Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 150: Rob Perez - The happiest (and kindest) guy out there.

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Guest: Rob Perez @r.oh.bee⁠

Show Notes:

Rob Perez aka @r.oh.bee⁠ and "the happiest guy out there" needs no introduction. Rob and I met at the 50th running of the Marine Corps Marathon and ended up running the entire race together with Team Melissa of ⁠Ainsley's Angels⁠.

During this episode, sponsored by ⁠Amazfit⁠ and ⁠Cure Hydration⁠, we talk about:

• How a cold DM turned into running the Marine Corps Marathon together with Ainsley’s Angels 

• Some of our highlights from MCM

• Running with ⁠Achilles International⁠

• How he did four marathons in four weeks all while running his government shutdown miles and working a 9-5 job

• Running The Speed Project(s): two 300-mile, unsanctioned races in the U.S. and Chile 

• Life as a submariner in the Navy and what it was like to run on a treadmill underwater

• How he grew up racing go-karts and has raced against (and beaten) drivers like Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Josef Newgarden

• Sports he played growing up and how he ended up joining the military 

• How he started his content creation journey and the sunscreen video that started his momentum 

• The mustache 

• His Mexican heritage (he’s half Mexican) 

• Opportunities that have come about through content creation 

• His advice for avoiding burnout 

• What’s next for Rob 

Other Links:

• ⁠Bobby Bigote Instagram account⁠
• ⁠Cameron Balser Episode of Finish Lines & Milestones⁠

Sponsor Details:

• ⁠Amazfit⁠ - Use ALLYB for 10% off your order
• ⁠Cure Hydration⁠ - Use ALLYB for 20% off your first order

This is a ⁠SandyBoy Productions⁠ podcast.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.

 

Rob Perez: Never did. I imagine when I made my first like how to wear sunscreen video, was it gonna turn into me interviewing the attorney general

 

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 AM Maze Fit. A Maze Fit is a global, smart wearable brand that designs smart watches, fitness trackers, and health technology for active lifestyles. I personally started using their smartwatch, the Balance two, and it has replaced both my Apple Watch.

And my Garmin, the battery life lasts a full 21 days. the only time I charge my watch, is when I take a shower. I put it on the charger for a few minutes I wear it all the time to sleep even, And they also have a Helio ring [00:01:00] that I am going to try, so I will report back on that. But they have a whole ecosystem of fitness trackers for all of your health tracking needs.

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That's A-M-A-Z-F-I t.com, and use code Allie, B-A-L-L-Y-B for 10% off your order. Thank you so much Amaz fit for supporting this podcast.

Welcome to episode 150 of Finish Lines and Milestones. I am so honored to have Rob Perez as this week's guest to celebrate this special milestone if you're new [00:02:00] here because of Rob's incredible community. Welcome. This podcast was created for the everyday runner, meaning anybody who's not a professional runner, Rob is probably borderline, but he has a nine to five job and he's also an incredible content creator. And member of the running community And self-proclaimed happiest guy out there, he is also one of the kindest people I've ever met. you know, you never know what you're gonna get on the internet, but I can attest to the fact that Rob is every bit as awesome in person as he is. Digitally. So I had the pleasure of meeting Rob at the 50th running of the Marine Corps Marathon last year in 2025.

And what I realized was that I was late to the game in finding Rob. He has been around on TikTok and Instagram for a while now, but I found him through his government shutdown series. So he ran a mile every day that the government was shut down and the Marine Corps marathon just happened to be the 26th day.

I cold DMed Rob and told him I was pushing by myself for [00:03:00] Ainsley's Angels and. I thought maybe just, maybe he's not racing and he'd love to hang out. and spoiler alert, we ended up running the entire 26.2 miles together. I am so grateful not only for Rob's partnership during this race, but the fact that he was able to shed light on such an incredible cause in organization that is Ainsley's Angels.

So if you wanna learn more about Ainsley's Angels, you should go to ainsley's angels.org. You should also go check out the Together We Shall podcast, which is hosted by Rooster Rossiter.

Ainsley's dad,

You'll hear about my experience running with Rob. You'll hear about some of the crazy, incredible things that Rob has done that are running related and get to know him personally as well. I am from Carmel, Indiana, which is a suburb of Indianapolis.

So for the local listeners, there's ties to the Indy 500. We are trying to get Rob to come run the Indie Mini one year, which goes around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But anyway, I am, I'm really thrilled to have you all here. Thank you again, Rob, for doing this and for all that you do for the running [00:04:00] community.

And without further ado, Rob Perez. Enjoy.

So here we are. Hi.

Rob Perez: Hello.

Ally Brettnacher: Thank you so much for doing this. I am so excited to talk to you again.

Rob Perez: Yeah, absolutely. I've been, I've been waiting for this. We planned this a long time ago,

Ally Brettnacher: We did, it feels like forever ago. funny enough, went back to the DM that I sent you because I couldn't remember what I even said because this

Mm Oh, when

all happened.

Rob Perez: I'll, I'll be, yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I literally, I just said, yeah, hey, uh, if you see Team Melissa in hot pink, like feel free to join us.

Not, not even thinking that you would reply first of all, and then let alone that we would run the whole race together,

Rob Perez: Yeah. Why not? You know?

Ally Brettnacher: I guess. Yeah. So I,

Rob Perez: you wearing an angel shirt right now? You're in the pink. Oh, look at that.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes.

Rob Perez: should have worn that.

Ally Brettnacher: On the back. Well, oh, you can

Rob Perez: Oh, it's all the teams you run with. Look at that.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So Team Melissa is the most recent one.

Rob Perez: That's awesome.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So I [00:05:00] reached out to you, just cold dm.

I saw that you were running every day for the government shutdown. That's how I found you on the internet, by the way. I was very late to the game. Now that I know more about you,

I was like,

wow.

Rob Perez: actually, I was gonna say, I don't remember. Yeah, we never talked about that during the race of how you found me,

Ally Brettnacher: Right. It was the, yeah, it was the government shutdown stuff I just thought, Hey, this guy's running a shit ton of miles every day. Maybe he'll run a few with me and Ainsley's Angels. Why not? I was so scared because I had signed up to run alone. So when you said you would run a little bit with me, I was so grateful.

Rob Perez: Yeah. Oh yeah. Like I said, I listened to your, now after the fact, have listened to your Marine Corps Marathon podcast, and I remember you telling me that that morning. That you were like nervous. But I had never, I'd never run with Ainslie. I'd never run with you. I had never run with any organization other than Achilles.

And so I didn't know that kind of the norm is usually two people. especially if you request that or if you prefer that. So when I learned all that after the fact, I was like, oh yeah, I guess now I get why she was so excited.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I was like, thank goodness. And then [00:06:00] we randomly ran into each other, kind of walking to the start. You were so kind and offered to take a video for me. I was like trying to push and video myself walking to the start,

Rob Perez: Yeah. That was

serendipitous.

Ally Brettnacher: it really was. And that, you know, seeing you kind of put me at ease thinking, okay, maybe he, maybe I will actually see him during the race.

Rob Perez: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. And then all the miles. So I wanna know from your standpoint, like, I don't know, you say yes to a stranger, you push for a little bit. Like how did you decide. That you would run the whole time. Because I was so scared, honestly, that I, I just like, I was like, be cool. Don't be crazy. And so that he will stay for

Rob Perez: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think, um, and I kind of came to this realization, I mean, so Marine Corps is obviously later in the year. It's, it's what October. usually by that point and by like fall race season, I have an idea of. How I'm doing with my running goals for the year, how I'm doing for my mileage, how I'm doing for all things that have to [00:07:00] do with, you know, logging miles.

and 2023 was a huge year for me where I was training to run from LA to Vegas. So 300 miles and through that I think by like April or May of 2023, I'd already logged like 22 marathons or something. And I hit my goal at the end of the year of 50 marathons. I actually finished it on, December 30th or December 31st that year.

So once I hit that goal, I was like, okay, doing the crazy miles and doing the, you know, marathons and all that in a year. Like that's, that was fun. And then I was like, I wanna focus on speed for 2024 and 2025. So I went and did my, uh, sub three hour marathons. I did my, you know, Boston qualifying marathons.

I kind of got that goal out of the way, and then I. Come 2025, I was on pace for all my mileage goals and everything, and there really was no, no need for me to race Marine Corps. I'd already hit my qualifying time at other races. I, I was like, now it's kind of the time to share, the running space or the running journey with whoever.

However, I mean, I have people reach out all the time that ask me to pace [00:08:00] them for races that ask me to even just be out there for half or half of the race. And they're like, you don't have to run the whole thing. I just need the back half or the front half, or whatever. So. It's, it's a very normal dm, I guess you could say that I get, is like, Hey, how can, how can you help me hit my goal?

And I, you just caught me at the right time where I was in a mood where I was like, yeah, why not? You know, if there's other people who wanna experience something it just worked out. And I was like, I'm not doing anything else.

I mean, it's dc it's my city. I live here. I know every inch of that course. 'cause I've, that's my, I think that was my fourth time running it. and it's a, it's like special. It's, I know that there's gonna be cheering the whole way. obviously partially from social media, but also just because I run with everyone in DC and, I have seen how Ainsley's Angels gets treated on the course and they get so much love.

And I was like, why not combine forces and just have, a party of a day, which is exactly what it turned out to be.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes.

Rob Perez: So, yeah, really, I guess to answer your question, I just wanted to share. Share this space. Like why not have more than one person be excited about and less nervous, um, about a race day?

I know, I know nerves on race day, you know, I'm at that point [00:09:00] where I've done 'em plenty of times now. I don't really get those pre-race nerves anymore. So if I can help one more person out to eliminate that feeling, I'm, I'm, I'm on board.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, it took me a while still even to shake the nerves

Rob Perez: Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: I

also wasn't sure how long, like how long you would stay. I didn't, I was too afraid to be like, so are you gonna, are we just like running this whole thing together? Because I didn't wanna, I don't know, I tried to let you off the hook, I think a couple times to be like, well, if, you know, when I see my family, if you wanna go ahead, like it's totally fine,

Rob Perez: no rush. I mean, it was more time on the course, which it's, again, it's my, my favorite course 'cause it's, it's the hometown race.

Ally Brettnacher: everybody knew you. Everybody on that course knew

Rob Perez: It was fun.

Ally Brettnacher: felt like so, and not only that, like you said, you know, every inch of the course. So I felt like I also had a tour guide too. I remember being like, so where are we now? Like, what is this? And um, Yeah,

Rob Perez: yeah, yeah. I

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So

Rob Perez: It's, it's really cool.

Ally Brettnacher: it was just so incredible, the whole experience because I never would've imagined [00:10:00] that that's how it would've turned out.

And then the level of visibility given your community that, that gave Ainsley's Angels is just so amazing that really, I mean, thank you

Rob Perez: Oh, the number of messages after I got where, I mean, 'cause people have seen me run with Achilles, which when I started that last year, we had like two or three athletes show up to practice, three or four guides show up to practice. and I guess for anyone listening that doesn't quite understand what Achilles, is, it's, it's a program that works with adaptive athletes.

I think their most common adaptive athlete they work with is visually impaired or, you know. blind. but they work with everyone. That's kind of a misconception that also when I joined them, I learned about, and I immediately wanted to squash. I mean, they work with people with traumatic brain injuries.

I mean, any reason that makes fitness one bit more of a challenge for you? Um, Achilles is willing to work with, and so when I did that, that community blew up. I think I've gone to a practice recently and we had something like eight athletes and 20 guides, and half of the people came up to me there and were like, you know, I found it through you.

I didn't know you, you could do this in your [00:11:00] city. And there's, I don't know, it's like 47 chapters worldwide or something. So it's always done something that impacts beyond just our Marine Corps marathon that we ran. And, and that happened for Ainsley's Angels too. I mean, so many people reached out and were like, how did you do that?

And I'm like, I'm kind of an off case because Ali reached out to me. but I was like, it's a very, you know, it's a very easy channel to get into.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, absolutely. And you also met a few other teams, I think, around the city before even,

Rob Perez: Yeah, just running around

the

city. Yeah. Doing government shutdown miles actually is how I ran into a bunch of, plenty of other people who, mentioned that they were gonna be out there on the course pushing. So,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I mean, 'cause you literally ran 26 miles, that was day 26, happened to be Marine Corps, which is

Rob Perez: yeah. Which was awesome that it lined up so perfectly.

Ally Brettnacher: And then when you back to Achilles really quick, when you say practice, what do you mean?

Rob Perez: we do, uh, Wednesdays we do, um. A training session where athletes come and we have a meeting, a meeting point that's pretty easy to get to via public transit or however the athletes [00:12:00] wanna get around. and we train on the National Mall. So we go out there and we're all in our bright green shirts and you know, the shirt either says like, blind athlete or guide or something.

And it, you know, just to make people around and aware that, you know, you're working with someone that obviously can't see that you're right in front of them or that they're right in front of you. So,

Uh,

we do that on Wednesdays and then Saturdays we also do another workout. and again, it's, it's, it's runners, walkers, joggers.

we have gear available to hand cycle. We have, I forget the name of the bike, but it's basically like a four wheeled bike or a three wheeled bike so that if like motor skills or balance is an issue for you, that's something that they can accommodate and still get you out there and, and, and train and ride.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow, that's really cool. I didn't realize that. Is that all year round or is it like in

Rob Perez: do year round. The bikes take a little bit of a break in the winter 'cause it gets so dark out. And the, the bikes, because they're so low to the ground, it's, it provides more of a danger than anything else. So they take a break when it's too dark out. But every, everything else is, we're on year round

Ally Brettnacher: And how did you find Achilles?

Rob Perez: just at the races. I race all the time. I'm at all [00:13:00] these races and there's always these people, they're tethered to each other and, you know, clearly someone is helping the other person. And it's, it's, it just made me curious, um, more than anything else. And then their shirts all say, go Achilles.

Go Achilles. So I Googled, you know, Achilles running marathon races, guiding athletes, and it, it pops up. Achilles International Foundation.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Well, I found Ainsley's Angels similar way. I saw that a friend of mine had done a race with

Rob Perez: Oh, I remember you telling me that. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: and I originally thought you had to know somebody who was gonna be in the chariot, like a family member to push, but that was completely wrong and anybody can lend their legs. You don't even have to run necessarily.

You could walk a 5K with them if you wanted to. And so once I found that out, I was like, well, I'm absolutely gonna do that because I'm not quite to your level because you run all the races in a lot of miles. But I do a lot of races throughout the year and I just looking for ways to do them differently.

Like if I'm not gonna be racing for a [00:14:00] time, how else can I experience the race? So I've also dabbled in pacing as well, but I think Ainsley's Angels is probably my favorite way to race. It's

Rob Perez: Yeah, it was, it was a cool day. It was, it was a unique perspective on the race. obviously it's a little more work on the body, which is always a little bit of a challenge. But, I think my favorite part, I don't, I don't know, I don't know your agenda for this call, but I, I'm gonna

spoil that. pushing up the hill at the end and kind of splitting the, the weight of the, the final infamous Marine Corps marathon finish Line Hill, which is like 400 yards.

You do like a quarter mile straight up somehow, and that's what they end you on. So many people fall out at that time. But, that was really cool to kind of finish that together and then, get our medals and get Melissa a medal as well.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. Yeah. It was so, so incredible. And actually, I don't know if you remember this, my friend I ran into my friend Jill at, on that hill.

Rob Perez: Yeah. On the hill. I remember

Ally Brettnacher: is, how does that happen?

Rob Perez: Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: some of the other things I remember were, well, a couple of times you got Fireball Fireball So, so do people know [00:15:00] that that's like something you want? Because it seemed like, I mean, people were like here, like literally like waiting. It felt like

Rob Perez: uh, yeah, there's, I think I have created an environment where people understand that if they have, a shot waiting for me, I will participate

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. What is the most you think you've done in a race?

Rob Perez: in a race. Oh, I mean, maybe, I, I actually think Marine Corps was probably the most, I, I mean, which was what I think it was, like three different shots. I mean, it's nothing

Ally Brettnacher: Which is, well, for me, I'm like, oh my

God.

Rob Perez: yeah, no, it's, it's, it, it opens up the lungs. You get that little bit of a burn, you know, it's great. It's, I think it's beneficial if I, I'm no scientist, but

it's advantageous.

Ally Brettnacher: one, of the other favorite memories I have is, everybody who said something to you, you would just say. Thank you for the support. And I just, I don't know, for whatever reason, I just, you could tell that you're actually a really wonderful human because I think you've, see somebody on the internet, you have no idea if that's truly who that person is.

And so I felt really lucky that I got to, like, see how you [00:16:00] interact with the community around you and just how many people would come up to you and be like, oh my gosh, you know, you inspire me, or I like love watching your stuff. And you would say Thank you for the support. And I literally, I told you, I felt like I was running with my version of running with Harry Styles, which, which you gotta kick up.

But I was like, really? I, I'm running with a famous person, it felt like, and so it was just, it was really great.

Rob Perez: I am, I'm, I'm appreciative. I mean, especially on race day, that's, that's a crazy time to, you know, some of these people are in their first marathon, they're 20 miles in and they have the capacity to like speed up and catch up to us or slow down and wait a second and say, you know, say hello and kind of share their story with me.

I love, that's one of my favorite things, whether it's a dm, or meeting someone out randomly at the city or when I'm at a bar and someone comes up to me like, I don't care what the environment is that I meet you in. I love when people come and share their success, especially if it was something that I was able to help inspire.

That's always so cool. And then in return, I mean, it's, not always all about followers, but that's what they do is they follow [00:17:00] back and they engage with my content and kind of help me grow as a content creator and as a runner as well. And it's always so cool to hear those stories.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, there were a lot of 'em. I mean, literally I was trying to, if I had to estimate like how many people I, I don't even think I could, it was probably well over a hundred.

Rob Perez: Yeah, it was awesome. It

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It was, it was really amazing. So I embarrassingly had words of encouragement playing out loud. Do you remember

Rob Perez: Oh yeah, that's right.

That I, I was rally. Oh, the app.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The app, this app run with it is incredible. and that was the first

Me that now. And ask for me to leave them a message for their races, which I never thought of. Um, but happy to do it. If anyone's listening, you need some encouragement at whatever mile of your race, send me, send me your link. I will do it. It's so funny.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I, I just remember a couple of them being pretty funny. And, uh, other than that, like just, you know, my kids and stuff, it was nice to have them play, but I didn't really think about the miles where it got quiet and then it's just playing out loud and every, you're like, okay, well this is a little weird, but

here we are.

Rob Perez: Nothing. Like, you know, a [00:18:00] message in the parking lot. Like you can't beat that.

Ally Brettnacher: right? Absolutely. Yeah. It was, it was so great. There were also a couple other teams I think that were, well, there was one woman from Achilles that you saw that you knew who had done a race like overseas. Do you remember who I'm talking about?

Rob Perez: Yeah. Who was that? Um,

Ally Brettnacher: name. well, was she in a

Rob Perez: I was hand cycling Yeah,

Yeah, Allison, yeah, she's one of the first people I ever got to work with for cycling. 'cause I, I signed up for Achilles to run. but you gotta adapt. And so I showed up to practice one day and our lead James was like, we don't have anyone to cycle, with Allison. And I was like, oh, like I can hop on my bike, I can hop on one of the bikes that we have in the truck, down to do whatever.

which one gave me a really interesting perspective on the city and how accessible a city actually is. Even the bike paths and stuff really makes you think and, and appreciate how easy it is, to, to get around. And so that, that was a really cool thing that I got to learn. But yeah, Allison, she was newer to Achilles also.

and she's been crushing it. She just did, she just did two other [00:19:00] races, that I know of, and she just found out that she is pregnant. So she did 'em both while pregnant and now. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: What?

Rob Perez: Yeah. She is a badass.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I'll say, and then there was some sort of French team. Do you remember them?

There was like a friend weren't they carrying somebody?

Rob Perez: it was like a, yeah, it was like a one wheel cycle thing. Yeah. They, uh, in Chamonix it was the craziest thing. I was out there crewing my friends and, you know, it's a hundred K race and I think they had a team of like 18 crew members. I mean, you have to, but during parts of the trail where a wheel doesn't work, they just, they hoisted the guy up on.

Their shoulders and six man carried 'em. But the the cool thing is like if you're on that crew, you're still running a hundred k. You, there's just portions of it where you're pushing or carrying or doing something. and that, that it always makes me think like, have I really challenged myself? Like, is running a sub three marathon or running 50 marathons in a year that hard?

Or should I be doing something like that? And so, which again, kind of ties into Ainsley or Achilles is like, it's even more challenging. I was telling someone else, I have [00:20:00] a, a good friend Irwin, who I normally, he's, he's my like, main runner that I, guide for Achilles. he is fast and guiding at pace, thankfully 'cause of social media.

I talk to a camera while running all the time and I have conversational pace, but. E forces me to talk the whole time. 'cause you're, I mean, you are their eyes, so you are talking left, right, push left, push left, push left. We're making a right turn. Watch our like pothole, you know, high knees, all these different little commands that you end up talking for three hours straight.

On top of that, you have to not only get your nutrition, you need to get their nutrition. They, they can't, they don't know, you know, where the hands are being held out with water and stuff. So you're doubling up on nutrition. Sometimes the nutrition's on the opposite side of where you are. So you have to switch sides with your runner, which is crossing behind your runner is always kind of a dangerous episode during the race.

Ally Brettnacher: right.

