S1E3 -- Meet the legendary Steve King : Part Three (The musician, the husband) + Abhay Kelkar

In the Ultraman Canada 2021 athlete profile section I speak with The Milkman to Ironman athlete from Satara, India, Abhay Kelkar.  We speak of the trials of training in rural India and how a foundation called Mann Deshi helps young women in India to succeed.

The second half picks up my conversation with Ultraman race announcer Steve King.  In this episode, we speak about his music, his wife, and how Ultraman is like an art.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Mann Deshi Foundation
• Milkman to Ironman video
• Steve’s website  :  Steve-king.ca 
• Steve King facebook 
• Steve’s List of Ultraman Records  :  UM records 

Shout outs and mentions in this episode:

• Dr Kaustubh Radkar
• Prabhat Sinha
• Matt Hill
• Chad Bentley 
• Dr. Jeff Harries
• Bill Head 
• Dan Cumming
• Steve’s Music Mentions : The Moody Blues, The Who, David Bowie, The Action, The Move, Colin Hay, Simply Red, 10cc, Dion & the Belmonts, John Bonamassa, UB40, Ali Campbell, Fleetwood Mac, John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, David Grohl, Neil Peart
• Scott McDermott -- Living the Warrior Code
• Christian Isakson
• Kurt Madden (S5E3)
• Ardis Bow

Show Contributors:
Host : Larry Ryan
Contributing Raconteur : Steve King
Announcer : Mary Jo Dionne
Production : 5Five Enterprises
Music  :  Run by 331

please visit the Podcast Website: https://515theultrapodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Facebook: htt<

Transcript

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Larry 0:49

I would like to spend

2021 Ultraman Canada Athlete Profile -- Abhay Kelkar

Larry 0:50

a few moments setting up today's athlete profile as it is following a different format. My guest Abbe is from India and he does not speak English, so he has a translator with him. I will overdub the translator answer with Abhe so that you will hear him in his own voice, but also get the translation. Prabhat, his translator, does add some information to his translations. They are not verbatim. Prabhat is also the head of the Mandesi Foundation, an organization that is helping Abbe to reach his athletic goals. I also have a few questions for Prabhat about exactly what this foundation does. Abbe is definitely not your typical Ultraman athlete. He is a milkman in rural India who grew up learning about the environment around him by going into that environment. He shares this knowledge with his own daughters and the students at the Mandesi Foundation. The background that he reveals in this conversation will definitely draw you in. And once you know more about this man, you will feel compelled to follow his Ultraman Canada journey and cheer him on to succeed. But before I give too much away, let's get into this conversation. Today's athlete comes from a place and a background that is quite atypical to the usual Ultraman competitor. From his village in Satara in the state of Maharashtra, I'm excited to bring you my conversation with Abhe Kelkar. Hello, Abbe and Prabat, thank you for being here.

Prabhat 2:19

Thank you, Larry. Thank you for having us. Appreciate it.

Larry 2:23

So, Abhe, you are billed as the milkman to Iron Man. What I want to find out is what was your life like when you were still the milkman prior to Iron Man? Like, how did you get interested in Triasalon? What was happening in your life at that time?

Prabhat 2:46

He uh grew up around the village in Satan. So around his villages, there are a lot of forests, a lot of streams. And one of his part, like the best hobbies when he was growing up to go for swimming in water wells and lakes, get beehives, do fishing, go in the mountains, just to spot some uh animals as well. So he loved the nature life. Now, while growing up, there was a school but never kind of got into a sporting culture. And when he was older, he was as as he said, like as there is that he was selling milk while selling milk, he would regularly start doing short runs. And then somebody told him that why don't you start if you're doing short runs, then why don't you go for a half marathon? Then he continued of going on half marathons. Then he did a full marathon. And after doing that, he felt it was very, very interesting because he started like running, and that that kind of became became his passion. Even though he was selling milks in the mornings, whenever he would get a time, he would start running from the cities. And some people also felt that is he like crazy or something, because people didn't know much about uh running in the area, and everyone would question him. And he says that that even he didn't know, he was like, Okay, I just like it, I'm running it.

Larry 4:19

Right.

Prabhat 4:19

And then then it kind of the dream of becoming a half iron man was the first goal. Okay, something is different because he liked swimming, he could kind of put his interest in it. And uh from there he doing half iron man and then the full iron man.

Larry 4:38

That's and that's this the story of of all athletes that you know usually they start with one discipline and they enjoy that, and then they they move on to the triathlon and and move up uh sprint, Olympic, half, full, and now now ultra as the dream, which is just fantastic. Prabhat, I'd I would like to ask the the next question to you. Um the this interview will obviously be be centered around Abhe as the as the athlete. However, I know that you have played a part in in helping him get to be an Iron Man and so as your foundation. So can you just explain a little bit about your foundation and your connection to Abhe and and how that began and what what you've done for him so far?

unknown 5:24

Yes.

Prabhat 5:25

The idea behind starting the organization is never to help athletes to win medal. There are two goals of Mandeshi Champions. Number one goal is that we just don't want our athletes to be an international player winning medals, being in the Olympics. Of course, if that happens, that's great. But we want them to be a big, good human being because that's a big aspect of who we are as an organization. I and we want to see India, the developing country, to be not just uh GDP-wise powerful or something, but when it comes to gender, when it comes to equality, when it comes to diversity, I think Indian should be on number top. And that's what's the matters that these are the most valuable uh core values for us. So that's number one. And then number number two is giving opportunity for young girls and boys, especially for the girls, to play sports. We want them to play sports, we want them to be breadwinners of their family, especially young girls. Because in India, you have young girls getting married at the age of 14, 15, 16, 17. Of course, now the rate is going down and down, but still, for example, about three weeks ago, I met a girl who got married when she was in ninth grade, forcefully, by her parents.

