SPEAKER_05 0:00

Here comes a tho do. Here comes a thing. It's all right.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Hello, Fortitude Audience. Thank you so much for joining us today. I am your host, Heather Kittelson, and I am here with my best friend and husband, Amos.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Hi.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Who is our co-host. And today in our studio, we have Benson. Hi, Benson. Hi.

SPEAKER_06 0:36

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

We're so excited to hear your story today. So thank you for being with us.

SPEAKER_06 0:42

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Meeting you was a cool experience for me. We both were speakers at CultureCon, an event here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And after I had um, I guess I everyone was kind of leaving the room after the event. I remember you standing off to the to my right, and I could feel your presence. I could feel just you had the biggest smile on your face, and you were waiting so patiently to talk to me. And we had a we had an exchange and a conversation that I'll, I mean, it just it's a forever embedded in me. And so since then, which was three years ago, we have been, we've been growing in our friendship. It's been wonderful. Yes. So thank you for being a part of our life.

SPEAKER_06 1:30

Yes, I waited for you. It took long for you to get to the back of the room.

unknown 1:34

You did.

SPEAKER_06 1:35

Um I I thought it was it was incredible what you shared. I felt that I previously I was speaking as well. And so I could just imagine the feeling of getting off and the stage. Yeah, and and what you shared really resonated with me. And we can dig dive into more later. But um, I think that it was an instant connection. I said, I need to meet this person.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

And I felt that too. So I'm grateful that God put us in each other's lives and and Amos. Amos has had a great experience in getting to know you as well. We just you're peaceful and you're joyful. And so you're pretty chill.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Yeah. Thank you. You're pretty relaxed. You bring that you bring the energy down to like calm, just calm. Yeah. Calm and cool, collected.

SPEAKER_06 2:26

Thank you. I think that that's where, you know, it's like that's how I operate. That's where I live too. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

But you don't run, like you're a runner. And I think about the energy and the speed. I think maybe your calmness comes out, the energy comes out in your feet, and that's where you like beeline it. Vincent is a runner, y'all. He is like a global runner, national. You're you're a championship and runner, you're a coach, and like just everything that you do, you're you just run like Forrest Gump. It's so great. Um, so we're gonna get to that in a second. But Vincent, share, share, just who who are you? I know you're from Kenya originally until you were 20 years old.

SPEAKER_05 3:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

And you since then you have lived here in the US. Yes. So tell us a little bit about your journey. Because growing up for 20 years in Kenya, what was that like?

SPEAKER_06 3:22

Growing up in Kenya was um incredible. Now I look back, and in that journey for me was something that shaped my life, the people around me. So I grew up in a humble background. Uh, my parents, um, my two brothers and sisters, I grew up there. I went to what we call primary school, which is a day school. Just go there for um, you know, first grade to eighth grade. And then you have to perform really well to go to a good school. Um and for me, I did really well in primary school, so grade eight. And then you're supposed to be selected by the top performing schools in the country. Um, so I went to the second highest performing schools level. So that is the national schools, that is the provincial schools, which is more of a state school. And then there is the local state, like you think about Sioux Falls. A local school, if you perform really low, then you only get a chance to go to local schools. You get to travel to parts of a different country, you know, part of the country to the specific national schools if you do really well. So I went to the second tier level, which was based on performance. And then so basically the luxury is going to boarding school.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 4:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

And all the way through 12th, do you guys still have the same educational like system? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 5:02

Yes. Okay. So to do really well there, you gotta go to boarding school because that's where you have access to the best education and not just any boarding school, but you gotta go to some of the top performing schools.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Okay. Is that an investment for your family?

SPEAKER_06 5:18

I mean, every most parents thrive to send their kids to boarding school.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Right. Cost wise is it.

SPEAKER_06 5:25

Cost wise is expensive, but again, that's where you rally around each other too.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Boarding school in Kenya is a good thing. I think in the US, you think of boarding school as where you send your problem, your your child who needs more structure in their lives.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Am I right on that? You're half right. You're half right. There's there are some schools that are extra special in a good It's still called the boarding school. Yep. Yep, and they're expensive and they'll get kids will go at like age 16 because they're just really gifted.

SPEAKER_06 5:55

Oh yeah, so so so part of you know, Kenya and some other countries to to go to boarding school is what people want. Um so what that means for them is access to best education, um, it's more structured. Um, it's you get access to going to sporting events, coolest sporting events and things like that. And um, so we you work hard to go to a really cool boarding school. Because if you go to a cool boarding school, what happens is there are opportunities out of that. And most kids do perform the best. So the Kenyan system, and I know it's changing over time, but you go to um, you know, ninth grade all the way to 12th grade, and you perform really well, you end up going to some of the prestigious universities in the country.

