Faster Forward with Troy Busot

Our guest for Episode 48 is Ben Davis, a former Navy SEAL who uses his love for the outdoors, military and combat experience, and finishes at the Leadville and Shenandoah 100 mile mountain bike races in his current position as Executive Director at VOAG - or Veterans' Outdoor Advocacy Group - to advocate on behalf of veterans for the use of outdoor activities as accepted, funded and prescribed therapies to mend the mental and emotional scars affecting our veterans after a 21 year war on terror.

It’s a great conversation where we talk about the differences - and similarities - between BUDS training and Leadville as well as get details on a harrowing night spent at 14,000 feet on Long’s Peak, unable to descend until morning. So sit back, or lace ‘em up, and if you’re ready for the show, crank it up, and let’s go.

VOAG (Veterans' Outdoor Advocacy Group website: https://www.voag.org/

With an Olympic hopeful runner for a father, and not wanting to compete with his siblings in the family business of running, Dan King pushed off his destiny early in his athletic life with wrestling and other activities. 

In an effort to build fitness in the off season, he finally succumbed to Cross Country where he would show some of the early talent that would earn him a world record in the 60-64 age group mile with a blistering time of 4:49 as well winning the USATF Colorado Long Distance Runners of the Year for 2021.

In his own words, Dan doesn't consider himself competitive, but achievement-oriented. And I think you'll find him to be amazing.

So, if you're ready for the show, crank it up and let's go.

Ryan Krol of Boundless Endurance Coaching is our guest for Episode 46.

Ryan's love for running ultra distances and exploring the mountains ignites his passion for showing people how to enjoy a lifestyle centered on fitness and health. With over 50 ultra marathon finishes of his own - and 2 6th Place finishes in the multi-race Leadman Challenge - Ryan and his group of coaches at Boundless helped over 40 of their coached athletes cross the finish line at the 2022 Leadville 100 run.

We talk about how the physical takes you through mile 60, but the mental gets you the last 40. And we talk about what it means to be on the Green Team and how that translates to success in such a grueling race.

Thanks again to Ryan Krol - we'll do a post for each episode on Instagram, so look for the post for episode 46 with a picture of Ryan if you have comments or questions - we are @fasterforwardshow or shoot me an email [email protected].

If you got value from today's episode, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Share it with your friends - tweet it, post about it - give us a rating and review - you get it - and thank you so much for listening. 

And until next week everyone, keep it moving faster, forward.

Today's guest is Taylor Lideen - this year's overall winner of the Unbound Gravel XL race - a 350 mile sufferfest through the Flint Hills of Kansas. Formerly known as Dirty Kanza, the race challenged Taylor to the bitter end through nearly 24 hours of racing. We talk at great length about that race, the preparation and physical and mental side of ultra bike racing and Taylor opens up about his battles on and off the bike with depression and the importance of family and close support of his wife and other loved ones to bring him back into the light. 

Taylor on Athlinks

And that's the show! Hope you enjoyed it - more people racing more often having more fun in the process is our mission. Thanks again to Taylor Lideen for sharing his story. You can find him on Instagram @tlideen.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. We do a special post for each episode on Instagram, so look for the post for episode 45 with a picture of Taylor if you have comments or questions - we are @athlinks  or shoot us an email to [email protected]. 

Share it with friends far and wide - give us a review if you dig it - and, 

Welcome back everybody - after a bit of a Summer break, we are back with new episodes of the podcast. As always, I am your host Troy Busot and right out of the gate we have a conversation with an amazing running who will be representing her home country of Mexico in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo.

Imagine yourself at 11 years old. Growing up in a small town about 100 miles outside of Mexico City. And every day after school, you make your way to a crowded city bus that takes you the hour-long journey, solo, to running practice. For eight years, you do this, winning youth championships, and ultimately a full ride scholarship to Kansas State University, where upon arriving you know zero English, crash headlong into a whole new level of competition, deal with injuries and burnout, and ultimately set running aside to pursue a desk job.

That alone would have a made a great job, but in part 2 we'll talk about the 180 degree turn that life threw at our guest that takes her from a Boston Qualifying time at her first marathon in Seattle, to uprooting her entire life and relationship to move back to her home town and begin training again, falling flat on her face in her first test, only to break a 22 year old record in the outdoor 1500 meter run mere months later.

It's an inspiring and amazing story, so if you're ready for the show, crank it up and let's go!

Welcome back everybody - after a bit of a Summer break, we are back with new episodes of the podcast. As always, I am your host Troy Busot and right out of the gate we have a conversation with an amazing running who will be representing her home country of Mexico in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo. 

Imagine yourself at 11 years old. Growing up in a small town about 100 miles outside of Mexico City. And every day after school, you make your way to a crowded city bus that takes you the hour-long journey, solo, to running practice. For eight years, you do this, winning youth championships, and ultimately a full ride scholarship to Kansas State University, where upon arriving you know zero English, crash headlong into a whole new level of competition, deal with injuries and burnout, and ultimately set running aside to pursue a desk job.

That alone would have a made a great job, but in part 2 we'll talk about the 180 degree turn that life threw at our guest that takes her from a Boston Qualifying time at her first marathon in Seattle, to uprooting her entire life and relationship to move back to her home town and begin training again, falling flat on her face in her first test, only to break a 22 year old record in the outdoor 1500 meter run mere months later. 

It's an inspiring and amazing story, so if you're ready for the show, crank it up and let's go!

