#65: How to start running when you're out of shape? With Slow AF Runner Martinus Evans

Comparison is the thief of joy. You have to be consistent and persistent in your own journey. You can't look to the next guy or the next girl beside you. Running has helped me figure that out, to understand that there's no such thing as a failure. There's no such thing as a loss. All of this is a learning instrument to keep us going throughout life. But first things first, we got to get your mindset together, right? I want everybody to think of like their mindset as like a match. And your job is to take this match, light it, and cultivate it so that this match becomes a raging fireball. So the only way you can do that is by continuing to add good things to it. And the other thing about this, you know, about this match is like, as in any fitness journey and so on and so forth, like you can light that match and you can instantly blow it out. Right? But as you continue to pour into positive stuff into it, that fire becomes so powerful that a gust of wind won't even blow it out.

Hi there, my name is Floris Gierman, host of the Extra Mileless Podcast, and on this show I interview different guests about ways to become a stronger, healthier, and happier athlete. Today, an honest conversation with Martinez Evans. He is a runner and he's also the founder of a passionate running community, the Slow AF Run Club. We talk about the back of the pack runners, size inclusivity, mindset, and the fair treatment and full participation of all people. We also talk about his health and running journey from first visiting his doctor to then completing his first marathon. Martinez has run more than 8 marathons and hundreds of other distances in his 300-pound body. He shares recommendations for runners looking to start running and those looking to improve in their health and running journey. Before we dive in, if you would like to receive my weekly newsletter with different running strategies, running tips, ways for you to improve as an athlete, you can sign up at extramileus.com/subscribe. I typically send that out every Friday. Currently there are about 11,000 people that receive that newsletter every week, and you can sign up for free at extramileus.com/subscribe.

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Floris, man, this is a long time coming. Thank you for having me on.

Absolutely. You, you've inspired me and many people around the world, and I was really stoked to see that you actually dropped a book an actually full written book over here. I want to take a deep dive into the book. But first of all, I think for those people listening who are not familiar with your running and health journey, let's start at the beginning. Where did it all start for you? How did you initially get into running? And then we'll take it from there.

Yeah, man. So let me take you back. Let's set the scene. 2012, July 2012. A young Martinez is working at Men's Warehouse. He is wearing suits all day, commission sales, on his feet 8 to 12 hours wearing hard-bottom dress shoes. That's the scene. Um, I start to develop some hip issues because obviously I'm on my feet in hard-bottom dress shoes on concrete. Went to go see a doctor. Um, that doctor forwarded me to an orthopedic surgeon, and he told me he know what's wrong with me. What's wrong, Doc? You're fat. You're fat. You need to lose weight or die.

He literally said it like that. Yes, he was not holding back.

So, you know, one of the things that, like, one of the things that, that bothered me with doing that thing is that this doctor didn't know me. This is my first time meeting him. He didn't know my story. He didn't know that I was on my feet 8 to 12 hours a day walking around, um, in menswear house selling suits. He didn't know, he didn't care. He just seen my outward appearance and said, you're fat, you need to lose weight or die. So we get into this argument, and I remember saying to him, screw all this, screw you, like, I can run a marathon if I wanted to. And he laughs at me and tells me that's the most stupidest thing I heard in all of my years of practicing medicine. He said, if you run a marathon, I can guarantee you, you will die on that course.

Wow.

So some more, some more words happened. I stormed out the doctor's office, and on my way driving home, I bought some running shoes. I bought some running shoes, and I got on the treadmill, and I failed miserably. Um, that was my journey. That was my first day of my journey. And, um, despite, despite of proving this doctor wrong, fueled me for the past, for that year. In order for me to run my first marathon about 18 months later.

18 months later. Wow. What was your weight when you went into the doctor's office and how did that change over that 18-month period?

So this is a very interesting question. I was over 360 pounds, but I can't tell you what the exact weight was because every scale that I encountered during that time stopped working around 330, 340, even 350. So I know it's over 350, but I don't know exactly how much I weighed during that time.

Yeah. How, how was it for you to get on a treadmill? Like you said, that first workout on the treadmill was miserable. Tell me about those first stages of you trying to get into running. What, what was your approach and what did you learn in those first few months?

Oh man, I learned a lot of things. I learned that a marathon is 26.2 miles. So that was the first thing I learned. Um, but throughout that process, even my first run, right, I went to this, um, fitness center. I was inconveniently sandwiched between two gazelles, I like— as I like to call them. One guy was going 10, the other guy was going like 9.5, 9. I thought to myself, I can at least go 7. I couldn't go 7. I ended up on the floor. But during that experience, one of the things that it taught me was like, I can, I can overcome this and I will overcome this. So when I went back the next day and the day after that, I started to go a little bit slower, like, all right, I can't do 7, but can I do 3? Can I do 4? And until I found a speed that I was more comfortable with. And then day after day, I would just come and just get a little bit better. So 10, 10 seconds or 15 seconds became 30 seconds. 30 seconds became a minute. A minute became 2, then 5, and then next thing you know, instead of me counting minutes, I'm starting to count miles. Um, also during that time, I, uh, I downloaded a bunch of Couch to 5K programs on my phone. Um, I was very obsessive with it, you know. It's like, well, I don't like the voice of this one, I don't like the voice of that one. But one of the things I learned throughout this whole Couch to 5K experience was that all of them ended at run for 30 minutes, congratulations, you ran a 5K. And I don't know about y'all, I did the math. So you want me to run faster than 10 minutes a mile and then I run a 5K? And that was one of the experiences where I learned that this running thing wasn't built for people like me in mind.

