Fxck Cancer Endurance Team: Fueling the Fight against Cancer with Jayson Williams

15 Blueberries and a spoonful of raw garlic everyday? That's two of the steps that Jayson Williams, the founder of the inspiring Fxck Cancer Endurance Team, takes to improve his overall health. Join us as he shares his remarkable journey of transformation and resilience against all odds. Embark on a captivating exploration of his life-changing efforts to combat cancer, shedding a remarkable 85 pounds and completing his first race along the way. Listen in as Jason reveals his intention to take on a full Ironman race, and how this ambition fuels him to raise awareness about early detection and prevention of cancer.

Together, Jayson, Carissa and John bring light to the power of family support during challenging times, and how it influenced a memorable Super Frog race. You'll be drawn into the unique atmosphere of the Ironman World Championships in Kona and the crucial role it plays in fostering a sense of community among athletes. Relish in the excitement as we anticipate Westin's upcoming Ironman World Championship and his honorary duty of debuting the 2024 Fxck Cancer kit.

But the journey is not just about physical endurance. Jayson honors the legacy of Sean English, a beloved race announcer and friend who lost his valiant battle to cancer. Tune in to learn about Jason's strategies for staying motivated amid physical and mental obstacles, and how he keeps the memory of Sean English alive in the hearts of the F Cancer Triathlon Team. Furthermore, we investigate the science behind probiotics, their benefits for gut health, and ways to incorporate them into our diets. From the more relaxed atmosphere of the back corrals at the start line of a race to a listener's humorous recount of her first runDisney race, this episode promises a blend of information, inspiration, and laughs.

You can donate to the Fuck Cancer Endurance team here
www.fuckcancer.org
Follow them on Instagram
Join the Fxck Cancer Endurance Team!

Transcript

John Pelkey: 0:03

Welcome to 321 Go the Podcast. I'm John Pelkey.

Carissa Galloway: 0:07

And I'm Carissa Galloway and we're bringing you stories from start to finish to keep the everyday athlete motivated to keep moving towards the next finish.

John Pelkey: 0:16

We have an awesome show today, a show that can help raise awareness and maybe even save lives, Carissa. We're talking with Jayson Williams, who leads the F Cancer Triathlon team, which is an arm of the charity F Cancer. Their mission is to fight cancer by raising awareness about prevention and early cancer detection. Their goal is to ultimately put an end to late stage cancer diagnosis.

Carissa Galloway: 0:39

That's going to be great and I guess today is brought to us by the letter F. But after we discuss that, we are going to talk about the importance of probiotics and a little bit about healthier you. We're going to open the mail bag to chat about the start line and share one listener's story about how they got started. So subscribe, rate us, leave a review, tell your friends and let's do this. Alright, john, we are here just on the edge of fall. In my mind, when it's September, it's fall, but that is not the only season we're celebrating here in Florida, right?

John Pelkey: 1:19

No, the longest season, other than perpetual summer, that we have is hurricane season and as we are recording it, we are dealing with, for us here in Central Florida, sort of the aftermath of an early morning hurricane issue, and again it's hurricane idelia, idelia, I don't know, they are running out of names, man, when they get to Bartholomew and Copernicus. We know we've had a rough, rough season, but we luckily here in Central Florida Chris and you and I don't live far apart we haven't really had to deal with too much. It's been a little gusty winds and we have some rain and luckily I'm not in a flood zone I don't believe you are, so I don't think we're going to have to deal with any of that. But hurricane season is something for those of you who want to move to Florida, for those of you who want to spend a lot of time vacationing here. It is something that you have to deal with.

Carissa Galloway: 2:11

And even this one. So we were us in Orlando. We were always never out of a tropical storm warning, so that was as high as we knew the winds were going to go. There's always that tornado threat which you're you're being aware of, but hurricanes can turn, and even when I went to bed last night there had been a wobble on the eye, and so I remember Charlie, years ago I think 2005 went to bed thinking it was going to hit Tampa, woke up it was coming straight for us.

Carissa Galloway: 2:33

So you have to go through all the prep you can't ignore. Is everything charged? Do you have gas or all these batteries? You know you have to do all these things, move your stuff out and that gets. I mean, obviously it's. It's just part of there's fear and there's children. So hurricane season does bring you a lot of things to work with, but luckily for this one here in central Florida, we were okay. We're seeing terrible storm surge up in the bend bit big bend area of Florida. So thinking about those folks here, but you and I podcast recording in the midst of quote unquote, the end of the outer, outer bands of the hurricane.

John Pelkey: 3:05

The rain or snow or sleep or hurricane will prevent us from doing this. But yeah, so our thoughts are with folks farther up on the fan handle. They're going to be dealing with a lot and and you are right, Sometimes they'll. You'll go to bed and it's like, oh no, it'll hit them around Pensacola, and then it'll take a right turn and come up by four and we're dealing with it. One of the downsides about living in the middle of Florida is you're not right on the beach. One of the upsides about living in Florida during hurricane season is you're not right on the beach.

Carissa Galloway: 3:35

Yeah, you get a little things like storm. Yes, as it comes in it's going to slow down just a little bit. But this hurricane my gosh knocking on this wood here. Some maps show it going out and circling back. And Weston and I are supposed to go to Nice on Wednesday for Weston to race in the Iron man World Championship. So fingers crossed that we get to get out of here and do that safely.

John Pelkey: 3:57

And I leave on a Disney Vacation Club cruise. I'll be hosting some shows on that on Monday. I think you should be good.

Carissa Galloway: 4:04

I think Monday you're going to be good. It'll be interesting to see and we'll have to follow up on this how the ocean is, the Caribbean Sea, wherever you'll be, what that's like, knowing that there's a lot of my hand gestures are just all I'm just just make. I should be a meteorologist. I'm like a conca line.

John Pelkey: 4:19

You really should, by the way can we just shout out to the meteorologists I know that they don't want to be this way, but the underlying joy in their voices when it's hurricane season, because they become the rock stars, because, particularly now with us at all the apps we have and everything, you can check the temperature, you can see if it's going to rain and all of that, but when it's hurricane season they are front and center. I noticed the weather channel. They built new sets for them. They have all of this really, really top notch technical stuff going on.

Carissa Galloway: 4:49

So shout out to those folks because they are doing yeoman's work and I'm an NBC girl, so I want to shout out on Weston Eric Burris has been there for a long time. He's great. There's a new guy, marcus, he's doing great as a TV person. You know, I'm like, oh, this is a new guy, how's he going to do? He's really come into his own. So I've enjoyed watching him, but I deal you. Thank you for leaving. Please stay away because, as we're going to talk, about in this episode.

Carissa Galloway: 5:15

Don't circle back. As we're going to talk about in this episode, weston is going to Kona to race the world champ. Excuse me, going to Nice to race in the world champion champs. I always Kona was the world championships. Anyway, neither here nor there.

John Pelkey: 5:26

They split them up. The women are in Kona, the men are in Nice.

Carissa Galloway: 5:29

I know and I mess it up all the time.

John Pelkey: 5:31

Even as Ironman announcer.

Carissa Galloway: 5:32

Westin, I are going to the south of France. Part of why he's racing and we're going to talk a lot about this today is he's racing for F cancer and their amazing endurance team to raise money for cancer, for supporting families to be able to do their dreams. So he's going to debut the new kit. That's part of why he wanted to go. Every year there's a kit for the team. He's going to debut it, but he's also raising money. So if you would like to donate money to say F you to cancer, we're going to put it in the show notes and on Instagram how you can support that organization. But looking forward to being in the south of France and looking forward for Weston just to be able to have that moment to not only put in 140.6 miles but do it to put that middle finger up for cancer and say we're all continuing to fight to support those going through it and to put money towards nobody else having to do it someday.

John Pelkey: 6:18

Great cause. Great cause, good for Weston, and we wish him certainly the best, and we wish your travel the best as well, because the remnants. Thank you, no, that's the other thing about. The remnants of a hurricane in and around the Atlantic Ocean can hang around for a while and you'll be heading heading east in that direction. So good luck to everybody involved and travel safely, as always, folks.

Carissa Galloway: 6:37

And speaking of travel, john great segue.

John Pelkey: 6:41

Thank you. Thank you, that's one of my. I have very few talents. That is one of them. We want to take a minute to thank our new sponsor. If you're dreaming of discovering new horizons or hey, have a Disney trip coming up don't let all the travel planning overwhelm you. Oh, let Katie McBride, with Travelmation, take care of everything with you. Make your life easier, gareth.

Carissa Galloway: 7:04

Yes, I love using a travel agent because it's time saving, it's stress free planning and you're getting the expertise that they know, the recommendations they're giving their tried, their tested, their. True Katie has a knack for swiftly sorting through options, presenting you with the best choices that align with your budget and your desires. So if you're ready to turn those travel dreams into reality, contact Katie today and you can embark on a journey filled with seamless experiences and unforgettable moments.

