S8E13 -- Ohana Guest : Scott McDermott | Living the Warrior Code

He remembers chatting on the Hawaii bike course and then waking up in a hospital. That missing chapter is the start of an unforgettable story with Ultraman veteran, coach, and Scottyfit.com founder Scott McDermott, whose Kona crash left him with a severe traumatic brain injury, shattered bones, and a recovery that doctors said should not have been possible.

We talk about what rebuild actually looks like: navigating the medical system, learning to train again without ego, and using tools like hyperbaric oxygen therapy and easy cardio to regain capacity. Scott also shares his coaching philosophy, why he always keeps coaches of his own, and a practical “green day, yellow day, red day” approach to training that helps endurance athletes stay consistent while respecting illness, stress, and recovery.

The heart of the conversation goes deeper than triathlon. Scott connects childhood trauma, the need to feel “good enough,” and how ultra endurance can become a proving ground that never pays off emotionally. That realization reshaped his documentary “Living the World Code” into a film about identity, resilience, and choosing to race for joy instead of approval. We also get into the mental side of getting back on a bike at speed, racing at 57, and why he is returning to the Ultraman World Championship with unfinished business.

If this hit home, subscribe to 515 The Ultra Podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a five-star rating and review so more people can find these stories.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Ultraman Canada
• Ultraman Mexico
• Ultraman World Championships
• Terry Fox Run
• Zombie Run
• Innisfail Triathlon
• Banff Mountain Film Festival
• New York Film Festival 
• Warrior Camp

Shout outs and mentions in this episode:

• Steve Brown (S2E13)
• Sheryl Cobb (S2E6)
• David Cobb
• Brad Sawa (S1E10)
• Van Sanchez (S1E6)
• Tony Robbins
• Andrew Barber-Starky
• Tobias Young
• Michelle Barnes
• Dr Stefanie Basso
• Brett Sutton
• Craig Percival
• Peter Hudson (S8E6)
• Adam Fox
• Lyle Katchur
• Nick Mallett (S2E12)
• Drew Kenworthy
• Hilary McDermott
• Al Evans 
• Lucy Ryan (S2E5)
• Inge Jarl Clausan
• Inaki de la Parra
• Craig Keller
• Chuck Downie
• Gary Wang (S2E6)

Transcript

Ultraman Canada Updates And Context

Larry 0:02

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of 515, the Ultra Podcast. I'm your host, Larry Ryan. If you're listening to this on the day of release, it's also the first day of Ultraman Canada 2026. I want to extend my best wishes to all the athletes and crews participating. Maybe some of you are actually listening while crewing. If you are, please send me a video or a picture of you and your crew in your vehicle. Now, regular listeners know I started this podcast to promote Ultraman Canada during my time as co-race director with Brad Sawa. Unfortunately, that working relationship didn't last and I stepped away. However, I've continued to maintain my connection with the Ohana through this show. And you may have noticed that I don't actively promote the Ultraman Canada brand anymore. After I left, I intended to return as a crew member, but I was told by Brad that I wasn't welcome. That was a tough moment in my life, as the Ultraman Canada race has been a massive part of my life since 2010. Back in the Steve Brown days when this event was incredibly popular. For those interested in the history of how Ultraman returned to Penticton while Steve Brown ran his Ultra 520K brand, I recommend going back to the final 15 minutes of season one, episode 10, Skater Boy to Family Man. That's the episode where Brad and I talk about how it all happened. Moving to this year's event. I've been informed that Brad Sawa is not involved. Instead, Ultraman owners Cheryl and Dave Cobb, along with other board members, have taken over. It seems they are now managing three of the four Ultraman races, including Florida and Hawaii. There's been some online chatter in the past couple of weeks regarding low registration numbers. Eight competitors for a second year in a row at Ultraman Canada. My friend Van Sanchez, who is there on the ground, has been working hard to keep the brand in the spotlight, especially since he joined the official Ultraman brand with his race in Mexico. I truly appreciate his focus on community unity and all that he does for 515 racing. So if you want updates on the eight athletes, follow the official Ultraman Instagram accounts, because I'm sure Van will be posting there. You know, it's a massive undertaking to organize an event of this scale. And I applaud the current board for their decision to keep this race on the calendar for the eight athletes. The athletes themselves continue to find deep value in these experiences and the friendships forged along the way. The original race in Hawaii is going to celebrate its 40th anniversary this November. And my guest today is a veteran of that scene. So we should probably get on with it. Once again, good luck to all the athletes and crews racing on this iconic course in the heart of Triathlon, Pentictum, British Columbia, and all the best to the team putting it together for them.

Meet Scott McDermott

Larry 4:26

Exactly what you think. Today's Ohana Guest has competed in six Ultraman races, over a dozen Iron Distance races, as well as multiple ITU World Championships and Ultra Marathons. He gave up his professional job to seek something greater and more fulfilling. That led him to opening a gym and pursuing a life enveloped in fitness. He spends his time now working as a speaker and sharing his knowledge as a personal trainer. He is passionate about living a great life and aging well. Joining me from his home in Jarvis Bay, Alberta, the man who runs ScottyFit.com, Scott McDermott. Welcome to the podcast.

Scott McDermott 5:11

Thanks, Larry. It's really good to be here. That's a cool little graphic.

Larry 5:15

Yeah. Just showing how close together we are. Just a little hop over the Rocky Mountains. But uh for the rest of the worldwide audience, maybe we can take a second just to uh geolocate where you're coming from. Uh by the time this episode airs, uh my podcast should have been downloaded in 150 countries because we're at 149 now in over 2600 cities. So nice. Yeah, I'm I'm very proud of that.

Scott McDermott 5:43

Uh yeah, you should be. I know on uh Peter's podcast the globe spun all the way around. Now I just went beep. Yes.

Larry 5:52

Uh so Jarvis Bay, that's next to Sylvan Lake in Alberta, which is approximately halfway between Edmonton and Calgary, kind of off the highway from Red Deer. Is that right?

Scott McDermott 6:04

That is exactly correct. Yeah. We're smack in the middle of uh Edmonton, Calgary. It's an hour and a half either way, and we're just 20 minutes to the west of Red Deer.

Larry 6:14

So who do you cheer for in the Battle of Alberta when it comes to hockey and football then?

Scott McDermott 6:20

I don't. Yeah, I you know, when I was it uh when I was at architecture college in Edmonton, of course, I was all about the Edmonton Others, but Wayne Gratsky and Fury, uh Fuhrer and Mary, like everybody was in it. I can't even speak uh hockey anymore. Um Massier, there you go. Um, they were all the big names back then, and I cared in college. And then now I it's not that I don't care, I just don't spend any time on it. Um, but if I did have to choose, it would be Edmonton in both cases.

