Aug. 19, 2025
๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง: ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ๐
What happens when a group of friends decides to turn a simple weekend get-together into a full-blown quest for a Spartan Race trifecta? You get stories of grit, growth, and leadership you wonโt want to miss!
In Episode 180, host John Gallagher sits down with his brothers in faith and accountability group membersโ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ซโas they share what it REALLY takes to do hard things, how training for a Spartan race can unlock your leadership potential, and why age is truly just a number.
๐ก Highlights: https://youtu.be/RlF-Pa_x334
The power of doing hard thingsโon the course and in life
How setbacks (and sore hips!) become lessons in leadership and discipline
Why having a circle of accountability changes everything
The role of consistency and continuous improvement in achieving long-term goals
How to motivate yourselfโno matter your ageโto chase the next challenge
If youโve ever needed a nudge to take on something daunting, this is your sign. Listen in for inspiration, laughs, and practical tips on becoming an uncommon leaderโboth on and off the racecourse.
๐ง Listen now and let us know: What's your next โSpartan Raceโ in life?
๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐จ๐ก๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ:
๐ฏ Free 1:1 Strategy Call โ https://coachjohngallagher.com/freecall
๐ More Resources โ https://linktr.ee/coachjohngallagher
๐ Visit โ https://coachjohngallagher.com
#CoachJohnGallagher #TheUncommonLeaderPodcast #LeadershipCoaching #UncommonLeader #ExecutiveCoaching #ValuesBasedLeadership #MindsetMatters #GrowthMindset #LearnLeadGrow #LevelUpLeadership #SpartanRace #ChallengeYourself #BeUncommon
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00:00 - Leadership Lessons from Unexpected Challenges
07:13 - From Weekend Plans to Spartan Trifecta
17:56 - Facing Fear and Finding Motivation at 50+
30:55 - Community Support and Race Camaraderie
37:12 - Training Strategies for the 21K Beast
47:32 - Consistency, Teamwork, and Final Wisdom
WEBVTT
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What leadership comes out of that?
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What leadership lesson comes out of that is you know you don't have control over everything.
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You can prepare as best you can and then sometimes there's a change and you have to push through and you have to continue to fight and you have to find the real finish line wherever it is.
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It's consistency before intensity, right, so it's the consistency before intensity will always get you there.
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For me.
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I think, as leaders, that we sometimes forget that we don't have to do it all alone.
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Right, surround yourself around people that can help you.
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Hey, uncommon Leaders, welcome back.
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This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast and I'm your host, john Gallagher, and I've got a great conversation today, something different than I've done before.
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I've got a group of guys my brothers in faith, my friends, my Raise the Average accountability group members on a call here to talk about a recent race, about a recent journey we've been on.
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We've done our first two Spartan races and we just finished one up about a week ago, and I wanted them to get back together to really talk about that experience, and what started out ultimately as a conversation for us in terms of saying, hey, we need to figure out how to do something hard, has turned into a quest for a Spartan trifecta.
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So we'll talk about what that means in terms of setting us up for the next one as well.
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But ultimately, when this is the Uncommon Leader podcast, it's about working with leaders and just like these guys who are working through life on a daily basis to get better, either in their personal fitness, in their homes, in their communities or at their workplaces, ultimately choosing to do things that are a little bit hard and, while it may be about the medal, which are really kind of cool as we go through this conversation.
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It's really about a greater purpose for us, for me, something about being able to look down the road, especially from a health standpoint, and be able to do stuff with grandchildren as we go forward and making sure that we're available for our families for a longer time than we thought.
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So, guys, dave Campbell, jeff Adams, kevin Gallagher, welcome to the Uncommon Leader Podcast.
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How are you guys doing?
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Great Doing, great brother.
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Yeah, doing good, john.
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Yeah, we've recovered okay.
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I think After a few days we talked about that afterwards in terms of what some of the pain was after a 5K event, that we may have thought that was going to be a little bit easier than the first one and didn't necessarily turn out that way.
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But let's just jump in the conversation.
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We're going to have a lot of fun with this and I'm going start off with Dave and I'm going to move my way around and you guys can add in as we go forward.