Can you elaborate on that a little bit more besides the speed thing, obviously?

So like, yeah, you know, it costs $5K, 10-minute mile. But even when I started to go to some of the big box store retailers that sell athletic wear, none of them stores had anything over an XL. Like most of the stores, most of the time stop at a double XL and only had like 1 or 2 of those items. So I remember going into one of these big box stores and asking the guy like, hey, do you have anything over a 3X or do you have a 3X or more? And it's like, nope, but we got these 2Xs and they run large so that you might be able to get into them. And the guy gives me the shirt and I look at the shirt and I'm like, I can't fit this shirt. And he's like, no, no, no, you can fit that. You got it. And I remember going into the fitting room knowing that I can't fit this shirt, but this guy heavily insisted that I can fit it. And I go in there, I put the shirt on, and I can't get the shirt off. So I end up having like the Hulk off the shirt. So I like ripped the shirt to get out of the shirt. And I remember like leaving that shirt there and like making a beeline to the, to the front door. So like that was an instance. I remember also like trying to get a coach, um, and no coach would take me on because they was like, oh, you know, you're a bigger guy. Like, I don't want to be responsible for you if you get injured. So that's what I mean by I learned that this sport wasn't necessarily made or like marketed or targeted towards people like me.

How did you overcome some of that? Because eventually you ended up being able to run longer. Even though the pace was a 13-minute mile, a 14-minute mile, there were walk breaks, there were, there were different adjustments that you made in your training. But how did that evolve over time? How did you overcome that? How did you increase the duration? Because you ended up running multiple marathons, so you were able to increase it significantly.

The beauty of, for myself, the beauty of Being able to have this problem and knowing that I'm the only person that can fix it, um, is one of the things that really helped me throughout this whole journey. Knowing that, um, I can take bits and pieces from whatever to make it work, and if something work, I can continue to do that. So, uh, there's a phrase that, uh, my parents used to say growing up, and it was, you know, if it don't apply, let it fly. And that's what I did. I, I tried a lot of things. Like I said, I downloaded a bunch of Couch to 5K programs. I took bits and pieces from other programs, um, pretty much like on a day-by-day basis to create my own training plan to make it work for me. So, you know, I look at it and they're like, oh, run, run this distance at this pace. I'm like, nope, not doing that. Let me go see what the other training plan says. And it's like, run this distance at this pace. I'm like, okay, I could do that. So each day, or each day that I was planning on running, I did that. I chose a pick and choose, like, what, um, what thing worked for me for that particular moment and within that particular day, and slowly continued to build upon that. And then the other thing is that you start to learn that, um, when it comes to running and exercises in general, like there's patterns, right? Like there's always, like there's always some type of increase pattern where it's like you're going to increase so much for 3 weeks and back up for a week, or you're going to increase so much for 4 weeks and back up a week. So I start to learn that pattern and I just started to figure out and make up what worked best for me during that time.

Yeah. Wow. It was definitely— it is interesting to hear that part in particular, that you were, you were still often looking at paces over here. Were you looking at running intensity at all? As far as how would you gauge your intensity or how would you feel like, all right, this is doable for me, but this is not yet. Would you look at your breathing pattern? Were you working with heart rate at all or any sort of other measure, or was it more whatever felt right at that point?

At that point, I was not working with any of that stuff other than pace. And one of the things I learned or found out about was the RPE scale, rate of perceived exertion. And I remember when I was in college and I took this weight training class, and I remember like the, the instructor saying like, you know, most workouts for anything that you do should be along, you know, the middle grade of an RPE. Like, no matter what you're doing— running, exercising— like, for most of the things you're going to be doing, you're going to land somewhere in the middle. So I remember that, and I just took heed to that experience of, all right, regardless of whatever pace they said I need to do, I need to make sure that I ended up somewhere in this middle RPE scale.

Yeah. How did, how did things change over those, those few months? Like, besides the actual, like, running distance increasing, what were some of the other things that you noticed in your body and mind happening at that time in those early stages?

I think that one of the things I really understood or that happened with me was like, holy crap, Like, I'm— I think I'm actually enjoying this running thing. You know, when you start to add running into like just everyday stuff, like, oh, my girlfriend made me mad, I'm gonna go for a run. And me being like, wait a minute, I would have never thought that me going for a run would just be like one of the things that I would just add to the repertoire. So that was great. My mood was always better. And then overall, like, I was— when I was at Men's Warehouse, they always had like this flat football type of thing that we did every weekend. I got faster. I was able to stay out there on the field a little bit longer, and that was fun as well.

