All language subtitles for Just.One.Mile.2023.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-Q0SWeb

I have to fulfill this
drive within me

to strive against something.

But what society tells you to do
is you should stifle that.

You should suppress that.

It's not normal for you to want
to go out and pit yourself

against another human being.

That's not right.

The most healthy way for me to
fill that hole within me

is to go out here on the trail,
in a controlled environment,

against wonderful human beings
that I can strive against

for hour

upon hour

upon hour.

If you wanna question me,

if you wanna
question my ability,

if you wanna question
who I say I am,

if you wanna
question my mindset,

I'm good with that, man. I
don't owe you nothin'.

I don't have to prove myself.

I don't owe anyone anything.

C'mon baby!

C'mon Greg!

C'mon! Yeah! C'mon!

30 seconds! C'mon Greg!

C'mon Greg! C'mon! C'mon!

Yeah, you got it, I got you. Oh,
I got you. Alright, alright.

Last year, I won at 30 hours.

Y'know what I was thinking?

Well this sucks man, I feel like
I could go another 30 hours.

I just ran all that time, and
I'm finally pushing into
this growth zone,

but now I can't run anymore
'cause there's no one left.

The absolute best outcome for
this race is to strive against a
competitor that is
better than me.

And if that person can show me
where my limit is,

if that person wins,

that's a victory for me, man.

The course looks great.

I can't believe it's
already been a year.

My name is Jon Cox. I am a race
director for the Midstate Mile.

I am working out what
I wanna say.

This is all of you, you owe
it to each other.

This is your race, this is your
opportunity. Remove "if."

Y'all ready? Yes sir!

All ready!

So we are out here at Becca and
Jon's place, and, we are
just getting set up.

We put this race on because for
a fringe group of runners, a
marathon simply
isn't far enough.

There is a small group of people
that want to see just how
far they can run,

and just how much their
body can endure.

I mean everything that I've done
has led up to this moment.

Doing scary things makes me
a better person.

Cheers, boys. Cheers.

Just outside of Franklin,
Tennessee is this race called
the Midstate Mile.

It's a last man standing format,
meaning the race
really has no end.

At least, when you start, you
don't know what the end is.

I keep everything from gels to,
you know,

electrolytes, salt, even almond
butters, proteins,

along with ibuprofen,Tylenol,
KT tape, headlamps.

You never know. Plan
for the worst.

There aren't many
ladies running.

This is my first time doing
something like this.

You never know what you can do
unless you actually try, so

I'm gonna try.

It's a 1.1 mile loop, with 340
feet of elevation
gain every mile.

It's just a mile, but, 340 feet
of elevation gain.

It's gonna seem pretty easy at
first, but it's gonna catch up
to you pretty quickly.

Runners have 20 minutes to
complete the loop.

If you can't make that cutoff
time, if you can't complete the
loop in 20 minutes,

you're out of the race.

And the race goes on until
no one is left.

I've done challenging things.
I've done hard things, I've
pushed myself. I've
got a resume.

I've never done a race
like this before.

I'm giving myself two
options here.

I'm gonna be the last
man standing,

or I'm going to break my body in
the process of trying
to achieve that.

Simply the fact that I have the
knowledge that I literally
cannot die makes me unstoppable.

I have one job: to beat everyone
else. And that's it!

That's simple, that's easy.

I think every runner coming to
this race has identified Chadd
as the man to beat.

Chadd is the real deal.

I think he has iron grit.

No matter what he confronts, he
finds someway to
push through it.

I've had the opportunity over
the last year and a half to
spend a good bit of time
training with Chadd.

The best way to prepare for this
specific event is just by
spending time on your feet.

It's that simple, there's
nothing technical about it.

He is a tactician.

He is a thinker, he is
a strategist.

I know that's how he's gonna
approach this race.

I'm just going to run, test
myself, and he's coming with
this whole plan and strategy

to defeat me and the other
racers that are showing
up at this event.

I am a common human with an
uncommon desire to succeed.

What I bring to this event
is the experience.

My body has done this sort
of thing before.

And I've got kinda that old man
strength thing going for me,
right?

I've got a few years on
Chadd, and some
hardened muscles,

some hardened bones that I think
are gonna serve me well as we
get out there on the course.

I do believe that I've done the
work to be competitive
in this race.

And to do it with Chadd, my
friend, right beside me

is something that is gonna be,
it's gonna be awesome.

I know it sounds bad, and a lot
of people don't like it, but

James on race day I'm
not your friend.

My objective is to beat you. My
objective is to destroy
you mentally.

'Cause it assures my victory.

Right over that 32 ounce mark.

I feel great this morning,
y'know,

Brooke got up to pee about 5
times last night, so
she made sure

she made sure she kept me up
every hour on the hour at least.

You don't really get a good
night's sleep before a race.

Do you guys need me to help?
When...

So, James' dad has been in the
hospital a couple weeks, and

he was doing better. He told
James, "Thursday night I
want you to race."

And then we got a call that he'd
been rushed to the ICU, and they
were calling family to come.

And so we packed everything up
really fast, and took off home.

My dad is not well, in intensive
care, so I'm going home
to be with him.

Good morning. Morning.

Morning.

Thanks for coming. Yeah.

You want a wrist band?
You can still run.

Well, woke up this morning
feeling pretty good. I
mean you want to?

Yeah, we can put you in.
You can run.

Yeah.Okay.

Sweet.

No, I did not know Greg
was coming back.

Well, he came in last minute,
huh?

He showed up this morning,

looks like he's game to run a
few loops, so we're gonna put
him in the race, and

we'll see what happens.

Well that's outstanding.

I'll just have to beat him
again this year.

Your hydration needs. Thank you.
Perfect.

It means so much to have Greg
just show up this morning.

I think that people really hold
him in a really special light,
and he is kinda this

super tan, bronze
statue of a human.

