James "The Iron Cowboy" Lawrence - Completing 101 Ironman-Length Triathlons In 101 Days

Welcome back to the Casey Adams Show. Today, I am joined by a man I truly admire and someone that I believe everyone listening can find a lot of direction in their life from. And that man is James Lawrence, better known as the Iron Cowboy. Thanks so much for coming to show James what's up.

Casey, thanks for having me, man.

Of course. I'm super excited to have this conversation, man, because I. I remember you talking about momentum in another interview that I saw. And just leading up to this conversation, just to really set the stage and give you some of the context, I recently saw the yes Theory documentary, the Project Iceman where you were featured in there.

I haven't even seen it yet.

It's so good. And seeing you in there, your. Your cameo was incredible. And just the perspective that you were able to provide the viewers, it was really, really cool. You have to tell them more out of ten.

Oh, good. Yeah, I've got. I've heard from some other people that they loved it. They loved one, the documentary. But to my. My little part in it. Yeah, I'm excited to check it out and see it. I'll have to. Have to contact Anders and get a. Get a copy of it.

Absolutely. But I wanted to bring that up because you are someone that has recently provided me not only so much momentum, but I've been familiar with your story for quite some time now, since I heard you on Andy Frisella's podcast. But I. I went to this Project Iceman film, and then I listened to a podcast that you were on with Rich Roll, and it led me to signing up for a marathon that I'm running this upcoming Sunday in Hawaii. And I've been running for quite some time, but just seeing those two film and a podcast back to back just really helped me pinpoint that date. And I just want to say, first off, thank you, but really just start the conversation by talking about momentum because you've done some incredible things that, you know, you can't just commit to. You have to. You have to build up that momentum. You know, you can't just do the. The 505050 or Project 100 right out of the gate. So where did this drive and momentum start for you along your journey of eventually breaking Guinness World Records and, you know, being one of the toughest men in the world.

Well, thanks, man. I. I call this concept. You can't go from 0 to 100. And truly, you know, people tune in to different stories on different parts of people's journey, and a lot of people tuned into our journey a decade plus into it when we were doing the most recent 100 consecutive full distance Ironmans called the Conquer 100, where we did 14,000 plus consecutive miles. And it's, it's crazy because that's nowhere close to where our journey began. And your perception and your perspective changes over a long period of time and that only happens through experience. And it's interesting because you look around and everyone's, they want to do these things and they set these big monster goals and their actions don't align at all with where they're trying to get to. And they wake up and they know what they're supposed to be doing and ultimately they don't do it. And my journey, you know, it started as a kid, as a young entrepreneur. I mean I just, I was driven to grow and to do hard things. And my first job, I was nine years old. I wasn't old enough to get a paper route. And I grew up in Canada, it's freezing cold. And so I convinced one of my sisters to get it and I would do it. I would do it in her name. I'd wake up every morning at 4am and put on my snowsuit and just get out there and start hucking papers. And that was kind of the beginning of my mental toughness journey. And then got really into sports and gravitated towards wrestling. And I think that was the greatest gift that I was given was my wrestling days, my coaches, my team losing a lot and just continuing to show up and refine that craft and, and then through life just got into endurance racing. And that to me has been extremely gratifying to do, to be part of that community and just the lessons I've learned through that entire journey. But you know, momentum started when I was 9 years old and started to create that discipline. Getting up at 3:34 in the morning, you know, Canada, Calgary's not, yeah, Calgary's not warm for sure in the winters back in those days. And so that's really where I started to cultivate that discipline and, and that momentum that you're talking about, I love that.

And I mean coming from an athlete myself, I totally relate. And you know, I want to dive into, you know, that, that first ounce of momentum when it comes to running. I, I remember you, you started by doing this four mile race or run, is that right? That really tipped the scale of like leading down this path. Like what was that race? And in that moment did, did you expect for that race to lead you to pursuing this entire path of breaking records or what was your mindset back then?

Yeah, I mean, none of this was planned. Um, and, and, and I think that's.

