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Guest: Sean Conlon @seanconlon
Show Notes:
Sean Conlon and I met years ago and a recent LinkedIn post he made brought us back together for this interview. In his post, he said he's been running a 5K EVERY DAY FOR 6.5+ YEARS! and that this year his goal is to run a 5K in 50 states in 50 days.
During this conversation, sponsored by Noogs and Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:
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How a LinkedIn post he made reconnected us
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What it was like moving in the middle of high school
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Learning to apply his drive and discipline to athletics which ultimately led him to be an entrepreneur
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Why he left the track team at IU
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The fact that he’s only done two 5Ks ever and no other races
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Why he started his 5K a day mission
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How his mission nearly ended with a broken toe - but didn’t
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His goal of running a 5K in 50 states in 50 days
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Raising $10,000,000 and running across the USA at the end of his 10 year 5K streak
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Living in an RV for three years
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The dog treat business he founded that is now found in Costco
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How he met his wife, Christina
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Writing a book - he’s in the process of evaluating companies to help him do it
Sponsor Details:
- Noogs - Use code ALLYB15 for 15% off
- Athlete Bouquets - Use code PODCAST for 10% off
Connect with Sean:
- Email - sean@2529.ventures
Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.
Ally Brettnacher: Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast for everyday runners. I'm your host, Ally Brettnacher, and if you run, you're a runner and every runner has a story. Join me each week as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together. This week's episode is brought to you by Noogs.
That's N-O-O-G-S, Noogs.
Noogs is a super fun fuel brand That I've been using now for about a year. They are designed to taste like sour candy, but have all of the electrolytes and carbs that you need. They are vegan, gluten free. They are women owned and veteran owned. And Paige Foot, who is one of the founders, was recently on this podcast.
If you wanna hear the whole story, go back and listen to her episode. But they have flavors like Blue [00:01:00] Raspberry Blast Electric Watermelon. Wicked apple, lemon zinger. They have new caffeinated flavors, poolside, pop, like those 4th of July popsicles and strawberry lemonade. My personal favorite, I haven't tried the new ones.
Actually. My personal favorite so far is the electric watermelon. It is so good. But pro tip, get all the flavors and mix 'em together even better. So if you would like to try Noogs, you can go to noogsnutrition.com. You can use code A for 15% off of your first order. You can also buy them on Amazon.
So thank you so much to Noogs for supporting this podcast.
And now for this week's guest, Sean Conl Sean and I met years ago, and he doesn't live in Indianapolis anymore, but I recently got reconnected to him when he shared on LinkedIn that he had been running a 5K every day. For over six and a half years, and he has set a goal for this year to run 50 5 Ks in all 50 states in 50 [00:02:00] days.
And I saw that and said immediately, Sean, you need to be on my podcast. And as luck would have it, he was actually coming in town to Indianapolis for a couple of days before the holiday. So I got to sit down in person with Sean and hear. All about this journey that he's been on for the last, almost seven years, which is crazy.
That is over 2,350 days in a row running a 5K, and you'll hear us talk about it in this episode, but he nearly broke his streak when he broke his toe. Crazy that he got through that, but we talk about how he got into running his entrepreneurial spirit. This man has started and is involved in so many businesses.
It's hard to keep track. He is on his way to Austin, Texas to launch a second location for an organization called Paid For, which you can learn more about at Paid for co. It is a. Community driven workout that's virtual and in person that's designed for all fitness levels and each event supports a local cause.
So be sure to check them out and learn more about that. [00:03:00] Sean has said for the first time publicly that he is looking to raise $10 million. As he approaches 10 years of doing this 5K every day and he wants to run across the country, so huge goals. He's so inspiring. He is unabashedly very passionate about his faith and that is a big piece of his story.
He lived in an RV for three years with his wife Christina, and they went all over the us like he's just so incredibly interesting and again, inspiring. And he is going to be writing a book, which I asked him about during the interview because I thought, how can he not? And you'll feel the same way. also what's different about Sean is that he doesn't do races, so he's only ever done.
Two five Ks his whole life, and one was a few weeks ago, the reindeer Dash down in Florida, which you can actually, he records every 5K that he does, so you can go on his YouTube and watch him run that entire race with his friend Bo, which is pretty cool. So I know you're gonna love this conversation with my [00:04:00] friend Sean Conlon
Welcome Sean Conlon.
Sean Conlon: Thank you. good to be here.
Ally Brettnacher: You're back in Indy. I know. So excited. I
Sean Conlon: love it. I, you know, coming, I always say coming home 'cause this does feel like home. but every time I'm back here, there's something new. Yeah, part of town's growing. I get to see old friends, old colleagues, and it's just amazing.
I love being here.
Ally Brettnacher: How long have you been in town?
Sean Conlon: Uh, just a day, but I've been coming back more frequently. I've got a, a, a deal that I'm running with a group here, a family office in town. Okay. Um, and so we're just kind of figuring things out as we go, but have to travel up every once in a while.
Ally Brettnacher: Awesome.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Well, I'm so glad I caught you.
Sean Conlon: Me too. This is gonna be
Ally Brettnacher: what a miracle. So much fun. It's so weird how that works. Like I am never on LinkedIn or I'm not on LinkedIn a lot anymore. Okay. And I just happened to be on there and I saw what you'd shared.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: About running a 5K every day or No, you already do that.
Yeah. Every day for over six and a half years. Which we'll talk more about.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: But then you said in every state like 50 days.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. That's the goal for the summer, which we'll talk about.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So we'll have to talk [00:05:00] about. So I saw that and I was like. Oh my gosh, I need to have Sean on my podcast.
Sean Conlon: And then I saw your podcast and I'm like, oh my gosh, Ally's doing this podcast.
That's amazing.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah,
Sean Conlon: so, so it's mutually beneficial. But I will say too, just as like a small aside, LinkedIn is amazing. I didn't truly discover like the depth of it until this year, starting in March. And man, I think there's so much value, not, not in a, like go find more sales and mm-hmm. Do deals and that sort of thing.
It's like the depth of a relationship that you can form and how fast you can go with people and then take that offline and really, you know, develop it is unbelievable. So I've seen it in a whole new light this year, and I just wanted to say that as we're coming into 2026 for people that have been on the sidelines with LinkedIn, the water's nice jump in.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And it's another, it's another platform I know for the content know, but yeah. I mean, in my previous life when you and I met, I was in software sales. Mm-hmm. And so I would use it all the time Yeah. To share content, to find the right people to talk to or reach out to. And so I used to be on it.
Nonstop.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: So I, this is a good reminder to [00:06:00] get back at it.
Sean Conlon: Definitely. I encourage you in that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So tell people about where you are from. Yeah. Originally,
Sean Conlon: so I, I grew up really first in Iowa, and then we moved to Indiana when I was in fourth grade. and we moved to Newcastle. Okay. Uh, which is just east of here.
And, lived there until, pretty much my sophomore year in high school and then moved to Noblesville.
Ally Brettnacher: You moved in the middle of high school.
Sean Conlon: I know. How
Ally Brettnacher: was that?
Sean Conlon: Man, I'll tell you, it was, it was scary. I've been an athlete pretty much my entire life, and so, you know, you have a natural bond of athletics with people mm-hmm.
Where you can go deep quickly with folks, you know, in that capacity. And especially as, as a, a younger individual, I feel like your bonds grow a little bit faster at that age. So from that perspective, I didn't. See that or think that it was gonna be much of an issue, but it's still unnerving, you know? Yeah.
Especially after being a freshman. So you go through all the hazing, you know, all the things, and then you have to go do it pretty much all over again. Again, you gotta
Ally Brettnacher: be the new kid.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I will say I had that moment that [00:07:00] everybody dreads where you're at the lunch room table, like day one, oh, you know, lunchroom table.
Like, what do you do? so I just went and sat down and, you know, I, I love this area for many reasons. Hamilton County, all of Indiana, but Hamilton County specifically, there's just so many great people here. Mm-hmm. And, I'll never forget, there were two gals that, that came up. I think they were one year younger than me.
but they just sat down and started talking, you know, and, and instantly I just felt anxiety kind of go to the wayside. And, that was within. I don't even know, maybe two minutes of sitting down. Wow. So I didn't really have to deal with that, which is awesome. Um,
Ally Brettnacher: yes,
Sean Conlon: which is probably, there's probably a whole mini lesson inside of that, but
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: yeah, it was tough, but athletics was kinda that one constant that, as soon as I got plugged into that, it was pretty much instant that I started building friendships.
Ally Brettnacher: What sports did you play in high school?
Sean Conlon: Um, so I did football, baseball, and track.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, geez.
Sean Conlon: Um, and then, wrestling. But when I moved I decided to basically just pursue at the time just one, and that was baseball.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: and [00:08:00] then I did that for a year and a half. And then that's when the track coach at the time was like, Hey, I really think you should do track. Which I've always been fast. I've been a sprinter. and I'd always been like, wherever we lived, like. And maybe there's some ego in this, but the fastest, um, and it, it was, you know, I was kind of faced with this choice of I love baseball and I was doing really well, and, which one do I pick?
You know, they're both the same season. I can't do both.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: and so ultimately I picked track because I found personally kind of the most fulfillment from running, just in the, in the context of maybe to that ego point. Mm-hmm. Like it is an individual sport. Right. You can be the fastest. Yeah, exactly.
And I can really push myself. Yeah. And I got to experience that when I went from junior year to senior year. And I think this was so foundational for me in becoming an entrepreneur, which I'm sure we'll get into some of the story there. Mm-hmm. I just saw really for the first time, what happens when you radically pursue input to determine.
With a high probability of success, what that output [00:09:00] could be. So meaning I knew I wanted to get faster and I knew I wanted to run in college, and I knew that if I pursued my workout and my, level of training in a different way than I had before, and really just oscillate to that extreme side of it, that something good would happen.
I didn't know what it would be. but I ended up doing that and I don't know if they're still around, but I ended up, going to Acceleration Indiana. Um, it was on 96th Street right by the, the movie theater right there off I 69.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: and it was amazing. Like the, the level of discipline training that they did during that season of my life was unbelievable in terms of the gain.
and I went from being good and being, you know, quick to that year. I never lost a race until I got to state.
Ally Brettnacher: Wow.
Sean Conlon: and it was, it was all in sprint. So a hundred, 200. Okay. Four by one, four by four. and set two records at Noblesville, which they've since been broken, which I'm salty about because they were, they were there since 1987.