Larry 6:33

Right.

Prabhat 6:33

And then, of course, we helped her to go to the police, you know, do all those things, and then now she's staying with us in our academy and she's getting trained for sports. So some of the athletes have come like this, and that's the goal of Mandeshi Champions that we are providing opportunity to play sports, being a good human. What we do in Mandeshi is that we provide them from food, we take care of the nutrition part, where we are providing them uh protein-based diets, we are providing them um proper coaching for field hockey, track and field, athletics, swimming, and wrestling. These are the five sports we are doing. We are providing proper coaching, as well as going beyond that. We also make sure that they get jobs. So we teach them about science, biodiversity, we teach them about astronomy, physics, they know about gravitational waves, they know about how the black hole works. So the idea is to, from history to science, they need to know every single thing. They do debates about LGBTQ, they they put the points on those things as well. The reason why that they need to be aware of those things. But we also make sure that we don't we don't tell them what is right and wrong. We just give them scenarios and they need to figure out what is right and what is wrong. The idea is to make them a good human being. Right now at Mandeshi Champions, we have about 7,000 athletes working with us uh across. From the majority of them are girls, and that's the whole point. To give them opportunity, to give them dignity, opportunity to earn, so all those things. And uh we are now starting new programs, like we have a portable planetorium, which is something exciting coming in in August. Oh, exciting! And that's the reason why we are doing this to increase curiosity of children of India, rural India, and imagination. So we are doing that. We have painting courses, we have uh arts, a lot of different things at our facilities. So it's like a science and sports hub altogether.

Larry 8:27

That's that's that sounds fantastic. And and I'm guessing that it's still the case in India where if you live in one of those rural villages, that you are less likely to get those same opportunities to get an education or to learn some sports.

Prabhat 8:47

Yeah, so in some parts, definitely it is. I'll just give an example of that. So end of 2016, so it's about just three years ago. I was traveling to a small village where there were sugarcane cutting family, and they were cutting sugarcane, and you won't believe it what I witnessed there. So there's a 13-year-old girl who, in a teenage, who were who was supposed to actually, you know, play sports, go to school. Instead of that, she has never been to a school in her life. She's she's cutting sugarcane from 4 a.m. in the morning till about 4 p.m. in the evening. So about 12 hours. And it's a tough job because when you're cutting sugarcane, the the sugar sugarcane um, there are thorns in it, then you have a venomous snake, so you always have to be alert, you always have to be quick. Then after the cutting sugarcane part, she's not able to go to school. She, her name is Nakusa, which means unwanted daughter. So the parents have given her name, which means unwanted daughter, because they wanted to have a son. I have heard these names in my community, I've seen this. What struck me was that even though all this is going on with her, she's never been to school, she doesn't have that many friends, and unfortunately, she will be ending ending up ending up getting married maybe in one or two years. But even though, after all this, she was playing with the ball, which was made of clothes, and she was playing a dodgeball, basically. Oh, yeah, and she was really happy. So I realized that even 15-20 minutes of sports can change someone's just, I'm not saying the whole life. And of course, by giving them sports and giving them opportunities for beginning, there are girls who have changed their lives. Like, for example, there's an athlete we have named Sarita. She is a field hockey captain of the state team. She used to be a shepherd, so she would herd sheep, go with her parents for about 250 miles in a year walking in a search of water. She knew how to track wolves. Today, the same girl, Sarita, is the captain of the national field hockey team. She earned about twice or twice the family income. So she had that freedom. She's 19, she's not married. Her elder sisters got married when she was, they were 16 and 17. So things are changing, but of course, there are a lot of children who do not still have education, who are getting married at the age of 16, 17. So that's also there. So it's not totally gone, but slowly things are changing.

Larry 11:17

Abhe, can you tell me a little bit about what it is that your daughter does for sport and how she's connected to the Mandasi Foundation?

Abhay 11:26

Uh, Abhay has two daughters.

Prabhat 11:33

One is Swara, one is Tapas. Swara is the elder one who is in boxing. She uh boxing since last two years she's been practicing boxing in a club in Satara.

Abhay 11:48

In the city.

Prabhat 11:50

And of course, Mandesh is supporting her when it comes to equipment, shoes, and everything. Yeah, yeah.

Abhay 11:57

From the childhood, Abhae has always wanted to be a friend.

Prabhat 12:04

So as Abbay, when he was growing up, when he went to the streams and rivers, to crabs and fishes in the mountains to do treks, small treks, and things like that. He always felt that his daughter should do the same thing. Get close to the nature, to understand the nature. It doesn't have to be that she has to be wanted her to be passionate.

Abhay 12:27

So since when she was younger, he's been taking her for walks in the parks from the beginning, walks in the streams, showing her how to catch crabs, how to do fishing, things like that.

Prabhat 12:39

And now he takes her for forest treks.

Abhay 12:42

Even though she's 9 and 10, she does hours of trekking with him, and they go together for apart from that, she's always like jumping around, doing different exercises. Now both of them go together for boxing.

Prabhat 13:00

For his daughter, Abhaeza also started doing boxing because then she one day she told him that I want to do that, and that was a boxing box. Since then they have been going, and then he had never done a boxing group.

Abhay 13:14

He felt that if I want my daughter to do boxing, I should also know a little bit about the boxing.

