Like A Bigfoot

This week we are sitting down with ultra runner, dad, race director and awesome human Nic Chiri!!! Nic catches us up on his ultra running journey since we last talked (episode #237) and then dives into what it was like to direct his first Backyard "Last Person Standing" event, the Broken Anvil Ultras in Iowa. This is an awesome conversation and I just enjoy Nic's point of view on so many levels as an athlete and as a dad. Really appreciated him sharing his family's mantra "Strong, Happy, Healthy." Hope you enjoy!!! P.S.- Stick around for the outro of the episode to hear about how my car was attacked by a bear!

This week we are chatting with athlete, coach and passionate human being Becca Jay!!! Becca shares stories from ultras, her most 14ers in 24 hour record, and checking off the list of 14ers with her sons. Throughout the whole episode she explains why it's important for all of us to cultivate an Intention for Movement- something bigger than ourselves. Hope you all enjoy the episode!!

What is it like to persevere when your body is broken and your mind is telling you that you won't be able to make it? What makes someone push through anyways? Where does the grit and resilience come from? Tim Barr was at mile 40 of the Leadville 100 when he had his biggest ultrarunning "gut check moment". His legs were destroyed from the 100 mile mountain bike just a week before. He had spent all summer taking on the Leadman- essentially all the big races in Leadville, CO all within one summer. I was there. I watched him stand up and soldier on...despite the pure agony. And he pushed 60 more miles to the finish. This week we are chatting with Tim about this incredible adventure! I am very inspired by him and excited to share this one!!

In this episode we are chatting with Ultrarunner Matt Johnson about his journey from racing Sprint Cars to racing Ultras!! Matt's trail running story recently culminated in his attempt at taking on the behemoth Leadville 100 out here in Colorado but began just a few short years ago in Virginia. We also dive into the Warrior Mindset, his experiences racing cars and why he loves ultra endurance races! I hope you enjoy the episode!!!!

Get your pencils and journals ready everybody because you're gonna want to write down pretty much everything Jason Hardrath says in this episode!!!! Chatting with Jason was exactly what I imagine talking to the wiseman at the top of the mountain is like! Which is sensible considering Jason is the type of person you'd find on the top of many many mountains. A few years ago he set out to complete 100 FKTs (Fastest Known Times). Throughout the journey he gained insight and wisdom as he expressed his specific type of art- movement through nature. The adventures were epic and the ideas cultivated throughout were beyond life changing. Once he got to FKT 99 he decide the wanted number 100 to be beyond monumental. He decided to set out to climb the 100 tallest mountains in Washington faster than anyone else. In other words, instead of taking on a short or "easy" FKT, he challenged himself to CLIMB MOUNTAINS FOR FIFTY STRAIGHT DAYS!! I truly hope you enjoy this one as I think Jason absolutely gets "it" - what adve

This week we are chatting with the incredible ultra runner John Maxwell about balancing life responsibilities with athletic goals! John also shares about many of his various ultra running adventures around the Pacific Northwest!! This one's awesome!!! Hope you all enjoy it!

In this week we are chatting with my coworker and fellow middle school teacher Lauren Spraker!! Last summer Lauren got the opportunity to hike up the behemoth Mt. Kilimanjaro with her dad. Through this adventure she got to experience the wonder of the mountain and the beauty of a group of strangers coming together to get everyone to the top!

In this episode, the AWESOME Ryan Van Duzer shares tales from all sorts of adventures: RAGBRAI, cycling from Honduras to his home in Boulder, Leadville 100, the Colorado Trail, and much more!! He also shares his enthusiasm for inspiring humans all around to step outside of their comfort zones and explore this beautiful world on bike or foot! Check out all of Ryan's adventures on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/duzertv His enthusiasm is infectious and I truly hope this episode inspires you to go out and chase adventure!!

WE'RE BACK!!!!!!! We are kicking off the self titled "season 2" of the Like a Bigfoot Podcast with our good buddy Brady Manriquez!! In this episode we chat about a new challenge I'm taking on- a different challenge each month! This month I journaled every day (or most days) and we talk about why this is a positive thing and the ways it affected my life. We also share stories from summer adventures and misadventures and I talk about a couple potentially disastrous trail runs in Iceland and Moab.

