Staying Fast and Fit after 50

Brad Cooper

Welcome to the latest episode of the Catalyst Health and Wellness Coaching Podcast. My name is Brad Cooper, and I’ll be your host. And today’s guest is Brad Barton. He is the first person over the age of 50 in history to run under four minutes and 20 seconds in the mile. Now, why does this matter to us? Whether you’re a health and wellness coach, you’re thinking about it, you’re a wellness program manager, or you’re just somebody that wants to make the most out of your life. And that’s, what’s drawn you to this. Why does, why does somebody running under four 20 in the mile matter to us? I think too often we put significant limits on ourselves. We hear things like, Oh, you’re over 40 now or 50 or 60 or 70 or whatever it is. So you should probably dial it back. Don’t push yourself too hard. You, you know, you’re getting older. You should probably be a little more careful. I mean, we even hear this with very well-intentioned, but uninformed doctors who frankly undercut their patients by lowering the expectations. What if, what if instead we elevated expectations? What if we look to people like Brad Barton and said, okay, I don’t have a desire to run that fast in the mile, but what message can I take from him? What can I take from his journey as I pursue things, whatever my thing is in my own life. What if we look to raise the bar in our own life, instead of falling back on age or whatever else as an excuse. And that’s why we interviewed Mr. Barton. And it’s why we back in June, we interviewed 75 year old Hawaii Ironman triathlete, Ken Hola. Now our goal isn’t necessarily to do what these gentlemen do or to pull people like Chrissie Wellington, the four time Ironman world champion and say, Oh, I want to be like Chrissie. That’s not the goal. The goal is to look at them and say, okay, he did this. She did that. That is really cool. So, you know what? Maybe I’m underestimating myself. What’s a goal I’ve used age or whatever else as an excuse. And what am I going to do about it now that the bar has been reset is a challenging question, but I’m hoping it’s one you’re willing to take on. And we have plenty of resources at CatalystCoachingInstitute.com. If you’re looking at the coaching certification, if that’s something that you’ve been pondering for awhile, our last certification of the year of the fast track is in Colorado, November 9th and 10th, obviously a distance learning you can do at any point, but if you’re wanting to come to that fast track weekend, there’s one left this year. So take advantage of that. And of course, if you have any questions at all, you’re thinking this, how does this fit with your career? You’re a clinician. You’re wondering how it integrates, or you’re looking at a second career. And how could you do this on the side or as a focus area? That’s what we’re here for. Reach out to us, email is Results@CatalystCoachingInstitute.com. We’re here for you. Happy to chat, really enjoy that process. Now on with the latest episode of the Catalyst Health, and Wellness Coaching Podcast. All right, Brad, good to have you here. Let’s jump right in 4:19 mile. First time in history history anyone’s run that fast at any age was in 1865 and a little homework here. You’re 50 you’re 53 years old. You just broke that you shattered the previous 50 plus mile record. What makes you so different from every other person to ever walk on the planet over 50?

Brad Barton

Well, let me just, uh, make a correction. What you just said that word you said is, um, you did this and I want to be very clear that it wasn’t me, that did this. It was my coach and I, um, my I’m going to maybe talk about Coach Hislop and how that applies to those that are listening. I need a coach. Maybe some people can get away without doing this, but I needed a coach and, and I have a, I have a speech coach. I’ve got, um, a life coach. I’ve got a business coach and I’ve got an athletic coach. Coaching is a huge part of my life, this mentorship, and, um, just real quick Chick Hislop was the head Olympic distance coach in 1996, when the Olympic games last came to America and that he was voted by his peers as the head distance coach, because he’s the smartest guy in the room from a platform of little, a Weber state. You know, a state university and this guy literally changed the track and field world by reinventing the 3000 meter steeple chase. And he’s, he’s that good? He, it wasn’t a popularity contest. Um, this guy is when I walk into a stadium and the coaches see who I’m with their athletes run up to me and say, can I get his autograph? Because their coaches have said, there’s a living legend just walked into the stadium. Yeah. You ought to go meet him. And he’s so intimidating that they’re asking me, do you think it’s okay if my, if your coach gave me his autograph, you know, so this is really a story about this famous coach with this has been athlete. So I want to be clear, this is coach and I’s project.

