Colin O'Brady's Making Kid's Lives Healthier—Two World's Records at a Time

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Living a Life in Full is a conversation you always wanted to have with that person who gave an amazing TED Talk or the author of one of your favorite books, or that inspirational Olympian you always wanted to know more about. It's graduate level conversations with those making a difference in the world and in the lives of others. This show brings you new ideas and approaches so that you can live a life in full. I'm your host, Dr. Chris Stout and I hope you enjoy this episode. Welcome to another episode of Living a Life in full. I'm Dr. Chris Stout, your host. Today's episode is brought to you by ATI Physical Therapy try physical therapy first. Did you know that 70% of patients that utilize physical therapy first for spine, shoulder or knee pain are successfully treated without the use of any kind of imaging, prescription drugs or even a physician visit? Experience the ATI difference. Your return to an active lifestyle is their primary concern. They'll work with you to help reduce pain and achieve your goals in a fun, friendly and encouraging environment. They have convenient locations close to home. They can schedule your first appointment within 24 to 48 hours. They offer early morning and late evening hours to fit your schedule. They have beautiful, vibrant, modern clinics. They have personalized communication with you and your doctor. They offer diversified, goal oriented specialty services. Their staff have state of the art clinical training equipment and technology available to them. And they have a department of Research and Data analytics that examines and help improve outcomes. They offer hands on therapy, exercise, strength training and cardiovascular conditioning to help you improve your physical strength, reduce pain and avoid recurrence of future injury. They'll help you address chronic pain or help you recover from an injury or surgery expertly, quickly and conveniently. For more information please go visit atipt.com welcome to another episode of Living a Life in full. I'm Dr. Chris Stout, your host. I'm really excited to have Colin o' Brady on the show today. Colin is an amazing guy in a variety of different kinds of ways and we'll get into that in the show. The key thing I guess is that he has set a world's record in terms of being the fastest person to climb the seven Summits, which is the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents. And then also, as if that weren't enough to throw in what's referred to as the Explorer's Grand Slam. In addition to those, he went to the North Pole and the South Pole. He is an amazing athlete. He was a professional triathlete and he's got some background that is pretty traumatic in terms of an accident that he was in. But how he's come back from it and the spirit that he has with it and the humanitarian aspects of what he's doing with his life these days, days is an amazing testament to the human spirit, the kind of person that Colin is. And I just found it a very inspiring time to spend time with him. So I hope you enjoy the show and give a listen. Here's Colin o'. Brady. Welcome to another episode of Living a Life in full. I'm Dr. Chris Stout, your host, and I am particularly excited today to have Colin o'. Brady. He has an amazing resume that continues to grow. Historically, he was a soccer guy. He became an Oregon State swimming champion, went on to Yale Go Bulldogs. And was a NCAA Division 1 varsity team swimmer diver, and then has gone on to have an amazing resume in the worlds of triathlon and climbing and setting some world records. So I don't want to have any spoilers or anything in the intro, but he's got some amazing stories to tell and we want to dig in deep and figure out kind of how he's done some of things and learn more about his amazing career and what he's doing in the humanitarian space as well. So welcome to the show, Colin. It's great to have you.

Thanks so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you. So, hey, gosh, in doing background research on you, I think other than maybe Cat Fancy magazine, I think you have been profiled in every other print magazine known to man. So you have, is it over 50 triathlons that you've completed?

Yeah, So I raced, I raced professionally in triathlon from, let's see, 2009 to 2015, so about six, seven years on the professional circuit. And I think last count, I've raced in 25 countries, six different continents and of course, all around the US as well, you know, in international professional competition all over the place. So, yeah, it's been quite, quite a journey racing all over the world, to say the least.

That's great. We, we had Sarah fix on in an earlier episode and she had, we were talking about Kona and whatnot. So it's probably a bit of a different kind of a thing being a professional triathlete, what kinds of distances and tell us a little bit More about that as a pro.

Yeah. So I actually mostly raced the Olympic distance circuit as a professional on the US national team. So I raced the itu, which is known as ITU Circuit, all over the world. Which Olympics. Sorry. So triathlon is actually an Olympic sport first. Not everyone knows that, so there's specific rules that kind of govern that. But I've also raced all the distances, so half Ironman, full Ironman, all that kind of stuff. But my primary focus was the Olympic distance circuit.

Gotcha. Do you think that your swimming is. Is. Was that fundamental in terms of what got you into it, or were you also. I mean, soccer is going to have a lot of, you know, running and whatnot with it, but.

Oh yeah, you know, it was, you know, for me definitely having a swimming background was. Was pretty significant and being in. Being helpful for sure. But yeah, I kind of kind of fell into triathlon in a somewhat of a roundabout way. I don't know if we're going to get into it later, but it was kind of through. Through some tragedy after and didn't ever really think of racing in triathlon, but kind of kind of found it in a new way and it opened up a whole bunch of doors. But before that, I had never biked or run professionally or really with anything other than on the soccer field. So I'd never been a track athlete or a cyclist or anything like that. So learning two new disciplines was unique and a fun challenge.

Yeah, that's good. I think, you know, I have a bias. There's no empirical science behind this, but it seems like, you know, I know that you're like on Rich Roll's show and he obviously was, I think, a Stanford swimmer and has become, you know, an amazing triathlet. And it seems like, you know, swimming oftentimes is the weak spot for a lot of triathletes. But I think if you come into it, you know, with a swimming background, especially, you know, NCAA Division 1 varsity, things like that, it really maybe tees a person up to be able to, you know, look to expand into the other areas of the cycling and the running. Do you have, do you have any thoughts about that?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think that swimming is interesting. It's just one of those sports that obviously builds incredible endurance both emotionally and phys. Physically, you know, just the endurance aerobic side of it, but also staring down at a black line every single day for, you know, four plus hours a day. Since you're a full kiddo, your brain that forces you to be able to push through Some hard things, I suppose, definitely benefit from that. But also. Yeah, I mean, swimming is one of those, you know, pretty technique based sports. And so I find that it's not that you can't learn it as an adult, but it becomes harder and harder than when you're thrown in a pool when you're five, six years old. You kind of have that, you know, swimmers call feel for the water. As with cycling and running, obviously both have their own technical aspects to it, but they're a little bit. The skill acquisition I think is a little bit easier than swimming. You know, as, as you alluded to you. Some see some incredibly fit and strong athletes who haven't spent much time in the water. Jump in the water in a triathlon and hard time there, for sure.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Challenge and open water swimming, you know, just understandably so if you haven't spent a lot of time in, you know, lakes or oceans or, you know, open water of that kind can be pretty intimidating to be, you know, way far out there. So all of those things play into the start of a triathlon? Without a doubt.

