Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you

by the school of play dot co, hosted by Dale Sibonham and

Paul Campbell. Each week, we'll bring to you tips, strategies, and ideas

on how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you

share with. Alright, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast episode

number 358. And today, we're joined by this is the second

time Shawnee Bell has been on the podcast. All the way back was in,

episode number 216. And back then, Shawn, I thought you would

be crazy, mate. You did 50 marathons in fifty days. I thought that's doing

a bit, but let's just paint the picture. Though now you have the fastest

person, world record around Australia, you were averaging over

80 kilometers a day. You ran around Australia in under a hundred and

fifty nine days. Bloody amazing effort. I wanna know that the most

important thing, how much ice cream were you eating each day?

That's a great question. It's not too random on the stomach, isn't it?

It did it did greatly depend on where I was. So, obviously, in the hotter

climate, I was smashing ice cream, like, through the Northern

Territory, Queensland, the Pilbara Of WA. It was probably

two liters a day. And eight and eight cans of soft

drink. Sunkist was my new favorite. I've never really been

a a soft drink man, but when you're doing what I was doing and eating

the calories, if anyone is, is doing something crazy, Sunkist is

a good option. You're getting 44 grams of carbs in in one

can. So I was like, this is great. So There you go. Much of them.

Yeah. And I had no idea that question was coming up. But now but now

I'm really intrigued. You're running 80 k's a day. You're

smashing two kilos of ice cream. Very personal

question. But are you not just shitting that out? How's that coming

along? You're spewing Like, how's he that's surely going through

the system pretty quickly. Yeah. It definitely was. Look,

I think, when you are in really hot

conditions, you've just gotta do what you can. My body was was burning

about 10,000 calories a day, so I had to try and get as close to

that in as I could for maintenance. And there were times we got it

right. There were times we weren't. But overall, I mean, I I got around the

country and it was all good. So, to adapt as we

went. And sometimes in the really hot conditions, I couldn't get normal

food down. I think if anyone followed on social media, you would have seen how

much I was spewing. And, it was really just

trying to adapt and get whatever I could in. One of the

challenges is, you know, for anyone exercising or doing any form of

fitness after eating is really tough, especially getting straight into

it like that. But one of the things that that I did to break down

such a massive goal was we had eight k's at a time as

our mini goal. So, you know, I always share when I'm speaking

that a six year goal, which is what it was for me to run around

Australia, a six year goal can be reverse engineered into as little

as 1,816 pit stops along the way because that's how

we played it. And so, you know, every eight k, we would have some form

of stop. It might have just been I grab something little like a banana, a

handful of dates, and a Gatorade and keep moving forward. And then the next

stop, that's when I'd sit down, smash some ice cream or whatever. So

certainly, there were times when, yeah, getting up again after just

eating and continuing to run, real challenge and that's why it all came

up. But I had to manage it and just try and figure it out because

ultimately, I needed to get those calories in for my body.

Wow. Are you a I'm a terrible spewer. Terrible.

Are you a good spewer? You must be a good spewer about it. Got good

at it. Yes. You've got better spewing you haven't done along the way.

Honestly, in one hundred and sixty six days, so I'll say that.

So the world record is broken at 13,383

k's. That dates back to Ron Grant, the very first person to

run around Australia in 1983, and his distance was thirteen

three eight three. So Okay. Even if one of you guys were to,

go for a run around Australia starting tomorrow, look, you might need a little bit

more training than that. But you're not you're not going

to be able to get the exact same distance even if you went MCG

to MCG because it's highly likely that at at some point

along the way, there's gonna be a roadworks that's gonna, you know, put you into

a different direction slightly. And so what was interesting

is, Dave Valley, who is a record holder before me,

is a great friend of mine. He's a mentor of mine. And I think it's

it's such a great talking point because often so many people are scared to put

themselves out there and ask for help. And I reached out to Dave six years

ago as a as a 20 year old, with this dream to run around

Australia and honor my teammate. And I didn't really know how I

was gonna do it or whether he'd be able to help me and willing to

help me as the record holder. And he pretty much supported me for six years

straight. He was there at the start of the run. He was there at the

end of the run, and such a good blow. But Dave, he

started in Lismore and finished in Lismore. His total distance to

do the full circle was 13,791 k.

My total distance to do the full circle was

13,964 k. So a fair bit more there.

There is so, yeah, it's just it can change a lot. So the

record is broken along the way. Thirteen three eight three. I was

in, right near the border of of South

Australia and Victoria, and, yeah, then had to

continue on and get back to the g. One hundred and sixty six days total

on that one hundred and sixty sixth day, I reached the MCG. But

back to your question, I would have thrown up on 130 of 160

Oh, jeez. Yeah. Jeepers. That's yeah. That's what I mean. I'm

I'm incredibly impressed around this. I know you've done, we we caught up, I

think, about two or three years ago for a coffee and just have a chat,

and, I thought you were crazy when you were planning it out. But there's

so much went into this, mate. Like, so much planning and preparation. And I know,

obviously, COVID, put a little bit of damper in that because you couldn't do it

when you wanted to. What what are you most proud of

through the planning stage to actually be able to get there? When you started

that run from the MCG, was that sort of like in like, just a rewarding

thing itself when you could start? Definitely. And, you know, it's

interesting. Eight weeks before the run, I was injured, and I hadn't been injured for

six years really in prep. So I'm like, how has this happened? But I think

it's a really good life lesson there for everyone because, you know, the body only

knows stress, and we can only take on so much. And I was just under

the pump with obviously, trying to put the final pieces together with my training. I

was maintaining anywhere from 90 to a 20 k's of running a

week plus three strength sessions. I was trying to pull

together sponsors still to the very to the very starting day. I

was trying to organize support crew, which was changing all the time with people's availability.

