to my, my unit, the platoon that I took over, my platoon sergeant was in the military for 19 years at that point. All my squad leaders, multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. So my team leaders had deployments to Afghanistan.
16:31 Nick Bare? And then here I am, brand new second lieutenant, butter bar on my chest, no combat deployment patch, brand new Ranger tab. It's like, hey, guys, I'm, I'm the platoon leader of these 40 soldiers and non-commissioned officers. And learning how to earn that respect is such an art and science. You know, of truly coming in, letting the guys keep doing their thing and invite you in, instead of coming in and trying to change these things right out of the gate. That was such a pivotal learning lesson for me.
17:11 Nick Bare? And shaped the the trajectory of my leadership forever. That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But what contrasts mine to yours is as a second lieutenant, it's almost expected like, hey, this guy's coming from college. He has no experience. We'll call him sir, but like, just be careful with how much we give this guy. But for another enlisted infantryman to come in to take over a squad leader role with no previous combat deployments, I can imagine even how much harder that was to earn the respect.
17:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was. It was a challenge to say the least. Like I, I would find some of my stuff missing sometimes. Um, I would find stuff in in different places or mixed up. Like people messed with me. Um, and there was, there was pressure um, that was being applied and I I took it. I took it to the chin. Um, you know, another, another thing in the workup going to Afghanistan, you do several like different training blocks and uh, it's a tradition for anyone for their first deployment in the Marine Corps. You go do the training block, you shave your head.
18:34 Speaker 01 Um, and as a leader, I was like, you know, I I gotta do it. And I shaved my head and I came out and I lined up for us going out to that training block. And they're like, I can't believe this guy just shaved his head with all the the boots. Um, going out there and I was like, I respect tradition. I respect their experience and I need to show them that I am no better than anyone else. But I came here and I'm still going to do my job. Um, whether you like it or not, I was put in this position and I'm going to do it the best I can.
19:06 Nick Bare? Yeah, I mean, it's the only way you can approach it. I was talking to some of the podcasts recently, Heath Evans, and he spent 10 years in the NFL, 10 seasons. I asked him the question of, of all the coaches you worked for, what has created this environment that led to winning teams, championships? He said the best coaches he's worked for had two traits. They embraced transparency and accountability, where their door was open, players can come in and, and tell him
19:47 Nick Bare? what he was doing wrong.
19:50 Nick Bare? Share with me my weaknesses. Where do you see the holes of where I can become better? Complete transparency between the coach and the players, and then accountability of like, as a coach, I'm, I'm holding the standard. I expect you guys to rise to the standard, never dip below. And if you have transparency and you have accountability, that could lead to winning teams and championships, or in your case, saving lives, you know, successful missions.
20:25 Nick Bare? When you guys got to Afghanistan in 2011,
20:30 Nick Bare? what was the, the pace of the kinetic environment? How often were you guys getting hit?
20:38 Speaker 01 It started off slow when we initially got there.
20:43 Speaker 01 And it escalated towards the end of the deployment. Initially, we were just setting up security at a FOB for, can't remember exactly how long, I'd say a month or two. And it was just security rotation around just fence security.
21:00 Speaker 01 And then we got assigned to be Hilo company to where we were hopping on Ospreys and flying missions anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. And we would, we would operate out of a FOB, FOB White House. And we would fly these missions with a clear intent of what we're going to do when we're going into them of, you know, disrupting the enemy, disrupting operations, you know, pushing them back. And we were also tasked with training and
21:34 Speaker 01 Teaching the Afghan National Army and Police how to hold those positions once we had gained them, so we can keep moving forward. So first two months, not so much. And then, once we started the Hilo missions, it really started popping off.
21:49 Nick Bare? Those firefights or IEDs or a combination of both?
21:54 Speaker 01 Both. There were a couple of times we're flying in and you see the rounds like coming in as we're landing. So it was very kinetic environment. Wasn't always like that, right? I mean, there were some, some ops we would go on and it would, it would pretty much be nothing except occasional shots here and there. But once, once things picked up towards the end, it was, it was nonstop.
22:21 Nick Bare? I'm always curious about this question because during my time in service, I didn't go on any combat deployments. I did a nine-month rotation in South Korea, but I didn't go to Afghanistan. I didn't go to Iraq.
22:36 Nick Bare? You know, you join the military, you do all this training, you prepare to go to war. And you have this, this vision, this imagination of what it looks like and feels like and the tempo and the energy and, and all of the things around it.
22:55 Nick Bare? When you finally got there and you're operating in Afghanistan, how did the realities match up against the imagination that you had of what war was?
23:08 Speaker 01 Yeah. It, at that age, when I, when I got to Afghanistan, I was 23 years old. I was one of the older guys. And you have this vision, right? Everyone kind of creates this of like, what, what am I going to experience when I get there?
23:26 Speaker 01 And I think at that age, everyone just feels invincible, right? Especially if it's your first combat deployment, you had no prior experience. You're like, I have done the work. I've, I've trained hard. I know what to expect. And you go into it and you're like, I got this. This is, give me the mission. I'm going to get it done and I'm going to go back and reset and do it again. And the first time you experience around traveling past you instead of out at a range target, it completely changes. It's a completely different sound of a bullet flying past your head as opposed to, you know, shooting rounds at the range.
24:10 Speaker 01 You realize this is, this is happening. This is life or death out here. And that perception shifted quickly when I, when I experienced that first firefight of just as a leader, it's my job to get these guys home. And that's, that's it. I know it's probably a bad thing to say because you imagine like you have all these missions, these, these things you're supposed to accomplish out there. But my mission was like, I was like, I need to get these guys home because this is life or death out here. So.
24:47 Nick Bare? I know you, uh, I came across this and I think it was shared by the Washington Post.
24:54 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
24:54 Nick Bare? You, uh, you had this blog post that recounted the day that you got hit by the IED, which I gotta tell you, man, you're a great writer.
25:04 Speaker 01 Thank you.
25:05 Nick Bare? You're a great writer.
25:06 Speaker 01 I appreciate it.
25:06 Nick Bare? Very captivating. May 27th, 2012, 3 a.m. Correct me if I'm wrong, about one month left to your deployment at this point.
25:18 Speaker 01 Yep.
