Brandon Gibson - Athletes in Motion Podcast

Narrator: 0:10

Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from race to recovery. With your hosts, Tom Regal, and Kenny Bailey.

Brandon Gibson: 0:28

Hey, Kenny, how you doing?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:29

I'm doing fantastic, Tom, how are you?

Brandon Gibson: 0:31

I'm fantastic as well. We have Brandon Gibson on the show today. We're really excited to have Brandon on. We've got some challenges to talk about, and he's very inspiring. First, I want to mention that we're at the coffee house on second and bridge in downtown Franklin, our favorite car coffee house. Yes. Joining some coffee myself right now. And I want to just mention, keep the questions and comments coming in, make sure you subscribe, get that that button will be floating around someplace. But as we dive in here, Brandon, Brandon has a lot of challenges going on in his most inspiring person I've met and ran into Brandon at a at a training camp for Chattanooga. 70.3. And let's see. He finished the 70.3. I did very well. I so that's that's the spoiler alert that we have. Well, thanks

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:23

for joining us, everybody.

Brandon Gibson: 1:24

We want to talk about what Brandon's got going on. So uh, we like to let everyone kind of give their story. So Brenda, tell us a little bit about yourself. Take us back to your childhood, which What's your activity level family? Give us that stuff. First off, thanks for having me on here. It's, you know, my journey is kind of long. But make it a two parter. So, when I was young, I I've always been competitive, super competitive and everything I've done. So I started off I got my first moto dirt bike when I was two. My dad bought me a cc Yamaha dirt bike. Obviously, I had no idea how to ride it. Didn't know what to

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:06

do. But your mom was thrilled. Oh, yeah.

Brandon Gibson: 2:09

Pedals. My dad put training wheels on it. He took it off the bicycle angles on the motorcycle and, and I actually learned and by when I was age four. I started racing when I was my grandpa to a four h fair. So it's a bunch of little kids racing. I didn't realize the four that all the little kids racing were like eight. But I was four, your four. And yeah. And so the next weekend I asked my dad, can I go race and then I was hooked. And I went racing when I was four. And by the time I was six, I was invited to Nationals. Right? It's a

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:43

six year old as a six year old. And you're just like, cool. You're like, okay, yeah, and

Brandon Gibson: 2:49

then we just moved, you know, I kept racing. I kept racing until high school. The the flip and I was I was good. I mean, I was just I was good. Yeah. You know, we had to be at that age to go to Nationals and all that. Yeah. And I really wish I would have stayed with it. But I didn't. I had kind of hit a fork in the road. I started playing soccer when I was five. So we were doing both for a long time. And then I got to when I was 12. And I was doing clubs soccer. So you know, everybody knows what club soccer is how much travel how much time you're gone. So we were doing both we were doing racing and soccer on weekends. Like it was a race Friday night soccer Saturday morning, Saturday, you know, okay, so I had a younger brother. That was kind of doing everything I was doing. Yeah, at the time. kind of had to Yeah, it's five years younger than I was. So when I got the 1012 that's when we were doing Yep, he was racing man, kind of in the soccer at that time, but it was more racing at that point. And then my dad was what do you want to do? Which way do you want to go? My thought was now looking back the path I was going in motorcross would have been doing well and making money but you know, you have choices and my choice was to go soccer. Because I wanted to play soccer in college. I wanted to get a scholarship. I wanted to go to

Kenny Bailey<br>: 4:10

a motorcycle scholarships going on. No, no, no, no,

Brandon Gibson: 4:12

there's not. So I we settled in when I went to soccer and played soccer year round from you know, age 15 Until into high school, got into high school. Didn't go play college. But you know, I could have went to some smaller schools I decided not to. I was really stuck on going to Indiana University. And so I joined the military didn't really have any means to pay for IU got it so little time was a way to do that. That was the way to do it. And when I went into the Army, it was in the National Guard and you know, started my career at IU. But while I was at basic training Um, that's kind of when the story starts to deviate a little bit, right? You know, I'm this very athletic person, I played soccer, I raced motocross, I was just really good at soccer, too. I mean, my club teams were exceptional. Very, very good. And went, when I went to basic, I was in very good shape, doing well got into about the sixth week of basic and everything kind of went sideways. As far as my health thought I had the flu. And, you know, they put me in the hospital for a day while I was that basic, and then sent me back out and I did I did everything, but I was dealing with a lot of intestinal issues. A lot of diarrhea, throwing up, things like that, like, I mean, it was just a lot of stress on my intestines. And you know, everybody knows stress and, and stomach. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, major, so didn't really think much about it, then if badly, it's dealt with it after I got back from basic dealt with it when I was at IU got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. And it rapidly progressed in it rapidly, incredibly, quickly, very quickly. On tons of medications, trying to get it under control, but I could never get it under

Kenny Bailey<br>: 6:15

control. Was there a cause for that? Or what? No,

Brandon Gibson: 6:17

just they never figured out never figured out that hereditary. Sounds god? Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I just got the card just started having those issues. And went to that went to went to the doctors and, and yeah, and I ended up having you see. And so I'm still trying to be athletic, trying to do what I can, right. At that point. There wasn't anything major. Now. Fast forward to when I was 20. So I was started basic training was 17. Had the problems between when I was turned 17 at 10. So cars, yeah. So and then, fast forward to when I 20. I've had you see probably two years at this, you know, two years diagnosed for two years. And when I get to that, there's one day, I'm just driving it feels like a bomb goes off my stomach. I mean, it felt as an unimaginable pain. went to the doctor. He sent me the ER, got an ER they couldn't figure out what was going on. But they knew that there was something wrong. So they did they could they did a CT scan and usually CT scans you can see everything. They they couldn't see anything. All they saw was like a blur. So they decided to do a laparoscopic explorer exploratory surgery to figure out this thing went in, I had what they call toxic megacolon. So basically, my colon has swollen so much they couldn't see around. It was just that's what it was. From that point until, like, two days later. I don't really remember a whole lot. They kept me sedated after that surgery a little bit. I remember getting on a helicopter being flown from Bloomington, up to Indianapolis, kind of waking up seeing a bunch of surgeons. Going back to sleep waking up having an ileostomy bag. So this is like life and death. Yeah, yeah, it was it was Yeah. So when they were taking my colon out it was it was basically exploded toxemia colon basically your colon swell so much. I mean, I'm not a doctor, but this is what I've understood that it just kind of falls apart. Yeah. And that's what was happening. And I was so sick, they had to cut. Usually the surgeries are done like an ostomy surgery or reversal surgery is all done within two surgeries. It cut mine up to four surgeries, because I was so sick. And so I will wake up in the ostomy bag. Instantly. Not really physically fit. Yeah, yeah, more. And so that was a it's one of those.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 9:05

And it's jarring to I mean, you you've got a bag. Yeah, right. I mean, yeah, it were like, four days prior to that you had no notion that you know, you're dealing with stomach issues. You're trying to figure out how to maintain it.

Brandon Gibson: 9:17

If it was if your colon was a limb, I lost the limb. Yeah, I mean, I you know, it's similar to that and we're talking small intestines, large intestines. So So entire large intestine was removed. So all the way from the alias of the small intestines, which is at the very end part of your small intestine, all the way through there all the way through. Wow, everything's gone. Wow. And so then they give me an ileostomy which is the small intestine ostomy. Okay, if anybody doesn't know what an ostomy is. an ostomy is basically a means of using the restroom without the normal means I have a bag that empties into my stool and do isn't to, you know, there's your ostomies where people don't have bladders, so they have to have something to urinate. And same thing. Colostrum means you still have part of your colon and part of your large intestine mine. No, no large intestines. So it's called an ileostomy. Yes, to me complete collective means what I got? Well. And so yeah, it was it was very jarring. And you're 20 years old. 20 years old. You're going through this? Right? Yeah. And you know, and I'm trying to be a normal 20 year old. Yeah, right, you know, dating and all that all that goes through your brain like, yeah, oh, my, I'm sorry. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, your gift here is this. And, and it was, you know, at the time, it was the why me? Obviously, all of all of them start spitting you why, why me? Why. And the mental aspect is just unbelievably hard. For anybody that goes through that, you know, everybody has their worst I say this all the time. Everybody has it worse, some people's worse is that they break their thumb. Yeah, mine at that point. Was Was this Yeah. And so that was in 2003 ish around around then was when that happened. And then you kind of I end up going back to school, I finished school. I meet my, my wife there. At IU. She's, so I keep saying, you know, if I would have never got sick, I would have never met her. She's five years behind me. So I had to you know, I was in and out of college and took me seven years.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 11:41

You had an excuse? Yeah. So

Brandon Gibson: 11:43

in, which is fine. Yeah, it's on paper. I actually only took five years. But you know, seven years got time.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 11:50

So how do you meet your wife? That is,

Brandon Gibson: 11:52

I mean, Attorney sorority? I was in a fraternity.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 11:55

How did you? You said there's so many questions. Right.