I was still working with First forty two k in my business and coaching

25 athletes. It was a lot. I just started dating

Chloe, my partner, so I was navigating a new relationship. I haven't had a

girlfriend for six years. But how so happening how's this all happening at

once? It was it was a lot, and I ended up with a tibia stress

response, and it was nasty. So I couldn't really run for the

eight weeks leading in. So just to get to the start line and finally be

okay and thinking, okay. Yeah. It was just relief, to be honest. To answer your

question, it was like, okay. I'm finally here. I know this is gonna be a

challenge, but I can just run. And I can focus on that and I trust

that everything else is in place because, you know, we we really didn't miss anything.

And it's such a great team that made it happen. You know, I had 32

crew members around Australia, and you can't do it without a team. Yeah. I

love it. Going on that, so, obviously, the eight weeks leading to

it wasn't perfect preparation. There would have been a lot of self

doubt, you know, because of the eight week leading to it. Grit is something

that comes to my mind when I, when I think about someone like yourself and

what you went through. Have you always had a natural

amount of grit or have you developed that over time? I

think a bit of both, to be honest. I think that you are born with

some grit, but also every challenging experience you have, whether

a chosen challenging experience or one that is put on you,

it helps you grow. And, you know, I think looking back on my

journey, what I found on those hundred and thirty odd days where I

was spewing and facing all sorts of challenges around the country, I would think

about previous times where I've got through it. And so whether it was a

previous day that was really hard around Australia, like off the top of my head,

day two, day four, day 10, day 48, 40 nine,

20 five, there's so many that think that they were that

hard. And they're all hard, but they were just, like, particularly hard.

I would think back on some of those other really hard days while I was

still out there. Well, if you got through it, then you can get through it

again today. And a big one for me was 2023. So

I dedicated all these years to prepare for the goal. As Dale said before, it

was meant to be 2021. And COVID happened, and I

couldn't do the run around Australia, which, you know, I really had to have the

perspective. Like, of course, I wanna be out there. I wanna make a difference, but

there's a lot bigger things at play here. So whenever I can get to this,

this will be this is a good thing. This will be okay. And it really

was. It gave me three more years to prepare my body, mind, logistics,

everything that needed to happen. So by the time I got to the run, it

really was a knowing that I could do it. It wasn't just believing, and that's

because I put so many hard things in front of myself to overcome. And once

I did overcome them, I knew. So 2020, for example,

I did a 200 mile race, which is 323

k's nonstop. It took me fifty three hours. I just wanted to

go the distance. I ended up winning that race. And I knew if I

could if I could go into that race, get through it, I was

throwing up 100 miles in. It was an out and back. Out for a hundred

miles, turn around a hundred back. If I could do that and and

recover and finish it off, then I knew that, you know, if I'm on all

on all fours, hands and knees at the 20 k mark around Australia,

I can run another 64 k, get my 84 done for the day.

Because if I was spewing at the 100 mile mark in my two in my

200 mile mark in 2023 and went on to win it, then I can do

this. And so I really think leaning into that previous

experience was was a huge factor with the grit. Alright.

I love that. Now I I battle to I I know

you, Sean, and you're a beautiful human, but I really struggle to

understand or be able to empathize or even

contemplate what you've done. Like, you it's not normal. Do you find

obviously, you share your story as inspiring, but you're a bloody freak.

Like, people can't do you find that people can't relate to you? Because I can't.

I remember when you're planning this out to me, like, this bloke's crazy. Like, do

you get that a bit? I do, mate. I do. And,

you know, I remember one of my mates, like, really good mates, one of my

best mates actually. One day, I was out there and, you know, one of the

one of the things that I'd had to do when I was on the road

was obviously call friends and family back home just to keep that connection

there nice and strong. It would also help me in the really tough moments, distract

my mind. And he said, I love you, mate, but you're not well. And,

you probably can't say it any better than that, can you? You can. I say

it to Dal all the time. Yeah. I'm running. I know. Puts

things in perspective, doesn't it?

That is incredible. And and Dal hit the nail on the head. You're incredibly

inspiring. I'm sure I I love to run. I I I run

probably four or five times a week, but I'm a I'm a five k man.

You know what I mean? Like, I get out in twenty minutes in the morning,

and sometimes the four k mark, I hit that shit. This is getting hard. Not

anymore. Not gonna just recall upon this conversation and go,

Jesus Christ. This guy is doing 80 k spewing. Keep going. So I'll

recall upon this a lot, Sean. So thank you. If I

take one thing from podcast, let's give you that. So it's brilliant. So thanks for

inspiring me, mate. Jeepers, you got some ticker on you. That's for

sure. But, obviously, highs and lows

throughout it. And I know probably people talk about what you learn about yourself. What

was the funniest moment you had? Was it funny? Was it just something

where you just was really funny? Like Yeah. I

had a one of my mates, Mitch, you might have seen in my socials. I

called him Mitch Love's feet because the poor bloke had to look after my feet.

