¶ Ultra Running and Leadville 100
Bo Shelby , how are you man ?
Pretty good man . I'm glad I'm back . Thanks for having me , nick . It's third time's the charm , I guess .
That's what I was going to say , but you beat me to it . You just know , bo knows man . Bo Shelby Gosh , man , it's good to have you back , dude . Like you said , third time's a charm . Last time you've been on it was last November . It was around Thanksgiving , right before Christmas break . I think it was December 18th or 19th .
I put that episode out and we talked about how good your year was and upcoming Leadville .
Now , now all that has passed . Yeah , I , I um around . That time was actually right when I ran the backyard and and now it's gotten me . I didn't know at the time , but it ended up changing how this year played out . So yeah , yeah , it was a cool time to be alive , I guess .
Yeah , you shared your outstanding year . I mean , dude , I saw you at Tartarus that one year and I was like dude , who's this guy ? Who's this black sheep ? Who's this up and coming kid ? Was like dude , who's this guy ? Who's this black sheep , who's this up-and-coming kid , you know who's this stud ? Right , and then start falling .
You start seeing you , start seeing you . You know you're doing some good right in the races , you know you do great in life and I'm just like , okay , this guy is somebody . So I was telling everybody about you . Hopefully they reached out . It's fine .
But what I'm trying to get at is I'm going to ask you this question and I want you to be honest have you been on any other podcasts or been on blast by anybody else but me ?
no , I'm true to you , man . You're tried and true I'm just sticking with you . I was going to say I actually have been on one of the podcasts , but it was , um , it was after my maybe my second hinge date with this girl , and now she's my girlfriend , so like she had a podcast at the time . Okay , so that's the only other time I cheated on you .
I'm sorry about that .
No , no , no , no , no , no , no what ? What I'm trying to get at is have you been getting the recognition you deserve ?
I'd say more than more than enough .
Uh , you know , I feel like it's not like necessarily I'm , I don't feel like I'm blowing up or anything like that and I and I don't think I should be at all , but um , I just I feel like people around me have like really given me positive encouragement , being like man you're really doing well and I've kind of I've tried to embrace it , and not in a not a
cocky way , but in like try to embrace .
Okay , I guess I am feel like I am making progress in the sport and doing something and I'm just trying to believe in that some more and take that encouragement and apply it to races , cause , if I think , if other people have believed in me , it allows me to go out and believe in myself more whenever the going gets tough . Yeah , I've noticed .
So yeah , it's not like I've been blowing up , but , but just people that I know have been encouraging me a lot .
Okay , all right , man , we'll continue being humble dude . It's just , it's incredible how humble you are with you know , just a list on what you've done in the past year . You know , and what you continue to do . So I'm just going to say , like , august we'll get to why you're on the podcast , but in August we're going to step back . You did Leadville 100 .
If it , wasn't for your friends .
No one would know anything about that , but your friend was quite comical . But giving us the play-by-play levville 100 is not a walk in the park .
But you came 11th overall right , yeah , uh , yeah , I did . And speaking of that , like it was the probably the race I had the most , I invited like a lot of my close friends and family to come and just be a part of it with me .
So that that was the biggest takeaway for me is I used to kind of be secretive about these races for some reason , like I kind of just wanted to go out and do them and not even tell anyone about it . But and that was cool it and it had its own positive things to having such a private experience .
But I've found that sharing the experience with people that I love most has just really elevated it for me , and I can see the joy on their face too . It's just been so positive all around . So to me , leadville is the best experience I've ever had in an ultra .
But you are known as the guy with the crew . Man . You have the best crew , whether it's your parents , your , you know family , friends and stuff like that . You know you've always had this crew . But to say that you brought more in says a lot . So , Leadville , how was that experience , man ? How many people you got 11th overall out of how many people I ?
think it was like 800 that started . It was . It felt like a marathon start line . Like I'm used to these ultras , you know you show up , uh , it's just in some like random dirt lot somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and you know there might be like 50 people there .
Um , that's kind of how I started with ultras and um , it's always grassroots feeling , but this one felt like a big city marathon at the start line . It starts at 4.00 AM , so everybody's wearing headlamps .
Um , it's just the the , their spectators lining the sides of the street and when the gun fires off , like I think the guy fires a shotgun to start it off and it just feels electric at the start line .
And then pretty soon reality sets in , like okay , I'm gonna be out here a while , so I need to calm my nerves a bit , but the start line is pretty electric .
Yeah , yeah , throughout the whole segment too . Right , you know , out in the middle , yeah , yeah . So out of 1,100 starters , how many people finished ? Though ? I mean because it's not a walk in the park . A lot of people know about Leadville , other races , but you know , this is the big one . This isn't just some chump change .
You know , like easy race , this is like big dog . This is a step right below Western States . You know , because Western got to qualify and everything else . But dude , leadville is no walk in the park . So 11th overall out of how many finishers ?
Gosh , I never actually looked at that , but I think it was slightly over half the field . So I think there was like 400 , some odd like maybe four , 10 or something . Uh , yeah , it was . It was awesome because the race is , of course , is an outback .
So you actually see , you know the majority of those people , um , and there's this , and the outback is at the pinnacle of the race when there is a summit of the mountain called Hope Pass , where it's like 3000 feet above , where you're sort of the average elevation of the race .
So you're hitting people in a lot of people's lowest points and you're getting to see a lot of struggle during that period and you're struggling yourself . So it's it's a unique time to be seeing a lot of people on the course .
But , knowing , hearing from your friends and just knowing the updates that they gave , I mean it seemed like you had a good day . You had a great day throughout that 100 miles man . So was there a lowest point and , if so , when was it in the race ?
Yeah , I'd say the low point actually came sort of at that turnaround point .
So you summit Hope once and you go back down the backside of it to this sort of rolling seven mile stretch where you kind of feel a sense of despair because you just did the hardest part of the course and your legs are at this point trash and you're like my gosh , that was so hard . But guess what ? You got to turn around and do it again .
So at that point you you kind of in a way , lose some hope .
