051: What It Really Takes to Keep Going

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Matt King Show – Ep. 051

"What It Really Takes to Keep Going"

Host: Matt King (Gobundance)
Air Date: March 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Matt King Show dives deep into the minds and experiences of individuals who push physical and mental boundaries—exploring not just their athletic and charity feats, but the mindsets and philosophies that drive them. The conversation centers on what it truly means to persevere in the face of adversity, the power of authenticity, and the critical importance of knowing your "why." Guests share transformative stories of running, rucking, military discipline, loss, and team resilience, distilling powerful lessons about pain, purpose, and personal growth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Breaking Point and Mental Fortitude

Guest: Sam

• Sam recounts an emotional breaking point during a grueling multi-day run in Texas, where despite the pain, quitting was never an option.
  • Notable quote:

    "I broke. Fucking boohooing, sobbing...this isn’t even hard, but it is the most pain I’ve ever been in in my life. And it was in that moment...I was rationalizing that I was never going to exit that pain until I hit that finish line." (Sam, [00:08])

• Emphasizes the mindset where success comes down to true commitment, stating he was prepared to keep going "unless my leg is snapped in half, or I am dead."
• Finds deep motivation in running for those who can't—especially disabled veterans.

2. The Importance of “Why”

• Sam shares that he repeatedly reminded himself each day of the purpose behind his suffering.
  • Quote:

    "Every single step is for them...I would make myself cry...as the sun rose...and then I would think, don't forget why." (Sam, [02:07])

3. Setting Standards & Avoiding Complacency

Guest 2 (Navy Veteran and Endurance Athlete)

• Advocates for a “day zero” or “day one” mentality—treating every day with the standards and determination of the first, avoiding complacency in both adventures and relationships.
  • Quote:

    "Every single day like it’s day one, where everything is brand new...This eliminates complacency, which is where all the issues come from." (Guest 2, [28:53])

4. Authenticity & Attracting the Right People

• Sam expresses that being unapologetically himself—quirky habits, flaws, and all—has attracted genuinely good people and peace into his life.
  • Quote:

    "When you stray away from who you are, it becomes fake. It’s not real...if you stay true to yourself, that’s when you attract real good people." (Sam, [09:40])

• Discusses playful public persona (e.g., cigarette videos) to show people you don’t have to be “perfect” to achieve at a high level.

5. The Power of Small Actions and Starting

• The group reflects on the courage it takes to simply start, whether it’s an epic run or getting out of bed.
  • Quote:

    "It could be starting with making sure you make your bed in the morning...these small efforts...make the idea to start a bigger effort a lot less effortful..." (Guest 2, [27:51])

6. Team, Mentorship, and Mutual Support

Guest 1 shares stories of endurance rucking and the importance of teamwork:

• Found deep meaning in supporting others during their toughest moments, a lesson learned from personal lows and receiving support from mentors like his grandfather and friend Kenny.

• The Immortal 32 Ruck inspired by the little-known heroes of the Texas Revolution, growing into a tradition and a project changing lives.

  • Quote:

    "This isn't about going some crazy long mileage...This is about one man helping another man when he's in his lowest spot...That was the day Project Grit was formed." (Guest 1, [26:07])

7. Running Toward vs. Running From

• Discussion pivots to how motivations evolve—from running away from pain and insecurities to running toward fulfillment and meaning.
  • Quote:

    "I think those people...still haven’t proved to themselves who they are, or they refuse to prove it to themselves and try to prove it to others...when you try to prove yourself to others, you'll destroy yourself in the process." (Sam, [13:34])

8. Discipline, Relationships, and Navy Lessons

• Applying military discipline to relationships: holding oneself and a partner to high standards, maintaining effort and novelty, and keeping priorities clear.
  • Quote:

    "If you don't have those goals and you don't treat...the relationship like it's one of these operations or like it’s a business, things fall through the cracks." (Guest 2, [31:17])

9. Living with Joy and Gratitude

• Sam describes the profound happiness he’s found in living intentionally, grounded in gratitude each day and in the environment he loves.
  • Quote:

    "I wake up grateful every single morning. Which...is showing me that I am pure...I am happy. I’m so happy." (Sam, [11:31])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On pain and perseverance:

  "Quitting was never an option...I broke, but this isn't gonna end. It’s just gonna be painful until I'm done." (Sam, [00:08-01:20])

• On motivation:

  "Every single step is for them...veterans that don’t have legs...That was my why." (Sam, [02:07])

• On standards and complacency:

  "We uphold the standards. And this is day zero... When people say, 'We got this,' that’s when people die...We treat every day like it's day one." (Guest 2, [28:33-29:07])

• On authenticity:

  "When you stray away from who you are, it becomes fake...I attract just good fucking people because I’m being a real good fucking person." (Sam, [09:40-09:59])

• On transformation through action:

  "The things in life that you're avoiding are the things you need to go head on." (Guest 1, [14:13])

• On courage to start:

  "The good in life can come just from having the courage to start." (Interviewer, [27:27])

• On balancing life:

  "Being able to split up and divvy up those things is a challenge...But writing stuff down and keeping track of it like a business does help." (Guest 2, [32:38])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Emotional breaking point on the run – [00:03-01:34]
• Why and motivation behind ultra-endurance efforts – [02:07-03:18]
• Lessons on fundraising and giving more – [04:09-06:23]
• Authenticity and keeping it real – [08:35-09:45]
• Happiness, gratitude, and “being home” – [11:31-12:18]
• Running toward meaning vs. running from pain – [12:35-14:13]
• Formative mentorship and starting rucking – [16:13-18:12]
• The Immortal 32 Ruck and Project Grit – [18:26-26:07]
• Courage to start and building consistency – [27:27-27:51]
• Day zero mindset and preventing complacency – [28:33-29:07]
• Military discipline in life and relationships – [30:48-32:38]
• Routine, optimization, and life on submarines – [33:17-35:20]

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

The tone is candid, gritty, occasionally raw, and often inspirational. The guests blend humor and depth, offering hard-earned wisdom without sugarcoating the realities of pain, struggle, and growth.

Takeaways:

• Embrace pain as part of the journey; quitting is optional but not necessary.
• Ground your pursuits in a powerful personal “why.”
• Maintain authenticity—it attracts the right people and opportunities.
• Small daily standards can transform your ability to tackle the big things.
• Meaningful support and mentorship can radically change trajectories.
• Prevent complacency by treating every day as “day one”—in work, relationships, and life.
• Joy and gratitude grow from living with intention and self-awareness.

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This episode offers a blend of practical tactics and deep life philosophy, making it essential listening for anyone striving to pursue audacious goals without losing themselves in the process.

Transcript

[Interviewer]

Was there ever a moment during the run where you didn't think you were gonna make it?

[Sam]

No, but there was a moment during the run that I. You'll see this weekend. I'm sure you'll watch the. The documentary. It starts with this. I get into the van, and life was good. People ran with me. You know, we get to the. It was like, day we were in Midland, day 6, 7, 8, or 9 somewhere. They all ran together. I get into the van. I. You know, high five to everybody. Thanks for running with me. And I get in the van, and I sit down, and I instantly just. I broke. Fucking boohooing, sobbing. And even, like, Drew tells a story that, like, Drew was like. He's like, I had to point the camera at you, and, like, I couldn't even look. He's like, I couldn't. Because he was like. It was just. He's like, you were. You were making us all just. And Amanda's like, what's wrong? And I'm like, this isn't even hard, but it is the most pain I've ever been in. In my life. And it was in that moment, my. My. As a human, I was rationalizing that there. I was never going to exit that pain until I hit that finish line. And I think I was just releasing those emotions of, like. Because the quitting was never an option, right? And that was. That was the. That was the. The breaking point of, like, I'm never. It's. This isn't gonna end. It's just gonna be painful until I'm done.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. It might take 18 days. It might take 88 days. Yeah, I'm finished.

[Sam]

Yeah. And that. And that was, like, something I still remember. Drew posted that on my story. He took over my Instagram, posted on my story the night before, and he said, October 1st, until we're done. Because, like, that was the mentality. It was like, until we're done. And I. And I told everybody. I said. I said, when we're done. Like, if shit goes south, I'm like, drew. Or I was like, rob the crew chief. I go, you're the first one to leave. I'm like, drew, then you leave. And then Marcus and Amanda, my little brother and my girlfriend at the time, like, you guys can fight over who's the next person to leave, because we're.

[Guest 1]

We're.

