This might not come as a surprise when swimming across the 18-mile Tsugaru Channel in less-than-favorable conditions. What may surprise you, however, is how Darren Miller overcame his physical and mental fatigue to complete the stretch 16 hours later.

Miller is the first guest to join Brad Blazar’s show, Learn to Soar.

In this episode, Blazar breaks down the best message and underlying points from encounters he has had with some of the most influential people in politics, sports, and business and shares his notes in an enlightening way. To get a better feel for Learn to Soar, take a closer look at his exclusive interview with Miller.

Blazar began the first episode of his podcast taking with Jeff Crilley about his book, “On the Wings of Eagles.” 

“I’ve truly been blessed to have met personally a number of the greatest leaders in business and politics, people like Joe Namath, Rudy Ruettiger, former President George W. Bush, and Magic Johnson. Each one of these individuals, being as great as they are, has an underlying message and theme, like ‘don’t give up on your dreams,’ ‘be totally committed’ [or] ‘break through obstacles.’ I was in my office looking through [a] large stack of notes when I said, ‘I bet this would make a wonderful book’ and started the project about two years ago.”

Blazar then elaborated Namath’s humility and Johnson’s incredible life story. Afterward, Mr. Crilley asked Blazar to explain a word he coined and trademarked, beliefology. Blazar explained:

“The art of beliefology is really something that I’ve developed to explain to people that as you grow up, you develop beliefs about yourself, about what you can do, about what you can become.

Some of those beliefs are very positive, and unfortunately, some are very limiting. So what I try to do throughout the course of the book is to explain that you have the ability to change and overcome these beliefs and really attain the level of success that you want in life.”

After explaining the manifestation of beliefology in his life, he introduced Miller as Learn to Soar’s first guest.

Miller’s athletic feats and charitable initiatives concerning Team Forever and the Forever Fund have touched communities on local, national and international scales. 

His story fits the narrative of Blazar’s book like a glove, Miller opening the interview with how he began running: 

“I got started when I graduated from college in 2005. I graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism and got to a dark period in my life. There were a lot of things I was engaged that I’m not proud of, but at the end of the day, it’s how you come through that darkness, how you overcome it. I found my path through endurance athletics.

I sat up on a bench press after smoking about a pack of cigarettes a day and drinking a little bit too much and I remember sitting up and thinking what am I doing right now? 

A friend of mine basically asked me to go and start running with her at the local track. I started running a couple of laps here and there, and ultimately, I never really ran anything other than that dreaded one-mile we all had to do in gym class. But I started feeling a lot better [and] a lot better about myself. My endorphins were just ripping, and I started to lose some weight.

I remember going to the starting line [of the marathon] a couple of months after I started running. I get there at 265 pounds, and I remember looking around thinking I could probably eat the people around me, but ultimately, what running 26 miles up and over a large mountain weighing about 265 pounds and 96 degree temperatures taught me was that I was capable of doing things that I didn’t think were possible. I get so fired up when people say ‘I could never do that.’

After I ran my first marathon, I wanted to qualify for Boston. Most people know the Boston Marathon is a pretty competitive running race, to get in you have to run an average pace of roughly seven minutes per mile for 26 miles. So I had to drop out an hour and a half off my first marathon over the next nine months. I lost about 80 pounds and just felt tremendous after I qualified for Boston that year in 2009.”

He went on to explain how he later performed an ultra-marathon, a 50-mile trail race in Ohio. Wondering what else he would be able to do in his life, someone gave him a book by Lynne Cox, an Open Water swimmer in the 70s and 80s who set records and performed incredible feats in her career. Cox’s story inspired Miller to start the Forever Fund at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The fund helps ease the financial burden from families during their most difficult battle with illness by paying everything from mortgages and utility bills to prescription drug, food, and lodging expenses.