May 15, 2025 • 68 mins
Chris Leiferman shares his journey from small-town Minnesota to professional triathlon, highlighting the role of family, injury recovery, and lessons learned from his father’s trade. He reflects on identity, mentorship, and mental preparation, while offering insights into marriage, parenting, and life beyond sport. Chris encourages young athletes to embrace the process and keep showing up.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
How's it going everyone? Welcome back to another edition
of the Stupid Questions podcast.Thank you so much for jumping
in. Today we're going to be talking
with Chris Leaferman. He's a professional triathlete
from the Colorado area, has a great background aid and, and
typical, wow, I can't speak today and a typical type of
background as getting into the triathlon world.
He jumped in and realized, oh man, I'm kind of good at these
(00:20):
things. Really just cool story and I
hope you enjoy it. So without further ado, I want
to introduce you to Chris Leaferman.
First off, thank you so much fortaking the time to come on the
Humble Pod. Really appreciate it.
Yeah. No problem, thanks for having
me. On yeah, man.
So how was the ride? I was just hunting on your straw
(00:42):
a little bit. It looks like you're preparing
for Unbound gravel, is that right?
No, no, Tyler Butterfield is he's, yeah, he's racing and like
it's a, it's a stages, it's a noon ride here in Boulder.
It's kind of a small group today.
I haven't done it since last year.
So this is only my second time ever doing this group ride.
But it's usually it's, it's short, it's punchy.
(01:06):
And he's on a mountain bike witha lefty fork and like he's on a
hard tailed mountain bike. Like a Cannondale or something
like that. Yeah, and he's got mountain bike
tires on and he's rolling hard with the group and he's up
front. He's taking poles.
It's just like, yeah, he's a very talented cyclist.
(01:29):
Yeah, that's awesome. How did how did the ride go for
you? How are you feeling?
Yeah, it was good. So I have a hip injury and you
know, they say they the doctor of the PT like go ride, go swim,
go do, go elliptical. So I'm riding and swimming and
just trying to keep my mind withit, you know, riding hard is fun
(01:53):
and it's it feels fine. I don't know.
Yeah, my hip isn't. I'm not running, so I don't
know. I don't know what to do.
I'm just trying to. I think I'm doing the right
things. Let's hope so.
Yeah. Is this the first like a hip
injury issue that you've come across?
Yeah, something like this. I had PRP 15 days ago and.
(02:17):
Injections, right? Yeah, yeah.
So just kind of waiting for thatto work.
I don't know. I really just kind of blows my
mind, like how this is going to fix it.
Yeah, tell you the truth. But they say it is and just
trust them. Keep doing PT, keep doing my
(02:38):
strengths. Keep.
Yeah, Just keep keeping on. Yeah, right on, man.
Do you know the science behind PRP?
Like, did they give you an explanation of like how they're
going to do this, why it should work?
Yeah, well, they, you know, they, they spin down the
platelets and the platelets are going to go in and ignite
(03:00):
healing and create an inflammatory response in the
regions that they, they put the injection.
So they, Jason Glowney did it for me and he kind of went
everywhere because I had tendinopathy.
There's a like a tiny, tiny tornlabrum that they actually even
wrote off, like thinking that that wasn't even the issue, but
(03:22):
so injected the labrum tendons, the TfL, the glute tendons on
the greater trochanter went intothe piriformis.
Yeah, just ripped me apart. So he's like, well, why we're in
there, Let's just do it all so there's no delays.
(03:42):
But I don't blame him. I mean, I was, I was destroyed
for a few days. That was I was doing everything
I can not to be a baby in front of my wife and kids.
Like, I'm still going to pull myweight around the house.
But yeah, I don't know. We'll see.
It's I just hope that my writingisn't detrimental to it, which
(04:06):
they say I can. I don't know.
I'm doing nothing like it doesn't hurt so.
Yeah, following the doctor's orders.
What makes it so painful? Is it just 'cause they're using
like a really long needle to getin there and pumping it in or
just. Putting your your platelets back
in there. So it just hurts.
It's just sheer volume, just fluid.
(04:26):
Yeah, just pushing apart the muscles like you when they're
out bretting the into piriformisright where the sciatic nerve
goes, it goes next to. So let me just push it.
You can see on the ultrasound asthe needle goes in there and
then the fluid you just you justsee the expansion of.
(04:47):
Fluid. Oh my goodness.
Under the ultrasound and yeah, Iwas nauseous.
Like I was like, I'm doing everything I can.
Pass out and. Then I'm like, I'm about to
puke, like OK, this is real pain.
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
How big was the needle? I'm sorry, I'm just like 6.
Inches long. Oh my gosh, dude.
(05:09):
Yeah, OK. 5 inches long, Yeah. Yeah, I would be.
That would get me enough. I mean I've had to have some
long injections before but like it sounds like they went in like
multiple times. Yeah, 3 injection sites and then
so the one in the hip where he got the I think the piriformis
(05:30):
and the, and the glute tendons. He re he he kept the needle in
the same ejection site, but he redirected it and you could just
see the needle bend like it was oh.
My gosh, that would make me sickand.
Then redirect it and he's just like bending it, redirecting it.
(05:51):
Yeah, he is AI don't know. He gets the job done.
He's he's good at he's really good at what he does.
So I'm, yeah, I have a lot of chest in him.
Yeah, right on man. Well, thanks for sharing that.
That's super interesting. I've heard about this stuff
happening, but never kind of gota first hand experience telling
of the tale, so I appreciate that.