Larry 6:54

Okay, good to know.

Scott McDermott 6:56

Yeah.

Building A Fitness Community

Larry 6:59

Um, so we're saying you're you're close to Sylvan Lake, and that's kind of like your your area. You've been named Sylvan Lake Citizen of the Year twice, I believe. Uh and you received a lieutenant governor's award for community fitness there. Um tell me, what what are you contributing to the community that has earned you these uh esteemed awards?

Scott McDermott 7:21

Oh, that's a big question. Um, it it's it's changed a lot over the years, but I've organized and been race director for uh a sprint trathlon, a half iron trathlon. We've done uh the Father's Day 10K for quite a few years. I've organized the Terry Fox run in town for 21 years. Um, we did the zombie run where we rented a golf course and had people chasing dressed as zombies trying to grab ribbons off your belt. We did that for about three or four years. Uh, we've done an amazing race in Sylvan Lake. I was active in Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce. Uh, I speak to the high school on nutrition and fitness uh twice a year in all the different classes, it's more often now. Um, so I don't know, I guess just a bunch of things. There's other things too. Uh, just if there's something fitnessy, we did human curling at Winterfest for a while where we have people leap on big rubber tubes and try to be the curling rock. And I don't know. I just I was always like, how can we be having fun being fit and healthy? And whenever somebody said, Hey, do you wanna? Yeah.

Larry 8:23

So when they need somebody to organize something, they call you.

Scott McDermott 8:26

Yeah, I'm also the race director for the Innisville Triathlon coming up in September in Innisfil, Alberta, which is just up the road from us.

Larry 8:33

So yeah, awesome. Well, how how does you know getting these awards and being the citizen of the year kind of change your perspective of what your role is in the community? Do you see yourself more as a leader than than just an athlete in the in the community then?

Scott McDermott 8:52

Um, I guess so. I I don't want to take anything away from awards like that, but it's like, oh, well, that was nice. That's not why I do it. You know what I mean? Like it's it was yeah, wow, that was that was really nice. Thank you very much. Uh, I hope that other people go, hey, I want to do more. Yeah, that's yeah. Uh I I don't it's always a crazy big surprise when I'm nominated for something and then I win, I'm like, oh what? Okay, cool. But it doesn't it doesn't change anything. I'm just doing it because I want the world I like I just believe that, especially as a small business owner, because I used to run a gym with 27 staff and a thousand members. That was a bit of a different world than it is now, but I just believe that if every small business is in an environment where they can succeed, then they have a little bit extra they can give back to the community, and just everybody's life is a little better. We were always sponsoring hockey teams and baseball teams and volleyball teams and soccer teams. And when a when a small business thrives, they do that, and that makes the world better. And I I just wanted to make the world a little better.

Larry 10:01

And and I I think that probably um would come from how you how you grew up, maybe. Um you you've spoken before about how you've grown up um that when you were as as a child not as in the most now, can I put this? Yeah, we weren't in the best environment. Um and and maybe that that led you to this idea of I want to I want to give back more, and maybe especially to kids in in this way.

Scott McDermott 10:35

Yeah. Um I love my parents, obviously they were wonderful people, they've both passed away now, but um, they were caught in the trap of of alcoholism and all that garbage. And so that created a certain childhood that was what it was. Yeah, and so I've spent my life trying to grow from that and create a different reality. And so if I can be something different, uh you know, like yeah, you never want to say anything. I'm not trying to say anything bad against my parents, they were stuck in a trap, yeah, right? They were alcoholics, it was it sucked, it was what it was. But as a father, I try to be the best parent I can, like any father does, and I'm screwing up my son in a new way. I don't drink and smoke and do drugs, but my son still has challenges, right? He's a teenager and there's nothing you can do about that. But I'm always just trying to create that better world, I guess, uh, than I got in some ways.

Larry 11:34

Yeah.

Childhood Challenges And Drive

Larry 11:35

Well, I I think we mentioned it uh in in the opening here. You you actually started in a career in architecture, but you said that that left you overweight and sick and stressed, and and you had to leave that life behind. What what was it like back at that time for you?

Scott McDermott 11:53

Yeah, going into high school, I wanted to be a gym teacher, which was ironic because you're a gym teacher. And they said, No, look, you need a real career. You're really good at drafting and all these different things. And so I did enjoy drawing buildings and deadlines of ADHD. So when I hyper focus, I can do some pretty cool things, and it was good, but I wanted to make a junior partner in the firm, so I was working really long days and managing a team of people and doing site inspections and all this kind of stuff, and tons and tons of stress. I had no idea how to feed myself. I was just on the news, it says we should eat low fat. Okay. I didn't know what I was doing. And so after 13 years of architecture, I was 240 odd pounds and no muscle mass, and I was just sick and broken all the time. I had broken my back in high school in gymnastics class. I broke my back and it just hurt all the time. Like I just was always in pain. 29 years old, and I felt like I was 60. And I was like, this is garbage. Like, what am I? There's got to be another way to do this. Then I finally went to a doctor that just said, Well, you got to eat right and exercise and take care of yourself. And I thought, well, I think I could do that. I joined a gym, met a trainer, and within five months, I had dropped 40 pounds of fat and put on 18 pounds of muscle. And I had a six-pack, and I was everything was different, everything was better. And then pretty soon, and there's a 50 people in the office, and they're all kind of like walking up to my desk, like, how did you do that? Can you can you tell can you help me a little? Because at first they're making fun of me. Oh, yeah, yeah. McDermott's gonna not eat sugar. Ha ha. Like they didn't believe it. Yeah, but then all of a sudden you couldn't help but notice I was a completely different person. Yeah, and so then I got my certifications, and then I started working in a couple different gyms in the weekends and evenings part-time, um, because I loved it. And I went to a personal development course, like a Tony Robbins kind of thing, where you walk on fire and do all these things. And I came back to work on Sunday night and Monday morning. I was like, whoopsh, here's my resignation, two weeks from associate partner. And they were like, What are you what are you doing? My mom was what are you doing? My wife, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm on the top of the ladder on the wrong building. I can't. This isn't what I'm supposed to do with my life. I don't want to lock in to this. So I just went to work at a couple of gyms, and then I realized that you can't really pay the bills just being a part-time trainer. And um, so I we sacrificed everything and more than a lot of people.

Larry 14:18

Did you have a did you have the family, the growing family at that point?