Prabhat 13:22

That's where he thought an idea that why don't I do boxing as well. Now they go together, they eat diet together, they drink milk, both of them love milk, they drink milk together. Um that's their favorite part, and they spend a lot of time together. And he feels that I should not be just her father, I should be her friend as well. She can share things with him about sports, about personality. And the other thing he mentioned that she's he started going to boxing, not just to support her, but of course to kind of show her that your father is also doing this with her when your father's always gonna be there for you to do a lot of things together. And then the other thing he said that he wants to do boxing with her, he wants to run half marathon, marathon, iron man, so she can be proud of her father, she can see her father as a role model, and also she can tell her all the other friends in the schools and things like that that you know my father is a athlete, he does do boxing with me. And then he was saying that how many of the Indian, like a lot of parents, go together with their daughters to play school, but not many, and and she he really enjoys it, she enjoys it, and uh that's kind of for him, it's it gives him a confidence. There is some Marathi word he said, it's like close to confidence, so that's uh gives him a confidence by going with his daughter.

Larry 14:53

Excellent. Yeah, so who is the most competitive uh person in the household?

Prabhat 15:13

She's really fast and everything, but when it comes comes to competitiveness, it's the youngest daughter who's two years old. He feels that she's because she's always like you know, uh, she has that look on her face, which shows that I'm not gonna let it go. She doesn't do any work, she's very young, yeah, but she feels that uh the youngest one is the one who is more competitive.

Larry 15:36

Okay. That's that's very interesting. That's great. Give me a little bit about the area that you're living in and the area that you train in. What what's the what's the setup for you? Is there like nice paved roads to go ride your bike on? Do you go to the swimming pool? Is it a lake? How how do you do your training where you are in Satara?

Abhay 15:58

Um He's saying that Satara is like a kind of village and town combination.

Prabhat 16:07

It's a big village in a way, very big. It is surrounded by multiple mountains, so there are a lot of hills, a lot of lakes, a lot of dams. So it's fun when you're doing running and side running and swimming. He's been doing running uphill. Recently, he did uh 27 K run like three days ago, like a mid-rong long one. Um and so he's been doing running in the mountains, and it's a lot of fun to do that, and they're uphill, so elevation is also high. Weather is also very chill. So, running has been really beautiful and fun. Uh swimming, there is a swimming tank, there is a lake, and there's a dam as well. So he can do long distance swimming, and he's been doing swimming there since the childhood in the dam and the lake. Uh fortunately, there are no crocodiles, that's what he said. So that's easy to swim there. Um but when it comes to cycling, that's a big challenge because there are no cycling trails or cycling paths in India. So you have to do cycling on a highway. And highway, Indian highways are not made for cycling or even actually for vehicles, it's potholes, it's uh a lot of traffic, so it it's big it has become a big, big, huge challenge. And unfortunately, last year, when before his Iron Man, uh last to last year, he was training just I think one or two months before the Iron Man. And one of his partners while they were doing cycling got hit by a truck and then uh he passed away. So cycling has always been uh scary and risky because there are no trails and no paths. So that's like a biggest struggle when it comes to cycling.

Larry 17:52

In in Canada, you you might see some some deer or moose, um, you know, the odd snake or things like that along the way on the on the course. Um, but I'm guessing where you are and where you train, you might see some other kind of wild animals. Like what what are we what are we gonna see if we go for a run with you on the trail uh in Satara?

Abhay 18:18

Uh so um uh where Satara is.

Prabhat 18:27

He said that the whole wildlife is very close to his heart, and the whole Satara region has always been full of biodiversity. There's a tiger reserve, there's a leopard reserve, there's uh Indian wild bison, which is the largest bison in the world. You have varieties of snakes. So when he goes for hiking and treks, he hasn't encountered uh leopards, uh slot bears, uh not a tiger, snakes, and deer, two deer, deer, uh rabbits, things like this when he was going on hikes and and uh but while swimming, there are crocodiles, but he doesn't go to the place where uh there are crocodiles. But he has rescued one crocodile and it was injured, it kept it for about ship or one and a half year and then recovered and then kind of released in the river. But he's always been passionate about wildlife from the childhood. And uh just three days ago he said he was a leopard behind his house at like 1 a.m. in the night. While not he was not doing any running or something, but there was a leopard just behind his house. And now there he was giving us an incident which happened about a couple of years ago. He also supports and helps the forest officers for anti-poaching. And so once he got a call from forest officers and the team of forest officers that there is a poaching happening in the next state called Goa of tigers, and we need to go go and catch those poachers. They're selling some skin of a tiger or something like that. And then he went with them to Goa to buy a car about seven hours' drive. And they got their forest officers because when they saw a lot of lot of poachers together, so they got a bit scared and they told him and his friend that why don't you guys go and we'll stay. So they didn't they didn't accompany accompany them.

Larry 20:28

But forest officers did not accompany them.

Prabhat 20:31

No, did not accompany them, and that's very common in India, things like this happen. And uh then Abbay thought, since we are here, let's see, we just go and we'll try to catch those poachers. So Abhay and his friend, they went, they went as a fake customer to buy the skin. That was the whole plan. They went as a fake customer, they they had a small, uh not smartphone, but the small phone. Before smartphone, you know, there used to be smaller phones with no screens, just black and white. They had that phone, they had called the forest officer and put it on a speaker just to hear what's going on. If there's something bad happens, then they can at least call the police. So they did that. They went to get those like as a customer, as a fake customer. And then they once the people, the poachers realized that they're not real customers, then they started to have a fight with them. Eventually they kind of ran away with the skin, Abbay and his friend, and they ended up going directly to the police station. They also got a bit hurt in that fight. But they hadn't, and then they they got the people arrested. So that was one of the highlights of him doing this. And he's been always I said he's been always passionate about biodiversity.

Larry 21:49

Yeah, that's that's that's a great story. That's it it tells a lot about who who he is and and what he stands for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So during our conversation. Off the air, Abe expressed that he was a little concerned about the cycling component of the race. As you heard, cycle training conditions for him are extremely difficult. He asked if anyone would be willing to help him virtually with his training for the Ultraman Canada course. Now, listening to his story, I hope there are Ohana members out there who can step up and offer him some advice. In this next section, we talk about the help that he is getting, including a former Ultraman athlete. However, I think he would really appreciate the advice from an Ultraman Canada finisher. If you would like to help Abe, please contact me at 515Ultraman at gmail.com and I will connect the two of you. Obviously, you're getting your help from Prabhat and his foundation for some of your training and things like that. But um, do you also have some some coaches that are assisting you to train you in triathlon and help you to get from Iron Man level to ultraman level?

