Eat Half, Walk Double

Eric Rousseau is my guest this week.  The legendary American entrepreneur Sam Walton is credited with saying “And like most other overnight successes, it was about twenty years in the making.”.  This is actually Eric’s story.  As a teenager, an opportunity presented itself for him to go to work for the local Walmart as an hourly associate.  Within six months, being at the right place at the right...

Shawn Hoyt is my guest this week.  Now that I’m in my 50’s what impresses and inspires me, are fellow Gen X’ers who are still getting after it.  Women and men in their 40’s and early 50’s who’ve learned through experience how to harmonize family, fitness, and career.  Who acknowledge and accept that age requires change, but that change does not equal surrender.  Shawn is a great example of someone...

Damon Gannon is my guest.  Imagine you’re a seemingly healthy, extraordinarily fit 44-year-old athlete, standing in a local emergency room trying to convince the triage nurse of something you already knew…you were having a heart attack.  This is exactly where Damon found himself on March 14th of 2013.  And while it sounds cliché, he really is lucky to be alive.  For several days prior to walking i...

Randy Tuck is my guest this week on the show.  The question of what it takes to prepare to finish a 100 mile footrace, and deadlift 500 lbs three months later, is both fascinating and rarely asked.  Largely because the sports of ultramarathoning and powerlifting are seemingly incompatible.  “Seemingly” being the operative word because in 2019 Randy cracked the code on this unusual combination of e...

Jen Murphy joins the show this week.  Anyone who describes themselves as scientist, cyclist, cycling coach, part-time dinosaur, haphazard blog poster, and taco enthusiast deserves a podcast episode.  Jen has taken her love of cycling and explored nearly every avenue available to her.  From bike commuting (she rides thousand of miles a year to and from work), advocacy (she leads a group that empowe...

Matt Lipsey is my guest.  I’d argue he’s one of the top sub-ultra trail runners east of the Mississippi.  And as the terrain gets steeper and gnarlier, he further separates himself from the crowd.  Evidence his four wins at the infamous 7 Sisters Trail Race in Western, MA.  A course that has chewed up and spit out many a trail runner (yours included).  His last win there occurring in May of 2022 w...

Kat Donatello is my guest this week.  Endurance athlete, race director, entrepreneur, dog owner, cancer survivor…I’m telling you, hold onto your hats because this is a great story!  What started as a kitchen project to make a homemade remedy for her aging Duck Tolling Retriever Brady, and something to take the edge off her new Labrador Retriever Austin, would eventually become an incredibly succes...

Rich Lavers joins the show.  As teammates, co-RD’s, and friends we share some pretty great memories.  Even when, at times, things didn’t quite go our way.  That’s the funny thing about sharing epic experiences with friends, regardless of the outcome the stories bond us together.  Although Rich has purposely pivoted away from trail and mountain running (that’s a great story too), we get together at...

Valerie Abradi & Mindy Slovinsky are my guests this week. Better known within the Maine trail running community as Scout & Squirrel, this dynamic duo direct Maine’s only 100 mile trail race, the Riverlands 100. Held each May in the beautiful Androscoggin State Park in Turner this ultra’s charm is matched only by it’s deceptive difficulty. But don’t take my word for it, Val & Mindy brea...

Dwight Hartman is my guest. We’ve been friends since the day we met in Mrs. Bosse’s Lollipop Nursey School many, many years ago.  And over the last 45+ years we’ve competed together in organized sports, shoulder to shoulder, as youths, adolescents, teenagers, and eventually as adults. These shared experiences transcend friendship. They have inextricably bonded us together. In this episode we...

Sean Snow is my guest. For those who follow him on social media, his daily positive posts are inspirational and uplifting. And they are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise swamp of negativity. Yet I suspect that very few know the story behind those posts. In a very real sense they are an integral component of his continued success as a 56 year old endurance athlete. Finally, in order to more ful...

Scott Graham is my guest this week. For runners, the most famous stretch of road in all the world is the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston, MA. Landmarks such as the Ashland Clock Tower, the Framingham Train Station, the screaming co-eds at Wellesley College, the “Forever Young” statue in Newton, Heartbreak Hill, Coolidge Corner, the Citgo sign, and of course Copley Square give the route a uniqu...

