I experienced a game changing event this past weekend in the sticks outside of Rome, GA. I want to tell the crew what I learned and how a nugget or two may help you.
Cadre: This weekend was probably the most magical weekend I've ever had in my entire life. He says the entire community of Rome, Georgia, came together to put on an obstacle course for 100 people. Cadre: It was powerful connections, networking, helping others, understanding myself.
I told him about the four by four by 48. He said, yeah, I do that one a lot. You gotta do my nine by 99 by nine by 90. The night wrapped up by going to tent. It absolutely rained on us and crushed us in our tent.
Luke: The last half of the race was horrific, but I did finish in a little under 3 hours. He says the power of the community was so strong. Luke: Being around the energy in that community is nothing short of amazing.
Klaus Mann just finished under five miles in an endurance challenge. Jesse Jackson: The real thing that matters is helping people and driving change. He says the connections and the communications that he got over one weekend is better than most weekends. Jackson: I'm proud to be a part of this family.
Good afternoon, Cadre. Great day to be alive. Just gonna wait for that little beep to go off for the notification, and there it goes. So, just wanted to bring everybody around on this. This weekend I had, which would probably be good, go down. You can see the smile on my face. Probably the most magical weekend I've ever had in my entire life, you know, outside of my wife and my kids, of course. But, you know, with that being said, let me. Let me take you guys. Let me take you guys through this. So, flew down to Chattanooga, had a rental car, took the rental car down to Rome.
Rome is this little community, about 35,000 people outside of Atlanta. About an hour and a half north out of Atlanta. It started by. I met this one guy in the community. His name's Rob. And Rob's amazing. And so I chit chatted with. I chitchatted with Rob there, and we had the ability to go and have a little bit of lunch before the bus picked us up, right? So I go and we have this little bit of lunch, and there's a couple other individuals with bylr hats on, all day running club stuff and whatnot.
So we're like, hey, we're gonna go out for lunch. Come on, meet us. Da da da da da. So Rob and I go, we start chatting it up. We start asking questions, and the questions get, like, super deep right away, like, you know, what do you want from this? What's your goals? How do you wanna get through this? Tell me about your year. It's just all like minded people that want more, and it was just so cool. And so these guys were just, like, just cut out of the same cloth, which was just amazing. And so having those conversations with those folks and hearing what they wanted and what they wanted to get, and powerful connections, networking, helping others, understanding myself, seeing if I had the courage to finish.
It was just wonderful to hear that. Like I said, that lunch was really magical for me, and then finished that up. We had about an hour to wait. Once the hour was done, flew over the bus, picked us up, and there was, like, different. There was three different groups that were scheduled, like, an hour apart or something like that. Hopped on a bus, got everything ready to go, hopped on this bus, and off I go. And I'm about 35 miles now, even farther north of Rome. 100 acre estate that the itzlers, Jesse itzler, and Sarah hills, the foothills of the Appalachians.
Just goes to show how amazing that group is that they just all just came and volunteered and put this together and had this amazing event for 100 some people. And so when we got all set, it settled in. Then we had the ability to go walk up the hill, which was ultimately going to be the raceway. So we got the ability to walk up the hill and then either go cold plunge, sauna, get some food, go on a hike, all that stuff. So you walk up the first time, and I'm like, oh, my God, my legs are already starting to cramp.
It's crazy how this incline is, like, 30 degrees. So just imagine, like, going on a treadmill and do this. Go on a treadmill and put it at, you know, h***, 3 miles an hour and go up to 15 miles, 15 miles incline, and just tell me how that feels. Right? And then imagine doing that for hour after hour after hour. But, you know, again, we go up to the top. We're at the top of this hill. All this, you know, now the entire community is there. And when the entire community is there, all the buses are in.
Everybody's finally up, and here comes Jesse and Sarah and their entire family. So it was itzler and Sarah that pulled up in this almost, like, podcast van, like, but it's not, obviously just had seats for the kids and everything, but it's basically that same or similar Mercedes Sprinter van. And they pulled up, and of course, the community was just jacked. They're like, no way. There they are. And their entire family gets out, his team and whatnot, and they just. Jesse literally went person to person to person and shook their hand and said, thank you for coming.
This is going to be great. Got to know him for just, like 510 seconds. Went to the next person, the next person, the next person. And then Sarah stood out, and everybody was able to go get photos and ask different questions and hang out. And that lasted an hour or so. And then while you got to go on a hike, talk to people, get to know everybody and whatnot. I chose to go on a hike, and there was this one guy. So all the Bylr volunteers and staff had these bright yellow, these bright yellow volunteer shirts, and they're like, hey, I'm going on a hike.