John Pelkey: 7:30

That's right, and you can reach out to Katie at wwwtravelkateymcbridecom. It's Katie K-A-T-I-E-M-C-B-R-I-D-E. Wwwtravelkatieymcbridecom, and we'll have the website on the show notes and have a wonderful trip. Get out there and travel people. It makes you better. Okay, civilians, it's time for the goods. Let's get on to the interview.

Carissa Galloway: 7:56

All right, today's guest is a name. You might not know, but if you've done a triathlon or road race, you've likely seen athletes in gear that says and I'm going to say it fuck cancer. And why? Yes, we all want to give cancer a big middle finger. This team is raising funds to do more than just that. So, john, I'm met Jayson, where any good story starts, at a bar in Hawaii. I mean, all stories should start, not just at a bar, but a bar.

John Pelkey: 8:22

I've never been to Hawaii so I have no good stories. Good Lord, I've had a couple.

Carissa Galloway: 8:26

Next time, come with us. Maybe you'll meet an amazing person like this, but we were blown away by his story and his passion for cancer endurance team. So he's a surgeon, an iron man, a father and a husband who leads the fuck cancer triathlon team, the endurance team, and all the athletes. Please welcome Jayson Williams. Jayson, how are you?

Jayson Williams: 8:44

Thank you guys so much for having me. This is such an honor. I'm just so excited.

John Pelkey: 8:47

I'm doing great. How are you guys doing Now? You guys are in Florida.

Jayson Williams: 8:52

We are, we are, we're doing well. I'm on the complete opposite side, in San Diego, so we're doing great.

John Pelkey: 8:57

Well, if you're wondering what it's like here it's like living inside someone's mouth right now is what it's like here in Florida. It's a tad warm and very, very humid. I like my visual of the bar in Hawaii better than that one, but I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to give Jason a heads up as to what he's missing here in the sunshine state.

Jayson Williams: 9:16

Yeah.

Carissa Galloway: 9:16

I get it. I mean, I live in San Diego. We just have the dryness. It's really hot but it's dry. Yeah, we just have the opposite heat. All right. So we want to kind of dive in, john, and get to know a little bit about how you got started with F cancer, fuck cancer. How many times can I say the F word in one and one?

John Pelkey: 9:33

She's very excited about that, by the way. It's very, very exciting. Yeah, I want to hear about your story, jason, because I don't know you as well and I know your story is incredible and, in some ways, devastating. So can you take people through this and how you, how and why your boss signed you up for 70.3 miles and what? This journey that flipped a switch and possibly changed your whole life? How did it come about?

Jayson Williams: 11:14

Well, first of all, I want to say this is the first podcast I'm actually allowed to say fuck cancer, so I'm actually really excited about this. Most of them I have to, you know, like I have to say F cancer or the FC tri team or whatever. So be careful, I'm going to get a little. I'm going to be warned, I'm going to be a little sensitive. Every time I tell this story. It doesn't get any easier.

Jayson Williams: 11:34

So back to go way back. I'm a college athlete, played sports my whole life, and when you get out of college and you start a job, like I have, you are in the hospitals all day and then at night you're whining and dining doctors to get them put in your product. So I was going from working out every single day and going straight to work and then not being able to work out anymore. So you guys probably have heard of like um mass rows or just like big steak houses. We have one here in San Diego called Donvance. I was going there four or five times a week being a full steak and drinking a whole bottle of wine every like five, six days a week easily, and I wasn't working out, I wasn't healthy and my boss um in 2017, no 2013,.

Jayson Williams: 12:25

Sorry, 2013 came up to me and said you know, jason, we get it. You're in cardiovascular and you're working your butt off, but you cannot look like this. You look unhealthy, you're. You have big bags in your eyes and I was 225 pounds. Um, when I left college, I was 130. So that's a big change, you know, gaining almost a hundred pounds. And she's like don't worry, we're going to get you back in shape, we've got all this stuff for you. And so I said, okay. So that night I got home and I looked at my email and it said, uh, ironman 70.3. And I go what's this? So I call, I call my boss and I go hey, um, what's this trathalon thing that you're signing me up?

Carissa Galloway: 13:08

for Like.

Jayson Williams: 13:09

I read up on it like 1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike and then you run a half marathon.

Jayson Williams: 13:14

Okay, I played soccer. Okay, but I never ran more than than I had to in soccer. I've never ran 13.1 miles before in a straight line ever. So I, I, uh, she said I got you. So in three months, um, I lost 85 pounds and was back in the back best shape of my life. I was doing two days. One of the biggest things I did is I cut soda out of my life completely, just stopped drinking soda. I was drinking five or six a day, um, and not just the little cans like the big cans, um, because I, I needed the caffeine to stay up and work all day, cause I was working, you know, 12, 14 hour days. And so I started riding, biking and running, and so I, I got to Hanoi, um, in June of 2013 and fell a little bit sport across the finish line and, I think, around 530, I think that's what was pretty good for your first one.

Jayson Williams: 14:05

Yeah, and I was, I was hooked. She goes, jason, you did such a good job, I'm so proud of you. You know what? What's next? And I said I want to do a full. She goes, really, I go, yeah, I definitely want to do a full. So, um, uh, tahoe was uh six months later, I think in like September. No, three months later. So, um, I was like I want to, I want to do a full, she goes, okay. So um signed up and and uh was training and her um daughter was diagnosed with cancer and she had a throat cancer, uh, caused by HPV, um, and so she was concentrating on her and then, at the same time, without telling me, was diagnosed with a brain tumor and so I was training, and training, and training and I got to my race and I called her the week before.

Jayson Williams: 14:59

I was like, hey, you're going to come, you know how's your daughter doing. You know, and she goes, I'll be fine, don't worry about it. You know, and I'm okay, um, so I, uh, I get to the race and it was a crazy year I don't know if anybody remembers it's no the night before, um and I, uh, I got in the water and that was a really, really hard swim 2.4 miles when it was like 40 something degrees outside and uh think I'm on the bike. I wore my wetsuit for the first 10 miles.

Jayson Williams: 15:30

I want to say just to stay warm because at my hand I couldn't even close them over the handlebars and got off the bike and I was just ecstatic that I got off the bike and then went for the marathon, walked some of it because you know it was high altitude, didn't train for that and it was the longest 16 hour day of my life. Um, I have a huge respect for people that are out there that don't know me. Um, so, uh, I crossed finish line and um, and my girlfriend, who was my wife now, um, comes running up and she goes, hey, I'm so proud of you. I was like, thank you so much. And um, she said, hey, you got to take the phone call. And I was like, okay, and she's like, hey, um, uh, it was my boss's husband and it was like, hey, you know, she's so proud of you. I was finished line and he did that for her and like, and all this stuff.

Jayson Williams: 16:17

I was like, yeah, thanks, and I go, can I talk to her, you know? And and she goes, she died five minutes ago. And I was like what? And she and I was like, what are we talking about? Like, uh, we, we had just spoken, and um, and yeah, so, uh, sorry. So I got home and I lived in Orange County at the time and I'd seen this sticker everywhere, like people put it on stop signings and all. So I reached out and said, hey, I want to do something. I want to be part of this, because when someone tells you they have cancer, I don't care who you are, the first word that you say in your brain, whether you say it out loud or not, is fuck.

Jayson Williams: 17:04

It's true, I wanted to do something. I wanted to make this more aware, because she was healthy, an athlete, an Iron man, and cancer took her and it just broke my heart and so I wanted to live on. I wanted her to live on through something. So I called fuck cancer. And I was like, hey, I'm going to raise money for you guys. They're like, okay, like what's a trath long? These guys are rock and roll, like rock and roll, skateboarding, surfing, going to death metal concerts and stuff with people They've never heard of a trath on it. So I'm raising and I raise money for them. And then, in 2017, sean English, right there, race announcer for Wildflower.

Jayson Williams: 17:54

Amazing guy, he did a lot of stuff at Kona. He did a lot of the rock and roll marathons. When, in San Diego, he was diagnosed with spinal tumor while he was training to qualify for Kona, by the way, like he had back pain and showed up in the ER and they're like it's not back pain, you have a softball attached to your spine and you know. So this guy never got to go to Kona, never got to race. So, anyways, he had just been diagnosed and I'm like, hey, you know, like there's a race announcer now, like maybe I should start a team and originally we called it the fuck cancer tri team. And I was like you know, it's gonna be 10, 15 people, it's gonna be fun, like we'll raise a little bit of extra money because I have like nine more people helping me raise money.

Jayson Williams: 18:46

And I called Sean Waddy Watkins, who owned Waddy Inc at the time and I was like, hey, I have this crazy idea. I know your best friend, sean English, was just diagnosed. Like I'm gonna start a team. And he goes Jason, it's so crazy that you called me. I have an idea. I said, okay, he goes, put your application out there right now. And I got a surprise for you that night. He had put Heather Jackson in a camo pink um hit that said that had a fuck cancer hat and all this stuff and said sign up for the fuck cancer tri team. And within 24 hours I had 1200 people sign up for the team.

