#76: Robbie Balenger - Running with Robbie Across the US of A
Robbie Balenger During His 2019 TransCon Run
This week, we’re digging into inspiration and exploring your personal limits with a major dose of true grit!
In March 2019, Robbie Balenger set sail with his sneakers from Huntington Beach, California to run across America all the way to Central Park, New York in just 75 days. He was relatively new to running as well as to a plantstrong lifestyle. So, why on earth would he do something like this? Well, as it turns out, the earth had EVERYTHING to do with it.
Environmental issues, fitness, and plant-based nutrition had become so important to him that he wanted to spark more conversation and spread his message across the country. And what better way to do that than by setting the physical example for what can be done. And - spoiler alert- He DID IT!
Today, we look back at this incredible “feat” and dig into his value-driven life, which has only grown stronger since his successful trip across the country just two years ago.
In fact, just this past weekend, Robbie did it again! He broke the record for the most number of consecutive loops run in Central Park during open hours with 16 loops and over 100 miles. Now THAT is some PLANTSTRONG peak performance.
Episode and PLANTSTRONG Resources:
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Full Transcript
Robbie Balenger:
I went into it thinking, "Okay, I'm going to show that you can persevere through an effort like this and be plant-based." But through the experience that I learned, it's like it was probably my super power. That was the thing that actually got me through it.
Robbie Balenger:
I'm consuming all this clean food that's building me up instead of breaking me down. When you're pounding on your legs for that many hours every day, inflammation is something you got to worry about. Well, if you're not putting inflammatory foods in your body, then you don't have to worry about that inflammation.
Robbie Balenger:
Consuming 8,000 calories a day, that can be really laborious on your system if you're eating a lot of animal products. Not eating those animal products made that digestive process that much easier, and therefore, gave my legs that much more energy to keep going.
Rip Esselstyn:
Season three of the PLANTSTRONG Podcast explores those Galileo moments where you seek to understand the real truth around your health and dare to see the world through a different lens. This season, we honor those courageous seekers who are paving the way for you and me. So grab your telescope, point it towards your future, and let's get PLANTSTRONG together.
Hi, I'm Rip Esselstyn. I want to welcome you to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast, and you know from listening that we are all about arming you with the education, the science, and the research on all the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. Just last week, we talked brain health with Team Sherzai, Doctors Dean and Ayesha. And the week before, cardiologist Brian Asbill discussed sweet potatoes over stents.
Well, today, we're switching gears and digging into inspiration and exploring your personal limits with a major dose of true grit. In 2019, Robbie Balenger set sail with just his sneakers from Huntington Beach, California to run across America. That's right, from California to New York by foot.
He was relatively new to running as well as to a PLANTSTRONG lifestyle. So you might be asking, "Why on earth would he do something like this?" Well, as it turns out, the earth had everything to do with it. Environmental issues, fitness and plant-based nutrition had become so important to Robbie that he wanted to spark more conversation and spread his message across the country.
What better way to do that than by setting the physical example for what can be done. And a little spoiler alert here, he did it. Today, we look back on this incredible feat and dig into his value-driven life, which he's only grown stronger since his successful trip across the country just two years ago.
On the episode, he mentioned that he has a couple of things that he's thinking about doing but he didn't mention this, which is this past weekend, he did it again. He broke the record for the most number of consecutive loops running Central Park during open hours, opens at 6:05 a.m. and closes at 12:55 a.m. with 16 loops in over a hundred miles.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now, that is PLANTSTRONG, my friend. Welcome, Robbie Balenger.
This season, Robbie, season three of the PLANTSTRONG Podcast, we're really focusing in on people that are trailblazers, that are very courageous, that have had a Galileo moment where they saw what they felt was the truth really around all things plant-based, and had to basically change the trajectory of their life.
And so, what I'd first like to talk about with you is you love running. You adore running. How long have you been running and when did you knew that you were in love with running?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, absolutely. Running, I think, we're at about eight years now that I've been a runner.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's It!
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. When I did my big feat, I'd been running just over six years. I played team sports growing up, obviously, running was involved. But running as the sports itself only came to me in my late 20s. I was running some restaurants in Austin, Texas, and also kind of lived in that restaurant life where it was work hard, party just a little bit harder.
And my fiancee now, who was my girlfriend at that time, she saw that I really wanted to do well at this job and I wanted to be a good leader and take care of the work that needed to be done. And so, she invited me out on a run kind of as an alternative to staying at the bar too late. And it took two miles and I was hooked. It changed my life and never really looked back, just kept running.
Rip Esselstyn:
And that was, what year was that? Do you know?
Robbie Balenger:
That would have probably been around 2013.
Rip Esselstyn:
So you went on a two-mile run or whatever, and at two miles, you're like, "I'm into this." So you haven't run, and two miles in, there was no pain? There were no blisters? There was just bliss?
Robbie Balenger:
No, I still had all the feelings for sure. That's why we only went two miles. I'm sure my girlfriend would have preferred to go further. But it's all I had in me. We were in Austin. We stopped at the JuiceLand downtown, and grabbed a juice and I grabbed a cab home. That was it for me. But it stuck. I really did enjoy it.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's phenomenal to me that you haven't been running that long and that's what it took and that was like the hook. That's crazy. That's wild. Well, thank goodness, right? I mean, it's brought you a lot of joy and accomplishments.
Rip Esselstyn:
So you started running that long ago, when did you decide that plant-based nutrition was important to you and what was the moment that happened, if there was a moment?