Yeah, I think the, you know, that whole fear aspect of that, I mean it's, you know, to me it's terrifying enough to be in the deep end of a pool, you know, but you know, the whole open water kind of thing and then when you throw in the other aspects of, you know, a lot of other fit people throwing elbows and heels and, you know, whatnot and it becomes a contact sport, at least at the beginning it seems.

Yeah, for sure. People bouncing into you and water is splashing everywhere. You can't barely see where you're going. And that's a minute of what can be a very long day to go from that point. So it's always a kind of a harsh start to the event. I find I've had

not anything close to you, but I did a lot of cycling as an undergrad and then got in more so into running and ultras and whatnots in later life. And I certainly appreciate the respect and, and motivation aspects and discipline, getting out and getting the miles in and that sort of a thing. But I think it's a different breed with swimming. I mean, I had a high school friend who had actually in an ironic way, qualified for the 1980 Olympics when that was the year we boycotted and that was kind of it for his swimming career. But I remember he swam club and he was up with, you know, felt like probably the middle of the night. I know it's the same, you know, like Cross country and stuff like that. But, you know, and then after school was out, then back to the other workout.

And for him, yeah, swimming is interesting, right, because it's a blessing and a curse. One, it's not as hard on your body as running because you're not having the impact. But so that. That's the blessing. But the curse side of that means that you can do it a whole lot more. I mean, you can't run for four or five hours a day and expect to not get injured, Right? So guys, even guys that are putting in a lot of, you know, volume, are still not run, like that much every single day, day in, day out. Whereas swimming, it's like, well, you're not getting injured. So coach is like, yep, two hours before school, two hours after school, weights after that, again, again, again Saturday morning for three hours. So before, you know, you're racking up quite a lot of time with your head under the water.

Well, yeah. And what he did psychologically for that was he would plot for all of the distance that he had, like, as if he were swimming the Mississippi. So he had, like, a little map of the Mississippi, you know, on his wall at home. And here's how far, you know, here's how close I am getting to wherever it was he was headed to. So it's. Yeah, well, tip of the hat. So let me go back to something you made mention to. And I think it's really kind of, I don't know, maybe fundamental to speaking, to learning more about, you know, who you are as a person and, you know, your mettle. I think the, you know, the proverbial, you know, you go to Yale, get a bachelor's in economics and kind of probably going on this regular trajectory. But then you had a desire to see the world, is that right? Like, after you graduated?

Yeah, yeah. So I had graduated and I was fairly young for my grade, so I just. Was just turned 21 when I graduated from college and, you know, figured I would probably end up working, you know, Wall street or finance in some capacity or some sort of business down the road. But I also figured, hey, you know, I'm 21 years old, I'd love to see a little bit of the world. I always kind of dreamed about traveling. And in summers, through college and high school, I started a house painting company with one of my best buddies. And so we would paint house in the summer. And just every summer, I would just sock away a few thousand dollars more to kind of save up for this trip. So I didn't have a Lot of money saved up, but it was enough to maybe 10 or $12,000 or something like that, but enough to get a plane ticket and one way plane ticket to go kind of off into the world and surviving on.

That's amazing. So was that like with those summer painting jobs and stuff, was the goal then to say, hey, you know, once I graduate, I'm going to treat myself to this round the world trip or was it sort of I'm stuck on a limb?

Yeah, no, that was kind of always what it was. The purpose was for. It was kind of twofold. One was to have a little bit of, you know, just money in my pocket throughout the school year to just like incidentals and basic stuff like that. And then stuff I didn't spend during the school year I would, you know, save away with the hopes of when I graduated, being able to take a trip around the world to see some of the. And yeah, so I basically just packed up a backpack and a surfboard after graduating college and set off into the world for kind of an adventure with no, no itinerary to say the least. I started in Fiji and ended up hitchhiking through New Zealand for a couple months and I was in Australia.

All solo. All by yourself?

Yeah, yeah, by myself. I mean, you know, traveling by yourself, you. You very quickly meet, meet other people. So I'd never felt like I was too alone, but yes, I was, I was, was alone.

Did you, did you travel a lot as a kid or was this kind of a new thing?

No, no, this is a new thing for me, you know, and as a kid, you know, my family didn't grow up with, you know, a lot of money in my family and, you know, we would visit. You're. I think you're in Chicago. So I was. Our big trip every year was to see my grandmother, who lives in Evanston. So we fly out there. But other than that, we weren't like getting on airplanes and taking trips to places like that. Certainly not international destinations or anything like that. So most of my travel as a kid was, you know, hopping in the car with my siblings and my parents and driving an hour or two outside of Portland, Oregon, where I'm from.

So this is, this is a radical departure, then passports and backpack and surfboard and bon voyage.

Yeah, but something I dreamed about for a long time. And yeah, it was amazing certainly to be out in the world as a young person, kind of feeling that freedom and meeting new people.

So to lead the witness a little bit here. So how long had you been traveling before you went to Thailand?

Yeah. So I was about six months into this trip in Thailand, and I was hoping to, having traveled for a year. And then, you know, unfortunately, tragedy befell me when I arrived to Thailand. And I was on a rural beach, a beach, an island called Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand there. And I was doing a little bit of scuba diving and. And I ended up on the beach participating in somewhat of a foolish activity, which was jumping a flaming jump rope. Sounds ridiculous, but it's.

That's not an Olympic sport, is it?

Yeah, I'm apparently not very good at it. The rope wrapped around my leg and lit my body completely on fire. Actually, the excess kerosene from the rope splashed my entire body, and I was on fire to my neck and had to jump into the ocean to extinguish the flames, which ultimately saved my life. But not before about 2, 25% of my body was severely burned, primarily my legs and feet, and began a very long and tragic chapter in my life.

Well, and what. I mean, I just, I envision that in the sense of, let's see, could I. How much, you know, A, I'm on fire, B, my choice is to, like, no choice to go jump into water that's probably not the most, you know, pharmaceutical grade of cleanliness and salt water. So, you know, you must have just, you know, been in excruciating pain on top of pain with that kind of an experience. So then did. Yeah, the flames are out. Do you pass out? Do you. What happens next?

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a painful time. As you described, the ocean ultimately saved my life. But then imagine not having skin on about 25% of your body and jumping into salt water. It's not the nicest feeling.

And by yourself in Thailand.

Yeah. So, you know, the ambulance on this island was a moped. And so they picked me up on a back of a moped and drove me down a dirt path and got on that dirt path and taken to, quote, unquote, the hospital. The hospital turned out to be a one single room shack, essentially, with some basic medical supplies. And that was about it. Unbelievable. I was there for about 24 hours and then thrown in the back of a pickup truck and put onto a boat to take to the other island. I had the better hospital, and the better hospital on the adjacent island was slightly better. But I had to go under eight surgeries while I was there. And every time I would come out of each one of those surgeries, there'd be literally a cat running around my bed in the icu, it was better than the one room shack, but it wasn't a lot better.

