Running Beyond Limits: Martinus Evans' Journey from Defiance to Eight Marathons

00;00;10;17 - 00;00;33;25
Rob Lee
Welcome to the truth in this art. I am your host, the lovely and talented Rob Lowe. I had to gas myself up a little bit today. Why? My guest is this is your terminology, a fat marathoner, running coach, influencer who helps people be active without the pressure of weight loss. Also a speaker, podcaster and founder of the Slow AF run club.

00;00;33;25 - 00;00;37;12
Rob Lee
Please welcome Martinus Evans welcome to the podcast.

00;00;37;24 - 00;00;39;16
Martinus Evans
Was a pleasure to be here.

00;00;40;03 - 00;00;55;04
Rob Lee
Pleasure to have you on as a fellow bespectacled individual. This, like I said, it's a doppelganger thing. I don't know how I feel about it. It's going to be like if you go out there, you're an Aquarius. If you throw away like you're six for something to be really upset about it.

00;00;55;22 - 00;00;58;12
Martinus Evans
Not Aquarius. Well, I'm a cancer, so you know what?

00;00;59;03 - 00;01;27;20
Rob Lee
Okay. All right. You know. Okay, so again, I want to thank you for for popping on. And this is definitely a a treat for me because there's definitely some some overlap. And just watching from afar and really respecting how you've gone about your biz and how you've gone about like your story. So if you will, for the folks that are uninitiated on dip, could you share your story and ultimately, you know, what prompted you to start marathoning?

00;01;28;14 - 00;01;34;17
Martinus Evans
Absolutely. So let's take everybody back to 2000. Well, what were you doing at 22? Well.

00;01;35;08 - 00;01;41;17
Rob Lee
I mean, they got to where it was going to end for me.

00;01;41;17 - 00;02;03;00
Martinus Evans
I was a suit salesman and twins. Well, I sold some certain arms warehouse commission sales job, one of my one of the first few jobs I had right out of undergrad. And I was on my feet all day working there slang and also just a big guy just like me suits. Right. And by slang, it suits you there.

00;02;03;05 - 00;02;22;17
Martinus Evans
There's like it's almost like being a corner boy. What, you just in the store, so you're there all day, you're on your feet all day, you're eating trash. And, you know, one day I walked into my job and I felt this sharp pain in my hip. This led me to go see a doctor, which led me to go see another doctor.

00;02;22;17 - 00;02;41;04
Martinus Evans
And, you know, I'm sitting there in this orthopedic surgeons office, you know, contemplating whether or not I'm going to have like a hip, hip replacement or something like that, because I played football in college and in high school. And, you know, we sit down and we say, Oh, you got hip pain. I'm like, Yeah, and reporting. Look at my charge.

00;02;41;04 - 00;03;03;10
Martinus Evans
Like, Well, I know what your body was that your foot? What, you're fat. So then he goes on was like, you got breasts, a pregnant woman, you got a belly as a pregnant woman, you know, that started going in on him and he's like, you know, you got two options. Like, you need to lose weight or die. And I'm still all this month.

00;03;03;10 - 00;03;03;20
Martinus Evans
Forget, just.

00;03;03;20 - 00;03;08;28
Martinus Evans
Call me fat. Well, who is he? Who is this man? Just to be called me on my back.

00;03;10;15 - 00;03;29;27
Martinus Evans
So I say to him very sarcastically, I'm going to run a marathon. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. Screw this, screw you. I don't know what I'm going to run. But he laughs like the biggest laugh I've ever seen in my life. And it was like, you run a marathon. That's the most interesting I've ever heard in all of my best practice of medicine.

00;03;30;08 - 00;03;46;26
Martinus Evans
You run a marathon, you're done. So I'm sitting here like, so Amy, that lose weight or die. If I want to run a marathon, I'm one die. So I just left the doctor's office, you know, stormed out. And as I was driving home, I dropped out of the running shoe store.

00;03;47;25 - 00;03;48;08
Martinus Evans
And.

00;03;48;16 - 00;04;11;16
Martinus Evans
I went in there. Not all the money running shoes when you need them now. And that became like the journey I got home, I got on the treadmill, and I failed miserably, like literally fell off the treadmill, like no more than 30 seconds. And that was the journey I remember going home, tears in my eyes like this doctor is right.

00;04;12;25 - 00;04;33;10
Martinus Evans
And as I reached out to turn door knob, I have a central on my right wrist from Frederick Douglass. This says, no struggle, no progress. So I was literally as I was like turning the door knob with my sleep pulled out and like I see the tattoo and that's when it hit me. So this doctor, I go, I'm out to prove this doctor wrong.

00;04;33;10 - 00;04;33;17
Martinus Evans
Yeah.

00;04;34;05 - 00;04;35;10
Martinus Evans
That was the start of the journey.

00;04;36;06 - 00;04;58;07
Rob Lee
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And definitely there are some overlap that's there on occasion. You know, I remember my, my partner and she she so I would go on these rants on occasion because ever and I would imagine you've encountered this based on what you just described whenever as a as a larger person, they're really short cuts that are made and as in it's not a drag on it.

00;04;58;07 - 00;05;06;02
Rob Lee
But that's what the experience has been for me of you way this hence X, Y and Z are going to happen to you without any extra research.

00;05;06;12 - 00;05;06;17
Martinus Evans
Or.

00;05;06;19 - 00;05;24;26
Rob Lee
And I remember it was an article that talked about just like what the experience is for like large guys. Like I'm over £300 and I remember my, my girl was just like, you were right and just showed it to me. I was like, I know, I know this has been, you know, a long time of this and this is what this experience has been.