Abhay 23:04

Uh running. For running, there's a retired captain.

Prabhat 23:11

Yeah, it's a retired army captain who used to be a trainer for army personnel when it comes to track and field in India. So he's retired right now, so he is training him for running. So even it's at like 2 a.m., 3 a.m. whenever they start running, he's always there with him. And uh it's free of cost, of course. He is passionate about it. It's not that he's charging him something. He's always there with him to also give him water in the nights, and then he's on a bicycle, like a not a bicycle, uh sorry, scooter. Start because India is very hot. You cannot run after nine and ten o'clock in the in the morning. So then he that that's how they start running, that's how he gets training from them. Then also he there's a swimming coach called Chorge. He is there, he's the one who's always been there since his childhood. And he teaches him techniques about short distance, long distance, how your hands should be, how you should pedal. So he does all those kind of training from a coach called Chorgi. Then of course there is an ultraman trainer, Calston, who has been uh but also only virtually so far. This is the first time we're gonna go and meet him. We've always done virtual coaching since COVID because it's been COVID since you know the ultraman thing came. Right. So we've always been so we're not able to go and meet him. And uh yeah, so these three are coaches, and of course, in next month, we are I'm giving him another international level swimming coaches to train him. And he's gonna come and stay in my facility from next month onwards. Right now, because there is a lot of um uh of course selling milk is going on. Now he started training uh transporting glass in a small tuk tuk. So he's usually doing the buttons from next month he will just stop all the work and just focus on training 24-7.

Larry 25:10

Okay, wow, excellent. Uh that's it's great dedication. That's that's amazing. Um so um when you went to Norway to do Iron Man, um, I understand that this is like the the first time you've you've gone on a trip, the first time you went in a plane. So, what is that whole experience like for you? Is there is there a culture shock involved in that? What can you just give us a little bit of how you were feeling when you when you took that trip?

Prabhat 25:45

It was not even been to a lot of Indian cities before. And then he said that it was the first time for him, then he remembers taking off a plane from Mumbai. Uh told him to put a belt. And he was he didn't know why they were telling him to put a belt. So he was a bit scared, like what's gonna happen. I have never been to the flight before. And then he has always seen like how the plane goes in there, and how he always was curious to see how it will look from the top to down. He was just looking, he was not sitting at the window, so he was trying to like me over to the next passenger and see what's going on. So you the next passenger was a bit uh annoyed by that because he was staying, and then he told him, Can I have a look for five, ten minutes? So that was the plane experience, which was very cool, and he really enjoyed it. He was scared in the beginning that how it will look like or how it will happen. Would he vomit and things like that? But that didn't happen. So he was happy and he was really uh problem. He was really interested in the whole flight. And then while when he got out at the Munich, the first uh stop they had, in Munich, he had to speak regarding the passport control, he had to speak some English. So that was uh really tough time for him. So he had to kind of uh show them around, and there was I think trouble passenger who helped him to kind of had the passport control to talk about things and then he had also never seen the airports before. So for him everything was new, a lot like you know, the way the airport was so clean and a lot of light. So that was also kind of interesting for him. So he was just watching everywhere and just sitting at the airport. He loved it. Just that part, just being and watching other people go around. And he also saw that people were like with small bags walking fast. Because in India, you don't see that much in Europe, I probably because he saw a lot of people walking faster, always walking faster. No, look, they don't look here, there they just like do their thing. And that was kind of unusual because where he comes from in India, people always like you know, come to you, talk to you, and and things like that. So that was very interesting. And then when we he went, he got to Norway, the climate was cooler, chillier. Uh there was a glacier, water was like every single place, there was lakes, huge lakes, and from Oslo he traveled in uh in a car to where was Hugson Hoggesund. So he traveled in Hagusund, so he saw a lot of glacier water. It was the first time going into the water that cold. He had never seen that cold in his life before, but it was good that he had uh swimsuit, so that helped him a lot. And then cycling was a bit challenging for him because he couldn't speak, so he always had a thought if what if I get lost? How would I kind of uh come back to the main route? And uh I'm just adding my words here for some. Like to be honest, I also felt that like because I was there at the day of the competition. I felt that I don't know if he's gonna he'll be fine with everything. The only thing for us was cycling because we had shown him the route a day before and he was already confused there. So that's and then he said that he saw a lot of sheep there, so that was very new, so many sheep everywhere. He was raining a lot at the day of the competition, so then it kind of a little bit, you know, uh wiped wise all his confidence, just a little bit, but then end of the cycling, then he knew it that I'm gonna do this, and then he finished the whole thing, and you know that was like the best moment for him.

Larry 29:32

What is it that you hope to get out of coming to Canada and doing the Ultraman?

Abhay 29:37

Ultraman karatekaran asal kimi paru. He has passion. That's number one.

Prabhat 29:43

Number two is that as he said in the beginning, that this is for his family and his daughter. He wants his daughter to look at him as a role model. He wants his daughter to say that my dad has done this. This is very competitive and I want to be just like my dad. So that's one of the major goals. The third thing is that there are so many people who have done marathons, half marathons, Iron Man as well now. But in Ultraman, he wants to sit in the there are only nine people in India, as far as I we know. So he wants to sit in those nine first ten categories. Even in that, all these nine people who have done it are one is an actor, like a Bollywood actor. The other one is uh like a very well-known doctor, the other one is like a very well-known government high official. So all of them are have significant background. Um they're already someone. Right. In his case, it's totally different. He said, I want to be a common man, a man who otherwise people would never think of him as a knowledge from it. Because he doesn't fit into those categories of what the people have done. So this is something not normal for him, but this will also motivate a lot of other people like him who are not that it's not just about richness, who are who are not on those categories, who are just normal people in India doing wage laboring and daily jobs, and they can also do something beautiful like this, they can also follow their passion.

