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Awareness about barefoot running reached a crescendo with the publication of the book Born to Run about the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico who came to run the Leadville Trail 100 in 1992 and 1994. Steven Sashen and his wife Lena started a company that produced kits that allowed buyers to assemble their own huarache-style sandals that the Tarahumaras wore. This evolved into them designing shoes for running, court sports, and other training that has become the popular brand Xero Shoes that spurned a Shark Tank offer and had sales of $48 million in 2022. Their shoes are designed with a wider toe box and a zero drop, meaning the heel is not lifted at all, allowing the foot to function more as nature intended us to move, thus strengthening the foot and reducing injuries. Steven, a one-time standup comic, entertainingly explains how the built-up shoes that are common in the footwear industry have actually created more problems to our bodies. In addition, those shoes’ foam cushioning begins breaking down from the first use, necessitating their replacement within a short time. Xero shoes on the other hand have a 5000-mile sole warranty using FeelTrue rubber they have developed themselves. You’ll learn a lot here about the human science that goes into Xero shoes. Steven himself is a masters track sprinter, and shares many anecdotes about adult track competition, as well as many terrific helpful lessons about the business world as a whole.

Steven Sashen

xeroshoes.com

Facebook and Instagram @xeroshoes

Podcast The Movement Movement

jointhemovementmovement.com

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
Facebook Bill Stahl
Instagram and Threads @stahlor and @we_are_superman_podcast
YouTube We Are Superman Podcast

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Register for the American Heroes Run: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=133138

Ride to End ALZ Colorado

www.alz.org/rideco

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I’m really excited to bring you this episode’s guest. When I began ultramarathoning several decades ago, the only way I could learn about races and people in that space was through a black-and-white magazine delivered to my mailbox called Ultrarunning. It had pages and pages of mundane rows of race results that still held fascination for me. Plus stories about races in exotic-sounding places like Auburn, Calif. and where I first heard about this crazy race called the Barkley Marathons that at that time no one had ever finished, and long before Netflix, no one else but me and a few others had heard of. I also read about people who became my first idols in the sport like Marshall Ulrich and Roy Pirrung, who I’ve had the great honor to chat with both on this podcast and in-person. But one who absolutely left me in awe who I never got to meet was Ann Trason, who I got to see – briefly – when she zoomed past me on Hope Pass in the Leadville Trail 100 in the 90s. Ann won the Western States 100 a mind-boggling 14 times, twice less than two weeks after winning the Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Western States is considered the most prestigious 100-miler in the US, and Ann, who in 1994 set a course record of 17:37:51, now lives close to the 99-mile mark of the course. Comrades is the oldest ultramarathon in the world, having begun right after WW1, and is roughly 55 miles, and is so esteemed that the entire country basically shuts down to watch it. Very few Americans have ever won it. Ann set the Leadville course record of 18:06:24 in 1994 that was only broken this past year by Anne Flower. She finished second, not just among women, but overall. In 1996, she not only completed the Grand Slam of 100-milers – Western States, Leadville, Vermont, and Wasatch Front – but she won them all. Ann set 20 world records, including for 50 miles in 5:40:18 and 100K in 7:00:47. All the way back in 1987, Ann became a Nike-sponsored athlete when women’s sports hadn’t taken hold like they have today, and ultramarathoning hadn’t achieved any of the attention and popularity it now has. Ann retired from ultramarathoning in the 2000s due to injuries and the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, which has ravaged her body. As a result of her many accomplishments, as well as her continuing contributions to the sport as a race director, coach, writer, supporter, and much more, she was inducted into the Ultrarunning Hall of Fame in 2020. After a long time out of the spotlight, Ann arrived at an Arizona race called Across the Years, which begins three days before New Year’s and finishes three days after it, just wanting to engage with the ultrarunning community in her joyous way, and push her walker – with all of its lights and decorations – for some laps around the 1.41-mile looped course. I have spoken with several people who told me how delighted they were to get to chat with Ann out there, and in the end, one of the event’s highlights was when she completed 100 miles and earned a buckle – all while pushing that walker. With such a long, colorful career, you can imagine that Ann and I cover a lot of ground in this very fun chat, including her talking with Nelson Mandela after she won Comrades, swapping hats with the Jester, the Grateful Dead, being vegetarian and a race director, including the best way to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at races, long-lost Nike shoe models, the fun of reading that old Ultrarunning magazine, her inspirations in the sport and those who have followed her, her relationship with her parents, and about the joy and gratitude she has for life and the running community.