25:18 Nick Bare? So one month till you're coming home.
25:22 Nick Bare? And you said, no kids ran in the streets, no elderly were in their compounds, and there were very few livestock, a telltale sign of a nearby IED or pending ambush.
25:38 Nick Bare? What did, what did that morning feel like before everything happened?
25:46 Speaker 01 Um, yeah, that morning was, there was a shift in the air of just, you could feel it. Like something was different because we were used to the noise. Like there was, there was kids playing, there was villagers there, you know, living their lives. Um, and then we go to push out for our patrol in the morning and everyone was gone.
26:14 Nick Bare? Do you ever experience this before this day?
26:17 Speaker 01 No, that was the first time we truly experienced like an empty village that we were approaching.
26:25 Speaker 01 The day before was highly kinetic, like it was insane. Um, you know, we were calling in artillery for smoke screens to just cross like not huge open areas, some larger than others, but um, we were in some heavy firefights the day before. So we were expecting going the next day, um, it would be the same and it was just empty. So that shift alone was like what, what happened overnight.
26:57 Speaker 01 So when we pushed out in the morning, I just remember my guys like looking around like, what's going on? And we slowly approached everything and we were extra careful, like moving through the streets, um, But we knew, we knew something had changed. Like they, they changed their game plan on us and, and we needed to be careful where we were heading.
27:25 Nick Bare? What was the intent of that morning's, uh, push out? Was it presence patrol or did you have a, a mission you were on?
27:32 Speaker 01 We, we thought we were going to be in close quarter battle, not super close, but within a couple of hundred meters of the enemy of, I mean, we were, we were holding a compound position from what we fought up to that day. And we thought we were going to push back further and there was no pushback. There was no resistance. There was no presence where we were pushing out to. And we were highly expecting there to be heavy resistance. That's why we pushed out before sunrise, um, to be able to scout out the area, uh, a little bit. But there was nothing. Sun came up and, and no one was around.
28:12 Nick Bare? So you're going to say, "My next steps changed my life forever." "I remember being thrown airborne for what felt like an eternity. Time slowed, yet my mind raced and as I landed headfirst, a haze of confusion washed over me. I felt no pain and could see nothing for a short time.
28:33 Nick Bare? I thought I was blind. As the dust settled, I asked myself if everyone was okay or if someone had been wounded."
28:41 Nick Bare? So what, what's happening leading up to, how was this IED triggered? Did you have to step on something? Did it's on a remote detonate?
28:50 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was a pressure plate. So it was a IED with a pressure plate buried underneath the ground to where it wasn't was visible. Um, at the time I was more towards the, the, cause when you're in Afghanistan, you walk in a Ranger file, right? That is one person directly behind the other and you try and take the same steps. Because IEDs were the most used weapon out there against us. They were the most effective. So we did everything possible to ensure no one hit IEDs. We had a sweeper up front checking for IEDs and we would have 15 feet between us when we're walking through like enclosed areas. Um.
29:31 Speaker 01 And, you know, I was more towards the front because I realized the shift of environment we were in, and I wanted to have eyes on where we were heading. And I was probably one person behind the sweeper and took a step and stepped on that pressure plate.
29:51 Nick Bare? So you're the one that stepped on it?
29:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, stepped on it. And then after that, you know, it was just a lot of confusion, right? Pain doesn't hit immediately. And I just remember dust everywhere. I was just surrounded by it and almost trying to like, get back up and like dust myself off, like what the heck was that? And then realizing, oh, I can't get up. And then just then it hit, right? The pain struck and it was...
30:38 Speaker 01 It's really hard to describe pain verbally, but if I could describe it, I would say it's like standing in a fire you can't put out. And it was just like, what happened to my body? Like, what, am I still alive? And what hit me the hardest was seeing the faces of my guys when they approached me and just seeing these hard dudes just break down because they thought I was dying. I mean, I was dying. And to see that shift and, you know, months of working
31:20 Speaker 01 together and them looking to me as a leader to thinking they're about to lose me was hard.
31:27 Nick Bare? Did you guys lose anyone up until that point on the deployment?
31:31 Speaker 01 Our unit did lose people. We lost two guys just the day before the 27. And we lost five guys on that deployment in total. But yeah, my squad, no, we didn't lose anyone in my squad.
31:53 Speaker 01 During that day, though,
31:58 Speaker 01 usually when they plant IEDs in the ground, there's tertiary IEDs somewhere around.
32:04 Speaker 01 And as my guys were working on me and putting on the tourniquets and trying to stabilize me, my interpreter stepped on another IED as well. So we were both injured at the same time.
32:22 Nick Bare? Man.
32:24 Nick Bare? When you came to after getting hit,
32:28 Nick Bare? I mean, did they have, were there enemy forces that were waiting for that who started a firefight afterwards?
32:34 Speaker 01 There were, there was some firefights after. I know that for a fact, and I know the remainder of that hop was crazy.
32:46 Speaker 01 But yes, after there were, there were firefights, they, they came out, you know, IED blast you can hear from miles away, so they pushed hard, but
33:00 Speaker 01 my guys came back with a vengeance.
33:04 Nick Bare? So did your medic roll up to you as soon as you got hit and throw those tourniquets on you?
33:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, they, the only reason I'm still here is because they were so effective. Like my corpsman was on it, like tourniquets applied. My lieutenant was on the patrol with me, called in the nine line immediately. I mean, you're miles away from any help, right? The only thing coming to save you is a medevac. And they did everything right.
33:37 Speaker 01 And yeah, he applied the tourniquets, he got me stabilized, he kept me awake.
33:45 Speaker 01 And I had another guy, Armstrong, just like holding me, just, just trying to keep me up and keep me talking and,
33:55 Speaker 01 you know, it was, it was, it was hard being in that position as a leader because I was just thinking, I'm like,
34:05 Speaker 01 I still have a job to do, but I realized I'm like, that job is, is done now. And.
34:14 Speaker 01 I just felt this shift of like, one, I felt life slipping away, literally. I remember.
34:28 Speaker 01 I remember a point where it felt like breathing was optional.
34:34 Speaker 01 To where.
34:38 Speaker 01 If I wanted to stop, I could.
34:42 Speaker 01 And I don't know how to properly.
