In May of 2017, Hellah Sidibe set a goal for himself: to run for 10 minutes a day for two weeks. Little did he know that once he started, he wouldn't want to stop. Hellah has run every single day for the last seven and a half years.
In May of 2017, Hellah Sidibe set a goal for himself: to run for 10 minutes a day for two weeks. Little did he know that once he started, he wouldn't want to stop. Hellah has run every single day for the last seven and a half years.
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Shelby Stanger:
In May of 2017, Hellah Sidibe set a goal for himself: to run for 10 minutes a day for two weeks. Little did he know that once he started, he wouldn't want to stop. Hellah has run every single day for the last seven and a half years. He's even known online as the Running Streak Guy. Over time, Hellah's daily two-mile run turned into 50 miles a week, which eventually turned into a 3000-mile run across the country. And you know what? Once he finished the journey from California back to New York, he woke up the next day and he went on another run. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard.
Before it became part of his daily routine, Hellah felt very differently about running. He grew up in Mali, Africa where he played a lot of soccer. Eventually he was recruited to play at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Hellah never could have dreamed that soccer would lead him to become a sponsored runner. In college. His coach made the team run a lot, and Hellah hated it.
Hellah Sidibe:
At University of Massachusetts, my late coach, may he rest in peace, Sam Cook, used to love having us run. He would tell us, "You might not be the most talented team in the country, you will be for sure the fittest team in the country." So that means that we ran like it was our job, which it kind of was, because playing soccer, that's part the game. And to a point that the UMass Track team would say, "Are you guys are the UMass soccer team or track team? We always see you using our track." And his mindset was, if one person messes up on a team, everybody messes up. So the saying is one band, one sound, and we would run when we don't have to run, we'll run when we have to run.
I love playing the game. I was a starter, but when it came to fitness, I would get sick feeling. My teammates would see me looking so nervous, they would actually think it's funny. I didn't like having a day off because I know after a day off, coach will be like, "You guys have fresh legs, we're going to run again." So I was scared of running because of what he did, and I'm so happy that it happened because he said to us one time, "You're going to wish at one point in your life there's someone there that pushes you as much as I am, even though you're not seeing it yet."
Shelby Stanger:
Hellah despised running. But his coach's relentless conditioning routine made him a better athlete. After school, Hellah was recruited to play soccer professionally. He bounced between the minor leagues and training camps, hoping that a major league team would pick them up. But every time a team showed interest, Hellah ran into immigration challenges. It's a complicated world of contract money visas and immigration sponsorship. Hellah had the skills, but bureaucracy got in the way, and no one would sign him. Hellah was feeling broken down, so he turned to running to pick himself up.
So you're 26, you've been out of college for four years. You've been trying to make it as a professional soccer player, but immigration hiccups have been keeping you from actually being able to secure a spot on a team. How do you go from this, to then in May of 2017, just starting to run?
Hellah Sidibe:
I love YouTube. I'm a huge car enthusiast. I love sports cars. So I watch a car YouTube channel called Supercars of London, this guy named Paul Wallace. When I was watching his YouTube channel in 2017, in January, he said on one of his videos, "You know what, I'm going to do something physical with fitness this year, every day or something. I got to be consistent." And I'm sitting there looking at this guy, and this is my thought: "You're the biggest car nerd in the world. I'm a Division I athlete. I play professionally. There's no way I can't handle that. So you know what? I'm going to run every day for two weeks. I'm just going to try 10 minutes a day.
And I was thinking, I'm in this deep area of my life. I don't know what to do with my life. I'm not a medical professional. But I think looking back there was signs of depression, but I needed a way out. And I thought about, "Stop pointing fingers, Hellah, you're making excuses. Why don't you focus on something you can control?" And that's how everything started.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay, so that first day, May 2017, you run 10 minutes inspired by a car YouTuber, which is so funny. How did you feel, and why did you decide to keep going?
Hellah Sidibe:
It actually started before May 15th. I just don't have proof of it, but I went out there, no pressure, and spring was in the air. I was just running and I just found myself smiling because no one's yelling at me, pointing fingers at me. It was my own will. And I was like, "I can stop right now if I want to." So it felt amazing. And in fact, 10 minutes was the goal. I ended up running 2.64 miles, and then I'll come back the next day, keep going. The 10 minutes didn't last a week. Within the first week I would get lost in the neighborhood trying to explore different streets. And before the two weeks I ran to Belle, my fiancee, and I said, "Hey, I'm going to try this every single day for 365 days." So that's how the streak happened.
