S4E2 -- Ultraman Florida 2023 Race Preview

Race director of Ultraman Florida, Jen McVeay, and the voice of Ultraman, Steve King join me to preview the athletes attending the 2023 version of the race on February 9 - 11.  We discuss some of the athletes' race resumes and connections to the Ultra family.

In the second part of the episode I have a conversation with one of the athletes - Amy Jo Jenkins from Arkansas.  This will be Amy’s first 515 distance event and she shares some of the anxieties of a rookie 515 athlete who will be racing with a rookie crew.  

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Ultraman Florida 
• JennyMacTravel.com
• Ultraman World Championships
• Ultraman Arizona
• Ultraman Australia
• IM Tulsa
• IM Cozumel
• IM Chattanooga
• IM Arizona
• Marathon Des Sables (Half)
• IM Florida
• Xterra Muleshoe
• XTerra Magnolia Hill
• XTerra World Championship Double
• Alohaman Extreme Triathlon
• Alaskaman Extreme Triathlon 
• Epic Deca
• Clash Miami Half
• Florida Extreme Triathlon
• Rocketman Florida HIM
• Little Rock Marathon 
• Bill Clinton Presidential Library and Museum
• Ankylosing Spondylitis 
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Two Rivers MultiSport
• Finding Ultra (book) Rich Roll
• Greater Pittsburgh Triathlon
• Spaero Triathlon
• Wattie Ink
• University of Arkansas 
• Forks over Knives 

Shout outs and mentions in this episode:

• Sarah Bird
• Lucia Tapia
• Amy Jo Jenkins
• Emma Lucy Centeno Novelo
• Zack Powell
• Everett Smulders
• Francesco Magisano (S4E1)
• Rahul Turan
• Tyler Soden
• John Domandl
• Raphael Jamie
• Brian Hammond (S4E1)
• Greg Plumb 
• Brendan Marinelli
• Mario Minnaert
• Chris Ziomek
• Sergio Salazar
• William Bench
• William Torres-Camelo
• Rohit Pawar
• Kiel Ormerod
• Reid Larson
• Carlos Poggi
• Jeremy Howard (S2E8)
• William Ormerod
• Andy Mally
• Corey Carruth
• Ryan Maahs
• Fernando Lopez
• Ivan Pancic
• Marc Galietta
• Ryan Toner
• Caroline Bloom (S2E3)
• Jen Howard
• Chad Esker
• Ron Hoehn
• Tom Waniewski 
• Shane Duffy (S4E4)
• Aaron Felsheim
• Nainesh Vankawala
• James Scanlan
• Steven Pivnik
• Craig Stocks
• Doug Guthrie
• Elsa Paplomata
• Rick Van Tuyl
• Armando Armellini
• Dashrath Jadhav
• Cameron Clements
• Adrian Ho
• Mike Morrisey
• Bill Clinton
• Jerry Daniel
• Julie Riley
• Rich Roll
• Jeff Jenkins
• Eva Fiona Jenkins
• Dede Griesbauer (S3E13)
• Steve King (S1E1) (S1E2) (S1E3)

Show Contributors:

Host : Larry Ryan
Contributing Raconteur : Steve King
Announcer : Mary Jo Dionne
Production : 5Five Enterprises
Music  :  Run by 331

For show notes and past guests, please visit the Podcast Website: https://515theultrapodcast.buzzsprout.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/515TheUltraPodcast
Insta : 515theultrapodcast
Email : 515Ultraman@gmail.com

Transcript

Ultraman Florida Race Preview with Jen McVeay and Steve King

Larry 0:47

Joining me on the podcast today are two people that regular listeners will know very well by now. First is the race director for Ultraman Florida and Ultraman Arizona, Jen McVeigh. Hey Jen.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Hey Larry, how's it going?

Larry 1:02

Going great. And joining us to present this race preview for Ultraman Florida coming up this weekend is the voice of Ultraman Steve King.

Steve King 1:13

Hi, Larry. Good to be with you again.

Larry 1:16

Great to have you again, Steve. Thank you very much for joining us. So uh let's jump right into what's going on with you guys first before the race. Uh let's get a quick catch-up with you. Uh, Jen, I know back in season two, episode eight, when we had you on as a guest, you one of the things that we talked about was your uh side jobs that you do. You do a lot of race directing, um, you do your online teaching, and you had just gotten ready to start up your travel industry work. Um, it's been about a year now, I believe, since you launched that. Can you can you give us an update on that and maybe uh plug yourself and tell people where to go find you?

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Sure. Um, it's it's been going pretty well. I've got uh clients here and there coming to me, and I've booked I've booked a ton of travel last year for lots of people. Everyone's starting to travel again, so that's really cool. And I'm booking cruises for people, and um I've helped out a few of our athletes find lodging and and minivans and stuff. So um I'm really enjoying that. It's fun.

Larry 2:23

And and you also have some specializations, maybe you want to share those.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Oh, I specialize in South Africa and and Hawaii since I live in Hawaii. Um, and I love going down to South Africa um to to uh photograph animals. And yeah, so I'm actually taking a lot of people down to Africa this summer. I'll be down there for probably a little over two months. So excellent. Yeah, that's gonna be really exciting and fun. And it's fun for me to be able to share that with with friends uh that want to go adventure down there with me.

Larry 3:01

And and what's your website?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Uh jennymac travel.com. And they can also find me on Facebook. Just search for Jenny MacTravel and it'll find me.

Larry 3:13

Excellent. And and Steve, what have you been up to over the last little while? What have you been out to? Any races? Uh what's what's been on the agenda and what do you got coming up other than Ultraman Florida?

Steve King 3:26

Well, lots of races coming up, but uh nothing much since uh the Ultraman World Championships being, but hopefully we'll be back in action uh very shortly, along with Ultraman Florida, and then there's a whole host of events uh throughout British Columbia and uh obviously Ultraman Arizona coming up the following month as well, and possibly uh in Australia in May.

Larry 3:48

Oh, excellent to hear. Okay, yeah, and we'll all be getting back together again uh in in a few weeks to to do that Ultraman Arizona preview. So looking forward to that. Yeah, so let's let's jump into the Florida preview first of all. Uh Jen, um, can you can you hit us up with some of the stats as to how many people you got coming, how many men, how many women, what are the age groups, who are the rookies, who are the alumni, what do we got in the numbers?

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Well, uh we've got a good group, about 35 right now, 35 racers, and those consist of 31 men and four women. For our age groups, uh, we've got two for the women in the 30 to 39 category, one in the 40 to 49 category, and one in the 50 to 59 category. For the men, we've got five gentlemen in the 20 to 29 age group. Our biggest age group is the 30 to 39 for the men. We've got 10 there. We've got seven in the 40 to 49 age group, and we have seven in the 50 to 59 as well. And we also have two in the 60 to 69 age group for the men. So that's pretty exciting to see. Uh, we've got uh about five of our Ultraman Florida alumni coming back. Um, they've either attempted or finished Ultraman Florida, so that means we've got 30 newbies who have never attempted Ultraman Florida, although we do have uh some staff, um, some former crew. So we do have some people that are racing that are very familiar with the race. And we've got seven athletes who have completed this distance before at one of the different Ultra events around the world.