The beauty of life.

Like, everyone's trying to find their, their passion, their purpose, their reason for doing things. And they're trying, they're trying to find it through sitting on social media or not leaving their home or their apartment. And, and I made a decision on that day to get out and go do something. And it completely changed my life. And like you said, it was a four mile fun run I did with my wife. It was on Thanksgiving. It's become a tradition of our families. But I literally suffered through those four miles, and I was either going to allow that moment to define me or I was going to go, okay, I, I can do that better because it was terrible. And as a young married man trying to find his way, you should be able to run four miles. And it's shocking how many people would struggle through that and have that same experience that I did. And I didn't want it to define who I was. And so I made some changes in my life and it put me on this path, but it just speaks volumes to what would have happened had I not gone and done that four miles had I not sought out an experience to have and I could have allowed that moment to defeat me as well. And that's how life is. We don't, we don't. We can't. It's impossible to plan every aspect of our lives because there's, There's a different plan for us and the way we think it's going to unroll isn't the way it's always going to unroll. And, and I just keep showing my life every single day, and I'm like, what's going to happen today? Who am I going to meet today? Who am I going to be able to help today? Who am I going to like I'm meeting you today. I get to be and have an experience with, with Casey Adams right now. And that, that's, that's amazing to me. And, and so I try to say yes to opportunities because we have no idea what a conversation can spark, the impact that that can have, what experiences it can lead to. And everybody's just so scared, sitting at home waiting for passion to find them. And passion will never find you. You have to seek passion through experience.

I love that. And very well said. And you know, just when you're saying, you know, you went on this fun run and now it's a tradition, it's, it speaks volumes to where just following that, like saying yes to an Opportunity and what it can lead to. And I remember like last year I just started getting into running. I remember running my first 10 mile run was groundbreaking to me and it really, I felt this, such a sense of accomplishment. But then the day after that it was like, what's next? And I already feel that from myself where I've done a couple just half marathons. I just ran my first official half marathon race here in la. And then as I stated earlier, I'm doing my first marathon this upcoming Sunday. But I already know and sense that my mind is telling me what's next. What's next? And I'd love to ask you, did you have that internal conversation with yourself? You set out to do the 50, 50, 50, which was incomprehensible for yourself and for people at the time, and then to double that and to do 101. It's, you know, it was just a conversation of like, what's next? And I'd love to ask you, did you notice that brewing over time and how did you capitalize on that? Because some people silence that inner voice of like, no, I, I've reached my limit. Or some people pursue it and go all in on that. And I can sense myself as someone that is wanting to do more. I'm like, okay, I'm already planning the next one after I'm doing this, my first marathon. But what is that inner dialogue for you? Especially in those early days of planning the 50, 50, 50 and just thinking about what's to come from there?

Yeah, I believe that we're never just standing still. We're either moving forward and progressing or we're slipping backwards. And I'll put out a word of caution for the what's next mentality. There should always be a what's next. It doesn't always have to be in the same category, but we should always be pushing our minds, our bodies, our relationships, things like that, that growth and. But you don't want to be looking to what's next until you've really conquered the present, because you won't be ready to take on the next until you've successfully accomplished the current goal that you have. And so, yeah, there will be a next after your marathon, but I want you to focus 10,000% on this marathon this Sunday. You only ever get one chance to do your first marathon and you'd be doing yourself a massive disservice if you were looking, standing on the start line, looking to what's next when you haven't crossed that finish line yet. And that's A big mistake that people make, especially young entrepreneurs, is they're always looking to what's next and they forget that this journey that you're on now prepares you for what's next because you can't see the next mountain until you're standing on the current mountain you're trying to climb. And when you're standing on top of that mountain, all of a sudden, one, you have experience, but your knowledge, your perspective, your perception changes. And now what's next becomes possible. And you can't think of what's next until you've gained that knowledge and experience to be able to take on what's next. So, yes, there's always what's next because that's how we navigate this life, that's how we go on this journey, that's how we have experiences. But don't get too ahead of yourself with what's next and miss out on the beauty, the joy of what you're experiencing right now. Again, you get one chance to ever run your first marathon. And it would be a shame to be looking ahead at what's next when you need to be right there in that moment.