They kinda put him on a, you
know, up on a pedestal

for all the right reasons,
for sure.

It's Greg Armstrong.

If you don't know, you need to
know. You're missing out a lot.

If there's one man I would love
to run against again,

It's Greg Armstrong.
'Cause he's legit.

Couldn't pass. I mean I brought
a cooler to sit on.

Do you want a chair? No.

I've got a folding chair. Do
you think that is?

Like just a standard, black
folding chair? I'm good.

I guess I'm more of a
minimalist in that regard.

I don't know, I think in the end
it's just about getting some
calories in the body, and

you know, being hydrated.

I can do that with a 20 dollar
water bottle or a
disposable plastic bottle.

My wife, she doesn't even
know I'm running, so

I don't know, I'll probably call
her a little bit later

and get forgiveness
for that maybe.

He's got a good tan, doesn't he?
Yeah.

I cannot thank you enough
for coming, and

it is an absolute honor to have
each and every one of you here.

I've known James for 20 years,
and when he called me, I mean,
his

he was heartbroken. Because he
has trained so hard for this.

But you know, that's his heart
too. He's gonna put
family first.

It didn't surprise me that he
was going to drop everything
and go see his dad.

I love that about James.

Speaking of, there they are.

Hey Billy.

Welcome back. Thanks.

'Sup brother. Good to
see you man.

We got not quite all the way
home and got a call saying that
he's stabilized, he's
gonna pull through,

and that they all three talked
and they wanted James to run.

He is hanging in there.

Yeah, I think he's gonna, I
think he'll pull through.

We're back.

James has a whole new
reason to run now.

This race has a meaning now that
is beyond what it
would have been.

It's tied to something, a
bigger event, right?

A bigger test. And so that's
gonna give him more fuel to run.

I know he wants to make
his dad proud.

This is a very simple race.

Be in the corral every 20
minutes. Answer the whistle.
And trust yourself.

Just keep coming back.

Each one of you can
be victorious.

And if you exceed what you
thought was possible, you will
achieve victory today.

You owe it to each other to give
that one person that is left
that can run that victory lap
everything that you have.

Because it takes everyone
to get them there.

Are you ready?

Welcome to Midstate!

One second!

Get your butt in the corral
or get left behind!

It's a race people!
Start running!

Let's go!

It's a funny thing.

I send people out, and they're
willing to push themselves and
come here and do this.

I mean, you can't script and
write stuff like this.

Anyone can sign up for this
thing. You have 100 that
choose to toe the line.

It is the few that are willing
to start something that
doesn't have an end.

That's what's crazy about
this race, right?

You go do a 50 mile race, a 100
mile race, you've got a target.

Here, I don't know.

Am I gonna run for 30 hours? Am
I gonna run for 50 hours?

I'm just gonna run until either
no one else is left, or I
can run no more.

1.1 [miles] in 20 minutes, many
people would think,

Heck, I can about walk that.

But when you get out there and
see what the terrain's like,

The last man standing format
will test and see how much of
a lunatic you are.

The hills get people.

They're just steep. They're just
straight up, and I think that
gets in a lot of people's heads.

It just sucks the
life out of you.

These hills are no joke out
here, though. So I'm
learning that.

There's about 350 feet of
elevation gained and lost along
the course of that mile.

That's the equivalent of 35,000
feet of elevation gained and
lost per 100 miles.

Don't run up that hill, that's
the thing about it.

Short little steps I find help
the best to get up it
nice and quick.

This race goes 100 miles.

You've more than summited Mount
Everest. Mount Everest is just
over 25,000 feet.

You've covered 34,000
feet of elevation.

And that's just the gain.

I'm Luke. Adison.

What's your name? I'm Alea.

I'm Luke. I'm hoping to go
48 hours. Nice.

And I'm hoping there's guys
around me that push me to do it.

Heard of the SCAR? Yeah.

Yeah, so I currently hold the
SCAR record. Oh wow.

I'm a moderately good climber,
but I'm really a good descender.

Woo!

I'm not gonna be too modest
about my descending.

Woo!

You've gotta go down that
340 foot every lap.

It's the downhill that's
gonna get people.

The downhills are more
brutal than the uphill.

And that's really what wears on
your body, is that

hard thumping of your joints and
your body as you pound your way
down these steep hills.

In my mind, there are no hills
today. It's all flat.

It's all in your head. That's
all. It's all in your head.

There's no finish line.

I think there's a quilt
for the winner.

No prize money.

Just a broken down body,
and knowing

that you have pushed yourself to
the absolute limit of
your ability.

Welcome back!

It was great, beautiful.
Weather's perfect,
course is beautiful.

Company is awesome.

Come on folks!

When you come in off that loop,
you gotta refuel yourself.

You know everyone's got rows of
tents, and people having
their food ready.

Greg has what looks like a
homeless camp over there by
himself with a collection of

bottles, cans, and food. And
Lord knows where that
food came from.

He probably had it in his truck
since he didn't plan on running.

You have these people with these
well-oiled machines around them,
and then there's just a

well-oiled machine of a human,
just

here's a pile of stuff, and
just keep trucking.

You don't really have 20
minutes to do the loop.

You got 18 minutes.

Takes about 2 minutes to top
your water up, get
some fuel in you

and get back out and toe the
line for the next loop.

Get out!

I timed out, I got here like a
few seconds after they left for
the second 20 minutes.

They're strict. At 20 minutes,
you gotta be in the corral.

When they blow that whistle, you
gotta be in there and gone.

And then I walked up and showed
them my bracelet, and said "Oh."

And they looked at the time and
they were like "Oh!" And so I
was the first to go down.

The wristbands, you know, we
thought that that was a fun
alternative to bibs.

Since we don't do that sort of
timing and we wanted something
that you gotta give back.

I remember last year man,
seeing Greg

come across the line
and collapse

And like, his body had
completely shut down.

What happened on Greg's last lap
was his quad locked up,

which is really common with
races that have a
lot of descent.