Brandon Gibson: 11:58

So there's so many. Yeah, we can we could go on budget? Well, I

Kenny Bailey<br>: 12:01

mean, just, you know, just I think to set the stage. Right. So I mean, there's there has to be, you know, it's like stages of death. Right? I mean, you have to go through sort of the why mean and bargaining? Yes. At some point, you had to do acceptance. Yeah. Okay. This is just going to be part of me, obviously, like,

Brandon Gibson: 12:16

they don't have a choice. But the I kind of accepted it pretty early on. I mean, I was still struggling

Kenny Bailey<br>: 12:22

with, with any luck, you were feeling better, because you were going through some serious pass, hopefully

Brandon Gibson: 12:26

that there was subsided, and there was Yeah, and I guess I skipped a lot, you know, the first surgery, I had an ostomy. And then a second surgery, they had to go in and create what they called a J pouch, which is actually they take part of your small intestine and create a new colon out of it. Okay. Third surgery that you were going to reverse that get rid of the ostomy. So I was like, Oh, I'm back to normal. Yeah, I'm

Kenny Bailey<br>: 12:47

good or bad. And then,

Brandon Gibson: 12:49

for a year, I was on what they call like a TPN. So TPN is like a, basically, nutrition through an IV, because I could not eat, this pouch was actually formed what they call pouch itis, which is similar to also just in the new thing. Yeah. And so after a year of basically not doing anything, and that's what I wasn't at college at that point, I was back in school. I asked for the backpack. Yeah, like I was like this, like, why? I cannot sustain. I'm not going to live. Yeah. And, you know, so I went back to the ostomy. And then, about three months later, I decided to go back to school got back to school. Metz, you know, met some friends. My first roommate when I first got the IU was in a fraternity and he invited me to come to some stuff and and at that point, I had accepted it right. And when I got to that point where I needed the bag back, yeah, live. Yeah, I had accepted that this is my life. Yeah. And that's kind of where I had to be in. And I did you know, I went back to school was a normal 20 year old. Just older.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 13:57

20 something year old.

Brandon Gibson: 13:59

Yeah, like here. I'm a pleasure, like 22 years old.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 14:02

Yeah. I mean, do you have to explain? I mean, is it I it's easier to explain or was it very upfront about it?

Brandon Gibson: 14:08

I'm very upfront about it. Like first, I will tell you I have one. I mean, I told my wife I think like on my first date, and she had no clue what I was talking about. Yeah. And I want to get out of the way, like one of those like one of those bags things like yeah, you're they're gone. Parcel with this thing. Yeah. But it's it's one of those things. You got to get out of the way, right. Yeah. And that's and that's kind of the way I was with her and I'm with a lot of people. I just want them to know that this isn't gonna change. Yeah. And your fraternity brothers and accepted. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They were there with me almost in through this secondary space of all my surgeries. They were there with me. 100% they would be complete poker with me which don't play poker. Somebody that's on a bunch of payments. Yeah, never read them. clean house

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:06

the other way around, like, I don't know,

Brandon Gibson: 15:09

whatever. And you just don't care. So we talked earlier mentioned about the stigma around it. Yeah. Find out. I mean, how did you being upfront with it? I think totally, I think I think joking about it, you know, like, you know, because it's dealing with feces. I mean, like, yeah, like, I mean, he doesn't love a good paying job. Right. But it's one of those things where it's Society said, that is a gross thing. But sure, everybody does it. Yeah. Like, you start. You start in life doing it. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:42

I think so. Yeah. And I think the fact that it's, it's upfront, right, yes. So yeah, that's the part that

Brandon Gibson: 15:48

that yeah, it's in it's, it's like, yeah, it's there. You know, and it's, but when I first started doing it, I would always have my shirt off. And people he's like, what is that? And I'm like, that's back. And what's that? And, you know, like, well, stuff. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 16:08

And from a health perspective, though, like you said, you were in really good shape. Obviously, this, you know, three years of, and then like you said, you're trying to feed through a tube for a year. I would assume it 2223. Now, you're sort of not quite

Brandon Gibson: 16:22

no steroids. Really crazy. So I blew up like, Oh, really? Okay. I gained a ton of weight. I was I, it was weird. I would fluctuate like, I was super skinny. And then when they put me on the steroids to try to get the inflammation down. I would just sore. I think my heaviest I got to was like, 257. No kidding. Yeah. Wow. I'm a small frame. So I'm not you know, when I was going through basic when I got out of basic, I was one night teen. You know, you put that back onto? I was small.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 16:56

You put a whole nother person I raised Exactly, yeah. And not a small another person. No,

Brandon Gibson: 17:00

no to two other people. And it was, it was a so yeah, I was not healthy. I mean, I just I physically couldn't do anything. And then I started to get you know, it took years it took years to get back into trying because I always wanted to, you know, I was very athletic for wired that way. And I wanted to be competitive. Yeah, very competitive. Now, I went down there while I was sick, I stayed competitive. And that was playing video games. I got really, really good at video games, playing World Championships playing and cyber athlete, professional league first started to take off that that video game stigman went into the professional side of stuff. And I was in the kind of the early stages of that and the mid 2000s. So I got really good at that, because I didn't have I couldn't do anything else. Yeah. So that was my, my competitive to keep my competitive component in my brain. Because, you know, I grew up being competitive starting at four years old. Yep. And in being good and winning a lot. You kind of always need something that does that. So I continue to do that. And then and, you know, I guess where I'm like, I kind of lost there. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 18:18

I mean, so I mean, so you're back in college. You've got a girlfriend now that's that's, you know, like, okay, yep. Except, you know,

Brandon Gibson: 18:26

what's going cepting? Yep.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 18:28

Was it I mean, that the first time you take your shirt off was it was not awkward. Was it awkward? Does she care? Did she not care? What she didn't care? It was yeah, she didn't. She didn't because she didn't

Brandon Gibson: 18:37

know what it really meant. Until I showed it to her. And then it's just it. Yeah, I mean, it's always awkward. It's like, Yeah, but at that point, I was still not. I didn't really care. You know, I didn't I didn't have a self like identity is Yeah, yeah. with it. It was just there. You know, it's, I think that's, that's healthy that you owned it?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 19:02

Is that unusual? I mean, for button when you meet other people with that, is that an unusual thing for you? Or is it to be able to accept it? Other people, it's harder.

