Dan Martell - October 09, 2023


I attempted The Ultra Marathon (50KMs)


Episode Stats

Length

10 minutes

Words per Minute

160.61774

Word Count

1,723

Sentence Count

132

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.000 I wanted to push myself past where I'd ever been before.
00:00:03.800 I wanted to do the 50K Ultra, an incredible feat for me.
00:00:08.820 The longest run I've ever done in my life.
00:00:11.740 The most elevation, the hardest terrain.
00:00:15.600 It was my Masogi for the year.
00:00:16.980 It was that one event that was going to shape me and push me and really just seeing what I'm made of.
00:00:24.700 A little over two weeks ago, we were preparing for the Squamish Ultra.
00:00:29.680 It's a famous race in Canada.
00:00:31.060 It's one of the most popular ones in the 50K category.
00:00:34.540 And the Thursday before we were supposed to leave, a fire took off.
00:00:39.160 The Kelowna wildfire.
00:00:41.060 I thought the whole town was going to burn down.
00:00:42.660 So we go wake surfing.
00:00:44.520 Blue skies, but just this massive smoke line through the air.
00:00:49.060 But we didn't think much of it.
00:00:50.460 And then it got bad fast.
00:00:54.120 As we're parking the boat, we could see the fire crest the top of the mountain.
00:00:58.300 Two hours later, the whole side of the mountain's on fire.
00:01:00.900 Most people were stunned.
00:01:02.120 You could just see for miles just people standing there watching this fire sound.
00:01:06.960 Devastating wildfires ripped through the central Okanagan this afternoon.
00:01:10.740 There was just no part of me that felt comfortable.
00:01:12.480 Dan came home and he's like, we need to leave now.
00:01:14.900 I have a responsibility to keep my family safe.
00:01:16.500 Took us an hour and a half to pack up everything.
00:01:18.240 We had to evacuate at like 10 p.m.
00:01:20.820 And we left.
00:01:22.020 Good thing we got out fast.
00:01:28.300 That night, half the group had decided, because of the wildfires, that they weren't in the
00:01:33.220 headspace.
00:01:34.220 They weren't going to do the race.
00:01:37.360 The other half, we decided to make our way up to Squamish, about a two-hour drive.
00:01:43.280 And when we got there, there was smoke.
00:01:45.280 We got a six out of ten negative error score.
00:01:49.280 Tomorrow morning, it's supposed to go to seven.
00:01:51.860 It was a back and forth, back and forth.
00:01:53.860 Curtis and I are still debating.
00:01:55.900 Are we doing it?
00:01:56.900 No, we're not doing it.
00:01:57.900 that's a good decision. Then we decide we're gonna go register. They don't know
00:02:01.260 that we just checked in though. I haven't told her. They're all like, I'm proud of that, making her a decision.
00:02:06.300 Not anymore. We'll see. We'll see what she thinks, bye. It was a very unhealthy day in Squamish.
00:02:14.060 The smoke was unbelievable. And the smoke kept getting worse and worse and worse.
00:02:20.140 It eventually got to a place where a lot of people were not doing the race. If
00:02:24.240 If you're out on a mountain range and all of a sudden the wind shifts or blows harder,
00:02:28.860 you're in the middle of it, where are you going to run to?
00:02:32.680 Do you really want to put your body and your lungs at risk at that level?
00:02:36.980 I had to be honest with myself.
00:02:40.420 Like, why am I doing this?
00:02:42.040 Eventually, we just decided it wasn't worth the downside.
00:02:46.260 There's part of me that was relieved.
00:02:47.480 I generally believed for the sake of his health that that smoke was going to affect him.
00:02:51.620 but I knew in the back of my mind that he was going to run it someday.
00:02:54.840 I want a race.
00:02:56.700 Trained, showed up, consistent, vacations, run.
00:03:01.220 Weekends, run.
00:03:02.300 Don't feel like running, run.
00:03:04.360 He can't just train for it, talk about it, and not do it.
00:03:08.640 This is Dan.
00:03:09.440 I just kept having this nagging feeling.
00:03:11.820 I was like, am I really not going to do a 50 this year?
00:03:14.460 That was the part that was eating me up inside.
00:03:16.100 When you say you're going to do something, you got to do it.
00:03:18.940 The Monday after, I was in the gym.
00:03:21.360 i was training i was lifting and i just took out my phone i messaged davis i'm doing 50 on sunday
00:03:26.560 he's like you're seriously gonna do it and i said yeah i'm gonna do it essentially we got on a zoom
00:03:30.560 call and designed so this 54k is the route that we've designed to do but it is gnarly when dan
00:03:42.320 wanted to run the 50k on his own course i just thought of course he's going to do this the fact
00:03:48.160 that i'm doing this unsupported is crazy if he like gets hurt it'd be probably like a kilometer
00:03:54.320 walk from the closest thing nearby nobody recommends it's unsupported by myself it's
00:03:59.600 an ultra it's my first i've never done it before so man i'm looking forward to it
00:04:03.760 i slept really good that's always the saving grace
00:04:10.120 i always get up early ding dong
00:04:15.920 i know i'm getting ready and i'm going
00:04:20.060 have a morning routine just had my peanut butter banana bagel coffee i want to get the coffee in
00:04:27.300 early some electrolytes make sure i'm well hydrated
00:04:33.760 Alright, are we going to see you guys at the finish line?
00:04:37.760 Yeah. Thanks bud. Chop wood, carry water.
00:04:41.760 How do you run 50k? One foot in front of the other.
