What Your Audience Sees
A dad from Boise, Idaho, who pushed a quintuple stroller to four Guinness World Records titles — marathon, half marathon, 10K, and 1K — over six years. A man who missed the record by four minutes, then came back seven days later and set it. Someone whose stroller and sign are now behind glass in a museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.
What They Don't See
A kid got slapped across the face in a locker room and didn't tell his parents until his thirties. He walked hallways alone, got bad grades not because he couldn't but because he hadn't decided to yet, and watched friends disappear into things they couldn't climb out of. He signed up for wrestling and spent four years learning that when the whistle blows, the only thing that matters is who put in more work. He flipped his grades to stay on the team — and discovered the power was always in his hands.
He and his wife lost twin boys who lived less than an hour. He ran 100 miles nonstop — 31.5 hours — from his childhood home outside Oakland, south through San Jose, and north to the Golden Gate Bridge, past every landmark of his life to survive the grief. He taught math inside San Quentin State Prison for five years, unpaid, by choice. He counseled children with social and learning disabilities. He slept in his car between two jobs while teaching at a university.
Then he decided. Graduated college. Earned an MA in Research Psychology. Taught psychology and statistics at San Jose State University for five years. He doesn't just tell stories — he gives people vocabulary for what they've been feeling.
The Failure That Proves the Message
Three attempts at the Guinness World Records marathon title. One stroller. Five kids.
Feb 3, 2019
5:31:32 — missed qualifying by 46 minutes
Mar 24, 2019
4:49:29 — missed by 4 minutes
Mar 31, 2019
4:42:49 — Guinness World Records title
Every time is in a public race database. A student who Googles him after the assembly finds the same truth he told them in the gym.
Signature Talks
Anything Is Possible
A sign, a son, and thirty years of proof that the phrase isn't a wish — it's a decision followed by evidence. The flagship all-school assembly.
Grades 9–12 · 45–55 minutes
Four Guinness World Records. A Master's in Research Psychology. Five years teaching college students. And a speaker who scraped by with a C in intro stats and almost didn't graduate high school. This keynote gives students a decision framework grounded in psychology research — Freeze Response, Locus of Control, Post-Traumatic Growth, Pain With Purpose — woven through lived story.
Opens in a locker room, not on a finish line. Chad traces one phrase through bullying, wrestling, an academic turnaround, Ironman Canada, five babies born at 27 weeks, a three-attempt marathon arc, and a sign that made it to a museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Every claim is verifiable — the race times are in public databases, the records are on the Guinness website. Students walk out with language for what they're carrying and a framework for what to do next.
Best for: full-school assemblies, graduation ceremonies, kickoff events.
The Weight You're Carrying
What no one named for you — and the vocabulary that changes everything once someone finally does. The mental health assembly without the stigma label.
Grades 9–12 · 40–50 minutes
Built on a Master's in Research Psychology and lived experience with grief, loss, and a 100-mile run through every landmark of a life. Gives students real psychological vocabulary for the invisible weight nobody taught them to describe: cognitive load, the freeze response, displacement, and weight that comes out sideways. The first step to putting something down is knowing what to call it.
Chad opens at a university podium — the moment his phone rang and he learned he was losing his twin sons. Then a 100-mile run past every landmark of his life. Then the freeze response, named and explained. Then a friend lost to addiction at 29. Then a friend murdered at 22 — Chad was invited to be in that car that night. Students leave with the language — and a tool for each concept they can use that same night.
Best for: mental health assemblies, counselor-requested events, wellness programming.
I Walked the Hallways Alone
I had no hero in those hallways. So I became one in someone else's. The belonging and culture talk that costs no budget to act on.
Grades 9–12 · 40–50 minutes
No records. No stroller. No athletic framing. This keynote is built entirely on relational evidence — a kid who watched classmates group up and had no fallback plan, who later counseled children with disabilities, taught math inside San Quentin State Prison, and coached Special Olympics athletes. Grounded in psychology research on pluralistic ignorance, self-determination theory, and social baseline theory.
Closes with the simplest call to action a school will ever hear: sit down next to someone who looks like they're alone. Zero budget. Zero permission required. Immediate impact.
Best for: orientation week, anti-bullying programming, school culture initiatives, post-incident response.
What Your Audience Walks Away With
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Vocabulary for what they've been feeling — grounded in psychology, not platitudes
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Evidence they can verify on their phone that the person on stage earned every word
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Proof that where they start isn't where they finish
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The honest belief that their story isn't over — and that sitting down next to someone changes theirs
Ideal For
Also
Ironman finisher · Special Olympics coach · Available nationwide · Customizes every talk to the audience and occasion · Three different internal champions at a school request each talk