Carpe Diem: Live Your Dream

Smoke jumping is an adventure disguised as a job. Afterall, who jumps out of airplanes to live a week or two in the wild fighting a forest fire with little more than a pulaski and the clothes on their back? It’s an occupation few of us know much about – until you listen to this episode where my guest explains the lingo, techniques, and experience of smoke jumping.

The Badwater 135 ultra-marathon is viewed as one of the toughest running races in the world, starting in Death Valley in 120 degree F temps and including 14,000+ feet of elevation gain. This 2-guest episode was so fun to record with both the youngest person and oldest person ever to finish the race. While they each describe the same race from very different perspectives, they are equally inspirational.

Rafting expeditions on white water rivers can be addictive – or so says my guest in this episode. His repertoire of rafting adventures was built over a decades-long habit of an expedition every year or two and includes dozens of rivers around the world, including Zambia, India, Bhutan, Peru, Chile, Siberia, China, and Ecuador to name a few. What a great way to see the wild places of the world while enjoying friends and family!

This episode is a conversation with Scott Shawyer, the President and Skipper of the Canada Ocean Racing team, shortly after he and his team completed the 5,000+ mile Ocean Race Europe in their IMOCA 60 foiling ocean racer. That race was just a warm-up for Scott’s ultimate ambition of being the first Canadian to complete the Vendee Globe solo, non-stop, around-the-world race.

Do you ever have an itch for adventure? To explore? To try something new? My guest for this episode literally wrote the book on why that is (or isn’t, for some people). He also wrote the book on human endurance. What a fascinating combo of topics that helps explain what's behind the accomplishments of my various podcast guests.

You don’t have to be a pro to experience the course and the thrill of the Tour de France stage race. My guest in this episode describes what it’s like to ride the mountain stages a few days before the pros come through. His times aren’t quite as fast, but the challenge is sure real. And he describes lots of other spectacular rides for us “regular” people to do with our families.

This is a great adventure story of four marine biologists who decided to row a boat across the Atlantic Ocean. 38 days at sea with a coffin-sized cabin and 12-hours daily at the oars doesn’t sound like fun, but the friendships and the learnings more than made up for the challenges. Find great photos of the journey at https://gocarpediemnow.com. 

How many calories do you think you could burn in a day? My guest, Ethan Hunger, picks a day every year to go to the max on everything physical: biking, running, swimming, HIIT… and logs 12,000+ calories in 24 hours. Why? For an awesome cause of raising money for a food bank. And he has built an amazing collection of such athletics-based fund raisers under the moniker “Hunger vs. Hunger”.

Here's a married couple that has woven their lives around endurance sports together in a unique and inspiring way. This episode is packed with so many cool adventures like riding the Race Across America (RAAM), the TransAm, a 15,000 km bicycle speed record around the circumference of Australia, and the Norseman Extreme triathlon in Norway. And the list goes on. 

Could you spend 16 days non-stop in a canoe with 4 people, paddling more than 12 hours each day? That’s what it took to break the Mississippi River speed record traveling the 2,340 miles from source to sea. Hear the story (and the next big dream adventure) from one of the paddlers and his pal who supports the logistics. 

Have you ever dreamed of what it would be like to compete in the Olympics, but feel like that door has closed in your life due to age? Well fear not. You can still go for it in the Senior Olympics, formally known as the National Senior Games. Here’s a guy who threw javelin and shot put in college and is back in the competition 30 years later.

Here’s someone who has walked the walk with 5 Ironman completions, but can also talk the talk on sports psychology. Rather than talking about her own athletic accomplishments, she puts a different twist on this episode. Listen in for her sports psychologist’s perspective on how best to motivate oneself, how to cultivate greater confidence, define your purpose, and improve your performance with your brain rather than your brawn.

Ever try to hold a plank for more than a minute or two? Kinda tough. How about for 5 minutes? Or 10? Well tune into this episode to hear from a planking world record holder who describes what it’s like – and what it takes – to plank for more than 10 hours. It isn’t just about the physical training.