If you don't have enough salt
and electrolytes in your body,
your muscles don't fire
and they tense up.

Once that balance is off, it's
hard to correct. It takes hours.

My left quad was just not
functioning from all the
downhill. And so I'm
hobbling in.

I was still dialed in mentally.

The body broke down. And for me,
I can accept that.

I can go to bed at night knowing
that my body broke before
my mind broke.

Very rarely in life do you get
to see a human being push
to that level.

And I literally cannot speak to
him without crying. Tears are
welling up in my throat.

My mantra in my head at this
time, I'm saying,

I have to control my emotions
here. I'm still in the fight.

Last year when I won the race I
didn't even train.

We had a pandemic going on, all
the races closed down.

We didn't think we were going
to be able to race.

The Midstate Mile pops up on our
radar, we sign up.

We say, "Oh, we're gonna go do
this because there's
nothing else to do."

And we just show up and I didn't
decide until the
morning of the race

I said, "You know what, I'm
going to try and win
this thing."

I had a couple jugs of water, a
pair of tennis shoes,

And we ran. And we won.

The added motivation of knowing
that there are other people that
are hungry to beat me,

that is what has driven me to
train so hard leading up
to this event.

So I ran 30 hours last year, I
felt like I could run
30 more hours.

There's no telling what I'll be
capable of this year.

Me and ol' Jeems, we got that
old man muscle. You're just
starting to develop that
old man muscle.

A one mile loop. You can't get
lost, you don't have to worry.

You turn off and you frickin'
run man!

No matter how tired you are, no
matter how late it is, no matter
how your legs feel or
what's going on,

You can always run just a mile.
And that's the whole race.

It can't get any more simpler
than this, alright?

When Chadd says this is
just running,

Running is so simple!

It's not just running to him.

I have one job, to beat everyone
else and to maintain constant
forward motion, that's it!

That's simple, that's easy!

He's bringing the full spectrum
of his experience as a Navy
SEAL to bear on this.

The planning, the strategy, the
psychological tactics,
everything. I know he is!

And that's what makes him such a
fierce competitor.

The best athletes in SEAL
training were the first
guys to quit.

They were always the first guys
to quit. Because a warrior
doesn't think like an athlete.

A warrior says, "My brothers and
my sisters look up to me, I have
a standard to uphold."

I'm not simply trying to
maintain my fitness, I have
sworn to uphold a standard.

Period.

It was a beautiful thing, I
think, as a child, growing up
in this area because

we had some freedom of movement,
right? We had freedom to go out
and be boys. Be kids.

Fight and strive and play hide
and seek, and play war. And
all of that stuff.

Run faster!

Now, as I kinda progressed
throughout my young adulthood,

It became not such a great
place for me to be.

When you live in a place like
this, there's not a lot of
opportunity for a career.

I didn't want to go to college,
but I realized that I wanted to
do something a little
outside the box.

That's when I realized, "I have
to leave this place if I want to
do something special."

Special to me, right?

I saw this banner pop up on the
computer, and it said, "Navy
Seal's the harder military
training in the world."

And I just thought, "Man, if I'm
gonna go do something, why not
go try the hardest thing
that there is?"

They literally warp your mind.

They warp your mind in a way
that you want to win.

They warp your mind in a way
that you no longer believe
that you can be beat.

This is me. This warrior
mindset is me.

And I have to fulfill this drive
within me to strive
against something.

Look man, this is why so many
guys, they come out of
the Teams man,

they become alcoholics, it could
eventually lead to suicide.

My Sea-Daddy, my mentor in the
SEAL Teams killed himself.

And it's because that energy
turned dark, man. For sure.

The most healthy way for me to
fill that hole within me which
is striving against something,
right?

Fighting against something.
Sacrificing it all, man,
to beat an enemy.

The most healthy way for me to
do that is to go out here on the
trail, and do it in a
controlled environment

against wonderful human beings
that I can strive against

for hour upon hour upon hour.

Welcome back,

it's been 17 minutes since I've
seen you around. Welcome back.

What we're seeing this year with
people's timing and race
strategy is reflective of what
the winner's did last year.

The winners, the people who
lasted the longest were running
about 18 minute loops,

and I
think that strategy
has caught on.

And people are hanging on to
that 18 minute loop.

This is my first time where I
have to run a much slower pace
than I normally do.

For me, part of the deal is,
what is the offset to walk down
hill versus run down hill?

Because I know when I've walked
down significant hills in big
races, big races, it
hurts me more.

So for now I'm gonna try to keep
running the downhills. I'm
playing with it, I
don't even know.

Yeah, I'm finishing with one
minute to spare. One
minute's a lot of time.

Yeah, don't run fast ever.
That's the goal. That's
the smart plan!

Let's go people!

If that's Chadd's plan also,
then we'll be doing
the same thing.

Let's go! Come on!

You get your butt
across that line!

This is a race folks!

Get out!

Let's go!

9 miles! That's alright. Not
my goal, obviously.

I couldn't get my stomach right.
And going down those hills and
all that in your stomach
being like, no.

You got something that
belongs to me.

Now I get to have fun and cheer
everybody else on!

Taking a pee Jeems.

Good word.

You found the potty up there?
I did.

Good. Good to see you peeing.
Hope you're all peeing guys!
Yeah!

For me, I always try to make
sure I'm peeing at least
every 2 hours.

I really like to pee about every
hour to hour and a half. Uh huh.

My brother-in-law, he'll just
pull his pants down and pee as
he walks. He's like, "Don't
turn around y'all!"

He's like, "I'm peeing!"

That is an advantage! It is,
it totally is!

I could probably like hitch and
like kinda do a...

Or just accept that you're gonna
be okay being wet for
most of the day.

I mean, I'm wet already. But
my socks are dry.

My shirts are still dry right
now, so once they get wet, who
knows, I might start peeing on
myself, I don't know.