I am gonna go back and listen to this. So I, I appreciate that, James. And speaking of that, for, for people that are out there that are setting out to do their first race, like someone like myself. Right. Doing my first marathon, it again, as you said, it's all perspective of whether that's a four mile run or a marathon or the 50, 50, 50. What's your advice for someone that is looking to go down this path of endurance training? Whether that's the mentality, perspective or the training, like some, some big takeaways that you've experienced because I've known you've, you've pushed yourself beyond belief. And you know, I'd love to just hear some of the big takeaways for someone like myself or people that are listening, that are going down this path and something that you wish you would have known if you were to, you know, tell your younger self. Getting into this journey today.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting because we're in a day and age where everyone is like, dream big and shoot for the stars. And all of that is true. The problem is, is we're, we're trying to skip over the stepping stones in order to get to the big dream to accomplish the big dream. It's great to have a big dream, but if you rush to accomplish it, you're going to fail and then you're going to quit. And so my advice to Anybody would be. Start small and really build those foundations. Don't get up off the couc and sign up for an ironman. Go to a sprint triathlon. Build that foundation. If you look at every single, every single world champion right now in the half ironman, full ironman distance, they came from ITU Olympic racing. That is all out speed. And then they develop that speed. You are going to get over trained, you're going to get burned out and you're going to get injured if you try to go right to it without building the foundation blocks that you need to do. It's like anything. You can't just go open up a franchise and open up the doors without buying all of the ingredients and putting the staff in place. Like you're going to fail. You're not going to make any sales. And so look, one, hire a coach. It's a steep learning curve in anything new that you're doing. Surround yourself with amazing people, dive in and fully commit to it. Do the, the smaller steps that it takes to get to the bigger steps. Don't, don't miss out on that. I think the reason I've been successful on my journey is because I started small. I did years of sprint in Olympic racing developing that foundation of strength and speed and then I lengthened it out. And most people haven't seen that part of my journey because it was over a decade ago, but that was where it started. And I believe I was able to do these big challenges because I laid down that groundwork. And so again, there's a lot of social pressure to go like big to do the big race, to do the hundred miler, to do. No, dude, start with a four mile fun run and build those foundational blocks to guarantee your success. I can look at anybody's journey and if they succeeded or they failed, I can backtrack it to their end throughout their preparation phase and I can pinpoint an exact moment where they went off the rails or maybe got too excited and tried to go too big too quick.

Absolutely. No, that makes sense. I do want to, I want to change the conversation a bit because I know the, the feats that you've accomplished, they weren't done alone. They were done with a team and an incredible team to help you get through these long journeys. What does teamwork mean to you and what did that support system just provide for you over the journey? Whether that's your family, the, the volunteers, the people along the journey. Just what does teamwork mean to you and how has it contributed to the success of, of you as an individual.

Yeah. Anybody that thinks they made it to the mountaintop of success on their own is, is immature and naive and arrogant. Nothing great is ever accomplished on our own. And I'm not the Iron Cowboy. My entire team is Iron Cowboy. That includes my wife, my five kids, the two wingmen, and anybody that has reached out a helping hand along the way. We've come, we've come across a lot of amazing people that have become temporary parts of our team, long term members of our team. And I wouldn't be here sitting, talking, have a conversation with you, Casey, if it wasn't for my team. Team. Team is heavy during the preparation phase and then in the in execution phase. But ultimately, at the end of the day, there is an individual element to it because you have to do the work. And so it's a beautiful marriage of you have to do the work, you have to show up. And you also have to surround yourself with the team and allow your team to do what they're great at. Because in order to be successful at the highest level, you can't do all things at a, at a master level. And so I surround myself with people that have skill sets that I lack. I'm definitely not naive to the fact that I don't know how to do everything, that I'm not an expert at everything. And I stay in my lane with what I'm great at and I put amazing people around me that are great at what they're great at and together we can go and do and achieve greatness.