Oh, man.

Finally, about eight days into this whole ordeal, I was able to be transferred to Bangkok, which has much better medical facilities. But it was a long eight days before that and still, you know, many months until I could even go back to the United States. And one of the hardest parts about the whole thing was that the doctors were coming and like I said, most of the burns covered my legs and feet. And the doctors were telling me at the time, they're saying, you know, hey, you'll most likely never walk again normally.

So it was. Yeah, I mean, did you have to go through grafts and things like that or.

Yeah, so I had severe second degree and third degree burns, no bad grafting, although I probably should have grafted my left foot because it didn't. It was pretty badly burned and still had some significant scar tissue over top of it. But the way that the burns were there's really bad over my ankles, my whole legs, but particularly bad over my ankle and knee joints and potentially burning the ligaments in there. And so they thought at some point you might be able to kind of get back on your feet at some regard, but there's no way that your mobility is going to be full and complete and, you know, basically going to not be, you know, I'd been an athlete, let alone not be an athlete, but certainly not be a fully able bodied person in their mind. That's what they were telling me at the time. So obviously, despite the physical trauma was horrible. But also, as I was kind of projecting forward to my mind what my life was going to look like, it felt like, I guess what I had taken for granted of my health had been taken away from me in an instant and I sort of was downward spiraling quickly for sure.

And then did your mom come over and lend a hand or tell us about that?

Yeah. So really the. For me, the hero this story is my mother. You know, she flew over to Thailand to look after me. And you can probably, I don't know if you're a father or not, but I'm not. I'm not a father yet, but I hopefully will be at some point in my life. But can only imagine as a parent what it's like to see your kid in this state, in this town, country, in the middle of nowhere, all that stuff and the. Yeah, so basically she came in my hospital room every single day and instead of crying beside me, instead of being just as afraid as I was, she kind of Came in and, you know, filled me with positivity, said, you know what? I think we're gonna get through this. Your life is not over. Like, let's think about what you want to. You know, let's stay positive. Let's think about the future. And she really encouraged me to set a goal in that hospital room. And honestly, initially, I was like, mom, you're crazy. In my life. You know, depressed, my leftover. I'm in so much pain. What are you talking about? All that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

And then finally, I was like, you know what? Like, okay, I'll play along. And my goal that I set for myself was to one day complete a triathlon, which is not something I had ever done before, but it was just kind of in my mind. I was like, fine. You know what? I've always loved sports. I've always been an athlete. Like, for me, if I could swim, bike, and run and cross a finish line, that would mean to me that I could kind of had my life back. And so that was the goal that I put in my mind as I recovered from this injury. And it wasn't three, like I said, several months till I flew back to the United States. And when I flew back to the United States, I still had taken a single step. I was carried on playing, oh, my gosh, I was in a wheelchair. And, you know, one of the more poignant moments I mentioned this. I recently gave it that talk. I mentioned this moment because it really stands out for me in that talk, which was my mom took a chair from our kitchen table and set it one step in front of my wheelchair. And she said, great. You've got this big triathlon goal that's amazing. But before you can swim, bike, and run, you need to figure out how to take one step, single step. And so I take. Literally that day, it kind of took me. I say, I think it took me three or four hours or something to get up from that wheelchair and take that first single step to sit in the chair in front of me. But that first step was the first of many. And so, you know, then she moved the chair five steps away. The next day, 10 day, 10 steps. And it went like that, just kind of day by day, a few more steps, and fast forward 18 months after this, I had, you know, about a year into it, I was, you know, kind of walking and moving around normally and kind of wanted to get my life back on track. And so I took a job in Chicago, moved out there. I was trading commodities out there. And I signed up for The Chicago Triathlon, to sort of honor this goal that I had set for myself. And I didn't know if I was going to be able to complete it or achieve it or what, but I said, you know what? I set that goal and I'm going to keep working towards it. So I signed up about four or five months before the race and spent that spring and summer doing my best I could to train for it. And on August of 2009, I raced the Chicago Triathlon, which turned out to be an incredible moment in my life because not only did I finish the race, but I surprised the hell out of myself when I actually won the entire race, placing a first overall out of 4,000 some people. And it was a surreal moment.

Colin. Yeah, it's like, I just. Like we should just take a pause in silence and digest that. I mean, it's sort of like, gosh, I mean, first of all, amazing. Congratulations. That is. I mean, what a hallmark, you know, the situation from the 18 months or, you know, X time prior. But you must have been going through rehab at the same time you're doing training and stuff, right? I mean, yeah. Do you have, like an S on your chest? Are you, like. No, from Krypton? That's just amazing.

I know for me, I'm. In my mind, I'm just a regular guy, really. Just think that there was, you know, what it made me realize and certainly what I've. And I'm sure we'll get into this a little more with the world records I've set and things I've done since then. But, you know, to me, that moment in time was a special moment. You know, crossing that finish line. Of course, winning the race was an incredible, unexpected outcome. But more than. More so than anything, it was a great testament to those 18 months, and it was a testament to my mother realizing that, you know, me, I was in this sort of, what I would say, sort of sliding doors or roads converging in the woods of my life. You know, I could go down one path which I wanted to go down was it seemed like I was going to go down, which was depression, you know, trauma, emotional trauma, all these things. She said, you know what, let's shift this mindset towards the positive. Like, let's just think about this, you know, what can we do each day? You know, take that first step out of the wheelchair, then take those two steps and really learning that, you know, I. Again, I don't. Again, I don't think I have the S tattoos on my chest. I think I'm a pretty normal guy. But what I think is that as humans, all of us have these reservoirs of untapped potential within us and that when we make these decisions in our mind, when we set goals, when we pursue things with passion and fully embody them, we can achieve incredible things. Things that almost seem impossible at the time, but as we work towards them, we can get there. And so I've really, you know, such a gift that my mom gave me, certainly to get me out of the depths of despair of this burn accident, but even more so to realize, you know, my potential in the long run and kind of, I've taken that with me over the last 10 years into many other things that I have pursuits that I've done and continue to do because I still believe that the essence of that narrative is the same is that, you know, there's many, many other things that can be achieved and done and it's really just a matter of committing fully to them and pursuing them with passion.

I just, I love that, Colin. I think it's, you know, your, the things that you overcame, the traumatic aspects of it, the psychological, the physical, etc. And the fact of, you know, kind of doing this from a situation of, you know, support and love and nurturance, you know, from your mom, I think is something that, you know, people can also take away with it and see how they can apply things and, you know, in their circumstances and in their lives. And like with your, with the situation with your mom, did she instill goal setting in you? And was that a pivotal point in Thailand? Was that something in your upbringing as a kid, kid or you know, do you think that goal setting would be different had this trauma not happened for you or what do you think?

