Full Transcript for #121 - Anton Krupicka

runner and hold a soft spot in my heart as a result. 00:05:00.624 --> 00:05:04.233 But then, post-college, I ran cross country and track in college very mediocre, uh. 00:05:04.233 --> 00:05:05.877 But then post-college I ran cross country and dragon college is very mediocre. 00:05:05.877 --> 00:05:07.800 No results to speak of, um. 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:11.752 But post-college I ended up working at the Colorado running company. 00:05:11.752 --> 00:05:15.028 Um, then this has been in the two thousands. 00:05:15.028 --> 00:05:18.247 Um, it was just across the street from CC. 00:05:18.247 --> 00:05:23.427 Uh, on the other side of cash, the pudra, and uh, yeah, I only worked there. 00:05:23.427 --> 00:05:32.942 I don't know four months, know four months, five months, oh, I didn't realize aced in our audience, works there, so that's why I was like it's a special place for me it was from. 00:05:32.982 --> 00:05:33.704 Let me see it was. 00:05:33.704 --> 00:05:35.732 Yeah, it was, so this would have been. 00:05:35.732 --> 00:05:38.901 I qualified for western states in 2008. 00:05:38.901 --> 00:05:56.233 The race didn't happen that year because of forest fires, but I was training in colorado springs and, uh, yeah, I worked at the crc from january until like june may or june, yeah and then I moved to leadville actually, so, yeah, five months yeah, very cool, very cool. 00:05:56.334 --> 00:05:59.564 All right, so colorado springs synonymous with mac carpenter? 00:05:59.564 --> 00:06:09.185 Was it a little weird for you, like I know this is like kind of a strange question, but like it's like a meet your heroes kind of moment, like when you go to colorado springs, you want to be a mountain runner at the highest level. 00:06:09.185 --> 00:06:15.067 Mac carpenter at the time is is the mountain runner at the highest level, probably the most famous one on the planet at that time. 00:06:15.067 --> 00:06:16.089 What was that like? 00:06:16.089 --> 00:06:18.161 Getting to meet him and just build a relationship with? 00:06:18.901 --> 00:06:21.103 him, huh, um, well it is. 00:06:21.103 --> 00:06:44.958 It is sort of the meet your heroes thing where, like, you have someone sort of this archetype in your mind and you project all these qualities onto them and then you meet them and they end up they're an individual and they are who they are had him like photos of him like pasted to my train logs when I was growing up in high school. 00:06:44.958 --> 00:06:56.413 You know, uh, and I ran with the incline club some and Matt and I never we never became close friends or anything, but definitely acquaintances definitely ran together. 00:06:56.413 --> 00:06:58.279 You know, plenty of times. 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:03.867 I couldn't put a number on it, but I remember when I ran Leadville for the first time in 2006,. 00:07:03.867 --> 00:07:12.797 He was encouraging of me leading up to the race and then was congratulatory of me after the race. 00:07:12.797 --> 00:07:22.125 We were sending emails back and forth and I would go to Incline Club runs and the end of the season parties and stuff and I don't know. 00:07:23.764 --> 00:07:27.103 It was cool to have that validation from someone that I'd looked up to for so long. 00:07:27.103 --> 00:07:32.367 But then also you achieve something in the sport and you start to like grow past that, I guess. 00:07:32.367 --> 00:07:38.464 Um, so I've always really respected everything Matt's done in the sport, uh, I guess. 00:07:38.464 --> 00:07:42.553 One final little thing my introduction at La Sportiva. 00:07:42.553 --> 00:08:03.273 I wore Sportiva's in the 2006 Leadville, bought them myself, but then after that race, unbeknownst to me, matt gave the manager of the mountain running team at Sportiva at the time, buzz Burrell, like my contacts so Buzz could get in touch with me and, you know, offer me, I guess, a sponsorship, which was very, very minimal at the time. 00:08:03.273 --> 00:08:11.324 But yeah, so I mean that was a very nice thing to Matt to do, just like to make that connection so interesting, interesting. 00:08:11.886 --> 00:08:13.329 So there's this time in your life. 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:18.721 It's really cause you and you told the stories a few times on podcast where you'd you'd applied for the Pikes Peak marathon. 00:08:18.721 --> 00:08:21.204 You technically, I guess you got in right. 00:08:21.204 --> 00:08:22.927 They just didn't get the email or something like that? 00:08:22.927 --> 00:08:23.629 Yeah, exactly yeah. 00:08:23.629 --> 00:08:26.473 That was the same year you ran Leadville and won the first time, right? 00:08:26.473 --> 00:08:27.274 Yes, Yep. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.228 That's what I think is like around the same weekend Like what do you? 00:08:31.228 --> 00:08:32.120 Do you ever think about that? 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:34.027 Like like, would your life have gone? 00:08:34.027 --> 00:08:35.129 A different cause, that was also. 00:08:35.129 --> 00:08:36.905 Matt won that year too in the marathon. 00:08:47.725 --> 00:08:50.171 It won the marathon point, maybe even the next year. 00:08:50.171 --> 00:08:56.523 If I'd run pikes that year, if I'd run pikes that year, I I would have done poorly I'm not poorly, but it would have been mediocre. 00:08:56.523 --> 00:08:59.149 I maybe would have just like broken four hours or something. 00:08:59.149 --> 00:09:01.847 But you know, I wasn't going to beat matt, I just wasn't that kind of runner. 00:09:01.847 --> 00:09:05.340 Um, I don't think I ever became that kind of runner. 00:09:05.801 --> 00:09:11.913 Uh, pikes is a very runnable mountain and I've never, I've never broken 230 for the ascent. 00:09:11.913 --> 00:09:13.602 You know, I mean, that's always during training. 00:09:13.602 --> 00:09:20.264 I've never done the race, uh, but uh, yeah, I guess I haven't thought about that as like a sliding doors moment or anything. 00:09:20.264 --> 00:09:28.761 Um, it was cool though that, like I don't, I was not in

the headspace to run 100 miles at that point yet in my life. 00:09:28.761 --> 00:09:41.740 I was only I just turned 23, uh, so it was good to have that sort of serendipity of like not realizing that I had an entry to the race to force me to do this other race. 00:09:42.623 --> 00:09:51.948 I mean, actually, one thing there was so the manager of the CRC at that time, john O'Neill, uh, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago. 00:09:51.948 --> 00:09:54.580 He, he was the one. 00:09:54.580 --> 00:09:57.807 So I was running like 200 miles a week that summer just crazy, you know. 00:09:57.807 --> 00:10:02.705 Uh, and John was like dude, just do Leadville. 00:10:02.705 --> 00:10:05.952 Like're never going to be more fit for a 100-mile race than you are right now. 00:10:05.952 --> 00:10:08.947 I was in my early 20s. 00:10:08.947 --> 00:10:12.245 You just don't think that you can run that far, at least I didn't at that point. 00:10:12.245 --> 00:10:14.865 So it was good to have the push from somebody to. 00:10:14.865 --> 00:10:17.450 You know it's possible. 00:10:17.450 --> 00:10:18.390 Humans do it all the time. 00:10:19.413 --> 00:10:21.855 It's interesting when you applied to Pikes. 00:10:21.855 --> 00:10:32.899 The only reason I asked this question is because and I kind of think about, okay, like maybe cause it's short trail I mean technically it's a marathon Do you think you would have maybe ended up doing more long, like more short trail stuff? 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:34.806 Did that ever interest you in that time in your life? 00:10:34.806 --> 00:10:35.970 Or it was always the longer stuff. 00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:41.927 The short trail stuff definitely interested me, uh, but I don't think I would have found much success at it. 00:10:41.927 --> 00:10:44.832 So I would have just gravitated to ultras pretty immediately. 00:10:44.832 --> 00:10:45.433 As a result. 