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It’s always great to jumpstart a new year talking again with Dan Herman of Dan Herman Performance. We are past the so-called quit day after which many people’s resolutions have gone down the drain, so Dan and I talk about both setting goals as well as how to keep them going. The great thing about Dan is he how he can present ideas in relatable ways that are not just pulled out of a textbook, and puts them into actionable steps that you can easily work in your everyday life. For those who haven’t heard him on previous WASP episodes, Dan once weighed 375 pounds, then bought his first running shoes and lost one-third of his weight. He embraced movement and strength and began sharing his knowledge with others. He eventually quit his job to train others full-time and now he is fully committed to helping people transform into the strongest and most authentic versions of themselves. You might want to be ready to take some notes because his commonsense approaches born from overcoming his own struggles I think make listening to him as enlightening as anyone you will hear.

Dan Herman
danhermanperformance.com
Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube @danhermanperformance

Bill Stahl
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I have always thought that everyone has a sport or activity in which they could be world-class, but sometimes we haven’t tried it and discovered which one it is. Maybe it’s karate or curling or backgammon. Or as I’ve told kids I’ve coached in track that to get ahead, rather than run a common event like the 100 meters, try an event that few others do like the pole vault, triple jump, or 300-meter hurdles. Ultramarathoning is obviously a niche sport, as is an Olympic sport I’ve always liked, fencing. My interest goes back to my days as a sportswriter for the University of Pennsylvania student newspaper. You get assigned to cover so-called minor sports as a freshman, and one team I drew was the Penn fencing team. I learned quickly to admire both the skills and endurance of some of the best fencers in the NCAA. So even after I worked my way up the ladder to reporting on the basketball and football teams, I asked to still cover the fencing team, and even became something of a de facto team manager. Later, when Denver hosted the 1989 World Fencing Championships, I was named press liaison between the organization and journalists who had come from around the globe to cover the event. Today, I do alumni interviews for applicants to Penn, and I had the opportunity to chat with a dynamic local high school senior named Patrick Li, who I found out has fenced since he was in 4th-grade. Patrick has discovered the benefits of pushing himself to excel and realized the benefits of having a supportive community around him. In turn, Patrick has been generously giving back to expose kids and disabled individuals to the sport, so they can enjoy it as much as he has. I’m impressed with how much this young man, who hopes to major in behavioral economics in college, is willing to put in to help others. Along the way in this chat, you’ll also learn a bit about this sport they call “physical chess,” and hopefully have some appreciation if you see it on TV during the 2028 Olympics in L.A. Maybe go to a local fencing club and find out for yourself if it could be your own gold medal sport!

Patrick Li
[email protected]
720-220-6495
Instagram @patrick__li__

Bill Stahl
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We are heading back Down Under for this episode to speak with a super-inspirational Aussie named Paul Jamieson, who at the age of 32 suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a freak wakeboarding accident. He spent the following half a year in a hospital before being released to a rehab facility that for years basically had no hope for him and did little more than feed him puréed foods. Remarkably, these life-altering events transformed him into an extremely positive person. Paul used to be highly critical and negative, but post-accident, he has completely eradicated negativity from his life. We are joined by Dan Dougherty, who I’ve coached both when he was in high school back in the 90s and as an adult, and who has helped guide Paul at Jigsaw Australia, a company that provides training and employment for disabled people. Paul’s ultimate goal is to live independently and secure meaningful work in a mainstream job, with the dream of becoming a motivational speaker. His journey has been arduous – after his accident, he was in a vegetative state and bedridden for years, unable to communicate except by blinking his eyes or to sit up because his legs were totally straight and stiff. However, inspired to make a change, Paul, with the help of his dedicated therapy team, has taken life one step at a time, re-learning how to speak and eat. Initially, he couldn't even bend his knees enough to complete one rotation on a stationary bicycle. Through excruciating hard work, now his goal is to walk 600 meters to the local café – he's currently able to cover more than half of that. Paul's sense of humor and ability to inspire others to believe in their dreams, seek help when needed, and maintain a positive outlook are truly remarkable, so I think you’ll enjoy hearing from this very inspirational Aussie.

Listen to more on Paul's story on the Spotify podcast series, Beyond the Impact - Paul's Recovery Story
https://open.spotify.com/show/7v5KK6LrU9TBU3cM21lCXM

