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dear Matt
you used to think this was impossible
this moment right here
not too long ago either
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you met Jerome six years ago he'd done
an Ironman and you thought he's
different than I am and I'll never match
up but then you signed up for a half
marathon
you'd never run more than five miles but
you did it and then you signed up for
and you didn't think you could do that
in there but you finished
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but afterwards you were still scared
still searching for more you felt you
had limits physically and mentally
that couldn't be surpassed and again you
thought those endurance athletes are
just different from me
so you hung up your shoes and you
stopped racing altogether and then you
met three guys three new best friends
and soon enough your brother joined the
party and suddenly with their support
you felt that so much more was possible
so you decided to sign up and throw
yourself into it again this time for
something so terrifying you didn't know
if you'd finish a half ironman and a
month before the race you decided you
couldn't do it but amar wouldn't have it
he said you have no choice that you had
to he made you commit so you found a
crazy friend to join you in an inspiring
mentor to guide your way and after a
month of intense training in seven
straight hours of pure exhaustion he
finished once again surrounded by love
[Applause]
and before you knew it it was there
staring at you the scariest dream that
you've ever had you couldn't avoid it
this Beast of all beasts
the iron man the [ __ ] iron man
and you didn't understand why it was
calling for you but it wouldn't stop
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a full day of hell on earth
one of the toughest endurance events on
the entire planet
late at night in your dreams you'd
imagine the pain and the suffering it
would take you'd imagine what it'd be
like to have the courage to do it and
despite the fear you take that first
step you sign up and you ask friends to
join you but this time they think you're
insane but on one of the most inspiring
days of your life the day of the jump
with Will Smith you meet his personal
trainer Aaron and you tell him about the
race you ask him if he'd be up for the
challenge he thinks about it for a bit
and then he comes up to you and he says
let's do it so at the age of 46 never
having done an Ironman before Aaron is
in for the ride but unlike anything that
you've ever done he makes you understand
that this isn't just a race this is life
and we're gonna do it right he explains
that for the next six months you will
suffer by his side they'll get scarves
bruises that you would experience
discomfort on a level you never have
before
you'll be absent for most parts of your
life and on some days you'll feel so
[ __ ] tired that you'd rather die
these are the moments the environments
where you you don't want to do it you do
it anyway well it's always worth and
it's just you won't want to get attached
to the result the result for us is who
we get to be because of it mm-hmm it
doesn't matter if you finish or not it
matters that you put in the work to
prepare yourself as best he can it takes
so much out of you it's just so painful
and now I'm alone and it's part of
talking to a camera and I have to go for
a 40-minute run after that 500 15 minute
bike ride when you said goals like
completing an Ironman in under 12 hours
that's my goal you've heard it's hard
but you will never ever learn the
incessant struggle the constant stress
the heartbreak and the pain
until you actually [ __ ] do it there
are moments when you're just like
and before I knew it the day was finally
here don't be the same and all I could
think about was this one phone call with
Aaron in a moment where I almost quit
what is the construct that we have
created our personalities is so strong
that you have to do something extreme to
be able to transcend that to be able to
break through those things because we're
so engrained with our personalities and
we believe that that's who we are it's
just when you do something of an extreme
nature like to the extent when you're
doing an Ironman then you get to
transcend that you get to see what what
sits below that surface you get to see
that you actually have a choice that
there's something more than who you
pretend to be and whilst we're really
attached to who we are as individuals
there's also so much more to life we
have that freedom of choice
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crush you marry food gallon baby
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[Applause]
[ __ ] Garnett man
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just
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remember you used to think this was
impossible
you