Dallas Stars Salary Cap Trap, Darren Miller Ocean 7 & Cheating in Archery

Hello, and welcome again to Just Wondering with Norman Heska. On today's show, the Dallas Stars may be getting worse as a team because they have too many good players, Then we'll introduce you to another one of those incredible ultra athletes, a fellow named Darren Miller. And finally, we all know they're cheating in sports, but cheating in this sport? And now a word from our title sponsor. Eying retirement? We aim to turn your nest egg into a paycheck with half the amount you've been led to believe. Fluent Financial combines in house portfolio design risk management with income generating investments designed to aid your financial independence. Our goal is to develop an effective portfolio strategy to help you retire sooner and have a better lifestyle. Fluent Financial can also implement a program that allows business owners to install a cash balance plan, which may potentially reduce income tax payments. You've worked hard to become successful. Let us help develop an effective portfolio strategy that works for you. Learn more today about Fluent Financial. Retire sooner, better lifestyle. For more information or to schedule a meeting, visit fluentfinancial.com or call (972) 852-4800. The Dallas Stars are trapped, damaged by a roster that has too many really good players. How's that possible? Well, the Stars playing the league with a very hard salary cap. We'll explain that in a minute. Baseball, they have no cap. The Mets can spend $400,000,000 on a roster, and the Marlins may be spending 70. And the Marlins are ahead of the Mets. Any anyway, in the NFL, yes, there's a cap, but you can waltz around that thing as the Cowboys have done regularly over the years. And in the NBA, Well, I'm totally confused about the NBA, but I do one thing. I know one thing. There's a cap. And then there's a first apron. And then there's a second apron. And then if you want to violate all that stuff, you can, as long as you're willing to pay a luxury tax. But you're a you're a filthy rich owner. You don't mind paying that to be a contending team. At any rate, all these sports, baseball doesn't have to, the NFL and the NBA can finagle. My mom used that. You loved that word finagling. It means fiddling with it, fiddling with the cap, fiddling with the numbers, not in the NHL. The NHL next year, you can pay your team $104,000,000. That's it. 104,000,000 is the top. That brings us to the Star's current problem. They've got good payer players, lots of them, and they get paid as good players should. Mikko Rantanen is gonna make 12,000,000 next year. Thomas Harley, right at 11,000,000. Tyler Sagan, right at 10,000,000. Ruppe Hents, Miro Heisken, and Wyatt Johnson, Jay Gottenger, they account for another $34,000,000 in cap room. That's seven players who make $67,000,000 this year. Remember that total figure, $1.00 4, what you can pay. Then blend in Esselindel and Matt Duchene. That's another 9,000,000 more. That's nine players on Stars, who this year will take up 76,000,000 in cap room. You dress 20 players for a game. You can have 23 in the active roster. Well, if you're gonna have 23 on the active roster, that leaves after those nine guys, those nine highly paid guys, that leaves $28,000,000 to cover 14 spots. That is not a lot of money, and and that brings us to the star's predicament. Jason Robertson is a really good player. He's a restricted free agent. This is the point where teams negotiate, and they get a big contract settled so the player doesn't go to full free agency next year. Robertson's been solid here. In the last four years, a 155 goals, 81 of them on the power play. He is maybe the premier power player in the league. He can score. How about other things? Is he physical? No. Does he play very good defense? Well, no. But he can score, and putting the puck in the net is the name of the game. But Robertson wants to be the highest paid player on the Stars. Dallas had a deal to trade him to Seattle, where he'd have made 15,000,000 a year. He turned it down. I think he wants to stay a Dallas star, but he wants to be paid here. Paid. Jim knows tried trades other places. They didn't work. So Robertson, what's he want here? I mean, 13,000,000? 15,000,000? Doubt if he'd get that much. Is he the best player on this team? No. No, he is not the best player on this team. He's good, but he's not the best. But now remember that small amount left, that 28,000,000 to pay all the rest of those players? Robertson wants about half of it. That wouldn't mean the stars would have if he got half of it. They would have 10 players making $90,000,000, meaning the other 13 players would get $14,000,000. Man, that is hard to do. You have to sign a lot of very cheap support players. How good are those going to be? At any rate, the stars, I think decided to keep Robertson. I think they'd love to make a move for him. But they've tried that. And and they couldn't. So they're in this spot. So what do they have to do because they're in this spot? They have to get rid of players. Good players. They have to get rid of a really nice young player named Maverick Bork. They drafted him. They developed him. And last year at 24 years old, Maverick Bork scored 20 goals, and he played in every one of the team's 82 games, Durable, available, and good. Yeah, like to have that player. The problem is he's due for a contract. Now what's Bork gonna get? 5,000,000? 