Yeah, you know, I think that, you know, certainly it's something that I had been, you know, taught and nurtured throughout my life. For sure. It's something that she has always instilled in me and certainly has surrounded me with the right other members of a family, coaches, teachers, mentors throughout life. And I've definitely been a very goal driven person throughout life, whether that that's in sports or academically or whatever else I was pursuing in my life. I've definitely kind of been someone who has always embraced that, but certainly it was, you know, she had laid the foundation of that through my childhood. But in this really, you know, intense moment, it was nice to sort of hearken back onto that lesson and she said, well, how, how have you accomplished other things in your life? How have you got through other Things. How have you, you know, you know, achieved your dreams and things? Like, well, here we are right now, we're in a hospital bed in Thailand. She's like, remember what we've done in the past? And I was like, let's set a goal. Like, let's move towards that. And it sounds. I mean, a lot of ways it sounds. I don't know, maybe it sounds basic or obvious, but it wasn't obvious to me at the time. And really reframing my mind towards that and being able to have a purpose, you know, to move forward. So wasn't just, oh, great, well, you know, I'm taking another step, or this really hurts, whatever. It was like, I'm taking a step. And each one of these steps is one step closer to that goal of that triathlon, which was what I, you know, pursued my passion towards. And again, for me, a lot of my sort of canvas, the way I've expressed myself has been through sports and movement in my body. But, you know, that's not to say that I think that goal setting only applies to sports. Like, in fact, not at all. Of course, this applies to all aspects of life, whether people want to express themselves through, you know, relationships, love, business, entrepreneurship, arts, you know, painting, whatever it is. Like, you know, I could go. The list goes on and on and on. And I think that the, really, the essence of this applies to that as well.

That's fantastic. Gosh. Well, you know, I think what you've said is so, you know, elemental. I mean, you said, you know, maybe it sounds too basic, but I think a lot of times, you know, in situations of stress and situations of trauma or whatever, that it's easy to forget those kinds of things and to then be able to kind of have a goal, you know, deconstruct it, you know, reverse engineer it, bring it down to, okay, if I have this goal, if I want to do this triathlon or this climb or this race or this whatever, you know, I don't. You don't cram for it. You know, you don't just think that the night before you, you know, decide to go right. Or something. So. So you kind of break it down and. And then go back and then you. So you're.

You're.

I'm gonna take us back to. To Chicago and winning this triathlon. So you were also then trading. Is that right? You. Insurance?

Yeah.

Okay, gotcha. So then tell us the transition from commodities trader and walk on winner of the Chicago triathlon to becoming a professional triathlete. What's that like? How does that metamorphosis happen?

Yeah, it was, like I said, a pretty incredible moment of life. And then before I knew it, life moved pretty quickly. Over the next couple of weeks, I had gotten to know a guy by the name of Brian Gelber, who's a really successful trader in Chicago. Not the firm that I was working for, but friends with his kids and knew him through that industry a little bit. And he heard about this story, happened to be going to a barbecue at his house, I think the same night that I was. Had just won the Chicago Triathlon and got to talking with him, and he had become somewhat of a mentor for me. And he was like, wow, it's an incredible story. And, you know, I was talking to him just about my life and what I wanted to pursue. And, you know, I said, you know, it's always been a dream of mine to be a professional athlete. And he said, well, you know, I would love to be your first sponsor if this is something you want to pursue full time. And so it was an incredible gift that he gave me to really believe in me and invest in me, obviously financially, but also emotionally to say, hey, this is incredible, but we think you can do even more and even better, so go for it. And certainly not as potentially lucrative of a path as being a Wall street guy for the last 10 years or whatnot. But for me, there was no question in my mind what I wanted. Wanted to pursue and where my heart was. And so I literally walked into my. I walked in my office the next morning, quit my job. And this was, you know, the race was in August, so this was probably in September. And as you know, from being a local Chicago guy, that the winters in Chicago, not exactly the best place to be for a triathlon.

I do not enjoy running in the winter.

And so it also became very clear that I wasn't going to be able to stay there. And so within, I think within two weeks, I went in, quit my job, finished my job, got in touch with some people in the triathlon community who I was just kind of, like, reaching out to, and I got an opportunity to move to Australia to train with a couple of Olympians down there and one of the former Australian national team coaches in Australia. So before I knew it, like, in my life, and I was like, I'm just doing this race. I'm a guy living in Chicago, too. You know, I don't have this job anymore. I'm now a professional athlete. And. And I'm in Australia, like, all within a matter of a few.

No, no, Half measures for you, Colin?

Just all in. Yeah, you know, I kind of. And in a lot of ways, that was whatever, 2009, September, so over eight years ago at this point. And I kind of feel like I've been on this journey as a professional athlete in several iterations now since then. So in a lot of ways, just a leap of faith to say, you know, sometimes when you're, when you know it, you know it in your heart and everything's in alignment. It was just. These weren't, these weren't decisions that I toiled over of like, should I, could I. What would happen if, you know, it was like, yep, okay, ready to go? And I show up in Australia and it's funny, I'm. All of a sudden I'm. I'm training with guys who are, you know, seasoned professionals and some guys who've been to the Olympics and whatnot. And admittedly they were, you know, much better athletes than me at the time. I was kind of just this new guy. And they're like, so how long have you been racing triathlon? How many races have you done?

And you say, what day is it?

So everything was very. There's something special, you know, obviously, probably, you know, in the Zen practice, you know, that idea of beginner's mind, there's something special when everything is new and fresh and exciting and you're passionate about it. There was so, so much excitement for me that even the, you know, the life of a professional triathlete is somewhat nomadic, but also obviously very hard on your body, requires a lot of discipline and a lot of stress and merry things and eating and sleeping right, and all these things. But I was just excited to learn all of those aspects and really embrace this, this new journey.

So, like, take us back to that time. What would a typical day of training look like when you were on that six continent, 25 country circuit?

Yeah, I mean, it was, it was a lot. You know, it's pretty much, you know, I say it's, it's a 24, 7 type of job. Of course, you know, the training hours you're putting in. You know, on an average day, we training anywhere between, you know, two to three hours would be a lighter day. You know, big day, might be five, six plus hours. Usually at minimum, two sessions in a day, oftentimes three. And oftentimes when we're doing three sessions, it means you're doing a swimming session, a biking session, a running session, sometimes running twice in a day. You know, it could be all various types of things. But the reason That I say it's a 247 job is because really what your job is to become the fittest, strong and strongest human being that you can be. And so that also means when you're not training, that means you're recovering, right? That's actually when we get stronger. You know, this, of course. And so it's not like you're like, oh, God, I just finished up that three hour bike ride, you know, now I'm gonna go out and grab some beers with my buddies and hang out because my next workout's not till tomorrow morning. It's like, okay, no, I gotta like go home and stretch and eat right and sleep right and all this sort of stuff. And so really it's a sort of constant focus in your mind to, you know, 24 7. There was definitely, you know, times, of course, for the most part, 99% of it, I loved it. But there was times when I was constantly like, can I just like leave my body for 24 hours? Like, do something like, you know, you can't. You know, it's a complete discipline.

