Like a Bigfoot

This week features some of my favorite moments from episodes #40-80 of the Like a Bigfoot Podcast. Hope you guys enjoy!! Featuring adventure stories, life lessons and plenty of inspiration from: Josh Lajaunie, Miguel Medina, "Antarctic Gurka" Scott Sears, "Iowans for Everest" Andy Anderson, Kuntal Joisher, Candice Burt, Natalie Larson, Scott Morris, "Running the Parks" Bill Sycalik, "Feral Mountai...

This week Travis Steffen is back on the show for a unprecedented 5th time! As always our conversation hits on a variety of topics; serious, goofy, bizarre and everything in between. On this week's show we explore our relationship with self doubt, imposter syndrome and the power of authenticity. We also discuss Travis's current athletic goals and some of his plans for 2019. Hope you guys enjoy the...

This week we are welcoming my amazing coworker, lifelong runner, and all around awesome dude Chris Cornejo! Chris chats all about his life as an athlete, from high school cross country runner to someone who became a road marathoner, Running has always been a part of his life and recently he stepped up to his very first trail ultra marathon when he took on the Bear Chase 50k in Lakewood, Colorado....

This week I'm very excited to bring Paul Scheuring back on the show! Paul was originally on episode 101 sharing some awesome stories from our time at the Desert RATS Stage Race this summer. This time he's talking about his recent adventure running the Quad Dipsea, a race that has 9,200 feet of climbing in 28 miles....which sounds like a BEAST! Then we chat a bit about 10 day meditation retreats, t...

This week we are welcoming ultra runner and podcast host Rob Steger to the show! Rob recently completed the EPIC Moab 240 which is a two hundred and forty mile race traversing all around Moab, UT. The race is put on by Candice Burt, race director of Destination Trails, and from all reports is an extremely high quality and AWESOME event! Over his 4 days of running Moab, Rob had an adventure of a li...

This week we are welcoming the super energetic and awesome Tony Nguyen to the show! Tony has an incredible story of transforming himself from a non-athlete, self professed "last in gym class" to a man who has gone all in on the running community. After a heart attack scare, he started walking. Walking turned into running. Running turned into becoming a Marathon Maniac. That became transforming int...

This week we are chatting with Katie and Jason Parker about what it takes to remodel a van, quit your jobs, and hit the road in search of adventure! Three years ago they bought an old Ford van, gutted it, and spent their time together remodeling it into a living space. Currently, they are about four months into a year long road trip that will take them completely around the country. In those short...

This week we are welcoming back Jennifer Mabus to hear some stories from her adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail!! While hiking from Mexico to Canada, Jennifer experienced what truly can be described as an epic adventure. In this episode she shares stories from the trail, how she felt to reach the last mile of her journey, how the PCT community supported each other along the way, and what it is l...

This week we are welcoming back my cousin Matt Rackers from one of our earliest episodes!! Back then Matt had just finished his very first half marathon. This time, he is fresh off completing his self made trifecta where he finished an obstacle course race one weekend, a half marathon the next, and his first trail 25k on the third weekend. In this episode we talk all about these experiences, what...

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run." - Forrest Gump I'm extremely excited to welcome Rob Pope, the real life Forrest Gump, to this week's show! Over the last few years, Rob has taken on the EPIC challenge of recreating Forrest Gump's famous run. Over 15,000 miles across the United States 5 times, he tested the limits of his own endurance and experienced the U.S....

This week I'm honored to share a conversation with Josh Sprague, adventure racer, ultra endurance athlete, and founder of adventure gear company Orange Mud. We chat all about his recent attempt at Leadman, the series where competitors take on every single Leadville, CO endurance event over the summer. Josh also shares stories from his time as an adventure racer and discusses what led him down the...

This week we are talking with Jay Lund, an athlete who has taken on many impressive adventures and has stepped up to some intense challenges in his life. In this episode we talk about a bunch of different topics; everything from his recent race at the Yeti 100 in Virginia to the joys of east coast trail running to dodging alligators in Florida trail races. We also spend a bit of time talking about...

This week we are talking with Alfredo Garcia Huerta, an incredible athlete from Virginia, about the ups and downs he experienced taking on his very first Ironman triathlon. An Ironman is something most endurance athletes have on their bucket list with a training that seems incredibly time consuming and intense. It's something I've always wanted to dig deeper into for this podcast! In this episode...