That's good. Once there's that positive momentum, once there's that All right, you actually go on a run and you start to get enjoyment out of it, or just being outside and being like on a consistent basis moving. It doesn't have to be an hour-long run either. It can also just be like a shorter period of time. And I sometimes do see people in different stages of their running, but sometimes people overcomplicate it too, that they put this big barrier of like, ah, when I have to run, I have to run and this hard and I have to run this far kind of thing. Versus let's just go outside and move for a little bit, even if that is just 10 or 15 minutes or anything like that. So yeah, there's that, that perception difference there too. What was it that, before we start talking about, because I do want to dive into your first marathon experience because you, you wrote a very honest detailed recap of that in your book, which I thought was, was really spot on. Before we do, what was your— you started running with some running clubs in those early stages too, like for a sense of community. Talk to me, what were those experiences like when you went to some of those running clubs?

Oh man, it was hellacious. So I remember talking to a friend and letting them know like, hey, I'm starting to run. And it was like, oh, like you should check out, like there should be some running clubs in your neighborhood. Like, go check them out, go run with them. And I remember, you know, going to a couple clubs. Not even before that, I remember looking them up online, and, you know, they said all the nice things that I thought fit for me. Like, so there's like, all faces welcome, you know, every face is welcome, we're inclusive, like, come with us, nobody's left behind. So I get there, and this happened for multiple clubs. I get to these clubs and, you know, I let them know Uh, what pace I'm running? And I'm like, well, I run anywhere between like a 13 to 15-minute mile. And for most clubs, they're like, oh, we don't have anything slower than a 10-minute mile. Like, can you keep up with that? And it's like going back to that whole Couch to 5K thing. Like, you expect me to run a 10-minute mile? So reluctantly, I, I, I played along because I wanted some type of community. I, I wanted to be a part of this, this whole running culture and running boom. And I did that, and most of the time I just got left, you know. Yes, I can keep up a 10-minute mile for, I don't know, 2 and a half minutes, 3 minutes, but eventually you're gonna start getting slow. And eventually, um, as I start to slow down, most clubs was like, hey big man, keep up, as they continue to run and just leave me in their dust.

That is so not cool. That is, that is real. Like, it was eye-opening when I read some of the things, some of those initial experiences that you just described and that you talk about openly too. That was, that was that part. But then there were even like some other, like you have also explained some, some racist comments that you have previously experienced and you have experienced like weight comments and you have experienced pace comments like you've had a lot of daggers left and right, which I can imagine is— it's quite challenging in those early stages. But at the other hand, you almost saw it as it fueled your fire and you wanted to prove them wrong. Is that correct?

Yeah. So, Floris, pretty much everything about my life is about proving people wrong.

Yeah, it comes through. And I'm glad you have been able to do that as well. Like, I have a lot of respect for what you have done over the years.

Thank you. But yeah, most of my life I have this knack of somebody telling me I can't do something and I'll show them 100 ways of why I can. Yeah, like that's just my life. And I think that's, that's one of the things that really fuels me is being the underdog. I love being the underdog because I know when I'm the underdog, people are sleeping on me and they don't know what— they don't know what's coming.

Yes. And then eventually you decided to start your own running club. Tell me more about that.

Absolutely. So the Slow AF Run Club, the best run club on the internet according to me. This community is 10,000 members strong. Um, we started pre-pandemic, uh, with about 40 individuals. So let me give you a story of how Slow F Run Club got started. I was running a race, um, and imagine you're at mile 18 of a race at a marathon. You're jamming, you got the sounds on, you're focused, and at the corner of your eye you see somebody do large movements and you don't know what is going on. And you take out your headphones, you're like, what, what's going on? And he's like, go home. And I'm like, what? He's like, you're slow as fuck, go home. And you're confused because you're like, what's going on here? And then it hits you. It takes— it takes a couple seconds, it would have hit you. And it's like, man, what? Him, you slow as fuck, go home. So he's heckling me. I'm like, I know he's not heckling me. He's heckling me. So we have this, we have this debate, and there's this quote of like, you know, some of your biggest critics are going to be people who are not even in the arena. So I remember telling him like, you're not even running the race, you go home. You know, this guy's drunk. I'm like, you go home, you're not even running the race. At least I'm running. So we have this whole argument or whatever, and I continue to run this race. I finished the race, right? And that resonated with me. And I remember I'm being like, you know what, I know what I'm going to do. Like, as a big middle finger to him, I'm going to wear Slow AF across my shirt for every shirt and every race that I wear.

That is so awesome.

So I started to wear these shirts that had Slow AF on there. People loved it so much so that they was like, hey, do you sell these things? The entrepreneur in me was like, well, I do now. Launch the little— the, the, the shirts. So 500 shirts in the first weekend.

Damn, you sold 500 shirts in one weekend?

500 shirts in one weekend.

Whoa, that shows momentum.

So momentum. I'm still wearing these shirts, I'm still running races, and, um, these people started to get the shirts and they was like, hey, like, is there a community? Like, I'm tired of these Facebook groups. Like, all these Facebook groups are talking about, you know, they're here for slow runners, but all of them always talking about running faster or losing weight or all this other stuff. Like, do you have a community? We want to be a part of your community. Entrepreneur me was like, well, I do now. So I started it, um, started a group with 40 initial members, my Founding 40. And then, you know, we would plan, um, like what races we're going to run together. And just, it was just overall just like a like a social group, right, with these 40 individuals. And then the pandemic happened, and, uh, it went from 40 to 100, and it went from 100 to 500, and then 1,000. And then we got some press, you know, New York Times and some other places, and it went from a couple thousand to 10,000 members. So at that point, I was like, all right, I need to pivot a little bit and add a little bit more structure because we have a lot more members And a lot more people are asking for, like, specific things towards running. So I was like, okay, I'm going to add some coaching. We're going to add— I hired a personal trainer to come in and do some lives. So she did like, like, cheer exercises, modifications, things of that sort. I myself was already a certified run coach, so I started doing group coaching and one-on-one coaching and Now we just have this amazing group of individuals all over the world who are learning about running, meeting up at various races to run races together, and just creating lasting friendships. And one of the other things that we're doing is that we're launching a nonprofit to go along with it. So I'm in the process of doing that now, Floris. So we're launching the Slow AF Run Club Foundation. And with the foundation, individuals will be able to apply to launch their own specific Slow Your Front Club in their own location. So now we're working on taking this thing that we've created in a virtual setting, and now it's turning it into an in-person setting.

It is so awesome once you start seeing that momentum, and in particular, like, all of the positive stories that are coming out of your community too. Can you mention like some of, can you mention like an example of what people are experiencing when they have joined this group, for example?

Oh man, like every story or every journey of a person is somewhat similar of, I came in, they come in and they're like, I'm not a runner, I wanna start running, I can't do this, I don't know if I can, woe is me. And then we continue to ploy until they love Tank. Yes, you can do this. Yes, you are a runner. Let's provide you with education. Hey, there's this livestream. Go there. And we continue to pour into them and then they start to build momentum and they start to run races. So then they were starting to run races. They're starting to meet with other people. They get the merch, they start to feel good about themselves, and they just continue to run and be amongst the community. And this happens like almost every month, a new batch of people come in. And it's the same thing over again of like, I don't know if I can do this. And it's like, yes, you can. And we pour into you and we just continue to do that. So that's the thing, Floris. And then the other thing, man, is that our goal is to get 1 million people to start running in the Slow Your Run Club, right? 1 million people, 1 million new people to start running in the body that they have right now. So we want to make sure that we're providing all the tools and resources that we can to get these million people to start running.

This is, this is really cool. You're really impacting a lot of people here. And I, and the one part I've noticed here too is you often talk about mindset over here, or at least like your, your programming and your internal self-talk. Like, in what sort of way has that changed for you since 2012 till now? Because you have gone through initial training stages, you have gone through your first marathon, marathon. And like, how, how has the, the mindset changed over, over the years, and how do you see it now?

Oh man, my mindset is on 1,000.

Um, but it wasn't all— it wasn't always like that though.

It wasn't always like that. Right now is 1,000. Um, one of the things that you start to learn throughout this journey is that once you do hard things that gives you license to do even harder things, right? And you can always compare something that you've done in the past harder than what you're planning on doing. Uh, so that's the one thing, right? And then, um, the other thing is that I built up my toolbox of my athlete mindset. So this athlete mindset is, um, everything that you do in order to perform and get out there to run, right? So even thinking about like, how do you even see what a loss is or like what a failure is and things of that sort? Like running has helped me figure that out, to understand that there's no such thing as a failure. There's no such thing as a loss. All of this is a learning instrument to keep us going throughout life.

Yeah, that is so, so spot on. A few months ago, I recorded a video where I was talking about the importance of not comparing yourself with other people. And one of the comments I made in there too, like, I'm as proud of someone getting off the couch and starting to walk consistently versus someone who's out there crushing their races every single weekend. And I think that, that part in particular, that we're all on different parts of our journey and it is so easy to start opening Instagram or Strava or whatever. I had to start thinking that, ah, all these people are doing all day long is crushing all of their races and doing all of these kind of things. But it's the boring things, the, the just continuously showing up and, and just putting in that work that might not look as sexy, but at least you're getting it done kind of thing, that over time gradual adaptations happen and you actually start improving quite a bit. But it's hard to see that in the moment sometimes.

Floris, and to your listeners, Comparison is the thief of joy. I'll say it again, comparison is the thief of joy. You have to be consistent and persistent in your own journey. You can't look to the next guy or the next girl beside you. See, that's what happened with me, Floris, when I started running. I started looking at these gazelles and thinking, dang, they're going 10, they're going 9.5, I can at least go 7. But if I didn't come with a comparison mindset, I would have got on that treadmill and say, okay, let me see what I can do. Let me, let me try out a speed. Let me start off with 3. Let me walk and then slowly increase my speed. But since I started to compare myself, I sucked all that joy out my journey right then and there.

Yeah, for sure. For people wanting to do, to get started with consistent training. Like, what, what are some high-level recommendations over here for you? For like, let's say someone is listening here and is like, Martinez, this is an inspiring story. I want to start buying a pair of running shoes, go on that treadmill, or go outside. How, how do you recommend they go about this?