34:48 Speaker 01 Explain that to people. Because it really did feel like a choice for me to stay at a certain point while I was out there.
35:00 Speaker 01 And I just realized I I wasn't done and I want I want to stay here.
35:08 Speaker 01 And my guys are they they made sure I'd stayed awake and kept fighting.
35:15 Nick Bare? Do you remember that day pretty vividly?
35:17 Speaker 01 I do. I was I was awake the whole time and when they put me on. Uh, the medevac, they put me in a medical induced coma. Um, and then from there I was in that coma for at least another week.
35:31 Nick Bare? Oh, so when you when you woke up, where were you?
35:36 Speaker 01 The first time I woke up, I was on a C one thirty. Flying to another location to do more surgeries.
35:47 Speaker 01 And I just remember.
35:51 Speaker 01 I wasn't awake long. They put me back under.
35:55 Speaker 01 But I just remember seeing other guys around me that didn't make it.
36:03 Speaker 01 But and then the next time I woke up, I was in the hospital, stateside.
36:10 Nick Bare? That's crazy.
36:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
36:14 Nick Bare? That's crazy.
36:16 Speaker 01 They they woke me up or I they didn't wake me up. I woke up one time on the flight line. Uh, they were transferring me and I apparently attacked a doctor. Uh, cause I still thought I was in combat. So I was like highly like they thought I would go into shock and stuff. So they kept me in that medical induced coma to make sure I was stable and not out of control.
36:41 Nick Bare? Did they put you in the coma initially? For the pain?
36:49 Speaker 01 Probably so to some extent, right? Um, their choices of it, I have no idea, but I would imagine it's just shock or just keeping me in a stable, more comfortable position. Um, cause over the next month or so, I went over, I went through about at least 30 surgeries in total over 40 surgeries, um, during my recovery.
37:15 Nick Bare? At at any point on the objective? Were you convinced that you were dead? Like you weren't gonna make it?
37:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, there, when I, when I reached that point of just like it, it felt like I was slipping away. It really did feel like this was it, like there's a possibility I don't make it out of here. And when they put me under, you know, they didn't tell me. Um, but it, it all happened so fast that I just couldn't process any of it. Um, until I got to the hospital and then everything kind of flooded in.
37:55 Nick Bare? Did anything happen? You know, people talk about your, your life flashes before your eyes or you have like this epiphany before. Did anything like that cross your mind?
38:06 Speaker 01 I didn't, I, I didn't have like my life flashed before my eyes or memories of anything. I just had a realization of like, this could be it for me. Do I, I felt like I had the choice of if I want to let go, I could. And I realized I, I came to the realization I wanted to stay. And I fought however I could to stay awake and that was it. Um, there was.
38:40 Speaker 01 It was really just coming to terms with like this might be it. And
38:49 Speaker 01 I didn't want it to be it.
38:50 Nick Bare? Yeah.
38:53 Nick Bare? So when you woke up stateside then,
38:56 Nick Bare? what are some of the first things you remember seeing or being told or experiencing?
39:04 Speaker 01 First things experiencing, I was happy to be in AC.
39:09 Speaker 01 I had, you know.
39:10 Nick Bare? You vividly remember that?
39:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, I vividly remember feeling AC again. And I was just like, oh, this is so nice. Um, I had my family around me. I was happy, you know, people were encouraging me. They were talking to me. I knew I was alive. I was grateful. Heavily medicated.
39:32 Speaker 01 And not fully comprehending what my life was going to look like after uh, all this, I didn't even know fully my injuries. You know, I, I think it took me quite a bit of time to process that.
39:50 Speaker 01 But once I realized, okay, my, my legs are gone. Um, I had metal bars outside of my body, holding my hip together because it had fractured in three different places.
40:03 Speaker 01 I had stitches all up my left arm.
40:07 Speaker 01 Parts of my forearm missing. I had no feeling on the left side of my arm. My left, the blast was so strong that my left eye was actually to the side.
40:20 Speaker 01 TBI. I mean, you, you name it, I, I probably experienced it with that kind of traumatic injury.
40:28 Speaker 01 So.
40:30 Speaker 01 It was just like, where the heck do we go from here? Um, how do I recover from this? And, and what does life look like now? I had no idea.
40:41 Nick Bare? Were both your parents there? Your mom and dad?
40:44 Speaker 01 Uh, yeah, my, my mom and dad showed up, um, during part of the recovery. My, my dad not so close with, but he did, he'd show up, uh, for a period of time. But yeah, my mom, my sister, close friends, family, um, all came and were there. And it just felt good to be safe and alive. But I was also just consistently holding my breath to make sure like my guys got home. And that was just like, I couldn't relax until I knew they were home.
41:22 Nick Bare? Man, I can't imagine, uh,
41:27 Nick Bare? yeah, I'd love, I'd love for you to walk me through. I hear you, you wake up, you're stateside.
41:36 Nick Bare? Where were you, Virginia?
41:38 Speaker 01 Uh, originally at, in Virginia, yes. And then they had a facility in San Antonio, um, at BAMF where I eventually got transferred to.
41:50 Nick Bare? I had a friend stationed at BAMF, BAMF.
41:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
41:56 Nick Bare? You come to, you wake up, you're stateside.
42:00 Nick Bare? I'm assuming that there's this initial gratitude of, I'm alive.
42:06 Nick Bare? But then how quickly did the lows kick in of realizing like, my life is completely changed?
42:17 Speaker 01 I had very like awakening moments throughout my recovery. I would say the gratitude lasted a long time because I had so much presence and support around me that it was just like. Everyone's happy I'm still here. They're happy to see me, you know,
42:36 Speaker 01 you know, being alert and moving around and, and creating new milestones. It's like, almost like I was a baby again and I had to relearn how to live life. And then every time I hit a new milestone in my recovery, people were like clapping or cheering me on, like, you got this.
42:55 Speaker 01 And that was nice. And I would say it didn't really get hard until I was out of the military, that support of the medical staff at BMC was gone. The, my family went back home and I started living on my own and there was silence. And in that silence, I started experiencing the realization of what life looks like on my own and how I was going to navigate life. The questions of like, what is my purpose? Like, how am I going to move through life in this state? And I didn't know the answer to that. And it, it took a long time
43:40 Speaker 01 and a lot of coping in the wrong ways to get to where I am today. I, I grieved, I needed to grieve. I think grieving is an important process of recovery and
43:54 Nick Bare? Do you learn that on your own or did someone teach you that?