00:10:45.433 --> 00:10:54.272 As it was, I jumped immediately to the a hundred mile distance, had immediate success, and so that just kind of became my game like right away. 00:10:54.272 --> 00:11:08.201 But I just think there would have just been like a season delay, basically Cause I mean I think yeah, I won Leadville marathon that year, which isn't nearly as competitive as pikes, but it was an almost a course record. 00:11:08.201 --> 00:11:09.004 So that was some positive reinforcement. 00:11:09.004 --> 00:11:13.422 But yeah, I don't think I would have, I don't think I would have like won pikes that year the way that I won leadville. 00:11:13.422 --> 00:11:14.565 So interesting. 00:11:15.066 --> 00:11:16.450 what are the things you and finna talked about? 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:24.687 And I found this to be so fascinating because you kind of brushed on it, uh, in your conversation about matt carpenter and fila and kind of that era of the sport. 00:11:24.687 --> 00:11:26.532 Could you go a little bit more into that? 00:11:26.532 --> 00:11:34.706 Because, like I did some digging and tried to find much on the internet, I could not find anything like on Fila having this mountain running team and like Matt Carpenter and that like that era of the sport. 00:11:35.241 --> 00:11:36.519 I mean, I don't know much either. 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:41.331 All of my source for that was literally Runner's World magazine. 00:11:41.331 --> 00:11:48.894 They used to have like a race section in the in the back and they would cover trail races and, uh, there was an article in there. 00:11:48.894 --> 00:12:00.203 I probably still have the magazine from the late 90s of uh matt doing a race in mexico on some volcanoes and I remember he was like wearing fila and that and he was wearing fila when he like won mount washington. 00:12:00.203 --> 00:12:02.527 Um, I don't know. 00:12:02.527 --> 00:12:13.889 I do know you know, later in the teens, the 2000s, skyrunning kind of had like a rejuvenation period and I got to meet the founders. 00:12:13.889 --> 00:12:21.200 He was a runner back then Mario Giacometti and Via Fila was just like the sponsor of the whole series. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:24.129 They were the ones who were like flying people to all these races. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:25.666 But Matt wasn't the only Skyrunner. 00:12:25.666 --> 00:12:28.236 There were others, here in Colorado for sure. 00:12:28.236 --> 00:12:36.461 Uh, danielle Belenji was definitely one Uh, and she won Pikes Peak many times and an illustrious career as an endurance athlete. 00:12:36.461 --> 00:12:43.104 Uh, but I know that feel is putting a lot of money into it at that point and it was a global thing. 00:12:43.104 --> 00:12:50.129 It was international If there was races in, yeah, south America, uh, the Himalayas, uh, all over Europe, of course. 00:12:50.129 --> 00:12:51.613 So I don't know. 00:12:51.613 --> 00:12:53.724 It was just, it's an Italian company. 00:12:53.724 --> 00:12:57.815 Um, the Italians like mountain racing for sure. 00:12:57.815 --> 00:13:00.301 Uh, so it was probably a good fit. 00:13:00.461 --> 00:13:01.001 It's interesting. 00:13:01.001 --> 00:13:04.027 Did you ever get to see the shoe in the wild, like I always wondered, like what it looked like? 00:13:04.027 --> 00:13:08.293 Uh, no, no no, I always wanted one. 00:13:08.332 --> 00:13:09.554 but they just like weren't available. 00:13:09.554 --> 00:13:11.864 Yeah, interesting, all right. 00:13:12.284 --> 00:13:13.126 On the topic of shoes. 00:13:13.769 --> 00:13:20.722 Oh sorry, no, I was just gonna say this is all like happening, kind of like right as the internet is becoming a thing, so it's just, there's just not a lot around. 00:13:20.722 --> 00:13:23.828 You know, this is like early to mid nineties, so yeah, back in the day. 00:13:23.869 --> 00:13:41.909 it's crazy Like the sport has gone through so many metamorphosis, like you've had, like some of these brands come in, like Fila, for instance right and they invest a ton and they have a shoe and they have these athletes going around the

world, and then then it'd be still is in America just a very quiet, very grassroots thing, and it's kind of expanded and contracted over the years, which is kind of crazy. 00:13:42.549 --> 00:13:44.352 Yeah, I mean it's, I don't know. 00:13:44.352 --> 00:13:51.363 It's funny Like trail running right now is definitely booming, um, but it's companies kind of go where the eyeballs and interest is. 00:13:51.442 --> 00:13:52.546 So yeah, yeah. 00:13:52.546 --> 00:14:04.125 So on the topic of shoes is what I wanted to get to was you told this story, this amazing story of Matt giving your email address basically to buzz, and that kind of got the partnership originally rolling with sportiva. 00:14:04.125 --> 00:14:08.091 Last march you announced a new long-term partnership with sportiva. 00:14:08.091 --> 00:14:17.250 Um, can you talk a little bit about as much as you want to get into it, but kind of like what that partnership entails and kind of like the nuts and bolts of some things yeah, it's funny, it's. 00:14:17.671 --> 00:14:18.480 It's been a little bit. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:23.886 You know, this is the first year of it, so you're just kind of like figuring out how things work or at least I I'm figuring out how things work. 00:14:23.886 --> 00:14:53.206 But I mean, I've been an athlete for sportiva for about a dozen years now and it's for me an opportunity to like transition from being an athlete to actually working more directly on both like marketing and athlete stuff and product design and development, which is probably what I'm most excited about, because I've always been a tinkerer with all kinds of gear, not just shoes, um, so that gets me really excited. 00:14:53.206 --> 00:15:11.972 But also just having, uh, a way to still be a part of the sport and a part of the industry and uh, I mean, it's really it's been my life for the past 20 years, so it's kind of the only skill set I possess anymore, but yeah, so it's something I'm really excited about. 00:15:11.972 --> 00:15:26.240 And now that it's kind of like more of the off season, summer being the high peak running season, yeah, things will pick up again more with going to trade shows and product development, that kind of thing. 00:15:26.601 --> 00:15:28.405 You just got back from Chamonix. 00:15:28.405 --> 00:15:31.052 Was that kind of a similar thing? 00:15:31.052 --> 00:15:41.480 I know you've gone there many times, but where you're out there, is it more like a customer engagement but athlete engagement at that point, or is it actually I know in Cortina as well, it's more. 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:42.823 That's more on the product side, correct? 00:15:43.083 --> 00:15:56.203 Yeah, so I mean I was in Europe twice this summer once, uh, for La Vereta at the end of June, and after that I actually went to headquarters in Val di Fiume and was had meetings with, uh, both the marketing teams and the product design teams, uh. 00:15:56.203 --> 00:16:04.955 But I mean, Shamini, the UTMB week has just