Anybody want to come? Because you could only go in specific areas of the property. So this guy led the hike. And there's only three of us. There's only three individuals on the hike. And this guy is one of the most recognized endurance athlete coaches in the world. This guy trained, trains, rich roll and itzler. So he's been rich Rolle's coach for 15 years, and he's been Itzler's coach for five on, you know, thorough endurance training. He's the one who said to Itzler before the ultraman, he said, imagine if Michael Phelps head was on your body.
Would you finish? Yes. Imagine if Lance Armstrong head was on your body, would you finish? Yes. Imagine if Xyz's body was on your finish on the run, would you finish? Yes. Right? So he's that mindset coach, and his name is Chris House, and you can follow him on Instagram. It's just so cool to think that three of us, three nobodies, are walking with this guy, talking about, I mean, it was like, literally the most amazing coaching session I've ever had in my life. 30 minutes hike in the middle of Rome.
And I just took it in. And I just kept asking this guy, like, tell me about your mindset. How does your mindset work? Why does your mindset change? Give me more information. I mean, I just picked this guy's brain for every second I could. And that was one of the most amazing highlights, not only of that weekend of my life. I just feel like I have a friend for life. He said, reach out to me anytime. I told him about the four by four by 48. I did. He said, yeah, I do that one a lot. You gotta do my nine by 99 by nine by 90.
And I'm like, oh, my God. Okay, so I'm gonna do it with him. And he said, it's gonna be next year, so that's gonna be a different my sogi for me, which is exciting. Then I look up, we're just back from the hike, and I see these two guys walk up. I'm like, who in the h*** is that? Cause there was a distance. My boy, inky Johnson, the guy. This guy is named Inky Johnson. He's probably one of the most recognized motivational speakers in the world. If you haven't heard his story, you should. It's one of the most influential, amazing stories.
And he popped up, and I just went up to him and shook his hand, and I just told him, said, you are one of the most incredible human beings that I've ever heard before, period. So you had that opportunity and then naturally, button up a dinner. We have a couple things going on with speakers. The speakers talk, which was amazing. They pulled out some charity. Charity. Everybody had to write their name and a charity that they wanted to donate to when it was all said and done on the bus. And so we had the opportunity to do that.
And then at night, how they wrapped it up was for every lap, one. One lap is 1 mile and for 13 laps, they picked out 13 charities and then donated, like 25. Then when that was all said and done, we then wrapped up the night and the night wrapped up by going to tent. And so you got to go back in your tents. Oh, and then so tenting sucks enough the way it is. And you're anxious, you're nervous before a big race, and then it started downpour. And so it absolutely rained on us and crushed us in our tent.
And I could hear Sanjay was next to me. This guy. He was amazing from India. Sanjay was next to me. And I'm like, sanjay, how you doing over there, man? He's like, I'm all good, brother. I was like, it was just amazing energy. Like, to think like, we're getting down poured. The rain's coming down. We didn't sleep like that night before. And I'm not kidding when I say this, like, an hour was a lot. I don't think I got that in and most people didn't. I mean, you're sleeping on the floor, frickin ground in this tent.
And then the rain starts coming down. It's just brutal. So race starts. Well, not race start, but morning starts, 630. The horn goes off. Everybody immediately has to go up. They have breathe coaching going on. They have yoga, individual running it. They had a couple of those things. Peanut butter, honey, all the things ready to go. And then, yeah, then it was basically go time. Jc, Jesse had a couple last words that he wanted to say. He got those off his chest and he says, go time. Anybody who wants to run fast can start up front.
Anybody who's going to, you know, kind of slow back behind. Go for it. Race started. I came out hot. First five to 6 miles. I gave it all I got. And it was a bad strategy because the last half was horrific. But I did finish. I finished in a little under 3 hours. And I was really proud of that. I didn't stop running once. I just kept going. And it was. It was. I'll tell you all, like, that was. That was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. No doubt about it. And when it was all said and done, walked up, you know, I just could feel like I was off.
And I had a horrific headache. And the headache turned worse. But, you know, you just got to go through some of those things sometimes. But I had three major takeaways. I had three major, major takeaways from it. The number one takeaway I had was the power of the community. The community of that group of, let's call it 185, probably. When it's all said and done, all the volunteers, all the people, people working there, family members, you name it. That power of that community was so strong, could.
I kept going, no doubt about it. Killed myself on that hill. I would have, because, you know, you just had this energy, and it was so palpable that I just. I wanted. I didn't want this day to end. Like. And I almost get emotional thinking about it because it was everything. It was just so much goodness in that hill that's running up and down. Like, every time you look back down, someone be like, Luke, come on, man. You got it all day, baby. And they're just yelling at you, and I'm yelling back at them.