Like I was just remembering like I don't feel great and I got to go climb 3,000 feet again at , uh , at 12,000 feet of altitude and I just kind of hit a very bad mental stretch and I just remember just telling myself like keep moving forward at a at least a moderate speed , Like you'll get through this .
And it took a couple of hours but eventually I got through that low point . Um , but that was definitely the worst , the worst mental part of the race for me . Just a lot of doubt crept in .
Okay did you run into any uh big names along the trail ?
oh yeah , like uh , as I was going outside , as soon as I came back down on the flatter part of the back side of that mountain , um , that's when I saw david roach running by , I saw adrian mcdonald coming behind him and then brian montgomery was a decent ways back from them , but not too far , like he was still pressing hot on their heels .
And actually David Roach said he ran every foot of that course , and I believe him because I saw him running up the steepest part of hope , which was just like I couldn't believe it because I was hunched over on my poles hiking up that thing . So yeah , it was very impressive those guys over on my poles hiking up that thing . It was very impressive .
Those guys are on another tier .
Your splits were perfect too . You gained so much . Every update was like you gain on people and then you finish 11th . Overall outstanding job , Positive experience overall .
It was such a positive experience . I actually think I'm going to try and go back next year and , you know , hopefully I'm going to see some of my buddies and my family will go back out with me .
So I think I can prove upon .
I would like to maybe do an hour better or so . So super positive experience the best time I've ever had an ultra did you turn any heads ?
I don't know . Did anybody like say who this kid is , who's , who's beau shelby ?
yeah , I think I I listened to a couple podcasts and I actually did hear my name mentioned , but it was just , like you know , someone reading off the top 10 , I think .
I think , um I've definitely earned or I don't know , but I've definitely um been able to talk some of my friends and and you know , it's really cool to be able to talk to them , but I don't think it's necessarily blowing up , like I said , but that's totally fine .
I don't think it should with with where I finish you know , I don't know , man , I'm dude out of nowhere .
Like I said , dude , you've come out of nowhere and you're conquering these feats , dude . Uh , okay , we'll continue . We'll continue . All right , may you did quad rock 50 came seventh overall all right march behind the rocks , 50k , eighth overall .
¶ Ultra Running World Championships
I mean these are all big races , they're not like small dinky ones that you know just random .
Uh , locals do correct yeah , that's true , I'd say behind the rocks was probably the most local of those races . But um , I during that race I think that was to me I was disappointed in how that one turned out . Just because I came in with a .
I just had a lot of anxiety , I think in my life outside of running at that time and it kind of transferred over into the race . I just felt like I couldn't get my head right and the whole back half of the course I was just really struggling .
So that was a really honestly , out of the all the races I did this year , that 50k was the toughest race that I did mentally of all of them is it because ?
it's a faster it's faster race , it's 50k instead of 50 miles to 100 220 , which we will get at . But yeah , is it , is it , is it just ?
different . Yeah , yeah , to me , like the , to me , the worst or the hardest race in the world is a 5k , like you got to sprint that thing . So the closer you get to to a 5k , uh , the harder it gets . I it's just a completely different type of an experience , like the pain is very sharp and in your face and just um , you , gotta , you , you .
It comes on immediately . It feels like . And to me , a 50k at this point but given the races I've kind of been leaning towards , feels like more of a sprint , so I put a lot of pressure on myself to to hit that . You know that , that vo2 max type effort , whereas opposed to I'm going a hundred miles .
I feel like it's more of like a numb , numbness , pain , like a very discomforting thing , but it's not a sharp , abrupt thing .
If that makes sense . Yes , I got you my . My question side question is where do you get the drive from man to just do the things you do ?
that's a good point or a good question . Um , a lot of it just is curiosity . At the end of the day , like I'm very curious what my body could do , and I've never thought it was that . I've never thought that what I'm doing is that weird . I'm just very curious about , like , what is the body capable of ?
Even in other sports , like I watch , uh , ufc , and I'm curious what those guys can do . Of course , I can't do what they do , but , like , for me it's a lot of curiosity on the ultra running side . What can I accomplish with this body I was given ?
And , um , also , just , I think some part of it too is just like I have always wanted to make my parents and family proud and and I feel like this is it sounds silly , but this is like one way I can do that as well , so I think part of it comes from there .
Okay , all right . Got some other questions , but I can wait . All right , recently , the reason why you're here , dude , you're big time now , dude , in my book you've been big time , but , dude , all right .
Before getting further , recently ran laz's , barry cantrell's big dog backyard last man standing in bell buckle , tennessee , right , yeah , okay , now they're satellites . You know , people don't know too much about backyards , but they're satellite races .
You're going against algeria , you're going against 60 other nations , including belgium , which , dude , no one one could match those guys . Dude , they're on a different level , man , I don't know how they do what they do . I don't know how you guys do what you do . I mean , I do , but I don't .
But it's like , oh my God , backyard runners qualify for the Big Dog's backyard , correct ?
Yes , yeah , 15 in each country , so same is true for USA .
Yes , yeah , so top 15 runners . So you were one of the top 15 runners . Backyards to make this Big Dog Ultra . Make it happen . I mean you ran against Matt Shepard , who's in Canada you know he does Canada but then you're running alongside freaking Harvey Lewis , the man Dude . How was that , by the way ?
Oh my gosh , I couldn't believe't . I was so starstruck . I remember , like knowing that this experience is about to happen to me , like oh my gosh , I gotta play . It so cool when I meet this guy I can't act like a fan fan boy , um . So , uh , I kind of let .
I tried to play cool , you know , the first couple hours , like okay , I don't need to be chatting with harvey , like getting up in his face .
But um , after a few hours said , and I just naturally was running the same pace as him and pretty soon I found myself , you know , chatting with him for a couple hours straight about this random stuff like , um , elon musk and and how he holds his , his , uh , high school classes and all this stuff .
It was just it felt it was very surreal to be talking to a guy I've admired so much and it was just such a normal , everyday kind of conversation .
Yeah , it's pretty cool . He even had you on his page , didn't he ? I believe he did on a video or something . Oh , he did .