Whoa. So it was, yeah. It was a big deal. But, yeah. They've since been broken. [00:10:00] Yeah. Which is, you know, it's great. but I think our four by one record is still there. but I went, went to state that year for all four events. That's a max that you can do. I could have done six. Wow. but I had to pick four,
Ally Brettnacher: so
Sean Conlon: That's
Ally Brettnacher: incredible.
Sean Conlon: I did the a hundred, 204 by four by one and four by four. Wow. and it was awesome. And you know, I, I know that probably sounds boastful, but maybe it is a little bit, but it's because of the input. Like that was only because of my drive and discipline to actually focus on the things that I knew I could control.
Mm-hmm. And controlling those controllables to get an output equal to what my expectation of my performance could be.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: and it worked and it was just amazing. And I know that that set. Something in motion in my mind that carried me, you know, into entrepreneurship. Mm-hmm. And just showed, and that's, that's the beauty of athletics.
You know, I think there's, there's many, many things that we can learn, but, just the capability of our mindset, I think is one of the most important.
Ally Brettnacher: I think about how I was in high school, where my mindset was at. And it just seems like the maturity of being able to see [00:11:00] that you should go do that. where do you think that comes from?
Like maybe some of your parents and upbringing, like seeing that discipline elsewhere
Sean Conlon: or? Yeah. so this is gonna sound a little weird where I go with this, but bear with me. Okay. because there, there's a big arc to this in my life personally, and we'll go back to LinkedIn. I've seen the power of LinkedIn and being ridiculously vulnerable and how much that helps not just yourself, but people around you.
Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna invert that a little bit and say, What was inside of me was this desire that I didn't know was there to be seen because I felt unseen. And so my ability to perform and seek this recognition of, oh, people love me because I'm fast, you know, because I'm good at a sport. It started to build something kind of unhealthy, you know, inside of me.
So I think if we understand that and know that, especially as athletes, and if anybody knows the Enneagram that's listening, I'm a three wing four. So inherently my soul is kind of wired to like have this image oriented nature of [00:12:00] desiring to look successful. Mm-hmm. Or to feel like I'm achieving, you know, to, to do those sort of things.
And, if, if left unchecked, it builds into these really unhealthy patterns. So I say that as kind of a disclaimer to say. That if you can understand more of your mindset and your heart and your soul and how you tick and what, what drives you, then you can harness discipline in a way that's extremely effective because you're not harnessing it, in my case, to build yourself to be better and to seek even more recognition because you end up creating this feedback loop that never ends and it only ends frankly, with a ton of anxiety and fear and depression.
and so I think if you, if you look at it to say, Hey, I know I wanna get better as a runner, whether that's a sprinter or a distance runner, but I also know that my worth is not tied to that. So meaning if I don't hit the goals that I'm striving for, that you know what? I'm actually okay with that. And I know that it's more about the pursuit of it Yes.
And the journey than it is the actual end result. And I just wanted to be a little long-winded with that because I don't see enough. [00:13:00] Content or people talking about more process driven than results because we see the hi headlines. Right? Right. Yes. Like we always see the highlights.
Ally Brettnacher: Yes,
yes.
Sean Conlon: Um, and do we want those?
Of course. Yeah. You know, everybody does. But look at the work that happens in the process. 'cause if you don't, you're gonna miss your entire life, you know, chasing something. And I just think more people need to talk about it and hear that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, especially as runners. I mean, so many people are just, I mean, striving for PRS or Boston qualifiers or whatever that might be.
Mm-hmm. And they can get too caught up in the, in the time, in the finished times. Right. And then you miss experiencing the race.
Sean Conlon: Exactly.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Which is part of the fun. I mean, I look back on that time at acceleration Indiana, and I didn't even think we were gonna talk that was gonna come up. Did it have like an
Ally Brettnacher: indoor track?
I don't even
Sean Conlon: know what the picture, so it was, it was a, I don't know, square footage. Call it maybe. 8,000 square feet. Okay. Maybe it was a little less than that. but they had these treadmills that were wide tracked and they go up to 26 miles an hour.
Ally Brettnacher: What?
Sean Conlon: That's crazy. So I could be totally wrong with this, but I think the fastest human, it runs like 24 miles an hour.[00:14:00]
Okay. Something like that. So not even a human can run as fast as these things go. wow. But you push yourself to figure out where your limits are and it's a safe way to do it. and it can decline and incline. It. It's, it's a cool treadmill. I don't know even what you would search for to look for this, but, it's like a wide track treadmill.
It's got a green belt on it. it doesn't look fancy. I mean, it's pretty basic. Yeah. But it's in incredible how you use it. So basically you would do these tests where. Um, you'd hold on and get going as fast as you possibly could. Mm-hmm. And then you'd let go and you had to maintain that for three seconds.
I can't remember the exact speed that my I topped out at, but it was like 22 miles an hour, 22 point something I
Ally Brettnacher: can't even imagine.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. It was fast and it was very difficult to get to that. but yeah, I, I think there's, you know, there's a lot of, cool places like that around the country. I hope
Ally Brettnacher: it, I wonder if it still exists or something similar.
Sean Conlon: I I hope it does too.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: I really
Ally Brettnacher: do. If not, somebody should create one. Yeah, exactly. Mean for the running community especially, they would, love to have some somewhere like that to go.
Sean Conlon: Right.
Ally Brettnacher: Were there like foam pits or something behind you on the treadmill?
Sean Conlon: No, no. There was, um, if I remember right, when you first started doing it, [00:15:00] there was a safety harness that you could have.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: and then you end up taking that off. But one of the other cool, and, and I love that we're kind of going this right now, but it's like super tactical and specific. Yeah. But this is my point is I looked back on that time and I was like, man, that process was so cool. And here I am sitting 20 some years later remembering.
What that was, and specifically one exercise that we did that was amazing is, we had bands that went around our ankles and there was somebody behind us. And, so it connected to your ankle and your thigh,
Ally Brettnacher: okay.
Sean Conlon: And then it was, connected here, and then there was a piece that went all the way back and you had two.
ropes essentially that somebody behind you was holding.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: And they were bands, so it, it had elasticity to it. but you were working on your drive Ooh yeah. Of your legs. And so they were holding you back with resistance and you're sitting there on the treadmill trying to go faster. You know, it's
Ally Brettnacher: Sounds so hard.
Sean Conlon: It was pretty wild. But I look back on that and here I am 20 some years later remembering how effective that was. Right. in that process and in that pursuit.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. And so do you have siblings?
Sean Conlon: I [00:16:00] have two younger sisters.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. So you're the oldest that tracks Yeah. I'm the oldest of three as
Sean Conlon: well.
Yeah. Yeah. So definitely, geared I think probably like every oldest child. Yeah.
Rooted
achievement and leaving. Exactly.
Ally Brettnacher: I know. It's so funny. It's like cliche, but it's dead on. Yeah. Most of the time.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Did they both go to Noblesville as well
Sean Conlon: then? Yeah. Yeah. They both went to Noblesville High School and then since moved, so nobody lives in Indiana.
or I should say actually one of my sisters did move back here. and then my parents live outside of, uh, Las Vegas, and then we're down in Florida. Oh, you
Ally Brettnacher: okay? Yeah. Yeah.
Sean Conlon: It's kinda all over the place.
Ally Brettnacher: So you said you knew you wanted to run in college.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Did you get the opportunity to do that?
Sean Conlon: Yeah, so I went in, I did I would say the first year.
And then as I got into training for that, I started to realize the rigor of being a D one athlete. And where'd
Ally Brettnacher: you go?
Sean Conlon: Uh, iu.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, and it's insane. and I'm an early bird to bed, and so the mandatory study tables from eight to 10:00 PM were just crushing me. And then there's morning workouts and it just, it was in, in my context [00:17:00] of what I wanted to extract outta college.
Mm-hmm. And life, it didn't really fit because I was faced with this, am I gonna do the Olympics? No. You know, like, am I the fastest 102 hundred runner anymore? Not even close. Yeah. Like it was a whole new level. And so then the 400 became my race, which I loved and hated at the same time. Anybody that's run the 400 knows exactly what I just said.
and started training for that and just, you know, I don't, I don't wanna say that I, I quit because I, I don't think, I don't view it that way. I just knew that there was more that I was desiring to get out of college and what I was really entering into. Mm-hmm. And it just didn't fit my life anymore.
Yeah. I didn't stop running, I just stopped in the context of pursuing it as, you know, an actual D one athlete.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I think it's really funny that you say like eight to 10:00 PM you, you went to bed earlier than that in college.
Sean Conlon: Well, not earlier than eight, but 10:00 PM Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: That's, that's,
Sean Conlon: yeah. I mean, everybody made fun of me.
Ally Brettnacher: I mean, I'm sure I was, it's like, Hey, we're like le we're not even leaving to go to the bars. Yeah. Until two hours
Sean Conlon: after that. I know, I know. The whole, um, what did they call [00:18:00] it? oh, pregaming.
Ally Brettnacher: Exactly.
Sean Conlon: Pregaming started at what, like 10:00 PM Probably at 10:00 PM
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I had my moments where I went and hung, but.
yeah, everybody always made fun of me 'cause I was going to bed pretty early.
Ally Brettnacher: But you were doing the right, I mean, I, I could have saved a lot of, you know, mischief in college. Of course. From if I went to bed at 10:00 PM
Sean Conlon: I know now my wife and I joke, nothing good happens after 8:00 PM
Ally Brettnacher: Right, exactly. I know.
And now having, you know, kids, you are like, okay. You know, totally get that. Yes.
Sean Conlon: You take it seriously.
Ally Brettnacher: Yes, for sure. Okay, so you, you leave track because it doesn't serve you in college. What were you studying? What did you want to do in college?
Sean Conlon: Business. Okay. Yeah. Business. overall accounting. So I kind of had this inclination for numbers, you know, and in my naive brain I'm like, oh, numbers accounting.
That's what I should do my entire life. And so I just pursued that and I, I look back and I'm grateful that I did it, but getting out into the air quote, real world. I did the accounting thing, for a year and there was just something unsettled inside of me and I knew that that wasn't what I was supposed to be doing for the rest of my life.
Mm-hmm. I loved it. I was good at [00:19:00] it, but I just knew that it wasn't something that I was supposed to be doing. Mm-hmm. And I'll spare the whole story, but I eventually discovered entrepreneurship, which is really what I was supposed to be doing. but I loved the Kelly School of Business. that's where I got my degree.