But really, any, any diet hacks or tips or anything like that? Like, do you have any, like, you paleo, you vegan, you just regular?

Yeah.

Good nutrition?

Yeah, my. So I kind of grew up in a pretty healthy environment. My mom and stepdad founded a chain of natural foods grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest kind of as I was graduating from high school. But they had been working in the natural foods industry throughout my entire childhood. And then my father is actually an organic farmer now living in Hawaii. For the last about 15, 20 years he's been over there. And so there's really kind of been a health food focus around my childhood. And so it's funny, I don't actually follow any really specific diet in the way. It's not like my diet is this new fad diet or whatnot. But I have sort of always eaten in a very healthy way and somewhat intuitive. There have been a few moments in time where I've really tried to measure everything out and get it all perfect. And I find, at least for me, that that kind of does my head. And I get so stressed about, oh, that's 2 grams too much of that rice, or that's too much of this. And so now kind of just, I realized that I have sort of, because I've eaten this way for so long, been pretty intuitive about it. But generally, you know, a typical meal for me, you know, I love, you know, you know, whole grains, you know, quinoa, beans, rice, you Know that kind of stuff as a base and you know, steamed vegetables, kale and then, you know, I don't, I don't eat vegan so I do eat, I do eat meat, some meat more. I prefer, you know, lean meats like poultry or fish. And oftentimes there's many stretches in my time where I, my life where I, I have been vegetarian or more vegetarian than anything. And not by strict choice, but just because that's what makes my body feel good. That's kind of the way that I find my diet to be.

Gotcha. Tell us. These may be two questions, but they may have the same answer. I'm not sure they're gonna have different answers. But what's your most memorable race and what was your toughest race when you were competing professionally?

Hmm, that's a good question. Let me think about that for a second. Well, there was this race that I did in Indonesia. I don't remember what year it was. 2012, maybe 2013. And I think it was 105 degrees at 6am when the race started. Oh my gosh. And it was like it was know, 90% humidity. So but it was, it felt like you were just like in like a cloud. And it was interesting race to say the least. I dove into the water and then come to find out that the ph. I'm going to get this wrong but the PH of normal water is like 4.7 or something like that. Like ph roughly I think it was, you know, three points higher than that acidic acidity rate. So it's not the cleanest water in the world to say the. And about an hour, about an hour into the bike and run I started getting some major GI issues combined with the fact that I in, in professional so in ITU triathlon it's a draft legal bike. So you're actually in bike packs more like a criterium race than an ironman where you're not allowed to draft. And I ended up in this pack with these two Russian guys and one of the Russian guys, you know, they were talking to each other in Russian. I didn't know. We know a lot of the athletes pretty well over the circuit, but I actually didn't know these guys super well. And they're talking to each other and they're trying to attack me and drop me off the back of the bike and you know, get me away. And then finally one guy comes up beside me and he actually punches me in the side of the head from the group. So like everything went wrong for me. Like it was stupid Hot. And I was just uncomfortable. I get punched in the head by a random Russian guy. And in the end, I. I got really, really sick from swimming in the water, actually. And I thought the other athletes did as well. So it was just kind of one thing. I remember after the race, like, it's 105 degrees out and I'm under blankets because I'm so cold and shivery from fever. And I'm just like, okay, what am I doing here? This is horrible. So that would be probably one of my least favorite experiences. Oh, man. Say the least. And then one of my favorite memories. Let's see. You know, one of my. Wasn't the last race I ever did as professional, but it was a race that sort of embarked, sort of began the next chapter of my life, which was setting these world records. And mountaineering was 2014. I was racing a half Ironman race in Richmond, Virginia. Excuse me, no, in South Carolina. Anderson, South Carolina. And I ended up actually winning the race. And it was an interesting race because it was the crazy thunderstorms. And I remember we were riding bikes through what felt like almost like inches of water were flying off the ground. So it was definitely a cold, challenging, and tough race. But I ended up actually winning the race, which was fantastic for me, and it was a proud moment for me. But it was also a moment when I was a turning point moment for me, which I was very, very proud of, this professional win at that level. But also was the feeling of, like, you know, what? Like, maybe, you know, maybe I'm ready for my next challenge. You know, do I want to keep racing triathlon or what's next for me? And it was kind of in that moment or in that period of time right after that race that I really decided, you know, I love pushing my body. I love pushing my body and finding my limits. But I wanted to sort of set a new goal for myself and do something that had a larger purpose than my own sort of winning or losing on the race course. And that's when I dreamed up this, you know, mountaineering world record project, which I spent the last couple years of my life on, which was to see if I could set the world record for something called the Explorer's Grand Slam. So to try to climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, known as the Seven Summits, as well as complete expeditions to both the north and South. South Pole, faster than anyone's ever done that. And that was kind of interesting in my triathlon. When I look back on my triathlon career, it was really in that moment of winning a race, actually that I felt at ease or ready to make the next transitional shift in my life and set my next set of goals.

That's nice. I think it's like what Jerry Seinfeld said, something like, you know, always leave them wanting more kind of a thing. I think it's kind of nice to go out on a, on a high note, but also, also saying, gosh, I'm really not going to be missing, you know, racing like this or getting hit in the head, you know, by a nasty Russian cyclist or something like that. So, so, so 2014, 15 was really kind of this. Weren't you, Weren't you also climbing as well as still competing in triathlons?

Yeah, so in 20. So 2014 was that race that I just mentioned. And then I had a short off season after that where I actually got engaged. And then kind of in that sort of moment of embarking on the next larger chapter in my own life, personal life, as well as sort of moving forwards, I decided that I wanted to see if I could set this world record. And Jenna, my fiance, was hugely instrumental in helping me not only dream about this, but actually figure out what that was going to take. Again, like we mentioned before, my mom saying, hey, great, you want to race this triathlon, we need to figure out how to take one single step. It's like, hey, great, you want to set this world record. Well, you're not a professional mountaineer and that's going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and you don't have the, and, oh, you want to found a non profit and actually make impact in the community around it. And you want, it's like, great, that's a good idea.

No half measures, Colin. So let's circle back to her just for a quick second here. Am I recalling this correctly? Where did you propose?

Yeah, so I proposed on the top of one of Ecuador's tallest mountains, about 19,000ft on the summit up there. Mountains were playing a significant role in our life.

So she climbs with you or would climb with you on some of your expeditions?