43:58 Speaker 01 I did learn that on my own. And that's why it took longer than it should have.
44:04 Speaker 01 And I wish I had that guidance of someone saying, it's okay to... I would say the first person that really brought that to my attention was my sister.
44:17 Speaker 01 And she's the one that encouraged me to write and to explore the emotions that I was experiencing because it's okay to not be okay. And no one told me that. They just wanted to see me happy. And I appreciate that, but I needed to face my new reality and no one was helping me do that.
44:40 Speaker 01 And it, it took a long time.
44:42 Nick Bare? How much time was there between the accident and you being home, living on your own?
44:48 Speaker 01 Uh, probably about a year and a half, a year and a half. Uh, I'd say I'd spent about a year on base recovery, doing work with prosthetics, working with P T, O T, working on my hand dexterity. Um, you know, I tried walking prosthetics, running prosthetics. You know, they, they were amazing. The, the support that they provided me um during that time and they pushed me. And I just remember one of the P Ts pulled me aside. He's like, hey, you should slow down. Um, because once you check all these boxes, like they're gonna send you on your own and, you know, you might not have access to all this stuff. And I was
45:32 Speaker 01 just like, but I'm, I don't know how to slow down. Like I wanna progress and I wanna move on. And um, so once I got out of the military, I realized I was like, oh, yeah, I see what he's saying. Now I gotta figure this out.
45:47 Nick Bare? So essentially, they, you stay in the military until you reach certain milestones within recovery. Once you've reached those milestones, they then transition you out, send you home, and it's like you are officially medically retired from service.
46:05 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's, it's like a independence checklist, right? They wanna make sure you're, you're functioning at a level to where you're successful in your day to day. Um, and they, they have a good blueprint, but it's, it's that transition out of the military that's lacking for a lot of guys. Um, you know, I saw a psychiatrist, I talked with people as well, but it's really that aspect of no one told me how hard it was going to be to repurpose my life after the military. And how was I gonna be a functioning member of society in a world that I just didn't make sense to me anymore? Um, I didn't see
46:49 Speaker 01 things the same way. I didn't trust people the same way. I, I was constantly scanning the rooms and, and I was just not in a place to where I could, I could operate in a environment that was safe, because it just didn't feel safe anywhere.
47:08 Nick Bare? What was the plan when you got in that house, living on your own for the next chapter of your life?
47:16 Speaker 01 I really just approached it as like, what do other people want me to do? Or like, how, what would be successful and to the people that care about me? I'm like, I'll go back to school. I went back to college. Didn't enjoy it. I did it. I was like, because once I commit to something, like I commit to it. You know, like I said, I changed degree like a couple more times, landed on psychology, got my bachelor's and never used it. And then after that, it was just like, okay, what the heck do I do now? Like I did the thing that most people do and I'm still not happy. I don't feel fulfilled.
48:02 Speaker 01 I don't, I don't feel a purpose-driven approach to life right now. How do I fill that void? Like I had a passion of helping people, like being of service somehow. And that's why I was like, psychology is a great fit. And I realized I'm a super introvert and I empathize with people wholeheartedly. And then I have like no energy left once that's done. And I was like, I can't do this as a career path. I was like, I need to find another way to be of service to others that is fulfilling to me, that doesn't take away from me. And that's where I really started approaching fitness and coaching and really found a passion there.
48:47 Nick Bare? That introvert realization is a really important one. I think a lot of people think that I am an extrovert based off of what I do for work. I am also an introvert. And if I spend a lot of time with people or at events or these large social gatherings, I'm tanked after those. And the way that I recharge is alone, on my own, doing something without engaging with others.
49:20 Nick Bare? And I think people have to really understand if they are introverted or extroverted, and then take care of themselves accordingly. Like, how do you recover? How do you recharge? For extroverts, it's around other people. For introverts, it's alone. That's, I think, a necessary recognition, realization that is critical for long-term health and wellness.
49:47 Speaker 01 Yeah. You can't, you can't show up for the people you care about if your, if your battery's drained, right? You know, especially like, family life, you know? It, it feels selfish almost sometimes to go out and recharge the battery, but you also know after you do that, you can show up so much more and have presence with everything that you do. So it's, it's a balance. And it, it is a strong realization, I think, a lot of people need to find.
50:15 Nick Bare? So what was the next thing, or things, that changed your life? How did, how did things start getting better?
50:24 Speaker 01 Um, I really, I, I really leaned into coaching, being a personal trainer. Um, I felt good helping people hit their goals that they had set for themselves. I found passion in fitness. I found it was good for my mental health. I found it helped with my depression. I think fitness is one of the best ways to cure depression. I know it's worked wonders for me. And I really leaned into the coaching aspect and finding a strong purpose in that. And then, one day, I did that for a few years.
51:04 Speaker 01 I had a, a potential client come up to me who had a disability, a spina bifida. And he's like, hey, I'm interested in working with you. I see you have this disability.
51:16 Speaker 01 I want to work with someone who understands that we're different. And I said, absolutely, I would love to train you. I know how to safely and effectively train myself. I want to learn how to do that for you. So I went out and did research on how to work with people with disabilities. And I found an organization that was doing a seminar like two weeks from when I met that guy. And I was like, oh, heck yeah, they're training you how to work with people with disabilities. It's like, cool, I'm gonna go sign up for that. And I show up and it was a very eye opening experience of stuff I didn't even realize that I could be doing.
52:01 Speaker 01 And that two day seminar was a huge shift for me in how I looked at fitness, how I could be of service to not just, you know, a normal able bodied person, but also people who have disabilities, people who may want to recover from injuries and push beyond what is seen as societally acceptable for people with disabilities. I think the standard is really low for what someone with a disability is capable of. And when I attended that seminar, they're like, no, you can do so much more. And I was like, I want, I want to be a part of this. Yeah.