[Sam]

We're going. Like, I'm not. I'm not. I was like, I'll fucking. I'll die out here. And I. And I met. People say that all the time, and it makes Me cringe, you know, when they're like, you know, I'm gonna die or quit for like 100 miles. But like, no, like, I did, like, I had this mentality where I was like, I'm not leaving this until. Unless my leg is snapped in half or I am dead. And I feel like, because I had that true mentality because I had the why. Like, I just kept telling myself, like, it, like, there are so many people in this world who will never be able to experience this. So many veterans that don't have fucking legs. So many, you know, so many people that will never, that can't feel their legs and they'll never understand the type of pain that my feet were giving my body. And I was like, every single step is for them. Whether that sounds cringey or not. I was just telling myself that every single day. I'd make myself cry every single morning as the sun rose. Because when the sun would rise, you'd get a little, you know, emotional. But I would, like. And then I would think, like, don't forget why. Like, I would think about all of that and I would. Every morning I'd make myself cry. Just me out there, you know, like. Like 7 o' clock in the morning, Texas sunrise, just running. And I. Yeah. And I would just, I would just keep hammering it to myself of why

[Interviewer]

I'm doing start in Oklahoma. You're going to run all the way to the south of Texas? Yeah. How long you think it's going to take?

[Sam]

How long do I actually think it's going to take? I'd love to finish on the 19th day.

[Interviewer]

19th day.

[Sam]

And the way that these runs work is a little, it's a little. You can kind of get confused. So when, when they time it, you can finish the next day, but it's actually the day before plus some change. Does that make sense? So when I started Texas, I started on the 1st, I finished on the 18th. But we only had ran 8 hours that day. So it was 17 days, 8 hours, 54 minutes and 3 seconds. So my idea is if I can go, if I can go 20 days flat, that is, that is finishing at the end of the 19th day.

[Interviewer]

That's like 19 days, 23 hours.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then, then that is, then that, that's, that's 50 miles a day. So I'm sure that the question is coming of why, why, you know, everyone wants to know, like, why to do it again. I feel like when I did it, when I did it last time, I had no idea what we were doing. Like, I didn't know how to do it. We. I didn't know how to. Like, I know how to go and do an American flag run and raise $4,000 through HYPE, you know, But I didn't know how to do a charity fundraiser. I didn't know how to do anything. So for me, I felt like I never want to do the minimum. And it was like, to me, I felt like, you know, we only raised 30,000 for Valorfit. And I was very transparent with the public because I don't hide shit. I do not lie. That's a huge thing for me. We raised through brand. The idea was to raise money for logistics. We raised $52,000. We used $52,000. We fucking raised 30.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Sam]

I'm like, bro, you know, because the idea was which, like, people got pissed off about on social media, I don't give a flying fuck. Like, but I would go to Waterloo and I would be like, hey, if you give me 10, 5, or 2.5, I will give you XYZ.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And then they would hop on because I'm. I'm advertising for you to get me across Texas, right? Only raised 30. And I'm like, damn. Like, I really wanted to raise $100,000. And, you know, but there's. There's been some charity events that are really struggling. And I don't know, you know, if it's the, you know, economy, if it was the election, like, you can blame it on whatever, it don't matter. But to me, I was like, I didn't feel like I did what I needed to do with valorfit. And then I had this aspect of, like, I remember every day. And Drew confirmed this to me as he's been combing the footage the last two weeks is like, I would kind of just get tired at the end of the day, and I'd be done. Did I struggle out there? Yeah, I struggled so bad. The most I've ever struggled. But, like, I would kind of just, you know, I'd be like, okay. Like I said, a daily minimum of 40 miles. That would get us done on the 23rd day. I don't do minimums, so I knew I would always do more than 40, than 40 miles. So I. The minimum I hit, I hit 43 twice, 46 a couple times, 47 a lot, 48 a lot. 50 a couple times, 52 once. Like, you know.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

But I always, like, there was just. When I look back at it now, I'm like, man, like, there and maybe. And I'm probably wrong. It's probably my sick mind telling me this, but there was never really a day where I was like, I'm destroyed.

[Guest 1]

Yeah.

[Sam]