Brandon Gibson: 19:14

I mean, it's I think a lot of people don't understand it. Okay. Like when I first tell them they have no clue what I'm actually talking about the people that I you know, it's once I explain it, they they they totally get it Yeah. Early on being young people had no Gosh, what was going on? Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 19:31

I'm thinking of other people with colostomy bags as well. Are you so that on the curve of things I'm generally faster at accepting or was it

Brandon Gibson: 19:39

I will, so there was an acceptance time okay. And then there is a non acceptance time Oh, really. So at one point, you know, my mental finally caught up to me and I was just, I was done and, you know, contemplated suicide went down that route. Why, you know, the why me part. Then I come climb out of it. And so I think with chronic illness in general, people with ostomy bags, there's a cert sort of a PTSD right there. There is. It's not like combat PTSD or anything, but there is a PTSD. Yeah, you wake up with a bag you're missing. Yeah, Portland, Oregon. Yeah. And, you know, fighting through that is just like any other. Sure you constantly on a roller coaster mentally you're constantly, oh, this just sucks this day. Right? Absolutely, then great. You have great days. And it's, it's great. Yeah. But there's very low times. And I think across the board, there's a lot of people that are, you know, I'm in a lot of support groups, that I see people and it's, I see myself and a lot of people constantly complaining constantly like this is why this and just kind of given up really, you know, and, and in, I've been there several times during and it just, it's it, it's difficult, it's very difficult to get out. But once I get to there, so that that acceptance part of those were just a few years here, and then a few years where I didn't accept it. And a few years where I did so much seek

Kenny Bailey<br>: 21:20

out support groups when you were at that point, or did you rely on friends and

Brandon Gibson: 21:23

family, they relied more on friends and family and, and you know, in the last 20 So which so I get through college, right? And I get we get married and everything and and it's it's easier to explain this like after we get married, then we start our jobs and all that while I continue to get sick, like I get I get put back into the hospital, multiple surgeries more. And so I that's in that those words, when the dips came when I started getting sick again and going back to the ER all

Kenny Bailey<br>: 22:00

my life. That's

Brandon Gibson: 22:00

where you're talking about the PTSD. Yeah. And coming back, it would just trigger everything back in this massive depression, and then we get out of it in. And you know, it was great. I had a wife, you know, I have a great family. I'm great support, but it doesn't. None of that when you're that that depression state. It doesn't that doesn't matter. Right. And

Kenny Bailey<br>: 22:21

there's almost this weird, you can almost sense there's a weird because their life is doing okay. Like almost makes it worse. Right? Yeah, you're able to do whatever you will do. Yeah, I can't do what you're doing. You know, I'd love to be able to do that. I'd love you know, I feel like or I'm holding you back from doing stuff like yeah, great to take off or the beach or the weekend. Sorry, I'm sick. I mean, it's

Brandon Gibson: 22:39

right. And that has a lot a sense of it. And that was quite in love with my wife. And that came more when we had our first child. Oh, no. Yeah. So where I couldn't, you know, go be with them. Like, I just felt terrible. And like, man, we'd go to a pumpkin patch or something. And I couldn't do it. So there was a whole nother set of depression that came on after, after Emma was born my daughter. And it was a whole nother battle. But to answer your question about the searching support groups, I never really sought out support, because I'm this competitive. You know? Yeah, I don't like alpha, I'll take care, I'll take care. And I like to toot my own horn kind of guy. Like, that's just, that's what my wife says, I lay on the horn way too much. But we're doing

Kenny Bailey<br>: 23:32

a good job. And so all those books she'll be proud of? Yes, yes.

Brandon Gibson: 23:38

She, she listens to this, you definitely will be. But it was you know, it was just it was it was it was a lot and and I just I always wanted to try to do it by myself. Even though I would complain to her. She would be my person that kind of went to and but she's, she's been through a lot with me. And yeah, she stayed strong. So and then, you know, in falling into when we ever had our first child. And you know, I'm not doing really anything physical. At this point. I am coaching soccer, which has got me back into my competitive part. So I think I was coaching soccer at this point. But you know, after having her I got back in this depression thing. And then fast forward, we moved down to Nashville and 2017 I think we were in Cincinnati. moved on to Nashville in 2017. All of this time I'm dealing with ER visits, I'm dealing with doctors. I'm dealing with pain management. I mean, I have I have chronic pain. Yeah. And it's just from all the surgeries and I'm also dealing with a bunch of surgeries. So we get to 2019 I have my 27th surgery and 2019 So from 2003 to 20 2019 is my 26th I have 27 surgeries. So i i After that one that one I was I was pretty bad. I was depressed, I was very depressed and 2019 I was in I was admitted into the hospital 52 times, it was only 52. Like every week, that's like, every week you were in the hospital. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 25:14

I was admitted by your first name.

Brandon Gibson: 25:17

Funny, you say that I got I got, I got input into a group at the end of 2019. At the end of 2019. And October of 2019, I actually had a very bad breaking point. You know, the suicide thoughts came back the saying that to my wife, she think goodness put me somewhere had have had me, you know, put it put me into Centennials, I think is the Parthenon or something in Nashville, as a call is, I think, is what it's called. And it's, but it's a mental facility. And basically, I was on a ton of anxiety medicines, depression medicines, and all of that just was messing with me. Really, even worse than I really was. Yeah. And I came down off of that. It was like, What am I doing? Like, why am I here? Right after that I got put into a group. And this is October 2019. By this time, I was already admitted like 14 times, you know, at the hospital. And I got put into a group called Vanderbilt familiar faces, which is funny, but it's not about my face. It's actually about the doctors face like it when you go into the ER, they you especially at Vanderbilt, er, they retest you for everything, they start all over, right. And they start all over? Well, they have this program there where when you come in, they have a plan. This is your doctor, this is the medicines they give you. This is you do not scan unless the doctor you call this doctor and you let them know that he's here. Yeah. The ER follows that plan. And that's incredible for chronic illness. Yeah. Can imagine so, like operate through them? Yeah, basically. Good idea. Yeah. And they and they've been trying to, I think push that in other hospitals now. Like they have like that grant cycle. It's an incredible idea. Because I mean, literally in the program epic that they use at the hospitals. As soon as, as soon as I walk in the door, this thing pops up in front of everything and says, This is who I am. Yeah. And this is what he

Kenny Bailey<br>: 27:14

has laughter about 32nd time you're like, No, we Antonia Yeah, I know.

Brandon Gibson: 27:18

Because I had to fight that. Yeah, that was another thing. You know, you're going in and telling the doctors the same thing. This is how you do that. This is how to get me out of here. This is how to get me out of here quicker. I would be in there five days just fighting that right. Yeah. Until until I got to them out. Yeah, get get me out of here. And then they finally get out. And then I would be right back. And, you know, there might have been, I'm sure there was some like, at that point, there was physical addiction to medicines. I don't I don't mentally think I was out seeking it. But I'm sure I was because there's pain medicines involved. There was strong pain, medicines, existing anxiety medicines, there was all kinds of stuff that was happening. So I come out of this mental state and they put me in the spanner belt familiar faces group. And, and basically, the COVID basically happens in March of what 2020 Yeah, what really happened. That's when kind of everything flipped for me. COVID was a really good thing for me. It, I started working from home, I had, I work in it. So I can work from home. Most of the time I need to work at at where I work, but they allow me and I would if I found myself stressed I started just like I'm just gonna go run. And I just started running again. And that was a whole that was where this is where my journey turns and into that being an athlete again. Nice. And

Kenny Bailey<br>: 28:47

do you consider yourself stable now as far as like physical Are you?

Brandon Gibson: 28:52

Yes. Okay. So if we get to November of this year, it will be one whole year that I have not been admitted to the hospital. Since 2003 Wow. Wow. So that yeah, so that is a huge thing. So 2019 20 years 52 times and then like in 2020? I think eight and then is is 2021 and just went he just kept kept ticking down. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 29:20

Is it is it intriguing? Is it is it your body is finally going through the hell or is it the medications or is it a combination of a bunch of I

Brandon Gibson: 29:29

think it was a combination of a lot of things. First off, the getting in that group was a big plus. Right? They started talking to my GI talks my pain Doc's like, what's the plan? How do we get them in and out like how you know, mentally getting in and out is much better than saying and because so that helped a ton that helped my mental and that helped my physical like in a in they they balanced my medications which We're, you know, way out of whack anyway. Yeah. And they got me on the right stuff. We came up with plans if I ever get put on a new medicine, I'm in the hospital when that happens, I don't get put on any medicine when I'm at home, because I'm very hypersensitive to medications. My, my allergies list is like a mile long, because I figured out so many that I can't take. Yeah. And, and, but it was it was a massive combination of that I started eating better. We didn't go out to eat as much. So we were cooking at home. I couldn't control. Yeah, so let's roll or what was happening. And, you know, I and then I continue to have the flare ups. But, you know, they were far. They were spread out much, much more.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 30:46

So from just asking that question from a diet perspective, like is, is there absolutely no, on certain things you can and I can either certain