Absolutely. And I think it's, it's so special that you had this family environment and team aspect to what you've accomplished. And you know, I want to talk about that. Right. Like this is yes, an individual journey, but it, it impacted your family. You had to, this was not a, a small thing. Right. Especially when you think about the, the conquer 100. What was the initial reaction of your wife, kids, family when you set out to do these just incomprehensible feats when it comes to, you know, their lifestyle, their day to day and just getting prepared for something like this?

Yeah, it's been a long journey that we've been on together and it was never a surprise when we would announce or discuss the next big thing because we started from the beginning and we started there together. And so it was always, oh yeah, that's the next natural step in our progression. And my kids have been part of the journey since they were very young. They've learned a ton. They've been involved at a High level. They've watched mom and dad struggle, they've watched mom and dad succeed. And so it's been a beautiful thing to watch the family go through it and the lessons that they've learned. And I believe it's had a huge impact on how they've turned out and the drive that they have and the, the lack of entitlement that my kids have and their willingness to show up and, and do the hard things because mom and dad have set that example and that expectation that that's how you navigate life, that's how you chase down success, that's how you chase down goals. And so I, I just think it's been, it's, it's been amazing. There, there was never a shock factor because it started with a four mile fun run and, and my kids saw that and then they saw me struggle to do the next thing. Because when, when you're on a journey and you're pushing your limits every time, it's the hardest thing you've ever done until you accomplish it and can move on to the next, like we talked about. And they've, they've had a front row seat to that entire process and they understand it at a very high level.

That's awesome. I can't imagine just being a child and seeing and going through that experience. You learn so much. So shout out to the five kids you said, right?

Yeah, five.

That's incredible. When it comes to the mental discipline, one of the. And just to backtrack, you know, I first heard your story on Andy Frisella's podcast and that led me to doing 75 hard and just really grasping the. Grasping this understanding of mental discipline. If, if you were to summarize mental discipline into what it means to you, how would you say that within a sentence of what mental discipline is?

Well, mental discipline is the, the grassroots to anything. You have to have mental discipline to have a successful marriage. You have to have mental discipline to be a grounded parent. You have to have mental discipline to work on your health and your, your fitness and your well being. You have to have mental dis. Like to do business, like everything you have to have. So that's truly the cornerstone. It all ends with our mind. Our mind is the greatest computer around. And it's, it's, it's not limited in capacity. It, it can continue to grow and evolve as we train and grow it. And so mental capacity, grit, toughness, it is the foundation that trickles into everything else that we do.

When it comes to channeling your own mental discipline into you know, coming out of the, the 101, like, how have you channeled mental discipline in those different areas of life, whether that's your marriage or, or a business capacity? Because I think it's very. It's sometimes easier to comprehend, like, oh, wow, like, to. To do, like, okay, you did 101. That is something that your mind has to be so powerful and your mental discipline has to be there. But things like marriage or business, these are some things that maybe it's harder to really see what it takes and what someone's capable of. So when you think about these other areas of your life and applying the mental discipline to them, can you give us some examples of how you've done that in the same context of, let's say, racing?

Yeah. And to me, discipline isn't something that, it's not a gift, it's not something that we're born with, it's something that we develop. It is a habit that is refined. And discipline is just doing a lot of little things consistently over a long period of time. And when you do that in business, you win. When you do that in your marriage, you win. When you do that in your health and fitness, you win. And so it really is just creating systems and habits and that's what discipline is. Consistently showing up and doing the things that you don't want to do, that's discipline.

Absolutely. And I think for context, I had a tech startup that I recently sold and we were fundraising back a year and a half ago and we raised money from 37 different angel investors. And the amount of no's and the mental discipline to push through something like a fundraise, it was quite the ringer. But you learn through that process in a business capacity. I totally, I relate.