00;05;25;09 - 00;05;44;17
Rob Lee
And, you know, it's it's this thing where you you feel like you're not being heard. You're not being listened to. And, you know, it's like I definitely get this notion of being on your feet. I used to work at the ballpark, used to work at Oriole Park in an undergrad. So chicken tenders and French fries and you're on your feet and it's not great.

00;05;44;24 - 00;06;05;11
Rob Lee
It's very sweaty days. And so, yeah, I definitely get it. And I remember it was one point because I'm very meticulous about numbers. I'm an analyst by day and so, you know, always, you know, on like what's his weight looking like at that time and what's his blood pressure look like? Things of that nature, like people, things, you know.

00;06;05;22 - 00;06;21;17
Rob Lee
And I remember going there and I had like a weird situation and I had like a specialist take a look. And it was like the wild, as it were, and he's like, Oh, you need to lose weight. And I was like, You're not looking so slim yourself. And that's literally just.

00;06;21;17 - 00;06;22;20
Martinus Evans
Was flat out of my mouth.

00;06;23;05 - 00;06;34;14
Rob Lee
And I remember he texts the situation. He's like, All your numbers are good, which doesn't make sense because you're a fat guy, right? That was like so help me understand this experience. How am I supposed to lead with trusting you?

00;06;36;10 - 00;06;38;05
Martinus Evans
So let's let's talk about.

00;06;38;24 - 00;06;56;02
Rob Lee
The run slow af about slow af run club. How did that come about? I would imagine like going into this experience and then doing this dove into treadmill, you know, seeing the results like I'm not going to take this. L So tell me how like the run club came about.

00;06;56;28 - 00;07;22;03
Martinus Evans
So what about years ago? Man So like I said, I've been at this since 2002 and around 2007 saying I got help live on the course, you know, some dude was like, you slow, slower. Lawrence What? Well, we set out to the slowest. What man? And just. And he was just heckling. And I remember being like, right, yeah.

00;07;22;06 - 00;07;26;09
Martinus Evans
Lowest for two thirds of the year was him being like to.

00;07;26;09 - 00;07;26;23
Martinus Evans
So.

00;07;28;15 - 00;07;29;05
Rob Lee
Like you got it.

00;07;29;05 - 00;07;33;13
Martinus Evans
Broke. Like, I'm here like I'm a little race.

00;07;33;22 - 00;07;36;24
Martinus Evans
You're on the side line. So who's the slow one?

00;07;37;03 - 00;07;37;14
Martinus Evans
Right.

00;07;37;25 - 00;07;44;12
Martinus Evans
And then from that point on, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to put slowly if I'm on my shirt and just run races.

00;07;44;12 - 00;07;44;16
Martinus Evans
Yeah.

00;07;44;22 - 00;08;15;23
Martinus Evans
And you know, people's like I was running like, you know, like, that's funny. Like, I'm a part of that club. Like, like you sell this stuff. Not like now. Like, I was just doing it for myself, but then I starts opening the stores, you know, first lot sold about 500 shirts and then went from there to people asking me, Hey, like Facebook group or something, like, I want to, I want to, I want to kick with the other people who are also got the t shirts.

00;08;15;27 - 00;08;34;00
Martinus Evans
Yeah, yeah. You know, club like slow f run club like is we all of us when you slow slow you have starts all over all races. So then I want to run the process of like figuring out how to do that. You know, I was like, you know, I just don't want like a Facebook group that everybody does a Facebook group right now.

00;08;34;00 - 00;08;57;20
Martinus Evans
That's when I went on John Bonham and the company that like can help create this process and a shout out to my network to help back and support the slowing of club app so you know, we got an app like our own Facebook that's not all Facebook got to Apple with you got the website we do livestreams inside of that bad boy so it just became like that thing.

00;08;58;04 - 00;09;01;06
Martinus Evans
And I started this thing with like 42 people.

00;09;01;15 - 00;09;01;23
Martinus Evans
Yeah.

00;09;02;10 - 00;09;07;05
Martinus Evans
And, you know, that was like 2007 and saying like, now we're close like 10,000 members and.

00;09;08;08 - 00;09;33;16
Rob Lee
That's, that's really cool. And it's really an organic way of building, building a community, building like a network of folks that have league similar like interests and they have a similar belief system, I would imagine. And kind of here I would imagine these, these same stories or have you of yeah this is here's here's your limitation I want to put on you or what have you was like I'm I'm good but I think I think I'm all set here.

00;09;34;24 - 00;09;56;14
Rob Lee
And so tell me about because I encountered this when I was just at this this panel discussion last night and those are always weird to me, like I was describing a little bit before we got started because it's like, I want to be me, but sometimes me, if you catch me off guard, it's like, you know, I want to feel like I'm performing either.

00;09;56;29 - 00;10;24;01
Rob Lee
But I know to a degree, like this is a contrived interview, what have you. I mean, you didn't read the question, so that's cool. Was less contrived, but we knew we were going to meet it this time. We were going to have a conversation. So tell me about in from from your standpoint about being authentic versus in sharing and sharing your story is versus being performative because somebody said, oh, this might sell if you you know, we're we're in effect, folks now.

00;10;24;01 - 00;10;33;10
Rob Lee
So, you know, break a mirror and walk through it and live your truth or what have you. That's no shade. That's no smoke. It might be some smoke. It might be some Amazon related smoke. But please.

00;10;33;23 - 00;10;48;03
Martinus Evans
I so I had a business partner back in the day and they were like, you know, if you really just focused on weight loss and like had a weight loss.

00;10;48;03 - 00;10;49;27
Martinus Evans
Community and.

00;10;50;05 - 00;10;52;28
Martinus Evans
Like, just do that, man. I swear to God you'll be a.

