David Goggins, Mike Pence, And Taylor Swift All Walk Into A Bar...

There's all different kinds of runners out there.  Runners have different attitudes towards the sport and run a wide spectrum of distances.  There's those who run a few miles a few times per week and may run the occasional 5K.  There's also people who log upwards of one hundred miles per week and run multiple ultramarathons per year.  A lot of people would probably look at what I do and put me into the category of being a "serious runner".  Well, I'm definitely not a serious runner.  I am, but I'm also not.  I am a serious runner in the sense that I do it almost every day and I want to be a good runner and accomplish my goals.  But I possess a lighthearted approach to it.  I don't look at my watch very often while I'm running.  I keep my Strava profile private and I hardly follow anyone on there.  I usually listen to music and I think about a lot of things while I run.  I don't put too much pressure on myself.  I can't take it too seriously because in my mind, running is not supposed to cause stress.  It's supposed to have the opposite effect.  It's supposed to help clear my head.  It's supposed to be fun and rejuvenating.  

On the other hand, there are public figures and people I know in my personal life who take running very seriously.  They're tough on themselves and approach it from a more competitive standpoint.  They don't run because they think it's fun, they do it because it's hard and painful.  One guy who fits this stereotype perfectly is David Goggins.  David Goggins, or "Goggins" as most people call him, is an ultra-endurance athlete.  His specialty is the Badwater 135, which he's done several times, but he's also competed in several other ultramarathons, triathlons, and cycling events.  He also has a career as an author and motivational speaker.  Despite his accomplishments, he remains a polarizing figure in the ultrarunning world.  I feel like the ultrarunning community has a reputation of being a hippy dippy, everyone loves each other kind of a circle.  Even most of the men and women who are the top competitors in the sport aren't exactly what you would call type-A kind of people.  They're pretty chill.  Goggins on the other hand, approaches ultrarunning with a military mindset.  He has a twenty-year military career under his belt and has served in the Iraqi war.  During his post race interview at Badwater 2007, Chris Kostman, the race director, jokingly reminded him that he was off-duty and it was okay to smile.  Badwater is notorious for featuring triple digit heat on the course, often reaching over one-hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit.  That's freaking hot.  Any normal person knows that.  But when asked how he dealt with the intense heat during the race, Goggins replied with a straight face "I didn't even notice it".  The crowd laughed, but he was being dead serious.  In a separate interview he said that he's not one of those guys who goes out for a run and says "oh, look at the mountains, look how pretty it is outside".  "That's not me" he said.  "I don't like it, it hurts.  But that's why I do it".  He's a pretty intense dude.  A lot of people really like him and find him very inspiring.  Others, however, are turned off by his "no excuses, we're not here to have fun" attitude and find him distasteful.  

Goggins was never really my jam.  I've always respected him for his accomplishments and his military service, but he's a little too intense for me.  I have a completely different sentiment towards ultrarunning than he does, and therefore I've deemed him unrelatable and left it at that.  About a week ago Goggins' name was showing up a lot in the Trail and Ultrarunning Facebook group.  Apparently an interview had just been released with him and Joe Rogan and people were very eager to voice their opinions on social media about the interview and Goggins as a person.  I found the comments intriguing and I decided to give the interview a listen.  I put it on earlier this week while I was closing out the November financial statements at work.  I knew how Goggins was and I queued up the interview, expecting to roll my eyes the entire time.  The interview was a little over two-and-a-half hours long and I listened to the whole thing.  It was vintage Goggins.  He talked about running through serious knee injuries.  He discussed how he motivated himself when he woke up in the morning and didn't feel like doing anything.  He would say to himself "What are you a little bitch?  Are you going to be a little bitch today?".  He said "I don't talk about happy times very much because you don't come to Goggins for the happy times.  You come to Goggins to hear about the dark times.  That's what makes you stronger.  You don't need anyone to help you through the happy times."  He was being his typical macho self, but at one point the interview took a different turn.  He talked about the horrible abuse that he and his mother suffered at the hands of his father while he was growing up.  He told stories about how he weighed three hundred pounds at one point and how people attempted to publicly discredit his military service.  He showed his vulnerable side and told his story.  He explained that his gruff attitude is not intended to break people down, he wants to see people succeed.  He even laughed and smiled a few times.  I myself got a few laughs out of the interview as well.  Contrary to what I thought going into it, I didn't roll my eyes once.  I actually enjoyed the interview quite a bit and developed a new found admiration for Goggins.  Hearing his back story and how he overcame the hell that he was exposed to throughout his life was inspiring.  Listening to the interview didn't necessarily change the fact that I disagree with his approach to ultrarunning, but it did make me like him more.  And more importantly it made me realize that despite the different attitudes that we have, I have more in common with him than I thought.  I felt like I understood him more than I did before.  Maybe I'll even read his books at some point!