Yeah , that's right , that was the morning of day three . I was just like , oh my God , I felt so out of it . Here he was like doing a FaceTime , like filming all of us , and he asked us all a question and no one answered .
so I I don't even remember what it was , but I just remember feeling so out of it trying to answer a question on his social media so , with all that said , running with Harvey Lewis and you know , going against the Belgians and the rest of the world , 60 other nations , man , how did this come about ? How did it go ?
I remember you putting on a Instagram or Facebook , just like a little shout out , that you know you got a call to compete and you're going to compete . And I was like what ?
the heck .
I was like , oh dude , that's awesome , have fun you know just fanboying out , but how did it feel when you got ?
the call . Yeah , so going back a year ago is whenever I did the silver ticket race , which , if I would have won that one , I would have got automatic entry . So the guy who beat me his name is greg fall .
Um , he got in automatically for winning that race , but my mileage was good enough to get me on the wait list and so I was , you know , second in line . I found out about a couple of months ago . Hey , you know , I did well , I got 17th for the U ? S , but I'm not quite good or like going to get on the team .
But as the weeks and weeks got closer , one guy dropped out and bumped me up to first on the wait list and then , you know , I still didn't think I was going to get into the race at all , so I I wasn't even planning on it .
But then , the week before the race actually happened , um , dan Yovashin , who we've actually both ran with I don't know if you remember him .
Yeah .
He actually had to pull out . I'm not really sure exactly why , but it was some injury related , I believe . But that bumped me onto the list with a week to go and at the time I was playing golf with my parents just on a Friday night . You know , I was visiting them and just hanging out casually .
Then all of a sudden I'm sitting in the golf cart and I'm just having a mini like not panic attack , but freak out like in an excited way , like I can't believe .
I just got this email and I remember having to contemplate it for like a couple of hours , cause it really is like a big thing you're going to step into , like yeah , running 200 miles is not like a trivial task . Like I had to really mentally say do I really want to do this ? So I contemplated for just a second but I was like of course I have .
To like when is this opportunity going to come around again ? And I can't say , uh , my golf game was very good , that that evening I was very distracted and partying up right with the parents .
Come on , exactly right .
So , like you got an email from laz himself or his team so I actually first noticed it off of a Facebook message from one of the other athletes running . They were like hey bro , check your email . Like uh , are people blowing up your phone ? And I don't know if you remember this guy named Tracy outlaw , but he covers the , he covers the sport backyard .
Yeah , and he does a really good job . He's probably like the , the guy that covers the sport .
Um , and I saw a message from him .
So I was like I better pay attention . And um , yeah , pretty soon I saw laz . Like laz does type very , he I feel like he tells very interesting stories , but whenever he just types messages there you can tell they're very quickly put together like it doesn't follow like a grammatical , like how you were taught in english class .
So I just got like one of those shorthand messages from him . I was like okay , nice , that's awesome .
Man , laz himself man , he's a pretty interesting guy , I hear man .
Oh , definitely , yeah , I can't . I again I was starstruck , coming into me because he's like this larger than life , like cult than life , like cult cult figure that you're coming in to meet , and my first impression I just like I was like okay , don't approach him too soon , like this , you know , play cool , but don't embarrass yourself here , man .
Um , I come up and he he was in his own element , like he was , uh , hanging all the flags for the countries , so I didn't want to interrupt his process because he was going one by one into his house grabbing a flag , walking all the way out Like it had to be like 50 yards and he would do it just one at a time , so he wouldn't .
It was a very inefficient process , but it was his process , you know .
He does have a weird yeah .
Yeah , yeah , I wouldn't say weird .
It's just he's . He's unique man , he's a unique guy . I mean , he , he's the master of backyards but and he smokes . You know , it's like okay , dude , I don't know how that can work .
I love it .
It's , it's awesome yeah , you're in the race with harvey lewis and other guys you know and other satellites around the the world and everything
¶ International Ultra Running Competition Experience
else . And knowing who you're up against , I mean , how did you feel with the big dogs , dude ?
no pun intended literally , yeah , I did feel . I did feel like I was with the big dogs .
Uh , um , I would say , to be honest , I felt a little anxious about the whole experience , like I just kind of came in , I wasn't yet , I didn't have my full block of training Like I normally would coming into one of these races , cause I didn't know I was going to be running it .
So that took some anxiety and the realization of like what was happening was setting in as the first few hours unfolded in the race . So there was some anxiety there , but mostly it was just excitement . I couldn't believe I was given the opportunity to run with , in some instances , my idols like Harvey Lewis very much look up to that guy .
Heck , yeah , and even other than him , there are other huge people in the field as well .
Yeah , who's Scott Snell , the guy that won it , dude , who's that guy ? I've never heard of him , and it's just he's from New Jersey , dude , it's like what the thing is .
he's such a beast , even though he's relatively unknown . I know he has somewhat of a following , but he still goes out and crushes it at bagyards on the regular , like if you look at his track record , he's . He's a beast .
And I actually got to talking with Scott very early on in the race about we just were chatting it up and I was talking about a book I was reading at the time and it's called Man's Search for Meaning . And it's all about how you've read it .
Oh yeah , I it . Oh yeah , I love that book , man yeah it's amazing .
It's all about how you find meaning in your suffering . And right from the get-go we connected on that and I just felt like , oh man , this guy's got his head on straight . I think this guy's got it , like , at least he's got something to him .
I didn't know if he was going to win at the time , but you could tell he was in a good mental state about what was about to unfold when it came to suffering ahead of him .
When you say you're chatting it up , right , when you say you're chatting it up and others are chatting it up , is that your guys' way of seeing who has the mental fortitude to go all the way ?
Is that your guys's test , your only way to get mind games in and to see if , where they're at , where they're gonna go , how far is that your guys's way to do it ?
is that your guys's way to do it ? Fill them out , yeah , um , I think early on in a in a backyard . I think it would be maybe foolish to try to play mind games the first day , right because , I feel like , really , you're just going to get your own head about it .
But I will say , uh , in previous backyards there definitely is mind games that happen and chatting it up , like when you're talking to people , is certainly positive . Like trying to act even if you're not feeling great . Trying to act like , hey , I've got , I can still speak coherently , I can form full thoughts .