OUR LAST SUMMER REPLAY FOR 2022!!! SUPER SIZED EPISODE!! Calvin Johannsen's Epic Quest to climb the 100 tallest mountains in the continental US in 100 days! In this episode, he recounts the highs and lows of solo travel, waxes poetically about how awesome it is to sleep in the back of a Prius, explains how he dealt with the post-adventure slump, and, of course, reveals about the trials and tribulations of climbing some of the most rugged mountains in the U.S. over 100 straight days.

This week we are chatting with bikepacking champion, extraordinary endurance athlete, and all around awesome human being Alexandera Houchin! Alexandera has had an inspiring athletic journey culminating in dominant performances at the Tour Divide, Colorado Trail Race, amongst many other long distance bike races. She rides her single speed bike for days and days rocking steel toed boots, fixes bikes with sporks, and continues to smile and laugh despite any obstacle thrown her way. More importantly, she’s a super down to earth, resilient, positive person who was an absolute joy to chat with! I’m seriously in awe of her accomplishments and her humbleness. In this episode we chat all about her recent record setting ride on the 486 mile Colorado Trail, her journey from back of the pack in her very first race to becoming the first woman to win back to back Tour Divides (a 2,745 mile race from Canada to Mexico), and the lessons she has learned along the way. This one was one of my favorite episodes of the show s

OUR EIGTH SUMMER REPLAY!!! “The Endless Winter”. A year spent climbing mountains all over the world. In 1969 when asked if he would like to engage in this adventure, my uncle Joel Bown said “something really profound like ‘sure, why not?'” Two years of planning later, armed with a tent, a future paradigm-shifting mountaineer Arlene Blum and an “around-the-world” plane ticket, he was off to climb the world. This meant climbing in places like Ethiopia, Uganda, Afghanistan, Iran, and camping out in the wilderness on the other side of the world in order to face some of the tallest mountains on the planet. This is some real life-altering adventures here folks. Really anything else I write can’t possibly do justice to this story. And quite frankly, I’m so excited to share this episode that I do not want to spoil ANYTHING! My Uncle Joel has always been a funny, engaging storyteller, but somehow I had never heard this story; the excursion that set him off towards lifelong adventure in the wilderness. Event

OUR SEVENTH SUMMER REPLAY!!! This week we are chatting with Irish Adventurer Gavan Hennigan all about his life as an adventurer! Get ready because this is an absolutely AMAZING episode of the show!! Gavan has spent his adult life diving head first into adventure. Having traveled around the world for work as a deep sea saturation diver (which is fascinating), he has taken on everything from climbing Himalayan peaks to running across a frozen Siberian lake in the winter to rowing across the Atlantic Ocean by himself to, most recently, winning the Iditarod Trail Invitational! In this episode we get to hear all sorts of adventure tales from these expeditions and dive fully into how Gavan’s mindset has evolved because of them. This is a person who has had some very unique life experiences and I am so very grateful to be able to listen to his stories and lessons and be able to share them with you guys! Hope you enjoy the show as much as I did!! Thank you so much Gavan and best of luck on everything that you p

OUR SIXTH SUMMER REPLAY!!! In 2016, Kuntal Joisher was the first documented vegan to stand on the top of the world. Mount Everest was a culmination of a journey built around the discovery of his life’s mission and bravery to step outside the norm to pursue something spectacular. Having never been an athlete and weighing upwards of 240 pounds, Kuntal defied his sedentary lifestyle, fell in love with the Himalayas and started to go after one of the most insanely difficult adventures; the summit of Everest. His story is energizing, exhilarating, and will move you to “find your Everest”- a worthwhile cause that drives your life in meaning and purpose. In this episode Kuntal shares the importance of discovering your life’s purpose and how it leads to growth and success, his Everest journey and how he persevered through three separate trips wrought with hardships and tragedy, the emotions that come with finally accomplishing your life’s goal and many other lessons he has learned along the way. He’s an amazing

FIFTH SUMMER REPLAY!!! This week we dive into the Desert RATS Stage Race with six tales from previous episodes that hopefully capture the essence of this wonderful adventure (mostly because the 2022 edition is happening right now and I have had major envy and FOMO for all those folks battling the desert!!) Hope you all enjoy!!!