Larry 5:42

Ah, I see. And and you do have people coming from around the world as well. Steve, um have you taken a look at the countries that'll be represented?

Steve King 5:52

Yeah, there's 13 countries that will be represented. Uh, you've got obviously the US, they've got the largest contingent with 18. You've got a couple from Canada, a couple from Ecuador, one who would be a first timer uh from Papua New Guinea. We've never had anyone from that country before. A couple of Australians, we've got four from India, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico, Peru, France, Colombia, Costa Rica, have all got one. And uh, we're certainly looking forward to seeing the world being represented there in Florida.

Larry 6:22

Yeah. And uh just before we started speaking about this, you were also commenting on the age groups with me as we were getting ready to go to air. So uh what did you notice about the age groups?

Steve King 6:35

Well, it's interesting that at some events we literally have not had anyone in the 20 to 29 division for the men. So I was very pleased to see we got five, plus the fact that we got a couple of guys in the 60 plus division. That's always nice to see. One of them uh 65 years of age, so we're delighted to see that.

Larry 6:53

Well, let's uh let's jump into the women's field first, Jen. Um, do you want to introduce us to the four women that will be racing at Ultraman Florida?

SPEAKER_03 7:05

Sure. Uh first up, we've got Sarah Beard. She actually raced with us last year, and Sarah's pretty amazing because she swims with no wetsuit, no matter what the temperature of the water is. And last year we had a pretty cold swim, and Sarah completed the swim with absolutely no wetsuit. She blew all of us away with that. Um, she did have a rough day on day three, didn't quite make that run cut off. So we're really looking forward to um Sarah coming out again this year, and and we're hoping and confident that she's gonna cross that day three finish line this year. We've also got uh two Lucies racing with us. Lucy Lucia Tapia also goes by Lucy, and then Lucy Centano Novello. Uh Lucia Lucia Tapia is new um to this distance. Lucy Centeno Novello has raced the Ultraman distance many times. This is actually her fifth attempt at Ultraman. Um, and she did attend our training camp in December. We're hoping this is gonna be her year. So last year um she DNF'd on the swim. Her uh her paddler wasn't having a good um time out there, was having a rough time out there. So she ended up DNFing from the swim because of that. So we're really hoping that this is gonna be her year.

Larry 8:35

Uh Steve, um, have you taken a look at some of these uh races that these people have done to uh to get themselves ready for the Ultraman this year?

Steve King 8:44

Yes, uh, in terms of the women, you've got Amy Jenkins out of Arkansas. I I think she's uh got a good chance to be right up there in terms of the women's event. She's got eight I men behind her, been in the sport for about 20 years and doing lots of marathons. As uh I also think she's on the eight at the 70.3 distance, so I would expect big things from her.

Larry 9:04

Oh, Steve, if I can just interrupt you for one second there. Amy Jenkins is the second half of this episode. She's my athlete in profile. So I want everybody to stick around and find out all about Amy Jenkins.

Steve King 9:16

Ah, well, perhaps you can send me some of that info as well, just like the other gentleman we were referring to there, uh, that you've also got on the show. So that's neat to get that extra piece of information. And uh Lucy Sentino Novello, I'm delighted to see her. She's 55, the most senior female athlete in the field. But we've got to remember she's done over 350 different events throughout the years. And uh I think it's wonderful that she's coming back. She has finished the swim before, she's done a 345. That was in uh Canada, I think, 2019. Lucy Tapia, she's done a couple of IMN, Tulso and Cosmel, and I believe she went to South Africa for the uh World 70.3 Championships. And Sarah Byrd, as uh Jen was saying there, um, she is a lady who's done a triple, she's done seven doubles. So we know she's capable, but as as Jen said, she finished uh or got to 46 miles on the 52.4 mile run. So uh she wants to be there and get that finisher's medal, and she is determined, and we know she's a good swimmer. She did a 343 in Florida last year.

Larry 10:19

Well, let's look at the um 20 to 29 men next.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

For the men 20 to 29 age group, uh, like Steve mentioned, we're really excited to have a bunch of young men racing with us this year. The average age of an Ultraman is is in the mid-40s, so it's really cool that these youngsters are are coming up and and they're wanting to get into this distance at a younger age. We've got Zach Powell racing with us, Everett Smulders, Francesco Magisano, Raul Turan, and Tyler Soden in the 20 to 29 year age group. Zach and Tyler, I know personally, because they both attended our training camp back in December. Um, Tyler is going to be one to be watching because he probably is going to be up in the front of the pack um on most days. And and Zach's pretty cool, pretty cool kid. And I call him a kid because I could be his mom, but but Zach actually is a professional lacrosse player. So that's a really interesting um thing about one of our guys.

Steve King 11:25

Well, Zach is also the youngest at 24 years of age. I'm pleased he's a Canadian too. He's he's done a couple of I men, a couple of 70.3, and as you know, along with ice hockey, uh lacrosse is Canada's national game. But I I love the fact that we've got about four athletes who have bought um family with them as crew. His parents, his brother, and his girlfriend are going to be his crew. That's always interesting to me to see how the dynamics uh go. Uh Tyler, I believe, has uh done a couple of IMN Chattanooga, Arizona. Uh he's done around 11 hours, 12 minutes, I think it was. So uh I would see that he has room for to do quite well there. We've got a young uh person from India, uh Rahul Turan. Uh he's a Marine commando, so you can expect him to be a toughie. I know he was the first Indian from his state to finish an IMAN. So uh again, there's a lot to go for Francesco. I'm looking forward to seeing him because uh, as you know, he is blind, and uh there's only been a couple of other blind athletes who've ever completed an Ultraman. John DeMandel of Australia did it in uh 2016, I believe, 2015 maybe. And uh there was a gentleman, Jamie Raphael from Mexico, who did it in their event down there uh 2016.

Larry 12:43

And and Francesco was my guest on the previous episode as my athlete in profile. So if anybody missed that one, they can go back and get the full um the full story about Francesco and his guide, Brian Hammond, who is a previous Ultraman Florida alumni finisher.

Steve King 13:03

Yeah, and I think he's got Greg Plum on the group as well, and Greg finished last year uh after crewing through his wife Ina.

Larry 13:11

And did you have anything on Everett?

Steve King 13:15

What I like about him is he's only done one Iron Man. Uh he's got I think his fiance and his dad on his crew. He's just 25, but when you look at what else he's done, he's a sub-four-minute mileer. And so he's gone out to ultramarathons, but it's interesting to have a sub-four-minute mileer take on this challenge. So I think we'll be looking for him to maybe set a record in the beer mile the day after the event finishes.