A lot of times is enough to to get in the other person's head . But at this race in particular , um , at this backyard event , we were really working as a team . It truly was , um , a team event , even to the point where harvey was like giving us tips on like hey guys , like if you really want to go far , you gotta be super conservative early .
So I'd never been a part of an experience like that where it really was a team event and we were all working together .
So I I like that aspect of it yeah , yeah , it's , it's the uh olympics for the backyard man . That's how big this thing is it felt like it . Yeah , yeah , that's awesome all right , yeah , good , all right . So Scott Snell , man his mileage alone .
Oh , man , absolutely killed it .
Right . But then the guys that won it , I mean the Belgian guys , the Belgian crew man , they knocked it out of the park . I mean almost 100 miles more than Scott you know , and when hearing that did you know Belgium was that huge when it came to backyards I did beforehand , um , definitely .
but I and even just had my own curiosity was listening to events or podcasts leading up to the event , and the belgians and australians were mentioned a lot .
But I've seen , uh , I watched that one year where , for the first time ever , runners broke the a hundred hour threshold in the event and it was two Belgian guys who just , you know , just doing their thing , uh right , so I knew that they were . They were definitely on our radar for sure .
So to compete , to compete with them and know that you're one of the 15 , how did it feel , just going and doing your thing , doing the miles you did ? Yes , you beat a lot of people around the world and in the States yes , canada and Mexico . How were you feeling throughout this whole ordeal , man , just knowing you're here , you're top 15 .
Yeah , I get it . I think a little early was anxiety , but that pretty soon I think it was there under the surface a little bit , just because it feels like such a big deal . But yeah , for the most part it was just excitement and it was more of like I just want to enjoy this .
I , I think to me I just wanted to soak up the entire experience , like who knows how many times I'll get to do this again , if ever . So for this one time I'm here , um , I'm going to look around and pay attention to what's happening around me and chat with some of the best runners in the world .
And pay attention to what's happening around me and chat with some of the best runners in the world and just try to enjoy it . But as the miles go along , of course you inevitably get tired and it becomes a real race at that point and you have to .
That's when you start having to be like okay , I got to take care of myself , I got to make sure I can actually perform for the team and help the team out get the miles they need . Um , so it does eventually become not so fun in games .
it becomes a serious matter at some point yeah yeah yeah , I notice it starts with with you and your team , meaning your crew . Uh , when you start hallucinating , that's when you start questioning yourself . That's the only time you start questioning yourself and your ability to go on further . Is that the worst part of the race for you ?
I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a struggle , because it certainly is a struggle . But it's weird because when I'm in that mental state , it's like I want to get there , it's like a .
It feels like an accomplishment to get to that state of hallucination , because it you only get to experience that a few times in life , where you're pushing your body so hard and you're deprived of sleep , where it sounds weird but it actually it does feel like a a cool zone to be in and in some ways it is , uh , very unique to be having these hallucinations .
But at the same time , um , it certainly is a struggle because you're I feel like you're mentally the weakest when you're tired and you're something about the sun going down and just being dark outside . Yeah , um , you're . I remember it was the most tired I've ever been , I've probably ever felt in my life .
All I could think about on those night laps was I have to get back as quick as possible so that I can go to sleep . That was all I could think about . So I was just like trying to get them done super quickly , and then the worst part of it was you . I would fall asleep immediately and have like such a deep sleep there .
At one point I woke up and had no idea where I was anymore . I was like , am I in a race or what's happening ? And I remember waking up and it was cold at night it was . I don't remember what it got , I think it was in the high thirties , but they , uh my brother was like okay , it's time to go back out . You've got like a minute left .
Put your shoes on . And to me , like this sense of dread . I'm not a morning person , so like waking up in the morning is one of the hardest things I do every day . And like getting you know , like getting out of bed , the out of it when it's cold outside .
So that was probably one of the hardest experiences was getting out of that bed , getting to the start line . That's honestly the hardest part is getting back to the start line . That's that like sorry , the , the like 20 feet distance , um is the hardest part what ?
what made you ? What allowed you to go on to the 20 feet to the start of the bell ?
um , a lot of it is you . I told my crew ahead of time like guys , I'm gonna at some point I'm gonna get cranky . I'm gonna get like a little bit unhappy . You know what . Like ignore that and just force me to go to the start line . Like you're not allowed to let me complain . So a lot of it was just like on my crew .
They picked me up and got me in there Like it was no nonsense . Like you're getting back on the start line .
Yeah , your crew does a fantastic job on updating viewers or your fans and everything else , and I was just curious do you ever look back and see what they wrote or what stories they put on for you ?
Yeah , I do . I really find it very interesting to see it from their perspective , because I think right afterwards , I feel like I just need to process the experience . I kind of don't like to be on social media like right afterwards in the couple days after , but because it just still feels so overwhelming what I just went through .
But , um , pretty soon after that I'd love to see uh , in this case , my brother was the one relaying messages and to see , like , through his words and his eyes , you know what was the experience like and it's uh , I love sharing this , these experiences .
I think , if people that do ultras , you should share these experiences with people you love most , because there's something about it where it's like a very emotional experience and it draws people together . Um , so , yeah , it was a very special experience when you had to say I'm done .
What does the crew ? What do you say to the crew ? And like , do you have a , a word saying , hey , this is the word that if I say it , that means I'm done , or you know a safe word , or what , what ? How do you tell your crew that you're officially done ? How ?
do you go about ?
it .
I've never thought about that . Yeah , having a safe word , um , I feel like if I did have one of those , I would start abusing it early . Yeah , uh , I okay . So during this race I had kind of indicated like , oh man , I re that . Second night I just kind of started hurting , um , and I had told them I just all I want to do is make it to 200 .
All I want to do is make it 200 . And at the time , you know , I thought that might be my limit , um , for what I could do . So at the time I was having a moment of weakness , you know , um . So so it's hard to say exactly what the communication looks like .
But , um , at the end of the day , whenever I dropped , this time it was more , uh , I was really struggling just to complete the lap on time , I was having trouble with my Achilles and just a really tough mental battle all combined at once . Um it just if you have a lapse , a mental lapse , even for an hour , you know it can kick you out of the race .
