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Creigh Kelley is synonymous with running in Denver and well beyond. Starting a few years before I arrived in the Mile High City more than 40 years ago, this graduate of Virginia Military Institute, Vietnam War Army veteran (where he was awarded two Bronze Stars), Colorado Running Hall of Famer, and Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award recipient has directed more than 1000 races through his company BKB Ltd. Creigh has been the start/finish line voice of hundreds of races, including the Walt Disney World Marathon races, the Chicago Marathon, four Olympic Trials Marathons, the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in DC, the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, the Hospital Hill Run in KC, and been a TV analyst for track and field and the triathlon at the Sydney Olympic Games. Catch your breath now, he’s also been an agent to elite runners, helped found Running USA, and is currently the race director for the Colfax Marathon, which is Denver’s only marathon, and also includes two days of races and relays of varying distances. He is also a founder and Board member of the Kipture Primary School Foundation in Kenya, which he visits every year to support the school and its students. Creigh and I talk about a lot of fun stories about the good old days of running, how he got started as a runner and in the business, how he learned to take risks and try new challenges, and the birth and genesis of the Colfax Marathon into a major event with thousands of runners through the streets of Denver. We chatted enough for two episodes, and I guarantee you’ll be entertained by both of them.

Creigh Kelley
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Instagram @creighvmi

Bill Stahl
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We have presented WASP episodes recorded from places like Nepal, Australia, and the U.K., now we’ll add a new one, Israel. This is a very uplifting episode with author Bracha Goetz. Bracha overcame disordered eating as a young woman and used that victorious experience to discover meaning in life. This led her to learn from a rabbi about the Pleasure Ladder, which focuses more on the spiritual pleasures in life where we can find happiness in ways that feeding short-term addictions like through eating foods laden with sugar and other unhealthy ingredients cannot. Bracha and I exuberantly chat about simple steps you can take to eat better, find greater long-term fulfillment in life, experience joy, and more. Her study of spirituality has led her to be able to provide very insightful guidance for overcoming the negative voices in your head that lead to addictive behavior and instead live with gratitude. Bracha is the author of more than 40 books, most focusing on how to keep your family safe, healthy, and joyful. Her latest one is cleverly entitled, “Don’t Read This Book.” Of course, getting her books published wasn’t always successful, so I also love her simple advice for overcoming rejection. I had never spoken with Bracha before, and had a real kick sharing her passions. I think you’ll love Bracha’s energy and her very practical advice.

Bracha Goetz
thegoetzbookshop.com
Facebook and LinkedIn Bracha Goetz
Instagram @brachagoetzbooks

Bill Stahl
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Instagram @stahlor

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Jason Bahamundi is a New York-born marketing professor and business owner who is not afraid to tackle audacious challenges. Whether it was moving west to Arizona, getting sober, changing over to eating vegetarian, starting a new business, or diving into the endurance world. A mentor gave him a philosophy to “fail fast.” In other words, trying really hard things and risk falling on your face. He’s learned a lot from those flops, leading to his motto of, “Failure is not terminal, it’s the building block to success.” He first got into competing in Ironmans before taking on ultramarathons. Jason is a five-time finisher of the Rocky Raccoon 100-miler, including an age group win, has finished the Western States 100, the Cocodona 250, and took second-place overall in the Crazy Desert 50K. Part of the fun in this episode is hearing Jason’s stories about running for more than four days at Cocodona through the Arizona desert, an event you heard Annie Hughes talking about a few episodes ago. But more importantly you’ll hear about the lessons he learned while running this and other races, as well as during his interesting journey these last few years. A lot of these have been applied with the company he started, a story that is instructive in itself. Run Tri Bike includes a magazine with stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Its web site, runtrimag.com, also has very useful articles and resources from experts in many disciplines to aid endurance athletes. It’s well worth your visit and bookmark. Jason’s company also helps complementary types of companies to market themselves, and he also coaches with No Limits Endurance Coaching. 

Jason Bahamundi
runtrimag.com
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube @runtrimag

Bill Stahl
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We have a new visit with a longtime friend of the WASP, Simone Brick. Listeners might recall Simone appearing with David and telling her powerful story of remarkably changing from a teenager with disordered eating, weight issues, and being institutionalized with severe depression, to becoming one of the most dynamic trail runners in Australia with one of the sunniest dispositions you’ll ever encounter. Simone spent much of 2022 competing in the Salomon Golden Trail Series, a traveling road show of the world’s top mountain runners with races spanning Europe and in the U.S. Simone shares what it’s like living “on tour,” so to speak. After talking with Simone on numerous occasions via video calls, it was a treat to finally get to hang out with her this summer when she came to Colorado, where she spent a month training in Leadville to prepare for the race tour stop at the Pikes Peak Ascent. This type of racing series has increased the popularity of the sport as well as the prize purses, and inevitably the ugly spectre of doping has reared its head, something which directly impacted Simone. Simone also discusses her 2023 goals and racing schedule, which began last weekend with a victory in the Old Ghost Ultra 85K in New Zealand that she ran in 7:59:23.