Robbie Balenger:
Absolutely. So, these restaurants I was running, that was a big part of my life. There became a time, there was a moment where it was time for me to walk away. Just a lot of responsibility and it just wore me down. I just needed a change.
Robbie Balenger:
So I left the restaurants, and about that time, I read Scott Jurek's book. And being a runner, that really set with me. This guy, high performer, the high performer in ultra-running had been making plant-based choices since, I think it was even late teens, early 20s. And that really stuck with me, but it really didn't happen at that moment.
From there, after leaving the restaurants, I decided to go spend some time down in The Virgin Islands where I lived in my early 20s and helped in the recovery after Hurricane Irma and Maria. And that experience was kind of a big moment for me. At that moment that I have to have like some real sobering looks at kind of where we were as a planet, where global warming was taking us.
These storms were very big and very scary, and it didn't add up for me. I knew I wanted to do something to better the planet. And coming home, as I was sifting through what that might be, I was refining my food choices. And as I was refining my food choices, going towards closer to plant-based that I start looking to realize that it had massive impacts on the environments, that it's one of the most powerful choices we can make as individuals is to take on a plant-based diet if we're concerned about the environment.
Robbie Balenger:
And so, here I am, I'm like, "Okay, my running is getting better because of this," and it's going to be best thing ... I can't afford a Tesla right now, so it's about the best thing I can do for the planet. And so that's where the choice really came to full fruition and that's where I chose that this was the way for me.
Rip Esselstyn:
So it was on a trip back from, you said ... Tell me where exactly was it?
Robbie Balenger:
I was at Saint John, in the US Virgin Islands.
Rip Esselstyn:
Saint John in US Virgin Islands and where that all kind of crystallized and came together?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, that was where the real conviction for those food choices started to really take hold.
Rip Esselstyn:
And so when did you start doing ultra racing, ultrarunning?
Robbie Balenger:
So, Ultra started while I was running the restaurants. It was a great way to keep myself accountable to the things I needed to do, and throw in some adventure and something that was just purely for me. It wasn't for the restaurants for which I was giving most of myself to.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, I signed up for what I thought was just a normal 50-mile ultra back in my home state of Georgia in the Appalachians. To find out when I got there, it was actually one of the harder ones in the country. It had over 17,000 feet of gain over 56 miles and it ate my lunch. But it's stuck. I was really into it at that point.
Robbie Balenger:
So my first, I think that was about 2015.
Rip Esselstyn:
What was your longest run before that run?
Robbie Balenger:
Before that ultra, actually, I had one shorter ultra, 50K, so 32 miles in Austin or around Austin in Smithville. It's called Hells Hills. So it was a gradual buildup to that 50, but that was a big pinnacle, a big moment for me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow, and you've also done some racing in Big Bend?
Robbie Balenger:
I have. I absolutely love it down there. It's probably my favorite place on earth to run, to be. It's just a place I feel super grounded, and there's a small race down there every January that I just adore.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, I need to let you know that Big Bend has a place that's very near and dear to my heart as well. I'd probably been there, no exaggeration ... I first went there in 1991. And I've probably been a hundred times, probably 30 of the times that I've gone, I go down to Rio Grande Village, crossed the Rio Grande River in a row boat, and then either hiking or with mountain bikes go up into the Sierra del Carmen's that are there.
Rip Esselstyn:
I've been to the top of El Pico-
Robbie Balenger:
Amazing, incredible.
Rip Esselstyn:
... which not many people have done. Actually, there's a rock that's up on the top where you can pull out a little tube that has all the signatures of people that have made it to the top, and there were like six.
Robbie Balenger:
That is amazing.
Rip Esselstyn:
Anyway, it is the wild, wild west.
Robbie Balenger:
You feel as though you were on the edge of civilization. I think that's one of the things I appreciate about it most. I absolutely love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Totally. Let's start, I want to talk about the feat that you did in 2019 that I think is pretty darn remarkable, and that is you ran across the United States of America, right?
Robbie Balenger:
I sure did, yeah. I left from Huntington Beach, so just south of Los Angeles and 75 days later, ran into Central Park. It was a 3,175-mile journey, again in 75 days, so that average out to 43 miles a day.
Rip Esselstyn:
I mean, how did this concept enter your brain? Is this something you came up with? Did somebody challenge you? Was there something that you were doing it for, awareness of?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. The reason for the run was to create conversations about better food choices and promote a plant-based diet. That was why I was out there to do it. How the idea came about was go a little bit further down from Big Bend, down into Mexico, the Copper Canyon. I was down there for the 50-mile race they do down there every year made famous by the book Born to Run.
Robbie Balenger:
Took a trip down there to run the race, and just in a short conversation, met a guy named Patrick Sweeney and he very casually told me that in 2015, he ran across the United States. And it had that wow factor. It stopped me in my tracks, and that in itself meant something to me while I didn't even know that was truly possible. I had never contemplated it.
Robbie Balenger:
But then seeing him and knowing how much this really affected me, to hear that someone had done that, it showed to me the power that could come from doing it. And then if I was going to do something like that, I was at this moment, where I wanted to help out with this idea that we need to better ourselves to better the planet.
Robbie Balenger:
And so, that was where the genesis of all these came together. Well, I'm going to run across the country to create conversation about better food choices, promote a plant-based diet. That simple, that's what I thought.
