Today I’m sharing my conversation with the mountain runner, Rickey Gates.

Rickey isn't just your typical long distance runner. He's a profoundly creative and expressive person whose athletic prowess is just the surface of his multifaceted identity. He earned his reputation within the competitive mountain running circuit and he grew in popularity in step with the growth of the sport as a whole. After a decade as a Salomon athlete competing at the biggest races around the world, he slowly transitioned into more creative projects and became known as a conceptual runner.

These creative projects include “Transamericana,” a documentary film about his run across America with just a 12 pound bag and a budget of $1,000 a month—which he also documented through his book, Cross Country: A 3,700 Mile Run to Explore Unseen America; And Every Single Street, a project where he documented his journey of running all 1,300 miles of roads in the city of San Francisco over 45 days. These projects, along with several other short films can be seen on his website, www.rickeygates.com.

In this episode, we discuss his origins as a runner growing up in Aspen, Colorado, his rapid ascent in the world of mountain running, his creative projects, his transition to parenthood, and everything in between.

Yet, why run so far and document these stories? As Rickey says, “The 2500-year-old legend of Pheidippides tells us about a common Athenian soldier who ran from the fennel fields of Marathon to the Acropolis in Athens to announce victory over the Persians. Upon arrival he delivered his message, only to perish from exhaustion moments later. And perhaps, that is why. Because the runner is a messenger and his suffering must be witnessed.”

Cover Photo by Dylan Harris Courtesy Janji

This episode is an interview with Jackson, Wyoming-based mountain runner and artist Kelly Halpin. Kelly is a hard person to narrowly define, as she is also an accomplished rock climber, snowboarder, environmentalist, children’s book author, forager and more. As you’ll hear in our conversation, it’s clear that Nature is her greatest muse. And while she’s out on long training runs or setting new FKTs, she spends a lot of time thinking about our place as humans in a broader historical context, and how we’ve become detached from the natural world and all that it provides us. Her achievements and perspectives on living in balance are inspiring and I really respect her all-encompassing approach to being an outdoor athlete. True to Kelly's character, we cover a lot of ground in this episode. Enjoy!

Cover photo by Mike Thurk

For today’s episode I interviewed ultra endurance bike racer and runner Eszter Horanyi. In today’s hyper connected world of endurance sports, she may not be a household name, but before there was Instagram, she was a pioneer in bikepacking and ultra endurance bike racing, setting course records at The Tour Divide, The Colorado Trail Race, The Arrowhead 135, The Stagecoach 400, The Arizona Trail 300, The Dixie 200, the Iditarod 350 and more—not to mention countless other victories including a win at the 24 hour mountain bike national championship at the 24 Hours of Moab. She’s no longer an ultra endurance mountain bike racer, although she still gets out on plenty of impressively long rides. Today, she’s an occasional ultra runner and full time photographer and wordsmith, and decade-long van resident. On today’s episode Eszter and I discuss the early years of women’s ultra endurance mountain bike racing, her transition to running, and what living out of a van for a decade is all about.

Cover Photo by Scott Morris