00;10;52;28 - 00;10;54;11
Martinus Evans
Millionaire within a year.

00;10;55;26 - 00;11;20;17
Martinus Evans
And I remember being like, I don't want to do that. All right, but you will be a millionaire within a year. Like if you like, took this journey. And I really just honed in on the weight loss aspect of it, like you'll be a millionaire because you were so products. You can sell, supplements, you can do so many things in the weight loss deal that you can sell.

00;11;20;29 - 00;11;40;05
Martinus Evans
And I promise you want to use your. And I was like now so like I said, I have to say, like when I first started this journey in 2000, it was weight loss focus, right? Yeah. You know, about to call me back. I want to run a marathon. I said to myself, I had never seen a fat man banner like Let me write.

00;11;40;05 - 00;11;48;04
Martinus Evans
If that was for the first time, he ain't gonna be fat. The second time or third time. But next thing you know, I'm running eight marathons and I ain't. No, I'm still the same.

00;11;48;04 - 00;11;50;26
Martinus Evans
So now we are here.

00;11;52;14 - 00;12;21;26
Martinus Evans
But like, I was like, there are other places like that already. My first marathon, I got into the bad car accident and I wasn't able to run like totaled my car, had this neck injury and I wasn't able to run. And I remember this is when I was in Connecticut, one new car. And like it's like those spring New England days where it's like the first time they hit like 50 or 60 degrees.

00;12;22;05 - 00;12;33;17
Martinus Evans
People are like all barbeque this weekend. People start to run and things that I saw and as I was driving on campus to see all these people running and I was being like fog, man.

00;12;33;18 - 00;12;37;14
Martinus Evans
Like if I could run again.

00;12;38;10 - 00;13;02;10
Martinus Evans
Like I, I don't care what weight I'm at. Like, I enjoy running so much, but like I just want to do more of this. And I remember, like, I've lost like almost £100 and like, I wasn't £100 happy. In fact, like, I was more miserable because, like, motherfuckers look at me like, man, I like the fat martinis better.

00;13;02;18 - 00;13;03;16
Martinus Evans
Like, you know what.

00;13;04;23 - 00;13;04;28
Martinus Evans
The.

00;13;04;28 - 00;13;25;02
Martinus Evans
Stand your stand is change. You start doing things like I like the fat marketing is better. Like I don't like the skinny jeans and like, what's up with that? Because I was like going through this process of like more, more weight loss. Like, this ain't no £100. I ain't got no abs. I still got man titties. Is like, what is this?

00;13;25;24 - 00;13;45;19
Rob Lee
And it's one of those things. It's one of those things that feels like they and and I relate to that because I think at one point I heard something in fear, in spite of great motivators. And I get costume writers. So is that while we rib cage information? I was like, yes, this is my friend Sanford right now.

00;13;45;19 - 00;14;07;25
Rob Lee
Like, what's what's happening here? And I remember going there and having the whole thing done. It's like in here you just have costume, you have ribcage, inflammation. Like it's terrible, but that's what you have. And I was like, I didn't have this up until me working out and to the degree in which I was excessively. But, you know, I'd be on the like the stationary bikes like 90 minutes, you know, at a time.

00;14;07;26 - 00;14;14;04
Rob Lee
I was just like, this is my normal evening. And reading a book on air, watching a movie, playing video games, whatever, right and.

00;14;14;07 - 00;14;14;17
Martinus Evans
Right.

00;14;15;12 - 00;14;16;01
Martinus Evans
And.

00;14;16;03 - 00;14;39;05
Rob Lee
I remember, I remember I think from a non point I was, I had a 388 and in a school in the span of like nine months I got down to like 256 and I, I wanted, it was just to do the biking and I was eating under and it was just like the doc got in my head and just convinced me that, you know, if you don't do this, it's a wrap for you.

00;14;39;05 - 00;14;45;28
Rob Lee
And I was like, Man, I got so many more podcasts to do, though. Well, I got to fill out this lifetime contract.

00;14;45;28 - 00;14;46;28
Martinus Evans
So yeah, yeah.

00;14;47;15 - 00;15;27;29
Martinus Evans
I don't want to get way out there because I still want to answer your question, but like there were times where my workout didn't begin until I burned thousand calories on the level. So I like that was a part of my workout burned a thousand calories on the elliptical and then go workout so yeah that's it is tack this that she was taxing my backs it is horrible but like to get back to your question is that I, I had so many opportunities where individuals was like if you just focus and stay on this weight loss and do this journey and like help people out with that, like you, you'll be a millionaire, I promise

00;15;27;29 - 00;15;53;12
Martinus Evans
you. And me being like, but that's not my principles now. Like, I just want to be happy and run and my experience life that I necessarily experience until I started running like I didn't experience the stuff when I lost weight, like I, I started traveling the world when I started running races. Yeah. Like, oh, shit. Like, oh, there's this thing called the world may just work.

00;15;53;12 - 00;15;56;27
Martinus Evans
Like, 40, 50,000 people run these races. Well, should I want to go there?

00;15;56;27 - 00;15;58;11
Martinus Evans
Yeah.

00;15;58;11 - 00;16;24;03
Martinus Evans
So, like, that was the thing that for me, my options of autism, my ultimate authentic self. So bear with me, because I didn't got these braces in the day yesterday. So, like, my tongue is doing weird things and I'm just trying to live my best authentic life right there. Like, are there things on social media that I don't share?

00;16;24;07 - 00;16;45;19
Martinus Evans
But of course, like my mom, my partner, my wife is not on social media like she doesn't have a social media account. I really poster on my social media because just something that she she does not believe in and don't want, right? Which then leads like other things. Right? People shouldn't me shop me and then when they're like, Well, here you're posting that, by the way.

