We Are Superman

I'm excited to be just two weeks away from running the Leadville Trail 100, one of the toughest running tests on the planet. I'll be toeing the starting line there for the ninth time, and hoping to become one of the very few to finish it in four different 10-year age groups! I talk about how I've been training, my race strategy, nutrition and hydration plan, my crew, where I've...

This is part two of a really fun episode with two very impressive track athletes, Camden Law of Chatfield H.S. and Jake Culig of Bear Creek H.S., who finished 2nd and 3rd at the Colorado 5A State meet in the 800 meters. As I mentioned before, even if you’re not a high school track fan, I think there is a lot to gain from listening to these insightful young men. In the previous episode #215, we tal...

In June, I was volunteering at the Resurrection Aid Station at the Leadville Marathon and Heavy Half, and noticed a couple of groups running together wearing neon green shirts that said Team Leadville and STOP Veteran Suicide, which immediately drew my interest. Never one not to initiate a conversation, I chatted with a few of them – not holding them up from continuing their mission to complete th...

This episode should be helpful to you if you're training for your first marathon or if you have run a few and are looking to tweak your training. I chatted here with Mike English, who I'd coached when he was in high school, then competed for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Mike drifted away from running while establishing his career and his family with his wife Tamber and...

For me, the transition to eating plant-based wasn’t a hard choice. As opposed to some athletes who do it for performance-related reasons, I’ve become increasingly fed up with the food industry, particularly factory farming. We kill billions of living, breathing, intelligent animals, funded to a large extent by the government – through industry promoters who lobby for subsidies like the Beef Counci...

I have a really fun episode for you. I have brought together two very impressive track athletes, Jake Culig of Bear Creek H.S. and Camden Law of Chatfield H.S., who finished 2nd and 3rd at the Colorado 5A State meet in the 800 meters. We had hoped to include Drew Costelow of Valor Christian, who’d won that race, but he had a family medical emergency, yet Jake, Camden, and I had a very spirited con...

On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig, despite having just been diagnosed with ALS, often called Lou Gehrig's Disease, gave one of the most inspiring speeches in sports or almost anywhere else.  The 'Iron Horse' had played in 2130 consecutive games, and led the New York Yankees to six World Series championships, but would die of this terrible disease in less than two years.  However, the Hall...

Imagine you are a young, rising star college runner who wins the extremely competitive Division 2 national cross country championship as a redshirt sophomore, helping lead the team to the national title as well. That year you also win the Division 2 national 3000-meter steeplechase title on the track. You then get to run in the Olympic Trials steeplechase. But next an unfortunate accident puts you...

A lot to unpack on this Power Play episode, including my recent trip to Colombia, South America, a beautiful country that has moved well beyond its days overrun by drug cartels.  I've added a  few interesting stories to my trip description.  Plus, a brief recap of the Leadville Marathon and Heavy Half with record-setting performances, and a discussion on plyometrics, which will help your stre...

Many of you know that I’m a hockey fan and closely follow the University of Denver, which won its ninth national championship in April this year. On the day between the semifinals and finals while I was there in Boston for the Frozen Four, they present awards, most notably for the Hobey Baker, which goes to the best player in college hockey. The hockey Heisman, if you will. Among the other awards...

I got back in the trail racing saddle this weekend for the first time in what seems like eons, a 50K trail race in the Colorado mountains, and definitely gained and/or re-lived some insights that I want to share with you that can hopefully help your racing, or for that matter, inspire you in many areas of your life. Bill Stahl silly_billy@msn.com Facebook Bill Stahl Instagram @stahlor This is a pu...

Jessica Gutierrez grew up in a split family and also suffered from learning issues in school that caused other kids to pick on her. She became withdrawn and started falling well behind in school. Eventually two things pulled her back up. One was an accurate diagnosis of dyslexia, a learning disorder that I think is vastly underestimated. There is no medication, training, or cure for dyslexia. Thos...

