#170: Hellah Sidibe - Running Across America on Plants and Positivity
Hellah celebrates 2000 consecutive days of running!
Hellah Sidibe is the first black man to run across America (fueled by plants!) and has been running every day since May 15th, 2017. That’s officially over 2000 days in a row in every weather condition imaginable! This year, he also completed the iconic Leadville 100 Trail Race in Colorado.
And, it all started with a commitment to run just 10 minutes a day.
Like many, Hellah hated running but started moving his body to lift himself out of a dark period in his own life. It was his way of taking responsibility of his own happiness.
Five years and thousands of miles later, running is now his primary outlet to raise money for charities, help others find inspiration in their daily lives, and demonstrate the endless power of a plant-based diet.
On Instagram, he writes, “Using our energy on what we’re afraid of is wasteful when it can be used on what we want to accomplish. We don’t need everyone to believe in us in order to chase those dreams and goals. Enjoy the process and get after it y’all!”
Episode Timestamps and Highlights
6:53 Origins of his name, Hellah, and his upbringing in Mali
10:57 How tragedy brought him to the US
17:28 His dream of becoming a professional soccer player
18:40 Did he always love running and what compelled him to even start a run streak?
29:45 When did he decide to run across the country?
33:15 Adventures of running across the country
36:00 How and why Hellah switched to a plantstrong diet
41:30 His favorite running conditions
43:29 Does he prefer running alone, or with people?
45:00 What about listening to music or podcasts?
48:24 Favorite athletes, or inspiration?
49:30 What in the world do his parents think about this non-traditional career?
53:40 Low points on his Run Across America
57:20 His experience at the Leadville 100
1:02:23 How did he fuel for a 27-hour race in the mountains of Colorado?
1:11:25 For Hellah, what constitutes a run distance to qualify as a “streak?”
1:14:55 What does he eat in a day?
1:17:30 How does he sleep?
1:18:00 How does he keep his feet healthy with all of this running?
1:22:26 What’s next for Hellah?
Episode Resources
Join TEAM PLANTSTRONG and run the Austin Marathon, Half Marathon or 5K with Rip!
Hellah’s Instagram: @hellahgood9
Hellah’s YouTube: @hellahgood
Additional Links and Resources for Hellah Sidibe
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Rip Esselstyn:
Sometimes we all need a carrot that's dangling right in front of our noses to help get us out that door on a consistent basis and reach some of our goals. And so I want to dangle a little carrot in front of you here today, and I want you to put this on your calendar and join me. I am so over the top excited to invite you all to join Team PLANTSTRONG. It is our new national movement to celebrate how the benefits of a whole food plant strong lifestyle, can keep us active and allow us to move our bodies and feel utterly fantastic. I want to invite you to train with the team and complete your choice of either a 5k, a half marathon, or even a full marathon. You take your pick of the litter. Now our first event is going to take place here in Austin, Texas on February 19th, and you're all invited to come and finish the race in my hometown of eclectic, iconic, and the capital of Texas, Austin.
But hey, I completely understand if you can't make the trip, you can still complete the goal virtually and earn a medal from this iconic first event. We'll also send you our team PLANTSTRONG racing shirt, and you'll get access to our training plans, coaches, and everything that's inside our private community. If you've never run before, hey, no sweat. You just get over here. Walkers, you're absolutely welcome. Beginners are more than welcome and season runners. Absolutely. We would love for you to partake as we all work together towards this common goal. I can't wait to meet all of you. Come on now. Join Team PLANTSTRONG today.
Hellah Sidibe:
I learned a lot personally. I learned that you're much stronger than you think you are. So however strong you think you are, you are much stronger. And every day I'm like, "Wow, I didn't think I would survive today, but I survived." And you get a little more courage to do the next day because when you are in the most miserable day, you don't think you're going to make it at all and you make it. That adds a little more fuel to the fire for the next day when the tough times come.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm Rip Esselstyn and welcome to the PLANTSTRONG podcast. The mission at PLANTSTRONG is to further the advancement of all things within the plant-based movement. We advocate for the scientifically proven benefits of plant-based living and envision a world that universally understands, promotes and prescribes plants as a solution to empowering your health, enhancing your performance, restoring the environment, and becoming better guardians to the animals we share this planet with. We welcome you wherever you are on your PLANTSTRONG journey and I hope that you enjoy the show.
Hello, beautiful people. Those of you that have been around for a while, you know that I am a pretty darn optimistic person. I'm upbeat, right? But I think that this guest today takes that optimism and upbeatness to a whole nother level. His name is Hellah Sidibe and for my PLANTSTRONG endurance athletes, I'm sure you're familiar with Hellah because he was the first black man to run across the United States of America and catch this.
He's been running every day since May 15th, 2017. So if we were to do the math together quickly, that means that he has run every day for over approximately five years, which is, that's over 2000 days. It's incredible. And he's PLANTSTRONG. He is one of my PLANTSTRONG brothers. He's an accomplished runner and a former professional soccer player. But what makes Hellah so incredible is his, as you're going to see in this conversation, is his spirit, his energy, and the absolute joy that he just exudes out of every pore of his body. He started running to lift himself out of a dark period and hasn't stopped. In fact, one of my favorite passages of his is "Using our energy on what we're afraid of is wasteful when it can be used on what we want to accomplish. Enjoy the process and get after it, y'all." I couldn't agree with you more. Hellah, so why don't we get after it right now with the incredible Hellah. Man, I am here with one of the most beautiful people on the planet. Hellah, it is so great to have you on the podcast. Thanks.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you for your kind words. Before we go anywhere, I just had to say this. So while I was out training for Letter 100, my friend Robbie Ballinger, I was staying at his house. So I saw this cereal he had, I wanted to have something for breakfast and I had it and it was the best thing I've ever had. And I'm a big oatmeal guy and I just shut out my oatmeal. So I've been just indulging myself with the Rip cereal and it's incredible. I order six bags. I think I have one left already and it's only been like maybe a week, a week and a half.
Rip Esselstyn:
Say no more. You will have a wonderful care package delivered to you very, very soon. With more Big Bowl, you're going to know what to do
Hellah Sidibe:
With. It's incredible. Sometimes I have it for dinner. Not kidding. I'm like, I just rather just eat this right now. I don't feel like eating anything else. So I just have to put that out there. I just have to, It's just incredible. Thank you for creating such a beautiful meal for us that makes us feel fulfilled and full at the same time.
Rip Esselstyn:
Listen, that's very kind of you. Thank you. So Hellah, I want to unpack a lot with you today. I'd love to talk, obviously, about how you got into running your running streak. That I believe is still ongoing.
Hellah Sidibe:
Still going.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay, we'll talk about that. I want to talk about you being the first black man to run across America. You just recently did the Level 100. Yes. I want to talk about that. And God, the ups and downs, literally and figuratively of going through that race. And then, of course, how you eat and how you fuel yourself for all this activity besides the Rip's Big Bowl cereal. Yes. Yes. So for starters, so your name is Hellat, Tell me, how do I pronounce your last name.
Hellah Sidibe:
Sidibe is the last name? Hellah sidibe.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. So where does that come from? Hellah and where do you hail from? Yes, originally
Hellah Sidibe:
Born and raised in West Africa. Mali. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, but the central nationalism is so amazing that you don't even know you're poor when you're there because we just take care of each other. Everybody's looking out for each other. So you realize that you're poor as you get older, you start seeing other things beyond Mali. But being there, I got the name Hellah because was after my grandfather who passed away in 2006. So my dad had a dream just days before I was born. And we don't know the gender usually with the babies, no one usually go check over there and had a dream that it's going to be a son and he has to be named after his dad, which is Hellah. So I actually would've been named [inaudible 00:07:54]. [inaudible 00:07:54] is the nickname, [inaudible 00:07:57] is the main name. So all the guys in my dad's village, your name is Tramago and they'll call you the little Tramago, the big Tramago, the Tramago from that side of the house.
So that's how they differentiate you. So I could have been named that, but my dad said there's no way he's going to be named that because I had a dream that he's supposed to be named after Hellah, my father Hellah. So he was hard on that. And when I was born I was a male. So he said my dream was true. I was told you were going to be a boy. So your name Hellah. So I actually was one of the, not the first person to be named after my grandfather. So that's how I got the name.
And he's the only one in that whole village. Even I'd be shocked across Mali that someone else's named Hellah besides me. Yeah, it's a very unique name. You don't even hear it outside of my village because now more people are getting named Hellah in the village, but you go to the capital, even the way it's unique to the Americans here. Even in Mali when I was growing up with my friends in the capital, you'll say "My actual birth name is Hellah," they're like, "What?" That's something you never really hear. So I happen to be having this name and I love it as older as I gotten, I appreciate it more because everybody had similar names and mine was completely different. So that's how I got the name.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow, that really is cool. So Mali, you say, you know, grew up there very poor.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
So what does that mean exactly? Does it mean no air conditioning? Does it mean
Hellah Sidibe:
We have air conditioning, but it's not how it is. Not everybody has access to that. Not everybody can afford it. And it's one of those things that it's a luxury, it's not a need of survival. So meaning poor is less than most of the population. The time that I remember, I don't know right now, but it shouldn't be a huge difference, make less than a dollar a day. So that's how poor it is. And I do know the currency is different. So the US dollar to the Frank Sefa that we have there, I think not too long ago is around 600. Frank Sefa is a US dollar. So that gives you an idea of what it is. And a dollar to put into perspective, you can do a little more with a dollar in Mali than you can do here in the us. That's how I can show the poverty line. So most of the population is beneath the poverty line and most people make less than a dollar a day.
Rip Esselstyn:
Do people in Mali know who you are?
Hellah Sidibe:
A good amount of people I would say. My friends group, the words getting spread out. So I would say I have more media attention here in the US than Mali and that can easily change just contacting the right people and people sharing the story there. So it's never been my priority to, "Oh, I want to get my name out to be big." My goal always been to do what I love and use that ability and that privilege to help others who are in need and if the name goes out that way. So it'd be, and if it doesn't, it's still never going to change the mission and my mindset of doing what I do. But a good amount of people know me, but I don't think, not as many as the United States.