Scott McDermott 14:21

Nope, it was just me and my wife. Okay, which did make it a little easier to pivot. Um yeah, we were trying to get pregnant, but we hadn't had success with that yet. Um, that actually took 15 years to have a child, which I was like, man, if I'd have known that this was gonna be this hard, I wouldn't have worried about it when I was a teenager. No, that's a dumb idea, but but uh yeah, I know it was easy to pivot that way, and we just had some family that was willing to support us in the journey, and and so we mortgaged ourselves to the hilt and I built the gym, and it was awesome. I was in my groove, yeah.

Larry 14:52

So tell tell me more about that. Tell me about this uh the gym that you built up. You said you had what 27 staff, like this must have been a massive gym.

Scott McDermott 15:00

Yeah, it was a 15,000 square foot building. We started at 10,000 and we outgrew it within about three years, and it just it just was awesome. We created this really amazing family sort of thing, and I I really I guess I kind of found on my groove in a sense. I mean, you're never perfect being a boss, you always make lots of mistakes, and there's things I wish I would have done differently, of course. But in general, um, lots of the teenagers that were in high school loved having me as their first boss and that being their first job because it was like the cool job in town, right? You weren't schlepping burgers and junk, you were at a gym, and so we created this really fun family atmosphere for the staff. We had a ton of fun together, we enjoyed what we did, we were up to good things, and I really enjoyed I enjoyed how much I learned about myself, about other people, about being a boss, because I had learned I had no idea what I was doing. Uh, but I did have a business coach that helped and I learned a ton, but we just had so much fun and we really cared, and I think that echoed, and so we were quite successful in that sense. Um, never really financially, but we got by. We stayed open in the tough times, and yeah, we just we built something really nice. And even what I love too is when I walk around Sylvan Lake now, because of course I lost everything in 2020 when gyms became illegal suddenly, and right we had to shut it all down, it all went away. Um, sold off all my equipment and lost whatever. Uh, but even now when I walk around town, people are like, Oh, I miss your gym so much. So that's nice. Yeah, we did some good things, and it and it allowed me the freedom to go, okay, this is sort of I've got a great team and a great gym and a great environment, and I want what's I want a goal. And there was a little half Iron Man in town, and I watched these people rip by and I was like, that looks cool. I wonder if I could do that. Like I could, I could not drown. I've never swam laps, but I was like, I could not drown. I can, you know, I can I can swim. And I could ride the heck out of a spin bike for an hour, and I used to run more before I broke my back, but my back was healed and I was strong again. I could pick up running again. I wonder if I could finish a half Iron Man. I wonder if I could do that. And I hired a coach, and yeah, my whole life just went somewhere else.

Quitting Architecture For Fitness

Larry 17:25

Yeah. Um, so you you're hiring these coaches. You you you or you hired uh a coach for triathlon. You had a coach or mentor for your business, like you you trust in coaching. Um that's like that's fair to say.

Scott McDermott 17:43

100%. Yeah. I think I currently have five coaches. Four. I have Andrew's my main business coach. He's been my business coach since 2000. He's actually just retiring this year. Um, and then I have Tobias is my business and marketing online coaching coach. And then I have Michelle, who's with uh TriSutto. Um Michelle Barnes, she's my triathlon coach. And I also have just hired a PhD nutrition coach because I want to make sure that I'm optimal this year for racing. I'm having some strange gut issues going on. And she's because she's a PhD doctor, she's ordered a bunch of tests to find out well, what's going on? Why aren't you digesting properly? Because I've tried all the tricks and like I'm on an impasse. So I love because a coach solves problems you can't see, they're invisible to me, right? I've tried all the things I know, it's still not working. I need somebody who's got a different opinion than I do or a different knowledge point. And I love like Michelle and and Brett Sutton are phenomenal triathlon coaches, and I love that I just I just do what Michelle says. I don't have to think about my training because like I've self-coached for a couple different things. I self-coached for the world champs in 2018 after my coach before Craig Percival passed away. Um, I self-coached for a year and a half, and it's okay, but inevitably my workouts were more about like, well, I'm always tired on Monday, so I won't do very much. And then Tuesdays are really busy, so I'll just do a little. You can't do that. Yeah, like that's not how you get ready. You gotta have somebody go, Hey, you gotta do this ignorant thing. Well, I don't want to do an ignorant thing. Yeah, too bad, buddy. Yeah, so I love coaching. I love having a coach, I love being a coach.

Larry 19:25

Uh yeah, and that's what I was gonna say. And so when when your gym shut down, you still you kept the coaching going. Um, you you do personal training, you do nutritional, in particular, you do a lot of nutritional stuff. Um, what what do you got going on on that set?

Scott McDermott 19:40

So I have a kind of a hybrid program because I have a few people that I coach in person. I've renovated our garage or two bays of our garage as a gym. And so I have a few people that I coach in person, and then I've got about 20 people that I coach online, and I do lots of nutrition stuff. I've got nutrition programs that I've completely built that are all set up and systemized, like the 21-day nutrition reset, and I've got a six-week program, and uh, and every week I get to invest a couple days designing a PowerPoint where I get to teach on nutrition, psychology, biomechanics, heart rate, whatever. Whatever we're at meeting 145. So I've been doing like every Wednesday for a long time. Um yeah, three years almost. So it's really fine.

Larry 20:29

Of your studio that you're sitting in now? Is that yeah, from there?

Scott McDermott 20:33

It is, yeah. This is a little broom closet above the in the ceiling space of a of the stairs in the back of the house. Um, I built this in after the gym shutdown because I knew I wanted to level up the product I was delivering to people as a coach. I wanted my meetings to sound better, I wanted to yeah, improve what I was doing, yeah, in a sense.

Larry 20:58

So so now you do a lot of this online coaching, you've got your nutrition programs. Um, is this sustaining you for your lifestyle? Because you know, this triathlon thing's not yeah, it's okay.

Scott McDermott 21:13

You know, it's it's amazing. Um I'm I'm a Christian and I'm very fortunate that when we shut down my gym in 2020 and sold off all the equipment, then all of a sudden we've got a 15,000 square foot empty building that's still really expensive every month. Like mortgage payments, and even with the heat turned low, it was still crushing. Um, and there was a local church in town that was looking for a new building. They were they had outgrown where they had been for 10 years or whatever. And so they leased our building from us to cover that. Um, so that became a bit of a salvation in the sense that it it covers that crazy big expense. And there's a little sugar on the top that that adds to my work. My wife's work and we're doing okay. We're getting by. Yeah. Yeah.