I did a dual major in accounting and finance. and that has served me so well in entrepreneurship because
Ally Brettnacher: I bet,
Sean Conlon: man, it just, it short circuited so much learning that other entrepreneurs who maybe either didn't go to college or took more of a marketing mm-hmm. Or, or not necessarily sales, 'cause I know that's not a degree, but something more in like the communications realm.
They just didn't have that. Right. And so I, I kind of had a leg up on, you know, understanding cash flow business and why is it important and how do you look backwards and analyze, do we need to update our pricing? You know, all the things that are driven by, at the end of the day, what runs a company, which is cashflow.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. What does your parents do?
Sean Conlon: so some people will know these companies, so there's two. Main companies that service schools, for class rings, cap and gowns and yearbooks, and one is Josten's and the other is Herf Jones, which is here in [00:20:00] Indianapolis. Mm-hmm. and so he's worked for Josten's for years, I think probably now over 30 years.
but he did yearbook. Okay. So he, he helped schools put yearbooks together and then ultimately, you know, sell them to the parents, to enjoy the memories that people make during high school and middle school and elementary school. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Wow.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: That's so funny. I don't think so. You and I met when you worked at Herf Jones.
Yeah. I don't know that I ever knew that your dad worked at Josten's.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. A lot of people at Herf Jones didn't know that Some did. and it was, it wasn't like a spy op mission or whatever you call that syop mission at all. Yeah. the way that I had arrived there was the, so going back to the accounting, I knew I didn't want to do that.
So outta my ego, I'm like, I'm gonna figure out how to start a business. And so I did. And it was doing large format digital printing. Oh. One of my first customers was actually Carmel High School. no way. How funny is that? It was pretty cool. Wow. Um, and then Noblesville, we did some work there. Okay. and it was basically just doing wall graphics and Yeah.
And banners and, you know, things that, that schools would use to put [00:21:00] around campus. And there's a long story, but the short version is I ended up selling that to a company in California, which is what moved me from Indianapolis to California. To San Diego. and then since that company got bought by Herf Jones, technically Varsity Varsity bought Herf Jones.
Ally Brettnacher: How? That's crazy.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. And so it was kind of wild how it all played out over the course of a couple years. Yeah. But that is what landed me at Herf.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And so how old were you when you started your first business?
Sean Conlon: Um, man, that's a good question. Probably 23.
Ally Brettnacher: That's, I mean,
Sean Conlon: that's 24.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Something in that range.
I need to actually go back and look at the math on that. 'cause it's somewhere in that range. 20, 23, 24.
Ally Brettnacher: Which is, which is pretty cool.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: And I, I could ask you so much about entrepreneurship 'cause selfishly like I love talking about it and also, but people listening who are runners are like, okay, yeah.
Sean Conlon: Get to
Ally Brettnacher: the running. Cool. Like, can we talk more about running?
Sean Conlon: Right.
Ally Brettnacher: During this time, like leaving, like, actually let's go back to IU during that time mm-hmm. Did you still run? Mm-hmm. Recreationally? Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, definitely. Um, I had never been a distance runner. Like if you [00:22:00] told me to do more than one lap around the track.
Yeah. I, I pointed at you and said You stop it.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: I'm not gonna do, that's
Ally Brettnacher: silly.
Sean Conlon: Um, granted we did 800 repeats training for the 400. So technically two laps I guess. But, those were terrible. Just as a side note, I'm having PTSD right now. but yeah, definitely recreationally. and I didn't pick up distance running and I would, I know like I'm in I good company here 'cause we know, you know, running lingo, so I actually wouldn't call it long distance.
I don't do anything more than a 5K. so if that's more mid distance, yeah. That's kind of the category that I fit into now. But, just did it for workout purposes, you know, and kinda keeping the brain sharp and that sort of thing. cardiovascular health mm-hmm. All those benefits. and didn't really take it more seriously until.
I was turning 33, roughly. I'm 39 now. Okay. So, you know, it's only been about six years.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And so you do, to this day, have you done races longer than a 5K? Have you done 10 Ks or Hals or a marathon?
Sean Conlon: No. So what's funny is I don't even do races.
Ally Brettnacher: That is so funny. So I, I love [00:23:00] this though because Yeah, a lot of times I think about on this podcast, I'm like, we talk all about what races have you done?
Yeah. What was the experience like? But not every runner races
Sean Conlon: No.
Ally Brettnacher: So I find that very interesting.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. I've done one. So to get to kind of the point of the story here is I've done a 5K every day for over six and a half years. So today was 2,324 days straight. And,
Ally Brettnacher: it was just like, let's just pause for a second and be like, let that sink in.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. It was, you know, it's sitting here. It's not a feat to me. It's not anymore 'cause it's so, it's my daily, you know, it's just something that, that, which we'll get into the genesis of it, but, it's just something that I do and I, I've done one. Event or race, in the six and a half years, which was in Montana, which was an amazing fun.
Ally Brettnacher: I'm sure. That
Sean Conlon: was fun. It was so fun. and I'm actually doing one, what is today, Thursday?
Ally Brettnacher: Is it? Yeah, it's
Sean Conlon: Thursday. Um, I'm doing one in two days down in Florida.
Ally Brettnacher: You are?
Sean Conlon: Yeah. That's really cool. My second one.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: so ever. Yeah. Ever. But I would love to do, 'cause I, we've got some friends that we met on the road [00:24:00] when we did an RV thing, which that's a whole, which
Ally Brettnacher: I, we
Sean Conlon: need to talk about.
That'll a little bit. I know we
Ally Brettnacher: need four hours,
Sean Conlon: but it's fine. Right. Um, and he does, he's, he's a marathoner and they do Okay. All the big ones around the world. And, and I actually just had him on, as a guest runner on the podcast that I do. Um, and he was, you know, sharing some of his story. But, what was so cool in the encouragement that he gave me was, you know, kind of challenging me to think a little bit, not bigger, but think a little more broader in terms of you should do a marathon.
Because in my mind I'm like, I can't do a marathon. There's no way. I know I could Yes, physically, but in my head I'm like. That's way too long. Like, you know, 3.1 miles is enough for me at this point. but I do like, it's sitting with me and I'm definitely, you know, really Okay. Really considering it. The seed has been planted.
Yes, it's been planted. but no, for me, and, you know, kind of getting into the genesis, like this was something that, and I'm unabashedly very strong in my faith. Mm-hmm. So I knew that, that God was working on something inside of me that I didn't even know at the time. And very slowly he [00:25:00] started uncovering these different things that he was trying to teach me that I was just so stubborn and not listening.
and so I'll spare the whole story, but basically I was turning 33 years old and. I, I had grown up in church and, I knew the story of Jesus and, you know, his three year ministry that he had between when he was 30 and 33 years old, and he died at, when he was 33.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Sean Conlon: and it just hit me.
I was like, oh my gosh, I'm turning 33 years old. And I, I started looking back at the last three of my, my, the last three years of my life. And I just, like, from a worldly standpoint, yeah, there was success as an entrepreneur, but I look back and I was like, it was empty. There was nothing, you know, of, of any significance that, that brought of true lasting joy and fulfillment.
And it just hit me. And there, there was this whole, you know, thing that I went through in terms of just thought process and like depth of reflection and, and all these things. But out of it came a still small voice that just said do 3.3 miles a day. Yeah, that's all I heard. And I knew that was God speaking to [00:26:00] me.
I've never heard the audible voice of God. So I'm not saying that like I literally heard it, but I knew it. Like in my soul, I knew that this was, this was something he was telling me to do. and I wrestled with it because I hadn't run long distances.
Ally Brettnacher: You were like, wait, did I hear that right?
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Like, I'm still not in this category of enjoying anything over, over a mile at this point.
And I would only run on the treadmill for some cardio. Mm-hmm. You know, working out at a gym. and so it was pretty challenging in terms of, okay, I'm gonna do this. Because on the backside of that, I didn't know what the goal was. I didn't hear the end of that sentence. And I think that was the sentence was do 3.3 miles a day.
and I just did it. And so the first day I went out and I did it.
Ally Brettnacher: Where were you at the time?
Sean Conlon: Um, we lived outside Nashville, Tennessee. Okay. So we were in Franklin, Tennessee, and I did it and then the next day I did it and it just kept going. And you know, the first 90 days. Well, I'll say it this way. I know there's a lot of science out there in terms of how long it takes to form a habit.
Mm-hmm. I do think your mind, especially when you don't know what a goal is in terms of a habit that you're [00:27:00] forming, your mind will do really interesting things to you. And I think there's aspects of, you know, you get over that 21 day hurdle and then you have the month, and then after the month it's kind of like no man's land, frankly, until 90 days.
'cause there's nothing else to mm-hmm. Baseline it to. And then at 90 days, I feel like that's when, for me, I was like, okay, we're doing this and I've got it. I, I can, I can do this. and I still didn't have any sense of a goal. I get through the first year, no goal still, and I accomplished a year, so that was cool.
And so I just did some reflecting and I ended up putting a small video together just of like the journey just to, you know, kind of talk about it and process through the emotions that I was feeling. And, you know, sitting here six and a half years later, the beautiful, beautiful part of this really just obedience is really what it was obedience, which then turned into discipline.
is that every year there's been a lesson, there's been something that has been worked out inside of me through all the situations that I've navigated, whether business or personal.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Sean Conlon: that was just so beautiful. And so [00:28:00] where it is now is I'm not stopping. Like I know finally, which this was five years in, I really felt the goal, which is to do it for 10 years straight without missing a single day.
Ally Brettnacher: Just,
Sean Conlon: and
we'll see after that, I've, I've talked to some people about that since knowing that that's the goal. Yeah. Um, and knowing that, that I heard the Lord speak that. and maybe it's the rest of my life, I don't know. There's only two people in recorded history that, and there's one that's still living, that's doing this every day.
Um, I think he's at like 13,000 days straight. so I have a ways to catch up. Yeah. Because I'm at, uh, yeah. Much less than that, but yeah. Um, yeah, it's just been, it's been beautiful. And in year two, kind of towards the middle of it, in the summer I broke my big toe.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: I broke my big toe. That's
Ally Brettnacher: a problem.
Sean Conlon: It was a problem. I was being an idiot. I was trying a one wheel, which are those. I don't,
Ally Brettnacher: okay.
Sean Conlon: So it's, it's one of the things Oh, it's
Ally Brettnacher: a Segway wheel
Sean Conlon: kind of thing. Yeah. It's got one big wheel on it. Yeah. And then there's a platform. Do you
Ally Brettnacher: kneel on it?
