All right, so chapter 20, do we have any time left for my chapter?

I love this chapter and I started it off saying,

Are you already started the chapter?

No, we've just been talking.

Oh.

Oh.

Welcome to the trailhead of trail runner. Every week we go on a trail run, we invite you to join us on this trail run. We talk to interesting guests, specialist guests, people that are motivating and inspiring. We hope that they are going to have a discussion that helps us become better runners and hopefully that'll turn to making us better human beings. And today we're going to talk about something that we all have in common and that's the common thread of comfort crisis. And what do we mean by that? Well, stay tuned because we're going to dig in deep. I mean deep. Hey, and before we forget you need to stay tuned to the end of the episode because Adam is going to talk about a new initiative that he's teamed up. It's called Adventure Scientist, the California Bio Diversity Project. It's free, it's fun. And because you're a trail runner, it's going to be easy for you. And you help us decide. So the details will be at the end of the episode. John G has been a long time loyal partner of trail runner nation. And we thank them. Don, what's your favorite piece of John G gear? We have a lot of different things. What's your favorite piece? The one I wear the most and that's the AFO 5-in short. I could bet over the last three years that's the only short that you've run in on every one of our runs. Tell someone that's never tried a pair of the AFO middle short. Why they should check these out and buy a pair. It has a different waistband. It's gentle around. It wraps around you, it doesn't bunch up and doesn't create any chafing. The shorts are light, they're breathable and they wick moisture away. You can run in comfortably all day regardless of the weather. Pocket stored anything in their place exactly where a runner wants them. It says if somebody at John G runs, you can get 10% off because you're a trail runner-nation listener by going to JohnG.com and using the code trail runner. If you've ever had a smartwatch die in the middle of a long run, go dim in the sun or freeze up when the weather gets tough, the Amaze Fit T-Rex III might just be your new favorite gear. This watch is built for endurance athletes and adventures. It's rugged enough to handle a negative 22 Fahrenheit cold and 158 Fahrenheit heat and waterproof down to 328 feet. So whether you're on a snowy summit or sweating through the desert, it keeps going. Here here's what really sold me, the giant one and a half inch AMOLED screen with 200 nits of brightness. You can actually see the data in full sun without squinting. Let's talk about battery life, Scott. Have you noticed this? 27 days on typical use or up to 180 hours in GPS max mode. You can go on a multi multi day trek without packing a charger. Check it out at amazfit.com slash trail. And right now you can get 15% off the T-Rex 3. Welcome to another edition of Trail Reign Nation. My name is Don Freeman. And I'm Scott War and over two years ago, you guys will probably be surprised. Over two years ago, in episode 609, we did an episode with Adam Kimball where we first introduced the concept of misogy, doing something so hard that it changes you. If you haven't listened to that episode, you got to go listen to it. For me, it was life-changing. It's a really good episode. But this concept of misogy came from a book by Michael Easter called The Comfort Crisis Embrace Discomfort to reclaim your wild, happy, and healthy self. And we might have even backed in, assigned this book to the trail runner nation as a assignment to read. Can we do that? Can we have that kind of authority? Yeah, it's kind of like Oprah. Kind of like Oprah. It's a book club. But we kind of lost track of it. And even though we've all read the book, we actually had to go back and read it so that we could do this episode. But so we're here now two years later and we're revisiting the book, where we're putting some fresh eyes on it and we have some deeper insights because we have more history, life history. So we're gonna talk about what it means to embrace discomfort in a modern world where everything is built for convenience. And more importantly, how can that mindset make us better runners and maybe Don Freeman, better human beings. So we're joined by Adam Kimble. He's our resident book club reporter. I don't know how many book clubs we've done with with Adam. But I will say that this is his 17th episode of the trail runner nation, 17 times. There should be a belt buckle for that.

I think there's a hat for it. Scott will disclose what that is in a minute. He's a professional ultra runner. He's a coach. He's a race director, motivational speaker, and an amateur survivalist. Actually, maybe professional survivalist. I don't know what I just like the ring of that. He's based out of Truckee, California. He's a former Division I baseball player turned to this endurance athlete. He's completed feats like the 2500 mile transcontinental run, a record setting FKT on the Tahoe Rim Trail, 60 days in the wilderness to win the Discovery Channel's The Wheel, if you haven't seen that, go check that out, it's on Discovery Channel. And he has multiple course records and podium finishes as a premier ultra runner. And he's joining us today after just pulling into the driveway back home after finishing his first attempt at the bad water 135 and I will say he ended up in fourth place at the bad water 135. So not only did he go out there for the first time as a racer, but he actually killed it as a racer. So Adam, we're hoping you can stay awake for the 60 minutes that we're gonna be talking. Hey Adam, for any of us that don't really know the flavor of bad water, I mean, it sounds the name itself should be enough, but give us kind of an idea of what bad water is and how is it different? Yeah, I actually love that we're talking about the comfort crisis today because it feels like I was not at all comfortable in this race that I just ran. But yeah, you start at the bad water basin which people aren't familiar. It's in Depp Valley National Park. You basically, from where I live, you just go south on Highway 395 until you get to Lone Pine then you exit Lone Pine and go into Depp Valley National Park and it goes all the way back to this little spot called Badwater Basin. And the race starts there, there's a little sign, everyone's there, it's actually really beautiful. The race starts at night so you can't really see it as well then, but during the day, there's like salt flats around the area that are super cool and unique and really pretty. But you get there, I think the starting temperature for the race was 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

