Episode 83 - Losers Are Winners: How Sterling Lock Survived 7 Marathons in 7 Days
Episode #83 | Losers Are Winners | How Sterling Lock Survived 7 Marathons in 7 Days
What does it take to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents? A little insanity, a lot of discipline, and probably more anti-inflammatories than anyone wants to admit. In this Losers are Winners episode, Sterling Lock shares the highs, the breakdowns, the brutal physical setbacks, and the mindset that carried him through one of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet. It’s equal parts inspiring, intense, and a great reminder that leadership starts with how you handle pain when nobody’s coming to save you.
About The Curious Builder
The host of the Curious Builder Posdast is Mark D. Williams, the founder of Mark D. Williams Custom Homes Inc. They are an award-winning Twin Cities-based home builder, creating quality custom homes and remodels — one-of-a-kind dream homes of all styles and scopes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your current space or start fresh with a new construction, we build homes that reflect how you live your everyday life.
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Mark D. Williams 00:01
If you've been following us for a while, you know all about Sonic camp 2.0 it's on March 20. All the details can be found@curiousbuilder.com tickets are selling fast. We hope to see you there,
Sterling Lock 00:17
growing up the way I did underprivileged. You know, single mom of three, just struggled in life. There's a lot of pain and discomfort kind of always in my life. And I found out very early that to have success, there's always going to be kind of discomfort or pain that you can have to push through. And it's always worth it. I don't enjoy pain. I like to, you know, sit on the couch and watch TV and relax, but I know that the good comes from the discomfort. Welcome to
Mark D. Williams 00:48
cures builder. I'm Mark Williams, your host today. I've got a special longtime friend, first time guest, Sterling Locke, What's up, buddy? How's it going? It's good to be here. So we are doing our Thursday's winners or losers. And you actually, you know, I have, actually, haven't seen each other now for several months. We've been in a we've been in the c9 shout out to coalition nine for the last couple of years, and we are both. We both love athletics. We love pushing our boundaries, all that stuff. You have quite a collegiate background as well, and we'll get into that a little bit. But the main reason I wanted to bring you in is you have had a very tumultuous couple of years. You've shared a lot of it. We don't have to share it all on this episode. All on this episode, but you. But the highlight was, is last What month was it that you was it November? November? You ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents that I did. And that's a pretty baller intro. So I it's a little bit of a different take on this episode series. But once you give a brief intro of who you are. And I'll start with after that, I'll give you a kind of the normal question I give every guest on Thursdays. And then we'll talk mostly about, you know, the seven days, seven marathons, and what you learned?
Sterling Lock 01:49
Yeah, so I'm Sterling lock CFO by trades, been in finance for the last seven to eight years, Marine Corps, officer, collegiate athlete. Right now, I'm just focused on, kind of the athletics. Being a father, I'm enjoying kind of my life with my kids. Yeah, I
Mark D. Williams 02:04
love it when you signed up, because it's kind of amazing. So if you haven't seen Sterling, he's got a black shirt right now, so you can't this guy is a chunk of muscle. He's like, 6% body fat, like, probably, what? 210 215 210 Yeah, it looks like a truck that's going to take you out on an intersection, but he's got a smile on it. So we are the two alphas in our c9 group. If he stood up, I stood up. If he talked about running, I talked about running, I can't compete with him and speed, so I just have to go farther. Now he's gonna go farther than that. So anyway, we became good friends as we talked about all this nonsense and mutual respect and cheering each other on. So when you told me, I think you did your first marathon, what, just a year ago, August 2025 which is insane and and so you did your first marathon, blistering fast. And because you have a d1 rowing background. So you got a University of Wisconsin, yeah. And so anyway, what made you sign up for the seven? I mean, you went from one marathon to seven marathons in seven days on seven continents,
Sterling Lock 03:00
which is in less than two months. Yeah, it was one of those moments. I finished my first race in August. And I'm always someone that's pushing boundaries trying to figure out what's next. And it's never completing the marathon or the goal. It's always just the process. And so sitting on my couch, I think I opened up Instagram, I got an ad for the great world race. And, you know, so they did the year previous, and I sent to a friend of mine who I ran my marathon with, and he's like, I'll do it if you do it, not thinking he's gonna say, Yes, you know, I just sent it as like, oh, look, this is cool. And he, by the time I respond, he already set up a consult, like a consulting interview with the race director. And I got an email saying, you know, your time's confirmed. This is the time that you meet with the race director. So here I am meeting with the race director, with my friend Jordan. And then we thought about, do we want to raise money to do this thing?
Mark D. Williams 03:53
So basically, you from race director to sign up was basically in one call, yeah.
Sterling Lock 03:57
So one call, and then I think it took us about three or four days to think about it and decided to do it. Decide to do it. Yeah.
Mark D. Williams 04:03
Okay, so you've committed. We can talk a little bit about why later. Maybe there's no why. Maybe it's just, I mean, you want to, you know, I know, just knowing you personally, you've always wanted to have a strong example for your kids. You have two boys, right? That's correct, and they're, what, seven and five. No, they're three and four and a half. Three and four and four and a half, okay, so a couple years younger than mine. And what was the main motivation for the sign up? And let's talk a little bit about kind of the training as you sort of like, gear up for all this racing. Yeah.