become like the biggest industry event of the year, uh, globally, I would say. 00:16:04.955 --> 00:16:07.363 I mean, everyone in North America has to go over there too. 00:16:07.363 --> 00:16:17.461 And so I mean I was there in the athlete house, uh, I had an entry, uh for the hundred mile race, but got injured about the 1st of August so it wasn't able to race. 00:16:17.461 --> 00:16:22.950 Um, but yeah, I let a couple community runs, had a media night. 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:25.335 Uh, it's just you're doing brand promotion and marketing basically. 00:16:25.335 --> 00:16:26.797 So, yeah, I would a couple community runs, had a media night. 00:16:26.797 --> 00:16:28.299 It's just you're doing brand promotion and marketing, basically. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.604 Yeah, I would imagine for you it's probably. 00:16:30.604 --> 00:16:31.868 It's fun when you're. 00:16:31.868 --> 00:16:35.034 It's not as fun when you're injured, right, you can't get out and do the things you want to do. 00:16:35.034 --> 00:16:35.438 Yeah, it's terrible. 00:16:36.181 --> 00:16:38.844 Yeah, it's like the last week that I want to be in Chamonix. 00:16:38.844 --> 00:16:45.591 When I'm injured, it's because there's literally 12,000 runners and you know, 20,000 extra people in town. 00:16:45.591 --> 00:16:55.950 And uh, yeah, I don't know, you roll into the Valley and there's it's just one of the most stunning landscapes anywhere on the planet and it's like, well, I get to sit in the Valley and look at it. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:04.009 I can't actually like yeah yeah, I can't like go run in the mountains or anything, so, um, not not the most fun on that, but it's always. 00:17:04.009 --> 00:17:10.869 I always enjoy, uh, interacting with the Italian side of sportiva and the athletes internationally. 00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:15.647 There were quite a few international athletes there, um, and that's always a good time, yeah. 00:17:15.929 --> 00:17:16.289 Interesting. 00:17:16.289 --> 00:17:17.423 So I've heard. 00:17:17.423 --> 00:17:18.607 I didn't actually see it. 00:17:18.607 --> 00:17:19.865 I looked for it and couldn't find it. 00:17:19.865 --> 00:17:23.468 You were on the live stream a little bit for uh Loverato, is that? 00:17:23.468 --> 00:17:27.928 Correct yeah, yeah, yeah, a few times what did you think of like commentary and stuff like that? 00:17:27.928 --> 00:17:31.670 Is that like something that now or uh, it's okay, I don't. 00:17:31.911 --> 00:17:44.250 It's funny, I have my opinions, but, like it's always, I'm not that great at talking, so but uh, mostly it was just like yeah, commentary on the race results. 00:17:44.250 --> 00:17:53.019 Uh, there's some stuff out on the course actually just sort of trying to give some color on what the athletes might be going through, that kind of thing. 00:17:53.019 --> 00:17:57.606 Uh, I don't know, it's fine, I'm happy to do it, but it's not like what gets me super excited. 00:17:57.768 --> 00:17:57.948 Yeah. 00:17:58.400 -->

00:18:01.767 I'm probably still in that mode where, like, I would actually rather be racing maybe Right, right. 00:18:02.167 --> 00:18:02.949 What's your take on that? 00:18:02.949 --> 00:18:12.707 Like I mean especially, and you can go as in deep in this as you want, but like media in the sport, like the media is, has exploded man like everybody wants to be on their podcast or have a conversation with you now. 00:18:12.707 --> 00:18:21.261 Is that, in a sport where it used to be so much more simple and now it's gotten a lot more complicated, like what's your, what's your feeling on that? 00:18:21.542 --> 00:18:23.666 oh, I think the sport itself is still super simple. 00:18:23.666 --> 00:18:27.334 I mean, media and the sport aren't the same thing. 00:18:27.334 --> 00:18:31.067 Talking in a microphone isn't the act of running. 00:18:31.067 --> 00:18:34.047 I think it's cool. 00:18:34.047 --> 00:18:36.769 I mean, I'm a big nerd, I love the sport. 00:18:36.769 --> 00:18:43.951 It's fun to talk about it, it's fun to have all, yeah, just this conversation around it. 00:18:43.951 --> 00:18:54.760 Especially, I mean I I remember I was growing up like the internet was just becoming a thing and I couldn't believe that there were websites to running and you know, you didn't have to like wait for the magazine to come to get race results and that kind of thing. 00:18:54.760 --> 00:18:58.330 So now for there to be commentary around every race is I don't know. 00:18:58.330 --> 00:19:02.931 It's yeah, it's exciting and I don't think it like complicates the sport at all. 00:19:03.010 --> 00:19:45.800 It does no-transcript speed goat, because speed goat has changed a little bit, but like canyons or something like that, where now there is it's you know was a major and there's so much more around it and know it's, it's just got a lot of fanfare, which is interesting yeah, I mean it's just. 00:19:46.201 --> 00:19:57.461 I think it's the natural evolution of any sport that uh is on a growth trajectory to have more and more people interested in it and it's gonna, yeah, attract media then yeah all right, let's shift gears. 00:19:57.661 --> 00:20:03.669 I gotta ask you about the grant uh well, I just so. 00:20:03.669 --> 00:20:10.748 Michelino's a friend of mine, yeah, and I know you interviewed with him a little bit for the project that they were working on. 00:20:10.748 --> 00:20:14.681 Can you give some insight into some of that conversation, like as to what that was? 00:20:14.760 --> 00:20:29.682 yeah, I mean, I guess it's what I have come to realize with the grand teton, basically through nicolino's uh, let's call it plight now is I have to or you have to like. 00:20:29.682 --> 00:20:38.363 For me, fkt's used to be this arena where you kind of like chose how to do it, how you, how you wanted to do it. 00:20:38.363 --> 00:20:40.346 You know, it was just like the style was up to you. 00:20:41.188 --> 00:20:55.403 But now, with something like the grand, uh, there's a

governing body called the federal government that is uh saying that there are some, some rules that you have to follow here and that's fine. 00:20:55.403 --> 00:20:56.305 That's just. 00:20:56.305 --> 00:20:57.528 That's the way it is. 00:20:57.528 --> 00:21:15.548 It sucks for Michelino that he was the the one who's catching all the heat, uh, but I think it's really cool this summer that both Jasmine and Jane like went after the women's time on it and both were successful Using call it, the official trail the whole way. 00:21:15.548 --> 00:21:34.386 I think, uh, using a runner, nicolino as a man, just like setting an example with him, it's just a really unpleasant, it's just like a mean thing to do, basically Like it's the single one runner out is so wild. 00:21:34.788 --> 00:21:36.172 So I mean full disclosure. 00:21:36.172 --> 00:21:38.277 I've never actually taken the official trail. 00:21:38.277 --> 00:21:40.048 I've always taken the old climbers trail. 00:21:40.048 --> 00:21:46.791 Like, I've only ran the grand six, seven, eight times, something like that, um, but each time. 00:21:46.791 --> 00:21:49.506 So I don't even know what that switchback looks like, cause I've never taken it. 00:21:49.506 --> 00:21:52.571 Um, that will not be the case anymore. 00:21:52.571 --> 00:22:01.053 Um, because every rule is a rule, but those rules were not clear prior to Michelino's court case. 00:22:01.053 --> 00:22:04.598 Like it was everyone I knew was taking that trail. 00:22:04.598 --> 00:22:07.733 Um, it certainly wasn't closed in any official way. 00:22:07.733 --> 00:22:12.957 Uh, but yeah, now that should definitely be the case. 00:22:12.957 --> 00:22:21.090 Anyone somebody in the grand should be taken taking the extra zigzag, and, uh, certainly any record should be done that way. 00:22:21.705 --> 00:22:24.714 So yeah, that kind of leads into the next question that I was going to. 00:22:24.714 --> 00:22:28.736 It's like we have this old route, if you will, and then a new route. 00:22:28.736 --> 00:22:33.336 Do you think FKT went about the right way as far as setting like two designated routes? 00:22:33.396 --> 00:22:33.517 now. 00:22:34.226 --> 00:22:37.034 Like Andy's old route that's basically in the past and now it's. 00:22:37.034 --> 00:22:41.332 I mean I kind of want to say Michelino is the record holder. 00:22:41.332 --> 00:23:08.944 I think most people would agree with that, but it's contentious, I don't know no-transcript. 00:23:09.685 --> 00:23:21.868 Uh and fkt as I don't know a governing kind of like entity they can't sanction a route that is deemed illegal in court. 00:23:21.989 --> 00:23:23.010 right, right yeah. 00:23:23.291 --> 00:23:25.615 So yeah that's uh. 00:23:26.238 --> 00:23:27.098 Yeah, no, it's interesting. 00:23:27.098 --> 00:23:39.807 It's one of the things you had said and I quit not to fully quote you, but it was along the lines of, like Michelino ran this thing like as far as your book and I think my book and I think most

