 Hello my friends and welcome to another episode of Running with Ryan. Today we are going running with an incredibly inspirational guy. He's been one of the top ultra runners for years. He was named North American Ultra Runner of the year in 2011. He's won multiple USA Track and Field trail titles and he was one of those crazy guys to run across the Grand Canyon and back and set a fastest known time of just under seven hours by the way that's about 50 miles. In 2015 he was running right back here on a mountain called Bear Peak. Just a little training run. He had a very unfortunate fall and a boulder rolled down smashed his leg. Over the next year and a half he had more than 10 surgeries and he was constantly in pain. He made the tough decision to have his left leg below the knee amputated and now he runs with a prosthetic foot. Ladies and gentlemen you're gonna love this guy. He's one of the nicest guys in the sports Dave Mackie. What's up my man? How are you? Doing great. I can't thank you enough for doing this. I'm really excited. Happy to do it. All right. I think you said you need to put on your running blade. Yeah, yeah. I'll throw that on and we'll get going. On prosthetics it's um there's different things that can attach to a socket and one of them is a running blade which I have here. A fill-hour blade. This socket is made of carbon fiber. I ski in this this one right here. I kind of do I work in it. I hike around in it but for running a blade it's much more dynamic and give some energy return. I'm really excited you brought me to South Boulder. I never come to South Boulder. Yeah that's the secret part of town. A lot of people don't don't hang out in which is fine for me. I know. I mean these views are incredible out here. So these are kind of the trails you run a lot or? I typically am west of Broadway. West of 93. That's where I kind of where I live. I just go up in the trails and the peaks there and lately I've been running up Bear Canyon a lot to the back side of green and tag the summit and come back down that way. So you just dropped your kids off the school. What's your daily routine like? It depends. Like I work like four or five days a week. Watch out for the poop. So if I'm not working I usually have one or two week days off and yeah get the kids ready and go to get them to school. Work a work day and work in an urgent care. And I'm a regular dad. Besides having one leg running around. So how does running feel? You haven't had that all that long right? The blade? Right. Well almost two years I guess because I had my leg amputated two and a half years ago. Okay. After a year and a half by the accident almost four years ago and then year and a half later. And the accident was pretty much right about right back there right? Yeah I thought of a bear peak. A bear peak. Yeah the summit there. Yeah it's a lot of complications from the initial open fracture. Yeah and the abutation was probably the best choice. Yeah. Yeah so you live for a year and a half with your leg and multiple surgeries and infections and it just it never came back right? Is that correct? Yeah yeah it I had a persistent bone infection basically that wouldn't allow for the bone grafting to take and hardware failure and yeah if you got an infection this wouldn't go away. Yeah it wasn't like you know like a skin infection cellulitis which what people get typically but in the bone it can really hard to rid the body of it. Yeah. So I couldn't I just couldn't heal and I had options for surgeries but some those would have delayed things for probably yeah you know a couple of years and I watched some videos of you and you just it never looked comfortable. Yeah I was on a cane I'd scar tissue in the leg which I always would be there and probably always be a problem and I found that the amputation was the best choice after talking to a lot of surgeons and people. Yeah. And I imagine that was an excruciating decision. Yeah it was when the accident happened and you know I thought you know when that occurred that I'd go in for surgery that night I'd have things fixed up and maybe you know right off the year for events you know and to heal up like anybody does when they break their leg but yeah there's one thing that led to another and then eventually came to a point like holy crap I'm gonna lose my leg again. Yeah it was I was doing all these steps to avoid that but it really wasn't a likely scenario but as time went by it became more possible and I don't know if excruciating would be a term to describe it as more. At a certain point it was kind of like a relief because after a year and a half of you know 13 surgeries kind of like oh wow I wave forward you know the problem will be gone if I amputate it. Yeah. I don't recommend that. I recommend if someone was in my shoes to go through every possibility within reason to avoid it. I think it was definitely excruciating as far as the actual day of the surgery. Yeah that was that was extremely difficult. I was like damn I'm actually gonna do this. Yeah and correct me if I'm wrong but you had like a party the night before it was the night before Halloween and everybody came over and signed her leg. Yeah I am that buddy of mine might cue it. He thought I should have a party. He's that kind of guy and I thought sure why not. So I yeah it's a Flatiron's running company in South Boulder just invited everybody to come the next day I went into surgery. Yeah yeah my son wrote on it like I love Connor and I have pictures of it too. All my friends writing on it. That's all gone. It's in the incinerator at the hospital. Yeah it's not like signing a cat where you can save it and put it on your wall. Yeah. And so you woke up the next day or after the surgery and your foot was gone. Yeah. What was that like? It was hard. I see pictures and video of me at the after surgery and it's man it was really difficult that some that year after the amputation from day one was extremely difficult because it's not you can't go back you can't loosen the body part and woke up and you know I also knew there was kind of like one step at a time to get through the whole process and it was extremely difficult overall. Look at these little cows. Hey guys how's it going? It's springtime in the Rockies. Yeah well yeah let's get away from the dark side of this and talk about the positive side of post-surgery and what you were able to do after that. Yeah yeah so the my goal was to be you know as accurate as possible, as mobile as possible. I didn't really care about competing at races that much but I didn't want to complete some different you know events. Just to kind of get back to where I was just to physically and emotionally and spiritually do dock and you know the same person I was before and I knew that was possible on leg. So I was put at the year after amputation just it's a long process adapting to a socket or a static socket and you go through different changes in the limb and that just takes time to adapt to those. Absolutely. Yeah I knew that I would get back at it eventually. I didn't know what to what degree but I was able to complete some running events and sports events this last year. That was kind of my goal. Not just some sports events he completed the lead man he's being very humble. Talk to us about the lead man. It's a trail marathon in June and then early July of the 50 mile bike mountain bike race or 50 mile running race all in the mountains above Leadville around Leadville and then almost a month later you bike the Leadville 100 bike. Have you bike that? I have not done that yet I really want to do it but I have not. Yeah I'm sure you get like a hundred miles on your bike in two days every day. Yeah I do bike a lot I like my bike. Yeah and 100 mile bike then next day do a 10k and then six days later do the 100 mile Leadville 100 run. Wow because it takes a while to get your balance right with the with the prosthetic leg and to figure out how to run again right? Yeah yeah yeah it's the balance is yeah one thing it's not too bad. Watch out killer geese. All right continue sorry for interrupting. No the balance is too bad they're running on this flat trail right here it's really not not bad with rocky stuff you just have to place the foot more carefully but they really all comes down to the interface of the actual socket with the skin yeah and the limb and that's where you know you can have your skin break down here get a little abrasions and rubbing and friction yeah so you have to manage that can be difficult. In the 100 mile run I was always making about a dozen times I stopped to make a little adjustment through to put a little tape over one area just like someone would tape their foot you know if they had blisters actually the most blisters I have was on my good foot I lost almost the whole sole of my foot. Oh no and your buddy Bob Africa was out there with you yeah pacing you and there were moments where you were like I'm done right? No I never actually said I'm done okay I definitely had a low point out at wind field which is mile 50 yeah okay I read about that and yeah except but I you know just not having done enough of those events I knew that your body goes to your mind your energy or muscles your everything goes through all these cycles out there in 100 miles if someone doesn't have some stomach issues or something happened then yeah they're superhuman yeah totally only a couple people like that that I know of and even those people have their ups and downs and for me it was a mile 50 out at wind field the turnaround point the crux of the whole race is not the whole race but going over Hope Pass which is you know almost 13,000 feet you go over the wind field to mile 50 and you turn around go back over Hope Pass so getting over that pass is was hard but at that turn around you have to turn around and go back and do it again the whole course that you ran out on at that point my my yeah just my energy is really low my hip flexors were just shot below yes turn around and thought hey it's gonna it's gonna bounce back or it's not if it doesn't then you know I'm done but I gave it the chance and I rebounded do you ever whooping holler under bridges I do well that's a good noise I didn't know you could do a dove noise either the things about Dave Mac or as an owl okay sorry I got my birds all mixed up oh is that a coyote usually they take off besides your own you know mental fortitude you know talk about how your friends and family really helped you through all this I mean I'm guessing they were part of the part of the solution in a huge way yeah yeah especially when the accident happened and until an affidavitation it was yeah my family incredibly supportive you know my wife was pretty much picking up all the load of stuff that I couldn't do I mean