Larry 13:42

Um, uh, let's move into the next age group there, Jen.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

So for our men in the 30 to 39 age group, we have uh this is our biggest field. We've got 10 in this category. We've got Brendan Marinelli, Mario Miniert, Chris Zyamek, Sergio Salazar, William Bench, William Torres Camelo, also known as Gio. We've got Rohit Pawar, our friend Kyle Ormorad, Reed Larson, and Carlos Poggy. So a lot of guys in that 30 to 39 age group. Uh Kyle, I have to mention, uh, is one of our alumni. He's raced Florida, and he just recently finished Ultraman World Championships. So he couldn't get enough of us, and he he came back because he wants to try it again. Uh, the whole reason Kyle races now is because of the Ohana. So it's really nice that that we have people coming back like that. He and his crew are amazing. Um, his family crews for him. Really great group of people. Uh, another one we've got is Chris Zyamek. He is actually coached by one of the other athletes who will be racing, uh, which is our former staff member, Jeremy Howard. And I hope that after Jeremy races, he will be back on the staff. Uh we'll see about that. But it'll be fun to watch Chris and Jeremy out there battling against each other, the coach and and the and the athlete that he's coaching.

Larry 15:22

Uh-huh. Yes. And and I also had Jeremy on in season two. Um, so if people want to go back and find that episode, they can find out more about Jeremy as well. Um, Steve, when I'm looking at these, I noticed that with uh Sergio, he has some really interesting events that he's done. Um, what what do you know about uh the race resume of Sergio?

Steve King 15:46

Yeah, I know he's got a personal best for the I-Man distance of uh 1128, did that in Brazil. He's 35, he's he's done some interesting events. Uh uh the marathon de Sarp also has a half distance one, and he did that one. That's about 130K, I believe it is. Uh, I I know he's also done some major swims. So there's a few people who have done very long swims. We talk about Sarah Bird. I think she did like a 35 miler one time. This guy's done a 24 uh K swim, so you know they're comfortable in getting through that or should be. But then the others, when you look at that 30 to 39 division, as uh Jen mentioned, Kyle Ormrod uh twice in Florida, and he's been 11th the first time, then he got a brilliant third last year, then went to Hawaii and got a 12th place overall. And uh, as Jen mentioned, his family comes along to crew. He's got his um his fiance and his niece. But this is the first time his father, uh William, is going to be with him as well. As far as Chris uh Zlowmek is concerned, I agree uh he could be a threat not only in that division, but potentially overall, because of the great coach Jeremy Howard, but because he's a talented man himself. He has an 11-11 PR so far uh in terms of uh uh 111, sorry, for the swim. So he'll be a long way behind Jeremy on the swim unless something dramatically goes wrong. But he's got a 1056 PR for the iron distance.

Larry 17:11

Yes, those those two will be fun to watch going head to head. Now, Steve, I noticed that Carlos also has a kind of an interesting race resume. Uh, what do you think his chances are?

Steve King 17:22

I I think that this uh gentleman could be someone uh to look for amongst the top five. He's got 11 iron men to his credit, 21 at the 70.3 distance. Um he has been an age group winner uh in his uh in the Olympic distance as well in his uh home country of Ecuador. He did uh race at IM Florida uh two years ago and uh was in the top 10 in his category as well. So I would see that he could possibly uh be up there. Um and I certainly look forward to seeing how things are going to unfold for him.

Larry 17:59

Well, let's move into the 40 to 49 age group for the men. Um, Jen, do you want to start us off with the quick introductions of each of the members?

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Sure. We've got Andy Malley, Jeremy Howard, Corey Caruth, Ryan Maas, Fernando Lopez, Ivan Penchik, and Mark Galeetta. And I'm sure a lot of your listeners are gonna recognize several of those names because we've got a few alumni in there, we've got some former uh crew members, so it's it's becoming quite the family reunion with a lot of these guys coming back. Andy Malley uh did Arizona last year, and so we were really excited to see his application come through. He wanted to uh continue the Ohana feeling and try out some Florida, and of course, we we mentioned Jeremy Howard already. Um, we're really excited to see what Jeremy does on this course. He's very familiar with the area, he has actually been down there training since December 1st. So he's in Claremont right now, as we are talking. He's been training on the course, uh swimming in the cold water down there. Hopefully, the water will warm up before race day.

Larry 19:21

And and he's got he's got the all-star crew with him as well. Is that right?

SPEAKER_03 19:25

He's got a very good crew. Um, his crew um consists of Ryan Toner, who has finished Ultraman Florida before, Caroline Bloom, who has finished Ultraman Florida and Ultraman Canada, and then Jeremy's sister Jen. So this is a pro crew. They have crewed him um in Hawaii several times. So they are ready. They all know exactly what they're doing, they've got his nutrition dialed in. So it's gonna be really cool to see what this team does out there on the course because pretty sure some records are going to be broken. It's gonna be fun to watch.

Larry 20:02

Yeah, Steve, can you give us some of the numbers for Jeremy?

Steve King 20:06

Yeah, sure. I just want to mention, you know, if you look at Jeremy, he's probably got the fastest uh PB for an I-Man out of everyone with a 925. But you mentioned Carlos uh Poggy a while ago. He's done a 938. You've got um Doug Guthrie, he's in the 50 plus division, he's done a 932. Fernando Lopez has done a 950. Uh, but Jeremy, uh, on the uh uh uh three occasions that he's uh raced at the I-Man distance or ultimately distance, sorry, at the uh World Championships. He uh was fifth place 2011, then he came back 2015 got a third, then 2017 got second overall. But each time he was the fastest swimmer to exit. And so he's got a great swim timer, 22603. He's also been the fastest at runner on one occasion at the world as well. So he is uh the favorite going into the event. So he's crewed many times, he knows the course and is a fantastic athlete and guy all around. Uh so I would see him potentially being the pre-race favorite going into this. You've got people like Ryan Mars from Wisconsin. Also, he's got a great team. He's got Chad Esker and Rob Hohn who are backing him up as well. Uh, and I like the idea that some people enter this race uh with only maybe one Iron Man behind them, and that's not an easy thing to do. But if they've crewed before uh and have gone over the course and they they know what to expect. But uh my guess is most of us are expecting Jeremy to come out of the water in that first place. You've got uh Cory Carrath, he's done six at the Iron Distance, he's got just under 1140, and that's a gentleman from Papia, New Guinea. So I'm certainly hope, hoping, as we do for everybody, that they all finish because it's nice to have new countries represented as well amongst the uh alumni.

Larry 21:54

Yeah, and with Fernando in this category, um, I I know that he has, like as you said. A good Iron Man as well, but he's also got a number of first place finishes um in in Xterra. Do you do you know about that uh part of his performances?

Steve King 22:11

I do. He's won actually 24-hour mountain bike race, uh, Xterra Nationals uh on two occasions. Um, I think it was six and uh and four years ago. He's won the Mule Shoe, uh Mule Shoe Race in 2019. That's Nextera, Magnolia Hills, and he actually won the double, the Xterra World Double in uh 2021. So he's certainly someone to watch because he's also very much into the tougher ones. He's actually had uh podium places in the uh Aloha Man Extreme and the Alaska Man Extreme, so he's a very competent athlete with 22 I-man races behind him as well. So I think he could be amongst the top three all being well. Andy Malley, who uh Jen has already mentioned as well, he was ninth uh uh in Arizona. As as Jen mentioned, there's no swim, but he has done a 105 swim for an I-MAN distance, so he could be very well placed overall.

