Derek Fitzgerald Pt. 2

Summary

In this episode, Mike and Lindsay continue their conversation with Derek Fitzgerald, a heart transplant recipient and cancer survivor, as he shares his inspiring journey of recovery and determination. Derek recounts his rehabilitation process, the mental shifts he experienced, and his preparation for the Ironman competition in Lake Placid. He emphasizes the importance of gratitude for life and the joy of rediscovering movement, culminating in his triumphant finish at the Ironman, where he honored the gift of life given to him by his donor. In this conversation, the speakers delve into the mental and physical challenges faced during endurance races, particularly focusing on the experiences of heart transplant survivors. They discuss the importance of mindset, the barriers broken by athletes like Derek Fitzgerald, and the emotional journey of completing an Ironman, especially in iconic locations like Kona. The conversation highlights the power of inspiration and perspective in overcoming personal limits and encourages listeners to find their own paths to fitness and health.

Takeaways

• Derek started his journey from being unable to lift his head off a pillow.
• Rehabilitation involved a gradual increase in physical activity, starting with short jogs.
• The experience of jogging again brought back memories of feeling healthy and alive.
• Gratitude for life became a central theme in Derek's recovery.
• Derek's perspective on life changed after his transplant; he wanted to live fully.
• He faced skepticism from medical professionals but pursued his passion for endurance sports.
• Derek's first Ironman was a significant milestone in his journey of recovery.
• The mental approach of breaking down challenges into smaller steps helped him succeed.
• Derek's story inspired others and was featured in a marketing campaign by his medical center.
• The finish line of the Ironman represented not just a race completion but a celebration of life. The mindset at the end of a race is crucial for finishing.
• Seeing others struggle can impact your own mental state.
• Heart transplant survivors are breaking barriers in endurance sports.
• Preparation, both mental and physical, is key to success.
• The journey to Kona is filled with challenges and triumphs.
• Inspiration can come from unexpected places and people.
• Nutrition and fueling strategies can change during long rides.
• Experiencing iconic locations can enhance the journey of endurance racing.
• Finishing an Ironman is a deeply emotional experience.
• Small actions can lead to significant changes in perspective.

Sound Bites

• "I could break in half or something."
• "I want more of this."
• "I'm in bonus round territory anyway."
• "Every moment is a gift."
• "I want to live life."
• "I will be confused with a dummy."
• "Just look at the next step."
• "I could probably make it around the oval."
• "I think you kind of broke that barrier."

Keywords

Derek Fitzgerald, Ironman, heart transplant, cancer survivor, rehabilitation, gratitude, endurance sports, Lake Placid, mental resilience, personal journey, Ironman, heart transplant, endurance racing, mindset, in

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Transcript

Mike Ergo (00:01.237)
Hey everybody, welcome back to the ginger and chocolate podcast. I'm Mike along with Lindsay and we're back with a special guest, Derek Fitzgerald and this is part two. So yeah, if you haven't listened to part one, I'd say go back and listen to that first or watch it and you don't want to miss this story. You know, Derek's an awesome friend, awesome human being. So we're glad to have him back. Welcome back, Derek.

Derek Fitzgerald (00:25.663)
Thank you, Marvin, Michael.

Mike Ergo (00:27.145)
Hahaha!

Lindsay Hiken (00:27.214)
Hahaha

Mike Ergo (00:30.709)
I like that man. Glad to have you back here, dude. Last time we kind of left off, mean, we got through the traumatic stuff, the cancer, heart transplants and starting to get back into Ironman or starting to get into Ironman. mean, just hammering out your first year, five Ks, 10 Ks, half marathon and Ironman, just you were just hitting a pace. And so I wanted to jump back on that track and catch that momentum for this episode today.

Derek Fitzgerald (00:57.524)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (01:01.685)
Fantastic. Yeah. So, just go into it, huh? All right. So I think I mentioned on the last time we were talking is that I literally started from trying to lift my head off of a pillow. If nobody was around to pick me up, I couldn't get out of bed. and that turned into walking from one side of my bedroom and back to, you know, walking my, my upstairs hallway and back to my

Mike Ergo (01:05.96)
Yeah, let's get into it,

Lindsay Hiken (01:06.269)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (01:31.807)
The house I was living at the time, was like my kitchen, my living room, my foyer, my dining room, my kitchen, my living room, my foyer, my just pacing tracks into the rug and into the flooring. But it took three months before they allowed me to head back out into the world and get behind the airbags in a car. They didn't want me in a car at all.

Lindsay Hiken (01:38.638)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (01:54.109)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (01:59.919)
mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (02:01.098)
because my chest was cracked. But they, they allowed me to go back to cardiac rehab three months out. And so I'm, I'm on a treadmill. They're, rehabbing everything. atrophy literally started with what's the Galloway method where you jog a little bit, you walk a little bit, you jungle a bit more, you walk a little bit less. I was starting at five seconds of a creaky old jog, like a decrepit.

Lindsay Hiken (02:03.438)
Hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (02:31.059)
old man jog to nine minutes and 55 seconds of a hobble to five seconds of a cricket old man jog. And that's, where I started. So going through this in, in cardiac rehab, they took me from five seconds to 30 seconds of a job on a treadmill. And I was hooked up to the telemetry. had a nurse, somebody monitoring me every second.

Mike Ergo (02:32.152)
huh.

Mike Ergo (02:38.122)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (03:01.619)
Like I could break in half or something. And, and I kind of felt that way too. And so finally, after a month or so of this, I was jogging up to 30 seconds and I'm like, okay, all right, I'm feeling something. I don't know what it is. All right. Jogging away. And my guy, Kurt was like resting his arms on the treadmill, you know, and.

Lindsay Hiken (03:04.654)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (03:30.378)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (03:31.467)
I'm like, Kurt, I feel like I could go another 30 seconds. Do you mind if I give it a shot? And he's like, yeah, don't hurt yourself, but give it a shot. So I go for another 30 seconds. In the meantime, the person on the treadmill next to me needed Kurt's attention. So Kurt turned away and something was brewing. I couldn't tell what was going on. And so when Kurt's back was turned, I was afraid he was going to tell me to stop and cool it. So while his back was turned, I picked up the pace and I ran for another 30 seconds.