Brandon Gibson: 30:55

things I'm not supposed to. So, any any intestinal issues, obviously, you're gonna have a very strict diet. I am, I'm fortunate even with my ostomy I don't really have any problems with any food, okay. You know, we're supposed to stay away from roughage, which nobody that is listening has listened to your doctor, they're gonna tell you what you can and can't eat. But it's I experimented with as much as I could to figure out what it would, because my anatomy has been so manipulated, you know, think about the dissection of how much there's been dissected. You know, now I met when they after they did the J pouch, I'm almost what they call short bowel syndrome, they have moved almost half of my small intestine as well, yeah, because they were making the pouch and then removing it. And then they had to dissect it over the surgeries, they in resected, more and more my small intestine because of the bowel obstructions I had, placing adhesions I had, you know, I've had 15 laparotomy. So laparotomy is the big incision from like, the breastbone down. And that's how many of the big surgeries I've had. Well, and, you know, so it's, it's just it's,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:05

so if you do, how does it manifest itself? You just, it's a cramping is it? It's

Brandon Gibson: 32:10

like a very, very short. So what I remember a very bad diarrhea, cramp pain. What did that used to be? That's what this is, okay. And then right after that, I will start vomiting. And my ostomy basically shuts down. It's almost like a priestess. Yeah. If I go to the doctor go to the ER, usually they cannot sometimes they can see us obstruction. But sometimes, most of the time, actually, they cannot see an instruction. So they've kind of chalked it up to just deal with the symptoms. It's some sort of process. They don't know why, but you know, and they, they, they reason why they don't know why is because I have so many variables. 28 surgeries. What has been, like, my body's What the hell's going on? Like, they're just cut everything. So.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:59

So, you know, we've already spoiled it. You did the half, which is incredible. Obviously, to your point, you know, COVID sitting here you are you found a mechanism for you to just sort of like you said, running? Yeah. Where were you from a weight perspective, where were you from a health perspective as far as post surgery where I mean, is it did it? So I had to do it, it was it?

Brandon Gibson: 33:22

No. So at first, um, so post surgery was 2019 was my was my last surgery that was March, I went into the mental facility in October. And then I was, when I started to run, I mean, I've sitting around, probably around right around 220, something like that. Maybe a little less, but then I started to shed the weight just from the running and eating right, and everything like that. And, and I got down to the 190s. And, and, and that's kind of you know, I felt good. I just started feeling much better when you're when I was running. And then but with that being said, you know, my diet was also I had also changed my diet at the time. And it took it. I'm sure you were chasing that quite a bit. Yes. Yeah. Because I'd always I'd always want to fall back into just like, almost not the inactive part of me. And, and because, you know, I've basically lived in hospitals for 20 years Yeah, just lying around and doing really nothing. Yeah. But then you start to see the benefits of feeling better and sure and everything and and then it came to you know, in was it 20 to try all these, all these starts getting mesh together, but in 22 I decided I'm going to just go get some new shoes and start really starting to run right I was running in COVID. But it was just like, yes. Run everyone was everybody running? Just like, yeah, just just just to get out the house, just go run and, and it was I wasn't training for anything. I wasn't doing anything like that. And then you know, after COVID stopped, I didn't really run anymore. And then that's when I we fast forward to that 22 Because 22 That was, yeah, it was. So I'm sorry, in 2022 like the day before Memorial Day, I was like, I'm gonna go buy some new shoes. Got there. And then you know, we have this Memorial Day classic in Hendersonville. Tomorrow, like, okay, so I signed up for 10k Nice, and I jumped every Yeah, I never even really ran a 5k Yeah, you know, I ran a couple of five K's but you know, so consistently. Yeah, no, no,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 35:50

not like what anybody does is see a 10k The next day like, wow,

Brandon Gibson: 35:53

yeah, I was like,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 35:56

wow, this is so nice.

Brandon Gibson: 35:57

Try this out. Yeah. So I ran it. And I was I felt it was awesome. Like, I mean, everything about it, like the people that were cheering me on and. And just,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 36:10

we were back in competition. Yeah. Right. Yes.

Brandon Gibson: 36:13

Yeah. And yeah, yes. No, it was one of the things and kind of it kind of hooked me within the brain. And I passed a couple people and they passed me back. One and I was it's funny, because one, one person, you know, I passed and she she kind of invited me, hey, come meet, come run with other people. Like I talked about the HRC. There's a running club, or and then she, I just remember her just yelling. It's more fun to run with people without headphones. And that's all I kind of remember. And I was like, okay, just kept running and whatever. And then she passed me and she she was having a conversation with somebody who ran the whole thing and obviously, beat me. And then, so that was in May. And I think, actually, so Chad is in is in May is right. Yes. Right before Memorial Day. Yeah. So I think what actually triggered me to go buy these shoes was a buddy from mine from home in Indiana. I saw him do chat. And I followed him. Nice. And and let the Chattanooga have fun, man. Yeah. Got a new hat.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 37:22

For those

Brandon Gibson: 37:23

locals call it yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Point 3.3. There's local races. I follow him and and that's kind of what inspired me to go get the shoes. I'm like, if he can do something like that, I can do it. And then I went and random Memorial Day and I thought maybe I can't do this. Yeah. And but he finished and it was awesome for him. Super proud of him for doing it. And he he kept saying, Well, you want to do this, you want it like you should get you should do. I messaged him and he would say he should do this. And I'm like, Well, you know, I had a bike from a long time ago. Like it was I think 2011 I bought a bike I would ride for like, it was one of my up times of my and I would ride I rode for a summer and Bloomington cycling in Indiana in Bloomington Indiana was huge. Yeah, there's something called Little Five at IU. Yep. And it's it's like the it's a massive race. And it's it's a huge party for it's a huge party for this. But the race itself. It's done, you know, on cinder. It's a flat relay race. It's crazy. It's one of the craziest things you would see. You should really look it up. If you haven't seen it. You can just find videos of it on YouTube. It's a really cool thing they do. And you know, in cycling, they're big and I kind of just got into writing and a little bit so I had this bike that Katie my wife was just like riding this thing, how hard you drove it from Indianapolis to Cincinnati and I still got in the garage. And so I was like, Well, I got a bike. I can run now about the swim part and I never swam before. And so I went and I started doing research. I found he you know Hendersonville endurance athletic team. And they do is open water swim on Wednesdays and I just showed up and jumped in and didn't realize how hard it is to open water. No, I didn't even do the pool thing. Yeah, I went I was like, if I started I'm gonna do this. I gotta do this.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 39:29

I'll mess around. No, no, I usually drops on a motorcycle screw up, just

Brandon Gibson: 39:37

go straight to the 10k mile or anything like that. And that's how it kind of Chattanooga 70.3 came? Yeah, we'll find that out. But you know, started swimming. I could only make it to the dock which is like 50 yards, you know, back and forth and I was just, I mean, dying and I was like, Alright, now you know why membership I need to go to the pool. Yeah, started swimming more. And I didn't realize for the long like for like a month that you actually breathe out in the water. So it's important. Everyone should know that. Breathing out and taking inhaler. Yeah. And killing Oh yeah. And I started watching YouTube videos and stuff and I'm like this is not right. And so that was in early July. And I was and I signed up for River Bluff. So I was like, this is going to be my first triathlon. Because I knew once I did that, then I had to figure, right like, I had to figure it out. And so I go to River Bluff last year, and, and I get out there and I am a nervous wreck because I see the water the first night I got there Friday, and I'm talking about it's an up river swim, and I look out there I'm like, There's no way I can swim up that. Like if the water was just moving, it moves fast. And everybody's talking about the year before how was the worst swim ever? Yeah, you know, they couldn't make it. And you know, and I'm gonna do it. I was scared. You know, I but the fun thing was I was it reverted me back to having those butterflies at the starting grid. When I was racing motocross, and to fly back past everything that I had been through and back into that, like childhood memories was incredible. And that was just such a super high for me, even though I was nervous and racked up on my brain.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 41:31

The first time in 20 years. You gotta be nervous. Yeah, right. Yeah,

Brandon Gibson: 41:34

that was actually a good nervous, like, it's not an exciting, exciting, exciting skills, right? Yeah. I did it. I had to grab a kayak once I turned that, you know, you're down river. And then once we turn back up, I was just sitting there swimming. And I just remember looking at a tree and that tree was not there before and I was like, Oh, this is not working. So either side stroke it over to hold on and I was like, she's like, you're gonna make it you're gonna make it and took off and got back in, you know, did the bike finish the River Bluff? And it was such a good feeling after that, you know? And just to know, where I've been from 2019 to that point, yep. And it's fantastic and even from everything else just to know that I finished you know, and it's a short I mean Sprint's are are, they're legit distance they're legit distance but when you come to when as far as when you look at triathlons, it's not it's the shortest route into shorter super Sprint's Yeah, so but I didn't know you also are supposed to go as hard like, Yeah, almost all out. It's a different race. It's a different race style, right.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 42:47

It's print right there in the name. Yes.

