From Wasatch to Bear: Ryan Head's Ultra-Marathon Triumphs

I have released one bonus episode the last couple of months one on Labor Day , one on Columbus Day , and why not keep the streak going and release one on Veterans Day ? This bonus episode is with my former guest , ryan Head .

If you go back to episode 81 , you'll be able to hear Ryan's journey and his story of getting into ultra running , and we talk about his first 100 mile race that he completed the Wasatch 100 back in 2023 .

For this episode , I had Ryan back because he just completed the Wasatch 100 again , but he also completed the Bear 100 , which are only three weeks apart from each other the Wasatch and the Bear three weeks apart . This was not easy for Ryan . It took everything he had just to get through the first race . Ryan is a man of determination and a man of faith .

Get ready to go 100 miles two times with Ryan Head . Welcome to Journey with Jake . This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way . While I expect you will learn some things about different adventures , this show will entertain you .

Each episode will feature a different guest or guests , as they share experiences and stories from the different adventures they have been on on . Not only will you be entertained , but you will also hear the failures and trials each guest faces and what they have done or are doing to overcome the hardships that come their way .

My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you'll be entertained and inspired to overcome your day-to-day challenges . After all , it's not about the destination as it is about the journey . Thanks for joining me for this bonus episode of Journey with Jake .

My name is Jake Bushman and I am your host for this fantastic conversation with Ryan Head . One of the absolute best parts of doing Journey with Jake are the connections I have made with my guests . Ryan Head is not only a guest , but he is also my running coach and more than that , ryan is a friend .

I was happy to have him back on to share his latest adventure in running both the Wasatch 100 and Bear 100 100-mile races . That's right 100 miles nonstop , which equates to over 30 straight hours both times Absolutely incredible . Just a couple of housekeeping items before we get started . My usual Thursday episode release will still happen this week .

In fact , this Thursday my guest is Jude Krewald , who biked on a non-motorized bike across West Africa , and his stories and experiences are amazing . My episode with Jude is one for the books Absolutely amazing . My other ask is just to share Journey with Jake with your family and friends .

I have been doing this show for almost three years now and I've been absolutely amazed by my guests and what they have shared with me . Thank you to all of you who listen . Each and every week you keep me motivated and I appreciate it . Okay , let's get to this bonus episode with my guest , ryan Head , familiar face here with me today .

I've got Ryan Head back on the show . Ryan , welcome back to Journey with Jake . Thanks .

I know for this year you did both the Wasatch 100 and the Bear 100 , which are only three weeks apart , which is amazing to think about . So you were episode 81 . So anybody who wants to go back and listen to episode 81 , they can hear kind of Ryan's whole story .

I know we talked a lot about you had a DNF on one of the first 100 mile race you tried . I was at the finish line last year and was at 2023 when you came across the finish line at the Wasatch 100 , which was awesome for me . That was my first time meeting you in person since then . You're my coach . Now Ryan's my my running coach .

I know I refer to him sometimes on some of my stories and things . So it's awesome to have you here . You're an inspiration to me . You're my coach , so I love it . So , yeah , so thanks for being here . Before we get rolling into this , I was looking through my list of ultra runners that I've had on the show and I've had , oh , eight or nine of them .

You ultra runners are amazing . So my first question is before we jump into the Wasatch 100 and the Bear 100 that you just did , why do you keep doing this ?

But I think there has to be a mutual trust between both parties for there to be success , and that goes into business .

That goes into a lot of other deep topics too , but I enjoy working with you and , yeah , all my athletes that I work with yeah , I'm their coach , but I also am like , hey , I'm your friend and like we're in this together because we're partying together , because I'm doing everything . I would never ask any of you to do what I do , you know .

I would only ask you to do what I'm willing to do as well . So , anyways , but I love that .

It's all the work you put in that year , that's really built up to that moment and you forge yourself slowly over that time to get to that and that's just , it's a fun process . Like I love trying to be better every day . I'm not going to say some I'm some like egotistical guy . That's like , oh , you got to be like you know , david Goggins type stuff .

Like you every day you got to be going hard or whatever . Like I don't , I don't really aspire to that . I think if you're just trying to be at least 1% better than you were the day before , you're doing great and that's that's what I try to do too . Like , and you know you do that for three or four years and some crazy stuff can happen .

You're doing some crazy stuff for sure .

I got to reach out to coach and tell them what's going on , and then you usually message me back either after your run . Today you did it as you were starting your run . You're actually started moving .