Robbie Balenger:
And then the process from there was to put everything together for this run, logistically, getting sponsors, all of those things. It wasn't quite as easy done as said but I managed to pull it all together in a year. Exactly one year from the day I decided to do it is when we left on the trip.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. I want to geek out on this run across America. I want to know everything. I want to know like let's just start out with, so you said it took you 75 days. Is that right?
Robbie Balenger:
That's correct, yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
75 days, you averaged 43 miles a day. So, did somebody help you as far as preparing for this? How do you prepare to run across America?
Robbie Balenger:
Absolutely. I try to keep things simple. I'm really into that acronym, Keep It Simple Stupid, KISS. So for me, I broke down the training into essentially three parts. The first part being, I wanted to assure myself that I could consistently run every day.
Robbie Balenger:
So I set out to run 10 miles every single day for 14 days. And then I'd take the 15th day off. And I did that for about three and a half to four months. Second phase was to continue that consistency but throw more miles in there. Get up to about 100 and 110 miles a week.
Robbie Balenger:
And then the third part was I really felt as though it would be important to normalize that distance, that kind of 50-mile range. So what I did was I signed up for a bunch of races. And essentially, I was running a 50-mile race every two weeks back to back and then I take a week or two off in between, do another back to back.
Robbie Balenger:
So the idea was if I could maintain doing these things every other week at race pace, I hope that I could kind of bring all these kind of three parts together. I could keep consistency. I could slow down a little bit, not be at race pace and therefore just be able to sustain for two and a half months essentially.
Rip Esselstyn:
So you said you had to get a crew together. You had to get sponsors. Who were some of your sponsors that embraced what you were doing?
Robbie Balenger:
Absolutely. My main sponsor was NadaMoo, an Austin-based dairy-free ice cream company. Daniel Nicholson, the founder of the company and I had been friends, acquaintances for many years. I reached out to him, and we had this amazing conversation and he wanted to jump onboard. And that was just such a big breakthrough moment for me.
Robbie Balenger:
It wasn't the first place I had asked, but it was where it took hold and it made a lot of sense to me. It was a good partner. It's fun. It's playful. It's ice cream. I thought it would be a good thing to bring along on the trip. It's a great ice breaker to talk to someone. It's like, "Hey, I'm running across the country, and this ice cream company is supporting me. Here, why don't you have some? And let's talk about how it's plant-based."
Robbie Balenger:
That was my predominant sponsor. And then also Switch4Good. It's Dotsie Bausch, silver medal Olympian. I believe you're both in Game Changers. She came on kind of late in the game. She found out about what I was doing about a month before I started, and she came on as kind of an auxiliary sponsor with Switch4Good. And that brought a lot of pride for me was to kind of carry her flag across the country, and promote her organization.
Robbie Balenger:
And she has stayed a dear friend and kind of a mentor to me. So those were really my two main sponsors. That was really who helped to put the bill and make it happen. That along with some friends and family that helped me through at GoFundMe account.
Rip Esselstyn:
So, crew, how many people were part of the crew, and do you think that this effort was as hard on the crew as it was you?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, absolutely. I definitely think that. I think as I talked about my run across US, I often refer to as we did this. We, at that time, we made this decision. And that's the truth of it. I didn't run across the country. It was a collective of people that got me across.
Robbie Balenger:
My crew, I was always at fluctuating number between three and six people depending on who could be out there at that time. My crew chief was my soon-to-be sister-in-law, my fiancee's sister. She came on to be crew chief and nutritionist. She has some plant-based certification. She's been vegan for many, many years and she's an athlete as well.
Robbie Balenger:
She put together my meal plan. She helped plan everything to a T. I could never have done it without her. She's an amazing being. And then also, my in-laws-to-be. They actually ended up coming out for about 55 days cumulative of the 75. They were there in the beginning, and they were there at the end. They were a core part of my crew as well.
Robbie Balenger:
And then I had one consistent crew member who was with me all 75 days. Now like dear friend and brother, his name is Elliot. And I actually met Elliot two weeks before starting the run on my second trip down to the Copper Canyon. We went down one last time to run that race again and to kind of get some last minute inspiration before I took off.
Robbie Balenger:
And we met this jolly British guy, tall, lanky dude. He was just hanging out, and found out that we were all plant-based and he was like, "I am too." And then the next part of the conversation was, "Well, he's about to run across United States," to create conversation about our food choices, promote plant-based diet.
Robbie Balenger:
And this guy just says, "Well, can I go with you?" And he essentially was traveling at that time with a backpack and he showed up in LA two weeks later. We had known each other for two hours. And he stayed with me all 75 days and he was my rock the whole time. He's amazing.
Rip Esselstyn:
Isn't that funny how that happens? Two weeks before, and then you have your rock that wasn't even there two weeks before in. Wow.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, absolutely. And that was something, I think, when you put your heart into something and you follow where you're supposed to be going, where your heart takes you, the world often will come together to make sure that that happens. And that was one of those moments. Elliot was one of those things that was just like the universe coming together to help me.
Rip Esselstyn:
I think you said that your sister-in-law who was a nutritionist really helped you with your plant-based meal planning. I'd love to know, what fueled you getting across United States? What are the typical day of nutrition look like breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacking, hydration-
Robbie Balenger:
Absolutely. It was a lot of eating, I'll tell you that. I needed to consume, what we got to was about 8,000 calories a day. That's what I was eating in order to maintain weight and strength and make it across. So the way that they broke down was in the mornings, I would wake up. Elliot would wake me up every morning with a cup of coffee and bowl of porridge. I've always called it oatmeal, but he's British, we'll call it porridge.
