Noel Mulkey: From Substance Abuse to Ironman Champion

Brace yourselves for an inspiring journey. We welcome TikTok sensation and Ironman triathlete, Noel Mulkey, who breaks down his personal metamorphosis from battling substance abuse and bipolar disorder to becoming a champion athlete. With raw honesty, Noel takes us through his triumphant win at Ironman Tulsa and shares his strategies for staying motivated during grueling runs, underlining the determination and perseverance required to achieve such feats.

As the holiday season approaches, in Healthier U we share some practical tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle amid the festive cheer. We share our personal Thanksgiving experiences and provide advice on managing weight loss during this time. We address a listener's question about dressing appropriately for cold weather running, offering insights on layering and keeping extremities warm. It's an episode packed with inspiration, information, and entertainment. Tune in!

Transcript

John Pelkey: 0:04

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

Carissa Galloway: 0:08

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: 0:17

Carissa. Today we have a TikTok star and a triathlete with a truly remarkable story. I'm not overusing that word.

Carissa Galloway: 0:26

No, and it's so remarkable that I don't even want to tease any of it, because I think you guys have to hear it in Noel's own words. Yes, we're talking about Noel Mulkey. He is a huge TikTok star, a fantastic triathlete, but we're going to hear about how he got to even being a triathlete. And when you listen to him, some of what he said when I get into a hard run, I'm echoing back what he said thinking you know what I can do this, so you're going to love what Noel has to say. And then, if you don't follow on TikTok, you're going to want to follow him. We're also going to open the mail bag for some gift suggestions and how to manage the holidays and weight loss in healthier you. And then to all of you, as always, thank you for listening. Please subscribe, rate us, leave a review, tell your friends and let's do this.

John Pelkey: 1:24

All right, Carissa, how was your Thanksgiving? We're taping this about five or six days after Thanksgiving. I guess six. How was your Thanksgiving? To reiterate the question, yes, it was fantastic.

Carissa Galloway: 1:36

We actually still have some mashed potatoes in the fridge and I just made some turkey enchiladas that weren't ready in time for me to eat before this podcast. But we had a very low key entire Thanksgiving weekend. My mom and guy, my stepdad, came over. We didn't really do much. It was really nice actually to just be, you know, a little bit calm. We did the thing you do, where we spent so much time on the turkey and the basting and the cheesecloth, and then we tempt it and we took it out too early and it's resting and everything's ready and what do you?

Carissa Galloway: 2:05

do John? You cut into the turkey and oh goodness gracious, so frustrated, you know what I always tell people.

John Pelkey: 2:13

That's the most difficult thing I love to cook. But the more dishes you have trying to get and I will fully admit just cheating, the soul of the yes, the resting soul of Anthony Bourdain should come down and beat the crap out of me. One thing I try to do is find at least one thing I can just microwave Because it's like all right, I gotta hold off here because just trying to balance. And now when I get my new stove which by the way, did not come they reached out to me on Thanksgiving morning. So happy flipping Thanksgiving. John Ah Frigidaire's out, and let me know that it was not going to be here until the 22nd of December. So there were no air fryer wings for John on his day off on Saturday.

Carissa Galloway: 3:00

This is a bummer for you.

John Pelkey: 3:01

I know, but once I get that and I have like five burners instead of only four, I think I'll be able to balance that Some much more. But it's the big, Particularly when you're on your own. And I like to cook by myself, but I'm just far too scattered. Invariably something's going to be a side dish for tomorrow and not today.

Carissa Galloway: 3:20

Yeah, I told Wesson that next year, if we do it, we need to kind of delegate better, like I'm just cooking and you're just plating and working on sort of the timing, and then the way our house is a new build, the way the new builds are, the kitchen is right in the middle of everything, so you can't let it get too messy. You've almost got to like keep washing dishes and putting them away or else it just looks horrible. So it was good, it was low key, everything was fine, didn't do the yeah, crock pot mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were good. John, your Thanksgiving was more of a marathon of work over there at the ESPN events Invitational. How was it for you?

John Pelkey: 3:55

It was well we had. We had good games and that was all fun. It's just a. You know they try to shorten that day as much as possible for the student athletes to have, you know, an extended. You know, either after their games or before that they can get a fairly decent Thanksgiving in and sadly, sometimes that squeezes me out of having a Thanksgiving. So I did enjoy the apple and cheese that I brought myself to work and the the Nutra Green Bar and I did. Thanks thanks to Kim, the official score.

Carissa Galloway: 4:25

She gave me some peanut butter crackers so that was well, johnny, I do want to say you had. How many games did you do over that three period time?

John Pelkey: 4:34

12 games four days, four games a day.

Carissa Galloway: 4:36

I mean, and you are the PA which, if you never, it's probably that voice that you hear at a game and you don't think about it. But John, to his credit, worked really hard. And when I got there I saw Brian, our entertainment manager, and I was like how's Johnny doing? And he was like John's just so good. And you were mentioning before we came on that your throat was a little bit hoarse because when there's a big crowd and someone hits a three, you're really putting a lot of voice behind that. And then when you say it, it you know that's what Brian was alluding to. The way you say it, you bring the crowd in with Right.

John Pelkey: 5:06

It's one of the one of the challenges of doing a tournament like that is normally. You know PA announcer has a rooting interest for one team the season I was lucky enough to do the Toronto Raptors and you and Weston were nice enough to come down and see me the two of you and one other friend and my wife that's it. None of my other friends. No, no one came by to see it. No one, you know. Take good tickets were available.

Carissa Galloway: 5:25

And I came to see you and now you have a book, so we'll talk about that.

John Pelkey: 5:28

I know I know, I know, honestly, I feel like finally, finally I've earned. I've earned my keep with you. But it so when you do that, you know you you're really hyping. Obviously, if you're doing the Toronto Raptors, when the Raptors score you know Lakers, Knicks, whomever else not so much. You know, in fact, you under. I like to underplay it a little, so it's almost humorous.

Noel Mulkey: 5:47

Yeah, I like that. I'm impressed, I am three by that.

John Pelkey: 5:50

But when you're doing a tournament like this, you don't have a rooting interest. So you know, teams down 17 with four minutes left to go and a kid drains a deep three, you're still hyping it. So yeah, took a little bit out of my voice, I have to admit, so I apologize to those of you listening. It's more annoying than it normally is.

Carissa Galloway: 6:07

Well, you have time to recover before, before a marathon weekend, john, but you had a big, a big week because, as as much as you would like to do a history podcast, this this is not it, but it was the anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, something that invariably comes up in the trailer once every marathon, once every Disney weekend. So I'm going to give you the floor, with a time limit, to share a little bit about, not how you celebrate it, but are you setting a timer.

Carissa Galloway: 6:35

I'm timing, I'm holding on, I'm getting my gentlemen, please welcome to the three two, one go history moment with John Pelkey. John, the floor is yours to talk about the Kennedy assassination.

John Pelkey: 6:47

Okay, just wanted to say it was the 60th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination and first I'll give my personal spin, because I posted this on social media and those of you who follow me I got a lot of really, really positive responses.

Carissa Galloway: 6:57

And if you don't, it's okay to go over three minutes. But if I get bored, I'm going to, I'm going to push you.

John Pelkey: 7:01

You're taught you're. You're cutting into my time. That's odd, you are cutting into my time. So anyway, for those of you who don't know, my dad worked at the White House for 28 years, from 1957 to 1985. So he was obviously there in 1963, when Jack Kennedy was assassinated. However, he was not at work that day because that was the day that my parents found out they were pregnant with the child, and that child being me. And my dad found out on the way home on the radio, like a lot of people found out back then, that the that President Kennedy had been killed. So he had to drop my mom off, obviously muting the celebration of going to have a child, and then had to go back down to work at the White House to wait for Jack Kennedy's casket to come in so he could light it. In my dad's electrician he did entertainment lighting and lighting for events so he could light the casket in the East room of the White House for the television cameras, because they actually filmed people coming in and mourning when he was lying in repose at in the East room. Anyway, big, big day for my family because that happened, and also a side story that you you look so bored already A side story.

John Pelkey: 8:07

That to that is our ex run Disney director, john Feelen, who has since retired and is enjoying his retirement. His father was a professor at Catholic University and one of the things he taught was stage lighting. My dad had been sent to Catholic to learn stage lighting when he was working at the White House, a couple of years before the Kennedy assassination, I believe. And it turns out that John Feelen's father was not only his teacher but he actually came in on Friday, november 22nd 1963 to help it was probably actually the 23rd by the time they did it but to help light the casket. And we found this out years later, not knowing that they'd even had any connection. But there you go.