6,000,000 a year? Something who knows? There's somewhere. But the Stars can't pay that. So they had to trade Maverick Bork. They had to trade him and another down the line veteran defenseman Nashville, and they get a future second and third draft choice, which is not enough. But it lessens the squeeze on the stars monetarily for the moment. He's 24 years old. He was part of the future in Dallas, but they can't keep Maverick Bork. Jason Robertson deserves a lot of money. And whether he gets the 12 or 13 or 14, whatever, That puts the stars in a real roster buying from a money standpoint. Maverick Bork is going to and become a star, not as a star, but as a member of Nashville. So what do we have here? We have a prime NFL team ready for the Stanley Cup, one of the handful of contenders just like they've been for the last few years. But the stars have gotten a little bit worse because they have too many really good players to pay, which means the rest of the roster is gonna have to be cheap. But will that be good? What do you want from your favorite restaurant? Fantastic personal service, a cheery welcoming spotless atmosphere, and of course great food. The primest of beef, Wagyu and lamb, incredibly fresh seafood, lobster, salmon, shrimp, hall of fame food from a hall of fame restaurant, two locations of Bob's Steak and Chop House, the original Bob's on Lemon Avenue, and the gorgeous new Bob's at Craig Ranch McKinney. Today, I'd like to introduce you to another of the world's great athlete adventurers. This is Darren Miller. He's now 43, and virtually all his life, he's been a marathon swimmer and an endurance athlete. In the world of swimming, there are seven great ocean swims, known as the Ocean 7, The English Channel Of Catalina Channel in California, the Molokai Channel in Hawaii, also known as the Channel Of Bones, which scares me first of all. There's the Gibraltar Swim from Spain to Morocco, the Tsugado Channel in Japan, the North Channel from North Ireland to Scotland, and the Cook Strait from the North Island Of New Zealand to the South Island. In history, four people have completed the Ocean's Seven swims. Only one of them did it on his first try at all of the seven swims, and this is Darren Miller. Hi, Darren. How are you? Bob, great to see you. Great great to be a part of the show. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Oh, it's really good to have you with us. I I have to tell you that growing up, kids in this country wanna be president or they wanna play baseball. They wanna be a fireman. How in the world do you do you first get the attraction to being a marathon swimmer? Well, that that is that is a great question, and that is a long winded answer. So if that's okay with you, I'll keep going. If you need to stop me, let me know. Bottom line is I was born and raised here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's not really a community that's known for open water swimming. You know, obviously, our closest ocean is probably about six and a half hours away. Closest large body water to the north would be Lake Erie, a beautiful body of water. Here in the three rivers, we have three rivers. We have the Ohio with the Allegheny, and we have the Monongahela. So those are those are pretty limited to, you know, with some beautiful state parks. But, again, you know, not a community. We're kinda known for football and blue collar steel workers and good Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates, Penguins. But, you know, when it comes to open water, not not many people pursue that here in our beautiful city. But the long and short of it is, you know, I was raised as a pool swimmer. I did the 50 freestyle down and back. You know, it'd take twenty, twenty one seconds to swim that. When I went to college at Penn State, I started swimming the butterfly as well, so maybe a 100 butterfly. But, you know, distance was something that was never a part of my repertoire. I didn't even know what a marathon was, I feel, till I was probably like in high school. Remember, I I I heard someone that ran 26.2 miles, and I couldn't believe it. Right? And so that was something that was not even fathomable when I was probably 18, 19, even in my early twenties when I graduated from Penn State. But