Robbie Balenger:
And that porridge was made up of, again, like oats, some maple syrup and some nuts, stuff like that. I'd start off with that. And then I ran across United States in five-mile increments. So every five miles, my crew would meet me with a little bit of food and some more hydration.
Robbie Balenger:
At each stop, I would have something. We had concocted a smoothie that had about right at a thousand calories per smoothie. I'd have four of those a day, and those were made up of coconut milk, chia seeds, nut butter, water obviously, veggies. And then we would put some Soylent in there to round out the calories. Soylent is kind of a meal replacer.
Robbie Balenger:
And so they would make four of those for me a day. I would have those about every other stop. And in between, I would have either a bowl of fruit or something smaller carbie/starchie like some cold pasta, some potatoes, things of that nature.
Robbie Balenger:
And then we would just continue that every five miles throughout the day. And then when I finish at the end of the day, we would have ... There's this great camping meal company called Outdoor Herbivore, and they make freeze-dried camping meals.
Robbie Balenger:
They sent me out a bunch of those. We would cook those down with coconut milk. That was a day of eating. It would be like, again, I think what we figured out, I ate 11 times a day in order to continue.
Rip Esselstyn:
Did you end up losing weight at all over the 75 days or were you able to keep it on?
Robbie Balenger:
I did. I kind of put some weight on going into it. I wasn't at what I would call my race weight. I was what I would consider a little chubby for me. And we burned through that. And then everything kind of equalized. And there was about, I'd say about 20, 30 days in that I quit losing weight, and I was pretty lean, obviously, but never felt like in a deficit by no means.
Robbie Balenger:
And one thing I would say too is I went into it thinking, "Okay, I'm going to show that you can persevere through an effort like this and be plant-based." But through the experience that I learned, it's like it was probably my super power. That was the thing that actually got me through it.
Robbie Balenger:
I'm consuming all this clean food that's building me up instead of breaking me down. When you're pounding on your legs for that many hours every day, inflammation is something you got to worry about. Well, if you're not putting inflammatory foods in your body, then you don't have to worry about that inflammation.
Robbie Balenger:
Consuming 8,000 calories a day, that can be really laborious on your system if you're eating a lot of animal products. Not eating those animal products made that digestive process that much easier, and therefore, gave my legs that much more energy to keep going.
Robbie Balenger:
And so, I now mentor a lot of people doing big efforts and the first thing I tell him is like, "I'm not here to push anything on you. But what you do outside of this effort is what you're going to do. That's your choices. But if there's one piece of advice I can give you is while you're trying to execute this massive effort, you better be plant-based. It's going to be the best thing for you."
Rip Esselstyn:
I mean, I've done a couple of 24-hour races before, but not running. But this is more like mountain biking and stuff. And I know that at some point, it's like, the thought of consuming food is just disgusting. It's like, "Oh, my god, I don't have an appetite for that. I don't have an appetite for that. I don't have an appetite for that."
Rip Esselstyn:
So I'm just amazed that you were able to do these four smoothies for whatever, like 75 days and then everything else. Did you ever like have a difficult time slugging it down?
Robbie Balenger:
It was at times as challenging as the running itself, but it was a part of it. I kind of put my head around it before I started and I had to ... I love food. I've been in the restaurant industry for years. Food is what I know, it's what I understand, it's what I appreciate more maybe anything.
Robbie Balenger:
But I had changed that in my mind. I had to go into a place where food was fuel and that's all it was there for. It was to get me through. But yeah, there were days where it took everything I could to put that food in, and I had people that would come out and run with me at different places. People that had been following my journey, they'd come run with me.
Robbie Balenger:
And I remember one day, someone asked me like, "Oh, what are you so excited to eat when you're done with this?" And I was like, "I'm excited not to have to eat." How about three meals a day instead of 11 for a while.
Robbie Balenger:
And then when I finished in New York, I quickly changed my tune because I was in New York and the plant-based options there are pretty phenomenal. So I was happy to have tasty foods that were not in my normal everyday repertoire for the last 75 days.
Rip Esselstyn:
We'll get right back to Robbie, but first, I want to take a quick moment to say thank you to so many of you who have shared your own personal stories and Galileo moments with me. I want to share a short email from [Christa Lynn 00:25:01].
Rip Esselstyn:
"I just left my doctor's office with wonderful news. I've lowered my A1c with a whole-food, plant-based way of eating including Rip's Big Bowl and Engine 2 Pizza Crust, all because I stumbled on your podcast. I've gone from 301 pounds to 285 pounds in just two months and I feel better than ever. Thank you for spreading awareness, knowledge and wonderful recipes.
Rip Esselstyn:
I want to congratulate Christa Lynn. We, on the PLANTSTRONG team love hearing success stories like this. If you want to invest some time in yourself and your health, I strongly recommend you join our Spring Rescue 10x Program that starts March 30th.
Rip Esselstyn:
The PLANTSTRONG team has led hundreds of people through this 10-week mindset mastery program helping them to develop the daily habits needed to make this, well, mindless. Stop negotiating with yourself. Discover your deepest why, set attainable goals with my team and be supported live through 10 weeks of training. Go to the show notes or visit Rescue10x.com today to join the next session.
Rip Esselstyn:
So did you feel a lot of an outpouring of support and love for the effort that you were undertaking? I mean, I know when you started off, I mean, there were all kinds of people running with you. Rich showed up and ran with you. Did you feel the love? Could you sense it?
