In this episode I recap the events of my 'off the couch' fast and smooth marathon attempt from December 4, 2025.

Tale of the Tape: 26.2 Miles (23 on snow) / 3 hr 57 min 11 second elapsed : 3 hr 54 min 58 second 'chip' / 18F (-8C) / Kid pickup 30 minutes after ending

Come inside the effort as I go deep into how I took down a snow marathon in my own unique style. I break down the gear, the pacing, the fueling, the logistics, the mindset, the heartstance, and the takeaway lessons from a wild training effort en route to my first solo ultra marathon, a winter 50K in January.

Leave inspired to craft your own creative and daring vision of what fitness inspired by your spirit and heart can become in your life. Be an artist in sport and use your body as the canvas to create beautiful experiences and expressions of self. I live it everyday and this was just one more piece for the portfolio. My hope is that you begin to view your fitness this way and begin making beautiful art of your own!

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This was a fun experiment in podcasting, my very first LIVE podcast that was streamed on Twitter as I recorded. I wanted to bring you inside of how I think about planning and executing improvised physical challenges that are just for me.

I'm running an 'off the couch' fast and smooth marathon but winter has conspired to complicate the entire idea of why I wanted to do it. But as often happens, the true meaning emerges not in the ease but in the adversity that's in the way. Instead of lamenting that a certain 'time' can't be hit now and why bother with that, the struggle to just figure it out and give an honest go with your best effort is never off the table.

And for me, that's what makes fitness fun. Not having everything perfect but having to make the good emerge out of the chaos of life. This is as inside my mind as I've gotten when it comes to how these wild challenges come about and how I figure out how to take them down.

Onward to 26.2 frozen miles!

This episode I fall back into professor mode and take a deep page out of my old academic expertise, the connection of certain sports to certain national identities, to mine the meaning out of two big time sporting events I experience this week. The first was a Saturday Night hockey game in Utah and the second is the wave of NFL games played on the American Thanksgiving Holiday.

Come along for a journey through history and interpretation as I discuss the meaning of both ice hockey and American football as national sports, one looking to take root in a new environment (Utah) and the other deeply engrained in the national consciousness (football).

I end with a direct takeaway lesson as a coach who guides individuals, athletes, and the Temple Group I run through difficult new journey in their lives on how to successfully learn something new. Just as these traditions that we now know by heart had to be invented and learned, so to can you adopt successful approaches to getting fit, living by life by your own design, and breaking limits you believed impossible.

This one was a ton of fun, hoping to bring more specific knowledge from my old professor days into future pods.

If you are interested in contacting me with interest in coaching, individual or group, contact me here: https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact

If you are interested in becoming an endurance athlete who plays with his heart and aims towards his best potential, join us at Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training