Larry 22:03

I didn't mean the pry. I just no, no, it's okay. Yeah.

Scott McDermott 22:07

Yeah. We're like everybody. We're trying to make it work, right? How do you wiggle this through?

Larry 22:11

So, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so recently I had Peter Hudson on the podcast, and you know, your your stories are kind of similar in that, you know, he's gym owner, lost a lot of business during COVID, uh, works personal training. Um, and people who listen to that episode, they they know what happened. Uh, but some listeners probably haven't heard that, and I would like to hear about this experience from your point of view anyway.

Coaching Philosophy And Online Training

Larry 22:39

And you know, he he was talking about how your relationship between the two of you has changed his life because he was he was the first one on the scene at at your accident when you were racing at the world championship. So um, can you tell us a little bit from your perspective about that experience?

Scott McDermott 22:58

Yeah, and it's fun because that experience starts a little earlier than the race. So, as you know, one of the things we love about 515 is it's it's ohana, it's family, it's it's different. It's different than Iron Man, it's different than all the other ones. It's it's a family because we're going through this crazy difficult thing kind of together because you see each other out there on the road, stuff like that. Now, Craig Percival was my coach at the time in 2015.

Larry 23:25

And people people know that.

Scott McDermott 23:28

Yeah, yeah, he's an amazing. He did eight and eight and eight in Australia, eight ironmans in eight days in eight provinces of Australia. Crazy amazing human being. Um, but he knew Peter, and so when when Craig and I were talking as the race was coming to be in 2015, um, he's like, Oh, yeah, you gotta talk to Peter and ate him. And I was like, Okay, great. So I reached out to them on socials. Hey guys, I hear you know Craig, and I'm going to Ultraman 2. And hey, let's connect. Uh, if you've got any questions, I've done the race once before. I don't know if I can be helpful. So we had this little bit of an opening and we met a couple times, and then I volunteered to be at package pickup um for the rookies in the afternoon. So I met Peter and I met Adam and we, you know, we shook hands, we chatted about the race, and they asked some questions, and it was great. We had a it was fine. And then the race started. And I remember sitting waiting for my massage at the end of day one, and I was sitting beside Peter, and he handed me a Vegemite sandwich, so you knew he was Australian, and we had a little laugh, and there's this one little photo of him and I sitting on these plastic chairs waiting to get a massage, and I'm eating a vegemite sandwich beside Peter, and it was great. Um, so we knew each other's sidebar here.

Larry 24:35

Yeah, what's your feeling on Vegemite?

Scott McDermott 24:38

Oh, it's a no.

Larry 24:39

Okay, good.

Scott McDermott 24:40

That's the salty yucky. I don't know what the no thanks. Yeah, all right. I get that if you're in the Australian outback and times are hard and you absolutely need uh some sort of vegetable source that won't rot, vegemite is awesome. Yes, but outside of that, it's a no for me.

Larry 24:59

Yeah. Sorry, Australian fans.

Scott McDermott 25:02

Yeah, hey, salty, yeah, nope, but that's okay. I was very much appreciative of the Vegemite sandwich. Um and then yeah, we chatted it up a little bit in the morning and I rocketed off on day two. I love to go downhill fast, so I tend to make up a bit of a gap at the start of day two, and then slowly catch people or pass through them. And Peter and Adam were a little bit ahead of me. Um, so I had to work to catch them and I caught up to Peter, and we were coming up beside each other, going through the gullies uh in Hawaii, and we were going up this bit of a climb. We were just chatting it up. And because you know, you're not drafting when you're going up a 12% grade. So we weren't worried about drafting, we were chatting a little bit, and he was like, Um, you know, we've only got a half Iron Man left. And I was like, Oh, that's so cool. But I was really committed that year to try and push to do as well as I could. Like I had this, I wonder if I could be top five. And Peter was 10th, and I, or 11th. I passed him, putting me in 10th, and I could see the crew van for nine more than more often, more often, more often. So I knew I was gaining a ninth, and I was just ripping along on a bit of a downhill in a light rain, and then I woke up in a hospital. Then, like, that's literally what my memory is chatting with Peter and then waking up in a hospital, going, what happened? Where's my bike? How did I get here? And my best friend Lyle was sitting at the in the chair at the end of the room, and he stood up and I had stuff sticking out of me, and I had metal staples holding my skull together, and everything hurt, and it was yeah. So there was a whole piece there that happened that I didn't know about until I saw the video footage much later.

Larry 26:49

Right.

Scott McDermott 26:49

But um yeah, we know kinetically and from Peter's story and stuff that my the I I moved over to go up on the footpath to avoid some traffic oncoming, uh, and my wheel slid out on the algae. So, because Adam said, Yeah, the algae was so bad he fell on his butt running to me. So my wheel just slid to the right, and I put my hand down and I sprained my wrist, I broke my arm in three pieces, I shattered my shoulder, I busted five ribs, and then I just started to ragdoll. And my helmet spun because my strap wasn't tight. I was one of those dummies, like, oh, I don't like it tight, it hurts. Tighten up your damn strap. Anyway, um, my helmet spun, and I at some point flipped over and I cracked my skull on the concrete and broke my skull open, exposing my brain, and I had split my face open, and I tore my MCL and busted a bunch of cartilage in my knee. It was a thing. And uh, Peter was right behind me.

Larry 27:46

Yeah, he he he describes it as when he walked up onto you, he thought he was walking up to a dead person.

Scott McDermott 27:52

Yeah, yeah, Peter and Adam both thought I was dead.

Larry 27:55

How bad it was.

Scott McDermott 27:56

Yeah, it was it was not good. Yeah, it's not good at all.

Larry 28:01

And at the time you were you were making this documentary. Yeah, you didn't know that the documentary was going to be about this. Well, what was the purpose of the documentary before all of this happened? What were you thinking? Wow.