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I just want it to be a fun conversation.
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But, dave, this thing goes all the way back Really.
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I mean, the RTA group goes back a few years, but the conversation of getting involved in the Spartan race stem from one of our regular phone calls RTA group phone calls and we said you know we're doing this kind of training but we don't have anything really to shoot for and we need to try something hard.
00:03:06.514 --> 00:03:16.070
And it ended up being I did an internet search and came up with Spartan Race and it was like, for some reason, in five minutes we kind of said yep, let's do it, we're in, let's go and make it happen.
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As you thought about that on that journey.
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As you think about that, how it impacts you as a leader and doing hard stuff, what comes to mind as you look at the journey we've been on really for the last 10 months, specifically in the Spartan world?
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So for me, john, the biggest or most learning I've gotten from it is that it helps me take on things that I didn't think I could do before.
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I think doing a Spartan race was so far out of my realm of possibilities and I can't believe it's been 10 months since we started talking about this.
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But you know, when you brought it up, if you remember, this came from a, a failed attempt to just have a weekend with the guys right and we couldn't get rbo's and all these things, couldn't get everything aligned.
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And then I remember a conversation, I think a text message.
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She was like, hey, let's do a spartan.
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And it just really got my wheels turning because I'd never done anything that difficult and I thought, well, this would be a great challenge.
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And then I ended up having conversations with Jeff and brought it up and he's like, hey, I've done Spartan races before and, you know, started looking at it.
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Just an amazing challenge for us to look at and do things that I thought were impossible.
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If you'd asked me a year ago about doing a Spartan race, I would have said there's no way.
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I think that is funny in terms of looking back on that.
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We were talking about trying to get together for a fun weekend to do fun things, you know, more than kind of the hangout and sit around a fire and you know, go out and have a good meal, and for some reason we turned that into doing something difficult.
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And I know you know, jeff, jeff came in, you came in the group just a little bit later in terms of what that was, and I'm so glad that you did, but he's like, oh yeah, the Spartan thing.
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I mean you were, you were a a seasoned veteran when it came to Spartans, I guess, and what it was, and helped us out along that journey.
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But what was there for you?
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Kevin and Jeff, were you guys ready for that as well?
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Go ahead, jeff.
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Yeah, I was going to say so, john.
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I guess I'll clarify.
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Are you talking about the sprint we just finished?
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Yeah, I mean the sprint and the sprint overall, Yep, the one we just did.
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Was I prepared.
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You know, I full transparency.
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I think I overlooked this one a little bit.
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Um, I think, um, I, we just finished the super.
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Uh, this one is half of that, so it seemed like it shouldn't be as difficult, but this one, uh, I don't know if it's because I'm a few years older than the last time I did it, but I had trouble recovering and I'm just now starting to feel like some of the soreness is leaving my hips and all those things.
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I know we've kind of been going back and forth on that in the chat, but yeah, I overlooked it a little bit.
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John Overlooked it.
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Yep, absolutely, and I think that's a lesson in life as well.
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Kevin, where's that lesson for you in terms of thinking something might be a little bit easier because we did something hard already and it doesn't turn out that way?
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Oh yeah, I definitely thought I was going to breeze through this, you know, and I ran it with Melissa, so you know, the biggest, the biggest push for her, I just, you know, was to keep moving.
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Know, was to keep moving, and I didn't think it would be as crazy as it was.
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But when you throw a 60 pound sandbag on your shoulder, and that course was really hilly, my hips are just recovering, like last night I was stretching and it was the first time that my hips didn't hurt since Sunday morning.
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So, um, I wasn't expecting the Hills to be nearly as gnarly as they were.
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And after doing the super, you know we, I don't want to say we breezed through the super, but I felt like we got through the super really really well.
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Um, you know, we, we were pushing each other, um, constantly on a very walking, constant run, and I felt we got through that one really well.
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But if you look at the landscape between Fayetteville and Mill Springs, whoo, yeah, yeah, yeah, it definitely is.
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The geography is a huge difference.
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So yeah.