When you're when you messaged me today you're going out early in the morning maybe not quite as early as I go out sometimes , but early and you're on these trails and these backwoods and I mean it's dark , it's kind of scary almost . I mean you're with some people sometimes , but sometimes you're not .

How do you keep yourself motivated to keep doing that day in and day out ? How do you say , okay , I'm going to be 1% better today . How do you keep doing that ?

And it is tough because you have to balance recovery and you know that I talk a lot about that with you . But there is a good balance of recovering from races and pushing yourself and continually trying to be better , like for me . I I want to again one each day . I want to be better , at least just 1% .

And yeah , like , if I think about it too much , it is scary out there in the dark . I put a post about this a couple weeks back but it's like tarantula mating season , I guess . Like it's kind of weird to bring up on a podcast , but like , but like there was all these tarantulas in the trail . I can deal with a lot . I don't .

I saw so many rattlesnakes this year and other snakes and all kinds of stuff , but spiders just not my jam and I that was one of the few times like I kind of cracked , if you want me to be honest , like I was like , oh man , I don't like spiders , like especially big ones , like these things weren't small .

Like look it up on my Instagram posts , anybody that's listening to this . Like go back and look at it and you'll see it's insane . And I was just like , oh , but yeah , I don't know . It's one of those mindsets Like you have to lock in and like I'm always thinking to myself what , why are you doing this today ? Like what ? What is the goal ?

What is the objective that we're shooting for ? You know that we're we're shooting for next year and how we can make ourselves a little bit better .

Because , like , even though and I don't want to put the carpet before the horse , but like , even though my time at Wasatch this year wasn't necessarily better than my time in 2023 , the , the hell that I went through . If you want me to be completely honest , that I went through this year with Wasatch , there was only one way I finished Wasatch .

It was because of everything I did this year . 100% believe that , no question in my mind . I trained harder , I did way more stuff . I was in the gym , I was hitting the trails , the mountains . I was doing so many different things and I know , without a mountains .

I was doing so many different things and I know , like , without a question , like I only got that finish because I pushed myself harder than I ever have and it kind of reflected that and how bear finished out .

That's really how I always look at it , as I'm like , hey , like , if you want , if you want these results , then you got to be putting in the pennies every day , every day , it doesn't matter and always be looking for those pennies , right ?

Like I do some weird stuff for training , um , and I've shared this before with other people but like I will purposely mow my yard in the hottest part of the day during the summer and I will wear , like my getup that I wear when I run , like when I do my races , because I'm like I want to be dying to heat , I want to be getting that heat exposure , and

it's just constantly working out . Like when we get together with the girls at night and with my daughters and we're like watching TV shows and stuff . I'm doing my PT exercises . I'm not wasting any of those moments at work . I'm constantly stretching . I stand up , I'll stretch out .

I don't usually try to set longer than an hour each day , and I can keep going on with like all the stuff I'm doing , but I'm always trying to find like those opportunities just to put another penny in the piggy bank because I know I'm going to need every one of those and if Wasatch proved anything this year , you don't know how many you're going to have to

withdraw and I basically withdrew everyone to get through Wasatch .

? You tried to do the 100 and you I can't remember where it was it was 20 . It was it was March of 2023 . March of 2023 . Okay , so then , just a few months later , in September , you did the Wasatch 100 . You finished . I was there , I saw you come in then . So you said you know , you said you tried to do things throughout the year .

You set the goal . So did you have the goal that you were going to do both the Wasatch 100 and Bear 100 ? When did you set that goal ? Was it right when you finished the Wasatch 100 ? How does this work for you ? When do you set these goals ?

It was just a really cool goal that they set and they both finish it and I think there's not a ton that do it every year , but there's a good amount of people and it's tough . Even on Bear this year I ran into a couple of people . They're like did you do Wasatch ? And I'm like , yeah , and they're like , so you're going for the double ?

And I'm like , yeah , I talked to them . And they're like , no , I had a DNF at Wasatch . And I'm like , dang sorry , try again next year . But I knew probably , yeah , probably , october of last year . So yeah , basically a year now , I knew that I was going to go for both .

But it's not , it's not a given , because you have to be in the lottery for Wasatch and then bear . You have to be right on the money to get in . I had the thought , the feeling . I was like I'd love to go forward . If I can get , if I can get into Wasatch , then I'm going to . I'm going to try for Barrow as well .

First of all , thank you for including me . I was part of your whole thread of of text messages , people texting you throughout the 30 plus hours or whatever it took you to do this , and it was cool Cause I know you put some . You put out a video or two right at the start and then there was . You know it went quiet .