SPEAKER_04 6:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 6:47

And people who don't do very well, they end up going to some, you know, what we call tech schools.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 6:55

Um people might not do well. And so that's just kind of the system there.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

So you know in the US, I think it's just a lack of understanding or knowledge, or it's just more of a generalization that Africa, you hear genocide, you hear death, you hear a lot of really tough stuff. Um, and so when you look at Africa, it's a huge country. And it's it's not happening to the entire country. So your childhood sounds like you in Kenya, you were there was less rebels, less because of what you're explaining. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_06 7:36

Yeah, so Africa is a continent where you just have different parts of different countries that might be going through some things. Like right now, the Congo going through some things, South Sudan is going through some things. Uh, Kenya happens to be the one country that people go to find refuge.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 7:54

Because of our structure of the government. Um, of course, every country has its own loopholes, but there is so many things that are happening in Kenya that people, one of the things is the United Nations is headquartered there in Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. And so they bring in refugees to Nairobi, um, Kakuma, and and actually some of the refugees that go overseas through the East African region. They go through um the United Nations in Kenya. So, so most pictures you see, or you hear about Africa, you hear poverty, you hear so many things. That's until you actually go there to really realize there's two sides of the coin there. There is the thriving side, there is the agricultural sector, there's the tourism sector, and of course, there's still poverty. Now, poverty in the Western world to poverty compared to whatever is going on in Africa, it's very different.

SPEAKER_05 8:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 9:00

Povert here might mean like I have access to some things, but over there, their level of poverty might be different, but at the end of the day, poverty is poverty.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Right.

SPEAKER_06 9:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

So did you ever experience or see anything that was hard, really hard?

SPEAKER_06 9:19

I think I did. Um I think when we used to go through disasters, natural disasters like drought season, there are moments where you go a couple of days without food just because there's a national shortage of food. Um part of that also means you gotta go to school hungry. Um dry seasons, there could be really um, there's no resource for food through the national sector. I mean, there is some, but of course, there's some people who get it, some people don't. And so I remember one time growing up, maybe seventh grade, I went a couple days with no food. Um, that was one of the things. Now that's not compared to what other people go through. Right. And so that is just the different parts of that.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:15

And and um, so that was something that I remember having to deal with because you come home from school hungry, and that's not you know fun to eat. So how how old were you? Uh seventh grade, I don't know, uh think maybe about 12. 11, 12. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

And it was like, was this so this on a national basis? It wasn't just you. If if you were going for a couple days, does that mean others were going longer?

SPEAKER_06 10:48

Even longer. Um, I'm fortunate to come from a region where um we get rains all year, almost all year round, but there's some one all year around, but our land is the region I come from, is the land is fertile. So we can always plant something. Um, there are regions where the people, it's more desert. Yeah. Those are the people who suffer the most. So they go through malnutrition and and and things like that. The economic development is very slow. There are areas in the region where to even access water, you have to walk almost two miles to just get a to water only alone. And and and you think about that, there are regions you gotta take your kettle to get the water, but then you also have to get the water for day-to-day use.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:43

So then it's just a hassle.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

A burning question in my mind is if is it not as easy as moving closer to the water?

SPEAKER_06 11:52

Um affording, being able to afford um even to move closer, it's expensive. Really? And already people are owning certain regions. Okay. And so buying land and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 12:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

So not as simple as moving next to the river and you'll just live next to the river, and life is better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:16

It's much more complicated than that. Yeah. But those are the things that you'll see on TV. Yeah. Um, however, that is the other part that you don't see that which is it paints a really beautiful picture of the region in every region, really. Um it's very different.

unknown 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Community, I I have said, I cannot wait to go overseas. And again, like what you see on TV or what you hear, and you missionaries that are over there, and different, like just different the cultural differences and the joy. You know, the the dancing and the freedom and the Holy Spirit just being so present. And you see that a lot in the cultures where they're just celebrating life. Um, that is something my spirit man craves. I just crave that because that's the world I live in in my daily life. And I just, it's not what you see everywhere around you. And so I've always found such a connection with the cultures that live in community and rely on one another. And I feel like that's the world you come from.

SPEAKER_06 13:32

And that's what I miss.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 13:33

I miss uh, I miss that a lot. And and I don't know, when we started meeting occasionally for coffee and mentioning of an idea that I had, which we won't talk much about in the show because it's still under work. And part of that is to create experiences for people to experience that part of life.