Larry 31:20

Well, I'm I'm certain that he will inspire many, many people and and probably not just in India. What an amazing story. I I thank you guys for sharing that with me today. Listeners, if if you want to see Abbe in his Milkman to Iron Man YouTube video, please check the links in the show notes. Well, once again, guys, thank you both, and uh, I look forward to meeting you in July.

Prabhat 31:47

Thank you so much. And we really enjoyed having this politician this month.

Larry 31:54

What happens on the road gets told at the awards banquet, and now those stories are being shared with you. It's time for another crew story. Today you're going to hear from Matt Hill. He'll be speaking about Chad Bentley, who we heard in episode one describe his Epic Five race. Here is the story from the crew side of that same race.

Matt 32:19

Hey there,

Crew Stories : Matt Hill about Chad Bentley (Epic5)

Matt 32:20

Matt Hill, and uh the athlete that I had the absolute pleasure to crew for is my buddy, Mr. Chad Bentley. Um and I'll take you to the Aloha Islands, where he was on day five of the Epic Five, which is the five Ironmans in Five Days on Five of the Hawaiian Islands. And here we were, day five. Um he had been the pest and the like Mr. Consistency, Mr. Lake, just getting it done, day after day after night after day after night after day. Like, you know, we're talking like a couple hours worth of sleep, you know, at multiple points. I think at one point I think his his least amount of sleep at one point was like, you know, maybe like 25 minutes. Um, you know, he even fell asleep during the ride he said on the last part of the ride on day five. So, you know, figure that one out, right? Going down the Kinkei Highway, or the Queen K Highway, sorry, um, you know, and like actually falling asleep and having a nap, you know, in your um in your tri bars. I think that's pretty epic. Um, but uh but from the crew's perspective, this one particular moment to me just kind of solidified the whole amazing journey. So we were, like I said, you know, the last the last day here, the last Iron Man, the last Marathon, um, and we were heading back towards town. We could smell the town of Konaf, you know, breezing in the distance. Um, you know, middle of the night, um, you know, we'd done the all-nighter, and uh, you know, probably a couple hours from the finish. Uh, and uh, you know, I'd had a pretty good system with my taller than I friend Chad with his nutrition. I just put, you know, go alongside of him and he just put his hat out and I, you know, hand it off to him. But on this one point, I thought, oh, the truck's up there. I'm gonna get fancy. So, you know, I ran up, put the nutrition right on the front of the truck. And as I turn back to run back to get behind him just to make sure he goes forward, he literally does a full side plant into the side of the truck. And I'm thinking, like, holy, totally back up. And I'm about to like maybe you know, call him that. He literally does this little kind of like hot skip of the, he kind of does a barrel roll right along the side of the whole truck, doesn't even skip a beat, does a little bit of a hip, you know, right off the end of the truck. Um, grabs the nutrition, keeps going forward, takes a big huge tip, and then dude lap and he goes, ah, that's really weird. I think I got a diaspora back there. And it kind of freaked me out. Diaspora's not okay. It is the long islands, you know, it is epic five. We are about to finish, you know. So I'll, you know, the rest of the night we just, oh my god, we just laughed so hard. I'll you know, build that moment because it was really kind of like the it was the antipass of the whole experience. It was just, I mean, you know, it without sounded cheesy. I think I understand why they call it Epic Five now, because it really is Epic. It's um it's it's something that um you know I hope lots of people get to do, and you know, especially say from our crew members point of view, um it's such a privilege uh to crew and and also help somebody in their quest, you know, to get through the finish line.

Larry 35:33

Thank you for that, Matt. And if you have a crew story that you would like to share, please get in contact with me at 515ultraman at gmail.com and I'll tell you how we can get your story on the air as well. So whether your story is a funny one, a serious one, or something in between, we want to hear them, especially if they embody the aloha, ohana, and kakua

Steve King Part 3 (the final part)

Larry 36:00

of the Ultraman races. Welcome back to part three of our conversation with Steve King. In this section, we're going to be talking to Steve about his day job, which is a clinical counselor, and he specializes in PTSD addiction, depression, and anxiety. Now, it it's probably no surprise to most of you out there that many athletes or people within the athletes' family are are dealing with these issues as as many people throughout the regular population do. And one of the things I would like this podcast to be able to do is hopefully have a few open discussions with athletes that want to talk about their struggles or their strategies and dealing with mental health and and sharing those ideas so that if there are other people out there who are struggling along those lines, that they can find some ideas about how to deal with it and and realize that they're not the only ones out there that are dealing with it, even though they're they're athletes of a high caliber that even even a high caliber and athlete can have um a mental health um issue that they want to deal with. If there are athletes looking for help, obviously they should seek a counselor in their own area. But some people might want to check out your approaches, Steve, to how you uh look at these things. You've done a number of uh presentations in the field. You've also written some books. Uh you have some courses online on is it Udemy?

Steve 37:34

Is that Udemy say that U Sendler Udemy? I've got even an Audible course now. They contacted me from England and asked if I'd do one for a thing called listenable for people who just want to use audio as opposed to uh watching video.

Larry 37:49

Oh yeah. So um maybe maybe just give us a quick uh where can we find that like you've got some books and stuff. Where can we find those?