52:40 Speaker 01 And through that seminar, it was very functional movement based, very like CrossFit esque training, but more so functional fitness movements. And they took me through a workout during lunch because they're like, hey, you got big arms, like, why don't you come work out with us during lunch? I was like, sure. And they smoked me and I loved it. And I was like, I want to do this. And they're like, you should compete in CrossFit. And I was like, I don't know. I was, I was like, I never really saw myself as an athlete, but I enjoyed being a coach so much that I'm like, what, what's the number one thing I learned in the military is that in order to be a good leader, you need to lead by example.
53:23 Speaker 01 And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna lead by example. I'm gonna go do something that's out of my comfort zone because if I want to ask someone to do that, I want them to be able to say, he did that. So that's kind of where I started my competitive ventures.
53:40 Nick Bare? What year was this?
53:42 Speaker 01 That was 2021, so about five years ago.
53:48 Nick Bare? When did you meet your wife?
53:51 Speaker 01 I met my wife through that article I wrote.
53:56 Nick Bare? Yeah, I read about that.
53:57 Speaker 01 Yeah.
53:58 Nick Bare? What year was that?
54:00 Speaker 01 Ah, man, that was 2014, 20, yeah, about 2014, I believe. Or 2013, we started talking and then we eventually met together in 2014.
54:11 Nick Bare? So you wrote this article, it got picked up, it got shared.
54:17 Nick Bare? Your now-wife, Amy, reached out to you. From my understanding, she also partner overseas as well?
54:27 Speaker 01 Yeah, so I wrote the article and they were like, hey, we want to publish this thing. And they did, and they posted it on their website. And they attached my socials to it, which I didn't know they were gonna do. And then my wife reached out to me through that and we started talking. And, you know, we were both going through a hard time. So I was going through what I was experiencing. She also lost, she was in a relationship with a marine prior who had passed away during a training accident.
55:01 Speaker 01 And we were there for each other in a very hard time in our lives.
55:07 Speaker 01 My wife is a phenomenal human being who has been through a lot. You won't be able to see that when you look at her because she's so kind and present with everyone around her. But she's been through a lot. And we met each other at a time where we needed to just grieve together and learn how to move past it. And we did that for each other. And at the time, she lived in Seattle. I was in Texas and we talked for months and then eventually met. And the rest was history after that.
55:50 Nick Bare? How'd you convince her to move to Texas and you didn't have to move to Seattle?
55:53 Speaker 01 I told her, Texas is really nice. You should come. It doesn't rain as much here.
55:59 Nick Bare? Honestly, it's how I got my wife here. She was living in Nashville at the time. And I convinced her to come down for a John Party concert at Stubbs Barbecue in Austin. And she told me, she said, "I'm never moving to Austin, just so you know. Never moving to Texas." And a few months later, she was moving into Austin. We've been here since. You just gotta get them here once.
56:21 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's it. That's it.
56:25 Nick Bare? So when did the pursuit of some of these more ambitious physical challenges start?
56:33 Speaker 01 Yeah. So, once I started CrossFit, I was like, competing at the Adaptive CrossFit Games. I really enjoyed it. It pushed me in my fitness, overall fitness level. I was really strong before. I loved powerlifting, weightlifting, going to the gym. Like I said, I'm an introvert. I love putting the headphones in and just slamming weights.
56:56 Speaker 01 And I loved the approach of overall fitness and pushing yourself in different avenues. And that, through competing in CrossFit, that really opened my eyes to that. And the first year, I improved so much. I was like, "I'm going back next year." Improved again so much. And then the third year, I was like, "Okay, I think my fitness level is where it's at." Now I wanna, I wanna push it to the extreme. Not in a overall encompassing level of fitness, but I wanna find what I'm passionate about and push towards one direction.
57:34 Speaker 01 So after three years of CrossFit, I'm like, "What the heck do I do now? How do I push the envelope of what's perceived possible for someone with a disability?" And I was like, "Well, there's Guinness World Records out there. Why don't I go chase one of those?"
57:51 Speaker 01 I really leaned into, I found a love for endurance. I used to hate like endurance, running.
58:01 Nick Bare? We have so many similarities. I'm telling you, we are, we're really best friends, man.
58:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
58:08 Nick Bare? You told the story about when you were younger, lawn mowing. Yeah, when I was in high school, I had middle school, high school, my own lawn mowing company. I had like the signs all over our local town. There's, there's a lot of similarities in the story. The bodybuilding, the strength training. I hated endurance. Sorry, you can keep going. I'm like, I'm really connected right now.
58:29 Speaker 01 Yeah. No, I love it because it's, it's so true. Like I, I really hated running or any type of endurance. I was bad at it. I didn't enjoy it. I was just like, I just want to stop. Like, why, why would you want to do this? And I was like, well, maybe there's a, there's another side to this where I'm like, okay, maybe if I push this a little bit more, I can find some enjoyment out of it. And I like a good challenge. And I was like, that's one area I've always been really bad at. Why don't I lean into that? And I just remember going outside my house for like a three mile run, just completely gassed,
59:11 Speaker 01 just pushing in my wheelchair up and down the sidewalk. And I'm like, I want to get better at this. It was like, I started taking notes, like how I did, what I can improve on, started watching videos, started finding ways to improve. And I got this crazy idea of going after the world record for the most miles covered in a wheelchair in 24 hours. And I was like, I want to do that. And I didn't tell anyone. I didn't tell, I didn't even tell my wife for a while. I was like, I want to, I want to see if I can commit to this. And she's, my wife's just like, you're going for cardio a lot nowadays. I was like,
59:49 Speaker 01 yeah, I'm kind of enjoying it. And I really just found comfort in the suffering of just going and just being.
1:00:05 Speaker 01 There's nothing like being in your own headspace when you're doing cardio and just out there and just moving your body. And you know, at any point, you can quit, right? But you also know that, okay, I have a little bit more to give. I can push this a little further. And I think it's one of the most effective tools for my mental health that I experienced was just getting out there and logging some miles. And it really reset me and got me in a good place for the day. And I could go home and I'm like, okay, I'm ready to be present with my family and be here. And I'm like, I'm gonna do this world record because I like where this is taking me. So then I finally eventually told people,
1:00:50 Speaker 01 I was like, I'm gonna put it out in the world and make it a reality. And trained for a whole year and just completed it last November. I did 152 miles in 24 hours.