Carissa Galloway: 19:24

Now for those of you who don't know, heather Jackson is an amazing pro triathlete and she has an amazingly fun spirit and I love that it's so bubbly Like oh her laugh makes everyone around her laugh.

Jayson Williams: 19:36

It's amazing. So, yeah, and she's an amazing runner, by the way, not just triathlete like amazing runner at the period. So she, uh, she wore the hat and so I owe so much thanks to Sean Watkins, heather Jackson, and then Sean English reached out and said hey, I want to be your spokesman. And so I was like, done. So he was announcing for us and putting social media stuff. So we got up to about 1400 athletes in 22 countries in our first year and we're doing great. And so that's the birth of our, our team.

Jayson Williams: 20:12

And as it went on, I realized, like runners were reaching out to me, uh, paintballers were reaching out to me, surfers, like every, all types of athletes. And I was like I can't, this can't be tri team anymore. So that's when we changed it to endurance club. So if you do any type of sport, you can be on this team. And we even have this thing called the spec athletes. You know, spectator athletes. Like, if you're a spec athlete, please join the team. Um, it's, it's, it's great. We have, you know, 200 athletes on our team that don't race. They do nothing other than wear our stuff and post about it and raise money. So that was the birth of our team.

Carissa Galloway: 20:48

And I, I, that's such a powerful and emotional story and when you said the thing about you know, when someone tells they have cancer or you find out the word you say you know is that, um, you know, we work for run Disney and we have a beautiful woman. Her name is Ali short for run Disney for many, many years. Uh, she was diagnosed with cancer, rang the bell, went through all the treatment and I was in my closet. I never forget it. I was putting away laundry and I got the text that it was back and I dropped to my knees and that's what I said Um, and it at least no longer with us today.

Carissa Galloway: 21:17

But it's. It's that moment when you get that, that word from someone and, like you, feel helpless for them because what can you do? And you just want to scream about it and you guys are giving away for people to better themselves through the endurance sports, but also to also do that to support the families of the people who go through go through all this. So tell us a little bit about what thought cancer does in supporting people and families living with cancer.

Jayson Williams: 21:43

So, um, what I'm going to start with, just what you can do, right, not just what the foundation does If you find out that you have a friend that has cancer, or don't pretend that it doesn't exist, do not pretend that it's a little white elephant, it's not, it is. It's huge and they need you, whether they'll ask for it or not, because they'll never ask for it. Cancer fighters are very prideful, but just offer help or just do it. Um, send dinner for the whole family. Um, you know, uber Eats is very easy to send an entire meal, so you know the mom or the dad doesn't have to cook that night. Um, just anything. Uh, say, hey, can we take the kids to where you live? You know, can we take the kids to Disneyland or Disney world or whatever. You know, we'll take them out of your hair for the weekend so you can spend time with your spouse or, you know, spend some time alone if you need it. Um, all that is very helpful, um, or even just a ride to their doctor's appointment. It's huge. So that's where I'll start with that.

Jayson Williams: 22:45

The foundation in itself is we do experiences for um, more for the people that um other foundations wouldn't really reach out to normally. Um, a lot of our people are. They have tattoos and you know, big earrings and all that stuff. Um, and it's just really important that everyone needs something and even if it's just a day, one day to put a smile on your face and forget that you even have to answer. We have, um, we take people to huge con. I know there's a the power up that's coming out here, um huge rock concert. Um, that's going to have like Metallica and tool and, and I think, robby Osborn and a lot of other huge bands at it.

John Pelkey: 23:29

And we do things like that.

Jayson Williams: 23:30

Um, and we do experiences, we take people backstage, we they get to meet the bands, we do, we set up a tent and we handle sunscreen, because sunscreen is huge when you're in the desert, as you guys know. When you're in Florida, um, you know, shout out to I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but shout out to Zilia sunscreen, it's amazing.

Carissa Galloway: 23:48

You can. That's Ironman sponsor. Yeah, put it on at night.

Jayson Williams: 23:51

Wake up, there you go, ironman sponsor, and you know, I will tell you, you can apply it one time and a half, ironman, and it will stay on your skin the whole time. So I, I, I live by that stuff. I put it on my kid. We have a pump right by the front door, anyways. So what we do as the team, though, is we raise money for F cancer. Um, 100% of that money goes to the foundation. So we don't take any of it. I don't take any of it, nobody takes any of it. Um, we take that all, and what they do is they turn give us experiences. So one of the experiences we do is we take a family they're a? Um, a cancer fighter and their entire family to Ironman Cola every year, and we do a full experience. Like you get a house rental car, um VIP passes to go and do all the VIP stuff, um, you get you to be get the bonner at the flow twitch party. We go to the think about it, I'm not racing party because everyone wants to go to that.

Carissa Galloway: 24:46

I mean, I never remember it, but I can tell you what's the best party. I had to work the next morning. I didn't announce an. Ironman the next day after that, after we went to that party, so then we can talk about that later. You get a medal, I get a medal. I think I showed you with the thing.

Jayson Williams: 25:00

I got a medal, a huge one like says 0.0 on it and says thank God I'm not racing yeah. It's a degree, and you get a hat to have a bottle open on, it's perfect, and you know Bob Abbott does an amazing job putting that on. But so, yeah, like so, we do everything. You're there for a whole week. We bring your bike, we have a videographer, photographer that will do a full video shoot with you in our kit, because usually when we go to Kona, you're releasing the next kit, next year's kit.

Carissa Galloway: 25:29

So just real quick though, for our runners listening, a kit explained to people what a kid is.

John Pelkey: 25:34

He's obviously a soccer player. Obviously a soccer player.

Carissa Galloway: 25:36

No, they called a kid in Triathlon, but so actually some runners.

Jayson Williams: 25:41

You've seen the people that wear, you know, like the short sleeve it's tight.

Carissa Galloway: 25:45

The singlets. Yeah, the singlets.

Jayson Williams: 25:47

Exactly, we have running singlets too. We have running shorts, we have running singlets. We don't just have triathlon kits. We have everything from T-shirts, run T-shirts, run shorts, run singlets to full height one pieces and two piece tri-kits. We have swims outfits. We have everything. This was our kit one year, but this was back in 2021, I think. So this year's kit, weston gets to do it in Nice.

Carissa Galloway: 26:13

So he gets to be the first one to wear it and he's very excited about that. So thank you guys for that. Yeah.

Jayson Williams: 26:19

And the week leading up to Nice we're going to set, we're going to put the page out to purchase it and we ask that you be part of the team, but you don't have to necessarily be part of the team. If you don't feel comfortable being part of the team, we get it. What we do is you could if you donate $100, we'll send you the link to order the kit, because it's normally for just team members. So that's a lot of the fun. Our family is huge.

Jayson Williams: 26:50

People come to our page and they post videos so they can scream fuck for five minutes and I was diagnosed with cancer and they just scream it. Or they tell their story or they. You know, we had a guy, his wife just passed away and I said man, do a video. And so he did and he just sat there and the whole team just sent love and I think one of our athletes actually sent them. They did dinner for them one night, so for the kids and the father. So that's just stuff that we do. We bring people together, give them a safe space, and that's what I wanted for this team and I want to thank every single member of this team for making this passion project come true, because without the team members, this would be nothing. And people like you, chris and Weston, like you guys, like you're just so happy and we got had a great time meeting each other in Kona. And then the fact that now that you're part of this family, like we, just I'm just so appreciative.

John Pelkey: 27:51

Yeah, and I have to imagine because we see and I get to say it now, I think it's my first time the cancer kids and everything that races all over the place. That has to be just so such a wonderful feeling for you If you're in an event and you see more and more people supporting this amazing foundation. I'm going to ask you an impossible question now Is there one impactful moment over your journey here that maybe something recent, that reminds you why you're doing that? Is there one that really sticks out in your mind? I know that's difficult, but maybe one that you can share with us.

Jayson Williams: 28:30

Yeah, there's. I mean it's a great question. I would say the biggest one was we had an athlete on the team. He recently passed from his diagnosis being sourds. You're an amazing human being. His son just raced. Was it in Oregon? I think it was Oregon and they did the spotlight on.

Carissa Galloway: 28:51

Was it in Oregon or was it in Cordelaine? Cordelaine Because?

Jayson Williams: 28:54

I was there?

Carissa Galloway: 28:54

Yeah, we were there.

John Pelkey: 28:55

Yeah, we were there.

Carissa Galloway: 28:56

Yes, and I was like wait, I feel like I know that name. Yes, go on. Sorry, sorry, my bad, I just I just there's so many. No, just making sure it was the person I thought it was. That's all. Thank you so much.

Jayson Williams: 29:05

Thank you for fixing that for me. So Peter Sowers, the son of Dean Dean, reached out to me and when Super Frog was a racist here in San Diego, the father reached out and said you know, I just every time I do a race I can't finish it. My diagnosis is just it hurts, I start bleeding, I have issues, and I go do you want me to guide you? Like I'll be an unofficial guide? He goes heck, yeah, let's do it.