Yeah, no problem. So first real question for you,
(06:15):
how old are you first, if you don't mind me asking?
38. OK, so you've got some good life
experience. My question to you is who is
Chris I? Don't know, I think it's just.
Well, first foremost, I'm a, I'ma dad and a husband.
(06:38):
I really got a dad and a husbandwho likes to ride bikes.
It's yeah, it's, I would say that that's first and foremost
because it's every time I come home from training, I'm no
longer a triathlete. I guess it's, I have absolute
blinders on. It's, it's kind of nice.
(06:59):
I, I can kind of, I get me, get all the, all the work done, then
just come home and I'm, I'm a dad and a husband and yeah,
family man. So that's, I'd say that's what
I'm at, yeah. Yeah.
What or how old are your kids? They're.
Going to be cruise will be 5 in July and Levi my daughter will
(07:22):
be two in June. Nice coming up.
Yeah. So they're still relatively
young. They probably don't care much
about triathlon yet I would assume.
No, they don't. I mean, this is definitely my
life. They they know that I swim, bike
and run. You know, I'll be headed out in
the morning and Daddy going to go run, Daddy going to go swim,
you know, you know, obviously ifI'm kitted up, they're going to
(07:44):
they know I'm going for a bike ride.
But yeah, yeah, they definitely know what I do, but I don't
think they're just like he's playing.
Yeah. Like what is he doing?
Which is kind of cool because I get to do this for a profession
and that's pretty rad, you know,definitely my wife, she owns her
(08:07):
own real estate firm and she works, you know.
So where's mommy while she's working?
Like, or is she in the office oris she showing homes or like,
you know, she's, she's going to be home late because she's
working, you know. So it's, yeah, they don't really
understand. Yeah.
Really what I do? Yeah, yeah.
Well, as they get older, hopefully.
Where are you from? Minnesota Southern Minnesota
(08:31):
cornfield, soy, soybean fields and hog bar.
Yeah, yeah, Hog. Bar.
It's a flat, pretty flat. A lot, a lot different than
where you're at now. Very flat, yeah, it's much
different. Yeah, I don't miss it, but
definitely there's an interesting good way to good way
to grow up 1000. Oh wow.
(08:53):
Very rural. Yeah, it was a rural town and
yeah, wanna change it? Do you have siblings, family
back there in Minnesota? Yeah, yeah.
Well, they're all, they're up byMinneapolis, Saint Paul area.
So I'm one of four boys, third in line, and they're all up, up
(09:13):
out in the metro. Yeah, my parents ended up moving
up northwest of Minneapolis, so got out of that one horse town.
Yeah. Was that something from a
relatively young age like you were?
Like I think I want to spread mywings and go elsewhere.
No, Never crossed any of our minds, really.
(09:34):
Yeah, no. And I don't even think it
crossed anyone in the town's mind, honestly.
Like it just was never. Have what?
You need. Yeah.
It's just kind of we all just kind of did, you know, like no
one ever thought like, I want togo here, I want to go there, I
want to get a sponsorship or, sorry, a scholarship or yeah,
(09:58):
everyone just kind of did their thing, went to school, played
sports and figured out the next step.
Yeah, So what do Did or do your parents do?
My dad was a master electrician so he owned his own business my
for about 40 years. And my mom, she was a lab tech
(10:18):
for a while and then she ended up being, and she's working as
my dad's secretary for many years and then eventually was
just full time working for my dad.
Nice. Did you business?
Yeah. Yeah.
Did you grow up then pull online?
Was it more commercial or real residential?
Residential. A lot of rural, so a lot of
(10:39):
farms, a lot of green lakes out of hog barns, you know, a lot of
service calls. Not too many people were
building houses in, in our town,but we, you know, I had a few,
few houses, a few additions, buta lot of lot of farming.
So towards the end of my, I guess working for my dad was a
(11:01):
lot of grain lakes. Corn prices are pretty high.
So people, you know, you always start to see if hog prices are
good, we're building barns. If corn prices are good, we're
building grain lakes. So it just kind of ebbed and
flows. There's a time where, you know,
so both hog prices and corn prices were were shit.
So I was, I had to work for the city.
My dad just couldn't afford to keep me on.
(11:21):
So it's yeah. Then another summer I had to
work, work for a hog barn. So I was doing that.
But yeah, so I was, yeah. I worked from a very young age.
Yeah, how young I? Mean, I was on the payroll in
6th grade I think. Oh let's go.
(11:43):
Like I was literally getting a weekly paycheck.
That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think so.
Yeah. I mean, I teach you, teach you a
lot. I mean, how money can evaporate
quickly. Like, do you remember getting
that first paycheck, kind of what that felt like after the
hard work was done? Yeah, I mean, then my parents
would teach you how to, you know, set, set X amount aside.
(12:04):
I think I bought a BMXA Schwinn.Oh yeah, is orange is a BMX bike
with my with at the end of the summer.
Nice to have. Did it have pegs on it?
Yeah. Of course, yeah.
Pegs that we never used. Yeah, totally.
There's only stand on. It's only just the whole friends
from from house to house. Yeah.
(12:24):
Yeah, it's so funny. I remember getting like a
Mongoose that I guess is like the one of the cheaper ones, but
you could like turn this, the handlebars all the way around
and like that was the feature. Yeah, yeah, that's so funny.
So whenever you started working from a young age, I mean, so I
worked construction for a numberof years, but not to like high
school and college, just throughfriends, families, you know,
(12:46):
doing framing, electrical, some plumbing work.