1:01:02 Nick Bare? What was the record prior?
1:01:03 Speaker 01 113.
1:01:05 Nick Bare? Okay, so you crushed it.
1:01:06 Speaker 01 A little bit, yeah.
1:01:07 Nick Bare? Wow. What was the rally? Was it on a track?
1:01:10 Speaker 01 So, months of planning went into doing the world record. And originally, I had a military base that was gonna let me run it on a flight line. It was like a mile and a half down and back. It was beautiful, perfectly flat. And everything was ready to go. And then 10 days prior to when I was gonna do the attempt, the head officer of the base calls me. He's like, hey, I'm sorry, we can't do this here anymore because of the government shutdown. Because that was back in November. And I'm just like, what am I gonna do? And I reached out to an organization I work with locally called Morgan's Wonderland. They
1:01:52 Speaker 01 are a fully adaptive theme park for kids with disabilities in San Antonio.
1:01:56 Nick Bare? Oh, cool.
1:01:57 Speaker 01 It's amazing place. And they helped fund and run a functional fitness program. I coached for a long time, providing fitness for people with disabilities for free in the San Antonio area. So I reached out to Brooke and I'm just, she was on the email of all the invites I had to go to this base, because I had to get their background info to get them base access, because a lot of them were civilian. And I said, hey,
1:02:25 Speaker 01 Base got canceled. I don't have the location anymore. You might want to cancel your flights. People flying in. This might not happen. And Brooke was like, do it at Morgan's. And I was like, okay, let's do it. And I literally did a loop that is smaller than a running track for 24 hours, 0.21 miles. It was around a bunch of tennis, racquetball courts.
1:02:51 Nick Bare? You should have hit me up. We could have figured something out.
1:02:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, well, now I know.
1:02:56 Nick Bare? There's a, there's this awesome location that would be great for an event like that. It's in Nashville, Tennessee. It's in Shelby Bottoms Park and it's called the, I think, Cornelius airstrip. It's an older abandoned airstrip. It's, I think, 1.2 miles around. I used to run it when we lived there all the time. There's cyclists there all the time. People rollerblading, perfectly flat, beautiful area. Be perfect for something like that.
1:03:29 Speaker 01 I know. I look back on it now. I was like, man, what could I have done if I had like a good course? But yeah, it had to be perfectly flat per the standards of Guinness. Like, I had to get a surveyor out there to level out. And if it was off by just a tiny bit, it wouldn't have been a Guinness World Record. So I was like, I had 10 days. It was crunch time. I was reaching out, connecting to everyone. And that was the one for sure thing I had. And I was like, let's just run it. I don't, I know I could still beat the current record. I might not get to where I wanted to be, but I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna fight like hell to get where I want to be in my goal of what I wanted out of it.
1:04:13 Nick Bare? Do you know what the pace per mile is for that?
1:04:16 Speaker 01 My moving pace was 820. With rest, it was 955.
1:04:25 Nick Bare? And what is your heart rate?
1:04:29 Nick Bare? Because you're using your arms for everything.
1:04:32 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:04:32 Nick Bare? Like, what is, how do you measure your heart rate and zones and just to compare and contrast traditional running?
1:04:41 Speaker 01 So when I was training, I wore the chest strap heart monitor. And I got some good data off of that. And then I had the watch on, but it was very inaccurate just because I'm constantly moving my wrist and you just can't get a good read. And then I also noticed like if I have a watch on my wrist while I'm pushing a wheelchair, like my right arm would blow up more than my left because of the watch was on it and circulation. So eventually I just kind of nixed the whole like the data collection of it. I still do it every once in a while in training, but I'm usually, in the world record, I had
1:05:21 Speaker 01 the watch on my chair and we collected that on it, but I was in the 130 range.
1:05:28 Nick Bare? Okay.
1:05:29 Speaker 01 Pretty much the whole time. So in a steady, moving, consistent pace, but not to, you know, zone four or anything crazy.
1:05:38 Nick Bare? And then do your arms just get fatigued or do they get pumped?
1:05:42 Speaker 01 They get pumped up and eventually, depending on how long you go, it's super swollen and like fatigue of the tendons and the joints. And but my arms aren't the first thing to go when I'm pushing. It's usually my back.
1:05:58 Nick Bare? I can imagine that.
1:05:59 Speaker 01 Just hinging. It's like doing good mornings, just constantly of just back and forth.
1:06:05 Nick Bare? Lower, lower back?
1:06:06 Speaker 01 Lower back.
1:06:07 Nick Bare? Do you do any specific training for posterior chain, lower back?
1:06:10 Speaker 01 I do a lot of seated deadlifts.
1:06:13 Nick Bare? Makes sense.
1:06:13 Speaker 01 Yeah. Just strength. I would say I'm, my training is very unconventional to what a runner would be, obviously, but I almost always do one on, one off strength and conditioning. Like I do strength training as much as I do cardio, just because I am more injury prone. And I'd say, once I get closer to big events, I'll lean more into cardio. I'll push the miles a lot harder, but I need the strength base leading up to an event to make sure that nothing gives out.
1:06:51 Nick Bare? Yeah. Well, let's talk about the Go One More Ultra.
1:06:57 Nick Bare? What was your initial goal? What did you want to come and do at the Ultra?
1:07:02 Speaker 01 Man, I wanted to fully utilize the format of the race of I wanted to see what broke first. I wanted to go out there and leave it all out there. I remember like Max would come up to me. He's like, man, what's your, what's your goal out here? I was like, I don't have one, you know? And I'm sure that's like a common thing a lot of people say of like, I don't have a goal. But I feel like setting a goal in a race like the Go One More Ultra is already setting yourself up for failure in a certain way. Like, I get it if like, the furthest you've gone is like 70 and you're like, I really want to hit 100. That's a strong goal and that's, that's something to chase.
1:07:44 Speaker 01 But I also know there was people who probably set that goal for themselves and then they're like, as soon as they hit 100, they're done.
1:07:51 Nick Bare? Hundred percent.
1:07:51 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:07:52 Nick Bare? Hundred percent.