It was one of his jobs of of the crew, which is not a great

job, in itself. Particularly when you're a volunteer, boys, that's

pretty tough. But, anyway, he was he was he became Mitch Love's

feet because one day, at the end of the day, he's looking after my feet.

And, I get the phone out. He's doing me a favor, and I just start

chanting Mitch Love's feet. That became a thing. Everyone's calling him Mitch Love's

feet on all the socials, and that that was just it. It was just Mitch

Loves Speed. So, yeah. But one of the things I really loved about

Mitch is he he's an ultra runner as well, and he recognized that I was

gonna be going through a lot and sometimes not be able to communicate how I'm

really traveling because it was so hard. But if he could put a smile on

my face and if the crew could could have a laugh, then I'd be feeling

better. I'd be able to break it down. And so he just did all

sorts of things. There was one day, so as I mentioned, it

was about eight k at a time. And how we did it, we had two

vehicles. So the crew, there was one vehicle which was, like, the primary

leapfrog eight k at a time to support me. The other vehicle could be used

a bit more loosely to go into town, get some groceries, or to drive forward

and set up for dinner or whatever it was. But with that eight k at

the time, and then I get to my next eight k, and he hops out

in a flamingo suit. He's just just out there on the middle of

the a one in WA running, and there's a flamingo next to me. The hot

band. I love it. Yeah. It was really good. And, now there was plenty

of funny moments, but it is it is interesting, you know, like, I

remember right after the run, the day after I got back

from Tasmania. So that's a bit of a story in itself. I did the the

main lap, and I all these years ago, 2018, when

I set the goal, I didn't realize that Tassie wasn't a part of this

record run around Australia. But then through talking to Dave, I realized

that Dave didn't do it, Ron Grant didn't do it. And I was like, bit

torn because in my mind, that was always a part of my dream. And I

wanna do it, so how can that be? Like, what will I need to do

to make that happen? And so it was, let's close the loop first. Let's run

MCG to MCG. And then if you still wanna do it, you gotta do it.

But, of course, you know, things need to be planned and

organized in advance. So the spirit of Tassie had been booked with the

vehicles going over. I was all in. And, four or five days later,

I ran from Devonport to Hobart and back.

By the time I got back from Tasmania, it was very different. When I finished

at the MCG, it was pure elation. It was a feeling I can't

describe of, like, so much hard work has gone into this, and I've just

lived my dream and we've done it. But then Tasmania was relief

because my body was hurting so much. You're so you're in such,

like, the Hurt Locker every single day that there are moments that happen that

you genuinely cannot remember, which is a bit of a a scary thing.

But I remember a day after Tasmania, we just dropped off the motor home,

and we were organizing ourselves, and I was on with JB and Billy on the

rush hour. And Billy asked me if I saw any camels out there, and

I said, no. I didn't. But my mate, Mitch, did through the Pilbara.

Anyway, not too long after that, one of these days where I was struggling with

the aftermath of the run, which I'm sure we'll talk about,

I was, laying in bed watching back some of the highlights to try and remember

and appreciate the journey. And there's me coming into Mount Isa talking

to a camel, and I had no worry of that. So it would have happened

in one moment of one particular day, and I had no memory.

But it just shows when you're in it every day under such sleep deprivation,

fatigue, and you're just pushing because you believe in it. It's your dream. You're

making a difference. Well, that's what it's all about. Yeah. Delirious. Wow.

Oh, and I'll be honest. I had no idea that Tasmania was involved in as

well. I just pictured a lap around Australia. And then yeah. Well, it's not in

the world record, but Shawnee But I just wanted to Be, mate. Be extra

crazy. I know we spoke, I

was I was a bit late on the train. I wanted to chat to you

before, obviously, and do a podcast before you went, and I left it too late.

And now I remember speaking to you when you got back and you were, in

a bit of a darker sort of place, mate. Obviously, you know,

people talk about when their career is finished in sport or I

remember when I lived in London, I had to come back to reality. You go

through a bit of a dark time because something's it's like it's gone. You're

sort of grieving it. Walk us through it, mate. What,

after doing it all, getting the world record, being super

proud, then sort of being, like, lost? What what was that like?

Mate, really challenging. There were so many aspects to it, though. Like, it

wasn't just, I guess, loss of purpose in the sense of of this

run and what that run was giving me. It was my body was

hurting. Like, you know, you can only trash your body for so long. And when

you're in it, you do whatever it takes. You you believe in your why. And

I always tell people, they're like, how did you actually do it and get up

every single day? I'm like, well, I had strong reasons why. So it's passion and

caffeine, and that's what it really got me to put so much coffee,

plenty of cans of Coke and just and just gritting my teeth and getting through

it every day. And that was really it. But then, yes, for for the crash

of my body as well, that was really hard. It took me eight

weeks to go and get an MRI of my feet to realize the damage that

I'd done because I was my whole body was inflamed. I was

so sore and so tired across the whole body that I didn't really

realize until eight weeks later. My girlfriend Chloe is a bit of a keen

runner as well, and she had a deload week, which meant she had a a

three hour hike instead of, I think it was meant to be a two hour

hike, actually, instead of a long run. It took us three and a half hours

because I was in so much pain with my foot, and I was like, something's

not right here. I better go and get a scan. So it was the physical

aspect of it, the emotional aspect of just, yeah, being on a high and the

comedown, trying to get back to work. That was obviously a big readjustment

as well. I I gave myself three days after finishing Tasmania

to moving to Sydney, which some people are like, why would you do that and

put that extra stress on you? But, you know, I also wanted to

to honor her and and be with her after I'd just been away for six

months. So it was just a lot all at once. And,

one of the things that really helped me in that time was I'm a big

AFL man, and it was obviously footy finals. I didn't get to go to

any games through the year except Richmond versus Gold Coast round

24. My run actually started on the Sunday of opening

round last year, and I finished on the Thursday coming into the g

on round 24. So I ran every single day for the entire

AFL season. I did get to go to the the Richmond the

Richmond Suns game, which wasn't a TIGS win, but it was something.

But then to be in Sydney, obviously, being able to go to a few finals

and and soak that up was really helpful at a tough time. Yeah. Wow.

Right. That's, I mean, I'm that's I'm blown away. I've got a

few a few weird questions I wanna scratch. Sure. Let's go before I let over

to Paul, you've done a lot of, your your mister media at the

moment. Has anyone started with, shitty questions than what we have

today, mate? These are fun questions. It's good, I think.

Said cancer. No. They are. Are. Can't take a laugh too seriously. All the interviews

are saying. No. You gotta start different. Exactly right. No. Yeah. I

think quite a few people are interested in the diet because it is nuts.

But, yeah. And it did vary. You know, like, when I was up north,

I spoke about the ice cream and the soft drink being a big part of

it. Down south, it was like I wasn't as keen on ice

cream. I also wasn't moving as well. By the time I

hit Perth and was trying to come home, I'd already run when I hit Perth,

I'd I'd run 10,300 k's in a hundred and nineteen

days. A hundred and twenty two days at that point. It was 10,000 at

19. And I was so cooked that, like, yeah, it was really

tough coming home because my body was slowing down, because it was a real

adjustment with that. Days which, you know, I used to be running

anywhere even up to 88 k's in twelve and a half to thirteen hours

were taking fourteen hours for 80 k's. So it was slower, it was

harder, and we had to just try and figure out, well, what can we do

that's still high calories on the move? And it ended up being my main one

was, apple pies with whipped cream. So, the crew would just

pull out the the generator on the side of the Nullarbor. Speak to you, disco.

The pigeons bang and keep running. So, yeah, definitely not on a diet of a

of an elite athlete, but, what you have to do when you're running around Oz.

Yeah. I love it. How many pairs of shoes did you go through? How many

pairs of runners? Yeah. Around 30. Wow. Which I was

surprised because, like, you can usually get 600 to 800

k's out of a pair. So I thought maybe it'd be about 20, but it

was actually more because of the camber all the way around Australia. So,

obviously, I was running on the A 1. So a lot of the A 1

is built with a bit of a camber on the road, that angle, so that

the water can run off the road in, you know, when when there's heavy rainfall.

And, these roads and highways are built for road trains and cars, not

for people to run around. So that was, an

interesting thing. And and that's why my left foot is still

smashed to this day. You know? I think, initially, it was just like that,

big shock with, like, it's over. My energy is cooked. It's been

a real adjustment. But then the the prolonged impact has

been really hard. I think when you love something, you know, we

never think about the cost. I was all in on this mission for so long,

but, at this stage, you know, I'm I finally got, like, some

really positive news only yesterday, and it's been I finished the

run, or the the main lap around Australia was August 22,

and Tassie finished September 3. So it's been some time now, and

only yesterday I found out that I'm about four months away off running if all

goes to plan. So that's that's a huge thing. Wow. Oh, I

wasn't aware of that. I wasn't aware that it's that's wow. Is that mentally

few? Because that's your that's everything you

made. Like, it's your escape. Right? Yeah. That's that's Yeah. It must be

tough. It is. I think, you know, as I mentioned, like,

when when you want something so bad, you don't weigh up the cost, But there's

been times where I'm like, am I gonna ever get back to be the same

athlete? Because if that if I don't or if I can't, which I've now been

reassured that it should be fine, thankfully, then,

yeah, I think you would definitely think think about it differently. And I don't wanna

resent a dream that was so powerful, not only for me, but but changed the

kids' lives. We raised a hundred and $77. So it was

such a big mission, but, yeah, there's a there's a cost to everything in life.

And, and I've really suffered from this. You know, I have a

neuroma, which is nerve thickening in my fourth metatarsal. I have

Freiburg's disease in my third metatarsal, which is basically

flattened bone. So the metatarsal head is meant to be round.

Mine is flat due to so much impact. The

repeated impact has caused insufficient blood supply to the bone,

which has made the bone collapse and flatten. And then my second

metatarsal as well, a crack in my plantar plate, which is the ligament that

attaches to the metatarsal head. So, basically, that whole ball of foot

just from so much trauma has just collapsed and and been smashed,

and that's what I'm dealing with day to day now. So to finally

have a bit of good news ahead of me that I'm hopefully only four months

away, it's it's very exciting. Did anybody Well,

mate. I'm mind blown. I'm almost speechless. Did anybody give

you the heads up? Like, the camber in the road, were you aware of

that pre running? Because I had no idea that was even a factor, to be

honest with you. Well, they don't make roads around Australia. I knew that I wanted

to camp, but I didn't know. Gonna run-in the middle of it. But I didn't

know that I would impact on his feet that much, especially one foot being his

left foot. Like, I just had no idea. For the ride. Yeah. But you're

he said that if you can try and train on different angles, I think you

can only do what you can do. So that wasn't really something that I could

prepare for within that. It's interesting. I know I know Dale just

mentioned, like, did you try and swap to different sides of the road? I did

when it was safe. So only, you know, early hours of the morning, I'd be

on the left. And right towards the end of the day, when it was a

bit quieter again, I'd be on the left, and I would have to obviously have

no headphones in. I'd have to be able to listen out, and have the

flashing light, high vis, all of that to be able to jump off if needed.