Rip Esselstyn:
How did you come from Mali to the United States?
Hellah Sidibe:
So tragedy got me into the US. So tragic event that took place back in 1998. So '95, my father was in the United State at Northern Illinois University studying to be a PhD in Instructional Technology. So '97, 2 years later my mother applied to come to her masters, enjoy my father at Northern Illinois University. So at the time my little brother and older sister were the ones with our parents and I had an older brother that was in my mom's village with my grandmother. But my little brother who was four at the time came with my mom to the United States and my sister and I were left behind. We went to my mom's village, which is Sikasso, one of the regions in Mali. So it's about five hours away from the capital. So we were left with my mom's sister and her village of Sikasso. And as we are going to school, within the first half of the school year, my aunt, my mom's sister, passed away.
So there was no adult figure to take care of us. Her husband was there but he was not as hands on with us and he had to do other work to provide for the family. So he is always out of the house working and no one was there to take care of us. And my aunt had other kids too as well who were younger. And that was the reason how we came to the US because the fact that no one was there to take care of us. So my parents went to talk to their university leaders and say, "Hey, we have two kids back home and I think I might actually end my doctor program and my master program and go back home to take care of my kids." So one of the mentor for her was like, "Wait a minute, you don't have to do that.
How about we do something to get them here while you finish your degree." So that's how the whole process started. So we got our visas as a dependent J2 dependent on the J1, which the visa my mom was holding. And we moved to the United States '98 to '99. The reason we moved back home 99 was because they were done with their doctorate degree and masters. So once you're finished, your visa is done and you go back home, you got to return. So we were here for the last final year of their program. So we came, my sister and I joined my mom and my little brother and dad in '98 in DeKalb, Illinois. And after their program, I remember Y2K was a conversation toward the end, even though I was six years old. Yeah, turning seven. We left literally December of 1999 and we went back home to Mali. And then fast forward four years later, end of 2003, we came back to the US because my mom came back, she applied to do her PhD this time instead of masters. And now since then we've been here.
Rip Esselstyn:
So that's interesting. So your parents sound like very educated people. Is that kind of rare for people from Mali or is that the norm for people to be educated?
Hellah Sidibe:
Actually it's very norm because it was weird to people whenever I tell friends, "My dad has three PhDs, he has one in France, England and the US." And they're like, "What?" And then to me I'm like, "Oh, isn't that normal? You go to school, you finish college, you go to get your master's and then PhD is the following." I almost thought you had to do it in that order because it was so normalized, at least in my family and not in the villages in Mali, it's not normal because my dad moved from the village at age 17 to go pursue better education in the capital in Mali.
Because it was not a deviant act, going to school in the capital versus the village. The villages, you got to grow up, you got to take care of the crops, farming and everything. So I think in Mali it is special to have that kind of stature. But at the same time everybody knew education was the way out. So people took it very serious. So not something that's not normal, but at the same time it's very unique to get to that higher of education, the higher level of education. But everybody's trying to go to school, not saying everybody has PhDs, but everybody is trying to go to school in Mali.
Rip Esselstyn:
What's the main language there?
Hellah Sidibe:
The main language is Bambara. So Bambara count is the language of the Bambara. Bambara is the type of ethnicity, Bambara people. So Bambara, the language of the Bambarans. So we call it Bambara count. So everybody in Mali speaks Bambara, everybody.
Rip Esselstyn:
How about English?
Hellah Sidibe:
So English, a few you select, it's almost as if you find someone speaking Spanish here. There are people who do, right? But the chances are you finding someone nine times out of 10 probably won't speak Spanish. So people do speak English there. You start learning English in middle school, seventh, eighth grade, it's part of the curriculum. It's like if you want to carry on from it, then you get to high school, you want to continue, you can, but you don't have to. But most people speak English. Most speak people speak French.
Rip Esselstyn:
So
Hellah Sidibe:
I mean not English. I'm sorry, not speak English. Most people speak Bmbara and French not.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. So English, your English is basically, you've acquired that since you've been over in the United States?
Hellah Sidibe:
In the United States, yes. I learned a lot when I was young, '98 to '99 and went back and I thought I was the man in terms of English because I was so much faster than everybody in MA that spoke English that the claim and I would correct them. And I remember in seventh grade, actually there's these US program that came to our school and they wanted to do a tour of the school.
My English professor couldn't understand them because they're talking so fast and he pulled me out of class one day when I was in a different subject, he pulled me out, he said, "Hey Hellah, I can't keep up with these guys. You were in America, maybe you can. Can you do a tour of the whole entire school? So I missed four or three periods of classes because I took them around because I could understand and understand a little quicker and talk better than my professor, even though he's more educated than me of the language of writing, of grammars and all these mistakes that you make in the English language. But I could have understood the Americans better and speak at their pace. So I did learn most of it then. And coming back again, I realized how bad I was because I wasn't at the level that I needed to be, but much better now. Still not great, but getting there.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well what an honor to have your teacher pluck you out a class.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, I like that because I skipped class. I was so happy.
Rip Esselstyn:
I like that. So speaking of class and education, what kind of education have you gotten here?
Hellah Sidibe:
I got up to bachelor degrees at the University of Massachusetts. That's the highest I got. No PhDs for me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well me neither. Yeah. What now? Were you an athlete at all in college or after college?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes, yes. Athlete. My whole life played soccer and Mali as a recreational thing every day after school, during school at recess and came to the US and I said, "You guys have grass, I can sleep on this thing. This look like a bed." Because we play on gravel and dirt. So I thought this was like, "Oh, okay, we have it easy here in America."
So I took advantage of that situation and I had better ball skills than most people because, in Mali, when you're playing, it's so gravely, someone will pass you the perfect ball by the time it gets to your feet when you're ready to receive the ball and control, it'll hit a little pebble boom, it can go south, north you don't know. And you got to adjust the reaction to where the ball goes to control and which was very difficult. And coming here to the US with a perfect grass, it was just like right at your feet. It's almost impossible to make mistakes. So I took advantage of that and played high school soccer, got a bunch of college offers, and I ended up at University of Massachusetts as I picked for college.
Rip Esselstyn:
Right. So did you play soccer at college?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes, played over there at UMass Amherst and played a little bit afterwards too, when I graduated.
Rip Esselstyn:
Awesome. Yes. And how old are you now?
Hellah Sidibe:
I'm 31, 32 this year.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right.
Hellah Sidibe:
Next month.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right, so let's start talking about running. Did you always love running or was it something that somehow got under your skin and then all of a sudden you're like, "Oh my God, I love this."
Hellah Sidibe:
I absolutely did not like running. I absolutely couldn't hear the name running. The term a sickened me. It made me sick to my stomach. It made me nervous. I can only think the worst thing ever when I hear running. And that became a situation with me mentally and a little bit physically because of soccer, most mentally, because you play the game, you love the game, there's so much going on, you're winning, 50/50 ball or you're defending, you're attacking. There's so much going on that you're busy and you're running a lot actually. But some other things are keeping you busy. Running is part of the game, but it's not the game. But anytime you make a mistake, anytime a teammate messes up one band, one sound, we all mess up. We all got to get on the line. We all got to sprint, we all got to get up early six in the morning for fitness test.
It would be literally 25 degrees in the morning and the turf is frozen at the football stadium. You're there running beep tests, you're doing everything that you don't want to do, putting you out of your comfort zone. So that created a fear in me about running. And if I hear running, I just didn't like it. I didn't want to have days off during season, because when you have a day off, the following day after the day off, the coach will say, "Fresh legs, we're going to run a little bit today." So anything with running, it wasn't a part of me that I enjoyed about the game. Even though you had to run to play.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Now that all changed though on May 15th, 2017, correct?
Hellah Sidibe:
A little fun fact, actually, before May 15th it changed. But what I have on the record as proof, that's why I tell everybody I started running every day, May 15th. Because if you tell me, show me proof, I have proof, but I don't have proof from a few days before. So I didn't say, "I'm going to start recording it. And just to show you guys." I just started doing it a few days before that, around May 15th, I had my Apple watch "Let me just actually start the watch and record my run." So May 15th is the official date, but it started before that. It did.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. I believe you. I believe you.
And so when you first started May 15th to record it 2017, what was your goal? How long were you going to try and run for?
Hellah Sidibe:
10 minutes a day, two weeks? It was actually a two weeks goal, 10 minutes a day. And that came about to self-discovery. I was in a state in life where I was pointing fingers, blaming people for some of the things that were happening to me in life and making excuses. And some of the excuses were very valid. But one thing I told myself, "What are you going to do that you can control? What are you afraid of, Hellah that you want to give a try?" And when I said afraid, fear, running was the first thing that hit my mind. So in order for me to do that, I wanted to face it, doing it pressure free, not having someone telling me to do it, yell at me to do it. And I said, 10 minutes is attainable. I'm going to go for two weeks and be consistent and hold myself accountable no matter the circumstances, and it has to be outdoors. So I won for the 10 minutes goal, just for two weeks. That's how I started.
Rip Esselstyn:
And at the end of two weeks, what happened?
Hellah Sidibe:
Actually within the first week, I got so excited. Spring was in the air, it was May. And I felt like I was doing something for myself for once in life that I was very proud of. I ran to my fiance, I say, "Hey Belle, I don't know if I can do this for the rest of my life. I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life, but you know what? I want to keep doing this every day for a year." I knew when I was getting to two weeks, I knew I wasn't going to stop after two weeks. I went to her and I said, "You know what? I'm going to do it every day for one year." Let me see if I can go every single day for one year. I jumped from two weeks to one year because I fell so much in love with it. I knew that one year was not even going to be a problem because I knew I would get out there every day and get it done.