Sean Conlon: No. You stand
Ally Brettnacher: stand.
Sean Conlon: So this is where it got wonky.
'cause I had ridden one [00:29:00] before and felt like I knew it, but I guess I didn't. Oh. And so I'm in, I've got, Hey dude, shoes on.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh no.
Sean Conlon: And I hop on with all confidence, like, Hey, this is gonna be fun, and get on and it's a pressure plate. So basically to stay still and not moving, you have to be perfectly balanced.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: And I wasn't. And so it started like wobbling like this. And then my back leg kind of came down on the pressure. And so then it just like kind of flipped out from under me. And so I, you know, kind of go in the air, but I land like a ballerina with my foot straight down in Hey dudes, which is basically like, not even a shoe.
The
Ally Brettnacher: straw
Sean Conlon: shoe.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: and so it just came straight down. It was literally the most pain I've ever felt in my entire life. I've never broken a bone. That was the first time anything like that had happened. Wow. and it was terrible. It was terrible. I was in tears the entire night from the pain, but because I felt like my goal was crushed.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: I am, you know, over a year into this. And I just saw the conclusion of what I knew I was called to [00:30:00] do, ending in a way that because of my. My idiocy, if that's a word. I hope it's not, we it because it proves my point. Yeah. Like the whole thing. that I did something dumb to stop that, and the next morning I was faced with, okay, what do I do?
And so I did it. I still went out. And Was it a full fledged run? No, absolutely not. it took me three hours to do it, to finish it, because I had to walk and be on my side the entire time. What? And it was extremely painful. but I did it and it's not, this isn't a David Goggins story of beating my chest.
What it is, is what I learned through that year, which didn't come until towards the end, is understanding what resilience really is. Like the real definition of it. And it's one of those words like leadership, where everybody's gonna have their own interpretation. Yeah. But for me, I saw it. Physically lived out in terms of what that means.
And so very specifically is the ability for us to be stretched to a point of being wildly uncomfortable [00:31:00] to then be able to return to a baseline. But that baseline is further advanced than when you started and got stretched. Mm-hmm. And then it's your ability to continue to do that over time. and I saw it play out because day one was the hardest of all of them.
Okay. Day two micro or much less, however you would say that. Okay. Like 0.0 0, 0, 0 0 1% less pain, but still wildly painful. And so it was just a journey that year of. Of healing, which took I know, way longer than probably what it should have. Yeah. I never went to the hospital. What? Because I'm like, what are they gonna do?
I was researching it. Oh. And this
Ally Brettnacher: was, did I put you in a cast or something? Or maybe,
Sean Conlon: well, they don't really. Oh, they don't. And I could be wrong, but, and this was pre-chat GBT, but you know, I'm looking on the internet and it's like, well, they just put like a little thing on there to keep your toes straight.
Yeah. And, and you're supposed to wear a, either a bigger shoe or no shoe.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: Um, and I'm like, well, I'm gonna go spend all this money at the emergency room to do what I already know. You should do that. Yeah. Yeah. And I could probably do it on my own. So I did, you know, that's like probably true [00:32:00] guy talk right there.
Ally Brettnacher: I was just, I was, that was the exact thought that was in my head was like, that is such a guy thing. Oh yeah. Tell me. Okay, so your wife Christina? Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Um, we need to talk more about her, but in general, like, what the heck was she saying to you at this time? I'd be like,
Sean Conlon: go to the hospital.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Like, what are you doing?
Like, what are you doing? I'm like, what? You know, I'm showing her the same stuff on the internet. I'm like, Hey, here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna pay thousands of dollars for, you know, this little thing that I can like figure out here. and that's what I ended up doing,
Ally Brettnacher: man. Okay. So you did it still every day with no aid.
Yeah. Like you didn't just get on crutches and do it? That's
Sean Conlon: no crutches, no cast, no. Like, so the first, basically what happened was, I don't remember exactly how many days, but call it like three to five days. I fit my foot in that shoe. And what I realized though is that was not gonna work long term. So I actually found some sandals that Christina makes so much fun of me.
I still have 'em.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: that are, they were reef sandals that. Uh, or there's another brand called Chaco, I think. Chacos, yeah, I've heard of both. Yeah. Um, so it wasn't those, but it [00:33:00] basically just has a, a thing that goes around here and then, you know, one across here. 'cause flip flops wouldn't work either because that, that thing right in between
Ally Brettnacher: those.
Okay. So it's got the one like tow ring looking thing.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So
Ally Brettnacher: you got like yourself a Jesus sand
Sean Conlon: kind of. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. so that's what I ended up using for
Ally Brettnacher: Wow,
Sean Conlon: I don't know, a while.
Ally Brettnacher: And would you have a running shoe on the other foot, or do you wear sandals
Sean Conlon: on both? No, just sandals on both.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So I know that I'm so grateful that I didn't get like plantar fa fasciitis through that because of like, I mean, my foot is perfectly flat too. weird. Which I know. So I have no arch whatsoever, which technically, and I'll add one more thing, which is way TMI, but I, whatever.
Ally Brettnacher: You're in good
Sean Conlon: company.
I have two web toes.
Ally Brettnacher: That's crazy.
Sean Conlon: So between that and being flatfooted, I was not supposed to be fast. Like those two things work against you in, in running. That's crazy. Yeah, I was, yeah. so anyways, it was a fun fact, but
Ally Brettnacher: that is a fun fact. It's so weird. I don't know anybody else I know with Web Toe. I don't think I
Sean Conlon: know.
It's, it's pretty cool.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, it's really cool. how long until you started actually being able to run again?
Sean Conlon: Um, it was said [00:34:00] probably, I, I need to go back and I'll, I'll look at my data, um, because I,
Ally Brettnacher: how do you document too, by the way?
Sean Conlon: Apple Watch.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: I, this whole
Ally Brettnacher: time.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. I wish I would've found Strava sooner and I
Ally Brettnacher: know.
Sean Conlon: Yeah man, I really do. 'cause that would've been awesome because now what I have to do is like export the Apple Health data to then find a program to kind of aggregate it.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: cause I did find Strava this year and not
Ally Brettnacher: until this year.
Sean Conlon: I know. Yeah, I know. It's sad. Now I'm. Like kicking myself. Yeah. But it was able to go back and import, I dunno, six months worth of data.
Okay. I think, but it kind of caps at that. Okay. So if anybody knows how to do that further, I would love to load in all that stuff.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Somebody listing, might
Sean Conlon: that be amazing. Might
Ally Brettnacher: have that insight. That'd be good.
Sean Conlon: And maybe there's a third party app or something. Yeah. But, um, that would be super cool.
So I'd just really use the Apple Watch.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: And I would just monitor everything through there so I could go back and look. 'cause I don't exactly remember. I know it was much sooner than I probably should have and I was still kind of running on the outside a little bit. Yeah. The second problem that developed, which is TMI for sure, but, if ever anybody ever breaks their toe, here's what to expect.
is the, the [00:35:00] toenail falls off so, oh, it fell off. But it builds like a hard callous, so it's not as painful as what you'd think. 'cause you've already gone through like the most painful part.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: But as that toe. Regenerates and grows, which we're, our bodies are such Miracles is crazy. It's crazy. Crazy.
It's
Ally Brettnacher: nuts how it works. Yeah.
Sean Conlon: But your toenail will regrow. Okay. So as it regrows, it's making its way up. You know, over time it takes about a year, , and it grows up, but it got towards the end. And you have to be really diligent because that's where you get an ingrown toenail. Oh. Because what happened is your toe you know how it, how our toenails are kind of curved and like you have the toe bed.
Yeah,
Ally Brettnacher: yeah.
Sean Conlon: On the sides uhhuh. and at the top of your toe it's like kind of creased.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Well, when you don't have a toenail, it rounds out. Oh. So your toe becomes round so weird because there's nothing there.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: so as it's growing, so I, I got an ingrown toenail that took me months to get resolved.
I should have gone into, I was just thinking, I was, like
Ally Brettnacher: I
Sean Conlon: said, you didn't go to a doctor. I know, but it was so painful and I'm. It's funny 'cause you hear this and you're like, wow, there's so much [00:36:00] toughness in that I am weak. I am, I am a wuss. A wuss of all wss. And I don't like pain. I hate pain. So I don't like going to the doctor.
I hated getting shots. Yeah. Like I still hate shots. I ended up getting some tattoos to kind of try and get over that fear. Oh,
Ally Brettnacher: interesting.
Sean Conlon: Which I think those are more painful than a shot, but
Ally Brettnacher: Yes.
Sean Conlon: yeah. Anyway, so I didn't go in. I should have, it took longer to heal. and ingrown toenails are terrible for runners.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Terrible.
Ally Brettnacher: Broken toe. Ingrown toenail.
Sean Conlon: Yep.
Ally Brettnacher: Just
Sean Conlon: fighting through
Ally Brettnacher: it. Fighting through it. So, and also in the meantime, you're probably like building businesses too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So like how do you spend hours a day hobbling on your feet to get it in?
Sean Conlon: You just prioritize it. You know, if, if you have the one thing that you need to get done, everything else falls after that.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: And so I am always a proponent of doing your most important work in the morning. First thing. Yeah. Everybody has a morning, like, I understand schedules are different. People might work third shift. Mm-hmm. Second shift. I get it. But you still have a morning. And so I think, I think we all underestimate the power of an effective morning routine.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: To clear our [00:37:00] minds, reset our minds, do something healthy for our body, do the scientific things that we know happen when we work out, and exercise with endorphins flowing and just heart health and all that. And then, then get into your day. and there's, there's so much science around what happens to our brains and our bodies when we sleep, we're restored.
You know, there's miraculous things happening as we sleep. And if you enter your day, just waking up, going straight to your phone, going right into work, jazzing yourself with caffeine immediately.
Sean Conlon Audio: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Like you're building really, really bad habits. So if you just shift that and say, okay, what's the one thing that I need to do?
And if it is working out or running, you know, whatever it might be, do that, win the day with that and then everything else falls into place. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: So what time do you get up?
Sean Conlon: so it's changed.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Um, we had our first child about a year ago, a little over a year ago, and I've always been a morning person, so I would get up, you know, five, six.
I get up at four now naturally, and it's not a statement of pride. It is. I go to [00:38:00] bed at eight 30 and my body wakes me up at four, between four and four 30 almost every day. it's always interesting changing time zones too. 'cause it's still, it's, it wasn't four here, but it was five. Oh
Ally Brettnacher: yeah.