people's book, he did it. 00:23:39.807 --> 00:23:41.309 I think it was like his 44th summit. 00:23:41.309 --> 00:23:48.200 Yeah, you know, he slept in this like he really did like everything possible to like. 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:57.474 What I'm trying to get at is he checked all the boxes as far as like being ready for it and being able to do it and like learned about the zone, did everything right. 00:23:57.474 --> 00:24:03.157 Can you point to any specific thing, like in your career, where you felt something very similar like that? 00:24:04.065 --> 00:24:13.869 Yeah, I mean for sure, last summer the LA freeway here in Boulder is the one that falls in that category. 00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:37.405 For me it's in my backyard, it's very much in my skill set of being, you know I did in 13 hours which when it came to racing, that was always kind of like my sweet spot, um, somewhere between a hundred K and 130 K, you know, which ends up being about 13 hours usually, um, as opposed to a hundred miles, which I don't know, I have a very mixed record on. 00:24:37.405 --> 00:24:44.498 But uh, yeah, here the Connell divide, the skyline behind boulder, it's a very complicated route. 00:24:44.498 --> 00:24:55.878 Uh, a lot of like running on tundra, but then a lot of third class, class three and four on talus boulders, uh, and then some fifth class um like actual exposed consequential scrambling. 00:24:55.878 --> 00:24:58.626 Uh, that requires rehearsal if you're gonna go fast. 00:24:58.626 --> 00:25:32.991 So uh, yeah, I mean I've never, you know, I've only done the whole thing in a single push once, but all the sections along the way many, many times over the past decade, and um last summer in particular, uh, I was spending a lot of time in the alpine and I was, I was very proud to like kind of put an exclamation point on my summer of alpine running with this like very I don't know concrete achievement that I could point to as like, oh, this was the culmination of a summer and like a decade's worth of effort up here, um. 00:25:32.991 --> 00:25:53.828 And I mean to get back to michelino, I think that's part of what's so been so frustrating about his case for me is, for me, that's what fkts have always been is developing a relationship with a place and putting in the time and effort and appreciation of getting to know a place, and michelino clearly did that on the grand teton. 00:25:54.990 --> 00:25:57.696 And when that gets reduced to this, I don't know. 00:25:57.696 --> 00:25:59.728 I don't think it's even a clickbaity headline. 00:25:59.728 --> 00:26:08.210 I think it's just a reductive headline of like runner cut switchback, it's just, it's just, it's not accurate. 00:26:08.210 --> 00:26:28.590 First off, of, like his relationship with that place, uh, and second, it's just I don't know it's offensive, it's, it's just like that's not his attitude towards the sport, uh, it's just so much more nuanced than that and it's really hard to convey that kind of nuance in a headline or even an article. 00:26:28.590 --> 00:26:31.036 So that's just media, though. 00:26:31.036 --> 00:26:32.959 I mean, it's just the way it is. 00:26:33.924 --> 00:26:35.127 I can ask you a zone question. 00:26:35.127 --> 00:26:42.846 So it's a regional, actually region question, because Jackson's different than Rocky Mountain National Park or Grand Teton National Park is different from Rocky Mountain. 00:26:42.846 --> 00:26:46.336 For, like the Longs record, you can just take any which way you want. 00:26:46.336 --> 00:26:48.688 More or less right so far. 00:26:50.450 --> 00:26:56.638 Yeah, historically, I don't want to condone anything, but yeah, it's. 00:26:56.638 --> 00:27:00.740 I mean, I don't know, the Teton thing just has me like pretty gun shy about all that stuff. 00:27:00.740 --> 00:27:19.365 But yeah, historically, the speed record on Longs Peak has been what, to me, is the ideal, which is, like you have this geographic feature go from the trailhead to the summit back as fast as you can under your own power, by any means, and I think it's really cool that that ethic is still in place on Longs, or it seems to be. 00:27:19.365 --> 00:27:20.627 It seems like it was this summer still. 00:27:20.627 --> 00:27:26.913 Uh, but for sure the national park service has the power to like shut that down, I guess. 00:27:27.594 --> 00:27:32.630 Um, so yeah, weird, I just find it so like it makes me scratch my head. 00:27:32.670 --> 00:27:34.441 Well, there's a lot of historical trails but. 00:27:34.441 --> 00:27:46.246 I mean there's a historical trail on the grand teton too, so I don't know it's uh, I mean you're taking this old power line, cut that, um, like is maintained, like rangers like clear deadfall off of it. 00:27:46.246 --> 00:27:59.992 Um, and then jim's grove, which is a trail like not many people know about but like there's signs for it and it's way more direct, and then you are like cutting across kind of talus and tundra above tree line, but um, yeah, interesting. 00:28:00.053 --> 00:28:06.273 I mean, and to one final thought on that, like jenny lake and grantee town national park, anyone can just go walk around like off trail and like no one cares. 00:28:06.473 --> 00:28:09.118 Oh, yeah, yeah, I don't know, if that's true. 00:28:09.118 --> 00:28:18.092 I mean there's, there's always like zones where it's like I stay on the trail here, like you know, shouldn't be trampling wildflowers and stuff, but that's I mean if we're really going to get in. 00:28:18.092 --> 00:28:22.759 That's what's so frustrating about the old climbers trail on the grand is. 00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:24.280 It was a trail. 00:28:24.280 --> 00:28:30.396 Yeah, yeah, you weren't just like trampling through like groves of, you know, meadows of wildflowers. 00:28:30.396 --> 00:28:33.963 So I don't know, but that's the way it is Interesting. 00:28:34.044 --> 00:28:42.354 Yeah, it's a weird time, weird time, um, all right, so I want to get into some of

the things, like we kind of brush on it a little bit earlier in the beginning of the conversation. 00:28:42.354 --> 00:28:51.666 Obviously, you've been dealing with through some injury and it's gotten you on the bike and it's gotten you climbing a bunch outside of, um, uh, where we're talking, the route on pikes that we were talking about earlier. 00:28:51.666 --> 00:28:54.335 What else can you point to this summer that you've been kind of excited about? 00:28:55.808 --> 00:29:02.373 oh man, this is a terrible question because this is like what I'm like, like trying to not think about for the past month. 00:29:02.393 --> 00:29:03.034 I, I don't know that's. 00:29:03.034 --> 00:29:13.137 The thing is like, summer is always this season where I feel like this is where you do things, is where you get things done, and the high Alpine is open in a very like light and fast and minimal style. 00:29:13.137 --> 00:29:16.971 Obviously you can go up there in the winter, but it's a totally different world, um. 00:29:16.971 --> 00:29:19.527 So, yeah, I don't feel proud of anything this summer. 00:29:19.527 --> 00:29:24.294 I had two really good months of running where I was getting I got really fit again. 00:29:24.795 --> 00:29:39.174 Um, yeah, at the end of July I felt like I was as fit as I was last year, which I look back on and think is kind of being like the most fit I've ever been, uh, but then my Achilles flared up and haven't run a step, yeah, for the past month and a half now. 00:29:39.174 --> 00:29:47.989 Um, at least not have any real kind of running, uh. 00:29:47.989 --> 00:29:51.701 So, yeah, it's just been rehabbing the Achilles and trying to stay sane, with some cycling and some climbing, uh. 00:29:51.701 --> 00:30:17.641 But no, the last couple of years I've been like all in on running again, like I like my season last year I was really happy with and it's kind of re stoked, kind of like my, my, my fire for competitive running and being able to like pursue some projects that had been on the back burner for a long time because of injury and not not just injury, but because I've kind of felt like I didn't have the fitness anymore. 