Scott McDermott 28:15

So now you were you just asked unintentionally, I think a really deep question, which I think is why do we do these crazy hard races? Because they are yeah, ultraman's really freaking hard, Iron Man's really hard. And it's like, why do you do this? And for me, it came to the to the mental realization that I was broken inside. I still had the baggage from being an adult child of an alcoholic family and all that crap where I didn't believe I was good enough and I didn't believe I was worthy, and I was trying to prove to my family that I was good enough, and so I kept trying the next level hard thing to prove that I was good enough. So I did Iron Man and they didn't notice, and then I did that for a while, and then I made it on Team Canada, and I went to the world championships in Holland, and they didn't notice, and I went to the world championships in Australia, and they didn't notice. And then I was talking with an Australian, Peter Nick Mallet, uh, leading into the 2010 Iron Man race in Penticton. And I was sitting for lunch with my friend Cheryl, and Nick was there, and he's like, Oh my, you go and give Ultraman a try. And I was like, Shut up, those guys are nuts. And then he was like, Well, think about it. You could swim for 10k if you had a kayak feeding you water. Like, once you get into steady state swimming, you could swim for a long time. Swimming's not that it's like, yeah, okay. And he says, and you're really solid on the bike because I'd done 400 kilometer fundraisers for cancer, and I'd done all these crazy things, pretty strong cyclists. So I knew he was like, You could crush day one and day two on the bike. He's and I was like, Yeah, but a double marathon, come on, that's ridiculous. And he goes, But think about it. If you what's your how what's your marathon time? I'm like 328-ish. And he goes, Okay, so back it off to four hours, take a half hour break to change your shoes. You still got like seven hours to do a marathon, you can walk it and finish. And I was like, Oh, that's a really good idea. I signed up for Ultraman Canada and I did it in 2011. Yeah, and again, partly because I wanted the challenge and from my own enjoyment of the sport and the and and all that stuff, but partly to go, oh, my family will notice this. They'll see that and they didn't notice, they didn't care, like just didn't never even ask the question about it. Yeah, so then I went to the world championships. So my son was born in 2012. I took a year off, and then I went to the world championships in 2013, and I placed 21st in the world, and we went home for Christmas, and they never said a word. And after 10 days at home, my wife kind of got she got sick of it. She started to bring it up, and I was like, honey, just don't, just let it go. It they don't, don't just this is just awkward now. Don't bring it up because they never asked, they never said, Hey, were you at the world championship and placed 21st in the world? What was that like? Nobody ever asked that question, and so then I thought, well, I'll make a movie, and then they could see it, right? Do you know what I mean? Like, so this was all subconscious. This wasn't, I didn't understand this until after the crash, but we were making a film because I thought it'd be really cool to make a movie to show 515 to the world because nobody knows about it. It's it doesn't get the press, it doesn't get the news, it doesn't get the coverage, it's this quiet little race, there's no prize money. You get a crisp high five and a medal, like you know. So I thought it'd be really fun to make a short movie because I go to the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour every year. We watch all these great films, and I was like, we could make a film this good. So I hired my buddy Drew to make a short film, and then the plot changed, and he kept filming, and it shifted to be this regular kind of guy's attempt to try and be top five to can Scotty recover and make it back to the world championships after a near life-ending crash, and the movie became really something else. Yeah, so yeah.

Larry 32:09

And and can you tell me uh some more about that recovery? Because it was grueling. We you were on the podcast in uh first season, second season when the when they when you were first releasing this, and we we talked about it briefly, but um tell us again, like what was this recovery like for you? There was there were some really brutal times in there, and for people that are just catching up, the documentary um it is available on on YouTube. If you want to pause the podcast and go see it and come back and you or or watch it afterwards, uh, I'll have the the link in the show notes. Hello, listener. I love getting your feedback and suggestions for the podcast. Keep them coming at 515ultraman at gmail.com. For those that want to help me promote the show, I suggest that you tell a friend to listen to. Word of mouth is a great way for podcasts to get more listening. And if you don't mind publishing more feelings, a free way to support the show is by leaving a five-star rating and review on your podcast book. It's a chance to tell me what you love about the show, and it helps others discover it too. Finally, if you're so inclined, you can show your appreciation for my work by clicking the support link at the bottom of the show notes to go to my Buy Me a Coffee page. Thanks for all of your feedback and support. Now back to the show. Um,

The Kona Crash Story

Larry 33:42

but yeah, can you tell us a little bit more about that recovery?

Scott McDermott 33:45

Yeah, the movie's 82 minutes, so get a snack.

Larry 33:48

Um I got it up on the screen for the people on YouTube right now.

Scott McDermott 33:52

Yeah, there you go. Um yeah, that recovery period was really something else for a lot of reasons. One was being in the American medical system as a Canadian. Their big concern is do you have any medical insurance? Because this is expensive. Yeah. And so I was in the brain trauma unit at Queen's Medical in Oahu, and I had I had broken my skull open. I had hemorrhaging to the frontal lobes, and I had a brain injury called a diffuse axonal scarring, where the white matter and the gray matter of your brain get torn apart from the sheer force. Plus, I had the point impact at the base where my skull broke open, and that my arm was broken in half, and they didn't x-ray far up enough to notice that. They just weren't worried about it. They were so worried about my brain. My shoulder was shattered. Um, but they basically were like, just go home to Canada where the where they'll they'll fix all this. Um, so we did. The flight home was awful. And of course, my son was one and a half years old. So my wife was trying to take care of my son, and I'm bleeding from the head, and I couldn't think, I couldn't stay awake, I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't drive, like I couldn't lift. It was a mess. It was not cool. Um, I was slurring my words, I couldn't concentrate. Anyway, we got back to Canada and I went to my doctor, and I was like, my arm really hurts, and my shoulder's like hanging off, and so I got x-rays, and they're like, Holy crap, your arm is in three pieces and your shoulder shattered, you need surgery. So they put a piece of metal in, put another piece of metal in, rebuilt me, but they were really worried about the brain injury. So then I saw a neurologist and I had a CAT scan and an MRI, and they're just like, Holy crap, dude, how are you even speaking? Um, because you have one of the worst brain injuries there is. And I remember asking my doctor about it, and I it was what a month later, and I said, Hey, Dr. Godelli, how's my recovery going? She said, What do you mean? I said, Well, how compared to other people with this injury, how's my recovery? She says, I don't know. I have nothing compared to according to the textbooks, you should be in a vegetative state, unable to speak. So you're doing awesome. So that was a little shocking because I can't you kind of just think, Oh, it's fine. I just I'll be good. Let's give me my bike, let's go. You think you know big deal it? Yeah, but it was a big deal. I couldn't run without tripping. I had trouble walking. Um, I couldn't remember things, I couldn't stay awake for more than an hour and a half for the first while. Um it was bad. It was it was bad. And we were living in a rental duplex because we'd sold our house because we bought our dream property, we bought an acreage. We're like, hey, let's build a house, and then we went to Kona thinking, ah, we'll unpack when we get home. And I'm a wreck. And so there's my poor wife with a one and a half year old and a broken husband and a house full of boxes and a little rental duplex. It was a thing, and then there was a recession in Alberta, and I just about lost the gym and had to borrow money from my parents. It was a thing, it was and then rehab, and but I just went back to the only thing I know. I started training. I I hopped on a spin bike with my arm velcroed up, and I just turned them over a couple times. And then 30 days after my surgery, I'd asked my doctor.

