Primal AF

Nicoal Campbell Cheats Death and is Still Smiling

• Jimmy Napolitano

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New Primal athlete,  Nicoal is not your typical adaptive athlete.   If you want to hear an inspiring story, listen to this one.   Nicoal has overcome more adversity in 3 years than most people ever will.   Listen to this one, and tell me you're not a big fan...

Want a #PrimalMF hat or PRIMALAF Hat?  Hit me up on IG -@PrimalJimmyNap or check out the IG site for @Mi_BomBons

Find Nicole Campbell on IG @nic0al

Jimmy:

Welcome to another episode of Primal AF. Today I have a really cool guest, Nicole Campbell. But before that, I just wanna speak on some of the gear that I'm wearing at a cool primal AF hat. Hit me up primal af podcast.com. I'll hook you up with some gear, but this is gonna be a really cool episode. This is somebody I just met, at the Spartan over in Asheville. Nicole is really positive. She's got a really, really cool story. So listen up. Gimme five stars. Tell somebody and uh, here she is. Boom. Nicole. Yeah. Yeah. So you were saying um, vertical cargo net?

Nicoal:

Yeah, so I got up it just fine. Um, got, got to the top, was sitting there and had a minor freak out because of how wobbly it was. Yeah. Um,'cause that was the first time I was on one that was not secure and was shaky like that and me. With my leg not having feeling in my legs due to my spinal cord injury. I was just like, how am I gonna get down? And one of my teammates was up there talking to me and was like, you have conquered this obstacle every time you're on it. Like, don't let this discourage you. And so I was on the downside of it. Mm-hmm. Someone I didn't know was behind me and me being deaf. I can make out some things, but I can't understand what people are saying. It freaked me out and'cause I could hear a voice, but I didn't know who it was. Okay. Um,'cause I still have partial hearing Right. With my hearing aids in. Um, and so, So I was like, I don't know who's behind me. And it freaked me out. And so I just kind of like slipped with my foot'cause I didn't know if they were helping me or not. And so when I went to move my foot, I moved it too far down and I just slipped and I bruised up my arm so bad, God. I'm in a hoodie right now, so you can't see them. But man, people, people ask me, they're like, are you okay? Do we need to like help you? Like are you in a bad situation? I'm like, no, no,

Jimmy:

no, no, no, no. Yes and no. I signed up for a Spartan and I fucked myself up.

Nicoal:

It, it was my own, I signed up for Spartan Race and they're like, okay. Like they question me, but it's just like, Uh, like from shoulder down to my wrist is just,'cause I was like chicken winging that cargo net so bad. Mm-hmm. But hey, it was worth it. Um, I, you know, learned something new about myself that apparently. Heights on shaky cargo nets don't really, they don't mix. Sorry, my cat is, this is Fya. Freya, yeah. Hey, Freya. She decided, she decided to be a part of this, I guess,

Jimmy:

and then my two dogs are laying down here. Um, they've been doing that all day. They just play around. It's the best life. Yeah. But for the listeners, can you give a. Like a brief story, um, because I talked to you when I met you. You just joined Primal, what was it, probably two weeks ago and then Yeah, energy was radiating and it's like a really, really cool story. So I kind of wanna give the listeners a brief overview of, of where you're at. Yeah. And it came

Nicoal:

from, so yeah, so I, um, what was it? So 12 21, 12. I. I was in a car wreck. Um, a guy I was traveling about 55. Guy was going a hundred plus impacted with my car, and my car went over a bridge, like, so, a guardrail bridge, and I went into an embankment, ended up breaking my back. Um, my L four, L three, um, incomplete, so I still have. Good nerves going through. Um, best way I can explain it is if you take a banana and karate chop it, I mean, there's still good banana going through that. Mm-hmm. But it's just mush. Sure. Um, that's my spinal cord. Um, but over the past 11 years I've gotten better. I've I in 20. How do you get better from that? Yes. So every seven years your body regenerates, new nerves, new cells, new skin, everything. Okay. Um, and so, and I've been putting my body through physical therapy. Um, I would like, basically, I. Beat my body down to rebuild it. Mm-hmm. Um, and I learned to re-walk in 20 15, 20 14. I was walking again. Wow. And I, I had a service dog and he had a special harness and we were walking. Mm-hmm. Um, Then in 2015, I found out that I had stage four ovarian cervical cancer, which put me back in my wheelchair. Um, because if anybody has seen anybody go through cancer, you know, it destroys them. Yeah. Um, it takes, it takes'em to the brink of death and then you come, you either come back or you don't.

