37 for 37 Birthday Run 🎈

37 for 37! It’s been a tradition to run our age in miles for our birthdays, and today we were lucky enough to do it in paradise on Maui. Not only was Emma along for every mile, she carried the camelback! On Monday I’ll turn 37 and although I’m getting older, after going whole food plant based (WFPB) I feel younger everyday. I have more energy, vitality, excitement for life and just feel great. Sure, we’ve always been pretty active but we did zero training going in to today. The furthest I’ve run in the last few months is 17 miles. There is no way we would have been able to do what we did today before going WFPB. We’re not meant to eat meat and dairy so when we do it creates excess inflammation. The digestive process is taxing enough so when you add animal products into the mix the body responds, trying to let us know through aches, pains, fatigue, lethargy, etc. The cruel irony for those who are trying to be healthy by working out, but also eating animal products, is that you’re doubling up on inflammation. From the exercise and then the food. Among the negative side effects is increased recovery time. After our run today my legs are light, some things are chaffed, but as crazy as it sounds I’ll work out tomorrow in addition to doing some filming (my day job) which includes lugging around a lot heavy gear and being on my feet. 

As with all the stuff we share it’s not about us or wanting to impress anyone. I’m a huge introvert as my friends will attest and I generally shy away from the spotlight - despite being a magician 🎩 in my childhood. Our motivation is to release animals caught in the food chain from suffering BUT also to spread the word that there isn’t anything special about us - you can do this too! An ultra marathon is defined as any distance over 26.2 miles and one of the cool things about the sport is that it’s not uncommon for us to be passed by people double our age at some extreme distances. The secret is also getting out among professional athletes as well. Venus and Serena Williams, David Carter, Ricky Williams, just to name a few. So please don’t look at us and think we have any secret other than (some) training, fueling our bodies with WFPB foods, and not being afraid to try something that scares us from time to time. Comfort and familiarity, as nice as they can be at times, if gone unchecked can become a prison. As far as nutrition and health go, we had the answers all along and my only regret is that we didn’t make the change sooner. It was so much easier than I thought it would be and the benefits have been beyond what I imagined. We only get one shot at this life and if you’ve been on the fence about giving WFPB eating a try, please go for it. It’s never too late. One of the craziest things we’ve learned from this journey is what a miracle our bodies are and how quickly they can recover from decades of eating meat and dairy, we have a tremendous capacity to heal. Within just a few months my body fat percentage went from 20 to 10, my recovery time between workouts essentially disappeared, I was just happier and my mind felt clear. My mom lost 45+ lbs in a few months and is now off all her medications. Oh, and we’re able to run for 37 miles on a whim. Even if endurance sports aren’t in your future (but they can be, I promise) do it for your kids, family, career, and yourself! Whether it is cooking, shopping, dining out, information, resources, encouragement, etc, we are here to help!