42 - Phil Pinti 

Phil Pinti - aka @macho_man_runneth - cruised into his 30s with brass ring firmly in hand. A post-9/11 stint in the Marines had him deployed to - and now safely home from Iraq. Married to his college sweetheart and the love of his life and raising two beautiful young children. 

A life-long athlete, our guest made the Hershey Half Marathon an annual family pilgrimage. When hip-pain sidelined his wife, however, and normal treatments did nothing to alleviate the injury, tests revealed that his 33 year old bride was suffering from stage-4 lung cancer, which would tragically take her life just 6 short months later.

Faced with picking up the pieces and raising their two young children alone, Phil turned to a local race - the Mid Maryland Ultra 50K - in part to search for and feel a pain different from the anguish he had felt from his wife's passing just 3 months earlier.

The race gave him some perspective and as you'll hear, made him a better man and father, and drove him forward in his life. He continues to live the lessons that he learns on ultra courses around the country - which he will be doing in a few weeks here in Colorado at the Desert RATS ultra stage race which will take him on a 6 day running journey from Fruita, CO to Moab, UT. It will be his 3rd running of this race.

Links: 

Phil Pinti @ Athlinks https://www.athlinks.com/athletes/213605338/results

Phil Pinti @ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/macho_man_runneth

And that's the show! Hope you enjoyed it. I am Troy Busot. Thanks again to Phil Pinti for joining us.

We do a special post for each episode on Instagram, so look for the post for episode 42 with a picture of Phil if you have comments or questions - shoot me a message @troybusot or shoot us an email to [email protected]. 

Share it with friends far and wide - give us a review if you dig it - and, until next time, happy racing everybody.

Think back to Junior High. What were your highlights? Your accomplishments?

Today's guest was introduced to running by his elementary school's P.E. coach who organized a daily run and jog for his students. Being somewhat socially awkward, this young man spent his lunch hour running laps and eventually logging over 60 miles as a 6th grader.

Before moving on to High School, he finished his 8th grade year by writing his own training plan for and completing the Eugene Marathon.

He spent his High School years on the Dean's list - maintaining a near 4.0 GPA, and managed to establish himself as a respectable 3K runner in Track, completed several other marathons and finished two 24 hours runs - each time passing 100K.

He earned himself an academic full ride scholarship to college - where he is now - saving money for his first home with a goal of graduating on time, debt-free, and in control of his future.

That P.E. teacher, incidentally, was none other than the guest from episode 28, THE King of FKTs, Jason Hardrath. And the Student, and today's guest, is Chris Eck. A truly humble and inspirational young man with whom I was honored to spend a Saturday afternoon speaking with.

And that's the show! Hope you enjoyed it. I am Troy Busot and thanks again to Chris Eck for joining us.

We do a special post for each episode on Instagram, so look for the post for episode 41 with a picture of Chris if you have comments or questions - shoot me a message @troybusot or shoot us an email to [email protected]. 

Share it with friends far and wide - give us a review if you dig it - and, until next time, happy racing everybody.

After an arm injury cut his collegeate pitching career short, you could say that today's guest took some off of athletics. So much so, in fact, that he gained the weight equivalent of another version of himself - 180 pounds to be exact.

After some failed attempts to reverse course and resigned to this fate, he told his folks that maybe they should stop pushing him to lose the weight and end his sedintary lifestyle - he just didn't see a solution within himself.

Then, he found what many would consider to be an unlikely catalyst that would get him off the couch and out onto the first of what would be many runs in his journey to losing 180 pounds and running his first 40 mile Ultra in Pennsylvania. What was the secret? Well, you'll have to listen to the show to find out.

Dan Lamorte Naked Prussian Result @ Athlinks

Dan Lamorte @ Twitter

That's the show, folks, Hope you enjoyed it - more people racing more often having more fun in the process is our mission at Athlinks. 

Thanks again to Dan Lamorte for pulling doubel duty on the show.

We do a special post for each episode on Instagram, so look for the post for episode 40 with a picture of Dan if you have comments or questions - we are @athlinks and @troybusot or shoot us an email to [email protected]. 

* The best way to support this podcast is to click subscribe on iTunes or follow on Spotify to be notified of new shows. Share it far and wide with anyone you think would enjoy it and please take a second to give us a rating and a quick review on iTunes.

And, until next time, happy racing everybody.

The Athlinks Podcast Hosted by Troy Busot

When you make a living from the things that you love, you end up spending your whole life immersed in your passions. 

Host of the hit podcast Marni on the Move, Founder and CEO of the Salup Group specializing in marketing and branding for active lifestyle events with companies like Soul Cycle and Athleta, she’s an Ironman certified coach and obsessive triathlete herself.

On the podcast today, we are joined by none other than Marni Salup as she joins us to talk about how she has successfully built a career around her passions and continues to find opportunities every single day to bring more of the things she’s passionate about into her life.

Marni Salup @ Athlinks

Marni Salup @ Instagram

Fit + Love

The Salup Group

Thanks again to Marni Salup for sharing.

We do a special post for each episode on Instagram, so look for the post for episode 39 with a picture of Marni if you have comments or questions - we are @athlinks or shoot us an email to [email protected]. 

* The best way to support this podcast is to click subscribe on iTunes or follow on Spotify to be notified of new shows. Share it far and wide with anyone you think would enjoy it and please take a second to give us a rating and a quick review on iTunes.

And, until next time, happy racing everybody.