I mean, I was destroyed every day. But, you know, it's a weird concept in my brain where I was like, I had more. And, you know, I see William Googe, who I've watched for a really long time. He's ran across America. He ran across. He just ran across Australia. He did 110 kilometers a day, which is like 65 miles. And I had this problem where I'm like, if, like I'm just a normal guy, but when I see someone do something, I know I can do that, right? And, you know, so I'm not saying I'm gonna go out there and run 65 a day, but if I can figure out how to do it, I will, you know, And. And I need to just go. I need to give a little bit more from myself. I need to give a little bit more to charity. Like, I didn't feel. I didn't feel like I gave it all. I felt for the first time in my life, I felt complete when I got. When I got done, because I remember getting back home and we got done on Friday. On Saturday, we had a party, like a welcome home. My friend comes out and he's high energy, sits right next to me and goes, dude, what's next? And I was like, nothing. I was like, I already did. Gave me the sense of peace where, number one, I proved to myself what I'm capable of. And then number two, I felt like I finally approved to everybody else. Like. Like I belong here. And, you know, because I. I play a lot. I play around. I fuck around a lot. Like in. And. And I own that. But, like, when you can. We had this conversation the other day. Like these. These reels of me smoking cigarettes, it's. It's. It's really just a joke. Like, I don't. I don't smoke cigarettes. I don't at all. I'll rip. I'll rip. I'll rip a cig. Like, I'll take a puff in a reel. But, like, how many cigarettes have I actually just smoked? I did smoke one cigarette drunk on a balcony in Tahoe after I fell and broke my face the next day. I don't remember the last cigarette I smoked, but the cigarette is more of a. It's a thing. I'm just being. I'm showing. I'm showing people it's okay to be different.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And at the same time where I'm. Where I'm bringing this back to is, like, I want people to see that. Oh, like this guy is ripping a cigarette, having fun. And then he's saying. And then we're saying, prove it. And he's proving it. Like, I'm proving you can go have a beer. You can. You can take a drag off of a cigarette, and you can go be an elite motherfucker. And you don't need to be. You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be this elite athlete. You don't need to be somebody. Like, I'm not. I'm. I'm. I am labeled from the world as an influencer. I'm not anybody. Like, you know, I. When I. When I left the military, like. Like I took that uniform off and I didn't. I didn't become anything. I became nothing in my mind. And, you know, so for me, I'm just showing these people that, like, you don't need to be somebody to do

[Interviewer]

something, but you're also having fun. You're being yourself.

[Sam]

Right.

[Interviewer]

Like, you don't have to be anybody, but you don't sacrifice yourself for anything.

[Sam]

That. Right there. Yeah. Yes. Make sure that that is added for sure, because it is. I don't want to stray away, you know, that's what I learned when I was, you know, growing in my content. Like, I don't.

[Interviewer]

When.

[Sam]

When you stray away from who you are, it becomes fake. It's not real.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And I also believe, like, if you stay true to yourself, that's when you attract real good people. Because if you are someone else and you're playing this someone else, you're going to attract someone else, and it's not going to be someone that is true to a friendship that you need.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

You know, like. Like I attract, like, just good fucking people because I'm out there and I'm being a real good fucking person. Like, I spent so much time in my life being a shit person. I spent so much time in my life telling white lies. Like, and just one day I just woke up and I was like, I don't want to be this person anymore. Right. And ever since I made that switch. And you can. Ever since I made that switch, it's only been dope good people that have come into my life.

[Interviewer]

What's ironic about that is the white lies, trying to be something you weren't was probably trying to seek acceptance from others.

[Sam]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

But when you became your true, authentic self, the world accepted you in ways you probably never imagined.

[Sam]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Interviewer]

And and then people like Amanda come into your life. People like Drew come into your life, and they bet on you in a big way, because they're like, I see a real true dude.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And I'm gonna be by his side.

[Sam]

Yeah. And that's. That's. As a human experiencing emotions, like, that's one of the greatest things that you could ever feel. Because then, now that I am me and I am true to who I am, I wake up every single morning with. You know, I. I talked about this. Like, I don't. You know, Goggins, there's all those videos out there, and, you know, now people want to copy them and be like, you know, you gotta beat that inner inside of you every morning and don't be a. And like, I wake up every morning and I open my eyes, and I'm like, hell, yeah. I'm like, I get to go run today. I get to like. And I say that every morning when I. When I read my Bible and I pray, I'm like, thank you so much for allowing me the ability to go do what I want to do today.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Sam]

And I wake up grateful every single morning. Which leads. Which is showing me that I am pure. Like, it's pure happiness. Like, I am happy. I'm so happy. Just like we talked about before we sat down. I want to be in my home.

[Guest 2]

Right?

[Sam]

I want to be with my fiance. I want to be in my element, and I want to go run the miles. I want to run.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And that's what, like, the. The pure happiness that. That I feel inside of me. And I. And I started experiencing that when I moved to Austin. Cause I remember telling my mom in 2023, when I moved here, I go, I've never, ever experienced this thing I feel inside my chest, like, this feeling of like, I. I'm not kidding you. I moved to Austin, I could feel it in my chest of like, I would wake up every morning and I would be like, I've never known what it was like to love where you live. And I would feel it in my body.