John Pelkey: 8:47

That said, there's my personal thing, which is cut in two minutes and four seconds, not shaving off the time that you used, but I will say there was a new documentary called what the Doctors Saw and I had been converted to the belief that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and that all of the cover up stuff was simply because the CIA and the FBI and Secret Service it kind of fumbled the ball on, knowing that this guy, who was a rogue guy, was in Dallas at that time and working along the motorcade route. But what the doctor saw? The new documentary. It opens some other questions for me. I believe it's on Paramount Plus if you have a chance to see it, but it changes my opinion a little bit in the 60th year and scene 24528. Come on.

Carissa Galloway: 9:35

Wow, I do actually. I'm intrigued. Now I want to hear more about what you now believe. Or now, what is this? Do you believe this documentary was skewed and trying to get you to believe that, or you believe it was fair and unbiased?

John Pelkey: 9:46

No, I mean I have done a lot. I have wasted so many hours of my life reading books about the Kennedy assassination it is more for whatever reason, I have an obsession with it. I think my personal story has a lot to do with it and I had initially been a conspiracy guy. Through the years Some things were explained a little better At least I thought they had been by. The magic bullet theory was kind of cleared up a little bit for me at that time. I enjoyed Oliver Stone's JFK. It's one of my favorite films. I don't think necessarily it's particularly honest film when it comes back to the true facts of the Kennedy assassination. But I do think that as we have gotten more information, and particularly with these doctors who were at Parkland the first people to see the president after he'd been shot medical professionals it opens up some questions as to whether or not what the Warren Commission said was true. Lee Harvey Oswald was indeed the only shooter, if the shooter at all.

Carissa Galloway: 10:48

This is fascinating because I just want to know. I don't want to watch all the things, I just want to defend it advance, which we're probably never going to have.

John Pelkey: 10:53

No, and I've always said you know, I always thought that it was definitive, because I grew up in the Washington DC area and the joke is, if two people in Washington know anything, 200,000 people are going to know within a very short period of time. So to keep that all bottled up over the 60 years is kind of amazing. But again, we find out new things and 60 years is a blink of an eye really in terms of history and we're still learning things about things that happened in preceding centuries.

Carissa Galloway: 11:22

I mean, can you imagine if it happened now, though all the cell phone videos, all the everything that went on, and how quickly we would be able to see with cameras and everything?

John Pelkey: 11:31

Without stepping over a political line. I see what can happen when you get skewed reporting on even what you see. People can be convinced. A mass, you know mass psychology speaks to the fact that you can be convinced that your eyes are deceiving you.

John Pelkey: 11:48

And so while I think we would have had more than just Abraham Zepp Ruter's film and the other few films that exist around Dealey Plaza we probably have 400 shots of what was happening but would we, would we still ask for a conspiracy? One of the great quotes about the Kennedy assassination that I heard, I think I think, was from Walter Cronkite saying you know, the reason people looked for a conspiracy is because it's sometimes difficult to wrap your head around the fact that just this single loner, this one guy and if you look into Oswald's past, what we know of it, he just seemed like the sort of single loner kid who'd had a really kind of questionable upbringing he could bring down the most powerful man in the world. Then, oh my God, we're presented with our own mortality and, how you know, life does live on a knife's edge. So I'd always kind of believe that. But now this new documentary, which I'm sure is just manipulating me me among the tens of people still this interested in the Kennedy assassination.

Carissa Galloway: 12:50

I guarantee there's going to be I'm going to say, four people that I've enjoyed this discussion.

John Pelkey: 12:57

Well, hopefully, if you're one of them, we only need to get two more. So there we go.

Carissa Galloway: 13:01

Okay, good, there we go.

John Pelkey: 13:02

I feel good If.

Carissa Galloway: 13:03

Riley listens, which sometimes he does, maybe he'll. It's Israeli on board with the Kennedy stuff, or that's just you.

John Pelkey: 13:09

Oh, no, no, no, he is as well. It's if you're a person of a certain age, if you were born in, as I was, 1964, Mark Ferrara, our director, in 1968, you're born in in the 60s, I think the Kennedy assassination because there's a Bruder film finally became available for people to see For the first time. Haraldo Rivera did it on a television show in 1975. So I was around 11 years old and you know, when you're that age, you know pop culture. Things that happen have an indelible mark on you.

Carissa Galloway: 13:37

So we talked about it a lot in school. Yeah, I miss, like you're saying. You know, haraldo, you saw that we're inundated now with the ways to consume media, so we don't have the same shared experience, I think, as we used to have. Like I can say TGIF to my generation ABC Family Matters, full House, step by step. We know that because that was what was on Saturday morning cartoons. Those things don't exist anymore. You can watch whatever you want at any time, and it does dilute this shared dialogue, that that we can have as we, as we go on.

John Pelkey: 14:06

Well, the historian John Meacham, who is a favorite of mine, talked about that how we don't know each other anymore because we don't have to. We don't, you know. You don't have to go and find out what type of music someone loves because they're playing in their car next to you. We've all got earbuds in and we're listening to what we want to listen to and just we consume our media in so many different ways and constantly yeah it just we really don't, and it's sad. I don't even know the neighbors in my neighborhood and I've been here over 20 years particularly well a couple that you gravitate towards.

John Pelkey: 14:41

But, yeah, it's different, different time, Definitely.

Carissa Galloway: 14:43

Well, speaking of social media, John. That brings us to our next point.

John Pelkey: 14:47

Yes, I have a question about and this was you. You know, we write out a mini little script about what we're going to talk about, but this would have been a question that I would have had to ask you, because I absolutely do not know the answer to this. What is Cameo?

Carissa Galloway: 14:59

So Cameo is an app where you can request some of your favorite there's air quotes here Celebrities, be less celebrity notables to send you a personal video. So you're paying a nominal fee maybe it's $20, maybe it's for more important people $200, some dollars. But you can say I want, you know, Jody loves an actor of some reality show, some obscure, and so you pay for him to do a funny joke for Jody's birthday and you pay 30 bucks for it. You can get that on Cameo. Jeff Galloway can give you a pep talk on Cameo and now I, Karissa Galloway, have created a Cameo account. I've done two so far.

John Pelkey: 15:37

Wow.

Carissa Galloway: 15:37

I've done a pep talk and I have tried to convince someone to not sign up for the 5k, to sign up for the 10k because it's a better value. This is what I was asked to do.

John Pelkey: 15:48

Wow, Wow and you are getting no kick. You're getting your fee but you are getting no kick back from any run Disney entity to do that. You were doing that out of the goodness of your heart and the fact that they're paying you to do it.

Carissa Galloway: 15:57

So we're trying to get you here on Cameo. You just you could film a selfie video, john. You just say things that I think people should like ask you to like the opposite. Like tell my mom I don't have to do this. Like harness that sort of grumpy, your old men version of you, you know, john, tell me that I don't have to go run today.

John Pelkey: 16:14

Wow, and I could add on, and for an additional $5, I will give you your interesting Kennedy assassination fact of the day.

Carissa Galloway: 16:21

Yes, so I sent you a link, but I think you are going to come over soon to do some recording. We're going to get you all set up on Cameo. It's actually really simple, john, and you might like it.

John Pelkey: 16:30

You know what I think I might, and I should point out that I had a couple of people reach out to me over the weekend Some more folks from the Disney day drinkers, of course, my people reaching out to me and a couple of other folks who knew me from run Disney and who knew you as well from Run Disney. I just wanted great community. On Sunday.

Carissa Galloway: 16:49

Yeah, sunday circle back a little bit. You me, dj CJ, it was like a Run Disney reunion. It really was, and shout out to Riley and Tracy because I did the interviews. I was the Riley and Tracy. So just for those of you who think John and I have no versatility, that's wrong. I can communicate with humans as well.

John Pelkey: 17:06

Yeah, should shout out to Monica, who was working for ESPN events and was just very sweet and came up to me and said she was fangirling so we had to discuss where she needed to raise the bar in her life in fangirling. Or get a video for it Was very excited to find out that you were going to be there as well and was great working with her the whole weekend and hopefully going to see her on, I believe, princess weekend for Monica. She will be back.

Carissa Galloway: 17:32

Yep, and she's looking to get into Disneyland in the Halloween half, which is exciting. All right, before we wrap up this chat and get into our amazing conversation with Noel John, we have a new sponsor that you and I have gotten to know firsthand. They're called Hyper Ice and they have amazing range of products that are designed for recovery. So I got to know them because they're part of all the Ironman weekends and so they have these boots called the NormaTech boots that are full leg boots that are compression, and they're designed there's different types of programs you can go through and basically designed to kind of move blood through you, help with recovery, all these kinds of things. So I fell in love with them because sometimes at Ironman we sneak off and we sit in the boots and hope that no one notices us.