Sean Conlon: Um, and it's still, you know, like clockwork.
So, I've just found that part of learning my body and my level of performance, both as an entrepreneur. As a husband, now as a father, as an athlete, as a runner, that if you really pay attention to what your body's telling you and you lean into that and you scrap all this stuff, that culture tells you about time management and focus on energy management, you can do things that you never thought possible.
and, I just really encourage anybody that's struggling with that, that always has this pull of, like, this work-life balance.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Lie
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: That's out there because it's impossible. You're always, always gonna be oscillating. Yeah. One way or the other, and invert it and think more in terms of your energy and how you can structure your day to get the best performance out of yourself.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Then you can do amazing things. And so for me, [00:39:00] it's getting up at four, I get right into reading the Bible in prayer time, which sets my mind and in, in my opinion, it, it puts me in a space where I'm. Humble. I am grateful and I know that no matter what comes along in the day that I can handle it, that I've got strength that's not just inside of myself.
Mm-hmm. Um, and so then that leads to writing. So mentally I'm in a great creative space. I've had some espresso. I've switched from plain coffee to just espresso. Okay. It's better, better on your stomach. Total side note, it's less acidic. and I, it just makes me feel a lot better. So, do that than I write.
I do writing on LinkedIn. I do that every day, except for Sunday. it's been so beautifully therapeutic and I just feel like there's so much inside of me that I've wanted to share. And it's kind of fun to, you know, work through that. and then I go run, and then after a run, I do a workout and I'm ready to go most mornings around 9:00 AM and then I get into work.
Ally Brettnacher: So when you run. Do you always run outside?
Sean Conlon: I do. With exception of it being dark.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: Now, so the, the asterisk here [00:40:00] is within the last a hundred days, I started recording and doing this because I felt like part of what I was hearing earlier this year was a word and it was to emerge. Emerge was the word.
And that's when I started writing on LinkedIn. and then later in the year, in, in the summertime, I just felt like I was supposed to start recording and having conversations. Because year six, the thing that I've learned is that this is all about community. You know, I've been doing this in the background, right.
Most people didn't know about it other than, which
Ally Brettnacher: is crazy. Like, I think about the world I'm in with runners and like, let's call influencers and stuff like that. It's like, yeah, everybody be shouting it from the rooftops, like, Hey, look at me.
Sean Conlon: Yep. Nope. It's been, you know, over five years of just people around me now.
Yeah. Like, you know, the teams that I work with, colleagues, my wife, our family, some close friends, like they know what I'm doing. it's never been public, so I just, I knew like I was supposed to come out and do this more in a community aspect, not in building a community, but just sharing the story.
Yeah. because it is important and, and it is, it's just rooted in obedience. That's the whole point, [00:41:00] is just be obedient to what you know you're supposed to do and do it one day after another. And if you do, you stack enough wins to where you build this like undeniable evidence that you can Yeah. And that does turn into discipline and it does turn into consistency and it does turn into resilience and it turns into all these things.
And what ends up happening, and this happens to be biblical as well, is like people start trusting you more because you're a person that shows up, right? Yeah. And like in the world that we're in and entering
Ally Brettnacher: Yes.
Sean Conlon: Falseness and lies and non-truth is more rampant than ever, and it will continue to be that way.
Yeah. And so what it's gonna do in our brains, which it's already doing, which you can see in all the data. About anxiety, fear of depression. Like it just builds and builds and builds and builds. Yeah. Because it's designed to, so the more that you can root back in the truth and ultimately, you know, build confidence inside of yourself that you can, the better.
And so you just, you start to, you know, pursue that. But, yeah, it's been, it's been one that's been rather private, but now very public.
Ally Brettnacher: Now It's very [00:42:00] public. Yeah. So, okay. Do you ever run with people?
Sean Conlon: So I started to, so part of this, this running, was me just having a camera in front of me. What do you
Ally Brettnacher: use?
What is,
Sean Conlon: do you have a GoPro? Um, so I had a GoPro and I just, so I've, I've done the YouTube thing before with one of our other phases of life. Of RVing. Yeah. Um, and the GoPro just, I didn't like the color grading in it and
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: You know, there's some I know you would love to talk about, others will not care.
So we won't go there. But. I ended up switching to the DJI Osmo action five. Yeah. Okay. Is what it is.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Um, it's amazing. I love that, that little camera and it's like 300 bucks, maybe 250 if you can find it on sale. Yeah. so I just have a little selfie stick and have that at the end. I got a microphone that wirelessly Yeah.
Goes with it. and then part of an idea I had one of the days when I was running is like, why don't I run with other people and we talk and have a conversation. Yeah. and so I tested it out with a buddy and it worked, and so now I try and do that as much as I possibly can. and getting into one of the things that you pointed out is one of the, goals that I [00:43:00] have for 2026 is to do a 5K in 50 states in 50 days, because I need to spice it up.
Ally Brettnacher: Quick break in the show to tell you about my own business. I suppose since this episode talks a lot about entrepreneurship, I would love to tell you about Athlete Bouquets. It is a run gifting business that helps celebrate the finish lines and milestones of the people you love. So think edible arrangements, but all the goodies that you need for a race or after a race, and they're in customized designs.
I also make. Temporary tattoos, stickers, ornaments, sweat towels, And so if you would like to check out Athlete Bouquets, you can go to athlete bouquets.com and use Code Podcast for 10% off your order. Thank you so much for supporting me and my business, and now back to the show.
Sean Conlon: and getting into one of the things that you pointed out is one of the, goals that I have for 2026 is to do a 5K in 50 states in 50 days, because I need to spice it up.
Like,
Ally Brettnacher: yeah, let's mix
Sean Conlon: like mine as well. Right.
Ally Brettnacher: It's not that hard to run a 5K every day, so I might
Sean Conlon: as,
Ally Brettnacher: and
Sean Conlon: anymore. It's not like it's so easy,
Ally Brettnacher: which is, it's just interesting [00:44:00] to wrap my head around and think about the discipline of that, but yeah. 50. Okay. So. That's gonna be,
Sean Conlon: it's gonna be tough. yeah, the logistics really right.
It's not the physical aspect of it. Totally. But, you know, I threw a, a test post out to LinkedIn because there's just, again, there's so many amazing people there. and I was like, Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. What do you guys think? And I kept it pretty brief, very intentionally, because part of that 10 year goal is what I know I'm supposed to be doing is raising a bunch of money for charity.
And so that's why, again, being more public about this too, we can, we've got three and a half years to build to that. I think this is the first time I've publicly said this, but I wanna raise $10 million is my goal. and so we've got a long ways to go to get there. Wow. I want to do it in, at the end of 10 years, I'm gonna do a run across the United States.
And so I don't know the timing of like how long it's gonna take. I haven't mapped that far out yet. I haven't even thought about it other than just knowing what that goal is.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: But in that process, that's where I'm saying I wanna raise $10 million by doing that across the United So I think this 5K in 50 states in 50 days is a really interesting warmup lap.
Yeah. All funds intended, [00:45:00] um, to figure out how to do that. So I knew that charity was gonna be a piece of it. I just didn't drop that in the post to see if people like picked it up and they did. and so what, what I'm working through now, which we have, you know, some planning time, That I think would be really cool is in every state find a cool place to run in that state.
Mm-hmm. That's logistically possible. And then do it with either one person or multiple people.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: And have a conversation just like I'm already doing, you know, with, with the guest runners. and then find some folks that are in those states or in those cities that have influence that can rally, you know, people in that community to raise money for a specific cause.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Sean Conlon: so still working through some of those details, but it's definitely gonna be very, very philanthropic and, I'm gonna put in all the money personally to fund the travel and mm-hmm. And do all the things. and then anybody else that wants to be a part of it and run. So Cool. As we travel, all invitations are out there.
Yeah. I think it'd be so much fun.
Ally Brettnacher: Well, we'll, I mean, when you come to Indiana for your fight Yeah, we will. You gotta tell me we will. Like we will do it
Sean Conlon: up. Yes. Yeah. It's gonna be mapped out. So I've [00:46:00] got, A plan in terms of, you know, how to kind of do it. Chat. GPT has been help. Very helpful in this capacity.
Ally Brettnacher: It's a great travel companion
Sean Conlon: for sure. and so we'll have, you know, some logistics to figure out, but I'm gonna start building a list of, who the runners are gonna be in every state. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: And,
Sean Conlon: you know, communicate well in advance and we'll have plenty of heads up. Yeah. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Ally Brettnacher: It's gonna be so cool to watch.
Sean Conlon: It's gonna be cool.
Ally Brettnacher: So, will you do it in an rv?
Sean Conlon: So, I think so. I think part of it will be because the other thing, you know, there's, and, and this is an important point that I think we all forget, there's nothing in the pursuit of a goal that's worth sacrificing anything in your family period.
Like, absolutely nothing. There's nothing in this world that would, would fulfill you to the point of having. done harm to your family, period. So for me, doing this 50 days away from my family is non-negotiable. That is never going to happen. I can barely do 48 hours as it is now. so we happened to have rvd before for three years full time, and, you know, know everything there is to know about it.
[00:47:00] So there will be some states obviously logistically that I have to fly to. Hawaii and Alaska.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, there's that.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Uh, so those will be flights. but the way that, that I've been working with chat GT to map it out would be, you know, via driving mostly. Yeah,
Ally Brettnacher: that makes a lot of sense.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: When you have more, a lot more control obviously too.
Sean Conlon: Yep, yep. And a fun fact is you can actually drive to all 48 states in, 50 days, and that's only about three hours of driving per day on average.
Ally Brettnacher: Whoa.
Sean Conlon: There are days that are a little longer 'cause you get to stretches like California, you know, out west predominantly. Okay.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: but yeah, you can, you can do it in less than three hours driving.
Ally Brettnacher: That's so interesting. Mm-hmm. Okay. I wanna use this opportunity to talk about the RVing You did. Yeah. Because that was such a cool time of your life.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, it was fun.
Ally Brettnacher: So, so you and Christina decided to just hit the road. So tell people about that. how did you decide to do that? What, what was that like?
Sean Conlon: The short version is we were living outside Nashville, Tennessee at the time. this is 2020. So you would hear that initially and be like, oh, this is a COVID story. It really [00:48:00] wasn't. It happened to be kind of an accelerant because we were faced with the opportunity A, to do it, and then B it was like, well, COVID is going on, so let's just go do this.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: so we ended up talking about it early 2020. so years and years. And I forget what I paid for it. Call it like $800 or something.
