The Nick Bare Podcast
164: How to Turn Hard Seasons Into Your Biggest Breakthrough | Ken Rideout
09 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What inspired Ken Rideout to write 'Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard'?
Today on the show, returning guests.
Chapter 2: How did Ken win the Austin Half Marathon at 54?
Kenrod Allen. Thank you for having me. I just want to say before we start how much I appreciate you like writing this book and then having to go out and do promo and ask friends like yourself to have me on the show.
Chapter 3: What was Ken's journey from addiction to endurance sports?
It's like by far much harder than writing the actual book. So I just want you to know how much I appreciate you allowing me to share my journey, my details of my book and everything else with your audience. I don't take it for granted and I thank you sincerely.
Chapter 4: How did leaving Wall Street change Ken's life?
No, I appreciate that. I mean, I just got done in this past year with the whole book process, writing, publishing, PR, doing the tour. So I feel you. It's truly a marathon. Well, I'd also like to say that a big reason why this book actually came to fruition in part is because of you and people like you that allowed me to come on when I couldn't get arrested.
Chapter 5: What does Ken mean by 'loving the process, not just PRs'?
No one knew who I was. And you allowed me to come on and share my story. And it resonated with so many of your fans that I feel like I'm part of that tribe. Like we're all kind of, like I was telling you, when I walk into your facility here at BPN, I'm like, I feel comfortable. I feel like I'm with my people.
Chapter 6: How does family influence Ken's perspective on life and challenges?
And being able to share my journey with your people really allowed the book to become a reality because my story resonated with so many of your tribe members. So thank you. Absolutely. So the book is called the other side of hard. Yep. Everything you want is on the other side of hard. When does it launch? When's it, when's it going live? March 10th. Okay. It's coming up. Yeah.
How's the PR efforts been so far?
Chapter 7: What lessons did Ken learn from his cancer scare?
How do you feel about it? I think that the book is excellent without sounding arrogant. Um, the reviews I've gotten, I got a great one from publishers weekly. I just shared on Instagram. Um, The feedback has been incredible. I've got some awesome blurbs on there from Andrew Huberman, Reggie Miller, Gabby Reese, Dustin Poirier, just some of my really good friends.
And I feel super confident about it. The PR stuff is hard. When a show doesn't want to have you on, you're like, oh my God, I'm so offended. But people like yourself and Rich Roll that have agreed to have me on, it's been... super rewarding and humbling to have such good friends that support this stuff.
Chapter 8: How does Ken define success beyond performance?
You know, when you, when you put your work out there in the world, you're just like, man, I hope people like this and you just never know what to expect. And I tend to always think, be a little bit, I always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. So I'm like, Oh, what if people hate it? So it's been a, it's definitely been an emotional rollercoaster. No, I get it.
I'm glad to support throughout the conversation. I want to talk about like what it means to, Everything you want is on the other side of hard, what that means to you and the way that I perceive it and what that means to me as well. But before we get there, let's set the stage a little bit. This past weekend, Austin Half Marathon. I mean, BPN and myself were there in a meaningful way.
one course nutrition sponsor, expo, shakeout run, but you threw down with a one hour, 15 minute, 53 second half marathon to 548 minute per mile pace. Number one in your age group, you're gonna turn 55 years old in about three months. Okay, about three months. What's your PR for the half marathon? 110. 110. When did you do that? 110 high.
Well, I ran 110 high on a very difficult course in Nashville in 21 or 22 when I was 50 or 51. But last year here at the other Austin Half Marathon, the kind of net downhill with a tailwind, I ran, I think my official time was like 111 in a few seconds, but my watch registered at like 110.55. That was a downhill tailwind.
I mean, it was perfect conditions, but I was in a little bit better shape than I was this past weekend. How would you rate the Austin marathon course? Dude, hardest. One of the harder half marathon courses that I've run, just given the fact that it was probably similar to Nashville, but Nashville was freezing cold. And I always run super well in the freezing cold, like gloves, long sleeve shirt.
And it was a little bit warm on Saturday. But I also, to be fair, like I've trained for like five weeks. I mean, anyone who follows me know I run 10 miles a day every single day. So I always am like fit on a relative basis. But as you know, there's a big difference between being fit and being ready to race.
Like running 730 to eight minute miles for 10 miles is a far cry from running my PR is like 522 per mile for 13 miles. So, the other thing about that is you're out there for a lot longer, but the suffering is like double what it normally is if you're in good shape. So, you're running faster and you might think, oh, it's harder to run that fast.
No, for me, it was much harder to run 115 with the conditioning that I had, if that makes sense. Yeah, we were talking about this a little bit yesterday. I'd love for you to just kind of share briefly, like,
your evolution and improvement in terms of running over the years, because I think a lot of people would look at you and think, oh, this guy in his teens and twenties and thirties was running 215, 220 marathons, but that's not the case. And I love that you shared with me yesterday
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