Ann Trason

Instagram @ann_trason

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
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Have you heard about the latest thing in running challenges, the Burrito League? A year ago, Jamil Coury, owner of the race directing company Aravaipa Running, ran back and forth in front of a Chipotle in Tempe, AZ expressly to get them to give him a year’s worth of burritos. Back and forth, back and forth. And he succeeded. That was the genesis this January of the Burrito League. Leagues have sprung up all over the country. The idea is to run as many segments on Strava that runners can during the month of January. The segments are .25 mile or less. Some are on city streets, back and forth, back and forth. There is one going as we speak just two miles from my house that is going back and forth on a fairly busy, unscenic street. There is now a Burrito League world headquarters in Tempe where they are tracking daily results as runners are logging marathons or more every day at all hours of the day. My friend TJ Harms-Synkiew is running one on the original course in Tempe, which is along a busy thoroughfare and they have to cross the street twice during every segment, which has led to a few car vs. runner encounters. As of this recording, he is in second-place with more than 2300 segments, or about 575 miles on the same stretch of pavement. There are now prizes such as entries into Aravaipa-hosted races like the Cocodona 250, a reward worth a couple of thousand dollars, plus shoes from sponsoring companies, and importantly, a year’s supply of burritos from local stores. In this episode, I’ve gotten a report from the course in Manitou Springs, Colorado with my Black Men Run brother Diarra Cropper, who will fill us in on the whys, the hows, and the ups and downs of the Burrito League there in this picturesque town at the foot of Pikes Peak. This Burrito League is creating a community while running laps around the parking lot of the Buffalo Lodge, and even townspeople who are not running are joining in on the, uh, fun. You’re possibly going to be amazed – as well as perplexed – at this new phenomenon as described by Diarra, an accomplished trail runner, who is a terrific ambassador to bring more people into the sport.

Diarra Cropper

Strava Diarra Cropper

Instagram @dcrop_mtnrunner25

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
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We’re going back Down Under for a really impressive comeback story. Olli Bryers was what we Americans would stereotype as a young, carefree, adventurous Australian who liked to surf, backpack, travel, and occasionally party. Usually, that youthful bliss only gets interrupted when the real world says that maybe you need to find a job to finance this lifestyle, or get serious about a long-term career path. But in Olli’s case, that jolt came in his early 20s from the discovery of a spinal tumor that necessitated a surgery that could rob his ability to ever walk again. Fortunately, the doctors were successful in removing the tumor and it was benign. Improbably, just six months later, Olli toed the starting line of his very first triathlon, in his hometown of Newcastle in the state of New South Wales. But that wasn’t the end of this amazing comeback story because Olli never would have completed the race without the generosity of another competitor. His finish time was 1:27:16, placing him 114th out of 304 who completed it. But I have a feeling that this is only the beginning for this young Aussie, who as you’ll hear in this interesting chat has a lot of gratitude and a very mature attitude about the meaning of his surviving this ordeal intact, including how to approach life and being kinder to those around you. Plus, I’ve got to say that Olli told me I’m “cruisy,” which I took as a compliment. You’ll have to look that one up in your Aussie slang dictionary.

Olli Bryers

Instagram @olli.bryers

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
Facebook Bill Stahl
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Many of us have complicated relationships with our parents and then wonder how much of our inherited traits we are passing to our own children; it’s left up to us whether to nurture and grow those traits, or to discard them entirely. In his new book, “The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports,” Nick Thompson describes how his dad one day taking him to watch the New York City Marathon led him to a lifelong love of running. Nick, the CEO of the nationally renowned publication The Atlantic, and his dad followed similar paths through New England prep school and then Stanford, and both pursued running to varying degrees, but there their paths diverged. His dad’s life devolved from being a Rhodes Scholar and working inside the Reagan administration to a baffling, hedonistic life overseas. All the while, Nick’s journalistic career blossomed and he became the Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, and running became an anchor of stability. He consistently cranked out speedy marathons in the 2:40s, sandwiched around his own serious health scare. Then an opportunity to train under Nike coaches led him to breakthrough marathon times and a greater awareness of his importance as a husband and father. “The Running Ground” also includes stories about pioneers such as Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, and Suprabha Beckjord, a multiple-time winner of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon, a 3100-mile race run on a half-mile concrete sidewalk loop in Queens, New York. Nick has now ventured into the ultramarathon world, including breaking the previous 50K American 45-49 age group record previously held by the legendary Mike Wardian, running a 3:04:36. “The Running Ground” is a riveting read that deeply explores as only a career journalist can the complexities of why we run – the joys as well as the challenges and frustrations – and exploring that part of our life cycle that includes unraveling the mysteries about our parents. You can order both print and audiobook versions on Amazon. I also highly recommend subscribing to The Atlantic if you, like I do, want to read great in-depth reporting about the people and events that are shaping this world.