Yeah. I sold it for more than what I bought it for and had used it for all of those years.
Ally Brettnacher: That's crazy, Sean.
Sean Conlon: That is
Ally Brettnacher: so
Sean Conlon: funny. And it was awesome. So then we just kind of got addicted and same, it's like a game. Yeah. Yeah. The same thing was happening with our furniture. We're like, oh my gosh. We just looked back at what we paid for that couch and we just sold it for the same amount that we bought it for and we sat on it for three years, you know, kind of thing.
Yeah. and so anyways, that process, we just kind of weeded through stuff and then we got to the point of. Basically just having clothes and some other things. Yeah. we did get a small storage unit and, and put what we didn't sell through in that, you know, things that we didn't wanna sell. Memories.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah,
Sean Conlon: sure. Keepsakes, that sort of sort of thing. we got an rv November 11th, 2020. We left, didn't look back and really what we were doing [00:49:00] was we had a golden retriever, just one at the time. Now we have to, at the time, which one
Ally Brettnacher: was it at the
Sean Conlon: time? This was Nash.
Ally Brettnacher: That was Nash.
Sean Conlon: So Nash, we had just gotten certified as a therapy dog.
a therapy dog is one that can be for yourself, but the way that we were doing it is to serve and volunteer in our community. So we were going to a children's hospital, and then an afterschool program and taking Nash as a therapy dog and just hanging out with kids basically. and so we just saw.
Not only joy in our, our hearts from doing that by selflessly giving time. but we saw it in Nash, you know, it's like his purpose came to life. And we ended up, just having this idea of what if we could just go volunteer around the country as we did this? And we put an actual tour together, called the Pause for Love tour.
Mm-hmm. And, there was a, a TV network that got ahold of the story and reached out and said, Hey, do you wanna do a TV show? Initially I didn't really want to. 'cause that's really what, what it wasn't about. And going back to my story, right, the three wing four on the Enneagram, I'm like, I don't really want that kind of attention 'cause it builds this [00:50:00] pride in me.
Mm-hmm. And I, I don't really want that. but it got to a point where I felt very confident of like, okay, I, I know how to handle this. Like I've got a full understanding of myself now at this point and we can do this. and so we did and it was a ton of fun. Um, we did that for a year, so that was all of 2020, or sorry, the rest of 2020 and then all of 2021.
and then anybody that's rvd full-time knows you cannot see the entire US in one year. It is way too short of a time. Oh yeah. So if anybody's planning to do that or wants to, you need more than a year. every single family that we have met on the road did the same thing. They did it thinking they were gonna do it for a year.
Yeah. 2, 3, 4, 7 years later. People, you know, are still full-time RVing. We did it for three, almost right on the nose. and year two and three were amazing. But we just knew we wanted to start a family and we'd been waiting, you know, a while to do that. So, we came off the road officially November of 2023.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: And got a place down in Florida, just outside of Destin.
Ally Brettnacher: And now here. Here now you're in Destin. Yeah. And you [00:51:00] split your time between Destin and Montana.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, so Montana, we've been spending the summers up there. We didn't do it this year because, Coulter was really struggling with sleep. Mm. So we just felt getting a circadian rhythm set was, you know, more important.
And Montana, if you're not having sleep struggles is beautiful in the summer because it's light out until midnight. It's so, and even then it doesn't really get dark. Dark.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: It's just so beautiful. but yeah, we've, we've got a, business that we're involved in up there, that's a Longhorn Cattle Ranch.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: So we've got that up there.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's so cool. I can't keep track of all you have done and continue to do when it comes to entrepreneurship. It's just,
Sean Conlon: it's addicting.
Ally Brettnacher: It's really, it's fun. Yeah. Well, and then for, I don't remember where this fits in, but I remember when you launched Nash's. Mm-hmm.
The dog treats. Yeah. What, where was that?
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So we started that in Nashville, named it after Nash. Yeah. And started growing it, and it was going really well. I had a good friend that part of the story was I did get an MBA, I went to Notre Dame to do that. That's
Ally Brettnacher: right.
Sean Conlon: [00:52:00] That was always a life goal. That was a box unchecked that I wanted to check.
So did that, met a, a wonderful guy that just, we became really good friends and, um, I was using his company to, to produce the treats. They were these freeze dried treats. And so there's a, a deep, long story, but the short version is we ended up rolling Nashies into this freeze dried company. we went, went out and raised a very large growth equity round and started growing that business, over about a five year period of time.
And so it just kinda rolled into everything that we were doing, you know, over there. And now it's found in, Costco. It got rebranded as, as something else, called Nutri Bytes, but
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: yeah, it's all over Costco. Cool. And it's, it's a lot of fun.
Ally Brettnacher: That's crazy, Sean. It's crazy. So cool.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, it's fun.
Ally Brettnacher: okay, I want to.
Take a tangent and talk about Christina. how did you meet?
Sean Conlon: So go all the way back to the beginning of the story as an accountant in my first job. Wow. So here in Indy,
Ally Brettnacher: did you work together?
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Yeah. Not so she was on the marketing side.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: So not in a functional capacity, but, if anybody from Indy remembers [00:53:00] Slingshot.
SEO
Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah.
Sean Conlon: Back in the day. Um,
Ally Brettnacher: Slingshot.
Sean Conlon: SEO. Yeah. It was, uh, that team was so cool. Who
Ally Brettnacher: ran that
Sean Conlon: business? Um, so Jeremy, Kevin and Aaron.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: Um, were the three founders of that. And then it just grew so fast. So we, I think I was employee of 13 and by the time I had left there, after about a year, it was a little over a year.
we were well over a hundred employees Yeah. At that time. Yeah. So it was rapid, rapid growth. but she came in as a marketing intern and we had, you know, maybe 2, 3, 4 conversations over the course of a year. 'cause we didn't really overlap mm-hmm. In terms of function. Very short version is I decided to move to California.
So started that business, decided to make the move out there and my parents had lived, had moved outside of la so just wanted to go be closer to them at that point.
Ally Brettnacher: and this is separate from the time you went to California for the large format business?
Sean Conlon: This is the same time.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, it is the
Sean Conlon: same time.
So this was actually the same time. So I was just
Ally Brettnacher: starting that. I guess that makes sense because you were just Okay. 'cause you were just outta school.
Sean Conlon: Yep, I was just starting that. Wow. [00:54:00] Okay. So that's the
Ally Brettnacher: same time.
Sean Conlon: Got it. So we, we end up, you know, having a few conversations and I had never really used Twitter, but I guess I had an account and she, she sends me a direct message and she's like, Hey, I heard you're moving.
Would you want to go grab lunch to say goodbye? And I was like, this is a little weird because I've never really talked this So cute. Yeah. Um, but sure, why not? You know? And our schedules didn't work. but we ended up going to dinner. And this is a funny part of the story because me being an accountant and a numbers guy, I had always taken the stance of there's 7 billion people on the planet.
So you can't make an argument with me where you would win, in my opinion, where you could say that any more than, or I'll say it this way, you could spend your life with pick 12 people and have an equally fulfilled life at the end of the day. That there's not one person for each person. But when we went to dinner, that whole whole thing went out the window.
Like truly it wasn't that. It was like love at first sight 'cause I had already seen her, but I knew and she knew at the same time. We didn't tell each other that obviously. 'cause that's liketalk, that'd be a little much said [00:55:00] right in the moment. but as we unpacked this over, you know, the course of months, we both, you know, went back to that, that dinner.
and we just knew like we were supposed to be together forever. Two. But you
Ally Brettnacher: left.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: So did you like, so how did that dinner end? You're just like, okay,
Sean Conlon: so
Ally Brettnacher: see you later.
Sean Conlon: So I had the U-Haul, I think I rented budget actually was what it was. But it was packed. It was ready to go. Literally ready to go.
And I called them and I was like, Hey, I have this for a week. 'cause it takes a week to drive. Well, you could do it faster, but I drove from here to California in a week. I was like, can I extend this another week? They were like, yeah, it's gonna be X amount of dollars. Which, yeah, it was in the thousands.
So it was, it was a big number. and I, I only say that to say like there was consequence. Yeah. You know, I didn't, I didn't have that money and I made a decision to put it off another week to pay that money because I wanted to see what was. And so I stayed another week. I didn't even have like a, a bed, so I just pulled the mattress out and put it back in the [00:56:00] room.
'cause fortunately we had the place that we were at for another, I don't know, couple of weeks or something. Okay. so we could make it work. But yeah. Stuck around for another week. We went on pretty much a date, like every day. and then I eventually, I was like, I, I have to go 'cause I don't have any more money.
Yeah. I can't keep spending money. and ended up moving and then we found a way to, you know, make it all work and eventually she moved out to California. How
Ally Brettnacher: long did
Sean Conlon: take
Ally Brettnacher: to move? How long did it take her to move?
Sean Conlon: Um, it wasn't three weeks. Well, I mean, we would've, so they're, there's like, the details are always funny.
So I was studying to be a CPA. And, um, you have to have 150 credit hours. And so I went through that whole process and was starting to, sit for the CPA and do the things. and there was something that came back that said, Hey, the, the alpine skiing class that you took at IU that was three credit hours is actually not counting towards your, your credits of 150.
Like go figure. Yeah. Which, if that class is still at iu, take it. 'cause it's amazing for anybody that's younger, less than that, that is interesting. Um, it was a ton of fun. Our final exam, [00:57:00] we went to Aspen, Colorado for a week to ski. Really? To ski. That was not perfect
Ally Brettnacher: North.
Sean Conlon: No, not perfect North. it was amazing.
But anyways, wow. so what I didn't do was enroll in a graduate degree, A 'cause I only needed three hours and B, graduate courses are like double the price of an undergrad credit. So I ended up just re-enrolling. I forget exactly what I did, but IU let me take a class. Okay. So I actually moved my stuff, then I came back.
For one semester to take that class and get it done. And then at that point Christina moved with me back to San Diego. Wow. So we moved back for stuff out there. Yeah. So it was, it was a little wild of a story. But
Ally Brettnacher: that is a cr I mean, I am, you've got some crazy stories.
Sean Conlon: It, it never ceases to Yeah. Amaze even me re-looking it life.
Yeah. But you
Ally Brettnacher: gotta write a book. Have you written a book?