SPEAKER_05 13:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:52

Um, that part of culture that is so incredibly unique and it is so hard to find these days. Um, because that community itself is, you know, we are social beings, and and I'm learning more about social beings when I look from a lens of the cultures that I've been able to be part of, my own culture from back home and the cultures are within. That's the foundation that keeps people together. Yes, it is. And so through celebrations, through the dancing, through um, you know, interacting with those, that's the part that when I'm here and I see that, I'm missing so much of that.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Well, let's bring it. Let's bring it here. Yeah. We'll keep talking on that. Different podcast. But your your heart and your passion is running. So when I think about like dancing and running and just being filled with the Holy Spirit, you have some really cool background of your grandpa being a pastor in Kenya. And so your deep-seated faith comes from you'll have to tell the story about ironing if we can get there. And then um, when did you realize that you were really good at running? Like, how old were you? And then can you go there in that moment of just like we're like, ah, wow, this is this is me and this is my future? Did that happen?

SPEAKER_06 15:21

So after high school, um I was not a runner at all in in in college. And I running was a sport that I wasn't part of.

unknown 15:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 15:33

You know, um, I was a rugby player, I played soccer, played handball. Handball is just this game like basketball, but it's just gotta use a small load of ball. They don't play it in the U.S. I played all other sports in high school. I was a really good rugby player, but I never ran. I never ran in high school. So for me, that part of it came later in life when I knew I have uncles who live in the U.S. now. They made it through coming to the US because of running. And my uncle said, Well, to come to the US, you just gotta get a scholarship. Well, at that time I was getting ready to go to college in Kenya. But I had the idea of United States. I mean, you're here.

SPEAKER_05 16:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:23

Going to the United States from where I'm from, it's like, it's heaven is right here. If in a physical world, heaven is just right here in the United States, is way closer. Um, so the thought of being on a plane fascinated me, and and um it's like, yeah, let's give it a try. So I had to lose a lot of weight.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Um because you were a rugby rugby player, right? So you were beefed up for that.

SPEAKER_06 16:50

Over 200 pounds. Um so I had a coach who's currently my coach. I still work with him. Um, he saw me walk out and he invited me to his camp. Now he's coaching professionals at that time. And so I just saw myself and I'm like, I'm not a fit. I'm bigger. These guys are going overseas, they're running in some of the coolest races and winning the people you see on TV, you know, doing incredible things. So running really didn't come to me sooner. It came later in life. So I knew my goal was to come to the US. But once I started falling in love with the process, I knew it was just a job. It was my means to getting somewhere. But that passion didn't kick in maybe after college.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

And you haven't stopped running.

SPEAKER_06 17:49

Um, I think the reason is, well, it's up and down right now for me where I am in life right now. But I'm still running, but not at the competitive level. But I think I found running right after college.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 18:05

I had a good share of experiences, you know, running in college. However, after I stopped competing after college, I found myself bored and not not knowing what to do. And I tried running again. And that's where I discovered running. Really, I discovered running after college.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

And Benson, we're not talking just a marathon or an ultra, we're talking hundreds. So explain to our audience how far you have ran and competition. Like you have done so much. This isn't just going out for a jog on the gravel.

SPEAKER_06 18:48

Yeah, so um going into the running part of the distances of done anything from a hay hundred, which is half a mile at the high level, to running marathons. Um meaning running some fastest marathons. Um placed 17th at the Boston marathon. I have won, I own a couple of road race local road races in the region. I own some road, you know, I've ran against some of the top Olympic athletes, upsetting some of them. You know. So locally um and nationally, I think I've grown in the space. And part of it is just through the competition part of it. And it's through the, I call it the intentional winter training in South Dakota.

SPEAKER_05 19:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:44

That really sets you up for success.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

It does really. Yeah, like running in the cold.

SPEAKER_06 19:49

It is, it's the mindset. Um, I think I've learned that to be successful, every season has to teach you something. And for me, I discovered I am in South Dakota for a reason. It is cold, but this is a moment for building a really, really good training base for my running. And so I look forward to the winters. It's one of the best because it teaches you something mindset-wise and everything else.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Can you I think something's wrong with my headset? Can you say that again? Do you look forward to the winters?

SPEAKER_06 20:26

I look forward to the winters, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

I love you, man. We are we are off on that. Yeah. Yeah. We put I put uh our sleds away yesterday in the garage and I just said, Lord, I hope I didn't just jinx it. Yeah. So it's so can you tell me more about that? What do you what's the motivation there?

SPEAKER_06 20:43

I I think really God gives us reasons, seasons for reason.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

Yeah, it's a great attitude.