When you're in the middle of it , going through hell , as you would say , tell me about this race , because it sounds like you said you had to withdraw everything to finish this thing . What happened ? Tell me about it .

We went through a really good , rigid plan where he was very adamant about me doing very junky trails and doing consistent back-to-back long runs on like Fridays and Saturdays or Saturdays and Sundays , and and I I am I am a religious person and my , my church meets that later in the day on Sunday , so I was able to do my runs , um , you know , Sunday mornings

and still be able to attend my church services . I really put together , really , I think , between me and him . We had a really good game plan going in and so I felt really calm heading into it .

I was like , hey , things are good , I think we're in a good place , started the race out and I purposely got to the very back , like I was probably in the last like 25 , maybe 30 people , cause I was like I don't want to get pushed up bear Canyon . Bear Canyon is the start of the race where , um , you basically over like three and a half miles .

You go like 4500 feet up up a mountain . It's just crazy and it's super steep at points and and I didn't burn out at all last year , in 2023 like I had a good time as well , but I was like this year I want to make sure that I don't feel any lactic acid in my legs , so I don't want that burning feeling at all .

Got to the top and I was feeling good . But the problem with Wasatch this year , compared to previous years , is this was very well known . It was going to be one of the hottest years , maybe the hottest that they've ever had the race . And so I train . I do really like I said , I do some dumb stuff , like with heat training .

I go to saunas , I mow my yard in the hottest part of the day . The other weird one that I do that a lot of people think is strange , like for my lunches at work . I will go , set out my car and have my lunch in the car so that I'm dying of heat . It's weird , I know .

I mean my coworkers think I'm strange , but that's like it's just how I get heat exposure and training . So we get going and I'm just having a good race . I , I , I hit that first 10 miles , 12 , 11 miles . I was like crushing it .

I was going down from Francis Peak down to the Groban water station , which the Grobans basically host , and I was probably doing like eight , eight , 39 minute pace like going down there . I was hauling , because it's just this perfect , like downhill up there on dirt trails and so I'm doing good . Mega 2 , bountiful B , feeling great .

The sun is now kind of up and it's getting warm , but I'm like we're good . We're good . I make it to Bountiful or to Sessions Liftoff , which is mile 20 . So we're 20% into the race and the heat is starting to play a big impact on people . You can feel it , even though we're up like eight , 9,000 feet of vert or about elevation .

It's getting warm and you can feel it .

And so it's kind of a crazy part because once you leave sessions lift off you don't have an aid station until big mountain , which is 12 miles away , and that section is like there's there for the first few miles there's some trees and coverage , but then it's you're a hundred percent exposed and people were just getting crushed by the heat .

I just kept passing people that were just having a hard time . I had a couple of good friends out there that were just they struggled and I get it , and I'll be the first to say there's not one person I would give grief to this year that DNF'd Wasatch because it was really hot and at times it was like a morgue man .

There was some pretty crazy things that I saw . There were people just throwing up or cramped or just on the side of the path and they're just like it's too hot . I was like I'm so glad I did my heat training , so I do really good . I get to big mountain . It's a mile 32 .

And I pick up my first pacer , donovan Minnis , who's my boss at work and he's a great athlete . So we get going and I would say probably like three miles in we're about to Bald Mountain . The heat exhaustion just started and I felt it coming .

It was like this slow feeling of just feeling sick and a nausea , like my eyes kept wanting to like roll in the back of my head . It was kind of a weird feeling and I just kept like doing some weird , like it just didn't feel good and like I felt really sick and I kept drinking water but I just like I couldn't get cool .

Donovan was really good because he was , you know , he was like kind of pushing me , but he was like hey , let's just be smart about our pace . And and we did really good we made to Alexander at mile 40 .

And I I got to tell the story because this is awesome , but and hopefully anybody listens to this that did a Wasatch don't judge me too much , and hopefully you didn't come after me . But we get there and I'm just dying of heat , right , like I'm like I might have to DNF because this is screaming hot and I'm just not feeling good .

And I have a really good friend , mark Frad , who he's always like hey , the best place to cool down , make sure you put cold water in the back of your neck , under your armpits and down below .

And I just grabbed this sponge of cold water and I just got myself in all three places and I was like I know that's probably gross for some people , but I was like I don't even care , like I'm totally doing it . It brought my , it brought my body temperature down big time and it was awesome .