Is it hard to run a marathon on a prosthetic blade? If you listened to the episode this spring with Brian Reynolds, and I encourage you to go back and listen to it if you didn’t, you’d probably agree the answer is yes. Completing a triathlon, a 100-miler, completing the Tunnel Hill 100-miler in less than 19 hours? You’d even more likely say that’s amazing. And you’d say Adam Popp of Golden, CO is...

We've got a hodgepodge of entertainment for you, including on this second anniversary commemoration of his tragic, untimely passing, a reading from his last book, Eat Sh*t and Die, an overview of the amazing performances at the Colorado State H.S. track meet, and more. Bill Stahl silly_billy@msn.com Facebook Bill Stahl Instagram @stahlor This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss...

I'll tell you a couple of good, fun stories from recent morning runs, including at Denver's Colfax Marathon Relay.  I'll also discuss what I think are the many advantages of running at my favorite time of day to run -- in the morning.  Enjoy! Bill Stahl silly_billy@msn.com Facebook Bill Stahl Instagram @stahlor This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other s...

These two guests are inspirational and a lot of fun. Reana and Alex Kaminsky were high-level college athletes who after graduation got deeply entrenched in the working world, and long hours here, traveling there, grabbing fast food meals here, not making time to exercise there, and next thing you know, each one had gained more than 120 pounds. Once they recognized back in 2019 the toxic effects al...

I’m going to introduce you today to a young businessperson who has a ton of energy, and has funneled his enthusiasm and work ethic to create a company that makes one high-quality product, an athletic nutrition bar called the ExcaliBar. Emmanuel Lai cuts no corners to ensure the quality of the ExcaliBar.  But this episode isn’t about trying to sell a nutrition bar. For a young entrepreneur, he has...

The American Heroes Run was the brainchild of David Clark who created the race based on the motto of "Patriotism Without Politics." The race honors first responders, military service people and veterans, the lives lost on September 11, 2001, and of course, David. It will take place on Sept. 9-10, 2022 at beautiful Rogers Grove Park in Longmont, Colorado. Distances are 5K, 9.11-miles, hal...

I’m really excited about today’s guest for what a difference he can make in your athletic performance. Christian Straka was an aspiring tennis player whose career got cut short by injury. Many athletes at this point choose to then get into coaching, but Christian opted for a slightly different emphasis – the mental side of the game. He has applied his insights into mindset coaching to top professi...

Bruce Springsteen sang: "It takes a leap of faith to get things going; It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts; It takes a leap of faith to get things going; Yeah, in your heart baby you must trust."  What I urge you here is in order to experience life fully, sometimes you need to take a leap of faith and do things that might seem very difficult or even out of reach.  Take adva...

Do you remember Stan Cottrell on a WASP episode this past summer, the 78-year old who was running across the country, 30 miles a day every day for 100 straight days? He said that he’d performed a test in which they determined he was within 0.1% of biomechanical perfection! Thus at his age, he managed to run more than a marathon every day unhampered by injury. For the rest of us not in that 0.1%, t...

After 200 episodes, the WASP is still all about the amazing legacy left to us by David. I continue to honor that legacy by hosting this podcast with inspirational and informative guest and directing his American Heroes Run. Two more legacies will continue: Gary Stotler and I have a life group for men. It will focus on fostering better mental and emotional health spaces for men whether they are rec...

Every leader wants to be more effective, right?  Every athlete wants to perform better under pressure, right?  Today’s guest happens to be an expert at helping in both areas.  Bill Benjamin, a partner at the Institute for Health and Human Potential, has conducted workshops with NASA, the FBI, corporations like Intel and Coca-Cola, and every military service branch.  Bill and I talk about very stro...

This will be a short intro bio because the comeback story you are about to hear is just a young man.  But I think you will be moved by his impressive comeback from open-heart surgery that almost had a sad ending, and by his desire to share his story so others might be educated and inspired by it.  Mateo Casados was a soccer player and an up-and-coming track athlete at Horizon H.S. in Thornton, CO,...

I have often encouraged you to "just start" to change habits, begin a new exercise program, start a project, etc.  It's often difficult to resume your physical activities after surgery, injury, or illness, so now I'm giving you tips to "just re-start" to get you back on the roads and trails much faster than simply listening to your doctor's discouraging, conserva...