I mean, ants are sick, I had a feel for what it would be like, but just the sheer beauty

of the place, it's just stark, and it feels very high consequence.

If you don't plan accordingly and you don't do things properly, there's consequences,

and I like being in those type of environments.

It makes you pay attention and be aware, and then just like this year beauty of it. Welcome to the trailhead of trail runner nation. Once again, we are inviting you to come join us on a virtual trail run where we've invited an interesting guest that is going to help us become better runners, healthier people and maybe better human beings. And Scott, today we're running like a downhill run. It starts off good and gets better as you go. This was a fun episode with Myron Mike, Warden. Hey Scott, you know the feeling when the weather turns and you realize that your running gear is still stuck in summer mode. Yeah, that first cold rain or wind gust that makes you say, I should have checked out my John G. Winter gear. Exactly. John G. Just dropped your winter kit upgraded lineup. We're talking about running tights and pants like the Borrio fleece tight for cozy warmth or the trail tight for all season versatility. And for the top half of your body, I'm loving the auras ultra fleece hoodie. It's like running in a cloud that actually breathes. Or when the skies open up, the rain runner pack jacket, it keeps you dry without slowing you down. Hey, it's hard enough out there without having the right gear and that's where John G comes in. Don't forget the details like the gloves, the beanies and the brand new, thermal runner insulated cap. That's perfect for frosty mornings. You can find it on all of John G's weather ready gear at JohnG.com. And as a bonus for trail runner-nation listeners, get 10% off your order with a code trail runner. We've been telling you about the Mays Fit products and the wearables that they have, especially for ultra runners, the T-Rex 3 Pro, which Don and I have been using for probably not quite a year now. Boy, is it a good watch? I'll tell you, Scott, I've got a nice tan mark that fits my Maze Fit 3 perfectly. You can't just my favorite watch. You know, the thing that I noticed and I've probably taken for granted is the brightness. You can be in the brightest, noon day sun, and you don't have to find a shadow, you don't have to put your hand over the watch to look and see the data. It has up to 25 days of battery life, depending on how you use it, all of the features that you need, all the data that you need, and it's just a really good watch. And you can get it for 15% off by going to us.amazefit.com slash discount slash trail. I know that you probably didn't write that down and you may have tough time. Remember it. Just go to our deals page at trailrunnernation.com. The URL is there that you can click on and get that 15% off. Welcome to another edition of Trailrunnernation. My name is Don Freeman and I'm Scott War. And if you've spent any time in our trail in Ultra World, you've probably heard the name Iron Mike, Mike Wardien. He's a runner who seems to bend the rules of what a human body can do. Mike's the guy who once ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. Then he came home and he won 135 mile race across the scorching keys. He set world records, pushing a stroller, running marathons in costume, and even running a marathon every day across the United States covering 3,234 miles in 61 days. But here's the key. Beyond race bibs, Mike is true magicalized in his love for pure adventure, running for the joy of exploring and seeing what's possible with his fitness. Today, we're going to dig into his greatest non-race adventures and why they might inspire your next big run. So first question for you, Mike, and this is going to pull on, I don't know these stories real well, and maybe we'll get into some. But here's the question. between rogue peacocks, iguana traffic jams, a runaway porta potty, you seem to attract chaos. So my question is, what is your favorite? I can't believe this just happened moment from any of your adventures. I guess while you did mention the running across the country and I also ran the Appalachian Trail in about the same time like 60 days, I would say the first thing that popped into my head like unedited was I was running across the country like in the middle of I think Kansas, which I don't know if anyone's been to Kansas. I knew a little bit about Kansas. I did not know that Kansas is mostly at elevation, which was surprising and It's actually like one of the longest states. I was in Kansas for like 10 days and I started in May and finished in July So I was in Kansas in the end of May, kind of early June and

scorching hot and I was doing you said a marathon a day. I was actually doing about two marathons a day So I average like 52 miles a day for 61 days. Yeah, marathon it before lunch pretty much and then another marathon after lunch and I'm in the heat of the day maybe be two o'clock in the afternoon and this lady drives by and she sees me and it's gotta be like 95 degrees and like, humid, like no wind flow. It's like that kind of like bubbling like tarmac, you know, and she like swings the car back and she's like, are you, do you need a ride, honey?

And I was like, no.

And I was like, I'm out here running and she's like, okay.

Do you need some water or anything?

I'm like, no, I'm good.

I have like a big truck that's following me.

I'm fine.

And then she like drives away.

And then like, I'm going down the,

the with, you know against traffic all of a sudden I see her coming back up the road and she stops again and you know she's like I know you're running but if you just get in the car I won't tell anyone. I was like that's not how it works but I really appreciate it so yeah that's that was like one of those moments that kind of sticks with you. It's like the people are trying to do you a solid and really help you out and yeah, and it just shows how nice people are out there on the roads for the most part. And then of course, you know, I had other people that threw food at me and swirved at me and did all those things, but you know, I kind of like to remember the good thing. Like I've got to ask how many pairs of shoes does it take to run across the United States? Actually, it was crazy. I was running for Hokka at that time and I thought it was going to take probably around 20 and it took about eight actually. I got like about a thousand miles on one pair of bondies that I just like I love they were in between like

Bondy six and Bondy seven and I really didn't love the Bondy seven heel cup

But I really liked the Bondy six and so I didn't have as many Bondy sixes

So yeah, I put about a thousand miles on that one pair of shoes

And then I was using the Mox six also at that time

so I I Those things just got shaved down to like nothing. But yeah, you're not moving super fast. I mean, you just really need something on your feet in general, which is nice. Like, like now I'm a Tava athlete. So, you know, I probably have done most of it in sandals now because like it would really, really help with the heat buildup. So yeah, that's actually something that like I'm gonna, I have some big projects coming up and it'll be fun to have other options now. I'm curious. I would bet that most of us that are listening, we don't really wear out shoes. Well, maybe we do. So maybe that's not fair. But I think for me, okay, that's what that's the caveat. For me, I don't think I wear out shoes. I mean, I do know that they start to delaminate a little bit and maybe they get dirty and they start to get holes in the top. But I don't know whether I've ever worn out the bottom of a pair of shoes. And maybe that's because I don't run on asphalt like you do across the United States. But how do you know, as you're running across the United States, you said you got 1,000 miles out of one, which was long distance. How do you know when the shoe is done? Do you look just look and see that it's no longer has any lugs on the bottom or can you feel it? both So yeah, well actually we were at hard rock this year Tevin and I were testing a prototype or like a shoe and by the time I got to 40 miles Oh, you could tell it was worn out. It had like chunks missing out of the soul.. No lugs on half of it.

We were testing this cool foam, which was awesome

for some things.

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