Brad Cooper

That’s awesome. And then you probably could expand it from there. You know, family members, support crew, all the other folks that play a role in the things that we try to do. So great reminder, love it. So coming back to it, outside of the coaching, which is obviously outstanding, why, why are you different? What’s allowed you to run this time that maybe 10 people have run sub 4:30 and you’ve just broken 4:20, over 50 years old. Talk us through. What, what do you think makes you different?

Brad Barton

That’s a really good question. I’m not sure that I’m qualified to answer. Yeah, I’ve been, I’ve been at this for some time. Um, I was an All-American steeplechaser back in a different lifetime. I was a good miler, but, but a very good steeple chaser. And, um, and then took, you know, it was 19 years. I didn’t step on a track. And then I was at a, I was at a high school, um, meet, um, back in 2009. And it was a big meet at Simplot games of Pocatello, the largest indoor track meet, I think probably in the world. And, um, they had a coaches mile and I’m looking at these bald, half bald, you know, gray-haired guys up there on this track and I’m thinking that’s so stupid. You know, past glory, what are they trying to capture here and halfway through the race I’m, I’m just still thinking that’s too weird. And then, um, but, but I could do that and then two laps to go and think of why I ought to do that. And when the gun sounded and they’re finished and I, I just, I felt like it was something I had to do. It was, I was called to do this Brad, and I don’t know how it sounds so, so sweet. The first time I walked in to buy a pair of track spikes, um, I had to apologize. I felt like I needed to apologize to the clerk. They they’re like, well, tell me about your son that you’re buying these for, I was like actually these are my spikes, but, uh, I set two world records with those track spikes. And, uh, anyway, it just felt like it was supposed to happen. I had to get on the track with this intense curiosity. Could I break a five minute mile at 40, 44? And then it, you know, the story goes from there, injury, failure, injury, failure, injury failure, and then more injury and more failure. And then lightning strikes. And we break a, a world record in the mile I ran 4:16 and then back to injuries. So it’s really a story of failure, I think, having a coach. And, um, and then obviously there’s some, some genetics involved in it. I’m certainly not, I ran as hard as I could when I was a kid against the best in the world. And, um, you know, I was, I was, uh, I was really good back in college, but I certainly wasn’t, uh, you know, I never did make the team, the Olympic team. I was, I had a shot at doing it, but anyway, there, I just am feeling really fortunate that I, that I have this, uh, genetics, that longevity, and, and then there’s some other things we can get into that I think, uh, that are part of it as well.

Brad Cooper

Yeah. Let’s go and run down that path. We were chatting a little bit offline about some of the sports psychology stuff what’s happening between the ears. What comes to mind with that you could share with the group?

Brad Barton

You’ve heard the term, use it or lose it. And I really think there’s a ton of truth in that, and not however, but, and we can also get some of that back. There’s a book and I, can’t remember the barefoot running guy, his name escaped me born to run. Yeah, the born to run guy. He, his latest book talks about this notion of the, use it or lose it and how, when we don’t use those pathways, cause we’re not bouldering. For instance, I used to be able to run up and down stairs super fast. I, um, I can fly across rocks, you know, and then I I’m in my, in my forties. I can’t do that so much anymore. Well, I need to, I need to start running trails again. And all of a sudden I got my feet back under me. I’m running up and down steps again. Uh, I remember, um, years, years for years, I’d go try to hurdle a fence and it just was horrible. I thought every time I think, I used to do that. I was a steeplechaser, a really good one. And I used to do that. You know, that’s, that’s gone well, it’s not, it took a long, it took some work, but I’m, I’m not hurdling like I was when I was a kiddo. But tell you what I’m hurdling pretty well. I hurdle as well as most college kids do now. I remember the first time that coach had me do a 65 second 400 meter in a workout. And I got done hands on knees, death grip. I look up a coach and I was a bit of despair because we’ve got to break, we’ve got to break 4:20 to want to break this a 45 record. And I said, coach, how am I going to do this? I got to put four of those together. And he just, he just laughed at me and he says, relax. We got a lot of time. We will get there. And sure enough, you know, I run 4:16 coach and I ran 4:16. Um, it comes back, I think of a message. You can get that stuff back if you just stay after it and work after it and just keep going.