Steve 37:56

Well the books and and the courses uh you can go to my website, uh they're online there, and uh you can just uh click on to order those. But uh yeah, the best thing to do if you check them out, they have a full price, but nearly every third or fourth day it's about 10% of that price. And so just wait till they're about $14, $15 or something. Uh seriously, I think I've only had one person who paid full price, and everyone else they wait, and I don't blame them. That's what I've done because I've downloaded loads of courses myself. I think this is one of the great things we can do during the course of this pandemic. I've taken more courses last year, despite still working. I'm still working full-time. Um, I've just finished a course on schizophrenia, which I just finished last night. I did the exam. Um, and I'm doing a new one on sleep right now as well, because a lot of my clients have difficulty with sleep. And these are university. I took a uh course from Yale on addictions, which was right up to date because they had all the latest medications they mentioned as well. And I'm very much involved with that aspect with one of a wonderful doctor here, Dr. Jeff Harris in Penticton, who's one of the leading authorities on that. So I've had the pleasure of working with him. So I've been very fortunate and gifted uh from many people's experiences. So my clients are just wonderful people. The majority of them are very, very talented, they're just very sensitive and obviously susceptible because the world can be overwhelming at times.

Larry 39:26

And I think in in my day job, I'm seeing that as well, um, with the anxiety levels rising um through almost the entire population of young people today. My my own personal thought is that um it it might be due to uh over loving parents a little bit, in that um nowadays there there always seems to be those parents that want to be those snowplow parents or uh you know block all take away all the obstacles from from the child's life because they don't want them to have to feel pain or or deal with bad things. And it seems to me that most of the young people today that they because they don't get the opportunity to to deal with that in in little pieces along the way, that even uh the small things can shut them down. Um is that something you might be seeing in your in your practice?

Steve 40:20

Yeah, well and nowadays you're right. Uh nowadays they would call that helicopter parenting and stuff, right? You know, we have where kids are not allowed to overcome things or learn how to surf different things, so to speak, the day-to-day stuff. Uh and so uh for them it's like you can offend them by telling what is a perfectly normal joke, so to speak, and that's changed a lot. I know we live in a awoke nation now in every sense of the word. I get that and I appreciate it, and I'm happy with it, but uh uh we've still got to learn to have a good laugh because if you think of endorphins, there's only three ways basically to get them exercise, laughter, and acupuncture. So, you know, let's have a lot more laughter.

Larry 41:03

And a lot more exercise.

Steve 41:04

Yes. But one of the things I do, um I usually stay up at least till midnight, and the reason for that is not only am a night person, but I like to go to bed after a good laugh. So 11 30, I'm watching the late night commentators, and I really appreciate that because it makes you feel much better than being dragged down by some of the stuff that's going on in the world.

Larry 41:27

Yeah, you don't want to be watching CNN before you go to sleep.

Steve 41:30

Although I'd rather be watching that than one of the others.

Larry 41:36

I think um we'll we'll have another break here, and then uh when we come back, we'll talk to you about one of your favorite pastimes, and that is music.

Steve 41:44

Uh-huh. Awesome.

Larry 41:52

If you are enjoying my conversation with Steve as much as I did, then I have great news for you. He'll be back every episode with a short story of his choosing. In our next episode, Steve talks about the very first Ultraman race and gives us some details on the winners. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss even a single Steve King story. And now, back to the final segment of our conversation where we talk about his love of music and his love for his life partner Gene. And in between those two topics, he somehow weaves our entire three-part conversation into a beautiful metaphor encompassing all of the topics we've spoken about. Done in a way only Steve King can. And uh he's a great music lover like myself. Um you obviously play music. I don't play music, but I like to watch music and uh hear and listen to the to the great bands. Um so I'm wondering, can you um share with us um what what exactly do you play? Um when did you start and uh was it to get girls?

Steve 43:36

Well, I've had a drum set for quite a while. And uh so I play a bit of drums. Um I'm not the greatest, but I can keep a beat. I'm actually I've got uh uh an acoustic guitar here, I've got a bass guitar, and I've got an hour keyboard. Because um one of the things with the pandemic, here I am, I'm presently 72 years of age, and for years and years I've been saying And I asked people this question. I was running a panel a couple of years ago at the Victoria Marathon, panel of incredible athletes, Olympians, etc. Evan Dumfey was one of them. And my last question to each of them was if there's anything else you could be other than the talent you obviously have as an athlete, what would it be? And nearly all of them said playing a musical instrument or singing. And when I thought of this myself, you see, I have for years wished I could have learned the piano. So here we are in the pandemic, and I'm taking all these courses for my education, and I'm sitting there, and all these things keep coming up on Facebook about, you know, learn the piano, da da da. And so I thought, I'm gonna check one of them out. So just before Christmas, I actually pressed the button. So I've got a keyboard and I'm sitting there learning scales at this time. That's what I'm doing, just going up and down scales. Because I'm hoping that sometime I could uh get to play the piano. Even if I'm 95 and I could play one or two songs, it really would make me happy. Because I do love music. Um I I've got a sound system down here, like you're in a nightclub, and there are times I can yank it up to the degree we've got a very old house, so we've got these big rocks that are foundation that if our neighbors I and if I crank it right up, the neighbors can only hear a bit of bass. But it's like I'm back in a nightclub in London.

Larry 45:35

That's fantastic. Uh, so you're basically going to be a full band by uh getting the keyboard then. You got the drums, the bass, the guitar, and I'd love that if we panel your keyboard.

