The 12-Hour Race That Almost Killed Me...

[Music] dear Matt you used to think this was impossible this moment right here not too long ago either [Music] you met Jerome six years ago he'd done an Ironman and you thought he's different than I am and I'll never match up but then you signed up for a half marathon you'd never run more than five miles but you did it and then you signed up for and you didn't think you could do that in there but you finished [Music] but afterwards you were still scared still searching for more you felt you had limits physically and mentally that couldn't be surpassed and again you thought those endurance athletes are just different from me so you hung up your shoes and you stopped racing altogether and then you met three guys three new best friends and soon enough your brother joined the party and suddenly with their support you felt that so much more was possible so you decided to sign up and throw yourself into it again this time for something so terrifying you didn't know if you'd finish a half ironman and a month before the race you decided you couldn't do it but amar wouldn't have it he said you have no choice that you had to he made you commit so you found a crazy friend to join you in an inspiring mentor to guide your way and after a month of intense training in seven straight hours of pure exhaustion he finished once again surrounded by love [Applause] and before you knew it it was there staring at you the scariest dream that you've ever had you couldn't avoid it this Beast of all beasts the iron man the [ __ ] iron man and you didn't understand why it was calling for you but it wouldn't stop [Music] a full day of hell on earth one of the toughest endurance events on the entire planet late at night in your dreams you'd imagine the pain and the suffering it would take you'd imagine what it'd be like to have the courage to do it and despite the fear you take that first step you sign up and you ask friends to join you but this time they think you're insane but on one of the most inspiring days of your life the day of the jump with Will Smith you meet his personal trainer Aaron and you tell him about the race you ask him if he'd be up for the challenge he thinks about it for a bit and then he comes up to you and he says let's do it so at the age of 46 never having done an Ironman before Aaron is in for the ride but unlike anything that you've ever done he makes you understand that this isn't just a race this is life and we're gonna do it right he explains that for the next six months you will suffer by his side they'll get scarves bruises that you would experience discomfort on a level you never have before you'll be absent for most parts of your life and on some days you'll feel so [ __ ] tired that you'd rather die these are the moments the environments where you you don't want to do it you do it anyway well it's always worth and it's just you won't want to get attached to the result the result for us is who we get to be because of it mm-hmm it doesn't matter if you finish or not it matters that you put in the work to prepare yourself as best he can it takes so much out of you it's just so painful and now I'm alone and it's part of talking to a camera and I have to go for a 40-minute run after that 500 15 minute bike ride when you said goals like completing an Ironman in under 12 hours that's my goal you've heard it's hard but you will never ever learn the incessant struggle the constant stress the heartbreak and the pain until you actually [ __ ] do it there are moments when you're just like and before I knew it the day was finally here don't be the same and all I could think about was this one phone call with Aaron in a moment where I almost quit what is the construct that we have created our personalities is so strong that you have to do something extreme to be able to transcend that to be able to break through those things because we're so engrained with our personalities and we believe that that's who we are it's just when you do something of an extreme nature like to the extent when you're doing an Ironman then you get to transcend that you get to see what what sits below that surface you get to see that you actually have a choice that there's something more than who you pretend to be and whilst we're really attached to who we are as individuals there's also so much more to life we have that freedom of choice [Music] [Music] crush you marry food gallon baby [Music] [Applause] [ __ ] Garnett man [Music] just [Music] [Music] [Music] remember you used to think this was impossible you

Channel: Yes Theory

Views: 3,508,055

Rating: 4.9594383 out of 5

Keywords: yestheory, ironman, santa rosa ironman, yes theory ironman, matt ironman, journey to ironman, ironman video

Id: tG678spaEm0

Length: 10min 28sec (628 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 02 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/JoinGinaMarie]

This episode was really heartwarming. Especially when Matt finished the race and got all of those hugs and support from his friends. I read on the Facebook page for the Yes Theory Fam that someone signed up for a half ironman after watching this episode.

[u/Isko_]

Was just binge-watching them