So I got my hands dirty and I remember like learning a lot of
lessons from that style of work because it's very, you do
something with your hands, either you progress or you make
a mistake and you kind of learn and recircle back.
So a lot of life lessons I learned in those years.
Do you recall any just life lessons or things that you learn
(13:06):
from being on the job? Yeah, absolutely.
One thing that really stood out is my dad was was the boss and
had been for many years. And he had, he had men
underneath him and she was supergood at delegating.
But you never saw him tell someone to do something that he
wouldn't or hasn't hasn't done himself.
(13:28):
Because when you're working in the shit at the hog barn, like
literally, and you tell someone to go do this because they're a
grunt, you don't do it just because you don't want to do it.
You do it because it's somethinglike it's kind of after like
he's my dad has done all of this, you know, And so that was
(13:48):
just kind of kind of cool. You you always saw the boss
doing some of the hardest stuff and I thought that was really
cool to to see because I worked for the city and dude, they were
terrible. They were so freaking
frustrating watching them work. I'm just like, just fire all of
them and let me let me do the job.
(14:11):
But you know, you just saw you just saw the boss work so
freaking hard and it just, it never, you always just did it.
You never questioned like, oh man, and you know, this kind of
sucks like or do I do this like you'd like?
We have we're on a time schedule.
(14:31):
You have to do this job has to get done.
You know, you'd be you'd be running from the truck to the
grain leg to save time. Like you like you worked so
freaking hard. You ate your lunches on your
feet. You learned that brakes actually
make you lethargic. Like if if you just keep rolling
(14:52):
through the day, you know, there's a lot of stuff that just
as far as getting the job done and working hard and earning,
earning that Coke at the end of the at the end of the day or the
beer if you're old enough. So it was, yeah, there's a lot
of a lot of stuff that I took from that.
(15:12):
But I'd say watching my dad delegate was a really good take
home. So given the experience you do
have with your parents and the work and kind of what you're
doing today, who would you thinkthat you're more like, your mom
or your dad? Oh, my dad.
Yeah, for sure. All of us.
(15:35):
Yeah. Oh, all of the all of the boys.
Yeah. Yeah.
How so? Like what makes the just.
Yeah, expound on that if you don't mind.
No, just just the work. I think if we all, we're all
leaders. I'm not saying that my mom
isn't. It's just that we never really
(15:55):
saw her in that role. Like it was always, she was my
dad's secretary. You know, maybe she was before I
was able to witness it. But, you know, she took care of
her. She took care of us boys.
Like, we always saw her as mom and then we always saw dad as,
you know, the breadwinner. And I mean, her role was
(16:19):
probably more important than what her dad did.
And any, any mom's role is, is as important, if not more than a
husband's role in that situation.
But I think seeing it from us boys standpoint was, was, you
know, seeing the dad that way. But yeah, my older brother owns
(16:43):
his own deck building company. He's almost #1 he's #2 if not
number one biggest deck company in the Minneapolis Saint Paul
metro area, which is pretty baller.
My younger brother works for him.
My, my other brother, he's the head of the, the Buffalo
(17:04):
community. And they're, they're putting up
this $5,000,000 building that he's in charge of.
And he's like just taking the reins on all of all of the, the
inner workings of that. And, you know, it's all just
just kind of cool to see. And I think that wouldn't have
(17:24):
happened had we not had that, that upbringing.
So and you know, I'm a triathlete.
I don't have a team underneath me, but you know, it's, it's,
it's hard work day in and day out.
And I think that was instilled early on.
Yeah, for sure. Thanks for sharing that.
SO when did you first come in contact with triathlon and tell
(17:48):
me about that story, just the genesis of it, how you decided
and start to realize, oh, maybe I can be a professional this and
to kind of bring us up to today.Yeah, I didn't.
To be honest, I didn't know anything about professional
triathlon and when I did my first triathlon is a Mankato, MN
(18:09):
or University of Minnesota Mankato indoor try.
I've been running. I built a house in in southern
Colorado. As I point like you guys know
where I'm pointing. I pointed to I, I built a house
in southern Colorado and I was running three days a week
because I was, you know, I was just wanted to lose some weight
(18:31):
while I was down there and. But working 14 hours a day all
summer to get that done. And yeah, my brother, he had
been mountain biking in college.So when I came back, he wanted
someone to ride with. And he built up a bike.
He's working at a bike shop. He built that.
(18:52):
So he found a bike, he built it up and told me to ride.
And he goes start swimming because I signed you up for a
triathlon. So I started swimming and I
ended up winning the first triathlon and then that summer I
just started doing, you know, every weekend or every other
weekend. I was just doing doing races all
(19:14):
summer in Minnesota. You can kind of pick, I don't
know if it is still today, but when I was doing it like every
weekend there was a little triathlon at a little lake, you
know, because there's so many options.
You would just go and bounce around and you know that.
I think Minnesota had a series and I think I I won the series,
(19:35):
but it was unbeknownst to me that I had won it.
I just happened to have chosen the right amount of races that.
Qualify. For it and.
And then I raced was it yeah, itwas a lifetime yeah.
So the lifetime Olympic series so that that Minneapolis.
So my wave was at my wave was at8:30 and it was just a
(19:59):
blistering hot humid day and. It was so late, like it was
already in the 90s by the time Istarted my race, but the pros
went off at 6:30 and and I'm like, well I want to start
early, so how do I get to be pro?