Rip Esselstyn:
And before you decided to embark on this first two week self challenge, you said you were pointing fingers at other people and you maybe weren't entirely happy. Was it because of where you were in life, your job, your weight? Was it just everything?
Hellah Sidibe:
It was more where I was in life and the job that I wanted to do was to be a professional soccer player. And I did sign as a professional in Seattle and back in 2013, but it was just for a year. So that was the highlight of my career, having that contract and playing. But I couldn't continue on playing because I was having immigrant immigration issues. I was here legally in the US. I never broke my residency. Everything was here. Whenever the visa's expiring, I'm out of the country making sure I renew the visa before I get back in. But there are certain times that my visa was preventing me.
PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:24:04]
Hellah Sidibe:
But there are certain times that my visa was preventing me to get the contracts that I needed to play for teams. With international roster issues, having contracts to go to Germany to play on one of the biggest leagues in the world, Bundesliga 2, having that denied because of being an immigrant. Even the German embassy telling me, "You're from a third world country. Once you're done with the zero-contract, we don't know if you're going to go back home. And you're not a US citizen or resident, and we don't want you to be an immigration problem in our country." So that was the denial letter. So all of that put me in a state. Looking back, I think there was depression there because I found myself sad. And I usually, I've always been a person who was grateful for my life and smiling, especially knowing where I came from.
And you would smile at me, I won't yell at you, but it would bother me for no reason. So I wanted to just stop that and stop blaming others for some of the things that were completely out of my control and focus on what I can control, which was I'm an athlete. I have the ability to control my body, and which ends up being something that control your mind, or that helps your mind be at its best state. So that's how everything started falling together in order for me to hold myself accountable.
Rip Esselstyn:
So it sounds like, do you or does somebody in your life videotape you on your runs?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. Yeah. Belle. So she does everything. My fiancé, she actually, when I started this run journey, it was not for social media at all. Maybe she knew, maybe two other people knew my friend. I don't even think my family members knew because it was, for me, it was a personal thing. So when I got in a few weeks in, she was telling me, "This is really cool. I think we should do a YouTube video about this." I keep pushing it off. I would be like, "Yeah, yeah, let's do the YouTube video." You get excited about something, you're like, "yeah, yeah, let's do it," but you kind of push it aside. So I kept doing that and eventually on day 163, she came to me again and she said, "Hey, we should do a YouTube video." And I said, "All right, fine." And I had already done my run at that point.
So I went to get a haircut, did another mile or so, because I like to run realistically when I'm doing a video. I don't want to just get out there and run a few seconds and pretend that I ran. Even I have run already. If I have done the run, I still go out there to do extra so we can shoot. And we did a video that day. It was Why I Run Every Day. That was the title. So that's the video. A couple months later when mini viral caught on and everybody was asking, "Are you still running every day? Can you update how you're not injured?" So we started doing run updates for the YouTube audience that I had at the time. It wasn't much.
And that's how we became YouTubers. And it was all thanks to her. And I'm glad that I finally listened because you realize how much connection you've made in this world, just the people, the friendship, and it makes it all worth it how you can share your journey with people and let them know that they too can do what they want to do in life, whether that's running or not.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Well, it's amazing. I mean, I've been watching your YouTube videos, and you have amassed a very impressive following.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
I mean, what do you have? 340,000? Something like that?
Hellah Sidibe:
It's almost over 280,000 subscribers on YouTube. TikTok is over 300,000.
Rip Esselstyn:
Whoa.
Hellah Sidibe:
Then Instagram is 179. And in Strava, I have 26,000-plus followers at my personal account. And I also have the HellahGood Run Club, which is 3,000 members that put 30,000-plus miles every week. So those are the platform that I utilize and shared my running journey.
Rip Esselstyn:
That is so amazing.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
So you took this, tell me if I'm describing this accurately. So you took this initial two week challenge of just running 10 minutes a day, and it has literally, that was 2017, so five years later, transformed, just kind of like you now get to live your passion, it sounds like.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Every single day.
Hellah Sidibe:
Every day.
Rip Esselstyn:
Is this also the way that you are able to put food on the table and-
Hellah Sidibe:
Hundred percent.
Rip Esselstyn:
Really?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
So that's so cool.
Hellah Sidibe:
Something that I hated that became passion and now a job. I put quote unquote "job" because whether I'm getting paid for this or not, I'm going to keep doing it. I was doing it before I knew I could get paid for it, and I will do it until the day that I absolutely don't like it. But yeah, it does pay the bills, put food on a table, and it's just... Even saying that, I lied, it doesn't make sense. I'm just, I like, I smile home. I'm like, "What?" So a learning lesson about that is whatever you want to do in life, don't worry about money yet. Just do it because you love it. You never know what will happen. And if something happens, that's icing on the cake. But if nothing happens, as long as it's bringing eternal happiness to you, it doesn't matter. So at that point, everything is good because you're happy.
Rip Esselstyn:
Totally. So how many days are we at now that you have not un-run?
Hellah Sidibe:
So I did run this morning. So today is day 1,970 consecutive days. 30 days left till I hit 2,000.
Rip Esselstyn:
And how many... When is that? Do you know what that is in years?
Hellah Sidibe:
That's over five and a half years. About, yeah. So May 15th of this year was the fifth year.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. So tell me this-
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, June, July, August, September, October. So yeah, five and a half.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, so tell me this, what would be your definition? And I'm going to give you five different things. Maybe four. So what to you, when you get back, is a great run?
Hellah Sidibe:
A great run is any day, any type, because every day's circumstances is different. As long as you're able to complete that task is a great run. So whenever I finish a run, it was a great run. It may not be a fun one. My legs could have been dying or I'm injured, or it was windy or raining. But when I complete the run, every day is a great run. And the day that it goes perfectly, the way you intend it to be is also a great run. So you just got to accept for what you get. So that's what makes it interesting for me.
Rip Esselstyn:
So is there such a thing as a bad run?
Hellah Sidibe:
There's no such thing because when you're done, you're so happy that you did it. So that's why I said every day is a great run when you complete it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
And I think that's so true with, in my opinion, just about any workout. Sometimes it's so hard to drag your butt out of the front door and whether it's getting in a swim or a bike or a run, but afterwards you're like, "Yes." It's like a little mini rebirth, isn't it?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now, at what point did you decide that, "You know what, I'm going to run across this country?"
Hellah Sidibe:
So after year one, within the year one, I realized this was bigger than me. It's a privilege that not everyone has, and I want to take advantage of that and do it for something just bigger than myself. And year two was a year of mental toughness. Can I do it again? I know what to expect now. Nothing is a surprise. And what season is coming? How the weather were, how harsh it was, how easy, how nice it was. So year two was that for me, just to see, can you do it again two times now?
And then within the year two, I quickly also realized that this is a daily routine. I'm going to do it no matter what, why don't I do it for something that's more challenging? And it hit me one day after I showered, and I'm sitting down at the dining table, I was like, "Wait, I want to run across America." It just hit me like that. And to my knowledge, being ignorant, because even the run streak, I didn't know people run streak, which I'm happy I didn't because there's no compare yourself to someone's streak. This is all new to me. And I thought I would've been the first one to run across America. Cause in my mind, who in their right mind would want to run from one side of America to the other side?
Rip Esselstyn:
Robbie Balenger.
Hellah Sidibe:
Exactly. And at the time I didn't know that. So I said, "Hey Belle, I think I want to run across America." She's like, "What do you mean?" I said, "Literally run from New York to California or California to New York." She goes, "Oh, no." Because she knows that at that point when I said I want to do something and put my mind to it, I don't stop til I do it. And that's how I started. And she actually started researching this and we're like, "Oh, people have done this. Over 300 people." We're like, "This is so sick. So let me see if I can research them and see if I can do it." And that's how we found Robbie Balenger.
And he happened to be literally five minutes from my house across the park that I run in. He was stopping there before he finished the last day in New York City. So Belle drove me to him, and I wanted to run five miles with him, but his energy just got me so that I call my work and I say, "I can't train today." So I finished the whole 18 miles with him. And the first thing I said to Robbie when I met him, "I said, Hey, my name is Hellah. I'm a runner and I'm going to run across America, too." That was the first few things I said to him. And he looked at me, he's like, "Okay." This guy just shows up out of nowhere and to tell me he is going to run across America.
But yeah. And I just came up with the idea that way. But the big thing for me was though, it's not personal glory or self-fulfillment, I want to do for something. So it had to been for a nonprofit, otherwise I was not going to put myself through that. So that was my most important thing. Do it for something. Raise money for something. Using your ability to do that. So we started researching to make that happen with Soles4Souls.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so what was non-profit? What was-
Hellah Sidibe:
Soles4Souls was the nonprofit. So they took unwanted shoes, new or used, and turn into opportunity. And their goal is to break the cycle of poverty. And they're related to me really well because I grew up in a country where having a pair of shoes is not easy, and you don't know where your next one is coming from. And if you do have one, you can outgrow it, and you still have to wait til the next one come. It's not like here in America. You always can have shoes whenever you want. And it's a safety thing too, because we play barefoot. Metal scraps, things you can injure yourself, cut yourself, so... And all you need also to run is a pair of shoes. So I thought it was a perfect nonprofit for us to run and collect shoes and raise money for.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. So tell me this. Running across the country, how long did it take you?
Hellah Sidibe:
84 days. Started March 1st, 2021. Finished May 23rd, 2021. 36 miles a day average. But the interesting story about that was the beginning kicks my butt because I live in New Jersey, few feet above sea level, 42, 45 feet above sea level. I don't run in the mountains. And I call myself a long distance runner running seven miles a day average. Never really ran ultra distance consistently. I had one week of ultra distance, 35 miles a day for 245 mile week.
And running across America, I hit the elevations. The mountains really got me while I was running up, and my ego said, "I'm not walking any hills." I was running everything up. My knee was swelled up, shin splints, and my mileage was a lot slower than I intended to for the first half. So it took me 50 days, the first half, and 34 days the second half. Cause now when I got to the flat ground, that was my area, I started turning it on. So I was close to averaging almost 50 miles every day for the last half. So the last half was a lot faster and a lot more mileage. 47, 48, or 50 mile a day, like majority of the time. But the average evened out to 36 miles a day.