Brad Cooper

Well and I think that’s a message that society as a whole is giving us is, Hey, you’re, you’re over 50. You need to be slowing down. You need to be relaxing. You know what what’s, what’s the problem. And we’re starting to see some incredible performances of people in their 50, 60 seventies, eighties. We just saw a guy 90 years old running a 90 second quarter. This is outstanding. Why do you think we’re seeing more of that now than we were even five, 10 years ago?

Brad Barton

Well, obviously there’s some medical things going on. Nutrition is better than it ever has been in some ways, um, for those of us that choose to eat, eat well. Um, for me, for instance, I had a bucket handle, lateral meniscus tear in my left knee. That’s a function of the medical profession. And so, um, and then we’ve got better training methods and, um, and I think more leisure time, um, to be able to, to, to pursue things like this, you know, where, uh, when in human history someone this at this age, trained with a, uh, a world-class type coach, right. And try to reinvent what it means to train in a world-class. So that was part of it too, in, in 2013 is when we broke our first indoor world record. And then I tried set American records in them in the 3000 meter steeplechase, but I couldn’t get that, that 9:16 a world record mark. I said, coach, I feel called to break this record, but I can’t run any harder. We gotta, we gotta double our mileage. I broke my foot doing it well, in the end of the day, he said, he said, I got to reinvent this thing. I’ve been trying to train you like you were a college kid. Like I did back in the day and it’s wrong all the 38 years of coaching. Some of those principles that we know work don’t work anymore for someone your age. And then he says, you’re the Guinea pig. I am the, I am the, the, the, the tactician we’re going to, you and I are going to reinvent what it means to train at a world-class level. And we’re going to train like no one ever has at this age, and we are going to do things that have never been done. And that became really important. Then this is bleeding into another concept, but let’s think about this. He said, we’re going to remember what we’re doing. So two things in that conversation, we’re going to, we’re going to reinvent what it means to train at a world-class level. And we train quite a bit different than we did back in the day. And he also said, we’re going to remember what we’re doing here. And I said, well, coach, what, what are we doing? He says, we’re doing stuff that’s never been done. I was like, that’s right. And it became just a, uh, that became the rally cry and in a middle, uh, ugly middle of a, you know, a five by a thousand meter workout. He’s yelling at me, not only my time but he’s saying remember, and that became something important. That was always on our mind. We are here for a specific reason. We’ve got some specific well-defined goals and we’re doing all this hard stuff in order to, to, to, to get this done. And we’re doing things that have never been done and whatever, whatever, um, application that is the story. Isn’t about me, about Brad Barton and coach Hislop. This is our, this is all of our story. Whoever’s listening to this. This is our story with my details, right? So what are you doing that, that you’ve never done before? What hard thing are you approaching that it has got you running a little scared? What if you got this that’s that you and you wake up in the morning, you’re a little afraid of your day. Cause you’re, it’s so hard. What you’re attempting is so hard that you’re a little afraid of it. That’s one thing that coach taught me. If you’re not a little scared about your, your life, because you’re, you’re doing something that hard, then, then you aren’t really living. And, uh, I just love that concept. And for me, it’s certainly been true.

Brad Cooper

That’s a great point. If you think of, research on flow, you’ve got to be on that upper echelon of where those match up. And that’s exactly what you’re describing there. So awesome reminders in terms of motivation as a whole, plenty of people make goals. They, you know, they’re out at the same track meet you were at and they see people and they’re like, I don’t think I could do that. Maybe I’ll do that. I think I want to do that. And then a week or two into the journey, you’re like, you know what, I’m good. What tips, you you’ve stayed the course and you’ve reaped the benefits. What tips, what tips would you share with folks that struggle with maintaining that motivation beyond the first 30 days?