1:07:53 Speaker 01 Because it's a limiter. It's a mental limiter you're placing on yourself and I wanted no part of that. And I was like, I'm going to go out here until I cannot go anymore. Um, and that was my goal going into it.
1:08:06 Nick Bare? Yeah. When I did my last man standing in 2023,
1:08:11 Nick Bare? I told myself going into it, I just want to hit 100 miles. And it just so happened, my mind and body quit right after 100 miles. It's like when you're in the gym. I want to do 10 reps. You start fatiguing at eight, you hit RPE 10 on rep 10. It just so happens because your mind tells the body what to do. Yeah, with the last man standing style race of all the races I've done was the mentally hardest race I've done.
1:08:42 Nick Bare? Because I set that number and then when I got there, trying to convince myself to keep going after that was really hard because I was counting down. You know, if you're going to do a hundred mile race, you get to mile eighty, I got twenty miles left. Mile ninety, I got ten miles left. Last man standing, like you don't have those checkmarks and milestones. It's just one after the other, after the other. So it's a it's a strong approach.
1:09:12 Speaker 01 Yeah. When I, when I did that world record, I had, it wasn't, you know, a mile goal necessarily, but I had the clock, right? There's a few more hours left and I'll, I'll be done. Oh, two more hours left, one more hour left. And when I got to the end of it, that twenty-four hours, I asked myself, I was like, I, I think I could keep going if I had to. And I was like, I want to find a race that provides that. And then I just went down a rabbit hole of backyard ultras. And I was like, man, it's off-road. We'll, we'll have to figure that out. But I was like, I want a part of this.
1:09:51 Nick Bare? So in twenty-seven hours, hundred ten miles, did you get a custom wheelchair made just for this race?
1:09:58 Speaker 01 Mm hmm, mm hmm.
1:10:00 Nick Bare? What did they have to do differently to it?
1:10:02 Speaker 01 Um, a lot of things. Mainly more so the frame build had to be completely different because in an everyday regular wheelchair, the casters are pretty much like right underneath you. Um, and you need more stability in off-road. Like you hit a rock, like I'm going to flip over to the side. So it's a much wider base. Um, I had to get like off-road tires, but not too knobby of tires because I have to push on the wheel itself. Um, since it is a little bit wider chair, um, the front casters had to be extended out. Those also needed to be off-road air tires.
1:10:44 Speaker 01 So it's not as jarring when you're hitting rocks or experience any instability in the chair or the course. Um, it was a lot of brainstorming and, um, it was, it was interesting.
1:11:01 Speaker 01 Taking what I had learned from the world record and realizing it does not apply at all to what I was trying to accomplish at the Go One More of. Man, the the world record, I could zone out and I could just listen to music and just go somewhere else in my head. You can't do that out there because for me, I I'm I'm not a runner. I have four points of contact with the ground at all times. I feel everything. And it was just mentally, it was more mentally draining than anything. Like it obviously physically challenging, right? Being off road, but I had to stay so alert at all times.
1:11:40 Nick Bare? Well, the course is so different, too. I mean, there there's there's not huge points of elevation, but there's these small dips. There's rocks. I think it's at mile.
1:11:53 Nick Bare? It's probably like.
1:11:56 Nick Bare? Three. Where it's the back half by the river, you go in this little dip and you should climb up out of it. And I someone had a video of you climbing up and out of that. And I was like, holy crap. He's like, he's working back there.
1:12:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, the the hills were brutal. There's, yeah, that that one back hill got me every loop. I had to like mentally prepare myself. I was like, if ever I do stop for anything other than rain, it would have probably been that hill. Just because if I let up for even half a second, I would be going backwards. And there's no, and I would just have to find a way to grit my teeth and get up that thing every single time. You know, I I enjoyed the downhills. The downhills were great, but I had to work for them on those up hills.
1:12:48 Nick Bare? Yeah. I mean, we knew rain was coming at some point that weekend.
1:12:55 Nick Bare? It's like every year, we're hoping for good weather and it just dumps on us.
1:13:00 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:13:03 Nick Bare? How did the, I mean, at what point did you know the rain was going to truly affect the, the race for you? I mean, it like it drizzled here and there, but then we got, you know, a huge roll of it coming through. How, how did that kind of affect your pace?
1:13:22 Speaker 01 Going into it, you know, I tried to train for any scenario leading up to the race. I trained in some off-road, you know, just freshly rained some mud and it, it was always a struggle just to complete a loop within um, an hour, you know, I had a nice, you know, 4.17 loop I would hit. And I trained in the mud and I got in at like 59 minutes and 30 seconds. Like it took everything I got to work through mud. Um, so I was like, okay, this might be possible. Um, but, and then leading into the race, you got the weather forecast, the 10 day forecast.
1:14:04 Speaker 01 It had rained the day before the race, the rain, the day of the race, and then eight days after the race. And I'm like, I trained for six months. I wanted to show people I worked hard for this, that I earned my spot here and that I came to show up and work. And I was like, man, this is gonna suck if I just show up to the start line and I'm just stuck in the mud right at the start. And low and behold, the, the skies opened up a little bit. Um, and yeah, we got some sprinkles like here and there the first day, but it was, it remained fairly clear. Um, when those happened, like, yeah, some mud
1:14:43 Speaker 01 stuck, but I could keep moving. And then I knew if we got heavy rain, that would probably be it for me because the mud out there is very different than, um, you know, what I had trained with. Like mud will stick to my chair either way, but it never locked up my wheels to where I just was stuck. And when that torrential downpour came, it was like three minutes and then it was over. Um, I made it about 20 feet and I was just done. I couldn't, I couldn't push anymore. Um, and I was like,
1:15:23 Speaker 01 Okay, well.
1:15:26 Speaker 01 It's either I. Sit here and wait for someone to come get me, or I keep going and I felt like I could keep going. So that's what I did.
1:15:35 Nick Bare? So you hop down to the chair. And started dragging the chair.
1:15:39 Speaker 01 Yeah, I, I. The only goal I set for myself in that race is I said, I'm gonna go until I can't go anymore.
1:15:48 Speaker 01 And I was not gonna let the extreme conditions of weather prevent me from doing that. Uh, the chair is, is not. An extension of me, it's a tool. And I don't need the tool to get where I, what I needed to do out there. Um, so yeah, I, I got out of the chair and I. Started yanking it and dragging it. Um, I knew the race was done for me. Like still competing in the race, but I wasn't done with the race.