It's pretty brutal . So , uh , it's just kind of a culmination of things that ended up having to drop all at once . Kind of a culmination of things that ended up having to drop all at once .
Did you drop during the four miles or did you drop after the four miles , like right before start ?
Yeah , I ended up dropping during , so I went out for the lap . So I or sorry to back up I went out the lap before um , and it came in with literally like a minute to spare , because the course is kind of hard , and so even when I was felt like I was running the entire course , I still came in with only a minute left
¶ Mental Struggles in Ultra Running
. I was like how did that happen ? And so I was kind of already in a pretty low mental state , sent me back out on the lap and my Achilles was really bothering me .
I couldn't hardly flex my foot and push off of my toes , so I was struggling to push up the heels there's a lot of heels on the course and , um , at a certain point in the middle of the lap I sat down to like try and fix my compression socks and sleeves .
So I took all that off and I tried to put my socks back on and shoes and start running again and something about just like sitting down in that middle of the lap . Um , I just like I can't go anymore . So I think ultimately I hit a really low mental state , uh , a mental point in the lap which ultimately did me in because you can push through .
I've learned that you can push through pain and even yeah , even bodily , almost like pushing too far at some points . You can still push through it if you really want to , but I didn't know if I wanted to push to the point of injury on this one .
So how's your Achilles now ? It's doing much better .
I feel like if I would have kept going , it could be in a much worse state . So , ultimately , if I had to give a reason for why I ended up dropping , I would say mentally was probably the biggest reason , but I'm thankful at the same time that I don't have any injuries at this point . It's a weird balance you got to strike .
You got to know what's best for you .
Yeah exactly , exactly , and this is the furthest you've ever been or gone , right .
No , I actually came up literally just four hours short of my PR . It was so close and that was like on my mind like I got to just hit this mark and it just it . It was kind of crazy how much harder it got . Like , once it gets hard , the it's like an exponential chart it gets way harder , um , very quickly .
Yeah , it was my experience at least , and and I I thought I could make it and it just didn't happen that day .
So I , I snickered , not out of , uh , disrespect , but I snickered because just four hours , just four hours , dude . Four hours equals what ? 17 miles , dude , you know . And so to tell the people how many , how many hours were you out there this last time at big dogs ?
I was out there 53 hours and so at the time you know , four hours seems like oh my gosh , that's such a brief period of time . You have to remind yourself during races like this . This is temporary , it's not my life . Eventually , this experience will end . You just have to remind yourself of that . Four hours at a time felt shorter .
You're shy of 221 miles , dude , you did 220.83 miles , dude . Fantastic job , dude , fabulous job . Fantastic job , dude , fabulous , outstanding job . Man , four hours more . I mean you could have been what ? Probably old , uh or or an achilles , and been maybe what ? 230 something , 34 miles in injury and everything . So I don't know , man , you did it smart and dude .
I'm proud of you , man , and I'm pretty sure your brother and everybody else is proud of you . You can do anything . Thank you , you can do anymore .
Oh man , I think for now I'm going to take a break , just for a little bit .
You say that every year Exactly .
See , you know , but in my head right now I'm going to take a break for a bit and focus more on I've got some things I'm excited to do . I want to do some 100 milers and then I also want to try this like 24-hour track race format . So I got some other goals , but I don't think the backyard .
I don't think I'm done with the backyard yet , but I'm done for a little bit .
Yeah , well , what ? What if Harvey calls you and say , hey , join me , you'll . You'll do it . Right , you'll do it . Yeah , I can't remember .
You can't say no to Harvey .
Right , I can't believe you had a conversation with the guy man . I mean dude , I've followed that guy for years and just to know what he does , what he , what he means to the community , what he means to the sport , dude , it's um , no one lives that life like he does . And you know , running to work , running after .
He does it the right way . I mean , he's just yeah , and he's like very sincere , yeah , yeah , I like that guy a lot .
Yeah , well , that's that's awesome , man . That that's awesome that you , you were able to take this moment and just have fun , make it your own and still be top dog , not in my book , but in everybody's book , because , dude , you , you knocked it out of the park , you beat a lot of people that did , you know , in other nations by a lot .
So , dude , something to be proud of .
I appreciate it , it was .
It was just cool to be out there , you know , even like running with the guy I ran with last year again I didn't really get to talk guy I ran with last year again I I didn't really get to talk to greg much um in last year's race because it was all of a sudden it was just me and him and we were at that point so tired and and just barely able to
grunt . It was like all that we could communicate later in the race . But this year , you know , just getting to chat with him about what we went through the year before , there were just so many like little aspects , yeah , of this year's race that that were just such a positive experience .
Okay when you weren't chatting it up , man , what were you listening to ? Were you listening to music , books ? What ?
so , yeah , I'm , I am someone who likes to zone out to stuff like that . Um , so the first day after a few hours we're out there , we get to know everybody . I wanted to listen to my . I went to the University of Oklahoma and they were playing a football game , so I wanted to listen to that while I was running .
So I put on my headphones , turn on the game and all of a sudden I find out it's 28 to zero in the first quarter . I'm like , and we're getting beat , our door's blown in . I'm like I can't be listening to this while I'm running there . This is not worth worth even tuning into .
And at the same time I found out we're not allowed to listen to stuff during the day . So apparently that that was a rule I wasn't aware of . So I immediately like , okay , I can't have these headphones on , but at nighttime , um , I had the voice of Matthew McConaughey in my ears .
Oh , his book . Yeah , all right , all right , it was very soothing , very , very soothing , and uh just kind of took me out .
Um , let me transport to a different place for a while , while I was having a hard time .
Man who transport to a different place for a while while I was having a hard time . Man who who would have thought a boomer sooner , would be listening to a longhorn .
Okay , all right man .
Yeah , don't tell anybody well , hey , hey , boomer center , here too , man . So , yeah , here we go , yeah , yeah . So , uh , let's , let's bring back just a tad bit , man
¶ Running
. Why the distance , the distance , why the range and distance , especially throughout the year ? You started with the 50K . I know a lot of people like to start off something small and warm up , but then you go 50 , then you go up to 100 . Nothing easy , 100 mountainous race and then you go 220 miles . Is that the flow from now on ?