So first things first, we gotta get your mindset together, right? I want everybody to think of like their mindset it as like a match, and your job is to take this match, light it, and cultivate it so that this match becomes a raging fireball. So the only way you can do that is by continuing to add good things to it. And the other thing about this, you know, about this match, just like as, as in any fitness journey and so on and so forth, like you can light that match, you can instantly blow it out. Right? But as you continue to pour into it and continue to pour into positive stuff into it, that fire becomes so powerful that a gust of wind won't even blow it out. So that's the first thing. The second thing, after you get some gear, you want to start running, start very slow. So you can start off with intervals like this is what I— my tried and true method is by running intervals, right? And what I tell people is that find any distance or interval that you want to run. It can be arbitrary or you can be numbers. So like you can start off with 15 seconds, run for 15 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, or, you know, if you're in a neighborhood and it's very consistent, run to the next, the next light pole or run to the next fire hydrant and then walk to the next fire hydrant. Start there. Start very slow because a lot of beginners, they do too much too soon, too fast. So you want to be able to start off slow and then continue to build up from there. And then the third thing is being consistent and persistent. You have to be consistent in this journey in order to, to make it to where you want to be. And sometimes you also got to be persistent as well. Those are two things that have to go hand in hand. You have to be consistent. You have to be persistent. And if I had to add a bonus tip— yes, please— bonus tip: you have to strength train. You have— it's the other things outside of running that will help you become a better runner. So you have to cross-train, you have to stretch, and you also have to add in recovery.

Yeah, it's— sometimes I notice that too. Everyone just wants to put all their time and effort onto the running component and completely ignores all of the rest, where everything is connected indeed. Yeah, it is. The, the running, the mobility, the strength, the nutrition, the sleep, like all of it, it's all of that.

All of that goes hand in hand. And I think for a lot of beginner runners or just even experienced people, like they tend to forget about the basics, right? The basics are the basics and they're the building blocks because like it's the stuff that works. If we spent 80% or like most of our time on the basics, you'll be a sound runner. But no, in a society we want to do like we want quick fixes, we want the next hack, we want all this other stuff. But it's really the basics. It's the fundamental boring stuff that's going to get you to where you are at and where you want to be.

100%. Let's talk about race day strategy for a little bit. Okay. Because you have, you have done quite some races over the years yourself. I believe you've done, like, shorter distances. You have done, like, marathons, like, multiple marathons. Any high-level recommendations after you have raced several times for people wanting to do their first 5K or their first 10K, like, the actual race day itself?

Yeah, like, I think there's tons of things that, um, an individual can do, like, on particular race day. So if you're thinking, like, before the race, um, if you're looking at, all right, what race do I want to run, I would say the main thing to look out for is course cutoff limits. So, like, if you're a beginner runner and you're like, all right, I want to run a 5K, I don't know which one to run, as you start to look at races, look at course cutoff limits and then figure out to yourself, is this something that I can that I can do. And then also seeing what happens during the race after, or if somebody does not make the race cutoff limit. So like, do they make you get on a bus? Do they just say you're on the sidewalk, good luck? Do they not provide any more water? Make sure you understand that so that way you can figure out how to prepare yourself for that race, or if not, decide to find another race. So like, that's, that's one thing, right? So after you picked up the race and you're at the starting line. Um, I don't know how many F-bombs I can say, but I'll just say—

oh, go for it. We've already dropped a few. I already got to put the explicit label on here. By all means, go for it.

You gotta calm the fuck down. Calm the fuck down. You know, we get riled up and like, oh, this is first race, we got to do this, I don't know what to do. You got to calm down, start slow, slowly ramp up into like your pace and then finish strong. If you just think about it like that as a little ramp up, like I'm going to start slow and then I'm going to ramp up and then I'm going to finish strong. You'll be— you'll do amazing. But what most runners do is that they run like a bat out of hell in the first, in the first 2 or 3 miles, and they just spent up all of their energy. And then now they're struggling to get to the finish line. That's not true because you listen to Martinez, start slow and then slowly start to increase and ramp up and then you get into that groove and finish strong versus the other way where you start strong and you finish is just off the, off the, off the, off the rails.

My, my daughters are 6 and 10 and I went to watch them when they had like a school jogathon going on. And it is indeed so funny to see the kids like taking off like a wild racehorse in the first 30 seconds, and then they have like 20 more minutes of death march going on, some of them. But then again, I go look at most of the other races that are happening, and it's very similar even there. Like the first few minutes, people are going out crazy fast, and then all the wheels falling off quickly, quickly towards the second half of the race there. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit more through your first marathon experience, because I do think we learn a lot in every race, and maybe we can just use that as an example. Which one was your first marathon? What were your expectations going into it, and how did it actually unfold on race day?