SPEAKER_06 20:48

Um, He gives us winter. And I honestly, that's one of the things that came into my mind. Um, I was telling my mentor Tamien about this. One time I was stuck in the snow and I couldn't, I didn't know how to. Uh my vehicle went off the road and I got stuck. Um, and one of the things that I had control over was what can I do right now to get out of this situation? And I did some push-ups and I said, I am grateful that I'm stuck here because I get to experience snow. And then my mindset changed into what is this season supposed to teach me? Because after every winter, there's a spring season. And after spring season, there's a summer season. And then see, summer brings fall, it's never the other way around. So for me as a runner, as as even I use winter as um time to build, time to focus on what do I need to strengthen? And part of that is strengthening my endurance through challenges. And so um you tell if you You told me to go live in Texas, I'll tell you. One of the least places to go to go to live because I can stand humidity. I would rather deal with the extreme cold than the humidity. Then the humidity.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

So you went off the road and then you got and did push-ups. Yeah. And changed your mindset. You turned that a tough, a challenging situation into a positive. What was your what was your do you remember what your learning takeaway was? You said you what can I learn from this situation?

SPEAKER_06 22:31

I think part of that is what was next. If I sit there and pout about, well, this is rough, this is this, because that's what we we get used to every single time. It's like we like comfort. For me, um, and I remember Heather, you texted me one time. It's like, are you okay? Are you why why are you on out on the coldest day? It was one of the coldest days, and it's like one of the best runs that I've ever done. Because for me, I'd done everything to prepare, to shield my body from extremities. That the challenge was the run itself. And when you're in the moment, it's just so many things happening. And one of the very things that I always say is that changed my mindset is this is the moment that you need to change some other things in your life. And really, it's just the mindset, and gratitude becomes one of the biggest things because I'm I am grateful that I get to go out during this difficult season.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

Let's add some context to this. Do you remember what the temperature was? I can read it to you. Yeah?

SPEAKER_02 23:38

I want to say it was negative 27 or like negative 30.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

And just ambient or wind chill. Okay, I have all that. If you give me just so people listening to this, they just doubled over and went, are you correct?

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Like literally. It was, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:52

So this is on my journal. Um, I keep a journal on my phone, and I can read it to you. So my friend Ross, Mark, and and um my friend Ross, Mark, and Jake, we all ran together. And this is what I said on the journal. It was Sunday, January 14th, 2024. You were in Florida. And I said today we ran 12.5 miles to negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit, which felt like negative 37 degrees with 27 uh miles per hour winds.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

Oh man. So you're running in the wind, which makes it much harder, much more difficult. And that is a real challenge. So for our listeners who have just never really experienced that, you really can't expose your skin to that much, that cool for very long. You can get you can get frostbite.

SPEAKER_06 24:47

Yeah, you can. Yeah. And and and the one thing I want to say about that is don't just get out there and just go do that. Because personally, I've done studies, you know, walking, you know, running stuff for a while. I did some like what other proper clothing to wear for this kind of condition. Yeah. And so preparation becomes key. But I think the moral part of that is every season, it doesn't just come like that. It's a lesson, what can I grow from it? And then use that moment to say, how can I grow from all these experiences? Because if God really didn't want us to experience this season, he wouldn't have given it to us. So he gives us that. For me, using my gift as a runner, I get out and I'm like, what am I learning out of this? I'm fortunate to live in a country where I can access some of the highest tech in the cold temperature for running. And so for me, that's like, I have all this. Let me go experience what it feels like. And so that's just for me a mindset.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

We're I'm starting to notice more and more there are those who are optimistic who think that life happens to them for the betterment of them. What can you learn from it? This like word, this camp that you're in. Then there are others who are legit feel like a victim. Something happened to them, they're the victim of the thing. And you're clearly setting an example for life happens to you for your benefit. How do you talk to those who come across with the pessimistic victim attitude? How do you get them out of that mindset?

SPEAKER_06 26:27

I think a lot of the time really is we tend to take things a lot personal. Um, we of course there's some things do happen to people, they need some help. There's people who literally need help, you know, going through some of the traumas in life. That's a different story. There is the other part, the why is this happening to me? And I think for me, is what can you do about it? If there is something that is in your control, I always ask people and I always challenge athletes. You hit a rough day. Do you let that moment define who you are? Because that's an event in your life. It is not who you are. I think that's where the difference is. You fail a test, the test does not define who you are. But we call ourselves failure because we fail the test. But when we separate that event and the person, I think that's where you know we start to see growth because we say, This is one person of my life, it's just a test.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:32

But when we bring ourselves to say, I'll try again, I'll try again, I'll try again, that's practice. And I think being a victim really is where we get drawn a lot because it seems like there's a dead end to that. But when we give ourselves an opportunity to try again, separate ourselves from the event, and say, My name is Benson, and I did not do well at this. This is just an event in my life. I'm gonna keep trying again.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

That's great. Why do we focus on the 1%? What about humans makes us think on that one narrow little point of our lives?