And all of sudden, my feet started getting lighter on the treadmill. And my shoulders moved back, and my chin picked up.

and I didn't know what the hell was happening to me, but I started getting tingles on the back of my neck.

Mike Ergo (04:20.5)
Hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (04:22.267)
And even today, goosebumps thinking about this moment because at that moment I started getting a glimmer of a runner's high. It's all relative, right? From your conditioning to what a runner's high, when it'll hit. And with that runner's high, had been out of commission, died twice for 10 years. Okay. Out of commission for 10 years. And with that runner's high, felt

Lindsay Hiken (04:31.852)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (04:32.66)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (04:35.31)
sure.

Derek Fitzgerald (04:48.612)
all these memories of what it felt like to feel good and feel healthy and be active and feel alive.

Mike Ergo (04:51.741)
Yes.

Lindsay Hiken (04:54.126)
Can I ask you a couple of questions about this? So the first question is, were you, well, first question is, is it normal during this kind of physical therapy to have someone running on the treadmill or is that something that you had requested to do, even at the five second mark, they?

Derek Fitzgerald (04:56.821)
Please.

Derek Fitzgerald (05:15.187)
No, they, you got to get up and moving. And so they put you on a treadmill. You know, I think I said last time, your mileage may vary. So nobody knows where you're to take it. And I think it's more up here than it is anywhere else. So.

Lindsay Hiken (05:18.318)
Okay. Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (05:24.599)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (05:24.618)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (05:27.64)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (05:31.626)
Okay, okay. And then the other thing was, were you a runner at all prior to doing this? Okay.

Mike Ergo (05:32.874)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (05:40.011)
No, I played soccer in high school. That was where my athletic endeavor stopped. I joined the marching band in 11th grade. All right. So, uh, North Penn marching nights and Lansdale PA and the crossman drum and Buickor. Um, so yeah, I, I did that and that's, that's a level of athleticism in and of itself, but nothing since college, nothing since I was like 18. So it.

Lindsay Hiken (05:45.141)
Mm.

Mike Ergo (05:47.977)
yes done there

Lindsay Hiken (05:49.55)
You

Lindsay Hiken (06:05.794)
Wow, OK. OK. OK.

Derek Fitzgerald (06:09.413)
At 38, there I was, 39 years old, on a treadmill. And I had been sick for the previous 10 years at that point. And all of sudden I remembered what it was like to be healthy and feel healthy. And I was like, you know what? I want more of this.

Lindsay Hiken (06:27.758)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (06:28.245)
Yeah, I was going to ask because you have these medical professionals that are monitoring you and in some ways for your safety limiting you. So there's this kind of implicit message. Hey, don't push it too far. Let's just take it easy because they want to be cautious and yet your own experiences. I can go farther than these these limits we've we've set up. And so where's your mind going in terms of what's possible or what's next? What's what's happening in that moment?

Derek Fitzgerald (06:58.763)
You know what, I was taking it one day at a time. You know, there was still the very likely possibility that I wasn't going to survive the day. And I was like, okay, but you know what? I woke up today. I'm going to give it a shot. And every, every time I would start something, every time I go outside and just walk around the neighborhood, I was like, I can, I can see blue skies. I can feel the wind on my face. I can feel the sun on me.

Mike Ergo (07:01.385)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (07:12.959)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (07:27.955)
And this feels so much better than lying in a hospital bed or my bedroom and just dying. I'm just grateful to feel a breeze on my face.

Mike Ergo (07:34.025)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (07:39.123)
Yeah. Yeah. I got goosebumps when you said that man, just the gratitude for being alive, just gratitude for being outside and having the sun on your face. Like you said, and did it feel like, you know, if, if that was one of your last experiences, was it a good one on that treadmill? Being able to have that run.

Lindsay Hiken (07:39.47)
Mm.

Derek Fitzgerald (08:00.085)
heck yeah. Heck yeah. I mean, I'm in bonus round territory anyway. Every moment is a gift.

Mike Ergo (08:04.233)
Hehehehe

Lindsay Hiken (08:08.238)
It's such a nice, I don't know if it's, that's such a nice perspective to have. I think it's hard to have that perspective sometimes, especially if you haven't gone through something like you have. So that's a gift of, know, not that I would recommend this for anybody, but that is a gift of going through what you went through.

Mike Ergo (08:28.265)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (08:29.083)
Yeah. And so it shocked my doctors, I think, as much as it shocked me because I do a 5K and I'd be like, I want more of that. And then I'd do a half marathon. I'd be like, I want some more of that. And I'd say, can we do this? And I'd line up and my donor would get me across the finish line.

Mike Ergo (08:49.333)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (08:50.488)
Were they telling you not to do this at this time or were they like, okay, yeah.

Mike Ergo (08:52.927)
That's what I'm wondering, yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (08:55.101)
You know what? No, they weren't. Now, there are people who don't see things the way I do and even other transplant recipients. Like I said, everybody goes through their own journey. Everybody responds differently. I don't believe that I was given this chance at life to lock myself away and live in a bubble. I want to live life. I want to enjoy everything that life has to offer. And so

Mike Ergo (09:09.93)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (09:17.663)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (09:24.773)
I'm going to be the best custodian of my donor's gift by taking care of myself, by experiencing life, and doing all the things that neither one of us would have gotten to experience had we both died that day.

Mike Ergo (09:40.351)
Hmm. Yeah. So the, the, sum is greater than its parts. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. No, that so, yeah. I was wondering like Lindsay was saying too. You mean, do you have medical professionals being like easy Derek, like half marathon? Let's chill out a little bit.

Lindsay Hiken (09:42.36)
That's awesome.

Derek Fitzgerald (09:47.466)
Thank you.

Lindsay Hiken (09:55.982)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (09:59.179)
To their benefit, I think all of them just said, looking at my medical records, I'm checking and they go, wait, you did what? And I'm like, yeah, I just ran a marathon, right? I just did my first Olympic distance triathlon. And they're like, okay. To the point where after a while I finished my first Ironman in Lake Placid at two and a half years out and they,

Mike Ergo (10:07.997)
Heh.

