Without Compromise

Avery grew up in the midwest, far from the mountains of Colorado that he now calls home. He found running after years of playing basketball and the unique suffering of the sport quickly drew him into longer and longer events. That and the fact he was a broke college student that couldn’t afford a gym membership, running made total sense. 

Right as he began garnering big wins and making a name for himself, he and his girlfriend, Sabrina, were struck by a semi on the highway. Avery suffered some major injuries that caused him to rethink his direction in life and if he’d ever get back out on the trail. After an arduous six months, he was able to start to run again. 

Fast forward a few years and Avery is now one of the fastest ultrarunners in the world and frequently podiums at iconic races like the Georgia Death Race, Colorado 200, Fat Dog 120, Hurt 100, and dozens more. He finished 6th overall at Western States in 2017. 

In 2020, he’ll be attempting an FKT of the legendary Nolan’s 14 Route in Colorado, Tor des Geants in Italy, and the Snowman Race in Bhutan

We hope you enjoy listening to Avery’s story of living Without Compromise. 

Instagram: @runninhigh

Facebook: @avery.collins.77

SBNATION's writeup on Avery, Zen, Ultra-running and the Art of Suffering

Athletic Brewing’s commitment to stand for change and impact fund can be found here: https://athleticbrewing.com/pages/standing-for-change

Emily Day knows what it takes to live without compromise. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in applied mathematics excelling as a student-athlete. Now, as a professional volleyball player on the AVP circuit, she still maintains her passion for math as a tutor on the side. 

Some career highlights include winning the AVP Team of the Year in 2017, the Manhattan Beach Open Champion in 2016 & 2017, The San Francisco and Seattle Open Champion in 2018, and the Hermosa Beach Champion in 2019. She narrowly missed making the 2016 Olympic team with high hopes of making the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. 

She was also recently inducted into the LMU Hall of Fame.

Instagram: @emday6

Joe De Sena is on a mission to get 100 million people off the couch through his company, Spartan, the world’s leading obstacle race. Many of you are probably familiar with Spartan, but might not be familiar with Joe. At his core, he’s an entrepreneur that grew up between his mom, a yogi, and his father, a successful businessman teaching him a balance between hard work and purpose. 

That balance, coupled with his intense desire to challenge himself and others, has led Joe to experience some of the harshest conditions on Earth while completing some of the most extreme competitions. His story has taken literally hundreds of interesting turns and his experiences are too vast to capture here. 

After a successful career on Wall Street, Joe moved his family to a 700-acre farm in Vermont where they grow organic produce, operate a bed and breakfast, and a general store for Appalachian Trail hikers. This setting was the perfect scenario for the idea of Spartan to be born. 

Spartan has now grown into a worldwide phenomenon, with over one million annual participants in more than 40 countries. 

Joe is also a two-time NY Times bestselling author and host of the @spartanuppodcast. Find out more about his books here: joedesena.com/books

Instagram:

@ealjoedesena

@spartan

Websites

Spartan.com

joedesena.com

Ethan knows what it takes to survive. He’s faced cancer twice, lost his father at the age of 14, had teammates die of AIDS while playing professional soccer in Africa, and has won the reality show Survivor: Africa.

Today Ethan is joining Without Compromise to talk about what it means to survive difficult situations and ultimately use those tragedies for good in a principle he calls “never letting a crisis go to waste”. For example, when he won the $1 million prize for Survivor: Africa he decided to use the money to start Grassroot Soccer, an adolescent health organization that uses the popularity of soccer to educate at-risk youth all over the world. To date, they’ve educated over 2 million young people through their program.

Ethan was most recently on Survivor Season 40: Winners at War

Instagram: @ethanzohn

His websites:

GrassrootSoccer.org

EthanZohn.com

Not many people would go to Alaska during the winter, completely alone, to take care of a team of sled dogs in order to get over a recent divorce. However, that's exactly what Kristin did. That toughness eventually led her to become one of only 29 women to complete both the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest 1000-mile sled dog race, one while pregnant and one while breastfeeding!

Kristin is now remarried and has officially started a new journey, motherhood. She also works as a wilderness planner for Denali National Park and has recently written a book about her experiences, This Much Country, which made the New York Times summer reading list in 2019. It can be found following the link below or pretty much anywhere else you buy books (she asks that you support your local bookstore).

However, today’s episode is not about her life in Alaska. It’s about her and her family making the enormous change to restart their lives in Texas. Listen in to hear about how continuing to live in Alaska would have led to compromise and how a complete change in identity is sometimes the best direction to go. 