Rip Esselstyn:
And what did you learn along the way? I mean, that seems like quite an incredible journey, not only of kind of self-discovery, but also of.... I mean, I'd love to hear that, but also how did the people in the town and the country embrace what you did?
Hellah Sidibe:
I learned a lot. Personally, I learned that you're much stronger than you think you are. So however strong you think you are, you are much stronger. And every day I'm like, "Wow, I didn't think I would survive today, but I survived." And you get a little more courage to do the next day. Because when you are in the most miserable day, you don't think you're going to make it at all, and you make it. That adds a little more fuel to the fire for the next day when the tough times come. And in terms of the United States, I learned that there's so many incredible people across the country, more than we think there are. But also there's some few not-so-nice people across America. So I experienced both of it, but the fact that the nicer people outweigh the few who weren't nice, it made it still an amazing journey, and it made it worth it. And I knew that my task was to raise money for Soles4Souls, so I accepted whatever that came along with that to get that done.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Now you did this in 2020, right?
Hellah Sidibe:
21.
Rip Esselstyn:
21. And you had already been eating a kind of plant-
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
... predominant plant-strong diet, right?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes, correct.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so how did that journey start? Did Robbie Balenger introduce you to it, or was it before that?
Hellah Sidibe:
No, I didn't know Robbie at that point. So 2015, Bella and I, we watch a documentary called Earthlings, and she was sobbing, crying. And I'm sitting there watching this, and I'm like, "This is sad." It got me, but I guess not sad enough, which is really sad to think about now. And that day she decided to go vegetarian. She said, "I can't eat meat anymore." And me, I just continue my life. And I was still eating meat. And I grew up in Mali where this is how we live off of this. And I've actually was part of holding a cattle's leg, and while they're slaughtering it, they're praying over it and stuff like that. So it didn't get me as much as it got her, but fast-forward to a year later, she actually was trying, even early on. I got to listen to her whenever she asked me to do something, but she wanted me to watch this documentary, Forks Over Knives.
So a year later, we finally sat down and started watching Forks Over Knives. I kid you not, within 20 minutes in, I looked at her with my jaw drop. She's like, "Are you okay?" I said, "No." And I said, "I don't think I can ever eat meat for the rest of my life, but I'm scared how I'm going to survive. But I still don't care if anything happens to me, I just can't eat meat anymore." And she goes, "Don't worry, we'll do it together." So she went vegan, and I went cold turkey, and she went from vegetarian immediately. We went the same night, and then we went to the store and started looking for things. And this was in 2016. 2016. And I couldn't believe it.
And I saw you on that documentary, which is really cool. I just saw that going to school, learning what I learned trying to be a public health major, they didn't teach me some of the things that I'm seeing. And also seeing that there's some athletes in there. What really sold me, and before I even saw the athletes, was there was like Nate Diaz, this Ultimate Fighter who's fighting at the highest level. If he can live off of plants, me an immature athlete, I can for sure live off of plants. So I transitioned immediately, and I had no question in my mind that this is a lifelong thing and I'm going to do that for the rest of my life. No animal. Vegan. Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, so you say 20 minutes in, your jaw kind of hit the ground and you're like-
Hellah Sidibe:
I couldn't believe it.
Rip Esselstyn:
... but can you remember what message you heard?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. Yeah. So it was a selfish decision and it became ethical really quick. It was selfish seeing that how animal can cause cancer. I remember they did an example of feeding a mice dairy versus not. How the cancer cells shrunk and exploded just based on having it transition from dairy, yeah, and non-dairy, and I was like, "What?" And I didn't have any health problem, but I'm still consuming these things. And all the pesticides, all the scientific part of it, and showing proof that protein initially comes from plant. I didn't know that. I thought protein immediately comes from animal. That's the only way, there's no other way. That's how I get my protein.
So knowing there's so much out behind it, and in the scientific evidence that they were showing and studies. And having your dad, the doctors, these are doctors that operate some people and they want to prevent these disease versus trying to fix it. And I saw they were good people because a lot of the pharmaceutical, the companies that are out there, they want to fix it versus preventing it.
And so seeing all of that and the fact that they've been doctors for so many years, and they believe in this. And if I go to a hospital, because I trust the doctor that they can help me. I don't go in there because they didn't study what they're supposed to study. And even seeing that some of the doctors were arguing that they're spending too much time on learning about food, something that can prevent disease versus spending time on fixing it, it didn't make sense to me. I told myself immediately, "Never again in my life I'm eating animal." And we're at the grocery parking lot, I'm sitting in a car, I'm looking at stuff on Instagram, and I saw that I'm taking the baby's milk away from it, a calf's milk. And then I said, "I can't do dairy. I will never do dairy." There's no question for vegetarian.
So it's full-lot veganism, plant-based only. But it was selfish reason because I thought about my health first. And it's sad to think that, but I'm glad because of that it made me think ethical of it and not just about me anymore. It's about the society, environment, and these poor animals no matter what, not just because I want to be healthy.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, no Forks Over Knives really had an impact on a lot of people. A lot of people.
Hellah Sidibe:
I think that's the documentary, because Earthing didn't get me. But I watched Earthlings in the middle of the trans-con at nighttime, during the break we popped it onto the TV in the RV. I was sick with myself. I said, "How did I let this not affect me?" And it was so sad to watch.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm sure, I'm sure you've seen The Game Changers, as well. That was pretty powerful.
Hellah Sidibe:
When I saw that, I couldn't stop telling people, "If nothing can convince you, go watch The Game Changers. And if you think that it's biased because we're trying to sell veganism, there's also evidence behind this. So watch it. You can be skeptical, but do your own research." And you're going to still believe what we're telling you because research is going to show you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
I want to come back to kind of an example of what you eat in a day. But before I do, so do you have favorite weather for running? If you had the ideal day, would it be 60 degrees and sunny or would it be pouring rain or snowing? I mean, do you have a favorite?
Hellah Sidibe:
Before, I used to the extreme heat, born and raised in Africa, a country that's very hot. It's cold to us when it drops to the eighties, because it's always above a hundred. It's not humid. So I would always say, "The heat is my thing." I feel like at any given race, if it's very hot, that's the one I'm going to excel because I just love it. And I do see that it is draining me. It's making me lose a lot of water. I sweat a lot. But as I get longer into this running journey, I see the ones that I'm more efficient in, even though I like the heat. So I like the low seventies, 70, 72 at most. Sunny, a little breeze. But I don't like cold at all. But if I have to deal with it, I deal with it. And if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow because I have fun in the snow when I'm running. Cause it becomes a fun thing for me. If it's cold, I don't like that. But if it's snowing, I'll take the cold because it has to be cold in order for it to snow, and I like running in the snow.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Well, it's really cool. And I looked at a lot of your Instagram videos, and you have kind of a montage that you've put together from your kind of run across America and just all the different... raining, snowing, heat. And it just made me think, "God, is there a favorite thing that you love?" I have this, there's a quote that's out there, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes." So if you're dressed appropriately, it doesn't really matter.
Hellah Sidibe:
It doesn't matter, no. And even with the rain, I say you're going to sweat anyway. It doesn't matter if you're a little wet. In fact, it'll keep the stink away from you a little bit.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now do you prefer, I mean, this has become something to me that's really very incredibly personal to you, this running, and how you've kept this streak alive now for almost 2,000 days. Do you prefer running alone or with people?
Hellah Sidibe:
I love both. I love running with people because it's so fun. That's what makes this journey even exciting, because sharing miles with people and having conversation just, and you get lost in the run. You can run forever because you're having a good time laughing, joking. You're going to hit a hill together. You're all breathing heavy to get to the top of the hill and you get there and you continue on with your conversation. So I don't mind running alone, but if I have to make a choice, pick one or the other, I'll pick people any day. Because what's something... For me, it's always fun to share with people, whatever that is. I want people to come hang out. I want to hang out with people. I want to run with people. I want to go eat with people. So I'm a people's person, and I love talking people over by myself, but I don't mind running alone.
Rip Esselstyn:
So when you are alone, do you prefer, do you have music? Do you listen to podcasts, stories? I know in doing the run across America, you listen to the Audible of Born to Run, which really impacted you. And I think is one of the reasons why you decided to do Leadville.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
But if you don't have headphones in or something, do you worry about what you think about? Do you get bored or no?
Hellah Sidibe:
I always daydream. And sometime even with headphones on, I don't even remember my music. I get tuned out to it. And it's almost like a comfort thing. I know there's music in my ear if I need it to push, I'll crank up the volume a little bit. But I used to a lot listen to Audibles. Even at home, even if a five mile run, I'll turn something on. Or I'll listen to Napoleon Hill, I'll listen to Bob Proctor. I love the Law of Attraction stuff. I'll listen to life changing stories and self, self, I guess, what's the word I'm looking for? Books that makes you improve your life.
Rip Esselstyn:
The self-help kind of-
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah. Those kind of things. And to a point where I listen to music, I listen to anything really, but majority of the time it has been music. But when I have music on or when I don't, I daydream every one of my run. Today I was daydreaming how I'm gonna run my next marathon, and I always do this toward the end of the run, or when I'm in the middle of the run, when it's the heaviest or the hardest, I'm thinking, "Oh, you have two miles left to get to the marathon finish line, and you are under your goal by five minutes. You got to hold onto it so you get there." So I imagine these things, and I imagine how I'm going to run across the line, how I'm going to do my airplane wings. And when I get to the house, I literally finish my run as if I just finished my race. So I do those things, just have fun with it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now do you finish every one of your runs, even if you're alone doing the airplane wings?