Larry 23:07

Yeah, and and I know with with Andy, he said that he he couldn't find it within himself to apply for the Ultraman World Championship after doing Arizona because there was no swim. And that's one of the reasons why he's doing Florida this year.

Steve King 23:21

Yeah, yeah. And Mark Galeeta that Jen mentioned, uh, is actually, I believe, now in the 50 plus division, but he is someone who's coming back uh to race. He was with us uh previously quite a few years ago, but he came out of the swim in second place that year behind a person who's uh one of his crew, Tom Winweski. So that's interesting to see. He's down to 235, but he also did end up uh coming uh sixth overall. He's got 30 I-men to his credit, but he's also a finisher of the deck last year, which is phenomenal. And he's gone around uh 1007. I think he's got quite a few family coming to support him as well.

Larry 23:57

And and was he a a day one winner at Florida as well?

Steve King 24:02

Uh he was a day one overall winner, yes. Uh the first person, but a second out of the water, right.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

And you'll notice, Larry, with with a lot of these uh athletes, they have alumni crewing them. And and as Steve mentioned, like that is genius because they've come out and crewed this before. They're very familiar with what's gonna happen out there, and so many alumni have come back to crew these athletes. I think we're probably, I haven't counted them up, but I think we're gonna have 30 plus alumni crewing, so that's pretty cool. Yeah.

Larry 24:38

All right. Well, let's move on to the next age category then, the uh the 50 to 59 men.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

Uh Steve is correct. Uh Mark Aliata's USAT age is 50. So he's actually in the 50 to 59 category. We also have along with him Shane Duffy from Australia, uh, Aaron Felsheim, uh, Nanesh Vonkalwala, James Scanlon, another one of our alumni, Steven Pivnik, Craig Stocks, and Doug Guthrie. Steve, you want to tell us a little bit about some of these gentlemen?

Steve King 25:11

Sure. Well, Aaron Felsheim, who's the first person in terms of race number, it's gonna be number 232, I believe. Um, he is out of Wisconsin, but he actually crewed previously as well for Elsa Pampla Mata. So he knows the course, and uh he's done 12 I-men to his credit, he's got a 1024 PR. So again, uh we could expect good things from him. Craig Stocks is coming back. He's done three uh in us uh three before, a couple of in Australia and also in Canada, and he's crewed for Shane Duffy, so it's neat to see he did that at Ultraman Canada. And Shane, of course, is uh uh racing up a storm. He's done three in Australia, he's raced in Canada, went to the World Championship, so uh, and he was 16th at the world, so this will be his fourth one since May of 2022. I think the other person to watch out for uh beyond him would probably be Doug Guthrie, who, as I said, has done a 932. He's got 23 I men to his credit, including um five times in Kona. And he is a Florida resident, so that's a great thing. You've got Fernando Lopez, who who you've uh uh we've we've mentioned there, but you've also got Ivan Panchik, who's been a tremendous support for the event. Uh in terms of crewing, he's got nine I men to his credit. James Scanlon, though, that there's quite the story there. He actually won in Napa this year, uh last year, sorry, in 2022 at the 140.6 distance. And uh he's a slow swimmer. He did a 436 uh previously, but he was ninth in Florida after uh doing a tremendous run, uh winning the run. And then in fruit in Arizona, he was second on the run, and that brought him uh up to third place in Arizona. So he's certainly someone to watch big time as well. And Mark Gallieta, we've mentioned, uh, I believe he's done four Iron Man, and uh, as I think I mentioned, he's uh the first from the state of uh Gujarat to be having completed one, uh, an Iron Man. Now he may do the same thing in terms of Ultraman. Stephen Pivnik as a 16-time Iron Man competitor. I know he's writing a book uh about uh the events he's done, but he's got Rick Van Tyel, another alumni on the crew. And uh Steven has also raced in Kona before, and that was just last year.

Larry 27:30

Yeah, and um going back to Shane Duffy, I'm I'm gonna be interviewing him as an athlete in profile for Ultraman Arizona. And he's actually looking to, by the end of this year, to complete six of these 515 races within one calendar year, starting and ending with Ultraman Australia.

Steve King 27:51

Well, he told me he was keeping that secret, but obviously not if it's going out on your podcast. Might want to cut that part later.

Larry 27:59

Yeah, yeah. Okay, maybe I'll do that until I do the actual interview. I don't know. He gave it to me as pre-race uh or pre-interview information.

Steve King 28:07

Yeah, no, put it out there. Let's put pressure on him. Right. Armando did the same with it with his attempt at four, and he actually finished all four, although sadly the last one was just 10 minutes shy of a sub-12.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

Exactly. Uh and that was a heartbreaking moment when Armando came across that finish line. But I know Armando is pulling for Shane to pull this off. Um, the nice thing about the Ohana is everybody supports each other. So we we are really pulling for Shane to finish Florida and then to finish Arizona. And then I'm not going to talk about those other things that you want to do because it's supposed to be a secret.

Larry 28:47

All right. So let's uh let's move on to our final category then, Jen. What do we got uh coming up in the uh 60 to 69 category?

SPEAKER_03 28:56

60 to 69. We've got two gentlemen joining us. We've got Dashroth Jodhof from India, and then we have Cameron Clements. And Cameron is from South Carolina, and so he's a Southern guy, uh born in Georgia, living in South Carolina. And Cameron is one of those previous crew members. So he did his research. Um, he was actually gonna try to race back in 2021, but he ended up injuring his foot, so he couldn't race. But then I sent an email out asking for crew volunteers, and he hopped in and he crewed for Adrian Ho uh from South Africa. So luckily his foot has healed, and so he is here to race with us in 2023. And we're looking forward to seeing him cross those finish lines.

Larry 29:50

And I know that he has uh an interesting race on his resume that I'm sure Steve will also find interesting. And uh I wonder if you've picked that out, Steve.

Steve King 29:59

Yeah, I think you may be referring to the clash Miami half. Uh there's that Florida Extreme triathlon, which is a three-day triathlon across the entire state of Florida. He's done that, but he also um did um Iron Man Chattanooga and said that was a training day for Ultraman Florida. So we'll wait to see if that's going to pay off big time for him. I certainly hope it does.

Larry 30:22

Actually, the one that I was looking at on his resume was Rocket Man. Which was an event inside of the Kennedy Space Center.

Steve King 30:31

Right. That's yeah, the HIM events that were going on. Yes, indeed. I I'd forgotten that he had done that. So thanks for bringing that to my attention. That's it's it's going to be fascinating because you've got some people who love exterior, some people who love these extreme uh events, others who focus on iron, and others who've literally just done one at the iron distance. Uh, there was one person who just did a virtual as well. So uh, and we know Mike Morrissey had done a virtual ultraman before he ended up finishing uh previously and going to the world championships. But the other person uh you mentioned um is Dashrath Jada, the Indian gentleman who's uh the most senior athlete in the field. Uh he did race with us before, but um he struggled after day one because his swim time was 51934 and doesn't leave too much time, although he got to that finish line in day one, but was not able to finish uh day two and three. Uh he's got eight I men uh to his credit, and he was the most senior Indian uh triathlet to do an IMN. So we're certainly hoping things go well for him because it takes a lot of courage to uh come back, a lot of funds, a lot of training, and a lot of inspiration and motivation. And that's what we love about some of the athletes, and especially those who come back to celebrate other people's finishes for hopefully all three of the days.