Jayson Williams: 29:34

And so we went on the swim, we kind of tethered to each other and that was a year, it was like the eight foot swell and one of the guys who were coming back in, he was thrown right on top of me and but it was fine.

Jayson Williams: 29:46

We got out of the water and we started biking and allegedly he got really tired on the bike and I said stop spinning your legs and I'll hold onto your seat. So I held onto a seat allegedly and, you know, pushed him for a while so we could get going and we made the bike cut off and barely, but we made it. And then on the run I just pushed him from behind. I just kept saying let's go, you got this, you got this. We would walk, we would run, we would jog I mean, most of it's on the sand. So it was really, really, really difficult, but we made it happen and we crossed the finish line. I think we had like 20 minutes to spare, but that was the first time you had crossed the finish line in a long time and we went down the red carpet with the fuckhands flag with us and I will say that was one of my favorite moments. That's awesome.

Carissa Galloway: 30:39

That's awesome and they did do the spotlight on Jason and Dean at Ironman Cordelain and what he talked about was that, even though his dad was sick, they got to spend a lot of time together in that last little bit of time and he was like that was was really meaningful full to him and it was really obviously a very, extremely emotional story. But you know, what we kept saying was it had a positive spin, even though it's not a positive spin, but he got to spend time with his dad and I think that's an important thing, that to get to spend time with your family. Sometimes it takes the worst of circumstances to take. Have us take that seat back backseat and kind of do that, but that definitely was a story that that stuck out. We talked about Kona last year when we were there with you, there was a family taking apart in the event. Kona is the Ironman World Championships. Why did you pick that to be an experience that you wanted to take people to?

Jayson Williams: 31:28

because it is the experience that everybody wants to do. Right, we've done other races. We've had people fly in for Oceanside and we put them up in the night's hotel right there and they got to do the race. We paid for the race, stuff like that. But everybody wants to go to Kona and even if it's not to race, just to be there. The atmosphere, the people like it's. I will tell you it's a week-long family. I will say it's a week-long family reunion and you get to meet new family members every day. That's how I'll explain it, because it's just amazing. Like you walk down Aliee Drive and you just see everything getting set up. You see people going out to the coffee boat every morning doing the pre-swim. It's just an experience in itself and you don't even have to race.

Carissa Galloway: 32:25

Yeah, that's great. No, it's a really good point when you bring up because, as I'm thinking about it, it's such a camaraderie. And two funny things I think about in the Kona experience is when I get there, john, and I'm like I'm going to go for a run, so I'm running and it's the world championship, so these triathletes are hyper-focused and I'm like, hi, how are you? I like your shoes, hi. And they're like what is this person Like? Is she competing? But the other thing is the coffee boat, john. So that sounds delightful to you, right, jason? How do you get to the coffee boat?

Jayson Williams: 32:53

You've got to swim. I think it's a half a mile to it, right?

Carissa Galloway: 32:58

I don't know, because I'm not going to make it to the coffee boat. I don't know.

Jayson Williams: 33:03

I think it's. Maybe it might be 1500.

Carissa Galloway: 33:04

It's farther than I feel comfortable swimming, but it's this great idea.

John Pelkey: 33:08

It is a great idea. I'm never going to get to the coffee boat.

Jayson Williams: 33:10

And then somebody sponsors it. So for the longest time it was somebody else, and then Ironman took it over last year and they just have you swim up. You get really good Kona coffee and then you're like, okay, I got to swim back, but it's just, it's a cool thing to say that you did. And there's always a photographer out there, a professional photographer, that gives you like a little slip to say here, you know, go get your picture. It's just a cool thing to say. One more thing to do while you're in Kona.

Carissa Galloway: 33:39

And there's so much to do if you're not an athlete in Kona. There's so much to experience, as you're saying.

Jayson Williams: 33:45

And so between the restaurants and the parties and all the bars, I mean there's down a leaky drive, there's like 30 bars in one little area and you'll just have fun. And if you like going and looking at trinkets, like all the triathlon or running or whatever trinkets that you want to look at, you know there's an expo that you can go to, hoka's there they have huge setups everywhere. But yeah, it's just it's. It's such a just a huge experience and you are a runner and you just want to go. I would 100%. And, like you know Chris was saying you could be running up on the Queen K and you know Lionel goes past you. You know five minutes that's faster a mile.

Carissa Galloway: 34:28

Oh my God, that's Lionel.

Jayson Williams: 34:29

And again, I know I know a lot of you don't know who that is, but he's a very, very, very amazing athlete who can run a marathon in like two and a half hours inside an Ironman.

Carissa Galloway: 34:40

I know I can't even get to the coffee bar.

John Pelkey: 34:42

I can't, I can't compute any of that.

Carissa Galloway: 34:44

Maybe that should be my goal. I'm not going to do a triathlon. I'm going to get to the coffee bar in Kona.

John Pelkey: 34:50

See, now I need the coffee to get to the coffee bar. So what I'm thinking? Is coffee before I'm booted out to the coffee bar and I get the caffeine up and maybe make the swim back in that, that that I could see myself doing. But if I can get a raft and pull you out to it while we're swimming that's it, that's it, that's it.

John Pelkey: 35:10

Perfect, I'll give it a all right. Now, this is not your full-time job. You, you actually have a, a full. I don't. I don't want to act like I'm. I'm amazed. This dude actually has worked. This guy has a job, everybody. What do you? What it is you actually do in real life? So I'm a field clinical engineer for a pacemaker company, so I actually teach and work with doctors every single day on how to put pacemakers and defibrillators inside of people. So that's, that's my full-time job.

Jayson Williams: 35:38

And then, once that patient has a device, we I kind of like a mechanic in the way, where I check you every three months to make sure it's working. You know, so pacemakers help plateau the problem, but we have to make sure that it stays plateaued and doesn't get worse. So there's over like a million things we can actually change inside your device. So that's what I do for a living, that's my full-time job.

Carissa Galloway: 36:02

Fun fact Jeff Galloway has both a pacemaker and a defibrillator.

John Pelkey: 36:06

He's always been an overachiever.

Jayson Williams: 36:08

So that's well, yeah, all defibrillators have a pacemaker, but not all pacemakers have a defibrillator.

Carissa Galloway: 36:14

Mind blown. It's like an Asher.

John Pelkey: 36:15

I know.

Carissa Galloway: 36:16

I know. So we had a Tio Tim O'Donnell on the podcast a few weeks ago and he was talking about he had the heart attack during the race and when Wesson and I sat with you, we were asking you and thinking about you know, jeff's heart attack with Weston what we should do to help our blood pressure, to help our cardiovascular health, and you gave us some really good recommendations and that's me as a dietitian saying we liked what you said. So what are those recommendations for people listening that want to be not getting? They can help it a pacemaker or a defibrillator. That's also a pacemaker, or a pacemaker that moonlight is a defibrillator.

Jayson Williams: 36:51

So again, not a physician, so we're not going to we're not giving you medical advice. I have to just preface that, but what I will say is 15 blueberries a day helps with blood pressure. It is amazing for your blood pressure. A spoonful of raw garlic is amazing for your blood pressure and your blood flow. I know it sounds gross, but you could, or you could just take a whole clove and swallow it if you're, if you can.

John Pelkey: 37:18

Does not sound anywhere near gross to me, it sounds amazing. I love garlic.

Jayson Williams: 37:21

And if you do drink wine I know some people don't, but if you do, a glass of wine is okay, it's not terrible for you because actually what you're doing is you're lowering your heart rate from your stressful day. You know, if you're a stay at home mom, imagine I mean I can imagine your kids are running around crazy all day and you've got to, you know, or you're hurting them like cats, I get it. So your heart is racing constantly. Now it changes when you get to two. Right, that's when everything else changes. But one glass of wine a day is actually not terrible for your heart. The apple a day keeps the doctor away. Yes and no, but I would stick with the blueberries. Blueberries are amazing for you.

Jayson Williams: 38:04

My blood pressure and my my cholesterol went down significantly when I changed my diet. I stopped eating red meat completely. I stick to fish and chicken. Now I know people love red meat. I get it. I'm not going to stop eating it, but I will tell you that it raises cholesterol.

Jayson Williams: 38:21

And just because we're athletes, just because we can run a marathon, just because we can run a half marathon or a 5k or 10k or we can do a full ironman in everything in between, that does not mean that you're healthy. Okay, people die in triathlons, in the swim, because they have a heart attack from their heart rate, because when we jump in the water the gun goes off, your heart rate goes up. Sure, you put your face in the water, you add another 25%. That's not good for your heart if it's not healthy. That's why a lot of these people have heart attacks, because they think, oh, I'm the healthiest person in the world and then they jump in the water and they're not because.