OUR FOURTH SUMMER REPLAY!!! Super excited to share!! This is exemplary episode of the podcast. It's everything I hope each episode to be- a pure definition of an adventure just because adventure is available to each and every one of us! In August Natalie Larson caught an Uber to the Mexican border and set out on the biggest adventure of her life. 44 days 18 hours 40 minutes and 1,171 miles later, she had traversed the entirety of the Californian coast. Along the way she survived encounters with mountain lions, swam across rivers, and discovered the kindness of strangers. Natalie's journey really encapsulates all I respect and love about adventure. Here's a bit of the intro to her fantastic blog about the experience (link below): "I saw headlamps from afar that led me to water in the middle of the night. I found a woman's purse complete with driver's license, credit cards, sunglasses, from the 70s. I found my way out of a sandstorm on fifty-foot high dunes, scared away a mountain lion by screaming at the

OUR THIRD SUMMER REPLAY!! This one is going to rock!! For this episode I mix and matched stories from two of our podcasts with the incredible athlete, adventurer, all around good dude- Cameron Dorn!! Way back in episode #12 Cameron told the story of his world record of 24 hours of burpees and it's one of my favorite stories EVER and then in episode #213 he was back at it setting the record for most step-ups in his apartment over 8 hours. There's more to those episodes so if you really enjoy this one, go back and check those ones out for more stories from Cameron! Hope you're having an awesome summer!!

OUR SECOND SUMMER REPLAY!! Super excited to rerelease this awesome episode!! I am so honored to bring you this week's episode with USA Gold Medal Olympic Hockey player Amanda Pelkey. Amanda shares all sorts of incredible stories from the USA's journey to gold medal glory. In this episode we talk about the hard work, sacrifice and dedication that is involved in making the team, moments from the Olympic experience that she will always remember, and how her team's attitude, toughness and mental fortitude led to their success. We also talk about the gold medal game against Canada which was one of the absolute most intense games I've ever seen in all my time watching sports. Amanda discusses her mentality going into the game, how the team handled the emotions of playing for a gold medal, and what the locker room was like going into overtime. (I literally just rewatched the highlights and the moment they win the game always gives me chills and chokes me up. To work your whole life towards something that momento

OUR FIRST SUMMER REPLAY!!! Couldn't think of a person who's spirit of curiosity and exploration inspires me more.Really proud of this one. Enjoy! Today’s guest is the eccentric adventurer, filmmaker and writer Beau Miles!! Beau has filmed some of the most inventive adventures out there including “The Human Bean”, “A Mile an Hour”, “Run the Line”, “Africa by Kayak” and many more. His Youtube channel is full of entertaining, quirky, impressive filmmaking and I am so grateful I was able to sit down and chat with him for this episode! Throughout his many adventures (and misadventures), Beau comes across as a person who is passionate for new experiences, who seeks understandings of the world both the internal and external, and someone who expresses his artistic side through creating some major challenges. At their core these adventures demonstrate an honest-to-goodness curiosity for life. From running an abandoned railroad line in his hometown to kayaking 2,000kms along the Souther African Coast to commuting

Episode 300!!! This week I'm celebrating the milestone by hanging out with three amazing dudes I met as a direct result of starting this project. Thomas Mullins, Phil Pinti, Paul Scheuring and I met back in 2018 at the Desert RATS stage race and have taken on many adventures since then. Truly meeting these three has been an absolute honor and I couldn't find anything more fitting to end "Season One" then diving deep on concepts of adventure and purpose with them! This episode is really a two parter: Part one- all three of us discuss what led us to long endurance events in the wilderness and how we've grown through them. Part two- Phil and I discuss where I'm going with the show and why I'm taking a three month break from new episodes (I will be putting out replays of some of my favorite ones throughout the summer though!!) Hope you all enjoy and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for three hundred wonderful episodes!!!