Jimmy:

I thought like, like through like radiation and,

Nicoal:

yeah, I went through radiation, chemo, all of it. Um, and it wasn't helping. Um, my brain cannot remember. Okay. That was, that was 2015. Um, that was five, six years.

Jimmy:

Oh, so Keytruda wasn't out yet? No,

Nicoal:

um, it was not fun, I can tell you that. So stage four,

Jimmy:

I wasn't, it's like, uh, you were right there. That's, yeah. Hard to come back from.

Nicoal:

Um, I ended up having a hysterectomy and in 2019, March of 2019, I got my cancer free notion. Um, So I've been in that cancer-free window since 2019. Um, and I hope and pray to stay there. Um, mm-hmm. I get regularly tested. Um, it was every six months. Now it's every five years I have to get tested and make sure I'm cancer-free. Well,

Jimmy:

first and foremost, congratulations for that one. Fucking awesome. Like Right. Great fucking win. Oh yeah. Good for you. I mean that alone, but I mean that, and now you're still at this point, 2019, you're still over, you're still doing physical conditioning for Yeah,

Nicoal:

I'm still, yeah, I'm still doing well. And I had stopped doing physical therapy because it was too much on my body, um, with the chemo and everything. Um, and then in 20, 21, I started back in physical therapy and I had moved, I moved from Arkansas to Georgia to go to the Shepherd Center to do physical therapy. Okay. Um,'cause I wanted to and I wanted to hit it hard. Fuck. Yeah. Um, and

Jimmy:

speaking of San Fam,

Nicoal:

right, like, I, I wanted to get back to where I was and, um, So I went to the Shepherd Center, got in, and so from 2021 to now, well, and so 2021, I think it was like early springtime I got in and then November of 2022, I took my first steps again. Get out,

Jimmy:

dude. That was just a year ago.

Nicoal:

Yeah. Yeah. So, and um, so 20 20 22, uh, April, the Atlanta, the Atlanta Spartan, I, that was my first Spartan in 2022 was the Atlanta Spartan. I did my, that was my first great one that was freezing. Yeah, I know, right. Um, and then, no, Elena 21 was my first Spartan'cause I wasn't walking. Um, and it, that was a nice Spartan. Um, and then 2022, that was the first Spartan I walked. Okay. Yeah, that was, that was it. And, and then, so that was also, and then, which one was my first B I think Fayetteville was my first beast. Holy shit. Yeah.

Jimmy:

Yeah, so you went from not walking pretty much in 2020 and early 2021 to essentially completing a 21 kilometer course in Fayetteville, which has close to what, 30 something obstacles. There's not a lot of people that complete beasts.

Nicoal:

Yeah. And I'm, I'm going to Newberry, South Carolina Okay. In a few weeks. And I'm doing the trifecta weekend. Jesus. Yeah. What, this will be my, my second trifecta weekend.

Jimmy:

What an accomplishment. Well, let me take you back, um, if I, if I can. Yeah. When you were. What was, what was like your state of like emotional being, I guess, when you were recovering from the accident? Because a lot I feel has been taken away from you there.