the bottom line is, Norm, you know, my story and a lot of what I talk about as a speaker is to talk about that tough point in your life where some of us have gone through, maybe we're going through it now or we've yet to go through. And it's a darkness where you gotta find the light. Right? And in my early twenties, I made some mistakes. I'd run into some legal challenges. I was a little bit reckless. You know, I was smoking a pack a day, drinking a pack at night. And, you know, I had lost some friends to drugs and alcohol. I had made a poor decision to, you get a DUI that basically caused me to not be able to pursue my career in on television news. I wanna be a television news anchor. That was kinda what I went to school for. Right? But you know what? God has a has has a has a destination and for each and every one of us. So I believe divine intervention was there to not pursue that path in my life. But, you know, when I graduated, I really was kind of lost. Right? 22 years old, didn't really have a clear path to where I was going. I took the LSAT. I was considering going to law school. I had looked at the military. Long and short of it is, ended up getting into finance. Didn't know what a mutual fund was when I graduated Penn State, but twenty one years later, you know, I was a for the last twenty some years, I was a financial adviser and private banking and capital markets, and that's where I I made my career. But around that time in my life, you know, as I said, I was kind of at a low point. And I remember one day, was at the local gym, and I sat up from a bench press, and I was winded. Right? I'd done a set of 10, and I'm thinking to myself, what am I doing? I weighed about two hundred and seventy pounds, which was way more than I ever wanted to be. And, but I, you know, again, I was still I was working out really hard, so I wasn't just completely letting myself go. I was just really into, like, the strong man stuff, like, trying to lift as heavy as I could. And, I remember I was dating somebody that was a runner, she said, hey, come up to the track. Let's let's go for a run. You'll feel better. You know? And I'm like, run. Who who runs? You know? And, lo and behold, I started doing that. And probably within two, three weeks, I'd already quit smoking. I lost a few pounds. I was I was feeling good. And, about three months after that, I signed up for the Gods Country Marathon, super small marathon, North Central Pennsylvania. You know, never did a five k or a 10 k or even a half. I just went right for the full. Right? And, I remember I started that race that day, Norm, and I was probably about two hundred and fifty five pounds. And, I looked like I could eat the guy next to me at the starting line. But, after finishing the marathon that day, it taught me something. Like, what else am I capable Right? Well, I had no idea I could run. And it's not that I didn't believe in myself. It's just I never thought that this was an avenue that was gonna take me out of that dark place. And running is very powerful, and it can do that for you. And so, basically, over the next year, my goal then was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Marathon. So I lost about a total of about 80 pounds, 85 pounds. And at Pittsburgh in 2009, a year later, I qualified for the Boston Marathon. And right after that, I ran a 50 mile run, which is what we call an ultra marathon. And around that time, I unfortunately fractured two bones in my foot. So I was unable to run after I did that race. So being stubborn, I ran that 50 mile race with a busted up foot, and it turned out to be, you know, extremely difficult. Another lesson in pain, as I say. But it's a matter of what it teaches you. That's the key point. Right? And, so I was in a walking boot. And, some of you may have been in that before, you know, where, basically, I couldn't run anymore. So it's kind of like that. Alright. Now what? You know? I just ran a couple of marathons, qualified for Boston. I did something I think was capable. What else can I do? And I don't remember how, but I found a book by Lynn Cox back in the seventies and eighties. She, probably as a teenager, 15, 16 years old, she traveled the world, swims in Russia, the Cork Strait, Catalina Channel, English Channel. And I was very inspired by her journey. Right? At a time that, you know, back in the seventies, it was a it was a different world back then for for what she was doing, traveling across the world and and doing these swims, and it was very inspiring to me. So I said, that's what I wanna do. Wanna know, was a swimmer. I I could figure this out. Right? And so everything happens for a reason, I believe. And somebody was put into my life, another close friend. Her father had passed away from an open heart surgery. I wanted to do something to help her out. She wanted to honor