Sterling Lock 04:33
So I mean, I think the main motivation for me was just pushing boundaries. And I think for me, physical fitness is always, you know that in business, have always been the easiest routes for me to kind of push my boundaries, be uncomfortable, and my big thing for that is showing my kids what's possible, right? You know, I think fitness as a father is very important, you know, especially being in business, and that's demanding, but I still get my workout, and every day I still, you know, show up. And it's that that kind of pushed me to do the great world. Sit and kind of accept that challenge. They do it for charity. So a friend of mine, daughter died by gun violence two years ago, and I wanted to raise money for the charity they started, and so I ran it for that charity to raise money for they do it for college kids, well, high school kids that come from underprivileged backgrounds and helped put them through college, and so that was the charity. And then also, just for my kids,
Mark D. Williams 05:27
yeah, that's amazing. So walk me a little bit through, just to stay on, on par with the episodes of the losers are winners. What were some setbacks, you know, during your trainer, because I remember we had one of our c9 meetings where it's like you were nursing, I think, like a knee injury or a hamstring. I mean, you were kind of dealing with a litany of injuries going into the race. Never mind that you have to go run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Yeah.
Sterling Lock 05:50
So I think this is funny for most people to say, is, I don't call myself a runner, right? I'm 210, pounds. I Yes, I was a rower, but then, you know, I kind of got into bodybuilding and powerlifting and then CrossFit. And so I've never been a runner by trade. And so I started running September of 2024 because a friend last minute decided that we were going to run the lifetime half marathon in Chicago. And I think I ran maybe three or four times before that marathon, the half marathon ended up running a 705 constant pace for my first half marathon with, you know, maybe four or five runs prior to that. And given I, you know, I do have a d1 background. I was training pretty hard in a CrossFit background, so I still had that aerobic base. I'm still very athletic. But a 705 is pretty good for your half marathon. It's very fast. And what turns, you know, my friend goes, you know, if you just ran twice as far and a little bit faster, you could qualify for Boston. And like, I've never ran a half marathon. That was my first time, let alone a marathon. And I'm like, I don't think that's even possible. I can't imagine doing twice as much for and doing that a little faster. And of course, someone else said, yeah, you couldn't do it anyways. And that was kind of that made me do I want to do. That's the best reason, just because they don't think Ian, but actually I was like, I know I don't want to run a marathon. I want to get back to my weightlifting and my training. I enjoy that type of kind of CrossFit style hit workouts. But then my friend Jordan, who you will find convinces me to do all the bad things in life when it comes to athletics. He's like, Listen, man, I have a half marathon medal, and my girlfriend's gonna make fun of me for the rest of my life. If I don't have a full marathon medal, I'm gonna feel like a quitter, so I'm gonna sign up for a marathon. And this gives you justification to sign up for a marathon. And if you qualify, Jordan, the guy you train with, yes, yeah, he's my trading partner, and so he knew that I needed something outside of me to do this marathon, to sign up for a marathon, to train for a marathon. So he made it about him, even though it was always about me. And so we decided to do the Houston Marathon. But I ended up getting injured, multiple injuries. I had a growing injury. And so not being a runner, my gait, my natural gait, is very off being a heavier guy. I was over striding, that just led to some injuries. And so I was, I didn't run for about six weeks, you know, into December and January. So I couldn't do a February marathon. And then I ended up putting my hamstring March or April timeframe, and then, which led to about another month off. And then, you know, I did my first marathon at 309 I believe a 307
Mark D. Williams 08:22
that was a trail one too, if it was Yeah, which is super for those that don't know, like, obviously, road marathon is a lot different than trail. So three or nine is moving anyway, but moving on a trail, because I remember you're disappointed. You wanted to be under three, is what you told me. Yeah, my goal was to below 255, right? But I mean, again, on trail, every trail is so different, and each day is so different.
Sterling Lock 08:41
So yeah, luckily, it was a beautiful day, but it just didn't work out in my favor. First marathon, learned a lot, and then going to the great world race, you know, I think we had eight or nine weeks of actual training after the decision before we left, and I had a calf and soleus injury, pretty much the last five, six weeks of that training. And so I think the last five weeks, I ran twice, and the one of one of those times was the day before the, you know, just a shakeout run before the race started. And so I was going into it, oh, wow, you're
Mark D. Williams 09:15
going in well rested, well, very under trained. Very, no, you're that under trained.
Sterling Lock 09:20
I biked a lot. You know, I was biking 60 to 90 minutes a day, yeah, trying to get my cardio up still, but, yeah, I couldn't be running. Couldn't run. And runners know that, yes, you can get your cardio up doing other ways, but running just different, right? It's just different on the body.
Mark D. Williams 09:34
It's sport specific adaptation. Your muscles are ligaments, your tendons, all that kind of stuff. What's true of any sport? True?
Sterling Lock 09:40
Yeah. And so, you know, going to great world race. I was nervous, not because I've ran one marathon in my entire life, and I was about to run seven back to back. That's part of the story. But then, you know, I was just, is this injury, this calf injury, going to be okay going into the race? Could I do seven marathons on this injury and suffer through it?
Mark D. Williams 09:59
Well, we're, you know, take a. Time. And obviously you have the benefit of looking back four months. And obviously I was in your corner saying, you know, hey, go. I remember texting you like, the night before, like, when you're leaving. I was just really excited about because I've always wanted to go to Antarctica, and it's the only continent I haven't been to. And I just really, if I ever go, it's like, I got to go for a reason. I don't think I just want to go to, like, look at Penguin. So I like, isn't that penguins in an article, by the way? Oh, well, then I would have been there. A long time, yeah, what so let's take a timeout. What? Looking back, what was the common conception of people? What did people tell you? What did their body language? Was there a lot of like, you can't do it. You shouldn't do it. You're crazy. I mean, you and I sort of feel that's a fuel source. It's not the fuel source. Tell me a little bit about what people were what people were, what you were feeling from other people when you were telling
Sterling Lock 10:43
them this, that was crazy. You know, I think it's always Sterling. You don't have a running background. You don't know what it is to run seven marathons, let alone a marathon. You know, it's, you know, because coming off all the injuries I have, being a bigger guy, that volume is tough, right? And training, even the training leading up to it, obviously, I got hurt with my calf, and it's like, how can and it's like, how can you, you know, I was ready to at most about 55 miles in one week, and I got injured doing that. And so it's like, now, do a marathon every day. What is it?
Mark D. Williams 11:12
What is the math on that? 26 times seven? You know? Yeah, I'm now just curious.
Sterling Lock 11:17
I'm not gonna do math, yeah. But yeah, so it was always you crazy. You're not a runner. This is gonna be a lot harder than you think. And it's one of those things that 183.4 miles, yep, boom, in a week. It was actually like six and a half days. Yeah, that's a lot,
Mark D. Williams 11:35
to be fair, the people were not wrong, but the thing that they don't know about you, and I got to know pretty quick. I mean, you could probably meet you in about the first day or so and realize, and realize, especially with the background, is, like, a masochistic torture is fine. That's kind of this, the daily grind. But I think the fuel source of doing things, when people tell you can't do them, but also, like, the ability to suffer and kind of like work through the problem, it's it. Yeah, I'm curious, because you, I know you were, we'll get to that in a minute. Like you were injured during the race. And like, do you face some pretty critical points? Like, do I even continue? Am I gonna hurt my body to the point that, like, at some point it's just stupid? And like, we'll get there in a minute. So anyway, back to Yeah.
Sterling Lock 12:11
I mean, I think a big thing for me, and I actually got asked this question this morning, is, Do I like the pain? And it's like, no, I don't. Actually, I'm not. David Goggins, right? Like, I don't enjoy the pain, the discomfort, but for me, growing up the way I did, underprivileged, you know, single mom of three, just struggled in life. There's a lot of pain and discomfort kind of always in my life. And I found out very early that to have success, there's always going to be kind of discomfort or pain that you're gonna have to push through. And it's always worth it. And so that definitely came throughout my entire life, but definitely in athletics, is I was just, I'm just comfortable being uncomfortable. I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy pain. I like to, you know, sit on the couch and watch TV and relax, but just, I know that the good comes from the discomfort and the pain, and so I've just learned to embrace it.
Mark D. Williams 12:59
That's funny. That's our family motto. My dad says that all the time that he's comfortable being uncomfortable. He was more into mountaineering and just, you know, multi day not running or that kind of thing, but more just suffering in the cold. Yeah, it's good for you. Yeah, for sure, it is. I mean, that's, you know, well, this episode, we won't have time to go into all the other stuff. But, I mean, you were during your training, you had endured some pretty difficult setbacks as a CFO, you know, being let go of a company and enduring a really difficult strife. Do you find that that the athletic side of the training and the physical exertion helped you cope with some of those setbacks as well always?
Sterling Lock 13:35
You know, I think for me, it's athletics has always been a way for me to cope with life outside of training, the discomfort in life allows me to, kind of, I try to be very stoic, very well thought out, try to show up, be a leader, and a lot of times, you kind of absorb all that chaos for, you know, to give stability to everyone around you. And how I take that chaos and I push it towards my workouts, and that's where I kind of decompress and let out the anger.
Mark D. Williams 14:01
Yeah. So back to you know, so what people are saying about you? So now you're What are you saying to yourself in your mind at this point? So you're eight weeks out, you're dealing with, obviously, injury, you know, should I do this? How do you weigh the commitment of like, because I think you and I are similar this way, like I've signed up for something, so, like, I'm doing it. Like, it's not really a question, if it's just, is that some, I mean, like that?
Sterling Lock 14:22
Yeah, no. So it, it was about managing doubt, because there was no other option, right? But there was a lot of doubt in my mind of, can you even do this so you can be able to finish this, but also just trying to be in the mental space and getting that mental clarity going into something like that, to be able to withstand all the chaos that comes with it, right? And so it's about, you know, managing that doubt, but also just kind of clearing other parts of your life, so that way, when life hits you in the face again, you can handle it with as much, you know, grace and as much positivity as you can
Mark D. Williams 14:58
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Sterling Lock 16:23
Yeah, so Antarctica was originally supposed to be the first race, and looking back, I really wish it would have been, because the way they set it up is they have you flying to South Africa, because that's where the jumping off point is to Antarctica. And they actually get a couple of days early, because depending on the storms, the weather's very finicky in Antarctica. Even though it's summer there, it still has snowstorms and crazy weather. And so last minute, because of a storm that came in the day prior, they switched the first marathon to South Africa. So, you know, everyone's prepared for Antarctica being the first one. And now it's like, just kidding, you're gonna run in the beautiful South Africa. It was a beautiful day. I can't complain. It was, it was the people on the running course. They were cheering us on. It was a bigger event than I expected. How many people were running? About 50 to 60. Okay, so South Africa and Antarctica had the biggest numbers. They kind of dwindled after that because people drop out, or the only combination of that, yeah, combination people drop out, but then some people drop out. But then some people actually just really wanted to do Antarctica,
Mark D. Williams 17:24
so they like so they did the whole thing just to run the one race.