Hellah Sidibe:
Not every one of my run, but I catch myself doing it in the park. And I see people staring at me. I'm like, "Oh." I'm just having fun with it. Some people would laugh, and I've seen people spread their wing when they see me, too. And then they'll try to mimic what I'm doing, and I have fun with it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now is that a personal move that you invented or did you see-
Hellah Sidibe:
I don't think I invented it because I'm sure other people are doing it, but I think I kind of made it a little more like a, "Do it. Spread your wing and tell me it's not going to make you smile." And that came about with my passion for aviation and also playing soccer. And I actually went back to my old soccer video. When I scored a goal, I would have my hands out, but I would pump it. And that inspiration came from a player called Didier Drogba. He's an African player who played in Chelsea, my
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Hellah Sidibe:
He's an African player who played in Chelsea, my favorite team. So when he scores, he will pump his arm out. So I would do the same thing and then slide on my knee like he did, because he was my favorite player. He still is till this day, even though he's retired. So that's part of it. But also I feel like I'm flying when I'm running and I wanted to be a pilot when I was younger and I actually went to aviation school that was taking away also because of immigration. So that dream didn't go anywhere. So to me I wanted to fly. I'm still flying just in a different form. So it's the mindset.
Rip Esselstyn:
What's incredible to me, is I've watched your videos over the years and you have also a kind of compilation that shows you from day a hundred to day, I don't know, a thousand something and just how your body transformation. Also the grace and ease.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Of your movement as a runner.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Is so much more just efficient and effortless and I watch you running, I'm like, "I want to go out and run."
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
So that's really cool. I mean you inspire people to get out and run.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you. Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Fly.
Hellah Sidibe:
Have fun with it. And running could be fun. It doesn't always have to be... It's hard. It doesn't get easy, we get better with it. But it can be fun and just if you let go, that's what make it fun, but you keep holding on to tight certain things you just can't control, then that's when it becomes a little rough and not as enjoyable.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Do you have a favorite athlete or is it the soccer player you just mentioned?
Hellah Sidibe:
He's my favorite soccer player. I don't specifically have a favorite athlete. I have athletes that's super inspiring. Eliud Kipchogein the running world. Courtney Dauwalter, Sally McRae, a lot of those runners are very inspiring to me. And you're just like, "How do you do this?" And you want to work hard because you know that they can do it. You also can do it. You just have to work hard. They had to put time in to get to where they're at. So I do have that. I have people that I look up to on the Lake, Kobe Bryant, certain athletes that are out there that you're just like, "These guys are doing amazing things at a high level that keeps you level headed, that makes you believe in yourself too." So it's not one specific person. Then the inspiration motivation comes from a lot of places. Even people who weren't athletes. Even my mom who was taking care of us by herself at one point. And certain things like that just keeps you, "You know what, this is easy. So I'm not going to complain. I'm just going to do my best."
Rip Esselstyn:
So speaking of your mother, your mother and your family must be so thrilled.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
To see your rise to... You're coming into yourself following your passion and that you're able to now make this your living.
Hellah Sidibe:
It wasn't always the case. My dad absolutely hated this. My mom didn't like it, but she's the mom. She babies her kids. Even though I'm in my thirties, she's like, "Hellah, I think you should look for something." She'll say in a nice way like, "I don't like this." But she won't be like, "You should lose." My dad said, "What are you doing? What is this running stuff?"
Rip Esselstyn:
Has he come around?
Hellah Sidibe:
Oh, he's a complete opposite. He would say, "You're doing something stupid. Go find something, a career and this running modeling stuff." And he didn't really understand. And my little brother would be like, "Hey dad, Hellah's up to something. Let him live his life is going to be what you don't think it is." Because they're like the old school. But when I was running across America, my brother was with me, he was there for a week, a week and a half, and he FaceTimed my dad and that was the day I was actually flying. I was cruising nine 30 minute mile pace for 35 miles. And I was feeling it that day. I was just excited. And the energy was there that day. And I get in an RV and my brother's on FaceTime with my dad and my dad was talking about how impress he is of this.
He's like, "Wow, this is awesome. Keep it." I'm like, "Wait." I said, "I picked up the front and say, Dad, are you sure this is you?" He's like, "What do you mean?" I say, "You don't like me running." And he is like, "Well, what you're doing is incredible right there." And then I was like, "Okay." And now he's completely around. But he did not like it one bit. He would try to in fact discourage me and I tell him, "Dad, you're going to hear your name a lot and all of the news and podcasts because I have to talk about the reality of it, even though you're around about it now." But he wasn't about it. He actually wanted me to be a doctor that's why I did public health in college, I didn't do it because I wanted to just... And my mom was supportive but she didn't want me to do this.
She told me to promise her to not try to do another run across America because she said it's dangerous. But they understand really well. They got around that this is something I love doing. And my mom did said to me when she was here recently, she's been back home now for a couple months. She said, "I guess whatever makes my kids happy. That's what makes me happy." But in the beginning it wasn't that. It was like, "Don't do this. Get your typical job. It's not about what makes you." Because they old school, for them was good at school, make some income, take care of your family. And that's life. That's it.
Rip Esselstyn:
So how could they not be overjoyed for you?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
And I mean the first black man to cross America. And that's just like a little slice, right.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Of all the things that you're doing and what you're becoming.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Breaking down barriers.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Just doing all this for good causes.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
And then by the end, in watching some video of the last couple miles, you must have felt like Forrest Gump. I mean you had hundreds of people like following you and cheering you on. I mean, it's crazy.
Hellah Sidibe:
That could've been a better, that was the most perfect, as perfect as it could be that day. I had people come during the run across America, find me drive hours as far as 11 hours to share just a few miles with me. That itself made me want to be a better person and do more for people because I'm thinking, "Someone drove hours just to come run five miles with me." That's just incredible. And the last day, having the whole town that I live in, Rochelle Parks show up, being police escorted people, sticking with me for the whole 20 miles, driving from two hours far out, four hours far out, just to share that day. And stuck the whole day, stuck around and picking up more people as we're going along the route. Because people are tracing me.
And to have that finishing in New York City, NYPD escort through the city and people are looking, "What's going on?" It was a party. We're all dancing, screaming, stopping our lights, having fun and just a perfect, having family friends at the finish line was the perfect ending. It was perfect. That made all worth it. You're like, every pain I went through, it doesn't matter. You forget about all that stuff.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. What was your low point on your run across America? Did you have one thing that you remembered that distinctly was like, "Oh, my God, that was hard."
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, I had a few, but one day that really stuck out was I had a 50 mile an hour ahead one day. So I thought coming west to east it was supposed to prevent headway. I'm supposed to get tailwind. Based on airplanes, you fly faster and things like that, that was my mindset. But this time, I think it was in Ohio, I can't remember exactly. It must have been. And it was raining. It was never rained before. And the wind 50 miles an hour headwind. I would go in the RV and change just to get out, it was so cold. And it was pointless because within seconds when I get out, I get soaked puddles in my shoes. It's freezing. We're talking about raining and wet and low forties, just over thirties. And I remember that day, I don't even know how I got the mileage that I did that day.
I was just out of it. And I had a friend who had come initially a few days before to run with me. So he's a friend that was following me and then he offered to come that day and I was miserable that day. And he got me to the distance that I did that day and I can't think of enough. His name is Cameron. And Cameron came back again and uplifted me, and we soaked together and we got it done. That was one of the lowest days in terms of just mother nature, just being like, "Hey, Hellah out today. I'm going to make your day a little interesting for you. So we'll remember this day."
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, you bring up something really to me that's kind of interesting and especially in this ultra distance running community and that's how you guys support each other.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
So much when you do your runs. So for example, the first time I met you was when you were assisting and helping Robbie Ballinger.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Robbie versus Tesla.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Here in the Hill Country, in the Austin area.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
And I mean you guys slugged it out with him for two and a half days, if I'm not mistaken.
Hellah Sidibe:
Four days actually.
Rip Esselstyn:
Four days. And it was hot as all get it.
Hellah Sidibe:
It was hot. And my crew overnight, we did the overnight crew, we do the day and the overnight. So we'll do the day, we're with him, but we're not doing the runs with him. But the overnight was me, William, Bell, Lex, and Robbie. It was just us, just overnight, mostly running with Robbie and getting fed and Bell's driving next. And William sometime would run or drive. So, we, it's the support system, because when someone do it for you, you know how helpful it is and you want to go do it for somebody else because it makes a whole lot of difference.
Rip Esselstyn:
Right.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
All I know is I went out there on two different occasions for a couple hours both times and one time, it must have been one in the afternoon with the heat index. It must have been well over a hundred.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
It was these really gnarly rolling.
Hellah Sidibe:
I remember that.
Rip Esselstyn:
That I used to bike back in the eighties and nineties and it was so treacherous because there was no shoulder in some of this. And I was like, "Robbie, he shouldn't go this route. It is so bloody dangerous and it's hot." And the fact that you guys were able to get them through that section.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
I mean that was harrowing.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Absolutely harrowing.
Hellah Sidibe:
And you know what helps, knowing that you are accruing and pacing, but you get to nap a little bit, you get to sit down a little bit. Robbie has to keep doing this, so you're like, "I can't complain." Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, my gosh. So speaking of complaining and cruise and hardships, you recently just did the level 100 and was that everything that you thought it would be?
Hellah Sidibe:
Everything I thought it would be and more. It's always like that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Really?
Hellah Sidibe:
So it's always good to have high expectation for whatever that expectation is. Because if I had undermined this thing, I put it to the hardest it can be in my mind. And even having a taste of it, pacing Robbie a year ago, over a year ago, getting a taste of a 25 mile section from mile 62 up until the last 12 miles that was left, I prepared myself as much as I could here with no mountains. I would find trails, hills, I call them speed bumps over here to get my training. And I got out to Colorado two weeks before to acclimate, which I was happy I did. But I raced the race smart. I did it very well. I paced myself. I listened to the elites, what they told me. At one point, I just forgot about time. And doing all of that help you accomplish the race.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, I've had Harvey Lewis on the podcast and we know what a remarkable ultra distance he is.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, he's insane.