00;16;45;19 - 00;16;51;06
Martinus Evans
Well, and then you got one like where I am posting about. No, not so you must be saying.

00;16;51;26 - 00;16;55;17
Rob Lee
Yeah like hey Teddy bear guy.

00;16;55;17 - 00;17;31;25
Martinus Evans
So you know, that leads to other things, but you know, there's boundaries around like what I'm willing to like share on the interwebs and on social, right? Like, my, my, my relationship, my wife is like married gets me and like, people, like the people on the interwebs that I don't know, you have access to that one. And I like the like my father has run around with no shirt on and like being on, you know, being in men's health mec it and like stuff like that.

00;17;31;25 - 00;17;39;29
Martinus Evans
Me having fun running, sharing like TMI stuff when it comes to running like yeah, you can have all that yeah. I take it all.

00;17;40;27 - 00;18;01;10
Rob Lee
So, so this is, this is like another bullet point within that. And, and I think I have the answer or at least a sense of the answer, but at least ask it. Tell me about the the benefits or that experience of being more obscure and how you sense you've grown like. And I think that still ties into the the question about what do you share, what you don't share being authentic and all of that.

00;18;01;17 - 00;18;17;01
Rob Lee
But tell me about some of the advantages of being more obscure because I think, you know, I don't know about you, but I'm from Baltimore, someone who runs up on me. Hey, Ron, how's it going? I don't know you, bro. Well, what's good? And it is because people think, hey, I've listened to you on some episodes, so I know who you are.

00;18;17;12 - 00;18;28;20
Rob Lee
Emily Yeah. I don't think I know you like Deborah. So tell me about that obscurity and how that's been that that shift of some of those advantages you may have had earlier on versus more so now.

00;18;29;19 - 00;18;44;20
Martinus Evans
You might have a couple different times because the same thing. I'm originally from Detroit, you know, so the same thing you just going on about me and it's like, what whatever ever. Like there are ways to approach me that no, I'm a junkie brother. Like, just.

00;18;46;05 - 00;18;46;14
Martinus Evans
Sit out.

00;18;47;22 - 00;18;51;03
Rob Lee
The class. Come on. What are you doing?

00;18;51;03 - 00;19;14;18
Martinus Evans
But it is something about. There is something about just having boundaries around this, like pair social relationships, right? So people see me in magazines, they see me on social media, they listen to me during this podcast or live during the summer. They're like, Yes, I know him, but he's my friend. He's my best friend in my head and like he's a great person and that's amazing.

00;19;14;18 - 00;19;27;14
Martinus Evans
Like that comes along with like up here social relationship. But the thing about peer social is more is most subtle. One way like, yes, I might be your best friend. You'll be like, We might be cool in your head, I might be a cool guy, but I don't know.

00;19;28;22 - 00;19;30;25
Rob Lee
I could be a serial khalifah, you know.

00;19;31;23 - 00;19;32;11
Martinus Evans
But yeah, it's.

00;19;33;03 - 00;19;36;07
Rob Lee
It's like I talked to I talked to Rob Lee. Every day is like, do you.

00;19;36;07 - 00;19;37;05
Martinus Evans
Know because I you've.

00;19;37;05 - 00;19;38;09
Rob Lee
Never shared a conversation.

00;19;38;09 - 00;19;41;08
Martinus Evans
With you. But yeah, it's it's.

00;19;41;08 - 00;20;06;11
Rob Lee
That and it's like I kind of struggle with it at times. And in it comes, I think I recognize it comes from a good place, but also it's like recognizing that sometimes when I go to maybe mix audiences, I'm very weary of, you know, people being a little too like one of your time warning your because it's like kind of one of the things you touched on earlier.

00;20;06;11 - 00;20;27;08
Rob Lee
I thought you said so. Well, is your relationship is very precious to you, is very important to you. So it's the same thing with me. And some of those DMS are very, very weird. So I'm like, nah, not going to do that. But also, you know, I'm going to be with the same like five foot two girl with like friggin pink hair all the time.

00;20;27;08 - 00;20;49;14
Rob Lee
That's what I'm with. So it's kind of like read the room at times, but also it's just something I'm getting adjusted with and doing this podcast thing for for 13 years. And now we're being, Hey, we know who you are. Hey, you're on billboards. Hey, you're in this magazine. It's like, cool. I'm still off putting black face Baltimore tell you.

00;20;50;18 - 00;21;09;13
Martinus Evans
And that's the thing, right? And I think that's where, like, boundaries come into place, right? Of course, you know, I have my email address, but there is, you know, everybody I know, I get the personal email address and I usually have to go through another email address that things won't get something right. You know, same thing with social media.

00;21;09;19 - 00;21;39;24
Martinus Evans
With that, you know, I will say about 80 to 90% of the time, like it's being filtered through somebody else to say like, hey, man, this is important. You need to get some words versus like me saying this, the wrath of, you know, I'm fat bastard or whatever, whatever, because like, yeah, I'm still an artist and I feel like, you know, I come from a day and age as were like, well, let's just say that it's about face it, but I can't be like that.

00;21;39;24 - 00;21;45;29
Martinus Evans
Like I can't I can be like say that to my face every time. Because the flood of time, the places around the world, that's.

00;21;45;29 - 00;21;56;25
Rob Lee
How you do that. Traveling, though, you get to do you're traveling. Traveling pugilism is fine. But I know 100%. And you know, some of the messages, some of this is like, you.

00;21;56;26 - 00;21;58;10
Martinus Evans
Know, it's.