That night. Yeah, that was at 10 p.m. And then you run from there 135 miles all the way to the Mount Whitney portal, which is the beginning of the hike up to Mount Whitney. So I think that the coolest part about this, well nothing was cool about it literally, but the most interesting part about this is you start at the lowest point in the continental US, which is the bad water basin in Death Valley, and then you go to the start of the highest point in the lower 48 states, which is Mount Whitney. So it's a very unique journey through a desert-ess hot, unforgiving, bout of terrain and it's pretty legendary and I was glad to be a part of it. What was your biggest surprise? Because you helped crew that, I believe, that's what kind of woke you up to. Maybe I want to do this, but actually out on the course with a bib on, what was something you didn't expect? Yeah, so like you just said, three years ago my friend Lindsay ran and I was having her crew and that just intrigued me enough to want to come back and race it myself. I think being out there on the course the thing that maybe like maybe it didn't surprise me the most but just what it was reinforced to me the most is how crew intensive this race is Of all the races that I've ever been a part of on either side of it. There is this so this race has no Aid stations. It's all your supported by your whole crew as frequently as you like throughout the entire race And so some people get crew Aide every half a mile every mile, it's whatever you want for as long as it takes you.

So it took me 23 hours to run this race.

And I was seeing the crew about every two and a half miles

was what we settled on.

That was about the amount of time where I was getting to the point

where I needed more ice, more fluids, those kind of things.

And anyway, it was a reminder to me of how intense

of a job it is for crews during this race, because like I said, I was 23 hours for my team. We started at 10 p.m., finished at 9 p.m. the following night. There are some runners that the course cut off is 48 hours, so there are some runners that will take almost two full days. So imagine if you're crewing someone every mile for 48 hours. It's just an amazing thing. And again, it just gives me a great appreciation for everybody that supports the sport in the ways that they can. I think there was a couple of members, well, I guess all the members on my team probably don't have an interest in running that race themselves, but a couple of them specifically said, I'm so glad I get to be a part of this in this way. They wanted to be a part of the race, but they knew they would never run at themselves. So it's special to share that with them. And don't do this ever again, Adam. You played your friend card once, and you cannot play it again, huh? I want to make one note. It's not like I was following this, but it just appeared on my feed because I was kind of following you. There was an 80 year old man that finished this race. 80 years old running through the desert heat and he was able to finish. That's just crazy. So a couple of things about that. His name is Bob Becker.

I feel like tied into his story,

even though I've met him before, but I don't know him well, but I feel tied connected to him, I guess I should say, for a couple of fun reasons. One, three years ago, when I was there, or crewing my friend, Lindsey, was the last time Bob attempted to finish the race.

And he was 77 then.

And he got across the finish line,

but it was after the 48 hour threshold.

So they sort of gave him like an unofficial Congratulations, but you don't get an official finish comes back three years later three years older and he finished with three hours to spare So he finished oh 45 hours had three hours to go And then the other piece of it is the very then this is what I, like one of the entanglements of the running community. But the very first 100 mile that I ever ran in 2014 was called the Yellowstone Teton 100 over by Yellowstone and the Teton's in Idaho. That race no longer exists, but the race director of that race, her name is Lisa Smith-Bachin. She is Bob Becker's coach, this 80 year old's coach, and I hadn't seen her since I ran her race over a decade ago, and I saw her at the awards after the race, and we got to catch up and stuff, so that was super cool as well. Well, I'd love to talk further about all the details, even have a separate episode on this because I have a lot of curiosity. But I have one question Scott and you can have as many as you want. My one question is, if you were to give someone advice that's going to run this race, what's one thing that you would tell them that would be specific for a bad water versus an ordinary ultra if there's ever an ordinary one? Yeah, I'm going to cheat and say two things here. One, go all in on the heat training. Just do everything in your power to make sure your body is as well adapted to that as possible. The other thing is as it relates to that, even if you're not super well-heat adapted, if you are constantly cooling your body, you can manage it. So you just got to be smart during the race. And then the other thing is make sure that your crew knows what they're getting into and that they understand what it's going to be like because I think that could be a big disconnect. If somebody doesn't fully understand, like I said, what is required of the crew, I think that could make it a rough experience for somebody. So I would make sure that either you have very experienced crew

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