Rob Perez: And you're trying to do that all while also maintaining 360 degree awareness. and I mean this in the most positive way. It is mentally draining to guide a full race. Um, I guided Irwin through a New York City marathon, which incredible [00:21:00] race, obviously. But with that you get way more noise.

You get. Super tight streets. At some points, when you're going through Brooklyn, the street goes down to like six people wide, but we take up three and a half people's width because of the tether, because of, we need room to kind of bounce around between the lane. So, and there are people out there that get frustrated that we are in the way, but they don't fully, understand that we're obviously working through some extra challenges that they're not working through.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And also point to point out the fact that it was like, what, the next weekend you went to New York?

Rob Perez: it was the very next weekend. Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah,

Rob Perez: it was. Yeah, because it was, it was Chicago Marine Corps, Baltimore, New York. Back to back to back. I did. You have four marathons in four weeks. All with the government shutdown miles too.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I was glad when I saw that you were like, okay, I'm done with the shutdown miles. I was like, thank goodness, because that, I mean, with a full-time job, people may not know you have a true nine to five career that you manage on top of everything else that you're doing, and so I couldn't believe how you were getting in those [00:22:00] miles to begin with.

Rob Perez: Yeah, it was, I mean, my, my schedule at that point was, my biggest week was, I think I did 168 miles in a week. It was wake up at 5:00 AM finish editing the video from the day before, set it to post at 8:00 AM so people could basically have their like morning news of like, what is going on in the sh the government shutdown.

Then at like 6, 6 30, I would have breakfast. I would, do, you know, 45 minutes of reading the news and headlines and, and figuring out what was I gonna talk about for today's video. run to work. I, one point I had to split up the miles 'cause I was running more than a marathon a day. Um, run to work, which was like seven to 10 miles of running and then get off at five, run home, that would be another seven to 10 miles.

And then I would eat, study some more, go film my video, and then finish off the miles. And when I got home, it was 10 o'clock at night, 11 o'clock at night, straight into editing, not even straight to bed. I, I had to eat more. I was, you know, burning 5,000 calories per day every single day, which was great. I lost 10 pounds in the last two weeks of the challenge.

Ally Brettnacher: Geez. Yeah. You can't eat

Rob Perez: And to be clear, I don't

lose weight like that ever.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. [00:23:00] That's, that's a lot.

That's crazy. So that was not sustainable,

Rob Perez: I had a lot of people become my mother and my dms and we're like, so when are you stopping?

Ally Brettnacher: right? Well, and you're like, I could do this. Like physically I can, I mean, this is not that

Rob Perez: Yeah, I wanted to push for the full 40 days, but it would, it would've dwindled down to about three hours of sleep per night. Um, and that's just it, it's irresponsible because I do work a very serious nine to five job and, you know, I, I happened to actually work for the government, so it's, it was something where I'm like, I, you know, there's sacrifices that can be made, but that wasn't worth it.

So decided to cut it back a little early. But, you know, it introduced me to you, so here we are.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, right. Here we are. Yay. and also during the race we found out that we knew a couple people in common because you had done the speed project, which again, I didn't know going into the race that you had done that. And not only had you done the Santa Monica to Vegas, but you did one in Chile as

well. I mean, and then you, oh God. Like I listened to these podcasts after meeting you Rob, like, and I [00:24:00] was, I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, that's he. Okay. That's nuts. but you knew Cameron Balzer, you met out, at TSP which is so cool, and people listening who are local to Indiana who might know Cam, like he ran around the perimeter of the United States

Rob Perez: Yeah. 11,000 miles.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my

gosh. and now he's going for the fastest known time across the United States. So but it was so cool to know that you had met him and his crew out there, and done that race at the same time.

Rob Perez: yeah. They were epic. Super cool guy.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. and the whole idea of the speed project and the whole like unsanctioned type of race, I guess, could you maybe just talk a little bit about that and how did you get into doing that?

Rob Perez: Yeah, that started, that was back in that 2023, like 50 marathons in a year thing. Um, one of the run clubs that I run with out here in DC Northeast Track Club, they had done that race, the relay version of that race the year before. So I was tracking it. looks pretty cool. And then this whole thing of like, [00:25:00] well, people are now, now they're opening it, opening it up to solo runners.

That became an option I guess you could say. And when that became an option, I was immediately interested. Now mind you, at the time my longest race was a 50 miler. I did the JFK 50 miler the previous couple of years. it's one of my favorite 50 milers in, in the us. And so I, you know, I kicked her on the idea and then I reached out to the leader of my track club and was like, Hey, how do I get into that?

How do I, you know, and she's like, it's an application. You gotta put in a little information and we'll back you, we obviously support you and you put a team together, you gotta raise some money. 'cause it's, it's truly unsupported. You don't get anything. They, they give you a start time and a start location, and they give you a finish line and there's no rules, there's no route.

it's honor system. One of their sayings is that there's no spectators and that's, you know, partially because no one cares kind of thing. Like

when I, when I won the Chile race, there was, there's no, there's no one at the finish line. you finish, it's your own journey. Yes, we technically ended it the fastest.

but. It's, that was it. It was just me, myself and my thoughts to celebrate. There was no, you know, [00:26:00] uh, confetti cannons. There was no tape to break through. It

was just knowing that I get to sleep. Yeah, you get to sleep in a warm bed that night. That was all it was. There was beer. We had plenty of beer at the finish.

Don't you

worry. Um, yeah, so that, that's kinda the premise of the race. and that, like you said, that's where I met Cameron, but I, I was just intrigued by the idea. So I did another JFK 50 miler from there, I got accepted into the race, into the speed project, and once I got accepted, I was like, time to kinda lock in.

And that's where I started doing Friday. I'd get home from work and I would go run 20 to 25 miles and then I'd go out at night. I love running on tired legs. That's, I think, like if you wanna feel what it feels like to run an ultra marathon, do your normal long run on a Friday after work, which by the way, you know, drags already.

Then go out, dance all night, have drinks, get three hours of sleep, and then wake up and join your regular Saturday long run crew. and that is the most realistic thing to what it actually feels like to run those races. and so I did that almost every weekend. I was logging 40 and 50 mile weekends. and then [00:27:00] during the week I was doing another 30 to 40 miles, you know, outside of work, which was incredible.

So got to the race, I brought me and six of my best friends and we hopped in an rv. And, one of my buddies he has a really nice, off-road truck. 'cause we knew we were gonna take one little shortcut that required an off-road vehicle. finished the race and did it for completion. We were not racing that one, but I got the bug.

And that's when that same year, uh, the founder of the race, Nils was like, we're doing the same thing but in Chile, in the driest desert in the world. And I was like, that sounds. Like a whole nother level. and so I, I put my name in, did the application, did the same thing, and he's like, you know, you made it in, so come do it.

And I, same thing was going for completion. 'cause this is just brutal. I mean, the UV index, the scale tips out at 13, it's from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM It is at 13 the whole day. I did not see one cloud the entire time I was in Chile, in the desert, I should say. And you start at sea level and we climbed up to, I think it was 12,000 feet or 11,000 feet at one point.

it's through the Andes Mountains. [00:28:00] Part of the course is through the Andes Mountains. So you're just out there in the middle of nowhere. Um, and there's only one road in and out. It's this one highway where it's a shipping, they call it like a shipping lane, but it's, it's cargo trucks. That's all.

It's, it's semis. It's a two lane highway, one going each way. And you're just on the side of it and there's nothing else. Um, and you do that for, I did it for three and a half days straight. You don't hit your first actual town until about 200 miles in. So we had to pack out a truck with

the ice.

Thankfully made it. We had enough ice to get us through those first three days. But, ice food, you, we slept on the side of the road. We bought tents and we bought like sleeping pads and all that. And it was just pointless. 'cause we were only sleeping for 90 minutes a night. So we just pitched a sleeping bag out, slept.

And it's 20 degrees at night and it's a hundred degrees during the day. So the swing is in incred. I mean, I was gonna sleep in my winter, full winter, get up, I would wake up, just walk the first mile or two to kind of shake everything off. And by the time I was at the end of my walk, it was time to strip off all my layers and be back in shorts and a t-shirt.

Ally Brettnacher: Crazy.

Rob Perez: It's, it's, it's Mars out there. It's [00:29:00] one of the most fond memories I have is because it's all sand in every direction. Sound, sound, attenuation is just like, there's no sound, there's nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean. Even if I take a step in my living room right here, there's a little bit of an echo.

I'm talking, imagine taking a step and you basically don't hear it. There is just nothing. And there's no life out there. There's not even people would go. But what about like, tumbleweeds? Every now and then, there's no plants out there to die and become tumbleweeds. There is nothing for as far as you can see.

Yeah. so to say the least, it was the craziest experience of my life. and then on top of that, we won it. You know, I had, uh, Chalo and Parley and two incredible human beings. Parley. I met her kind of through the internet. met her at the Boston Marathon briefly, and then I put out a feeler.

'cause I was like, who can come pace me for Chile, who can come support?

And she said, I'll do it only if. I get to run almost all of it with you, which I didn't know her that well, so I didn't, I didn't know her background. she's an Olympic trials qualifier. She is, she's [00:30:00] super fast. she ran, I ran 292 miles I think, and she ran 260, something of them with me.

Those 30 miles that she was off is not 'cause she needed a break, it's because she needed to cook food. Chalo was my driver and content and photo guy and so she was responsible for anytime I needed a meal, having it prepped at the next point that we decided to stop. So if not, she probably would've ran the whole race with me.

She went back the following year and, won the following year.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, she did? I didn't realize that. That's

Rob Perez: yeah, she went back and won it the following year.

Ally Brettnacher: well deserved. 'cause I feel like how, you know, somewhat selfless to like run almost that whole race and not truly be a finisher of the Mm-hmm. Yeah, they actually gave her the same medal that they give to the relay participants, because she didn't technically run the whole thing solo, but like in everyone's mind that after the post-race party, everyone was like, they were going up to her and being like, is it, is it true? You ran basically all of it.

Rob Perez: And she was like, yeah, like that's just, I wanted to do that, you know? I wanted to experience it. And then I think what's [00:31:00] even crazier is to know the conditions and to see how traumatic, essentially that race is. And then she goes, yeah, I'll be back next year. I wanna do it on my own.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Oh

my gosh. Well, and not to mention Rob, you almost got eaten by dogs.

Rob Perez: yeah. I had a, had a a pack of

eight dogs come and check me out. They thought I was gonna be a little midnight snack. and in between hallucinations, thankfully I had had enough in me to fend them off and keep 'em at bay. And then a random car out of nowhere pulled up and. Honked at 'em and RevD the engine until I was able to separate enough from them and then they left me alone and went back to wherever they were hanging out and dwelling.

Yeah, it was,

Ally Brettnacher: Absolutely nuts.

Rob Perez: Yeah.

yeah

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That should be your experience. Felt like when I was listening to, I can't remember which podcast it was, the Dropper, Justin Stride. Those are the two I listened to. but it was like, this is a movie. This is ridiculous.

