The theme of our live show in June 2013 was "Insults & Grievances." Folks packed into the Deer Pile—that tiny, gorgeous, sweltering box—listened to their peers tell tales of live beating them down. The story I remember the most vividly from that night came from Greg Salvesen, an economist who loves to run long distances. Back then, Greg recounted his greatest loss, and the damage that it did to him.

I'm sharing that story with you today because it's a good prequel to Greg's next story, which he told on July 15, 2015. In the spring of 2015, Greg competed in the granddaddy of all long jogs—the Infinitus, a rugged 888km footrace in the wilds of Vermont. That's right, 888km, over 550 miles in a figure-eight loop. Against all odds, Greg won! Greg shared his new story, along with six other stories on the theme "Take a Hike" on the July 2015 Narrators show.

Bonus: Here's the 46-second promotional video for the Infinitus, which is easily the weirdest, most unsettling video for a running race that I've ever seen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MhunzpnIYg

This story was originally recorded on 18 June 2013 at the Deer Pile in Denver, Colorado and the theme of the evening was "Arguments & Grievances." Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the regular monthly shows, we almost never edit our storytellers. If someone asks for help, we give them feedback, but we try hard to avoid meddling too much. Too much editing and everyone starts to sound the same. Too much coaching can twist a story into something that's too slick—the structure is perfect and audience is impressed but the story feels disconnected from the storyteller. We want folks share their truths in their own voice. But that means every month we take a giant leap of faith—because we never really know what folks are going to say when they get behind the microphone. We have to trust total strangers, unpredictable friends and mercurial artists. It's a gamble every month and, with only a handful of exceptions, we've hit the jackpot again and again.

This week's story started as one of those gambles. Mathiba Kgopa sent us a message on Facebook back in March. She said that she was from South Africa, would only be visiting Denver for two months. She had attended one of our live shows and wanted to share a story of her own. We're so glad we embraced the unknown. Mathiba has decided to stay in Denver and these days is working with the Flobots as a call-and-response songleader for their project called No Enemies, a gig she discovered through a collaborative performance with The Narrators at the Denver Art Museum.

This story was originally recorded on 15 April 2015 at Buntport Theater in Denver, Colorado and the theme of the evening was "The Flame." Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in April 2013, The Narrators asked Denver Diatribe to take over for one night. The theme of the evening was "Colfax Avenue," a tribute to Denver's most infamous street. This week's story comes from Jared Maher, one of Denver Diatribe's co-hosts. Jared is a former investigative journalist and staff writer for Westword. In the past decade he has worked for a variety of media outlets, including Face the State and Free Speech TV. These days, he's a producer and director at Craftsy.com.

This story was originally recorded on 18 April 2013 at the Deer Pile in Denver, Colorado. Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders) and thanks to Josh Johnson for engineering help on this episode.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's story comes from Jeff Campbell and was recorded live at our fifth anniversary show on March 18, 2015. The theme of the evening was "Symbiotes" and his story was entitled "A Tribe Called Crush."

Jeff Campbell has been a part of Denver’s creative community for over two decades, as a pioneering Hip Hop and spoken word artist, as well as facilitator of arts-in-education programs for Colorado’s youth in public schools. Jeff recently wrote and performed his first play, a one man show entitled “Who Killed Jigaboo Jones?” a One Man Mockumentary on the Hip Hop Industrial Complex. He also performed with The Narrators—and a bunch of puppets!—as part of a special collaboration with Off-Center at The Jones in 2014.

Special thanks to Josh Johnson with engineering help on this episode. Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's story comes from Jan Scott-Frazier and was recorded live at our fifth anniversary show on March 18, 2015. The theme of the evening was "Symbiotes" and her story was entitled "The Secret Sister."

Jan is a Director, Producer, public speaker, storyteller, multimedia artist, art/creativity educator, translator and Japanese animation industry veteran who has been an invited industry guest speaker at over 250 anime, sci-fi, and comics conventions as well as visual media and broadcasting trade shows. Jan has worked at studios such as Artland (Genocyber, Bubblegum Crash) and Production IG (Ghost in the Shell, Blood), freelanced with many other studios and had her own animation studio in Thailand. Jan has written textbooks, magazine articles, technical manuals and screenplays, and translated manga. Her work has been published in 8 languages. She also founded and produced two albums for the non-profit Voices For. You can find more information about Jan on her website, janscottfrazier.com.

Special thanks to Josh Johnson with engineering help on this episode. Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's story comes from Janae Burris and was recorded live at our fifth anniversary show on March 18, 2015. The theme of the evening was "Symbiotes" and her story was entitled "My Shams of Tabriz."

Janae is a Los Angeles native turned Denver transplant who has been performing standup, sketch and improv comedy for over a decade. Janae earned a bachelor of fine arts from California Institute of the Arts and worked for several years as an actor in Southern Californa. She has taught acting and improv comedy at Performing Arts Workshops, Oak View Middle School and Columbia College Hollywood. You can follow her @negativenegro on Instagram and Twitter.

Special thanks to Josh Johnson with engineering help on this episode. Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, the second of a two-part series on the theme "A Grand Gesture," features stories from comedian and educator Debbie Scheer and The Narrators' newest co-host, Erin Rollman. These stories were recorded live at Buntport Theater on February 18, 2015.

Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, the first of a two-part series on the theme "A Grand Gesture," features stories from Ranjeet Kaur and Chris Charpentier. These stories were recorded live at Buntport Theater on February 18, 2015.

Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, the second of a two-part series on the theme "Self Help," features stories from Ellen Nordberg and Kristin Rand. These stories were recorded live at Buntport Theater on January 21, 2015.

Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, the first of a two-part series on the theme "Self Help," features stories from Rachel Pater and Adam Stone. These stories were recorded live at Buntport Theater on January 21, 2015.

Our theme music is by our friend Whalehawk (aka the Grammy-nominated musician Jake Sanders).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices