#2332 - Oz Pearlman

Joe Rogan (0:03)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Oz Pearlman (0:06)

Trained by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day. Surreal.

Joe Rogan (0:16)

Dude, you've only been here for 20 minutes, you already freaked me out.

Oz Pearlman (0:19)

Just freaked out.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

I'm freaked out by the fact that you're the first guy that's ever come here that ran a marathon before you got here.

Oz Pearlman (0:27)

You know, wanted to clear my mind. It's a big day.

Joe Rogan (0:30)

How long did it take you to run it?

Oz Pearlman (0:32)

You got to check online. I don't know. I think it was like 3 hours, 25 minutes, 3.30, something like that.

Joe Rogan (0:36)

Wow, that's a good time for a casual...

Oz Pearlman (0:38)

Went kind of southeast, thunderstorming in Austin, Texas, and then looped around, went back, got some work done. I always do phone calls while I'm running.

Joe Rogan (0:45)

How often do you run? You said you ran 27 miles this morning?

Oz Pearlman (0:49)

I think so. I don't know. I just, I turned around, I got it done. I need to get ready for this shower, but yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:54)

Is that a normal thing for you to do?

Oz Pearlman (0:56)

Very normal.

Joe Rogan (0:57)

Wow. That's crazy. That's a lot of distance, man.

Oz Pearlman (1:02)

You know, there was like a sweet spot, pre-having as many kids and more family constraints and work and now life is busy, but where I do 20 miles every day.

Joe Rogan (1:10)

That's crazy. What's the longest you've run?

Oz Pearlman (1:13)

153 miles.

Joe Rogan (1:14)

Wow. How long did it take you to do that?

Oz Pearlman (1:17)

33 hours. Spartathlon in Greece. Epic.

Joe Rogan (1:20)

It's in Greece?

Oz Pearlman (1:21)

It's crazy, man. You run from Athens to Sparta. This race is amazing. Have you ever seen the 300 with Drug Butler?

Joe Rogan (1:27)

Sure.

Oz Pearlman (1:28)

So that's the story. A couple of crazy dudes in the 80s decided that they're going to recreate where he ran, Phidipides, to deliver the message. Because in that movie, you remember 300 Spartans defended against the Persian masses, and they frame it as the difference between us having civilization and not. Had those 300 guys not died while they assembled an army and he delivered that message to King Leonidas. So when you finish this race, if you finish, it's one of the hardest races in the world. Like there's Badwater, you know Goggins, mutual buddy of ours. But there's races they say are the hardest. This one kicked my butt.

Joe Rogan (2:02)

Is it because of the elevation? What is it?

Oz Pearlman (2:04)

It's because Europe does not believe in ice. So there's nothing cold for the first 50 miles. You're hot and then the cutoffs are much stricter. So at 50 miles, you have to be done, you got to fact check this, but nine or 10 hours. So you have to finish 153 miles in under 36 hours. You need to be running at all times. You can't walk for two hours and start throwing up. I was puking for eight hours straight the first time I did it. Still, excuses, this is me just bitching. I should have finished that year. I wasn't mentally tough, but 100% that year, I just didn't have it mentally. And the next year I came back ready to die. I was like, I'm going to finish this race. Yeah, there was a guy in the middle of the night, I won't kid you, who looked at me and he says to me, there it is, he goes to me with like crazy eyes. And I've already given up in my mind.

You know, like they call it DNFing, did not finish in ultras. I already wrote the speech of like, I'm going to tell my friends, I learned from this, you know, all that stuff of like, I already gave up in my mind. And I saw this guy at my, I don't know, 72, middle of the night, who looks at me with these crazy eyes. I'll never forget his looks, crazy eyes, like that, but a hundred times more. And goes, you're going to give up? He goes, if you can't run, you walk. You can't walk, you crawl. You never, ever, and I was like, yo man, this guy needs to chill out right now because I've already quit in my mind. But I channeled that guy when I came back the next year. And it was that, I'm going to the hospital and you're not putting IV, I'm going to finish this race. And I came back the next year mentally, like there's no way I'm not finishing.