Carissa Galloway: 18:12

But Ironman days, as I say over and over and over again, are so long and I found that when I would take the time to do the boots my legs felt better, because just standing all day really does sort of tire you out. So they are our new sponsor. So huge shout out to Hyper Ice and they send us both some cool gear. I got the NormaTech Go, which are calf compression sleeves that our TSA approved. So, instead of me having to take my giant boots with me when I travel, I can take these and use them in my calves. And you also got some gear, too, that I reluctantly gave to you.

John Pelkey: 18:46

That's right. You held on to it for a while, even though we live incredibly close together and you're about a I would say about a 10K away for me, really, if you think about it within. But yeah, I got the Hyper Ice Venom 2 back support system for lack of a better term Huge belt that will tighten to alarmingly tight around me at times, which was really great because I do have an issue with my lower back. It also has heat and a number of massage settings, and I tell you what the heat settings are amazing because even on two I'm like all right, well, that's good and plenty. I don't think I've even gotten to three yet and it is amazingly relaxing and, to your point, being on your feet all day.

John Pelkey: 19:34

When I do a weekend at the Invitational, I'm sitting in a less than optimal chair for excruciatingly long periods of time, as you know, and I do try to get up and down. But I came home with that on Sunday night, after you'd given it to me, after keeping it for several days and using it yourself, I came and put it on and it was remarkable how quickly because normally I will put a little heating pad on my back and everything but this the way I could. Just the compression worked, the heat and then the different massage things. Holy crap, I don't think I took it off. I think I fell asleep in the chair with it on and woke up hours later. So fabulous.

John Pelkey: 20:14

So glad to have them aboard and thank them for our gifts.

Carissa Galloway: 20:17

Yes. So they've got a lot of great products and they've got Cyber Monday deals happening right now. They're December 3. Go to hypericecom, check that out, use the code 321GO 321GO for more savings and then, once you get your products, share with us on Instagram how you recover.

John Pelkey: 20:36

OK civilians.

Noel Mulkey: 20:37

It's time for the goods. Let's get on to the interview.

Carissa Galloway: 20:40

We're excited to welcome Noel Mulkey to 321GO. He's a top age group Ironman triathlete who won his age group this year at Ironman Tulsa. He's competed in the last two Ironman World Championships. He has over 1.5 million followers on TikTok and you guys, he's here with us. Hi, noel, how are you and where are you?

Noel Mulkey: 21:01

Hi, carissa. Hi, I am in Vermont. I'm in a little town called St Albans, vermont, and thank you for the intro.

Carissa Galloway: 22:31

Well, if you notice, there's something that I left out of your intro, something that I didn't want to even tease people, because I think your story blows people's mind. It's an unbelievable story of how, where you were to Ironman champion. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey to the 2023 version of Noel?

Noel Mulkey: 22:51

Yeah, so I guess it is a long story.

Carissa Galloway: 22:55

No, but it's an amazing. I just didn't want to tell your story because I think when you tell it it literally will blow people away.

John Pelkey: 23:02

It's remarkable.

Noel Mulkey: 23:03

Yeah, thank you. I do want to say also real quick Carissa called me home at I think like two Ironmans now I know it was at Ironman Tulsa for sure and so that was the one this year where I won my age group, which was really cool. So that's always fun.

Carissa Galloway: 23:23

Yeah, and that's not a small thing to do for those people listening who are not Ironman people Like John. You know my husband is a fantastic athlete. He gets like 20th in his age group. To win your age group at an Ironman is amazing. And what was your time in Tulsa?

Noel Mulkey: 23:38

931, but it's slower than my fastest time, but that was a hard day, so to go sub 10.

Carissa Galloway: 23:45

also, john, is a dream that Western doesn't even have because it's that hard. It's so hard to do. So you're amazing. Let's hear your story, we'll show you. Thank you.

Noel Mulkey: 23:54

Yeah, no. So I am way before triathlon, way before I found this addiction. I will call it. I was a. I grew up in Tulsa, oklahoma, and I went to a high school. I was a pretty, I had a really good childhood, but when I got into high school I had a really bad. I got really deep into substance abuse.

Noel Mulkey: 24:16

I come from a substance abuse, drug abuse background. When I was towards the end of high school and I say high school it's because it's kind of fuzzy, like I remember the first time I went to rehab was when I was 18. So right out of high school. But the first time I ever was, the first time I ever tried serious, I would say a serious drug which was my drug of choice, was heroin. I was 16 years old and someone in my class kind of taught me how to inject it, because that was how I was. I was an IV drug. I was an IV heroin user and I guess what happened was was at the time, which I know now and what I.

Noel Mulkey: 25:00

What I preach about now, what I share my story with, is how, at the time, I've always had an underlying mental health issue and one of my my brand now is like I'm literally wearing a shirt called Null Soul because I try to be a huge mental health advocate, because I was self-medicating and this is down the line. All of this, all of this stems from self-medicating mental mental health. I'm bipolar. I'm bipolar to disorders, what I was diagnosed with, finally, but the reason long story, well, a long story, but yeah, so that was kind of my escape. Drugs are my escape and then, once I started, I have a very addictive personality, which is why triathlon is perfect for someone like me, because it's a very addictive sport. But there's also you can always be doing something better. You can always be doing something in this sport to get better. You can always go for a swim, you can always go for a bike, and so there's there's a lot of aspects of triathlon which really correlate back to how I used to live my life. But obviously this is way healthier the way, healthier way of it, of living.

Noel Mulkey: 26:07

But yeah, no, so and I was, I got after I started experimenting, which and I had a really good childhood there wasn't really a catalyst that started. I didn't have like a big traumatic. I didn't have like a big traumatic event that started. I started using drugs. I just went to a high school with people who were all using drugs. It was just a really kind of everyone like that's what people looked forward to. It was a. It was Tulsa, oklahoma. It wasn't a horrible place to grow up, but it just kind of for me that's like all I looked forward to was getting high. That's the only thing I liked doing all day. I would go to school and I was still functioning. I passed, I graduated high school. But I got to a point where like the only thing I was looking forward to was using and I went to. I went to, yeah, so I got down to a at the worst of it. Two rehabs later, two after two rehabs, I was interventioned. I was told to go to rehab. I spent a year in Florida trying to get better. It didn't work because I got. I came home worse than I left.

Noel Mulkey: 27:16

But at my height, at the height of my addiction, I was at a $500 a day heroin habit probably couldn't go more than three or four hours without using and it got to where I didn't really have any more options. I I was done myself. I had no options. I had no money. I had no. I had no aspirations. I was miserable. I had been doing this for like eight years now. I say I say eight years because I think I stopped when I was like 20 and I started. I want to say I started at the beginning, like right after middle school. So so, yeah, like eight years.

Noel Mulkey: 27:54

But yeah, I got to where I had no aspirations. No, I was. I was extremely unhealthy. I I could barely walk up the stairs without going out of breath. I my veins were all messed up. It just was a really miserable, awful way to live and I was sick of waking up, sick.

Noel Mulkey: 28:13

And so I think one of the biggest things I always try to tell people who are still in active addiction is you don't, you're not, you necessarily like it's not going to happen unless you want it to happen yourself. I feel like, I feel like that's a it's a hard truth to hear. It's it's that if the addict, if you're, you're not going to change, you know like someone, some outside force can't make you change, you have to want to do it yourself. But that's a whole other can of worms. But yeah, so what happened was I went to, I finally detoxed.

Noel Mulkey: 28:45

It was the worst. It was the worst 24 hours, the most painful thing I've ever been through was opiate withdrawal from that heavy abuse More painful than an Iron man. I actually sometimes this is so dark, carissa, this is very dark. I think of that sometimes when an out there suffering and like this is nothing compared to what you have been through and cause Iron Man's get really hard, but it's like, is this really that hard? No, this is amazing to be out there and doing this right now as opposed to, but, like I remember, at some of the darkest parts, I've done 10 now, so the darkest parts of the marathon I'm like this is like not anything compared to what has happened, like this is nothing, and so I always kind of draw off of that experience because that was horrible.

Noel Mulkey: 29:28

Yeah, so around 20, I finally got. I finally I went through detox, I went to a detox facility and I was finally for the first time in years, I think I want to say, since I was like 13, 14, whatever age you are in eighth grade, I don't know very young I was finally clear. I was clear, clear, level headed. Not not any, I was, but the thing was I was sober from substances, as very sober from substances, but I was.