[Guest 1]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And. And what's so cool is, here we are two and a half years later, and I feel that same thing every morning. And all it is is just gratefulness to be alive and gratefulness to be. To be in a situation that I can use my capabilities and my abilities and my platform to help others understand that they can get there as well.

[Interviewer]

Do you think the perspective that Goggins takes. Beat that inner bitch. Don't be a pussy. You know, all the. All the things he's pushing on people. Do you think that's a mindset of running from something rather than what you said you're embracing now, which is running to something? Which sounds more like an attitude of attitude, if you will.

[Sam]

Yeah. You know, I think number one, like, I. Obviously I can't speak on, like, what. What his inter. Dialogue is, you know, but I think that everyone has their own problems. Yeah. And everyone has to deal with them their own ways. And there was. Deal. There was, you know, times where I would deal with my problems by waking up. I'm like, don't be a. Like, this is, you know, you can go do it, but at some point when you do conquer that. And maybe for me it was, you know, once I started proving it to myself, you know, then it became more of like I was running towards it, you know, like once that you. I think that those people are. Are. They still haven't proved to themselves who they are, or they refuse to prove it to themselves and try to prove it to others.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And when you try to. You. When you try to prove yourself to others, you'll destroy your. You'll destroy yourself in the process. So for me, it's like. But there's only. There's only one way to. To fix that. And I can't say what that way is. Only you can. Only you can figure that out. Right. Like, for me, it was doing these events and doing these hard things and proving to myself over and over and over. Just like you say, like selling a product. Right. Takes you seven times to see it. Maybe it took me seven times to win a race or seven times to run a race until it finally, like, I could finally click in my brain where I'm like, you are who you say you are, right?

[Guest 1]

The things in life that you're avoiding are the things that you need to go head on, the things that you need to address. And when he passed, I was in Rocky Mountain national park and down where we were camping, I didn't get reception. I went to the top of that mountain and my. I got the message that he had passed. And I remember I didn't know really how to react to it. I just got out of the truck and it was July 4th, and I just started running and it started snowing. And then I came up over a ridge and there was a herd of elk. They took off running. And it was like this really spiritual moment. And. One of the things that I always avoided and always hated was running. So I was like, all right, this is it, dude. I'M going to start running until I find out what it is about running. So I instantly signed up for 50k. I've. I've never ran a 5k, you know, so signed up for that 50k and then it kicked my butt and went on to do every level of running. And so running was the first thing that got me doing something that is not within my comfort zone. And that was the thing that he was always big on. Get outside your comfort zone, do the thing that you're avoiding in life, and meet those things head on. So that would be the one thing that there's so many different things. So. But that would have been probably the biggest thing that I took with me.

[Interviewer]

And is there anything you didn't get to say to him that you wish you would have or wish you could have?

[Guest 1]

Man, I wish I could have been there for him at the end, but I knew that. I'm a firm believer there's not coincidences in life. And I was exactly where I was supposed to be when. When in the situation, when that time did come. But, yeah, I wish I could have just. I mean, I know he knew what he meant to me, but I wish I could have, like, probably just had that verbally with him one more time. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So at that moment when you meet Kenny, you'd kind of done your first ruck, Right. That two miles out of the facility is kind of your first ruck.

[Guest 1]

Sure.

[Interviewer]

You find. You find this. This clinic or this AA group and you. You see this guy Kenny, and there's. There's one side of you that's like, oh, this is just another guy. And then there's another side of you, like the deep intuition. And you said, listen to this guy. Talk to this guy. Hang to this guy. Like, you probably didn't really trust yourself at that moment in your life. What made you listen to your intuition to talk to him?

[Guest 1]

There was just something that I. The way he controlled the room, the way that he presented himself, that I knew that it was opposite of everything that I wanted and wanted to do. And I didn't want to talk to him, but he came to me and I knew that. That this could potentially be my way out of the situation that I was in. Because whatever he's gone through is the same stuff that I've gone through. And he made it to the other side and. Okay, how'd you do that?

[Interviewer]

You know, so there's just something in you that saw light.

[Guest 1]

Sure.

[Interviewer]

That saw opportunity, that saw hope. Have there been moments in your life where you heard or saw something similar. But you chose to ignore it.