If you need to use the restroom,
you run a hot lap, and then you
get a little poop loop in.

You have to run a little bit
faster, get to the porta-potty,
be brave.

Get it done, pull up your
britches, come out. There's a
nice woman with hand
sanitizer waiting for you.

I will tell you, this is
not a running race.

It is a battle for who can stay
present the longest.

That's why the race is
tailor-made for me. I'm
not a fast runner.

I very rarely run a mile faster
than a 10-minute pace.

Chadd's training and mindset is
definitely an advantage.

A Navy SEAL has been trained by
our government with a particular
set of skills, so, yeah.

He's made of skin and bone and
blood just like I am.

Navy SEAL, I mean, you know,
there's not really an
intimidation factor.

Hold on man, did you forget who
you're talking to?

Unless I fall and break my leg,
he cannot beat me.

I smell blood, man. Y'know what
I mean? There's blood
in the water.

Still outstanding, bro. Yeah.

These are just process laps,
man.

These laps don't mean nothing.

At the end of the race, I
envision myself holding up the
quilt. I'm running to win!

You can't win. You
just can't win.

Hey guys.

So I've run one race with Chadd.
I've seen the videos of what he
did last year, and
it's impressive.

6:30!

Luke Boschweiller, he's good.
He's never done this before.

If you can run this loop in
6:30, I'll give you my car.

He's strong mentally, he's
gritty. But he's never
done this before.

And maybe that's an advantage at
the end of the day, cause he
doesn't have the expectation.

I hope we all can go late into
Sunday evening into Monday
morning, that's my hope.

I'm just gonna crush that
dude's soul, man.

I think he's probably
a fast runner.

But I'm just gonna take a piece
of his soul, I'll probably
frickin' hurt him so bad he'll
never race again.

Last 10 seconds! If you wanna go
around again, get in the corral.

Does Chadd have a weakness?

He does.

He does.

He's very confident.

And he's been tested, he has
reason to be confident.

Shoo!

He's still just a man.

He's still just a human being,
flesh and blood just like me and
everybody else showing up.

And I wonder if his confidence
is gonna end up being
his weakness.

And whether it's me or somebody
else, that there's not a sleeper
out there in the crowd

that shows up and just has a
little bit more in the tank
than he expected.

Usually when you stay back here
in the back, you get to spend
some time with every quitter.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Let's go!

Run faster!

Okay.

My ability to control my
emotions regardless of
circumstance

is what sets me
apart from all of my
competitors.

Emotions are beautiful things.
Emotions are part of us.

They're here actually to serve
us and make us who we are.

So they're great things but they
are terrible leaders. Emotions
are terrible leaders.

I have seen him put into
practice the things that he
talks about, right?

And I've had the opportunity
over the last year and a half to
put those things into
practice in my own life.

I've seen the difference it
makes when I control my tone,

when I don't voice the pain I'm
feeling when I'm out
on a long run,

when I choose to not speak
negativity, when I choose to
take quitting off the table.

I've seen it work.

And I've seen it
work in my life.

So when a guy like Chadd looks
you in the eye and says,

"Hey, you have within you the
capacity to win this race if you
get your head right."

Coming from a guy like Chadd,
alright. If you're gonna speak
that into me, I'm gonna listen.

As soon as I start to allow that
emotional part of me to lead me,

I've just lost.

Crying wastes energy. Being
emotional is mentally and
physically exhausting.

By controlling those emotions in
the midst of the race,

you're actually preserving
energy that you should put
towards winning the race.

Yeah, they work well on
the downhill!

2 minutes!

You're still having fun?
All day long.

Thank you.

Man, looking strong babe.
Thank you.

Lollygag to the aid station.
Lollygag to your chair.
Lollygag to the corral.

Lollygaggers!

5 seconds!

I didn't eat

It's an eating contest as
well as running.

And I failed on the
eating contest part

Come on James!

Woohoo!

Yes!

Come on James!

Go James!

We did get the news that his dad
has gone to be with Jesus.

You got it.

You're okay.

His mom shared with me

that his dad had his Bible and
there was a hymn that was sung

and his mom was playing the
video that James had
made for him

before the race, saying: "Dad,
I'm running this race for you."

Hey Buckster. Hope you're doing
well this morning, man.

I'm here at the race.

Check this out.

We've got about 100
folks running

and man, it's going to
be a long day.

You're doing good.

My dad's a heck of a man.

He always believed in me.

Always loved the different
things that I did to
push myself.

And so I knew he'd
want me to run.

You got it babe.

There you go. Yes!

Good. Keep going.

Perfect

Praying for you as I run.
Running this one for you, Pops

Praying for you.

I know you're going to do well
today and I'll keep you
updated as things go on.

You know I love you.

Talk to you soon.

Bye bye

There you go.

Perfect.

This man is giving it all

and leaving it all out
on the course.

Yes!

And I've never been
more proud of him!

I can't imagine what James
is going through.

And I'm not going to try.

One of the hardest
days of his life

and he's giving it all.

I'm happy he's here. I'm
sorry he's here.

All I can do is
provide him an arena

to work through it in his own
way, find something
within himself.

There you go. Nice. Yeah!

Good job brother.

Good job babe. You're
finishing strong.

James is one of the
strongest men that I know.

I can't imagine having one
of the worst weeks

and days of your life and then
also pushing your body

farther than it's ever been
pushed in your entire life

and how those two
things go together.

He is incredibly strong.

Nice job.

Break time.

So every 12 hours we do
an intermission.

We want to give the guys a
little bit of longer rest, get
prepared for night,

get some good calories in, make
that mental shift of this
isn't over yet.

I'm gonna change. Am I allowed
to though? Yeah? Yeah.

We had some runners last year
that wanted to go out.

Could I keep running?

No, you can't.

It's an intermission because
the tendency to cramp

after that break and to sit down
and get cold and cramp up

It does create a challenge.