Jayson Williams: 39:05

So getting your yearly checkup, not just for your heart but for cancer. You can find cancer by getting your yearly checkups for blood work, making sure your doctor orders blood work for you every single time you go to the doctor. They can find all these things. You know class one class. You know stage one. Stage two you know you found it early. Stage three okay, you found it all the way.

Jayson Williams: 39:30

Stage four if you find out that you had stage four cancer immediately, it means that you didn't go to your doctor. And I don't mean to put people down, I'm not trying to say like it was your fault. It's not your fault. Cancer sucks and it should never, it shouldn't be in anybody. But I will say get your checkups and stage four cancer is not going to be your option. Like your yearly checkups are so important. Women, make sure you get your yearly pap smears and your mammograms and all that stuff. You know, with cancer being so prevalent, the 40 year old thing is non-existent. Men, I know it's uncomfortable. You're going to have to have a figure shoved up your butt, you know, I know it sucks.

Carissa Galloway: 40:11

We've got a lot of first today on the podcast, the F word.

John Pelkey: 40:15

I don't mean to dispute you, but I'm going to say this about that because I'm 59 and I've had that done and luckily my colon is relatively clean, thank you. They give you like a muscle relaxer or something. The whole thing takes like 10 minutes and when it's over I am not lying to you when it is over you are as relaxed and content as you will ever ever be. It is the, and the nurse even told me she goes. I know everybody, you know they make fun of it and I want to know everyone go. It's first of all it is incredibly.

Carissa Galloway: 40:48

Stop what you're doing. It's your doctor.

John Pelkey: 40:51

It's incredibly important. Order one for fun, get a couple of year. It is incredibly important and it is not an unpleasant thing in any way, shape or form. So I'm. I just wanted to say that because I was just. All I said to my wife was can I stop and get a slurpy? And she stopped and got a slurpy for me and that was my, that was my treat, and it was maybe one of the best days of my life right there.

Carissa Galloway: 41:15

And it could have saved your life.

John Pelkey: 41:16

Good, good, very well. Good, good, good, very well. So there, there you go, starting at 40.

Jayson Williams: 41:23

And then also another thing is get a stress echo. You get on a treadmill and then they don't ultrasound to your heart. They will find anything and everything they will ever need to by getting one of those done. As soon as you're about 35, 40 years old is when you should get your first stress echo.

John Pelkey: 41:39

Should have done that when I had the company health care now paying for my own.

Carissa Galloway: 41:42

It is.

John Pelkey: 41:42

It is challenging when people you have to pay for your own health care and these things.

Carissa Galloway: 41:45

But then you also have to look at, I guess, that cost now, yeah, and a cost you know sort of later on and navigating the health care system can be challenging. But you need to advocate for yourself and make sure that you're doing everything you can to prevent that stage four diagnosis, because then there's not much that can be done.

John Pelkey: 42:01

Well again then at the as you know, as you were saying, at the very least get your yearly check up, get your blood work. That'll keep you ahead of the game, and I think that probably, sad to say, the percentages of people who do that on a yearly basis and I've fallen out of favor with that from time to time is less than it really should be All right. I want to know what is the vision for the cancer endurance team moving forward and how can people help and get involved if they want to.

Jayson Williams: 42:29

That's a great question, thank you. I mean, the ultimate goal is that we don't exist, right? The ultimate goal is that cancer is not a thing anymore. This team changes its name to something completely Just fuck. Just fuck, travon, god damn it. But you know it's. The goal is to raise money and to be able to take more than one family to Kona.

Jayson Williams: 42:52

My ultimate dream one day is to be able to purchase one of those big semi trucks that has an MRI machine in it, a CAT scan machine in it and rooms that we can do blood tests, blood work, all that stuff. We can drive it to local colleges and give people, you know, their full, full checkups that can't afford it. You know a lot of college students you know they just can't afford it because they don't have medical insurance anymore. Their families kind of just said okay, bye, you're off to college. So, or, you know, drive it to an area that no lower income, you know, and be able to provide these tests.

Jayson Williams: 43:33

Hpv can be tested now, which is awesome, you know, and if we can, and they can do throat swabs, they do all kind of things and they can test it in men. Now, by the way, just so everybody knows, hpv can be tested in men. Now, is it a comfortable pest? No, it's not. They shove something up your p-hole. But it's a great test because now they can see who are the carriers. You know, because men we don't show signs, but we can give a woman throat cancer or a man throat cancer. You know, it's just, it's not great. So we need to get our checkups, we need to make sure that we're safe and that we need to make sure that we can catch things early, like you know, giving mammograms to 30-year-olds because insurances won't pay for it. You know that's the ultimate goal. Short-term goal is to just keep taking people to Kona and giving experiences and putting a smile on people's faces, because that's important too, that's a good, that's therapy too, is just like you said, being free of it.

Carissa Galloway: 44:27

So you mentioned Weston. Weston is going to Nice for the Iron man World Championships. He's going to debut the F Cancer Kit. We're going to share the link to donate in the show notes. But for you, Jason, what's next? What do I have next.

Jayson Williams: 44:43

So I have. I have a lot of races in the fall actually, so I have California.

Carissa Galloway: 44:47

I'll see you there. Yeah, I'll be at Iron.

Jayson Williams: 44:49

Man California. Yeah, super excited, down River Swim. I think I broke up Hour last year which I was like I got out of the water but no way. But then it's a mile run to transition, so it makes up for it. And then, and then after that I have Arizona, iron man Arizona, which is a month later, and then two weeks after that I have Iron man Laquita 70.3, because that's just an amazing race. I tell everybody, if you're going to do one half to Laquita, it's so cool.

Carissa Galloway: 45:21

Why.

Jayson Williams: 45:22

Sabrina Houston does an amazing job. She's the race director. And then you know you one, one part of the bike ride. You get to go on a private race track that all these people on these like multi-million dollar homes. They just pull out of their driveway and there's a race track outside the door. It's the coolest thing. And you go up like this, this embankment, it's just so cool, so I would say. And then you get to run one of the big golf courses out there, which is it's a great run. It's a two mile, a two loop, but it's really cool. You finish at the famous tennis center down there. So I tell everybody that's a great race. It's a great way to finish the season because it's in December, so it doesn't get too hot, the water's freezing. I will say that If you don't like cold, don't do this race because it's freezing water. But the rest of the ride, like you get on the bike and you're warm, it's like that, perfect, like 77. It's not windy, it's just a great race.

John Pelkey: 46:19

That's the weather we have on January 3rd from 12 am until 2.30 am, and then it's 93 degrees and 80% relative humidity again Following that. All right. Now listen, this is going to be helpful for me as a race announcer in Carissa If we see someone wearing the fuck cancer kit during a race.

Carissa Galloway: 46:39

And we're on the microphone at Disney.

John Pelkey: 46:41

Right. So basically, as much as I live to scream that, what else could we shout out to people or recognize the folks who are running for your great foundation?

Jayson Williams: 46:53

So the amazing Mike Riley. He would usually say and here comes Jason with. I'm not going to say it but you can read his shirt as he crosses the finish line. Or a lot of people say F cancer. They get what you mean by that.

John Pelkey: 47:15

If I did that, goofy would show up at the announcing booth and kick the crap out of me, so I would be in serious trouble.

Jayson Williams: 47:23

I would say, you know? Okay, I know Mike Riley, but who's the other announcing for Iron man? Is it Eric?

Carissa Galloway: 47:34

Eric Gilsonan. He's gonna be a podcast guest.

Jayson Williams: 47:37

Yeah. So Eric always says you know, I can't say it, but I totally agree with it.

Carissa Galloway: 47:41

Yeah.

John Pelkey: 47:42

That's kind of what we have. We end up.

Carissa Galloway: 47:44

I've said. I think what I end up saying is here comes a person that really doesn't like cancer. I think that's like what I said. And I have said like I agree with you, I just can't say it kind of a thing.

Jayson Williams: 47:54

That's what Eric usually says, Like I can't say it, but I totally agree with it yeah. Yeah, but you know, and then, or like what Mike said, he goes. You know, here comes Jason Williams with the team. That I can't say, but I totally agree with it.

Carissa Galloway: 48:07

Yeah, read that shirt.

Jayson Williams: 48:09

I wanna talk.

Carissa Galloway: 48:10

I wanna just close the loop, kind of. You mentioned you know fellow race announcer, sean English. He's there, you know, on the flag. How does his legacy live on in the team?

Jayson Williams: 48:22

So I put him on everything. I put him on our shirts, I put him on our kits, I put him on the hats. He is on everything because I wanna make sure that he lives on. Two weeks before he passed away I flew up to Auburn where he lived and I sat down with him and I did an hour and a half just interview. I said what do you want people to remember you as? What's your legacy?

Jayson Williams: 48:50

And this was when it spread to his brain. We knew it was there. It got really bad. He was getting sick a lot and he died doing something he loved. He was announcing at a wedding. He was the, he was the officiant at somebody's wedding.