00;21;59;04 - 00;22;23;20
Rob Lee
Don't confuse it. And this this notion of, oh, you're not going to do anything. I say, whatever I can say to you. And it's just like, no, I still have that. And, you know, I think you touched on the artist thing. It's interesting because I think I try to do these interviews to get at what the person does, but also get add to what's baked into the experiences, all that stuff, what's underneath it.

00;22;24;07 - 00;22;47;08
Rob Lee
And you know, as I touched on before, I'm black, dude, six for three in change from East Baltimore. So my experiences are kind of going to be baked into it. Me being a big fan of Japanese wrestling and eighties action movies and looking at people sideways all the time, that's all baked in to maybe my position on a particular thing, my strangeness, if you will.

00;22;47;20 - 00;23;07;12
Rob Lee
And so for you, how do you embrace your strangeness in which you do like something that might not be as obvious as someone might think, like, oh, you know, you're bigger guy. So yeah, you know, running slow food, marathon, all of that. But what are some of the things that are like baked into you as an individual?

00;23;07;12 - 00;23;08;24
Martinus Evans
Healed. And I'm willing to die.

00;23;08;24 - 00;23;09;06
Martinus Evans
On.

00;23;11;07 - 00;23;13;12
Martinus Evans
Grits and sugars out of ruins.

00;23;13;13 - 00;23;14;29
Martinus Evans
Whoa ho ho.

00;23;15;01 - 00;23;18;18
Martinus Evans
Ho. That is the hill that I will die on.

00;23;18;18 - 00;23;20;22
Rob Lee
So I thought we were boys for a second, and I was just.

00;23;20;22 - 00;23;26;19
Martinus Evans
Like the hill that I would die on. Everybody's like, what? It was your. The Greeks? Yes.

00;23;26;24 - 00;23;27;25
Rob Lee
That's cream of wheat. It's fine.

00;23;28;00 - 00;23;30;10
Martinus Evans
It's back really to breads.

00;23;31;07 - 00;23;35;28
Martinus Evans
And so like that. That is the hill that like, as I say, that people like what?

00;23;36;05 - 00;23;38;24
Martinus Evans
Who are you? Well, you will cool like.

00;23;38;29 - 00;23;41;03
Martinus Evans
Sugar and breads like what is this.

00;23;41;08 - 00;23;46;21
Rob Lee
The hot grits take Al Green is spinning right.

00;23;46;21 - 00;23;49;02
Martinus Evans
Now.

00;23;49;02 - 00;24;11;10
Martinus Evans
It's all like that is the thing where I'm like grits, me and sugar grits, that's me. And people are like, what is this? Like, what are you doing? That's all ignorance. Nobody even like that. Since I was younger then I got it from my boss and he got it from somewhere. And I remember being like, Oh, licorice tastes better.

00;24;11;10 - 00;24;15;14
Martinus Evans
Which is a lot better actually.

00;24;15;14 - 00;24;35;06
Rob Lee
But no was one of the things like my parents, my dad likes the savory and sweet thing. He's got an heir to like Lexington Market and one of the famous markets here in Baltimore. And he would get like this just regular, like, you know, bacon, egg and cheese joint. But it would always have grape jelly on there. And I was like, this slaps all the time.

00;24;35;18 - 00;24;48;17
Rob Lee
And I go back to it that he would get maybe one, maybe two in the morning and he would always come back from with like a half of a sandwich, like the truck, like the diagonal joy. And my younger brother and I would fight over who's going to get it. So I'm like, Yeah, I want your clothes already.

00;24;48;24 - 00;24;59;26
Rob Lee
And I was like, Okay, I get the sandwich today. This is great. While my mother hates it. So I'm like, Yeah, look, mom, you don't get it. You know, this, this, this savory and sweet thing. This is baked into me. This is who I am as a person.

00;25;01;16 - 00;25;12;09
Martinus Evans
Same thing with sugar and grits. It's something that's baked into me. And I will die on that hill. White That's the hill that I'm going to die on.

00;25;12;12 - 00;25;34;08
Rob Lee
I'll give you that pass. That's. That's fine. That's fine. So I got two more real questions that I got some rapid fire questions for you. So in the the last ten years, because that's pretty much what it's looking like as far as like this portion of your life. And obviously there's much more before that because I'm 37, but I've been doing this for 20 after I turn 24.

00;25;34;08 - 00;25;58;24
Rob Lee
So I was like 24 years of other stuff. But what would you say is like a life lesson that you've learned that helped you cope with some of the challenges of limitations that pop up? Because, you know, we we get on social media a little bit and it's all of these great motivational quotes that pop up from athletes or, you know, others that tell you how you chose to go about life and so on.

00;25;58;24 - 00;26;10;26
Rob Lee
And it's always somebody lifting weights in the background. But what is a piece of advice that that you got? Because I look at you more like in every man, like I look at myself and I think advice coming from you or Jim coming from you is a more value.

00;26;11;25 - 00;26;17;22
Martinus Evans
So the thing that the lesson that I learned through all of this is not the sexy lesson in the.

00;26;17;22 - 00;26;18;12
Rob Lee
World and.

00;26;19;12 - 00;26;41;04
Martinus Evans
Consistency and persistence. You've got to be persistent. You got to stay persistent. You need both of those things right? Persistence is like, Oh, I'm going to come here and I'm going to knock on the door. And it's like, you don't suddenly know I'm a back my best persistence. Like, you know that somebody is going to tell, you know what you're going to go do with your versus mother.

00;26;41;24 - 00;27;20;02
Martinus Evans
The other part is that I'm going to come every day or I'm going to come at whatever interval, and that's the consistency part of it. But you have both of those things together, like that is my success. Everything around me, everything I do is around those two principles is that I got to be consistent at it like and I got to be persistent because this message of being a runner or, you know, being slow in the back of the pack, like I've been saying this message for two years, but as of late, it's the thing that's more palpable persistence and persistence.