Robbie Balenger:
Absolutely. We can point our fingers at all the negative parts of social media and they definitely exist. But there is a beautiful layer to it too and that is that ability to interact with people, such a large network of people. And as I went across, people were finding out about my journey, they were tuning in and they were also leaving comments and telling me how good I was doing.
Robbie Balenger:
And they could sense when I'd have a bad day and people would lift me up. And it was one of the beautiful feelings I've ever felt was just to feel backed by so many people. And then also hearing stories of how I was positively affecting people's lives. Whether it'd be that they were contemplating their food choices which is why I was out there, and there was a lot of that.
Robbie Balenger:
To this day, there's a lot of that. I still get the residual gratification of hearing about that. But the parts I didn't expect were even people who were gaining other things from my experience, people that were just like looking at their own lives and realizing they could be more resilient and they could stick to their goals a little bit harder than they were the day before. So, yeah, that part was like ... I mean I felt better about humanity than I ever had in those 75 days for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
So the course that you took, you're running, are you like on backroads most of the time? Is that a tricky thing to do, to figure out how to cross United States without hitting major thoroughfares?
Robbie Balenger:
It definitely takes some due diligence. My father-in-law was the one that really took the reins on that. He is a map guy. He's the kind of guy, he's done the whole Appalachian trail. He's knocked off most of the fourteeners here in Colorado. He loves looking at a map.
Robbie Balenger:
So, he took that and what we did was we found there was a race in 2011 where a couple of Frenchmen tried to run. They tried to race each other across the country, which is in itself kind of phenomenal. It's a very small group of people who have done this, but they left the trail of PDFs that kind of showed their route for how they had done it.
Robbie Balenger:
So, we took those and then we applied those on the Strava maps and look at the heat maps on Strava. And so from there, we were able to identify and make sure all the roads were safe. It is illegal to run on interstates in the United States, so you can't really do that. So, you're always looking for roads that are either extremely rural or have a very large shoulder or some combination of the two.
Robbie Balenger:
And we were able to ... He kept me on track on that the whole time. It wasn't really a moment that I felt too endangered by the route itself.
Rip Esselstyn:
Fantastic. So you got the rock and then you got like Mr. Maps as well.
Robbie Balenger:
I do, absolutely. Yeah, for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's good. What about, so you must have run through some pretty special places that really stick out in your mind. Can you name a couple? For example, I'll just ... To help you get the ball rolling, like Navajo nation for example, I know that was a real special eight days for you.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. That was to me the most special part of the run itself. It was something I didn't anticipate. As I had so much faith in my crew, as Chris put together the route, my father-in-law, I didn't pay much attention to it. I just know he'd keep me going in the right direction. And when we entered into the Navajo Nation, I assumed I'd be there for an afternoon, and we were there for eight days. It was a fascinatingly beautiful part of the trip. It also was the place that tested me the most physically, mentally, emotionally.
Robbie Balenger:
But that was what I was there for, from everything from the topography to the people. The people there are just fascinating. They're beautiful souls and they needed my message probably more than anybody. They're neglected. Our food system neglects them. Our government neglects them and they need a lot of help. And just getting to be there and be a little bit of inspiration and chat with people along the way was, it will always stay with me. It's just a fascinating, beautiful experience.
Rip Esselstyn:
Anything else that sticks out, a day-
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. Topography-wise, the Mojave Desert coming out of LA was fascinating. It was hot, of course, but that part was very interesting. And then I grew up in the Northeast Georgia Mountains, so in the foothills of the Appalachians. I didn't go that south. I was going obviously to New York, so we hit the Appalachians and Pennsylvania.
Robbie Balenger:
They tested me to my core. The Appalachians are ruthless. They're not as big and grand as what we think of when we think of the Rockies or something like that but they're relentless. They don't stop.
Robbie Balenger:
And so, there was a sense of feeling at home there, but also a sense of just like this is the hardest part of the trip. And those areas really stick out to me and then just like tons of road stories just about the ways I interact with people and the crew and that's interacting with each other, just that sense of belonging.
Robbie Balenger:
And I was on my path literally. I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing in that moment. And that's something that will always stay with me, something I will always remember yet yearn for again. It's a motivating factor to continue to push the envelope.
Rip Esselstyn:
You mentioned that going through Navajo Nation was the one that kind of, at the same time it tested you the most emotionally, physically. Can you remember, was there one moment during those 75 days where it was just about absolute hardest where you're like, "Oh, my gosh. I got to throw in the towel. I don't think I can do this"?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. The day that was the most prominent like within that kind of thought is within the Navajo Nation. Early on, day six, seven, I developed shin splints. I was able to just, with making some adjustments, run through them essentially and overcame that. Got into Navajo Nation and the other leg, I developed tendinitis really, really bad to the point I became immobile. I was dragging my leg. My crew was just like, "You can't do this. This is just too much."
Robbie Balenger:
I was also at a time where I was just so physically exhausted. I think it was day 19 or 20. And my crew essentially, they're like, "Look, you got ..." I made it 13 miles that day and they're like, "We have to take the rest of the day off. You can't even walk, much less run."
Robbie Balenger:
So, they talked me into taking the day off and then actually, the following day, I ended up taking the whole day off. It was the one day out of 75 that I didn't do an ultra. And that day was a lot. It was very heavy. There was the fear that I would never get back up and get going again. There was just like physically slowing your body down for giving, giving, giving and making it stop for that day.