But most of the time, I was always running into the traffic so I could

see the cars and road trains and all that coming at me.

And then, you know, that's why there's such an imbalance. That's why if I was

on running straight into the traffic, my left foot would be sitting a little

bit higher on the road, and that's why that left foot has got a lot

more trauma to it than my right. Wow. That's crazy. Is,

now I love you saying giddy up. I'm all for it. Where let's

talk about that, what it means, where it came from, and now how it's empowering

others. Yeah. Thanks, mate. I think, like, mentors have been the biggest

part of my journey, and, you know, I couldn't have run around Australia without Dave.

I have the utmost respect for him. Same with Samantha Gasch. She's

another crazy runner who run across India an ultra marathon a day every

day and supported World Vision. And I was 20 years old

reaching out to Sam, just a kid with a dream, thinking she may not reply,

but let's put myself out there, see what happens. She gave me two hours of

of her time over a coffee. She then connected me with my coach, Jace, who

went on to change my life. And, you know, without mentors and coaches,

I I just wouldn't have been able to do it. And one of those mentors

as well is my mate, Beatty. So I think, you know, we look up to

different people, and Beatty is like a father

figure that I felt like I I've never really had in my life. He was,

you know, he's he's late forties now. I think. He's done about

2,100 k races, five one hundred milers. But more than the

the races, he's just a positive role model for everyone around him. He's a he's

a great dad. He's got several children. You know, he's winning park

runs every weekend while he's got some of the kids there that he teaches at

school as a PE teacher that he's racing against. And I'm just like, this

is insane. And, you know, how Giddy Up came about was I'd be

like, I guess when you're 18, 19, 20, and I've all

of a sudden found this real purpose. I was 19 when I ran my first

marathon. I gave up footy, and I was like, this is what I'm doing. I'm

going all in. That was a big change. All of a sudden, friendship groups are

sort of changing a little bit. I've still got my best mates of all these

years from football, thankfully. But at the same time, you know, you're

looking for that support. You're looking for those mentors and just friends in

general. And Beatty was one for me. So I'd be like, hey, Beatty. Do you

wanna meet me tomorrow morning in the Dandenong rangers, five AM? We'll do a thirty

k, and all I would get back is giddy up, Bally. And I knew we'd

be there, and that was it. So giddy up just became something

that I was like, oh, you know, let's go. That that was it. So for

me, that was giddy up. It really inspired me when I was going through a

really tough moment. I just needed to giddy up and take one more step and

push through it. And that's one of the things that I'm passionate about and sharing

as a speaker is giddy up and level up. You know? There's been so many

times in my life where I've needed to take extreme ownership and accountability.

There was one where I was 16 and playing footy in the under seventeens,

and, played sixteen minutes out of 80 in our footy grand

final. And that broke my heart, you know, to not be out there with my

best mates. So I went on at the seventeenth minute mark, twenty minute

quarters, and that was the same every quarter. But my my first

reaction, start of the third quarter, was to rip into my coach. When am I

gonna get on the ground? And I wanted to, I guess,

in that moment or after the game, probably more so, be like, you know, that's

not who you wanna be. You can you you've gotta do something here, take ownership.

And so I just got to work even even smarter and even harder. I

found coaches who could help me with my game. I lifted weights more. I

kicked the footy more. I ran more. And so then three years later, we went

on to win the grand final in the under nineteens. I was a premiership captain.

I definitely made some ground with my football, but all those lessons of

those hard times are then taken with me through to running, put

seven years into running, and ultimately achieve this goal in running around

Australia. So when I'm speaking, I say giddy up and level up meant to

me to run around Australia in record time. But to you, it might be taking

charge of your health and vitality. It might be upscaling for a job

promotion. It might be having a conversation with someone that you know you need

to have, but you've been holding yourself back or whatever that is and whatever giddy

up means to the person in the room to have that impact. I love that.

You you could have so easily laid blame as you were going to it three

quarter time. You could have that what a fork in the road moment. You could

have so easily laid blame and your life would have taken a completely

different trajectory. But instead, you took ownership. And when it's on me

and the benefits that have come from that, that is such a good life message

to absolutely At a very young age. Everybody. Yeah. That's true. It's very

impressive at that age to be able to do that. And that decision has stuck

with you forever now. Right? That, that one moment in time, the ownership as you're

going to take that with you for the rest of your life and you'll pass

on to your kids and grandkids. And, ah, that's incredible. Well done. That that's

definitely it. And there's a story I should share on that where, I

mentioned, you know, you guys could start a run around Australia tomorrow and it

won't be the exact same.