So then I took off from there and I felt really good because the sun was starting to come down at this point . So , and we made it to lambs canyon . So we're about halfway , we're a mile 47 , the sun is sitting and I'm just like my energy levels it was . It was like your , your typical , like economics , like supply and supply and demand .

I just started like , as the sun set , my energy levels just came back because the sun was gone . And so then I left Donovan at that point , picked up Nate Allred , my next pacer , and we cruised through the night .

We were doing good , we hit every aid station pretty fast , like rapid succession , but the whole time I just kept saying to Nate we got to be quick , we got to move as quick as possible in the dark , because I know when that sun comes back , the heat exhaustion is coming back too , because I could feel it .

I could still feel it in here and and and , as I've talked to , like quite a few people now that's had heat exhaustion cause I've never had it before . Everybody I've talked to , even out on the racer , like you , you have to go home .

Like you can't , you're not going to get over it , still moving and exercising and all that stuff , you , you have to like lay down and relax and I'm like , well , I'm not doing that . I'm not doing anything like I want to finish this race . Okay , we just got to plow through when it's cold and I can just move as quick as possible .

So , truth be told , we made it to to brighton about like two hours faster than I did it the year before . So I'm , I'm moving like we're , we're cooking me and n Nate had a great night . I get there and it really was between me , jacob Bateman and Nate Allred . We were just rapid succession . We're like get Ryan to stuff , let's get him out of here .

We got to get him back on the trail before that sun comes back up , because I was like , guys , I'm truly afraid of what will happen . We take off out of Brighton and we're going up . We hit Catherine's Pass Point , supreme , all that good stuff . I kissed the sign . I did it in the dark .

The year before it was light and this year I did it in the dark . So then I go down , do the plunge , which is just awful . It's this awful section of the course where it's just not a fun trail to go down .

So we get going , we keep moving , get to pole line , pass that and I'd say I got to mile about 79 , 80 , and then the sun came up and I knew it was going to be a painful 20 miles the other thing that I was dealing with . I showed you a picture of it before we started .

Early on in the race I got my foot wet and I wish I hadn't done that my left foot because I was dealing with blisters like crazy .

I was like no , I don't want to waste time switching them out , let's just go like move quick , move , move move . And now , when you think about it in retrospect , which I did this at bear . I don't want to put the carpet for the horse on this one too , but I changed out my shoes there and it saved me so much time because I wasn't dealing with blisters .

But I didn't change it . I started dealing with blisters really bad , I mean , I felt them all the way up to mile 70 . But mile 70 , it was like oh yeah , they're angry . And then , as soon as that sun came out , we're dealing with heat . The heat exhaustion is coming back . That sick feeling is coming back .

I was dealing with some other bodily issues that are not fun I think I mentioned to you , but I don't want to leave that where it's at .

And then I was dealing with the blisters and it was rough . I knew for mile 79 , the last 20 , 21 miles was going to be painful .

Cause that's where I struggle , I think is , and I'm not going through it . But when I see people , I'm like , well , how do they do it ? I don't , I don't get how you do it .

I've dealt with , you know , other bodily issues that just aren't fun and are very , extremely painful , to say the least . And so you kind of like prepare yourself for that . You're like hey , I think I'm good mindset for any , any , any whole ultra marathon is like assume the worst is going to happen .

I mean it really is like you have to assume something bad is going to happen because inevitably something is going to and you got to be prepared to like just tackle it and problem solve and and just get you , get back up there and get on your feet .

I don't know , maybe this is crazy determination , maybe it's crazy grit or it's just crazy stupidity , but when I think to myself I'm at mile 80 . I've already done 80 miles . I only have 20 miles left to get a finish . And again , I built such a good buffer I had built two hours onto what I did the year before . I was like , how can I not finish this ?

Like almost at this point I almost could walk the whole race in , and if I have to walk most of it , then I'm going to do it so that I can get the finish and move on onto bear .

It really did feel like almost like if you're a college football fan or or not college football , college basketball it's like surviving to play the , to play another day that's really what became . My mindset is to survive Wasatch so that we have the opportunity to go for the double at Bear . That really was a lot of the mindset .

And then I mentioned this to you before and I'm a pretty religious guy I kept going back to my faith , thinking about the things that bring me happiness my daughters , my wife . Jesus Christ , you know the things that I truly do believe deeply in . I'm not going to lie to you , man .

Like I prayed so many times to my heavenly father and was just constantly like , okay , I need your help again , please . I rely on you . I need you at this moment and I know I haven't really shared that a lot with people and I haven't really put a lot of posts out there about it .