Noel Mulkey: 30:03

I had no aspirations. I had no aspirations. I was just like just okay, now, what Like I? I wasn't going to school, I didn't have anything to look forward to, I had nothing going for me. I I kind of got to where, instead of and actually this is a big thing from people in recovery. What happens to them is they kind of replace drugs with food or something. They're not. They're not. So I, I gained quite a bit of weight when I first started, when I first was in recovery. I gained a lot of weight. I, for me, I gained a lot of weight and it was like no-transcript. It was like six months into sobriety when I looked at myself and I was like, wow, I've never been this big.

Carissa Galloway: 30:47

I wasn't fat, but I, for me, I was very big and I hate it how I looked and I, and if people look at you and I know your parents, like your genetics are very You're genetically the size that you are now.

John Pelkey: 30:59

Yeah.

Carissa Galloway: 30:59

Yeah. Not that People try to quantify like you can't feel like you were overweight. Like for you, you were at a place that wasn't comfortable.

Noel Mulkey: 31:06

Yes, yes, that's exactly the way to put it yeah, cuz like, yeah, I don't come up from a family with like we all my parents are both athletes my, my twins and athlete and so like we. And so for me it was just like I don't think, yeah, I just I wasn't comfortable in my own skin, I hated going out. I just like I, I've just never looked this big and Anyway. So what happened was I decided one day to go on a run. Literally, I just was like I want to go on a run. My parents both have running backgrounds Actually, my mom has a triathlon background and I went around the. I went outside. I was like 8 pm At night. I'd done nothing all day but just lay in bed and just kind of miserable and eat. I Went around the block. I could barely make it around the block. I went like it was like it was like less than 400 meters or something, or whatever. A block is like a little over. What a one lap of the track. And I could barely make it without walk. I didn't make it without stopping to walk, but I loved it, I absolutely loved it, and I went from that day, from that day to From that day, like the next few weeks I went from running nothing to running 60, 70 mile weeks, which is huge for no base. So it was, and I yeah, I just became obsessed. I came immediately hooked on running. I loved it and my dad had suggested. So he suggested, after like A little over three months of this, of just running 60, 70 mile weeks, I my dad was like you're gonna get injured. He knows, he's a doctor, he was an ultra runner. He knew like this is a really bad, like he's like, like he's like they my parents envisioned like if I got injured maybe I would slip back into and just not be it, because that was my new outlet. And he suggested going to a lab and getting a VO two max test and getting like he just said, let's go do some stuff to see, like what you're capable of. And because he was. He worked at a clinic at the time and I went to go do to the sports medicine facility and we did a few tests and I turned out my VO Two is like really good, especially at the time I was still not in shape at all. And so the guy there suggested, hey, substitute some running with biking. My dad had a bike. I think what had also happened was I know what happened was so I lost in those three months. I was just running like crazy. I also was obsessed with eating like All I had for lunch with salad, all I had for dinner was salad and salad and grilled chicken and a smoothie for breakfast. I gave I lost 58 pounds in three months. And yeah, I was. I was getting a little too thin and I was just obsessed with it. I wasn't really obsessed with performance, I just wanted to lose weight, which is also very unhealthy, very unhealthy way to live. And so he suggested getting on a bike.

Noel Mulkey: 34:02

I I swam one year in middle school, which for some reason has stuck with me. That one year I swam competitively in middle school, and so I hop back in the pool. I was a member of a gym. I went to a gym and I started swimming just one mile a day and and so I'm like now doing all these, all three of these things sort of and we discovered that there's a triathlon. We found a triathlon an hour and a half away, called. It was the first capital triathlon in Guthrie, oklahoma. It was just sprint distance. I signed up for it and I came in third overall, my first ever, and I was first out of the water and I loved it and I decided to sign up for another one later that summer, an Olympic distance in Toadsep, arkansas, because all these Midwest Arkansas, all these Midwest, these Midwest little fun, little fun races, and I want it. So that was the first overall and it and this is not really proper training, and so I kind of became hooked.

Noel Mulkey: 35:08

I finally, so I started Understanding training. I, a little into two years of it, I finally hired my first coach, which was his name was Matt Hansen. He's a big, he's a big pro trap, he's a he's a top pro right now and I was with him for four years and it's kind of just taken off. All of this was before tick tock. All of this is before Instagram. I was on Instagram back when I first started sharing on social media and and that is a different part of the story that came. Sharing this on the tick tock came from COVID, in the pandemic. But before that, yeah, I took off and I was kind of obsessed with triathlon and so that's kind of where we're at now is with with triathlon, yeah, so I want to.

John Pelkey: 35:59

It lends me to a question, because I go back to know where and the fact that you were. You know you had an opioid addiction. You had to fix every three hours $500 a day. I can only imagine the amount of stress mentally that that puts on you, as well as physically. And you've said you know you. You have a tendency to have an addictive personality, obviously moving to food and now with your exercise. But I was wondering how, how have you been able to find balance in your life between that personality? That's a really part of it allowing you to succeed in this, but also realizing that at boy, at some point, the mind needs a body, notwithstanding, needs a break.

Noel Mulkey: 36:41

No, absolutely good question, john. Yeah, like well for one, this is where that mental health thing comes in, because I I get really into these. I get really into these kind of episodes. I want to say it's called so, it. I was finally diagnosed correctly with bipolar to disorder, is this okay? I talk about that.

John Pelkey: 37:07

No, we, I think you're gonna, I mean you know, okay, yeah, so I am on a stable regimen of medication.

Noel Mulkey: 37:14

But you're right, I, I do think so, I what I bring that up because that helps a lot. But I get these. Really, I think, after so long of being obsessed with triathlon, obsessed with drugs, just like, I feel like I've got and I'm only, I'm only 28, so there still could be a lot of stuff that happens but I feel really kind of at peace now, like in terms of I know what I like to do during the day. I have an income. It's like there's not so much hustle, hustle, hustle for something, that I feel like I've done a lot of stuff that there's no more. I like, like in the past nothing ever felt like, especially with drug addiction. Like you said, I'm extremely mental, mentally taxing, you hate, you're like every other. You can just never relax because you're like okay, I have to get, I'm gonna be sick in a few hours if I don't get something. I don't get money.

Noel Mulkey: 38:12

And with triathlon, yeah, the first, and actually kind of see it now with younger triathletes like, or younger athletes who and I say that like I was actually at a trading camp with a, with a younger guy in Switzerland he's 22 this last, right before Nice this summer, and I just saw kind of myself in him about how what you said, john, about how it was so like you don't have, like he's just so enthusiastic and into it and like no room for, like he can't even like go out and enjoy like I don't know it, just he's so and I feel like I kind of move past that also. I don't know what that has to do with me just maturing, but I do feel like like a lot. I'm just really out like I'll do my fifth Ironman in Western Australia in December, just fifth for the year. So I've done this, will be my fifth this year, which sounds like, but like I know the distance, I know what I need to do to do it.

Noel Mulkey: 39:15

There's no stress. It's just like if something goes bad, like if something goes bad like it's the worst you have as a bad race. That's like if the worst thing that's happening to you in life is your walking an Ironman as opposed to running it and you're having a bad day. That's a pretty good life. So I don't think it just doesn't seem like I have much to prove anymore and maybe you're not going to get it. I don't think it's going to be a good thing. Before hand it felt kind of like does that make sense?

Carissa Galloway: 39:41

I don't know, I think that you just talked yourself into a nice realization there, like, yeah, like I think that's called being happy. No, you're, and you're allowed to have that. Yeah, I'm so excited. You know, you said can I share about being bipolar please, because there are people that might be listening or out there that might be dealing with some of those things. And I saw a video you had posted about like signs that are by I didn't, I didn't know, and I think that's really eye opening and you are. We'll talk about tic toc in a little bit but you're like inspiration to others. Do you feel that? And have people told you like, hey, no, you, you've changed my life.

Noel Mulkey: 40:18

Yeah, I, some of these comments I get I've actually screenshot it some of the ones that are like wow, I never thought anyone would say that to me. So say, it's something like that to me. I do get comments quite a bit in my DMs or just on and actually I at one point I had a PO box. I have to get a new one. But I say that because I got some, some mail from people and some of these stories that I've heard, like I just like I can't believe I'm hearing this from people. Like someone said I'm the reason they bought a bike, I'm I gotta, I gotta. I forgot where it was.

Noel Mulkey: 40:54

But I got a message saying I'm the reason my videos are, the reason they're still here from, not, I guess from I guess they were implying that they might have committed suicide. I, that was kind of what I guess they were. I'm pretty sure that's what they're implying because they were having a really hard time. I just and that made that made me really. I was like I can't, really can't believe that I've put because I'm kind of just documenting just my life and just my personality and just I don't really.