Sean Conlon: So that is funny that you asked that. I'm in the process right now of evaluating companies to help me do that.
Ally Brettnacher: Cool.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So yes, I will be writing one.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Unlike what? Because Holy cow, you could write a book just on living in an RV for three years, right?
You could write a book on just like your first business.
Sean Conlon: [00:58:00] Right. So what it'll be is, so I'll, I'll take a short story opportunity. cause I, I do think these things are very important. So, you know, me starting this journey, I knew that I was supposed to do it so. Uh, there was this depth of walk that I started to, to have with God that was deeper than I had before because of my level of trust.
And so I was back in Franklin earlier this year and I hadn't been back through there for a while. And I was there for a meeting and I was really close to where we lived in the hotel there, and I ran on the treadmill, and got done and clear as day when I was done running. I just heard that same still small voice that I hadn't heard from that one point you're writing a book and it's called Running Into Discipline.
And I was, I, I initially, verbally, I said no. Like literally it was like a reaction. Yeah. 'cause I don't, I don't want to write a book. I'm coming to like, desire it now. So I should say I didn't want to write a book. Yeah. I didn't want what was expected of that. I'm building, I, I'm involved in six different companies and like I don't have time and I know what's [00:59:00] expected of that and I don't wanna be a public speaker and like all these things.
Yeah. And so I'm sitting here wrestling. With God on this when I'm stretching, you know, after my run and, and I can't make this up, I go back to the room. I get on LinkedIn to check something. I forget what I was even checking. I had never gotten a comment like this before. But this gal had posted, a comment on one of my posts about how much she enjoyed writing a book.
And it was like, kind of related to the posts that I had, but not at the same time. Like it was totally disconnected. That's funny. and it was really, really interesting. And uh, so I was like, okay, that's interesting. And then, um, this was, this was a Tuesday I think it was. I go through that day, I go through the meetings.
I get back, I have this meeting set for Friday that was supposed to be two weeks before. And this particular guy there was this, his whole house got sick, like the flu kind of went through it. So we rescheduled and I go to that meeting, I, I kind of knew who the guy was, but not the level of depth of the company that he worked for.
And I get on the meeting. And long story short, they happen to be a company that helps entrepreneurs write books. And I [01:00:00] didn't really connect the dots on that until we get into the, the call and, and he's like, Hey, it's, it was almost kind of a verbatim question 'cause we, we went through some of the story.
he was like, Hey, you've just told me like six books that you've written. Have you thought about writing a book?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: And that was in the same week. That was the third confirmation of like, okay, I hear you. I'm supposed to be doing this, this. Okay. Yeah. So that's what it's gonna be about. it's gonna be called running into Discipline.
every, we're working through like the story arc and the outline right now. But essentially it's gonna be the lessons that I learned from each year of running. and then we'll do the 10 year. You know, goal, and then there'll probably be another book that comes outta that. And
Ally Brettnacher: yeah,
Sean Conlon: I don't really know where it's going.
Yeah. Honestly, the, the thing that if there's any takeaway from people that have made it this far, um, it's just be obedient. You know, be obedient to what you know you're supposed to be doing. And there's so much blessing on the other side of that. And it builds amazing things like discipline and resilience and consistency.
and you can break through plateaus that you never knew existed. and it just makes you more trustworthy. People will depend [01:01:00] on you more. You get more that you can steward, you know, you gain more influence in a good way. And I'm not saying like influence or way, I'm saying like with your family.
Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.
Sean Conlon: You know, your kids start to trust you more. Your, your spouse trust trusts you more. and you most importantly build it within yourself. And you start to realize, hey, that goal or that dream that's been sitting up on the shelf that I haven't dusted off and I haven't thought about for five years, 10 years, you know, I'm 50 years old and it's still so unattainable.
Well, guess what? Like. Pull it off the shelf, like build so much undeniable evidence inside of yourself in the form of confidence that in boldness, you reach out for that and pull it off and dust it off and look at it and then go achieve it.
Ally Brettnacher: Make it sound so easy.
Sean Conlon: One step after another.
Ally Brettnacher: We
Sean Conlon: know that as
Ally Brettnacher: winner.
One step at a time. One
Sean Conlon: step at a time.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Wow. Well, I'll read it.
Sean Conlon: Well, I appreciate it.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: I'll send you one of the first
Ally Brettnacher: copies. Yeah, please do. Yeah, over six years. Every day.
Sean Conlon: Every day.
Ally Brettnacher: Has Christina ever run with you?
Sean Conlon: [01:02:00] Um, actually, man, that is a great question. I, she's gonna kill me if I get this wrong.
I don't think that she has. I know we've done walks together. not in the context of like the 5K, but I don't think she has, you can walk on the beach. You know, we might add the C challenge
Ally Brettnacher: though.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Right. She's gotta be in a video. Come on.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, that's a good point.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: We need to get her in there.
Ally Brettnacher: Get the jogging. Get a jogging stroller. Yeah. Do you have
Sean Conlon: one that No, it's on the list though. That's '
Ally Brettnacher: cause now I think you have to wait until they're one in order to run with them.
Sean Conlon: Exactly.
Ally Brettnacher: Because I remember being like, what?
Sean Conlon: I know,
Ally Brettnacher: I know. I'm ready to do it now.
Sean Conlon: I know. Me too. I've practiced on the stroller we have in the front wheel or you know, like the two, they start going crazy, uhhuh.
and it wasn't anything more than just, you know, a hundred yards or whatever. Yeah, right. But um, yeah, that's one thing I want to do. We're very intentional too, and this isn't like, if anybody does do this, there's nothing wrong with this at all. We just personally have chosen not to share his face or picture on social media.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah.
Sean Conlon: Okay. Just 'cause like, I don't know what's coming with ai and we talked about that as a family and we're just like. But at least for now, maybe we'll change our mind, but
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: At least for now, we're not gonna do that. [01:03:00] So I've wanted to run with him in the videos and stuff. Yeah. But I go back to that and I'm like, ah, yeah, I forgot.
We're not doing that, so.
Ally Brettnacher: Right. I know. Well, yeah. Yeah.
Sean Conlon: It's kind of a bummer, but
Ally Brettnacher: yeah.
Sean Conlon: We'll, we'll hold to that.
Ally Brettnacher: Well, I'm sure there's editing where you like, it'll just put a blur spot there or something like that. Yeah, for sure.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, exactly.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm Okay. I'll be ready to watch that video with Christina.
Sean Conlon: Okay. We'll get her on there.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, you'll get her on there. how can people who are listening who are like really resonating with your journey that's gonna come in the summer, like, how can our community help connect you to people in different states? Like, my head's already spinning, like, okay, who can I connect you with?
Sean Conlon: I would say exactly that. so I'm most present on LinkedIn, and I know some people don't have that, so I'm, I'm working on trying to spin up, you know, X and you
Ally Brettnacher: gotta do all the other
Sean Conlon: stuff on a substack and Yeah. All of them. Yeah. Uh, the, the thing that I think we all have to remember too is in the things that we pursue, build what you can be consistent at.
Yeah. So that's why I haven't pursued that yet. Yeah. 'cause I know I can't yet be consistent in it. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: It's really hard.
Sean Conlon: [01:04:00] So like, do what you say. Yep. Do what you want to do, control your controllables and go all out. so I will eventually get there, but LinkedIn is a great place. And to your exact question, I would love to know people to run with in all these states.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: So I don't know exactly when I'm gonna be doing this yet. I'm still building the plan. It's likely gonna be late summer, early fall. Okay. I think that's when I can tag weather kind of the best in all areas. And also people aren't traveling a ton. Mm-hmm. You know, at the conclusion of summer. and I think it'll just be more feasible, you know, to be able to do that.
So we have plenty of time. so if you are listening to this and would love to run. Let me know. That'd be amazing. LinkedIn would be the best place to do that. my email address is also Sean, which is SEAN at 2 5 2 9 Ventures. So just shoot me an email. and then I started a YouTube channel and decided to do that, about a hundred days ago to, to document the runs.
Yeah. I've had enough people be like, Hey, can I see your Apple Watch data to like know that you've done this? And
Ally Brettnacher: I could. I totally can understand that. Yeah. Because you're like, did you really do this?
Sean Conlon: I know. [01:05:00] And I, I would be in disbelief too, so that's why I really wanna figure strub out somebody.
'cause Strava's the place to do it.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Um, there's also maybe an app or some software that I could just load everything in and just publish it. Yeah. So I am gonna figure that out and I know I'll need that ahead of the book too. but we'll get that dialed in. So yeah, just follow me on YouTube. and I just love to have conversations.
So this is not a, a me story or a watch me story. It's let's do this as a community. Let's use it as something. I just felt I was supposed to do. Mm-hmm. And the only thing that I'm proud of and the whole thing is just being obedient. Like, that's why I'm always gonna come back to that because Yeah. That is the one source of pride that I do have because I know what I've seen on the flip side of that, in terms of, blessing of just joy and peace and relationships.
Mm-hmm. And just all these things. and so I would just love to, you know, be on the journey with you guys and, if there's any conversations you want to have. I'm an open door. I love to have 'em. I love guest runners, so if you wanna come down to th the 30 A area, the dead of winter, which most people do
Ally Brettnacher: run on the beach.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. We'll run and. We'll do it that way.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I'm bummed we couldn't sneak it in. I know today.
Sean Conlon: Me too.
Ally Brettnacher: Although it's probably for the best [01:06:00] because holidays are coming up and I have to-do list that is never ending. Yes, exactly. So, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well I can't wait to, to follow this journey with you. I appreciate that you, I'm just so excited that this worked out and I got to see you in person.
Thank you.
Sean Conlon: This was awesome.
Ally Brettnacher: And hear so many stories we could, I mean, I literally could talk to you for the rest of the afternoon, Sean.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, yeah. Well, and people that are listening, this is our catch up time.
Ally Brettnacher: It is, yeah. That
Sean Conlon: we're having too. So yeah, this could be like four or five hours
Ally Brettnacher: long. It really, it really could be.
okay. So I'm gonna go ahead and ask you the end of the podcast questions now.
Sean Conlon: Yeah, yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: the first one that I ask everybody is what is your, what is your favorite running song and or mantra?
Sean Conlon: Okay, so I am gonna pick a genre. A genre,
Ally Brettnacher: okay. That's
Sean Conlon: fair. So it's not a specific song. cause I was thinking through this, and there are a couple in particular, but this is also a fun fact.
Time again, is I love metal.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh wow.