You know , after last year , which was just a truly divine intervention with what happened in 2023 , you know this year a lot of the same . I mean I feel like he helped me get there each step and it was tough .

None of it was fun , as I put a post out after the race that last 21 miles or 20 miles is the worst running I've probably ever done in my whole life . There's no question 100% guaranteed worst running I've ever done .

But I knew that if I had the faith and I persevered and I was determined that I'm going to get to that finish line and I knew it would happen . I knew it would . I just needed to do the work and I needed to believe that I'd get across that line . I knew it would .

I just needed to do the work and I needed to believe that I'd get across that line .

help . Why do you think it matters to a Heavenly Father in your case that you pray to Him about something that you volunteered to do ? Does that make sense ?

He's felt it , he knows it and I think he wants to help you . And I think that we are the ones that restrict ourselves nine times out of 10 . I think we are the ones that think , oh , they don't really care about this situation . They don't care that I'm struggling with a family member or they don't care that I'm doing whatever .

Right , I think they do care . I think they always care , always care . It's just like I always go back to , like if my daughters asked me for help , if they were running a hundred mile race , like would I not help them ? Of course I would help them .

It doesn't even have to be that one if it's an assignment at school , or that they're trying to decide what college to go to . They've got acceptance letters to xyz , they're struggling because they need gas in their car . Like why would I not help them ? Duh , like you totally would . And I really think that , like , that's what they want .

Now , right , did they care about who wins the NFL game on Sunday ? Not really , I don't think so . That's me personally .

But but like , these things where you're trying to be a better person and you're trying to help others I don't really know a lot about like this , but like , like I've had a lot of people reach out to me and tell me that I'm , I've been an inspiration to them and I appreciate the kind words . I don't , I don't know if I'm really that .

I want to prove to people that it doesn't matter what your body style is . It doesn't matter that you've had your right knee surgically repaired , like I mentioned before , fully reconstructed twice .

I want to prove that anyone can do these crazy things If they , if they believe , they have faith not only in themselves , but in a in a higher being , that they're willing to put the work in , that they're going to be determined . I want to prove to people that that's possible and I'm , I'm , I want to be that living example . You know , like , again , I'm .

I don't look like your typical ultra runner . You know , I'm 195 and I got a little bit of a gun . I'm okay with that .

Like it is what it is and it doesn't bother me at all , and and and if I inspire one person to say you know what , I'm not going to be constrained back by these knee issues or my back issues or foot issues or whatever whatever's holding you back , and they go accomplish their first 5k Frick , yeah , man , like , Like , that is that .

That's the greatest stuff to me .

And he was saying everything motivational to me . Getting across that finish line , I was battered , I felt sick , I wanted to sit down so bad . And getting across that finish line shaking Adam's hand , and well , he gave me a hug and then I if you see the video it's kind of funny Like I go to shake his hand and he totally left me hanging .

Thanks , adam , I'm just kidding , I'm going to make sure , I did see that I know I'm going to pull . I'm going to make sure I'm going to send this to him so he watches this . We're friends on Facebook book , anyways , it's all good , adam , I'm giving you a hard time .

But then , you know , john gave me a big , you know big handshake and talked to me for a second . I just remember being like I don't really remember a lot of what they said . If you want me to be honest , I was like I've just got to sit down . I don't feel good , I feel really sick .

My foot was just like I don't want to say what it was , let's just G rated , but my left foot was just a mess with all the blisters , so let's just leave it at that . So I , I sat down and and the people that were there were just like dude , get him water right now .

And like just trying to chug , and like I didn't want to make it like dramatic or whatever , but like I easily could have just fallen down on the grass and just like passed out there , I'm , I'm , I think I could have . But I was like no , like let's sit down in a chair , let's like try to do this . And it was really cool .

Like my crew was there Nate and Claire , his wife , his , all their kids , jacob , my parents . Jamie McDonald was there . She's the fleet fee per uh uh manager and we taught , we all just chatted . They got me water . They're trying to take care of me and get me feeling better .

And trying to take care of me and get me feeling better and they were like , after about five to 10 minutes of you just relaxing , you were just , you look so much better .

You know , wasatch was just crazy , right , like the best way to summarize it is it was I went to hell multiple times and I came back fighting and I wouldn't , I didn't want to give up .

I'm not trying to sound like I'm some like great athlete , it was just I put all the pennies into the piggy bank and I had to withdraw every one of them just to make that happen . And I think anyone can do that , like I truly believe anyone can do that if they're willing to put the work and the effort in . And it was just .