Steve 45:47

Well, and uh Bill Head is the head of the headband, by the way. He's the one who sings and plays guitar on there. And so we we did put out uh a C D, so that's the only thing we've really done. We played a number of gigs, um, but I also years ago wrote the Iron Man song. And by the way, if anyone wants that, that is the Iron Man Canada song. It is on my website, it's a free download. Uh, and we did an instrumental as well as the the voice for that. And um uh I'm hoping there's a guy who did Ultraman Canada that uh I am hoping is going to put an Ultraman song together. He and I discussed it. I Bill and Bill Head and myself did one for the Peach Classic. We did one for uh Texas triathlon as well for those guys. So it's neat if if someone has an event and they want to put a song specifically for an event. You see, it's nice to be able to do that because if you're an athlete or the organizer, you can think of the words of just write them out as poetry, get them to rhyme a bit, you know, and to get get a chorus. Uh it's not I know it sounds easy, but it it can be. It seriously can. With if people can yeah, then it's neat to have a song that represents your event. That's the way I look at it. So that hopefully we'll have an Ultraman song soon.

Larry 47:04

And and I guess um being that sport is such a big part, and music is a big part for you that they they tend to intertwine and your influences uh when you're writing your own music, I guess, would would be from there. The song that we played into the segment with uh Running in the Zone, um, I understand was inspired by some writing that you were doing.

Steve 47:26

Yes, we we actually put a book together myself and a guy called Dan Cumming, uh, which was called Running in the Zone, and it was for uh senior athletes, basically. And so we had uh 26 contributors uh uh to that book. Sadly, Dan Cumming uh used to live in Summerland. He passed away uh um just a year ago, and that was uh in Jamaica. He was there to do the Jamaica marathon. He was 73 years of age, so sadly we lost Dan, but uh his family keeps in touch and they turn up the finish lines because interestingly, uh the their son-in-law and the grandson of uh Dan's are all triathletes as well. So it's a big circle, big family.

Larry 48:10

Yeah. Um so um, just as more of a personal question now is um what's some of your um favorite musicians that you've seen live, and what what are some that you you haven't seen yet that you're you're disappointed about?

Steve 48:24

If there were one disappointment, it would be that I didn't see the Rolling Stones live. Uh I sure I I miss an opportunity, and Penticton had Ringo Starr in his all all-star band here um a couple of years ago, and I had to be at a race. That was a huge disappointment as well. Um, but I have seen so many, especially in the 60s and 70s, uh in London. I used to be up at uh Wardor Street uh all the time. The Marquee Club, the Whiskey of Go Go, a lot of those clubs. But the Marquee, we we had an incredible number of people come through there. The Moody Blues are one of my favorite bands, saw them perform there, the Who played there. You know, so many. In fact, David Bowie, this is there was a David Bowie anniversary weekend. Well, David Bowie used to play with a groupie called the Lower Third. We used to walk out after song number two or three and go to the pub while he was playing. It was that bad. And I say that with all due respect to David Bowie lovers. I really like his stuff now, so don't get me wrong. But in that phase of his musical career, it was folky, it was slow, it uh it wasn't gelling well for anybody. Um, and we used to see a band or come back. There used to be a band called The Action uh that were our favorites there. There was the move, they were a big band at the time as well. So uh lot lots of great bands that I saw there. Um and I go to concerts when we can. Um, we have a great facility now here at the event center. Um that we've seen some great musicians, and we have the Dream Cafe here in Penticton, which we're hoping will get open again. We've seen some amazing musicians here, men at work. Uh, their lead singers play their Colin Hay. You're probably well aware of him. But I I love anything from reggae, I like opera, I like everything in between. But you can go down the rabbit hole, and I found myself doing that just the other night. I heard something from Simply Red, and then I went on and just watched some stuff from him, and I thought, man, he's got a great voice. Then I saw a thing out there with 10cc doing live, you know, and went to that. And I I will often go to something that will just say, Yeah, I wonder how that person sounds now. Uh Dion of Dion on the Belmonts, he's got a brilliant, he's 80 years of age. He's come out with one of one of the best blues albums I that you could imagine, and with all sorts of people that have uh contributed uh and worked with him. It's starting with Joe Bonemassa on the very first track. But there's some fabulous work uh that's being done out there by a whole host of artists. So I'm into anything. And the other night, um UB40, I was watching them, and then I realized there was a song that came out a couple of years ago. I I want you. Well, Ali Campbell is a singer, and he was the lead singer of UB40. So, you know, you can go all over the place watching incredible artists, and then you've got people like Cat Stevens coming back and renewing some parts of his career, you know. Um, look at Fleetwood Mac and what's happened there. A guy's on a long skateboard singing along, get gets onto TikTok, and the next thing you know, that's blown up. So yeah.

Larry 51:38

Yeah, that's uh I'm I'm kind of looking forward to seeing um all the the great art that comes out from the the COVID quarantines, um, not just in music but in in all forms, and uh you know, it's starting to come out now, obviously, but uh I'm sure there'll be a lot more as well.

Steve 51:55

Well, you can't get enough when you think of also people like John Lennon. Um I had the good fortune to meet him outside the the Marquee Club, but Rolls Royce turns up and out outsteps John Lennon. He had a chauffeur at the time, and you go, Wow, you know, and what he contributed musically. And here we are, you know, he and George Harrison, when you look at the concert of George, you look at Imagine uh the songs, the double fantasy album, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, these people, along with Eric Clapton and the greats that have gone before, and and look at some of the young kids that are out there. People send me drumming videos of you know, eight-year-old girls playing against David Grohl in Foo Fighters. You know, I love that song. Oh, yes, yes. It's just tremendous. Yeah.

Larry 52:41

Yeah. Uh well, I guess as a drummer, um, we're just on the one-year anniversary of um the death of Russia drummer. Yeah, Neil Purt. Neil Pert, yeah. I'm gonna I'm I'm knowing your music stylings, I'm gonna guess that you enjoy a little rush.