Is that you're just your 50 , is your warm-up , and then do , or why ? Why are you doing the distance you do ?
yeah , I would say it's not necessarily going to be my flow going forward , but I generally believe who knows if this is entirely true I think there's some truth to this . But , um , the best type , the best way to perform well and like , get better , is to be well-rounded .
I think , um , to me , my least favorite part of , like , least favorite thing to train and running is the speed aspect , because to me it it just really whenever you're having a hard workout , it's is the speed aspect , cause to me it it just really whenever you're having a hard workout , it's it really is brutal sometimes when you're training , that speed Um .
So to me , I wanted to , you know , force myself to hey , I need to have a block where I'm focusing on getting faster and that's going to make the longer races , um , at a slower speed , feel easier , because I know I can hit this upper gear where I'm running whatever pace .
But during the 100 mile race I might only have to run a pace that's two to three minutes slower than that so it can feel it can make the longer distances feel way easier . And then , on the other extreme , on the , on the the very long the races like the one I just did , the 220 miler .
There's something about it where it helps your mental game a lot , because whenever I go back to that 100 mile distance when I did leadville , leadville felt like a sprint in a lot of ways , like it felt like a race where you got to be on it the entire time , no breaks , stay , stay engaged and and I think it helped just frame that experience differently because
it's all perception at the end of the day . So if you can have the wide range of experiences , then it can make . For me , the 100-mile distance is my main focus at this point and it can make that experience easier in a lot of different ways , just because you're broadening your perception of what's possible .
But yeah , yeah , well , yeah , ledville is no breaks at all , man , it's all pedal to the metal man . So what ? 11 out ? Of 800 starter . Come on , uh what . What was your time in ledville ?
uh , 18 hours and 35 minutes in ledville . Yes , I was trying to go over my .
I'm just saying in ledville under 20 , you dude . You did a 24 hour ledville , okay , less than 24 hour dude yeah , I still think I noticed .
I was like , and as soon as the race was over , I was like okay , I could cut some time off here . I think I could do this better and like I'm already thinking about like what can I do better ?
okay , well , I'm just trying to , you know , let the listeners know and put things in perspective . Dude , especially , it's like just knowing that you can do better . At Leadville you did 18 hours . A lot of people do a hundred hours and 30 something , a hundred miles and 30 something hours . You know what I mean .
And it's just like , oh my God , this guy it's unbelievable man Running , running . Why run ? Why run and how did it start ? I'm telling you I believe I asked you this and we never get to the answer Like , please , yeah , fill me in . Why running , dude ? I know you , your parents , you want to make them proud , but there's other ways of doing it .
But why running ? Because you've mastered it , you've conquered it and you continue to conquer it . So what about ? Running brings you to continue to run the way you're running , if it makes sense yeah , it does .
Um gosh , that's , that's , uh , that is a loaded question in a lot of ways .
Yeah well , I was going question after question after question but , like I've been trying to get you to answer that yeah . And then I'm just like how did this all start , man , you know ?
so yeah I'll maybe answer the I think I'm going to discover this the the why , as I'm talking through it . But , uh , I'll answer the how I got into it and kind of , okay , I can tie it to the , tie it to the why . Um , if not , it's okay , but it's just I want .
I've been wanting to know and needing to know , just because , dude , it's like , bro , do you understand how good you are ? And I'm just like , how do you know ? How do you know you're , you know , able to do Leadville the time ? You did ? You know , go team USA , you know so ?
I just want to . It's something that I think we're all trying to figure out too , and we we find different . The thing is like I think you find different answers to the questions at different points in your life .
Like , but just to explain kind of where I came from , I don't think I gave that backstory necessarily before raised in a small town and my dad was into running , like I've told , I've relayed and um , something about it .
Like I just started going out with on runs with him and pretty quickly I realized like hey , I want to train for the Olympics , like that I . That realization hit me when I was five years old . Something was just naturally ingrained in me and .
I think part of it was because I was watching the behavior of my dad , but also something was just with my personality just had me drawn towards that . So even at the age of five I gave up soda , I started training , thinking I was going to try and get to the Olympics one day , and that that kind of instinct has just never died in me . I've always .
I know that I'm not going to make the Olympics , but I still have big ambitions , just in sports in general . I think there's something to sports about the struggle of the experience , no matter what sport you play , and there's something um very , very real about it . You can't avoid it , something um very , very real about it .
You can't avoid it , like in a lot of our daily lives . You can , you can seek comfort in a lot of areas , but it's very rare that we seek discomfort and struggle , and so this is one area where you can press into that discomfort . You can press into that struggle .
You can meet it head on and you know , you can feel you can push through it and come out on the other side and find like a new respect for yourself and find um a lot of power in the experience , because it it .
It's something you , we don't experience a lot of day , a lot of times in modern life is that is , meeting that struggle head on , and it just makes to me , it makes me feel more alive than anything else in the world . Like you , you have to be so present in those experiences because you have no other option .
It's you're just totally aware of what's happening to you and you're choosing to press into that experience even more so to me , it just it invigorates me , it makes me feel more alive than anything else I've ever done and that's why I keep coming back is it's hard but it's worth it ? Yeah , okay , and it pays off in the long run .
Mentally , emotionally , physically yeah , I'd say there's definitely still struggles in my day-to-day life and there's areas I want to improve and in some regards like maybe if I backed off running , I would be able to address those more .
But at the same time , I think the benefits I get from running and the benefits I get from um , really going to these , these depths , is is going to serve me well through any experience in life , because I know that struggle is temporary and if you find a purpose in your struggle , then then um , there's , you know , you'll be able to push through it and come
out on the other side stronger . So I think running has has just made me feel more confident in in approaching life in general .
Okay , and you're running too , hopefully . Oh , and in running , yeah , yeah , I'm just saying like I've noticed your confidence level , man ever you know . Third time's a charm , I start noticing dude your confidence and the way dude you're approaching these races is he and and definitely got it dialed
¶ Future in Ultra Running and Sponsorships
in . So how long do you think you'll be doing this for man like you ? Run until the day you die . Compete the way you are . For how long ? What man ?
gosh , I sure would like to run till till the day I die . You know , I envision I look into the future and the one thing that doesn't I I don't think I'm generally sad about growing older .