Yeah, yeah, she's, she's definitely, I wouldn't say she's an avid mountaineer by any standards, but she's, you know, she climbed the tallest mountain in Ecuador, which is 20,350ft taller than Denali. You know, definitely a very, very high peak. Yeah, you know, she's very capable of getting up there. I'm always, I always joke around with her because, you know, she's not a lifelong athlete. She was A dancer growing up, which I have a high level of respect for anyone dance at that level because it is, it is athleticism to it to an high, high degree. Although it doesn't always get put in that category. But, you know, she's one of these people where she know she's run a couple marathons over the last couple years, but it was like no running ever in her background. And then like six, you know, she's like, oh, I'm gonna run this marathon a few months. And then she gets off the couch. Doesn't mean she's not setting world record times, but it's actually just get up and do that after not being like a lifelong runner to me is always impressive.

Big deal.

That's kind of, that's kind of how she is with mountains, is she's not like, she's like out there climbing mountains all the time. But like, like when she's like, oh, you want to go do that thing in Ecuador in a couple months? All right, cool. My workout for a couple months and I should be good to go, like. And then like we. She's like, oh, that was fun. And she just kind of moves on to something else.

That's awesome.

Got some sort of natural ability.

That's a rare thing. That's a rare thing for the, the climbs that I've done. My wife has never been happy when I've gone off to go do them. So it's. And she, she doesn't like, you know, she's not got a. She's not real happy about like you even just for herself of heights. And that then generalizes to everybody else. Oh, you shouldn't do this. So it's right.

No, she's.

That's awesome.

Jenna has been incredibly supportive over time. That's no doubt about that.

So next. So Nell, I want to. This is kind of our deep dive. Simultaneously, you're starting to train and getting your mountaineering chops. You're developing a non profit and you're doing this in the context and I think a very synthetic, wonderfully blended way of setting a couple of world records. So tell us about that. That sounds like a great story.

Yeah. You know, 2015 was an interesting year. It's just kind of exactly all you. What you just alluded to what was, you know, I still had some, some solid support in triathlon which was allowed me to, you know, at least keep the lights on at my house and put food on the table. But also, as I was training for these mountaineering world records, it was a great coinc. Coincidence, that's what do you need to try to set two of the largest mountaineering records in the world, where ultimately, huge endurance challenges. I was going to need to be able to be out climbing mountains for 100, 150 days in a row without stopping. It turns out that of course you need to be in the mountains and of course you need to have some technical mountaineering knowledge, which I had already had built up throughout my childhood and in life. And certainly there was things I could continue to learn, but it was also needed to be super fit. So triathlon training was actually a perfect balance to the cardio and strength that I was going to need for that. So I kind of sat down with my coach and said, hey, I'm going to race professionally this year. One more year, 2015, I'm going to switch to the Ironman distance, which I did, but the larger goal is going to be 2016 to set these mountaineering world records. And so it was kind of this hybrid in terms of my physical training. It was like training for triathlon with still some big professional triathlon goals in mind, but the larger goal of being these mountaineering challenges. And so we interspersed a lot of actual technical mountaineering and climbing into my training regimen, which, of course, course were not normally there when I was just purely doing triathlon.

And amping it up to ironman distances, too, is no easy task either. I mean, that seems like that must have been just a really grueling, great physical training for the climbing, but also just again, a nice synergy, getting kind of a win win. This better athleticism generalizes.

Yeah, it's funny, you know, the Olympic distance circuit, in my opinion, to me, they're just very apples and oranges. So, you know, the Olympic distance circuit, you know, less people know about it outside the professional ranks, but a lot of ways I think it has more depth and challenge to it just because it's so intense, it's so fast, it's really anaerobic. Whereas Ironman training is, you know, of course, way longer in distances and duration, but it's a lot more lower heart rates or threshold type of effort. So it was definitely a huge shift, not just in increasing the distances, but kind of changing. So I was training at lower intensities, which is way more similar to mountaineering, where, you know, if you're climbing, you're out climbing for, you know, whatever, 15, 16 hours in at a clip, but at a very, you know, minimally heart, low heart rate. You're not like sprinting up the mountain, of course. And so it was, that was a good for me. But then of course, during this whole time while I was still doing all this, it was trying to figure out all these things. So there was a huge entrepreneurial sort of hustle that went in and was like, again, I needed to raise a bunch of money to do this, just to break even on it. I wasn't trying to make myself any money, but I was just trying to be able to actually fly to all these parts of the world and figure out how to get expeditions set up in the North Pole and the South Pole and Mount Everest and all these places. And at the same time, the larger purpose around this was a campaign. We not found a non profit that was focused on inspiring kids to get outside and set their own goals and adventure and move their bodies through health and wellness and. And certainly in the sort of aspirational goal setting that my mother instilled in me. And so figuring all those out and making great partnerships in the nonprofit space and things like that. So there was just kind of an endless supply of work and different things we needed to figure out. Jen and I had a funny conversation at one point, kind of early on she was like, you know, I'm definitely gonna help you with this. Like, you know, I could kind of give you my time, a day or two a week to kind of help you on this. And she had some other things that she was pursuing at the moment. And then about a week or two later she's like looks at me and she's like, like, so what I'm realizing is you pretty much need my help 100 hours a week, seven days a week, and you can't pay me anything. And I was like, yeah, that's pretty much right.

Bingo.

She's definitely, obviously I was the one that out climbing the mountains and set the records, but this was hugely a team effort. Definitely could not have done it without her. And then her just dedication and desire to be a part of this over is really ultimately was two years from inception of idea to a year plus of in the planning and then another 139 days in the execution of the actual expeditions themselves. And then the aftermath of course of leveraging all of that. So it's been a journey to say the least. And something we were on together for sure in the beginning.

That is so cool. I'm quite the amateur climber and I've done three of the seven Sun Summits and I've done like Rainier and Whitney and stuff here in the States and whatnot and other couple of Little things. And. And so I have great respect for even just, you know, the logistics and the travel. I mean, I remember when I went to Tanzania, there wasn't an airport in Tanzania to fly into. You had to go into Nairobi. And then there was like, this. At the time. This is a million years ago, but it was like. There was, like, bandits on this one road. They would, you know, block the road and steal your stuff, you know, And, I mean, I just. So I just sort of. And I remember. Remember even in Elbrus, in the Caucuses, like, just, you know, you fly from Moscow on, you know, like, arrow flat into mineraline Vodi. And it's like, just, ugh. You know, it just. It takes forever, and you can't. Nothing runs on time. And I just. I can't imagine your logistics, Colin. I mean, gosh. And plus, you're dealing with weather. I mean, you got so many rolls of the dice of where something could go sideways so easily, and. And, you know, just, you know, kind of ruin the. The attempt. So didn't you had. Didn't you have some weather issue or there was some. Something that kind of.