Rip Esselstyn:
He is. But recently, on your YouTube, you just put out about a 45 minute video that really to me does a brilliant job capturing from you, I think it starts at 2:00 AM and it finishes when you cross the finish line, what is it, 27 hours later or something?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. Yeah. 27 hours.
Rip Esselstyn:
But you say, I just talked to Harvey and he basically said, "Listen, you're first 100, don't worry about time."
Hellah Sidibe:
Throw it out the window. And I did. Immediately I let go. I said, "Finish."
Rip Esselstyn:
Which is smart, because a lot of people would be like, "Nah." But you, you're like, "Okay." He knows what he is talking.
Hellah Sidibe:
He has to. You look at the legs of Harvey, you see their accomplishment if they're giving you advice because it's experience and they know what they're doing. So if you don't take that in and he's that teacher, I said, "I just got scold by Harvey, so I better listen to the teacher." So if you don't listen to people who have experience in this, you're shooting yourself in the leg because they're not trying to harm you. They're trying to help you. So if you let go of time and you just focus on what you can, you might even end up doing better than you set out to do. Versus if you're holding onto this time so much, any little thing that happens, the ups and down, you might be frustrated, mentally stressed, "Oh, I'm going to mess up my time." Next thing you know, you're not even enjoying the journey of this. So I said, "I'm done with the time." Even though I had a time in the back of my mind, I said, "Just leave it Hellah. Focused on each segment and keep going."
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Yes. So that race, it starts at 4:00 AM?
Hellah Sidibe:
Four in the morning. Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
What was the temperature like? Because it looked like you were dressed pretty warmly.
Hellah Sidibe:
It wasn't as cold as last year, but it was still cold. It was just below 40. It was like 38 and start and you feel drizzle of rain coming and you're like, "Oh, no, it's going to rain." When your cold, it's one thing but when you're soaked and cold and the pre-race talk was like, it's going to be snowing, raining, it might be four feet of snow at whole pass. So everybody's like, "Okay, you just got to prepare for the worst case scenario."
Rip Esselstyn:
Now I saw you running on a bunch of different surfaces there. Fair amount of trails.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Fire roads, pavement. Do you have a favorite surface that you like to run on?
Hellah Sidibe:
Oh, I love the trail. It is exciting. It's fun. It keeps you on your toes. But when I got on that road, my smile was like, I said, "This is my thing. This is what I love doing." And I just started just cruising and it was my advantage to make up time. And many people were walking at that point and I said, "No, this is your time Hellah lot to take over because this is what you're used to." So when I got to the A station mile 23, I was like, "Rules are what I'm about." I was like, "I love that. That made me so excited." It made me feel like I was home running up the payments
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. I could tell you, you were smiling and you almost started doing this, I think.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
So how often did they have aid stations? Was it every 12 miles or something?
Hellah Sidibe:
First aid station was around 12 and a half miles. And then second aid station was mile 23. And then we had mile 38. And then I didn't see my crew until mile 62.
Rip Esselstyn:
What?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah. It was a huge.
Rip Esselstyn:
Why? Was that intentional?
Hellah Sidibe:
So it is called Twin Lakes. That's like the main area. So you don't see anyone. You're going on this journey at the hardest part of the race. You got to climb up whole pass, which the elevation is insanely steep for five miles to get to the top, that's 12,500 plus feet. And you got to descend into Winfield, which is so steep that you can't even take advantage of the downhill. And the downhill was my biggest strength in flat areas. And then you got to come back from the 50 mile mark up from Winfield to Hope Pass again. You're submitting Hope Pass two times to go back down to Winfield. So you are gone. My goal to be gone for six and a half hours, I was gone for eight and a half hours. I didn't see my crew. And you're by yourself at that point.
Rip Esselstyn:
So can we talk for a second about nutrition during this? So did you have a goal how many calories you wanted to consume every hour and how are you doing that?
Hellah Sidibe:
Every hour, 250 plus calories, just you don't want any cumulative calorie deficit. You want to make sure you're on top of everything. Even when you're not hungry, you better eat because it's a long race. And I learn a lot from the chance can. I think that really also helped me get through this race. So I was having energy gels that was 250 calories every hour. And after mile 62, it was every 45 minutes because now you're that much depleted. So you got to be even on top of it a little earlier on. So I was having that and I was having a thing called Super Fuel. So it was like a 400 caloric drink. It was water, so it was liquidy. It's actually not thick at all. My crew would have that in the water. So every time I would just switch it with my hydration drink and I'll have one electrolyte, one Super Fuel that was caloric drinks.
So every time I'm actually hydrating, I'm getting calories in. So it was a lot of liquid calories. And at the aid station, I'll have a muffin, a vegan muffin or vegan croissant. And I was mashed potatoes, never tasted so good. And it was just like mashed potato, no gravy, nothing. I love that. Every time I get there I'm like, "Can I have mashed potatoes?" I just have my mashed potatoes or I had vegan ramen noodle and the soup when it's so warm.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, actually ultimate noodles ramen soup. Yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah. So I was making sure I was on top of my fuel. I drank all the water. Every time I came to the aid station, everything was empty. I made sure that it was empty. So I was on top of that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now, so 250 calories an hour. And so would you say have two of the gel packs an hour and then also you're drinking your calories?
Hellah Sidibe:
No, it would only have one gel is around 200, 250. But that's giving you that calorie. But also the Super Fuel and the electrolyte were very high in calorie as well.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay.
Hellah Sidibe:
So the Super Fuel was 400 calories and I would finish that as well. So it was getting six, 700 calories every time I'm gone before I see my crew. So it was not just the gel. So it was all together that I was having.
Rip Esselstyn:
So did you ever feel at any point... Because I mean I can't even imagine a hundred miles with all that elevation. And at that elevation, did you ever bonk or hit the wall?
Hellah Sidibe:
I never hit the wall. And I'm very grateful and lucky. I never had a breathing problem. I never felt like I was having altitude sickness. And I peed a lot. I was peeing so much. And in fact I was like, I feel bad for the ladies because the amount of time I had to pee, it would be tough as a woman. I would just, "Here's a bush, just turn around." And I remember at mile 12 and there was a bathroom that came and I just saw a line with a bunch of ladies waiting in line and I went to my crew. I was like, I feel bad for the woman. This is not fair. They had to wait to get to this bathroom and you see the line that's wasting time. And I said me for me as a man, I didn't have to do that.
I would pee whenever I felt like it and then I continue. I don't have to go wait in line. And those are times that could be valuable for you later in the race. But I was doing that, but at one point I didn't pee for... My crew was scared even though I was consuming all the electrolyte and the liquid I had, I didn't pee for six, seven hours.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, I wasn't peeing. They were scared. They were like, "Are you feel weird?" I was like, "No, I feel completely fine. I keep drinking all my liquid. I don't know what's happening. Maybe that was the altitude's job." But later on then I started peeing again. But I was okay. Non sickness, no bunking. And my biggest weakness for Leadville was I was a weak hiker. I didn't have the training for vertical climb and I owned up to that.
And I wasn't going to make it an excuse to not go faster. I just knew I just needed it more time to train that to get stronger. And I'm glad I got there enough time to even get the level that I had underneath me. But my strength was downhill when it was tougher for most people because their quads were shot. I would just send it hard. I would just start sprinting down and I would take advantage of flats. I told my pacer Mallory and Jason, they're amazing. They're from Austin, but they live in Colorado. I told them, "Please be patient with me on the uphill. I promise you we'll make it up on the downhill." And I said, "You see all these people passing me, just remember them because we'll see them again, not as to compete with them, just to let them know that we'll be able to make up the time so I can get there to aid station at a certain time that we would just want to get there."
Even just in case to make sure... You got to finish in 30 hours, even though the time goal is out of the mind, but 30 hours still there. So I would take advantage of those scenarios.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, no, I remember in the video her saying, "Oh, my gosh, I could barely keep up with them on the downhill."
Hellah Sidibe:
Those are fun.
Rip Esselstyn:
So at one point, at one of the aid stations, I saw you, somebody handed you deodorant and you put on some deodorant. Why put on deodorant in a race? Are you afraid that people behind you are in front of you? Well, I don't get that.
Hellah Sidibe:
Okay, I'll tell you this. I always have this, it's a personal thing. I always want to make sure I smell my best. I am on my best and I don't want to put anyone at a discomfort to smell my odor. And I know it shouldn't matter. It's a race. But also just being mindful. I don't want someone to be like, "Oh, what's that? I can't. Who's this smell?" Just being mindful of others. But it's a personal thing. I want to make sure I smell good for myself. I don't want to smell my own BO and be like, "Oh, I can't stand it." I won't stop thinking about it. So I'm a kind of a person that... I would shower at home and I also spray cologne after I shower.
And I'll still put out my deodorant and first thing I do when I get out of the shower, I lotion up. I don't like feeling dry. I like to self care for myself. So even though I was like, "Well, I probably smell." I don't know if you heard it in the video." don't worry about that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, I hear.
Hellah Sidibe:
So point is, I made sure my deodorant was with my crew because I know there's no time to shower. But I do know I could help in case I was smelling, which is probably the case you're running, you're sweating, you're dry, you're sweating. So I made sure that when I had the chance to put on my deodorant for myself, but also it'd be a nice little thing for others going by me so they don't feel like they have to throw up or anything.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, you're quite a gentleman.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now you had Robbie there as part of your crew. Is that because... Did Robbie want to do the race this year? I mean, would you want to do it again next year or did he just need a year off?
Hellah Sidibe:
Robbie didn't plan on doing it this year. He wanted a year off and I know he will go back because he told me he'll go back and do. I think he can do better. And he also believed that because he came from a whole collateral crush, he didn't have as much rest as he needed to tackle this. But for me, I had to do it because I always tell people I don't go look for things. They find me. And the saying at Leadville, "Leadville finds you." It really does. They found me. I didn't go looking for it. It found me because I was listening to Born to Run and I was like, "Wait, why is this thing coming out of my head right now while I'm doing an endurance run?" So, the goal is to go back next year, but not to do it. It's going to be their 40th anniversary. I would like to be part of it. I would like to pay somebody because I want to pay back.