Brad Barton

Yeah, it’s a, it’s really a great question, Brad. Um, and I, and I, there’s a couple of answers that I have here for us. The, the one thing is a well-defined, why are we doing this? And then remembering that this is, this has been this latest journey to the, to the starting line at, at music city distance carnival in Nashville, a couple of two and a half weeks ago, where I ran this sub 4:20 mile. It’s four years of toil. I’ve been world record fit four separate times and have gone down in flames every single time, except for this latest, uh, training cycle. And I, I gotta tell ya, I’ve, I’ve suffered, um, physically a lot mentally a lot. And I think the worst part of it is just the discouragement and the doubt that’s what’s got me the worst is the doubt. It’s like all of this work, I hit a biker and I got a head injury, all this work, and then I break my foot again, all this work. And then I ripped my quad muscle doing a nothing 3000 meter workout, all of this work. And then I hit my head again, I take a wicked fall, all this work. And then I shatter my toe. I this early spring, late, late winter, I was, I was one of those guys after all of this journey, I was really discouraged that I call coach and I said coach, I’m not feeling it anymore. I just don’t know for sure whether this is worth it. And there was a long pause and he says, he said, what is your goal? And I said, I don’t know. He says, that’s the problem. And just hit me. And then he said, Brad, take a couple of weeks. And because every run was, I was forcing it and it was a grind for me. And that’s where a lot of people get. And he says, just don’t answer quick, just let it stay in your mind and let’s figure out what your goal is. And after a couple of weeks, I remember that the, the grind was gone. All of a sudden there was, there was flow again. I was excited about it cause I decided what I was going to be. I was going to break, so the affirmation is coach. I am the fastest, M 50 masters, 50 to 54 year old, I’m the fastest, M 50 miler in human history. And he’d just smile. And I’d say it out loud. And he said that’s right. In the middle when you do all these intervals, right? You get six of them to get to the one that really is going to hurt. And just before I step on the starting line to do the interval, that all the other intervals are about to get you to the one that’s going to do the most good. I just turned to my coaches before he says, go. And I say, coach, I’m the fastest M50 miler in human history. And you just that’s right in a boom. We go in, uh, I figured out what my, why was in this tiny cycle. And that, that made the difference. So that’s, that’s one answer. The other answer is, is happened earlier. He’s coach told me, he says, Brad, you’re going to have to do a thousand hard things in order to break, get in a position to break world records. So you can either make a thousand decisions, could do those hard things, or you can have a decided heart. You could make one colossal excruciating decision to do all of those thousand hard things. And then the work level, the workload is cut in half because it’s the deciding, that’s the hard part, right? It’s the beginning of it. And so I made a decision to do a thousand hard things, and then Brad, all I had to do, then you just go do a thousand hard things instead of making the decision all of those times.

Brad Cooper

I love it. I love it. One of the things we’ve talked about in here before is the difference between what I do and who I am. And that’s exactly what you’re describing there, Brad, you’re talking about, you can either make a decision on a daily basis, an hourly basis of, okay, this is on my list. Do I want to do it or do I not? Or you can decide this is who I am. And as a result of that, the rest of the decisions have made themselves. So I love it. Great, great way to set that up. Talk to us, one of the things that continues to grow across athletics as a whole, but especially in the masters athletic realm is the performance enhancing drugs. Unfortunately it’s running rampant, masters sports USATF is trying to get their arms around it. I’m more involved with triathlons. They’re trying to get their arms around it. Talk to us about that. What, what are your feelings about it? What, what is happening out there is, is this simply going to become a race of who has the best doctors over the next 20 years when we’re talking about 50, 60, 70 year olds racing? Or are there some real solutions that you’ve seen that matter?

Brad Barton

Yeah, I, yeah. I don’t know. This is a great, another really great question, Brad. It, um, I think part of the answer is more funding for enforcement to do testing. They, I, I have yet to be tested and I think that’s, that is just, I think that’s unacceptable. My feeling is, if you’re going to break a record, even a master’s record, you ought to be tested.

Brad Cooper

I think when you enter the meet you gotta be tested.