Mike Ergo (10:25.503)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (10:29.621)
Penn Medicine, the place where I had my transplant, they did an ad campaign. you know, my ugly mug was up on billboards and the sides of trains and the sides of buses and television commercials, the whole nine.

Mike Ergo (10:40.97)
Love it.

Lindsay Hiken (10:45.176)
That's awesome. They're like, look what we can do.

Derek Fitzgerald (10:49.735)
It's, mean, yes, from, a sheer miraculous perspective and a marketing perspective, it just makes sense.

Lindsay Hiken (10:57.496)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (10:58.901)
Yeah, no, it's, it's, mean, it's amazing accomplishment just to survive. And then you're honoring the gift of your donor by doing these races, living life to the fullest. And like you say, you know, people have different perspectives on how to be a custodian of, you know, a transplant donors organ. And what I like about yours is it's not about being cautious to the point of not living. You're going to live.

Derek Fitzgerald (11:26.059)
All right. Yep.

Lindsay Hiken (11:29.358)
Okay, so I have questions about Lake Placid or just about the race itself. I've heard, know, oh, the water is really cold, this and that. How did you find the course? mean, what was the race day like just in terms of actually being a triathlete and getting out there on the course?

Derek Fitzgerald (11:35.573)
Sure.

Derek Fitzgerald (11:49.099)
Placid is one of those races where they tell you that you can have four seasons in one day based upon where you are in elevation. And I'd been out to Placid before. My story had gotten out there. Cause you know, when you sign up, they say, do you have any kind of biography or interesting tidbit that you would like to share with us? And I said, yeah, I just, you know, I'm a heart transplant recipient, cancer survivor. So they used to do back in the day.

Lindsay Hiken (11:53.794)
haha

Mike Ergo (11:54.015)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (12:06.467)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (12:08.38)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (12:09.314)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (12:19.627)
girls and boys, they used to have these pasta dinners the night before, Card loading. you know, all the athletes would be invited to this pasta dinner and there would be videos and Mike Riley would get up there and talk about the history of Lake Placid and all that good stuff. So he invited me up on stage the night before and he raised my hand and he said, Derek Fitzgerald, you will.

Lindsay Hiken (12:24.078)
Car bloating.

Mike Ergo (12:26.932)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (12:48.969)
be an Iron Man tomorrow. To me, that was like, I'm never gonna get a chance to hear that live. Like that is the closest that I will ever get to that level of accomplishment.

Mike Ergo (13:03.509)
Mmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (13:04.766)
And I mean, that was so friggin cool to have Mike say that for me the night before. And I don't think Mike gave me much of a shout to finish the next day either, because honestly, no other cancer surviving heart transplant to that point had finished a full. So the morning of the race, I go out and plass it to two loop swim. So you're on a beach. do plass it's great because they have the tow cable under the water.

Lindsay Hiken (13:10.03)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (13:10.548)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (13:19.662)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (13:33.855)
you can sight off of the tow cable that holds all the buoys.

Lindsay Hiken (13:35.781)
well.

Mike Ergo (13:37.141)
Okay.

Derek Fitzgerald (13:39.019)
cheat code, all right, my West Coast friends. And you actually get like a washing machine effect where the water pulls, know, the current pulls you of everybody else that you're around. It pulls you along. Really good for someone who's not a strong swimmer. Sight off the tow cable on the buoys, do a loop, get back on the beach. And I'm, I stumble out of the water after my first loop. Mike Riley spots me. He raises my hand up again. I'm staggering like, like,

Mike Ergo (13:40.147)
Yeah.

Hmm

Derek Fitzgerald (14:07.625)
I'm still trying to like catch my balance walking on the beach and he's like, Derek Fitzgerald, cancer survivor, heart transplant recipient. You will be an Ironman today. I'm like, no, I won't, but thank you very much. And so I, I stack, you let me go and I stagger back in for loop two. And it was the same deal. Hit the tow table, do your loop, get out. I didn't expect to finish the race, but I started and to have that experience and have Mike.

Lindsay Hiken (14:19.809)
You

Derek Fitzgerald (14:37.417)
Raise my hand twice at that point. like, dudes, this is like the coolest thing in the world. I'm just, I'm a, I'm a tourist here and I get to be alongside the people who are actually doing it. And that's cool. And so I will never be confused with an elite athlete. I will be confused with a dummy. That's the best thing that I can say on a, on a podcast. I will be confused.

Mike Ergo (14:49.247)
Hmm. Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (14:55.617)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (15:06.239)
Was someone not smart enough to stop when they should with enough determination to keep going, even though their body said that they should have stopped a long time ago. And go ahead, Mike.

Lindsay Hiken (15:10.2)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (15:19.797)
You know what I love about good? I would just what I love about that is you're starting with without the knowledge of oh, I can for sure finish this. But you're starting you're showing up at the start line. Like you said, you're like I'm going to do this. You know chips far fall where they may and I'm going to run this race as best I can.

Lindsay Hiken (15:38.99)
I would say that I know from my own personal experience and not for the same reasons as you, but I bet there's a lot of age groupers out there starting going, I'm probably not gonna finish this, because that's how I started my mind. But I was like, well, I'll just swim and then see what happens. And then it was sort of like, because I was injured. So I was like, well, I'll just get on my bike, you know, that kind of.

Mike Ergo (15:52.415)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (16:06.444)
mentality is actually, I found it to be useful. Instead of tripping about, well, is my knee gonna last through this bike into the run? And so I'm sure that to a certain degree, it kind of helped you through the race like it does other age groupers where you're just kind of like, well, I'm just gonna do the next thing in front of me as opposed to, if you look at the race as a whole, it's.

Mike Ergo (16:09.748)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (16:32.94)
a big long race, know, if you look at it like a two mile, 2.4 mile swim and you've been swimming, it's like, well, okay, I mean, I can do this swim, you know? And so yeah, there was probably an advantage to you feeling like you were just not gonna fit and not worrying about finishing.

