“But as the race continued and I cheered on my teammates, I couldn’t help but keep tabs on the guy who was running alone. Who was this guy?There was magnetism to his fury. Underneath his scowl I sensed something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it was a sense of honor or integrity. Or purpose. Yeah, that’s it. He ran with a sense of purpose that I couldn’t quite comprehend. He ran as though lives depended on it, like he was running into a burning house to save someone, a kitten or an old woman. With each stride he took it seemed like he was creating mini-earthquakes beneath his feet, but at all times his form was perfect, his eyes locked in a stare, a focus that was diamond-tip PRECISE. He just ran… checked his splits on his watch… and ran for a hundred miles straight.”
I think I'd heard of Jesse before, somewhere. But I don't know where. I am sure I'd heard about his book - where he had a Navy SEAL come live with him for a month of training and wrote about it - but wasn't moved to read it.
Until I heard Jesse on the James Altucher Podcast. Jesse's appearance was about all of his life, and of course the book came up. Jesse shared a few stories from the book and I immediately pushed SEAL to the top of my bookshelf. Then read it all in 3 days.
Living With A SEAL is Jesse's 30-day journal of SEAL's (that's the only name the guy is identified by) visit to stay with Jesse and family (Jesse's wife is SPANX founder Sara Blankley) on the west side of Manhattan.
In a book where Jesse is careful to lay out their detailed workout log (for those who care, which I figure to be many), Itzler shares everything he observes about, hears from and admires in SEAL as their "relationship" (SEAL didn't talk much) grows.
The guy (SEAL, that is -- you can find his identity with a simple google search) carried no luggage for a 30-day stay in New York and has no alarm clock, even though he gets Jesse up to run before dawn daily. SEAL impressed Kevin Garnett enough to help Jesse close a deal with KG for his coconut water business. And SEAL has Jesse jump into frozen lake water. Twice. And that's after the 6 mile run was done. In the snow.
You'll learn about pushing limits, eliminating them, and just plain forgetting they even exist. And get plenty of laughs along the way.