I cannot believe that people do this. I also find it fascinating that you ran your first ultra marathon before you ran a marathon.

Rob Perez: yeah, yeah. I, so I'm former military, former Submariner. Um, [00:32:00] so my life has always been in a boat that's designed to sink and be underwater, and. You know, when you get off of the boat, you just really enjoy the outdoors and sunlight and things. And so I was in a little running community in, uh, Norfolk, Virginia, and someone had mentioned Hey, we live not that far from some incredible trail racing.

It's, you know, two hour drive out into the Shenandoah Valley. This race particularly was out by, um, Blacksburg near, uh, Virginia Tech, beautiful area. And I found out there's this 50 k, it's called the Eastern Divide Ultra. I think the race still exists today. It's really cool. But the coolest part about it is, and this is like when people ask me like, what's the difference between ultra and trail running versus New York City Marathon, first of all, when you finish a trail ultra, people don't really ask.

What was your time? They ask like, how long does that take? 'cause they're imagining it's a whole day or a half day versus you finish, you know, a world major and everyone's like, how'd you do? What time? What time did you finish it? Right? The competitive edge is there. So that's the first big difference. The second big difference is just [00:33:00] the energy around it.

You show up to a trail, ultra people are in jorts and collared shirts and big sun hats because you're gonna be outside for the next 12 hours in direct sunlight. it's like super, super functional runners. They, they focus on functioning properly as a runner and not so much like, how cool and how fast can I go?

But then it really set in, when I got to the first aid station, which was at mile four of that race, you do a 2000 foot climb. It's, it's, you're like walking on an incline. Um. And you get up to the top and you can hear the banjos in the distance. And it's a group of people who, they get up there on ATVs, on little quads, and all your options are bacon, bourbon, and beer.

That's your first aid station. Mind you, you just climbed 2000 feet straight up and your, you know, your calves and your back and everything are on fire. And the nutrition they have for you is, Jim Beam

bacon and some super shitty beer. and a elite combo in my book. But that's, that was true. And they're playing and they're ripping on [00:34:00] banjos.

They don't care. They're just, they're not handing it to you either. It's just a table of all these things mixed together, like whatever order you wanted in. So had the bacon, had the shot, and then washed it all down with the beer got on my way, you

know? Yeah. So I did that, and then I was like that, that was a 50 k.

and then I think my first marathon was Richmond Marathon. A year later I stuck to Trailways. I love being in the woods.

It's

crazy.

Ally Brettnacher: It's crazy.

okay, the other thing I wanted to ask you about was back to like Indiana connections. So you mentioned being a submariner. The name of your submarine, ironically

was Indiana.

Right?

Rob Perez: The USS Indiana. Yeah. I helped commission it. It was the newest boat at the

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I love that.

also about the submarine, there's a treadmill on the submarine, which I thought was wild.

Like, how could you run on a treadmill while in a submarine?

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: Yeah.

Rob Perez: I mean, and the best way I explain that to people is it's, submarines feel, they're underwater planes. They operate the same, right. They have

like little rudders and planes and things that just like when you do takeoff on a plane, you get [00:35:00] kind of pushed back into your seat and just like when you take a turn, you kind of feel that bank and like G-Force of the turn.

We have the same thing, but.

but.

The difference is on a plane, you can look out the window and your brain can actually process, oh, we're turning. Oh, we're going up, we're going down. So your legs can prepare for that and you can kind of balance yourself out. Right? On a submarine, there's no windows. So, and even if there was, you would just be looking at pitch black water.

So, so the, the hard part about it is you're on this treadmill and all of a sudden it feels like someone is raising the incline on the treadmill. Like someone's hitting the button on you, but it's actually because the boat is doing something. And actually, I believe our treadmill faced aft, so we, it was the opposite.

If we were going, if the boat was driving upwards, you'd actually be running on a downhill, facing backwards. but just like planes, there's like turbulence, I guess you could say, depending. And then if you're at a shallower depth, you still get currents, you still get waves. So you're actively running and kind of swaying a little bit still.

So it makes it not easy to do, but it is

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Did you ever fall off? I feel like I would fall off.

Rob Perez: [00:36:00] No,

I mean, you just grab on or, or.

Completely stop your workout and you know, go do something else. We have a rower as well and a, uh, like a, not a Peloton, but you know, a, a stationary

bike.

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: so,

Ally Brettnacher: okay. Yeah.

Rob Perez: Which a little bit easier to stay, four points of contact. So

Ally Brettnacher: right. Totally. so I googled if there was a world record for the fastest underwater marathon. 'cause you had mentioned that. And

there is not that I can, there's not that I can find.

Rob Perez: Yeah, I'll not if they would allow a submarine to count or 'cause I'm sure you could just go build a little thing into a pool or, or if there's, I guess maybe death valley counts 'cause it's below sea level.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's an interesting way to look at it.

Rob Perez: Yeah. So I don't know how they would, what the caveat would've to be, but I, maybe I just do the one for like fastest in a submersible ship.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Which would be nuts. And then it makes me wonder if there's any private planes that have treadmills in them.

Rob Perez: Oh, there has to be.

Ally Brettnacher: Like, that's what I would want.

Rob Perez: My buddy Brooks. He did, you may have seen him from, if you've ever seen this company earthy, it's like mud water, but way better. That's, he, I hate that he, he [00:37:00] actually uses that comparison that it's mud water and like mud water. It looks terrible.

Um,

Ally Brettnacher: mud wa what is that?

Rob Perez: it's, it's like, um, a coffee alternative.

So it's got like the healthy mushrooms and ashwagandha and all those things. He made one that tastes like hot chocolate. It is so good. But the way he used, when he started, when he advertised it, he'd be like, it's mud water, but better. And I'm like, mud water looks like dirt. So I was like, I don't know better.

How good. It's better, you know. Um, but anyways, he was doing, uh, like a marathon a day to help. Raise awareness for his company and creating content around it. At one point, him and his, wife had to move across the country and or did a move at some point they had like a little mini walking pad, treadmill that they put in the back of the truck so she could drive ' cause they were driving all day, and so he could actually knock out miles

while she was driving.

And it was the most chaotic scene. Like there were little video snippets of it and it's, it's him basically holding on for dear life and trying to

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. Yeah. I'll have to go look that up. That's wild. That's, I mean, I didn't think about that either. Yeah. In like an [00:38:00] rv that'd be, that'd be nice for those cross country trips for sure.

And then back to Indiana connections. You are

Rob Perez: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: originally,

Rob Perez: Yep. Yeah. Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Ally Brettnacher: and I remember you told me that you grew up, you've been to the Indie 500 before.

Rob Perez: Absolutely. Yeah. Big racing family, big race guard fan. Still love racing. I raced go-karts. I love it. I love some open wheel, not nascar. Sorry, NASCAR is, is not real

Ally Brettnacher: That's okay. We don't care in

Rob Perez: yeah. Open wheel. Open wheel racing, definitely.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And so racing go-karts. you had mentioned that you had raced Indy car drivers.

Rob Perez: Yeah. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: people who became indie car drivers. So I just thought that for the people who are listening who are from Indiana, they would

Rob Perez: yeah, I have raced the Ray Hall family. Um, Graham, and then the youngest Andretti, uh, Marco, I wanna say it was Marco. Um, it may have been one generation earlier. I'm mixing up all the, the Andrettis and

then, uh. Joseph Newgarden, [00:39:00] who I believe has won the Indy 500. I've raced him. And there's one race specifically, which was actually at South Bend.

There's a racetrack in South Bend, MRP, or it was called MRP at the time. But there was a rain race and a couple of those people who were slated to like win the race, spun out and crashed. And I just simply finished the race. So technically I have beaten them.

Ally Brettnacher: That

Rob Perez: It's my one claim of fame. I've beaten Indy 500 winners in an automotive sport.

But how it

Ally Brettnacher: That is a. does not matter at all. It's, it happened. It is a true statement. That's so crazy. How do you start racing, go-karts.

It seems like a random

Rob Perez: yeah, it's a better question for my dad. I didn't know. It's one of those things that if you ever watch when they do like the ESPN 30 for 30 on some driver, cover that story. They're like, how did that happen? They're like, oh, my dad took me to the track and we realized you can grow up racing these little go-karts.

They're now, I think you can start, I wanna say three years old. I think you're supposed to wait till like four or five. But there are kids who are like three and four years old that they, they give you a little, it's like a 50 cc. I mean, the engine's this big, it's a [00:40:00] little 50 cc engine. They, they get up to like 45 miles an hour.

And these kids race, they are very talented drivers. especially at like the national level. They, I mean, that's where they start. I mean, you race your whole life. I started when I was, I think I was 11. But my dad, we went and watched, 'cause we had, we would go to the Milwaukee Mile every year.

We'd go to Road America, we would go to the Indy 500. And he, one year goes, Hey, you know, there's a go-kart track like two hours away. It's actually the same go-kart track that, Danica Patrick started racing at when she was a kid. So, really cool tie there. Um, she actually signed my helmet one year, but she, we went to the race and at the end of the weekend we watched racing all, all these kids who looked like me and are my age and are my height and my size.

And my dad goes, do you wanna try that? And I thought he was just kind of like, asking for for fun like, you know. And then, uh, a couple weeks later, I, uh. I come home and he opens the garage and there's this like used go-kart and very minimal parts and it's like when you get your first bicycle, you're [00:41:00] just like, you dunno how everything works yet.

You don't know how to do everything but you just kinda show up to the track and, and race car driving is actually another one of those sports that at the entry level it's not competitive. I mean it is competitive in the fact that there's a winner but everyone wants to help everyone. My first ever race, I got out there and immediately one of the other dads looked at our go-kart and was like, you have to change the gearing on his, it's 'cause it's a single gear.

There's no shifting or anything. It's very basic setup. But the dad was like, for this track, that gear is gonna be terrible. You're gonna burn your motor out, it's gonna cost money. You're not gonna get any speed. Super helpful guy.

Um.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow.

Rob Perez: But that's just what you learn. You learn those things. And my, you know, my dad learned little by little and we kept racing.

I think I raced for like five years. I got to the regional level and that's when I started racing the big names. And, then came high school and the decision had to be made, you know, live kind of a more normal 15-year-old, 16-year-old life and play high school sports because racing is a Friday through Sunday event.

My dad would pick me up after school on Friday. You practice on Friday, race on Sunday, or race on Saturday, race on Sunday. Like it's all, it's your weekends are gone for, 20 weekends outta the [00:42:00] year. So he was like that or high school sports. And I was, you know, craving a little social life. So went the high school sports route.

Um, and now I just run all day long.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Were was your family athletic? Do you have siblings?

Rob Perez: Yeah, I have a sister. Um, no, I mean, I would say my dad is probably the most athletic. my mom played basketball. I'm the worst basketball player ever, so

didn't get that from her. Um, but yeah, my, my dad, he was a swimmer. He was, he still runs now. yeah, he is, he's out there. always, always, always doing something.