The book: This Much Country

https://www.heymoosekennel.com/

Instagram: @heymoosekennel

Her story on Adventure Sports Podcast

In this episode, we're hearing nine Athletic Brewing ambassador stories about enduring obstacles and challenges in their lives. It’s a timely episode that captures the essence of the many types of difficulties we all face. Our hope is that it challenges you to think positively about your roadblocks and find a way to endure, without compromise.

Mark is so easy to talk to about all sorts of topics that you forget he’s an iconic freeskier with numerous awards under his belt. In 2005 and 2007 he won the Powder Video Awards for Best Male Performance and is well known by his amazing freeskiing skills that are captured in film through his nearly two-decade relationship with Matchstick Productions. In fact, he’s been featured in every single MSP film for the last 18 years, as well as several Warren Miller and Poor Boyz movies. 

It hasn’t gone to his head, though. He started mogul skiing before switching to park competitions and chipping a career out over the years. He says it has humbled him and led to a certain amount of contentment over the years. 

He’s incredibly down to earth and always eager to talk about health, longevity, and his used veggie oil-fueled adventure truck. He joins us from his home near Whistler, BC. 

Instagram: @markabma

Markabma.com

Behind great products are great people. That’s certainly true here at Athletic Brewing. John Walker has been honing his craft long before joining Bill on this incredible journey of producing the nation’s best non-alcoholic craft beer. 

When Bill reached out, John was immediately hooked with the crazy idea and took the leap from a great brewpub in Santa Fe, New Mexico (where he was highly awarded) to take on the intellectual challenge of solving non-alcoholic beer. 

As you’ll hear from John, the experience has been life-changing and rewarding beyond what he ever thought was possible. Every ounce of Athletic Beer is brewed with the excitement in knowing we’re breaking new ground for folks all over the country. 

John's palette is the basis for all recipe decisions.

Apply for our $1,000 Adventure Grant here. 

Learn more about Athletic Brewing at AthleticBrewing.com

After an injury that kept her from skiing, and pretty much doing anything, for two years, Malou realized that her love wasn’t for racing on skis but for adventure in the wilderness. This ignited her passion for backcountry skiing in some of the most beautifully rugged places on Earth. 

After healing up, Malou was in pursuit of the best snow and backcountry skiing in the world. She left her small town in Sweden for Revelstoke, British Columbia, which is now her home. 

Join us for a conversation about snow, mountains, injury, surfing, and adventure. 

How to find Malou:

Instagram: @maloupeterson

YouTube: Kajsa & Malou

Be sure to listen to the intro for news about upcoming Athletic Brewing beer.

If you’ve ever felt limited by your circumstances or physical limitations, today’s episode is a must-listen. Back in 2010, Kyle was sick and tired of feeling terrible about himself and having a hard time playing with his daughter, so he decided to do something about it. Losing a large amount of weight by walking, and eventually running, is no easy task. After taking into account that Kyle is legally blind, the challenge is exponentially greater. 

However, that didn’t stop him from pushing forward, crushing limitations, and finding creative ways to exercise and run, without a full view of what was around him. 10 years later Kyle is running ultras on and off-trail, running between 20-25 hours per week, and advocating for folks in his situation through his career. 

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours. - Richard Bach

Kylerobidoux.com

Instagram: @blindbeerrunner

Twitter: @kyleRrobidoux

Find out more about Athletic Brewing Co. at AthleticBrewing.com.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The 2020 Athletic Brewing Adventure Grant

Here at Athletic Brewing, we are all about making a healthy and positive impact on not only ourselves but the world around us. That’s why we challenge our community and ourselves to do well by doing good. 

This year, we want to make that challenge a little easier by rewarding $1,000 to an adventurer/athlete that is planning to make an enormous positive impact through an adventure they plan to do in 2020. 

This can be everything from running across a state for a charity to climbing a mountain to raise awareness to paddle a bay for ocean cleanup efforts, etc. The possibilities are endless and it’s completely up to your imagination and self-planning abilities.

What is included?

• $1,000
• Promotion from Athletic Brewing on social media
• Athletic Brewing swag
• Post-adventure Podcast Interview 
• Some amazing beer, obviously

When is the application open?

• January 31 - March 31
• The winner(s) will be selected April 10 and announced on our podcast
• You can still apply if your trip begins before April 10

Who can apply?

• Anyone that’s planning to do an adventure in 2020 in an effort to make the world a better place
• Must be 21+ 
• Both individuals and groups that are self-planning an adventure/challenge

Where can I apply?

• athleticbrewing.com/pages/athletic-brewing-2020-adventure-grant