I was still able to work you know a couple months after the accident of war months probably I took off but she can't take care of the kids and family and the kids are they're incredibly resilient adaptive to situations but Haven Connor you know it's like oh dad had an accident I lost his leg okay let's move on and I try to have that attitude to kids are incredible that way really yeah yeah they are and then make the running community and all my friends just really helping me out of time yeah in the hospital state isn't getting here from the hospital yeah well I remember in Boulder right I knew who you were I didn't know you personally but it was it was a big deal in the Boulder running community everybody knew about it was talking about it sending you their love and it was big you're a beloved figure it was inspiring to see people really rally around you yeah yeah it was a great great support I had in the community yeah it's the Boulder and even nationally it's a lot of kind words and people reached out who had amputations and injuries or severe injuries and yeah it's helped me through there we go Dave guys always a nice guy open indoors for people you know how it is you're on a bike and get off it don't hold the gate that's like gold it totally is you're obviously an inspiration to a lot of people I'm sure you get messages all the time who are some of your inspirations and it could be like who you know inspired you back in the day just even get into running well I started running I guess during college just getting shaped for soccer and I was running the trails there and I just kind of like I like doing this I'm gonna keep doing it and then move to Colorado you know in 93 there's some Bracken Ridge and discovered this trail race up there my buddy Rich Cook put together at the BOEC which still exists the Bracken Ridge Cross Mount Marathon and there's all that that culture of people back then doing crazy mountain stuff yeah like I had no reference for that but like I can run a marathon I did a trail marathon or trail half marathon in Letville my first trail race back to that how people run marathon and stuff and I did it and I got my ass kicked I finished fifth place but I was dying and then just realizing that the the whole ultra there's no limits to distance yeah I think I vaguely knew but there's a hard rock hundred possibly that I had no aspiration to do it but this time went by just you know seeing all the crazy people doing crazy things like I'm gonna try that I'm gonna try this and then my Tom Sobel was a he has an ass kicker back in the 90s winning those trail races tremendous snowshoe racer back the time I got in the snowshoe racing back then Matt Carpenter you know I tried to win Pikes Peak marathon I got second place three times for Matt Carpenter so just seeing you know what kind of animals are out there yeah in the traveling world and and then yeah I was going to all the ultra races and this is a pinpoint one person's more like just everybody at these races are doing you know awesome things and that's kind of you know just inspired by everybody in general yeah and what I love about the ultra world is really the community people are so supportive yeah and you know 99% of the people doing the races are out there just to do a personal best or to complete their first 50k and that's that's really fun energy to be part of so you mentioned something about like doing really hard things and you were one of the first guys to run the rim to rim to rim across the grand Grand Canyon back and set the fastest known time what inspired you and the other the first generation of the FK tears to do that kind of stuff it was um yeah back then that was I guess I did set the record and I knew there was you know there'd been gradually some fast times out there I'd I'd run the you know out and back one other time just for fun just for fun just across the Grand Canyon and back for fun it wasn't high on my radar about instead of the FKT your fastest known time the big term now it was more the last minute some friends are going out and the week before like yeah I'll join in and figure it out just go for time see how fast I can do it yeah and just for that and for that I remember you're just under seven hours which is the new record like five hours something yeah Jim Walmsley is crazy and your sweet spots around 50 miles that right in the past 50 miles or 100 kilometers and then yeah as far as like winning race 50k to 100k yeah once I got to a hundred miles I get get through them but 100 miles is hard speaking of 100 miles I saw on ultra sign up that you signed up for western states yeah yeah I'm gonna I've been back there since at the station so that's kind of a focus race this summer I'm gonna complete the lead man series again that's the plan I gotta see how you know knowing you you're gonna be just fine but yes it will be a challenge yeah and then I have a team or register for the eco challenge in September oh cool that's back big adventure age yeah that's a team event in Fiji is that your spirit animal probably I got you oh yeah they're wild yeah that's true he's a cutie if somebody out there's not even a runner or much of an athlete how can they look to your story for inspiration I mean what what's what can be some takeaways for people out there that are going through hard times or we're going to something very similar to you yeah my my