So I think I just grew up in a,

this

again, the suburbs of Chicago that like all my neighbors and all my friends. That's all we wanted to do. We wanted to be on our bikes. We wanted to

be shooting hoops even though I was terrible. I did all the sports growing up. You know, T-ball, you, you, I did it all. I love a sport.

and. Now that running is kind of the main thing. It's, it seems so silly 'cause it's arguably the easiest, you know, there's the least amount of skill involved. But after, now where I'm at [00:43:00] now, I'm like, oh, there's actually a lot that goes into running,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

True. Yes. Very much

Rob Perez: which I, I, you know, and I'm 33 now. It took 33 years to like fully figure out.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah, I'm definitely still learning a lot. did you mention volleyball when

Rob Perez: Oh yeah. Volleyball. Yeah, that was, that was my main sport. Yeah. I don't know how I forgot that one. yeah, I played football in high school and volleyball. And volleyball was my, I was like, I'm going to college for that and pro athlete and there isn't really a professional league. I probably should have thought about that before I started pursuing that, but, um, so like Texas, California, and then Illinois are like some of the only states at the time that had men's volleyball, competitive men's volleyball. A lot of schools have 'em as like intramural. But, Illinois is a very competitive volleyball state.

I had no idea.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, that's kind of a good segue into how you got into the military because you wanted to be special forces. Is that right?

Marker

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Well, that's kind of a good segue into how you got into the military because you wanted to be special forces. Is that right?

Rob Perez: Yeah. Anything.

Ally Brettnacher: the right term

Rob Perez: Special warfare, special forces, any of those. yeah, I joined, uh, I walked into the recruiting office and the guy was like, what do you want to do? It was the Navy recruiter. He was like, how can I help you? And I'm like, I think I wanna join the military. I don't know. mind you, I dropped outta college at this point.

I was doing sales. I just kind of was living a day-to-day, rinse and repeat Midwest life. And finally I was like, I gotta get outta here. and so the recruiter goes, what do you. Why do you wanna join the military? And I didn't really have an answer. And I was like, I don't know, I think I think I want to live on the coast or get out of the Midwest, I would say is probably my biggest answer.

And he goes, well, let me tell you, you joined the Navy, you're gonna live by water. And I was like, that's so genius. And so I like, I signed the paperwork more or less right there. I actually texted my mother hates this story, but I texted [00:46:00] her,

and I was like, Hey Ma. I was like, I need your social, your maiden name.

I need this, I need that. And she

was like, whatcha doing? and I'm like, it's just for my like, background check to start the process to join the military. And she was like, this is more like a in-person conversation, not a text. so she was not thrilled. But fast forward nine years when I, after nine years of service, I texted her when I was getting out and I let her know like, Hey mom, don't worry.

I'm outta the military. I'm safe and sound.

Ally Brettnacher: thanks for the text, Rob.

Rob Perez: Yeah. Uh, she, she loved it. so the way the military works, you sign a contract typically of some form of a job. You can sign a contract to do special warfare, like directly. but because so many people wanna try out, it's like a year and a half wait, I would do training for a year and a half on my own time and work my own job.

And there'd be another year and a half in Chicago. And I was like, I don't want that. And he goes, well, if you join a job that is a little more needy, they'll get you in quicker. And then you join from there. And so I, I said, all right, that sounds good. What's, quick? And he goes, well, I'm a submariner and I just looked up submarine contracts and you qualify for one that would be leaving in like three weeks.

And I'm like, perfect. [00:47:00] I'm in.

Ally Brettnacher: What.

Rob Perez: So I sign it, I get to bootcamp and they are like, all right, who here wants to try out. For, you know, special operations, special forces. And I was like, me please, right here. And they're like, what's your job? What's your current contract? And I'm like, oh, I don't know. Some like submarine computer electronics or something.

I don't actually fully know, nor do I care. And they're like, oh, that's actually one of the jobs that right now has a waiver in, you're actually not even allowed to try out for special operations because no one wants to do submarines, so you have to

stick it out. and my heart sank at that point.

I was like, well, when do I get to try out later? And they said, well, you'll finish this. You'll go to school, you'll finish all your schooling with the military, which. And my job, 'cause it's very specialized, was about a year and a half. So bootcamp then a year and a half of schooling, and then you have to do two years at your first boat and then you can request.

And the day I hit two years at my boat, I requested, and my captain immediately turned it down and said, you're too valuable here. We need you here. so I said, well, when can I try again? And they said, at, you know, when you get done and you go to your shore duty or your shore command, you can try out there again.

So tried out or I didn't try out, but [00:48:00] I put in a package to try out at like year six of the military and it got denied again. and so I gave up and said, well, I got three more years on my contract. I'll just finish out my nine years. Ended up in DC that was my last duty station. That's how I ended up here.

And I stuck it out and I said, all right, I'll stay here. So I love it. that's how I ended up in dc

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. okay, so how long have you been in DC now?

Rob Perez: Now I've been in DC I got outta the military four years ago, so I've been in DC for about eight, eight years total. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Okay. Alright. And the next thing I wanted to ask you about was the transition to creating as part of running,

because how long did you run until you were like, oh, I should start creating content about this? And how did that start

Rob Perez: that was all actually from Training for Speed project. I was logging

Ally Brettnacher: Oh.

Rob Perez: tons of my, I just was, I was running constantly. Like my friends were all like, yep, Rob's running again. You know? And again, I wasn't a creator at that time, so it was just like, my friends who actually know me were just like, yeah.

He's like, he's out training, he is out running. And a lot of 'em would join me and a lot of 'em supported me and it was just like a fun, silly thing to do. It was [00:49:00] like, all right, let's go run a bunch of miles on the weekend. and I had groups of friends that would just, we could knock out a 20 miler and go get beers after.

And that's like what we did. it was really cool, but did a bunch of training and then finally like. People were asking me how training was going. I'm giving them all these tips, and finally I was like, maybe I should just make some silly videos. I have and super basic, I actually, I, I often go back and watch my first one from 2023.

And it is, the editing is horrendous. Um, and I, I, it, it's, there's so many pauses that I'm like, why did I leave a whole half second of just me heavy breathing? Like, it's terrible. But I also was kind of like, I don't care. You gotta start somewhere and then you keep making videos. Keep making videos. And then I had my first kind of, I wanna say viral, but mind you, at the time I had my 1500 followers, which was all my friends and people I actually knew.

I had my first video hit like 15,000 views. And I was like, oh, so it's hitting strangers platforms. And the video was, I talk about I love sun protection and, and sunscreen, and I always wear it. And, and mentioned how. I, I think the video was, I was like, wear a hat, [00:50:00] wear sunglasses, and then only put the sunscreen up to your cheekbones.

Do not rub it on your forehead or near your eyes. I was like, people always make that mistake. And it was just this, it was a 22nd video where I basically said that it was like, that's my biggest tip for summer running in the heat. 'cause the second you start crying and your eyes burn, it's all over.

That's like demoralizing on a run. and then I did another video about how I always, I wear sunglasses even when it's shady out because of like rain and stuff. the little pellets, like in your eyes. I just did all these simple things that like, I don't think about, I run so much. I was like, I don't, whatever.

And people in the comments were like, wait, that's genius. Why don't I never think to not put sunscreen on my forehead and instead wear a hat? And it was small things like that, that people started following me and being like, oh, you know, a ton that like. Us newer runners don't know. So it started kind of as running specific.

then it started growing gradually and started kind of working with brands and then things like the government shutdown popped up, things like my company Step Challenge at Work, which turned into Step Gate was this whole thing. all these just kept like series after series kept [00:51:00] turning into people being to relate and connect to it.

And then I got better at editing finally and actually downloaded some actual editing software and, started kind of pouring time into it and it, it blew up. And now I'm, you know, super grateful for as you, as you mentioned at the beginning, anyone that supports me is always so cool, but I'm also just, I, I get excited.

It's fun to create videos and I, I pinch myself and laugh all the time when I'm like, I just made a stupid little video and like, people are getting joy out of it. Not that I would expect them not to, but I'm like, this is so fun. You know, what a, what a fun thing to do.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. And now , you'll be at 200,000 followers on Instagram is where I spend most

of my time. but what I also didn't know about you, Rob, was the fact that you were like TikTok famous with your mustache, which I have never seen. I had never seen, I had no idea that you had this like majestic mustache

Rob Perez: yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: back in the day.

Rob Perez: was the personality. That was the, uh, that was, that was it. That was like, there was my friends actually who crewed me for speed project. They made, I'll call it like a Finsta or a fan account. They made a fake Instagram and it was. Bobby Bagot [00:52:00] and Bogo is mustache in Spanish. Uh, it was my alter ego and they would just get clips where I didn't even know that they were recording.

And it was me curling it, twisting it, and photos of it up, close, photos of it just, they went all in on the mustache and made it like the mustache is running the race, not Rob. It's, you know, Bobby Baggo is running this race and it, they're all five years younger than me, so they did very like Gen Z, trendy, trendy, tiktoks.

And people started following that and I was like, this has gotten out of hand. So I still don't have access to that. The account still exists.

Um,

Ally Brettnacher: I need to go find that.

Rob Perez: well, they'll, they'll comment, they'll log in and comment on certain videos as Bobby Otte. So, which makes it look like I'm talking to myself. And that's, I always have to remind people that like, I'm not engaging with my own content on my own fake Instagram.

I'm, you know, I don't have

Ally Brettnacher: Right, right. Yes, that is. That's funny. So will you ever bring the mustache back?

Rob Perez: I don't think so. And the one reason is I actually did hate grooming it.

Ally Brettnacher: It's a [00:53:00] lot of work, I feel like, right?

Rob Perez: well, 'cause it got long enough to the point where I had to put product in it. I, if not, I looked like a, a walrus. It's just this wirey thing that hangs over because it was so long. It hangs over your mouth like it's in the way. and it's not, it's mustache hair, so it's not like soft and combinable.

It's gross.

Um, yeah. So will I have it again? Probably not. But the other, the other part of that is. The mustache was kind of a, uh, kind of like a fight. The power I, I, I had just got outta the military. I had been living by a clean shaven face in extreme rules for the last nine years of my life. The mustache was kind of a time to let it go.

Um, and it just happened to line up with when I started creating content and running all these big ultra marathons. And like I said, ultra marathoners are kind of quirky. They wear collared shirts, they wear jorts. They wear things that you're like, why is that? That cannot be what you are seriously running in.

Um, and so the mustache kind of worked out perfect. Like, oh, let's have this really inconvenient facial hair and make it happen.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And, and you got a government job with that mustache, [00:54:00] I'm

Rob Perez: I did. I actually think I, I, I can't show you my badge, but yeah, my badge still has the original photo on it. yeah, it's, it was funny and when I shaved it at work, everyone kinda lost their mind. It was, it was a whole thing.

Ally Brettnacher: I bet. I mean, yeah, I, I bet.

Rob Perez: I would say the

first, like three months. Oh, the first three months I would be again.

'cause at this point I did have a following and people recognize me in DC all the time, but the, this time specifically, I actually had people coming up to me going, there's this guy on Instagram, he does all this crazy runs, he has this wild mustache. You look exactly like him.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's funny.

Rob Perez: And I was like, that's me.

I just shaved it a week ago. But it happened for like three months. Because you know, some people obviously don't keep up with social media

as much as I do.

yeah.

And so some people just, yeah. They're like, there's this guy. Yeah, that's me. I'm the guy who you're referring to.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah,

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: I'm the

Ally Brettnacher: guy, so, okay. No mustache, which I feel like that's fair. It lived its life and I, I'm sure your friends are still repurposing that content, I hope.

Rob Perez: Yeah. There will be, there's videos of [00:55:00] me in places that I probably shouldn't be, but we'll be, you know, we'll

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And then Otte, you are half Mexican. right? yeah,

Rob Perez: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: remember you speaking Spanish during the race and being like, oh my gosh. Where did, where did that come from? Like not knowing?

Rob Perez: I speak Spanish during the race?

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: Yes,

Ally Brettnacher: there was a run club that was there, and

Rob Perez: Oh.

Ally Brettnacher: remember the name of it.

Rob Perez: Which, which, uh, translates to coffee and twerking.

Ally Brettnacher: That's right.

I forgot about that. Fun fact

actually. yeah,

Yeah.

yeah.

So that's how I realized that you, spoke Spanish. I still didn't realize your heritage, but did you just grow up speaking Spanish then? I would assume.

Rob Perez: No, and I'm not fluent, but, 90% of that side of my family is still in Mexico. So, um, I, I used to go twice a year growing up and then same thing, once high school came around, it got harder to do that.

but because of that, I grew up around. Real Spanish, you know, it wasn't like, like I, I was in school in Spanish class learning verb conjugations and all the

boring parts of Spanish, but I was learning all the bad [00:56:00] words and how to have the accent in Mexico, and that's what truly shines through and, you know, allows you to fit in, you know, when you're around other Spanish speakers.

So, yeah, I, I am not fluent, but you wouldn't know that if you, catch me in conversation.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Well, yeah, you've got the accent down. I feel like I'm on, I don't know what day it is today, maybe 327, let's call it, of my Spanish streak.

Rob Perez: Duolingo?

Ally Brettnacher: I've done done

before. Yeah. But I am, so I am the worst because I don't like speaking it, which is the only way to really practice and learn. my vocabulary is pretty extensive in terms of like words I know.

but yeah, I've gotta, I've gotta find a way to practice more so that I can actually learn it, because that would be a life goal of mine is to be able to speak Spanish.

Rob Perez: Yeah. And it doesn't have to be fluent. I mean, I think this is true of any language and I, I, I recognize this, I have family in Denmark as well,

and so I'm gonna categorize all Americans in this, um, unfortunately, but I think Americans obviously are like, Hey, we speak English.

This is [00:57:00] kind of what we do. And I, I, I've tra I've been fortunate enough to travel all over the world, for work, for personal, for everything. And something I always see is it's typically the Americans that walk in and don't understand why a restaurant doesn't have an English menu or doesn't. Cater to them.

And I'm like, when have you seen a restaurant in the US have a Spanish menu or a, any other language? I'm like, that's such a weird and wild request. And then people always say like, oh, it's the most spoken language. And I'm like, no, Al always try. And I guarantee if you went to Mexico and even just tried your basics, the locals would appreciate you so much more versus just simply speaking English, even though they probably do speak English.

I'm currently learning Japanese. That's, I'm on Duolingo for Japanese right

now. Because I got to go to the World Athletic Championships, last year, and I wanted to be able to converse with anyone. And it was cool to, obviously I learned how to order a beer. That's the first thing I typically learn.

And then the second thing I learned is, was the bathroom. cause the two go hand in hand. So,

um, walked into a tiny little bar. I was with a bunch of my running friends and other people [00:58:00] creators and stuff. And I ordered my beer and I told the bartender that my beer was super tasty. and I introduced myself and gave him my name.

And my friends were like, wait a second, what are you doing? And, and the guy was so cool about it, the bartender was, he loved it. And then he started rattling things off in Japanese back to me, and I was like, you lost me. You know?

Ally Brettnacher: you're like, ah, that's all I got.

Rob Perez: yep. Yeah. So I think the basics is, is any, anytime I fly to a new country, I'm on the airplane.

I use half of the wifi on the airplane to just look up what are the top 20 basic sayings, you know? Um, and I, I YouTube it because. Learning the slang version of it makes you more of a local than the Duolingo version, which is the formal like, hello, Mr. So and so, it's great to meet you this evening. And like, no one talks like that.

So yeah, it's, it's good to learn the slang versions too.

Ally Brettnacher: It seems like Duolingo needs that version, of it, that level. Maybe people would pay more for it

Rob Perez: And I, well just like a switch, like I wanna put on like what is the formal way and what is, I wanna learn both put 'em side by side. They're not all, they're not crazy different, but

Ally Brettnacher: yeah, absolutely. Have you run any races in Mexico,

Rob Perez: no, that there's a big [00:59:00] push for that. This year I, or this year or next year, , I would love to run Mexico City Marathon. I mean, it's, again, my family's all still there. I think that'd be super cool. also the elevation. Something I've never dealt with before. well I have in like Ultras, but that's an ultra where I'm going 10 to 12 minutes per mile and not pushing seven minute miles.

So, don't know exactly what that's gonna look like, but, uh, yeah, I think Mexico City's at 7,500 feet and that's, you know, it's not a ton, but it's also not sea level, which is where I'm at now. So I wanna go see how that affects it. Um, I know tons of people and runners go to Denver to train. I know I had a couple friends who actually went to Mexico City to train for a summer leading up to their big races.

So, I know they have a really cool running community there. Chalo, who is my photographer at Speed Project when we won in Chile, he's from Mexico City and he's really tied in there. He is a super talented photographer and videographer, and runner, and he, he goes back to Mexico City all the time to run that race.

And I, I'm like, I'll be there soon.

Ally Brettnacher: what time of year is that race?

Rob Perez: This is why I haven't run it. 'cause I [01:00:00] haven't actually looked into the planning of it. I

Ally Brettnacher: there you go. Like, I have no idea, but I'll be there someday. Yeah, I believe you. You will. Absolutely. I mean, you could, it could be next week and you'd be like, you know what actually sounds great. But for,

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: I'm done.

Ally Brettnacher: for your government job, you mentioned we were as we were like getting onto the technology that you don't work remote.

So are you ever able to work remote for your job?

Rob Perez: not really, we're in office. just 'cause we kind of have to be all of our equipment and technology. I'm a kind of a hands-on technical job. you can't do that from home. You gotta, you gotta be at work to do those things. So I am, I am grateful they are able to do support sometimes like a half day or full day of telework every now and then, especially if there's a lot of administrative work to catch up on.

so I, I do get to do that every now and then. But yeah, it's, fully in office and a whole thing,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, I feel like the way to do Mexico City, it'd be like, well go down there for a couple weeks if you could work remote.

Rob Perez: Oh, totally. Yeah. That, that would be the dream. And because the time zone's only an hour off, so

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, right.

Rob Perez: it wouldn't be that crazy, you know, it's not like I'm gonna Europe, where now I gotta [01:01:00] work at five, you know, three in the morning to make it for us time.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah, Right. So in your, you went to the world athletic TRA championships. That's nuts. I'm assuming that's through a brand partner of yours. Like what kinds of opportunities have opened up for you as part of your content creator side?

Rob Perez: it is been, I mean, it started out super basic again 'cause my content was running central. shoe brands wanted me to do reviews. companies send gear all the time and want you to try it. It's, it's everything. Any, anything you can hold that has to do with running. some brand always wants to send it to you and pay you to highlight their product.

nutrition as well, which is super cool. And that, and that. And I obviously always appreciate those partnerships. cause one, one thing I stay true to is I only work with brands. The rule is they have to send me the product ahead of time. If I've never worked with them or used their product, I'm trying it sure.

It costs 'em couple, couple dollars to send me some stuff. If I don't love it, I don't work with them. I have a management team now who helps control and filter that they know what I like and what I don't like. But, the other part is when I get opportunities to work with brands that I [01:02:00] love. Like I,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Rob Perez: I'm a big Asics guy on the shoes.

I'm a huge Adidas guy. And then they reached out to do some races and I, I got to run the Boston Marathon with Adidas last year and

I'm not making up a story. I don't have to be like, I love their shoe and I don't actually love their shoe. Um, you know, no. I was like, wait, no, that's actually my race day shoe.

I was like, that's, and like, do you mind making a video about this? Here's our guidelines and parameters. I was like, no, I don't mind at all. That's the shoe I was gonna race in anyways.

Ally Brettnacher: You're like, actually, I already have a video that I made. 'cause I just love it.

Rob Perez: yeah. So that, that was a shoo in, if you will. yeah. Sorry, I had to, I think it, it's led to more now, so I'm not gonna name any names, but I have a bunch of, after my government shutdown series, I have a bunch of people on Capitol Hill that wanna

that

work with me. I'm trying to do a series that involves a little bit of movement.

So one of the biggest reasons the shutdown series did so well was it was nonpartisan. it was purely teaching. I was teaching how the government works. It was like, uh, schoolhouse rock. Like, it was just, here's the basics, [01:03:00] here's what you need to know. and that works out really, really well.

The thing that came from it though is there are experts in that field. There are people who are on different parts of committees and, and organizations and groups that work at the capitol every day. And that is, I say their nine to five. It's really their 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM job is to be an expert of whatever program or whatever area of the government.

And so all those people who, some of them are senators, you know, members of congress representatives that are reaching out and saying, we would love to go on a little run with you and. Talk about the government, talk about things and, and, and I always fire back and I'm like, I'm down. It's not gonna be to rip the other party apart, whatever side you're on.

And, and that's the other thing is I wanna run with both sides. and it's, been cool. There's more coming from that soon, but I have some very well-known senators that are really eager to go on a walk, go on a bike ride. There's some, some of these senators are big cyclists. I had no idea.

Um, yeah, there's a couple, I guess these are all hints, but there's a couple that, uh, bike to work every day.

And you know, when [01:04:00] they live in DC they ride a bike to work and they want to go on, do a cycle and do, uh, you know, an interview while cycling, which is kind of disarming in a sense, you know? 'cause you see 'em in a suit all the time. And you see 'em on Capitol Hill giving their political speech. And that's when you turn the TV off or YouTube or whatever you're streaming it on, you're like, it's the same jargon.

It's the same song and dance.