Robbie Balenger:
It was profound. It was the day that I gave up trying to force the endeavor and realized that I had to succumb to it and just be become a part of the energy that was going to propel me across the country. There were too many days, there were too many variables for me to think I could control it. That release, that letting go was something that, yeah, that was a big moment for me interpersonally.
Rip Esselstyn:
I bet. It seemed like a lesson that all of us need to go through at some point in our lives, as you said, instead of forcing it, we kind of relaxed. We succumb to it and we let what happens, happens a little bit. So, congrats on getting through that. I mean, you made it.
Robbie Balenger:
Totally, yeah. I was told prior to leaving for it, I had talked to a couple of people who have done big efforts whether it had been a transcon or other things. Essentially, they said that there's two key moments, key dates you're going to look at and that's about two weeks in. If you can make it through two weeks without a show-stopping injury, your body is going to hold up.
Robbie Balenger:
And then after a month is when it starts to normalize and get a little bit easier. And both of those days like really stood. They held the test. That is exactly how it worked for me. To say it got easy, by no means. But after that month, it was more of a situation of, "Okay, this is what I do. This is now my body and my mind is aligned to the task at hand and we're just going to get up every day and we're going to do it."
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, what's interesting to me is you've been training for this thing regularly. And why do you think that you developed the shin splints? Was it because you weren't running on pavement? Were you not simulating that enough? Did you do different shoes?
Robbie Balenger:
Well, I think what it really came down to was the load, the amount we're talking. Even when I was at my peak of training, we're talking 100 to 115 a week. Now, we're going 315 a week.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, it's 3x.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. And you can't train for that because if you do, you're exerting that energy that you need to hold onto for the actual event. Where it will lend itself is like beneficial in the future is now as I think about future efforts, I can look back at that 75 days as actually a huge training block. And now, I'm stronger than I ever was prior to starting. But that was why I think those injuries happened, is you can't truly prepare yourself for this.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Well, it's interesting, I interviewed Scott Jurek after he did the Appalachian trail, and similar thing. He got injured a couple of days in. he pulled a quadriceps and had to deal with that. He's fighting through all that stuff as well. It's just nutty to me how physically, mentally, spiritually, you just put it all on the line and you're trying to make it happen and you did that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Speaking of spiritually, are you a spiritual guy?
Robbie Balenger:
Very undefined, but yes. I wouldn't hang my hat on any specific doctrine, but over the years, I think my life and the experiences I've went through, spirituality is definitely there.
Rip Esselstyn:
And the reason I asked it is because I know when you were young, your father died. And I think it might have been on one of the hardest days, you snapped that photo or somebody did. I think it was of your father-in-law, is that Chris?
Robbie Balenger:
This is correct. Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Chris with the horse ... And you identified that horse kind of as your father, right?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. That was the day. That was the day that I had to take off. And I was really struggling with the fears, the fears of not getting back on the road, the exhaustion, all these things. And right as I woke up and I opened the door to the van that I was sleeping at and I looked across and there was this paint horse, beautiful kind of speckled horse.
Robbie Balenger:
My father did pass away when I was two and a half. He had horses all of his life. Yeah, it was right away. There was this immediate understanding that that was somehow associated with my father. What I kind of have come to a conclusion is it was his spirit, and he was there to kind of check in that day.
Robbie Balenger:
At some point, I did see Chris, my father-in-law, over there kind of interacting with the horse. But then it was only a couple of months ago that I was looking back through our shared photo albums of everyone's experience and everyone's photos from the trip did I find this picture where Chris had taken a selfie of himself with this horse. And it stopped me in my track as when I saw it, and it memorialized something that I didn't know had been memorialized to that degree. And it brought back those emotions and those feelings.
Robbie Balenger:
Again, that was one of those places where profound things happened to me spiritually. Maybe prior to this trip had you asked me that question about my spirituality, it would have been a much vaguer answer. But that was a defining moment.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, I'm looking through some of your Instagram posts. It was very telling to me how even though your father left you when you were two and a half, in many ways, he's been with you the whole time. And it's a very special relationship that you carry with your father.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, for sure. From what I understand, he had a very big presence. He was someone. He was a force. And I've always, I think, like been on this journey to define myself as a man and what did that mean and what does it mean in contrast to the story of who he was and who do I want to be independent of that but holding onto that at the same time. And that's been a lot of my journey. I surpassed him in the age when I was 27. He died again when I was very young, and he was very young.
Robbie Balenger:
And that was a big moment for me where I let go of a lot of the things that I thought I was doing to mimic him. He was a strong man, but he also like ... His lore was a lot about, he was a guy of the '70s that partied really hard and that was a big part of my life, in my early 20s. And surpassing him in age allowed me to start the process of letting go of that and becoming my own version of what it was going to be, to be a man.
Robbie Balenger:
And a lot of that got wrapped up in grit and persevering through physical efforts of being an ultra-runner. That's how I want to define myself in kind of that more masculine kind of side of my being.
Rip Esselstyn:
Nice. So, I got a crazy question for you and that is ... I'm in Austin, Texas. You lived here for, was it 12 years you said?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, 10, I think about 10.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm outdoors a lot and when I was a professional triathlete, I was out in the sun four to eight hours a day. What in the world do you do to keep from getting sunburn when you're running across United States? Is there a sunblock that you recommend or you're just wearing clothing?