Mike Ergo (16:35.007)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (16:42.997)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (16:52.523)
Oh, absolutely. mean, ignorance is bliss, especially when it comes to endurance sports. Um, but for me, you said that you can do a 2.4 mile swim and you have that mindset for me. break it down even further and I try to have a myopic view, right? You know, I, I, I only focus on from here to the stop sign from here to the telephone pole. That's how far I have to go. And then I go, all right, just do it again once. All right. Just do that again. Once that again, once. And I just keep.

Lindsay Hiken (16:55.086)
Mm hmm. Iron man.

Mike Ergo (16:55.263)
Yes.

Mike Ergo (17:12.661)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (17:18.23)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (17:19.369)
Yeah, yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (17:21.747)
you know, a short memory and myopic vision and just say, all I have to do is take the next step, you know, next pedal, you know, I'll get there. I don't know when I'll get there, but I'm not quitting.

Lindsay Hiken (17:32.481)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (17:37.271)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (17:37.577)
that that short term mindset is such an advantage. And I think like you're both saying, Lindsay and Derek, that if you look at an iron man or an endurance event to that extent is, my God, 140.6 miles. It's this huge mountain. I can never climb. But if you look at it as, okay, I can get to this corner or I can make this lap or I can get to this buoy. That short term mindset is everything. I'm and I mean, that's, it's, it's so, it's funny. The similarities I had even

you know, with like bootcamp for the Marine Corps is the whole thing seemed impossible to me. Um, but you break it down. If I can make it to lunch, I can make it a lunch. If I can make it to dinner, I can make it to dinner and you know, just get this next pushup in and uh, you know, applying that same mentality to doing touring sports is, is, is, the best thing I could ever give it as advice to people coming into the sport. Because if you think about the finish line the entire time and how far away it is, that's

Torture. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (18:37.486)
And you know, you can use this for like something like sobriety as well. You know, just between meetings, like I'm just going to go to this meeting in the morning and then there's a meeting at noon. I'm just going to make it between, you know, 8 a.m. and noon, between noon and 6 p.m. or something, you know, something like that. And then between 6 p.m. and bed at like, you know, sleeping until. And I think that that's that was helpful to me. And I know that's been helpful to other people.

Derek Fitzgerald (18:40.011)
You

Mike Ergo (18:52.34)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (19:00.415)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (19:07.052)
just this, like you said, this myopic view of the next, just the next step in front of you, not even, you know, not even the whole swim or something like that.

Mike Ergo (19:16.5)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (19:17.183)
Huh. You know, whether you are an athlete or a musician or, you know, in the military or you are, you know, you're just trying to get through the day. I mean, this, this has so many commonalities and so many threads that I think become inspiring for so many people because everybody can relate to their mountain and what it's going to take to get over it. So, I mean, like business work.

Lindsay Hiken (19:39.31)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (19:46.411)
everything there's their struggle and and and if you can just stop looking at the mountain all right just look at the next step break everything down a little small steps ago i can take one step i can take one step i can take the next step

Pretty soon the mountain's in the rear view.

Mike Ergo (20:05.621)
When did it start to dawn at you that maybe you just might finish Iron Man Lake Placid? When did that start to show up?

Derek Fitzgerald (20:14.571)
when I cross the finish line.

Lindsay Hiken (20:16.985)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (20:17.065)
So not until then, it's like even around the corner, you're like, I might collapse.

Derek Fitzgerald (20:18.302)
Nothing.

Yeah, no, I, because it had never really been done before, I never allowed myself to think about that or to assume anything. So I had friends, I know you're not supposed to have friends or Pacers run with you on the course, but you know, so what? It can't stop me now. It's over with. But I had friends who were spotting me, know, cheering for their friends and their

Mike Ergo (20:34.361)
huh.

Lindsay Hiken (20:34.456)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (20:42.904)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (20:49.003)
cheer for me and they'd run with me for a few miles and we'd tell dirty jokes to keep my mind off of the pain and because I'm a 12 year old at heart but but they're like Derek and they're doing the math for me like I'm not in math mode I'm horrible at time math in Ironman because I'm just too exhausted especially when I was starting off but they would do math mode for me they're like Derek all right at your current pace

Lindsay Hiken (20:55.266)
Mm-hmm

Mike Ergo (21:00.127)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (21:17.843)
You're going to, you're going to finish. We got to a point where they were telling me, Derek, you're going to finish this thing. I'm like, no, don't say that. That's not in my head. That's not, that's not where my vision is, is allow. can't go there yet. And placid, it messes with your head a little bit because there's the big Olympic oval that you finish in and you have to actually pass the oval.

Mike Ergo (21:33.621)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (21:47.051)
and go up a street away from the oval, you're everybody cheering. You go away for a little final, you get a taste, you get a whiff, you hear the crowd cheering like, just want to go there. But you turn away, you do like your last 5k out and back into the oval. And by the time my foot hit the outside of the oval, coming into the oval,

Mike Ergo (21:51.411)
Yeah, a little taste of it.

Lindsay Hiken (21:51.576)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (21:59.256)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (21:59.358)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (22:06.519)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (22:15.113)
and just the history of that place and what's actually occurred there of Olympic history and other athletes who have competed there and done amazing things in that place. It's a magical little town and you do like a, go from the far side of the track, you make the turn and the finish line is on the other side of the track. And it's just the victory lap.

Mike Ergo (22:31.05)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (22:31.981)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (22:45.131)
All right, you've done it. And unless you're fighting for the last seconds at that time, it was the last seconds before midnight. All right, so I was, I think I still had 14 minutes left before, from the time I hit the oval to the time I crossed the finish line. So I was, you know, 11 minutes and 11 hours and 46 minutes or something like that. I knew at that point that I could.

Lindsay Hiken (22:57.742)
Hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (23:14.035)
I could probably make it around the oval, even if I fell on my face three times. I'd probably finish. I'd crawl if I had to.

Lindsay Hiken (23:19.512)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (23:23.042)
Yeah, yeah. It's interesting that you kept that, you know, I'm going to finish off until you finished because I have to say when I did my I've only done one. I've done some I've done a couple where I paid and then DNS, you know, but I've only done one. And the first thing is you would you would come on the on the loops, you would come right near the finish and have to turn and go back out.