Brandon Gibson: 42:49

there for a reason. And, and, but you know, I finished it, and I was super proud. And oh, my goodness, I actually finished the triathlon. Yeah. First off, I didn't know how to swim a month ago. Yeah, I really didn't have any clue how to swim a month ago. Yeah, I knew the bike was self taught, right? Yeah. At that point, I was self teaching myself and I still in a way, but you know, now I have a coach and yeah, it's a different different. Beast. Yeah. Holder. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 43:16

the cool thing is, I guess indicating where I'm coming from a place of ignorance, right. There was never a hesitation. Because you because of my physic my Yeah, exactly. Like, hey, I can swim. I don't understand the logistics of that. I mean, it's no big deal. So it's

Brandon Gibson: 43:32

no big deal, right? So the way the way that ostomy works, it's so it's, you got to think about it. So with my ostomy I have no colon, right? I have no large intestine. And that falls into the nutrition issue that we get into the I have no I don't absorb water. So I don't really absorb water, like get normal. Your water absorption and some of your other is in the colon and rectum where it reservoirs and pools the water. Yeah, so almost all of my stool that goes into the bag is water. So it does have a seal. Otherwise I would be a mess all the time. So seal inside and it's also sealed from outside. So swimming is no big deal. It's same way with any Australian for really swimming, it's not a big deal. Obviously check with anybody if you have something like that your mate Sure. I always say doctors are always gonna play in a safe, experiment with yourself because you have to learn what happened works for you. Right? You have to figure out that this works for me diets, everything that I eat, what works for you What can't you know?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 44:38

And so fast forward just sort of was at a wetsuit one in Chattanooga, like when do you wear a wetsuit? In River

Brandon Gibson: 44:45

Bluff was not right wetsuit. I did not wear one to one that was yeah, it was it was I think and I just I just record did a regular swim there. And yeah, and but I wore I did buy a try suit. So that was a different kind of thing, but So one piece and where my Austin Yeah, so I was trying to figure out where my airport yeah where my IQ because it if you push on it, you know you get a bunch of restraint because he has a bag. Yeah. On the front, they think about think about how tight a try suit or a swimsuit is or anything like that, right? Yeah, add anything extra that actually has to have some flexibility to it because it's continuously like, yeah, and that's one of the jokes is like, if I'm constantly farting, but nobody knows it. So, yeah, but, but in it's, it's, it's one of the it's one of those things where I have to be aware of it. Yeah, constantly. Because if it starts to fill up on me then

Kenny Bailey<br>: 45:43

yeah, so I guess from a day to day standpoint, I mean, how often do you have to empty the bag and

Brandon Gibson: 45:49

anywhere between nine and 14 times a day? Okay, so when you're depending on what my intake is, right, depending on how much I eat, depending on how much I try everything out what I drink what I eat. So two to three hours. You have to Yeah, if if not more, so

Kenny Bailey<br>: 46:03

before you started River Bluff. Do you do you make sure to to so before did before Yes.

Brandon Gibson: 46:10

So I I kind of fast I mean, okay the night before because in then I'm everybody else is lining up. I'm in line for the bathroom. Because I want to have it all as much emptied out.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 46:26

That's I'm trying to figure out so and with a sprint. I have to

Brandon Gibson: 46:29

Yeah, we start talking about Chattanooga. It's a totally different a different game. totally different ballgame. Totally different animal. But yes, I completely do it as much as I can. And because by the time I get done with a sprint, it's I have to empty it again. Okay, it's at a point of that and obviously everybody's anatomy is different. Sure mine is I do I have a dumping. So anything I intake will be out within 15 minutes. Okay, I have short bowel so it's your stomach a little bit of small intestine

Kenny Bailey<br>: 47:03

in the back. So how do you retain the water there to try to stay hydrated

Brandon Gibson: 47:07

a lot of drinking a lot of water just a lot of water a lot of in mostly in its Gatorade. Mostly supplement because I lose sodium. I don't absorb sodium. Okay, I put salt on everything. I actually get the everything that's like really bad for you know, I get I get great assault on so

Kenny Bailey<br>: 47:31

and you had to discover that through yours. I wasn't that was that was way

Brandon Gibson: 47:35

that that's a lot of just figuring out I mean 20 years of being sick. Yeah. What's working for me? What what is not working for me? Things that are going to slow my balance down. What's going to speed up my bowels? You know, if I drink something that's high in sugar, it's going to speed up my balance right? If I have whiskey No, no. dark dark liquor. I mean, and I can enjoy the drinks it's that's fine. It's something I had to learn. But dark it's a bad news my wife is the dark look at it like oh yeah it's funny because I'm the more like the fruity vodka drinks and she's more of the bourbon opposite of what you would think.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 48:24

Nashville not to drink bourbon. Yeah. She is perfect. So when it comes to the nutrition then for for that sprint, how what's your primary nutrition?

Brandon Gibson: 48:33

So my I you know, I just had basically just a toast. I've got some banana before I fast all night. The night before I realized running that that my best thing to have the night before is like chicken tortilla soup. High and sodium. And it was just had the protein in it. Yeah, that's fine. It's just became like my thing that I eat before that. That works. You have

Kenny Bailey<br>: 49:00

a like a night before ritual that you do. No, I do. I have a spirit Tayto and a lean protein. Like petite filet. Yeah, because I don't know what everyone does pasta and then you poop it out. And you know like crazy. Yeah, that's like,

Brandon Gibson: 49:14

I tried that. The pasta thing once and it made me so felt so heavy. That's good. I just I couldn't Yeah, growing up that was the thing you go Yeah, hard blow the night before your best game ever. cartload the night before you cartload for three days. Yeah. And then you got to eat it like four o'clock in the afternoon. That's when the the fleet right you're supposed to. I know. I know going into like the Ironman 70.3 have flipped everything going into that like as far as your bigger mill is going to be in the morning comparable to that night. Yeah, want to be hungry wanted to be all carbs, less protein. I want something that will absorb. And

Kenny Bailey<br>: 49:47

so I guess the the part I'm trying to figure out is I mean the fourth discipline is definitely nutrition. I mean, you know, you get the three done. So when it comes to that fourth discipline, is it is it. A lot of trial and error for you or B because

Brandon Gibson: 50:00

humans are trial and error, and I'm still not there yet,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 50:02

I'm still what part is a challenge? What part Have you figured out? So as far as the short

Brandon Gibson: 50:07

distance, I figured it out, like 90 minutes. My, you know, my River Bluff. I did the first one in an hour and 40 minutes, which is slow. And it was my first one. I didn't know we're not the slowest though. I mean, there's no I was I was happy to do it. I didn't want to do to finish I wanted. I wanted my goal was under an hour and 45 and an hour and 40. Okay, I was I was excited. But perfectly, 90 minutes. And I've learned this now, afterwards, that 90 minutes you can basically do it off of fasting. And then you're depleted. Yeah. after that. And it really, really, you have to start. So coming out of that I was starving, and I ate and I drink a coke and it went right through me. It was quick. Yeah, I didn't really you can literally

Kenny Bailey<br>: 50:56

say that. Yes. Of all the people like no literally literally literally.