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And again, I think there's so many different things in that, again, you know thinking things are going to be easier than they are not.
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Maybe not prepping as much Ultimately, like the prep, going into it to understand should we, you know, walk I don't want to say walk the entire next course, but certainly do a little more research on the, on the one coming up in November as well.
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That's probably going to be the hardest one yet.
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We admit that the hardest one yet is coming out.
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So there are many things again, I still hearken this back to leadership that recognizes that.
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You know, don't ease your way into a conversation, don't ease your way into a project, whatever that is because you think it's going to be a little easier.
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We're always going to run into some of those obstacles that are going to keep us from being successful, and even the discipline required to that.
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And here's kind of a question I'll loft out and maybe, jeff, you take this one first when I think about the hard stuff in terms of training.
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And you mentioned age as well, jeff, you're a little bit older than you were before.
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So three of us are in the 50 plus club.
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A couple of us are on the closer side to even the 60 club here in the near future, right, dave, in terms of where we are.
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And then, kevin, by the time you join us in November, you'll be joining that elite club as well as we get older, okay, as we look at what's important to us.
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I know we don't do this just for the medal, although it's kind of fun and, again, I think it even motivated us to get the trifecta completed.
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But you know, jeff, what is it that keeps you inspired and motivated to do hard things like that at 50 years old or older, where some folks are actually starting to slow down and say, man, I got to take it easy?
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Yeah, john, I always think about Clint Eastwood.
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You know, when he was asked how does he still do it, he said I get up every morning and I kick the old man out.
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You know, and I'll always like that, it's always kind of resonated with me.
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But, yeah, I mean, we have to do what we know is right to do and you know, whether that's in terms of our diet, whether it's in terms of spending time with God, whether it's in terms of getting into the gym and pushing, and you know it's mind over matter, and I think we, you know we have to determine what our goals are, push through.
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I've got a 26-year-old son, so I don't know when grandchildren are coming, but I'm sure they are.
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We're on vacation this week with a younger family and they have a younger kid, and so I'm sure they are.
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We're on vacation this week with a younger family and they have a younger kid, and so I'm remembering the energy that's required.
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And then I've got a 13-year-old son who's now.
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He wants to ride dirt bikes and all these things, and I want to be a part of that.
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I want to be all in.
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So for me, it's just about being able to physically do the things that I want to do and if, whatever price comes to prepare for that, then I'm in.
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I'm willing to do it.
00:10:12.035 --> 00:10:14.125
Amen, dave, you are a grandfather now.
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Man, how's that feeling for you?
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The Spartan race and a grandfather How's that in a short period of time?
00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:22.886
Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
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But you know, I'm like Jeff, where I'm looking at this going.
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I want to be in such good shape in the next decade.
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So I read somewhere last year I don't remember which book it was, but it was talking about thinking a decade ahead what's it going to be like when I'm 66, 76?
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And you know, the ease that we all look for in life doesn't come from ease, right, it comes from the suffering and being able to, and being to intentionally suffer and push yourself to the limit and find that limit.
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That's the one thing that Spartan has done for me.
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You know, I did a bicycle race back in 2012 that helped me find that limit, but then I forgot it and I didn't keep the discipline.
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2012 that helped me find that limit, but then I forgot it and I didn't keep the discipline.
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And what I think the Spartan races are doing for me, or even just my fitness plan and working with the CrossFit gym, it's helping me continue to redefine those limits and find them.
00:11:16.354 --> 00:11:19.326
And you know, maybe get a little bit injured and be sore.
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You guys are talking about the sore hips.
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I've not had my hips burn like that my entire that first day after this 5k.
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So you know it's kind of learning those limits.
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And then, okay, for the, for the, the race in november.
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What does my preparation need to look like?
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Right, so that it might be remember.
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But yeah, right now it's exciting.
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We got the second grandkid on the way in september, so it really is about just ready to get up and down off the floor and play with the kids and, you know, enjoy it Right, and really not be up in the stands watching.
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So I love that and your point about the hips and even the next level of preparation.
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I think the continuous improvement component of that Right To sit down afterward and reflect on whether we did that formally or whether we did that informally.