Shelby Stanger:
And so since you love YouTube, were you filming this on YouTube? Were you tracking it?
Hellah Sidibe:
Nope.
Shelby Stanger:
No.
Hellah Sidibe:
This was not meant for social media at all. This wasn't supposed to be what it is today, and I'm super glad that it became what it is. But it was a self-discovery. It was all about me. I needed to fill up my cup. I didn't care about anybody else, because at the time I was in so much pain that even me looking at somebody would piss me off for no reason and they didn't do anything to me. So I needed to work on myself.
But the reason it became on social media was because about a month in Belle was like, this is something really cool, we should put it on YouTube. And I said, no, but she keep insisting. So finally on day 163, she said, "Come on, let's do it." And we did a video and the title was "Why I Run Every Day." And it was an 11-minute video. I stood in front of the camera, and explained to an audience that didn't exist, why I run every day. And I talked about why I started running and how many days I'm in, which was 163 days. So it was not meant to be like, "Hey, let me do this to record on social media." It was let me help myself out. And then social media was like an icing on the cake, I guess.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay. So I'm curious, how many days did you start to feel better about yourself? I mean... I think we all...
Hellah Sidibe:
Oh, within the first week.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah. First week it was apparent. I like when it's warm. Winter was just done. Spring was in the air and I knew 10 minutes I could do, but the best is there was zero pressure, and I appreciate what my coach did for me, but it was great that no one was yelling at me, "What are you doing in the back of the pack? Get your so-and-so up in the front" kind of thing. So I just felt good that I was doing something for myself instead of making excuses like, "Hey, you are doing something at least." So I don't have any regret. That was the best feeling of all.
Shelby Stanger:
Sounds like you had self-agency, you were like, "You know what? There's things that I can't control, but this is one thing I can control." That first year, was there ever a time where you were like, "I don't feel like running."
Hellah Sidibe:
It hasn't happened for seven-plus years to this point. It's crazy because the thing is I tell myself, "I get to do this. No one's making me do it." People have their little zen, their little peaceful time. Running is not always easy, but for me, I feel invincible. I feel like I can do anything I put my mind to. I feel like it is me and I put this to... I tell this to people, sometimes stuff happen in life that's really tough, but we don't just give up on life. We find a way to fight it. So running is life to me. There's days that are tough, but even the tough days, there's something beautiful about it.
Shelby Stanger:
As he kept running, Hellah started to look at the sport differently. His daily run became a time to find joy when other parts of his life were feeling dull. Hellah also established a very important rule for his runs. They had to take place outside. He might warm up on the treadmill, but the actual run needed to be out in the fresh air, regardless of the weather. Hellah has run through rain, ice and snow, which as you can imagine is not always the most fun or pleasant experience, but overcoming challenges and discomfort has been one of the most valuable parts of his running streak.
How have you stayed injury-free?
Hellah Sidibe:
So I've never been injury-free. I tell people that. And so my first year actually, I had this... I'm pretty sure it was shin pain. It was so bad that I would run on it and get home and I'll go hide in the back of the room almost to tear. That's how much pain I'd be in, because I didn't want Belle to see me and tell me you should stop. And I fought it, but it lasts like two, three months of just bad. And I didn't tell a soul.
And I'm not telling anyone to do this. You got to listen to your body. Injury is a thing, and it could be bigger than it is. But what I learned from the first injury though was instead of running seven miles a day, 50 mile a week, I cut it immediately to three miles a day. So 21 mile a week. That wasn't working. I cut it to two miles a day, 14 mile a week, and then my body had less time on it and then the recovery started coming. So there's some injuries I get, but the goal is to minimize it, because it's bound to happen. So how can I minimize the injury? That's always been my process.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay. So what do you do when you get injured? Do you like ice baths, sauna? I mean, I'm sure you have a lot of tools in your toolkit.
Hellah Sidibe:
I have so many tools. I tell people I have no excuses. I have all this recovery gadget that I use, see a manual therapist. I see a deep tissue masseuse where it's not fun at all where I'll be sweating and screaming on the table to get off. So I do all the things that I have to do. But the thing is, for me I learn is "prehab" instead of rehab. We all tend to wait until we're hurt, and then we rehab. But you got to prehab. You got to do the things that you're supposed to be doing. You got to make sure you're doing your activations, your warm-up. You got to make sure you're doing your soft tissue massages or post-long hard workout. When you're watching tv, put your calf on a foam roller, let it melt any little knots, even if it's a tiny one, because that ends up being the bigger knots. So I do everything I can within my power, because my mindset is if there's a will, there's a way. It might not be the way that you want, but there's always a way. So it's up to you to figure out that way.