It was just a really hard race , with just the heat and , you know , being 86 degrees coming through the finish line . I'm just like , come on , like this is September , like can't we get a break ?

I , you know , and we're able to celebrate with yourself when , when , I , you know , and we're able to celebrate with yourself when , when could you do that ?

And so I get home and I get into a bath and you know , get try to get myself cleaned up and all this other stuff and my foot is just on fire because of like all the blisters and everything and I'm like holy cow , this hurts so bad and like I was doing like the whole one , hopping on one foot because the other one and the other foot had blisters too

just wasn't as severe . So I'm like in severe pain , trying to like make this work . I remember that like I got out and I just called my wife , jessica , and I was just like Jess , and she's like what ? I'm like I need your help , like right now , and so she's like what's going on ? And I was just like I can't walk . And so she's like what's going on ?

And and I was just like I can't walk and she's like why ? And I'm like I got blisters all over my feet , like it's so severe , like I can't , like it hurts so bad to even put my foot like touch it on anything . So she was amazing .

She doctored it up and got all the bandages and everything , and I think it was finally when I could walk that I finally enjoyed . I was like I think I just did something pretty cool . I was like okay , now I'm feeling halfway decent . I threw my UFA sandals on and just was able to feel a little bit better and I was just like wow , I just did it .

I got another 100 mile finish and I knew I would do it . You don't want to be arrogant and cocky , but you got to have a belief that you can do it and so I knew I was going to finish it again . But when you actually do it and you like start to put the pieces together , you're like whoa , I did it . But I'm going to be honest with you .

There was some serious dread because I was like , in three weeks I got to do this again and like that's what I was wondering .

And so there was some like I'm not going to lie there was some serious dread , like stress levels were like skyrocketing Cause it was like I think I just gave every bit that I had just to get across Wasatch and now I got to go do it again .

But I avoided it all that , just everything bad . I was trying to just get my body super , super clean . I was actually avoiding meats , you know cause . I know there's some science there and I was just like you know I'm just going to avoid it and just try to be really clean , cause my protein is is grass-based protein . So

, anyways , I was trying to be just super clean , like eat really good , and so that was important and getting enough calories , just like trying to get your stocks built up again , if you will . But it was the body right that I was just like , hey , we got to get that feeling good again .

So I was doing Epsom salt foot baths just for my feet every night when I get home from work and I would just sit there and just try to let them heal and I know blisters will heal pretty quickly but I was like I've got to get these feeling good again because this is so bad and truly .

On Wasatch in 2023 , my hips started hurting really bad and my knees and some other things . I'll be honest , nothing hurt really bad after Wasatch and I think a lot of the reason why was one , I did a lot better training . Two , and I felt like I mostly walked the last 20-ish miles because I was in so much pain and dealing with the heat exhaustion .

So I never really felt like I gave everything I had . If you want me to be honest , like physically , I think it was more mental and emotional that I gave everything at Wasatch in this year , in 2024 . Yeah , my feet were toast , there's no question those were really bad .

But yeah , like I never , I don't feel like my back hurt , my hips hurt , knees , quads None of that was ever really really bad and so I felt like the recovery came quickly . I was running three days after Wasatch I think it was Tuesday night . I was running with my daughter .

We did a little bit of a running thing me and her together , and then right after that , I was running that next morning , and not a lot of mileage , but my goal was to just . The goal was , in between the two races was to keep keep mileage low but keep the heart rate at a good place to where I can maintain fitness . And that really was the key .

That was the key for that three week period Don't push too hard , avoid getting injured . Um , you know , my coach was just like dude , don't go for a 15 or 20 mile run . Like longest should be 10 miles , don't do anything longer than that . If you do that , you risk the chance of pulling something and getting really hurt . And so I I truly like .

I felt like I got really close to a hundred percent in that three weeks . Like a hundred percent back to feeling normal . I would say I probably got to like 90 to 95% , which I honestly told myself I can get to 80 . I'm going to be feeling really good and I've talked to a lot of people about this .

A lot of people say like I have a between genetics and all the other stuff I do for recovery . They're like you've got it a little bit better than most . So I truly felt ready . I remember the week of Bear and even the day or two before I was like oh , yeah , yeah , buddy .

I remember the week of bear and like even the day or two before I was like , oh yeah , yeah , buddy , like we're , we're there , it's going to be good , and so bear 100 takes place .

I just kept telling myself I'm like , do you really want to go back to where you were just at three weeks ago ? Not only physically , because there's who knows , maybe you'll have the same stuff with your feet again . But I'm like who knows what other crap's going to happen . And you have to go to the mental battles again , the emotional battles .