Steve 52:57

Uh, I do. And uh what a great concert they've had they had on HBO there for quite a while, the Time Machine one. And uh Neil Pert, when you to see to realize that that man could take some of the songs he did and play note for note when he was all over that kit, all over it, and note for note. And you see the people in the in the audience who are who have been to so many of their concerts that they're doing the same thing. Playing the airband, yeah. It's like it's so incredible. And you see, this is why we have to realize how fortunate we are as well, that we have the gift of art. There's the visual art, there's performing arts, you know, and we are so fortunate we live in a world where we can take these things out in. And to me, a lot of my clients are artists, they're sensitive people that get affected affected by a world that at times seems overwhelming. And that takes us to athletics, where athletics can take you out away from that because it's a form of art in itself. And the race, like an ultraman race, is a form of art, it's a canvas from the race director through to the crew to the athlete for the organizers, the volunteers, and the locations. It's like a traveling circus. So you have traveling shows in art shows, but to me, this is like a traveling circus as well. And it comes to fruition, and at the end of it, we're sitting back at awards and we're embracing what has just happened, and hopefully in a good way. And sometimes it's not a good way. There are people who have had great disappointments, but the wonderful thing is many of them come back. You know, stories like Scott McDermott, the the Warrior Code, he's now had a film made about that, the documentary. You know, there's those types of things where people have had a really rough time, a major accident, Christian Isaacson along with Scott, you know, but they're coming back into the fold. So when you when you love the event and the sport as much as these people do, you're gonna return year after year after year as much as you possibly can, or get connected, or even if you're sitting at home and you can't be there, you can provide possibly some advice or inspiration.

Larry 55:10

Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I I and that's obviously what this whole whole thing is about with the the ultra family once again. Um I guess uh I'll I'll finish off with one last question for you, and that's more of a personal family one for you. And you touched on it earlier about how important uh your wife Jean has been to you. Um and I think that kind of runs through all the threads of the discussion we've had today, because she was obviously a part of supporting you as an athlete, because at times we know these uh ultra endurance athletes can be pretty selfish people and they need a lot of support. And I'm sure she was there to support you in in your races. And then as an announcer, she's like side by side with you all the time, and she's like literally standing by your side as you've gone through your your work career. Um, I'm sure that she's supports you and gives you that time and space and help along the way to to get all of that in in place. And and then again in your music, it it's come out. Um you've actually dedicated a a C D uh to Jean as well for one of her birthdays. Maybe just tell me or or more importantly, tell her um what it means to you to have such a a great partner to support you in in all these different facets of your life.

Steve 56:32

Well, as you say that, you've made me realize, you know, uh sometimes we need to stop and uh sort of appreciate what that means. We've been together since uh 1974, got married in 77, and uh at that time, uh in s at the end of 74, I was planning, because that's why I came to Canada, I was going to go around the world uh on a shoestring. I barely had any money and I needed to work. But I met Jean and I said to her, basically, would you consider coming around the world with me? And we were going to backpack with no way of really uh we didn't have a backup. Could you come to England with me first? We'll get a job, you'll meet my family, uh, and uh we'll save up and then we'll begin our journey. And so we we spent three years literally going around the world together, living uh out of DOS houses, uh cheapest accommodation you could imagine anywhere. We spent a month in in Bali at near the end of the trip uh living in a losem for two dollars a day, including breakfast. We were eating with Hari Krishna's in different places wherever we could, seriously. And so you know that um you could you could get along with someone when you've been under those circumstances. But when I started putting races together, uh Jean was the registrar. She did the timing, she looked after our club newsletter for years, she did the newsletter. When I started the magazine, she sent out all the subscriptions, kept all the addresses, kept all the business stuff going, you know. And and Jean was never a sports person. I say that with all due respect, you know. Um she's very talented in many ways, but it wasn't something that appealed to her to get out there and run her, do that. She does more now than she ever did then. She will get out to the gym three times a week and go up to the track now for a walk, sort of thing. Um, but she loves the people, she loves the engagement and really loves the the athletes as well to see how they're going to perform. You know, we know how scary it is for many of them to be there for a first time, especially taking on a mega challenge like the Ultra. Um, and so over the years, you know, uh and there have been times I've been rude to Gene. I acknowledge that as partners, we can sometimes be rude to each other.

unknown 58:48

Very bad.

Steve 58:49

Yes. And so we have to decompensate a little bit to sort of go, okay, what's going on? Okay, and so what I tell clients sometimes, and I have to remind myself, is over the years, what I need uh to be aware of, and I am very well aware of it, is Jean is also my very best friend, as well as my partner and my wife. And so when you see someone that lens, it often changes uh the way you talk and treat them. And I can I can be a person who can have um three or four things on the go at the same time. I I can be talking to you, I can have music going on here, and my head is also doing something over here. Now, Jean doesn't think that way, and so she can get upset sometimes if I don't stop everything and sort of give her my uh full attention. Um but in a race situation, you can't do that. When you're commentating, I can't be stopping, starting, you know, and then trying to organize things. So sometimes I'm just pointing at something, and that doesn't seem too polite. But you see, in the context of what you're doing, you have to do what you do. So Jean and I had to work out those types of things. Or if I or if I'm thirsty and I've been on the mic for hours and I say, Could you get me a cup of tea? Well, Jean's not my servant, but at the same time, there may not be anyone else around to grab a cup of tea. Do you see what I mean? So sometimes those sort of things have come into it, but we've always reconciled, and uh she is everything to me. And so I did write that one song for her as well that's on that CD, Thanks to You, My Wife. Um, and the the first song on that is Jean, which was a very well-known song. So it I felt that was something very special for me to let her know how much she means to me. I revere her, to put it mildly.

Larry 1:00:38

Yeah, she's she's a wonderful, wonderful lady. And um I think maybe we'll we'll go out on that song as uh as a way to pay tribute to how she's supported you along the way. Brilliant.

Steve 1:00:50

Thank you very much, Larry.