Mike Ergo (23:51.615)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (23:53.166)
And so, you know, I'm seeing friends of mine who are fast. Like I saw one of my really good friends. I saw Heidi Mike running in when I was heading out for my last loop. She was running in and I was like, she's like, hey girl. And on her way to finish, I'm like, hey girl, you know. But in the shoot, you know, you had to come around a corner and in the shoot, there were people who were like sitting down.

Derek Fitzgerald (24:08.159)
Thank

Mike Ergo (24:08.479)
Yeah

Lindsay Hiken (24:19.918)
And I think they were so intent on getting to the shoot and the finishing, you know, onto the carpet. They were like, OK, I'm good. And they were just sitting there. And, you know, I was like, I mean, they had some time, but but I thought because I kind of was thinking I don't want to collapse and I don't there were two things I didn't want to do. I didn't want to collapse and I didn't want to lose control of my bodily functions before I crossed the finish line. I'd watched a lot of Iron Man videos and I was like.

Mike Ergo (24:45.758)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (24:48.44)
There's a couple of things here I don't want to do. So I was sort of focused, you know, on getting to the actual line as well, just trying to make sure that those those things didn't happen. But just the the to see how much the mindset at that towards the end of the race really makes a difference in whether or not you're going to finish. There was just so many because I was out there in the, you know, in the back kind of and it got dark and Santa Rosa has no lights.

Derek Fitzgerald (24:50.665)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (24:50.789)
Bad finisher photo, yeah.

Mike Ergo (25:07.167)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (25:16.236)
So you had to wear a headlamp, they gave everyone headlamps. So all you could see, you could no longer look at other people. You could just see little dots of light. And I just saw people kind of falling apart once there was nothing for them. It was just them and their brain. You just saw people kind of falling out onto the, onto the course. was littered with people after it got dark. And I don't think that they all had their bodies give out. Cause I was injured. I wasn't in great shape. It's just.

Mike Ergo (25:28.873)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (25:42.99)
My coach at the time had done a good job of preparing me mentally to just keep going, you know.

Mike Ergo (25:47.327)
That's, well, that's, that's huge. And I'm thinking about this for Lindsay, for you and I, you know, we have a precedent set of people have finished iron mans. People have finished that. And then I'm thinking for you, Derek, you don't have that precedent of, know, there's a lot of heart transplant cancer survivors who finished iron mans. This is your experience. You're the one forging that path ahead. So I gotta imagine it's almost like,

Lindsay Hiken (25:57.932)
Right. Yeah.

Mike Ergo (26:15.839)
You know, you see pitchers and baseball throwing a no hitter. Nobody talks to them because they're in the zone. They don't want to say, Hey, you're to throw a no hitter or you're throwing a perfect game. They're like, get the get out of here. Get out of here. Just let me keep in the zone.

Lindsay Hiken (26:22.55)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (26:25.611)
Alright Yeah, I mean The really really I mean you mentioned that the really cool thing now is that There are several I mean, there's one heart transplant recipient who finished Iron Man Canada But Purely heart transplant Kyle garlic He had done a half cancer and a heart transplant

Mike Ergo (26:41.941)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (26:55.657)
but made it to Kona and had attempted Kona twice and hadn't been able to finish. It was really cool that one of the guys who has done Ironman like classes a lot, he was actually, he's a doctor and he had volunteered to be med staff in Kona one of the years that Kyle didn't finish. Kyle, if you're listening to this, I'm sorry, bud, but

Lindsay Hiken (27:00.493)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (27:25.833)
But ultimately, in the year that Kyle didn't finish Kona, this guy who does a lot of Ironman Lake Placid and Kona, he was the guy who had to pull Kyle off the course. And so while you're waiting to start Ironman Lake Placid, you can go out into the lake and just splash the water, get acclimated. And I'm splashing around in the water, just getting used to the temperature. And this guy approaches me in the water.

Mike Ergo (27:40.661)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (27:41.029)
Derek Fitzgerald (27:55.979)
And he's like, introduces himself and he said, I heard about your story. I feel ashamed at saying this, but I was the guy who pulled Kyle, you know, Kyle story. was like, yeah, of course I'm a Kyle story. It's like, I was the guy who pulled him from the course. I was the guy who told him this day was over.

I'm here to tell you that you look like you're in great shape. I fully believe that you're gonna finish today. And I was like, all right, yeah, I mean, it's...

Mike Ergo (28:18.741)
Mmm.

Lindsay Hiken (28:21.102)
awesome.

Derek Fitzgerald (28:26.539)
Since I finished Placid, there have been so many other heart transplant recipients and cancer survivors to finish Ironman. To go further than I have, mean, Elmar Sprint, similar scenario, heart transplant recipient. That dude, he was an Ironman finisher before his heart transplant, had the virus, myocarditis, affected his heart, had to get a heart transplant, went back out.

and started doing Iron Man again and he finishes faster than most people with their factory installed parts. Dude's a beast. A beast.

Lindsay Hiken (29:01.121)
Mm-hmm

It's one of those things that I think humans have where there'll be sort of a barrier and then, you know, one person breaks that barrier, like with running times, you know, like how quickly can we finish a marathon? It's like as soon as one person does it, all of a sudden people are like, that's a thing we can do. And you see other people come out and do it without, you know. So I think you kind of broke that barrier. And then probably people were like, well, okay.

Mike Ergo (29:13.833)
Yeah, the four minute mile.

Lindsay Hiken (29:32.364)
I guess having a heart transplant isn't really mean I can't do an Iron Man, which is awesome.

Derek Fitzgerald (29:40.125)
Yeah, it's so cool to see that happening. And there's still a small group of us, but we all kind of keep track of each other on social media and stuff like that and cheer each other on. it's the coolest thing in the world.

Lindsay Hiken (29:55.118)
So how quickly did you go to Kona after you did like Plasa? Did you do more full distance Iron Man's before Kona or was it sort of like Iron Man was like, come on to Kona?