Nicoal:

Um, so I, my like the initial, like back in 2012. Yeah. Um, oh, I hit rock bottom. Um, I went into depression. I was, I guess, I guess I can say this, I was suicidal. Yeah. Um, I, I was in college at the time too, so I, and I was on, like, I was playing soccer, you know, like I had all these scholarships and so I, I was very academic and, and I was like, in my head, I was like, what am I gonna do? Like, I can't, I can't just leave school. Like I have all these things. Counting on me. Mm-hmm. And so I was like, it, I wasn't, well, I wasn't, I'm not one to give up. That doesn't

Jimmy:

sound like it, but I mean, did you know that, did you know that back then? No. Or was that just being, that was put up to the test Right then

Nicoal:

It was me putting myself to the test. Right. Then I didn't, and I didn't drop outta school. I did physical therapy. My teachers worked with me with my physical therapy schedule, and they, instead of me going to, I went to the a d a office at, on my campus. Mm-hmm. And we scheduled it where my teachers would meet, meet with me one-on-one to do makeup, lectures and classes and tests and everything. So I, I hear the work with you. Yeah. Oh, good for that. I ended up, I graduated a semester late, but I graduated. Me too, but I, I mean, I have a Bachelor's of Science in Agricultural Food and Life Sciences with an emphasis in animal science and nice and minor in equine science, and I started an American Sign language degree.

Jimmy:

Go hard. Wow, that's amazing. So what was there like a defining, and this is before you found out you, you got cancer, right? Mm-hmm. So was there a defining moment during that period, I mean, before cancer, right? That you were like, okay, fuck this shit. I got it. Like, um, what was the defining

Nicoal:

When I got, when I got Max, My service dog. Um, oh wow. Um, so I met Max, I got Max the most obscene way. Um, I was at a frat party.

Jimmy:

I was gonna say, were you at a bar?

Nicoal:

Worst max. You had to drive him home. I did drive Maxim. I stole Max for a frat party. Oh wow. Um, he was, you know how, I don't know if you know, but you know how like guys get dogs and like to try to pick up girls? Yeah. Well this frat fraternity got a dog to get girls to come to their house. Uhhuh and this dog, they had got this, they had gotten Max to do that. And while he was just drinking alcohol off the floor that people had spilled, oh, well I stole Max. Yeah. From the frat house and took him home. That's like animal abuse. Yeah. And I couldn't stand it. And I, like, I was the DD that night for all my friends. Mm-hmm. And so I don't think I've ever told them, but I mean, it's so long ago, it doesn't matter. But like, so I stole Max from the fraternity. And to this day, I don't think they know who stole Max.

Jimmy:

They'll soon, they'll on Monday. Oh man. So if anybody remembers. Yeah, I know, right? Well, it doesn't sound like they cared that much about the, about

Nicoal:

max. No, no. Um, and then I took, I took Max to, uh, school, um, to a dog. Um, training school and, because at the time I was like, I don't know what to do with Max, but I, like, my friends noticed that when I was around Max, like my, I was happier basically. Yeah. Like he brought this new, new me out. I wasn't depressed, I wasn't anything, and they started noticing that like my seizures were. Like he was picking up on my seizures and I wasn't having to take as much medicine either because Max was like alerting me to my seizures and I could take my preventative medication. What?

Jimmy:

Wait, they taught him how to do that? Yeah.

Nicoal:

Okay. Okay. And so we, we took him to the dog. I don't remember the name of the school, but it was something canine something. They're still around. They're based in North, the Midwest. Okay. But we took him over there and they trained him to be a service dog. And he, it took two years for him to be trained and he was, and he was the best dog ever. Um, I even have his paw print tattooed on me with his name and the date I got him and, That, that tattoo means more to me than any of the other tattoos I have. Okay. Because it reminds me, it reminds me that it doesn't matter what I'm going through. I, I beat suicide because I'm, I'm not gonna lie, the week before I found Max, I attempted suicide. I was that low. In depression and stuff.

Jimmy:

How did you try to do that? I mean, I'm glad you're successful.

Nicoal:

Oh, I'm, uh, oh, I'm glad I was unsuccessful. Um, so because of my spinal cord injury, I had all this pain medication. Ah. And so I just tried to od and apparently. I am stupid and dunno how to od you on the pain medication. Thank God. Thank God. Right. Like, um, and so, but it was, it was mainly my body was just so, okay, like, so adapted to being on pain medication. It didn't matter how much I took, my body was just, you know, like, oh, well this is normal amount. Like, and so basically I was addicted to pain medication already. It didn't matter how much I put in, I. Okay with it.

Jimmy:

And this is prescribed pain medication too, huh?