Jayson Williams: 49:07

He flew across the country to South Carolina and he married two people and when the thing was over he went up to his room and he fell asleep and his tumor rupture sorry, oh, he was like a brother to me His tumor rupture and they rushed him to the hospital and the family that got married. They called me and told me what was going on because they knew I was close with him and they're like we're gonna get you a plane ticket so you can come say goodbye. And I was like what they're like, yeah, we wanna help you. Like we know that, sean, he told us that he wasn't supposed to be here. His doctors told him don't do it, but he's like, what am I gonna do? Die, like I know I'm going to. So he flew out, they flew me out there and I got to hold his hand and I made as many phone calls as I could so people could say goodbye to him, do his ear, and they the brother. It was really hard for him. God, that family's amazing, by the way, the English family, amazing humans. They had to ended up pulling the plug because it was just not. He was just not gonna make it and yeah, so I got to hold his hand while he passed. Yeah, sean, I didn't meet him before 2017 and I knew he had a terminal diagnosis and I still got close with him.

Jayson Williams: 50:36

We went home every year together. We would do. He would fly out for an ocean side every year. All my races, he went to every single one. If I was there, he flew and met me or drove and met me and he would just stay with me and he's just. He wanted to be so a part of this, so bad, that he did everything he could. And we got so close and everyone kept asking me like Jason, like you know, he's gonna die, like I go, I don't care. Like this man's amazing and I wanna if I could help him, give him a purpose, then that's what I was gonna do. And I gave him a purpose and he got to do what he loved. He got to announce, he got to talk to people. He interviewed people in Kona that had cancer, that were there Every single year. It was just awesome to see him being in his own element, even though he wasn't allowed to do it anymore.

John Pelkey: 51:24

That's amazing. And listen, we're all gonna die at some point, we're all terminal at some point. So make the human connections that you can, because that's the most important thing. All right, one of the things that we ask everyone who comes on our podcast. We get, as you probably know, at Disney we get so many people running their first half marathon, their first 10K, first, 5k first. They wanna start there because that's gonna be magical. It's also gonna be 26.2, 13.1, 6.2, 3.1. So we often run into. When we're training, when we're racing, whatever we're doing, we run into obstacles that make it difficult. How do you motivate yourself when you run into something like that, jason? What do you tell yourself? That could be helpful for somebody who is maybe trying their first half marathon and it's 93 degrees here in Central Florida and they're at the halfway point, thinking they can't get move on.

Jayson Williams: 52:17

So I'm gonna give you two answers for separate reasons, if this helps. So the first one I'm gonna stand up and I'm going to point to this.

Carissa Galloway: 52:28

That's why. That's why.

Jayson Williams: 52:31

I want to make sure there are people out there that are dying of cancer. They're dying alone. They're dying with family members. They don't have anything, and my job is to make it aware that this is the thing, that it's out there. So get out there and say fuck cancer, okay, that's if you have a friend or a family member or a coworker or your dog I mean, dogs die of cancer too race for them. Get out there and say you know what? My friend or my dog or my family member, they can't do anything, so why can't? I should be able to at least go out there and walk a 5K. That's the first one, my motivation, when I just I'm sitting I had a long day at work and I go. You know what? Like I don't want to be, and this isn't like a shaming thing, this is just me personally. This is my. I don't wanna be obese and overweight and unhealthy again. Never again do I wanna be that. I wanna stay healthy because I have a child now. I want to be there when she gets married. I wanna be there when she graduates college. I wanna be there for all her stuff. I wanna be there when she gets pregnant and has a baby one day, or if she decides never to have a baby, I don't care, I just I wanna be there for all her goals. So if you have children or grandchildren or friends, or they, nephews or nieces, do it because you want to be there in the future.

Jayson Williams: 54:08

Because, finishing a race, I tell people it doesn't matter what fucking place you come in, you get the same medal as the guy that gets first place. You understand me, you get the same medal. Who cares? I did it in 21 minutes, but you did it in an hour. Guess what? We got the same medal and we're still drinking the same beer at the end. So who cares? Have fun. Like, I've done a marathon where I did it in three hours flat, and there's one that I bumped in. I did five and a half hours and it didn't matter, I still got the same medal, I don't care. Like, I got the walk away with my medal and I finished a teacher, that's what I paid for, so I just got to be out there longer, right? You can see all the all, the every the funny.

John Pelkey: 54:51

So that's what we always tell everybody. The finish line is the goal, that's just the goal. To get to the finish line, the times are. That's something else between. For most of us, it's irrelevant.

Carissa Galloway: 55:01

It's the journey and what you learn about yourself, not just that day, sort of put the whole way there. So John mentioned the finish line. That is the goal, that's the carrot, that's that moment where you realize you know everything that you've gone through to get there. So have you seen something that stands out as maybe the most inspiring thing that you've seen at a race?

Jayson Williams: 55:23

Gosh. So there's an athlete on our team. Her name is Kathy Martinson. We took her to Kona the first year we did it and she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she is now on the F3 team, which I know that means nothing to a lot of people, but they're a really big triathlon team that has like amazing athletes on it and now she does multiple Ironmans every year and dominates them. She doesn't just cross a finish line. So that's pretty inspiring to me. Watching, I love watching, like the people that were like you know, I'm 275 pounds and I'm going to. Even if I have to walk a half marathon, I'm gonna do it. And watching those people, you know, get up and motivate themselves, that's inspiring. Just anything where people have to overcome something is inspiring to me. It's so cool to just see somebody go from I've never walked a half marathon to crossing the finish line with full marathon, which is just it's really cool. So that kind of stuff is really inspiring to me.

John Pelkey: 56:35

Yeah, and we're lucky, we get to see it all the time and it really is. It's an unfair question to ask. Is there one you remember? Because there are probably a million six that you remember, I mean.

Jayson Williams: 56:46

I cross finish lines with cancer fighters constantly, you know, and just their story is amazing. Like there's a woman on our team that has never she had never done a 5K and she's gonna cross the finish line of her first 70.3 at La Quinta. You know she's stage four cancer. So you know, it's pretty amazing. We have two cancer fighters that are racing Kona this year, two female athletes, three I'm sorry three that all qualify for Kona. So that's amazing in itself. Just female cancer fighters that are like you know what, I'm gonna do it anyway and go out there and qualify for Iron man World Championships. So that's pretty inspiring.

John Pelkey: 57:30

Unbelievable. Yeah, it's just unbelievable. Like we said story after story, human resilience is amazing and we get to see so much of it. Now, if people want to help with the Fuck Cancer Foundation, or they wanna follow you, jason, what social media wise? Where do they find you and where do they have to go to help out with the Fuck Cancer Foundation?

Jayson Williams: 57:53

So to help with the Fuck Cancer Foundation, go to wwwFuckCancerorg. If you don't feel comfortable spelling fuck, we bought this too. You just put an X FX, so you do FXTKcancerorg. That's where you can buy hats, t-shirts. 100% of that money goes to the foundation. There's no other, there's no side person taking a part of it To follow me, I am just the letter Ilar M J-A-Y-J-D-U-B that's my Instagram, and then Jason J-Williams J-A-Y-S-O-N. J-williams on Facebook. The Facebook for Instagram is FXCKcancer endurance club.

Carissa Galloway: 58:39

We'll share all this when the episode goes live. Everybody will be able to find you if they head to our Instagrams as well, and they'll be able to keep up with you and hopefully keep up with a lot of your athletes, and maybe we'll get some new members of the team.

Jayson Williams: 58:51

We would love that we're always accepting and everyone joins, everyone gets accepted. We don't do like, oh, you're not an athlete.

Jayson Williams: 58:58

Well, no, everyone gets accepted If you have another team that you're part of, we'll be your secondary team. We don't care. It's a $250 requirement to join, but it's fundraising. We give you a page, so you don't donate it yourself. You put it on your page, you tell a story and I'm telling you within five minutes you have $250. It's very, very simple, especially with Facebook and Instagram nowadays, because we have a donate button, so that goes directly to the foundation. So, or you can post your link, so an email blast and all that stuff. So that's how we get most of our.

Jayson Williams: 59:33

We usually raise about $120,000 a year, so we'd like to stick with that. This year we're kind of lagging a little bit just because COVID and everything kind of slowed everything down with people wanting to donate and our economy is not doing the greatest. But it is what it is and if you could donate we would love that.

Carissa Galloway: 59:53

All right. Well, we will hopefully get our run Disney army and all of our three two one go listeners out there to help support everything. So thank you so much, jason. It's been a pleasure to hear your story and to see you again and we'll see you. See you real soon.

John Pelkey: 1:00:05

Thanks, jason.

Jayson Williams: 1:00:06

Thank you guys so much for having me. You guys are the best fuck cancer.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:09

Exactly. All right here's the drill time to shape up your diet. Theresa, give him the good, all right Sarge, I will give them the goods and I want you guys to get the goods, the goods to support a lot of your health. We're talking about probiotics, john, do you take a probiotic? Not consistently okay, but I know you eat a lot of yogurt.