It wouldn't be the exact same, but ultimately, there's certain

points where it had to be different. Like, for example, when Dave run around Oz

in 2015, he had to go on the New England Highway

through New South Wales, whereas New South Wales Road said to me, no. You need

to be on the Pacific Highway because roads road laws change all the time. And

so there were certain points where we couldn't line it up the same, but there

were other points where it was obvious. And around day 82, I needed to just

stay on the A 1. But it had been a section where I'd run for

a thousand k's or so from Catherine across heading towards

Broome on the A 1, and, I just made a critical

error. We we did as a team, but I don't wanna blame them. We we

stuffed up together, and we needed to own that where the A 1 had a

sharp left turn, and we missed the sign because it had just been the same

highway for so long. So I've run

28.9 k's the wrong way before we realized

our error. And the reason I realized our error was because I'm

like, where is one of our other guys? Because what had happened was Benny

was was back in the morning, and, ultimately, with the two

motor homes, I was always really trying to look after my team. And if that

meant that sometimes, just because of the the nature of day after day after

day, one of the crew members could get a little bit more sleep, sweet. They

get a bit more sleep, and they catch up. But it got to about 12:30,

and I'm like, where is he? Something's not right. Like, I hope he's okay. And

called him on the satellite phone, which we had and went, mate, are you alright?

And he's like, yeah. I am. But I you're not? I think you've gone the

wrong way. As he was heading driving down the A 1 and just hadn't seen

me. And so that's when we'd realized I've run

28.9 k's the wrong way. And, you know, we

were out of reception, which is why I had to call him on the satellite

phone. But at the same time, we could have then called Dave

Alley and asked him, hey, mate. This is what's happened. Can we hop in the

car, drive 28.9 k's back to the point of the record, like,

where I should be on the course and continue running? Or, you know, what

do we do here? And we just sort of spoke as a team. It was

Benny, my mom, and my partner Chloe at that time. And it was like,

look, just so there's absolutely no question with

this record, you're gonna run it back. It is what it is. And for me

in my life, the the greatest, I guess, lessons I've learned is when I've

taken extreme ownership and accountability like we just spoke about. And so I was

like, but this is going to suck. I'm running 28.9

k's back that I know that do not count to the record, but

count to my body, and it is what it is. So it was really tough.

I finished that day 84.8 k's run, but only 27

counted to the record because it was one of those ones where I clearly just

ran off course. And Dave is like, look. If there's leniency there's usually

leniency when when it's somewhat close, and it was but it was

completely the wrong direction. It was meant to be left. I kept going straight and

then it up towards Wyndham where I should never have been. So that was

one moment where, again, I just had to take that ownership. And I think we

all have those moments in life where we need to look within, like, you know,

sometimes the harder decision is actually the best decision to make, but you've

gotta weigh it up. And and for me, I knew that I needed to be

accountable to that. That's brilliant. And you guys, you you were talking about that forty

years to come. That that'll come up because of your team. It's a great story.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a great story. Who's what was that? You said, well, that was

your fault. That was your fault. That was your fault. That for a long time.

Shorty, with that, mate, obviously, you were doing a lot of, like, keynotes and

talks to, you know, corporates and schools and things before you

run. How has that changed now? Obviously, I don't know. You still

use some of those stories you've already mentioned about, you know, your footy and fork

in the road moments, but how is sort of your messaging and

your talks change? Because personally, just from, you know, when I first

met you, the the way you're speaking now has improved so

much, and I'm sure it's like your journey of running and everything like that. How

has your keynotes and talks changed and I suppose the impact? Is it is

it far greater now with what you've learned about yourself and the impact you can

have on others? Definitely, mate. It's definitely greater, but I think

that's also just experience. You know, we we judge ourselves so

harshly, and we wanna be the best we can be straight away, but everything takes

time. And, yeah, yeah, I've definitely made some ground with my speaking,

which I'm proud of. But, also, I think being younger and just being out

there, I always wanted to help and make a difference, but probably couldn't

relay those messages to relate to other people as clearly.

And now it's like, you know, I'm not the guy who's just run around Australia.

That's not really what this keynote is about. It's about goal setting and

reverse engineering that with strategy. It's about teamwork and

leadership. It's about resilience. It's about accountability and extreme ownership

and high performance mindset. And these are all pillars that whether you're, you know,

within a school system or whether you're in a corporate setting or

even another sporting team, whatever it may be, we can all,

you know, use those key themes and pillars in our life to better our lives.

So I've definitely got better at that connection piece to everyone. I think,

one of the things I've learned is that yeah. I

think people see me as this young guy who's obviously achieved this great thing,

but, you know, I also wanna share with people that I wasn't this

natural athlete. I was the bench warmer in the under seventeens, and

I've put myself in this position through so much hard work but also

strategic work. And coming back to that coach, that was a

really tough moment. And, you know, that's transformed my life, and I do

respect the coach because ultimately, it's made me the person that I am today, but

that hurt and it still stings. You know, when I relive that, and when I'm

when I'm on stage, I feel that because that did sting. But at the same

time, I think in life we can be motivated by those who

didn't believe in us as well as those who believed in us. And I actually

encourage people to be motivated by both. Don't just think about the positive

or just the negative. Be motivated by both. I was motivated by that

coach who didn't believe in me, but I was also motivated by the next

coach who ultimately, you know, put me in a position to be the premiership captain

a few years later. So I think that, we can we can

always appreciate those around us who, you know, support us in our goals and

dreams, and I definitely thought of those people, but there was definitely a couple of

comments along the way and and things that also drove me when I was out

in the road. That's awesome. Speaking about goal setting,

share with everyone, all listeners about accountability. How do how do

you I've done a bit of research, and there's one thing that really grabbed my

mind about how you it's a really simple process for goal setting, but making sure

you're accountable for them. How do you go about making sure you're accountable for your

goal setting? The first thing that I would say is I tell as

many people as I can, which I'll put a caveat on that because not everyone

is comfortable doing that. But tell everyone that you can that you are

comfortable with, and whether that is even if that is just your immediate

partner, your intimate partner, you know, your parents and your best friend, that is so

much accountability in itself. You don't have to, put your goals all

over social media that you're gonna run around Australia or whatever that is for you.