I got help, I always want to help others. But I do know for sure I'll go back, but it won't be next year. I'll go back to do the full thing again because ultra distance is learning. You learn and you grow. So you always could have something that helped you in the next race. Even running across America definitely helped me for Leadville and being able to finish Leadville, not being sore, not having any injuries, that was the win for me. And I couldn't believe it. I was able to walk fine normally the day after the day of the race, after I was done, I didn't have any difficulty. So knowing that was really great.
So now I know I can push a little bit now. Because my issue was I didn't know if I was going too slow but I knew I wasn't going too fast. But from the experience finishing and I didn't feel as beat up and thank God no injuries, so I can continue my streak the next day. Now I know I can push it a little bit. I can feel a little more beat up and still.
PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:12:04]
Hellah Sidibe:
Now I know I can push it a little bit. I can feel a little more beat up and still be able to finish the race safely. So that experience, I want to go and try that out, but just not next year.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so you were able to continue your streak?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, that was the biggest thing. And I met some followers too. And then some of them were asking, "Are you worried about your streak tomorrow?" I said, "Not really because my mindset is going on that do this race and do what you can tomorrow. Even if it's a 20 minute mile, you're going to be shuffling your feet." But I did tell some of them, I said, "If I feel at any point in the race that this race is going to ruin my streak and I can't run tomorrow, I'm going to [inaudible 01:12:40]." I'm going to say, "Hey guys, I'm off of this course." The streak is my baby. I love running every day. It's a personal thing. I'm going to get off of this race course so I can run tomorrow. But it was a joke. But also if it came down to it, it might have to be the streak instead of Leadville. Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
The streak comes first.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now what in your mind equals or legitimizes something that you consider to be a run? If you were to go out for five minutes, would that keep your running streak alive or does it have to be like two miles?
Hellah Sidibe:
I love that question. For me personally, it can't be five minutes. For me personally, 10 minutes can't cut it out anymore. And even though I was able to get at least a mile within 10 minutes. But it has to be at least two miles. And before it used to be at least seven miles. I used to be crazy about that. And crazy in a sense where if I only got five in, I'm coming out later at night or something to do an extra two. The average is still well over seven miles a day within five and a half years almost. But I do believe any run is a run and there's a mile, a streak association website or something. Someone actually messaged on my Instagram a while ago, maybe a year ago, was talking about if it's not a mile, it doesn't count as a streak.
And I completely respectively disagree with them. Because I said that's not fair. Because what happened is somebody is actually only physically capable of running two minutes and they have to stop and they count anymore? So you're not going to discredit their run because they didn't complete a mile. And I said, "If that's what they can do, to me that counts as a streak." If it's five minutes, that counts as a streak. Someone can only run maybe 30 seconds at a time and they have to walk a minute and then they go back 30 seconds, if that's all they can do, that counts as a streak. Because just because they can't do certain things, who says that it has to be? It has to be your own personal thing. So whatever you think is a run where you can do it and what you're capable of, I think that's what's important. It's not about getting at least a mile in.
For me it's two miles because I've had oral surgery and doctor said, "I know you say you're not in pain, but you don't want to cause bleeding to keep happening." So I would shut it down even though I felt comfortable. Or when I'm injured, so my goal is to get the streak going without having to compromise cutting the streak completely. Because if I push it now, I can take away the run. I don't want to get fractured bones or anything like that. So I'd be injured but, I'll go out there and maintain a two mile run and get off of it as quick as possible.
So for all the people that are listening, for me personally, it's different. But if you're only capable of running even two minutes at a time, it counts as a streak to me. And if people don't think it counts, the Mile Association, the Streak Association, forget about them. We'll do our own association. It's called whatever you're capable of doing is the streak. And everybody's different, everybody has different body, everybody has different capabilities and not all can maintain a certain amount. So we can't just assume that for everybody and discredit their effort. At the end of the day, effort is effort. If I'm running five miles, someone could be running a mile, but they're still putting the same amount of effort because of the capability that they can accomplish for themselves.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Thank you. Are you still doing yoga? Are you still a fan of the Bikram? The hot yoga?
Hellah Sidibe:
I was doing it religiously. Since the pandemic happened, the place has closed and I haven't been on it and I need to because that's when my body started even melting together as a whole. And I notice even my running form was becoming smoother, naturally going into [inaudible 01:16:17]. And it makes me think about Born to Run. We are born to run and I didn't have to do anything drastic to change my form, but I would pay attention to my body. I look at all videos. And naturally your body just come to the way it should be. So yoga was also helping that. And I haven't been able to. And I do miss yoga. I do.
Rip Esselstyn:
Tell me, run through for me on your ideal day, what would you have for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Hellah Sidibe:
The rip, big bowl cereal a thousand percent. And I used to be obsessed with oatmeal. Oatmeal was my thing. I used to get sad when I didn't have oatmeal. But I would even be like sometimes be like, "I'm sorry oatmeal because I feel like I'm cheating on you." But sometime I have two in a row. And then I will finish a bag actually in two eating. I'll have half of it. And it's a big bag. I pour a whole half and then I'll have it, and then I'll be like, "I think I want more." And I'll have another one. So, that would be my breakfast.
Rip Esselstyn:
Tell me this. And what do you do to it? Milk? Do you put different fruits and seeds and nuts on it?
Hellah Sidibe:
I'm a basic guy. So all I do, it has everything you want. It has the sweetness, the raisins, the seeds, the dates that's in there already. So I would just add oat milk and then I stopped using agave. So I'd add maple syrup. And not a lot. Just a little bit because it's already, you get to these dates and it's sweet. It's a perfect balance. Nothing else added. It already has everything that needs to be added, so I don't have to add that. And even when I used to have oatmeal, I would just add banana and that's it. So nothing crazy. So it would be that. And it's a breakfast you feel full, but you don't feel sluggish too. I don't feel like, "Ugh. I just ate so much." I just felt like I had enough in me. And you see all these nuts and all these healthy fats that I need. I'm running, burning calories. It is very nutritious and yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. What about lunch? What about lunch?
Hellah Sidibe:
Lunch, anything rice. I love rice. Rice bowls. I love fried rice. I love rice and vegetables. I grew up in Mali. Every meal every day is rice and peanut butter stew, rice and tomato stew, rice and spinach stew. It's rice with the meal every day. So anything with rice would be my lunch and then dinner ...
Rip Esselstyn:
And I noticed in watching a lot of your videos, you use white rice. Do you have a preference? White rice versus brown rice?
Hellah Sidibe:
White rice. I'm a white rice person. And white rice, I feel like brown rice, it doesn't enhance the food flavor that's on top of the rice. So with white rice, it doesn't take it away. So white rice. And I like for dinner, Val cooks some delicious food. She had this ravioli that she mixed the sauce with garlic and cashew like creamy and things or pasta. I like anything big carbs. And I love my fair share of the vegan burgers, cheesy, oily, nasty, sometimes. Just like that. Once in a while I have those. But those are my ideal foods.
Rip Esselstyn:
Nice. Is there a certain amount of time that you would ideally like to sleep every night? Are you a big sleeper?
Hellah Sidibe:
I'm a big sleeper, but a late night person, I find myself going to bed a lot one in the morning even though I got ... Yeah, I know. And it's crazy because even though I find myself going to bed at one in the morning, I'm up like 7:30 AM, eight.
Rip Esselstyn:
Whoa.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah. But I feel fine. I feel rested. I said maybe this is going to catch up to me because I know sleep is the biggest thing for our recovery. Not that I even want to stay up late, I can't sleep at night. And with all these physical activity that I do, I'm always on my time, I'm always up and going. I find myself up at night a lot, I do. But also when my body tells me to nap, it doesn't happen often, but if it does, I go nap immediately. Like I nap. So maybe that's making up from the late night sleep.
Rip Esselstyn:
On the weekends, I can nap like nobody's business for a good hour and a half, two hours. I love it, love it, love it.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, me too.
Rip Esselstyn:
What are your feet like? Are your feet in good shape? Do you get blisters easily? Or no?
Hellah Sidibe:
Are you ready for this?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
Since I started this run streak, the only blister I got was the Run Across America and I showed it to my audience. I was like, "Do you guys want to see this?" I did a poll before I blind anybody. It was both toes. It was just liquid wrapped around the toes. That was it. I've never lost a toenail.
Rip Esselstyn:
What?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
I've never had any blisters besides the Transcon. And I did show my feet to people and people are commenting "where's the Leadville." After Leadville, I took off my shoe as soon as we got home, did a video. And now you're making me think to post that on my Instagram story. But I said, "This is what my feet look like after a hundred mile race. Zero blisters, didn't lose a toenail, didn't lose any color." So I've been very lucky.
Can I see your feet?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes. See if I can pick up my feet for you to see. This is my ...
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow, yeah. Yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
My toenails. This is both of them.
Rip Esselstyn:
What do you attribute your healthy feet to?
Hellah Sidibe:
A friend of mine message me and he's like, "It has to do how your body's aligned when you're running." Or when you're doing anything physical activity, having your body in a certain alignment actually catered to your toe health. That's what he was saying. So everything is so working the way it should that you don't compromise on any. I don't know. I have no idea. I always say I'm lucky.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, but to me it's probably also ... I'm pretty good with blisters too. But do you like wearing thin socks when you run?
Hellah Sidibe:
Thin. I don't like thick socks.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Do you have a particular brand of socks you like to run in?
Hellah Sidibe:
Not particularly. I have these anti-blisters they were called, I don't even think they were that because I wore that Across America, I got blisters. The two blisters I've ever had in my life actually that's like that. But I wear such a thin sock that my toenail will cut through the front and poke a hole through it. That's how thin my socks are. But I get hard callouses around the toe area sometimes. And that's about it. And it's not a callous from a blister that hardened, it's just there. Maybe soccer. I don't know.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. What shoe are you a fan of? It looks like you're wearing a Hoka shirt.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, I know this is not supposed to be, it's not like for an advertisement, but I wear Hoka. I'm sponsored by them. Even prior to being sponsored, I wore them a lot running across America. I wore them for my first ultra week, 245 mile week, 35 miles a day was in the Clifton Six. So I just saw that certain distance they were just better at. So I just revert to them. And now to say that I'm sponsored by them, it doesn't make sense again, to me. All I could be is just accept it and be grateful about it. So Hokas are my go to shoes. And I know there's not one shoot that fits all, there isn't. And when people ask me, "What do you think is the best shoes?" My answer is always, "This is what works for me," because it might not work for you.
But the cool thing about Hoka is the fact that they have so many varieties, even though there's other running shoes that they do, but it's so limited, especially to the performance side only, where there's more that than just your average daily runners that just like to do this as a hobby. There's a chance you might find the shoes that you like within the line for from them. So I like that. I have a rotation between the Mach 5, the Rocket X, the Carbon X 3, and randomly I'll put on a Clifton just if I want to drag my feet a little bit, and I need something soft and shock absorbent. So I'm always having options. So, that's what I love about those shoes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. You know your shoes.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well did you ever think as a kid growing up in Mali that you would be able to look in your shoe drawer and see 20 pairs of shoes that are all yours?
Hellah Sidibe:
Nope. Because at one point before even coming to the US, maybe my whole life I had three pairs of shoes. And then now to see it's way more than even 20, I don't take it for granted, that's for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Incredible. What's next for you? You got anything that you're gunning or shooting for?
Hellah Sidibe:
Also a very good question. So there's not always. I have goals and challenges that I want to put myself through, but also has to not be about me only, it has to be for a purpose. So you won't find me to going to look for things to do because a lot of endurance people, they want to go do big challenges, big things. And that's what they love and which nothing wrong with that.
I'm the complete opposite of that. My first priority is just to enjoy what I love and don't put myself under pressure what's next. So after I ran across America, I got questioned immediately, "Hellah, what's next?" And I said, "I'm not the kind of person who's going to chase what's next because at that point I'm never going to be satisfied. I'm always going to try to beat what I did and it's going to be a chasing my own tail. And I don't think there's any joy in that."
So I do want to run a marathon and I've never trained properly for a marathon. I've run a marathon because I was slid in literally a few weeks before and I still ran every day. I had no tapering. And ran my seven mile daily. But this time I want to actually prepare for one, maybe spring 2023. And I still will run my run streak as just that a taper day or a day off would be just slow, easy two miles. That would be my day off or taper day to keep the streak going. So I do want to run a marathon. And I also do want to run UTMB, Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in Chamonix, which is 106 miles. And that is twice the elevation gain as Leadville. It's about 32,000 plus feet in 106. So those two are in my books, but not like I need to rush and get them done. So we'll see what next is. Next will find me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Now, I would imagine that there's enough ultra distance runners out there and you guys are supporting each other when you do these endeavors. Do you have to have something on the schedule? Are you going to help this guy do this hundred mile run and this guy do this? Is that on your calendar or does that just pop up like that?
Hellah Sidibe:
Not on my calendar, but that's what I want to do. I want to be able to help. And I think my goal is, my long-term goal forever is to be a guide for anybody that wants to experience a run. I want to push a wheelchair for somebody who can't. So in my mind, I'm running for those who can't walk, let alone run every day. Because it's a privilege. And I think people will do anything to walk. And I can even run. So my ultimate goal actually in this running thing is being a guide. Not just all these personal accomplishment, but push somebody through a marathon, wheelchair base or someone guide them, someone that's blind, hold their hand through a marathon. And so when you said that, that's something that I want to have on the schedule to always do. But in terms of the ultra runner that needs help being [inaudible 01:27:15], they can reach out to me. If I'm available, I'm game, I'm ready to go. Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's beautiful. Just like you are.
Hellah Sidibe:
Oh you're too kind.
Rip Esselstyn:
And you start one of your videos, Instagram, on YouTube, wherever, what do you say? You say-
Hellah Sidibe:
What's up my beautiful people? Always. Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Where'd you get that from? Where'd you get that from?
Hellah Sidibe:
So that I got that from, because I just thought we are all beautiful. Not physically. We are not only beautiful physically, but we're all beautiful deep inside. And even if someone who's not so nice, we're naturally, that doesn't happen. That happens through learning and seeing. But if you put two kids next to each other, it's nothing by joy and beauty, happiness. They don't see anything. They don't see race, they don't see gender, they're just having fun. So us as human, there's beauty inside us. So I just believe that.
So from day one, even before social media, I always just look at people, we're beautiful humans. That's what we are. And when I greet my audience or anybody, it's, "Hey, my beautiful people. What's up my beautiful people?" Because we're all beautiful and I think everybody should take that in and believe that. Inside and out we're beautiful. And just know that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks or anyone has their own description, what beauty is, as long as you believe in it. And I believe we're all beautiful. So I'll give everybody the benefit of the doubt, the benefit of the doubt that you have a good heart, you want to be best, you want to help people. So it's just automatic, "My beautiful people." That's it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Bam.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. That is beautiful. And I love the way you are now leading this beautiful life.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
That you've carved out for yourself.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
And now you're able to give and shine this beauty out to everyone.
Hellah Sidibe:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
And you're like this lighthouse of beauty and joy and happiness. And in fact, in watching the video that your team shot for you of Leadville, by the end they're like, "You know what, Hellah should be the mayor of Leadville." Everybody knows you now and everybody wants him in their lives. It's a beautiful thing.
Hellah Sidibe:
It was a humbling experience. I remember actually, I'm going down Hope Pass. So I still got a long way to go. I'm talking about three, two and a half miles to three miles. That's a long way for Hope Pass for how steep it is. It really slows you down. So these elite runners are coming up already. They're like running. They're like power hiking. It's a run for most of us that even though to them it's hiking. And I saw a few of them back to back, "Hey Hellah, I love what you're doing. Keep it up." I was like, wait a minute, this does not make any sense at all. They're the elite. I should be inspired by them. Not the other way around. So it was very humbling to see that. And I said, "We've created an amazing community because everybody's so nice." Everybody's just so nice.
And I was so happy I didn't have music on. And the ultra community, whether they knew me or not, everybody that you're going by, "Good job. Keep it up. You're looking great." And you say that to everybody else because everybody's cheering you on. And I think that's what makes ultra running special. And the marathon the other way is very special. It's a good running community, but not like the ultra because marathon, people are so focused on times and prs. There's no stopping to say hi to you or give you a gel when you need it or help you because you fell down. And two people took a huge fall. We had to turn around and help them because everybody's like, "Ah, I hope the team helps you or whatever because I got a pr to catch." Ultra is different. Ultra is just, it's a big family that you never knew that you had. So it was amazing.
Rip Esselstyn:
Have you gotten the privilege and opportunity to get to know Scott Jurek at all?
Hellah Sidibe:
Okay, so I haven't met Scott in person, but I know Scott Jurek. I have his book actually here. And I know his Appalachian trail, I know all the amazing Western state, everything he's done. And I followed him. And one day I actually tagged him on one of his burgers that Robbie made. So he communicated back with me. And we communicate on Instagram. And I was at the Apple event and at the Apple Park in California and Scott Jurek came up on the new Apple Ultra. This is the endurance one. I was like, "Scott!" I'm screaming. And I tagged him and he was like, "Oh hell, I didn't know you were there so we could finally meet in person." But he was in and out that same day. I was there for an extra day. But we're planning to see each other. So it hasn't happened yet, but we've talked about it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Good, good, good, good.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Scott's another beautiful human being.
Hellah Sidibe:
Incredible. Yeah. From all the stuff I've seen from behind the other side, yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Hellah, I want to thank you for spending time with me today and sharing your story and sharing your passion and your love and your beauty for just being alive and what kind of gifts can we share with other people. This has been a real joy, truly.
Hellah Sidibe:
I appreciate it. I also want to say you've changed so many people's lives and whether they tell you or not. And seeing you from what you've done with the fire engine, even Forks Over Knives, and all of that. It took that TV show for me to be where I'm at today. And I feel like what you put in your body also, that's how you live by. The toxin you put in your body, that's what your mind feeds off of. So thank you for all you do and thank you for those delicious [inaudible 01:32:55] and just catering to the world in your own way and sharing stories, but also letting people live their best life by eating the right way. I think that's very important. And then the saying is, it might sound cliche, you are what you eat. It really is. You are what you eat. So thank you for making us what we eat because it's healthy and it's good for us. And so we can do and pursue all these physical stuff that we can recover quickly from.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well thank you, Hellah. All right. I can't wait till when we next get to meet in person and until then, be well you beautiful man.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes, thank you. Thank you Rip. You too.
Rip Esselstyn:
Give me a fist bump. All right. Plant Strong, Plant Strong.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yes, let's go.
Rip Esselstyn:
Hellah is a treasure trove of inspiration. And I want you to know that we're working really hard to get him to Austin in February for our first official team Plan Strong race at the Austin 5k half marathon and full marathon. No matter where you are on your Plan Strong or fitness journey, if you need a daily pick me up then make sure that you follow Hellah on Instagram at Hellah, H-E-L-L-A-H. Good, G-O-O-D. nine. And of course I'll be sure to put all that into the show notes for today. Thanks so much for listening and believing in yourself. Let's be sure to lace up those shoes, head out for a walk or run, and always keep it Plant Strong.
The Plan Strong podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Lori Kortowhich, Ami Mackey, Patrick Gavin, and Wade Clark. This season is dedicated to all of those courageous truth seekers who weren't afraid to look through the lens with clear vision and hold firm to a higher truth. Most notably my parents, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. And Anne Crile Esselstyn. Thanks for listening.
PART 4 OF 4 ENDS [01:35:10]
