I remember the first time I met my nephew, Kayo. It was late 1993 and I was only a few years out of high school and my brother brought his new girlfriend over to meet the family. Kayo was two years old and flat-out refused to get out of the car seat so he was just stubbornly sitting there in the car by himself with a grimace on his face. I went out there sure I could convince him to come inside but he just wasn’t having it—so we just sat there and talked. That was our introduction.
My brother ended up marrying his girlfriend, Leann, and adopting Kayo and he quickly became a bonafide member of the Walton family. I was living with my parents at the time so whenever my brother and his family would come to visit Kayo and I would hang out—I’d take him up to the playground, we’d draw together at the kitchen table, and go on walks.
Once I decided to take him with me shopping. Somewhere in the midst of this shopping excursion at the local Kmart he sat on a bicycle they had on display and quickly decided he wanted it. Every time I tried to lift him off of that bike he let out a blood-curdling scream that made us the center of attention. I had zero experience with this and was beside myself. This was my second brush with Kayo’s strong-willed nature.
All this ended in 1995 when I moved to Minnesota but Kayo and I would still spend time together during my frequent visits back to Ohio and my many trips to Florida after my brother moved his family there in the early 2000’s. During one of our family vacations to Miami beach I remember him swimming in the ocean the entire afternoon until he was stung by a swarm of jellyfish.
The years rolled on and Kayo entered his awkward teenage phase. Like we all do during this phase of our lives he had to lose himself for a while before he could discover who it is he really was. During these early years he became an excellent athlete in high school. Sports came easy to him and he rose to the top of any team he joined. About halfway through high school Kayo decided he was going to join the US Marines after graduation. As a sophomore he befriended a local recruiting agent who helped train him for the Marines for nearly two solid years before he enlisted.
His hard work paid off. Kayo graduated at the top of his class in the Marines, with honors. He went on to make a career in the armed forces, becoming a drill instructor for a few years and then he began quickly rising through the ranks. He completed all of the advanced martial arts requirements the service has to offer and became licensed to teach advanced water training classes to special forces, as well as a sharp-shooter. He now has almost a solid two decades of service with the Marines and raising his own family throughout it all. Despite all his accomplishments Kayo has remained extremely humble, he'd actually be mortified if he knew I was writing this but it's the only way I can think of to help him achieve his goal, which I'll explain more about below.
Now Kayo is applying his excellent work ethic and passion towards attempting difficult things to becoming an ultra-runner. For anyone who isn’t aware of what this is, ultra-running is a class of athletes who run further than a traditional marathon, which is 26.2 miles. He’s created a YouTube channel that will chronicle his journey leading up to his first 100 mile race which he’ll be running in 2026.
Building a YouTube channel is a very tough undertaking. I’d really appreciate it if you all like and subscribe to his channel and help show him some support. He’s trying hard to build his channel now and grow it to the point where it becomes a second income stream to help finance his ultra-running journey, which isn’t cheap.
Kayo is an extraordinary human by any measure and his channel is very motivational to those of us who need to be reminded that we should never stop trying to push past our perceived limits. It's so important to keep trying hard things. Who knows, he might even motivate his 54 year old uncle to start running again!
To say I'm a pround uncle is an understatement. This young man has accomplished some pretty amazing and impressive things in his life, yet somehow I know he’s only just begun to reach his ultimate potential.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