[Guest 1]

Yeah, I mean, I probably did have some type of guidance through my life. Like my grandfather came when I didn't have my dad around that much, and he kind of took on that role as a mentor as he was my rock and he would. I did a lot of growing up on his ranch. He had a cattle ranch down in South Texas. And a lot of the stuff he instilled in me, he taught me how to be a man and all of those things, you know. And so a lot of the information that he gave me is stuff that carried me through a lot of the hardships I had in life. But that was probably my biggest mentor of my early childhood.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So his grandfather and then Kenny were kind of your two rocks in your life. And then you go on this crazy hike, wanting to quit at mile 42. Tell me about this journey. You know, what, what got you signed up for that? And then why did you want to quit?

[Guest 1]

Okay, so you're talking about the immortal 32 Rock and what happened out on the Immortal. Kenny had. He had passed by that point. And I, being an eighth generation Texan, I was like, I always wanted to, like, do something hard for Texas Independence Day. And me and my son, we went to Luling to City Market to get some barbecue. And then he was like, hey, let's go to Gonzalez. And I was like, all right, I'll go show him to come and take it. Cannon. We drove to there and I was like, hey, I'm gonna see what they do for Texas Independence Day here. Spoke with the curator there at the little museum. He's like, we don't do anything for Texas Independence Day. Our big deal is October 2nd, which was the first shots at the Texas revolution. And I'm looking around the museum and I see all this stuff, the Immortal 32. And I'm like, who the hell are the Immortal 32? So I asked the guy and he's like, in. During the Texas Revolution, Travis was at the Alamo with 174 Texans. They were surrounded by 5,000 Mexican soldiers. He sent out a call for reinforcements. The Gonzalez Ranging Company, which was the law of that area, intercepted that letter. And they took it to their leader, George Kimball, and they're like, hey, what do we do? And he said, there's no question. We go to the Alamo, gather up as many men as we can, and let's go there. And they knew that they were going to most likely die, but they went anyways. And I felt at that moment that this big disservice to those people. They should be. Everybody should know who they are. So I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go from here to the Alamo. And that ruck, it starts at 2am in that first year, I called a buddy of mine, Keith Busby, and I was like, hey, I got this great idea. Lets do a 75 mile ruck. And he's like, dude, you're out of your mind, dude, that's stupid. When are we doing it? And I knew he was dumb enough or crazy enough to do it with me. And so we did it. And we, we weren't playing, we didn't train for it, we weren't prepared for it. We were just two dumb guys going out to do something hard. And we got dropped off in Gonzalez. We didn't have a ride and took off in the morning. And the first 32 miles of it's a beautiful country road. And all this stuff started happening that was just too weird to be coincidental. And I knew I was meant to be doing this.

[Interviewer]

And like, what? Give me an example.

[Guest 1]