Derek Fitzgerald (30:07.071)
Well, I did not qualify to get to do Kona. I actually raised money. So I rode my bike from Santa Monica to Avalon, New Jersey, 3,400 miles raising money for, for team and training, raising money for organ donation awareness and raised enough for team and training that I got in through the team and training spot, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. So they got me to Kona and

Mike Ergo (30:32.767)
Hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (30:36.491)
At that point, Kona was my sixth iron. I think fifth, fifth or sixth. Anyway, I had to do Wisconsin. I had to prove to Ironman. They were a little gun shy at that point of letting in heart transplant recipients. They didn't want any kind of major bad publicity moment.

Lindsay Hiken (30:39.756)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (30:49.74)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (31:00.856)
sure.

Mike Ergo (31:01.46)
Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (31:03.157)
heart transplant recipient dies on Ironman course, right? That's horrible. That'd be horrible. But they said, all right, you finish one and you're raising enough money, we'll let you in. And so I did, I rode across the country. did, I think it was Ironman, Wisconsin, like three weeks after I finished the cross-country bike ride. And then I did Kona like,

Lindsay Hiken (31:06.23)
Right.

Mike Ergo (31:28.961)
my god.

Derek Fitzgerald (31:32.969)
two or three months after that.

Lindsay Hiken (31:35.342)
That bike leg must have been a breeze after riding your bike across the country. And like, it's just one hundred and twelve miles. Like, whatever, man. I don't want to just be like, oh, you rode your bike across the country and next thing, you know, just tell us a little bit like just what was that like, you know, to actually ride your bike across the country? I know a couple of people who've done it and they're

Mike Ergo (31:38.13)
you

Derek Fitzgerald (31:41.255)
Yeah, yeah, it was. It's all perspective, right?

Mike Ergo (31:46.645)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (32:05.078)
You know, they're pretty badass. Was it so how long did it take you? Did you have to stop and do fundraising and kind of what was it like for you?

Derek Fitzgerald (32:15.471)
We were raising money the entire time we raised money before. was me and two other people, one sag wagon driver and another cyclist. And it was, I mean, we stayed at, we'd plotted everything out ahead of time. We knew when we were going to stop. Starting off on the West coast, moving East, know, West coast as they were building the roadways out West, they knew that the,

Army Corps of Engineers developing the roadways knew how to make longer inclines, more gradual inclines as you get further out East and you know, the Appalachians, it's just like up, down, up, down. So it's it from a, from a physical endurance perspective. mean, we had, we had a nutritionist tell us, all right, so this is what you're going to eat to fuel every day. And like three days in, we were like, you know what, where's the next.

Mike Ergo (32:44.277)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (32:49.671)
huh.

Mike Ergo (32:56.0)
god.

Derek Fitzgerald (33:12.969)
Convenience store give me some powdered sugar Donuts and chocolate milk and we're taking pictures of that just feeling up sending it back in the nutritionist It was but when you're riding 77 miles on a day on average for 44 days

Lindsay Hiken (33:17.602)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (33:20.053)
You

Hehehehe

Lindsay Hiken (33:30.286)
You can eat a powdered sugar donut, you know.

Derek Fitzgerald (33:30.291)
You can pretty much do anything you want.

You know, in a whole bag of them, you're not going to gain weight.

Mike Ergo (33:33.907)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (33:36.142)
So what was your favorite state to ride through and what was your least favorite state?

Derek Fitzgerald (33:41.675)
favorite state to ride through was probably, where's monument Valley. Arizona. Thank you. Yeah. We rode through that strip that they shot for forest gum, all of the old Westerns. So, you know, I'm, I'm on my, bicycle, but I'm like, pretending I'm on a horse, you know, the Clint Eastwood soundtrack whistles. worst favorite was probably West Virginia. Cause the, road sides were.

Mike Ergo (33:47.39)
Arizona.

Mike Ergo (33:53.498)
huh. Yeah.

Mike Ergo (34:00.255)
Hahaha.

Derek Fitzgerald (34:12.373)
just a mess, was constant flat tires and loose dogs chasing after you trying to bite your ankles.

Lindsay Hiken (34:19.95)
I don't like, I love dogs, but a loose dog when you're on a bike is a scary, scary thing. Right.

Derek Fitzgerald (34:26.687)
Yeah, just usually a loose junkyard dog. they're, they're, they're meaner, they're tougher, they're.

Mike Ergo (34:31.769)
They don't let go.

Lindsay Hiken (34:32.034)
I had a friend get bitten in the calf by a loose junkyard dog when she was doing a half Ironman here in California. And she kept riding a little bit and then she just kind of fell over into the grass. She rode far enough away that the dog stopped chasing her after he bit her. And you know, it was a whole thing. She ended her Ironman in a hospital and had to get the rabies shot and do all of that stuff because you kind of think.

Mike Ergo (34:39.957)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (34:58.464)
Here they are, but they're not really going to do anything. And this one was like, no, no, I'm here to. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I've written through Monument Valley, and you're right, that's pretty spectacular. Highly recommend. How many days in were you when you hit that?

Mike Ergo (35:02.773)
I'm here to bite.

Derek Fitzgerald (35:17.483)
I was 2015 when I did that, so it's been 10 years now. But we rode through the desert in Arizona. The temperatures got to like 130 degrees on our bike computers. We rode to the Grand Canyon. So we started in Santa Monica. We rode down to Oceanside and then cut across.

Lindsay Hiken (35:20.078)
A little bit. Yeah.

Mike Ergo (35:22.613)
10 years.

Lindsay Hiken (35:35.106)
Derek Fitzgerald (35:46.673)
east so it was just gorgeous i mean if highly you know two thumbs up highly recommend if you ever get a chance to do it i don't know that i do it again but

Lindsay Hiken (35:48.078)
Okay. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (35:56.813)
Hmm.

Mike Ergo (35:59.325)
Yeah, it's kind of a one and done thing for most people that do it.

Derek Fitzgerald (36:02.217)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (36:05.43)
I'd do it if it was like a five star tour where there was like a comfy hotel each time and each night and a sag wagon with a lot of goodies and not not quite as hardcore as you did. You know, take about three months to do it. I could see that. But otherwise, it's going to be a no for me. I'll say quickly because we don't want to take too long. And but tell us a little bit about Kona, about.