Starting early and. I look on USAT and I'm like, OK,
(20:21):
so you have to come in, you know, has all the criteria to
become pro. So then I ended up going down to
Austin, TX so that I could get that elite card so that I could
have an earlier time slot in thenext.
Year, I love it. I go down to Austin, I qualify.
(20:43):
I emailed the race director for Minneapolis and I'm like, hey,
can I get into the elite spot? And so he, so I ended up getting
that elite spot and it was just,and still then I hadn't race.
So let me let me backtrack a little bit.
(21:03):
There's a pro wave and then like15 minutes later was an elite
wave. So it's like a 630 start and
then a 645 start. So I started in the 645 even
though I had qualified for pro, but I had no idea that that's
what that's the case. I just wanted to be in that
spot. Earlier.
(21:24):
So then it wasn't until. So this is maybe, oh, 2010.
So I think I or two, yeah, something like that.
And then and then I didn't do myfirst pro race until 2013, like
officially pro race. I did Memphis in May and then I
(21:46):
was, I had transferred out to Colorado State University and
joined the triathlon team there.So I was doing collegiate races
and, and then my wife Zana, she was on the team too.
So then we ended up, we're dating at the time and we ended
(22:07):
up going out to Memphis in May. And that was my first pro race.
I won that race. And then every race after that
was pro. But it would just like just kind
of fell into it. Zana was like, Oh my gosh, you
should race pro because you don't have to pay entry fees.
And earlier start times. No entry fees.
(22:27):
This is the life. Yeah, she's.
Like, you know, you're paying for all these entry fees and
just turn pro and then you can have a free, free entry fee.
And like, that's just kind of how it went.
It was never this thing. I don't know.
I, I did my first race in 2008. My first pro race was five years
(22:49):
later. I'd qualified for pro in my
first year. Like, I don't know, it's just.
Kind of. A weird, weird trajectory.
I'm continuously or increasinglysurprised at how many stories
amongst professional triathletesthat this, this kind of a story
(23:10):
is somewhere in that existence. Because for me, like, you know,
I was interested in like, oh, maybe I could GoPro, you know,
very early on, like, oh, maybe Iwant to shoot for this thing.
And I think that's because the sport has grown, but it's
shocking to me how many in our age group, I'm a little bit
younger than you, but like in the 30s, like I guess going back
15 years, how many people are just kind of stumbled into it.
(23:30):
Oh, I was cross training for this because I had an injury.
And then I did it and I won thisand it just kind of happened.
But I mean, it can't go without saying.
Obviously the sports gotten morecompetitive over time.
But I can't go without saying, like you, you must have had some
level of just natural talent OR ability to go and just win this.
And then you went to Texas and oh, I won.
And your fresh pro race, Oh, I won.
Was it? Do you chalk it up to just
(23:53):
having a lot of athletic ability?
Like, is it luck? What do you think?
Well, I would say athletic ability.
I I wrestled, played football and baseball my entire life.
I should have ran. I never did.
I just hated it, you know, and but I couldn't Sprint for shit.
(24:16):
So I should have known that likein football and in baseball,
like it was terrible. Like because that's such a
short, fast twitch sport. Wrestling.
I excelled in the third period, you know, as like I was just out
in Durham and yeah, but I didn'thave the guidance or someone to
(24:42):
be like, dude, like set me down and and tell me like, this is
not your jam because no one didn't have that type of
guidance in German. But but it's also fun.
I was playing with most of my friends, you know, baseball was
legit. I played spring ball and summer
(25:02):
ball and you're just out there every day, every weekend,
practicing with your friends, throwing the ball around.
And it was that was that was just fun.
Yeah, Had I not known your previous history, just kind of
looking at you like you seem like you could be like a
professional baseball player. Maybe it's the cap a little bit,
the athletic shirt. But I'm like, I'm seeing like,
(25:24):
oh, do you play for the Dodgers like?
Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, I think I got asked that
question a few years back, like what professional sport would I
be in if I could choose anything?
And I, I chose baseball, you know, 100 and 170 two games a
year. It's 162 games a year, 172, you
know, that's a, it's a heck of aschedule, but wow, it's pretty
(25:49):
fun. It's really.
Fun, Yeah. So at what point did you start
to think, oh, I'm not just getting free entries now?
Like maybe there's some viability to me doing this as a
career? I mean, I was I went to school
and I was working, I was doing out in jobs, handyman jobs.
(26:11):
I was going to school full time and I was training as well.
So and racing and, you know, following some doing some Rev
threes, doing some iron Man's. And then every year I'd kind of
go a little more in like I would, I'd do less handyman
(26:32):
work. But I think once that'd probably
been I think when and move down here.
I think when I saw I won Iron Man Montreal Blanc and that was
pretty eye opening because I wasstill working doing handyman
work. It wasn't, it wasn't a ton, but
(26:54):
I was still like advertising myself on next door and on
Craigslist and to as a handyman.So I was still doing stuff, but
I was able to say no if I wantedto, you know, But then once I,
once I won that race, then it was like, OK, I, I think I
(27:15):
should like stop. Yeah, go for it.
Yeah. And then then go full in.
So that was 15 I believe or 16/20/16.
And yes, that's about it. And then again, like it's still,
(27:38):
it's still kind of weird. Like I always had this in the
back of my head that my family was like, what are you doing?