Brandon Gibson: 51:00

Yes, yes. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 51:01

you don't know what? You don't know what that come talk to me. That's funny. So,

Brandon Gibson: 51:07

so what point did you decide to get a coach and say, Okay, I gotta, I gotta really Buckle up for the seventh. I was on such a, I guess athletic high in a way after that. Yeah. And you know, that competitive thing? Yeah. It was the I was like, Alright, what's next? What? What is? And I immediately Ironman? The full. Yeah, jumped in my brain. What do I need to do even remotely? Think about the full? Yeah. And it was the 70.3 the buddy had just done. The Chattanooga 70.3 The year before, so I'm gonna do that. I think. Yeah, I think I think I booked the hotel two days after River Bluff. Nice. Chattanooga, and I signed up. Now your city days after seven or eight months out from that. I knew I needed help. Yeah. And at that point, that's when I started looking for a coach. And I found Sarah. Sarah portail, Sarah Portola give a big shout out to her. She's awesome. She is she's amazing. Yeah. And I wanted somebody local. I looked up as many people in Tennessee as I could. It's weird. I wasn't looking for a male. I, I all of my surgeons that have been rockstars have a female. Yeah. And so I don't know why I just wanted a female coach makes sense. And in it's kind of that, I guess that more of the understanding of the the medical issues. Yeah, it comes easier, I think, to a female than it does to some males, especially in a competitive society. I don't have the males don't have the empathy that's needed to ask the right questions. Right. Right. And I wanted really somebody that was hands on, you know, and when you first talked to a coach, it's not them interviewing you. It's more you interviewing the coach? Yes. Like, it's just gonna shoot and then that's what it should be. And that and she was in her credentials are awesome. Like, what she's done? Oh, yeah. And her her racing background, and just everything that she's it was just the right fit. So I, you know, she became my coach. And she's been very hands on, which is awesome, and very involved in doing my training, talking to me, sure, explaining things and all of that, with that came along getting a nutritionist because I knew nutrition was going to be a massive issue going into an eight hour. eight hour race. Yeah. And what was going, you know, I don't know where to even begin with any of that. And trying to figure out how to keep my money find

Kenny Bailey<br>: 53:38

a nutritionist that also knows, that was

Brandon Gibson: 53:41

hard. That was that was very difficult. So leading up to you and having the coach I was a solid nutritionist at Vanderbilt. Well, that's a clinical nutritionist. And no, understood. You see, understands people with ostomies doesn't understand how people will ostomies do sports. Yeah, because there's not. There's not a lot of us. I mean, there are there's a group that's of ostomy athletes. I've seen on Facebook, that's great. And there's several that have done Iron Man's falls in halves, but it's not like 100 You know, I think there's like 10 in there that has ever mentioned anything about that. But there's people also do Ultras and things like that in there. But it's still a very, very small number. Yeah. And when you have that much anatomy manipulation, yeah, you have to figure out you Yeah, comparable like because everybody serves everybody sort of everybody's test since been removed and are different. Everybody's ostomies are different. Everybody just the entire anatomy is completely different. Yeah. And it's so I was like, okay, she isn't gonna work. And I met with her and then I looked up sports nutritionist. course interesting cert. Sports. Yeah, you know, they have a clinical they have clinical a little bit but Our main focus is sports. Right? And but how do you deal with an athlete athlete that has chronic illness as missing? Half of their intestines? Yeah. The great thing was they, they that with the so Sarah is part of a bolton endurance in sports training, Bolton endurance sports training is when they're part of and they have some nutritionists that work with them. One of the nutritionists is in New Zealand, he's finishing up his PhD, but he's also the Olympic nutritionist for New Zealand. And he's also I think, a national rugby teams nutritionist or something like that. But he's very clinical. He's also very sports. So he has both he understands everything about me and are stands out, you see in which was incredible. That's fantastic. Yeah. So to find somebody, even though he's halfway across the world. Yeah, it doesn't matter. He understands it. But she's like a needle in the haystack. Like in all complete, and he knew he told me he was, man. I'm glad you found me because there's no there's nobody that would understand

Kenny Bailey<br>: 56:06

this. Like, yeah, this guy could write a book now. Basically, a journal write a medical journal on Yes, he

Brandon Gibson: 56:11

is. On on. Yeah, paving the way on what to deal with. Yeah. And so he's still he's still we're still experimenting with a lot of things, obviously. Because

Kenny Bailey<br>: 56:20

what when you step into that nutrition is what was the is there a surprise on sort of you thought, Okay, I think personally, given again, given your uniqueness, right, I think I need to do these three things. And then as you talk to him, was it was it a surprise on on what was going on? Or is it very much

Brandon Gibson: 56:40

also shocked him? I think I shot I shot. You're doing what? Yeah. Because I remember the first meeting and he told me, man, he's like, you only absorb, you have what's missing. And he's like, you're doing a 70.3. He's like, Oh, and he's, he's very, he's a very intelligent man. And he's very, he's doing the math, and he's just doing it. And he's, so he starts seeing what I eat every day. He's looking at my labs, like, I have to get my labs taken, and I send them to him and but my thought was, okay, I just eat like peanut butter and jelly. I'm gonna just do some stuff, like, you know, in between on transitions. And he was like, No, that's not what's gonna work. That's not gonna happen. And, and I was kind of shocked with that. Yes, yeah. But what I remember the first meeting, he was he, I get on there. And he goes, Oh, no, I am not ready for you. Said in some with those some other words, but yeah, I'm not ready for you. And in he's just in. So we just started diving into it, and started testing some things. And we just had to build it up to figure it out. And we still didn't figure it out, even when I did chapter 7.3. And it wasn't right. Yeah. Which part is just the whole news. Getting getting getting into the run. So we had a plan going in into Chattanooga, that you know, I was going to I was going to do the flip where I was going to be hungry when I woke up from Chattanooga. And I did that so I was hungry. I a couple of pieces of toast, peanut butter, banana. And then I was drinking like crazy. I mean, I I haven't drink that much water and Gatorade, like overnight and a long time I loaded as much fluid on me as I possibly Yeah. And, and the plan was, you know, to do that and then stop about you know, 40 minutes before the start. And I did I mean you had to wait 40 minutes anyway when you get bused over to the starting line. Yeah. Yeah. And, but I was gonna go through I was gonna use Martin 320 I think is what it is. But it was a double double concentrate of it. So it's super thick. Yeah. So on a sugar Yeah. And then I had a it was two two bottles of lights plus a water on the bike. Okay, so when I was supposed to go through all of it to get up by the time I get off the bike and plus if I grab anything else once I get through the water, we have another whole nother of water. But the concentrate was so thick like I mean it was just a lot yeah and it actually wasn't too bad because it rain Yeah, yeah, yeah. This this Chattanooga was actually cool comparable to Yeah, and we got in I got off the bike. I felt phenomenal. Like I you know, I did the swim. I I crushed the swim. It was a it was a wetsuit swim. Which you know, is a whole nother thing. I knew I was gonna be in the water for 40 minutes. Yeah, but one thing that I realized is once I do these longer activities not the Sprint's but once I get into like the two hour plus my intestines shut down, like don't really empty into the bag I started absorbing all the water because my intestines slow down so much that it almost better rates my small intestines to pull as much water as possible. And because when I got done with 70.3 like my that what was coming into the bag was not water

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:00:29

he incredibly dumb. So I don't question how often do you urinate?

Brandon Gibson: 1:00:33

Maybe twice a day? It's not a whole lot. It's not nearly as much as

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:00:38

a water so your kidneys are kind of like chillin out yeah, they

Brandon Gibson: 1:00:42

don't they don't I don't produce as much urine as okay as sorry I just No, no, it's that's a valid point. That is you know, I don't absorb water so the water is on my system so

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:00:55

he How do you cheat when you go to the bathroom to when you tell people like hey, man, I have a bag. So can I get the front of the line? Or do you try?

Brandon Gibson: 1:01:02

It doesn't work. Those ask no one cares.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:01:07

If you came up Yeah, obviously depends how bad I had to go to bed. Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry for you. But right now you know. Yeah, not gonna work. Sorry guys working overtime. So I really need to Yes, but I would totally try to do that. Okay.

Brandon Gibson: 1:01:16

Yeah. No, I Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:01:18

No, no, it doesn't. What a nice community we were really good to deploy. I know I get the bathroom. Yeah, we are

Brandon Gibson: 1:01:28

very self centered. When it comes to that. The line is usually very long. Oh, that's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:01:34

crazy. So you accidentally found out after two hours that you know, that was almost like a happy surprise.