Nicoal:

Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, that's that's the crazy thing. Damn. Um,

Jimmy:

but you overcame that and Max was kind of like, he was like little Angel.

Nicoal:

Yeah, he was. He was. But

Jimmy:

it's funny because he didn't really say anything to you, did he? No. You fixed that shit yourself. Yep. So he was just, he was just a, a beacon of optimism.

Nicoal:

Yep. He was just, he, he was an outlet almost for me to focus on, besides focusing like he was there for me. He was just there to listen almost so I could just talk through stuff. Um, and I didn't have that. I mean, I lived in an apartment by myself and, you know, Then Max came along and he just sat there and had these golden eyes that would just stare into my soul. What kind of dog? As I talked to him, he was a, a German shepherd, husky mix. Oh

Jimmy:

man. I, for some reason I was picturing a, uh, a golden retriever. Um, but I mean, I love German Shepherds too.

Nicoal:

Oh, he was beautiful. Um, he was, he was, He was tan with like, it almost looked like someone took sand and sprinkled it on his back. Oh, because he had red specs on his back. Um, he was, he was gorgeous. Um, but the unthinkable happened to Max during my divorce. Um, my ex-husband was a very cruel man and decided that I didn't deserve Max because of how happy Ma he know, he knew Max made me more happy. Happy than he could. Mm-hmm. So during my divorce, he decided to poison max,

Jimmy:

get the fuck outta here, this fucking asshole.

Nicoal:

Yeah. We're divorced for a reason. Yeah. What the fuck? So he took Max from me that way. How'd you overcome that? Um, prescribed medication through a therapist. I, I didn't know how. Um, but then another little angel came into my life. Her name is Mara Jade. She's a standard poodle. Oh, nice. Um, she, I honestly don't know how she came about. She just did, um, And, but the, I didn't know that she was sick and she had cataracts. Okay. But at a year and a half, she lost her vision due to cataracts. Hmm. Um, and she's been blind ever since, but she doesn't, she doesn't act it. Um, so she was never gonna be like, she can't be a service dog. Um, but she has all the training to be one.

Jimmy:

Oh, really? They have a lot of energy too. Yeah. Poodles,

Nicoal:

standard poodles. Yeah. Um, she's so lazy. Um, but yeah, she, she, she went to training to be a service dog and everything before I found out that she was gonna go blind. Um, so she, she can do everything that Max could do, um, except she can't be a service dog legally. Um, so I spent about. 13,$15,000 for the training and for her to go blind. Which I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it's okay. It's, it's, at the end of the day, it's money. Yeah.

Jimmy:

But's just a tool.

Nicoal:

Yeah. And I can recoup that somewhere else. Okay. I can't, my dog is, I'm on the phone. Can you come here? No, you're gonna go back in your scratch box. Okay. She has a nap.

Jimmy:

Is getting, um, like, yo, I need attention.

Nicoal:

Yes, she is. Come here. I'm something at you. That's what I. Or just stare at me awkwardly. Um, but no, Marj, she's a sweetheart. Um, she'll still, she'll steal all the attention, so, but no. And then I'm, now, now that I'm up walking again, Braa, oh my gosh, cat. Um, now that I'm up walking again, Uhhuh, I'm looking at getting another service dog. So I good have more stab stability and can do more. Um, and don't have to depend on my wheelchair as much.

Jimmy:

How? All right. So mindset wise, Well, you, you were probably, you, you were in a pretty big hole, obviously with the spinal cord injury. What was it like learning about the cancer? What was your mindset there? Was it because I, I mean, that's another pretty big hit, like was, um, I

Nicoal:

was, I was in shock obviously, um, because not even two months prior I had found out that I was pregnant with twins. Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I was in, I was in shock because I, I was like, so what about my pregnancy? You know, like, and they were like, well, you can terminate it now and just do cancer treatments, or you can wait and see how far along in the pregnancy you get and, Just see how it goes. Mm-hmm. Well, in the state I lived in, you had to have your husband's consent to abort. It's just how the south works. Um, and he would not give consent.

Jimmy:

Yeah. I'm biting my tongue for a reason. Yeah. Okay.

