This is the 3-year celebration episode of the Scarecrow Runner podcast and where things have come since that week before the Pandemic changed our lives forever. I hope you will follow along with this journey as I venture through this ultra-marathon called life.

When Shannon Mick started running it was doing a bunch of 5Ks for several years. A few years later she graduated to the marathon distance where over-crowded corrals, pushy runners and the whole road aspect just left a sour taste in her mouth. In fact, she hated a lot about it and was left unsatisfied. It wasn't until a rough day when she was home alone where she turned on the tv to decompress and her life was altered. Staring at the screen in front of her was a Badwater 135 documentary and it triggered something deep inside.Shannon was hooked immediately by the intense and grueling race that played out in front of her. What happened next was simply unimaginable. Shannon literally did a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde transformation and threw road races to the curb and embraced nature and the trails. She soon became obsessed with the 50 mile distance and has not looked back. In fact, she has even dragged her husband along for the run to fuel the competitiveness between each other and spend more time together. Through this episode with Shannon Mick, a national certified counselor and licensed professional counselor from Pennsylvania, I learn a lot about her passion of trail running and what fuels her to keep going when she faces adversity head on. We also dive into the basics of survival that an ultra- runner needs when running these long distances: training, hydration, mental toughness and desire to keep going. I hope you will enjoy this episode as much as I did. I hope you will follow her on social media or YouTube if you have not already. @instagram -be.short.run.ultra - YouTube - @shannonbeshortrunultra  See you down the trail, The Scarecrow Runner

Brad Lord grew up in a small Georgia town where his home life was everything, but normal. His dad was gone a lot working on the railroad and his mom had a lot of extra-curricular activities to keep her occupied. Even from the eyes of a young boy, he knew something wasn't right, but kept quiet to avoid harm for his mom and himself. The toxic environment he was living in pushed him to seek something else to occupy his time. Thankfully, Brad chose to embrace the path of football and weightlifting to help escape from the heaviness of his not-so-great home life. Listen along as Brad shares his story of how he overcame adversity and how he is using other outlets and sharing his story to heal from the past and embrace the best life ahead.

This week's episode I had the privilege of having my friend, Aaron Dana on the show. Aaron is a returning guest and was excited to have him back on. A lot has changed and happened since we chatted in Episode 29 back in August 2020. At the time of the last episode, we chatted he had just conquered his first 100-mile ultra-marathon, the Mighty Mosquito and was 4th place overall. This was a fun visit where we talked about Bills and Chiefs football, to how to keep a good balance in our lives with training and sharing some insight in ultra-running and how to run your race and not worry about others.  Since that time, Aaron has logged some serious miles and has been chewing up some major elevation and has since returned to the Mighty Mosquito and took home 1st place overall this past summer and has endured some additional challenging races featuring the Backyard style, Mid-state mile and the Tennessee Mile - 40 hour. Talk about some serious elevation with over 36K feet of gain and over 100 miles completed with another first-place win. Aaron has learned how to adapt to his surroundings and his training and has matured a lot in the last 4 years of running. It was fun to hear him share some lessons learned and opportunities for success and improvement in the future. Aaron shares how he does hard things, how to balance things and be more intentional in what he is doing and how to keep a good head on his shoulders and enjoy life along the way.

In this week's podcast I share something that has been on my mind and in my heart for several weeks, being intentional. It is the word I chose for myself after prayer and meditating on what to focus on for this upcoming year. Everything that I do this year will be intentional and on purpose.  I share how being intentional in all things will lead to success in every area of your life wherever you choose to apply it. I cover 5 areas of being intentional: having a deliberate plan for your day; be clear on the results you want; be purposeful with your time; be considerate with your focus and focusing on your goals. If you apply these 5 simple ways of adding intentionality to your schedule and your plans you will have more success than you realize. When you are intentional in things you are actively being deliberate, you are planning things out and you have goals that can be achieved and have measurable results.  I wish you the best in 2023 and hope to hear from you all and how you plan on being intentional. Until next time - Anthony

I sit down with a former classmate and teammate, Bill Griffith who has overcome so much in the last 19 months. We catch up on years past since high school and his background as a coach in college football. Our discussion then takes a turn into a more sobering topic of how he has battled Fentanyl and his steps of breaking free from its grasp. This is definitely not easy topic to discuss but allows for healing to take place and helps educate others on the dangers associated. Our hope with this discussion is to help shed some light on how addiction is affecting so many in our country. Having these tough conversations is a necessary step in the right direction that will hopefully open the eyes of many.

So many times, over the years I have made the comment of, "I'll start on Monday" or "I will get started on that as soon as possible" only to never follow through with what I have said. I had good intentions, but I didn't ever follow through with them. I planned on starting a new program on Monday but then things came up and I let too much time slip and before you know it, the middle of the week is upon you and who wants to start a training program mid-week? Why not start a program in the middle of the week? Why do we need to start on a Monday? Well for me the excuse has always been the beginning of the week makes it a nice time to start something, but if you don't follow through it is pointless. We need to be intentional in our motivation and how we strive for fitness. In this episode I share several of the things I have struggled with over the last few years and provide some tips on how we can be intentional in our motivation. To intentionally motivate ourselves to get past the road of good intentions and on to the path of journey and success. Have a great week and thanks for listening!

The Scarecrow Runner podcast is relaunching with new purpose and intention. Anthony reviews 2022 and shares what has been happening and why he took time off from the podcast for a whole year.

One of the most important things as Christians that we need to remember is to put God first. Just as Lauren Daigle sings in her song, "First", we need to bring our needs, our desires, our wants and our problems to God first before anyone else or before we do anything else. When we bring everything to Him first, then we are truly honoring Him as believers and avoiding the trap that is so easy to get into and that is being dependent on the world. The world does not provide the comfort and peace that comes with Christ when we cast our cares on Him and let Him have access to us, first. It's a sign of true humility and obedience when we follow what is stated in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Every year people by the scores set resolutions for the next year in hopes of losing weight, getting out of debt, spending more time with their kids, making better choices, etc and unfortunately many of those resolutions and desires fail and the individuals are frustrated and give up entirely. Fortunately many do not give up and many do achieve the resolutions they set out to achieve for the next year. In most cases those who are successful have a secret to their success and it's because they are persistent, they set a goal, they write it down, they share it with others for accountability and they don't quit no matter how hard the challenge is. This is what we need to do as believers each day of our lives and especially coming into a new year with new challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us waiting to be uncovered. We need to not only set New Year resolutions to be successful and healthy in our physical lives, but we also need to set resolutions and goals in our spiritual walk. That is the most important area of our lives that needs growth and development. It is crucial to have a Godly influence and focal point in our spiritual lives and allow it to spill over into our daily walk and lives. In Habbakuk 2:2-3 (Amplified Version) it states, "Then the Lord answered me and said, “Write the vision And engrave it plainly on [clay] tablets so that the one who reads it will run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time. It hurries toward the goal [of fulfillment]; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it, Because it will certainly come; it will not delay." We need to write down our visions and goals and make it big and bold so that we can see it and understand it when we are 'running'. We don't need to overcomplicate it or make it something we have to think a lot about. But we need to write them down and keep it close at hand and review it daily and share it with others and have them buy into your vision as well for accountability. If we put God at the forefront of our vision for the next year and the days we walk, we will most surely have success and not be frustrated the way one would be if they did not have vision with a Godly influence. We pray that 2022 is one full of vision, direction and favor for you as you step into a new season. We challenge you to state your vision and let God work in you and through you. Happy New Year!