Brandon Gibson: 1:01:39

Yeah, it was it was kind of a happy surprise. But you know, I and I crushed the bike. I was super ecstatic with the bike. I think I got off the bike and three out right at three hours. Nice. When I went down to that did a training I think I was at three hours 35 minutes or something like that we're in we were six miles shorter. Yeah, that when we did that ride, or something like that. So I I'm at four hours, right at four hours whenever I get off the bike, which I'm ecstatic about. I'm going into a half I'm going into half marathon at four hours. Yeah, I'm on pace for like six hours, six hours, six and a half hours. If I ran my normal pace, I would have been at six and a half hours. Get in the run. I'm feeling great. I'm like, excited. back is a little tight, right? Get two miles in and everything in my stomach just starts turning to crap. And I get sick. i i My stomach was so full. Because I wasn't really it wasn't going through it wasn't I didn't have to year I didn't have to urinate the entire day from the morning on even after drinking all that I urinated right before the race but after that I didn't urinate like after the swim. Yeah, none of that. And so I was full and that came up at mile two. So from mile to to mile 11 I could only run like 150 meters and then I would almost get sick again. Like you would just start to just from the pound Yeah, it would just start to build up again. And so I would run Walk Run Walk Run Walk Run walk for 90 miles and and then the last few miles my stomach finally settled. And I finished out the race because it's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:03:20

double gels that just sort of

Brandon Gibson: 1:03:21

I think I think it was just an we believe that's what it was I taught went back to my nutritionist and we have a lot of testing to do Yeah, but we believe it should but I finished it I finished seven seven hours and 32 minutes and so you're gonna have our three miles

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:03:37

into just wanting to vomit every you know few what kept you going

Brandon Gibson: 1:03:43

he was gonna finish like my thought it was funny because all I did was I and I was I wanted to finish at time like it was eight and a half they say eight and a half hours the DNF ends up being doing this for hours I don't know stretch Are you off? Yeah and so I switched my instead of watching my heart rate and everything I just switched to total time Yeah, and just watch that and I'm like I had to go this I gotta get this I get this and I just kind of keep in my motivation was just like I have to prove to myself that I can do this right. And it just it it just made me You know, I just got through it. I have to get through this and my thought was I gotta get through this to figure it out how to do it full but my thought during that time was like there's no way I'm doing a full

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:04:33

everybody does I have no way of doing it. Yeah, can I double this? How

Brandon Gibson: 1:04:36

can I double this and then you could rationally like I couldn't. I was just like this something's wrong here and you know, and I wasn't more out I wasn't sore. I wasn't it was just my stomach. attritional side of it like I wasn't I wasn't like lethargic. I wasn't. You know, which is all fantastic. You actually saw me at camp. The camp was a month before and right after the And number that Ron Yeah, I about fell out because my blood sugar drops so bad. Yeah, and I do have that issue where if I don't have some sort of sugar in it Yeah, it's my blood sugar just bottom right. Yeah. And, and so, you know, I

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:05:16

just the your nutrition band is so narrow Yes. Right. I mean it's yeah, like everybody in triathlon tries to figure out, you know, the nutrition. I mean, you the guy that just won the world championship, right? I mean, last year they showed him with stomach issues and he's walking. Right? And, you know, yeah, band is like, and you're just trying to figure this out, right?

Brandon Gibson: 1:05:37

I'm like walking a tightrope. There's no There's there's no wiggle was milligrams either side, not

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:05:43

mine. You're in the fall off to you. Like, this isn't like sour stomach, like, Oh, my stomach hurts. It's like, oh, do I vomit or not vomit? Do I? I mean, it's, it's,

Brandon Gibson: 1:05:51

it's yeah, it's crazy. It's extreme. Yeah, that's gonna be the follow up. And it's, it's, when it goes, it goes. And it's very difficult to recover. Yeah. It's not just, you know, I've seen people and I've watched a lot where people's like their stomach is, and they're dizzy. And they come in, they just get back up, and they finish and then it all settles for them. Yeah, that doesn't have just one site once. Yeah, once you're in it once you're in it. You're getting later. Yeah, I have to get through it. Yeah. And, yeah. And that's where I was, and I got through it. But

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:06:22

first off, congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations.

Brandon Gibson: 1:06:24

I was so excited when I when I saw your finishing time coming. Yeah. So it was like, I was tracking you and a bunch of other athletes out that how does

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:06:31

your sounds it's great. How does your wife feel about it? I mean, on the one side, she hates you for it. And the other side? She

Brandon Gibson: 1:06:36

does? She does. There's so we have two daughters. Now. She goes, Why did you decide to do this? After we had just turns a year and a half? She's a little bitty. Yeah. And she's like, why did you decide to do this now? But then, flip to actually just last night she was what are you gonna? I've taken? So I did River Bluff. What, three weeks ago? Yeah, I've taken kind of a small little break, because I just kind of burned itself out. And just like when you're gonna start running. She's like, it's amazing how they want you out of the house. Like, you know what, you're hanging around a lot. She's kind of used to that you just told me not. She's playing more video games now. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:07:20

I think there is a mental break that everyone has to take.

Brandon Gibson: 1:07:23

Yeah, everyone, should you actually get to nonstructural? Because I was I was an actress. Right? And that's, that's where I needed to be. I needed to be where I just go do what I want to do on my own. Yeah, so waking up and looking at training peaks and be like, Yeah, I had to do this.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:07:35

But I have to say on the flip side, I mean, you know, you know, I'm pretty much done with with triathlon for the rest of the year. And the idea of not having a six day a week schedule is sometimes kind of hard. Like, what do I do? First I'm sitting around

Brandon Gibson: 1:07:50

is really good. And then you want it again? You want again, that's when you're ready to get back into training. And I feel weird. Yeah. Like I'm doing something wrong. Yeah. Um, like, I was like that throughout my entire training experience. Chattanooga. Like, if she puts something on there, and you know, I'm busy and Oh, my God, a lot going on. I job full time job. It just everything. I'm just very busy. In training for that was hard. You know, I was waking up early. And then the days that I missed the mornings, I was like, Katie, can I do it tonight? Yeah. Okay, well, he went and did it. And it was just it was it was a it was a, it's a very, I mean, it's a discussion you need to have, of course, with your spouse, you because it's a lot of time, especially when you do something like 70.3 or anything higher.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:08:39

But this version of you, I bet she, I mean, clearly, like a much better,

Brandon Gibson: 1:08:43

right in 2019 or anything like that. Anything that was before this? Yeah, she she sees the benefits. She she knows it's making me mentally better. Just, she can tell when I'm, when I'm off mentally with it with like, you know, and other stresses are coming apart. You know, but now it's been it's been really, really good. It's been good for our even I think our relationship in general has been, you know, there's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:09:11

a self confidence it's back, right? I mean, yeah, you're you're achieving things now where rather than just your best survival, you're saying, right, yeah, to your point. I

Brandon Gibson: 1:09:19

mean, you've been that's in my life for 20 years with surviving what is exactly, yeah. And now I'm

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:09:25

happy leaning into something that yeah, and then you get to see the reward from it. Yes. Yep. Even though that that, you know, the run was, you know, complete shit. Pardon the pun, but it was just like, you know, it was just, you know, it was difficult it was it was Yeah, and that metal, it doesn't matter. The metal is the same.

Brandon Gibson: 1:09:44

Yeah. And I And, and that's what you know, I train with the guys that I met through Hendersonville are incredible. Everything, you know, they're like, who cares man, you are a 70.3 fit. You're exactly Iron Man. There We're gonna get to, it doesn't it doesn't matter what you finished. She was. He's like, that's the that's the definition of an Iron Man did not quit. Yeah. Even though everything was against you, you didn't quit. Yeah. And, you know, thinking back that's kind of been my, you know, there's been times where I wanted to quit. Mentally, I almost got to the point of completely, but I didn't. Whether that be intervention between my wife saying, Go get your soul fixed together and getting fine and doctors and stuff but I didn't quit right. Yeah. In. So in a sense I've been doing that for forever. Yeah. That I can remember.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:10:45

Yeah. So you're gonna go for the big dog?