Many, many weather issues, but just of the logistics for a second. Yeah. I mean, it was crazy. And not only that we couldn't necessarily plan flights and things ahead of time because I didn't know exactly when or I'd be getting off these. You know, literally, like, you know, we had more or less and things lined up, and I was, for the most part, you know, climbing by myself. I wasn't, you know, climbing guided or anything like that. I was just climbing by myself or having various, you know, friends of mine join me for, you know, being a climbing partner on one mountain or something like that. So that allowed, of course, a bit more flexibility, but still, it would be like. I remember one point originally, I had planned to climb Kilimanjaro, I think fourth or fifth in a sequence. And then I finished the South Pole expedition, Mount Vincent, the tallest mountain in Antarctica. And then Aconcagua, I finished. And I finished Aconcagua about a week or so ahead of when I had originally planned to do that. And so I called Jenna. You know, I'm coming. Literally coming, just coming off of Aconcagua. I call home to Jenna and I say, hey, I think we could have time to fit Kilimanjaro in Now. Can you figure that out? I'm gonna be in the back of the hotel after this long drive in 10 hours, and you have an itinerary set up for me. And I get there. And she's like, well, here you go. Tomorrow you fly to Sao Paulo. You have a seven hour layover there. Then that's going to go to Adidas Ababa, Ethiopia, where you have a 15 hour layover and then you'll be in that tiny little airport in Tanzania. And then you need to be that gates in at 5pm and you need to be ready to start climbing at 7am the next morning. So I mean, it was that kind of thing. Everything was just, you know, on the fly.

That's amazing. I mean, just I got stuck in Benin. I was going to go to Cameroon. I was doing some work with a nonprofit that I. And you know, the flight got canceled and I was like marooned for five days. I mean it was just like, you know, so the fact of you being able to make all those points and I'm sure she's saying, you know, and you'll get plenty of rest, you know, with this seven hour layover. So then you can just go toodle right on up Kilimanjaro.

Yeah, so like that. I mean there's many, many other stories like that throughout the 139 days, but it was kind of one of these sort of not on the flight, it was as planned as we possibly could, but we needed to be able to be flexible. And you mentioned weather. It's the same type of thing of, of kind of realizing, you know, where weather windows were and whatnot. You know, at one point I'm in Indonesia and I think that I'm going to fly to Moscow for a couple of days, get ready for my Elbrus expedition. And it just, I was actually climbing Elperus in winter. I imagine you climbed it in June or July. Oh, I can't imagine. But I climbed it in early March because I was of course trying to set this record and that was going to chance to do so timing wise. And so, so we looked at the weather forecast and there was like one good day of weather and then it was going to be this huge storm was coming. It was going to dump like, you know, 3ft of snow, 100 mile per hour winds. And it looked like that was going to sustain for the next like few weeks. It was like, well, you need to figure out how to get up there like as fast as possible in Indonesia. Literally coming off a helicopter of Carson's pyramid and Jenna's like, okay, so I can get you to go fly through Bali and Jakarta. Then you're going to have to pick up your extra gear that's there and Then from Jakarta, you're going to go to Doha, Qatar, Moscow. I was with a Russian woman I was climbing with and she was like, you couldn't book the inter Russian flights from outside the country for some reason. So we had to like get off this flight, go to the ticket counter and say, can we get the next flight to Mineral of get there, she like calls somebody who picks us up, drives us three hours and again we're like climbing Outburst that night. We barely make the summit and get down before this huge storm pulls in and then, you know, we're out of there. So just like, I mean, again, I could go on and on about these ridiculous logistics, like by the nick of our teeth, teeth. Skin of our teeth. Excuse me. But yeah, it was, it was kind of like that the entire time. So it was a crazy, crazy journey. Not just the climbing, but the logistics and everything that went into it.

I think, you know, the whole aspect of just kind of, I mean, mind stuff has been nothing even hardly to compare with yours. But it's like, you know, I'm like so focused on a climb and all, you know, my gear and my this, my fitness and whatever and just, you know, know that's, that's the, the sole focus of my life. And I can't imagine then like, you know, thinking, okay, two days from now I'm going to be heading to this other one to do this again.

I mean, it's, yeah, normal. You come off one exact position, you're like, great, I did it. Yeah, for me it was like, great, I did it. Oh, no time to celebrate. You're sleeping, you're this, you're cramped, you're sore, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, again, like we talked about, you know, like with the, the issues of appreciating the, in being a pro triathlete, of recovery and the importance of that. But, you know, you got recovery on the fly as best you could and wherever you could get it. So I think that's just amazing. So a little bit of personal disclosure here. When I was a little boy, up until, gosh, probably around age 12, 13, I had an obesity issue. I had had orthopedic issues. I had never run at, never had a pair of tennis shoes or anything like that. I had a horrible sweet tooth. So I weighed at age 12, about 20 pounds more than I weigh today. And I was not the height at age 12 that I am today. And my last name is Stout, so I was sort of quite, you know, the fat little bully magnet, you know, of having to deal with that. So I think the fact that of the focus of like, all this to bring attention and the work that you did with your nonprofit profit is amazing. So let's hear a little bit about that and how the kids helped with your climbing.

Yeah. So really the larger inspiration, like I said, was to do this thing, continue to push my own boundaries and goals and see what the limits are, but really to do something that would have a larger media arc and that could capture the attention of others around what I was doing, to hopefully inspire others. And for me, I mentioned before, being raised with parents who really had a kind of healthful ethic on life. And, you know, as I've got out into the world, I realized that I was incredibly fortunate to have those role models in my life. And certainly not all the young people in our country have those same role models, as we can see by the statistics of childhood obesity rates skyrocketing and things like that. And so, you know, I wanted to do something that could hopefully give back in the community in a meaningful way, which was. So we founded a non profit called Beyond 7 2, and it still lives on today under that name. The seven and the two stand for the seven peaks and the two poles. But the beyond meaning that really with this project was never just about me setting world records. It was just me having, you know, creating a platform to be able to tell this story, to realize that like I said before, that we all as humans have, you know, reservoirs of untapped potential. But also that no matter what your goals are, and I kind of mentioned this before, whatever that my canvas has been, you know, the outdoors and moving my body, but really, really no matter what those are, that having a healthful foundation will allow you to reach those goals. You might think my goal is to some academic goal or to be a doctor or an engineer, all that sort of stuff. But I can tell you that if you also treat your body better and you can eat properly and sleep properly and not overweight and these things, you're going to be more successful in those other areas of life as well. So it was really a whole project around that. We ultimately partnered with an organization called the alliance for a Healthier Generation, which is outstanding Nonprofit that's impacting 29,000 schools. 20 million kids nationwide are enrolled in their programs and they're doing a sweeping job. And of course, us being a small nonprofit, don't have the boots on the ground anywhere near like there. Again, this is me and Jenna kind of on the fly creating stuff. But with this story, what I was doing was Creating a unique story for them. And so they were able to connect us into thousands of schools and school districts around the country where teachers were able to bring this story into their classrooms. And it was really, really. It kind of grew beyond our wildest dreams in terms of that, where teachers were. Of course, we originally were kind of focused on PE teachers and health and physical education type of curriculums and kind of having that conversation. But all of a sudden, we had social studies teachers bringing this in and saying, hey, well, let's follow Colin. Because we were doing all this live blogging and tweeting, and I was the first person to Snapchat from the summit of Mount Everest.