Larry 37:02

Is that recommended? Like with a brain injury and pumping blood through your head to like after three weeks, yeah.

Scott McDermott 37:08

There's actually all the research that shows us one of the best things you can do once the healing process has begun.

Larry 37:13

Okay.

Scott McDermott 37:14

And the other thing that I did that was really good is I did hyperbaric oxygen therapy. I actually reached out to my friend Alan Evans, who owns hyperbaric chamber in red deer, because I had used that before to rehab from a sprained ankle before a race, because I'd sprained my ankle and I had a race in like three or four weeks. So hyperbaric oxygen, they put you in a pressurized cylinder, like for scuba divers, they pressurize it to one atmosphere, like 33 feet below sea level, and then you breathe pure oxygen for an hour, and your body heals faster.

Larry 37:46

Right.

Scott McDermott 37:47

And I reached out to Alan, actually from the hospital. I said, Hey, I I'm all broken and I got a brain injury. Will hyperbaric help? He's like, Oh, yes, it will. You get your butt in here as soon as you can. So I went five days a week for three months. Um it was and it, I really think it saved my brain in a lot of senses. So that helped. And then just easy cardio. I just started with easy cardio. And the doctor said, Yeah, once the metal plates have set in a month, you can go for a little run. So I did. I went it was one point, I think one point four kilometers, and it took me like 15 minutes or something, and and I I came home and I actually peed out black urine. It was anesthesia. My toilet smelled like a hospital room, it was gross. So the peristolysis, the jostling, the lymph nodes flushed out whatever was hanging on. Oh, yeah. And what was exciting about that was the next day I got my sense of taste back. Because the doctor's like, we don't know, you might never get your sense of taste back. Yeah, which I was not thrilled about.

Larry 38:53

Um, well, that's that's what happened to Lucy when Lucy had her injury. Um, she has not got her taste back.

Scott McDermott 39:00

Yeah.

Larry 39:00

Brain injury as well from biking.

Scott McDermott 39:03

Yeah. My uh my neurologist, Dr. Imokweide, one of the things he said to me that was I thought was profound, he said, a brain injury is like taking a laptop that is running a bunch of programs and smashing it on the ground as hard as you can. Pick it up, reboot it, see what it's see what still works. Yeah, and it's different every time, every person. It's so I was super lucky, but I was trying to run a business and I'm the marketing guy, and I I didn't have anything that you could hand to anyone. I just did it all, and now all of a sudden I'm not doing it all, and it's January, and we're a gym and we're doing nothing. Like, and so we just started to nosedive. So it was really hard financially, emotionally, mentally, physically. It was a long haul.

Larry 39:51

Yeah,

Recovery And Hyperbaric Oxygen

Larry 39:52

yeah. And and where did the the name the the warrior code come from?

Scott McDermott 39:58

Um okay, don't laugh, but it's from Rocky IV. There's a there's a song by Survivor uh in Rocky IV called In the Burning Heart. And in the middle of that song, it says, In the warrior's code, there's no surrender. Though the body says stop, the spirit cries never. Deep in our heart, a quiet ember knows it's you against you. It's the paradox that drives us on. And I just I love that song as a teenager going through hard times with all the crap that was going on with parents and bullies and all that junk. And so that just had always spoke to me. And the course that I went to that got me to quit my job was called Enlightened Warrior Training. Oh, and so just that whole warrior thing just has always resonated, and not warrior in a negative battle, kill people warrior, but warrior in the sense of like Pete Heg sceth uh hexeth way, yeah. Warrior in a being your best and shining your light as bright as you can and helping other people, warrior, yeah, right? Like not surrendering to challenges, leaning into the strain of challenge that warrior spoke to me. And so, yeah, that's where warrior code training came from. Living the warrior code, which is that thing where you don't quit when it's hard, right?

Larry 41:18

And and how did you end up like uh choosing that logo? And and where does that come from?

Scott McDermott 41:24

This is great. I actually had a local Canadian lady and I was like, Hey, can you design me a logo? I love Haida art and like the whole I like indigenous heritage that's done well. I love um can you design me a logo that's got like an eagle and like a yin-yang and and looks kind of Canadian-ish? And this was her first draft, and I was like, perfect. Yeah, we don't need to change anything. This is a piece of art. That's my logo, it's tattooed on my calf. Like it's yeah, she crushed it. It was amazing.

Larry 41:53

Yeah. Uh now you you've taken that film and you you've shown at some of the film festivals. I just I'll go back to that. On the, you know, you've got your your awards or showings there on the on the label. Um, what what has it meant to you to to share the movie and and and what does it mean for you now that it's still out there?

Scott McDermott 42:18

It's really neat in a lot of different senses. Um, yeah, like we got to go to New York Film Festival and we won audience favorite in the Central Alberta Film Festival. We would it was really neat. That was a fun journey, but of course, we launched the film in 2019, and within a minute it was 2020, and everything went, but whatever. Um one of the most powerful things there's a couple. Uh I we toured it around Alberta towards the end of 2020 when things were opening up a little-ish, and we were able to have limited seating in theaters, and so we would rent some local theaters and play the movie. And I got to take it up to my hometown in Fort St. John, BC, and my mom saw the film, and my brother saw the film, and my uncle and some of my cousins, and I kind of felt seen. But by then I had so that's the one thing, it was pretty neat to be seen and to inspire people. But

Warrior Code Meaning And Logo

Scott McDermott 43:15

the the second thing that's been really amazing about it is, and we talk about it in the film, in 2018, getting ready for the world champs to go for my comeback race. I was training in Arizona with my coach Michelle, and I was running down a mountain. Um and I was running with a couple of really elite athletes and trying to stay with them kind of thing, including Michelle, and the demons in my head were beacon off. The I call it Ibchick, the itty bitty shitty committee. You're such a loser, everybody hates you. What are you doing? You can't run with these people, they don't even want you here. Shut your mouth. Nobody wants you to even talk. What are you doing? I had horrible voices in my head, were unkind, which I inherited from childhood. You're Loser, nobody likes you, everybody hates you. Shut up. That was rolling through my head, and I tripped and I fell. And I sprained six fingers, I gloved one, pulled one back, they had to sew it back on to the bone, like it was a whole thing. So all of a sudden, I'm in the hospital and they're pulling my fingers back together. And I'm sitting there going, What is going on? How come every time you're about to succeed at something, you something dumb happens? Like, what is going on here? And then I found out about a fellow named Ingejo Klausen, who's um he's out of he lives in Germany in Kiefersfelden. He's from I can't remember if he's Norwegian or anyway, he practices this traditional healing method called vegetative training, which um Anaki de la Perra, who won Ultraman Worlds, had done. And I was talking to Anaki at one point and go, Hey, I know you had some stuff you went through and you healed. He's oh, you gotta call Inga. Okay. So I actually flew to Germany and spent a week learning his techniques, which is basically it's kind of like the North American thing TRE trauma release experience, but he hates it when you say that because there's as much different in a sense. But it's it's breathing techniques where you access trauma, memories, childhood junk, trauma, all that crap.