Noel Mulkey: 41:28

But yeah, I get these comments some days that are just absolutely shocking, like you're the reason I bought a bike, you're the reason I started running. I can't, I off the top of my head, I don't have, but I have a little folder that I screenshot and have a lot of my comments that I'm like wow, I don't want to lose this because that I can't believe long from now. If it talks gone, if my following has died out, I want to see, like, check in and be like I wonder how that person's doing, because that's really so. Yeah, I do get a lot of messages that are like I just, I just. And then one reason and another thing I want to say about that is because this sport does get super hard and like I always think, like I actually crashed, I actually just did the Ironman World Champs in France, which you were there.

Carissa Galloway: 42:14

Yeah.

Noel Mulkey: 42:15

I was one of my questions, but we're gonna. Yeah, yeah, I crashed, but every time I was so I was a hundred percent not plan. I got down the hill and I was like, by down the mound, made it into T2, transition to before the marathon and was just going to go out and find my parents and say I don't want to finish this and just say I wanted to. I was like I'd rather just save it and just and, but I didn't quit because I a lot of the times when I'm starting to think of that, I'm like I think of my followers. I think of people who said they're they want to do an Ironman, they would kill to do an Ironman. They loved.

Noel Mulkey: 42:46

I've had someone who said she can't run anymore, she's in a hot. She's been, she spent the last like eight years in a hospital bed. She can't do much anymore with her body, but she lives vicariously through my videos and I was like I can't stop. I'm fine, I'm a little road rash, you know. I can't like quit these things. If you started it, you have to finish. And, like I think of my followers, I think I'm a lot of the reason I'm even motivated to keep doing triathlon and keep doing it and hopefully, keep doing it well is because of the my little, my little community I've created because I don't want to disappoint them.

Carissa Galloway: 43:23

So yeah, I have a question because so I was. I just said in Nice, we're always asking you guys, and I saw your parents waiting for the finish. I know that you had an exit, but I don't actually know the details.

Noel Mulkey: 43:36

Yeah, I was. So that race, I think your husband, but your husband probably yeah, I was terrifying, carnage was just carnage. There is just and I kind of knew this would happen because I so I've done the half that, the half distance, the half Ironman, they're twice now and it's that same descent, and every time there's ambulances like down said there were ambulances, like right next to the tunnel. You were probably long gone because no, no, I know what you're talking about. No, I saw that too, I. There was a.

Carissa Galloway: 44:06

There's a big tunnel and there is an ambulance right next to it and there's a tunnel down a hill, on a cliff, and the tunnels not super wide and it's made of stone and it's terrifying.

Noel Mulkey: 44:16

It's terrifying. And also the barriers, like like there's no barriers, it's like it's like a, it's like a little rock like side it's instead of like you know how, like maybe in the USA there'd be like a gate or like a those metal grates or something down mountain roads. There's just like these little rocks. You basically you can easily just go flying off the edge. So yeah, it's terrifying, and so there's. I saw, I saw a few crashes, I saw someone, so my crash happened further down, way further down. I think it was. An Ironman bike is 112 miles. For those listening you know I crashed at like a mile 102.

Noel Mulkey: 44:50

So I was like almost done less than I, yeah, and that's what really kind of shocked me too, because I was like I wasn't even. I was like already mentally ready for the marathon. I was not even thinking of the bike anymore. I was like, thank God, that's over the most. The most I was worried about this entire race was that bike, because I'm crashing, and so I came down a, I came down a cut, and that's the thing. I don't actually really remember a lot of it, like it's just so. It happened so fast, like they do. I do know I crashed around 42 miles an hour because it shows the stop and it shows my max speed, and I know I was going and what happened was I like my bottle bounced, I had a front bottle cage and a bounce and I tried to save it. And when I tried to save it, I kind of tilted to the right and just just hit the, just hit the ground really hard. I remember my head smacking really hard, which is I've crashed. I've crashed on my time, I've crashed five times now like real crashes, which sounds like a lot, but this one, yeah, it kind of rocked me. My, my crap. I remember my head slamming into the ground like slamming that helmet is amazing. It should be. It's a $400 helmet. But I was like that's why. So they work, those helmets work. Because I would absolutely be probably still in the house, still in a French hospital right now if I didn't have the helmet on because I have to get a new one, because I think the integrity of it's gone. But yeah, I slammed really hard, my entire side was ripped up.

Noel Mulkey: 46:22

But what happened was what's funny is I looked up for my crash. I screamed oh f, a very, very loud expletive. And then I looked up and there's an ambulance right there with another person. Another person was in the ambulance. He had, he had just crashed also, and so I guess that corner might have been like a hot corner of people crashing because yeah. So I looked up and he's there's another guy literally getting tended to in the ambulance. They pulled my bike out of the side of the road and I said can you guys do the concussion thing to like? I think there's like a test if you look in someone's eyes with a light to see if they have a concussion. I said, can you do that? But they didn't understand what I meant. They didn't know what concussion means because they're all French. I said well, can I have some water?

John Pelkey: 47:09

No water? Yeah, yeah, they had water.

Noel Mulkey: 47:18

Yeah, and so and so. Then I was like, will do. I said, well, I'm like. I kind of walked around. I was like I was definitely shaken up. I went to go exam my bike. My bike seemed fine. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna keep going, I'm just gonna go. They said they wanted to keep me. They said they want to observe me for five minutes and I said no, I'm gonna keep going because, honestly, I just I didn't want to end the race in the back of an ambulance getting driven down. I was like that, I mean, it's only like eight miles. It was like only like eight miles left or ten miles left and it was all downhill. So I was like I'll just ride the T2 and just call it a day. Um, I Didn't know.

Noel Mulkey: 47:56

I was good at the time. I was 100% convinced I'm not running a marathon, yeah. And so I came back down, went out, went out and and I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to find, I'm gonna put on my run shoes to go find my parents. But the way the courses, the way the courses, they were in the VIP booth and so the only way to go talk to them and tell them I'm quitting is to like cross the course and I had banged at my knee pretty bad in the crash. I was more so, just selfishly not maybe not selfishly Like I just wanted to see if I can even run at all, like to see if I can get back to training the next day. I was like, okay, I don't care about, I'm like I'm over this race. I just want to see if I can train still, like tomorrow or something. And so I want to run like three or four miles just to test it out. And but the course is four, six mile loops. So I made it past one loop and I was like to my pair.

Noel Mulkey: 48:46

I came up to my parents and my friend Chloe. I said, hey, I think this is it for me, I'm just not. I crashed. This is the first time they heard that I crashed. My kit was all ripped up and they're like no, you're not quitting. I said, yeah, I'm done. They're like, no, you're not, you're not. Are you kidding? You're not quitting. I think it's the world champs, you can't quit.

Noel Mulkey: 49:03

And then, as like I was like it was a really brief conversations with them, but I ran a second lap and said the second lap. I came back and complained a little more. I was like, no, this is like really not for me today. And I was like and then I did a third lap and then by the time you did the third lap, you have one left. You might as well just finish. So I finished and I'm really happy. I finished like really happy I finished, because it it's. I would be sitting right here being telling you guys how, trying to justify quit and and I was, I really was fine. I don't think anything really happened. I was very lucky to crash how I crashed. My knee definitely took most of the impact, but it's fine. Now I'm back to full training and, yeah, so that was my work. I've done two full distance world champs. I did Kona in 20 oh, last year, kona in 2020 and it's so confusing to remember years.

Noel Mulkey: 49:56

Yes, it was 20 other, really confusing.

Carissa Galloway: 49:58

Yeah, it is, it's, it's very, I mean just but. I want to say easier know, when you get older, it's gonna get harder. It gets harder, doesn't it?

Noel Mulkey: 50:05

Well, yeah, so no, I want to say I've done two full distance world champs and both of them have gone pretty. They both have been World champ experiences. They both haven't gone great, they both been extremely brutal days, but now you know like that's what you're there for. Just extremely brutal days with Kona.

John Pelkey: 50:20

They say I just think.

Carissa Galloway: 50:21

I'm going there on Monday. It's experience in Kona you need to the experience you get.

Noel Mulkey: 50:26

Yes, oh, you are going.

Carissa Galloway: 50:27

Okay, yeah, yes, I'm go. Well, I'm going on. Yeah, I shouldn't be there now, but my daughter has a gymnastics meet. So, anyway, okay, I'll be there on Monday. But, um, you know, you know, next year, kona, should you qualify, which I know you will it'll be better plan, yeah.

John Pelkey: 50:41

It's just, it's just remarkable remarkable to me that you can push yourself past those, those roadblocks. And and again, weston told me all about that bike course and it's terrifying. It's like trying to watch. I can't watch the Tour de France when they're in the hills because I'm like this is not safe. Yeah, this is not, and it sounded just like that. All right, switching gears completely, you have become a tick-tock star. Can you remember the moment you were like, hey, this has become a thing.