Oh, my God, Emily!

It does mean something to me.

Yeah, because then I get to come
out and chase the guys now,
yeah.

The main milestone in the
Midstate Mile is darkness.

The first cycle of darkness or
period of darkness.

When the sun sets, you pull
your headlamp on.

You know you've got a long
night ahead of you.

I got dry underwear now.

My name's Danny.

Farthest I've gone
is a marathon.

Yeah, this is the first.

Now it's an official Ultra, so

feeling good.

Cheese quesadilla.

Nice Pepsi.

No, we're good.

I just gotta go till my
legs don't work.

Wake up!

Nap time's over, ladies!

I don't know why you'd use it
for anything else.

It's the only time in the race
you can sit down and sleep.

Why would you sit up
and talk and eat?

You can do that the
rest of the night.

Man, all I need's a can of
Copenhagen and a five
minute heads up.

Three, two, one, one.

Woo!

So I'll be at the back of the
pack pretty much every loop.

This is a strategy that I use
because when you're in the
back of the pack,

you can see all your competitors
out there in front of you.

And when you can see them, you
can start to see the little
chinks in their armor.

Alright, so as I'm watching
these people ahead of
me on the course

and I see someone and they start
to they start to get
a little hitch

in their step, right?

They start to limp a little.

That gives me energy.

That gives me energy.

Been here and done this man.

In SEAL training Hell Week was
a thing that we do.

It's six days, five nights,
no sleep.

You run over 200 miles with a
boat on your head, swim
countless miles.

You're wet, sandy, cold,
hypothermic, the
whole nine yards.

I can't even explain to you what
Hell Week is like.

2 minutes.

We had this evolution during
Hell Week, and we were on
this stretch of beach

in Southern California.

And the instructors say: "All
right, guys y'all got to run one
mile down the beach,

Run faster!

...turn around and run
one mile back.

The only caveat is we're not
going to tell you when
this is over."

And we lost more guys on
that single evolution

in Hell Week than anything else.

It was simply:

The guys that quit

could not focus their
attention on the fact

that they had to run a single
mile at their own pace

on a sunny beach in
Southern California, man

And they thought:

We might be doing this for the
next 30 hours, man!

And they quit.

And they quit.

And they quit, right

It's the same thing at
Mid-State Mile.

I didn't know how to swim when I
went to SEAL training.

I had never really ran.

I didn't have any of the
physical attributes, right

What I did have is I didn't
know what was coming.

And so I was able to just take
each day one step at a time.

Every morning when I woke up,
I had one goal.

It was to make it to breakfast
and I made it a breakfast.

When I made it to breakfast

I would start to
think about lunch.

So if I made it to lunch, by
gosh, I was going to
make it to dinner.

You can break things down into
these small digestible segments.

And there were so many guys

that I went through training
with that had read
all the books.

They knew what was coming every
hour of every day.

And that is the number one
reason that people quit.

Sometimes it's better not to
know every detail of
the challenge.

They get overwhelmed by the
big picture, man.

I'm good.

Thanks.

Oh, is that where we're at?

Oh, yeah.

Mileage is a human construct.

It's irrelevant here.

This, this next one is
the 18th hour.

I'm gonna do a stress test.

Run this one harder.

Yeah.

Hoping to do about a
12 minute lap.

So.

Yeah.

How much I have left
in the tank.

I'm running so far below my, you
know, my real threshold.

It's nice to kind of get a
feeling, can I still
do a fast lap?

Oh, someone's real close.

All right, all right, all right,
right. Come on.

There's a little coconut
Tailwind there. Or do
you want regular?

I don't know. Yeah. Just drink
that. Get a little bit of
calories in you.

We're just chilling here,
alright? We're just hanging out.

Water on the head?

No, no, no. I'm cold.

You're good brother,
you're good.

Got 20 seconds, 20 seconds.

You're good. You got this, dude.

You got one more. Just one.
Keep going.

You got plenty left.

We'll be right there for you,
man. Hang in there.

You got this, dude.

Let's go, brother. Let's go,
brother. Get it going!

I didn't know Danny. I think I
recognized him, don't really
know a lot about him.

To see his evolution and,

you know, it gets later in the
race and he's still hanging on.

Obviously he is battling and
pushing and getting
outside of himself

and letting it go and
just moving.

It's a hard thing to watch, but
it's a really beautiful thing to
watch at the end of the day.

Feeling good. Felt good?

Yeah, it felt good.

It tells me that I've got a
lot left in the tank.

I can go a lot longer.

Good job, Greg.

Did you make your 12?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

It wouldn't be for me.

I can only speak for myself.

If I did a 12 minute loop, it
would be my last loop.

Right?

That's me.

If it works for him,
more power to him.

Yeah. It means he's foolish.

That's what it means.

It means he's impatient

Patience is what it takes
to win out here.

It, it certainly is a
hard course.

It hasn't pushed me
cardiovascularly yet.

I ain't paying him no mind.

Do you believe it's
Sunday already?

Yeah.

Go, you better hurry if you
want to make it!

You gotta give me
more than that!

Keep walking.

Right here.

Yip. Come one. Yes you can.

Come on.

Keep moving. Hey. Keep moving.
Keep moving.

Come on. You got one more?
You got one more?

You got one more?

Come on. You got one more?

Keep going. Keep going.

You guys

Come on Danny. One more!

Go!

Alright, give yourself
about 10 seconds.

Walk it off.

You just pushed.

All right. Come on Danny!

I want you to start running at
these porta-johns.

Get your poles in hand.

Alright. Start moving.

Start moving.

There you go. Let's go,

Let's go.

Go.

60 miles! You for real?

Really?

You kept in this fight.

Thank you.

Today and tonight was an
awesome, awesome, awesome day.

Ooh, there's a big
blister on top.

I might lose a toenail.

Oh, my God. Good job. Thank you.

