 Welcome back to Think Tech, Community Matters. I'm Jay Fidel. It's a nine o'clock block on a given Wednesday, and we have a very interesting show for you with Jennifer Strong-McConnacky about her book. Her book is a book about endurance sports, and the title of the book is How Endurance Sports Can Help You Win At Life. Welcome to the show, Jennifer. Thank you, Jay. So you wrote this book. Let's see the cover of the book so we can get the the feeling of it. Okay, go far. How endurance sports help you win at life. And so let me ask you, Jennifer, why did you write this book? Well, Jay, I have been a lifelong outdoor endurance athlete, and I started as a child, and I competed in lots of different sports locally, regionally, nationally, and as I continued growing and getting older, I added in more and more endurance sports. I did more mountain climbing. I got into ultra running, and I traveled around the world competing in several of these sports. And so all of my friends and family would always say, you've got to write a book. You've got to write a book about your amazing travels, running across the Canary Islands, running through geysers in Iceland, running through the foreign forests of New Zealand, climbing mountains in Africa. And so I wanted to do that and share some of these awesome, amazing endurance stories. But I also wanted to share the principles that I've used behind endurance to help other people. And so I have outlined the three main pillars that I have used as an average athlete from the middle of the country, from the Midwest, I live in Kansas. So I don't have the advantage of living in California by the ocean or in Colorado by the mountains. But I have found a way to use what I have around me and to find adventure in everyday life. And I've been able to kind of use this three-pillar life approach that I outline and go far to use endurance sports to frame my approach and my view of how I approach and do life. And then I also share some really fun things, some travels and adventures and things that I've gotten to do through following those tactics. Wow. Okay, I can hardly wait. What are the three pillars, Jennifer? Well, I talk about those extensively in the book. But I can tell you one today. So one that we can start with is an explorer's mindset. So a lot of training comes down to having the right mindset and the right attitude. And so by having this explorer's mindset, you can approach your life in a way that encourages you to seek out discovery, sink out adventure, find freedom. I happen to use endurance sports to fuel that. But if endurance sports aren't your jam, you can still use an endurance mindset or an explorer's mindset through the frame of endurance to in your business world, get new clients, learn new skills, try new things, and just in your everyday life too, to go out and discover the world. What's the relationship between that and confidence? Oh, 100% endurance sports build confidence. As a child, I had an opportunity to compete a lot in running races and swimming races and triathlons. And as a young person doing sports, specifically endurance sports, because oftentimes they are individual sports. So you're not part of a team. You really have a chance to build that inner confidence and that inner ability of that. If I'm going to do this, it is up to me. I don't have teammates to rely on. So individual sports, endurance sports can help build competence, ability, mental toughness. Not to say there isn't also a place for team sports as well, but there are some unique things that you gain from endurance sports that you really can't get unless you're the one out there getting through it alone. Yes. So one thing that strikes me as endurance in this context is synonymous with pain. How do you deal with pain? Where does pain fit in the equation? Well, one of the famous quotes that I love from the inventor of the Leadville 100 run, 100 mile run through the mountains of Colorado is that make friends with pain and you will never be alone. Very good. Well, if I'm feeling pain, say it's a marathon, and I'm at 18 miles and my body is not doing as well as I had hoped, maybe because of the weather, humidity, training, what have you. What's my mindset on that? Well, again, you've got to find that motivation. So maybe one of the reasons that I got into ultra running is that a lot of times I wasn't doing a city marathon that was outlined on the city streets. It wasn't mapped. Sometimes I had to navigate through the desert. It might be, okay, you're here. You're going to run to that next tree. And so I was able to adopt that Explorer's mindset. I might be the first person running through the deserts of Namibia who's ever taken this route from this tree to the next tree to the next sand dune. And so, yes, I was in pain. Yes, it was hard. But I was out seeing a part of the world that was beautiful and unique and the middle of nowhere that I had had to jump through a lot of hurdles to get through. And so I turned in my, my motive, I turned to my motivation of why I was out there. I was seeing the world. I was discovering the world. I was experiencing it. I was living it. And so having those thoughts of why you're doing something, it can help you not focus on the pain because it's always going to be painful. I could go out my door right now and run three miles around my walk. And it would still probably have, you know, because running is inherently