Brian Watson was in New York City in 2018 and noticed hundreds of thousands of people crowding the streets and asked what was going on. A friend told him it was the NYC Marathon, a foreign concept to a guy living in a 300-pound body. He calmly told those around him that he would run it the next year. While that might sound daffy to some, those that knew Brian knew to take him at his word. Before you knew it, Brian had dropped a third of his weight, had finished New York, and was moving up to ultramarathons. Beginning in 2021, he completed in successive years the Arkansas Traveler 100, the Leadville Trail 100, and the Javelina Jundred. Then he jumped up to 200s and up, and discovered he actually placed better as the race got longer, finishing the Moab 240 and the Arizona Monster 300 in the top half of the fields. When I met Brian in Leadville, he was only a few days removed from having completed Badwater 135, the so-called World’s Toughest Ultramarathon in Death Valley, in 45:04:16. Transforming into an ultramarathoner is only part of his story. He owns a chain of pizza restaurants in Texas and Oklahoma and is partner in a real estate company, among his business ventures. Through all of this, he has gained amazing insights, many of which he shares in this chat. You will learn a ton about ultramarathoning and some iconic races in this episode, but also about so many of the lessons one learns doing these races that strongly apply to anyone’s daily life, including overcoming the hurdles we all face, and about the mental battles that derail our success. Brian has a matter-of-fact, no-nonsense approach to racing, like pushing through mid-race stress fractures and weather issues, but that through good planning and determination when things go south, reaching the finish line becomes a foregone conclusion, as it is with anything else he puts his mind to.

Brian Watson

Strava Brian Watson

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