Brad Barton

Well, there you go. Yep. Let’s set the bar. Let’s set the bar a lot, a lot higher than it is. There’s a couple of performances that I questioned, you know, you got to work awfully hard, but I don’t know. I sure, sure. Yeah. It’s a really tough area. And I think that’s, I think that’s really the, the only answer is to, to test more.

Brad Cooper

So let’s come back to life stuff. You, you said you took, I think a 19 year break. So were you 41 when you jumped back?

Brad Barton

It was from about 1994 until, you know, whatever years that is until, uh, 2009 when I stepped back on the track.

Brad Cooper

Okay. So about a 15 year break. When you think about balancing your training at the age of 45, 50 53. Talk to us about that, because again, our audience is current and future health and wellness coaches generally. And so they’re, they’re working with some athletes, but a lot of times they’re working with folks that are trying something new in their life around sleep or stress or a new pursuit at work or whatever it might be. But for you specifically with the running, have you, how do you balance it all? Because that’s a new commitment. That’s a, an additional that a lot of people are not trying to fit in there 10 hours a week or whatever it might be of training. How have you dealt with that and how have you dealt with it differently in your forties then now in your fifties as the phase of life changes?

Brad Barton

I’ve been many years doing what I do for my profession. I’m a professional speaker, a leadership and inspirational speaker. I do some leadership training, but most of it’s platform stuff. So I know what it’s like to climb a flight of stairs as a, you know, I wasn’t terribly sedentary, but I wasn’t training really. And I’d run several times a month when I came back to, to this project and really started training again, really my whole life changed, everything changed. I call it an energy wake, a vortex that because I’m, I’m headed towards this hard thing and I’m living in that, in that wonderful creative, um, energized space, everything else gets sucked along with it. You know, I’m, I’m growing spiritually again. Um, I’m a better dad. I’m a better husband, better. I’m a better professional speaker. I’m just a better person because I’m, instead of just a human being, I’m a, again, I’m a green growing human becoming. That’s, uh, a big part of it. So I’m more, I guess I’m efficient in my office. I can just fit more in my day because I’m on, on this journey. And so even though it does take a little bit of time out of my profession, it gives so much back, you know, just being fed. I was having lunch with, uh, with a new friend of mine, um, that is, uh, uh, the, I live in the state of Utah. He’s a Utah state legislator. And, uh, he, he came back to, to running and he says, I have more energy. And I’m just more excited about life. He started to describe it and his voice started getting animated. You got it, man. This is awesome that it does take some time, but I think it is a net gain. It gives us more than it takes.

Brad Cooper

That’s a great point. Yeah. It’s that purposeful living? No question about it. So what’s next for you? Let me take a step back in terms of range. Now that you’ve dialed in the mile, are you wanting to go see, well, I wonder if I could extend this out to the marathon or out to a 10 or a 5,000 or, or are you, you’re a miler, you’re staying a miler and that is all in, or is there something completely unrelated to athletics that you now have this passion, this purposefulness that you’re focusing in toward?

Brad Barton

Right. I wrote a, I wrote a neat book years ago and I’m embarrassed, to say it was 2006 that I wrote this book called beyond illusions. I use magic sometimes from the stage. And so this is beyond illusions in this metaphor of illusion and so forth. It was hard to write the book. And so I I’m back, I’m back in the saddle where my editor and I are writing another book called back on track and I’m really excited to do, to do that. So that’s another next best for me there. We do have a little bit of a range though. I’ve I think the 800 is a little too quick, 5,000. I think it’s just a little, I think that’s a bridge too far for my genetics. My, my, my body breaks down after running too many miles so.

Brad Cooper

Aren’t you curious though, aren’t you sitting there thinking, you know what, maybe I could take two years and just see or not at all?

Brad Barton

Yeah. Yes. I am curious. Yeah. Maybe the 5,000.

Brad Cooper

Yeah. I’m one of those guys that likes the variety. Like last year I was trying to go for 4:50, 2:50 for the mile and the marathon. So I liked the extremes, but I don’t have your speed. So I have to pick the variety because I don’t have your speed.

Brad Barton

Brad, 4:50. We’re about, we’re about the same age, right? Within just a few days.