Shelby Stanger:
What's the minimum number of miles you have to run for it to count for you?
Hellah Sidibe:
For me, if there's nothing really bad with the injury, I was still doing three miles. It was enough that I can tolerate that pain. But I've done as little as two miles. And an example that made me do that, so a couple of years ago I had an oral surgery and my surgeon orthodontist was like, "It seems like you have high pain tolerance, which your running thing, but I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about blood pressure. The more you do activities, you're going to have a mouthful of blood." So I believed him, but I kind of wasn't thinking it was going to happen. And he's like, "I don't want you to rip your stitches." So before the surgery that morning, I ran six in the morning. The operation was at eight A.M. So the next day now, I waited till as late as possible so I can run before midnight.
So I went out there around eight P.M. and I'm cruising, I'm feeling good. I'm actually running in six-something, I remember vividly. And then next thing you know, my mouth is full of blood, it was bleeding. I was like, "Uh-oh, he's right." I'm spitting trying to run. So I cut it after I hit two miles. I'm like, "Okay, Hellah." I know I was thinking about going five miles that night, and I just was like, "This is not smart. You got a couple miles in, you're good." And then I cut it short. So I've gone two miles, but three miles minimum is comfortable for me. Yesterday, I did three miles after a long day.
Shelby Stanger:
How do you feel after? Why do you keep going?
Hellah Sidibe:
Because I just feel so good. I am so happy. So I came up with this term a couple of years ago, because anytime I don't look myself, Belle would be like, "Did you run yet?" I'd be like, "No, actually. You're right. Maybe it's because I need to run." I'll go run and I feel the best person ever. So I don't get hangry. I get "rangry".
Shelby Stanger:
I love the term "rangry". It's amazing how just 20 or 30 minutes of moving your body outside can make such a big difference in your mood. From the beginning of his streak, Hellah could tell that running was making him feel a lot better, both physically and mentally. His initial two-week challenge turned into a goal to run every day for a year. When he reached the end of that first year, Hellah looked back on how the streak had transformed his life. He knew he couldn't stop.
Hellah Sidibe:
So I'm like, "Yeah, there's no way I'm stopping after a year," because I just enjoyed it so much. And I said, "Let's do it for the second year." And the second year challenge in my mind was, am I going to be mentally strong enough to repeat it? And after running, what, 2,800 miles the first year, averaging seven miles a day. Second year I ran 1700 miles because I was injured. It was that shin that was just bothering me, and it was a year of mental toughness, I told myself. It's almost like I knew it was going to happen with the injury. And now the third year, I told myself, "Let's make that the year of joy. Bring back how the first year was."
So the first year was just self-discovery. Second year was year of mental toughness. Third year was like, "Let's go back to the first year. There's no injury. Now let's just enjoy the process of running, and don't get stuck up on averaging seven miles a day." Because that just happened automatically the first year. So to my mind, oh, you got to run at least seven miles now to keep that up. So I just let go of everything the third year, and it was as beautiful as the first year.
Shelby Stanger:
So the first year you were just running to run, and then maybe the second year you're still running to run, but now are you running to do races or running for bigger goals?
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, so also within the first year too, I saw running was a privilege that not everyone has. And I was telling myself, "I know I can get to 365 days. You can't tell me that I can't do that." But I started seeing things when you run on the street, you start having sympathy for other people and you see people who are on wheelchairs who are handicapped. And I was like, "Wow, what that would do to walk, let alone run?" And I was running for them. So when I'm out there, I'm like, "I'm running this person I just saw today that couldn't walk." And I didn't care about racing, but I did my first mile race in 2018 after a year and just went all out. My lungs were burning. It feels like somebody lit your chest on fire. I don't know how to explain it. When I was doing that, I'm like, "Huh, Hellah. This is temporary pain. Someone literally is suffering every single day." And even though I was running to better myself, I started thinking about other things and other people. So within the third year, I thought about running across America.
Shelby Stanger:
Hellah Sidibe started running in 2017 and he hasn't stopped since. As of the day of this episode comes out, Hellah has been running for almost 2,800 days straight. The running streak has helped him gain sponsors and make a living as an athlete and a content creator with support from brand deals. Hellah was able to make another wild idea into a reality. Two and a half years into his streak, he came up with a wild idea to run across America. So the third year you were like, "What if I could just run across America?" How did that happen?