Larry 31:52

Yeah, I guess we kind of started with a redemption story um up in the women's race, talking about um Lucy who's making her fifth attempt, and and then also now Dashrath uh also trying to make a redemption story out of this race. Uh thank you, Steve and Jen, for providing the information today on the athletes competing in the 2023 version of Ultraman Florida coming up this weekend on February 10th through the 12th. I look forward to speaking with you both again very soon to preview Jen's other race, Ultraman Arizona, where course records are still up for grabs after last year's cancellation of the swim. So thank you guys. Thanks uh once again for joining me. Thank you, Larry. Thanks for having us, Larry. And everybody stay tuned for the next part of today's episode where I will be having a conversation with Amy Joe Jenkins as the athlete in profile for Ultraman Florida. In my next episode,

Episode 3 preview

Larry 32:57

coming out on February the 17th, I speak with Ohana guest Mamad Rebok. I remind you to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss any of these great guests. Here is a short clip of that conversation. You were able to reach out and get some help from the uh the OGs of Ultraman, the two original winners, uh Kurt Madden and Artis Bo, and and you started getting advice from them to go back and race again. Tell tell me about meeting them, getting some advice from them, and how they've helped you to get past the the island.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, uh definitely uh Hawaii, a big island, is a magical island, and you need to have the blessing of Madame Pelle and the blessing of uh these legends, like you know, having these legends by your side is is is quite a blessing with a lot of strength. I met Artis Bow in 2017 during registration, and like I kept in touch with her, and she was phenomenal in uh actually making me understand like what it is to do an ultraman, the path to ultraman. Like earlier, like whenever you see when it's uh world championships, you want to go compete, you want to show your time, you know. You are this fast, like everybody has that drive, but they have done this, she has done this many many times. It's like at the end of the day, it's the experience you need to enjoy it. And she taught me how to really enjoy it at the same time in like a pushing your limits. So uh she's she doesn't do formal coaching, but she's like a quite a bad she's very good at like you know giving wise advice.

Larry 34:57

So that's Mama Rebba coming up in the next episode. And now my final athlete in profile for Ultraman Florida 2023.

Amy Jo Jenkins UMFL Athlete in Profile

Larry 35:11

My next guest is one of the athletes competing at Ultraman Florida. Since 2005, she has competed in a number of Iron Mans and 70.3s, and recently competed at the St. George 70.3 in both 2021 and 2022. And now she's ready to make the jump to 515. She is joining me today from Roland, Arkansas, just outside of Little Rock, where she is a streaker. Welcome to the 515 podcast, Amy Joe Jenkins.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

Hi, Larry. It's nice to be here.

Larry 35:43

Well, thank you for coming and uh introducing yourself to the to the listeners. Uh, can can we get back to what I was just saying there? Can can you please explain to us why you are a streaker in Little Rock?

SPEAKER_04 35:56

I can. A lot of people think that's really funny. So 20 years ago, um there was an announcement that a marathon was coming to town, and it was the Little Rock marathon for the first time, and I had never even run a 5K, and I was like, oh, that sounds like fun. A marathon's coming to town. And so I signed up. Um, and 20 years later, it has had a 20-year running, and I have completed all of the marathons. And um me, along with 11 other people have done so. So we kind of have a friendly competition going of who's gonna be the last man standing. Um, I have a good shot because I was only 25 when it first started, and some of my colleagues are a little older than that. Um, but it's been fun. And for the 20-year anniversary, the city treated us really special, um, gave us some interviews and let us start in the very front of the race, which was a little scary because the people are fast. But nonetheless, there we were, um, ready to go. So, yes, they could call us the streakers.

Larry 37:02

Oh, yeah, you get the VIP treatment up the front.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Yes, we did.

Larry 37:07

And what what would be your your PR at this race?

SPEAKER_04 37:12

Oh, my PR is like 420. So I'm not terribly fast. I run for fun. And it happens um until last weekend was the only road marathon I have ever run, not associated with the triathlon. Oh, okay. So yeah, totally just a fun group of people to be with.

Larry 37:31

Excellent. Now, being um uh in Little Rock or just outside of Little Rock, uh, I gotta ask you, have you ever been to the Bill Clinton Library?

SPEAKER_04 37:40

I have been to the Bill Clinton Library, but um, most people want to know if we know the Clintons and we do not. Um Arkansas is in fact a big state and we've never had a lot of people.

Larry 37:50

I would not have been so presumptuous. Yes, I went just with the library.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

I get asked that all the time. Yes, the library is here and it's quite fascinating. Um, very cool place to visit.

Larry 38:01

So you've been doing these races since 2005. Uh, I believe it was your first one in Florida in 2005. Um but that was an important year for you in your life for another reason because you were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Um can you tell me a little bit about that autoimmune disease and does it affect your ability to train or race?

SPEAKER_04 38:25

Yes. So the autoimmune disease is called ankylysing spondylitis. It's a mouthful. Nothing wrong with my ankles, and it's not a dinosaur. Um it is it is um kind of a rheumatic disease that affects your spine. Um, and so ultimately it causes your spine confuse, um, usually starting with the SI joint moving up. Um but the that that's just part of it. It really impacts all of the big joints of your body, knees, hips, elbows, um, your eyesight, and just a host of other things that make it incredibly difficult to live with. Um, yeah, there's no cure. And um at the time it it was also not not very commonly diagnosed, especially in women. So at the age of 27, um, it was very devastating.

Larry 39:21

And and has it affected your ability to to do triathlon? Because obviously you're moving all those joints, the the spine, and you're in that bike uh ride for such a long time. Is it is it painful for you to do the the stuff or how does it affect you?

SPEAKER_04 39:35

No, actually, um it's been it's been my lifesaver. Um yeah, so I've always been active. So when I was diagnosed and and trying to deal with that, um, you know, I don't know that it impacted me tremendously. You know, it was um, you know, I had aches and pains here or there, um, but it wasn't um until 2016, um, I actually ended up contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and it threw my disease into a downward spiral and um one that I never fully recovered from.

Larry 40:11

And so I think what is Rocky Mountain spotted fever?

SPEAKER_04 40:15

Yes, so you get that from a tick bite. Um, I know who gets that, right? Especially in Arkansas, but apparently I do. And I was doing a lot of trail running, so I don't know the particular ticks that caused um the infection, but I was running in the little rock marathon and by the end of it had gotten particularly sick and was just like, oh, just one of those days, I guess. Um, but ended up getting progressively worse. And through a series of tests, um, it was determined that that's what I had contracted. And um, by then, um, a lot of the damage had already started. But like I said, it was the perfect storm because it threw my autoimmune disease into just this craziness that you um couldn't even imagine. And um, so I was doing okay getting by, you know, up until then. But then after that, I was um kind of put into a dead halt.