her dad. And we came together, we started the Forever Fund at the Children's Hospital Pittsburgh. So the reason behind everything that I talk about is to help those that are going through much tougher battles than anything I have gone through. The the swims have been for the forever fund. Is this something that Correct. Now become sort of a life charity for you? Yeah. It has. I started my own five zero one c three back in 2010, 2011. And so I started the Forever Fund at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. And since then, it's been going strong for the last seventeen years, so it's something I'm very proud of. But whenever I went and swam the English Channel, in 2010, it was something that, again, was brand new to me. I didn't know anything about that. Swimming 21 miles in open ocean wearing nothing but a speedo cap and goggles. So I threw myself into this challenge, and it seems to be a lot of what I do in my life is to keep setting that bar higher. You know, as far as your the biggest challenges we face were acclimatization. Right? Trying to immerse yourself in cold water, taking cold showers long before anybody knew what that was. You know, sitting in in in a bathtub of a thirty thirty gallon or 300 gallon cattle trough I had on my porch, breaking the ice and sitting in it. You know, I jump in the rivers here in Pittsburgh in January, whatever I had to do to get used to the cold. And on 07/19/2010, I swam from England to France in twelve hours and four minutes. And, that was that was the first of the Ocean Seven that I completed. Darren, let's let's talk about the swims. By the way, these seven swims, the Ocean Seven, encompass over a 140 miles of swimming. And in total, they took Darren Miller seventy eight hours in the water. And some quick questions for you. Do you swim with a cage? No. No. We don't swim with a cage. There was a period of time where people swam in shark infested waters, and I have swum next to a great white before. And, you know, the the the theory we always joke is they know you're there, but you can't always see them. Right? So, as we had talked about earlier about New Zealand, that was probably the sharkiest part of the world. About two weeks before I went to New Zealand for my sixth swim, you know, somebody there was unfortunately a swimmer not trying to do the Crook Strait, but, that was mauled by not one but two great white sharks and had passed away. And I remember getting the video, of the Auckland police firing AR fifteens into the water trying to kill the shark that was mauling a swimmer. You know, that was a very real picture and a very real story that hit home because in about two weeks after that, I was flying halfway around the world to swim in those very same waters. No. You know, something that was very, you know again sorry. Go ahead. I was just gonna say, you you you've swam in very northern areas and very southern areas like like New Zealand in in the hemispheres. What's the coldest water you've had to do one of these swims in? Yeah. So the reason I left the North Channel for the last North Channel was the one that separated Northern Ireland from Scotland. We swam from Dunningadee to Port Patrick, Scotland. That water was only about fifty fifty two degrees Fahrenheit that day, so most people aren't aware of how cold that really is. But, the bottom line is, you know, if you jump into a pool in the summertime, it's usually in, the eighties. You know, maybe get a little chill. But water that's 52, is extremely difficult to swim. And, you know, before doing that swim, at that time, there was only, I think, maybe around 15 swimmers from, you know, England, Scotland, and Ireland that had ever completed that swim. And when I when I had done it, there was maybe one or two people from outside of that area. So very limited amount of swimmers had ever swum that body water coming from outside of that area. And, but, yeah, to your point, I mean, I jumped in that water that day. I had no idea whether I was gonna be successful or not. You know, I believed I would be, but, you know, I I left Pittsburgh, and it was, like, it was, like, a 100 degrees here. I remember all the bodies of water I was swimming in, top layer was about 90 degrees. And I get over there, and it was like 55. It was raining. I'm getting in the water. And how I handled it every day was I would basically walk into the water, and I would swim for about forty five minutes. And then I would just kinda sit there with my hands in the air, and I would just visualization. I would get in a very transect state and, just really try to, you know, again, deal with the pain of hypothermia. And I would do that about twice every day, and that's how I would just acclimate. Right? So I just really immersed myself in it as much as I could. And I swam that day eleven hours, sixteen minutes, finished