He was, like 5, 7 minutes
behind these guys.

Main pack, so

he's coming up.

Next four minutes.

Oh, yeah. He's not stopping.

We're all blown away.

I know, I know. He has more
than proved himself.

I didn't want him to
have any regrets.

And definitely won't tonight.

Finish it out, brother.

Come on. Come on brother,
push it!

All right, all right. Killed it.

Killed it.

All right, all right.

Amazing.

Thanks.

I wouldn't have gone half as far
without my boys here,
that's for sure.

You see a guy goes so far beyond
what he thought he could do.

Ginger ale. Pepsi.

Pepsi.

And be joyful and
happy about it.

And, you know, his immediate
thoughts were to be thankful

for those that supported
him along the way.

Yeah, it's an
incredible feeling.

It's kind of why you do it.

Thank you.

It's for that.

Whatever you want to do.

You got it in you.

Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate y'all.

Yeah, I guess my brain's not
really working right now.

Thank you, guys. Good job buddy.

Thanks.

It is so inspirational to be out
here and watch it.

In the darkness there is
just so much light.

You can't find it anywhere else.
I love it.

I'm so proud of these people.

Thanks, fellas.

Tired, man.

Looking good man. Killing it.

Keep going.

Another one down.

That's tough.

Sheesh.

Never thought I'd get that, huh?

I still haven't
achieved my goal.

I want to push myself as far as
my body will allow
me to push it.

And I don't want to tap out
because my mind was weak.

Or I felt like my body was weak.

I want to give it all I got
for as long as I can.

You need something in you.

No, I...

Here we go.

I just need water.

No, you need calories.

Here. Sit up.

Ah, my armpits

Come on

What the heck our armpits got to
do with anything, man.

I'm just old, dumb, redneck
country boy, man, that figured
out how to live forever.

I have eternal life.

Amen.

How can you, how can you keep a
man down that knows
he can't die?

Amen.

You're going to get to
a point where

literally every bone in your
body feels like it's
about to snap.

But that's not hard for me, man.

The things that are hard for me,
you would probably
laugh at them.

The other day we were moving
from the home that we were
living in to a new home.

Well, our new home
didn't have internet

And I had to do some
video chats.

So I'm in my old house.

My old house is
completely empty.

There's no one there.
It's an empty room.

Everything's out.

All that's there is my computer.

And I sit down in front of my
computer and I get ready for
my Zoom call, right?

And I start to get
really anxious.

I've spent hundreds of hours in
an empty room in some
third world country

trying to make a call back to
the people that I love,

just to let them know
that I was okay.

Think about that.

Think about what it feels like

To sit in an empty room

in a third world country

where people want to kill you

and you're trying to reach back

to the people that you love,
to say,

I love you.

I don't know if I'll
see you again

but I love you.

That's hard, man.

And then figuring out,

navigating how to
deal with that.

How to reconcile with that.

It's just running.

Your life will never be

more simple

than it is right here,
right now.

Come on out.

Go! Go! Go! Yeah!

Go! Go!

Move your feet. Come on. Go.
Move your feet.

So we're going to have to run 25

maybe 30 hours

in order to weed all
the people out

that don't really, truly

want to win.

There's gonna be a long process

that we have to endure

before the race even starts.

We're starting to put the pieces
of the puzzle together

that are going to look like a
race, come morning.

We're separating the wheat
from the chaff.

No. Uh huh. No.

No. Uh huh.

We're still just piddling
around out here.

These are what you call
process laps.

You can't cheat the process.

You have to run a bunch of these

to get to the point where you're
actually in the race.

Those that are in it now are

they're hard individuals and not
to be trifled with.

They've come a long way.

They've got a long way to go.

What you need?

Just Gatorade.

Any doughnut on me?

You know, it's important to keep
your calories and hydration up
in a race directing role.

Do you want a burrito?

I'll buy a banana.

A banana? Yeah.

Oh. Thank you so much Chili.

The head games will begin

at the Midstate Mile

late in the race

If you have those past
experiences, the most
powerful thing

you can do with them

is leverage those experiences in
order to defeat your
competitor mentally.

If you can convince
your competitor

that they can not beat you

then they can't beat you.

It's literally that simple.

I ain't feel so good
in a long time.

Go do it.

Time to go to work.

I mean, this is what we do.

Ha, ha.

It's part of the game.

As the field narrows itself
down to single digits

the game is afoot.

It takes everybody that
enters the race

to get that final person

that victory lap.

But it's going to take the field
working together to
make that happen.

And Chad is just sizing him
up the whole time.

Just figuring out, oh, this guy
is breaking down right here.

I see him. He just
dropped his head.

He's breathing hard.

He's sizing him up
the whole time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know.

Nap time.

Yeah. You know, kids have been
up for a little while.

They've had a lot of sugar and
they're cranky, and so they
just need a nap.

So we'll put the kids down for a
nap and we'll regroup
in 20 minutes.

I don't see any limps,
any aches, pains.

He just seems to keep
being consistent.

Coming in at that 18 minute mark

gets up at the ten second
mark and goes.

You know, when I do a function
check on the body

A ll systems are good to go.

It's going to take a lot more
than 24 hours to put any
real stress on any

any bodily systems.

He's got some nasty feet,
doesn't he?

The hot spots on the body

are your feet, your joints

sleep deprivation

your stomach.

People's guts - that's what
takes most people out

And he hasn't had that, any
of those issues.

This race, we've been
really lucky.

The real hasn't even started yet

I think until we get to two

Yeah.

Hard to say.

Hard to say who I'll be running
against at the end.

I like my daddy.

Are you part of my crew, Ellie?

I'm not tired, so just gonna
roll with it for now.

He's always been a go-getter.

He's always been, you know,
athletic.

Not a quitter.

It's been such a blessing

to see him grow up.

and become the man he is.

All right

Mr. Wright's awake.

I'm awake.