Nicoal:

Um, so a good solid six months of me. Fighting cancer and being pregnant and everything happened and then eventually I miscarried both of them. Mm-hmm. Um, and he, that's when the abuse really started over that. And I was, for me, like mentally, I didn't know what I did wrong and. That was, that was a really hard struggle for me because it's like, medically, this could've never, it didn't have to happen. Yeah. Because we knew what was going on. Um, but it was a lot of mental psych and psychological abuse that happened with him. Sounds like it. And the, it was just, it didn't need to happen, honestly. And he just, He cared more about what I could give him than me. And so, and it came to find out during our divorce when I quote unquote failed to give him what he wanted. He went and got it from somebody else.

Jimmy:

This guy's a standup guy, isn't he?

Nicoal:

Oh yeah. It was, you know, the whole I, you know, if I would've known everything I knew that came out during our divorce, I would've never.

Jimmy:

Right. Never. That's, I mean, that's all like generally a pretty big fucking challenge, right? You have, first of all, you're not walking yet. You just found out that you have ovarian, ovarian cancer and you miscarried the twins. How the fuck do you bounce back from that?

Nicoal:

Carefully.

Jimmy:

It sounds like it. Like what? What is your focus on the other side of that? What do you, what's the purpose and what are you working towards?

Nicoal:

I mean, for me, I like at the time, like my goal was to walk again. Mm-hmm. Because I knew I had done it before, I wanted to do it again, and then when cancer came into the circle of things that I had to worry about, I didn't have a support network. Um, so, and if I, I did, but I didn't, like, they weren't vocal in saying that they were here for me. They weren't vocal in. Actively being supportive. They were, they were there, they were like a silent support network. So it was very hard for me to see it. Um, but looking back, I see that they were there. It was just hard for me in the moment to see that they were there. Um, but. It was a struggle during the whole cancer treatment thing because I was also going through my divorce towards the end of that. Yeah. Because 2017 started my divorce. Um, and that was when I was really going through treatments too. And so that's when my family stepped in and started handling my divorce for me. Good.'cause I, I mean, I, I could, I couldn't mentally handle that on top of everything else I was handling. And so my dad, who is my biggest rockstar and cheerleader, he stepped in and he handled it for me because I, I was like, I'm done. Like, I can't look at him. I can't go in the courtroom. I can't look at him. Yeah. I can't do anything because not only did I have. The divorce going on, I had the domestic violence charges going on as well against, so I had two no against him. Okay. So I had two, I had two cases going on at the same time. So I was like, I can't handle both of this mentally dad. And so my dad came down and helped me through it all. And because I was living, I didn't have a place to live where we were at. Mm-hmm. Because everything was in his name. My name wasn't attached to the property at all. Damn. So we had to get me a place to live.'cause I had, I couldn't leave the state.

Jimmy:

Mm-hmm. Because of the legal stuff

Nicoal:

that was going on. Yeah. Yeah.'cause of legal stuff that was going on and because my treatments were there. And it was just, instead of moving my treatment somewhere else, it was just easier to stay there. Yeah. Um, and then eventually I ended that round of treatments and I could leave and I could leave the state due to that, but with the court trials and everything going on, it was just easier to stay because he was fighting back. He hadn't, he didn't have a leg to stand on basically, but he was still fighting and. I think the worst thing, worst outcome that could have happened, happened. Mm-hmm. And to this day, I am, I'm not okay with it, but I have to be, and I am, I'm coping with it the best I can. I just, I don't go to that state. Um, And if I have to, I avoid where he lives at where everything, and just so I don't have to potentially run into him.

Jimmy:

Yeah. Fuck this guy. Jesus Christ. All right. Yeah. So, um, how do you, I mean, you're, you're on, obviously, you're on the upswing now, right? So, I mean this stuff, yeah, stuff is still on your shoulders and it lingers, but. When I talk to you, you, I mean, you're in a very, very good spot now. You're optimistic. I mean, I think the favorite thing, the favorite thing that you said is like, listen, I'm happy to be here. I just, I, how did you say it? I beat death three times.

Nicoal:

Yeah, I did.

