they actually gave me a brand new life.

還給了我新的人生。

Throughout my 30s, I was climbing the corporate ladder,

在我的 30 歲中，都在攀爬企業的階梯，

very intent on achieving

專心致志地要達成

the traditional idea of the American dream.

傳統的美國夢。

But deep down inside, I started to question

但在內心深處，我開始質疑

this path that I was on.

我所在的這條道路。

For well over a decade,

十多年來，

I really hadn't been taking care of myself.

我真的沒有好好照顧自己。

I had become a junk food addict,

我成癮於垃圾食物、

I was 50 pounds overweight, kind of semi-depressed,

我超重 50 磅、有點憂鬱，

and shortly before I turned 40,

就在我滿 40 歲前，

I was climbing up a simple flight of stairs

有天晚上睡前

to go to bed one evening, and I had to pause halfway.

我要爬上一段簡單的樓梯，而我必需半途停下來。

I was winded, I was out of breath,

我很喘，吸不到氣，

I had tightness in my chest,

我覺得胸口很緊，

and it was a very specific moment in time

那是個特別的時刻

in which I realized that not only that

我了解到不只

I needed to change my lifestyle habits

需要改變生活習慣

but that I had the willingness that I truly wanted to.

我也有意願真的想要這麼做。

I realized that vague ideas of eating better

我模糊地意識到吃好一點

or working out a little bit or going to the gym

或稍微鍛鍊一下或去健身房

weren't really going to work for me.

不會對我起效果。

I needed something specific, something definitive.

我需要某個明確的、絕對的事情。

I'd played around with a bunch of different diets,

我試過各種不同的飲食，

to no avail,

都沒有效，

and I sort of attempted this

而我實驗性地嘗試了

experiment in plant-based eating as kind of the last

以植物為基底的飲食

thing that I hadn't explored.

算是我未試過的最後一個方法。

And I didn't have a big expectation

我並沒有太大的期望

that it would make a big difference,

竟會造成如此大的改變，

but within about seven to 10 days

但在這約七到十天內

of eating nothing but plants,

只吃植物，

nothing with a mother, nothing with a face,

只吃沒有母親、沒有臉的食物，

I experienced this extraordinary thing,

我有了這種特別的體驗，

like I had this resurgence in vitality,

像是我的生命力復活了，

my mental acuity improved, my sleep improved,

我的心智敏銳度提升了，睡眠品質改善，

I had this sense of well-being and energy

我有生活安穩且充滿活力的感覺

that I hadn't really felt since I was a teenager.

這是我從青少年時期起不曾感受過的。

And I didn't really know what I was doing,

我並不很清楚自己在做什麼，

but I knew in that moment that I was onto something.

但在那時候我知道我掌握了某個東西。

And it started getting me thinking

而那讓我開始思考

about human potential and my own potential,

關於人類的潛能和我自己的潛能，

because if I could make such a simple, basic shift

因為如果我可以做出如此簡單、基本的改變

and experience such a dramatic result,

並體驗到如此劇烈的結果，

where were there other untapped reservoirs

其他我可以探索的尚未開啟的儲備潛能

of potential that I could explore?

在哪裡呢？

And that's what got me interested, ultimately,

就是這最終引起我的興趣

in the world of ultra-endurance sports.

進入超級馬拉松世界。

At the peak of training, I would say

在訓練的最高峰，

I was training about 25 hours a week,

我一周訓練大約 25 小時，

so it was really almost a second job,

幾乎是第二份工作了，

and at the time, I was still a practicing attorney,

而同時，我仍然是一個實習律師，

I have four kids, I'm busy doing a lot of things,

有四個小孩，忙著做很多事，

and in order to make the time that was required

為了擠出

to appropriately prepare for this race,

準備比賽所需的時間，

I had to make some significant cuts

我必需做些切割

and really look hard and fast

而我的每日例行公事

at how I was spending my time on a day-to-day basis.

看起來真的很嚴格。

I had to get rid of late-night television

我必須放棄夜間電視

and sort of business meetings that could be

和一些可以會議電話或電子郵件

pushed to a conference call or an email chain

解決的商務會議

to free up the time that was required

以釋放出我需要的時間

so I could show up at the starting line and know

我才能夠出現在起跑線上

in my heart of hearts that I could complete this race.

並且堅信我可以完成比賽。

I started training, which really connected me

我開始訓練，那真的深刻地

with myself in a very profound way,

讓我與自己產生連結，

and to the surprise of myself and many other people,

而令我自己和其他許多人驚訝的是，

I ended up showing some prowess in this field

我在這個領域表現出了一些才能

and ended up competing at a very high level,

並且最後可以在一個非常高的階段競爭，

specifically a race called Ultraman,

特別是一場叫做 Ultraman 的比賽，

which is a double Ironman distance triathlon.

它是一場距離是鐵人競賽兩倍的三鐵比賽。

Over the course of three days,

在三天的賽程中，

it completely circumnavigates

完全環繞了

the entire big island of Hawaii.

整個夏威夷大島。

(playful orchestral music)

(有趣的管絃樂)