Bill Stahl
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Let’s start off 2025 with someone who had a breakout 2024, and like the final episode of last year with Mary Denholm, in which there is a lot of great information from which to learn. I met the impressive Kat Edwards while on a mountain-climbing adventure with Tyler Andrews’ Chaski Endurance Collective in Chile’s Atacama Desert. This was the now-25-year-old’s first trip outside of the U.S., and in fact, she had barely even left the Eastern time zone before. It was part of a year in which she not only got out of her comfort zone, but she walked right up to the ledge and jumped off. Kat grew up in an athletic family and was always very active herself, and dabbled in high school and college running, but didn’t take it seriously until 2021. Kat has always had a lot of drive, both for herself as well as for the athletes she coaches, so down in Chile she set FKTs for the ascent and roundtrip on Nevado San Francisco, the highest peak we climbed, which tops out at more than 6000 meters, or just under 20,000 feet. Without a ton of ultramarathon racing experience under her belt, Kat soon after experienced some hard lessons competing in the Petzl Trail Plus 80k in Ecuador that probably added to her arsenal when she won the Sedona Canyons 125 this past spring in 30:21:16. In October, she took third-place in her first 200-mile effort, the Moab 240, where she battled the heat, sleep deprivation, and very tough foot issues. In between, Kat married her long-time partner and fellow endurance junkie, Jason Anderson, who has now been enlisted as Kat’s forever crew leader. As young adventure-seekers without big endorsement dollars at this point, you’ll hear about how they engineered the logistics to get to Moab in the first place, which was not always assured, and how their strong faith in God helped them overcome the many obstacles it took for Kat to score such an incredible achievement. Kat also generously shares many of the techniques she has employed to see such amazing early success in her career, including her devotion to strength training. There’s lots to gain listening to this Kat chat. I think also that if you are a young, aspiring endurance athlete, you might do very well to connect with Kat as a coach at the Chaski Endurance Collective at chaski.run

Kat Edwards
katedwardspt.com
Instagram @kat.elizabeth_
For coaching inquiries: www.chaski.run

Bill Stahl
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I thought it would be good to end the year with someone who had a mind-blowing 2024. Mary Denholm finished it off at the JFK 50-miler, where she was the second female with a time of 6:04:15, which was faster than the previous course record. Her summer in Leadville really stood out. She won the very difficult marathon under four hours. Due to the schedule shift this year, the Silver Rush 50-Mile was just one week later, but Mary breezed to a 28-minute victory, good for fourth overall. She capped the summer off by winning the Leadville Trail 100 by three hours, which was ninth overall. Her time of 18:23:51 was second-fastest in history, only 16 minutes behind legendary Ann Trason. In this very informative episode, hear the mechanics of how Mary pulled off this impressive year. She also shares very essential keys to her overall success, including how she executes her high-caloric, mostly plant-based diet, has added strength training, and how she has preserved having a menstrual cycle. There is a treasure trove of great knowledge in here. Finally, Mary shares a fantastic account of her JFK 50, which featured an inspiring comeback from a very bad place she was in during the race, stayed calm, turned it around, and closed with a 6:00 mile. A lot to learn there. Mary has some big plans for the upcoming year that will be sure to further fire you up for your own epic goals for 2025.

Mary Denholm
Instagram @eatrunandbemary
Strava

Bill Stahl
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It’s time for our annual tradition started by David of Sober F*cking Christmas.  As you may know, in his book Out There, David describes how on one Christmas Eve, on one of his usual stumbling drunk days before he got sober, he was attempting to wrap his kids’ Christmas gifts, but was so hammered that all he could do was crumple newspaper around them and bind it up with duct tape before passing out.  Christmas morning, the kids opened the embarrassing messes while he nursed his hangover. That would be the proverbial rock-bottom that caused him to finally pull out of the abyss of addiction he had been in to eventually become the motivational wonder that he became. So this episode has become a staple that always rates among the most-downloaded episodes year-in and year-out.

As we wind down 2024, thanks again to all of you for listening to the WASP.  Please make sure you subscribe so you can load all new episodes onto your phone.  If you enjoyed the podcast, the best thing you can do is share it with your friends or on social media, and please do me a favor and take 60 seconds and give us a five-star rating on whatever platform on which you listen to us.  I would also be humbly honored if you would write a review as well.  These five-star ratings and reviews really do help!  Again, Happy Holidays and Sober F*cking Christmas to you.  Until next time, always be positive!

Gary Stotler
garystotler.com
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Find his latest book, "Success is Spelled Action" on Amazon

Chad Prichard
Instagram @rn_leadman_chad

Ed Barnette
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Bill Stahl
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Meghan Hunter was an eight-time state track champion in Utah at Provo High School, including 2018 when she swept titles in the 100, 200, 400, and 800 meters, an almost-unheard-of spread of talent. Her impressive times included a blazing state record of 52.59 seconds in the 400. She earned herself a berth on the U.S. Youth Olympics team and got to compete in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her natural progression took her to her dream of competing collegiately at BYU. Then on July 4, 2019, she and her brother Morgan were on the way to volunteer at a race when Morgan swerved to avoid hitting a deer on the road, and rolled their car five times. Meghan broke the C3, C4, and C5 vertebrae in her neck and doctors told her that she would probably never again run at the same level she had. Naturally, Meghan wasn’t satisfied with that answer, and began the arduous process to get back to running and competing at a high level. Nineteen months later, Meghan was back with her BYU teammates, but still had to confront another nemesis caused by the crash, PTSD. It’s something she still continuously has to work through, but by this year, the results have been coming around. She was third in the 800 meters in the NCAA indoor championships, got her time down to 2:00.75 at the Portland Track Festival, and got to compete at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. She was named a finalist for the Honda Inspiration Award, and has just signed an NIL deal with Nike. Quite the whirlwind of a year! What I love about Meghan and her story is her relentless positivity in the face of these struggles. Even in her neck brace in the hospital with her family, she was sporting a huge smile. At the same time, she graduated from BYU with a degree in communications disorders, and is aiming to work in the field of speech, language, and pathology. How cool is that? I hope you enjoy this chat with this delightful young woman with an inspiring story and become a fan of hers like I am as she ascends a very promising ladder in the track world.