00:30:17.641 --> 00:30:24.290 And last year, like showed me and this year, honestly, before I got hurt that now it's still there, if I can just like stay healthy. 00:30:24.571 --> 00:30:34.971 So, yeah, being fit and understanding, like, okay, now that I'm over 40, and you know, still having this level of fitness and continuing to grow and develop, like has that redefined? 00:30:34.971 --> 00:30:35.712 Like aging for you? 00:30:35.712 --> 00:30:37.057 Like, do you look at completely differently? 00:30:37.506 --> 00:30:37.866 I don't know. 00:30:37.866 --> 00:30:51.269 Yeah, a little bit, like I said when I so I turned 40 a couple years ago and I remember I was running on longs and I got within like a couple minutes of my best at that time, my best time and I was like, oh, that's pretty good. 00:30:51.269 --> 00:30:52.534 And I was like cool. 00:30:52.534 --> 00:30:56.606 And then, like the next year, in 2020, or that was my 43 and 23. 00:30:56.606 --> 00:31:05.959 And I was like I ran at the same time as I did the year before and I was like, oh, this is just like where I'm at now and like, if I'm not slowing down, like that's the same as improving past age 40. 00:31:05.959 --> 00:31:16.666 But uh, yeah, last year, when I was like definitely my most fit for running the mountains, yeah, I think that it's just. 00:31:16.666 --> 00:31:21.651 I have, you know, 30 years of base, basically, and so it's not that all accumulates still. 00:31:21.651 --> 00:31:22.672 So it's not that all accumulates still. 00:31:22.672 --> 00:31:29.837 And I think that you know the longer stuff where you don't need power, it's yeah, there's still. 00:31:29.837 --> 00:31:31.338 I still have a few more years, for sure. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:32.700 Interesting? 00:31:32.700 --> 00:31:33.361 Yeah, it's. 00:31:33.361 --> 00:31:35.442 I mean, there's quite a few athletes too that I've shown. 00:31:35.442 --> 00:31:38.406 I mean, dude, marco Loma was winning. 00:31:38.446 --> 00:31:38.948 UTMB in his 60s. 00:31:38.948 --> 00:31:43.819 Yeah, I mean honestly, like Ludo Pomeroy right now is completely doing this crazy stuff. 00:31:43.819 --> 00:31:52.376 I mean, two years in a row winning hard rock and being top 10 at utmb is nuts so and he's 50 now, so yeah on on that. 00:31:52.678 --> 00:31:54.146 What do you think is especially? 00:31:54.146 --> 00:31:59.790 Knowing the hard rock course and having run utmb like what do you think is like a better, like a bigger achievement give? 00:31:59.790 --> 00:32:01.836 Have knowing both of those, ah, I don't know. 00:32:01.856 --> 00:32:02.941 That's up to the individual. 00:32:02.961 --> 00:32:03.963 I don't think there's up to the individual. 00:32:03.983 --> 00:32:06.811 I don't think there's any way to objectively call either a bigger achievement. 00:32:06.811 --> 00:32:09.746 Um, I personally like the hard rock course more. 00:32:09.746 --> 00:32:11.869 Um, it's in colorado. 00:32:11.869 --> 00:32:13.112 It's way more remote. 00:32:13.112 --> 00:32:16.017 Uh, more vert. 00:32:16.017 --> 00:32:19.066 Uh, I think it's better in almost every way. 00:32:19.066 --> 00:32:32.715 Um, utmb is uh cool because it is the pinnacle event in the sport and I think it's important for a sport to have that kind of event and uh and it's exciting. 00:32:32.996 --> 00:32:38.676 So they're just two very different races with UTMB on that topic and obviously you just got back from sham. 00:32:38.676 --> 00:32:39.866 You were on the start list this year. 00:32:39.866 --> 00:32:42.193 What is it like unfinished business? 00:32:42.193 --> 00:32:43.846 Do you have like left with that race? 00:32:43.846 --> 00:32:44.147 Like what? 00:32:44.147 --> 00:32:45.733 What still gets you stoked on that? 00:32:46.045 --> 00:32:49.061 Man, I was just getting around the mountain

in a way that I can be proud of. 00:32:49.061 --> 00:32:50.547 Uh, you know, I finished it once. 00:32:50.547 --> 00:32:56.945 I started it twice and neither of those starts were anywhere close to like my potential. 00:32:56.945 --> 00:33:03.034 Um, the first year was until I dropped out with injury, but yeah, I was, I was fit and going well. 00:33:03.034 --> 00:33:12.654 And the second year was, like you know, once I lost my stomach, which whenever you lose your stomach, it's a lack of fitness, you're going too hard, basically, which was the case for me that year. 00:33:12.654 --> 00:33:19.303 Um, it was just trying to get to the finish line, which I did, but hours slower than I would have liked. 00:33:19.303 --> 00:33:20.806 So, yeah, For you? 00:33:20.846 --> 00:33:22.432 was it more personally? 00:33:22.432 --> 00:33:23.555 I want to finish this race. 00:33:23.555 --> 00:33:26.278 I want to, I want to do well here, or did the other? 00:33:26.278 --> 00:33:27.343 Did the thought ever cross your mind? 00:33:27.343 --> 00:33:29.352 I'd love to be the first American man to get it done. 00:33:29.673 --> 00:33:37.151 Oh that at that point in time I wasn't thinking at all about being the first, I just wanted to win the race just because it was a race, than never, at least at that. 00:33:37.151 --> 00:33:48.871 You know, this would have been 2013, 2014. 00:33:48.871 --> 00:33:50.513 It just didn't seem like that, just wasn't. 00:33:50.513 --> 00:33:59.247 I don't really carry those like kind of like nationalist attitudes I don't I don't think it matters I like it's like we're all humans, we're all runners. 00:33:59.247 --> 00:34:00.830 Whoever wins wins. 00:34:00.830 --> 00:34:05.929 I don't like, I don't care what country they came from, you know so interesting, yeah, I don't we made what country they came from. 00:34:05.949 --> 00:34:06.390 you know Interesting. 00:34:06.390 --> 00:34:09.594 Yeah, we made it like they made a pretty big deal about it, when you know, obviously when Jim did it. 00:34:09.594 --> 00:34:10.856 So that's why I got to ask. 00:34:10.956 --> 00:34:12.458 But you know it's almost a decade later. 00:34:12.458 --> 00:34:14.221 It's true, it was a decade later. 00:34:14.221 --> 00:34:17.413 What was that? 00:34:17.413 --> 00:34:18.257 23 when he won? 00:34:18.257 --> 00:34:26.847 Yeah, yeah, so it had been a decade. 00:34:26.847 --> 00:34:31.702 And yeah, like we keep getting beat up on, I guess, yeah, it becomes a thing, but at that point it was still americans hadn't been going over for as long, I guess. 00:34:31.702 --> 00:34:32.423 So yeah, interesting. 00:34:32.443 --> 00:34:35.096 I gotta ask you a question, like I ask everybody that's on the podcast. 00:34:35.096 --> 00:34:47.590 It's like a very common one, like related to your why, like your why, you've evolved and changed so much, as the sport has evolved and changed so much as well, and I almost feel like and you would probably agree with this like you're a completely