John Pelkey: 1:00:32

I eat yogurt. I eat Greek yogurt probably Minimum three times a week. Three to five times a week.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:39

So do you know if you're says it has live active cultures on the package.

John Pelkey: 1:00:43

I believe it does.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:44

Well, that's good, then you're getting your probiotics. But if you're not a yoga person like me, whoever you are, you want to make sure that you are getting in those probiotics. So they are these live Microorganisms that are beneficial for you. They're typically bacteria or yeast, which makes it seem like I'm not selling them very well, but when they are consumed in adequate amounts they provide health benefits to the host and you are the host. Thus where the bacteria lives, because we need that good bacteria.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:10

So they're found in a lot of fermented foods, which yogurt is, and the function is At its core, at its gut, to maintain a healthy balance of your gut bacteria, because it introduces beneficial strains of the probiotics To your GI tract which can improve digestion, nutrient absorption and then support your immune system. And different strains of probiotics can have various health benefits. So we're not going to dive into that. But if you are interested in finding a specific strain of probiotics to help maybe a certain condition, you have Look it up, because there's probably research telling you which one to get and sometimes if you're taking a supplement, they're going to have a couple of those most important strains that you want, but they actually different ones will do different things in your body. So you do want to take a little bit of googling looking for maybe some research articles about that.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:59

But in terms of gut health, they maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria, which is essential for, like I said, proper digestion and nutrient absorption. They can alleviate digestive issues like diarrhea, constipation, ibs. If you are ever on antibiotics, make sure that you are taking the probiotic, because antibiotics wipe out the good and the bad, so you want to repopulate that healthy flora. They also support the immune system. The gut is really your first brain in your body. When you're a little tiny baby, little tiny baby, your, your, your immune system acts is kind of like your first brain.

Carissa Galloway: 1:02:34

Okay, a ton of neurons in your gut with which help with immunity. They also help with mental health. So there's a mental health. There's emerging research that suggests there's a gut brain axis and it plays a role in mental health, meaning that probiotics as we get more research may have a positive impact on mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, which I think is really, really cool.

John Pelkey: 1:02:59

Sort of makes sense if you think about me. If my stomach feels like crap, I you, you feel like it's called irritable bowel syndrome because it's irritating and it doesn't make you feel great. So it does make sense.

Carissa Galloway: 1:03:10

Yeah, and there's a lot of connections. Again the neuron connection, reduction of inflammation. They can help. So they've been linked to reducing inflammation, which can help with some conditions like eczema, other autoimmune disorders as well. So make sure you're getting them in, whether it's from the fermented foods, supplements, drinks, foods that are fortified with it. But you want to get it on a daily basis, so you can't take them on Monday and wonder why your gut doesn't feel better in February, right, so you do have to get. They don't live forever. They're just these sweet little bacteria. They can't live forever.

John Pelkey: 1:03:41

I got a limited amount of time, folks.

Carissa Galloway: 1:03:43

They do so and I don't. You know, I don't have a dog in this fight. So when you're looking for a probiotic, if you're not getting it from a food Kombucha is a great source. The yogurt there's certain things that you can kind of have on a daily basis. I don't think you're gonna have kimchi. Maybe you are.

John Pelkey: 1:03:57

I do, I do enjoy.

Carissa Galloway: 1:03:57

I do enjoy a daily basis and I learned a new miso recipe, so I have a lot of jokes that I'm not gonna do, but I would like we always talk about recipes that you're going to make. When did Johnny cook? When is that a segment?

John Pelkey: 1:04:08

Johnny cook. Johnny cook last night.

Carissa Galloway: 1:04:09

Well, it's not for me. So I know you cook a lot. So get the probiotics, especially especially when you're traveling, when you fly, when your gut is getting upset. Make it a priority. If you're simply something, taking something from a reputable company is going to benefit you in one way or another. So that is your nudge to talk about probiotics and maybe in a few weeks We'll talk about prebiotics. They're a friendly cousin that does other things.

John Pelkey: 1:04:34

That would come before.

Carissa Galloway: 1:04:36

Yes, so we talked about pro first, so we'll talk about pre we're going backwards.

John Pelkey: 1:04:39

It's a flash or alert.

Carissa Galloway: 1:04:41

Think about prebiotics as the soil and probiotics as the plants. Oh, oh, mull that over. We'll come back to it. And if you want more of these food Metaphors and analogies or you're just looking to kind of get your diet back on a better track, I've created healthier you. It's a 12-week online program Videos, meal plans, recipes. It's also on the galloway training hub, our exclusive community, where we host host monthly video chat. You can connect with other members, see how their successes inspire each other. Go to galloway course calm to sign up and use the code podcast to save a little money. Announce a free present.

John Pelkey: 1:05:24

All right, thank you, sarge. This question comes from Amanda and she asks what's the difference about the start line from corral a To the end, which can be like? Now there are sub corrals, so it usually goes to around G or a and then for a while it was like starting groups one through four.

Carissa Galloway: 1:05:46

So if we say corral a, it's only because that's what we have always.

John Pelkey: 1:05:49

We have no control over any of that.

Carissa Galloway: 1:05:52

It's just, we just say go a lot. We, just we say it until there's no one else there. We, sometimes we say it to the custodial team. They don't, yeah, they don't know.

John Pelkey: 1:06:00

Enjoy it not at all.

Carissa Galloway: 1:06:01

They don't enjoy us, frankly, the good if you are a member of the custodial team that comes by afterwards. Let us know you enjoy it get on the pod.

John Pelkey: 1:06:08

Yeah, one of the custodial team, I think they. I think they might. People have asked for more behind the scene stuff.

Carissa Galloway: 1:06:13

So that's what I'm trying. That's this question. I think it's there. So what is different, john All?

John Pelkey: 1:06:17

right? Well, let's, let's start with this, and I think you will agree with me, corral a Are the people who would prefer that we not be there?

Carissa Galloway: 1:06:25

Well, I think some people in corral F would raise their hands for that one as well, but they're probably not listening to this podcast. But it is those athletes that are a little bit more in a zone right, maybe some of you know that doesn't mean people further back. No, aren't focused, aren't going.

John Pelkey: 1:06:40

But you have world-class athletes from people who are, you know, the top of the pyramid of athletes. They're often in corral a and then they're focused on what they have to do, and so they're not always as Responsive to what we're doing or they just get away with it right now, when we find one or two that are that. That's it, michael.

Carissa Galloway: 1:07:00

Gabriel looking at you.

John Pelkey: 1:07:01

We? Well, it's because of the first time I actually interviewed him. He won the race. So he's trying to horn in on interviews all the time, michael and and I'm fine with that. But so that's corral, a normally Yep it, you know the. The short answer is and we kind of sell it this way as you, the further you move back, more into the party, corrals as you move back and people get a little more relaxed, a little more loose, the costumes get a little bit, maybe more elaborate.

Carissa Galloway: 1:07:29

Maybe there's bigger groups as it goes back. Are you get to see I don't know crazier things like Riley Claremont, yeah, coming up on stage. You know we get. Sometimes we get a little slap happy.

John Pelkey: 1:07:41

Yeah, it gets, you know you have. You have more people who are running for the first time or groups running together as you get further back. But I there's not as great a difference at the way I've seen it, as they're used to bait it's it's kind of spread out a little more from the people who are just really, really focused and the people who are there because they Want to get as many pictures as they can. They want to run through the Magic Kingdom as the Sun's coming up and all of those sort of things. But but the the short answer is in the back things get nutty. We start to have a little more of our you entertain us feeling when we're on stage like oh, we're gonna do a sing-along now.

Carissa Galloway: 1:08:15

Wait, remember the great mylar battle of 2020, the mylar battle 2020 so if you were there, so you'll remember this at princess 2020 was cold. Yeah, that was the last race of a pre-covid. So, again, the beginning of the race show very scripted and if you go off in Corella, that's all you know. Yeah, it's not scripted, the the train is off the track. So I one of us said, hey, why don't you guys try to ball up your mylar blankets and throw them at us?

John Pelkey: 1:08:43

And so for the next hour, yeah, people did yeah, we were like what's, what's the, what's the shooting game that you always destroy me in it? Toy Story. Mania toy story mania. We're like the targets for Toy Story Mania when we were up there and some, I gotta tell you some people got really good, we had some previous high school baseball standouts, so those are the kind of things that happen up.

Carissa Galloway: 1:09:05

You mentioned sing-along, so there's a special sing-along. I do you want to reveal this for the people in corals like C&B, that may never get to experience it?

John Pelkey: 1:09:11

It's, it's been on the internet machine now for years and things. So I don't think it's a bad thing. We I do a sing-along. We do a sing-along to don't stop believing by journey, or, as I refer to it, the other national anthem, since it gets as much play as any other song ever at any point in time, and it's a great one because there's a section for the women, section for the men, and then we all get to do air guitar and it's a great it's. It's a great fun time and and, quite frankly, I just did it for fun.