Um , I , I look forward to the day whenever I'm like this hunchback white-haired man , you know , just slugging along like at a very slow pace but just still getting it done , like I . I look forward to being able to do that . So I'm hoping that one day I can .
Um , and yeah , and especially in ultra running , like you , you don't hit your prime a lot of times till you're closer to 40 . So so I'm , I'm looking forward to trying to improve up until that point and maybe , if you're beyond , yeah .
Yeah , look at Max King . I mean dude's ageless wonder bro Killing .
Oh , is he that old ? I had no idea .
Yeah , he's older than I am like 40 yeah , 40 , 4 , 45 , I think something like that . That is wildly impressive .
I'm just so impressed by those guys . It just makes me want to see if that's possible too .
So see , I don't know if you're messing with us or what , man , but dude , it's like you know , you're impressive , bro , like seriously the stuff that you're doing , man . So so , with running with the big guys , doing what you did in Labville , seeing the game , as is man , the recognition it's coming .
You know , I think I'll let that come where it may . Yeah , I did get a sponsorship this past year , so in that way I'd ask you yeah , I did get my first sponsorship , which was awesome . I never actually thought it would happen , but someone in the Golden is just staying healthy .
I've been able to not have to take long periods off to try and recover , um , so I owe a lot of credit , I think , to to golden endurance physical therapy for , you know , keeping me , keeping me ready and healthy to run , not overdoing it a lot .
You know , with a lot of runners and with a lot of my friends , I see a lot of people getting really gung ho about the sport which is so exciting , but you can push too hard and you burn yourself out or get injured , and it's nice to have someone with some their brains , you know , pulling you back . So that's what I've got in my corner now .
Sponsors . Man , that's awesome dude . So so he flips the bill ? Yes , no , you don't . Just I just asked that question . So what's next man ? What's next for you ? What ? You're taking a break , we know it's winter time , you take a break , but you don't . But you do . So . Next race on the calendar ? Which one ? Yeah what do ?
you have , where I always just these , these kind of almost like obsessions will just pop up for me , where I'm like I start learning about a new race and I'm like I gotta try this . So my latest obsession is the 24-hour race . I really me .
It's a nice amalgamation of the 100-mile distance like that pushing that you get from that where you're really feeling like you're racing , and then the backyard where you're feeling like you're just out there going into the deep , dark despair of unknown mileage .
I think there's just this nice crossover in the 24 hour race where you're trying to rack up as many miles as you can , um , and it's in that time period .
Yeah , and in a fixed course . And a fixed course , yes , yes , yeah .
Yeah , and the monotonous , uh , the lap . The laps will be even shorter than the backyard . It's going to be a quarter mile .
Oh , I know , I know , know . Do they , do they switch it on you , like at night time ? Do you go to the opposite way , or are you going the same same way the whole ?
time . Yeah , I've heard they switch it . I guess each race might do it differently , but yeah , I heard they switch it roughly like every four hours yeah , because it could be dangerous on the legs man yeah , seriously , you gotta like start doing one-legged squats on the right leg if you're gonna go around the serious counterclockwise track .
So uh , who ? You do your calendar right , no one else does . Parents don't say , hey , you should do this , I'll give it a shot . Or who does a calendar man ?
I'd say I do it , um , it's and it's not even . Sometimes I'll even not make it out for the entire year and just kind of make it up as I go throughout the year . But I've been running it by my coach and he's like , yeah , honestly , just whatever you're most passionate about , is the the thing that you're . That's where you're going to perform the best .
So find out where your passion is and then build your calendar around that . So that's what I but you're going to perform the best . So find out where your passion is and then build your calendar around that .
So that's what I but you're very precise too , man , you're very precise . You don't do a race once a month , you don't do it twice a month , you do it every other month . You're very selected and , dude , it seems like you're not getting burned out . It seems like you're taking each race and dude it's .
It seems like you know you're not getting burned out , seems like you know you're taking each race and owning it . You know you don't have to win it to . You know to be in it , but you're owning it , dude .
And that's the thing that I've noticed about you , man you're consistent , dude you're just a go-getter man , you're a're a go-getter and I and I love the fact that . you know you're my buddy , my friend . You know I ran with you .
You know I didn't run with you because I did the pack , but just knowing , just seeing you out there , knowing what you're capable of doing and and calling you as is being the dark horse that race , dude , you're continued to be a dark horse . You continue to . You know , blow my mind , I'm pretty sure you blow your parents' minds .
And just knowing what your body is capable of doing , dude , it's just a unbelievable feat , dude . And um , you should never question on your parents being proud of you , dude , for real , they're , they're proud of you man and um , them crewing you is a sure sign of them being proud of you , dude .
So just know you don't always you don't have to show them , dude , you're showing yourself , you're showing the world what Bo Shelby is capable of doing , dude . And I know people are like dude , you fan boy , the hell out of him . I don't care , dude , bo is a a good guy , he's a great guy and man , he's just quite the athlete .
so , bo , take it , dude I appreciate you saying all that nick . Um , yeah , I just , I , I really appreciate you .
Uh , who knew that we would be , you know , staying in touch and and keeping this friendship after we just met in spokane , when you were lugging around what 50 pounds on your back a lot because we were both running in circles because my body mass index is a little bigger than the 100 , and I think it's 150 .
165 . People put 25 on there , but if you're over that you have to do 35 , so yeah , 35 pounds , dude , so yeah I felt bad for you guys .
Y'all were like carrying these huge backpacks like oh , yeah , oh yeah that's a whole nother kind of thing . I that's a nice crossover of , uh , strength and endurance . It hurts . Yeah , I can imagine it looks very challenging .
I've done a backpacking trip and 15 miles was like , oh my gosh , like it felt like an ultra marathon just to carry around that kind of weight . So that's a warm-up for me . Yeah , I believe you were . You were chugging right along so did we get everything .
Do you want to add anything , man , did I um ?