00:12:04.270 --> 00:12:11.206
With regards to what did we do, well, I love how the Spartan community frankly creates that such that you can create a scorecard for yourself.
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There's a time that you finish, there's again the medals that you have that you get through, but there's also how did you do on each one of the obstacles that were out there in front of you, and they actually let you kind of check in with with those things.
00:12:24.009 --> 00:12:28.719
So it gives you, uh, an improvement glide path going forward.
00:12:28.719 --> 00:12:39.802
You know, dave, you mentioned that why and there was a picture of somebody quoted and I don't know that I could have said it any better in terms of that so that, uh, I'm exercising so I can take my son on a trip for his 50th birthday.
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You touched on this, jeff, you got a 26 year old, I've got a 28 and a 26,.
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You know, kevin, your son, jack, is going to be graduating here real soon.
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I'm exercising so that I can dance at my grandkids weddings, and that's a pretty ugly scene, but in terms of you know what that really sounds like in terms of grandchildren's weddings can be pretty powerful.
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As a goal, I'm exercising so that they can all look after themselves in 30 years, because I can still look after me and I love that.
00:13:08.780 --> 00:13:29.448
In terms of something, and just to make it fun, is that frankly, I want to be able to get up off the toilet without having bars metal bars in the bathroom to get me going there, and if I'm not prepping for that now, I don't want to have to hit a buzzer to call somebody and say, help me, help me stand up off the toilet here Just kind of humiliating and not fair to the others.
00:13:29.448 --> 00:13:32.089
I just don't want to be a nuisance to the others.
00:13:32.089 --> 00:13:37.913
So it's not just about creating bigger muscles in our arms, although that's cool and that's really fun.
00:13:37.913 --> 00:13:44.943
It's not just about trying to identify whether or not there are still abs underneath the bellies that we have, although that's really cool.
00:13:44.943 --> 00:13:54.470
I'm being able to fit into smaller waist clothes and things like that and being able to say we're in better shape now than we were at 25 years old.
00:13:54.470 --> 00:14:01.855
All those kind of things are really cool, but I love the, so that that exists inside of the of the statements that you guys are talking about.
00:14:01.934 --> 00:14:06.018
That's to me, that's one of the biggest, one of the biggest parts of this, no doubt about it.
00:14:06.018 --> 00:14:24.688
You know, we agreed to do this in part to be examples, though, for our family as well, to model what good looks like for them, and hopefully they'll pick up some of these habits that we're doing again, whether it's reading habits Jeff, you talked about it scriptural reading and being involved in reading the Bible and learning from each other there being men of faith.
00:14:24.688 --> 00:14:54.801
Is there a moment from the race and I'm going to ask you, I'm going to quiz you a little bit, maybe I'll come to you first, kevin so to think about this that you can share with your kids, to teach them a lesson about leadership or discipline or, ultimately, finishing what you get started you get started?
00:14:54.821 --> 00:14:56.024
That's really a good question, John.
00:14:56.024 --> 00:15:02.299
Um, you know, uh, at the when we did the super, uh, I felt that I I missed um three obstacles and I've had two shoulder surgeries.
00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:06.572
So I always I have a fear for anything above my head Right.
00:15:06.572 --> 00:15:20.184
And I went into that race with that fear and I got through the first um monkey bar obstacle and I was like, oh, this is, I have no shoulder pain, this is fantastic, I'm not worried about this.
00:15:21.081 --> 00:15:24.791
And I thought I could muscle through the rope, the rope climb.
00:15:24.791 --> 00:15:28.868
And I just could not figure out the rope climb and it devastated me.
00:15:28.868 --> 00:15:34.524
Uh, I don't want to say it devastated me, but it really got under my skin that I could not do the rope climb.
00:15:34.524 --> 00:15:42.826
And you know, I went into this race saying I'm going to, I don't care what else happens, I'm doing the rope climb.
00:15:42.826 --> 00:15:47.174
And you know, I thought it was all about strength and everything else.
00:15:47.174 --> 00:15:53.067
And it really, you know, I'm standing there before the race starts and they've got the rope where you can try the climbing.