This week we are reconnecting with Thad Burkamper to talk about his recent Spartan Race Trifecta, what it was like training and running a race with his wife Rachel, his concept of FOCUS- the things that stop us from reaching our goals, and the lessons he learned from his longest run to date! Hope you guys enjoy this one!! I absolutely loved chatting with Thad and hearing about his adventures! MORE...

This week we welcome back Ryan Esdohr to the show to talk about his recent 48 hour GoRuck Challenge....we end up mostly talking about why we take on these extreme ultra endurance events- all the positives and all the negatives. What follows is one of my absolute favorite conversations I've had in my two years of doing this podcast. Check it out! MORE FROM RYAN: Superhuman Lab: https://www.mysuperh...

This week I'm very excited to welcome Jay Lee back to the show! Jay is an ultra runner and one of the best crew leaders around. Over 54 and a half days in 2017, he crewed Sandra Villines through her world record setting transcontinental run in which she ran from San Francisco to New York City. Through all of her 3,127 miles Jay spent his days driving a little ways up the road, running back to her...

This week's show features an amazing photographer and awesome ultra runner Zandy Mangold! Zandy started ultrarunning after being hired as the photographer for the Racing the Planet series. Since then he has been all around the world and has participated in a wide variety of races- everything from week long stage races in Chile to the Badwater 135 to the Georgia Death Race and so much more!! In thi...

On this week's Like a Bigfoot Podcast, former Indianapolis Colts Linebacker Pat Angerer shares lessons he learned from his journey to the NFL. Pat talks about the unexpected path his football career took him down, the moment he went "all in" to become the middle linebacker for the Iowa Hawkeyes, his experiences as a rookie in the big league, and how his mindset evolved through each phase of his ca...

On this week's episode of the show, I sat down and had a wonderful talking to one of the most influential people in my life, my dad Randy Ward. We chat about a wide variety of topics but mostly focus on how his experiences growing up in a small southern Iowan town influenced his love for nature and the outdoors. We also share stories from our father/son trip to Vanuatu, a small chain of islands in...

This week’s Like a Bigfoot Podcast features our last Desert RATS episode. These folks are absolutely amazing athletes and incredible human beings with stories that are intense, motivating, and will hopefully inspire you to step up to your own challenges. In this episode we start by focusing on some veteran Desert RATS Sue Heineman and Jeff Knackal who were returning for more punishment after a bru...

This week I get the opportunity to talk with sports writer, runner, and even more awesome human being Amy Donaldson Brass! I met Amy during the Desert RATS stage race and although we intended to record a brief 20 minute recap for episode #101 (which was an episode you guys should totally check it out!), she was so open, honest, and raw about her mindset and self-discoveries through the event that...

This week we are chatting with Kompas Design's Ana Popovic, John Pelkey and Ali Watson! All three of them recently took on a 30 day challenge that was meant to better their health, their art, and their knowledge. Along the way they became closer, more successful communicators and discovered the key to creating new healthy habits- CONSISTENCY. In this episode we have a great conversation about how...

I am incredibly excited to bring you this week's episode with Colorado mountain athlete Justin Simoni. Last summer, Justin created a challenge he dubbed the "Tour De Highest Hundred" which was a self powered journey to and up the 100 tallest mountains in Colorado. Over 60 days he did something no one else has even attempted as he biked to trailheads, summited the mountains, ate an astonishing amou...

This week I'm super pumped to chat with Catra Corbett, one of the most accomplished ultrarunners I've had the pleasure of sharing a few miles with. Catra is a wonderful human being and an amazing athlete. When you meet her you instantly know that she absolutely loves running and expresses her joy for the sport by taking on gigantic challenges. Just to give you an idea here's some of her summer sch...

This week we are chatting with the incredible Hoka One One athlete Pete Kostelnick. In 2016 Pete ran from San Francisco to New York City in 42 days, 6 hours and 30 minutes, shattering the previous record set in 1980. That's an average of 72 miles each day! He also holds the fastest time for Badwater 135 which is commonly known as one of the hardest endurance races in the world as it traverses Deat...