Alrighty. So October 2013, Detroit Marathon was my first marathon. My expectations was, I don't know if I'm going to finish this thing because the longest I've ever ran was like 20 miles or 21 miles. And I always thought to myself, I found it very weird that individuals didn't run the full distance of a race before they ran that race. So I'm at the start line of this marathon thinking to myself, I don't know what's going to happen after 20 miles. I don't know if I look— I don't know if I'm just going to fall over. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to give it my best. So start the run. The first half was amazing. I'm giving high fives, I'm helping people out, cheering people on, all this other stuff, right? Get to the second half of the race, and around mile 19, uh, we, we come across the, um, I can't remember the name of the bridge, but we come across this bridge and I see this guy and he starts to slow down. And I'm thinking to myself like, all right, like Like, let me go talk to him. So I go talk to him. Hey man, what's up? Like, you got this. Like, keep going. Like, we can do this together. Like, don't stop. This is my first marathon. I'm just trying to talk him up, right? But it's also a good distraction for myself because I'm like, I don't want to listen to all the things that's going on in my head. So like, let me distract myself by talking to somebody. Like, that's my goal during the race is talk to as many people as possible. So he's like, nah, I'm done. And he waves down the SAG wagon, which is called, uh, which is short for like support and gear. This is like, I call it the little paddy wagon that, you know, for they pick up, you know, lost souls. Um, but you know, they pick up people, right? They, they pick up people who are like injured or like are done or can't finish the race, or sometimes they even have like, um, like gear or snacks or things of that in there. So get in there, he drives off. So I continue to run, and, uh, I started to have this internal battle with myself. Like, I literally got, uh, like the cartoon— I got a little angel on one side and I got a little devil on one side, and they are raging, Floris. Like, one of them is like, you got this, keep going, and the other one's like, shit, your ass should have got in the van too. So I'm continuing to run And like parts of my body is hurting that I never hurt— had hurt before. Like, Floris, have you ever had your teeth hurt from running?

Oh yeah, it never surprised— like you're totally like clinking, clanging your teeth together. Yeah, parts of the body hurt that you didn't know could even hurt.

So my teeth is hurting and like these little angels or devils on the side of me is like, one of them was like, well, you know, if you stop running, all the pain will go away. And the other one was like, no, keep going. And then next thing you know, that bus pulls alongside of me, and there's this guy with a voice, and it's like, hey, big man. And I look over to him, he's like, you're running? I'm like, yeah. He's like, do you want to ride to the finish line? And I'm like, no, I'm okay. And I didn't think nothing of it. I'm like, okay, I didn't think nothing of it. But like, the voice is like, yo, ass should get in that bus. Get in the bus, Martinez. The pain will go away if you get in this bus. Because like, my feet hurting, everything hurting, and my— they're like, get on the bus. And I'm like, no. And then next mile come, he comes again, hey big man, you want to ride to the finish line? I'm like, no. And then mile after mile, hey big man, you want to ride? You want to ride? So like, now I got 3 things going on. I got the little 2 angels on the side of me Both of them competing against each other. And now I got this other external thing of like, there's a guy on the bus talking about, hey big man, do you want a ride to the finish line? And then I get to mile 25 and one of the bike support people come and it's like, hey, do you know where you at? I'm like, hopefully the finish line. And he's like, nope, but you got like one more mile to go, like keep going. And then so he drives off or like he rides off into the sunset and then the bus comes alongside of me and he's like, hey big man, like, I can give you a ride to the finish line, like, get in. I'm like, I'm, I'm less than a mile away, like, why would I want to get in? And then he's like, well, I can't help that you fat and slow. So I was taken aback, like, what?

That's what he said?

Yes, yes, I can't help that you fat and slow. And I was just taken aback, like, what? So we have an argument again, because, you know, one thing I'm gonna do is stand up for myself. And I end up finishing the race. I continue to run it and I finish up the race. And, um, yeah, I never seen him again, never heard him on again. But like, if it wasn't for that experience, like, everything about that race I enjoyed so much so that I ran Detroit a few other times because I really love that race. Like, I enjoy the course. It's a nice course. But yeah, man, like, that experience of the two things going on inside of me, like my heart telling me to keep going but my head is saying stop, and then you got this internal force of, you know, or external force of, um, somebody's telling you like, hey, like, come on, get on, come on, come on, I'll take you to the finish line. But me knowing, like, if I get in, if I get in that bus I'm not gonna be able to get all the, the rewards that I want to reap, right? Like, I won't be able to call myself a marathon finisher. I won't be able to have that medal. I won't be able to have like that elation or that satisfaction of telling that doctor like, fuck you, like, I ran this race. Even though it was 18 months later, I still ran that race and I ran a marathon and I didn't die. So like, that's the thing is like running is, is, is you versus your mind versus everybody else. And like, that's literally what I was going through of like the thoughts of myself that's going on with me, the thoughts of other people of me running, and then my thoughts of what other people are thinking about me going on as well.

I cannot believe, by the way, that's— I can't believe, but it's, it's so hard to hear that someone who should be there in support for a race who should be there to support the athletes, to help encourage them, to bring them to the finish line with positive energy, would bring back, bring down athletes in such a way that it's not just like encouraging them to get on the bus, but also calling you names. That is, that is, yeah, that's really heartbreaking to hear that someone would, would do that and yeah, work for a race like that. So what are some tools that you have used over the, over the years in your running journey like that, that help you, whether it's mentally, physically, like journaling, meditation, recovery tools? Is there anything in particular that works well for you in your journey?