different athlete now than when you first started. 00:34:47.590 --> 00:34:49.976 How has your why changed for yourself? 00:34:50.804 --> 00:34:52.007 Oh, it's completely different. 00:34:52.007 --> 00:34:55.355 Uh, you know, 10 or 15 years ago it was. 00:34:55.355 --> 00:35:02.757 I've always had the intrinsic motivation for running, but I was also very motivated by external factors, like. 00:35:02.757 --> 00:35:13.088 But I was also very motivated by external factors, like, like, I was like wanted to prove myself, I wanted to beat people, I wanted to like be on the top of the sport, and now it's like that doesn't matter to me. 00:35:13.088 --> 00:35:14.329 I'm 42. 00:35:14.329 --> 00:35:17.677 Like, the sport is moved beyond me. 00:35:17.677 --> 00:35:21.829 Uh, so all of my motivations are intrinsic and that comes down to. 00:35:21.829 --> 00:35:33.492 I mean, really, what we were talking about with FKT is like deepening a relationship with a place and with the community around those places, and that's what motivates me the most. 00:35:33.492 --> 00:35:44.606 Like all my buddies here in Boulder are like will get me the most psyched, like getting out in the Flatirons, getting out in Eldo, up in the Alpine, like that's where I draw my motivation now, I guess. 00:35:44.606 --> 00:35:49.456 Uh, so it's just yeah, it's like flipped, it's like purely intrinsic. 00:35:49.516 --> 00:35:57.346 Now, I know you get this question a lot and I know you don't like to spray but like, is there anything that like really calls to you right now? 00:35:57.507 --> 00:35:59.128 like there's all kinds of things. 00:35:59.128 --> 00:36:18.146 Um, I mean this summer I wanted to, uh, I was looking at the Elks traverse, uh, you know, outside of Aspen, and then the world in Utah where both those were like the two things on my list I wanted to do Um, it's just Alpine link ups, bridge traverses, that stuff, like it's merely excited. 00:36:20.090 --> 00:36:23.697 Obviously everyone's a big fan of former blog and now sub stack right in the wind. 00:36:23.697 --> 00:36:25.827 I gotta ask you this when did the name come from? 00:36:27.231 --> 00:36:41.329 Oh, um, yeah, so my dad, he, so I grew up on a ranch in Nebraska, 640 acres, and that was called right in the wind ranch, because my dad called it that, but it's like LLC or whatever. 00:36:41.329 --> 00:36:45.494 Um, and that came from this, uh, came from this, uh. 00:36:45.494 --> 00:36:49.380 Lao Tzu quote uh, on the Dao De Ching. 00:36:49.380 --> 00:37:05.168 Uh, it has to do with um, I can't, I can't recite the quote to you, but basically it's just not knowing whether, like, the wind is pushing you or you're like being, uh, you know, like floating on the wind kind of thing. 00:37:05.168 --> 00:37:22.356 So it's just sort of this like being one with the elements and the world around you and, uh, you know, that's kind of the whole point knowing your surroundings, being integrated with them and being comfortable with it. 00:37:22.396 --> 00:37:26.085 I guess knowing your surroundings being integrated with them and being comfortable with it, I guess. 00:37:26.085 --> 00:37:29.766 So, yeah, wow, I love it. 00:37:29.766 --> 00:37:33.302 You did, um, obviously you did a lot of write-ups, and one of the write-ups that you did was on kind of the Western journey that you did a few years ago. 00:37:33.302 --> 00:37:35.507 Do you think you'll do something else in the winds at any time? 00:37:36.931 --> 00:37:37.351 In the winds. 00:37:37.351 --> 00:37:38.333 Yeah, I know. 00:37:38.353 --> 00:37:39.195 Cause you did Gannett's. 00:37:39.215 --> 00:37:44.829 That's why I kind of where my brain yeah, yeah, um, yeah, for sure, there's definitely some climbing I want to do there. 00:37:44.829 --> 00:37:50.210 Uh, down in the circle of the towers is kind of the main climbing zone, but there's other stuff deeper in the range as well. 00:37:50.210 --> 00:37:56.090 Um, yeah, but it's just a matter of like lining up a partner getting up there. 00:37:56.090 --> 00:38:03.237 Uh, there's other, there's other like bike to climb trips to be done up there as well, but yeah, it's. 00:38:03.237 --> 00:38:03.338 It's. 00:38:03.338 --> 00:38:15.110 It's tough to like find someone who can take two, three, four weeks off and, uh, you know, commit half their summer to riding their bike around Wyoming and uh, climbing mountains, but yeah. 00:38:16.454 --> 00:38:17.597 Yeah, it's a cool spot. 00:38:17.597 --> 00:38:29.592 It's beautiful, the Windsor, I don't know that for some reason, like I just got back last week and a half ago, I ran a drove past the winds coming back from Tart, grand Targhee, from that race, and I was like damn, like this is an amazing range, it's so big so enormous and it's deep. 00:38:29.592 --> 00:38:31.739 Like you said, it's so far to get back there. 00:38:32.262 --> 00:38:39.311 Yeah, it's a, it's not, um, it's remote and all the the mountains are like far back from the trailheads. 00:38:39.311 --> 00:38:43.476 You know, it's like 10, 12, 15 miles just to get to the mountains from the trailhead. 00:38:43.476 --> 00:38:48.621 So it pays to be a runner, um, I mean people who go climbing up there. 00:38:48.621 --> 00:39:01.753 They'll often hire pack mules, um, and just set up base camp for you know, a few days or a week, uh, at the base of a wall, because once you'd make the effort to get in there, like you want to be in there for a while such a cool range. 00:39:01.773 --> 00:39:05.920 All right, I'm gonna switch, switch again for the last question and then we'll bring it to the audience. 00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:09.737 What are the things that really stuck with me and you've been quoted on this talking about? 00:39:09.737 --> 00:39:16.688 I think finn said it was around expression in the sport and how there's just not as much expression anymore as the sport is professionalized so much. 00:39:16.688 --> 00:39:26.146 And then there's still this like there's some characters

out there that still are around that have this expression and really captivate people and by just doing whatever they want to do, like. 00:39:26.146 --> 00:39:27.130 What's your take on that? 00:39:28.414 --> 00:39:39.195 Um, I guess my thing is that it's, I think, like peak performance is super inspiring, like I spent a chunk of my life pursuing that Uh. 00:39:39.195 --> 00:39:41.746 But, uh, I think you can do it. 00:39:41.746 --> 00:39:49.068 It doesn't have to be at the uh sacrifice of having any kind of like personality. 00:39:49.068 --> 00:39:52.306 Um, I don't know it's. 00:39:52.306 --> 00:40:03.672 I'm not interested in a sport that requires, or that uh, or that is like wanting to reduce a human to like a computer algorithm. 00:40:03.672 --> 00:40:05.005 It's just not. 00:40:05.005 --> 00:40:07.983 I don't think that's what life's about. 00:40:08.925 --> 00:40:10.510 Um, optimization doesn't really interest me. 00:40:10.510 --> 00:40:21.844 Uh, having having a meaningful experience out there is interesting to me, and being able to like relate that and convey it Uh, and I think there are plenty of people who are able to do that Um. 00:40:21.844 --> 00:40:46.860 But I think that sometimes people get a little wrapped up in all the nitty gritty when, like, the sport isn't that complicated and that's what attracted me to it in the first place, and I think that's what attracted a lot of people to it in the first place is kind of how, uh, oh, it's, it's simple and it also um also really strips away all the bullshit. 00:40:46.860 --> 00:40:54.393 I think it's maybe worth remembering that it's beautiful. 00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:56.927 All right, let's open it up to the audience. 00:40:56.927 --> 00:40:57.929 Audience questions. 00:40:59.260 --> 00:41:10.108 Just curious as to the arc of your experience, almost like as a kid growing up on a, on a ranch of that size, and was it pressure on you to stay in that business? 00:41:10.108 --> 00:41:13.963 And how did you kind of escape to colorado college? 00:41:13.963 --> 00:41:17.934 Yeah, and you sort of come home yeah, I mean my parents. 00:41:19.077 --> 00:41:20.300 My mom was a high school teacher. 00:41:20.300 --> 00:41:41.835 Uh, my dad worked for like a renewable energy non-profit, so we were never uh operating it as a ranch, uh leasing it to neighbors, um for cattle grazing and some hay meadows, but um, so there was never a pressure to like work there on the land. 00:41:41.835 --> 00:41:54.663 But there is a pressure currently in my life, just because my dad's, like you know, he's in his late 70s to like still hold on to that land in some way and I certainly have a deep connection to it. 00:41:54.663 --> 00:42:10.974 But my parents very much emphasized education, so going away to college was always good, non-negotiable, that was going to happen, um, but like the running thing, that was just completely me. 00:42:10.974 --> 00:42:18.838 I found it on my own, basically through like the presidential