Sterling Lock 17:27
Ah, and there's also, you know, instances where maybe they didn't finish last year, they didn't finish Antarctica, and for them to have the the medal of the great world race of all seven marathons, they have to go back and complete, you know, one of the marathons that they got injured, or they missed or something like that. And also to be there's a website out there for every person that has run seven marathons on seven continents, and they put your name on this website. And to be on the website, you got to do all seven marathons. And so there's some people that you know that means a lot to them, and they're going to figure out how to finish that that marathon.
Mark D. Williams 18:00
Interesting. So you ran the first one, and you did really well. I think you're in the top 10. You're like, eighth, top three, top three. I remember you were fast, yeah, three. Then just below three. That was like, Dang bro, your first one out of the gate, like you are hauling, I assume participants from all over the world. Yep, all over the world. So you're feeling pretty good.
Sterling Lock 18:18
Too good. Yeah, it was one of those things that came out. And I just felt good, you know, I didn't come out fast, but faster than, you know, looking back out of it, my mistake was I was feeling great, and I was going to push this one a little bit because I knew, I didn't know what was going to, you know, happen the next six marathons, and I wanted to do well overall. You know, I've marathons at an overall place
Mark D. Williams 18:41
you're supposed to I mean, obviously it from an ultra standpoint, like, you can't ever win in the first race, but you can certainly lose it. And I'm guessing you got caught up in the emotion, the adrenaline, and we're rolling, because
Sterling Lock 18:51
I'm very much of a fly and die athlete in general. Like, I'm gonna push my pace as hard as Ian, and I'm just gonna hold on. And it shouldn't be I fly and hold on, I should say yeah, because I just go out, try to get a lead, and then just hear the footsteps, I'm gonna run faster. Yeah, and that's exactly what happened in Africa. I felt great 320 finished third, but then not thinking of, hey, you got seven marathons left after this man in six. Yeah, six. And the next one was Antarctica. And the challenging part is we had eight hours from the finish of the first marathon to the start of the second marathon, and it's all travel.
Mark D. Williams 19:25
So you get you basically, you get in, you shower, you change, pack your bags, you get it, and then you gotta go sit on an airplane for however many hours. What's the flight time from there's like four and a half hours, I believe. So. Not terrible. But even so, you doesn't know. Everyone knows that after a race you don't schedule travel because
Sterling Lock 19:39
you don't want to sit on an airplane. Now, yeah, so I'm going to Antarctica. They told us that it should have been 25 to 35 degree weather, and in Minnesota, that's great. That was this morning's run exactly. I can enjoy that, but it turned out to be negative 30 degree weather because of the storm that came in 30 and I have high end running shoes on right so they. Really breathable. My feet are freezing. You know, I have saw a great pair of socks on, but it doesn't matter you don't in that kind
Mark D. Williams 20:05
of conditions. Do you want cortex then, and just like something that doesn't breathe? Or what other footwear would you wear
Sterling Lock 20:10
with negative 30 degree weather? I would say, yes, yeah, just because the wind was so powerful that you want something to not be able to breathe and stay warm. I know the challenge of Antarctica is, you know, you had to bring most of you food and water on with you. I with you. There's a lot of rules and regulations on what you can bring into Antarctica. Like, what do you mean by that? Yeah, it's very well governed, right? They don't want trash, they don't want cross contamination, and so it's very regulated on what is there for you when you get there. And so if you have jails that you know that you're going to work well with your body, it's just easier to bring it on with you, yeah. But that all froze. So by the time we got off the airplane to when we started the race, which was about 45 minutes, my Joe's and my water froze, and so I was, the path was, I think it was about, it was 12 laps, just a circle, and it was so cold, you know, running into the sun, you kind of got warm because the sun is so close. But then when you turned into the shadows and the wind was blowing, you just that sweat turns into ice, and you just freeze and you're in pain. And because it was so uneven, because it was like kind of ice and the snow was uneven, my IT band on my left side just flared up. And then So about halfway through, are you
Mark D. Williams 21:18
pulse trolling through snow? Or is there a is it really well, path, or what? Because I know from mountaineering, like, actually, the worst I've ever felt was coming down, Mount Rainier, the snow. If it had been super soft, it would have been fine, but had been soft the night before, got cold, and then my ankles. I mean, I thought my legs were broken, because it's so unstable, and a marathon in that condition is just,
Sterling Lock 21:41
yeah, and it was, you know, you couldn't take big strides, because, you know, if you ran on kind of ice before, you know, snow is it's easy to fall, and so you shorten your stride, and it's uneven, and just so much load on that IT band. And I was limping, you know, obviously, I think by the end, I was finishing 15 minute miles, you know, just because I was freezing, yeah, just kept going.
Mark D. Williams 22:02
How did everyone else handle the cold? I mean, we're from Minnesota, so we're a little bit more used to it, but obviously, at that cold, like everybody's cold, was that a big psychological block for a lot of the other runners?
Sterling Lock 22:12
Or yeah, so there were some people that didn't do anything after that because they just couldn't finish, and I think it mentally broke them. But also, there was some athletes that are usually four or five hour marathon runners, and then they were eight hours. There were a handful people that didn't finish. You know, just because it was so cold, you had to go inside. And the problem is, is, once you go inside to warm warm up, it's really hard to come out and it's and that was a challenging thing for a lot of people, is they would go in to warm up, and then they just, it was hard to kind of push that boundary, to get cold.
Mark D. Williams 22:40
How did you handle the cold? So if your water was frozen from from time, first of all, how long did that particular marathon take? Then about five and a half hours. And how did you handle water and food? Then, if your gels were frozen?