Jimmy:

Um, and you dropped this loser of a husband, so, um, you have that going for you, but what do you, like, what, what is your feeling now as far as like, you've gotta to be able to pull yourself out of that hole? There's gotta be a flex there. There's gotta be a level of like, holy shit, I'm fucking amazing. I.

Nicoal:

Honestly, I don't, I, I guess I'm too, I don't see it that way. Um, I do because I'm too humble for that. Um, because I mean, as many times as I've told my story, everyone's just like that, that needs to be told to more people. And I'm like, I, I guess, um, I suppose. Yeah. And, and I, I know there's people out there struggling and going through what I've gone through and need the help and, and if I can help one person by telling my story mm-hmm. Then that makes me happy. And honestly, getting out of my divorce, like getting away from my ex-husband was the hardest thing. It was harder to do that than. Cancer treatments.

Jimmy:

God, that's hard to, um, I mean, it makes sense because of like the inner work that a lot of us have done, but I mean, it's so hard to hear.

Nicoal:

Yeah. He had such a mental grip on me telling me how worthless I was without him and how I was nothing that without him and, you know, It's, if you've never been in a mental and physical abusive relationship, it's hard to understand and it's heartbreaking to hear. Mm-hmm. And for somebody who's been there, I don't want somebody else to be there.

Jimmy:

So let me ask you this then. I think, I think the wisdom that you have now on the other side of this, while you're on your major fucking glow up, um, what advice would you have for somebody that maybe, maybe it could be like general, but that is trying to get out of a shitty relationship that is overcoming, um, you know, a big injury. That is overcoming cancer, like one of the things that you talked about, like what advice would you have for that

Nicoal:

person? I mean, if general advice of anything that I've gone through in my life is, it's not the end as much as you think what you're going through right now is the end. It's not. There's always something, another step forward. Or just in reach, just because you think it is, or you think this moment is where it ends. It's not. And you can keep pushing forward. Even if you are pushing one centimeter at a time, you're still moving. Mm-hmm. And, and that's all that matters. That's, I mean, in my life. There was some day it was so hard for me to get out of bed that I didn't just because I couldn't. Yeah. But when I was in bed, I still, I, I got on my phone and I looked at things that motivated me, and then, and that's what I did for the first, I don't know, six hours of that day maybe, so that the next six hours of that day, I could push myself to do something.

Jimmy:

So you gave yourself almost like a purpose to work towards because like Yeah. That end, or like you're, you know, that thinking of this is the end, that is one of three major voices that you have, um, that most of us do have. So that is, that is the, the feelings one. That's the, that's the one of fear and that's a protection thing. Mm-hmm. The next one, the next voice that we have is the voice of logic and the voice of reason. This one doesn't have any emotions, but that's the one that you went back for you and said, this isn't actually the end. Everything here sucks a lot, but it's not actually the end. And then you find the third voice, and I think this one's the most powerful. The, the intuition and like the gut voice. And that's the one that is like decisive, that makes action and starts that fire. So when you start to look that, uh, you start looking at that motivation and the things that, that got to your purpose, that's where like the fire starts. Like, you know, the spark starts. So that intuition in you is huge. Um, what were some of the things that motivated you? So,

Nicoal:

One of the big things, so I don't know if people still use Pinterest or not, but Pinterest has been my biggest thing through life. I have a Pinterest board full of motivational quotes from people of all walks of life, and I don't know why, but there's one about a sunflower and it talks about how a sunflower follows the sun. It can be so cloudy, overcast, and yet one ray of sunshine that sunflower is facing straightforward to it. And that is, that's been my little mantra is look for the ray of sunshine and walk towards it.

Jimmy:

Dude, that visually vi visualization that you have is huge. Lemme show you this. Um, I don't know if you can see it.

Nicoal:

Oh, that's awesome.