Physically, the first thing that I wish somebody would have told me, and I'm going to tell you now, is there's this thing called Body Glide. I'm not sponsored by them, um, but like, if you never heard about it and you, you are experiencing chafing in all of your parts, whether both private and unprivate, Body Glide is the thing that you need. I wish somebody would have told me that because there have been multiple times where I've gotten in the shower and it, it felt like I was being cut by a thousand razors. So I'm just gonna go ahead and put that, that one out there. Um, and then when it comes to like mindset, right, um, I think that the, the notion that, you know, whatever you think and whatever you feel is not real, right? So like, yes, you have thoughts, yes, you have feelings, but those things are not real. They may feel real, but you have to look at them as if you're looking at yourself in the mirror. Like they're just a reflection of you, but they're not you. So with that being said, you can pretty much turn any loss into a win. You can turn any lesson learned or like anything quote unquote bad into something that's good or at least neutral. So one of the things I try to do is always try to find the positive or at least the neutral aspect of something that has happened to me, right? So like, that's one thing. The other thing is find an enemy. So I have this thing in the book and it's called Find an Enemy. And I'm a big Michael Jordan fan, right? And if you've seen his Hall of Fame speech or if you've seen The Last Dance documentary, you know, you know, the favorite quote is like, you know, I took offense to that, right?

And you see those are the best games that he played. I freaking love that documentary. It was so good.

So I tried to take the same thing, like, as you see in all of the things throughout my life, you know, somebody called me slow as fuck during a race. I took offense to that. I'm gonna go then create the Slowest Run Club, you know, uh, doctor tell me, oh, you gonna die on a marathon if you try to run a marathon. You know what, I took offense to that, so now I'm gonna go run 8 marathons, right? Um, I think just taking that approach versus— I, I think what happens for a lot of people is that we get mad, we get in our feelings, and they're like, nothing productive comes from it, right? And, um, I had a good friend tell me like way, way back in the day, um, the best way to complain is to create stuff or do something about it. The best way to complain. Um, so that's one of the ways I like to do. Um, so the same thing when it comes to like the Slow Your Front Club merch, right? I go up to a 5— a size 5X, 6X, um, just because I, I talked to some brands and it's like, oh, it's impossible, like there's no need for us to do that. And I'm like, well, there's people who might want to wear your stuff. And it's like, well, we don't— we, we don't want them people. And me be like, well, I'm— you know what, I'm gonna go make something for those people. So Um, that, that's another thing as well. So we talked about, you know, your thoughts and your feelings not necessarily being real. Look at them as you look at yourself in the reflection. Finding the enemy, um, that's another thing. And then we're talking about like goals, right? Um, goals are okay, but there's two other things that needs to happen with goals, right? Uh, so I used to— I break it down in three things. You need to have a value. So the value is your overall guiding principle of letting you know if you're going in the right direction, or as in the book, are you going east? And then you gotta have goals. Goals are things that are tangible things, whereas values are not tangible, right? Like, there's nothing that you can do right now, Floris, to be like, oh, if I do this one thing, I'm a good dad, right? I'm not— you know, there's not one thing that you can do like, oh, Floris did that. He's a great dad. Like, we can mark that off the list. The same thing with values. Like, there's not one thing that you can do that can be like, oh, like, you did that, check it off. Whereas, like, uh, goals, you can be like, oh, I want to be a dad. Boom, you have a kid, you can check that off the box. Um, so you got to have that. So that's your goal. And then you got to have your habits, you know. So what are the habits that you're going to do that's going to make sure that that goal gets done? So for example, if you want to be a father in the biological sense, you got to make some love. And that's, that's the habit, right? Um, and the same thing like, oh, I want to be a marathoner. Well, you're gonna have to run. You have to run on a consistent basis in order to be there. So, uh, those are, uh, the trifecta, as I like to call it: goals, values, and habits. That individuals need that can also help them become anything that they want to be. Not just running, but just life in general.

And that's the thing. Like, sometimes we do see people putting up big goals. I want to run this 5K. I want to run this marathon. But without those habits and routines, that system set up to get out there consistently and doing it, it's just a goal that, yeah, it's much harder to accomplish versus following like a pattern on a consistent basis there. Absolutely. What was it like for you to write a book?