Who am I to tell you to do that? I think it's just finding where

that is for you so that you can then share it with other people that

you trust and that you love, that know that you know won't judge you and

will be there to support you. You know? I think that, when I'm

speaking about this, it's not just my personal experience. It's backed

by research, and psychology professor doctor Gail Matthews found

that when we share our goal with just one friend, we are seventy eight percent

more likely to achieve it and 42% more likely when we write it

down. So combine those things, you know, write it down, tell that one

person, and that's the biggest thing. I think, you know, we

need to keep the contracts with ourselves so there's that self accountability.

But at the same time, we need to keep those contracts with those other people.

And that's why I say, like, the people in your corner aren't always the

people that will, you know, let you take the easy route. They'll be challenging you

and say, hey. You said you were gonna do this. Get back out there. Like,

if it's if it's raining, but you're training for a marathon, you've gotta get it

done. Yeah. I love that. And it's simple too, isn't it? Yeah. But that's I

think sometimes good. Everything is simple. We just over complicate things. We

make it hard on ourselves. Mate, that's brilliant, Seanie. Now, Seanie,

there are I know you're a very busy man. You booked up to the nines

because, who wouldn't want the world champion speaking to them?

If schools, corporate, sports clubs, you name it, where do we go if we wanna

book you in for a keynote or one of these sessions so you can inspire

us? Thank you, mate. You can go to

seanbellruns.com. All the information's there. And, yeah,

outside of keynote speaking, I'm also working as an online running coach. I used

to be a personal trainer for a few years as I was, growing along the

way with this preparation to run around Australia. I was working as a PT.

And now with everything that I was doing there, and my knowledge that

I've gained as well through my bachelor of physical activity and health science, Outside of

my keynotes, I'm I'm helping people with their own running goals. So, yeah, if anyone

wants running coaching support, running and strength, as well as,

me to come and speak to your organization, then that's the place to go. Bang.

Love that. Now, normally, obviously, four months time, hopefully, you're running

again. Do you have anything crazy in the pipeline, or are you just very

content with this? Is there another ridiculous goal you've got that you wanna

do or achieve? I wouldn't say that I'm content with it. Like,

I I'm very proud of the journey, but I don't stop there. It's probably

sometimes to my own, like, I don't know the

word, to my own, detriment, I would say.

Because, you know, like, I was I was talking to some

people after the run around Australia, and they're like, look. I know that you had

that goal to do Tasmania, but why did you do it? And your body was

so broken. Tasmania was so hard that

the fact that it was literally five days after the mainland, I don't think

I truly could appreciate the Mainland and the journey would just been on

enough because I was straight back into it. So that's probably something that I've really

learned is celebrate your achievements more. Like, it's all well and good to be going

for it. Like, absolutely go for it. We only have one life and giddy up

and go and get it, but have that balance as well. And so for me,

that's that's a big lesson that I've learned. So I'm proud of the achievement,

But I'm also not content to this to the thing like, to the,

point where it's like, that's it. That's done. That's all I'm doing. I'm sure there'll

be other things. I'm just keen, like, initially to get back to races.

You know, I love local races as well. I wanted to show up to, you

know, some trial runs where it's a a mother and father, husband

and wife business to support their livelihood and just go and do a 21 k

trial run or whatever it may be. Like, it doesn't have to be a run

around Australia. Obviously, there's so much that has to go into

stuff like that as well with your planning, preparation, logistics that do take

time away from work. And, you know, I'm not a 21 year old kid anymore.

I'm turning 28 in September, so I also need to have, I

guess, a clearer why when it comes to I wanna have a

family in the future and all of that. So, yeah, yeah, there will definitely be

a big goal. I'm, I'm not sure what it is. But there will be something

that I'm sure will be a lot more condensed, maybe a week or two where

I give it my all. I like it. Bit of a selfish question

this one. When you're running your long distances, what

goes through your mind? How do you switch your mind off the pain

of running? Cause we all go through that. Right? And you're like Jeepers, this runs

getting hard and it's getting painful. What's your, what's your trick? Cause obviously you've had

to have had a trick to get you through that time. What do you go

to? I think there's several things you can do. I think so many

people, whether it's you're just going for a five k run on the streets and

Mhmm. And you find that challenging and you're trying to get better with your running,

or you're in a race and you're thinking, this hurts. I don't know if I

can take another step. There's so many things that you can do. You know? Even

if it is just, like, try and if you're in the middle of a race,

try and run next to someone and get their like, bounce off their energy. If

you're out there and you're unsure and you you knew it's the sport, you wanna

keep going, but you're just lacking that drive and motivation, then maybe do call

that loved one in that moment to to check-in and get that support. So, you

know, coming back to the run around Australia, I had certain things in place that

I would that I would call upon, whether it was get a crew member out

to run with me. And one of my big things was making sure that every

single crew member, no matter what, they run eight k's with me a day because

they gave up so much of their lives, and they need their own physical health

to be looked after as well. So, there were times where I was in such

a hurt locker where I couldn't speak to them, but just having them next to

me even that helped me and it helped them. So that was one thing.

