We Are Superman

Send us Fan Mail How did Cody Poskin, a guy who was told to “get lost” by the coach at his college, become one of the rising stars of ultrarunning and getting invited to run across the Gobi Desert in China? I dig into that with the help of another 23-year-old ultramarathon beast, TJ Harms-Synkiew. After Cody was spurned by the college coach, he decided to target the Boston Marathon, nailing a qual...

Send us Fan Mail In this coaching episode, I discuss 13 creative things you can do this winter to renew and reinvigorate your running so you can be fitter and stronger for 2026 racing.  Please feel free to contact me if you'd like me to expand on any of these topics for you! Bill Stahl silly_billy@msn.com Facebook Bill Stahl Instagram and Threads @stahlor and @we_are_superman_podcast YouTube...

Send us Fan Mail I was really intrigued when I heard about Matt Zemon and his advocacy for psychedelic therapy as an alternative when traditional psychotherapy hasn’t been successful. Colorado became the first state in the country to legalize therapy using psilocybin mushrooms, and I know someone who has done it and says it produced great results. Like many of you, I came from a place of complete...

Send us Fan Mail Eric Pence is a guest I actually wanted to chat with a couple of years ago, but it is even better that it is occurring now because this summer he completed the Leadville Trail 100 for the 30th time, becoming just the second person to do so, after the legendary Bill Finkbeiner. Eric and I go back to the early 1990s days of the race, so we have lots of stories to share about that pi...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes seeing a close relative struggle through chronic conditions can spur someone to take action to help themselves and then others. I often find these stories to be inspiring.  Like the story we had of 250-pound middle schooler Nathan Maze in episode 277, who saw his dad battle obesity and decided not to follow the same path. He dropped the weight, got jacked in the gym, and...

Send us Fan Mail We had an incredible two days at the American Heroes Run with great weather, the largest turnout yet, inspirational and speedy performances, and the humble opportunity to honor our military veterans and service people, first responders, the lives lost on 9/11, and race founder David Clark, not to mention the opportunity to see familiar faces either pushing themselves to their limi...

Send us Fan Mail David turned me onto learning about non-Western medicine because our system is primarily geared toward curing and not prevention. I’ve felt the difference in just modifying my food intake as much as possible away from the all-too-normal American diet that includes too much sugar, fat, and processed foods. So I’m excited today to share my chat with Dr. Shivani Gupta, an Ayurvedic m...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve had several WASP episodes about organ transplant recipients who have gone on to accomplish impressive feats, but here’s one from the other side. Dan Armstead had plans to be a kidney donor from the time he learned in a high school class that you actually only need one to function perfectly normally. He eventually got tested and officially listed on the donor registry and the...

Send us Fan Mail When I volunteered at the Painter Boy aid station of the Leadville Silver Rush 50, there was a runner who came in who looked rather young and somewhat beaten down by the course and the heat and I thought might need some extra attention. I got to know a bit about 17-year-old Teagan Martin and his dad KC who was running with him in what was both of their first 50-milers, and that th...

Send us Fan Mail Most people don’t imagine octogenarians throwing shotputs, discuses, and the hammer at track meets. I have officiated enough track meets that I have seen bunches of them doing so. One is Terry Ten Eyck of Golden CO, who back in 1963 set the state shotput mark of 59’-10¾”, breaking the previous record by four feet, while throwing for Wheat Ridge H.S. He went on to briefly compete i...

Send us Fan Mail I really didn’t have to write much of an intro because I could simply copy the fascinating story in Dave Munson’s bio. It resonates with me because it reminds me about how David Clark found so much more happiness, not by making and spending huge amounts of money from his mattress and furniture businesses, but by serving others. I also love how Dave Munson manufactures products tha...

Send us Fan Mail Brian Watson was in New York City in 2018 and noticed hundreds of thousands of people crowding the streets and asked what was going on. A friend told him it was the NYC Marathon, a foreign concept to a guy living in a 300-pound body. He calmly told those around him that he would run it the next year. While that might sound daffy to some, those that knew Brian knew to take him at h...

Send us Fan Mail In previous episodes, we’ve chatted with some young runners who have taken on ultramarathons like the Leadville Trail 100, something that was unheard of in the ancient days when I began in the sport. While it’s become less rare to see this, it’s now been taken up a notch. Meet the Chisholm family of Salem, NH. Brothers Ben, Brody, Elliott, and Asher all play hockey, with the three...