Robbie Balenger:
People were concerned. I have olive skin to begin with and then you put some sun to it and I get real dark real fast. I'm not a fan of sunblock. This was a very inside joke with our crew, is my mother-in-law is a sunblock fanatic. And that was her task and role every day, was to make sure I put the sunblock on.
Robbie Balenger:
And we actually found probably not the best version of it, but it was what I would use easily which is just the spray-on stuff just because it was easy to apply. And so every time I would come down on these five-mile breaks, she would make sure I put more and more on. But we got messages of people concerned about how dark I got.
Rip Esselstyn:
No, I bet. Are you wearing a certain hat, or did the hats not allow your head to breathe?
Robbie Balenger:
I wore like I was kitted up. I had like a NadaMoo jersey that we had designed as well as a hat, like a running hat. So, I never really wore like a big hat to block the sun. Being all those years in Austin, running and even prior to running, just being outside and active, I think I'm just ... I'm a sun baby, like I enjoy it. I didn't cower from it too.
Rip Esselstyn:
Nice. What about to keep yourself sane running that many miles, that many days in a row? Are you listening to music? Is your crew vehicle close enough where they can like blast out something? What did you do with that?
Robbie Balenger:
I wouldn't say the majority of the time. But some of the time, I had people running with me, whether it'd be crew members that would be out there to pace me, just be there to entertain me or whether that'd be people that were coming out to just join for the day. So, that part was really nice but I still did have a lot of time in solitude. In those times, I had this notion prior to starting that I would listen to books on tape and become the most well-read runner of all time. In reality, it just didn't work. That didn't work for me too well.
Robbie Balenger:
So, a couple of podcasts here and there, and then music-wise, I got fixated on a couple of things. I got really into the Grateful Dead which had not really been in my repertoire in many years, but it was at that point. And then also Jimmy Buffett, I think that one went back to my time in the Caribbean.
Robbie Balenger:
There was something about ... In this effort, it was something that I was there to do. I was happy to do, I enjoyed it but I also at times, it felt really monotonous and I wanted to be anywhere but on the shoulder of the road running in the northeasterly direction. And Jimmy Buffett just took me somewhere else. He took me back to the Caribbean.
Robbie Balenger:
So, those few things I just fixated on. And I listened to him sometimes on repeat for hours on end.
Rip Esselstyn:
You mentioned earlier on in the podcast that you went to Saint John's. Have you ever been to right nearby the island of Saint Croix?
Robbie Balenger:
I have very ... Of the three US Virgin Islands, Saint Croix the least. I've spent most of my time on Saint John and then on Saint Thomas, but I know Saint Croix a little bit.
Rip Esselstyn:
The reason I say that is when I was doing triathlons, they had a triathlon there called the Beauty & the Beast. And they had this crazy hill on the bike, but there was also a restaurant on the island called Cheeseburgers in Paradise, right?
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Jimmy Buffett song ... So I just was wondering if you'd ever been there.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah. Down there, I'd live down there for a couple of years. And a lot of the people that I was around and my friends, they were a good, good bit older than me and they were down there post Haight-Ashbury like after Summer of Love, this group of hippies all moved down to Saint John. And you would hear stories about when Jimmy Buffett was down there. He's definitely a part of the culture for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
I want to hear about sleep. Did you sleep well? Was your sleep at all tormented? Did you nap at all during the day?
Robbie Balenger:
Recovery was a hard lesson learned during the transcon. It's something now that I'm focusing on much more. It's actually as I create a narrative for my next big efforts, recovery is going to be a part of it. It's all about nutrition and recovery. I did not give that the attention it deserved prior to leaving. I had this assumption that if I ran for 11 to 15 hours a day, I would just pass out. I'd be so tired, I'd just crash.
Robbie Balenger:
And the reality was is it didn't really work that way or it was a combination of just slowing your body down, slowing your mind down to be able to go to sleep. But then also immense pains in my legs, aching, just aching, aching, aching.
Robbie Balenger:
For the first week, I slept cumulative about 10 hours is what we kind of have approximated. And then after that, we're able to realize that the crew needed throughout the day to insist that I elevate my legs, trying to get the blood to pull down from that because there was all just like ... It's all just pulling up in my feet and it was just causing immense pain and injury.
Robbie Balenger:
If we could pull that blood back up to where it should be, massage, trying to get some rest in the middle of the day especially early on when it was really hot going through Mojave Desert as my body and mind were kind of adapting to this challenge at hand, that we got better at it over time. It's something now that again I'm focusing on a lot, a lot more.
Rip Esselstyn:
You got a nickname for yourself, or has anybody given you a nickname?
Robbie Balenger:
I don't think so, not really. Obviously, during the run, I got Forrest Gump a lot or like plant-based Forrest Gump. But outside of that, I'm always being a Rob, Robbie kind of guy.
Rip Esselstyn:
NadaMoo.
Robbie Balenger:
I heard that one a lot, yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Cool. I mean, you spent a year focusing in on the effort. You did it. It took you 75 days. What an insane accomplishment. What's it like coming back to reality after achieving a dream like that? Do you fall into a pit of depression, or are you able to like kind of go back into existence? I would imagine that would be really hard.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, there was a reckoning for sure. It was really, really hard. Again, like what you just said, I spent a year planning. I spent two and a half months executing, so 14 and a half months in my life had one goal, one goal in hand and that was to get to Central Park. And then you get to Central Park and you just stopped. And you're like, "What's next? What is this?"