Larry 41:15

And and did that actually stop you from your your training and racing at that point then, or what what's happened?

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Yeah, so it did. So um, of course, in my mind, um after after the diagnosis, I was like, oh yeah, I'll be back out in a few weeks. Um, but it ended up getting progressively worse. And to the point where I could not stand on my own, and I ended up in a wheelchair, um, I was having to rely on my husband um for all of my care. Um, and by all of my care, I mean all of my care, a very humbling experience. Um yes. And then after uh after being in a wheelchair for about a month, um at that time it was primarily impacting my knees. Um, they were very swelled up, full of fluid, and they were like that way for so long that I started to have nerve damage um in the area, uh just completely unable to function. Uh so so yeah, so I um eventually progressed to crutches because I couldn't balance. Um, but that was the end of it. So yeah, I spent um the majority of that whole entire year just sitting, sitting and reflecting on on what what what I thought, you know, once was and trying not to get bitter about what was never gonna be. That was my mindset at the time, right?

Larry 42:41

Yeah, um, so so yes, but um but you you are our athlete in profile for Ultraman Florida, so there must be a recovery story here.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

There is a recovery story. Um, so yeah, I sat there for for a long time. Um, I did have one reprieve in the middle of the year where I was like, okay, I'm gonna go do a triathlon. My husband's like, no, you're not. I'm like, yeah, I just want to feel normal again. And so I went to a local front triathlon and and I did it. And I was so weak when I got to the end of it that I like fell into the Gatorade tub that was there at the finish line. And within two days, I was back in the hospital again. So there I had that retrieve. And then after that, um, it progressed into 17 kidney stones and just in and out of the hospital constantly, again, not being able to walk. And yes, my my body just completely shut down. So, um, but I'm pretty stubborn, you know, and I just kind of kind of kept at it. But like I said, I just I had a real piece about it that that that that was what I was supposed to do the whole time that that previous. year that I was sitting and sitting and sitting and thinking and thinking um if I can share like like two really big impactful things that happened to me. Please the the the first one was was really me learning to get rid of my like uber competitiveness and just really rejoice and be happy for what everybody else is accomplishing. It's not that I wasn't doing that before, but I mean I really was so excited when I saw my friends achieving their goals and doing these great things. And I remember one of them telling me that she was scared to come and talk to me about it because she didn't want to make me sad. And I was like oh my goodness no like please come tell me about it. I'm so excited for you. So that was fun. That was fun just to really learn how to embrace everybody else's successes and and just be truly genuinely happy for what they were able to accomplish. The other thing um I've alluded to is that I'm very stubborn and fiercely independent like to the nth degree. I think you might find that in a lot of us athletes that you interview but that that I just cannot tell you how polarized I am in that in that way. So I had already was learning to have to rely on my husband to help me with a lot of things um just daily tasks. But when I said I had a piece about um doing the race um really my relationship with God was just developing in such a unique way that after it was all over and even now I'm thankful for that experience and I'm thankful that I have this disease because if I didn't have it, I would not have learned how to trust in him for my physical strength and I would not know where my strength comes from. You know until then it was all like oh I'm 20 something years old and I have a strong body and you know look out all you people here I come and you know I would just do these random things and I could play all the time I could compete in the on-road and off-road and long and short and like do all these things. It's kind of reckless almost um and then after that it was like okay so so like I don't have any of those things anymore. I don't have youth I don't have the strong body I don't have anything so so where is my strength coming from and um you know a verse a verse in um second corinthians just coming kept coming to my mind it was uh when when God told Paul that my grace is sufficient for you like you know the answer is no you have this and you and you're gonna keep it but my power is made perfect in your weakness and I just I think we always think about verses like that or thinking about calling upon these uh spiritual encounters when we're just mental mentally somehow you know when we're in that dark place in a race or where we're just so mentally exhausted with with life that we we don't feel like we can go on. And for me it was like yeah that's all true but what about when you have to ask for physical strength like physical strength to go about to your regular duties and then you're daring enough to ask for physical strength to do a triathlon and then you know to do an Iron Man like a regular triathlon's just not going to cut it right um just that I've gotten to experience um that sweet power and that sweet relationship with God that I would not have known otherwise.

Larry 47:48

Yeah. Well it sounds like this has actually been really good to you know get you ready to be an ultraman because you you've gone to that dark place that you've had to stubbornly get through and push your body past beyond what it wants to do. And you've also been able to accept help from other people which your crew will be doing for you in the race. So it sounds like you're mentally you're prepared to to take on this challenge ahead.

SPEAKER_04 48:17

Well I like to think so. So that whole relying on other people thing I'm having to learn that in a whole new way too with this crew thing going on. I mean my crew is made up of of my um my husband who is just the best and two very close friends um and we're kind of grassroots people none of us have ever done this before but yeah so that was that was actually one of the things um that that scared me the most about signing up for the Ultraman is I was like well who's gonna want to be on my crew like nobody's gonna want to do that for me. They don't even know the places I go sometimes in these events. Like nobody needs nobody needs to be exposed to that yeah yeah but here they are and they're lovely and um I'm just gonna have to continue to humble myself and accept their love because that's what they're that's what they want to do.

Larry 49:14

And will your coach be coming along as one of the crew members as well?

SPEAKER_04 49:18

He will he will um he is going to be my kayak guide and he's just a very wise man. His name is uh Jerry Daniel and he owns a a company called Two Rivers Multi Sports it's here in Roland um Roland is a very small town in Arkansas but I'll tell you we've got the athletes living in this little town and if I could just tell you so Jerry's one of them Jerry's an an ex, um not ex, I guess he just was in 2015 the age group national champion in the long course and we've been friends for years and he is he is very wise um and I I very much enjoy learning from him.

Larry 49:58

And has he had any experience with the Ultraman or other stage races to be able to coach you through that or are you learning that part together?

SPEAKER_04 50:08

We're learning that part together um now he has crewed for some ultra runs here um locally but never an ultraman mm-hmm and and you haven't gone to crew for anybody yet I have not I don't even know anybody that I could have done that for so but so I'm looking forward to getting to know people and I very much hope to have that opportunity sooner rather than later um to be able to crew for someone and and do you have any fears leading up to this race?

Larry 50:40

What what's your biggest fear about trying to do this race?

SPEAKER_04 50:43

Oh that's that's a good question. Yeah the my fears are probably pretty silly um you know had you had asked me prior to this 2016 experience like my biggest fear would have been like oh what if I fail you know done that like a million times now you do you live to see another day um it's not the it's not the end of the world yeah my my my two biggest fears are one I've already mentioned when I get into that place and my true self gets revealed to my dear friends and my husband. Yeah um I'm I'm kind of a lone wolf when it comes to training and that kind of thing. And so I've never really led let anybody into that part of me. And it's um I don't think they're gonna be able to escape. Not that you have to go there and stay there, but I think everyone gets into that dark place at least once throughout throughout a race of that distance. And then I gotta tell you I'm a little nervous about the run piece because um I have never even come close to running 52.4 miles and and that's scary.