Now that should be a world record. That's really pretty cool,

you know. You know, I've done that kind of stuff to be able to reach kids. And before we knew it, we've got, you know, social studies teachers saying, like, hey, let's follow Collins blog every single day. But every time he's in a new country, let's do a little unit on, you know, what's it like in Nepal? What's the anthropology of Nepal? What's the food you're hitting there? What's this? Oh, let's talk about Antarctica. Let's talk about East Africa. Let's talk, you know, about these different cultures. You know, we had science teachers, and I still do these, what I call virtual field trips where I talk to different school districts around the country and, you know, science or STEM curriculum, talking about atmospheric pressure at high altitudes and extreme temperatures and things like that. And so it's been really amazing to see that this project really blossomed into this kind of conversation starter. Really, like, I'm just kind of a catalyst for a much larger conversation that was able to have. And then, of course, by having a direct touch with these kids, it excited them enough to really dive into the studying side of it. So it's like, oh, my God, we talked to this guy, or he came to our school and told us about these world records. That's super cool. And before they know it, their teachers are hitting them with these interesting curriculums about the world and health and wellness and these types of things. So it was really amazing. Probably my favorite, there's been many highlights, but my favorite success story with that was a sort of campaign we did, which was called what's your Everest? And we asked kids, and sort of, as I was actually climbing Everest, is ask them, well, what's your Everest? Colin has set himself this big goal. You know, Colin stories burn this fire goal setting sort of aspirational what's your Everest? And we had kids sending me while I was on the mountain, literally these short video clips and saying, you know, my Everest is to be the first person in my family to graduate from college or, you know, my Everest, you know, is to be doctor one day and things like that. And so that, you know, was was amazing to see and sort of be able to center of that conversation. But certainly as things, you know, got hard for me up on the mountains, you know, there was I actually had to make two attempts on Mount Everest. I got caught out in a bad storm. My first attempt. I had to go back down and actually climb all the way back up a few days later. And I'm exhausted, exhausted 130 some days at this point. But I'm getting these, you know, messages and notes and video clips sent to me of these kids saying, you're inspiring me because, you know, your versus this, like, without a doubt. That's definitely when this project got hard. What inspired me, you know, to keep moving because it was all of a sudden doing something that was much greater than myself. I really wanted to make those, those people that were supporting this proud and particularly the kids who were thinking about the goals in their own life. So it was really a special, special campaign. And we continue to do this work in schools around the country.

I really applaud you for that, I think. And you hit a, you know, a really good point. I think the when you go out and, you know, do these other kinds of things, then when you get that kind of feedback, it's almost like, you know, you feel like you almost gain more from it than, you know, than the kids or whatever. They become your inspiration. You know, it's an amazing phenomenon. So. Well, gosh, Colin, I could talk with you the rest of the afternoon. I would love to. Maybe we can do a round two. But I want to finish up with a couple of last questions. What's next? Continuing on with Beyond 7 2. And that, I presume. And what else is on your agenda?

Yeah, so let's see. The nonprofit work definitely continues on, and that will be always think wrapped into whatever else I do moving forward. I just, I'm actually from Portland, Oregon. That's where I live. But I'm sitting in New York City right now, and I just finished up an event in Vermont yesterday which was to this kind of sounds kind of crazy, but I think your listeners might appreciate it. I did something called the 29029 challenge. So 29029 is the height of Everest from sea level, back and forth, right up the.

Up the.

Yeah. So Stratton, Vermont, guy by the name of Jesse Itzel organized this event. He rented out all of the ski mountain of Stratton, Vermont. And about 150 of us climbed up and down 17 times. Each lap was 1.3 miles, 17ft of elevation up this mountain, very steep, like 40. Great. Crazy. And so I laughed that over and over and over and over again, quote, unquote, the summit of Everest. Wow. So that's what I did this weekend and this past weekend. But yeah, for me, you know, I'm dreaming up some other big expeditions in 2018. I haven't announced them yet yet, but stay tuned on that. And then also, you know, also sharing this story not only with the nonprofit work I do, but, you know, this, this message has really resonated with all sorts of audiences. So doing a lot of, you know, speaking the corporate level, motivational speaking recently, you know, gave a TED talk which is called change your mindset and achieve anything, which is again, using my personal narrative but really realizing the sort of universal principles that I think we can all learn and be inspired from throughout that. So really it's been fun for me and humbling to be invited to share my story in so many different platforms via, via media and you know, public speaking and that. So that's definitely a big part of what I'm doing now and starting to think about working on a book and various things like that. Lots of irons in the fire.

That's good. Well, it's no surprise. So I think it, you know, I just, I have to compliment you, man. I mean, I think it's such an, a lot of times, you know, climbing or whatever and these at least athletic kinds of things can be very individual, solitary, you know, just, you know, on the athlete kind of thing. But you've taken it to a level to bring exposure and awareness and like you said, you know, in the school setting to be, you know, healthy kids and thinking about it, you know, being in a PE curriculum or a wellness kind of thing, but then also expanding kids understandings of different places and different people that are very similar to themselves but happen to live, you know, in a different part of the world. And you've, you know, you've, you've taken the, the tool and excitement of climbing an adventure and been able to, you know, bring it to the classroom and have kids. Like you said, I love the what's your Everest? I mean that, would that make a great bumper sticker T shirt. You know, that's, I think that's brilliant of, you know, how inspiring that can be and how inspiring your story is. So in the show notes, we'll go through this and get all the details and stuff like that. But for sponsorships, for ways to people to track you, social media, those kinds of things, what are some of the best ways for people to reach out and be in touch or to be able to follow your story and your next adventure?

Yeah, yeah, pretty active on social, particularly Instagram and some of the other platforms, Facebook, whatnot. But you know, Instagram, Twitter is Colin O', Brady, just my name. And the website is beyond72.com which gives a little more background as well as has a all the press and media and various things and podcasts and stuff up there. And yeah, please, please reach out. I really love hearing from folks. Reach out via my website or direct message on Instagram, Twitter, whatnot and yeah, love hearing from folks and that'll definitely be where we post the next round of things that I'm up to.

Excellent. Well, we'll be keeping an eye out. We'll be looking forward to it. And, and Colin, let's keep in touch. Man, you're an inspiration and it's great to have you on the show.

I appreciate it. Thanks, Chris.

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