Nick Thompson

nickthompson.com

theatlantic.com

Instagram @nxthompson

“The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports" is available on Amazon

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
Facebook Bill Stahl
Instagram and Threads @stahlor and @we_are_superman_podcast
YouTube We Are Superman Podcast

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As many of you are planning your 2026 race schedule, you might be considering traveling out of town. Of course, that’s very different than waking up in your own bed, throwing your gear and some nutrition into the back of your car, stopping at a coffee shop along the way for some caffeine, and making a leisurely drive to a local race when few others are on the road. For answers about what and how to pack when the race is in another state, how to deal with not being able to bring big bottles of your favorite liquids on a plane, and more, I thought I’d turn to travel warrior Karen Smidt. Karen was featured in episode #186 four years ago as she was navigating her way toward an impressive goal of completing a 50-miler in all 50 states while in her 50s. She is now only six states short as she approaches her 60th birthday later this year. She not only finishes these races, but she is often a top placer in her age group or even overall in them. As Karen’s husband and crew chief Dan says, the only thing that she likes more than running is talking about it, so we have a fun time as she breaks down the gear she takes (hint: less), how she packs it, and how she achieves her need to drink pickle juice during races. Plus, we share many stories we’ve had at ultra races in far-flung locales. Definitely listen closely so you have smooth sailing at your next travel race, until you kick a rock and do a Superman on the trail!

Karen Smidt

@cairnrunner

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
Facebook Bill Stahl
Instagram and Threads @stahlor and @we_are_superman_podcast
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Jerzy Gregorek and his wife Aniela survived a perilous journey living behind the Iron Curtain in Poland while it was subservient to brutal Soviet Union domination. He describes the darkness of living there in the 1970s and 80s, and how it led to him becoming an alcoholic at age 15. He had a mentor who pretty much dragged him into weightlifting at the time of the rise of Solidarity, the movement that led to the fall of the repressive Communist regime and to the free Poland that exists today despite constant threats from Putin’s Russia. Escaping that destructive, alcoholic path shaped his understanding of resilience and personal responsibility. He rebuilt his life — becoming a political exile in the USA, then a four-time world champion weightlifter, and later a mentor, poet, and a student earning his PhD in Humanistic Psychology. His core philosophy — “Hard Choices, Easy Life; Easy Choices, Hard Life” — comes from lived experience and years of guiding people through transformation. Jerzy founded the weightlifting program at UCLA, and Aniela herself is a five-time world weightlifting champion with six world records.

What sets Jerzy apart is his ability to integrate physical training, creative expression, and psychological insight into a holistic approach to health and resilience. He emphasizes that emotional intelligence is a crucial element in overcoming life’s adversities, and that it can be practiced, cultivated, and mastered. His three books, titled “The Happy Body: Mastering Food, Exercise, and Rest Choices,” are designed to help people embrace this path of strength, wisdom, and balance. The poetry book “The Happy Body: Food For Your Soul” helps with emotional eating. “The Happy Body Virtues: Daily Practices for the Modern Stoic” helps with emotional eating and self-regulation, while “I Got This: The Art of Getting Grit” helps with integrating the stories that contribute to building the skill of living a good life. Listen closely to the wise lessons Jerzy shares here and strongly consider getting deeper into The Happy Body to learn to apply the “Hard Choices, Easy Life; Easy Choices, Hard Life” philosophy to your own life. This might be one New Year’s resolution for change that I can heartily endorse.

Jerzy Gregorek

thehappybody.com

jerzygregorek@gmail.com

The Happy Body book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N21PL3D

Facebook The Happy Body

YouTube @thehappybody

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerzy-gregorek-ab87475/

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
Facebook Bill Stahl
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This is an absolutely don't-miss episode listening to the incredible wisdom of two former fat guy alcoholics who became sober endurance beasts. I promise you will gain more insights from listening to this pair than you would from reading an armful of self-help books. And make sure you stay for the song at the end! Enjoy this very special blast from the past - David's last Christmas.

Bill Stahl
silly_billy@msn.com
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Subscribe to our Substack for my archive of articles of coaching tips developed from my more than three decades of experience, wild and funny stories from my long coaching career, the wit and wisdom of David, and highlights of some of the best WASP episodes from the past that I feel are worthwhile giving another listen.

Search either We Are Superman Podcast or @billstahl8