Like a Bigfoot

A few weeks ago cousins Andy and John Anderson became the first Iowans to summit Everest from the North Side. I was honored to chat with them only a few days removed from the top of the world. On this week's show they share their journey, the experience of summit day, their purpose and preparation. How did they train for such an endeavor in the (relatively) flat state of Iowa? How is the North Sid...

This week we send out a huge welcome back to our friend Adam Casey. In this episode Adam continues his story and explains the next period of his life as a U.S. Marine officer which leads into the absolute brutal day that unexpectedly knocked him onto a whole different path. We also discuss why he reads the "Tao of Pooh" once every 6 months. The book explains the essentials of Taoism using examples...

Every single person, at least once in their life, should climb a mountain. As we quickly approach mountain climbing season out here in Colorado, my inner mountain geek is beginning to get antsy. To appease my own restlessness, I decided to put together a podcast that essentially could be the "intro to climbing a mountain." Specifically a 14er, the biggest mountains in Colorado (though the info cou...

"All profound things are preceded and attended by Silence." - Herman Melville This week on the podcast we are honored to bring you wilderness survival expert Alan Kay. Alan was the season one winner of Alone on the History Channel, which is probably the best (aka least reality showish) demonstration of wilderness survival on TV. Ten people were dropped off in separate locations on northern Vancouv...

This week is all about long distance mountain biking as we chat with Scott Morris. Scott and his girlfriend Eszter Horanyi live nomadically on public lands and spend their days working remotely and exploring beautiful areas on their mountain bikes. Growing up in Utah he fell in love with mountain biking. As his rides got longer and longer and he overcame the "limits of daylight", he began "bikepac...

This week we are chatting with Jason Sudduth about rediscovering health, having adventures, and creating positive routines. Recently he's lost 40 pounds in two months, started doing yoga, began running, and recently went on his first backpacking trip to the Linville Gorge in North Carolina. I had Jason on specifically to nerd out about the Linville Gorge, one of the most remote wild places in the...

This week we are honored to welcome endurance athlete, entrepreneur, and creator and star of the awesome endurance racing TV show Boundless, Simon Donato. Recently he wrote a book called The Boundless Life: 13 Lessons Learned the Hard Way. If you are like me and obsessed with endurance sports, wilderness exploration, and solid life advice, then definitely check it out! I finished it over the weeke...

This week's Like a Bigfoot episode is, fittingly enough, with the creator of the Bigfoot 200 mile endurance, Candice Burt. In fact, she organizes, manages, and directs THREE 200 mile races: Bigfoot, Tahoe, and Moab (really 234 miles...but at that point what's 34 more!) Candice is a really thoughtful, funny, and happy person....for someone who jokingly received the moniker of "most masochistic race...

This week I was fortunate enough to chat with Eric Schranz, the host of the absolutely wonderful Ultrarunner Podcast! Years ago I binged a bunch of his episodes and then decided to sign up for my first 50k. So yeah...it's his fault that I'm an ultrarunner! In fact, if you are curious about looking into the sport of ultrarunning, I would highly suggest that you check out the URP as it is a great re...

"I want an indelible bond with my daughter. I want her to remember this trip for the rest of her life. I want her to remember me after I am gone. I want Awe. I want to feel alive. I want Aidan to be filled with life and wonder."- James Campbell, Braving It Very excited to bring you this week's episode with author, adventurer, and family man James Campbell. Author of "The Color of War", "The Ghost...

I'm stoked to share this week's episode! An academic, a scholar, a....a.....a super smart dude. Professor Jake Reed!! Jake is one of my oldest friends and has recently become a Professor of Strength & Conditioning and Physiology of Exercise at the University of Northern Iowa. He's also a Sports Scientist working with the U.S.A. Women's Rugby team and a sport performance consultant for Renaissance...

This week the Like a Bigfoot Podcast proudly brings you Will Seeber's story of his 14ersQuest- where he attempted to summit as many of the Colorado 14ers as possible in brutal winter conditions. As a self confessed 14ers nerd, I followed Will's story this winter and am beyond stoked to have been able to chat with him about the experience. There's just something about climbing mountains that is mag...