SPEAKER_06 28:13

I think really um we get comfortable a lot. You know, we get comfortable a lot. Okay. And so many a times we don't want to think outside the box. And so we focus on what's now working our best instead of what else could it could it be? You know, like we get the weather, we can't do anything about it, but in here we can control the temperature, you know, the room temperature here. And I think what we want to do is control the temperature outside where we can't really do that. So instead of focusing on what we can control, we try to focus on the outside that thinks that is outside our control.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Are you saying that we live in uh too much comfort? I think too often.

SPEAKER_06 29:00

I think so. Um, and I think I say this gracefully, and and and some people don't know how to get out of that comfort zone because of experiences in life, because of how we were raised. But I think challenging people to think about if you get outside of something. So a doctor could diagnose you and say you have super high cholesterol. The alternative is take some pills or start going on works. Many a times we don't want to go on works, instead, we want comfort.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Yeah, we want the easy button. Yes. And so that then could lead into when something happens, you think differently.

SPEAKER_06 29:46

You take it personally. We take it personally that I'm I'm not good for this. Um, I always believe we're good at so many things. Yeah, we just haven't tried.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

What what do you advise to someone? How do you how do you uh how would you coach someone to get out of their comfort zone and get used to being uncomfortable?

SPEAKER_06 30:05

I think really it's just having to look at I like knowing the key concept of self-awareness. And where do you want where do you want to go? You know, we talk a lot about having visions, right? You know, where do you want to go and things like that? I think part of part of that is helping somebody see what would you like to happen in your life? Um, what would you like to happen in your life? And if so, how can we do things to get there? And for me, I shared yesterday in a in a mental health conference, starting small for better. Maybe instead of focusing on running 10 miles, maybe start by walking a mile. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

The little steps. Stepping outside, just I I will say that the it's the moment of like, oh, wow. This the the not experiencing it and the fear of moving into something that is so uncomfortable. Being behind that is excruciating. And it locks you up and it puts you in this weird crazy bondage. And then the anxiousness and the fear and all the things of what is to come, like that's usually where people stop because they're like, oh, it's too much.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

And then perfect. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Yeah. And then you move into that and you're like, oh, why did I waste so much? That was awesome. Yeah. That was so good. And the more you get that, the more those little nuggets of like it's exhilarating to step out of your comfort zone. It's just like, okay, yeah, that was unfamiliar, but now it's familiar. And now it I it wasn't that bad. So now I can take another step.

SPEAKER_06 31:47

It's, it's, it's really to that point. Fear stops us from many things. Fear becomes the roadblock that we see as a dead end, but the I think it's just going around it. So, for example, it could be a difficult email that you don't want to respond to, and then you let it sit for three weeks.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 32:06

And only to realize you needed to reply with two sentences and it's fine. And then you do it and you're like, wait a minute, that didn't, it wasn't too bad. You know, I've always thought about this. If somebody has gone to the moon before, that means anything is possible. And I think about that all the time. It's like, if this has been done, you're not the first person to do it.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

You know, think about that every time I put my hands under the automatic water faucets, it doesn't turn on. We've been to the moon, but this faucet won't turn on my hands. Oh goodness. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

So why? Well, and the other piece of this too, Benson, is you're the foundation. Every step you're you're you're putting another block on your been there, done that, wasn't so bad. Been there, done that. And you keep moving forward. And it's like you don't know what you're fully capable of. And especially if you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, you are capable of oh, like the amount of things that it's like, why are we ever we're doing the Holy Spirit a disservice by holding him back? Like he is capable of through us. Yes, like you physically may not be able to do certain things, but the power that lives inside of us is just like, let's go. And we unfortunately stifle that in fear. And where does fear come from? Yeah, the devil. Of course, he loves that.