Jimmy:

So I just took that, it's like a vision board. It's like I have it right here and it has the things on there. It's almost like exactly what you did. Um, it has like, you know, primal fitnesses up here. And then, um, you know, just being with groups, kids, places I wanna travel, but like, it has like the purpose of. Of, you know, what you're, what what you're working towards. Yeah. Yeah. So on a, on a smaller scale, I did what you did, but you figured out how to do that intrinsically. I paid a lot of money for somebody to tell me how to do that. Um, you did that intrinsically and it's, that's huge. Um, that's pretty, that's pretty freaking cool. Um, and like, I want you to talk too about the hoodie that you're wearing, more hearts and scars. How did you find Oh, yeah.

Nicoal:

Okay. Um, one, one night I, in my de I was depressed and I was like, I need out of this who, and I wanna do something. And then a Spartan race ad came across my feed and I was like, I wanna do one of those. Mm-hmm. I signed up to do one of those back in 2012, and I never got to do it because my car wreck happened, like I had signed up for it and, My ticket just went poof because I had a car wreck and didn't get to do my Spartan race. And so I was like, we're gonna do one. And I had a friend who was in a wheelchair as as well, and we did Miss Wheelchair America together. Really? And she was Miss South Carolina? No, she was Miss Virginia. Virginia and I was Miss Georgia. Okay. And we competed together and I was like, I know she did a race and I wanna know how she did it. So I contacted her and she got me in contact with Mel Hert and Scars. And that's how I did my first race in Atlanta.

Jimmy:

Oh, get the hell out. That's awesome. Because I've, like I, you told me to look for that tent and they were the nicest people. And I remember, I think there was this one. Lady, she had like Spanky or something written on the back, her like,

Nicoal:

yes and yes. She's, she's a sweetheart. She's a sweetheart. Oh.

Jimmy:

I was like, Hey, I'm sorry, I'm looking for my friend Nicole. And she like came and hugged me. She's like, oh, we love Nicole. And she's

Nicoal:

running back us. Oh yeah, they're great. Um, they watch me go from not even being able to move my legs through Barb wire crawl. They watched me, I don't know if you know much about Alan's course, but there's a cargo net to get up from point A to point B or you, there's no way around it. You have to go up the cargo net unless you wanna go through the woods and like up the cliff. Right. Up the cliff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they watch. They watched me get harnessed up and go up that, with that, having somebody move my feet for me and me struggling, like to pull myself up that cargo net by my first year, second year, I did it by myself. Holy shit. Yeah. And then, and so that was the Atlanta the first time Elena had the trifecta weekend, I think this past year. Yeah. I think, I don't know. It's been so long. My brain is like, yeah, they did. Because that was the cold thing. Yeah, because, yeah.'cause that's when I got my first trifecta metal, which I also keep my trifecta metal right here. Um, because that's when I, that's when I did my first beast. Okay. That is when I did my first beast. Um, because it reminds me that I can do hard shit.

Jimmy:

Dude, that was a brutal beast. It was

Nicoal:

cold and

Jimmy:

brutal. Oh man. Like, all right. I feel kind of like a pansy right now because like I don't have an excuse. So I started with like a shirt on and I'm like, okay, because you know how you go down the course and when you go back, you go past the finish line. Yeah. I was like, I am gonna take off my shirt because I'm gonna eventually get warm, so I take off my shirt there right before you go to like the monkey bars. When we went to the other side of the road, like where it was up like on the end? Yeah. It was windy and I was freezing my balls off. I was like, God dammit, that was a bad idea. Oh, that was the worst idea ever. Like I was like Jack hammering in the car. I was like, I was like, Jesus Christ. Yeah. That was a dude. That was a brutal one.

Nicoal:

I mean, they had to close down like a few obstacles'cause it was below freezing. Hmm. But, and they were, that was, that was a brutal course. But it was fun. It

Jimmy:

was, get to them. It was fun. It was fun. That was a, that was a cool venue.

Nicoal:

Yeah. I'm glad they made it a trifecta weekend

Jimmy:

though. Yes and no, but, but I'm like, I just wanted get the fuck outta here. But I did, I did really good in the sprint though. I think I came in sixth, but, um, either, yeah, I

Nicoal:

was like a, I was a hundred and something. Oh,

Jimmy:

good. Well, yeah, but still. Yeah. Fuck yeah.