somewhat uncomfortable. So I'm trying to find those mental keys that help you want to keep going. Yeah, right. Well, it's a high, isn't it? I mean, you're running along there. You're looking around. You're feeling your own body. You're seeing, you're seeing the world and maybe in a different way, in a different way. You know, I rode bike for many years and I always felt that riding bike allowed me to see the world in a different way. And running does too. So I think that's what you're talking about also, isn't it? Absolutely. And I, that's one thing I absolutely love about riding my bike. You know, you can drive through, through the countryside of Kansas and the wheat fields and the cornfields. And you drive by and it's a whoosh. And I'm sure it's the same, you know, biking in Hawaii. You get to experience the environment. You're part of it. You're, there are no walls keeping you safe. You're feeling the wind. You're feeling the temperature. You're feeling the raindrops and you're getting to see things. And walking does that too. Running does that too. Each has its own little unique way. And I think each is situated, you know, for biking is a great way to go a longer way than you might be able to go. Walking is a little slower pace. And then running, you're, you're kind of, you're kind of bored. You're kind of uncomfortable. So you really look for those environmental distractions. And it does help to see the world in a different way. Yeah. Most of the sports you named and most of the sports in your book that I saw are, are personal sports that you're alone. I mean, this is you're running against yourself, so to speak. But do you prefer that to team sports? And another question related is, do you prefer to run and walk and climb alone, or do you prefer to have people around you? Well, there definitely are some solo moments. And I think you do have to be comfortable achieving your goals a lot of the times by yourself. But a lot of the sports that I do cover, adventure racing, mountaineering, you do need a team around you. And you are part of a team. Adventure racing, you're often on a team, at least with another partner or group of people. And you're working together to navigate, to solve problems, to keep going. A lot of times in climbing, you need multiple people to work the rope systems and have a spotter and a lead person. And so some endurance sports that I do are very much team sports. And I particularly did a swim run event in Sweden where I had to swim next to my partner and then run next to my partner as well, which was my dad. And so we had to do this in and out of the water over the rocky foothills of Sweden's coastline and out of the Baltic Sea. And so that very much was a team sport because you had to stay close to the person you were with. And so you had to share in your pacing and your energy levels and even kind of your form sometimes if you're going through a narrow trail section or trying to keep an eye on someone else in very muddy, dark, gray water is also kind of a challenge. So within that, there are ways, I think definitely any kind of the harder big summit climbing, it definitely does take a team of people working together. So really more of going it alone is more within some training and kind of having that mental toughness to see your goals and then being able to work with others because we don't achieve things in a vacuum. It does take a community. True in all ways. So you mentioned your father, has your family been an encouragement here? Has it been a model? Has he encouraged you to do this? Has your family encouraged you to do this? Yeah, absolutely growing up. My parents drove me all over the state to run in races and all over the Midwest to swim competitively. And I did triathlons all over the United States as a young person. So I had a lot of that set up and instilled in me as a young person. And I went to college and I rode on the rowing team and continued to that. That's another example of an endurance sport that is very much you and your own power, but you're with a team. You're with a group of eight rowers in a boat or four or two. So that's an endurance sport that is a team sport as well. And then I got into adventure racing, more triathlons, longer distances, ultra running, desert stage racing, the swim run that I mentioned climbing several of the seven summits. So part of that is, again, having that explorers mindset. Okay, so I've done a lot of running. What other kinds of running can I do? What other kinds of endurance sports can I try and keep adding more and more ideas and keep finding that creativity within the realm of endurance sports? You know, we all have physical impediments, some more than others, some many more than others. But I wonder, I mean, do you find yourself without impediments? You find yourself a kind of human being who is stronger than the average? Or you said before, you were an average athlete. I want to know about that. And if you do have impediments, what have you done to deal with them? How do you deal with them when they get in the way? Absolutely. And what I mean by average athlete is that I'm not an elite level. I'm not a professional athlete. And that's the kind of the fun part of my book is a lot of times people that write ultra running books or write sports books, they're at the absolute top of their game. They're winning races. They're just sort of the superstars of their sport. And I want