Well, to me, that's not even so much discipline. That's resilience and that is just staying the course. Right. And it does take discipline to do that, but that is persistence and that is resilience. And those two things are as essential as discipline. You have to be disciplined with your consistency. You have to be disciplined with your resilience. You have to be, you know, you have to be disciplined with all those things in order to stick with it. And so, yeah, you were disciplined, but you were persistent. And like I said, discipline is just a habit. Yeah. So good job.

Yeah, appreciate it. For sure. I'd love to ask you. It's coming up the end of 2022, your day to day life now, you work with and coach and consult so many incredible companies or individuals day to day Life, like, let's talk about that. Where do you spend your time today? What are you focused on right now? Because I think we can, of course, learn from the past, but learn about the present and looking into the future from James Lawrence, Iron Cowboy. So day to day, what does your day look like? How do you spend your time? I'd love to dive into that.

Yeah. I'm sure this won't come as any surprise, but the number one question I get is what's next? And, and for me, for me, I'm not, I'm a thousand percent satisfied with the 101. I don't need to do 150. I don't need to do 200. I corrected the mistakes we made on the 50. I silenced any doubt that was out there. And for me, what's next now and where I'm putting my focus and attention is one, initially it was getting my health back. The 101 was an incredible drain and stress on myself, my family, my wife. I had to take time off and that gets into weight gain and cognitive, mind and mental issues. And so I had to address all those things. And so first and foremost on anybody's life, in anybody's life, is taking care of themselves because you can't help anybody else unless you've taken care of yourself first. And so that was number one, making sure my wife and I were both back to health. And so for me, I'm so happy to say, I'm back on track, I'm thriving. I've never felt this good physically or cognitively. I also just mentioned I'm 1000% satisfied with that. What's next doesn't always have to be in the same category. I'm going back to the Norseman World Championships for Extreme Triathlon in August. I want to compete there. And so I'm really working hard physically to do that. But what I'm most excited about right now and what's next is helping people get to their mountaintop, their impossible. The book that we wrote, our first book was called Redefine Impossible. The next one, I believe, is going to be Defy Logic. It's in the, in the writing process right now, but that's what I want to help people do. I want to help people redefine their possible or they're impossible. And, and so we, I'm super pumped for 2023. We're, we're rolling out Iron Grit, which is our mindset course. We're going to be doing three retreats that are going to be one where you have to take an action where you have an experience. Because if the number one question I get is what's next? The number two question is, how do I become more mentally tough? And the only way to do that is through an experience, right? Yeah. We talked earlier in this podcast about finding your passion. And the only way to do that is to get up to go do something. Well, we're going to, through our online coaching and the calls and access to all my team members and experts that are on my team. We're going to motivate you and then we're going to empower you to take an action. And then we're going to take it another level. We're going to have experiences. And to me, that, that is one of the coolest things I'm most excited about, is getting to meet people that want to engage, that want to have an experience. So we're doing just helping people experience what our family's been able to experience and to reach new heights, to remove the barriers that we have in our minds and truly help people redefine their impossible and to go defy their version of what logic is.

I can tell you one thing, James. I'm looking forward to being a part of those in whatever capacity. So I'm personally pumped up to hear more about that, and I'm sure the audience is as well. But you said something that stuck out to me when sharing coming out of the 101 and the mental and physical aspect of what you had to go through coming out of that. You know, I've always wondered, just when it comes to injury, I know you were running with a, a fracture at one point, just for how many days was that that you were running with a fracture?

The last 95.

The last 95. How?

And a lot of people, a lot of people that didn't follow the journey intimately also don't know that we crashed or I crashed on day 59 on my bike and I broke my L5 vertebrae and. And so I ended up doing 41 Ironmans with a broken back.