Sterling Lock 22:50
Yeah, so there was one station that had hot chocolate, and that was the only thing that you know, you have to do a whole lap to come back to the hot chocolate station. But it was really hot, and it was only, you know, this much, and I'm not trying to suffer longer than I need to be. I'm not gonna stop and have multiple of these hot chocolates. I just kind of slam it as a shot and keep going forward. So you should have
Mark D. Williams 23:10
had that, sponsored by our buddy Chris. You said, from Legacy chocolates. I don't even have that. Actually, at Sonic camp, we're gonna, he's gonna do the little Himalayan chocolate shots. Nice.
Sterling Lock 23:18
Anyway, yeah. So pretty much having two to three ounces, yeah, you know, every couple miles, which is not very much. So that
Mark D. Williams 23:23
was it. That's all you were able to drink. That sucks. How did other people handle water? A lot of people went in to get their water, yeah.
Sterling Lock 23:30
But I knew the challenge with that is, yeah, you know, got to break back through and put the, you know, because it's warm in there, you got to take the layers off. You gotta put the layers back on. And that sounds I was just gonna keep
Mark D. Williams 23:40
going, all right, so you finished that race. Your it ban is destroyed. You get back on the airplane so you don't spend the night there. You just get back on the airplane and fly back to South Africa, yep.
Sterling Lock 23:49
So we flew back to South Africa, and then we got on a plane to fly to Australia.
Mark D. Williams 23:54
I think that was the last time I either saw you do a post or texted you, maybe, and then I didn't hear from you for like, three, four more, or till the race was essentially over. What was walk us through some of the what you're thinking like you're flying back, like, Can I continue? Should I continue? Was that the, or was that not even the hardest point of the race?
Sterling Lock 24:11
That wasn't the hardest point in the race, Antarctica was the hardest physically, right? Because I was just my body was in a lot of pain. My IT band was hurting. I was just so cold. But then flying to my next race, just kind of sitting in that injury, and then showing up to Australia. And Australia was 105 degrees. We started, I think, at one 1pm or 2pm and the Australian summers, terrible race time. Yeah, exactly. And it's one of those things that, you know every race was just shifting because, depending on when we get there, and
Mark D. Williams 24:40
it's always a closed course, invite only for this group, obviously, exactly, yeah.
Sterling Lock 24:44
And so I felt good starting out, but I noticed really quickly that my T band was still flared up. And I was like, Okay, I got to change my my stride, so I'm not loading my IT band focusing on, you know, my hamstrings, my glutes, doing a lot more pulling. You. Yeah, and it just got so hot. Running a marathon, even if, you know, running it fast, like I do, I was still just so hot, and you want to get out of the heat. And there was not a cloud in the sky, and it was, do you keep your shirt on to protect yourself from the heat? And you know, I was putting ice in my hat to just try to cool down. And really it was just trying to maintain core temperature. It was just so hot. So Ives was my best friend, drinking a lot of water, and finally finished that marathon. Just miserable and then a lot of pain. But then pretty shortly after that, my my tendon, my perineal tendon, right there, the front of the ankle, swelled up front of the ankle, okay, yeah. And so pretty much it goes up the ankle, up to the shin, yeah, and that just swelled up.
Mark D. Williams 25:44
I remember seeing a picture you posted on Instagram, softball, yeah, your foot looked Yeah. Look monstrous, yeah.
Sterling Lock 25:50
And within about 30 minutes of finishing that marathon, and I felt it towards the end of the marathon, where my ankle was kind of getting there's a lot of friction when I was rolling forward, and but then I realized shortly after I finished, that this thing has sweat up to a softball, and I couldn't move it at all. You know, finished my third marathon, I couldn't move my ankle, couldn't tie my shoes. My ankle was so big, barely could put my shoe on. And that's when kind of, everything fell apart, and I went very internal. You know, I run hot, and so that's why I can excel, kind of in the extreme cold conditions. Because, you know, 20, 3040, degree weather, that definitely was great when I'm working out, but that 105 degree weather was such a challenge, and then coming off of it, coming with that injury, and then going to Abu Dhabi next, which was another 105 106 degree weather. But the doctor had to give me a prescription grade anti inflammatory and a steroid from my stomach so that you can, you know, digest it and doesn't kill you. But it took about 60 minutes for that to work, and my ankle finally came down enough for me to tie my shoe. Wow. And then this is on the plane ride, or just post race, post race, just because it doesn't last that long. Yeah. So it was, we got to the next race in Abu Dhabi. He gave it to me about an hour before the race started. I take it by race time. What was, was
Mark D. Williams 27:09
there a decision to do it, to not to do it? Or do you already sort of crossed that root con of like, No, I'm still going to keep going. Or was there any doubt that you would
Sterling Lock 27:17
not yet? Okay, not yet. Yeah, because right now, it was the, you know, I haven't ran on it. It swelled up. I haven't ran on it, you know, I felt it towards the end of Australia, but it wasn't to the point where it was, it felt impossible to move, and so it swelled up. I was limping. I couldn't even walk. And you know, that's when I realized, like, um, this isn't good, but we'll see if I can work through it, because I had to change my stride for Australia, because my IT band, my IT band, felt better. So let's see if I can go back to my normal. Stride. And my ankle would be okay. It wasn't. And again, it was just keep
Mark D. Williams 27:47
breaking stuff. Exactly. This is like the car that you don't take into the bottle shop, and it's like, just, let me just keep, just keep, just keep wrecking stuff. Okay, so you get the injection, you're in Abu Dhabi, and now you run this race, yeah.