Meghan Hunter
Instagram @meghan_annne

Bill Stahl
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I have one more great guest with an awesome story who ran the American Heroes Run this year. James Gaa completed 36 laps, or about 37 miles, of the 9 hour and 11 minute run. Pretty darn good for a guy who only began running a little more than a year prior. James had been primarily spending his time in the weight room before deciding to start to run in 2023, and has done so every day since. It’s launched him on a journey to help him overcome the traumas of an abusive childhood and the drug-related death of his mother. His first goal was to run a marathon. Check. Then an ultramarathon. Check. Both of which almost didn’t happen after a heavy table base fell on his head in a warehouse at his job. James has a very well-developed perspective on how all of these events have shaped his life as well as on his journey to discover how far he can test himself, so I think you’ll gain a lot listening to this chat. I really enjoyed learning a bit about his story at the AHR, and a lot of it more here. I’m excited to see how far James will venture on this personal adventure.

James Gaa
@jamesgaa
MapMyRun James Gaa

Bill Stahl
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Just in time for Thanksgiving and the holidays, I am very excited to bring you this chat with Leah Garcés, the CEO of Mercy for Animals, which is promoting a campaign to Pardon a Turkey. The idea is to celebrate the holidays in a kinder way by sparing the life of a beautiful, intelligent animal, and instead substituting other delicious and healthy dishes. Tens of millions of turkeys are artificially gorged to an insane weight and then killed each year for Thanksgiving alone. To help the meal preparers in your family, Mercy for Animals has created an impressive downloadable cookbook that has easy-to-follow directions and videos for a dozen very tasty-sounding recipes for vegan apple-cranberry stuffing, vegan mashed potatoes, vegan sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, and a crispy vegan turkey roast. Yum! The cookbook is totally free on their website, mercyforanimals.com Mercy for Animals has been at the forefront of trying to create a more humane world that ensures the health of everyone on the planet by specifically trying to move us away from factory farming, which not only perpetuates shocking, cruel methods, but endangers our health in many ways, whether through the pollution it causes to deadly outbreaks of e.coli, salmonella, etc. It is also an enormously inefficient use of the Earth’s rapidly shrinking arable land that needs to feed an ever-growing population. One particularly innovative program is called Transfarmation, that is helping chicken farmers that are caught up in the grind of subservience to massive conglomerates to convert their farms to growing plants and thus achieving a better balance in their lives, and get this, more profitability. Don’t be turned away from this episode if you are a dedicated meat eater, which is fine. Leah does a fantastic job of educating and making it easy to make a small difference in the world. Did you know that Americans on average eat 30 animals a year?  Even one meatless day a week can spare several animals from the torture of factory farming, and you know what? You will be healthier, too, which is a nice benefit. So enjoy this lively chat, and Pardon a Turkey this holidays!

Leah Garcés
MercyForAnimals.org
[email protected]
Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn  Mercy For Animals
Threads and YouTube @mercyforanimals
TikTok mercyforanimals_us

Bill Stahl
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Despite the beginning of more focus now on mental health, especially after the well-publicized battles that were brought forward by gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka, there is still a stigma for men to seek assistance, unless you count the omnipresent TV commercials by the affable, mustachioed Dr. Rich Mahogany for mantherapy.org Soleiman Bolour has tapped into his own journey to assist men in their personal growth to find greater clarity, confidence, and intention. Whether the individual is in addiction recovery, dealing with unresolved trauma, or just trying to identify a focused sense of purpose, Soleiman mentors men and guides their journeys by tapping into his studies in psychology, tantra, tao, NLP (neuro linguistic programming), and much more. He both does one-on-one coaching as well as leads groups, where they explore, among other things, how to balance productivity vs. mindfulness. The basic elements that they build upon include 1. Building a foundation, 2. Creating a vision, 3. Identifying what needs to change, and 4. Execution. I see some real opportunities here for men if you are dealing with being unable to set boundaries, holding yourself back because you are always trying to please other people, and those who want to improve their relationships to thus unlock the doors to personal growth. Soleiman can explain all of this a lot better than I can, so I think you’ll get a lot out of this chat, as well as checking out the blogs and other information on his website, soleimanb.com, and perhaps engaging with him either one-on-one or in his men’s groups. By the way, he limits the size of each one to 12 men, so you develop a more focused relationship with others who have a common purpose.

Soleiman Bolour
www.soleimanb.com
[email protected]
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Instagram and YouTube @soleimanbolour
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Bill Stahl
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