Brad Cooper

We’re exactly the same age. Yeah, absolutely. So you’re, you’re quite a bit faster, my friend, but I might be able to get you on the marathon. We’ll we’ll have that to be determined. Yeah. That, I think that’s a reasonable goal for me. But anyway, this is about you buddy athletic stuff aside let’s, let’s talk a little bit to those in the audience who they just want to live, their healthiest, most vibrant life they can. And, and you’ve kind of talked about that. I loved what you said in there about when you had that purpose, when you were dialed in, then everything else was better. You’re a better dad. You’re a better husband. You’re a better speaker. You’re a better writer.

Brad Barton

I’m sleeping better. I’m eating better.

Brad Cooper

Everything can prove when you have purpose. So what advice would you have for the person who they have no interest in running a mile, a marathon or anything in between, but they do want to live that healthy, vibrant life. What advice would you give to them that would not involve running shoes?

Brad Barton

Yeah. The answer maybe is what are you doing that you’ve never done before. And what are you doing that is really hard. It’s stretching you think back to the most fulfilling, rewarding times of your life when you look back. So when, was I the most happy? And that’s a message of my, the book that I’m writing this back on track is let’s get back. It’s not when we’ve arrived. There’s some, it’s really neat to go, do you arrive? But most of us spend most of our life on the plateau don’t we we’re in our comfort zone. But, but when you think back on the happiest, most fulfilling times in our lives, isn’t it on the steep part of that learning curve. Let’s get back to that, whatever it is, get back on, uh, in a, in a, in a spot where you’re a little off balance and you’re having a scrape and, and, um, and, and really, um, answer a call or answer a challenge, whatever that is, go get uncomfortable again.

Brad Cooper

You nailed it. That’s huge. That’s great advice. I want to throw out the billboard question too. You get to design a billboard. It’s going to be seen on the busiest street in the country. What’s it say Brad? Any message you want to share?

Brad Barton

You can do more. You can do more. Yeah.

Brad Cooper

Yeah. Better than yesterday. Love it. Love it.

Brad Barton

And the power of our, maybe this is I’m ranting again, but the power of our mind, um, in every cross country, high school cross country, race or college cross country, there’s the first mile. It’s doubt. In the second mile, it gets discouraged in a moment. And then in the last mile is, I mean, it’s, it’s despair, you know, cause it’s so bad. And my coach in high school, he said that I was really negative in my life. I had some negative, early experiences and I said, well, coach, I can’t stop those negative thoughts. He told me this. He says, you cannot, you’re not responsible for the negative thoughts that enter the stage of your mind, but you are responsible for the ones that, that you allow to remain and perform on that stage. And so I call this replacement therapy with my high school athletes, doubt let’s replace that. We can’t stop the doubt, but we can replace it with faith. So faith in, in my coaches and faith in the plan, the race plan that we came up with, very detailed race plan. So doubt becomes faith. Discouragement becomes confidence, confidence in my training and my preparation. So that becomes a replacement for discouragement and despair. I liked the idea of a fury instead of running in doubt and discouragement and despair instead of living our life in doubt and discouragement and despair. What are your, what’s your replacement therapy? How about living in faith, living in confidence and then living in fury, you know, in a, in a righteous wrath, we’re going to go do something amazing, right?

Brad Cooper

But it’s, it’s so exciting to hear the energy in your voice. Cause obviously the kids are gleaning that they’re grabbing that. They’re, they’re getting it. They believe in it. And I, I would just love to see as you and I were talking offline, running matters, but life is so much more important than running. And so if we can take these concepts that you’re talking about and help that employee to be a better employee, that husband would be a better husband, better dad, all the things that you talked about, that’s really good stuff, Brad.