SPEAKER_06 33:28

Yeah, and and my big mantra is out of the Bible is I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. Yes. Um, I read that, it's I have it in um my home office every single time. And when fear strikes, you hear that, and you hear you were created to be here for a reason.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:49

And and you let fear win, you're just basically giving up. And I think we are meant to give the best that we can. But I think because of society, because of so many things, we have allowed fear to just sit in our driver's seat. That when we want to do anything, they remind us, remember, you're not good at it. And I share this because um I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't overcome the fear of speaking.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:18

That was something that it was ingrained to me early on. Like Benson, I don't understand you. I don't, all these things, right? And and you're not coherent. You're not, um, and so I kept hearing all those things over time until one day I got a chance to actually talk to a group, and they were like, Benson, you should do this a lot more. And for me to get out of the, let the fear get out of a driver's seat, I'm not able to be like, I see you, but you don't sit in my driver's seat anymore. I rolled up the window so they sit outside. And so all these things really really, I think, is we have fear sitting everywhere in front of us in our pockets, reminding us like we can't do anything. But I think when you think about the Holy Spirit and God, God gave us the power to be able to do great things because He turns on the light for us. We don't have a switch to turn it on, we get the free sunlight. And so every day what we do really, it's just because we have everything prepped for us.

unknown 35:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:28

But I think we've created our stories in our heads.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Yes, we have.

SPEAKER_06 35:33

That we can do certain things.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

And it paralyzes us.

SPEAKER_06 35:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

From uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

It's pretty some someone at my Bible study last night asked this question. What does it mean to walk in the spirit? What does that question mean to you, Benson?

SPEAKER_06 35:50

Walk in the spirit. I think I'm gonna bring my grandfather in here.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

That's where I was going, so it's perfect.

SPEAKER_06 35:56

Yeah. Um, so I grew up with my grandfather. Um, live 100 yards away from him. Um, his house and my parents' house is like really close. Um, we didn't have a choice. We had to go to church regardless. Um, you don't go to church, you have to explain why. So church was a routine. It was not something we went, it was something we dress up for and just go to church. My grandfather, he was not necessarily a pastor, but he called himself an evangelist.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 36:33

And so he brought the ministry to where it came from. And out of that, there were so many churches that were born. And so for me, I didn't really realize so much about the part of faith and spirit until later in life. And I think it came to me specifically last year, around this time, where I was thinking about taking care of him actually. Today, last year, he was on it was some of his last days. He ended up taking his last breath, um, you know, a couple of hours from now, Kenya time. And so I didn't see that, but I saw spirit work through him based on events that were happening in life. And I saw that he showed us so many things about his faith that manifested in us and through people that showed up and the series of events that happened until his last day.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

So you saw the Holy Spirit, yeah, the Father.

SPEAKER_06 37:44

Yeah. And and and what what happened is, and I don't know the science of it, before he passed away, I was there with my I was not supposed to be there that night, but my brother and I just decided to be there. But I say this to say it was scheduled to rain earlier that day, but then it never rained until around 1020. And I don't know why I remember this, but then it started raining heavily at 1020. My grandfather passed away at 10.31 and it stopped raining, and then all of a sudden, I looked up, I walked outside because it was so emotional, and there is this piece of me high to stop, and I looked in the sky, and there was the brighter skies with a lot of stars, and I think for me that was just a reminder that of the the spirit is just and I'm normally I wouldn't notice the rain, I wouldn't notice the stars, but I took the picture and I can show it to you guys here in a little bit. But that was the moment I noticed and I shared on on the day of his funeral that everything that happened, and for me that's the spirit.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_06 39:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

So one year ago, and he was very, very important in your life. He was a big influence on your faith in the man that you've become today is your grandfather.

SPEAKER_06 39:21

I he was my biggest cheerleader. But before that, he was honestly a last mentor, a father figure to me. I have a dad, but I grew so much with him that every time he's always asking me, what are you doing next? And always pushing me to be my best in run as hard. Like this is somebody who never went to school, but he became somebody who's very influential. He read every single day. And in so many things that I look back now, um I really miss my hero. I miss somebody who made a big difference in my life. But I'm grateful that God gave me a chance to go back for five weeks, be part of his last, part of his life, see so much people come and acknowledge what the difference it did in his life. We had over 4,000 people show for a funeral.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Whoa.