This week Brady Manriquez and Travis Steffen discuss their experiences in the Monument Valley Ultras. Brady finished off his very first half marathon, 13.1 beautiful miles running through the desert. A culmination of a year long discovery of running. He recaps his strategy to deal with the pre-race jitters, how he handled running in the sand, and the importance of embracing happiness and rolling w...

This past weekend I competed in the Monument Valley 50 miler. The best way to describe the experience was "Life in a Day". I experienced the whole spectrum of emotions throughout nine hours of sand dunes, mesas, hogans, and even found moments of desert isolation. I hollered with joy running down Mitchell Mesa, I had my breath taken away by the beauty of the valley in the Arches Loop, and I welcome...

Ridiculously excited this week as we welcome Adam Casey to the podcast! A month ago in Nederland, Colorado I spent a few hours running with Adam. We were cruising along, chatting and instantly I knew I wanted him to share his story on the podcast. Because, quite frankly, Adam's lived a life. His journey to where he is now, a computer programming major at University of Colorado, has been unconventi...

This week we are joined once again with Travis Steffen (episode 10) . Travis is a successful entrepreneur and athlete working in the heart of the insanity that is Silicon Valley. Through the last ten years he's created multiple businesses from scratch, played college football, pursued MMA, fought in Thailand, completed triathlons and ultramarathons, climbed mountains, competed in body building com...

There's so much I could write about as I attempt to describe Jason Schlarb in a few short paragraphs. He's a professional runner, Altra sponsored athlete, world traveler, family man, and an all around good dude. He's ran (and won) an insane amount of trail races all around the world, he's explored mountains, beaches, jungles, and deserts, and was the first American to finish UTMB in 2014 (the Supe...

Imagine walking sunrise to sunset day after day for 2,650 miles through brutal winter weather. We're talking summiting gigantic frigid mountains, freezing cold river crossing, waist deep snow, without seeing other hikers for weeks at a time through intense wintry wilderness. Those are only a few of the obstacles Shawn Forry and his hiking partner Justin Lichter faced while successfully completing...

“We don’t lack the science, information, or technology to get healthy. We lack the art to know how to use those things properly.” This week’s Like a Bigfoot Podcast is with the author of the upcoming book “The Art of Health Hacking” TJ Anderson. TJ is an advocate for human optimization through continual learning, testing, and adapting your habits to chase your ideal physical, mental and emotional...

Since we last spoke to Brady Manriquez (episode 1), he has lost 15 more pounds, overcame set-backs in the form of an emergency surgery, began pumping iron, and discovered the great form of exploration known as trail running. All this in preparation for his very first race- a 14.5 miler in the absolute breath-taking Monument Valley smack dab in the middle of the Arizona/Utah desert. In this episode...

This week's guest is amazing, hard working, hilarious, loving and just so happens to be the most important person in my life, my beautiful wife, Lindsey Ward. (Brownie points for me!) As the clock ticked midnight on New Years' Eve, Linz and I started our month long journey to tackle the Whole30 challenge. The Whole30 challenge encourages you to eat only the absolute essentials- vegetables, fruits,...

If you are a parent...or an athlete....or a parent-athlete, you are going to love this one! Sara and Wes Turner are two of the most driven athletes in Virginia. On this podcast we like to highlight people rebelling against the status quo and I'm happy to say that this husband and wife team are epitomizing the Like a Bigfoot spirit! For the past few years Wes has been literally chasing his goal of...

I met this week's guest way back in 2008 during my first year of coaching 9th grade football for the Iowa City West Trojans. He instantly became one of my favorite players. He was coachable, tough, would play any position asked of him, worked harder than anyone else, and had the never say die attitude that brings a smile to a coach's face. Over the last nine years, George Kittle transformed himsel...

This week we are proud to have the opportunity to talk to one of the leading experts of Acroyoga. The most basic definition of this style of yoga is that it is a mixture of acrobatics and yoga. It is the rare “social” yoga in that the poses are generally accomplished with either one or more partners. This week’s guest has spent the last ten years learning and practicing under the watch of Acroyoga...

What kind of person can endure 50 ironman triathlons, in all 50 states, in 50 straight days? An Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and finished with a 26.2 mile run for a total of 140.6 miles. For most people completing one is a MAJOR life accomplishment. In the summer of 2015, "The Iron Cowboy" James Lawrence powered through 50 of them, for 50 straight days, wh...