Larry 45:21

Right.

Scott McDermott 45:21

And some people do that with with drugs.

Larry 45:26

Yeah, yeah. But that's not that's not your style, so you're going breathing.

Scott McDermott 45:31

That's right. I just breathing. And he processed me through a lot of things. For one, I was adopted, but I spent six months in a hospital from birth to six months because I had a hiatus hernia, so I was defective, so they wouldn't adopt me out. So I spent six months in a hospital, and he started teaching me about abandonment theory and how your brain wires that way and that echoes. And all of a sudden, leading into the 2018 World Championships, I realized that one of the reasons I was doing ultra-endurance stuff was to prove that I was good enough. And every time I got close to being awesome, my self-identity as a loser short-circuited and was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're not awesome. You have to stop. And it would stop me, and sometimes destructively. And so I learned about that and learned to just be okay with the process and to just truly love the sport for the sport without trying to prove anything to anybody. And it's been this huge weight lifted off of me. And now I race because it's fun and I enjoy it and it's challenging. I want to take myself out for a test drive versus trying to prove to my family I'm good enough. I don't really care if they think I'm good enough. I am good enough. Thank you very much. So that was a huge journey. And so I love sharing the film because that dialogue is in there and that growth and that journey is in there. And I, if maybe somebody sees that and goes, wait a minute, I'm good enough. Hallelujah. Right? It's worthy.

Trauma Work And Feeling Good Enough

Larry 47:09

Um how is it you you you you've you've come over that hurdle, you you you're training again, and and this is in the film as well. But how is it that you're able to get back on a bike, think about going at speed and racing that same course again? Like, where did you get any help on that mental journey?

Scott McDermott 47:35

No, I was lucky in a sense, I guess, or personality lucky or whatever. But first of all, I don't remember the crash, which I think is a gift. My hard drive stopped recording and it didn't hang on to that. So I don't have flashbacks of that memory, which is is good. Yeah, but uh, I will say when I'm ripping down a mountainside at 80 kilometers an hour, there's a part of my brain goes, um, you know, and I'm like, shut up. I'm fine. Just I got it, I got this. So I'm aware of it. Yeah, and especially with having a son, because it it never occurred to me that I could die doing trathlon. It occurred to me that I could get some road rash and maybe sprain something or whatever, but it never occurred to me that I could die. So now I don't chase 90 kilometers an hour downhill. I'm fine with 70. So it has shifted a bit, but that's one of the beautiful things about my childhood that it took me a long time to see is that all of those challenges, and I was bullied, and you know, blah blah blah. There's all kinds of stories of childhood. They made me really strong. I don't quit, I just don't quit, and that's just kind of been my developed personality, and it's part of 515. You gotta be the person who doesn't quit.

Larry 48:57

Yeah, because it's hard. It's a mental, it's a mental game as much as a physical game.

Scott McDermott 49:01

It is, you can do all the training you want, but when you get there on the race course, it's just you. And I love Ultraman and 515 because you you got a crew, your buddies are there, and so I love that whole thing where it's like, well, I'm gonna take myself out for a test drive, you know. Let's go, let's see what happens, and then we'll just correct and continue as it unfolds with whatever happens, and there's a richness to that. Like, even the world champs I just did in 2025, like I had a brand new crew, Craig and Chuck, because my my previous crew, they've been through the emotional ringer. They're like, Yeah, we don't want to do this anymore, it's too hard. So I have a brand new fresh crew, super great guys, Chuck and Craig. They're amazing people, just absolutely amazing people. And I remember before the race, they're like, because they're all in the mindset of like, what if how do we do this? And I was like, guys, you're amazing people, just be amazing. You'll just do the right thing in the moment, stuff will come up, and we'll just handle it. And they did, they were amazing, they won the Kakua Award. Like, they're such good guys, and we had so much fun, and it was so hard, and it was all those things, yeah.

Larry 50:08

And and you're planning on going back again for this year's race as well, right? So, how's the training going for that?

Scott McDermott 50:14

Uh, it's it's hit and miss, it's good. Um, I have been accepted to go back in 2026 for the 40th anniversary of the worlds, which is kind of cool. Um, it's going well. Training camp in Arizona in February was excellent. Um, just feeling really strong and really good. Um, you know, it it's never enough. I always want to be faster, always want to be stronger, always want to be leaner. Of course. It it's a process, um, but it's it's going quite well. We're still early season, we're 35 weeks out, so it's still ongoing and always want to be stronger, fitter, faster, all those things, but I'm working on it. It's coming long. I'm really excited to go back. It'll be Chuck and Craig's second time crewing, so they'll be more comfortable, I think, in that sense. But they've signed on to be there again. And excellent. I'm stoked to see what happens. Like I'm 57 this year, so it's different.

Larry 51:09

And and do you share this with your your own athletes? Do you tell them about what you're doing for your training and how you're feeling and when you're down, and you know, when you miss a when you miss a day, and do you how how's that all go for you?

Scott McDermott 51:22

Yeah, all the time. Like I I really lead by example. I'm not fit because I read about it in a book, I'm fit because I was fat and I read it about it, and I lived it, and I've gone through it, and I've broken and I've recovered. And I mean, the number of times I've had doctors say, Well, you're not gonna race again, you want to bet, right? Like the human body is so capable of recovering and growing, and and people don't give it enough credit. And so I like to lead by example, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So I totally share that. I share the lows and I share the the appropriateness of it. Like I felt Tuesday night like I was getting a bit of a cold. I did my bike ride on Tuesday, and and my lungs felt like they were raw and kind of burning. And then that night I was starting coughing fits and I felt a little gross. And so, what I've taught my my people that I teach is like you have green days, yellow days, and red days. So green day, everything's good, good amount of sleep, good water, good nutrition, everything's feeling great. Good. Crush your training, push yourself as hard as you can. Yellow day. Well, I didn't get a great sleep, I didn't get all my food in, I'm a little dehydrated, you know, back off a little. Red day, I'm getting a cold, I'm stressed to the limits, a hardly then don't just go for a walk. Right. And I show them that. So yesterday I had a two-hour suffer fest and I just canceled it. I'm like, no, my body's fighting a cold. Yeah, it's not your body doesn't see if you're fighting a cold, you do a two-hour suffer fest. Your body doesn't go, wow, he's really dedicated. Your body sees that as a threat.