Larry 51:47

Yeah with this uh idea of not really knowing anybody in the OHANA yet and stuff like that, have you tried to reach out to anybody? Like are you in the support group on Facebook? Have you been asking questions to people? Have you been emailing people? Because everybody's pretty friendly and would probably be you know more than happy to give you your crew some tips and stuff like that. Have you have you done any reaching out?

SPEAKER_04 52:15

I have I have so interestingly enough like right after I um sent in my application for Florida um there is a lady who moved to Roland who was just about to complete um Ultraman or compete in Ultraman Arizona. Oh yeah and um so turns out we work at the same place and so I have definitely picked her brain a few times and she's been talking to Jerry my coach um about some things that that she has uh our schedules are both very busy she's a physician and it's very hard for us to get together and train um but yeah she has she has offered quite a bit of advice so far. Her name's Julie Riley uh so that was her first her first go of it um in Arizona earlier this year. Um so I've just I've loved following her journey and um you know listening to her stories and hearing about her experiences and what she thought her weaknesses were and and how she conquered them and and that kind of thing. And yes I'm on the Facebook group and I am every day looking for any sort of information that's on there. You know I had the question about you know do we wear multiple pairs of running shoes or do we wear run pair but somebody beat me to asking it so we have that and um there's a lot of chatter about how many different bike parts of certain things that we need and so I'm taking very detailed notes on on that and um you know water temperature air temperature. It's always good to have extra parts and not need so yeah I'm uh it's interesting you know I've done been in the Iron Man world for so long there's this nice little formula and like I know exactly what to do and I I I don't want to say I I don't get nervous but I get you know I I just go to the races and enjoy myself and I feel like I've entered the whole beginner stage of something again um with this Ultraman and I'm again having just to to allow that to happen and to learn from everybody else and um you know just ask questions and listen and not be shy.

Larry 54:30

And and what was it that that drew you to the Ultraman? Because you you're saying you don't really have a a connection to anybody in it at this point. So what was it that you brought you to the to the Ultraman family? Like how did you discover it?

SPEAKER_04 54:44

Uh-huh so um my husband Jeff and I embarked on this uh journey for plant-based eating three years ago and I was sold immediately and never looked back uh I think at the time he was sold but he was still looking for some connections with other athletic men like to kind of be like hey this is okay you're gonna be fine and he was reading all kinds of things so he came across uh Rich Rolls book Finding Ultra for the purposes of you know being um encouraged that that he was going to be okay you know as a middle aged man you know going on this pathway and um I remember him reading the book and he's like I probably shouldn't give this to you but you know you really need to read it. I think you'd really like it. I didn't even know what Ultraman was. And I was like okay sure and I don't really like to read so I was like yeah yeah but I picked it up and I started to to read it which I I think like so many other people have with the thoughts that I was going to learn about plant-based eating and endurance sports. But instead I learned about this thing called an Ultraman and when I was reading Rich uh the plant based thing I don't even remember what I didn't think I learned anything because I just remember reading all of his descriptions of his life and his experiences and I'm like like oh my goodness like there's at least one other person in the world that feels these things or that has had these experiences and and I was like yes that's exactly what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go be an altar man just like Rich did because like we're related probably and he doesn't even know it. Like that's that like that's how close I was like yes and you know of course my husband's going yeah that's kind of what I thought was going to happen if you read that book. So anyhow that that's what gave me the the idea that this was a good idea. And uh you know so I've read it like at least five or six times like gleaning for information that that I could um also recognizing I'm not Rich Roll, you know, I'm Amy Joe with a chronic illness from Arkansas, but that's okay. I don't think I'm gonna have some of these breakout things or um when he talks about his tastes and stuff I'm like yeah I don't even do that in a sprint triathlon so that's okay. But but his his um just his approach and his life experiences and and things that have happened to him and and how he how he approaches racing and everything I just found to be incredibly inspiring. And um you know I yeah I I have never built built my way up to any race I'm always like yeah let's just go do it. And so um yeah we'll just we'll just give it a try.

Larry 57:36

That's awesome now how how has COVID affected your ability to get out and train and and be with other people with an autoimmune disease have you had to like shutter in more than the regular person or are you safe on that front?

SPEAKER_04 57:54

Yeah so at first I did um because we knew very little about the condition so we certainly didn't want to take any risks. So yeah for the first um three or four months in 2020 I I pretty much stayed home. But you know Arkansas is a fairly rural state and you can get outside a lot and not ever encounter a person. And so um so in that regard I guess I was lucky because I I was not shut inside all the time. I live right on the Washita National Trail. You can go for miles and miles and miles and never encounter a bird. I mean it's it's it's really um you know and there's just lots of areas like that. And so um the only thing up there are ticks apparently yeah lots of ticks lots of ticks you know and coyotes and things in the morning with their BDI staring at you through the forest but um which you know uh so you know that was a real blessing that we uh so you know I didn't get to train with friends a lot or anything like that but my husband and I trained together um for a lot of things and we were never um you know very fortunately never confined um to the indoors at all because we live in this great state where there's just not a whole lot of structure in a lot of places.

Larry 59:15

Yeah. Well Amy I don't know if you've been listening to these other athlete profiles I do but I usually try and talk a little bit about the the sports background and then we do a transition round for two minutes where we do some rapid fire and then we learn a little bit more about your your personal life if if you're comfortable with that. Sorry are you ready for the transition rapid fire then sure sure all right great uh question number one what is the favorite event you've ever done the greater Pittsburgh Craathon.

SPEAKER_04 59:47

And it was so I'm originally from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania just a town just north of there that was where I was born and my parents still live there. Now as we're recording this a little before Christmas do you have any new gear on your wish list for Christmas oh my new gear just arrived I got a new byte I got a surveillo a surveyal OP5 and it has all the things on it and we've ordered some wheels and it has a F stickers on it and and I'm very happy.

Larry 1:00:19

And how important is it for you to look good while you're waiting to have a favorite kit that you wear or a lucky kitchen yes looking good is incredibly important as especially if you end up like not faring so well you want to make sure that you look nice when you know you're in the ambulance or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:38

So yes I like to wear spared class on clothing um and before that what I'm saying what advice would you give your younger self my younger self is a mess yeah um I would I would tell my younger self not to select a small stuff but I would say to work hard and play even harder.