I feel fresh

as a morning

rain in the summertime.

Yeah. Fresh morning rain.

We both have running shoes.

We have. We both have
trekking poles.

You're both still in this race.

Yeah, we're both still running.

I am a Yankee, though. That's
okay. That's cool.

Okay, we'll see you when we can.

Come on!

That's right.

It takes a village to
raise a kid.

Crazy kid.

What's you call a speed poo!

Yeah!

Stay patient.

Stay present.

Keep being deliberate.

Execute the plan.

All systems are go

It's hot.

So the heat

You know yesterday we had
overcast and it kept it

pretty humid but you were
shielded a little bit
from the sun.

Today - just relentless. 90
degrees and 70% humidity

Come on Greg, you got it!

Come on Greg.

You got it.

So last year, Greg's
quad locked up.

You know he was having some
issues with it. And that's what
ended up taking him out.

And it started really a few
hours ago, kind of
bugging him again.

So we tried to get some
electrolytes and some salt in
him and get it going again.

That's the key to keeping
everything firing.

It's so easy to throw all of
that off, especially
in the heat.

The quads.

It seems like that's what goes
out on me before the mind

or the stomach or anything else.

I can handle my body
breaking down.

as long as the mind
is still in it.

I'm going to jog it in.

See you later.

Come on! Come on!

Go! Go! Go!

Go!

Well, I honestly didn't think it
was gonna be that close.

Thought I might get in based on
how everybody's cheering.

But it was, you know, up to
the wire there, so

That's all right.

It was a good day and a half or
whatever out there and
had lots of fun.

I'm putting ice on him so
he can cool down.

Oh, that's cold.

Best crew around, yeah!

That's so cold.

Now, when we get down
to three of us

That's when you really have to
think about being present.

That's when you really have to
utilize all these tools:

Being patient, being present,
being deliberate.

Everything in front of
that's just a grind.

All those miles in front are
just to get you to that point

where you actually have to start
implementing those tools

in order to stay in the fight.

No. The race hasn't begun.

No.

I'm seeing a few chinks here
and there, you know.

Fifteen.

You might want to go get a
spare whistle Jon.

Cos I'm gonna tell you we're
going to be out here so long,

you're gonna blow a hole in
that son of a gun.

You better get some spare
batteries for that clock too.

Once you start dropping
back in this group

you're dropping back against
guys that are
executing their plan.

They are running their pace,
their 18 minutes,

their, the 17 and a half minutes
exactly the way they
want to do it.

So you're dropping back against
guys that are still in total
control of their race.

There's not a lot of room
for error here.

So once that starts to slip,

inevitably it's just
going to go.

Just take it easy, Aaron.

Take it easy.

Relax.

You're all right.

Hi, Mom. I love you.

I love you too!

We're so proud of you!

Thank you.

Could you not make the time
on the last run?

Right? Right. Yeah.

That's what I figured.

I got a video. Had to run up the
trail and he was
coming back down.

He didn't quit.

Top three is pretty amazing!

Yeah. Thanks, Mom.

I love you.

I love you too.

Do you feel that?

Do you feel that?

You earned very bit.

Every single step.

Thank you brother.

You earned it.

Love you Dad. I love you.

Thank you, everyone.

You guys are awesome.

Surprised me. Surprised myself.

Just amazing the power
of the community

To go further than you
ever expected.

Made me a better person.

It makes me want to be even
better. Strive to be better and

raise my expectations of
what's possible for me,

for those around me.

Thank you.

I wanna cry

You're sleep deprived,
that's why

Yeah, but you know.

I've been up since 3 o'clock
yesterday morning.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, from all of us.

Give him a big hug
from all of us.

I will

Don't drive tired, okay?

Yeah, I know.

I love you.

I love you too.

Okay. See you. Bye bye

A man's greatness is determined

by the strength of his enemy.

If I'm simply competing
against myself

to become better, that limits me

to what I am capable of.

We're gonna have a good time.

Now, if I'm striving against
something outside of myself

that has equal opportunity

to become and to be
better than me

I will work harder.

So my greatness at the
Midstate Mile

is determined by the strength

of the strongest man there.

The man that will push
me the furthest.

Without that, there's
no struggle.

Well

I just got struck

with another terrible poo.

out of nowhere

And I decided to sacrifice a

t-shirt

to clean my butt up.

So if you see a t-shirt on the
side of the trail

do not touch

or you're in danger of
getting E. coli.

I like to

I like to challenge all the
Strava downhill records.

I'm like, picking my line
and just going

I'm like, yes, the
downhill record!

I was pretty pumped when I
got that record.

I'm going to try to run
more with Chadd.

Because I get bored.

There's nobody else to talk to.

His only option is to drop me.

Looking good brother. Yeah Luke!

I'm okay.

I've lost my voice, but

Hey. What's up, guys?

You are.

No, the race won't begin until
later on tonight.

Sorry to keep you guys waiting.

We decided to drag it out
for a little while.

We's having so much
dang fun with it.

No sense in starting it now.

Okay.

Um. What's our time?

When you're doing an endurance
event, you're going to
get to a point

that I call the steady state.

This is the point that you reach
as a human being where

The physical pain is what it is.

It's not gonna get any worse

but it's not gonna
get any better.

Yeah, man.

You have to quit
fighting against it.

And you have to learn

that it's just part of the
process that you're enduring.

I mean, I haven't even really
got warmed up yet.

I feel like I can do
this indefinitely.

And once you reach
that steady state

It may take 20 hours.

It may take 30 hours.

It's different for
every human being.

Get up.

Get up.

The pain

is eventually going to level
out and you accept it

and you just keep moving, man.

Constant forward motion.
Constant forward motion.

It's as simple as that.

See, I'm a tactical expert.

Hope you guys knew that. On
tactics, techniques
and procedures

Execute, execute, execute.

This is a man about to
get real focused.

You're only in this mile.

That's it.