in Port Patrick, Scotland. And that was 08/29/2013. Became the first one to complete them all in the first try. I was number four overall that did it. So right now, there's it's in the twenties that have completed the Ocean seven. So but it but it's still a very limited amount of people when you compare it to you know, the amount of people that swam the English Channel, for example, is in the thousands. Right? Or they've summited the seven summits around the world is in the thousands. So we are open water swimming or more importantly, marathon swimming is a very small niche sport around the world. You would have to swim. When you're swimming twenty one, twenty two hours as you did in some of these swims, you'd have to swim through the night. What's that like swimming in pitch darkness? So most of the time, what we would do is we would start super early, and then at times, we would basically swim throughout the day and then finish in dark. So a couple of the swims so for example, the toughest one for me was the, Suguru Channel in Northern Japan. It was only about a 16 mile distance from Honshu to Hokkaido, but, it's just a very unknown part of the world. The English Channel is, again, very well known. But the Suguru Channel in Northern Japan, there was just not a lot known about that body of water, and a lot of swimmers had challenges. The boat would go out. They would get stuck in the circle, come right back. Just the ebb ebbs and flows of the tides in that part of the world are very difficult to control. And, so that day, we were expecting about an eight hour swim. It was about 16 miles. And, the bottom line was I was about eight hours in. I look up, and I'm nowhere near Hokkaido. And I remember nine hours, ten hours. How far am I? And they kept saying, you know, five miles. Keep going. Eleven hours. How far am I? Five miles, twelve, five miles. Right? So, you know, I'm trying to swim this way. Mother nature's pushing me that way, and there's nothing I could do about it. And it's getting dark. It's getting cold. The water temperature drops. And, my brother was on the boat, you know, and he told the pilot, goes, you don't understand. If I don't bring him home, mom's gonna kill me. But, I remember that swim just just dragging on hour after hour. And, you know, again, it's it's it's the reason it's the why behind what I do is what kept me pushing on there because that was by far the hardest day of my life. Was that the most dangerous swim for you, the one in Japan? From a standpoint of a health reasons, yes. It was probably the hardest it was the hardest one for me regarding, you know, the fact that we were out there for roughly twice as long. It took about fifteen hours and fifty five minutes in order to complete the swim. You know, again, hypothermia was becoming a challenge. The salinity in the ocean was such that, you know, I was unable to you know, when I finished the swim, I got out the other side, and basically, you know, my sorry. Say some hi to some people. But I got to the other side, and, you know, my tongue had completely swollen. I was unable to gather water. I mean, it was I I swam right next to a shark. I mean, there was just so much to that that was that was difficult, but, you know, it's just hour after hour. It's the anomaly of life. It's it's when you how you continue to keep pushing forward when everything is stacked against you. And after about fifteen hours and fifty five minutes of swimming, I completed that swim. It was it was that was a tough day. Darren, how do you eat and drink while you're in the water? Because you surely must have to do both. Yeah. Absolutely. So it's basically, they taught that you can't touch the boat. So the rules to marathon swimming are actually very fairly simple. You start out of the water, again, wearing a speedo cap and goggles, so you can't have a wetsuit. Most people ask, you know, why can't you wear a wetsuit? And the realization is, you know, back in when captain Matthew Webb in 1875 or Gertrude Ederley in 1926, the first male and female to swim the English Channel, they didn't have wetsuits back then. Captain Matthew Webb swam it in a wool swimming costume, and Woah. Gertrude Adley probably swam in something not much better than that. So from that perspective, you know, we were very strict as far as the rules of the sport. You start out of the water, you swim, you climb out the other side, and that's it. Okay? So you can't stop. People say, like, oh, can you take a break? When the water's 52 degrees, Norm, you don't wanna be sitting in that water any longer than you have to. So you have to keep moving. You have to keep the stroke going. You have to keep the calories coming. And how that happens is basically they throw you a bottle at the end of a rope, you know, out to out to you, and you're drinking a high carbohydrate drink. I'll