I would listen to music. I would listen to podcasts. I was never a country

music man. I hit Townsville, started to head west, and all of a sudden

Luke Holmes is my favorite artist. So everything changed.

I'm now just listening to country twenty four seven. I'm like, yeah. If

you wanna change the music you listen to, just get out there and run around

Australia. I love that. That is awesome. That's that's something. But,

yeah, obviously, these are more distractions that I could put in place that are really

helpful tools that I would recommend to other people. But other than that, it's just,

like, there's always been inside of me, my number one dream was to be an

athlete. And I think there's so many young boys and girls who wanna play AFL,

and that was what it was for me. And I wasn't good enough to make

the AFL, but that dream of being an athlete never left me. And it's one

of the things one of the things that I speak about as a keynote speaker

is why stacking. It's a concept that some people haven't heard of.

People always focus on the how. Well, you know, you're a 20 year 20 year

old kid. You say you're gonna run around Australia. Well, how are you gonna do

that? Said, I don't know, but I know why, and I'll figure it out. And

so first, that why was on of my teammate who passed away in 2016. I

wanted to honor Joey and make a difference for charity. But, you know, there's so

many things within that. And if I just give you a little preview of the

why stacking, it's like, you know, for to honor my mate Joey,

to honor my coach Jace, I mentioned before, Jace changed my life. Jace

passed away in 2022 as well. It was to make a difference for these

sick kids and help them achieve their dreams. It was for the 16 year old

bench warmer. It was for the kid who dreamt of playing AFL. It was for

my sponsors who supported me. It was for people who followed the journey and

donated to Make A Wish. It was for my family for supporting and never

judging me over the last six years on such an unusual path. You know, I

could have 20 reasons that drove me every single day. And when

you're waking up as sore as I was with the foot pain, which I didn't

know I had broken feet at that point, you know, you've gotta have things that

are driving you. And so that's what it was for me in the runaround Australia.

I would highly recommend to other people just figure out as many reasons

why as they can and start sucking them. Yep. I love that. Yeah. It's,

bloody brilliant. You missed a very important one. That was Mitch the footman. You did

it for him because he has to look after your feet. That would've been that

made And also very clever, Sean, not putting your newly your new

girlfriend on the foot job. Steer clear of that. Yeah.

That's for sure. Shorty, mate. Bloody brilliant. We really

appreciate your time, and, well done. Look, I know I watched the journey,

and I, yeah, I watched your stories every day, and I was, mate, I I

actually found it hard to watch and that is a selfish thing. So knowing what

you were going through and that you did it made it bloody amazing.

And I think your message and journey and inspiration to

others is, people can't relate to it, but they can hear your journey.

Well, I can't relate to it anyway. But, mate, I yeah. I just wanna say,

well done. More importantly, it's so good to hear

somebody set a ridiculous goal like what you did, but then

actually do it. Yeah, mate. So you should be really proud,

and it's been so good to, have you on podcast. Thank you. Yeah. Awesome. And

on a personal note, Sean, on a personal note, honestly, you've literally inspired

me. Not one word of a lie. And you'll you'll pop in my

head numerous times when I'm out in the road running. And, yeah, and I'm

sure all our listeners, you're gonna inspire a heap of people. Obviously, a

huge thank you from us. It's massive. It's awesome. Johnny, I appreciate that, guys. Thank

you so much. I will say one last thing. When I was,

when my mate passed away in 2016, I was, I think, 18 at the time

in the end of nineteen. Yeah. 18 and very lost. I think when you lose

someone so young, it's gonna change your life, and that was a big thing for

me. I turned to running as I'd always run. Running was a part of

you know, it had always been there for my mental health, but I found myself

running more and more and more to deal with my grief, and then it just

became something that I loved. I didn't know what was possible, but I threw everything

at it. So what that meant was a 15 k fun run, then I played

another year of footy. Didn't really love it. Okay. Let's run a marathon. Cool. I

run a marathon. I still don't know what's ahead of me, but let's just see

what happens and break it down. Take that single step. And one of the things

that I did was in 02/2017, early '20 '17,

my mom took me to The US to see Tony Robbins because I

was, obviously, doing it tough. And she said, you know, this guy might be able

to help you, through a bit of a challenging time. Sitting there in the

audience, I heard the story of a guy called Stu Middleman who ran across

America. He ran 85 k's a day for fifty six days straight

from New York to San Diego. And I was sitting there thinking, who is

this predisposed genetic freak? That's not possible for us not

possible for us everyday human beings. But if I can learn one thing from

this seminar, like, I'll be inspired and that's great. I didn't know what

that story what that impact of that story was gonna have on me, but I

learned it when I was there. And another quote that I learned from Tony Robbins

is that most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate

what they can achieve in a decade. And I think my story of running my

first marathon in October 2017 to breaking the world record of

running around Australia in August 2024, it just shows you what

is possible if you commit to your goals over time. Give your goals

time and giddy up and level up. Oh. Oh.

Mic drop. Love that. Shorty, you're a bloody bitch. Shorty

Dale, bloody brilliant. Thanks,