But when you see your favorite senator, or at least favorite senator out there. Dripping in sweat and breathing heavily as they're running with Ultra Marathoner Rob, and he's interviewing them. It puts them at, at the disadvantage, you know, I'm, I'm disadvantaged from my lack of knowledge, which allows me to ask very simple and basic questions and get good context to what's going on in the government.

And it gives them the opportunity to be outside of their comfort zone and, work with me. I think one of the, one of the pinch me moments I had was I, so I work with the DC's, the, the mayor's office pretty often, or try to, and then the Attorney General of dc, Brian Schwab, he is a big pickleball pickleball guy.

Yeah. And he

was like, can we do an interview, like while playing pickleball? And I [01:05:00] happened to, and by the way, this call happens on a Sunday morning. He, uh, he's like, when can you schedule a call? And I'm like, my schedule is a 6:00 AM it was during the government shutdown. I was like, I am 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

Right now. So I, I really can't, but like a Sunday morning would work best before I run 8:00 AM I'm in my pajamas. He's in his pajamas and he's in his office. I'm in my apartment. You get the same view he got, but he's got all of his law books behind him. He's got all of his DC swag and memorabilia and he is just in his pajamas shooting the shit with me.

And I'm like, this is so cool. Never did. I imagine when I made my first like how to wear sunscreen video, was it gonna turn into me interviewing the attorney general and trying to understand DC home rule and why we're not the 51st state and things like that. And that's what the conversation was about.

And then the offer to

Ally Brettnacher: Wow.

Rob Perez: so

Ally Brettnacher: Have you played pickleball yet with him?

Rob Perez: Yeah. Yeah. I played pickleball. I actually happened to have played that week at an, a separate event, unrelated, but I did get to play and then that he was like, we should play it. I was like, I gotta paddle. It's right over there. I'm, I'm

Ally Brettnacher: Let's,

Rob Perez: [01:06:00] So. Yeah. So there's gonna be some fun things coming down the pipeline.

I'm really trying to manage it to be, again, not, I, I don't wanna, add to the political noise that exists currently. I want it to be something where people, you get something out of it and you don't wanna turn it off. which I'm sure all journalists wanna do, but the running or cycling or applicable ads, an aspect

Ally Brettnacher: Right where it's, to your point, yeah. It's disarming and it doesn't feel like manufactured as

Rob Perez: right?

Ally Brettnacher: something you might Yeah,

Rob Perez: I'm not going in a suit to the capitol and interviewing them in a sit down, perfectly lit in their office environment.

Ally Brettnacher: you should wear a suit up top and you're like running shorts and shoes at the bottom. That would

Rob Perez: I, you know, that actually that's, high quality idea right there.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. There you go. You're welcome.

Rob Perez: Yeah. Thank you. Thank

you.

Ally Brettnacher: would be that. I would get a kick outta that for

sure.

Yeah. Oh man. Okay. Well the last question I have for you before we're gonna get to the end of the podcast stuff is just about with all you're doing and all the running that you do, I'm sure you get asked this all the time, but how do you avoid [01:07:00] burnout and being like just completely tired of it?

Rob Perez: Great. Great question. I appreciate this question 'cause I think I love sharing this answer. That's, that's why I love this question. I get to share this answer every time. There's a couple things. I do get that question. I also get the, like, how do you not get injured? How do you log

Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah, no.

Rob Perez: 2000 mile a year with zero injuries?

two parts. One, you have to love it, I think is the most generic way I can say. You have to love running. And I'm not like, oh, you have to love running and care about it more than everyone else around you. No. What I mean is whatever started you running, for some people it's weight loss. For some people, it's therapeutic.

For other people, it's a social thing where they look forward to the beers after the run more than the actual run itself, whatever that was. That started you in running. Remember that. Channel that, and, and stay in that lane. One thing that I, I struggle with, and I'm actually doing a video about the, this this week, is content now is so focused on performance optimization.

How can we get faster? How can you get better? How can you run more races? What are the tips and tricks to get into New York City [01:08:00] Marathon every single year? How do you get into this race? How do you run your first ultra marathon? That's all great. I love that people do those videos. What? It's the part that it is like, I almost wanna call it tone deaf.

And the part that's missing is the part where they explain like, you still gotta love the sport. At the end of the day. You still gotta put your running shoes on and not hate the fact that you're about to go on a run. A run should never feel like a chore. Sure. When the weather's shitty out or whatever. I understand when it feels like a chore.

I have those days too, which, you know, contrary to popular relief, but um. you have to love the sport for whatever your reason is. And this applies to not just running. If anyone happens to be listening and they're a cyclist or they're a through hiker on the at, and they're like, I have burnout from this.

I'm like, well, why did you get on the, at, in the, in the first place? Was it a challenge? Or you're at a challenging point, great, you have, you accomplished your goal and you're at a challenging point, you should be thriving right now. that, that I think is my, the most important part. and sometimes that's a, you need a break.

I'm like, do this. Go and do no running and go watch social media and see all your friends having those beers that you look forward to [01:09:00] and going out, running all the races and going to all the after parties. It's gonna light a fire in you that's gonna, you're gonna come back and come back even harder and love it even more.

I'm, I'm on a break right now, technically, partially 'cause I'm in the gym a ton and training for some other HYROX

HYROX

and other sports, but last week I think I logged five or six miles and this week I'm at zero miles for the week. So. I, I don't hate running any less. I love it. I can't wait to get outside.

We got the snow is melting finally.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Rob Perez: I can't wait. But now's not the time. I'm not, I'm not in the mood to run, so I'm not gonna run. There's no, there's no rush. There's plenty of miles to be had. so yeah, love the sport. Love it. Maintain that positive relationship with it. The second you find something dragging you away from that, eliminate it.

If it's canceling a race or transferring a bib that of some race that you feel undertrained for and you transfer it to a friend, that's fine. Your friend will love it. Your friend will. Absolutely. I just got transferred a cherry blossom bib today for someone who can't make the travel out here. I got so fired up.

I was like, I wanna run right now. I want to, I'm still ready. So.

love the sport. And then as far as like burnout, injury, that aspect of it, I just did a video on [01:10:00] this about recovery. Recovery is not, I, I, my favorite question is, what, how do you phone roll? How do you stretch? How do you massage gun?

Do you use those compression boot things? How do you keep your legs so ready to run? And I'm like, I don't own or do any of those things. Well, I do have a massage gun, but I'm like, I don't do any of those things. I do 'em 'cause they feel good for like three minutes at a time when I stretch. But that's about it.

it's sleep. It's sleep and it's food. I eat all day. And I explained this in the video a little more in depth, but. Your muscles, your joints, your tendons, your whatever. I'm no doctor, by the way, if you're listening, I have a high school education, as I mentioned, I dropped outta college twice. Um, but the basic common sense of it is when you work your body really hard and you go on a long run or a fast run or anything, and you soreness, soreness is the, the, your nervous system's reaction to micro tears in your muscles.

When people don't realize when you get strong and big and bulky, that's because you tear your muscles and then when they repair, they repair thicker so that they can be better prepared to not tear next time. That's, that's how your body works. [01:11:00] To fuel that repair, you need protein, you need carbs, you need all the things that you hear people talk about all the time and tracking macros and all that.

I don't track macros, but I know if I run 22 miles, I need to eat more than the days where I run two miles. That's, it's, I again, at this point I think it's common sense, but some people don't. You have to have more electrolytes going through your system. You sweat naturally all day long, but you sweat a lot more.

When it's a DC summer and it's a hundred degrees out and 98% humidity, you need to replace 2000, 3000 grams. That's a, I'm using generic numbers. Everyone go get a sweat test if you wanna know how much salt you lose, but you need to replace what you lose. And then you need, if you wanna grow and build on that, you need to replace even more and add on top of that.

I learned that, that, that's another thing that took me. And then sleep again. You need that. I'm not gonna speak on that though, 'cause I sleep like four hours a night.

Ally Brettnacher: I know. I was like,

Rob Perez: Yeah, I'm not, I cannot say that I'm the leading example for that, but, um, you, you have to sleep. And that's another one that people just, I don't wanna say they don't realize [01:12:00] it, they don't actually actually listen to that advice.

They're like, oh, you do the four hour thing, you're fine. No, you need, your body does the rebuilding of the muscles when it's in those deep sleep phases or whatever, rem, all those things, that's when the body repairs. If you drink and you eat late and stuff, which again, I do, I'm not the, uh, spitting image for what you should and shouldn't do.

But if you do all those things, the body can't sleep properly and you don't repair yourself. Um, I don't sleep a ton, but like race week or of a big race, or a race that I'm pushing really hard, I actually do. I go to, I'm in bed by nine or 10, and the night before a race especially, I'm actually in bed early.

It's the one time I do it, but I like to go and feeling super fresh. and that's, that's it. Recovery is food. Maintaining a positive relationship with the sport and sleeping. It's not stretching, it's not foam rolling, it's not watching someone go live Your highlight real life on Instagram and getting inspiration from that.

I mean, get inspiration from it. But it's you, it's your personal relationship with the sport.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I also just feel like everybody is so [01:13:00] incredibly different and you get sucked into seeing what people say, you know, get on the internet and that may or may not work for you.

Like, people who ask like what shoes they should have, I'm like, well go get fitted because people, you know.

Right.

Rob Perez: Oh, it's my favorite. I mean, I have, I'm, it's another series I'm working on is I'm gonna make like an FAQ

series. cause I think weekly I get DMD about what's my favorite shoe.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. I get, another thing I get DMed about is like, what's my magic meals that I eat? And I'm, I'm like, there isn't one.

Rob Perez: It's What do you like to eat? What do you like to eat that has more protein than normal? Eat more of that. You like it already. That shouldn't take any extra effort outta you. I'm not forcing something down your throat. Same with the shoes, same with everything. Yeah. So I plan on doing something like that too soon and I'm gonna just pin it on my page.

So if anyone sent, I'll be like, please refer to the FAQ

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yes. Here you go. how many dms would you say that you get a day on average?

Rob Perez: Um, it depends on how trending my videos are going, but like government shutdown, I was, I was waking up with 50 to a hundred dms. a lot of government workers just simply saying thank you. A [01:14:00] lot of people asking me and giving me topic ideas, a lot of people doing a lot of things. right now I probably wake up with like 10 to 20, or I should I say wake up throughout the day.

I get 10 to 20 kind of like new random dms from people. I answer all of them by the way, and.

Ally Brettnacher: Thank you. I'm so glad you

Rob Perez: Yeah, I

answer all of them. well, when the time people spend scrolling and doom scrolling, that's, I usually am doing dms. So when, like my timer says I'm on Instagram four hours a day, but three of those hours are me answering dms or actually creating the content or actually organizing my page or something.