So we started early in the morning and we started down the road. We didn't tell anybody what we were. I mean, we told our loved ones of course, but. But not like publicly. Nobody knew about it. And random people started showing up and they're like, what are you doing out here? And we're like, we're walking to the Alamo. And they were like, oh, are you following the path of the Immortal 32? And we're like, yeah. And they're like, oh, thank you so much. You know, because all those people in that area, they know they're 32 and a lot of them is their ancestors. We got to a small town called Belmont and. And I get a call from the news and they're like, we want to interview you. And we're like, okay, cool. And they're like, you know when y' all are going to arrive at the Alamo? And I was like, yeah, we should be there on March 1st. And they said, oh, wow, that's pretty cool. Because that's when the immortal 32 arrived at the Alamo. We didn't pick that by any means. It was purely coincidental. And we're going to have some reenactors there. That'd be cool if you could walk in with them. Yeah. So we were trying to make that happen. And random people continue to stop and tell us all these stories along the way of like, oh, right here is where this one family lived. Then we got to about mile 25, and we're cruising down the road, and there's this old house up on the hill. Next to it is a little white house. And there's this old man sitting on the porch with a white beard. And he's like, hey, where are y' all going? We're going to the Alamo. He's like, come here. I got something to talk to y' all about. So we went over there, and he gave us each a bottle of water. And he's like, see that house up on the hill? That's George Kimball's house. And George Kimball was the leader of the mortal 32. They met right here on that lawn before they went to the Alamo. And I'm just mind blown. That house was built by a guy named Ira Nash, who came from Tennessee. His family is who Nashville is named about. His wife was Clementine. He was killed by Comanches, and George Kimball ended up marrying Clementine. And he lived in that house when it all happened. And according to that guy, it's the oldest house in Texas still on its original footprint. And he took us on a tour in the house, and there's, like, all the logs. You can see all the little ax marks and everything. And that was just too odd to be coincidental. And series of events like that happened throughout the whole thing. And we got to Seguin, and that was the first seed planted into your head. My head is like, this is awesome. I'm beat up, and I'm not even halfway through. We leave Seguin right at dusk, and it's probably another five or six miles to get to the frontage road of I10. And that first year we did it, it was Covid. And we're like. We had supplies we supplied up somewhat in Seguin. And when we got to i10, there was a store. We knew there was a store. We really didn't know the plan, the route, where the stores were going to be, but we knew there was a store right when we got on i10, and we were out of water, and we didn't have any food. And we get to the store, and we're like, planning on resupplying there. And we approach the store, and it's like something's a little off. And we get to the front, and it says close due to Covid. And we're like, dude, we're out of water. And the next store was, it turned out being like eight or nine miles down the road. There was a store Five miles back. Well, what do we do? Do we turn back and go get resupplies where we know we can get resupplies, or we just push forward? And we said, screw it. Let's just push forward. And about three miles into that stretch, which I now call the Soul crusher, and which is between mile 40 and 50, we start cruising down the road, and it's nighttime. I'm beat up, and my partner starts falling back, and I'm like, man, this dude's slowing me down. I know how to just hunker down, get in the zone. And I'm getting frustrated. I'm getting pissed off, and I want to just push through. And look back, I see the faint glow of his headlamp, and I'm like, man, he's probably a quarter mile behind me. I'm like, he's a grown man. He could figure this out. I'm just pushing forward. And I was ready to leave him in the dark. Something bigger than myself had me turn around, and I turned around and started walking back towards him. And the whole way up to him, I was frustrated and angry. And when I got to him, he was on the ground. Very fit guy on the ground. And he just looked up to me and said, I'm done. You know, I can't go on. And when I looked down on him, I saw myself. I saw myself when I was ready to give up on life. And I flashed back to Kenny reaching that hand out to me, and I knelt down next to him. I don't know exactly the words I said to him, they weren't my words, as far as I'm concerned. And said some stuff to him. And basically, the main thing I remember was like, hey, we can stand up together. I'm not going to d and we're going to finish this thing together. He stood up eventually, and we. We continued on. And it was at that moment that I realized, hey, that's. This isn't about going some crazy long mileage. This isn't about doing something stupidly hard. This is about one man helping another man when he's in his lowest spot. And we got up and we walked. And that was the day Project grit was formed. That was the moment. And we finished that ruck together, side by side the next day. And the next year, I was like, hey, if we don't do this again, it's a cool story we tell over a campfire. We did it. The next year at mile 30, I rolled my ankle really bad. We got to Seguin. I couldn't stand up on my own and the table had turned and he helped me out of a low spot. We made, we got some tape and taped up my ankle and we finished it together. And then next year we opened it up to the public and it was just. I've seen countless people that have gone and done that ruck and had life changing moments and a lot of that happens during that Soul Crusher stage.

[Interviewer]

It's just finding like the courage to start, I think is oftentimes where the good in life can come is just having the courage to start. And you've seen that with the run across America. You've seen that with two runs across Texas. You've seen that with setting the world record, which you're going to go back beat in Antarctica. What do you think it takes from a person to actually have the courage to start?

[Guest 2]

I believe it takes consistency in that effort. So it doesn't have to be a massive start at first. It could be starting with making sure you make your bed in the morning or eat breakfast if you don't like to eat breakfast but you want to. And all these small efforts and pursuits which will then make the, the idea for you personally to start on a bigger effort a lot less effortful, for lack of a better term. And then once you're that person who understands like three, two, one, go. You don't have to dwell on things. You get a good amount of facts, not overanalyzing it. Understand the opportunity and take it.

[Interviewer]

So what I hear you saying is it's almost like your day zero mindset of like these are the standards. We uphold the standards. And this is day zero. Talk to me a little bit about how you manage these run across Americas or these run across Texas or this ride that we're about to do so that every day is day zero. Explain that to me. Day zero. Here's the standards.

[Guest 2]

So I learned this when I was in the military and as things go well, the, the culture of the team will change to a one of we got this and that's when people die, or at least my old job. And that's when people screw things up and things go terribly wrong. So we would treat these, I would treat every single day like it's day one, where everything is brand new, fresh, we have to learn everything or we have to operate at this perfect standard that you're trying to hit every single time before you understand that you're good at it. This eliminates complacency, which is where all the issues come from. So when it comes to getting people across the country. I personally don't go into the hotels or I won't go into anything that makes it enjoyable per se just because I know that when you have that. All right now waking up at the 3:35 alarm or 3:40 alarm is a lot more difficult. Okay. Getting out of the hotel is actually a lot longer than getting out of the rv. X, Y and Z will wind up putting you into a position where you're now missing 15 minutes on three evolutions a day. You've wasted 45 minutes a day for 20 days and now you're a whole day behind where you would be all compound. And it seems small and it seems sadistic or overreactive on it. But every moment in an operation counts. And if I'm able to keep myself as a leader in the headspace in line with where we're going, that's how it's worked out. So successful for everything that I've done.