00;27;20;23 - 00;27;39;29
Martinus Evans
So like now, like it's eight years and all of a sudden, you know, I got a book coming out, Adidas Athlete, you know, I got this run club, you know, all these other stuff on the cover of Runner's World magazine. But make it a man's help. All this stuff, right? All this stuff came, but it came ten years, like.

00;27;39;29 - 00;27;43;23
Martinus Evans
So it's all one of those things like, you know, it's like an overnight success, but it's ten years ago.

00;27;44;05 - 00;27;47;17
Rob Lee
Yeah, it is burning a thousand calories before the workout starts.

00;27;47;28 - 00;27;48;18
Martinus Evans
Exactly.

00;27;49;03 - 00;28;12;25
Rob Lee
You. So yeah, I think a lot of people don't get that. And you know, with this particular thing doing this for around three years and knowing that, you know, I say it all the time because it's the experience. But, you know, ten years of me podcasting and learning this craft and just kind of parlaying it into ultimately talking with people who are kind of strangers and getting a very good conversation out of it.

00;28;13;11 - 00;28;34;19
Martinus Evans
Exactly. So that's the thing. Like as of late, like I've been able to do this as a full time job before all this. I still have sort of I have a job to argue with my boss bosses about. You know, you take no time to go on races and arguments or my significant other, you know, having a home is about family for them to really understand like what what are you like?

00;28;34;19 - 00;28;54;13
Martinus Evans
What are you trying to do? Yeah, like this don't make sense. Especially coming from a family who's a blue collar family who worked at the big three Ford, GM and Chrysler. You know, so all they know is taking up a piece of both screw that in and doing that for 8 to 10 hours a day. And I'm like, no, like I want to do the social media stuff.

00;28;54;13 - 00;29;19;00
Martinus Evans
I want to write a blog, I want to do all this other stuff. And there's really not all that. They really see the fruits of that labor is like, Oh my God, now I believe you. But like 13 years ago when I got to start it, you know, don't nor do they believe that it's going to turn into something less fruitful as it is now.

00;29;19;10 - 00;29;23;16
Martinus Evans
Now, everybody, look, everybody loves me, want to have a conversation with me about Adidas.

00;29;23;23 - 00;29;29;19
Rob Lee
I feel like Mike Jones is playing in the background for some reason. I don't know why I just here might have been saintly for some reason.

00;29;30;10 - 00;29;50;15
Martinus Evans
But like, that's the thing. Like, not everybody would have felt cultures would be about Adidas or Adidas. No. What were you left commercial, huh? Oh, I saw you in a magazine. How do I go? How do you get about anything? You got a book coming out? Oh, well, tell me more about that. But when I was just I do, you know, two years ago and like me writing a blog and then be like this blog.

00;29;50;23 - 00;29;51;20
Rob Lee
This is blog thing.

00;29;52;02 - 00;30;13;20
Martinus Evans
I keep just writing your thoughts on the Internet that I've done. It's like, you know, you've got to go. I'll get you a job. And, you know, like, I can get, you know, $20. So I was like 22. Well, yes. Look, I can get your job at $20 an hour at this play on this letter, like you got to stop outrageous bullshit and get this $20 an hour on this.

00;30;13;20 - 00;30;19;07
Martinus Evans
Look at me. Be like, no. And like, you are dumb. Like, you just missed out on this money or.

00;30;19;07 - 00;30;38;01
Rob Lee
People late in doing this like this. This thing is a is a project that's been, like, self-funded, you know, me doing this, I was like, why are you buying, like buying lighting equipment? Why are you buying mixers and microphones? Like, isn't it expensive? It's like I could be buying drugs. Like, what do you want from me? And it's like, Look, man, I'm having a good time.

00;30;38;01 - 00;30;59;22
Rob Lee
I'm not bothering anyone. And, you know, and it's something that that I'm good at and it's just like, that's not enough. It's, you know, this is the similar background. This is the kind of lifestyle we think works for you. Or I remember early on, it's kind of like I remember this is this is really unrelated, but it connects in this way.

00;31;00;18 - 00;31;19;11
Rob Lee
I having a pretty decent memory. I just remember especially pop culture like touchstones. I remember people taking weird shots at like Chadwick going Black Panther. Yeah, he's the weakest character in the movie. Bah bah bah. And then after you pass, it's like, Ah, king is gone. I was like, Yeah, but let's go back in a wayback machine a little bit.

00;31;19;11 - 00;31;36;14
Rob Lee
But I remember in doing this, Oh, you must be a lame in your mom's basement recording and talking to yourself on a microphone. And now it's, oh, a couple of billion dollar industry. Yes, it's really weird. It's really weird how that works. So this is the last real question I got for you, and I got to get those rapid fire ones.

00;31;36;25 - 00;31;58;13
Rob Lee
So you're running a brand, you're doing a lot of things, some some of which you touched on, you know, press podcasting, Adidas, while living life in some of those things, can't always be fun, right? How do you make the things that are their work? How do you make work play? How do you make that, you know, ultimately staying motivated?

00;31;58;13 - 00;32;19;16
Rob Lee
Do you gamify things? It's like, oh, I do six blogs. I'm going to do this because I remember seeing at one point after finishing a marathon as a it was a treat element and connection and I was like, Man gets it. So tell me about that and kind of staying motivated with the things that it's like, Man, I just want to do marathons and write blogs and, you know, travel and whatever.