Noel Mulkey: 51:09

Yeah, so on good question, like on. So, apparently, I looked up, since I did some statistics a while ago when the world shut down during the pandemic, like it was like March 2020, march, april 2020, whatever that like big first pandemic wave was 300 million people got on tick-tock and I was one of them because I think we were all sitting in the house like now what, and so I think Something like 300 million users I don't want to say it, and it probably wasn't just in the US, maybe that was worldwide, I don't know, but anyways, joined tick-tock and I was one of them and I, which is on it, just like I was like wow, this is new, it's. I was totally into Instagram back before that and like that Instagram was just I was just trying to, but I remember Posting a video about. I had a few videos do pretty well. That's the thing with to talk you don't really know what does. Well, it just kind of, all of a sudden, something will go viral and I posted a few random things that I thought were funny, like a skit or something that was funny, and one of them did pretty well. But one day I post and see had nothing, and I was had nothing to do a triathlon, what I had posted. But one day I posted a video I said get ready with me for a 100 mile bike ride. I was like a get ready with me video and I just talked about how I got my bottles ready and my nutrition and like getting my bike ready and stuff. And oh, the response to that video was insane. It got like 75,000 likes, like people click the like button in like the first two hours.

Noel Mulkey: 52:48

Overnight I got like a hundred thousand followers just from that one video. And I was just shocked because to me, a hundred mile by this is where you have to remember, like where you come from because To me a hundred mile bike ride didn't seem like a big deal. I had been, I'm doing them. I was doing it once a week in preparation for my first. Back then I had never even done a full Ironman I was gonna do because of the pandemic. I was gonna do Ironman Florida. But yeah, the comments were like what? I don't even drive a hundred miles. How can you do a hundred mile bike ride? I came and I was like oh yeah, this is really like I.

Noel Mulkey: 53:20

I assumed that none of this would be interesting. I was like I don't think anyone cares about that, like on tiktok. And they did. They thought it was fascinating. They're like, and all these random questions like hey, why do you put water in your bike? Hey, how do you, how do you put? Just all these questions I thought like I don't even think of, and so that kind of became my niche. And I got it at the right time because then I started posting videos like 45 days out for my first Ironman, 44 days out for my first time.

Noel Mulkey: 53:48

Now it seems like I'm not the original. I'm probably not the original. I do want to say I might be the original triathlete on tiktok. There's tons now, but I don't know. But I, I I do think. But yeah, now everyone does get ready with me videos and stuff for in the triathlete on world.

Noel Mulkey: 54:05

Um, but it's interesting because I was like I was just shocked that people had a good response to it, because I thought no one would care and it kind of took off from there. People were just fascinated with this type of lifestyle they they couldn't fow them and doing like A 12 mile run followed by like a 5k swim. They just thought it was really interesting and so it was just a snowball effect with. To all social media is kind of a snowball effect. Once you start, you just get bigger and bigger and yeah, so I finally got um, um, yeah, so, so, no, yeah, and then, um, I, I realized it could become I didn't really know how to monotonize it until um, actually at all. That's just I don't know how people learn that stuff. I just did it just through Advice and kind of like how do you like, what do you, what do you like, how would you charge for this and it, and it's kind of Turned into a, I want to say a career.

Noel Mulkey: 54:58

It's weird saying that, but um, yeah, it's coming. I've turned it into a. It's a community. Now it's a community really. And like, yeah and it's, it's definitely completely changed my life. Um, never in a million, yeah, I was like I just never, I didn't take it seriously. And then all of a sudden, now as a series, like, oh, yeah, you have to film all this for Tiktok, like it's yeah, and so now it's very. I mean, I think people are like yeah, and so now it's very.

John Pelkey: 55:24

I mean, I think people just count how interested. Now your story obviously is pretty amazing, coming from where you came. Yeah, people just count how, uh, interested other people are in stories. It's why we go to the movies and watch television shows. It's stories about people. And then, when they're real stories and it's something you know Again, distance running is and I say this, do I say this on every podcast the fastest growing participatory sport and and I do all right, well, there's see, now I'm getting. No, I know that.

Carissa Galloway: 55:54

See, know that, so there you go.

John Pelkey: 55:56

Thank you, thank you I.

Noel Mulkey: 55:58

So distant. Long distance running is the fastest growing sport right now. Participatory sport, I don't know pickle ball.

Carissa Galloway: 56:06

Pickle ball is not going to take over running. There's, there's.

Noel Mulkey: 56:09

Oh, pickle balls growing fast, it is fun, I know does pickle ball.

Carissa Galloway: 56:13

Have you done that?

Noel Mulkey: 56:15

I haven't done pickle ball. I have not done it because my ankles are really bad, but I one of my friends I have a friend who starts getting upset and she already broke her wrist from playing pickle ball. So like nope, no pickle ball, I know, and I was like wow, and yeah, pickle balls everywhere, now it's, but that's really interesting. Um, that running. I think that's really cool about running because it's just so simple and that's why I don't know, I don't, it's just so simple, you just need shoes.

John Pelkey: 56:42

Yeah, yeah, you don't need a pickle ball court. You got to go find a. I did pickle ball event in Des Moines and it was just a great time, but you have to go to a pickle ball place and you don't. You don't with running, it's something anybody can take part in and we are. We're seeing more and more of it. I do a lot of corporate 5k's where it's a team building for for the folks to get out there and do it, and there's not. You know it's, it's fun and it's helping one another. All right, speaking of viral, carissa has asked me to ask this question, so she's either setting me up to be fired or something I'm supposed to ask about air Canada.

Noel Mulkey: 57:16

Air Canada, my, okay, so my bike did not make it back from France, it did not make it back to the States with. My parents were going to take it back because they flew out to France to watch the race and I was going to stay afterwards for like five days to just vacation, actually in rest. And so they took it back and they called me and they're like no, we have some bad news. Because they had made it back to France and I was still in France and they called and said your bike didn't show up and I was like what? And I was like I obviously you hear stories about how this happens all the time. It just happens all the time you hear stories. I've been very, very, very lucky to have never had a problem until I had a problem, and one of the biggest things also was pretty much the one time everyone I don't know this is only an audio part, this is only an audio podcast, right, but I have these air. I have these. I'm holding an air tag right here because I have three of them. I have three of them and it didn't make it into the box. It didn't make it into my bike box the one time I was. We were packing up, we were super tired, I didn't I just didn't make it into my bike box anyways, but the thing is okay.

Noel Mulkey: 58:35

So, long story short, air Canada did not. We called them for six days straight. They could not tell us where this bike was. They could not tell us where this bike was, a huge neon green, big neon green, neon green, freaking neon. Where is it? Yes, where is this? And they outsource their I didn't know this. They outsource their customer service. So every time we even talked to anyone from them, it was like someone who who's like, oh well, we have to transfer you here, we have to transfer you here. We could not, they, we even we would like call one hour and they'd say, oh, it's in Nice. And then we call again, they say, oh, it's in Montreal, like the same day, like they just could not tell. And so that's when I finally took the. I did give them quite a bit of chance, like we, we didn't do it for like the first week, and then that's when I took to social media.

Carissa Galloway: 59:26

Yeah, a week.

Noel Mulkey: 59:27

And that's when I finally went okay, I'm going to have social media, I'm going to use social media. And so I made the Tik Tok about it, made the Instagram at it and it went pretty viral, like these things normally do. And I got to go on the Canadian news, like literally that day they called me and said we have a story, we, we we'd love to put you on the Canadian news because apparently air Canada has done this quite a few times. But apparently this is like this is pretty normal air Canada. Apparently they've had which I didn't know. I thought I was just about to sign up for their point plan because I live in Vermont now and the Montreal airports, like right up, this is only an hour and a half away and, I think, the biggest international airport next to me.

Noel Mulkey: 1:00:06

So, but anyways, literally right after we went on the news, the news asked their representative for a like, a comment before they run the story. They're like can we do a comment about the story, like, or you have a comment before you run the story? And they said, oh, that bikes to Montreal. So I want to say it was the power of social media who did all that, because I don't think they could care. They could care less at all. They gave us tickets. They gave us for if we use them again, they gave us a 25% off for our next flight.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:41

So you should, like you should, give me 25% value of the bike you lost for a week and a half, because it's a 16 plus thousand dollar bike.

Noel Mulkey: 1:00:51

Yeah, yeah, or, like you know, a free flight.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:54

Oh my God, I just love that story and I just think you use you and you did it. You didn't right away go. They're terrible, you guys, I they were, you guys were calling, you were sitting. Oh yeah, we gave them a lot of chance.