to share with people that you don't have to be the very best. You can still set a goal, whether that's walking to the park, riding your bike to the park, getting out with your dog a little bit more. And you can achieve that by the pillars that I talk about in the book. And so it doesn't have to be that you're winning and that you're super elite and you're pushing yourself every day. You can use the pillars and the frameworks that I talk about to go far in your own life and decide what going far means to you. And so it really does speak to people of all abilities, even if you're just wanting to read the book and use some of these tactics in the business world to win new clients, to get new business, to come up with new creative ideas. Those pillars absolutely speak to that. So you can use the ideas and the theories behind the endurance athlete mindset or the endurance sports and you can apply them to your personal life, your professional life, goal setting, achieving. You don't have to go run the sand dunes of Namibia like I did. You can just go rock it in the boardroom. Well, I want to I want to explore that a little bit. You know, suppose I'm a complete stunk that I have no athletic ability whatsoever. I couldn't get the basketball and the hoop if I tried a thousand times. I suppose I really don't run well or swim well for reasons, you know, many reasons I suppose it make me hypothetically someone who is not only not an athlete, but a terrible prospect for athletic activity. Tell me, tell me how this helps me in the boardroom. Well, one of the things that the book recommends is going outside, going outside and starting hyper local, exploring your city, exploring your region, going for a walk. If you are not able to walk, try to recumbent bike. Where can you go? What can you do? Maybe you go try some wild swimming and you think differently and you get outside and you get into the outdoors. And so that's going to help you mentally. It's going to help you physically. And as far as the boardroom, I have another section that talks that just about I don't want to give too much away, but just thinking differently. So being able to approach problems and come up with creative solutions and apply some different areas that aren't often talked about in sports books. These are some ideas that are just a little bit on the realm of they're not stuff that everyone else is talking about. These are some unique principles that I've implemented in my own life being from the Midwest. I've found ways to compete on a global scale without being a professional elite athlete just by thinking differently. Global scale is interesting because travel is part of this, I think. Even if you are a stunk, travel helps you. So what has the travel aspect of your activities, your endurance sports done for you, how has it changed the way you think? The kind of a person you are, Jennifer? Well, travel has been super amazing and it's a big part of the book. And even right now when we're not able to travel as much, it is fun to read about some of the places, read us out some of the experiences to get ideas for future, to implement items from different cultures in our lives today. So maybe we're not able to travel to Patagonia right now, but let's listen to some local music. Let's study the culture. Let's watch a few documentary films of other people doing adventure races in the area. Let's cook some dishes. Let's study recipes. And so we're learning about different cultures of the world. We're not just focusing on the physical aspect. We're focusing on the mental aspect, the emotional aspect, perhaps the spiritual aspect comes into play. And so you're really becoming a broader mindset. You're becoming a global citizen. You're learning. You're growing. It's great to be able to train for something and then go out into the wilds instead of just going to St. Petersburg and checking out the art. You're also able to go out into the countryside and hang out in the Caucasus Mountains and do some mountain climbing as well. So you're getting multiple areas of enrichment. And I know in the age of COVID and the pandemic, we're not able to do that as much. Hopefully we will be able to again someday. But you can always read. You can always and then my book is inspired by the classics of the world, right? So we have so many great books. I particularly love Russian literature. So if you can't lose yourself on an actual travel trip, lose yourself in a book. And this book, Go Far, is a part travel log. So check out the classics, check out Go Far, and stay entertained in the meantime until we can all be boat trotters again. One small point. Would you ever take a trip that did not involve endurance sports? I have absolutely. And I do kind of talk about in the book as far as injury prevention and finding balance. I love to take a girl's trip to somewhere easy and fun where I'm not working out. I'm not doing any training. I'm hanging out by the pool. I'm having fun dinners. I'm spending quality time with people. I think there's definitely a place for balance. So you can't just be, you can't be to be working hard. You can't be pushing yourself all the time. You have to find, I have a section in the book called Find the Sweet. So you have to find something that is a reward and is light and easy and fun as well. Yeah, the sweet spot, so to speak. So here we are in COVID. And I couldn't give you stats, but my own perception