And it was. It was just this energy that I don't know how I could ever replicate that in getting that back. And so I look forward to the day of having that in my life yet again. And trying to bring that every day is difficult. But, man, being around those folks that bring that level of energy in that community is nothing short of amazing and something that I'll always cherish for the rest of my life. Number two, anybody can do that. Anybody can do this. Like, literally anybody can do this. This guy I was sitting in the sauna with the night before, his name was Klaus.
He told me, he said, you know, my goal is to lose a lot of weight this year. And, well, I got to tell you something first about Klaus. His last year goal was to write a thank you note to all the individuals that did something of thanks for him. And he wrote 4652 thank you notes last year. So that was his. My sogi write a thank you note to everybody. Hand write a thank you note to every individual that he felt deserved the thanks. So I thought that was just an awesome one, but. So, Klaus Mann, his goal is to lose a little bit of weight.
I'm not going to talk about how much weight or anything, but he chose to do this to continue on his journey. His wife was really pushing him to give it all he's got. And he's never done anything like this before in his life, any endurance challenge. And the man just finished under five. He just finished under five. And so, you know, again, you know, seeing somebody who has not done this before, you know, has ran. He said, I ran Miles way, way, way back in the day. You know, he's probably mid fifties, you know, to see him go out there and to walk that thing up and down, walk that thing up and down and just see, like, how weathered and tough and difficult.
You know, his body and everything was, but he didn't quit. He didn't quit. Like, I just, man, it was so emotional for everybody to sit up there waiting as he was the last finisher, basically to cross the line in time of the 13 miles at literally just about the five hour mark. And it just, it was one of those moments that I'll again cherish for the rest of my life. And then, you know, last but not least is, you know, Jesse was talking about during his speech. He said, you know, his financial planner was talking to him and he's like, jesse, I don't think this Bylr and this all day running company is a good move for you financially.
And he's like, not a good move for me. Think about that. It's like, this is what I had, that same tenacious drive to want to try to make other people's lives better, to try to make other people's lives better. And then you have to also take one more step back and say, do you think we're doing that with Cadre? Do you think we're doing that with Cadre? Do you think the financial advisor comes up to you and says, luke, is this the best move? Like it is. It's absolutely the best move. It is the best move today.
It's the best move for the future. It's the best move forever like this. This is absolutely the community and the culture and the drive that we want to have and want to continue to have for helping folks and driving change and being part of what I believe is going to be one of the most impactful movements, I hope, of 2023 and beyond. So, you know, I just, I really, I really respect his tenacity in his drive for what he's trying to accomplish with this group. And it's working. And I'm telling you, it's working because the connections and the communications that I got over one f****** weekend is better than most weekends I've had in my life.
And, you know, these people that just, so what I want to say, too, is with those connections, that community, that's us guys, like, I feel like, you know, this is our family and this is a part of our family and I'm proud to be a part of this family and I hope you are, too. And just like, I'm proud to be a part of Bylr and part of, be a part of, like the all day running company and support that and do whatever. Like, I'm proud to be a part of this. And it doesn't, like he said, it doesn't matter.
Your f****** bank account says it doesn't matter what any of those things. What matters is, like, are you part of the real thing? You know? And I'll never forget that. Like, are you part of the real thing? The real thing that matters, you know, of helping, of changing and driving that change. And God dang it. Like, if that doesn't get you up. So, I mean, I have millions of takeaways from this weekend, and you could probably hear it in my voice and my energy. Like, I needed this, man. I needed this.
It was. It was. It was. It. It was invigorating. It was real. It pushed me mentally tough, all those things. But at the end of the day, like, it did bring me back to Cadre. And it just kept saying, like, this is what it's all about. This is why we do what we do. This is why we do what we do. And I communicate with those folks, and I'm meeting with those people, and I'm like, you could be on here. You could be on here. You could be on here. They all have real experiences. Real experience. Sometimes trauma, sometimes grief, sometimes loss.
And they're doing these things for a reason. And when they're doing these things for a reason and a purpose, man, you can do anything. You can do absolutely anything. So I'm inspired. I'm invigorated. I can't wait. And by the way, guess who gets to pick up Itzler at the airport in a couple days? Me in Minneapolis. So Jesse Itzler's flying in, and sweet Lukey boy got him. So that podcast van better be ready to rock. Cause I'm gonna get him in that beast. So we'll talk to you soon. It was single handling.
One of the greatest weekends of my life. And I hope that you all can have a weekend like that where you have these takeaways that are just so clear. I mean, that's best that I can explain. Like, the clarity I have in Cadre, the clarity I have in this team, the clarity I have in our culture, the clarity I have, and all the things going forward in my life, personally and professionally, it's priceless. There's nothing like it. Go get it, guys. Have a great week. I know. I will. It's going to be another amazing week, and you do the same.
Bye, y'all. Thanks again for your time. Thanks for listening.
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