That's the only mile you
got to focus on.

He could turn it around though,
anything could happen.

Give me some of this.

Yes sir.

You got this. You got it man.

I'm a killer, man.

I'm a killer.

Well, I mean

I'm definitely
out-descending him.

So, I can still go for a
couple of hours.

It's started.

The race has started.

I see one man's ready to
keep on going.

Oh, yeah.

Get out there, Chadd.

Let's go, brother!

We're staying patient,
present and deliberate

Because it's not over

till the cat's in the bag, son.

Oh, yeah. I got, I got some
dookie shirts in here.

That's a

you know

it's just part of being
a crew member.

Yes! Let's go Luke!

Yes, sir.

Good job Luke!

Luke came out with no crew

No, I don't think I
want to lay down

And the other runners that
have been out here

As soon as we saw that, we
banded together and like,
alright

we're, we're your crew. Don't
think about anything.

We got everything you need.

Just to keep him going.

I've never had such care.

There's a lot of
talking going on.

This is for sleeping.

I can't believe they're wasting
this intermission.

Chadd came with a team

and because he has a team,
he can go very far.

We feel like it would have been
a disservice to Chadd

if Luke didn't also have a team
so we could see how
far he could go.

These guys are on
their 107th lap.

More than 4 times what I did.

And I was, I couldn't
keep up after that.

So when you see that, and you
see these guys hitting it over
and over and over again,

your belief goes through the
roof, like, so much is possible.

You don't know where
Chadd can go.

And it takes a really strong
runner to find that out.

It's night time. It's
time to play.

We own the night.

So we're very invested in seeing
this go as long as they can

so both these guys can find that
limit and build that belief.

That's why we're here.

At 30 hours, a human being
starts to get a little weird

without sleep.

30 hours without sleep,

putting significant
stress on your body.

Generally you start to
hallucinate a little bit.

You start to see things
that aren't there.

You start to hear things
that aren't there.

And it freaks a lot of
people out, man.

But I've, I've hallucinated

hundreds of times.

And as long as you can

expect it, you know it's a
natural part of the process,

It doesn't freak you out.

And then once you move past 30
hours, you're in that
steady state

and the only thing that's
going to take you out

once you move past that zone

is something in your body
physically breaks.

That's really the only thing
that can stop you after that.

Well done!

Good job Luke!

It's a noble thing to give your
best for another man.

Sure is!

You got it! Looking good!
Looking great!

Want some Gatorade?

Yes sir!

Keep walking. You're
looking great dude.

Let's keep, let's keep moving.

Keep walking. You got this.
Looking good!

You're doing so good, man.

Keep moving. Keep at it! Keep
at it! He's worried.

Here we go boys! Let's go!

Let's go!

I can't tell, is that him?

You had two individuals
that are willing to

sacrifice themselves
physically and mentally

for each other,

is why we are all here.

That is why this race exists.

To pull the best out of each and
every person that started

38 hours ago

to get those 96 people

to give everything they
can possibly give.

so one man

could run 1.1 mile by himself

Luke has timed out.

He has not answered the whistle

to continue going.

Chadd still needs to complete
the loop in the 20
minute timeframe

to cement his position
as the winner

and the last man standing.

Nothing is different about
running this last lap.

I am remaining patient,
present and deliberate

until I cross the finish line
and victory is mine.

Luke, you got something
belong to me.

Ultimately, the race was a
success for me.

I was able to maintain the
standard that I've
set for myself,

but I failed to have
the opportunity

to find my limit.

Okay, how many more
minutes we got?

He should have no problem.

I think he's going to crank it.

People don't remember me
for what I did.

People will remember me
because of who I am

and who I show up as.

I am simply a common human with
an uncommon desire to succeed.

A common human with an uncommon
desire to succeed.

I'm okay, I'm okay.

The last man standing

needs to cross the finish line
within that 20 minute timeframe

to prove that they
can run farther.

When all others have
fallen short

Next year I want to come back,
better prepared and go again.

Okay? Next year let's
do it again.

Congrats! Congrats!

This is so simple, guys.

I want you to know That there's
nothing special about us.

My feet are macerated.

My quads have been locking
up since hour 20.

The top of my foot hurts so bad

because I laced my shoes so
tight in the beginning

that it literally almost
makes you cry.

But you never heard one word
come out of my mouth about any
of that, did you?

That's what makes a difference,
man.

At first I have to
thank Luke because

he gave me one of the
greatest gifts

that I've ever received.

And that's the chance

to go to battle against not only
a worthy opponent,

but the toughest opponent

that I've ever met in the
arena of Ultra running.

All right.

What's next?

Mom put together another
quilt for Mr. Wright.

I'm Jon's mom, and I
made the quilt.

I made last year's quilt, I made
this year's quilt,

and I guess I'm going to start
looking at fabric for making
next year's quilt.

It's been a rollercoaster, man.

It's been a heck of a day,
certainly with a heavy heart.

Not under the circumstances.

I was expecting to run
this race, but

Ran and

wanted to make make him proud.

His legacy proud.

Oh, yeah.

Honestly, I don't
remember most of it.

I sure wasn't going to quit
sitting in a chair.

I was going to leave it all out
there one way or another.

I peed my pants a
couple of times.

I, I have rashes everywhere.

I'm chafing.

I, you know, you struggle so
much on the trail that

when you

when you get into a real life
situation and things get hard,
it

brings you back to moments like
these and makes you realize
you'll get through it,

you know, one way or another,
even if it hurts, you'll
get through it.

It just made me a better
person overall.

Chadd, I guess, is famous

for playing head
games with people.

Did I buy into any of Chadd's

No. I mean. We knew it was fun.

Just fun.

I think one of the thing that's
that's most in my heart

about, like, celebrating
about this event

is it's really, in all honesty

Is the fact that we captured it.

Hopefully, it really inspires
some people with what we did

Makes the experience that much
more valuable, you know.