of it is a lot of people who are staying at home who don't leave the house really except to shop, go doctors, get the things they absolutely need to have. Otherwise, they're in the house and they're being entertained by media. So my question to you is, how has COVID affected you? You mentioned before it's affected your travel to some extent. Has it affected your endurance sports? And if so, how? And what is your advice to somebody who is staying in all the time and for the foreseeable future will have to continue to stay? Well, my advice is get outside every day in some way or another. I've gotten really creative in the age of COVID. I've done a lot of backyard workouts. So I, you know, luckily where I live, I'm able to go out on a run or go on a bike ride. But I know in different parts of the world, people are even limited to certain radiuses. So I have a swing set in my backyard. I've invented workouts on my swing set with a trapeze bar and rings. And I've invented workouts using a spare tire. I've invented workouts with a kettlebell and a steel mace and steel clubs. I do yoga on the patio. So these are ways to go outside. And they're not, you don't even have to leave the area that you're at. You can find, if you don't have a backyard, you can find a local park. So I just want to encourage people to take some of this different thinking from GoFar from the book and implement ways to get outside every day, come up with creative solutions and practice moving your body. And that is going to be different for every person. Do as whatever you need to within your modifications, but focus on getting movement and getting fresh air at the very basics and then build from there. In the age of COVID, my family, we've just done a lot of hyper-local activities. We focused on, okay, we might not be traveling out of state or that far out of state. So let's go to our state parks. Let's go explore this new area. Let's take time to do things that we didn't take time to do when we were focused on global travel. But there's so much that we can learn and discover. And it doesn't even have to be a sanctioned park. There's all kinds of areas that you can check out and explore and kind of take on and find something new in some way or another. Yeah, what's Wichita like? Wichita is the biggest city in the state of Kansas and we're kind of in the middle of the state, kind of towards the southeast corner. And we have some really great bike paths. And one of my favorite things to do is, of course, they all don't connect. But I like to, I'm a fellow in the Royal Geographical Society. And so I study geography quite a bit. And one of my favorite things to do is create local adventures. So I study the maps, I study the routes and I create my own way to circumnavigate our city, linking different bike paths together. So I found a way to do like the inner city core, which is about 40 miles. And if I wanted to get even more, I could do the entire city, which might might get me over to like 100 miles, like a century bike ride. So that's a way that I said, okay, what do I have around me? What can I use? And I create various local activities to do and go far. The book has some really cool ways that people can do that, ideas and tips and suggestions that people can do that in their own location. Wichita, Kansas, sorry, this may be wrong, but it makes me think of cattle and beef. Well, we do have that outside the city. Of course, we do, as this does, produce beef. And we also produce a lot of wheat and a lot of other crops. But within the city, I mean, it's a city. You don't see that unless you're leaving the city area. But the question is, for an endurance athlete like yourself, where does beef fit? A lot of people, at least at the progressive end of things, are giving up beef. And they're changing their appetite in their diet. Is your diet special because you're an endurance athlete? I have a very specific way of describing how I eat. And it is inspired by my Siberian husky and a lot of the mid-range predators of the world. And I call it opportunistic eating. So if you want to think like a fox, they might find some berries. They might catch a fish. They might catch a piece of meat that they can eat, but they also might find something else. So whatever the situation calls for, whatever the training calls for, whatever I feel like I need at the time, that's what the meal plan I'm going to follow. And that could include beef? It can. It can include small amounts of that. If that's what my diet, particularly during pregnancy, my husband always knew when I was pregnant because he would mention steak and I would say, that sounds good. Okay, another thing that comes to mind for me is we live in a time of COVID and a lot of athletics, especially endurance athletics, is about breathing, about breathing. And I wonder how you handle the issue of masks and, for that matter, vaccines as an endurance athlete? I think you just have to make the decision that's right for you and your health goals. And luckily, where I live, I try not to exercise around a lot of people. So I don't have to worry about wearing a mask when I'm exercising, especially if I'm out running and there's not a large amount of people around. So I'm not someone that's wearing the mask while I'm exercising, but of course, being inside, trying to practice that, putting other people first, practicing that safety of I'm not necessarily doing this to