SPEAKER_06 40:22

Yeah. So that's huge. Yeah. And so for me, he taught me so many lessons that now I look back and I read about habits.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:33

He helped me with those things, such as every Friday ironing his shirt. He was very um, he was very um very clean person. He's short, you have to iron it a certain way. The column, right? You know, the collar point has to be very sharp. You had to tie his tie really well. I've learned different methods of tying a tie, but I will always tie my tie the way my grandfather. But I say this to say the small things that I used to think as punishment. Like, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. Now I realize he was teaching me something at a way younger age. That now I don't show up with no short. My shorts is always ironic. Always gotta, you know, and and it's really the moment that I realized that the people, sometimes we are we don't take time to appreciate the people in our lives. And we think life is too, we gotta all this time to live. For the over 30 years of life, I realized those were the shortest moments. I really didn't experience life with my grandfather, even though I did, but I think life is too short.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Yes. Yeah, we need to slow down and take it in. Benson, you have thank you for sharing that about your grandpa. I look forward to meeting him one day. I really do. Yeah. There's there's a lot of things that you've been involved with in these past three years. I feel like both your life and my life have just been we've just been running in a beautiful way. Like I don't feel busy. I feel like I'm equipped to do what God's called me to do now. I feel like every day is a new equipping of moving forward. And I feel like that's happening with you. And so the 437 project is something that is here in Sioux Falls, started in Sioux Falls, and it's where you and multiple runners run across the state of South Dakota for mental health and suicide awareness. What a beautiful project.

SPEAKER_06 42:48

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

It is amazing. Like the pictures, um, our mayor, Paul Tenhaken, and you and the two of you leading the charge on that race has just been beautiful. So if you can share just a moment that has been life-changing for you so that our audience can experience through you what this project has been like. And then we'll make sure to put a link so people can go learn more about it because I believe in what is happening. Um, so just a just a moment, if you could share.

SPEAKER_06 43:20

It's the 437 project is uh run across the state of South Dakota to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention, and at the same time raising funds for the Helpline Center. Well, the Helpline Center is the site, you know, is the organization that is the only statewide organization to help with that. So a couple of years ago, um we were leading with the number of suicide in the country, you know, in the country.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

And South Dakota was the number one state for suicide?

SPEAKER_06 43:51

Yeah, so the cause of you know deaths in region wise South Dakota was leading.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 43:57

And so it means that there is something. That needs to be done. And so having the, you know, Paul is a visionary person. He's always thinking the next thing, right? What is the next thing? And he asked a group of his friends and people, and I was honored that he looped me in with that. I'm like, let's do it, you know? And at that moment, it was not. I mean, it was it was something that it was, we didn't know what we were doing. Now, three years later, we're going into the fourth year. It has turned into something incredible. The people are finding refuge. They are becoming okay to step up and say, I'm struggling with mental health. They're calling 911, asking for help. Think about that. Somebody picking up the phone and saying, I need help.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

Yeah. And the number for that is actually 211.

SPEAKER_06 44:50

211.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

211.

SPEAKER_06 44:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

988.

SPEAKER_06 44:52

988 is a suicide line. 211 is to the helpline center. And that's where you, if you need anything really, it doesn't have to be a crisis. I have issues with furniture. They kind of call it. Childcare, anything. Yeah. So back to your question, the most incredible, well, the memorable experience for me with the projects. I've I've run it two years in a row. Last year I was a volunteer. But I think as I say this and I say this nicely, running is not the hardest part. It's the stories you hear along the way. That thank you for doing this. My grandfather, my dad, my sister, my neighbor took their life, and we still don't know why. But people are hurting out there, people need answers. Unfortunately, that same thing continues to happen in our communities. People still take their lives. And so we've seen numbers have gone down or the awareness is becoming bigger. But I think the biggest moment for me was when I did a social media post asking for people to tell me who a family member they know that lost their life to suicide so I can run for them. So I took on a shirt and I started, I got people sending me names. I thought it was gonna be maybe five or so. I filled it up with 30, and I think over 30 names, even more than that, I think. And I think the hardest part for me, it got heavy, and I was telling um one of the runners, Micah, I don't want to do this anymore. Like I'm carrying the weight of so many people. And the project was designed exactly like that. For me, it was a self-discovery moment. That I wonder what the story is for each and every person in this names that I receive. And so that's what makes the projects, uh, the project a lot more incredible, a lot more um meaningful, and we need it more than anything else. And and like the mayor said, I wish other states could adapt it because then they could bring that awareness to it, because our community, our community needs um to be healthy in uh in different ways. And so um mental health continues to be the struggle.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

It does. And there's a lot of great people doing a lot of great things in our our community. I really hope that other states will take it on and start to adopt it. Thank you for doing that, Benson. Um, you are also, as we're closing up here, I I just I want to make sure that we talk about a little bit of your business because you you have your master's in and you you've gone to all this schooling and you were a uh counselor therapist.