All this is coming . You're spending a whole night up again . You're going to be doing over 20,000 feet of vert . All these long miles . It's going to be warm again . It wasn't as warm , but it was still a pretty warm day up there . I remember in that first 20 miles you climb up .

You go through what's called Dry Canyon kind of go up almost to Logan Peak peak . You don't , you don't touch it , but you do that and then you follow it all the way around and then you start to head down to what's called letham hollow and that's the first 19 and a half miles .

And and I remember the whole time , like as I'm running that and I get down to letham hollow and I meet my you know , my crew chief , again , nate all red , I'm just like , do I really want to do this ? Like do I really want to do this ? Like do I really want to go through with all of this ?

Because this is , we're already at 19 and a half miles , we've been out here for what four or five hours , whatever it was at that time , and I'm like , oh , this is going to be a lot . And I remember saying to Nate I was just like it's going to be an act of God if I get across the finish line here . And he was scared . He's like are you okay ?

And I'm like , dude , just saying , man , like I still have 80 more miles to go . This is going to be rough . I have this feeling it's going to be rough , which I was so wrong because it wasn't , which is insane . I still don't know , like , how it all came together .

Well , I do know how it came together because I prepped and I did everything right , but I left that and that was truly my low point and and I got to give a lot of credit to my next pacer and she actually posted something about it on Facebook today , on in our , in our ,

you know , running group . But she , she was talking about like how the mindset remember that it's fun . And I remember , like mile 24 , 25 of a bear and I was just like still in just a stupid mood . I remember being like dude , when do you get to run 36 hours and you have no other worries in life ? I mean , yes , I did it just three weeks ago .

But like , when do you usually get to do this ? It doesn't happen . Why are you being grumpy pants about this ? Have fun . And I was like dude , like this is supposed to be fun , like what am I doing here ? Why am I being so lame and everything , and I think a lot of how to do , cause it was warm that day .

I remember I was just walking up this , this Canyon , and it was really hot and I totally felt like inspired from heavenly father to to get the Creek and just dump all the cold water on this Creek , just get my hat and just keep . You know , like , like I said before , hit all the same places . And I did that and it was like my attitude just did this .

It was like , oh yeah , it's a good day . Then I became kind of like the fun crazy guy out there . I'm like running and I see these guys on a motorcycle and I'm over there putting like my thumb out to see if they get hitch , hitch a ride , and they're all laughing and the one guy's like slap in the back of his uh , his motorcycle Like hey , hop on .

You know time with bacon . I'm just laughing , I'm like you guys are good . But then I just like it just became fun and I just told myself I'm like dude , you got to remember that this is supposed to be fun . Let's go Like , let's have fun , let's keep pushing .

And so from that point forward I was just slaying it Like I was just my pace was a lot faster than what we had predicted , after doing already a hundred mile . And so luckily , nate all read my crew chief and Joe , who was my first pacer they just buy , I don't know .

We got lucky because the tracking system you you probably saw it Like it wasn't updating to like accurately and it was throwing a lot of people off . And so luckily they made it to right-hand fork , which was where they were meeting me at mile 37 .

And they were there and they're like dude , you're like an hour plus ahead of schedule , you're crushing it and I'm like I'm having a good day , like it's a good day , I'm feeling like a million bucks , like let's go . We got in there .

Nate's wife , claire , had her standard chicken noodle soup for me and I ate that as quick as possible and we took off and we just flew , me and joe she was my first pacer . She got me at , like when my body was still almost 100 .

She got me and we we were doing like 12 and 13 minute miles in certain sections and and like that was the beautiful thing is there were so many parts of bear where you just can fly and I was just doing like in some little sections I was doing like 10 , 11 , 12 minute miles and and I just that's how I built up my the big buffer and like where I was ,

why I was ahead of schedule . So me and Joe do really good . You know , the one of the tough parts is climbing up to Tony Grove . It's like a five mile death March constant like six , seven , 8% incline . But you get up to the top of that and that's halfway . That's mile 50 . And I pick up Jacob Bateman and it was . It was fun .

We had a good time in the night .

Like I can't even explain to people , like I was joking with a lot of people about this . I'm like if I told people what it was like , they're going to think it was a fairy tale or it doesn't really exist . But like , like these , like yellow leaves are like falling around me as I'm running down , like these pristine trails and I'm like this is so magical .