Saying that, James, it just sounds insane. And I want to ask you the long term health, just aspects of how you feel coming out of that. What was that recovery process? Because it's one thing to not feel good, but when you have broken vertebrae fractures, all these things that you're just, there's a lot of pain and you're constantly pushing the limit coming out of that. Like, how are you? How are you feeling? How are you feeling Now? I know you said you're feeling incredible, but when it comes to the real health aspects of what you went through. Just what have you learned through that process of what you're physically capable of and really how that plays a role long term in terms of how you feel and know what your body can, can now do. Because now you're still competing, you're still doing these things. So it's, it's one thing to say, like, oh, that didn't stop you. You're going to continue doing these different races. But I, I'd love to ask you, like, what did you learn from recovery from, from the different doctors and teammates you've worked with, knowing that you had so many injuries throughout the process?

Yeah, I think two things come to mind. First is one, the mind and the body are incredible and they can, they can overcome a lot of pain, a lot of adversity. They can continue to move. And then also the, the body and mind are so incredible. They can recover and rebound when you give them the tools and the resources they need. When you put the time and effort in to recoup that. Because I, you know, coming off the hundred, I had to stop, I had to stop and I just stopped moving. I had to stop everything in order to recover. And then, you know, you slip into complacency and, you know, a little bit of possible laziness and whatnot and trying to refine direction in your life and what you're doing and what you're passionate about and you know, because standing on top of the mountain, you're like, okay, well now what, what is it? What are the next steps look like? And it was very, very challenging, very hard. I had to respect that recovery process. What we eat is so incredibly important. How we sleep, the conversations we have with ourselves that the team that we put around, I mean, all of it is, but it just speaks volumes to how powerful the mind and the body is, how you can completely trash your system. And so like, if you're sitting there right now in life and you've maybe gone down the party road or you haven't given your, your health and fitness as much attention as it needs, it's never, it's never too late to start. You can completely reset your neurological system, your hormone system, your everything, you can completely reset it and you can get the life, the body, the mind, anything you want. It's never too late to hit that reset button and continue to grow and evolve. And so I'm a living testament to it. I mean, we trashed my body and it was just incredibly powerful for me to watch from my perspective that what the body can push through, what the mind can push through, and then going through the recovery process, what the body will do and how it adapts, when you give it the right tools, when you're patient with it, when you show up and really work on that, it's incredible from both those perspectives, what the mind and the body are capable of doing.

What was some of the most impactful parts of that recovery process for you?

Realizing that. That it takes work, that nothing can be taken for granted. The body and the mind are fragile. As powerful as they are, they are fragile. And it's incredible how fast things can go if you. If you take too much time off, if you're too complacent, if you're resting on your laurels, like, that was one thing. Like, you want longevity, you want health, you want strength, you want power. It is a lifetime decision to be disciplined, to be consistent, all those things. So that's really what I learned at the high level, like, how fast things can go off rails and the amount of love and respect that our bodies deserve and need in order to thrive, to be able to help other people, we have to take care of ourselves. And it took me over 18 months to get to the point where I was like, I'm now ready and healthy and willing and able to help other people. Because that's our entire mission, is to help other people have these experiences, to get out of their own way, to get rid of their limiting beliefs, to help them have experiences to where they gain that knowledge, to create that momentum that we talked about. In the first five minutes I had, I had to get to that point where I could do that.

Yeah. So 18 months. Wow. That's quite the journey of itself. Right. Like, the recovery phase is. I can only imagine, like, coming out of that, how you feel so.

Well, people. People see prep, see. People see the preparation, they see execution, and then they've moved on to the next shiny object, and they don't. They don't realize there's a whole recovery aspect of things.

Yeah.

And, you know, when you look at. When you look at professional athletes at the highest level, it's so impressive to me to look at guys that have done it at a high level for their entire careers. That just takes so much discipline, so much respect to do anything for. We'll just take LeBron James right now. He's in his 20th season, I believe, to do it at that level. The numbers he's producing now at that level is insane. You take a look at, I mean, how long Tiger woods was at the top of his game. To be able to do that for that long, to have the fall from sports that he did and then to come back and win the Masters is just insane. And so I really respect people that don't do something great one time, that continue to be great over a lifetime.