Nate Sanel joins the podcast this week. In a very real sense, this episode has been six years in the making and started as a group mountain bike ride in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in 2017. Fast forward to the present day and the use of cannabis generally and in endurance sports specifically has become more common but not necessarily better understood. Through personal experience, as both an...

In Part 2 of my conversation with Ken Young we pick back up where we left off in his mountaineering evolution. It’s 2016 and he is on the expedition of a lifetime. A three week trip to the Peruvian Andes including a multi-day trek to Machu Pichu, two 18,000+ foot summits, and an attempt at the 22,205 foot goliath Huascaran which didn’t quite go to plan. After Peru he returned home and re-organized...

Ken Young is my guest this week. As outdoor adventure resumes go, he’s in rarified air…literally. His first registered hike was Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in June of 2000. Six years later he would stand atop the 14,411 foot Mt. Rainer in Washington State. That trip kicked off a short but incredibly memorable mountaineering phase of his life that saw hi...

Amanda Richmond is my guest this week. Is it a coincidence or something more that at 40-something years old she set PR’s in nearly every distance she races since the birth of her daughter Riley in July of 2021. That list by the way includes running a 2:54 marathon just 9 months after giving birth via c-section. She appropriately credits part of that post-partum running success to her ability to co...

Jessie Laurie & Steve Waterman are my guests this week. It’s been said to be inspired is to “listen to the whispers of the heart”. Truth be told, all great achievements can trace their origins back to inspiration. And whether they intentionally set out to do it or not, their story has been and likely will be an inspiration to others. Jessie is a blind athlete. Steve is her guide. Together they alp...

Kevin St. Laurent joins the show this week. By his own account he’s been running his entire life. His parents are runners so he started running as a youth. In high school he was an average to above average runner. In college his running took a back seat. After college he worked to focus again on his running but struggled to maintain any kind of consistency. That was until he “cracked the code” and...

Tim Cox is my guest this week. When it’s all said and done, he will undoubtedly go down as one of the most successful New Hampshire scholastic running coaches of all time. If you ask me, the most interesting part of his story is not the accomplishments, but how he got here. In life we are all given the opportunity for experiences to define us or to shape us. It’s always our choice. As a schoolboy...

Kara Haas joins the show. Recently she took the reigns of the New England-based All Terrain Runner Series. This fun competitive series challenges runners on five different surfaces; track, trail, road, mountain, and cross country. It’s a great opportunity to try something new and experience a new community of people. We discuss each event in the series. Kara of course is no stranger to the sport o...

Millennium Running’s John Mortimer is my guest this week. When you think of road racing in New Hampshire, you think Millennium Running. That’s not surprising considering they have more than 29 signature events. All of which are successful and all of which are a ton of fun. In addition to the events they also have a brick and mortar running store and a loyal and robust running club. But it’s arguab...

Kate Ouellette joins the podcast this week. Her rise to prominence as an ultradistance cyclist has been nothing short of meteoric. In 2016, out of necessity, she reluctantly bought and started riding a fat bike. Five years later she competed in the famous Trans America Bike Race riding 4200 miles in 17 days finishing 2nd place overall (and first female). That year she was also the only person to c...

Liz Durant is my guest this week. She’s a mom, wife, empty nester, personal trainer, fitness and nutrition coach, and a lover of all things active. And at the age of 60 she is also an ultradistance runner. I guess like some runners she gravitated toward trail running when the road running injuries began to pile up. Although her running history is relatively short (she only started running in her 4...

Tyler Lupien & Jenny Villeneuve are my guests this week. This duo was recently part of a three person team that successfully got one ultradistance runner (Tyler) to the finish line of his first 100 mile footrace. Having a team on site to support a runner during this type of challenge isn’t required. Plenty go it alone. Ever the stoic, initially Tyler had planned to go it solo. While some may s...

Patty Higgins is my guest this week. For decades she carried with her the heavy burden of a secret only the inner most of her inner circle knew about. While outwardly she appeared to those that knew her as a dedicated endurance athlete and successful professional, inwardly she felt ashamed, embarrassed, scared, and alone. Then on December 16, 2016 out of desperation she finally surrendered. Her li...