physical fitness test, and uh, it was when I was growing up. 00:42:18.838 --> 00:42:20.945 We would always take trips out west here. 00:42:20.945 --> 00:42:36.842 Like I think we came to rocky mountain national park when I was like eight or nine years old for the first time and uh, those like hiking and camping trips every summer were like what got me interested in the mountains and and then, you know, just combined, that just was easy to combine with being a runner too. 00:42:36.862 --> 00:42:44.811 So yeah, yeah, what's your favorite 14er? 00:42:44.811 --> 00:42:46.954 Ah, longs, by a long shot too. 00:42:46.954 --> 00:42:47.896 It's not even close. 00:42:47.896 --> 00:42:57.422 Um, yeah, because it's, uh, it's like the most, it offers the most like opportunities, just for like, for the full breadth of mountain activity. 00:42:57.422 --> 00:43:02.541 You know most 14ers are hikes or runs, you know they're class one, maybe class two. 00:43:02.541 --> 00:43:12.202 Trails and longs is like it's mandatory class three and there's all kinds of fifth class and in the wintertime it's a climb by any route, even the keyhole. 00:43:12.202 --> 00:43:17.541 Um, so, yeah, it's a challenging mountain and it's the one that's like in the backyard. 00:43:17.541 --> 00:43:25.706 So, yeah, I feel really fortunate that it's in the backyard, because it'd be the one that I'd be most interested in if I was living somewhere else in Colorado too. 00:43:25.726 --> 00:43:28.132 So yeah, I can ask you this what about the needle? 00:43:29.460 --> 00:43:30.123 Oh, cresto needle. 00:43:30.123 --> 00:43:30.907 Yeah, I love that mountain. 00:43:30.907 --> 00:43:31.791 Yeah, that's a great one. 00:43:31.791 --> 00:43:37.550 Um, that one's really cool because Ellenwood ledges is a technical route that takes you directly to the summit. 00:43:37.550 --> 00:43:40.985 There aren't many like even on even the diamond on longs. 00:43:40.985 --> 00:43:42.548 You're like 200 feet below the summit. 00:43:42.548 --> 00:43:48.480 When you top out the diamond and the crest on needle, it's like you pop out a five, seven pitch and you're like standing on the summit. 00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:49.061 It's pretty cool. 00:43:49.862 --> 00:43:52.969 Um, yeah, such a stunning peak too yeah, and that's. 00:43:53.090 --> 00:43:59.800 The songras are really cool range because they're so linear, um a lot of vertical relief, like 6 000 feet from the valley floor. 00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:03.706 Um really interesting rock type that conglomerate. 00:44:03.847 --> 00:44:11.958 But uh, yeah, yep um, how did you uh dial in your line on the la freeway, did you uh? 00:44:11.958 --> 00:44:17.791 And also a little second part to it did you use like gps technology to uh help you along the way when you got? 00:44:17.791 --> 00:44:21.561 We'll follow you with the altitude uh, no, so I didn't. 00:44:21.581 --> 00:44:48.284 I I didn't use GPS during the FKT, but definitely while scouting because, uh, you know, plenty of people in the community here have been up on the freeway, so there's a number of GPX tracks out there and, uh, just a couple of little spots, trying to remember where, specifically, uh, from like Algonquin to Paiute, I remember I think I was even using like like sky's track maybe, uh, or kyle's um, just seeing like where they went there. 00:44:48.284 --> 00:44:54.786 But it's funny because before I'd scouted all that stuff, before I ever even had a gpx watch or smartphone. 00:44:54.786 --> 00:44:59.322 So it was like, but you're just like kind of confirming afterwards. 00:44:59.322 --> 00:45:15.947 And then, uh, but when I actually was during the effort, I just knew it and like looking down at like either like a breadcrumb on your watch or even like you know some kind of mapping app on your phone, it's way slow, it's not efficient. 00:45:15.947 --> 00:45:21.590 So, yeah, I just knew it well enough at that point that I knew where I was going. 00:45:22.519 --> 00:45:38.463 But, yeah, so mostly repetition and spending many, a lot of time up there yep, you don't want to like just go after peak optimization of like humans, like, like algorithms, right? 00:45:38.463 --> 00:45:49.793 How have you been incorporating all the advances for like the new findings with like nutrition and like all these types of adaptations, and like manage that while also having fun? 00:45:50.976 --> 00:45:53.043 man, I just, I just haven't been incorporating that stuff. 00:45:53.043 --> 00:45:58.784 Uh, the last couple years I've been trying to like eat more while running, even during. 00:45:58.784 --> 00:46:05.865 I mean this is something that I mean research now would show like I was doing it wrong, basically, but when I was younger it was. 00:46:05.865 --> 00:46:14.541 There was definitely like this kind of like stupid point of pride almost of like not eating well on long term, like I would do a four or five hour run and have maybe one or two gels. 00:46:14.541 --> 00:46:34.161 You know which is like what do you even like you're not feeling that at all, like it's nothing, um, but uh, yeah, the last couple of years I've definitely been like trying to fuel long runs more and and like this summer, um, you know, if I was like going up long speak, I would take one or two gels on that out and where. 00:46:34.221 --> 00:46:47.751 In the past I would never think about that, but the idea there is just you know what everyone says about it Like the more you fuel during the run, like you're going to recover better, hopefully not get injured as much. 00:46:47.751 --> 00:46:48.114 So I don't know. 00:46:48.114 --> 00:47:15.451 I have been thinking about getting a sweat test for figuring out like electrolytes supplementation during races and longer efforts, because I mean a year ago I did a 100-mile race and it's just sort of inexplicably like and this has happened in a lot of hundred mile races like kind of fall apart around 80 miles and for like no good reason, and uh, I wonder if that

has something to do with electrolytes. 00:47:15.559 --> 00:47:24.090 So yeah, sure If you could go back and tell your younger self to do one thing differently. 00:47:24.090 --> 00:47:24.693 What would it be? 00:47:27.300 --> 00:47:30.547 Oh, I would have. 00:47:30.547 --> 00:47:43.862 I would have become serious about rock climbing earlier, but also probably I mean feeling on, on on long runs probably would have been a good thing to be doing. 00:47:43.862 --> 00:47:55.393 You know, I've been injured a lot my whole life and, like I was just saying, like I would not eat very much for years and years, you know. 00:47:55.393 --> 00:48:06.679 So I don't know, it would have been interesting to see, like you know, if I was eating 300 calories an hour instead of 100 calories an hour on a long run, if I could have stayed healthy. 00:48:06.679 --> 00:48:12.251 But yeah, uh, we'll go over here first and then come back yeah. 00:48:12.530 --> 00:48:18.420 So obviously you've been in the sport a long time and things have changed a lot, I imagine, in your time in the sport. 00:48:18.420 --> 00:48:35.717 As somebody personally who's looking to take on a career similar to what you've been able to take on maybe not on the same level, maybe, who knows what sort of advice would you give to younger generations looking to get involved in the sport on a professional level? 00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:38.244 I mean, I think you have to. 00:48:38.244 --> 00:48:42.873 I think performance is necessary. 00:48:42.873 --> 00:48:47.581 I think performance is necessary. 00:48:47.581 --> 00:48:52.088 I think you have to uh have results when a few races, uh, because that gives you some credibility in the sport. 00:48:52.088 --> 00:49:01.170 But along the way, I think it's important to have a value structure that you're committed to. 00:49:01.170 --> 00:49:02.534 And that's hard to do, like it's. 00:49:02.534 --> 00:49:06.246 It's hard as a human to know, like, what is important to you. 00:49:06.246 --> 00:49:14.496 It requires self-reflection and uh, and thinking about it a lot, and you know, drawing from a lot of different sources and synthesizing all that. 00:49:14.496 --> 00:49:21.282 But basically it's like, do what you can, like figure out who you are and like, do what you can to like remain true to yourself. 