John Pelkey: 1:09:42

The first time we did it it was just playing and I don't know, our Stevie D well, shout out to Stevie D our DJ Just started playing it and he followed along when I'm like, all right, well, it's the women and all the men and everybody it and it morphed into Don't stop believing, into living on a prayer. So there is that towards the last couple of corals. You get a little more, a little more of that Audience participation stuff. Now, much of that comes down to the fact, I think you will agree that you and I have run out of things to say.

Carissa Galloway: 1:10:13

And we do. We do run out of things to say very, very. You get to learn a lot about random facts, about here's a behind-the-scenes thing that you don't know.

John Pelkey: 1:10:22

I'm gonna say this so now I know you're concerned, but you know we have. We're wearing IFB's generally when on stage and that is an in-ear thing where the director or the stage manager is talking to us and letting Us know. Hey, the guest is there over the. You know, riley's ready, trace is ready with the camera, carolina, whatever, and our director, mark Ferrera my good friend, mark Ferrera, who's name checked on this show Constantly, and it will actually be on the show, at which point we will hold his feet to the fire to answer some questions we need answered. He's letting us know what's going on and he's got oh, we've got an extra. You know, if you, if you, have to stall, we've got a video clip and he generally splits with about five corals left and at that point we're on our own. So you're gonna get a lot more of the Audience interaction stuff, audience participation, because we just don't have anything left to say.

Carissa Galloway: 1:11:10

I have one more story before we move on about this. So I believe this might have been also. Princess Sean is our. We have an assistant director, say a second director, so mark usually will be there for a little bit, then he'll go ride the course, check on the entertainment that we have an assistant director that is then talking into our ears saying, you know, maybe Riley's camera is not working or whatever, and they had very nicely told us at the beginning of the day Can you mentioned Blizzard Beach is 50% off. This was marathon weekend. Yes, it was, they said in the trailer. Chris and John Mentioned and I know that since then we've done a video. This was pre video.

John Pelkey: 1:11:44

I said relax, they were like did the video?

Carissa Galloway: 1:11:46

mentioned that Blizzard Beach is 50% off. So John and stage for an hour and 20 minutes and we have not mentioned that Blizzard Beach. There's one carol left, there's maybe 50 people and Sean gets on his microphone and he goes Serious as can be. Would you guys mention the mind doing the Blizzard Beach mention?

John Pelkey: 1:12:08

Right, we had, we had missed every carol with this. It was something that it wasn't just thrown at us last second.

Carissa Galloway: 1:12:16

It is, they told us. We just, we just got it wasn't, I wasn't written on our cards.

John Pelkey: 1:12:19

But in the end it ended up getting us a day filming at Blizzard Beach because I thought they the thinking was, those idiots will never Remember to say anything and we need to sell more tickets but we really hammered that home of that last carol. We didn't.

John Pelkey: 1:12:32

I think they all showed up, they did and I mean, who knows if that promo will be back, but it was it was a good one, so I don't want to have thrown Sean under the bus, because for other times there wasn't an assistant director necessarily there. So when we're left on our own.

Carissa Galloway: 1:12:44

I just don't know why he waited so long to tell us like. I don't know, maybe he forgot, and I see, I, I see it.

John Pelkey: 1:12:50

This is a little game of telephone here, because that's how you remember what I remember him saying was Might be a good time. No, he's a great guy.

Carissa Galloway: 1:13:04

It was hilarious and I can still yeah, it was great. So Blizzard Beach, shout out to Blizzard Beach and that's what you missed at marathon weekend, that you were supposed to be told Blizzard Beach was 50% off and 50 of you were you.

Carissa Galloway: 1:13:19

All right, so now we're going to do this Show me the intro and then you do it yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, john, we've had some great stories that people are sending in from Instagram, from our email. Love it. This wasn't going to be a part of the show, but we want to share these stories because that's what brings us together and that's what, I think, inspires people to keep moving. So we've got a listener story today from Jen Muchau Muchau.

John Pelkey: 1:13:44

M-U-C-H-O-W Muchau.

Carissa Galloway: 1:13:47

We should hire a race announcer to be able to read names aloud.

John Pelkey: 1:13:49

Let's get Cree Cree Kelly on the phone.

Carissa Galloway: 1:13:51

Yes, Disney threw the ears. And what does she say, John?

John Pelkey: 1:13:55

She says hey, john and Carissa. I just want to say I'm loving the podcast, thanks. As I get ready for the next race season, that still seems forever away. Your podcast is helping me keep focused and excited for the next races and that's great to hear, because that's really what we're shooting for. I thought I would share my run Disney story with you. It started in 2021 when I made a bet with a friend. He said if I lost the bet, I'd have to run a run Disney half marathon in January of 2022. So you think it's just a joke when I say people, raise your hands. Raise your hands if you're here because you lost the bet. It actually happens. Well, needless to say, lost the bet.

John Pelkey: 1:14:29

I'd also like to mention that I've never been a runner. In fact, I'm not athletic at all. I kind of doubt People say that, but we're all athletic to a certain extent. I always said if someone saw me running, call of cops because I'm being chased. So, like many run novices, I had no idea where to start, but that's when I found the Galloway method on the run Disney website. Works like a charm. I had the opportunity to thank Jeff Galloway in person at the expo for helping me to get to the starting line and the finish line and fan girl real hard when I met him. Well, don't we all? I also want to mention that during this time I was struggling with news of infertility. My husband and I spent years trying to start a family and, after many tests, doctor visits, adoption considerations and tough, tough financial conversations, we determined the starting of family was not something we'd be able to do. I felt like my body disappointed me while I was disappointing all my family.

Carissa Galloway: 1:15:18

It's so hard to read these stories.

John Pelkey: 1:15:19

You people are amazing, losing the bed could not have come at a better time. It helped me focus on something positive in which I controlled my body and the outcome. I have jokingly say that I'm a therapist dream. I'm absolutely using my love for Disney and running to help me become physically and mentally stronger. That's amazing.

John Pelkey: 1:15:36

I ran my first run Disney Race November 2021, the Wine and Dine 10K. I was training hard, following the plan rigidly, but I couldn't get past my jitters and didn't know what to expect on the half marathon day in January 2022. That's a big step up to half marathon. I'm so glad I learned about the registration process. The crowds, paces. All the things helped me become more confident for my first half marathon day. Fast forward to now. I lost another bet. Really do need to stop betting. Could be Phil Mickelson level stuff. I don't know if you read that story, but having to Phil Mickelson is the other thing. This time I bet my friend that he I bet that my friend could not ride all Magic Kingdom rides in one day without Genie Plus, without early entry and without extended hours. I see I would have taken that.

Carissa Galloway: 1:16:19

I was just. I was reading this and I didn't pre-read it because you were the one going to read it. I said I'm not going to read it. I don't believe that. How did that happen?

John Pelkey: 1:16:24

Did he not urinate?

Carissa Galloway: 1:16:25

the whole day, maybe with his cast member sneaking in.

John Pelkey: 1:16:29

That's a tie for it. Oh, it could be Dan, that's a good point, but by golly he did it. I'll need to see paperwork and now I need to run a full marathon and I cannot wait. I'm so excited to keep showing my body what it can do. I'm pushing 40 years old. Never thought I could accomplish running such a distance in my life. The Run Disney community feels like family. Everyone is so supportive, so motivating and inspirational. The energy, the costumes, the production, the atmosphere there's nothing quite like it. And while I'm still healing from the grief of losing something I never had, I feel like I've gained a different family with Run Disney.

Carissa Galloway: 1:17:02

And now John's crying and he needs a minute.

John Pelkey: 1:17:04

I do.

Carissa Galloway: 1:17:04

I know, no, it gives. I mean to read that and to have someone say that.

John Pelkey: 1:17:08

Weston, edit this part out. All right, here we go. To all the cast members, volunteers, announcers, medic tents and everyone involved, I'm forever grateful. You helped me turn some of the toughest years of my life into something I know I can do. I can go the distance Peace, love and chocolate chip cookies. Jen Muchow again Instagram Disney through the ears. That's just really sweet.

Carissa Galloway: 1:17:30

It is. Thank you, Jen, for sharing your story, and I know that John and I are just the smallest fraction of this Run Disney family, but we are glad that we can be a part of something that makes such a big impact, both physically and mentally. And that's again why we have this podcast, because someone listening to this might be in your shoes and might say that you know what I'm going to have to live the life that I never imagined. Yeah, how am I going to get through it? And, Jen, you might have just helped somebody.

John Pelkey: 1:17:55

Well, it just reminds me life is what happens when we're making plans, so enjoy the ride, people.

Carissa Galloway: 1:18:01

Enjoy the ride, but don't ride them all one day. If you can, maybe you can, maybe you can. That was impossible, I don't know. Talk amongst yourself, keep running, have fun and we'll see you real soon. Bye, guys. 3, 2, 1, go.