Mike Ergo (36:20.863)
Hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (36:24.331)
So, melt for me, dog.

Lindsay Hiken (36:35.318)
you know, your race there and how you felt and what the course was like for you and all of that good stuff.

Derek Fitzgerald (36:37.076)
Derek Fitzgerald (36:40.777)
Well, it's obviously iconic. and, and so by that time I was feeling confident in, in knowing that I was the worst athlete on the course. I get into the water and it's just a different breed in Kona. So I get into the water, you know, I, I, they didn't let, they, they lined people up by gender and age group, not by where you want to deceive yourself. So I had.

Lindsay Hiken (37:09.944)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (37:10.731)
younger, faster swimmers behind me. did not want to be in that position, but just the way it was. you know, gun goes off or the cannon. I start swimming and within three minutes, somebody is like right on my, my feet, then my hip. And I'm thinking they're, they're getting a little handsy. So I'm gonna pull little extra umph in my, you know, my backstroke as I'm, know, so just give them a little elbow. This dude,

In one move, was like kung fu, right? go little extra with the elbow. It takes my elbow, slaps my wrist, puts it behind my back in a chicken wing, and then swims across me, on top of me. I couldn't even be mad. I couldn't be mad. It was the smoothest thing I'd ever seen. And I'm like choking from that salty water thing.

Mike Ergo (37:52.479)
That is some Kung Fu right there.

Lindsay Hiken (37:52.568)
Such a dude.

Lindsay Hiken (37:58.542)
You're like, I'm drowning, but this guy was really smooth.

Derek Fitzgerald (38:04.775)
I was the smoothest I had ever experienced. Probably, I don't know, Tim O'Donnell, you know, I apologize for trying to elbow you if that was you, but, but you swam on top of me and it was glorious. got out of the water and someone had given me the great idea. I got to my bike. Someone had given me the great idea. Like all of that nasty saltwater in my, my nasal passages put some

Lindsay Hiken (38:14.018)
Ha ha ha.

Mike Ergo (38:15.541)
Ha ha ha.

Derek Fitzgerald (38:34.475)
Sour Patch Kids in your bento box on your bike. So I put some Sour Patch Kids in my bento box. I get on the bike. I'm coming out of transition. I'm on the bike. First thing, I'm like, that's nasty. I grab a Sour Patch Kid, but I'm so excited. I'm thinking to myself, I'm in Kona. I just get out of the water. I'm on the bike. I'm in Kona. I just get out the water. And I forgot to chew the Sour Patch Kid and I inhaled and it lodged in my windpipe.

Lindsay Hiken (39:03.806)
good Lord.

Derek Fitzgerald (39:04.775)
I wasn't smart enough to get off the bike and try to hack it up. I started trying to get myself the Heimlich while I'm on the bike, pedaling forward. The world was starting to go black because I can't breathe. I'm seeing spots and I'm wobbling on the bike. And finally I just hit just below my sternum in the right spot. It comes, the, the Swedish fish on lodges or the, the Sour Patch Kid on lodges hits the back of my teeth. I'm like,

Mike Ergo (39:04.797)
Yes.

Derek Fitzgerald (39:34.335)
briny, finish it off and just went.

Lindsay Hiken (39:37.966)
Did it help?

Derek Fitzgerald (39:38.943)
But, it helped. helped. totally helped. it was a rough day in Kona for me. I think, that was the start of it. I got to, I got out to Javi and I was so tired and fatigued from everything. was hot sun. I don't do well in sun. I got into Javi. I'm coming back and I'm so far behind on my bike pace that I knew that I was going to have to PR.

my run by 20 minutes if I wanted to finish.

Mike Ergo (40:13.781)
Is that mess with your head?

Derek Fitzgerald (40:16.349)
No, because I never expect to finish anyways.

Lindsay Hiken (40:19.662)
Hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (40:21.811)
So, so it got so bad that, you know, if, you've done Kona, you're coming back from Javi and then you make a right onto the Queen K for the final leg back into, back into Waikoloa and all that, right? There was a traffic cop, a woman holding traffic for me as I'm making the right back onto the Queen K. And she looks at me, she goes,

sugar, at least you tried.

Lindsay Hiken (40:52.456)
excuse me.

Derek Fitzgerald (40:55.755)
And I was like, and at that point, it's a little ramp of a hill coming up on that turn right. And I was like, Oh no, Oh no, we are not quitting. And I was like, thank you very much. And I like took a little bit of that downhill. There was nobody in front of me. It's a straightaway for miles. I could see no, everyone had dropped me. And I was like, still going. I'm just doing this. I don't care when I, when I finish, I'm finishing. Like say that to me, you know,

And, but she was, she was very sweet. She was well-intentioned and she made sure I didn't get hit by a car, which I sincerely appreciate.

Mike Ergo (41:33.787)
Just what you needed, sounds like.

Derek Fitzgerald (41:36.073)
Yeah, so I was doing the math in my head. I could do Ironman math at that point. I knew if I kept a certain pace and I didn't stop at all. If I knew if I if I could beat my marathon time by 20 minutes, I could finish. did the math and literally it is the final minutes to Kona. I'm on I've turned off the Queen K. I'm on Ali'i Drive and I can hear the crowd.

And like all the other athletes think the race is over that finished in daylight and they're just kind of there with their families. They're gathered in the chute. They've got their beach chairs on their backs. They've got their coolers that they're trying to drag across. They don't realize that I'm still trying to finish and I'm like counting down the minutes. And I finished with like six minutes to spare before midnight. Across the finish line. dude.

Lindsay Hiken (42:08.898)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (42:12.727)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (42:22.837)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (42:23.413)
You

Lindsay Hiken (42:29.07)
Nice.

Mike Ergo (42:29.951)
What's that shoot like? What's that shoot like when you're getting there?

Derek Fitzgerald (42:35.435)
Well, first I was like, excuse me, trying to finish, know, people walking through the shoot, you know, I was like, come on. And I didn't know if I'd actually made it or not, but at that point I was delirious, honestly. Excuse me. Um, I was completely wiped 20 minute PR and a run from, anybody, especially in color. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (42:37.676)
my gosh.