Now, let's shift gears to a different situation that bears some similarities to the Goggins one.  This story centers on another guy who is not a runner and someone I don't see eye to eye with, but a guy I respect; Mike Pence.  About a month ago Mike Pence's memoir "So Help Me God" was published.  I'm a pretty liberal guy and most of my values and beliefs align with the Democratic Party.  Therefore, I may disagree with most of Mike's political beliefs, but he's not a hateful jerk, so I respect him.  I wanted to hear what he had to say and I wanted to know more about his background.  Sam, Aidan, and I were at Barnes & Noble one night about a week after the book dropped and I bought a copy.  It's a pretty thick book and it's going to take a while for me to get through, but it's actually a really good read so far.  I think most people are more aware of who Mike Pence is than they are Goggins, so I won't go into too much detail about Mike, but I wonder how many people know his background.  I wonder how many people know that even though he grew up in a small town in southern Indiana, his parents were Irish Catholics from the south side of Chicago.  How many people know that he was a democrat until his early twenties and that he cites JFK as one of his biggest heroes.  How many people know that he struggled with self confidence and being overweight as a kid.  Similar to Goggins, based on what I've read so far in his book, I feel like I know Mike better.  I understand more where he came from and what shaped his beliefs.  I didn't think I would have anything in common with Mike Pence before I started reading his book, but I realized that I actually do.  We both grew up with Republican dads and Democrat moms.  Our dads both taught us the value of hard work.  We both lost a parent unexpectedly at a young age.  It still doesn't change the fact that I disagree with most of what he stands for politically, but reading his book has made me like him more.  I look forward to reading the rest of his book.  It's actually quite a page turner.

I think it goes without saying that nowadays people tend to attack each other quite a bit.  People will start a full on war with others because of disagreements over political issues, religion, and life in general.  People are especially ruthless on social media.  It's worse on social media because people can attack each other without being face to face for millions of other people to see.  My subjective assessment as to why there is so much attacking going on is because people don't take the time to try to understand the other person.  They see or hear something they don't like, they get triggered by it, and without knowing anything about the other person, they just start firing missiles.  Then the other person files missiles back and it becomes a hot mess inside a dumpster fire.  I feel like if more people took the time to hear out people they disagree with, things would be different.  I wish people would listen to what others have to say by watching interviews, reading books, reading articles, etc.  If we listen to what people have to say, we can better understand those who have different views than ours.  And if we understand people more, we're more likely to give them compassion.  We may even find out that fundamentally we have a lot in common.  That's when the attacking will finally stop.  

I always enjoy reading articles, reading books, or listening to interviews involving people with whom I have a lot in common.  It's always good to hear from them, but lately I've discovered that I get an equal amount of satisfaction by doing the same for people with whom I don't agree.  Not only do I understand them and gain a certain level of appreciation for them, but sometimes I learn something new.  Of course, there are people out there, public figures, and people I've met in my personal life, who I will never understand.  Their attitudes and views are irrational and so far off the grid from what I know, that they don't make any sense to me.  I'm not going to waste my time on them.  Let them be nuts and live in their own delusional world.  But there are a lot of people who are different from me but still make sense to me.  Just for laughs, I'll throw Taylor Swift into the mix as a third example.  I explained in detail who Goggins is to paint the picture since he's not as well known.  But I don't need to explain who Mike Pence is, and I certainly don't need to explain who Taylor Swift is.  I remember being on a rafting trip in Yosemite with a group of friends a while back and complaining about how annoying her songs were.  "It's the same damn thing every time."  I said.  "All of her songs are like the plot of some cheesy romance movie squashed down into three minutes".  One of my buddies laughed and said "there's two kinds of people in this world; people who like Taylor Swift, and people who pretend they don't like Taylor Swift".  Aside from a few songs, Taylor wasn't my thing.  She's incredibly talented.  She has a great singing voice, she's proficient in playing several instruments, and she writes her own songs.  Her songs are catchy and clever, but she's just not rock and roll enough for my taste.  When her new record "Midnights" dropped, I gave it a whirl just for shits and gigs.  I have to hand it to her, the new record is pretty good.  It's nice to hear her sing about more introspective topics, the songs have a good groove to them, and the cover art is pretty cool.  I felt like this record was a little edgier and not as G rated as her previous material, which I particularly liked.  I'm sure Ticketmaster would be happy to hear that I won't be buying tickets to a Taylor Swift concert anytime soon, but do I respect her as a musician and songwriter? Absolutely.    

People might be wondering why I shared a mountain photo on top of Sonora Pass for this blog post.  Well, to be truthful, I couldn't think of a good photo to use, except for maybe creating a cheesy collage of David Goggins, Mike Pence, and Taylor Swift pictures.  But a mountain picture also seemed appropriate because this post is about bringing people together.  And despite how different people are from each other, I think just about everyone can appreciate a picture of beautiful mountain scenery, am I right?