Sterling Lock 27:58
And so I felt good starting out. Of course, the anti inflammatory is doing its job, but about 2020, miles into it, the anti inflammatory wells wears off, and I'm just in so much pain. I'm so hot, the anti inflammatory does upset your stomach, and so it was hard for me to eat, hard for me to drink, and I was just miserable. And it was, it was a mental thing for me, because I was just like, I don't know if I can take another step in this pain, like it was just so much pain. And also it wasn't just my ankle, it was my stomach. It was, you know, the heat. I was dehydrated, and I actually started hallucinating. And there was a moment in time that I saw my boys running next to me, and that was about on mile 23 and that was the only reason I think I finished the race. Was because for about half a mile to a mile, I was hallucinating. I saw them running next to me, and I was just like, I got to do this. I got to finish. And I finished that race. And by far, that was the most painful event in my life. And it was one of those points of, Can I do this, and can I keep going? Because the ankle was just getting worse. It was getting more painful. And, you know, I had to think of, Is there gonna be long, lasting impact to my health and my ankle right, my mobility if I keep going? And, you know, I just had about 12 hours to sit with that question before Portugal.
Mark D. Williams 29:14
Were you talking to other runners that were all internal? Did you call back home? Like, how did you process all that?
Sterling Lock 29:19
Yeah, for me, everyone was saying to stop. That was there, because they could see the ankle. They could, I had to have people help me go on the bus and come off the bus. And I was, you know, basically like throwing my leg because I couldn't rotate my ankle. There was no dorsal flexion whatsoever. And so even the doctor was like, I don't know if you should keep going. You know, we can't stop to do an MRI to see if there's a tear or anything. You know, could just keep tearing it, and which I think made it harder for me, because it's one thing to have someone tell you, you got this, just do it, but when everyone's like, it's okay to quit, it's even harder. It's even harder. And really for me, that was the moment of, Am I the man I say? I am right? Am I going to make the excuse? When the excuse is easy to just take. And that moment, I just decided right before the Portugal race that I'm just going to do this. I'm going to finish it. There's no way. I'm not going to do this. Whatever happens, I will deal with it.
Mark D. Williams 30:11
Had you already gotten so, like, one thing that has been sort of a ego check for me that's been really helpful in terms of, like, ultra trail running, there's all the elite guys walk, maybe not the elite Elite, because they're animals that can run uphill. But like most, I mean, there are parts of the race where, like, you're walking, it's like, especially when you're uphill, and most runners that have a running background, like, they get to the point where, like, walking is failure, but like changing the circumstance, or actually walking is conserving energy. Walking is a reset of your mind. And actually, by not spending yourself was, had you either in Antarctica and or Abu Dhabi, had you gotten to the point where you had walked for certain miles just to kind of, like, because movement, as long as you're moving like, the clock doesn't stop, doesn't care if you're running or not. Had you already gone through that? Had you walked to just try to just say, like, Hey, I'm just gonna keep moving. I don't have to run. I just have to move. Had you gotten to that part yet or not
Sterling Lock 31:00
in Antarctica, there was moments where I thought I was I questioned, why am I here? This is not me. Why I'm not a runner? Why am I in Antarctica running a marathon? And so there was moments I was two marathons Exactly. And there was moments where I walked because I was like, I'm just not going to stop. I just Yeah, keep going, yeah. But the challenging part in the heat is, you know, Australia, and then Abu Dhabi is, it doesn't go away, you know, it's gonna take you longer. I'm gonna still overheat. So your your mindset was more, let's get this over as quick as possible. And then in Abu Dhabi, the challenging part was, after about two and a half hours, the anti inflammatory wore off, and then the pain came back a lot. The restriction to movement came back a lot. So I knew I had a timer. Okay, it hurt more to walk than it did run, because I kind of could, like, bounce on my heels a little bit. And so it was, you know, I'm just gonna get this done as
Mark D. Williams 31:52
fast as possible. Yeah, okay, that makes okay that, I'm not sure it makes sense, but I understand the logic, yeah. How's that exactly? Okay. So now we're in Portugal,
Sterling Lock 32:01
yeah, right before the race, and then it was just when I made the decision, I'm gonna do this, you know, I don't care how bad this gets. I don't care if I have to walk, whatever it needs to be, you know, I'm gonna finish all set of marathons. And I think that moment really just changed it for me, you know, it was accepting the pain, there's a lot less friction with it, and kind of just embracing the pain that I was going to have to suffer through this. And I think my Portugal marathon was just under four hours,
Mark D. Williams 32:26
which was very impressive, yeah, at any baseline. But also considering exactly, were you having muscle fatigue on top of it, or were you so focused on the pain that you didn't really think about cumulative muscle tolls?
Sterling Lock 32:37
Probably nothing about it at all. You know, it was one of those things that after the race, you realize that your legs were tired, your body was tired, the muscles were fatigued, but during the race, it was just go, yeah, the adrenaline of just keep moving, yeah. And then Portugal was just the tipping point. I accepted the pain, and then Portugal, and then Colombia, and then Miami were just easy, easy mentally, because at that point I accepted that this is going to suck. I accepted the pain, but I also accepted that I'm going to do this. And there's no, you know, I'm not changing my opinion
Mark D. Williams 33:04
on this. So what did the doctor did each time? Then you had to do the injection for that.