Sean Conlon: Heavy metal, like
Ally Brettnacher: shocks
Sean Conlon: again, the heavier, the more screaming, the thicker the better.
Ally Brettnacher: Does Christina Love it too?
Sean Conlon: Oh man, she hates it. and surprisingly, there's actually some really good Christian metal [01:07:00] bands too out there.
Ally Brettnacher: That's
Sean Conlon: what out there. I was thinking
Ally Brettnacher: that too.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: so if I had to be specific though, I will pick one. Um, there's a band and I, 'cause I had to tee that up. 'cause when somebody goes to look these guys up and listen to it and they're like, what? I just put that on in front of my kids.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: uh, and it is a Christian band, but it's a band called War of Ages.
Okay. And it's a song called Leo Deia. Okay. Um, which I'll spare the whole context of it, but it's just an awesome song. It gets you fired up. so that, yeah, that would be my song of choice.
Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Okay. And then mantra, is there like, I mean, I feel like you probably have quite a few.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So I think at the end of the day, what I would root back in is obedience.
Yeah. So what I think about not every run by any means, and now that I'm talking, you know, it's. Like, I don't do much thinking. and actually just a total side note is try talking and running.
Ally Brettnacher: No, I, yeah.
Sean Conlon: And I'm not saying that as in like, oh, look at what I do. It's, it, you, you shift your brain a little bit.
What starts to happen because it's like walking and chewing gum at the same time. you actually access a part of your brain that I never knew that I had, which means the level of depth of knowledge you pull from that because you [01:08:00] can't, your brain can't process and think through all these different things at the same time.
so just I encourage anybody to try that. Yeah. Like have a conversation with yourself even.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Um, 'cause it's really unique. but really it's just that obedience and just knowing that every run is fruit for me and fruit specifically because of that obedience. And it's a joy.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: And I love doing it.
And, and I truly, like, there have been days, so I'm not, fallible in this or however you say it, but, there were days where I did not want to do the run.
Ally Brettnacher: Well, I there would have to be
Sean Conlon: Right. Like especially because you have a
Ally Brettnacher: newborn.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Like I did not want to, um. For sure. But now I look at it and I don't know in the last year where I've had a day where I didn't enjoy it.
Ally Brettnacher: Hmm.
Sean Conlon: And so, and maybe I'll oscillate back and, you know, it'll be an unenjoyable thing at some point. Yeah. But, I just think that that mantra of obedience, I think about almost every time, and I just, I'm just so grateful for it
Ally Brettnacher: in watching you run and talk. It is so interesting to think about, like, I can barely do that if I'm trying to just take a quick video of [01:09:00] myself, like on the run.
And if I speak, it's like, yeah. Very breathy. You also, I noticed, say hi to absolutely everybody that you pass.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: What percentage of people would you say reply or like wave or acknowledge?
Sean Conlon: Um, well, we're, we live in the South, so I'd say most people, you can always tell who's not from the south because they usually don't.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Like, why is this person talking to me?
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: Uh, yeah. But quite a few. And, you know, I had to go through this phase of being wild. Awkward or, or feeling loud. Oh, you're holding a
Ally Brettnacher: selfie stick running around. People are like, you just gotta get
Sean Conlon: over it. And I just got over it. Yeah. You know, and anybody that has has entered the realm of content as you have.
Yes. Um, knows. You just have to get over that part. It,
Ally Brettnacher: so I'm still working through
Sean Conlon: getting
Ally Brettnacher: over
Sean Conlon: it. Yeah. It's, it's hard and you feel vain at times and like, you don't wanna talk about yourself. Yeah. But like at the end of the day, and I heard, I think it was John John OV that had said this, but he was like, if you believe what you have to share is worth sharing, then you have to know that you have to share it.
Right. And like, you're offering something to the world by doing so, and they're getting value from it. Yeah. And so [01:10:00] just unashamedly, like, don't be a knucklehead about it. Right. And, you know, make it all about you. Yes. And be vain. Right. But like, yeah, you have that, you're doing what you're supposed to be doing and people need to hear that story.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. kind of needed to hear that too. You know, keep it's, keep going. It's one of those things where I started this podcast to share other people's stories. Mm-hmm. And selfishly to be able to talk about running a lot. But, you know, I've found by accident, building a community as a result and then being able to do things to, build a community that adds value to others.
And, you know, people who are running for different charities or causes or all the things like that really gets me fired up. Um, I
Sean Conlon: love all that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. $10 million you're gonna raise, that's gonna be, that's gonna make more willing,
Sean Conlon: but
Ally Brettnacher: big difference.
Sean Conlon: That's, that's, that's what we need everybody's help to do.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. okay. And then the last question is, what is your next finish line or milestone? Which now we already know kind of both of those things. Yeah. But we'll reiterate it.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Yeah. So the, the next one is gonna be the 5K and 50 states of 50
Ally Brettnacher: days.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. It's, it's gonna be so much fun.
I'm very excited for that. And then, yeah, the, the one that will [01:11:00] be after that will be the 10 year. Yeah. Which will be, you know, completing the 10 years but then also doing it across the us.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay. What year? What year will that be?
Sean Conlon: So that'll be, wow. I actually should have thought about that. So, so you started when you're
Ally Brettnacher: 33?
Yeah. So you're gonna be 43 and you'll be 43 in four years.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. So this will be, it'll be three and a half years from now. So 2028. Okay. I think I could be off on that. Maybe it's 2029
Ally Brettnacher: doing math like live is, I know the most humbling thing.
Sean Conlon: Well no, it would be 2029. 'cause I started this in 2019.
Ally Brettnacher: Okay.
Sean Conlon: Was when it was Okay.
It was, it was August of 2019.
Ally Brettnacher: 20 19 9.
Sean Conlon: So it'll be August of 2029.
Ally Brettnacher: Whoa. Yeah. That's gonna be here before we know it.
Sean Conlon: I know. With this.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Um, I, plenty of
Sean Conlon: time to plan.
Ally Brettnacher: I forget what else. I was, I was gonna ask you one other thing. Oh, about speed because that's something we end up talking about, you know, finished times and PRS and stuff like that.
Yeah. Like do you think at all, I mean, you probably don't if you're talking, but like for these like 5K races, do you think about. Oh, should I just like test my speed a
Sean Conlon: little bit? Yeah, that's, that's a dynamite question. so like, the one I'm doing in two days on [01:12:00] Saturday, cause I've gone back and forth in my mind and I was like, man, I would really love, 'cause I haven't done a PR run since.
I try and do 'em every birthday. Um Okay.
Ally Brettnacher: Just to see
Sean Conlon: one, just to go out
Ally Brettnacher: and run.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Okay. Just to see like where I'm at. but I decided what I'm gonna do is talk to people as I'm running. Okay. Because there's, there it we're, we live in a small market, so I looked at the registration the last time, like I think yesterday and there's like 150 people signed up, you know, so this isn't, it is not a massive event.
It's called the reindeer dash. It's just our neighborhood that put it on. It's cute. I love it. so, you know, it's nothing meaningful by any means. but in terms of your question of time, you know, I, I don't do it for time, but what I will say that I've noticed in, in the last a hundred days of doing this and talking.
My level of cardiovascular health is better than I've ever been, and my lung capacity is better than it's ever been. So I did a run, on the treadmill. Uh, I had a travel day, I think it was last week or maybe the week before. And I had never really paid attention 'cause I'm, you know, running and talking at the same time in the last a hundred days to my heart rate.
And I was at almost [01:13:00] three miles and not talking. So I'm, I'm doing like, you know, a pretty decent run. I forget the pace I was at, but, my heart rate was at one 40 and I was like, this is crazy. And like, I'm almost done with the run. So I'm, you know, well over two miles in and my heart was at one 40, so I start cranking the speed up and it was like very challenging to get above one 50.
Wow. So meaning like my heart rate Yeah. Has been dramatically affected by just talking. so anyways, just a total aside, but you know, if I'm running. And the, the, everybody's gonna hear this and be like, this dude's terrible. Um, in terms of like time. but when I run and talk, you know, it takes me, 'cause technically I do 3.3 miles, like 27 minutes roughly.
Yeah. But that's talking at the same time.
Ally Brettnacher: That's still, I mean, it's
Sean Conlon: not a lot of
Ally Brettnacher: people, I mean this is, you know, there's people wide variety of runners Yeah. On this podcast. So I feel like to one person that's gonna be like, oh my gosh, that's so fast. For
Sean Conlon: sure.
Ally Brettnacher: And to the next person, it's like, that's okay.
Like yeah, you're just like jogging around.
Sean Conlon: Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: But it's all relative. So,
Sean Conlon: yeah. So when I do my birthday runs, you know, I try and be the 18
Ally Brettnacher: [01:14:00] Yeah.
Sean Conlon: 18 mark. Um, which is when I'm really, really pushing. That's
Ally Brettnacher: cooking.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. But I would love, honestly, I don't know that I could ever get there, but if I did really want to throw a challenge to myself, it would be to try and get into that, you know, 16 minute mark.
'cause for me that would be very difficult.
Ally Brettnacher: Well for anybody.
Sean Conlon: Yeah. Well, yeah. And so I don't like the way that sounded as I'm like replaying it and as you said that, sorry, but I'm saying for, for someone who has done a 5K every day Right. For six and a half years, like that to me would be, that would put me back where we talked about junior of high school where I would really have to push myself.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: But I know in my mind it's possible.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.
Sean Conlon: I would just have to really want it
Ally Brettnacher: Right. To
Sean Conlon: do that.
Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And goes back to the beginning with Accelerate Indiana.
Sean Conlon: Have you? Exactly. Yeah.
Ally Brettnacher: Oh, well thank you so much for doing this, Sean. Thank you. It was so fun to catch up and hear just a tiny bit of, you know, all your stories.
Sean Conlon: Absolutely. No, this was so much fun. And thank you for doing what you do. This is, this is amazing. I think this is a wonderful, asset and tool that, that we have, that you're building and just absolutely love it. So you've got a new subscriber forever.
Ally Brettnacher: Thank you so much [01:15:00] and thank you to everybody who has listened and happy running.
If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions, you know the drill, go share, rate review. Make sure you follow Sean. He's on LinkedIn most frequently and his email is Sean at 2 5 2 9 Ventures, so you can connect with him in either of those places. He is also on YouTube and Instagram, and I am also on Instagram. If we're not friends yet, I'm @allybrett_runs Looking forward to having you again next week.
Have a good one. Bye.