Like, why aren't you working? Like, why aren't you like
clocking in, clocking out? And it I would, I battled that
for a long, long time. But now my family's, you know,
(27:58):
my biggest fan and they're, I think kind of a little jealous
with the travel that I'm allowedto do and what I get to do day
in and day out. And, you know, I send them
photos from the top of Trail Ridge or and, you know, they so
it's that has slowly dwindled. But that was a long time that I
(28:22):
was just like, OK, I kind of, I feel like I always have to work
just to satisfy this demon that is just telling me like, I
should be doing triathlon. Yeah.
So it was all internal like it wasn't yet like was your family
supportive like pretty much fromall were?
Supportive. Yeah, there is.
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, there's one time at
(28:46):
Lifetime Fitness because when Lifetime Fitness was in its
prime, there was some heavy hitters, right.
I don't know if you followed that.
And I got I got 4th at Lifetime Minneapolis in an Olympic.
Like, yeah. I wish they had them still,
yeah. And, and, you know, my whole
(29:08):
family came to watch me that that time.
And that one was, I think they're just like shit, like,
you know, I was the head of a handful of Olympians and.
Chris. Chris is legit.
Yeah, right, right, right. So I think we're, we're eating,
we're eating dinner at my or eating lunch at my brother's
place that afternoon. And, you know, they were just,
(29:28):
they, my brother invited all thefriends over.
Like he was just like trying to show me off a little.
Bit yeah, here's my pro athlete.My chest outlet, you know, like
I'm pretty proud too, but so that was, you know, that was
that's pretty cool to see, but it still just didn't.
It's just hard. It's hard to really, really take
(29:49):
it in and and deal with it. You know, even like right now,
like I'm sitting, I'm sitting around here.
I'm not racing. I was supposed to race Oceanside
in Texas and I have a hip injuryand I'm like, and it kind of
sucks to walk around because it hurts.
But so I'm like, OK, let me helppull the weight around here.
And, you know, I am taking a lotmore on with the kids, but you
(30:13):
know, I want to do some housework.
But I'm like, OK, no, don't do it.
Don't do it. Just it's fine, you know, Yelps,
you'll have time to do it later or some other time.
But yeah, so there's still a little bit of me that I just, I
just can't kick it. Yeah, that that that internal
burn to to keep moving and keep working.
(30:33):
I think it's a good thing to have.
Like that kind of begs me to my next question is like, once you
decide that the sun is setting on the triathlon career, like
what do you want to do next? Like you seem entrepreneurial,
you obviously have that Dr. internally to do an excel at
whatever you put your hand to. Like what do you think is next?
(30:55):
Well, yeah, I've actually thought about this quite a bit.
My first thing is just get do a lot of stuff around the house
because I am notorious for starting jobs and not finishing
them. Your poor wife.
Yeah, like I get myself into trouble because I'm very capable
(31:15):
of doing a lot of things, but I'll, I'll put in like a massive
push, right? But then I'll, I won't have any
of the trim work done or the done or like, you know, all
those little things. Like I could just see it right
now. There's just so much.
Like holes of drywall in your house.
Yeah, yeah. So I just all those things like,
(31:37):
you know, the I haven't cocked over there and just like all
these, all the little stuff needs to get done.
But my wife, she owns her own real estate firm.
She is the best in the county. And I think her and I as a team
flipping houses would be a really, really good step
(31:57):
forward. So and would make sense and I
think that would be awesome. It'd be fun, be gratifying.
And yeah, we'd make a would makea really good team.
So that would be, but that just doesn't happen overnight.
Like you have to find the right house, right?
You can't just be like, oh, let's just go flip a house
(32:18):
tomorrow. Yeah, for sure I can find that
property. We'd have to, you know, make
sure that that we find the rightproperties and but I don't
necessarily want to be a handyman.
I think that'd be, I really didn't enjoy some of the jobs
(32:39):
that I had to do back in the past.
So definitely be working for myself and doing stuff I think
wouldn't wouldn't make it work. You know, I think we'd have
yeah, yeah. It would be a good team and find
a good niche. I thought it would be cool to.
I want to volunteer too, though I feel like I've been a pretty
(33:01):
selfish person, so I want to do some, do some stuff for Boulder
County, maybe in the Forest Service.
So that'd be something that I would do either on a, you know,
bimonthly or twice a month basissomething.
Like, yeah, for moving on to doing something else like, you
(33:26):
know, the past, like you're saying past 10 years, you've
taken this very seriously. You've been racing obviously for
1520 years. Like this is a very long time
and like essentially half of your life you've been doing this
sport. Do you think that when you do
decide to move on it is it goingto be difficult in terms of how
you identify just yourself worthand you know who Chris is as an
(33:47):
individual? I don't think so, but I'm afraid
that when it does happen, I willI will struggle with it, but
sitting here, I think like, Nope, I'll be able to move on.
I've done my time, I've had a I've had a good career, but it
(34:13):
is good. I think it will be tough just
because, you know, reality is going to sit in my, my, my buddy
Justin Dare is, he's a sports psychologist and he raced
professionally for many years. And he actually excels with
talking to people in this instance, that kind of this,
(34:35):
this transition period. And I think he's, you know, I, I
see because I, I say that it's going to be easy for me because
I did come from the sport when Iwas 12 years old, five years
old, like. Yeah, you weren't born.
Into it, yeah. Like I wasn't born into it.
I started when I was 21. That's when I started swimming.
(34:59):
And it's just so I think the transition will be easier.
I think it's those people who have, you know, maybe even had a
collegiate, collegiate sports career.