I'm trying to try to , I tried to jot down some like thoughts on the uh experience . Yeah , just just to see , I thought I I will say just like with a tidbit um , one thing that I can't believe I didn't mention at this point that was pretty hilarious during the event was Laz .
So Laz was the one ringing the bell each hour , sending us off on our way , and every hour he would say the same words . He would say happy times are here again . Happy times .
That was what we had to send us off into the unknown um , and at first it was very comical and it soon became like almost haunting in a way , as he would like scream it at us at like 3 am in the morning yeah but , um , I knew I wanted to tell that experience just because it's so angry . I could so vividly picture it in my my head .
But that's the only like him if you guys , uh , watch barkley , you know that marathon , the barkley marathon , you , you can hear , yeah , the way you describe it , yeah , I could see it .
And it can be haunting too , because not only was it in October , near Halloween , but you know it's an old guy who smokes chain smokes and just happy time very unique person one of a kind yeah , alright , man , so we gonna meet up again or shoot .
I sure would like to keep the train rolling because I'm still gonna do podcasting .
I just got a few things to take care of as I get a wink yeah , I appreciate , I appreciate you know you , you getting me like I've had quite a funk , I have had quite a year , man , and you asking me and also reminding me on putting you on the podcast , dude , it means a lot .
It means more than you think and know and feel , dude , and I was looking forward to this , this episode today , when you reminded me and I'm just like , dude , I can't fail , I can't fail , I got it , I got a show bow .
I can do it . You like , dude , I can't fail , I can't fail , I got it .
I got to show Bo . I can do it . You know I have to .
I have to .
I don't know if he if he heard the news . But I , you know , I told you the news and you respected that and I respect you , man , and uh , I I hope episode didn't fail you at all . And man , it just it's great to know that people want to come back praise me for what I do , even though
¶ Podcast Networking and Athletic Inspiration
I don't think I do it . I just conversationalist who likes to ramble and ask question after question .
So no , I , I , uh , I love hearing what you do Like , and I've actually met some people through your podcast just cause you . You know you have just easy conversations and are able to just um meet a wide array of people and you've connected me with , with people back home .
So , um , nice , I really appreciate you and what you do and I think you do a great job of it . So I don't think there's any failure , failure to be had here on this .
All right , good you know what I'm gonna . I'm gonna talk to somebody else , dude , I'm gonna talk to somebody else . He does sub ultras anyways . But I'm gonna be like , dude , I'm gonna hit him up . He started the podcast a podcast , uh , because I was in his inspiration .
But I'm gonna hit him up and say , hey , dude , are you willing to give bo bo , no shelby a call and see what's going on ?
is it matt laroe . By chance , is it ? Yeah , yeah , lariello , yeah , yeah you , yeah , you , uh , you , you that's one of the guys I'm talking about you connected me with him . We , uh , we chatted for a second nice , but nothing ever came of it . But it's just nice to , like you know , make those connections in the community .
So that's really cool what you're doing and and having people that come onto your podcast and are inspired to start their own .
Yeah , dude , it's quite yeah , and also a lot of the rodeo guys too started their own . It's so it's so weird . But yeah , larry , all was the guy man and dude . Dude , he's been kicking butt , taking it and made it his own . And dude , he has conquered that sub ultra podcasting world . Dude for real . Yeah , I'm proud of that kid man . So that's .
That's super cool that you have the rodeo guys on too , because that's to me like that's another level of mental toughness .
To be able to sit on this wild beast oh yeah , on top of it and as it tries to throw you off with giant horns on its head , like that , requires some courage and all sorts of things that that I would love to be able to do , but you know , it's just like another world .
Yeah , it is , but . But when talking to them , they say the same thing about us . Man , they say the same about us . They can't believe it . Well , I'm like dude , the only thing difference is the animal . I don't understand that . But they say , yeah , I don't know how you do it , nick , but you do it . And I'm like , well , I don't know .
But they think we're crazy . We think they're crazy , but they're a hell of an athlete as well , dude , on their own .
All we have to do is ride our shoes . We're very predictable .
Weather .
Yeah , not as predictable as a bull . I know at one point you had a UFC guy on too . The median UFC guy , yeah , as a bull . No , I know you , at one point you had a ufc guy on to that . Uh , comedian ufc guy .
Yeah , that to me that's to me like I'm one of the one of my favorite sports is ufc , so I hearing someone's journey like that is that's awesome oh yeah , yeah , he was a good guy and you know , he uh did all that and then he's , he's sober and clean and he , you know he's a comedian out of vegas and he does his whole lines of being sober and yeah ,
it's , it's , it's uplifting stuff , man , the guy , he's a , he's a monster in the the gym himself and does yoga non-stop and yeah , dude , he's , he's made it as well . So , so , when , when's the next time you want to be on man ?
Whenever you'll have me . Um , okay , I guess I got to sign up for another backyard . You don't have to .
How about this ? How about this ? You tell me when your next race is and I'll have you on , please .
Okay , yeah , deal For sure . Yeah , um , races I'll have you on , please . Okay , yeah , deal for sure . Yeah , um , I'd love to introduce you to either my parents or , or , uh , my friend ty , or just whoever's on my crew too , if you're interested , yeah , okay it's ty around .
Is he listening or no ?
he popped his head in just a second ago . They're , they're off doing something , I don't know , probably like hey man , it's time to party , it's time to .
It's time to do this , it's time to do that . Let's go , it's friday , friday so yeah , exactly we're .
We're having a little college reunion , like college buddy get together . So nice .
Yeah , it's gonna be fun hanging out with everybody well , well , don't let me stop you , man , but , bo , it's been a pleasure . Man , I appreciate you dude , you dude , I really do , and uh , keep keep chugging along and , um , taking butt , taking names , man .
I appreciate it , nick , and I can't wait for our next chat . Let's make it . Make it sooner , okay .
Sooner than later .
Yeah , there you go .
Sooner than later . You know I might , I might do that . You know I might take you up on that because , yeah , I'm fighting the good fight .
Yeah .
Yeah , let's do it .
Yeah .
Sound good .
Yep Sounds good .
Till next time bro .
Till next time . Thanks for having me . We'll see you next time .