Hellah Sidibe:
So I came out of the shower, I remember, and I was in the dining room. I'm like, "Huh, I think I want to run across America." And Belle goes, "Uh-oh, what are you talking about?" And this is like... I wanted to do it before the pandemic happened. And I started talking about it, actually, since 2019 and then wanted to go in 2020, but the pandemics didn't allow that to happen. But I said to myself, "I want to do that..." Because I was also tired of being home. So I'm thinking to myself, "You can explore the country, but run for somebody or something. It can't be about me, because when I get sick of it, I'll probably come back home and continue my streak, so I have to have a reason to run for."
So that's how we did our research and found the non-profit Soles4Souls. It's about giving shoes and one shoe can change your life. And where I grew up, having a pair of shoes goes a long way. So I ran across the US on their behalf and raise money and collected shoes for them.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay, back up. So you're like, "I'm going to run across America." And then you just did it? Or how did that go from idea to reality?
Hellah Sidibe:
So I started talking to my sponsor at the time, Gymshark, and I told them my goal, I wanted to do this. And I've mentioned to a few other connections that I had, "Hey, I want to run across America, and I want 100% of everything that I raise and collect to go to the non-profit." And I got a new manager at Gymshark. As soon as she heard it, she immediately went to the big boss at Gymshark, "Hey, how can we make this happen?" And then it was just like, "Boom." And we started figuring out how we were going to make this happen. And we had no idea what we were doing. We've never done something like this. So it was just me, Belle, and my best friend driving the RV, and she was driving the assistant car next to me for safety. And yeah, we started in LA on March 1st, 2021, and finished in New York City May 23rd, 2021.
Shelby Stanger:
That's pretty fast. How many miles did you average a day?
Hellah Sidibe:
So I was averaging 36 miles a day. And looking back at it, I think it is not a lot, but back then it was like, "Oh my goodness, this is a lot." 3061 miles. But I had never done any ultra distance consistently, consecutively like that. I've run a 50-mile by myself one day for fun. I was like, "I'm going to go run 50." But this was one of those things that I've never left C level. And I went to altitude, I had idea how bad it was and I was so hurt in the first half. It took like 50 days. And the second half when I got to my natural habitat, the flat ground in the Midwest, I was averaging like 47, close to 50 miles a day. And then I made up so much time that I did the second half almost 20 days faster than the first half.
Shelby Stanger:
Wow, that's amazing. Was there a memorable day on that run that you'll never forget? I mean, I'm sure every day was memorable, but is there one that you just love talking about?
Hellah Sidibe:
I love being in New Mexico. People are so nice, especially the Navajo. There was incredible, some of the nicest people I've ever met. You would meet somebody here that necessarily would travel across the state. By the time you get to another 30 miles, someone's waiting for you because they're heard that you're coming. And we had an RV where we would sleep in the middle of nowhere. People have offered their land for us to be safe. There's so many things that happened. I've had people offer me money. Somebody said to me, "You look like you could eat. And I said, no, I'll take the money and donate it though for the nonprofit. I have food in my RV." There's so many incredible things that have happened. I can't pinpoint one exactly, but there's also some things that happened that were scary where it was really tough to get through, but I was able to get through.
Shelby Stanger:
Do you want to share one of those moments?
Hellah Sidibe:
So the one was the first day I got on Route 60, iconic Road, and this lady across the street goes, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" And I'm all excited. I said, "I'm running across the country." She goes, "For what?" I said, "For a nonprofit." And she goes, "Well, that's bullshit. You're about to get cut." And I'm like, "Maybe she's joking." But I saw her charging toward me, and then I said to myself, "I don't think she can catch me on a foot race right now, but if she has a knife, maybe she could have a gun. I'm not taking the risk." So I sprinted across the road. I was telling Belle to stop. She stopped, unlocked the car door, I jumped in, she whoops the U-turn and takes off, and the lady's still trying to chase the car. I'm like, "You're not going to catch a car."
So we had to call the police. It took two hours for police to come. I had to go back where I stopped to resume my run. And then Officer Lyker was her name escorted me through, but I was more annoyed that two hours I could cover so many miles that she took away from me because the days were going pretty quick. And then Missouri was the worst. And that's when a bunch of teenagers from a high school decided to use racial slurs as I was running by.
Shelby Stanger:
I guess when you run across America, you see the worst and the best in people.
Hellah Sidibe:
Yeah, but the thing is, though, even though I said that, there's so many stories that I didn't even touch. In fact, we got cops calling us every day. Every day. And one officer was so nice, he said to me, he said, "I'm sorry, you look like you're busy. Have a good day." He understood. He's like, "Leave this man alone." But that being said, also, I say 98% of the country is so nice. It's not what we make it seem like on the news. And there is way more good than bad. Way more good.