Absolutely. I actually, I was just reading about Tiger woods in Ryan Holiday's book Stillness is Key and he had this whole chapter on it. And that leads me to ask you, you know, you're referencing some of these incredible world class athletes like yourself, who or what has inspired you or, or has been that beam of light when it comes to not only what's possible, but just the, the mentality and how they live. Right. Whether that's Brian or Tiger woods, just who are some individuals or things that you've followed and that you've studied prior to reaching these massive milestones in your life?

Yeah. Top of my list is going to be a fighter, George St. Pierre out of Canada. Just unbelievable discipline, unbelievable respect. Someone that has a game plan and sticks to it. You know, Mike Tyson's favorite quote or famous quote is everyone's got a game plan to get kicked in the face or punch in the face and you to watch him fight. You know, he was, he was known as a little bit of a boring fighter, but he just stuck to his game plan. He knew what it was going in and when he got kicked and punched in the face, he didn't deviate from it. And he just had a ton of respect for his opponents, for the support for his journey. It was impeccable. I still think he's one of the greatest pound for pound fighters ever. And yeah, just a ton of respect for him. His career, watching the way he did things just really motivated me and it was actually really cool. I can't remember what day it was on the hundred, but I got a message, a video message from George St. Pierre kind of cheering me on and whatnot. And it was a really cool moment for me to have that happen. And so yeah, it was kind of.

That is so cool. Oh my goodness. That's really cool to hear. And I think just having that Guiding Light is very incredible. And speaking of the hundred and getting these messages, when it comes to the process of doing what you did, were you spending a lot of time in between in terms of the recovery phases of each day, seeing these messages or getting, you know, on whether that's social or communicating with people on your, on your phone or was it just very, just out of touch? I know you guys Had a lot of documentation of what was going on. But where was your mind? Right. Because it's so easy to see all these messages and people cheering you on. But did you try to limit that at times, or what was your approach there?

Yeah, you know, we learned a very valuable lesson during the 50 that there's going to be a lot of noise, a lot of hatred, a lot of criticism. And so during the 50, the back half of the 50, I really had to separate myself from it and just focus on the task at hand and realize that we're doing something that nobody else in the world has done. And they don't get to have an opinion because they're not. They're not the man in the arena. And then. And then the hundred. My daughter Lucy was a huge help. She ran the entire social media campaign. And so she was on the ball with that kind of stuff. And she ran, answered every message and really engaged with the audience and the viewers because I did have to focus on what I was doing. Now with that said, I did have a lot of time on the run with my phone, and I would jump on every single day and make sure that we were answering messages and talking to people, because that's what this is about. It's about bringing community together and making it a journey for not just myself, my family, but for everybody involved. And so my team does a great job at handling critical things on social media and in the media and things like that. And then I'm very active on my social medias as well. But I did kind of have to check out a little bit during the hundred and then play catch up afterwards. But I answer all my DMs right now on social, and all the comments are from me. So I'm very active on my social.

Absolutely. That's very cool to hear when it comes to. Let me ask you this. I wanted to ask this during the podcast because I think it's. It's something that I realized allows me to just zone in and be more present. So when I was listening to your podcast with Rich Roll, I remember I was going out to do like a half marathon that day and just, I was so zoned in on the conversation that you and Rich were having and, and just decided, oh, I'm gonna. I'm gonna do 17 today. And. And I. And I pushed that boundary. And for me, that was like a huge, like, part of my training regimen. If you were to give me advice on my first marathon, I'm on mile 22, 23. How do you stay Present in that moment, because I'm going to listen to this, James. I'm listening to this right now in Hawaii. I would love to hear your perspective of what you would tell me when I'm 23, 24, 25 miles in on this race, because I'm going to be listening to this on Sunday. And I first want to say thank you to the response you're about to give, because it's getting me through it.