And, you know, we're, we're in asystem growing up and then all
of a sudden sport is done. It's like, OK, what's next?
(35:19):
It's like, well, you know, I think that transition for me
will, will be easier. But you know, I'm a little
afraid of it. I freaking love this lifestyle.
It's awesome. I'm glad I get to do it.
And I think what's going to be hard is trying to run or go on
(35:40):
some group rides and get shelledout the back.
Not that. Knowing that I was the guy in
the front shelling people out the back and now I'm being
shelled, so I think that would be that.
'D be tough because. You know, I, I, I think I'll be
an athlete for life too. So it's, yeah, we'll see.
(36:04):
I don't want to think about it now.
Yeah. Well, I was going to ask one
more question. Do you think like that you'll
continue to stay involved in thesport of triathlon?
Like you still want to race? Do you want to volunteer like as
a part of the community or maybeeven start a business in that
world? Or you're pretty committed to
just closing that down and move into something totally
different? Yeah, I don't, I feel like there
(36:25):
would be like I I would want to help young pros as more of like
a mentor. I've, I've been thinking about
this because I think if, if you,if you, if you start triathlon
and win a world champion, you'regoing to be sorted.
Don't worry about it. But there's a lot of these young
pros who get the pro card and think doors are going to open
(36:46):
for them and they don't. And I think someone could be
there as a guidance for these people are, or to be able to
help someone who has seen some really good success and help
them like capitalize on this. And you know that I, I think
(37:11):
some of these people just don't have the right mentorship.
I don't think that I necessarilydid when I won Iron Man match
and blonde. I feel like there could have
been a bit more guidance for me in that, in that time space, but
(37:31):
so it, I don't know, I, I would like to help people in that
direction. I don't know if I ever will, but
I, I, I see that they're, I justsee some people just think that
they're just going to have the best thing happened to them just
(37:51):
because they turn pro and triathlon.
And it's like, no, you just wentfrom being an age grouper
passing people. Now you're just going to be in
the most boring race possible because.
Yeah, get just completely dusted, yeah.
But you can still have fun and be pro and, you know, go and
travel the world and get sponsors.
(38:13):
But I just think people just need to understand what they're
coming up against. Yeah, well, the sport's changing
quite a bit. I mean, I've only been a part of
it now for like 5 or 6 years andit's changed wildly just in that
time, especially post COVID. But it is interesting to see
like how the sport has changed what is expected of a
(38:34):
professional athlete just in terms of sponsorships.
And you know what it is you haveto do to to be on the top top
end performance wise. Like it's, it's definitely
changing and growing, which is agood thing.
And I love the the community aspect of triathlon.
It's almost in a lot of ways like a religion, because people,
this is where they get their community, That's where they get
the sense of worth. That's where they, you know, try
(38:55):
to earn a living. Some of them or some of them,
it's just spending money. If you're an age group, that's
all you do is just spend, spend,spend.
But yeah, it's, it's interestingto see how it's how it continues
to grow. And I hope that it doesn't lose
that as it becomes more and moreof a a top tier sport and still
has a lot of growth, but still it's growing quick.
Yeah, I think it still has a lotof growth just because it's like
(39:17):
a lot has changed since 2020. A lot like that was a massive
bump. And so we're still in its
infancy and you're you're starting to see people come in
to to pro triathlon who have been triathletes their entire
(39:39):
life, not just a runner turned triathlete or not just a cyclist
turned triathlete or not just a,a wrestler, baseball football
player turned triathlete. Like you're seeing triathletes
now come all the way up like they are lifelong triathletes.
And for better or for worse, youknow, you have, you're obviously
(40:01):
going to end up starting to see burnout and people not doing it
because they had done it so long.
But the people who hang on are going to be freaking good.
Like. And that's what we're seeing.
So yeah. So for you as a professional,
like what gets you in the zone when you're getting ready to
make it happen? Training or racing?
(40:22):
Both. Both.
Well, just the fact that I get to do it, the fact that I get to
go out and ride my bike or run healthy, it's just exciting.
(40:43):
And you know, swimming, swimmingcan get tough, but the group
that we swim with, Julie Dibbensleads an awesome squad.
And you know, you go there and people are going to show up
ready to swim hard. Obviously you have your days
that you're you're flat, you're you're not feeling it, but you
still show up and you have a good time.
And I've been doing a lot of group rides lately and some fun
(41:06):
rides and being able to if get out and do that on a today was a
Tuesday and I was riding my bikein the middle of the day.
Like that's awesome. And just that aspect of of the
sport just keeps me coming back for it.
So it's. Yeah, like gratitude.
(41:27):
Yeah, I mean weather. Weather has downsides.
Obviously I'm not all pep. You know, it's you're you're
you're tired. Weather is crap or it's, you
know, just other, other factors are, are are hard to beat, you
know, hard to mentally overcome,but you get out and do it coming
(41:49):
back and, you know, finishing a set, knowing that you put your
you you didn't quit like I there's so many times that I
would go out and say basic set like 4 by 10 minutes and you do
the first one you're like, wow, that was really hard.
Even though it's like I have three more.
So and then you do the second one and you kind of Peter off
(42:11):
towards the end and then you're almost about to pull the pin.