eat, like, a banana, you know, in the water, maybe little pieces of peanut butter and jelly. My, my pilot across the English Channel joked. He said, in thirty five years of doing this, I've never seen anybody eat peanut butter and jelly from an English Channel, but that's the best fuel you can have. Right? And, so anyway, it's just that's how you keep the calories up and then, you know, obviously, your speed. Because once hypothermia starts taking over, there's no way there's no way you could bounce back from that. We'll we'll have more with Darren Miller next on Just Wondering with Norm Hitschkes. My wife Mary is the co creator of Full Moon Healing Balm, and I guess I'm the reason this terrific cream was developed. A few years ago, I began getting these huge, ugly blood blotches just beneath the skin of my arms and hands. The condition's called senile purpura. And no, you don't have to be senile to experience this embarrassment. It happens as you age. And then to cover it up, we begin wearing long sleeves even when it's hot. It took two years working with a New Jersey lab to refine the all natural ingredients of full moon healing. Gently massage a very small amount into the skin, and within a day, the blotches begin to fade. See now, purpura usually takes weeks to disappear. But this balm cuts the timeline to about a week. And ordering's so easy. Just go to the website, fullmoonhealingco.com. Darren, in these seven ocean swims, did you ever come close to giving up in any of them? So I'll tell you a story about the Molokai Channel. The Molokai Channel is it separates the island of Molokai from Oahu. This was the furthest swim mile wise at roughly about 26, 27 miles. Open ocean, very different from basically every other swim because of how cold or I'm sorry, how warm the water was. So, again, it was kind of a different challenge. You know, the English Channel, you're swimming in water in the fifties, and then all of a sudden, you're swimming in water that's the upper seventies. So but that body of water is unique in that extreme it's extremely deep. Right? Obviously, if you've been to Hawaii, you know that water is very different than North Atlantic. And on top of that, it's the wildlife is a little concerning in Hawaii. So the Portuguese man of war are a big challenge there. They can certainly sting you. That form of jellyfish is a it's a tough tough breed. And but other than that, they have the box jellyfish, which is even worse. And, you know, there's only a few days a month that the box jellyfish will surface. And, unfortunately, you know, it was the day basically that we swamp. So I was about halfway across. We we started about 03:00 that morning, left the island of Molokai, and we're swimming across. And I remember just absolutely beautiful taking a breath. The sun's coming up over the island, and all of a sudden, I took that first sting from the Portuguese Man of War. And throughout that day, there was about five stings that I took that day. And it basically feels like someone puts an iron on your face. That's how bad it hurts. But, you know, I remember, you know, before we even left that day, there was flashing warning signs everywhere like, don't go in the water. The box jellyfish are surfacing. But it's one of those things that's like, you know what? We gotta go. Right? And, thank god that day I didn't have any box jellyfish things, but I took about five Portuguese men of war as I had mentioned. And I remember being about halfway across, and I had not slept in, like, two days. I was exhausted. You know, we started that swim, and I remember being about halfway. And, they they yelled out from the boat. They said, you're an hour under the record. You know, you gotta move. You gotta keep going. And I just remember being so utterly exhausted. Just my body was in so much pain. It was just pulsing from all the toxin that was in my system. And, being about halfway across, I kept going, kept going. You know, you finish at a place called Sandy's Beach, which is also known as Breakneck Beach, because you have a a large swell that crashes into about six inches of water. So it's a very high chance that that you risk the neck injuries when you're coming out of that water there. But the bottom line was that day, we finished about twelve hours, twelve minutes. We're about forty one minutes under the record, which is super exciting. So our team did a fantastic job. And I say our team because it's not just me. It's everybody on the boat that helps out. And I remember running up, flopping down, and I remember the lifeguards that came down, they said, where'd you swim from, bro? And I said, Molokai. And they're like, where are you from? I go, Pittsburgh. And they go, where's that at? You know? Like, were just like, so were like, how's this guy coming from halfway around the, you know, world basically to