Send us Fan Mail All was good in the life of Kijuan Amey of Durham, NC. He had an exciting job as an Air Force in-flight refueling specialist, advancing to the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was finishing his bachelor’s degree with a 3.87 GPA, played semipro football, had a girlfriend, played the drums, had started a company doing website design and social media marketing for businesses, owned a sweet...

Send us Fan Mail At a high school track meet I was working as an official this spring, a young man came up to me and commented about my ever-present Yankees cap and mentioned that his uncle had once played for the Bronx Bombers. I figured it would be some nobody, but it turned out to be Hall of Famer and Yankees legend Goose Gossage. As Avi Rahmani of Ralston Valley H.S. in Arvada, Colo., and I go...

Send us Fan Mail We all know veterans who have battled the transition from military service to civilian life. Nick Koumalatsos was a Marine raider who can certainly speak to that. After discharging from the military after 12 years of service, he battled that adjustment, going through divorce, bankruptcy, and even serious thoughts of suicide. It took him many years to figure out a formula that woul...

Send us Fan Mail Tyler Andrews is a good friend with whom I’ve done trips with to Peru, Ecuador, and most recently, the Atacama Desert of Chile where we climbed up to almost 20,000 feet.  Ty was a self-described high school nerd musician who went on to be an average D3 cross country runner. After battling depression, Ty dedicated himself to becoming a pro mountain runner, which has seen him set nu...

Send us Fan Mail One of the most badass racers I know is Kat Edwards Anderson. She has been on the WASP twice before, most recently on episode #327 in January, chatting about her runs at the Sedona Canyons 125 and the Moab 240. I first met her in Chile in March, 2024, where she impressively conquered many new challenges for her in the high Atacama Desert. She built on these experiences by overcomi...

Send us Fan Mail This is a classic WASP comeback story in a different kind of direction. Alex Neist is a former college and pro quarterback who seemingly had it all post-football – a thriving business career and great family – and then had it all fall apart because of his snoring. It’s true, snoring. Alex found an unlikely answer with mouth taping, which he had to find on his own because he realiz...

Send us Fan Mail Colorado has always been known as a distance running hotbed, and some amazing runners have come out of our high school ranks. This episode’s guests are no exception – with an added twist. Bobby Kiesewetter, from Golden View Academy, a Class 2A school in Golden understandably was very concerned when his airway would shut down while he was running, making it impossible to breathe. P...

Send us Fan Mail David always had a deep appreciation for alternative and regenerative medicine. He and I have both had guests here who understand how broken our “sick care” system is and have created new pathways for those who want to take control of their health in ways the American system won’t allow. One such pioneer is Jay Campbell, co-founder of BioLongevity Labs. Jay’s lifelong mission is t...

Send us Fan Mail I have been amused that 200-mile races have become a thing, and some now even call 100-milers a “speed event.” But now Destination Races, which hosts a series of 200-mile races has created the Arizona Monster 300 with a cutoff of 170 hours, or just more than 7 days. Good friend of the WASP Kelly Thrush ran its inaugural edition a few weeks ago. You might remember Kelly from WASP e...

Send us Fan Mail We haven’t chatted with anyone in Nepal for a couple of weeks, so we thought we’d go back there with Len Forkas, who is heading to Mt. Everest to cap bagging all of the Seven Summits – the tallest peaks on all seven continents. This achievement also brings him a step closer to completing the coveted Explorers’ Grand Slam, which includes the Seven Summits and trekking the last degr...

Send us Fan Mail Travis Robinson was an active 35-year-old IT project manager, spending much of his leisure time in the outdoors rockclimbing, when he began noticing weakness in his hands, which is not good news for this pursuit. This led to a diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson’s Disease that changed his life. Travis’ response was not one of resignation to a restricted lifestyle, but more of a “Sc...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Fisher and Erin Ton are very down-to-Earth people, but they are also way-up-in-the-air. As in, they are almost constantly on a mountain, very high mountains.  And when I say constantly, I mean they are pretty much always climbing, running on, and exploring mountains, as well as challenging themselves in the wildest wildernesses. Erin is known for setting hordes of FKTs, spee...