1:16:16 Nick Bare? Yeah. Well, that ended up being the most viral. Photo of the year, I think Cam Haynes. Mentioned on his podcast that it should be like the time photo of the year. And.
1:16:31 Nick Bare? I am like. It's like. I don't know how best way to describe this.
1:16:38 Nick Bare? Outside of my children. Very few things like. Hit nerves in me and make me emotional.
1:16:46 Nick Bare? But when Trey walked up to me, I believe it was Trey. It was right after rain came in. He's like, hey, Mike's out there still. I was like, yeah, I know. He's dragging his chair. I was like, what do you mean? He showed me a video. And dude, that like. Eagle parts of like. Emotion and joy and jacked up as I watched that. I was like, dude, send that to me right now and post that on my story. And. The, the amount of like positivity. And inspiration and just motivation people got from seeing that. Was incredible. I'm curious how, I can imagine, but I'm curious, how was it received on your end?
1:17:28 Speaker 01 Um, it was overwhelming. I had no idea the effect it would have on a lot of people and how it would speak to people. You know, I, I, I went into the race with my goals and aspirations and, you know, my coaches talked to me, they're like, what are you gonna do if it rains? I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep going however I can. And I could never have imagined it being received the way it did. You know, I passed out almost immediately. Once I, once I got back to a bed and showered and I woke up and I just had like hundreds
1:18:11 Speaker 01 of messages from people all over the world of just telling me how it spoke to them and how it lit a fire in them and how they just wanted to push themselves more than they currently are. And I'm just like, holy crap, dude. Like I, I had no idea. You know, I was, I was out there for, I think about an hour, dragging the chair, eventually leaving the chair behind and just going on my hands, but, um, you know, I, I felt a shift in something.
1:18:51 Speaker 01 I was like, I, I'm supposed to be doing this. And I don't know if it was the other runners. I don't know if it was the other people being out there, but I was like, I need to keep going. This is, I felt a part of it was like, this is bigger than me. And man, the runners out there, they were amazing. You know, I got stuck in the mud. They, they come up to me and they're like, let me help carry your chair or what can I do? And, and, and they were just like in awe of like what I was doing and I just, I didn't,
1:19:33 Speaker 01 it didn't click to me like that at the time, but.
1:19:40 Speaker 01 After, after the race was just insane.
1:19:45 Speaker 01 You know, I, I can't even recall the amazing messages I tried to respond to as many as I could. But, you know, people tell me they were going through cancer treatments and, and they were, you know, lost parts of their body and they couldn't figure out how to find a way to move forward and they're, see my video and they go out for a run or they set a new PR or a girl in a wheelchair told me she started playing wheelchair soccer. You know, finding a reason from what they saw to go out of their comfort zone. And I'm just like, how the heck did I get in a position to have that kind of effect on people? Insane.
1:20:30 Nick Bare? Yeah, I, I can't imagine that was part of the bingo card, you know, when you transitioned out of the military years ago.
1:20:40 Nick Bare? This is my Bible, two nights ago, and I was reading in the book of Matthew, the parable of talents. And, you know, God gives these three individuals different amount of talent.
1:20:58 Nick Bare? And more of the, the book and the story is that God provides us each individually with different talents for us to go steward and use and multiply in the way that those talents were unique and specific to us as individuals.
1:21:19 Nick Bare? And I can only assume that, you know, 2012, you get hit by this IED, you lose both your legs. It's like, what are my talents now? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do? And it takes years and years and years of you. Adapting and building and refining to now go to multiply those talents you've been blessed with, where there's millions of people on the other side that are watching this and you're now changing their lives. The amount of comments on my YouTube video from the race that have been like, what is my excuse
1:22:00 Nick Bare? of why I can't get up and push and go one more and train and get out of my comfort zone? And it's like, it's a testament to the purpose that's on you, your mission in life. And the impact is, is much larger than yourself. Like this is service.
1:22:26 Nick Bare? Equally as important as your military service. What you've done while in uniform and out of uniform.
1:22:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, I had, I had no idea that my life would lead me here. I couldn't envision that.
1:22:47 Speaker 01 I knew I was really good at not quitting and
1:22:55 Speaker 01 the pursuit of finding a better version of myself in everything that I do
1:23:06 Speaker 01 spoke to a lot of people. I think we always try to improve and we don't know how. And it's really just going out there and pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone in whatever shape that takes. It doesn't have to be physical. It could be mental. It could be showing up more for your family, your friends. The pursuit of becoming a better version of yourself is
1:23:34 Speaker 01 Something I aspire in everything that I do. And was a large contributor of why I want to do this race.
1:23:44 Speaker 01 Because there's certain things I wanted to overcome. I attach a goal outside of the goal of a race of like everyone's goal would be win BPN go one more.
1:24:00 Speaker 01 But I always feel like there's another goal inside of that. You should create something that drives you, that creates that passion of why am I doing this? Am I going to be better person for enduring this? Or am I just going to win a race? And I feel like if you attach something that speaks to you personally and you find an avenue of of self-improvement within that, it will push you well beyond what you think you're capable of.
1:24:30 Speaker 01 And
1:24:33 Speaker 01 yeah, that's the approach I took and the response from it is insane.
1:24:39 Nick Bare? It's the intent you talked about earlier in the conversation.
1:24:42 Speaker 01 Right.
1:24:43 Nick Bare? Having a true intent, a genuine intent behind it. Well, brother, I appreciate you. It was so awesome to see you throw down at the race and get connected and now have you on the BPN team and to see what you're going to do next and allowing us to be a part of it. I'm very grateful. I'm very proud. Super excited for what you're about to do.
1:25:08 Speaker 01 I'm excited too, man. I'm beyond honored to be a part of the team. I love what you guys are doing here, what you're about.
1:25:17 Speaker 01 The forefront of everything you do has integrity and that's what I believe should be at the front of everything that you do and I'm just happy to be a part of BPN and
1:25:33 Speaker 01 yeah, I'm excited for what the future holds.
1:25:35 Nick Bare? Thank you, man.
1:25:36 Speaker 01 Thank you.
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