You're like, well, no, let's just, let's just see how the
next one goes. You know, I got 2 1/2 hours, 3
hours to, to tick off. So I'll just, I got to keep
riding anyway. And then you do it and then you
get to the 4th 1:00. And then you then you like kind
of finally come around and you just kind of you have the sense
of like, man, I could, I could have pulled the pin 40 minutes
(42:34):
ago, but I didn't. And even though I know it's just
kind of miniscule wind, but evento this day of how many, how
many intervals have I done on the bike or but I still get
gratification out of like pushing through and not giving
(42:55):
up. And yeah, so it's those things
make, make it more enjoyable. And you know the the
satisfaction you get when you come home is pretty rewarding.
Yeah, getting a little dopamine hit, and I don't know if you're
into Strava that much, but when you get that notification that
(43:17):
it uploads and I'll let me go see what my heart rate was.
Oh, let me see, Did I build it? Every one of those intervals?
How many watts did I had? Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Heart rate was low. Yeah.
Yeah. So what gets you in the zone
race wise? Do you have like a protocol or a
specific place you go to mentally?
Maybe it's music. Yeah, no, I don't.
(43:37):
I actually talk to people. Like I just kind of distract
myself from from like if you're in transition, right?
Like I, I talk to people. I don't listen to any music.
I actually had Iron Man Saint George.
I had headphones in and my brothers after the race were
(43:57):
like, what music were you listening to?
Because they saw me on, saw me on TV.
They're like, I bet you're listening to Korn.
No, I bet you're a system. Like they're kind of thinking
about what I was listening to. I'm like, I didn't have the
headphones on at all. I just had a mince and no one,
no one had bugged me. And I actually had AI, had AI,
had a good race that day. I probably should have thought
(44:21):
more about it. But yeah, I guess I was.
I was pretty well focused. But I always try to come up with
some sort of distraction and sometimes talking to people is
that is that distraction. But it's it's weird.
You get in once that gun goes off, every, everything
(44:42):
disappears. Every thought that like it is
it, it it's a switch. I don't know if other people
have this, but Oh yeah, yeah, itis an absolute switch.
So it's it's cool that I can kind of put the blinders on and
get into that over the top zone.Yeah, what are you looking
(45:03):
forward to most? To getting back to racing?
I know you're probably not love loving being injured.
Every year I get, I get, I get better.
I am, I'm swimming. I want to test myself.
I'm swimming faster. So I'm I'm excited to test
myself against the group and getup there and put everything that
(45:27):
I have out there. Yeah, and I know the competition
is getting faster too, but I'm, I'm 38 years old and I'm, I'm
putting out better numbers everysingle year.
It's just, it's just a linear progression.
And it's awesome. And I love that I'm able to
continue to do that. And I just want to keep keep
testing it. And I know that if I put out, if
(45:47):
I execute a good day, I'm going to be on the podium.
Like I'm very confident in myself that way.
You know, it's unfortunately, you know, too many.
There's a lot of variables that can happen in an Iron Man.
So it's, it's tough to execute every single race to perfection.
But I know that I have the speedand talent to make it happen.
(46:07):
So I just want to go out there and improve myself.
So it's, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
And I just, I love, I love training and racing healthy.
So I'm just want to get, want toget back to running.
I just can't wait for what happens.
Yeah. When it, what is your trajectory
looking like for getting back torunning?
And then do you have a race thatyou're kind of loosely shooting?
(46:30):
For, I mean loosely in early June.
So there's Eagle Man and Boulderboth back-to-back week, so
hopefully be able to race one ofthose.
So we'll see. Yeah, I don't know.
Just just waiting. Waiting.
Yeah, just wait and see how the PRPPRP, right?
That's what I'll say. Yeah, sweet man.
(46:53):
Well then. So let me ask you a couple other
questions. By the way, this is a bigger 1,
so take take as much time as youwant to think about this one.
But what would you say is the most important thing that you've
ever done in your life? Marrying Zanna, I think Ellen's.
(47:15):
I mean, without her none of thiswould have been possible.
And she's been in my corner thisentire time.
We have two amazing children. We're going on 10 years this
year. Congratulations.
Man, and you know, we're we're happy.
(47:35):
Like, I don't know, life, life'sgood, dude.
I can't, I cannot complain. And I have some Susanna for all
that. So yeah, that's pretty
important. Yeah, that's phenomenal.
So one thing that I will use as almost a sledgehammer to kick
people off the pedestal in my life is often times these are
(47:59):
business people, sometimes athletes, they'll be up there.
And then I realized that, oh man, they had a failed marriage.
And don't get me wrong, like there's, there's various reasons
why people can have failed marriages, obviously.
But to have a successful 1, likeyou have to have both sides
fighting and loving and being willing to work on that
marriage. I think constantly, and I mean,
that's just like anything with endurance sport, no matter what.
So to have people be successful as an athlete or successful as a
(48:23):
as a business person, that's onething.
But to have a successful family I think is like the ultimate
penultimate version of success. What do you think, like are some
of the lessons that you have learned to make marriage work in
a lifestyle? Like where your wife's is
working has her own business, You have arguably your own
business with the triathlon. You're doing your own contracts
(48:44):
and then you have children in the mix and, you know, all these
other things, Like what are someof the linchpins that have kept
things together and to get to 10years of marriage.
Oh. Jeez, I don't know, I think I
don't have to. I don't have the best answer for
that. I I think for us, well,
childcare, I think childcare is like people say, Oh my gosh,
(49:08):
childcare is expensive. I'm like, dude, it's going to
save your relationship. Like you have to, as much as our
kids are awesome and as much as you know that they actually are
easy, but they're kids Like it's, it's a it's a lot.