Yeah, great question. And you're going to be well into the hurt locker at that point. Unchartered territory for you. And really, in those moments to stay present, you 100% have to just shift to gratitude. The realization that you don't have to be there, you get to be there. The knowledge that you have a body that can run a marathon, the fact that you're in Hawaii, the fact that there's volunteers and other people running and spectators, not everybody has that opportunity. And just to be so present on the very next step, the depth of your breath, I just want you to realize that you don't have to. You get to. And the next step's not going to kill you. And every painful step is pure joy. And you're going to cross that finish line. You're going to pump your chest, you're going to smile, and you're going to be so filled with gratitude and joy. It'll be easy to push through because that's where your focus is.

I appreciate that. It gives me the chill just hearing that, knowing that. Casey, I know you're listening to this, so thank you. I just want to say thank you, James. And moving on to a couple quick questions before we wrap up here. James, I remember you talked about defining the 50 versus 100. The 100 being pain, longevity, and what's the third one?

For the 100?

Yeah, for the 100. I remember you defined them. It was pain, longevity. And then there was one more.

Well, I, I can't, I can't remember. I, I, I don't, I don't remember. I don't know when I said what I said.

Okay.

But it was definitely pain. And just the sheer duration of the challenge was, was crippling. I mean, you got to think the hundred is a quarter of a year. That's a long time. And so, you know, if you take yourself back to Thanksgiving, and it's Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, all the way through a Valentine's Day.

Wow. Yeah.

Just think of in your life, all the things you accomplish in that time frame and the things you do and people you meet and conversations you have and then, and then you have to get up every single day and do 140.6 miles.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's quite incomprehensible and to know that you went through that is just remarkable.

It'll be interesting to see how your perception shifts after you cross the finish line of 26.2 miles.

Absolutely. I'm definitely looking forward to it. When it comes to the future, I know we talked about this and I want to give you the opportunity to not only share about this because I'm genuinely excited and looking forward to learning more about what's to come when it comes to how your community can be a part of what you're building from the experience side, from learning from you. Just. I'd love to dive in there because, and just to end on this because I, I'm so excited for this journey ahead and I'm present in what I'm, what I'm doing, but having the opportunity to A, have this conversation with you, but B, to potentially join in on these, these different opportunities that you're going to be talking about in 2023. I'm stoked to learn more. Um, but for everyone that's listening, just again, I know you're excited about what's to come, but can you give us some more insight about what people can expect? Maybe just what's to come in terms of timing and, and just maybe some, just some, some details about what that, what the next year looks like and how your community can really be a part of what you're doing.

Yeah, absolutely. We're going to be launching everything in January, February, time, time frame, and there's going to be an opportunity for every level of person, depending on where you're at on your journey, to participate. We're going to have free content, newsletters, book clubs, things like that, all the way up to the full immersive year program where it involves retreats and one on one interaction with myself and my team. Every kind of tier in between that. If you want to do a sprint triathlon, if you want to do a 5k run, if you want to do a really challenging race here in Utah that we put on, all of these things that we're doing can be found on our website, Iron Cowboy.com also can be found on our social media. At Iron Cowboy, James is our handle on all things. But yeah, just super fun. Just want to help people get out of their own way. Again, the number one question I get is how do I become more mentally tough. And it's through surrounding yourself with amazing people. It's through education and knowledge, and then it's through having an experience. And we want to offer that to everybody. And if it's just consuming knowledge and a little bit of motivation and inspiration from us at the beginning, we hope it morphs into your desire to want to join a community, to interact, to. To have that experience, to realize the next step isn't going to kill you. And to gain that knowledge, to create momentum, to build meaningful relationships, the connections, all of it. All of it is what we're doing. And we just want to create a community where. Where we help other people achieve their version of impossible.

I love that. And again, I'm personally so excited to learn more about that, James. And just to wrap this up here, I want to say again, I'm beyond grateful for your time for this conversation and for what you do for the world. It's something that is so special, and I just have so much gratitude. So thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Awesome. Casey. I really appreciate the time. Good luck in your marathon this weekend, man. Thank you. Please send me a message on how it goes, what your feelings and emotions were, but, yeah, you're going to kill it. I'm super excited for you to have that experience, and then we can have a conversation about what's next for you.

Absolutely. Thank you so much, James.

Have a great day.