story is kind of extreme you know a fall for the peak and almost you know I should have died from the fall and it was my leg so that's kind of that's a far into the spectrum but more most people are dealing with you know chronic back pain or arthritis and you know these things that are just with you for so long you know often not fixableness you have you know a serious knee replacement or get your spine fused those things are in some ways more difficult than what I'm dealing with so there's always something worse I think I learned from this whole thing there's you know what if I fell and I lost my leg above the knee what if I hit my head or the Rockland on my head instead of my you know which is 300 pound rock I'd be dead or I'd have a serious brain injury for next morning but there's always something worse I guess that's kind of a little bit gallows humor but it's oh I get it you know it really is there's there's always someone out there's going through something harder which is doesn't really change the you know the fact that you know you guys that you're dealing with something difficult but you know things will probably get better I guess that would be the advice I have just keep pushing keep on your your working with your options to work through your difficulty and things will probably get better yeah certainly I like and how do you what do you do on the days that are hard I'm sure you wake up some days and you're like damn it oh yeah I wish I had two feet yeah yeah that kind of like that every morning wow the great blue hair over here sorry this has been a nature this has been a nature run yeah yeah I like every morning get up and put this thing on and you know last eight ten hours like you don't even know yet yeah it's um yeah it's it just you know we just get up and do it and you know make it try to make it happen with you know the day today and it's fine once I get going it's like you would run we've running class 45 minutes here yeah it's been you know a little bit discomfort but I'm out of running not as fast as you know that guy but you know it's hard to run as fast as anybody in Boulder yeah I'd like to work more with people who have disabilities or they're a couple organizations at the ranger motion project and that's we're talking about prosthetics earlier they they help people worldwide with worldwide but primarily in central and South America getting adaptive equipment yeah because other people who need it but I'd like to be more involved with them I've done a couple events with them I want to do more consistent support yeah the challenge athlete foundation as well they did the same stuff here in the very cool yeah that's probably a long-term goal to do it for a long time I love it gotta show you the view here for a second look at that this is our town bud snowy oh god it's so beautiful Dave just told me that he once rode from San Diego to Maine on a bicycle in 1991 how was that it was fantastic I I don't know why I did it guy grew up in Maine and you know it's like there's a bike can get there but I was involved in it I just I was in college I just wanted to take a semester off I wasn't sure like one of the study I was like why am I here so I'm gonna bike across the country so like we all do when you want to figure out life yeah I'd never gone on a bike tour my dad worked at LLB in those I went in and bought this new like Cannondale you know aluminum frame bike which is the cutting edge thing back then this is a touring bike and just found the panniers and they didn't know how to cook or anything like that so I'm not yet so I just found that stuff and flew out to found a one way ticket to San Diego from Maine flew out and then stayed for a few days and then just came I had road maps I had no idea I didn't go up by bike routes I just looked at a road map said oh I think I'll go this way so I went to kind of north north and east a little bit kind of cross Southern California but the first day out of San Diego I it was a snowstorm I mean this was marked I had no idea about mountain weather and it was your classic snowstorm in the west except it was you know it's at 3,000 feet coming out of San Diego geese in the way get packed here people invited you in for meals and let you camp in the backyard yeah I was like you know on a huge touring bike with panniers and like oh where you going what are you doing get place to stay and crashed in some strange people's homes everybody was super kind though overall I'm convinced bike touring brings out the best in you and then the world as you travel you see the best of humanity come out it's inspiring every time I've done it yeah yeah exactly how long did the whole trip take you oh like two two and a half months probably yeah and then you had life figured out when you were done yeah I couldn't help really I knew I knew I was gonna go back to school but I was just like I didn't know what I wanted to study so yeah that helped a lot though alright my man I think we did it we went far enough it's fun thank you so much I was really awesome yeah I hope you guys enjoyed this out there I will link to some of the media that he has the articles there's a new film about him that was made by Billy Yang that is awesome Matt Trappy Matt Trappy a bolder guy and thank you for watching please like and subscribe and stay tuned for another running with Ryan down the road thank you bud sure thank you