[Interviewer]

How do you parlay that into your personal life? Like do you take that same mindset into relationship? Because I believe in relationships, a lot of people get complacent and that's when divorce, cheating, frustration, anger, fighting happen. So do you, do you take that mindset into your personal life as well?

[Guest 2]

I do maybe not as cognitively as I would with the ride. However, I do try to keep things nuanced from a day to day perspective. You make homemade cards in the first beginning party relationship and you stop with that. Or you're making sure that date night's a priority for X amount of years or months and then that disappears too. Or before you'd cancel your meetings for business to be able to go make sure that you're at that event for her, but then you don't. In the future that I try to uphold, I have to cognitively do that when I do weekly planning, monthly planning, quarterly planning it to have those goals there. Because if, if you don't have those goals and you don't treat, at least personally treat the relationship like it's one of these operations or like it's a business, things fall through the cracks.

[Interviewer]

And do you have to when you get into these relationships, I mean you've got a, a great girlfriend now who I haven't had the privilege of meeting yet, but hopefully soon we will meet her. Like do you have to articulate these things on the front end of like this is how I'm wired, this is the standard, this is how I live. And do you seek that in your partner? Or is it like this is Me, this is my way. And they're going to have them, and they're going to have their way.

[Guest 2]

I'm pretty hands off on trying to make my partner like me. I understand I'm a little bit of a different human being. I think that most partners I've had, including Charlotte, understand the more that they know me, that I do prioritize lots of things in life. So if somebody wants them to be the number one priority all of the time, it's difficult for me because there's other tasks that do require a lot of effort. For example, in the Navy where I used to work, I was a Navy diver. I worked on a SEAL team as a, as a support crew. There was a 95% divorce rate. And a main reason for that is when you're operating at that high of a level, it's very hard to be able to split yourself between two things. And I'm making sure in my personal life that I don't get to that point of, okay, the business is now more important than the relationship. Okay. The fitness is more important than the business and the relationship. Being able to split up and divvy up those things is a challenge. I'm not perfect. Sometimes I mess up, sometimes I'll forget things. But writing stuff down and keeping track of it like a business does help in regards to my relationship.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. It makes sense that a lot of this framework comes from that discipline in the Navy. I mean, if you're a Navy diver, you're likely starting on a submarine. If you're on a submarine, you're likely there for a long time.

[Guest 2]

I mean, we were a little bit blessed. I'm not going to say I'm like a submariner. We would fly into a neighboring island and then get onto the boat. The people on the boat would be there for six to nine months. The longest I ever went was 42 days, 43 days.

[Interviewer]

When you say boat, submarine or submarine,

[Guest 2]

I've never went on an above ground boat.

[Interviewer]

So let's be real, it's not a boat. This is below water, dark seas.

[Guest 2]

Yes. There was two boats that we used to go on. One was Boomer, also known as a gn, and the other one was a Virginia class, which is a fast attack. I think if I mess that up, I apologize everybody. But yes, one's. One's a bigger boat, one's a lot smaller boat, and a smaller boat. We would like. The distance that we are between each other right now is the maximum distance that you'll be away from somebody at all times. Every day for 40 days.

[Interviewer]

For 40 days and you sleep on that, sleep on that, you eat on that, workout on that, work outside of that.

[Guest 2]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And then come back inside and hang out.

[Guest 2]

Correct.

[Interviewer]

And every day you treat it as

[Guest 2]

day one for that. Every day I do treat it as day one. There's also other things that I learned from those deployments like giving yourself a mini routine. Everyone has their morning routine nowadays and I don't think it's hogwash but I do think having an hour and a half morning routine might be a little silly in regards to time optimization but if you have a five minute like hey I wake up, I turn this song on, I go right in this journal, I go take this supplement and essentially involving all of your senses so like your cognitive function, you're hearing something, you might be smelling something, you might be tasting something. All of that at the same time within a five minute period can ground you drastically compared to if you don't have it.

[Sam]

Sam.