And then one hour is me doing my own doom scrolling. But, um, yeah, it sounds like a crazy number, but when you create content full-time or you know, do it

as much as I do, that makes it, it's a very normal number. yeah, I, I love, I love a dm. I love questions. I love being able to give guidance where I can, I don't answer any medical nutrition I have zero coaching credibility. I am the worst person to ask for coaching advice, and I'm definitely not telling you what shoe you should wear. Um, I'm gonna tell you to go get fitted, so I answer those dms still though.

still.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. And what about the trolls? Do you [01:15:00] get or any of that at all? I'm sure you have to get a little

Rob Perez: Yeah, I mean, you do, especially when I do the more political stuff, obviously you get trolls. I would say that that

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: that

Rob Perez: something I'm always grateful for, and I'm gonna kind of toot my own horn for a second, is, and I appreciated you said at the beginning, like, you get to watch me interact with these people.

I, I bring positive content to the internet. If you don't have something nice to say, keep it to yourself. I do that. I don't, I don't complain a lot. I don't use the internet for that space. I don't wanna put content out that is maybe helpful, but I have to be negative in it.

I don't like that. It just doesn't feel right for me. my bio says I'm the happiest guy out there. I don't wanna have a, video of me bitching while also the happiest guy out there. It just doesn't sit well with me. So, Yeah. So I enjoy just positive spins on just about everything. and because of that, I don't really get trolls.

I get some of the nicest, nicest messages that I almost wanna rest. And I'm talking long, Hey, I, I just had one the other day, obviously not gonna name names. So someone was, Hey, my dad this year was diagnosed with ms. He is a fitness guru. I had to like, learn and figure out how can we do this? And then she [01:16:00] goes, and then I realized, wait, I follow this guy who does this thing with Achilles and they work with adaptive A athletes.

Ally Brettnacher: Hmm.

Rob Perez: Later she finds out MS is one of the things that is a reason that Achilles will work with you. so not only did she get her dad into now being able to do enjoy fitness again, she is an Achilles guide now. So it was like a double whammy and like, it's, it's things like that that I'm like. How can I be upset about anything I put on the internet?

You know, like, how can you troll me on something like that? Again, I hate, I, I'm not the guy to toot my own horn, but I'm like, how can you troll someone that spreads that kind of information or, positivity? So it's, the internet for me has been a glorious place. the other part of that though is I recognize I'm, I'm a white man in a space that is predominantly white men, you know, and, and run by white men.

So I'm gonna always get less trolls. I have plenty of women who are creators, who are maybe not white, and I see how much trolling they get, and they're just as positive as me. So it's something that, I'm not blind to that I have an advantage in this,

yeah, not a ton of trolls,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, good. You do because, because I would fight them off because you're, you are, [01:17:00] you're so kind and positive. Okay. I'm gonna ask you the end of the podcast questions before my kids knock on the door.

Rob Perez: because I know you do. End of podcast. Ah, I've, alright,

Ally Brettnacher: There's just two and they're easy. And the first one, I already, I like know the answer because you put it out there.

the first one is, what's your favorite running song or like hype song? If you don't listen to music and or mantra, you're running mantra.

Rob Perez: Oh, is that the one you know the answer to?

Um, I don't know. I,

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: maybe I

Ally Brettnacher: Uh, would you like me to tell you what

Rob Perez: yeah. what

is your answer The same? Oh, yeah. Now I'm curious.

Ally Brettnacher: this could be outdated, but I like it a lot. Having fun. Go get some miles,

Rob Perez: Oh yeah. I would say that I

would

always say that

at the

end.

miles

Ally Brettnacher: is good. Like,

Rob Perez: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, when I first started creating content, I was like, you gotta have a tagline. You gotta be known as the guy that says something. So I, every video I would end with, have some fun, go get some miles. But I was doing, just running videos.

It's hard to like go talk about this, the status of our government while on a run and talk about how it's been shut down and people aren't getting paid for the last month. And then be like, have some fun, go get some miles. So I have since [01:18:00] dropped that tagline. but. I think a big focus for me this year.

I told, I mentioned I'm training for some more like fitness based things that are, are weight related and not, not running related. So I loved, I saw something the other day that was like out lift the runners and outrun the lifters. I've been really enjoying that. I just wanna be a little fast in the lifters and I just wanna be a little stronger than the runners.

and then I actually saw a t-shirt or a meme that was like out lift the runners, outrun the lifters out, drink the alcoholics, and I was like, all right, now we have completed the trifecta. Yeah. I was like, that's really good. no, I, I always enjoy, I think one of my favorite ones, is the, if, if you wanna go fast, go alone.

If you wanna go far, go with people or go with someone. all of my big races that we've talked about on today's podcast all were with a support crew. even when you and I ran, right, like sure we were supporting Melissa, but. You saw DC supported us. They pushed us to the finish line. Everyone was there.

They were rooting for Melissa, they were rooting for both of us. Like I've never felt alone on a race. I've never even felt alone at this point on any run that I [01:19:00] go do. 'cause if I run on the National Mall, our most popular portion to run in DC I always get a like, go Rob. Love your stuff. Love your content.

You know, I get those every single day. And it's, it's, uh, I don't mean to say that sound like they're annoying. I mean that in like a, every day I feel supported. Every day I get to go, I get to go a little bit further because I got this awesome support crew behind me. and it's awesome. So, yeah, I like to go.

If you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go with someone.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, that's a good one. And then the next one is, what is your next finish line or milestone? It's a race week for you this week I

Rob Perez: It's week. Yeah. Um. It's a good, and it's not a typical race. I'm racing up 94 floors of the Hancock Building skyscraper race. Um, they do exist. They're really cool. This one raises money. I did a charity bib for, um, respiratory Health Association, which the irony is obviously a lot of firefighters go and do this race.

So respiratory health is a big thing in the firefighting community that is, uh, an ongoing battle, uh, with the amount of smoke inhalation that these 20 and 30 year firefighters deal with. and then you look back at all the [01:20:00] things during nine 11, all the, the blowback now of those firefighters and the lung issues they're dealing with from being in Manhattan, inhaling ash for 48 hours straight, it seems like.

Um, so really cool organization. But I'm gonna, I'm doing a race with them. I'm gonna try to pr it, I'm try to, gonna go try to go sub 15 with them. So that's sub 15 minute. I've done it Two or three times now, every time I've been in the fifteens, but I have access to a

stair master this year, so I actually trained, so I'm hoping to go sub 15. Um, but I'm also 15 pounds heavier because I've put on some muscles.

So it's a give and take, you know?

Um, but I think like big, big picture, Big picture this year. I'm getting back into my ultra. I told you 2023 was all ultras. I did two, 300 mile races. 2024 was all about speed. Now that I built all that volume in the ultra world, I went back to road racing and did my sub three hour Boston qualifying marathons.

2025, I started sharing my running journey with Achilles and with Ainsley. And now 2026, I think [01:21:00] I'm gonna grind it out. I think this is gonna be my biggest mileage year. I say that as I

ran zero miles this week so far. Um, I, uh, I'm excited to get back. I'm gonna do my first a hundred miler. I think that's the biggest mental block I have.

I've never run a hundred miles in a day. I've obviously done 300 mile races, but I haven't run in 24 hours, 100 miles. I have run back to back 90 mile, 90 plus mile days. I have run 94 miles in a single day, and. And that was at the 24 hour mark. I'm this close and you know, it's not one of those goals you can just train overnight.

that will be four to six months of training just to give it one good try and hopefully hit the goal and potentially miss it. So it's gonna be a long term big, big picture goal, but I'm excited to go crush miles all year long. now that it's above zero degrees and there's not ice everywhere.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. At least not this week.

Rob Perez: Yeah, right. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Uh, yeah. Okay. And then you're also doing rock and roll in DC because I am gonna be there for that

Rob Perez: Oh, that's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. I'll be out there for that. And [01:22:00] I, and cherry blossom, so I'll be at all the DC races.

Ally Brettnacher: We've got my brother and sister-in-law live out there and my brother-in-law actually is a runner. He's, he does the JFK 50 miler. He's

done it the last two or three years. So anyway, so it's fun to be able to go see them and do a race. 'cause they're, they're into it as well. And then I've gotta get you to come to the Indie Mini.

I know you're doing the Pittsburgh Marathon this year,

Rob Perez: It is the same weekend, right? Yeah,

yeah. No, I'll come to the Indy. I have a couple friends that did it last year. They love it. and you finish on the track. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: No, you used to back in the day, but you

Rob Perez: Uh,

Ally Brettnacher: around the track. I know. That would be

Rob Perez: get the race organizer on the phone. I know you know 'em, so,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. but yeah, this year is the 50th running of that. But yeah, I feel like we could get you like plugged into all the racing stuff Right, too with your go-kart background and

Rob Perez: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: come out for that sometime. It'd be

Rob Perez: yeah. And I, I, uh, I need some Bob Evans in my life. That's,

Ally Brettnacher: my God. Hey. Hey, now

Rob Perez: I love

Ally Brettnacher: than Bob

Evans.

I know. I do too.

It's actually an in inside joke in our family, but

Rob Perez: Is it

riverside_rob_& ally _ mar 02, 2026 003_finish_lines & mile: it

Ally Brettnacher: Bob Evans. Yeah.

Rob Perez: that and some corn? What was that?

Ally Brettnacher: [01:23:00] some corn.

Rob Perez: Wasn't there a commercial? Like, what does Indiana have? Corn?

Just corn, yeah. corn Yeah. That's what it was. Yeah. I remember this now. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yep. More than corn. So not just corn.

We've got race cars too. Yeah. Um, it's a great state. well thank you so much for doing this, Rob. I really appreciate it. I, I mean, thank you enough for sharing Miles at Marine Corps, and, you know, spreading the word about Ainsley's Angels, it's something I care so much about.

And so to have other people know that it exists and know that they can get involved, it means the world. So,

Rob Perez: yeah. Yeah. If anyone listening sees, if you see like a neon yellow, neon green shirt, um, and a group of runners running together that's Achilles. Their favorite thing is just to say, go Achilles. If you say that they will recognize you. And then if you see blaring hot pink on the course and some duos or wheelchairs or wheeled devices that is ainsley's angels and they love getting root for, for too.

So definitely say and cheer those people on.

Ally Brettnacher: Thank you.

Well, thanks Rob.

And thank you to everybody who's listened. And I [01:24:00] always end, I always say happy running at the end. So

Rob Perez: I love that.

Yeah. running for sure. That's the I we said that earlier.

Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: There we go. All right.

If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions. Please share rate review. If you're new here, please subscribe. I would love to have you join us week over week, but actually if there's one thing that you do after this, go check out Ainsley's Angels and Achilles International and consider giving back to the running community through those organizations.

I'm telling you, it is the best way to experience a race. You will not regret it.

thank you again to Amaz Fit and Cure for supporting this podcast, next Wednesday will be the recap of my recent race and my coach's race in Tokyo, so you don't wanna miss that. And then I'll see you with a regular episode next Friday the 13th. Thanks again.