Noel Mulkey: 1:01:05

And then I'm like you know what, I'm going to put this on Ted talk, because I didn't want to. I was thinking like I don't know, I just, and so if the response was pretty swift, I'm telling you, if you ever have a problem with something, somebody like that, something like that, we don't have social media combined, we don't have like a quarter of a percent of your followers.

Noel Mulkey: 1:01:22

Yeah, but no, but it's interesting because, like I, yeah, it was like the one time I didn't use an Apple air tab, like the one time and and I will say, apparently from Finland, the the 70.3 world Ironman world championships in Finland A lot of people were having the same problems, but all their airlines could tell them where it is. What was fascinating to me is they couldn't even just tell me where it was, like no one in their system could just be, like it's here. They did not know, so that's pretty shocking.

Carissa Galloway: 1:01:56

That's what kind of blows my mind as someone who flies a lot, like, yeah, that I just I just I don't know. I love airlines, john, and I like to talk about airlines and travel a lot, so thank you for helping us oh same with me.

Noel Mulkey: 1:02:06

Like I love airlines, like I I I did a Qantas lost my bike. In not lost it, they, qantas. When I went to Australia last year for Western Australia, they, my bike didn't show up but they said, hey, we're going to have it to you in two days. It's in X airport, it's like in Sydney airport and we're in Perth and they're like we're going to have it shipped to Perth, which and they gave me a free pajamas and stuff which that was like the first time I ever experienced like missing a bag and it was a bike, but it was cool because they were like it wasn't. Now I know like you can be really bad. Qantas was actually cool about it. They're like we have it, we're going to bring it to you, give us your address and so and now and and yeah, that's pretty, yeah.

Carissa Galloway: 1:02:48

Yeah, no, it's the fact that they couldn't find it is absolutely crazy. All right, we're almost going to wrap, but I have one more question that I want to hear about Nolan Coco. Yeah, Chloe, she was with you and niece, but now you guys have a project together.

Noel Mulkey: 1:03:00

Yeah, my team, nolan Coco Coco Chloe is that's her nickname is a really good friend of mine. We, we actually, we actually recently met. Like we recently she's, I would say, a new chapter of life friend, because we only met in 2021. Very recently, but we hit it off. We're really good friends now she's come to a few of my races, she's. We go to training camps together. We went to Africa together for a training camp, which is really bonding because that was a really interesting training camp. But anyways, we, she's a. She's a 233 marathoner. At her first ever marathon she did like a two. I want to say she did like a 238, her first one, and then her second ever, a 233.

Carissa Galloway: 1:03:43

So her for the US Olympic trials in 2020, because that was a 244 standard.

Noel Mulkey: 1:03:47

So she's, she's, oh yeah, oh yeah, and she runs, she's a she's, she works for the Royal Air Force, like she's a badass woman and and I have my background and she loves to coach and I actually had been coaching and kind of got out of it. And now we decided to kind of use both of our presidencies, of both of our knowledge, to make a little team and it's going to be a coaching team slash, like international racing team and it's just starting. But it's kind of a work in progress where, yeah, it's just, it's a that's kind of our idea. We're going to hopefully have a few camps with us to are the like, the like. We'll figure out where to go and stuff. But yeah, it's a little coaching team, that's great.

Noel Mulkey: 1:04:32

Congrats on that.

Carissa Galloway: 1:04:32

Yeah.

John Pelkey: 1:04:34

That that is continuing to inspire people, but you know that's what we talk about a lot on this. So what is? If you can, if you can narrow it down, what's the most inspiring thing you've seen at a race from another competitor or something that was inspiring to you?

Noel Mulkey: 1:04:52

So it's not so. One of the most inspiring things I saw actually was at also at Nice this year was I have a pretty good friend. He's a. He's a pro, his name is Joe Skipper. We've been to a few training camps together and he and the and this is actually one of the reasons I also didn't quit was because he was probably this is a. He put his whole season into this race, into Ironman World Champs at Nice. He thinks it was a good course for him. He thinks it was. He was probably one of the podium favorite he had just one.

Noel Mulkey: 1:05:27

Ironman Lake Placid. Just one, ironman Lake Placid was super fit, was fifth in.

Carissa Galloway: 1:05:31

Kona the year before. The year before, just one of the pre-race favorites and he just had an awful day.

Noel Mulkey: 1:05:38

And I think what was inspiring for me is I've never seen Joe have a bad day, like it's a bad day. It's like he'll run a two 51 instead of a two 45 marathon in an Ironman and he was walking. He was walking and I was like and that was the first time I thought he was probably either finished or winning when I started the marathon. But he was walking and I was like. I was like he's not going to quit. I knew he just wouldn't quit, he would never walk off the course.

Noel Mulkey: 1:06:05

A lot of pros and I don't I don't disrespect pros who walk off because it's their job, they need money, they want to save their themselves for another day, but that's not him. He just wouldn't do that. He says it's disrespectful to other competitors and like I don't know. I just thought that was super. And he ran a three 42, which for Joe is like literally like crawling, like it's like pedestrian, for I mean, that's a very good, respectable time for a lot of people, but for Joe that would be it's just not how, and so I saw him as like that's. That wasn't firing to me because it's just not a lot of the personalities I've seen in the sport, especially like ego and stuff. They wouldn't finish, they just call it a day and walk off. And that's pretty cool that he didn't do that, because I think that might be his like worst race he's had and I don't know his whole career, maybe like because I mean half the age group guys be him. So not half, but yeah.

John Pelkey: 1:06:57

Yeah, and you know what it would be. To your point, it would be understandable if someone on the professional level is like you know what, I'm not going to put my body through anymore, but that that is very, very inspiring. You know, we talk a lot in this race about the elite runners and then the people who aren't elite, but it's still a community of the same people trying to do the same thing, which is get to the finish line, which yeah, that really did kind of put it into perspective.

Noel Mulkey: 1:07:21

Like he this is like what an iron like. That was probably his hardest Ironman, not the ones he's won, probably the ones he's like he. That's what an Ironman is is when you absolutely don't want to go and you still do it.

John Pelkey: 1:07:35

And so he emptied the tank.

Noel Mulkey: 1:07:37

He emptied the tank.

John Pelkey: 1:07:37

He emptied it in a different place. Okay, no wait, I have one more question.

Carissa Galloway: 1:07:41

That's not the last question. The last question is easy Do you have aspirations of being a pro triathlete?

Noel Mulkey: 1:07:48

Well, that's not super easy.

Carissa Galloway: 1:07:51

But the question is easy. It's not easy to do, but you have one, your age group.

Noel Mulkey: 1:07:56

I. At one time I did think I could go pro and but they're just getting so fast. They're just getting so fast and this is an. I am towards the end of this. This Western Australia will be my last race in this age group. I don't know anymore. I, I, I don't know, I don't know, I, I, I, I. At one time really I will say Karissa, at one time I really want to go pro, um and like. Then it's turned into like what does pro even mean in this sport? Like does like this pro meet? Like it doesn't mean you're making a living from it. Does it mean you're like like actually being in contention? I don't know.

Carissa Galloway: 1:08:41

Um, you talked to pro triathletes last week. We talked to Haley Chura and just said it's not, you're not making a living from it. You're, you're not, you're not making a living from it and I will say as an announcer so we get the pro triathletes list and there's maybe 40 of them. I only need to know about 10 of them from an announcer and interview point of view. So do you?

Carissa Galloway: 1:08:57

you know, what I mean and I so I think about that too. And some people just want to say they were a pro triathlete. And then some people want to compete and know they can kind of move up into that.

Noel Mulkey: 1:09:07

Let's say I have, I have some check, some bucket list things I want to do first in age group or still. I still want to get a bowl in Kona. I want to get a bowl and I still I would like to try Kona at least one more time, because you set us up learning experience and, if I go pro, that's a very slim shot of ever getting back to that island, very, because you have to literally win a pro race or like come in a podium or pro race, um. So I do want to try that again, a Kona again, um, and I. So I have a few asterisks, I have a few things I want to do first in the age group field and then maybe, maybe step up. I've never earned my pro card twice, um, uh, from the USA T point system, but I've never taken it because. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's really exciting to think that might be down the line. Yeah.

John Pelkey: 1:09:56

Yeah, I was going to say well, isn't it, isn't it amazing I mean, you look at your story that you're in a position where you get to, you get to make that choice?

Carissa Galloway: 1:10:03

Yeah, we started talking about heroin and we're ending talking about a professional triathlete.

John Pelkey: 1:10:07

Right, Do I want to be a professional, or could well either way? No, what you're going to do is continue to inspire people, so let everybody know where they can follow you. And here's the old guy again. You know on the internet machine what your social media, where they can follow you.