00:15:53.067 --> 00:15:59.630
And there was a gentleman there who was maybe 150 pounds and he's like, well, you could probably muscle up, but I wouldn't suggest it.
00:15:59.630 --> 00:16:02.188
He said, just, it's real simple.
00:16:02.188 --> 00:16:06.062
He said just, it's real simple.
00:16:06.062 --> 00:16:07.706
He said hold the rope on your foot, climp your feet and you're going to climb.
00:16:07.706 --> 00:16:08.106
Just use your legs.
00:16:08.106 --> 00:16:09.932
You've got really big legs, Just get right up the rope.
00:16:09.932 --> 00:16:14.187
And I was like, okay, yeah, sure, and you know I still I was.
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:30.547
I tried it a couple of times and I could not do it and I got out on the course and I told Melissa as we're going through the whole course and I think that where the leadership really came in for me with her at least, was she was she's getting back into her fitness journey, Right.
00:16:30.547 --> 00:16:38.466
So she felt like she had to walk and you know, I said hey, listen, If you want to walk, you got 50 feet before an obstacle.
00:16:38.466 --> 00:16:43.626
We're going to run nonstop from one obstacle to the next.
00:16:43.626 --> 00:16:52.202
You can stop 50 feet before the obstacle, but you have to keep your feet at a faster pace than a walk and if you do that, we'll get through this.
00:16:52.202 --> 00:16:53.541
You'll feel like a champion.
00:16:53.541 --> 00:16:54.679
Let's keep doing it.
00:16:55.154 --> 00:17:00.067
For myself, the leadership piece that I can bring to my kids was overcoming that rope.
00:17:00.067 --> 00:17:07.780
When I got to the rope, I still had doubt in my mind whether or not I could do it and I'm you know, you're there.
00:17:07.780 --> 00:17:15.367
You were standing at the rope when I came up, which was really cool for me because I was like, oh, somebody's going to be able to see me do this, I think I could do this.
00:17:15.367 --> 00:17:29.683
And uh, you know, as I'm climbing that rope, you're cheering me on, man, and that was, uh, it was huge, it was really huge for me.
00:17:29.683 --> 00:17:38.065
So, uh, getting over the rope, proving to myself, hey, you know, you've, you've got it in the tank still, and uh, that was just, that was big for me amen, brother, face the fear and do it anyway, right, Right.
00:17:38.086 --> 00:17:39.868
And uh, you know, I don't want to see me.
00:17:39.868 --> 00:17:46.016
I I kind of as waiting on you.
00:17:46.016 --> 00:17:53.979
That was my rest period as well, and it gave me a chance to try it again, Cause I, I was, I was spent when I first got there and I couldn't even get myself onto the rope, and then I saw you do it again and that inspired me.
00:17:53.979 --> 00:17:55.340
That's the other side of that inspired me.
00:17:55.340 --> 00:17:56.082
I'm like shoot man.
00:17:56.082 --> 00:18:01.449
I got to try this thing again and while I still didn't ring that daggone bell, I'm going to get that next time, no doubt about it.
00:18:01.669 --> 00:18:09.394
I got that shot back in and that lesson for me ultimately was you don't get to not try, Okay, Even if you got arrested.
00:18:09.394 --> 00:18:14.887
And even your lesson with Melissa you don't get to stop and quit Like we're going to keep going.
00:18:14.887 --> 00:18:32.300
We're going to keep moving, we're going to push through.
00:18:32.300 --> 00:18:34.564
We can probably handle a lot more pain than we think we're able to.
00:18:34.564 --> 00:18:40.010
And then the last one I heard in you as well, and that's the reason for to eat like crazy and just to do it for myself.
00:18:40.010 --> 00:18:59.321
Um, and that's a lonely path, but having people in your life to inspire and encourage you and hold you accountable and really, you know, through some of those training things, to say you know I could stop doing this, but uh, I'm not going to get my hashtag number to the guys and say I did my workout today, so I got to get this thing done.
00:18:59.321 --> 00:19:00.545
What about you guys?