00;32;20;04 - 00;32;22;21
Rob Lee
But those things that feel like work, how do you make those feel like play?

00;32;23;06 - 00;32;50;03
Martinus Evans
So I wish I had like I said, I wish I had like sexy, cool answers. But my thoughts, my more about motivation is that is a about motivation is here on the good times. My motivation is near when like you're on a roll and things of that sort motivation is not your when it bad times motor actually motivation is like a fairweather friend who's like trying to leave you at any given moment.

00;32;51;00 - 00;33;22;12
Martinus Evans
Like that's motivation. What you really you're talking about is commitment. Yeah. And being committed to yourself and being committed to the mission to really understand that people may not get it now, but they will get it later. It's almost like in my book I was writing about this thing called like delusional self beliefs. You know, you think about all of the modern features, what we're doing now.

00;33;22;26 - 00;33;43;08
Martinus Evans
Yeah, you know, the cell phone, internet, all these things. Somebody had to think about that and somebody else had to be like, best done. So I can only imagine like somebody, you know, what was the guy or whatever we like, you know, what would be cool like, yeah, I'm talking to somebody on a phone the like, what if I could see their face?

00;33;43;23 - 00;33;45;02
Martinus Evans
Yeah, yeah. What if what if I.

00;33;45;02 - 00;33;46;04
Rob Lee
Could see they face like.

00;33;46;04 - 00;33;53;14
Martinus Evans
We could see each other while we talk, but we might hear somebody like you talking about, you know, pick up that phone and talk.

00;33;53;14 - 00;34;06;24
Rob Lee
To some sci fi guy. It was some sci fi guy. It was like now reading some Philip K Dick books and he was talking about the video tube closed off during the call. And then, you know, ten years later, they fumbled the bag. And Zoom is kind of.

00;34;06;27 - 00;34;08;21
Martinus Evans
Exactly. Yeah, but yeah.

00;34;09;16 - 00;34;17;02
Martinus Evans
It goes back to those, those key points. Commitment, persistence, consistency and then the.

00;34;17;03 - 00;34;18;06
Martinus Evans
The the the.

00;34;18;06 - 00;34;26;22
Martinus Evans
Delusional circle because all of this to me to be like, oh, man, look, we only have one small joke that.

00;34;26;24 - 00;34;29;15
Martinus Evans
Has this.

00;34;30;05 - 00;34;35;15
Martinus Evans
You back second, you're black, you're run slow. You think you going to go?

00;34;36;24 - 00;34;38;23
Martinus Evans
Yes, I hear it.

00;34;38;23 - 00;34;41;21
Martinus Evans
Maybe like I'll get on the cover. Everyone will get on.

00;34;41;21 - 00;34;55;29
Rob Lee
It is a manifestation thing too. Is the manifestation thing too. Where I remember I talked to a few people when I was like you. I'm trying to model league in the next year and in doing these interviews I'm like, Yeah, I want to be part of some of these art. I don't want to just talk about it. I want to be in it.

00;34;56;14 - 00;35;09;02
Rob Lee
And I will say this my scenes got dropped. But you know that show we run the city, I mean, all beyond the city, rather. I was talking to the dude that wrote the book the day that the show was announced. He was like, you know, I got off the phone with HBO and I got on this interview with you.

00;35;09;11 - 00;35;26;18
Rob Lee
And as soon as he said, I was like, Be on it. I just said it like to myself. And then one of my friends is a casting director, was like, Yeah, you're trying to be a drug dealer for us. I was like, Sure. And it just playing against type is fun and you know, my scenes weren't in it, but I was able to have that experience being on set and there's power in it.

00;35;26;18 - 00;35;46;28
Rob Lee
And I think whenever you get something that the opportunity or what have you I like to run off of ambition is Spike. That's that's the way I go about it because I'm like, man, nobody expects me to do any of this. And I'm just like, not going to do that. And, and just almost signing the contract with myself and being true to what you were touching or being committed to yourself.

00;35;46;28 - 00;35;52;26
Rob Lee
It's like, Well, this is the thing I want to do. I said, it might be a person to be a person. That's does what you say you got to do.

00;35;53;14 - 00;36;04;17
Martinus Evans
If you want to. You want the quickest way from my team is to do something is to do something this business. Exactly because y'all pissed me off and see what happens.

00;36;04;17 - 00;36;09;18
Rob Lee
A lot of cancer energy right there. Listen, I'm the same way. We're all the same way. It's just like.

00;36;10;00 - 00;36;11;21
Martinus Evans
Oh, okay, cool.

00;36;12;00 - 00;36;13;19
Rob Lee
Come on, figure this one out. I'll be.

00;36;13;19 - 00;36;13;27
Martinus Evans
Back.

00;36;14;13 - 00;36;32;20
Rob Lee
You know, bringing hell with. Just turn off the zone. Let me rock some rapid fire questions with you. You know, brevity is key here. Don't overthink them. And let's see. Let's see what is something you've always dreamed of doing?

00;36;34;01 - 00;36;34;20
Martinus Evans
Skydiving.

00;36;35;14 - 00;36;41;07
Rob Lee
Okay. What is an activity that you find regenerative deejaying?

00;36;42;02 - 00;36;42;09
Martinus Evans
Okay.

00;36;44;02 - 00;36;46;27
Rob Lee
Who or what is an anti for you?

00;36;47;24 - 00;36;50;15
Martinus Evans
I wouldn't even know because those are people I turn on.

00;36;51;16 - 00;36;52;00
Martinus Evans
A guy.

00;36;53;20 - 00;37;05;18
Rob Lee
I'm going to save the ridiculous one for last because I think it's funny. Let's see if you could have dinner with three artists. Whom would you choose? What would you have?