Noel Mulkey: 1:10:22

Yeah, just if you guys want to keep up with my story and who I am, I'm on Instagram. I'm on all socials. Uh, my name is no Malki. Tick tock, no Malk. Zero Instagram, no Malki. And I'm on YouTube and Facebook.

Carissa Galloway: 1:10:35

Awesome. Thank you so much. No, I love hearing. I just I always love hearing your story, talking to you, seeing your fabulous hair, and I will be hopefully seeing you at an Iron man in the next, in the next season.

Noel Mulkey: 1:10:46

Yeah, have fun in Kona. Wow, thanks, I'm jealous.

John Pelkey: 1:10:50

I'm jealous too. Thanks, noel.

Noel Mulkey: 1:10:52

You're welcome. Bye, all right athletes.

Carissa Galloway: 1:10:56

Here's the drill Time to shape up your diet. Carissa, give them the goods. John, I haven't talked about Christmas enough. We're supposed to talk about Christmas and Taylor Swift and airplanes. In every episode We've talked about airplanes. So the holidays, we are in it. Hallmark movies are bounding. I'm stressed, I'm eating. You know holidays and weight loss Sure, weight gain, we talk about it. How do you fit on that spectrum of approaching the holidays with health, anything different?

John Pelkey: 1:11:28

I think probably just pace myself when I do go out to parties and such. You know I don't have a suite too, so I'm able to avoid. You know, that trap of just eating so many sweets and then also eating later at night is a problem now. So I don't really do anything more. I don't really attack weight loss or anything during that. But I am aware, because I know, that I'm out more socially, I think I'm really more aware of what I'm eating than I am normal times.

Noel Mulkey: 1:12:00

Yeah, I think sometimes that can happen.

Carissa Galloway: 1:12:01

I don't need to see your favorite. Yeah, because you think so much about the holidays.

John Pelkey: 1:12:05

I don't know if I've ever said that your holidays are abnormal.

Carissa Galloway: 1:12:07

Yeah, yeah, I think we think so much about the big meals that maybe we do make better choices. So I've kind of got five tips for people to help, and that's not even one of the tips, but yes. So the one thing I'll say is, for people who really are trying to watch their weight or they're getting ready for dopey and they want to stay on that track is, when you're thinking about a holiday meal or something, pick your favorite thing. So have that, enjoy that, indulge in that, and then if there's the mac and cheese, that's fine, but it's not great. Try to avoid those things. Pick and choose. Don't let it be a free for all every single time. I know that you've heard this before, it's not revolutionary.

Carissa Galloway: 1:12:42

But don't skip meals to set yourself up for a bigger meal later in the day. You slow down your metabolic rate. You line yourself up for overeating when you get there. So definitely don't do that. Pick protein about two hours before those bigger events. Add in activity. Make a walk with family like part of the after dinner, between dessert, or make yourself like a little daily activity challenge where you're trying to do an extra 10 minutes of something, maybe every day, even just a walk. That's actually. I just thought about that. I'm going to do that with the family. That's actually a good idea, john. Maybe it's the three two one holiday.

Carissa Galloway: 1:13:22

Maybe I just created the three, two, one holiday activity challenge, writing it down. As we're taping this it's October, but this is going to air in November, so a little behind the scenes. So activity.

John Pelkey: 1:13:35

And to you it really doesn't, because it's Christmas.

Carissa Galloway: 1:13:39

Well, I at least have fall decorations up now, sorry. My other two tips one alcohol calories add up. We drink more during this time of year, so track how many days you're drinking alcohol. It's just for awareness because that may help temper your choices If you're like, wow, I've had alcohol seven days in a row, especially in that Christmas to New Year's gap. Right, yeah, that one catches up to you.

Carissa Galloway: 1:14:07

And the last one is to remember, especially if you're someone who doesn't usually eat a lot of sugar, because you have a good discipline, but you do during the holidays sugar consumption is addicting. So when you get to January and you're wanting to reshape your diet but you're like I just can't stop having sweets at night, remember that that is an actual, genuine addiction. So just have that knowledge. You're going to have to work harder to get rid of it. Or just don't open up that jar of worms and really be mindful of your sugar consumption. But if you want to attack your diet in the New Year, we can help you.

Carissa Galloway: 1:14:40

You can use code podcast for $150 off HealthierU, which is a 12-week course. So we're getting nutrition education, we're tracking calories, we're finding out how many calories you need for weight loss. We're making progress. And here's the thing, john. I want people to think ahead for next year. So I know that that's a little bit off. If you're saying, chris, I don't want to sign up for nutrition plan in December, I don't know. I totally get you. So you can sign up now to start in January and use the code dopey and this is a secret code that I'm not telling everybody and that's going to save you even more money than the podcast code. So it's a little Christmas gift, but you can buy it now. You can activate you on January 1st or 2nd if you want. We'll have a chat, a brand new meal plan and we'll get that sugar addiction out of here Sounds good.

Carissa Galloway: 1:15:23

Athletes listen up. It's mail call time Announcement free present.

John Pelkey: 1:15:30

All right, sarge. Today's question is from Maddie, who is my hairstylist and Carissa's hairstylist and a podcast subscriber, and she wants to know how to dress for cold weather. I guess Maddie's taken a trip. She lives two houses down from me and not seeing cold weather in the near future. Anyway, how do you want to dress, carissa?

Carissa Galloway: 1:15:55

I was getting my hair done with Maddie and we were talking about the podcast and she had a question about cold weather running. So I said, well, I want to see what John says when he realizes it's from Maddie. So we put it in the podcast and she is a subscriber. It does get chilly here.

Carissa Galloway: 1:16:11

John Marathon, I would say running in the 40s is chilly, I mean, as you get below 60, you do need to dress a little differently and I would say in the 40s what I've learned is you actually need less than you think you need. So it's using layers and then keeping those extremities warm. So gloves if you're wearing a shorter sleeve shirt, maybe in the 40s you want to make sure that you have gloves on. If you're wearing calf sleeves, those are going to help keep you warm. Even things like arm sleeves are going to be a good thing. But definitely as it gets cold and you look at the temperature and you're like, oh, I don't want to go outside and this is obviously a Floridian telling you this advice Use layers that you can take off because, as I've heard from Jeff Galloway many times, you actually can overheat a lot in the cooler temperatures because you over dress.

John Pelkey: 1:16:56

Yeah, yeah, and I'm glad you brought up the glove thing too, because I don't think we see enough of them at some of our really cold races. People often aren't prepared for that and I know that for me just being out there, that if my hands are cold, then that really sets me back. Be smart, wear layers, and if you're coming out to run Disney races and you've got like old sweater, sweatshirt or something, you throw over the railing or into the pile of Mylar Blankets, which may be very this may be the first Mylar Blanket reference on this podcast which really really would be amazing, quite frankly, because we'll get into that as it gets colder. But that clothing is reused, that's taken, those are all taken out. So folks, less fortunate people, have some clothing to choose from, so there's a good reason for it as well. We usually get about one weekend a year where we really have to worry about that. So thanks for the question, maddie. I greatly appreciate it and my hair looks great, by the way, as does yours.

Carissa Galloway: 1:18:00

So we need to talk about that on stage, that we have the same hair stylist. I don't think people would believe that.

John Pelkey: 1:18:07

I know and I was actually not going to another hairstylist and actually, maddie, she painted our. She's a great artist. She painted our mailbox and everything. I didn't even really know she was a hairstylist until later and you, ready, had engaged her as your stylist, so I brought my hair to her and she does a great job. So shout out to her. And she also walks her dogs by once to twice a day so that my dogs will go absolutely ape crap nuts when they see her dogs walking by. So we thank her for that. If you have any questions, you want to send us a message, throw us a note from a race. Please do that at 321GOPodCates at gmailcom. How about that? Me getting that in?

Carissa Galloway: 1:18:53

You did Great job. But yeah, throw us a note at the start line. We throw us a haiku a note. You know all the things.

John Pelkey: 1:19:02

Haiku would be cool.

Carissa Galloway: 1:19:03

Yeah, that would be cool, That'd be fun.

John Pelkey: 1:19:06

We thought about having a club here for the podcast. So that's something we maybe we need to slide into, that Get a little more literary, so we get a little some haiku. How quickly we forget. Let's up the ante here, what's that?

Carissa Galloway: 1:19:21

How quickly we forget about our book club. All right, you guys thanks for listening. Thank you to Noel for his amazing story. Make sure you guys follow him, if you're not already, and see you real soon.

John Pelkey: 1:19:31

Bye, bye. 3, 2, 1, go.