Simone Brick
Instagram @theflyingbrick_
stillwerise.com.au

Bill Stahl
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I hope you enjoyed last week’s chat with Don Reichelt, who has been crushing it in the ultramarathon world. Please go back and check it out if you haven’t caught it yet. We talked about Don’s ups and downs running at the Leadville Trail 100, about his relationship to David and David’s continued influence on him to this day, about learning the process to taking big jumps in his running abilities, the benefits he’s noticed from his vegetarian diet, and challenging himself to run some really hard races. In part two, we talk about living and training in the boonies at 9600-feet elevation near Fairplay, Colo., how to start running on a non-motorized assault treadmill, which is a lot harder than you’d think, and then his Guinness World record attempt at 12 hours, 24 hours, and 100 miles on that kind of treadmill at a Life Time Fitness in midtown Manhattan. Being in NYC, it was a lot more chaotic than Don had expected, so it took some problem-solving to stay focused. Focus was especially essential throughout the night in a non-changing environment. It’s really fascinating hearing how the whole event went down. Don ran to support the Life Time Foundation, which supports educating schoolchildren to develop better nutritional practices, something that he is passionate about. Don then talks about the huge goals he has in 2023, including the Firecracker 48-hour run, the Cocodona 250, and Javelina, with an eye toward getting a ticket for Western States. He’s also a coach, and he’s gotten to be quite generous sharing his workouts and helping the running community. He shares lots of useful insights in this episode, so I hope you enjoy this terrific chat.

Don Reichelt
Facebook @Don Reichelt
Instagram, YouTube, TikTok @runwithdon

Bill Stahl
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This is the first of two parts of a very fun conversation with one of the really impressive relatively-new stars of the ultraendurance world, Don Reichelt. After pretty much his debut doing Leadman in 2015, Don has plunged headlong into running long distances and doing everything he can to embrace finding out how far he can go in the sport. He has moved to a house at 9600-feet elevation near Fairplay, Colo., and has outfitted his place with a workout space, ice plunge barrel, sauna, and more. When he first broke out, he won the Lean Horse 100-miler and ran a blazing 13:16 at Tunnel Hill. He has won the 52-mile Coldwater Rumble in Ariz. the past two years. His most recent achievement was breaking the Guinness World record for running 12 hours, 24 hours, and for 100 miles on a manual treadmill, which is quite a bit more challenging than a motorized one. In this first part, we talk about Don’s ups and downs running at the Leadville Trail 100, about his relationship to David and David’s continued influence on him to this day, about learning the process to taking big jumps in his running abilities, which I think is quite educational, the benefits he’s noticed from his vegetarian diet, and challenging himself to run races like the Keys 100 in Florida’s humidity, and the Badwater 135, where he surprised a lot of people in finishing third in his debut. His focus and his curiosity to see how far he can challenge himself is truly inspirational. Plus, he’s a super nice guy, so I hope you enjoy this great chat.

Don Reichelt
Facebook @Don Reichelt
Instagram @runwithdon

Bill Stahl
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Instagram @stahlor

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You've heard me before lauding the benefits of hip and glute strengthening to ensure your health and longevity in running.  I discuss here a large set of exercises you can easily do with minimal equipment once or twice a week that will help you immensely.  I also have a printed handout and a video I can share with you, just drop me a note at one of the addresses below.

Bill Stahl
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Time to take a deep dive into the world of trail race directing and the state of ultrarunning. This is a really entertaining chat with John Lacroix, owner of Human Potential Race Series, based here in Colorado. I got to visit with John in his business’ very impressive HQ/studio. John first got into ultrarunning himself before later having friends twist his arm into becoming a race director. Less than 10 years after starting HPRS, he is directing one of the largest schedules of trail events in the country, and become one of the most prominent directors as well. He has also become one of the great analysts of the trail racing world, so his foresights into where the sport is headed are well-worth paying attention to. I would highly recommend reading his detailed and insightful blogs on the HPRS web site and listening to his HPRS podcast to stay abreast of current developments. Included among these is the often-controversial topic of diversity in the sport. I highly respect and support John’s stand on inclusiveness, despite the fact it has garnered him both praise and potshots. His championing of the LGBTQ+ community often overshadows his honoring as well of the Indigenous communities over which whose lands his races often tread upon. John unabashedly says that if you don’t like the way he thinks, there are plenty of other races in which you can run. Above all, John believes races should challenge the human mind and spirit, hence the name of his organization. You won’t find a mamby-pamby race on HPRS’ schedule, and they often have fun twists to attract runners of all abilities. John believes strongly in creating races “for the people,” so he places emphasis on valuing every runner equally, not focusing on the 5% who actually compete for spots on the podium. I have personally experienced his kindness on the trail when he ferried me off the course when the Last Call 50-miler in Fairplay, CO kicked my ass. Please enjoy this spirited chat!

Do you deal with bloating, cramping, or frequent porta-potty stops when running or racing?  Ixcela uses gut testing + a performance dietitian to understand why your symptoms are happening and what to do about it.  I’m working with one of their dietitians now, Shelby, and she’s AMAZING!  Find out if Ixcela is a good fit for you by scheduling a free 15-minute session. Go to ixcela.com/superman  If you like their services or products, use the code SUPERMAN10 to get a 10% discount.

John Lacroix
humanpotentialrunning.com
[email protected]
Facebook Human Potential Running Series
Instagram @hprunningseries
YouTube @humanpotentialrunningserie4275
Human Potential Running Series Podcast

Bill Stahl
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Instagram @stahlor

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Here's a bit of fun recounting my recent three-week trip to South Africa and Namibia, a fancy cruise with my family to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday.  I describe the thrilling animals, impressive sights, crazy runs, and the history and culture, including the tragic legacy of apartheid, and the good and the bad of current life there.  I discovered there is a ton more to know about this conflicted part of the world, full of beauty, wild nature, poverty, and Third World problems.  Please check out my Instagram account for many scenic photos.

Bill Stahl
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Here's a quick Power Play episode referencing a recent real-life coaching scenario, discussing ensuring both your body and brain are totally engaged in your training program.  

Ixcela is offering the WASP family a free 15-minute consultation with one of their nutritionists, and a 10% discount if you decide you’d like to use their services to try to improve your performance and overall health. Go to https://qrco.de/bdZsae to set an appointment, and if ordering, use the code SUPERMAN10 to get your discount.

Bill Stahl
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Instagram @stahlor