00;37;05;18 - 00;37;11;21
Martinus Evans
Virgil It used to be Virgil going to rely upon the bull.

00;37;12;09 - 00;37;25;10
Rob Lee
Yeah, you know, run that guy. You're like, what's like I'm running out of, like, get out of jail free pants, bro. Like, I mean, your beard is all uncoordinated. Just so can we. Can we not do this?

00;37;27;04 - 00;37;31;26
Martinus Evans
So, you know, Virgil in the third, I'm still thinking about them.

00;37;32;10 - 00;37;37;09
Rob Lee
Okay. What are you going to have it with? I just name a place because the next. Next question is a good question anyway. So.

00;37;37;25 - 00;37;44;22
Martinus Evans
Okay, we're going to have different skulls.

00;37;44;22 - 00;38;02;26
Rob Lee
I guess I must give you Mars, because why not? I'm going to have question because you and I have the same birthday and he's one of the reasons that I watched the documentary Euro Dreams of Sushi because he wanted to do this place on his birthday. He, like, flew to Japan just to get it. I was.

00;38;02;26 - 00;38;04;16
Martinus Evans
Like, look, we're.

00;38;04;16 - 00;38;27;19
Rob Lee
On the same page, bro. Probably not a lover. I think it's interesting, dude, and I'm on the fence on what I want to stick with having like all Aquarius is there and like, the dude from Tame Impala is like, same birthday. He's like a year younger to me, was like the same birthday, but I think it has to be, well, he's dead, but it's going to be Patrice.

00;38;27;19 - 00;38;42;01
Rob Lee
Okay. I was like, Hey, you know, me and him are just going to give it up. We're going to say very inappropriate things and we're going be laughing the entire time. We're going for seafood. We're going for we got to get some some some crab cakes. Let me give a note to the chef, because I have a lot of chef friends here.

00;38;42;11 - 00;38;49;27
Rob Lee
I'm like, make the Rob Lee style crab cake. Is Japanese inspired? Don't screw it up. Very, very specific notes.

00;38;50;12 - 00;38;54;09
Martinus Evans
Tell me more about this. Oh, it's an inspired spice like.

00;38;54;25 - 00;38;55;11
Martinus Evans
I'll.

00;38;55;11 - 00;39;17;21
Rob Lee
Put you. I can't be give my recipes or Mike I'll put you on this the last question for you and because I wanted to get ridiculous because you Midwestern nerds right. Like I ended up I used to date a girl who's from St Louis and I mean, like whenever I travel, right. I watch Food Network. This is where I get my inspiration from for like.

00;39;18;08 - 00;39;19;02
Martinus Evans
How do I do that?

00;39;19;03 - 00;39;39;01
Rob Lee
You'll want to try to make that in Travel Channel and things like that. So I remember one time we were watching something about carnival food and she was like, Oh, I can make that. And she went into the kitchen with all of her Saint Louis flair and made that. I was like, Yo, this is this is wild. I think this is disrespectful it was what I call a ham smack hard ism, you know.

00;39;39;08 - 00;39;51;13
Rob Lee
So what is your ham snack? What is that? That thing that you're like, this is this is a bit much, but this is fire about care. This is another hell I'm going to die on, if you will.

00;39;51;13 - 00;39;52;10
Martinus Evans
Are you ready for this?

00;39;52;10 - 00;39;52;24
Rob Lee
I'm ready.

00;39;52;24 - 00;39;53;24
Martinus Evans
Cause I know this.

00;39;55;21 - 00;39;56;00
Martinus Evans
Is.

00;39;56;13 - 00;39;58;23
Martinus Evans
My spaghetti is lit.

00;39;59;00 - 00;39;59;21
Rob Lee
Like he was getting.

00;40;00;14 - 00;40;02;03
Martinus Evans
My spaghetti was lit.

00;40;03;07 - 00;40;05;01
Rob Lee
Thing. We're gonna be trading recipes. And after this.

00;40;06;16 - 00;40;11;27
Martinus Evans
My spaghetti is lit. Okay, I think that that that that is that is the one.

00;40;11;27 - 00;40;15;20
Rob Lee
Okay, we're trading recipes out of this, so.

00;40;16;00 - 00;40;21;18
Martinus Evans
Okay. And ribs and ribs. Maria's on a little.

00;40;22;07 - 00;40;42;25
Rob Lee
I mean, look, we're talking about smoked meat, sir. I mean, we can we can we can get extra familiar about this, but a1i want to thank you for coming on to this podcast. This is truly been a treat. And to invite and encourage you to tell the folks that are underpaid where to check you out, where to check out, brand, your run club, all of that great stuff.

00;40;42;25 - 00;40;44;00
Rob Lee
The floor is yours.

00;40;44;20 - 00;41;12;17
Martinus Evans
All right, so how like, the starters is a good morning to get in and get up and go to wherever you are in the world. What up? No is your boy. You can find me on all forms of social media at £300 or 13300 to spell out pounds and running and score on Facebook to check every underperforming account and find the run club at Slow Web.com as well as run slowly on Facebook and Instagram.

00;41;12;17 - 00;41;36;21
Martinus Evans
I have a book coming out that will be on preorder pretty soon. Party within the October is called Slowly The Ultimate Guide for Anybody Who Wants to Run. So if you're looking for interesting stories and lessons, learn from a fat man who has been running marathons for the past ten years and some of Obama's lessons might want to pick up that way.

00;41;37;20 - 00;41;59;14
Martinus Evans
So there you have it, folks. I want to again thank Martinus Evans for an awesome podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there are runners, brands, communities changing the idea, changing the way that we look at things in around your neck of the woods. You’ve just gotta look for it.