Robbie Balenger:
And yeah, that took a lot. It was even harder than ... It's like when I went into the run, it was like this thing. When you start something like that, you're like, "I know I'm going to be tired. I know it's going to be painful. It's going to be all these things." But until you're in the moment, can you really understand the gravity of that?
Robbie Balenger:
Well, the same was true when I finished. It was like, "Well, I know I'd probably go through some sadness and depression, some feelings of not having direction." It was so much worse. It was such a bigger part of me than I ever had anticipated. And it took a long time to come out of.
Robbie Balenger:
I think part of this run as it was for all these altruistic reasons of creating this conversation about food choices, there was also a part of me that wanted to redefine myself as who I was as a man and wanted to be this runner. I wanted to be this new person. And I achieved those things but you're still left without a lot of direction.
Robbie Balenger:
NadaMoo was in it for that run. They were my sponsors for that, but then that was over and that chapter was done and now, I have to figure out a way monetarily even just to make money again. And so there was a lot of that, trying to figure these things out. And that was as challenging, if not more than the run itself. It really did take a long time to come through.
Robbie Balenger:
And then as soon as I've started to fill up and over it, we had COVID hit and so then there's been a year of that. And I'd say only recently I'm at a place where I feel really confident and healthy about where I want to take things in the future and feel good. It was a long path.
Rip Esselstyn:
What are you doing right now like for work or anything like that? Is there anything that excites you on the horizon that you're kind of getting ready for? I'd love to hear about it if you want to share.
Robbie Balenger:
Yeah, absolutely. As far as work right now, I'm happy to say that the things I'm doing right now still fill my cup. The passion is there. It's not about running, but as I was understanding my new food choices and thinking about more progressive food thought, a friend of mine who was also at the same time developing a company called Lettuce Grow.
Robbie Balenger:
And it's a really cool company. It's based around this hydroponic farmstand that allows everybody to have fresh produce at your house. You don't have to be a gardener to have fresh produce. That's kind of what we are trying to develop.
Robbie Balenger:
And it's been an exciting year for the company. It's something that I'm real passionate about helping to grow. I think there's a whole conversation that could be had about that company and it delivers nutrient. It's nutrient-dense produce as possible with the smallest carbon footprint possible. And essentially anyone can do it whether you have an outdoor space or have to do it indoors. It's very accessible. So, that's what I'm up to right now and I really do love it. It's a great company.
Robbie Balenger:
As far as future efforts, there are some things that are on the horizon. I'd say right now they're still kind of intellectual property just because until I get the sponsorships together. These type of challenges when you're not just going out to run a race, it's like they take some level of creativity to come up with and when you say them out loud, other people can kind of gravitate towards on.
Robbie Balenger:
So, I'm going to keep them for myself right now but I do say I have two that I'd like to execute in the next 18 months that I think would really turn heads and continue this conversation about how important these food choices are for us as individual whether it'd be for performance or just health and for what it can do for the planet.
Robbie Balenger:
We got to wake up and we got to get some of these stuff in line. And for me, plant-based choices, they're important for our health but they also increase our frequency. They made me more vibrant. They made me had more vitality and more compassion. And I think we're in a place where the planet needs all that it can get. And so, I'm really reinvigorated to spread that message again.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, Robbie, this has been a pleasure. It really has, and I can't believe that when you were in Austin, our paths somehow didn't cross. And I hope that in the future, we get to hang out-
Robbie Balenger:
I hope so as well.
Rip Esselstyn:
... whether it's in Denver or whether it's in Austin. But huge congrats on doing that transcon, and everything that you discovered about yourself and for helping to further the conversations and the importance around all things plant-based. Time is running out and we got to get as many people as we can onboard, for sure.
Robbie Balenger:
There's a million reasons to make the decision. That's for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
A million ... All right, my man, with that, would you give me the, say, peace?
Robbie Balenger:
Peace.
Rip Esselstyn:
Turn it around, Engine 2.
Robbie Balenger:
Engine 2.
Rip Esselstyn:
Keep it PLANTSTRONG.
Robbie Balenger:
All right.
Rip Esselstyn:
Here we go.
Rip Esselstyn:
Robbie would never call himself extraordinary, but I hope that you found something extraordinary about his story. Regular people like you and me can do spectacular things. And don't doubt that for a second. Heck, as a firefighter, I never dreamed of having a platform where I could share valuable information, but here we are and I am so honored to spread our PLANTSTRONG message week after week.
Rip Esselstyn:
What's one small thing that you can do today? What step can you take to better yourself? If you need some direction, reach out to us at PLANTSTRONG.com and as I mentioned earlier, our Spring Rescue 10x Mindset Mastery Program kicks off March 30th and it will arm you with the daily habits to make PLANTSTRONG living a breeze.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'll see you next week on the PLANTSTRONG Podcast.
Rip Esselstyn:
Thank you for listening to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast. You can support the show by taking a quick minute to subscribe, rate, and review at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Sharing the show with your network is another great way to help us reach as many people as possible with the great news about plants. Thank you in advance for your support. It means everything to me.
Rip Esselstyn:
Have you had your own Galileo moment that you'd like to share? What happened when you stepped into the arena and shed the beliefs that you thought to be true? I'd love to hear about it. Visit PLANTSTRONGPodcast.com to submit your story and to learn more about today's guest and sponsors.
Rip Esselstyn:
The PLANTSTRONG Podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Laurie Kortowich, 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 B. Esselstyn Jr. and Ann Crile Esselstyn. Thanks for listening.
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