00:19:00.545 --> 00:19:01.907
Jeff, Dave, anything you want to add to that?
00:19:04.096 --> 00:19:05.557
I think, that was really cool.
00:19:05.557 --> 00:19:08.382
Yeah, one thing that jumped out at me, john, was man.
00:19:08.382 --> 00:19:21.277
I really, throughout the race, I was looking at my watch and it's keeping up with how far we've come right, and I'm even saying it out loud so that others on the course can hear it, maybe be encouraged.
00:19:21.277 --> 00:19:28.436
Hey, we're two miles in man, but mile four of the 5K really sort of yeah, right, you know what I mean, that was longer than a 5K.
00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:36.980
Mentally, I had sort of I put some sort of across the finish line point up in my mind.
00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:48.161
And so when we were beyond that and we were still running and I saw a lot of obstacles ahead of us, still I was like man, this is, I've underestimated this and I know I didn't run that many penalty laps.
00:19:48.161 --> 00:19:52.198
And then I started to sort of blame honestly in my mind why does Spartan do this?
00:19:52.198 --> 00:19:54.442
Why would they treat us this way?
00:19:54.442 --> 00:19:59.619
I was trying to beat my sprint from 2022.
00:19:59.619 --> 00:20:00.903
And, yeah, so for me.
00:20:00.903 --> 00:20:03.127
You know what leadership comes out of that.
00:20:03.127 --> 00:20:08.923
What leadership lesson comes out of that is you know you don't have control over everything.
00:20:08.923 --> 00:20:19.609
You can prepare as best you can, and then you know sometimes there's a change and you have to push through and you have to continue to fight and you have to find the real finish line to continue to fight and find.
00:20:19.630 --> 00:20:29.897
You have to find the real finish line wherever it is, even if it's uh fluid even if it's fluid, I mean, it's not exactly where you think it's going to be right.
00:20:29.897 --> 00:20:35.028
No doubt about it, yeah that was big for me yeah, cool.
00:20:35.048 --> 00:20:37.300
so there's a couple things I think you know.
00:20:37.300 --> 00:20:55.943
Kevin touched on a little bit that, I think from a leadership standpoint just reminding yourself that you're never too old to learn a new skill and you know, I went into the first Spartan race going I'm going to learn how to climb rope Right, and since then, even with some of the CrossFit things, learning new skills that, as a 56 year old, I had no idea how to do.
00:20:55.943 --> 00:21:01.069
I hadn't climbed a rope since I was in high school and they had knots all the way up the rope, so it was much easier then.
00:21:01.069 --> 00:21:07.317
Right, there's no knots in these ropes and they're wet and muddy, so it takes a lot of training and practice to figure out how to get there.
00:21:07.739 --> 00:21:11.597
And then the other leadership lesson you guys touched on as well is just that encouragement and support.
00:21:11.597 --> 00:21:15.205
You know, running with you guys keeps me motivated.
00:21:15.205 --> 00:21:22.320
But then at the end, hearing Melissa talk about kevin supporting her, that was huge.
00:21:22.320 --> 00:21:22.682
Right, that's the.
00:21:22.682 --> 00:21:39.061
It's easy for us to tell, hey, this is what we did as a leader, but then to hear someone else talk about how they were encouraged by somebody else during the race is really huge she's filed divorce papers no, that's not what I heard.
00:21:39.082 --> 00:21:41.586
Man like kevin was earlier.
00:21:41.586 --> 00:21:42.468
He's playing.
00:21:42.468 --> 00:21:43.470
He was the strategist.
00:21:43.470 --> 00:21:44.678
He had the vision.
00:21:44.678 --> 00:21:47.747
You know, you kept her going, right, you gave her something to shoot for.
00:21:47.747 --> 00:21:51.186
So kevin made the joke.
00:21:51.186 --> 00:22:00.884
But you know, I don't know about you guys, but when I'm running something like this and it was the same when I was a cyclist if someone's in front of me, whether I know them or not, they don't know it, but I'm in a race with them, right?