Nicoal:

Hey, this past weekend in Asheville, I was 140 fifth out of 156 go hard. Right? And Asheville and that, that hill in Asheville. That brutal one. That last one that you had. Yeah. Last one. Practically crawl up.

Jimmy:

Jesus. That was a finisher, wasn't it?

Nicoal:

Yeah, that was brutal.

Jimmy:

Well, what is. What is your next big goal that you're looking to accomplish? Um,

Nicoal:

speaking of, um, so I have not run Rand Run, um, Rand. Yeah. Um, in years, like years. Mm-hmm. It's mainly because of my spinal cord injury. I just, my, I have to teach my reteach my legs what to do. Like, I mean, let's be honest, I, I just started walking again. Yeah, well I ran for the first time on yesterday. Get out for a solid two minutes.

Jimmy:

Dude, you ran like that is

Nicoal:

crazy. So my goal is okay to add to that. Like keep adding to that little by little. Yeah. Yeah. Don't, and, and so I, I want, I wanna eventually do run a five k I don't like, I mean, I, I only do road races and stuff like that, so like, you know, like I can run, if I can run one of my road races, I'd be happy. Okay. Um, now eventually I wanna run a spartan with obstacles and stuff like that. Yeah. And, but right now my goal is to run one of my road races. Oh. And that may, it may be next year by the time I do it, but I mean, it doesn't matter. I, it doesn't matter. I ran two minutes yesterday.

Jimmy:

I'm just gonna keep on climbing here because I know because Who's your coach? Josie. Um.

Nicoal:

I haven't been, I think so. Um, I would have to look and I'm on my phone right

Jimmy:

now, so. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, it would probably be either Josie or Liam. Either way, they have all of those coaches got me to where I'm at today. They are the fucking best. Um, and I am 100% sure that you have gained a lot of. Followers and a lot of cheer, like for the people that listen to this, it's Dude Nicole, you are truly an inspiration. How do people follow you on your journey on social media? So my

Nicoal:

Instagram is where I post a lot on Instagram. Um, and it's basically my first name, Nicole, except the OS is zero.

Jimmy:

Okay. And it's N I c O or n i c zero a l.

Nicoal:

Yes. Okay. Um, yeah, and that's where I post a lot. Um, I kind of keep my Facebook private just out of respect for my family. Mm-hmm. Um, because like we, my family, I like to keep it our family network. Yeah. Um, I mean, I do have some outsiders on there, like, but that's just because of, I do a lot of. Digital marketing and stuff like that.

Jimmy:

Cool. Well,

Nicoal:

Nicole, but otherwise, yeah.

Jimmy:

Well thank you so much for coming on. Um, I'm dropping this one on Monday and it's, it's, it was really, really cool. First of all, meeting you. I'm so glad I did that. But second of all, thank you so much for coming on on, on

Nicoal:

the show. Yeah, no, I, what's funny is I knew Matt was in the States. And I texted him, I was like, Hey, are you coming to this race? And he is like, no, I had to go back. And I was like, that's a bummer. I would've really liked to meet some of you and the other primal people. And he was like, well, I know someone's gonna be there. And he, and he is like, hang on. So, yeah. Yeah, he, that's kind of how this, yeah. That's kind of how that happened.

Jimmy:

Well, that's awesome. Well, thank God it did. And so your next race is where?

Nicoal:

Uh, I have a race tomorrow. Shit. Where I'm doing rugged

Jimmy:

maniac. Okay, well shit, good luck. We'll, we'll follow you there and good luck. You get your, uh, get your berries in and carbs and yeah.

Nicoal:

So yeah, I'm doing rugged maniac tomorrow, next Saturday. I have a road race. I have a break. I think I have a two week break and then I have. Another race. Good for you. Well, no, I have, I don't have one. I have a, I have a five K and I have a week break, and then I have a five K road race. Yeah, I'm busy.

Jimmy:

I go for it. Go for it.

Nicoal:

I had a, I had a three month break and now I'm back at it. You had a

Jimmy:

couple year break and now you're back at it.

Nicoal:

True.

Jimmy:

Well, good for you. Again, thank you so much. Um, you're the best.

Nicoal:

Thank you.

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Jimmy Napolitano

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