Dying To Ask

The one year countdown to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is this week and Fitz is geeking out with one of her favorite athletes, Kim Conley. 

Kim hopes to make her third U.S. Olympic team in the 5,000 meters.

This Olympic push is different than the first two for Kim. She's already achieved the Olympic standard which means she just has to finish top 3 at the US Olympic Trials next summer to go to Japan. Easy right?!

The Olympic standard is the Olympic hopeful's equivalent to Willy Wonka's golden ticket.

If you got lost in the woods, could you forage enough food to survive? Chances are your answer is no. But, Hank Shaw could likely find a 5 course meal including dessert.

Shaw is an expert, maybe THE expert on cooking wild game. But, he wasn't always that way.

He worked as a political news reporter for 18 years. Then, he created the "Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook" blog. He started writing about what he calls "honest food." Nothing packaged. Nothing raised on an industrial farm.

That blog won the best food blog award by the James Beard Foundation in 2013. It's referred to as the "Oscars of the food world" and Hank's life hasn't been the same since quitting his day job to go all in on food writing.

His writing takes him all over as he teaches fans how to hunt, fish, forage and prepare food in ways they've never thought of before. And, you might be surprised to find out who is following him.

On this Dying to Ask, the signs you're ready to turn a passion into a career, what a day looks like as a food writer and how to know what you can eat in the woods that won't kill you. Spoiler: There's a lot out there that can kill you.

"Dying to Ask" is back with books you'll be dying to read after listening to this episode. Tina Ferguson, owner of "Face in a Book" bookstore, is our hilarious guest and we recorded this episode in front of a live audience in her charming bookstore. Tina just returned from Book Expo in NYC.  It's the book industry's biggest event and it determines the titles you'll see in your local bookstore, library and eventually your nightstand.  Tina explains trends in the publishing industry and the role influencers are playing in the literary world, and everywhere else. Then, Fitz and Tina NERD OUT with their picks for the best summer beach reads.  

On this Dying to Ask, Nichole walks you through the process of getting on a reality show and weird stuff that happens during taping. She shares her time management tricks to gain and maintain fitness and sanity. And dishes on what hanging out with The Rock is like.

In this Dying to Ask, why Ret. First Sgt Matt Eversmann explains why being "average" isn't good enough, why he believes anyone can learn to be a leader and his unlikely road to being a motivational speaker.

What makes you happy? It can be a tricky question to answer. In fact, global researchers from Yale to UC Berkeley are now studying happiness and how important it is to our sense of well-being.

What was it like raising your son? It's the number one question Dierdre Wolownick gets when people find out she's the mother of Alex Honnold, the first person to Climb Yosemite's El Capitan with no ropes, no safety net and nothing else to save him.

The word "can't" doesn't really register with Eric Tozer. The type 1 diabetic just made history completing the World Marathon Challenge. That's seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. No one with type 1 diabetes had done that before.

Heads up: it takes pop icon Debbie Gibson all of 20 seconds to bust into " Only in My Dreams" on this episode. In the late 80s, there was no one bigger in pop music than Debbie Gibson. At 17, she set the record for being the youngest female artist to write, produce and perform a number one song. This summer, she's celebrating the 30th anniversary of her album " Electric Youth" by joining other 80s acts like Salt-N-Pepa, Naughty By Nature and Tiffany on the NKOTB Mixtape Tour. Why is there still such huge demand for 80s pop music? Debbie credits nostalgia and a website called Cameo where stars like Debbie create personalized shout-outs for their fans.

The next Gold Rush is more like a Green Rush and our guest, Kerrigan Behrens, is one of its pioneers.