come and swim our channel? So that is the Channel Of Bones for a reason because it is a very large open ocean, big swells, very different from the English Channel. Darren, you've you've taken on all these swims. You've taken on ultra ultra marathons. You took on the 240 mile race, the the Moab two forty in Utah. What's your next challenge? Correct. So, you know, this year has been a year that I'm just really trying to raise the bar. Most importantly, Norm, as a father of two beautiful young children, you know, I'm trying to set that example for them of strength. And I love the fact that my children at this age, are are are aware of what I do and are there and see me challenge myself and get through these tough times. And one of my favorite stories that I have, and I'll just tell it real quick, I did a race two years ago, and I was suffering in the heat. It was a 70 mile run and, through a very difficult terrain. I remember my daughter coming up to me, and I was at Mile about 45, about halfway through, and she came up, and she was only about seven years old, and she put her hand on my back and said, dad, it's only 70 miles. You'll be fine. Right? So I I had to keep moving forward from there. But, you know, for for me, that's that's what it's about. And, this year, I challenged myself with the Moab two forty back in October. I I qualified for the Boston Marathon here in, May in Pittsburgh. So I really wanted to get some speed. So I had that multi day for four days. It took me to finish the Moab of only about two hours of sleep total. And then doing the Pittsburgh Marathon and then Laurel Highlands again, the 70 mile. But, you know, for the last two weeks, I just got back from being out in Colorado. And to answer your question, we're going after something called the Nolan's 14, N 0 L A N S 14. And Nolan's 14 is basically fourteen fourteen thousand foot peaks. They're called the Colorado fourteeners. There's 58 of them in the state, And it's through the entire Swatch Range outside of Leadville. And essentially, you start at one place and you go up and over Chavanaugh, Tabouache, Antero, Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Belford, La Plata, Huron, Massive, and Albert. But it's essentially about 50,000 feet of climbing over a period of about 100 miles. You're basically the average elevation is well over 12,000 feet, but you're climbing up and over fourteeners. And you have to do them under a certain period of time. So it's an it is by far gonna be the hardest thing I've ever done. And, essentially, because where I'm at right now is in my hometown of Export, Pennsylvania, we sit at only about a thousand feet here. Right? So, you know, acclimatization again, as I got used to the cold water, now it's a matter of getting used to, altitude. And I've all I've done pretty well with it, you know, throughout my life. I climbed about half of the fourteeners out there. So I am just super excited to get back out there this week, and, my kids will be out there. I I can't wait. And, we're gonna be going after a two and a half day challenge that is gonna test me more than anything. So I couldn't be more excited. Darren, I've gotta finish by asking something. I Sure. I I think I I can speak for our audience. And our audience doesn't wanna do any one of these things, much less all the things you've talked about. Honestly Sure. Sure. Your core, why do you do it? So the bottom line is, Norm, is is, you know, I I had a blessing about, as a man of faith, you know, about seventeen years ago, and I had the opportunity to swim the English Channel. When I got back from the English Channel, I got asked, you know, come talk to the Boy Scouts. Come talk to the ladies guild at the church. Come talk to the school district. And, you at that time, I said, oh, this is great. I love it. Right? I love to just go out and tell my story and motivate and inspire. And that turned it actually into a speaking business, Norm. And it allowed me to basically travel all over The United States, over to Europe, and over to Asia. After twenty twenty two years in, you know, investment banking, nonprofit management, and everything I've learned through doing all these challenges, I've come together and I've created the Forever Blueprint. And it allows me to have a platform to go out and inspire all walks of life from every industry you can imagine. But the most important thing it allows me to do is talk to kids. And I have a passionate belief at the young the next generation in this country. And I tell you what, you get me in front of a bunch of high school kids, and I'm volunteering, and I'm in there talking to them. And I always say, hey, I'm not your parent. I'm not your teacher. I'm here as a volunteer. I'm gonna tell you exactly what you need to know about life. That's that's whenever I I shine, and I get truly excited about