Shelby Stanger:
I've talked to two people who've gone across America. One is Pete Kostelnick who ran across America.
Hellah Sidibe:
Pete is the beast.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah, he's awesome. And then I have another person we interviewed who's a musician who walked across America.
Hellah Sidibe:
Mike Posner?
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah, he got bit by a rattlesnake. And I've spent time with both of these guys. And walking across America was so awesome and profoundly changed their lives. At the same time, the next day they were still the same person, but they were different. I'm sure the experience like it did for Mike, like it did for Pete, profoundly changed your life. And I'm just curious how and when it showed up.
Hellah Sidibe:
It changed my life in a way where nothing else had changed besides that we are so spoiled. That was it. I used to take showers in the RV. I never went to bed without showering for 84 days, but it was a one-minute shower because the RV had so much water in the tank. I would literally wet myself, use my sponge, and then just scrub myself and then rinse. But it was a timer, too. I put on one minute and then I realized, "Wow, at home I could stand in front of the water, sit there for 10 minutes, just wasting water, take my time."
And then I realized also how privileged we are compared to the rest of the country out east, especially in the Navajo nation. People have to go to Dollar General to do their grocery and there's no fresh produce. So we were stacking up our fridge with as much food as possible. And I talked to somebody, he's a Dineh, he's from the Navajo, and he said to me, "Hellah, we drive 50-plus miles to go get food and it would be a Dollar General. There's no grocery stores." I have a grocery store literally within a mile. I can walk there, run there. I drive because I'm lazy. So that's the thing that changed me, the things that we take for granted. And when I came home, oh my gosh, I thought everything was big. I thought water was so nice, warm, hot water. I thought I can get fresh produce. I took those for granted. You're just like, "It's part of life, it's part of day." And then you realize now not everybody has it like you do.
Shelby Stanger:
Hellah returned to his regular life with a renewed sense of gratitude and a new interest in ultra running. While he was on the road, Hellah listened to a lot of audiobooks, including "Born to Run" by friend of the show, Chris McDougall. The book inspired Hellah to run the Leadville 100 in 2022. The year after he ran the Western States 100. These days he continues to compete in marathons, ultras, and even speed races. I love that Hellah isn't afraid to try new things. That's part of what people love about him. He's endlessly positive.
How do you hope your running journey impacts other people?
Hellah Sidibe:
My biggest goal is make this a world where everybody's just happy. Sometimes you have so much joy, you feel guilty that... Well, I feel guilty that we can all feel happy. So I just said, "Let me share what I do." And hopefully even if it's like a minute or 30 seconds of that Instagram video you see there where you can smile a little bit and not think about what's not working out right now. I don't want to just be me. There's a lot of things out there that can make you feel so excited. So that's my goal. But also, knowing that you got to fill up your cup first. There's a saying you can't pour from an empty cup. Fill up your cup, but do not forget to pour into somebody else's, help somebody else out. So my goal is to be able to share that with the world and have everybody do their part.
Shelby Stanger:
I love that. What advice do you have for people who want to get into running?
Hellah Sidibe:
Do something attainable. Don't look at somebody, especially on marathon season, you see all these amazing race videos. Awesome. Don't try to go run 10 miles or whatever. Do something attainable, and then do it pressure free. And then the last but not least, which I tell myself, give yourself permission to quit. The reason this streak is going, is because I give myself permission to stop. If I go out there today and I'm miserable and it's bringing me back to the dark days, I'll be the first one to say, "Hey, the running streak is done." And I won't be sad about it because it was good for what it did and it has changed me. So doing something attainable, do it pressure-free, and give yourself permission to stop.
Shelby Stanger:
For a guy with a seven-year running streak, I really did not anticipate Hellah's advice to give yourself permission to stop. It makes sense with his joyful motivation. This streak has never been about hitting a certain number of days or even a certain number of miles. It's about challenging himself, finding joy, and spreading happiness. If you want to find more about Hellah, you can follow him on Instagram at HellahGood9. That's H-E-L-L-A-H, G-O-O-D, and the number 9.
In my interview with Hellah, I mentioned past guest Mike Posner, who walked across America in 2019. It's one of our team's favorite episodes. We'll put the link in our show notes for you to listen.
Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, produced by Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Piers Nitzberg of Puddle Creative. Our senior producers are Jenny Barber and Hannah Boyd. Our executive producers are Paolo Motila and Joe Crosby. As always, we love it when you follow the show, take time to rate it and write a review wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.