SPEAKER_06 47:55

I was a counselor for a while.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Yeah, you were a counselor and you were helping people through a lot of incredible things. Um, you continue to change lives in every single arena you step in, which is why I have asked you to be a part of my first mom's and sons conference here in Sioux Falls called I Am Fortified, but it's specific to 13-year-old boys and older. So 13 to man, I don't even care if they're 40 and they're still emotionally immature and need just some love and some more things that they can take in, like gratitude. And gratitude is what you are going to be speaking about on June 12th at the I Am Fortified event. And I'm really excited to have you as one of our speakers. It it means the world to me that you're gonna be there.

SPEAKER_06 48:40

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02 48:41

Um, so you've stepped out of being a counselor full time, and you have taken on your own business and you are training and coaching athletes.

SPEAKER_06 48:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

And you have signed some incredible contracts. Can you talk about that? Like, can you say what they are or is that secret?

SPEAKER_06 49:00

I can I'll wait for the contract, but to be signed.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

Yeah, you better. Okay. So some really cool things are happening. Like God is putting just thing after thing after thing in front of you because of your obedience of stepping out. And I get this because you and I had a long conversation. I'll never forget it. About I'm like, Benson, do it, do it. Like, step out. I'm gonna do it too. And God is gonna just do things, and he is.

SPEAKER_06 49:25

Yeah. I think um that's the other thing is um last year, I think he gave me so much to think about. Um, losing two grandparents. I don't, I lost to my my grandfather who helped me, you know, I grew up with, and that's my dad's grandfather, and then my second grandfather passed away in April. I mean, in the other one passed away in in um April, and then the other one passed away in August. And so going back to Kenya back and forth, I think I had a lot of time to think. And I thought about it, and I'm like, given that I know life is too short, what kind of dent would I live in this world? And I think it's helping people. And I wanted to create something, I am very grateful for the journey through family service that I was able to, you know, intern there, went back and got, you know, I have I interned there when I was getting my master's in clinical social work. And then I was able to go through um I NBA through Dakora Western University. And I've been wrote a proposal about my business and stuff like that. And then also through um, I'm very grateful. I'm very, very grateful for the running store here in town, Six of our running company. Um that's where I feel everything grew. Everything for me running-wise. I wouldn't have done it without the running store. Um, they helped me in just so many ways, Logan and Greg and Grant himself, the coach who helped me. I think it was a season in my life that helped me paint a picture of what my future could look like. So I felt that God had been placing me in this steps in my life, putting certain things in my life for me to discover what actually is mine, you know, like that I wanted to do for myself. And so I started my, I continue to coach. I coach athletes, incredible athletes, by the way. And then I also added the concept of the mental performance. I noticed so many people struggle with that. The mental performance is anxiety over performance. Um helping mostly high school kids, you know, talking about contracts. I got some contracts with some high school kids. I mean, high schools in the region and outside, I also have some professional contracts that uh we're working on, and that I get to also speak at different events. And in fact, I will be helping out with the World Cross Country Championships down in Temp, uh down in uh Tallahassee next, 2026. So it's a it's a it's a big thing. So I'm grateful for these opportunities that I've come along the way. It really is just that thing that we're talking about when you step out of your comfort zone. So many, and you persistently keep working and never giving up and never, there are so many things that could happen. And I I think I had I started it and I'm like, what am I doing? And then you say, but you know, the patience being persistent, patient, persistent. And of course, like praying that, you know, like God, you you didn't just get me here, you got me here for a reason. Now do some work. And and I can share my philosophy is I'm someone who I say, I'll do my best. Now I talk to God, I'm like, God, you said try this. I did it. Here you go. What are you gonna do about it? You know? And so those that's that that's a little bit of that. And and really for me is using the gifts that are being given by God through running and helping other people to use it to help them become better.

SPEAKER_03 53:25

And how do people find you?

SPEAKER_06 53:26

They can find me on social media on my website, which I'll share more information about. Okay. What's your website? Um e.

SPEAKER_02 53:40

Bensane is his business.

SPEAKER_06 53:43

Coaching.com. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

Awesome.

SPEAKER_06 53:47

And and about the event, excited to bring the gratitude aspect because the gratitude is just a big thing that sometimes we put it in a pocket and we don't look at it.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Yeah, we don't.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

Well, I'm grateful, I'm have gratitude that you were here. Yeah, I'm grateful to be here.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

So grateful. Vincent, thank you. Thank you for sharing your story. We're so excited to continue this journey of life with you. Um, you really do just make the world a better place.

SPEAKER_03 54:16

Yeah, thank you. You really do. Thank you. Thanks, Benson. Thank you so much for listening. We want to change lives through this podcast. And if you want to support this podcast or our guests, please see the links below for our Patreon and giving links.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

And like and subscribe and also share our podcast as much as possible. Thank you.