protect myself, but I'm doing it to protect others. I'm doing it to protect our children, my children, and kind of just that attitude of putting other people first. Maybe it's my observation, but back a few years ago, I thought that, and even here in Honolulu, the local people in Honolulu were so excited about the marathon, and they came from far and wide to run in our marathon. At the height of it, I want to say there were 20,000 people here. Now, that's not New York, but it's pretty big for a population of just over a million. So the question is, and in more recent years, I don't think that the kids, I don't think that the average family or 20-year-old is doing as much in terms of athletic activity and endurance activity. I can recall we had a whole bunch of 100K type runners here, and same thing with the bike and the swim and all that. I don't think it's like that anymore. So my question to you is nationally, or at least globally maybe, do you find there's an increase or a decline? What is the dynamic of people who could do what you are doing but maybe don't? Are they increasing, decreasing, or staying the same? Well, it really, it really adds and flows. Recently, Amazon Prime had a world's toughest, world's toughest race, and it was in kind of like the modern day answer to the Eco Challenge Adventure Race. And so that alone kind of made everybody excited about adventure racing again, which had kind of a spurt in the early 2000s. Again, I had a lot of average athletes, a lot of friends that got into triathlon in the last couple of years. And I think triathlon kind of ebbs and flows. I did it a lot in the 90s, early 2000s. And then I got into ultra running, and ultra running has blown up a lot. So really, my message is that don't be limited by what everyone else is doing, by what's popular. There's always more to do. There's always a newer combination. There's always something else that you can try. If you're tired of running a marathon, try an ultra. Try a trail run. Try a swim run. Try a do-athlon. Try a biathlon where you're shooting a shotgun in the middle of it. Of course, not add anything out of target. So you're running and then you're doing some shooting and then you're running again. So there's always different combinations and ways to take whatever your sport of choice is to the next level. You don't have to do the 20,000 person marathon. You can go do something that you create in something else entirely. What about the schools, Jennifer? You know, it strikes me this is important. Because my observation, you can agree or not, is that if you are athletic at a young age, saying your teens, your 20s, that's likely to affect and improve your health for your whole life. And certainly, it's likely to make you feel confident about sports and endurance sports for your whole life. All totally positive. But the schools are a big influence as our parents. And I wonder if you feel, I wonder if you see schools, you know, encouraging this sort of thing. Schools adopting programs for endurance sports. And if not, should they? They absolutely should, Jay. I don't think schools do enough. And that's why it has to start at home. They can't be responsible for everything. But just as long as people are getting out, thinking creatively, exercising their minds and their bodies in some way every day, that's the message behind GoFar. Okay, we settled on a paragraph you were going to read to show people the essence of what you were saying in the book. And to show them your writing style too, I think. Can you read that paragraph for us, Jennifer? Sure. My personal motto has inspired the title. And it is run long, climb high, swim deep, GoFar. All an example of excellence of exceptionalism. The kind of thing that gives you a better life. And so I think your book is valuable. Where can I get it? Amazon? Yes, you can get it on Amazon. It's also available anywhere books are sold. So check out your local bookseller. You can preorder it right now. And you can also order it anywhere else online, Penguin Random House, lots of different options. Wow, terrific. What's your next one going to be about, Jennifer? Well, stay tuned for that because I have lots more ideas to come. Well, that's one thing I noticed in this discussion. You are bristling with ideas. You're bristling with enthusiasm. Maybe that's a function of what I would refer to as the loneliness of the long distance runner. You remember that movie? Lots of ideas percolating around. In my own experience, you know, when I ran, even when I ran with other people, my mind, you know, could range far and wide. I could think of things. I could write if I wanted. I could solve problems if I wanted. I could do any number of things within the four corners of my mind while I was running. And I think that's what you're referring to. So really, it's a brain game. It's a brain game in terms of motivating you to get out there, having the confidence in your body and your willpower. And then when you're out there, your mind works better. And it's like refreshing for you somehow because when you get back, you feel better, not only physically, but mentally. That's very true. Totally true. Well, thank you, Jennifer. Better for strong McConaughey joining us here on Zinc Tech, talking about how endurance sports can help you with life on community matters. Thank you so much, Jennifer. I hope we meet again. Yes, me too. Thank you so much. Aloha.