Sterling Lock 33:09
Yes, it was a pill. Was an injection pill, yeah. And then each time. So about 60 minutes before the race, he gave me anti inflammatory, Ian, a steroid, as
Mark D. Williams 33:17
you looked around and saw i What was your thoughts on it? Ego, death or like, how did you because, you know, at first you do the first one, you're in third place. You're like, dang, I'm looking pretty good. And now you're like, I'm hanging on my fingertips. People like, and there's some people there that were some ball or runners, you know that their lifetime, they're the stereotypical runners. And there was one guy that I saw that did, he was the first guy to do seven ultra marathons in seven days, right? Because he did a 50k 30k or 50k 50k each day, which is insane, as you're looking at these or talking to them, how much camaraderie was there? You know, you have so many you know, you're in the military, so it's a team. You're You're a rower, you're a team in a boat. You know, you have a lot of team aspects to your life. What was it like being with a bunch? Did you guys sort of form a bond of in that short time of team, team building or not really, was it kind of like everyone meant for themselves.
Sterling Lock 34:07
Everyone was super kind to each other. Helped you out, helped each other out as much as we could. But we all very exhausted at the end of the day. And so after we get done the race, we try to eat some food, and we, you know, have some laughs, but we get on the airplane, we just fall asleep, because you can only sleep on the plane. And so there wasn't a lot of time to spend with each other. And we know when you did spend time with each other, you were exhausted from the run, yeah. So it was just, you know, eating, vegging out, and so definitely some good relationships that I've made on that race, but a lot of it was just kind of sleeping and processing what's next.
Mark D. Williams 34:37
So you're done with it. What's it feel like as you're coming into those, like, at what point, where do you like? I've got this the last marathon, or with the last five miles, or, like, when did you like, you know, kind of like, I'm closing into the finish line, and sort of that joy starts creeping in, like, I accomplished my goal.
Sterling Lock 34:54
And so for me, I think after Portugal, where I've, you know, almost done five races, my. Me doesn't count. Because for any athlete, you know, like, the last one doesn't count, whether it's the last lap, the last marathon, whatever, last rep. So really, the next one was just Columbia, you know, I had to get to Colombia, which was going to be a hot one. I knew what I was getting into for that marathon. And so it's just about accepting that. And that was the last hard one before you done. Yeah. So then once I crossed the finish line in Miami, it didn't feel real. Still doesn't at times, you know, to run seven marathons in seven days, let alone on seven continents. That's a human feet and in itself. And so, you know, it's strange to talk about it to, you know, brag about it, but it's such a great experience, and it's hard to find that next thing you know, that kind of gives you that high. Yeah, that
Mark D. Williams 35:39
did you feel that there was a letdown after always, yeah, let's talk a little bit about that. Yeah.
Sterling Lock 35:47
So I think for me, that always what, what's next question in my mind? And you know, once you achieve that goal, that goal is never the satisfying part, right? It's always that adventure. It's always the learning, the experience, and so you hoping for some fulfillment, but really it's just another realization of you need to work harder for the
Mark D. Williams 36:07
next goal. I heard something recently, just coming out of the Winter Olympics. Michaela Shifrin had, I don't know if you follow her skiing career, but you know she had won at 16, won gold, and then the last Olympics blink on where it was, but she was the gold medal favorite, didn't win anything like, crashed out a bunch, and, you know, kind of had a difficult mental moment. And then this one, she was going in for her last race, and it was going to be gold in Milan. And breezy Johnson, who had won the gold, said, Michaela, whether you win this gold medal or not, that won't make you happy, whether you're happy or not will affect whether you win the gold. And she went out and won the gold, I just thought that was such a cool statement that her teammate kind of reset. And the reason I bring this up is I found you. And I have talked a little bit before about this, about masogi, that Japanese principle, like the one thing. And two years ago, when I ran my first 50 miler, I felt a letdown when I was done, because you spent, you know, eight, nine months training for it. You run it, and then there's kind of like, this void, this hole. Because I and I, what was interesting is when I did the 100 last year, which I didn't, you know, I think the fires kicked us off the course at mile 66 people said, Were you really disappointed? And I wasn't at all. I had zero it like I had complete acceptance. I was, like, very tranquil about it, which is sort of surprising with my personality, because I can totally relate to what you said. That was my experience with the 50 it took me about four months to like, well, it wasn't like, what next, or my identity, it was more just like I had put so much focus on this one thing. Call it out of balance. Imbalance. I don't know. I'm not retrospective enough to like comment on that. Other than like, I felt like something was missing and I needed a next goal. But whether I do 100 or not, I don't need that anymore, like it's more and it doesn't mean I love to keep challenging myself, and I am, but I found a way to enjoy the journey. And you know, it wasn't about the destination, but I'm 45 I mean, trying to figure that out. I mean, we were just talking the other day about driving to Montana and a single go, and I was in my 20s, we had a cabin was 1200 miles away. I drive 18 mile 18 mile 18 hours straight, no brakes, just drive and you're like, I was talking to us. He's like, Well, what if you're really tired? Like, just pull over and go to sleep. Like it never even crossed my mind. That was an option, which is so stupid. I mean, I'm not telling anyone out there, they should do this, but I'm sure most men, in particular, because we're idiots, can totally relate to that statement, where now I'm like, Oh yeah, I'd probably just pull over and have a good couple hour nap. But anyway, filling that void, it took me a while to realize that you got to find a way to come to peace and enjoy that probably you can still push yourself anyway. You're still kind of working on what that looks like, exactly. Yeah. Why? So you just did your first High Rocks, you know, as we kind of wrap up the episode here, because the audience is like, Wait, we usually talk about business and and whatnot, but I think there's a lot of lessons in what you're applying to to all things, of course, but you've shifted now to High Rocks. You just had your first double Pro and single Pro. Again, I haven't talked to you in person in several months. This is great. We're just doing it all and live for the whole world here. What tell me about this our friendship right here? Friend, thanks for listening. Yeah, just miked it up. What is so tell me about the High Rocks Pro, and the High Rock single, what did you What did you learn? And I feel like you're uniquely perfect for this event, especially going forward, as you know what to expect now.