But yeah , like I pick up Jacob Bateman and we took off and Jacob was with me for 25 miles from mile 50 to mile 75 . I wouldn't say there was ever really any like crazy incidents or anything like that . I just remember Jacob always saying to me over and over he's like dude , you're a man on a mission , you are determined and you're crushing it .

Like I was consistently hitting like 16 , 17 , like uphill , 18 , 19 minute miles . He's like dude , you're a man on a mission . I'm so impressed . And he just kept saying that over and over . And he's like you're going to crush this with this race , like you're going to get a really good time .

He's like I don't want to tell you what I think you're going to hit , but you're going to . You're going to , you're not going to be doing golden hour . You know , mile 35 , uh , hour , 35 to 36 . He's like you're not golden hour in this time and I'm just like , well , we'll see . Like we'll just keep going . And so crushed it .

It made it to mile 75 , got to a Bieber mountain there . Stuff on . That's where I changed my shoes . This time took time to . Well , nate allred changed my shoes a lot of credit to him for that . He was a good , good crew chief took those off from there . I picked up nate allred .

He he ran with me from that section on for about 10 miles and it was kind of slow and go . Like you know , I've run 175 miles at this point in a three-week period . I'm a little tired . We still kept a pretty good pace , like I think we were doing like 18s and 19 minute pace the whole time . Beautiful trails , just awesome .

And then we get to mile 85 and I pick up my last pacer , sean brock . We did good . Sean just pushed me , he would not let me off the hook and I was tired , like I wanted to go easy , and he's like , nope , we're pushing , and he just kept .

He , he was hounding me like almost to the point where it was like driving me crazy and and we've had some fun conversations about it since , but he just was on me the whole time and we got there to that last aid station with eight miles left and we got up there .

There's a steep incline for about 500 feet right after that last aid station and then it's all extreme downhill and we , we felt good , like I felt good the whole time . I never felt like I got heat exhaustion . I never felt like my body was falling apart . I never felt like the wheels came off and we just we crushed it and we got a 33 hour finish .

I was surprised that I finished that quick after , you know , doing a hundred three weeks before . Um , again , I'm not , I'm not . I don't do this professionally . I have a regular job . I'm I've got two kids . I'm just a regular guy , if you want me to be honest , and just just an average Joe .

But it was cool to be like Wasatch took everything I had and then Bear . Everything came together perfectly . It was good temperatures , good trails and I I do it in 33 hours , like it was . It was crazy . It was crazy , it was awesome .

When and I get inspiration from talking to people like you and what you're doing , thanks , man . When you came across that finish line not having the feet giving you problems , things like that were you able to celebrate a little more ? Or did you want to sit ? What was kind of the mood coming across ?

I was kind of we were just like talking and my crew was like , dude , you look amazing . I'm like heck , yeah , dude , like I feel great . I everything was good today , like it all came together really nice . And yeah , like I don't know what else to say besides we're good . And so , yeah , body felt good . It was just stark contrast to the way Wasatch ended .

You were blessed on the bear 100 and had a good race and felt good and spirits were higher and even though you said you started off a little negative , you overcame that and were like look what I get to do and Like look what I get to do and I don't think you hadn't ran that race before correct .

you , Thank you for having this all come together , that the temperatures never got too high , that it affected me too bad , and and I gave a lot of credit and thanks to my heavenly father .

And you'll see , at most finish lines Now , I always do the , the , the , the , the praying thing at the very end , and it's always a thanks to my heavenly father and Jesus Christ , cause I know I can't do it without them .

I think it's time to go out there and do it , finish the job . But if I don't do that one , then I do want to do the Scout 100 , which is in Pocatello , idaho . I'd love to do that race and that would be the race coming in the first part of the year

and then in the second half of the year , do Wasatch or Bear , whatever one I can get into . I don't plan to do both . If I end up doing both again , I'll probably shoot myself , but I think I can do one . Well , I know I can do one of them and I'd love to .

At Wasatch , my goal is to get the six finishes so I don't have to go through the lottery any longer . So fingers crossed I get drawn again . If not , then I'll definitely jump into Bear and do Bear in 2025 .

You can follow Ryan on Instagram at Ry underscore Head , that's at Ry underscore Head , H-E-A-DD , to see what he is up to and follow his running adventures . Once again , my normal episodes will continue this Thursday with episode 131 and my guest , Jude Krewald .

I'm telling you , if you want to hear some amazing stories and adventures , you've got to check out my conversation with Jude . I hope to have you all back this Thursday . Just remember it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey . Take care everybody .