that kind of stuff. So so again, to your point, your why, it's really a matter of inspiring people. To your point, you know, like your audience, they don't wanna do these things. Totally understand. They sound terrible. Right? To the unassuming person, it sounds horrible. But with that being said, I'm not trying to inspire people to swim the English Channel or run 240 miles. What I'm trying to inspire everybody is to say, it doesn't matter what age you are. At the end of the day, you know, we have these gifts that God provided, we better be using them to make the world a better place. My hero, Norm, is my grandma. My grandma passed away 02/26/1998, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. It came from a blue collar community right here in Pittsburgh. My grandparents had a sixth grade education, and they had love for their for God, their community, and their family. And what they taught me was you give back by any means necessary. And it doesn't matter if you're the CEO or if you're homeless on the street. At the end of the day, we all have an opportunity. We're all viewed in the same way, and, it gives us a chance to see what we're made of. And to me, you know, after all these travels and meeting so many amazing people all over the world, it just gives me something to strive for each and every day so I could be the best parent, best community member. And hey, if I can inspire somebody to get off get off the couch and pursue their dreams, then by all means, let's do it. Darren, thank you so much for the time. I really do appreciate it. God bless you. Travel safely, and good luck in whatever challenges lie ahead for you. I truly appreciate you. Thank you. Stolen Water Media is making a move. After two plus years, it's time to change and keep up with our growth. You can continue to view all eight of our podcasts on our Patreon pages. But now you can get all episodes at www.stolenwatermedia.com. This is a developing story, but you can begin by watching and listening right now at www.stolenwatermedia.com. Continue to find all audio wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and some you may not have heard of, but I think will enjoy. Are you just wondering where your next spectacular vacation will be? Relax. Feel the sun on your body. Let your cares melt away at the all inclusive Cerenian Bay Resort in Southern Belize. It's literally built right on the sand. The ocean, your ocean, is just a few barefoot steps away. Laid back luxury, terrific food, a swim up bar, a spa, air conditioned gym, unimaginable service, fishing, snorkeling in gorgeous turquoise waters. Do you want relaxation or do you need adventure? You choose at Sirenian Bay. Mary and I have been there three times and this summer will be number four. Take a cozy bungalow for two or bring the whole family to villas that can accommodate up to 14. Sirenianbay.com, sirenian. The sand and the sea are just waiting for you to get here. Sometimes in the rush of information these days, baseball, free agency, the NBA, NFL camps are about to open, free agency in the NHL World Cup. Some small stories can get by you, but one of them caught my eye. It tells us where we are and what we are becoming as a sports global situation. Four weeks ago, Mexico won the archery team gold medal at the world championships, beating The USA. The star of the Mexican team was a 23 year old archer named Mariana Bernal Sanchez. But if you're thinking you're gonna go see the gold medal winning Mexican archery team and see Bernal anytime soon, you won't be seeing her. The International Testing Agency has imposed a three year ban for using an anabolic steroid. That's right. Mariana Bernal Sanchez was a doper, and she accepted the ban, basically saying she was guilty. She was using a steroid called Nandrolone. Very very popular by the way. A lot of other people in other sports have been suspended for this. It's widely misused by athletes because it builds muscle mass, enhances recovery and boosts performance. That's right. In the world of sports, we are now cheating in archery. And now a word from our title sponsor. Today's episode has been brought to you by Fluent Financial. Retire earlier, live better. And by Bob's Steak and Chophouse on Lemon in Dallas and in Craig Ranch in McKinney. Bob's, a Dallas tradition for more than thirty years. If you've enjoyed just wondering, please hit follow and a fresh new episode will land in your mailbox early every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Should you know a sports fan who might like our work? Please share our contact information with that person. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Just Wondering. I'm Norm Hitschkes, and know that every day I'll be just wondering about something. And I'm Mary Hitchkis, and I'll just be wondering too. This is a Stolen Water Media production.