Brad Barton

To your point, let me toss in another little psychology trick that taught to me by a guy named Jim Cathcart. And he was talking about how he wanted to be more fit. And so he set a goal and he said, some days I didn’t want to go out and run. And so the rule was, and I think about it, here’s a running deal, right? That 90, maybe 90% of the people listening don’t have any interest in running. What is the equivalent of Jim Cathcart’s idea? He says, the rule is that I get my, I strap on my running shoes and go touch the road. I dressed into my running gear. I put on my sneakers and I go out and touch the road that’s all I’ve got to do on the day where I didn’t have time. I didn’t, I just can’t muster the courage or that, or the energy to go do it. I go touch the road with my sneakers. And he says, once in a while, that’s all he does. And then he goes back and gets back to whatever he was doing. But I, that has been a huge key for me.

Brad Cooper

There’s no question. And I love that phrase that you use. And I think listeners can use that for anything that touch the road applies to anything. It doesn’t have to be running. That is a great, great example, Brad. Thank you. You know what? We’ll have to stay in touch. My last PhD research study is on 800 meter runners and the use of self-talk to improve what we’re calling functional mental toughness. And it’s been some really interesting results. So it’s a lot of what you’re talking about is just putting it into a, a research context. So let’s stay in touch on that and I’ll get you a copy of it once it’s been published. Final words of wisdom. You, you got this audience is engaged. They’re excited about what you’ve been doing track wise but they also are thinking of other things in their life. What final words of wisdom would you like to share with those folks, either coaches or people that maybe their coaches turned them on to this? And you just want to give them one more bit of wisdom to walk away with to make their lives better?

Brad Barton

I gotcha. The week leading up to the music city distance carnival, I was nervous in to say I was nervous as an understatement. I was a little rattled because all the weight of this four years of preparation and the almost there, and almost there, you know, you just cumulatively just this enormous bulk of work that I was just off the scale nervous. And my wife was like, who are you? And I would, I, I was rattled. And then the, the idea of gratitude flowed in. And as soon as I started just thinking about where I was at, I mean, I’m healthy, I’ve got these, you know, genetics, you know, my connective tissues are finally holding together. I’ve got a world-class coach, incredible facilities, and I’ve got sponsors to help me all the support of my circles. I’ve got no reason to not just be just incredibly grateful to be here in this place. In this time of this enormous, scary opportunity in front of me. And as soon as I went to grateful that the nerves went away, what is not solved by that notion? What are you facing? What hard thing are you going through? It’s resentment be grateful. It’s it’s doubt be grateful. It, it is discouragement. How about, how about trying to be just live in a state of gratitude that has been an elixir for me. And so I guess that’s my last, bit of wisdom that we have time for is, uh, living in a state of gratitude and then everything is better in your life.

Brad Cooper

Wonderful. What a great way to wrap it up. Brad, thank you so much for joining us. We’ll be excited to keep following your pursuits here and that, that next world record around the corner. I really appreciate it.

Brad Barton

Thanks Brad, what a pleasure.

Brad Cooper

So what is it for you? Keep in mind, his high school PR was a 4:34. His lifetime PR was a 4:04, but in his forties, he went 4:16 and in his fifties he went 4:19. High school, PR 4:34 at the age of 53, 4:19. So what is it for you? Maybe if you want to go back to high school, it’s at your high school weight, maybe it’s pursuing your first 5k or maybe it’s nothing to do with anything physical, but it’s some other self or culturally imposed limit you’ve put on yourself. Maybe today’s the day you say I’m done with excuses. Let’s see what is actually possible for me at this point in my life. Thanks as always to those, who’ve taken that extra time to subscribe to the podcast, share with a friend, leave a positive review. Really makes a difference. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you’re into human performance and you’re on Twitter, feel free to follow me. It’s @catalyst2thrive. I basically just put a human performance research studies and articles and those kinds of things on there. So good place to catch that if you’re on there. If you want to discuss whether the coaching certification is a good fit for your career, your future, some of the different things you’re pondering about it, feel free to reach out to us. The email is Results@CatalystCoachingInstitute.com. We talk to folks literally every day about those kinds of questions. So please don’t hesitate. The website has all kinds of other resources as well. That’s CatalystCoachingInstitute.com until next time let’s keep pursuing better regardless of who we are, what we’re doing better. It’s just one step away. Thanks for joining us. And I’ll look forward to speaking with you soon on the next episode of the Catalyst Health and Wellness Coaching Podcast.