May 22, 2020

#200: Dion Leonard -- Stage Races, 200s, Leadman, Grand Slams with the Author of "Finding Gobi"

2 hours 3 minutes

This week we are chatting with Dion Leonard, ultrarunner and author of the New York Times bestseller "Finding Gobi".

Dion has received a lot of press for his book which is " the heartwarming story of Gobi, a stray dog he found on a race across the eponymous desert" which is something you need to check out, but he is also an incredibly accomplished athlete who has taken on some of the hardest challenges in the sport of ultra running.

He jumped all in on this sport by running a handful of Stage Races around the world including the Marathon Des Sables and the Gobi March. In 2018 he finished second place in the Triple Crown of 200s, all three of Candice Burt's remarkable two mile races. Then in 2019, after winning the Delirious 200 miler in Australia, he decided to up the ante by participating in the "Leadman" and the "Grand Slam of Ultrarunning in same summer. That means he raced every endurance event in Leadville (both running and mountain biking) plus four of the biggest 100 milers.

That has to go down as two of the craziest years an athlete has had in ultra running!

In this episode we get into all of those stories as we explore Dion's growth both mentally and emotionally through pushing his limits. What drives him? What makes him persevere? How have his experiences shaped him into who he now is?

Excited to share this one and honored to get to talk with Dion! He is quite inspiring and after you listen to him you will feel like you can go out and take on the world!

BONUS: With this being the 200th episode of the show I felt like we needed to have an appearance from our very first podcast guest, my buddy Brady Manriquez. So we added a Bonus segment instead of an Outro where Brady and I just chat about the show and what it's meant to me over the years. We also briefly discuss what we are doing to challenge ourselves this weekend now that the Booneville Backroads Ultra was rescheduled for September.

#200: Dion Leonard -- Stage Races, 200s, Leadman, Grand Slams with the Author of "Finding Gobi"

2 hours 3 minutes

This week we are chatting with Dion Leonard, ultrarunner and author of the New York Times bestseller "Finding Gobi".

That has to go down as two of the craziest years an athlete has had in ultra running!

Excited to share this one and honored to get to talk with Dion! He is quite inspiring and after you listen to him you will feel like you can go out and take on the world!