Larry 52:54

Yes.

Scott McDermott 52:56

So there's a time to just back off.

Larry 52:58

Yeah. How how often does your watch match what you feel in your green yellow room is telling you, hey, today's a good workout day?

Scott McDermott 53:07

Yeah, we call her Mrs. G. She's a jerk. You're overreaching. Yeah, you I do a training set and you go 72 hours recovery. Yeah, okay. Never mind. Yeah, she told me not to train every day of Ultraman last year. Woke up in the morning. First thing my watch says, you need to take a recovery day. Um, yeah.

Larry 53:34

So

Returning To Worlds And Unfinished Business

Larry 53:35

you're going back again this year and you raced last year. What's you you didn't do those back-to-back races previously. What's what's taking you back right away this year?

Scott McDermott 53:45

I've never done a back-to-back Iron Man. I've always had a year off in between because it's physically and financially draining. But the the big difference in 2025, first of all, there were parts of the bike course I had forgotten how hard they were. So I want to train a little harder for some of those hills.

Larry 54:02

I think forgotten for good reason.

Scott McDermott 54:04

Yeah. Oh, I think survival instinct blocked that crap out.

Larry 54:08

Yeah.

Scott McDermott 54:09

Um, because there's so not the crash, the uphills, right? The the 19% grade sections that are just soul destroying, gear snapping, life questioning. But uh the biggest change was on the double marathon, started out on day three, and it's funny. I think people think, oh, it's easy, you're all fit and trained. Yeah, no, I wake up in the morning feeling like I'm gonna throw up and I try to get some food in me. My body doesn't want any, but I get it in there anyway, and I walk to the start line and I feel like I'm gonna puke and everything's sore. Haven't started yet, and everything's sore, and just start running. And I did a 59 minute 10k, great, right on target. Did a two-hour-ish half, great, right on target, and then the sun comes up, now it's hot, and at about 26, 27k in, I just started walking, and it was just a death march, and I didn't want to try harder. I just was like empty, and I'm sitting there going, what is going on? And got to the first marathon, but it was like five and a half hours, which is ridiculous. And just I just instead of leaning into the challenge, I was leaning back, and I I just couldn't figure that out. I was actually negotiating in my mind when can I just walk and still finish?

Larry 55:34

Right.

Scott McDermott 55:35

That's not that's not my what's what are you doing? That's not my mindset. So as much as it was powerful, because we bumped into um Howarton and uh uh Gary Wang were at the third half marathon as volunteers. Oh yeah, and he was like, dude, you gotta get going, or you're not gonna make cutoff. And so the last two and a half hours of the double marathon were horrible, they were just unbridled suffering on max, relentless, or you're not gonna make it. And it's the terrible place to be. And I sat with that for a couple days and go, like, mentally, Scotty, where did you go? What happened? That's not that's not warrior attitude, that's not you, that's not that where did you go? Yeah, and so that's unfinished business. So I want to go back this year and and lean into the challenge, right? Especially on the do on day three. Day one, day two, I leaned into it, great. But day three, I leaned, I I backed off, and I'm I don't want to back off this year. I wanna, yeah. I don't want to be like, oh, he finished, but he should just retire. That's not how I want that to feel at the end, right? Right.

Book Goals Friendships And What’s Next

Larry 56:53

So after after the world championship this year, do you have any other impossible goals on your horizon? Do you have any other big things you're you're aiming for these days?

Scott McDermott 57:02

There's a lot of impossible things. Um, I've been writing a book about the experience, and it's been stalled because I'm so busy to finish it. But I I got the raw editing up to about 120,000 words, and I'm still going through it to to to self-edit before I hand it to the editor. And it's been stalled for a while because I'm trying to make a living, which is taking up all my time, taking a living and training. So um, I'd like to finish that task and get that book done because there's so many stories that I'd love to tell that go way deeper than the movie was able to. Um, you know, one of the big stories too was like when I was recovering in 2016, I started to realize how big of an impact it had on Peter and Lyle. I didn't fully understand that. And then I would post some little like, hey, I rode the spin bike for 30 minutes, and Peter just lit up. And and I was I went for a little run, and Peter would just comment, oh my gosh. And then I called him a couple times, and I realized that he Peter had the 515 Ultraman in Australia coming up, and he couldn't get on his bike, right? He would get his kit on and he would go outside and he would lose it and walk back in the house and put it on the trainer. Yeah, like it was horrifyingly traumatic for those guys, and so I realized that the more I recovered, the more they recovered too. So I knew that I was getting back to the worlds in 2018 for more than just me. Yeah, I wanted to bring all those guys with me and heal, and that was a big deal. That was a big piece. Then Peter and Adam and I have become just really great friends. We send I send them jerseys, we send Christmas presents back and forth once in a while. It's you know, I can't wait to go back to Australia and and visit the boys, and you know, but Peter and Adam made it out for 2018 for for my first race back, and we just had the biggest hug because I hadn't seen Peter since the crash, and so he's like my brother. You know, it's just yeah, yeah, there's a lot to it. So, what's coming up this year? Yeah, I've got a 70.3, and I'm gonna do an ultra marathon, and um, obviously the world champs, and so I've actually been hired to go to Malaysia for two weeks to be uh a speaker and a course um facilitator for a couple weeks at Warrior Camp, which was the one I did in 2000 that changed my life. So that's pretty exciting.

Final Thanks And Links]

Larry 59:27

Excellent. Yeah, that is exciting. Well, uh, thanks a lot for for joining me today and and sharing these experiences with the audience. And again, I'll have all of the links in the show notes. People can check out the Warrior Code film. Uh, it's on YouTube, and uh check out your Scottyfit.com if they want to get in touch with you, I assume.

Scott McDermott 59:50

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, I'm I've got to update that website again. It's okay, but it needs to be better. I'm working on that too. There's so many things.

Larry 59:57

So many, so many. All right. Well, thanks again, Scott. Uh really appreciate it. And uh good luck at the World Championships and uh keeping uh getting that book done.

Scott McDermott 1:00:06

Yeah, thank you very much, Larry. It's been a been a pleasure. Thanks for everything that you do for the 515 world. It's awesome. Thank you.