Beacon’s Guy Felixbrodt Pushes Past the Limit

By Jennifer L. Warren

BEACON – It’s a self-proclaimed title Guy Felixbrodt carries with deep pride: “Tri-Artist,” and one whose purposes have continued to naturally evolve and intensify over the past five years.

The year was 2017 and Felixbrodt was cruising along, participating in the New York City Marathon. Suddenly, he came upon a man running with shackles on his hands and neck, calling attention to the impacts of debilitating racism. Inspired by the lengths this man had gone to for a cause dear to him, Felixbrodt wanted to apply this similar energy to something close to his heart: stem cell research. The following year, he could be seen running along the Manhattan Streets in the New York City Half Marathon, sporting a huge white swab on the back of his shirt; another half marathon for a cause followed when Felixbrodt, clad in a bright pink cape, was chanting “Be a man, be safe,” while passing out about 70 condoms.

His sport artistry carried over to triathlon when he made the decision to get into the best shape possible in order to provide cream of the crop cells to a man with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. However, as with running, Felixbrodt was not interested in taking the traditional approach. Enter juggling and his first World Record. Qualifying for the Half Ironman World Championships in South Africa a few years back, Felixbrodt, who claims the “forward motion of running makes juggling easier,” immediately saw the huge economic gap between the triathlon world he was about to compete in and the surrounding home population.

The “Earthing Bike” Guy Felixbrodt used to complete the Lake Placid Ironman barefoot on July 23, 2022. Covering the pedals and it’s grounding wires from AutoZone, Fekixbrodt was able to connect to the powerful earth’s electrons, discharging energy with every pedal and making him feel far less fatigued than a cyclist who wore shoes and fed energy back into their muscles.
The “Earthing Bike” Guy Felixbrodt used to complete the Lake Placid Ironman barefoot on July 24, 2022. Covering the pedals and it’s grounding wires from AutoZone, Fekixbrodt was able to connect to the powerful earth’s electrons, discharging energy with every pedal and making him feel far less fatigued than a cyclist who wore shoes and fed energy back into their muscles.

“It just didn’t seem fair that many of the spectators couldn’t even afford the sport, so I wanted to do something to connect them to that reality,” recalled Felixbrodt. “So, I decided to teach a bunch of the local New York African-American and Latino kids and South African orphans to juggle, telling them if I can run a Half Iron juggling, they can at least attempt to learn to juggle.”

And try it, as well as love it they did. Meanwhile, Felixbrodt equally impressed, juggling his way through the entire half marathon run leg of the Half Iron race. His “Tri Artist” role was evolving, and about to be kicked up to a whole other level of incredulity.

For years, Felixbrodt had contemplated completing one of the most challenging athletic feats on the planet: a full Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.1 mile run); however life events, injuries and most recently, Covid surfacing, continually thwarted his plans. Ironically, it was that very restrictiveness of the Pandemic that led Felixbrodt to the jump start he needed to realize his elusive Ironman reality.

“During Covid, I stumbled upon something called Earthing in a YouTube video, and everything just suddenly clicked,” recalled Felixbrodt, who typically walks barefoot, claiming any footwear to be extremely uncomfortable and counterproductive. “I realized the great health benefits of going barefoot all the time, as it allows you to discharge the energy your body is generating, rather than feeding it back to your muscles and wearing them down.”

Opting to “be one with the sacred, electronically-charged ground” he walked upon in all of his training, Felixbrodt not only decided to go shoeless in his primarily grass-surfaced run training, but to do so on the bicycle (using grounding wires from AutoZone, creating an “Earthing Cycle) as well. He further made an even bolder announcement: He would complete one of the most challenging full Ironman races: Lake Placid, barefoot, yet another feat never before accomplished in history. True to his “Tri Artist” namesake he would also have a laser-focused cause in the forefront during the lengthy- all day affair: To raise awareness to barefooting and the rights people have to do this.

On July 24, 2022 Felixbrodt accomplished his second World Record: A full Ironman completely shoeless in just under 17 hours. Despite having to run on much more asphalt than his grass training had prepared him for, Felixbrodt was pleasantly astounded by the continual cooling down his muscles enjoyed on the bike, making his transition to the run (the dreaded “Brick” effect) an almost complete non-issue. And while most of his fellow participants were resigned to having to take off a full week or two following the race from exhausted muscles, Felixbrodt was reveling in a whole other “recovery mode.”

“After just 24 hours my feet were absolutely fine, and my muscles were completely recovered after 48 hours,” said a smiling Felixbrodt, who sees the barefoot Ironman accomplishment as something transcending sport on multiple levels.

“A lot of this is about our responsibility to our health and the Earth as well as our ability to make our own choices- such as the concept that there is something wrong about going barefoot,” explained Felixbrodt. “The whole idea of barefoot discrimination is actually based upon a subtle form of racism, implying that people can’t afford shoes or even shirts, so they have restrictive signs that discriminate against them; whereas in reality, it’s not illegal at all.”

With two World Records in the books, Felixbrodt continues to contemplate the footprint he can leave with his next venture of multi-sport artistry. In the meantime, he’s taking to the road in his camper for a few months, exploring the American allure (the indigenous culture) that captivated his heart and spirit over two decades ago while bringing him here, intent upon touching and feeling every morsel of its soil and land in the most intimate and natural means possible, barefoot.

“I want to walk and hike and be with the planet-feel it all and sense it with its natural order,” said Felixbrodt, who intends to return to his homeland, Israel, after the trek across America. “It’s getting back to a sense of touch, not having to have something to guard you- footwear, and most of all, it’s not illegal, just very natural and freeing.”

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