Mike Ergo (42:40.98)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (43:00.753)
Incona. Incona. Yeah, that's insane.

Derek Fitzgerald (43:05.802)
So for me, it was just I finished, I put my hands up and I was like, check please, where's the saline drip?

Mike Ergo (43:15.061)
Did you lie in that tent for a little while?

Derek Fitzgerald (43:17.039)
I went in that tent for a little, Jan Frodeno had won that year and he put the, the layer on my neck and I was like, I didn't even know he was there. And, and, and I staggered my way. I was like, can someone point me towards a tent? And, and I laid down for a little while, but it was, it was amazing. when I came to, and I figured out, came to my senses, I didn't pass out or anything, but I, definitely was.

Lindsay Hiken (43:26.87)
Derek Fitzgerald (43:46.155)
a little witless at the time and came to my senses. And it's just, the most iconic race, the most iconic course to be out there with the people who know what they're doing was a privilege to be able to get there by giving back the two organizations that took care, such good care of me and people like me, both with cancer and, and people who need organs in order to live.

coolest thing ever and I'm just grateful that I had the opportunity.

Lindsay Hiken (44:21.486)
Awesome. What a cool experience. mean, you know, from almost dying from the gummy bear to PRing, you know, that's a wide gamut of things to go through on one during one race, you know. Oh, and let's not forget the lady who, you know, without her, you might not have finished. mean, sometimes you just need someone to say something like that where you're like, wait, I'm going to prove you. Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (44:37.94)
That's

Derek Fitzgerald (44:43.701)
she gave me.

Mike Ergo (44:48.223)
some backhanded bitchy comment is what fueled you through that last leg of the queen K and the run. I love it. Yeah.

Derek Fitzgerald (44:54.761)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (44:54.774)
I know someone who's sober who got their first year of sobriety because someone in rehab, a nurse or something basically told them like, you're not gonna make it, you're never gonna make it a year kind of deal. And they were like, watch me, you know. Out of spite, they stayed sober. Now they've been sober like 20 something years, but it's like just out of sheer spite, they went through and did something amazing.

Mike Ergo (45:13.503)
of spite.

Lindsay Hiken (45:24.942)
Sometimes it's a good trait to have.

Mike Ergo (45:29.653)
Do you recall here in Riley, call your name and tell you you're an Ironman as you cross the finish line there in Kona?

Derek Fitzgerald (45:36.477)
Yeah, yeah, I was trying not to fall over at the time. And thankfully, you know, I, I get the benefit of people knowing my story and you know, they had the video crew on me all day saying, my God, I can't believe it's still going kind of thing. Like neither can I. And so they, they showcase my story on the NBC broadcast. And not only do I kind of remember it live.

Mike Ergo (45:39.304)
You

Mike Ergo (45:51.7)
Mm-hmm.

Derek Fitzgerald (46:05.055)
But definitely whenever I see it played on TV, I was like, yeah, I remember that. And they have me crossing the finish line, you can hear Mike Riley, Derek for sure, you are an Iron Man. And it just still gives me goosebumps to this day.

Mike Ergo (46:11.348)
Yep.

Mike Ergo (46:20.287)
Goosebumps. Goosebumps indeed.

Lindsay Hiken (46:21.792)
I loved hearing that when he said that. It such an amazing moment for anybody to hear that.

Mike Ergo (46:28.297)
huh. Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to, we're going to post a, your NBC broadcast and we got the picture of you at the finish line there at Kona. You're right. You're out of your mind as anyone should be, you know, at the finish line in Kona after a day like that. So we'll have that for everybody to see.

Derek Fitzgerald (46:28.35)
Absolutely.

Derek Fitzgerald (46:48.544)
Very cool.

Lindsay Hiken (46:49.922)
Well, I think we did it. I'm so happy to get to have a second episode with you, Derek, and to hear about your athletic endeavors. What an inspiration and...

You know, sometimes I hear something like that and I'm like, I don't really have any excuse, you know, to I was thinking this morning, like, I don't want to go to that strength workout tonight. Like, I'd rather just cozy up on my couch and eat mint chip ice cream, which is my current obsession. But I'm like, well, geez, I mean, if this guy with the heart transplant can do a full Kona, I can go to like a 50 minute strength workout when there's literally nothing wrong with me. So I appreciate it. Yes, I.

Mike Ergo (47:31.797)
Perspective giver,

Derek Fitzgerald (47:33.311)
perspective.

Lindsay Hiken (47:34.688)
I appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us for sure.

Derek Fitzgerald (47:39.947)
Thanks for having me. appreciate it. Now we'll say to that. I hate, I hate swimming. I hit biking. I hit running. I hit lifting weights. I hate all of it. I love how I feel after it though.

Mike Ergo (47:50.421)
Yes, exactly.

Lindsay Hiken (47:51.916)
That's it. That's it. Yeah. You know, if I looked at those things, the way I look at mint chip ice cream, I would do them all the time, right? Because I'm like, I know I'm going to feel good. The difference is I feel good while eating the mint chip. Not so great after, you know. But you're right. You're right. All of these health, all of these things we can do if you're listening to this and you're like, well, I'm not going to do an Iron Man. I'm not even going to do a triathlon. I'm not even going to do a marathon or half marathon.

Derek Fitzgerald (48:08.939)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (48:21.74)
It really doesn't take all of that to get the benefits. Derek just described being on a treadmill and running for 30 seconds and the upside of doing that. So I highly encourage you, if you're listening and you aren't doing anything to move your body right now, just try anything. And you're going to feel that same high that Derek described, and we all felt doing our different athletic endeavors.

All righty, Mike, you wanna take us out?

Mike Ergo (48:53.983)
Thanks for being here, Derek. Appreciate you coming back, man. I'm proud to call you a friend and thank you for, for joining us. Yeah. I will see you all next week, everyone. Take care until then.

Derek Fitzgerald (49:00.651)
Thank you both.

Lindsay Hiken (49:02.424)
Ready.

Lindsay Hiken (49:07.138)
Bye.