00:22:00.884 --> 00:22:07.835
So I remember I was with the sandbag going up the hill and there's people around me and I'm just talking to myself going, you can do this, you can do this.
00:22:07.835 --> 00:22:10.278
And then, oh, by the way, you got to pass this person in front of you, right?
00:22:10.278 --> 00:22:20.209
So there's a little bit of a leadership lesson where you put yourself and create your own Right and, uh, you know, just just trying harder and harder and try to it's gamifying it, right.
00:22:20.409 --> 00:22:30.557
I mean, look, when we were in this first one and that's that's a part of it too we were in the first one, the 10 K, and we came across that finish line and we got that they hand you that metal and go for it, like what's this little pie piece here?
00:22:30.557 --> 00:22:33.161
That's like a just a partial, what is that?
00:22:33.161 --> 00:22:35.923
And they, it felt like within five minutes, we're like, okay, when's the next one?
00:22:35.923 --> 00:22:45.811
We've got to get out there and sign up for the second one so we can do all three of these in one year.
00:22:45.811 --> 00:23:00.567
Again, I would have never, without that encouragement Dave, signed up for one of these things on my own, let alone be crazy enough to try to do three of them and now maybe four of them in the same year in terms of making that happen.
00:23:01.395 --> 00:23:06.488
So, and John, if I can just add something real quick, um, you know, I I did my first.
00:23:06.855 --> 00:23:08.383
I think my first Spartan was 10 years ago.
00:23:08.383 --> 00:23:18.480
Melissa and I did it together and I was close to 250, 255 pounds, something like that, and, yeah, and I was not a runner in any way, shape or form, it was.
00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:47.307
It was very ugly to look at, but one of the things that really made the race for me is while I was walking and you know I'm I'm beat, dripping sweat, and the first one we did was, um, in Concord, north Carolina, and had dirt and everything, of course, all over my face and my body and I'm huffing and puffing and I remember people running by me and and the camaraderie of it, right, and pushing me on hey, you got this.
00:23:47.307 --> 00:23:48.998
Just just pick up your feet, man.
00:23:48.998 --> 00:23:49.680
Pick up your feet.
00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:57.099
It's a hundred yards is the next obstacle, right, and without that, excuse me, still gets me.
00:23:57.099 --> 00:24:08.932
It's crazy, man, but I try to do the same thing when I'm running it, because you see people with struggles and you just want to help them through it.
00:24:11.056 --> 00:24:14.881
So, yeah, Sorry, no, no, apology, man.
00:24:14.881 --> 00:24:18.285
I appreciate you sharing it in terms of understanding how you get.
00:24:19.316 --> 00:24:20.602
We've all been on both sides of that.
00:24:20.602 --> 00:24:25.542
Somebody's encouraging me when I was carrying the bucket, somebody's encouraging me and then I'm doing the same thing, right?
00:24:25.542 --> 00:24:32.339
So you don't realize, influence and impact other people just by a little bit of encouragement until you feel it yourself.
00:24:32.339 --> 00:24:32.922
Right, hear?
00:24:32.961 --> 00:24:33.061
it.
00:24:33.061 --> 00:24:35.676
Hey, Uncommon Leaders, Hope you're enjoying the episode.
00:24:35.676 --> 00:24:36.156
So far.
00:24:36.156 --> 00:24:39.782
I believe in doing business with people you like and trust, and not just a company name.
00:24:39.782 --> 00:24:44.269
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00:24:44.269 --> 00:24:51.605
Brand Builders Group, the folks who have been helping me refine my own personal brand are offering a free consultation call with one of their expert brand strategists.
00:24:51.605 --> 00:24:57.681
They'll help you identify your uniqueness, craft a compelling story and develop a step-by-step plan to elevate your impact.
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So head on over to coachjohngallaghercom slash BBG, as in brand builders group, to schedule your free call and take the first step toward building a personal brand that gets you noticed for all the right reasons.
00:25:08.481 --> 00:25:11.938
That's coachjohngallaghercom slash BBG.
00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:13.682
Now let's get back to the episode.
00:25:13.682 --> 00:25:15.747
Look, that community is amazing.
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