Brandon Gibson: 1:10:47

No, not yet. Okay, no. So so check. Yes, it's still it's in there. It's it's in my but training time. It's training time. And then you got a lot more to figure out. I got a lot more to figure out the distance. It's like exponential. Yeah, what it does to your body. Yeah. And I so I have a I have a lot to figure out. I've signed up for Chattanooga, next year, to do North Carolina next year. That's nice. Both 70.3. Nice. And those are going to be my two more. Two more tests with nutrition and things like that. I just have a lot to learn with the nutrition side. Because like I said, we like walk, I have to walk this tightrope of trying to figure out how this works. Yeah. And, and it's just, yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot of learning. So I'm happy I completed challenging. I'm very proud of myself. But I know I didn't I don't feel like I conquered

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:11:46

that. Right. So

Brandon Gibson: 1:11:49

like I put it looks

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:11:51

like I didn't start thinking of the four things like well, if I did that, well, if I didn't do that,

Brandon Gibson: 1:11:55

well, now you want to come back and conquer the run. You want to fit what I want to figure the run out. After being after. After being on a bike for three hours. Yeah. How do you do it run like, yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:12:06

not all arguments are the same. So you may be able to find where like California is, you know, a pretty fast one. Right? Arizona is fast. It's fast. So

Brandon Gibson: 1:12:15

apparently North Carolina is gonna like a fast bike and pretty simple run. It's not it's not as challenging. You know, I didn't pick one of the more challenging, I think run courses in the circuit to try but you know, why not? Why not? Well, no, no. Well, you have experienced that it's okay to do that one. Next. You could do any of this. Yes. Yeah. And that's and that's kind of the where I was, you know, I want to do Chattanooga, and that's where I want to do the full. So I wanted to get the you know, you do everything pretty much twice. So the core and but the, you know, I after Chattanooga, I got it. I did some sprints, I did an Olympic. And then I did River Bluff again, which was my one year anniversary. Yep. And keep going back to that one. Yep. I mean, that's gonna be the one that I think it's my like, my marker. Yeah. My marker when and I crushed it. You know, River Bluff. I did awesome. I did Olympic and Fall Creek falls. And it was horrendous. I just didn't I just didn't have it in me. Yeah, and that was another nutrition thing. I think that I couldn't I had to figure out because I didn't realize the swim was as long as non wetsuit nearly Long Lake swim. Yeah, it was like 1515 or 16 or something like that. You have 16 Yeah, yeah, it's it's only two it was 200 short. It was never too hard for shorter than a half Yeah. So but it was but at the Chattanooga I had a wet suit down river swim. Yeah, you know, I had some things with me. Yeah, this was not that way. Yeah. And I got out of the water and I was just like, I got on the bike and I had no power and I just I was like maybe this is just it's either a sprinter Yeah, but I got to River Bluff this year and I I shave was 20 Almost 30 minutes that's Yes, I did

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:14:05

well, you know how to swim this time you're not a month old.

Brandon Gibson: 1:14:07

But I also crushed the bike is four miles an hour faster on the bike? Yeah, it sounds like your bike is like the one thing that you read I have right well yeah, it's like riding speed motocross fast I love and I love pack riding like yeah, like I think I would love crit racing. Yeah, I think I would

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:14:24

really like it we'll talk

Brandon Gibson: 1:14:27

but I wrapped along

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:14:28

your broken collarbone. Yeah, it's fun. I should do it. But I raced motocross Yeah, who else is like this? Oh, no, I

Brandon Gibson: 1:14:34

get like much faster jumping and

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:14:36

though it's the adrenaline because I did crit race. Yeah. And the adrenaline on it.

Brandon Gibson: 1:14:40

I understand the right racking and all that. Now that I'm not it's the others, right. And now that I'm eight years old, falling I'm 44. On the other cat fives that think that their cat ones? Yeah, they're the ones that take out. It's not you. It's them.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:14:56

The choke is two people are gonna go home in an ambulance. You just don't want this done. Just unfortunately, it was me one day so yeah, because the concrete and lycra don't go together. That's 30 miles now. No doesn't does it take spray? Well, it doesn't mix. But there's a ton of fun is absolutely right. The adrenaline you were on. Don't you don't think about anything but the wheel in front of the wheel beside you.

Brandon Gibson: 1:15:17

And that's, I think that's fun. Elbows, your I think that's where I would fall way back into that motocross racing because you'd love it. Absolutely. I mean, I love my I love riding the bike is my strength out of the three by far

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:15:31

you just got to be okay with the fact that you know, you're gonna hit the deck and if you're okay with that, like if you're okay with the ramifications of that. Go nuts. You're not okay with the ramifications. Yeah. I mean, it's you just got to think about it, right? Yeah, no, it's that's it. That's how I got into traveling, by the way, was doing crit and then went to doing credit and then coming back some days out of the hospital and then going my wife going, I guess we're done now. So I understand that in triathlon, you have a five.

Brandon Gibson: 1:15:53

Oh, yeah, you have to be away from everybody. All right. Let's try that. Let's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:15:59

try that. Okay. Yeah. Kurt Racing's over so Coronavirus. It's a good one anyway. Yeah. So this is it was fantastic talking to you today. Thank you really appreciate being open about it. I know. They're sensitive topics that you're talking about your mental health and, and it's when you talk to people about the capability or do you talk to people about like, hey, you know, I'm I'm doing this? I mean, kind of, I always go back to like, what's your excuse? Right.

Brandon Gibson: 1:16:29

Yeah. I mean, there's some, to some degree, I do that. Yeah. Because but I also have a sensitivity to people. Yeah. Because when I was in that zone, where I couldn't physically do it. Yeah. You know, mentally, maybe if I wanted to, I could try. But physically, I couldn't. Yeah, you have to be in that, you know, what's your excuse kind of thing. But there's also what's your? What's your capability of doing? Absolutely. So but being positive, and just saying you can do it? Yeah. And just figure out a way to do it. Right. And it took me a long time to figure out I can do something like this. Yeah. And a lot of trial and error, a lot of issues. And,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:17:18

and but here I am. Yeah, the Rubik's Cube isn't figured out yet to know, that's part of the fun of the challenge, right?

Brandon Gibson: 1:17:24

Yeah, it's a whole still, it's still a puzzle that I have to I have to still figure out and it's gonna, it's in when I do decide to pull the trigger on that full, because that's going to happen at some point. You know, probably when my kids are a little older, and I can commit to the training time, because training time is a family game, and it's not

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:17:43

for everybody, everybody's training.

Brandon Gibson: 1:17:44

And so that that becomes it's one of those things, and but, you know, I have a lot to figure out until then. So I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. And I but you know, I'm excited. I mean, this community and everything about it has been just so welcoming. And so encouraging.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:18:06

Ironically, except when you have to use the bathroom widely things of all

Brandon Gibson: 1:18:12

the things I've never tried it though I haven't, right, maybe I should just lean into that one a little bit. I have a condition. I really think we want to have your back on and follow up with you in the last a year. Okay, after your brother racists because I'm really interested on the nutrition side of things, how you dial

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:18:28

actually, you know, we're going to start our new problem, New Year traffic journey,

Brandon Gibson: 1:18:32

oh, hey, maybe we could follow your training, if that would work is talking about that? Yes, that would be great. That that would be really good. Because we'll be looking for a couple of your athletes for next year to follow them through their journeys. And I think you'd be a good candidate for that. Okay, so let's talk more about signing the contract. Thank you so much. Thank you for thank you for having me. And, you know, and if anybody ever needs to talk about something, yeah, reach out or having contact information, because in the show notes more than likely, especially health wise, I've been there. Yeah. Mentally. Exactly. I've been there. You know, I lived in the hospital a long time. But now I'm not and it's great. And any inspiration I give to anybody, I can do it. This just know you're not by yourself. Right? Like there's people out there that can help you. Been through it. So awesome. Thank you. Thank you again, thanks, everybody for tuning in. And make sure you hit the subscribe button. Give us your your thoughts, your feedback, ask lots of questions. We've got the Facebook page, you can hit us a bunch of different ways. So hit us up with some questions. We'll follow up with all of that. Five stars thumbs up all that good stuff helps the algorithm gets us out. And yeah, share this. Let everybody know. And thanks, guys again, initiate it all, and we'll catch you on the next one.