Sterling Lock 39:12
But, yeah, definitely. So high rocks, for anyone doesn't know, it's a very running heavy sport, but also has some strength movements in there. It's very much just about grinding into the pain first. High Rocks Pro was doubles, was on Friday. Did that with a friend, Jack. We killed it. So I think the benchmark to be elite is breaking the 60 minute mark. We never trained together. We just showed up and did it. We broke we had 59 minutes. We want to be a little bit faster, but there's a lot of things that you know we need to transition better. A lot of inefficiencies there, but the raw kind of strength and power was there, you know, to finish, it was the biggest High Rocks event, I think this year in the United States. Is that Vegas? Vegas, yeah, and we are one of 20 groups that broke the 60 minute mark. So we did well. We crushed it. And so we definitely. Looking forward to what's next, but that was my first high rocks race that's on a Friday. So now you're like Friday, now you're like, Sunday, boom, yeah. And the challenging part is, they put pro solos on Sunday at 7pm Vegas time, so 730 so it was 930 my time. I was exhausted, you know, and soar going into the race, and then, you know, my internal clock was all sorts of messed up, full of excuses. Here, it's a completely different race, as you would expect from doing doubles to singles, because for singles, you're doing the whole thing by yourself. Yeah? Is it the exact same, exact same thing?
Mark D. Williams 40:32
So that's because you get these are 106 right? A 109 so only 10 minutes difference alone versus a partner, that it feels like that gap should be bigger,
Sterling Lock 40:41
you'd think, yeah, and that's where, once you start getting elite, those times continue to shrink, to shrink shrink, because you can only run so fast on the one so there's eight stations in between each station you want to 1k and really it is a mainly running event, and you're going to save most of your time on the The Run. Well, once you fast enough where you running, that doesn't change. That doesn't change too much. And so it's, you know, you rest on keeping your heart rate down, yeah, as much, much as you can, but you still redlining, you know, at least two thirds into that, trying to figure out how you respond. And really, I think that was a big challenging thing for me, was coming these stations. Now, how do you flush the lactic acid of doing a sled, pull, a sled push, or a row, you know, weighted lunges. How do you flush that lactic acid as you run? And so that's something that I just need to train a little bit better. I felt great about I missed my goal. Wanted 105 got 109 but a lot of lessons coming out of it. So my goal over the next 12 months is to break 65 minutes a solo Jack. And I think we should be 5255 minutes for doubles. And then, you know, I do want to qualify for Boston this year. So I'm looking at a marathon either in October or November to qualify for Boston. Yeah.
Mark D. Williams 41:53
Now I'll ask you the question we normally lead with, and it can be athletics or anything, what is one of the most difficult things? Well, we'll just keep it to this, but you can, or you can go wherever you want with it. What is one of the biggest losses you've had, or one of the most difficult things you've overcome? And what did you learn from that air quote failure? Because I don't I think failure is a bit of a construct, right?
Sterling Lock 42:14
100% I'm there with you on that. That's a good question. And I think for me, I think I think I have some recency bias here, but I'm going through a divorce, and that failed relationship taught me a lot. Is teaching me a lot of you know, how I want to show up as a man, how I want to show up as a father. But really asking for that divorce was really about coming to terms that I need support. I need love, too. I spent so much of my time, you know, growing up, you know, the youngest of three, but always my brothers went through addiction, sort of my mom, and so it felt like me against the world. And so growing up that was, that was my kind of mindset, is no one's going to help you. No one's give your hand out. And I don't need love, I don't need support, because I'm gonna do it myself. And, you know, you get to a point, especially when you have kids, that you don't want them to think about like that, like I didn't want to show up and feel like I need to do everything, and that I don't need love and support. But then somehow I'm telling them that they deserve love and support, and it became this very heavy weight of I'm not being the man that I want them to be. And, you know, reflecting through that, and as someone that is successful and driven and can suffer through the pain, coming to a realization that I need love and support and what that looks like, that way I can show my kids that was a big transition for me.
Mark D. Williams 43:34
Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, it's hard to know where to go there. It's another multi series of questions or a documentary, because you're not there yet either. I mean, I think, I think there's a great quote that comes to mind, life is what happens to us while we're making other plans. Yeah, exactly. And it's kind of like, you know, you look back. I mean, think about, think about your life five years ago, what your mindset was and and what it was then, and not that it wasn't great, but it's like, we continue to evolve and continue to change, and you've always had a big it's hard to talk with you without, you know, within five minutes of not talking about your kids and leadership, even the first time I ever met you when you kind of, when you came into the group and, you know, we were all kind of going around the room and talking to everyone in our c9 group of like, what was important to us and what we wanted, that was always something that you kind of led with, leading leadership. A new book coming out by Sterling. Thanks for your time, buddy. Appreciate. It's good to see you in person as well. Yeah, thanks for the audience tuning in. We'll have everything the show notes Mondays and Thursdays, and you're gonna have to head to Sonic camp. If you want to see Sterling in person, you can ask him all about his training. Catch you later. Thanks for tuning in. The curious builder podcast. If you like this episode, do us a favor. Share it with three other business owners. The best way that we can spread what we're doing is by word of mouth, and with your help, we can continue to help other curious builders expand their business. Please share it with your friends. Like and review online, and thanks again for tuning in.
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