Larry 1:01:11

Last question then What is something that you are good at that most people who know you don't know you're good at that I'm good at it but I can ride my own motorcycle for the for the transition round we'll get into these a couple of these more personal questions now to get to know you a little bit better. You've mentioned that you you live with your your husband Jeff what else does the home life look like for you to have any children any fur babies what's going on in that house yes we have a fur baby I call her my soul dog her name is Eva Fiona Jenkins um she is a Dogo Argentino just celebrated her fifth birthday um and she is phenomenal she runs with us and hikes with us and snuggles with us and she's just the best and and you were mentioning that Jeff does some uh outdoor activities with you as well does he do triathlon he does do triathlon um he has done two um Ironmans uh when when we get to that point and we're both training together things sometimes get a little tense but uh we make it through Jeff and I actually met riding bicycles um you know nearly 15 years ago I showed up for a group ride um which I don't normally go to on my tri bike but someone at work was like insisting that I go and so I get to this place and I can't find her anywhere and then up beside me comes Jeff in his car with his fancy road bike you know forgets all his water for a 60 mile ride and bada you know and here we go.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:59

So I was like you know who is this guy this is the guy you want for your crew chief if he forgets to bring water well you know I don't know maybe it was planned I you know I don't know but you know I didn't know what where we were going and so I was just like very focused on not letting that last bicycle in the A group get out of my sight. And this went on for like 40 some miles and then then finally I never even looked behind me and then Jeff comes pedaling up he's like hey do you need a break and I was like yes that would be nice um but anyhow the rest is history we've now been married for um 13 years um almost 14 and um we we discovered that day that we had a mutual friend and so that's how we were able to reconnect afterwards. But yeah that's how we met and so that that's our primary passion to do together is to ride. That's a good meeting space and and what is it that you do for work yeah so my whole career um up until last year at this time was in clinical research um but I work at the University of Arkansas for medical sciences now in the Cancer Institute as the associate director for administration. So I still dabble in the clinical trials world um a bit but um mostly administration these days.

Larry 1:04:29

So so what kind of duties would that position have then do you have to go out and get money for research or what is it that you do?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:36

Yeah no thankfully I don't have to do that. Yeah so we are pursuing something called NCI designation and my job is to position the institute and make sure that all of our activities are in line with what that's going to require and then you know to do whatever my boss tells me to do so that he doesn't have to have to do it. So that's what I do.

Larry 1:05:00

And and what's an NCI designation?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:03

So that's a um in the United States the NCI is the National Cancer Institute okay and um there are various designated cancer centers around the country um but there is not one in Arkansas. The closest one to us is five or six hours away so um to get that level of expert care for our patients um especially for research we sometimes have to send them away and we don't want to do that. So we are working to make meet all of the requirements um to get that designation so that the people of Arkansas have a place right here that they can come to.

Larry 1:05:39

Okay. And is your university working on any kind of breakthrough stuff that we might hear about in the future toward cancer research always but I can't tell you yet because it's all under patent protections and all these other things.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:52

But yes you will you if you haven't already you will be hearing a lot from us in the future.

Larry 1:05:58

Okay. Good to know. Um generally, people uh like yourself, lifelong academics or people that work in that field, they they tend to be lifelong learners as well. So what what's something that you still want to learn?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:16

Oh goodness. Yeah, I'm one of those people that like hasn't met something that I don't want to learn. Um, that's how I get myself into these predicaments. I'm always like, oh yeah, that looks like fun. And then like I get into it and I'm like, oh no, what what did you do? Like, what have you committed to? What have you gotten yourself into? Yeah, that's a that's a good question. Um, I I've been so focused on swimming, biking, and running for for such a long period of time. Um I guess if I were to learn something new, I would like to learn to knit and crochet. Because I see a bunch of people doing that at work. That's often a thing that cancer support groups do together and um fascinated by it. So maybe when I'm in my downtime resting after the Ultraman, um I could get some of the ladies to teach me how to do that.

Larry 1:07:06

And you can uh make yourself a nice little tri-top.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:09

Yes, with a matching hat and matching gloves so that I look nice and I'm on the course.

Larry 1:07:16

Okay. Well, what when you're when you're not doing triathlon, what other sort of hobbies do you do you partake in or activities do you do?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:24

Yeah, our our favorite thing to do is we have a sprinter van. We're all into the van life kind of thing, and we like to go camping. Um, just um we call it BLM land that the Bureau of Land Management hold holds in the country, and you just go on it, and um, you know, there's no hookups or you don't have to pay or anything like that. And so we just boondock for days. Um, our favorite place to go is the desert, uh, and just just hang out and enjoy the peacefulness and the quietness. And so we hike and run and do all those kind of things, but we have been traveling quite extensively and could do that for a long time if we ever had the opportunity.

Larry 1:08:07

And will you be decking it out as your crew vehicle?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:10

Yes, we will. We already have permission.

Larry 1:08:14

So no, those sprinters are the uh probably a little oversized, but it'll be good for holding all those extra bike parts.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:22

It will. I will. And we have a friend that built us a like a custom bike rack to put inside it that fits our bikes, so we do not even have to have our bikes on the outside.

Larry 1:08:32

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:34

Yeah.

Larry 1:08:35

Everybody's gonna be looking for your crew when they need bike parts.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:38

The big van, we have lots. Yeah. Or when they need a bathroom, we'll have that too.

Larry 1:08:45

Uh, you mentioned earlier that uh you were looking at plant-based diets. Um is that something that you've stuck with? Is that where you are now in your life?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:56

Yes, yes. So it's three years in November. Um, we kind of just quit cold turkey. Um various reasons. Um, you know, trying to manage an autoimmune disease is hard, especially one that's not curable. And drugs help, but they don't, you know, do it all. And a diet helps, um, even though it's not going to do it all. So yeah, I uh being on a plant-based diet has has kept the inflammation in my body down. So I I can stay, I can stay off of a lot of medications that I was on previously, so that when I do have a flare or I do have a go through a bad time, I actually have somewhere to go. I you know, I'm just not like maxed out on everything all the time. So that's that's been one of my biggest motivators to do it. But it's it's fantastic. And I'll I'll never I never really say never, but no, I'll never go back. Like it is it is perfect.

Larry 1:09:52

Yeah. Do you have like a favorite website or a cookbook that you would suggest for people that might want to be trying out the plant-based diet?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:00

Yes. Um so before COVID, I knew how to make cereal and that's about it, you know, really. Um so uh, you know, but we couldn't, you know, dine out and have all this stuff during COVID. So we discovered a company called Forks Over Knives. And um, so they not only teach you how to uh eat in a plant-based way that's that's healthy, you know, you can not eat meat and eat a pretty poor diet. Um, but they also have all kinds of recipes that you can follow and an app where you can like do your grocery list and everything. So that's what we use. And um we we're never bored with the recipes. We have favorites that we repeat, but there's new recipes all the time. And and through that, we've we've learned learned how to cook and we've learned how to eat out and you know, all those sorts of things.

Larry 1:10:48

And and now what is your best dish? What do you make?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:53

Oh, I think that's called Thai chickpea almond curry. That's my favorite, and I think it's what I make the best.

Larry 1:11:00

That sounds good. That sounds good. Well, um, thank you very much for for joining me today and and doing this athlete in profile. Um, I know sometimes when I ask people to do these things, they're like, oh, but I'm not a pro athlete. And it's like, no, that's not the point of these things. These are like, we know that people that are coming to uh Iron Man in their age category or ultraman are just a lot of people are just looking to finish and not be the world champion. So um thank you for taking the time and joining me and introducing yourself to the other people that are listening that are part of this group.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:35

Well, thank you. And and if you're out there, I will get to meet to you. I can't wait to get to meet you. That's that sounds like the most fun part of the whole adventure.

Larry 1:11:44

Excellent. All right, thanks again.

Mary Jo 1:11:46

All right, thanks, Larry. I would like to start with the body.