00:49:21.902 --> 00:49:33.858 Uh, there's a few things I did in my career that were not that Um, and it seems like it always ended up being a bad idea then and uh, I don't. 00:49:33.858 --> 00:49:39.288 I mean, that's just part of growing up, um, so, yeah, don't uh. 00:49:39.288 --> 00:49:43.983 Yeah, it sounds cliche, but like you have to find your own path. 00:49:43.983 --> 00:50:04.081 Like it doesn't always pay to like look and see, like, oh, that person did that and like, but everyone's different, everyone has a different, uh you know way of being in the world and it's, I think it's most important to um try and figure out what that is for you and then like stick with that, so yeah. 00:50:04.864 --> 00:50:05.385 Yellow shirt. 00:50:05.545 --> 00:50:52.817 Yeah Uh, kind of a nebulous question, I guess, but um, I feel like boulder specifically has this weird concentration of people who are like top one percent of the world at scrambling and running shoes like yeah, yeah a lot of people in boulder are, like you know, like kind of like, maybe like top out of pretty mid grades, like 511 or so, but they'll sure, like five, seven, like non-resole, you know, yeah, um, obviously a lot of that is due to, like you know, flyers being in the backyard, I think, like elder being so close, but is that something that's like unique to boulder or something that you've seen in like a lot of other places, or it's just like, yeah, I feel like I've run in a lot of different places and I haven't really seen that type of like hybrid badly happen anywhere else. 00:50:53.221 --> 00:50:54.786 I think a lot of it has to do with the Flatirons. 00:50:54.786 --> 00:51:08.594 It's a really unique geologic I mean call it an anomaly where you have highly featured stone less than vertical, like literally, you know, within a mile of downtown. 00:51:08.594 --> 00:51:11.181 That's just. 00:51:11.181 --> 00:51:27.762 I mean, I haven't been everywhere in the world but like the only other place that I can think of that has that kind of a feature is the West Labs in Mount Olympus, in the Wasatch Range in Utah, and that's one feature and here we have kind of like a whole range of it. 00:51:28.545 --> 00:51:41.849 Um, it's man, it makes me sad to think that there's like maybe pressure around that because it is, it's super dangerous, like the consequences are death, like it's it's free, solar and it's not just scrambling and and that's a whole nother conversation. 00:51:42.572 --> 00:51:53.934 Um, yeah, I think it is like any in any place, the prevailing culture like kind of like it can seem like that is like something gets normalized. 00:51:53.934 --> 00:52:00.132 That's that definitely has happened here in Boulder, just because of the geographic feature. 00:52:00.132 --> 00:52:13.434 Um, I don't, I don't think it's normal I've been as guilty of that as anyone of uh, like popularizing and normalizing that um, but I don't think that that should necessarily be the case. 00:52:13.434 --> 00:52:19.782 Like I don't think there should people should feel pressure to, like, you know, do anything other than the second flat iron, or I mean. 00:52:19.782 --> 00:52:24.644 Or like doing it in running shoes at all, you know like go up there with I mean a rope and a harness, you know. 00:52:24.644 --> 00:52:26.753 Or shoes in a all, you know like go up there with I mean a rope and a harness, you know. 00:52:26.753 --> 00:52:37.103 Or shoes and a chalk bag, you know like it's uh, that's fine, like got to feel comfortable, yeah, but yeah, good question. 00:52:39.650 --> 00:52:40.050 Anybody else? 00:52:43.280 --> 00:52:44.347 All right, all right Good. 00:52:44.608 -->

00:52:46.016 Anton, thank you so much for coming on. 00:52:46.016 --> 00:52:46.659 Appreciate it, guys. 00:52:46.659 --> 00:52:47.664 Round of applause for anton. 00:52:47.664 --> 00:52:48.045 Thank you. 00:52:48.045 --> 00:52:52.228 What'd you guys think? 00:52:52.228 --> 00:52:53.871 Oh man, what a fun episode. 00:52:54.251 --> 00:52:56.501 I want to thank tony so much for coming on the podcast. 00:52:56.501 --> 00:52:59.367 Um wish I had I could have talked to him for hours. 00:52:59.367 --> 00:53:01.552 Uh, you know, hopefully we do this again. 00:53:01.552 --> 00:53:03.242 We'll be able to get more time with one another. 00:53:03.242 --> 00:53:14.722 This one was on a little bit constrained timeframe just because we were filming this at the Las Partidas Boulder store, so we didn't want to keep everyone there all night, so it was kind of a constricted time. 00:53:14.722 --> 00:53:18.612 So, that said, I want to thank everyone who made this possible. 00:53:18.612 --> 00:53:20.342 First off, tony for showing up and doing this. 00:53:20.342 --> 00:53:27.150 Second of all, I do want to thank the folks at Las Partiva North America, as well as the Las Partiva Boulder store, for helping to make this possible. 00:53:27.150 --> 00:53:29.255 Um meant an absolute ton. 00:53:29.255 --> 00:53:31.123 Um guys, you can support everyone. 00:53:31.282 --> 00:53:37.967 First off and foremost, um a lot of the most of the video if not all of the video for this podcast was provided by Ace Brown. 00:53:37.967 --> 00:53:42.865 You can find him and give him a follow on Instagram at Ace Brown creative. 00:53:42.865 --> 00:53:48.289 Um're extremely talented in many different ways, not just a runner, also as a creative Ace Brown. 00:53:48.289 --> 00:53:49.596 Give them a follow. 00:53:49.596 --> 00:53:55.760 Also, if you don't already follow La Sportiva North America, follow them on Instagram, as well as the La Sportiva Boulder store. 00:53:55.760 --> 00:53:57.565 Definitely follow them. 00:53:57.565 --> 00:54:01.543 Gives you an update on everything that's going on as far as the La Sportiva Boulder community. 00:54:01.543 --> 00:54:10.744 Gives you a post on group runs, sales, factory sales, all those different things, which is pretty dope. 00:54:10.744 --> 00:54:12.632 Finally, last but not least, you can give Tony a follow, as I'm sure you probably already do. 00:54:12.632 --> 00:54:12.853 Follow him. 00:54:12.853 --> 00:54:15.282 You can find him at Anton Kropichka on Instagram. 00:54:15.282 --> 00:54:28.389 Guys, if you enjoyed this episode or if you have been loving the stuff we've been putting out with the Steep Stuff podcast, the best way you can support me and the podcast is to give us a five-star rating and review on Apple, spotify, youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. 00:54:28.389 --> 00:54:35.056 That would mean the world to me until we can continue to keep putting on these amazing episodes and telling the stories of these incredible athletes. 00:54:46.780 --> 00:54:48.668 You guys hop on ultimate directioncom and are in the market for a new vest or belt. 00:54:48.668 --> 00:54:50.215 Um, you can check out some of their uh, new stuff that we've got. 00:54:50.215 --> 00:54:50.838 They've actually just dropped. 00:54:50.838 --> 00:54:55.150 Um, the new race vest, as well as new ultra vest, as well as the quiver comes in a six liter and a 12 liter. 00:54:55.150 --> 00:54:56.221 Uh, check that out. 00:54:56.221 --> 00:54:58.405 Use code steep stuff pod for 25% off your cart. 00:54:58.405 --> 00:55:01.009 Um, guys, this is Pike's peak week. 00:55:01.009 --> 00:55:01.889 This is what. 00:55:01.889 --> 00:55:05.114 Uh, this is the episode I decided to drop on the Monday for Pike's peak week. 00:55:05.114 --> 00:55:10.585 We've got a lot coming down the pipeline this week and then we also have a lot coming down the pipeline next week for worlds. 00:55:10.585 --> 00:55:15.750 Um, so you're going to be hearing way too much of my voice, and it's probably my voice is probably gonna be gone by the end of this. 00:55:15.750 --> 00:55:18.641 But all good, um, I hope you enjoyed it, guys. 00:55:18.641 --> 00:55:22.402 Thank you so much for tuning in, thank you for your support and have a great rest of your week. 00:55:22.402 --> 00:55:37.826 Thanks so much, thank you.