00:04:45.760 If you look at the route, so
00:04:49.760 back side of that mountain with the tower, highway 33 on your way to Big White,
00:04:53.760 in there, start, back, all the way up to the top
00:04:57.760 of that peak, down, cross the valley, hit Mount Baldy,
00:05:01.760 come up all the way on the backside of this then all the way to the top of that
00:05:06.200 mountain all the way to the top of that mountain all the way down and then all
00:05:10.700 the way up that ridge to the backside pretty much where McKinley is all the
00:05:17.120 way up across those humps it's almost like the backside of a dinosaur and then
00:05:22.520 I scoot across all the way back down the valley up into Knox get a run up Ogopogo
00:05:28.820 trail, which is about 500 meters straight up.
00:05:31.200 That would be mile, kilometer 40.
00:05:35.820 It's just stupid.
00:05:36.980 Yeah, the plan is to finish here.
00:05:38.600 Let's go start one foot in front of the other.
00:05:44.180 It's getting real.
00:05:46.340 Prepped, ready to go.
00:05:55.280 I'm doing it for the firefighters today.
00:05:58.820 My big why for my run is for the BC firefighters, the guys that gave themselves their lives to save our homes.
00:06:11.180 Starting the run. Pretty much running to the top of that. It's called Black Mountain. Here we go.
00:06:22.280 Almost an hour in. First peak in sight right there. Oh my gosh, what a day!
00:06:28.820 The taste is good, the taste is good.
00:06:35.020 My buddy Dave surprised me with an aid station
00:06:37.340 on the first big traverse up and down a mountain,
00:06:39.860 about 20K in, and then he ran with me for about 12K.
00:06:43.440 He's come to join the assault.
00:06:45.620 He actually created it, which I absolutely needed.
00:06:48.120 It was super fun, just hanging out.
00:06:49.580 I'm at 22, 23K, halfway.
00:06:52.860 The thing about racing is that the challenge
00:06:55.340 doesn't start until more than halfway.
00:06:58.140 And it was like kilometer 30, 32,
00:07:01.240 where we came down this major two kilometer downhill.
00:07:04.140 My legs stopped.
00:07:05.360 It was like, I couldn't turn them over.
00:07:07.580 Turns out after about four hours of running
00:07:10.240 up and down mountains,
00:07:11.080 your legs don't want to respond.
00:07:12.420 I was walking.
00:07:13.780 I was trying to run.
00:07:14.960 My left knee started to hurt.
00:07:16.660 And I was worried.
00:07:17.500 I started thinking to myself like,
00:07:19.200 am I going to have to walk the rest of this?
00:07:21.180 Like, am I going to have to walk for the next 15K?
00:07:23.380 And I was thinking, what's that time going to look like?
00:07:25.260 And I was like, no, no, I'm here to race.
00:07:30.680 Dan does Ironmans and 50K Ultras and swims eight kilometers across the lake
00:07:37.400 because it's his addiction and it's a healthy one.
00:07:41.900 I learned so much about myself when I suffered.
00:07:45.740 Every race I've ever done, the last 10% is when I've learned something about myself.
00:07:55.260 The very last part of the race was straight up, literally almost stairs.
00:08:01.160 Got a huge uphill, 300 meters elevation, 47 kilometers in, three left.
00:08:07.520 And it took everything I had inside.
00:08:11.320 I was sweating profusely.
00:08:13.080 It was super hot out.
00:08:14.320 I just had to keep reminding myself that I get to.
00:08:16.960 All I keep thinking about is that I get to do this.
00:08:20.000 I get to race.
00:08:20.940 I get to run.
00:08:21.800 I get to move my body.
00:08:22.960 I get to be here today.
00:08:23.960 and it was just such an important reminder for me to just get past the pain of going straight
00:08:28.840 up the mountain. 1.2 kilometers left. Everything I do is to be better for Max and Noah and Renee.
00:08:42.760 I didn't expect to see them there. When I saw them in the woods they were cheering me on and
00:08:46.920 I just broke down.
00:08:50.620 Oh, it was such a beautiful moment.
00:08:53.620 I gave them hugs and kisses, and I kept going and dropped down the hill.
00:08:56.720 And I looked back, and Max and Noah were running behind me.
00:08:59.520 You guys gonna keep coming?
00:09:00.720 Yeah.
00:09:01.520 Okay.
00:09:02.320 Keep going.
00:09:03.220 You ask my kids, what does it mean to be a Martell?
00:09:05.520 They're gonna tell you.
00:09:06.320 That we can do hard things.
00:09:08.220 Kids don't listen to what you say.
00:09:10.620 They watch what you do.
00:09:11.820 Because one of our values as a family is Martell's do hard things.
00:09:16.920 to run with them for that last kilometer that made this race better than any race i'd ever run
00:09:23.280 before because that happened the easiest way to apply the philosophies i'm sharing today
00:09:28.140 in your life is just get up and go to the gym and if you've been going for 45 minutes go for
00:09:33.160 an hour if you've been lifting 60 pound weights go to 65 like whatever part of your life that
00:09:39.420 you know there's an opportunity to add a little extra just do that that's all i'm doing people
00:09:43.660 see my chapter you know let's call it 25 and they compare that against their chapter three that's
00:09:50.160 just not fair don't think well I could never do that you absolutely could you can learn over time
00:09:55.480 to build the capacity to do it I'm just suggesting start today with something simple if you haven't
00:10:01.540 worked out in a while go outside for a walk don't allow yourself to not push yourself a little bit
00:10:07.320 today
00:10:13.660 Thank you.