That must have been like a mental marathon for you to actually go through there. Yes, it was. However, since I have the athlete mindset, I understand that I can break down anything into smaller chunks in order to, to get something done. So this is what I did, Floris. Um, when I got my book deal, they told me I had to write 75,000 words, and it's like, all right, we're going to need this back in 12 to 18 months. And I remember being like, sheesh, 75,000 words, like, how many words is that? So I did the math, and, um, I was like, all right, let me get— let me just do rough, like, back of a napkin type of thing. All right, 75,000 words. Let me break that into 12 months. I found that number and then I was like, okay, like how many days realistically am I going to be able to write? Because I'm not going to be able to write, you know, every day a week. And I was like, okay, if I wrote on most days of the week, so that's like 4 days a week. If I wrote 4 days a week, what would that look like? And then I did the math. And it ended up being like 200 words a day for 4 days for 18 months. So 200 words a day for 4 days for 18 months, I'll write well over 75,000 words. However, one of the things you understand when you start the writing, there's going to be times where like you start the flow and you sometimes pump out 4,000 words in a sitting and some days you might not pump out anything.. But it's all about like that consistency. So like, that's what I did, Floris. Like, I sat down, uh, for those 4 days and I gave myself a timer. All right, I'm gonna sit down for 3 hours and I can't turn on the internet. I'd have to sit and write based off of my, um, based off of my outline. And there were times where it was hellacious where I sat there and I literally wrote, this is dumb. Like literally typing, this is dumb, this is dumb, this is dumb. And then next thing you know, like, one of my mindset keys is finding an enemy. Oh, my, my favorite athlete is Michael Jordan. Oh, what's that story about Michael Jordan? He putting up 50 points because he had like, um, uh, food poisoning. And then I started writing, and then I, I I have some momentum and then I run out of stuff and then I go back to this is dumb. And then at the end of my sitting, I would just hit select, find all and delete.

This is dumb. That's, that's incredible. I actually, I actually really appreciate you breaking down a big task to a smaller task like this. Like, I'll be straight up, Martinez, I have a goal to eventually probably 2025, write my own book. And it's going to be a summary of like— by then I will have had more than 100 podcast guests, and it's all about running and becoming a stronger, healthier, happier athlete. But even here, like, sometimes it becomes quite overwhelming to think how much content or how much that takes. But seeing you break it down, and I think sometimes we need to put a time horizon that's a bit further out, but then indeed breaking that up in manageable chunks of what, what does that take on a weekly basis, on a, on a, on a daily basis? And then it seems totally doable, right? But it's so overwhelming when you think so far away. And I think even for someone when you initially left your doctor's office and it was like, I'm going to run a marathon, it seems really far away. It seems like this massive ginormous goal, but it all starts starts with you going to the running store, buying your first pair of shoes, and going to the treadmill and starting.

Exactly. And that's really what I'm trying to teach people, is taking that match. You want a raging fireball, like you want this raging forest fire. You got a match. Your goal is to turn this match that you're gonna light, that's going to quickly go out with anything that's around there, cultivate that into something that's humongous, that's uncontrollable and unstoppable.

That's momentum. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes I even see it as a snowball rolling down the hill. At the beginning, it's very small and it keeps picking up more snow. And at the end, it's just, yeah, ginormous avalanche coming down kind of thing. It's— this is awesome. I really appreciate it. Share it. Like, here, hearing all of your thoughts over here. I do want to be respectful for all of your time. I know we've been talking for quite a while here. I have one more closing question, but before we do, where are people able to find out more about you, about your run club, about your book?

Where can people find more? Absolutely. So you can find me personally at 300 Pounds and Running. So 3-0-0, spell out pounds and running. You can find that on Instagram, Facebook, and 300poundsandrunning.com. Want to find out more about Slow AF Run Club? You can find that at slowafrunclub.com. We're on Instagram and Facebook at the handle @runslowaf. We have a book coming out June 6th called Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anybody Who Wants to Run. It's all types of stories in there. So it's part memoir, part how-to manual. Part workbook. There's one place in the world where you can go buy an autographed copy, and that's at Pocketbooks. It's a small bookstore, so if you go to— I think it's called pocketbookshop.com— so you will get an autographed copy from that bookstore.

I like how you guys are supporting the smaller bookstore that way too, and I'll make sure to put links to all of that in the show notes below too. Then in closing, do you any last thoughts that you want to share with the audience here? There's a lot of people looking to improve on their running and health journey.

Any, any other closing thoughts here? Yeah. So one of the things I would just like to say is that you might hear this story and be like, dang, like, this is like, this is great. This is where he's at. But how do I relate this to me? And what one of the things I will say is that comparison it's a thief of joy. Our journeys will, will be different. They're not going to look alike. And that's okay. What I really want you to take from all of this is that it's all about being consistent and persistent in your journey. Start slow, continue to build up. And then once you get going, momentum will carry you the rest of the way.

Spot on. So well said, Martinez. I hope that we can get a run in next time I'm in New York or next time you're in Los Angeles. Will be great to go go for a run. Thank you so much for, uh, sharing all of your insight. I really enjoyed our conversation here. Thank you for having me, Floris. Absolutely. Talk more soon.

Later.

What was your favorite lesson, takeaway, or quote from this conversation? Please let me know below in the comments on YouTube, and I will give away 3 copies of Martinez's book, The Slow AF Run Club, for 3 random winners over there, they'll be picked. So, um, yeah, let us know in the comments your favorite takeaway. Also, if you would like to receive a weekly newsletter, my Extramiles newsletter, you can sign up at extramiles.com/subscribe. I send that out every Friday, typically goes out to about 11,000 people at the moment. Different running strategies, race tips, ways for you to improve your health. And running journey. You can sign up at extramilers.com/subscribe. Thank you so much for listening. I know there's a lot of different podcast channels out there, there's a lot of different YouTube channels out there, and I truly appreciate you tuning in today. Have fun out there on your runs. Later.