And you know, for us to, you know, it allows us to be able to
(49:29):
work full time and then we love the hell out of them.
But when, when we're home in theevening and in the mornings and
it's, it's great. And but yeah, it's, it actually
has been tough, to be honest. What's having kids like?
We I want to go on a date with Zanna.
I don't think we've gone on a date since January and we're
(49:51):
recording this in April. So it's that kind of sucks, but
you know, we'll, we, I don't know, we allow each other to, to
do like we, we don't like she went out with her girlfriends
(50:13):
the other day and it's just like, yeah, no big deal.
Go for it. Like I, I'm allowed to do do
what I want, obviously within reason.
There's obviously some other things, but I can go on some
dangerous. I can go on races like I can.
Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of things that you have to allow
your partner to do because they are also an individual like it's
(50:41):
and that has that has really helped.
But we also have the same like she's, she was a professional
triathlete for four years that we met through triathlon.
So she she gets my lifestyle andyou know, we kind of grew with
(51:04):
each other and I think that thatreally helped out.
So, I mean, everyone's relationship is different and it
is so hard. There is not a right answer.
I, I, I wish I could say that wehave the best communication.
We don't, we could totally be better at that.
(51:26):
And but we, we try, we, we try to show affection in front of
our kids so that they don't growup thinking that.
Mommy and Dad are friends. Just friends.
Yeah. So it's, yeah, I don't know.
We we have a good what I don't know for doing something right.
(51:48):
Yeah. We're trying.
I think that's a mutual try. Yeah.
Thanks for sharing. SO for for you in your mind,
what do you need to see or what needs to happen, if anything,
(52:09):
for you to look back on your life and be like, yeah, that was
a success. And it it can be triathlon
specific. It can be life specific, just as
being a human. Like what do you think?
In life, I just want our kids toalways like be cool with us.
Like, I just don't want, I don'twant our kids to get to, you
(52:35):
know, teenagers, OK, they're going to have their times like
any teenager will. But like after, after high
school, like I want them to always want to come back and
always want to see us. And we're like, like we're my
family's super tight. And I want that, you know, I
think if we if we continue to gothrough life and US kids and
(53:00):
Zana and I like we always call each other on a daily basis or,
you know, like those things, like I think that would be that
would be a win in life for sure.Because yeah, I mean, what?
How many more years of life do Ihave left?
(53:21):
You know, how many more years oftriathlon do I have life left
versus how many years of life doI have left?
I am far more concerned with howmany more years of life I have
left. Yeah.
I think with having that aspect of being able to see my kids
grow and be part of their lives for the rest of their life is a
(53:47):
good goal. Yeah, I want to ask you
experimental question. I have never asked this one
before, but a given just the theperspective of maybe not may not
be the best word, but just giventhe mindset that you currently
find yourself in when I'm picking up, I feel like this
would be an interesting question.
So your kids are Levi and what was your boy's name?
(54:10):
Cruise. So let's pretend for a second
that they are are somehow going to watch this when they are
turning 18. So they're like figuring out,
oh, I'm not going to be a teenager much longer.
They think they know everything in the world, but they are
secretly deep down looking for some level of just like
direction from dad. What would you say to your kids
if they were watching this rightnow if they were 18?
(54:30):
Oh. Dude, UK so I don't have a good
answer for that. And I haven't had a good answer
about anything of kids because it all just like happens as it
happens. Like you learn, you learn to
change a diaper because the diaper needs to be changed.
(54:51):
You know, you learn to you, you learn to feed the bottle to the
baby because this is the stage in life.
Like, yeah, so just to say how I'm going to feel the cruise
when he's 18 or Levi when she's 18 is really tough because I
(55:14):
don't know, like it's it's it's really hard to to think that
because I haven't had an 18 yearold.
I was probably maybe I was toughfor my parents or maybe I didn't
necessarily have the best guidance because, you know, my
dad was working from sunup to sundown.
(55:34):
You know, my mom was like, there'd be times we'd be come
home from school and there'd be,there'd be a casserole in the in
the oven with a direction sayingturn it to 350 and bake for this
long because no one was home. Like it was, you know, they're
they were working their butts off.
So yeah, I, yeah, I don't have agood answer for you.
(55:58):
I know it's, I know what you want, but it's.
No, I don't know what I want, but I do know that I want to ask
another question. Yeah, go.
For it. So what is something then like
for you when you were like 1819?What is something that you
wanted to know maybe or something that you wish like
would have been instilled a little bit further that you
would have confidence in? Because I know for me, my
(56:19):
perspective, you know, when I was able to go from the age of
seeing my mom and dad as my parents to seeing them as a
human, realizing that, oh, they were just a kid as well.
Like the way that I was able to shift that perspective gave me a
lot more of just understanding of, you know, why they did
things, things the way that theydid them and forgiving them for
(56:39):
some things and loving them for a lot of things that they did
because they were trying their best to give us the better life
that, you know, they never had. So like, what is something you
think that you wished when you were younger you would have had
a little bit more confidence in,in relation to like the
relationship with your parents? See, you've had time.
These are hard, deep questions. Time to think about this
(57:00):
question, right? The answer I don't, I think a
lot of they didn't a lot of the answers to their guidance was
(57:21):
like, just do it like you have, you have, I don't know there,
there is no thought behind why Ineeded to do things or if I was
feeling, you know, I think we'rewe're now much more aware of
mental health. Not that I've I've struggled as
an 18 year old, but I think thatit was I had really big shoes to
(57:46):
fill. I I think you know, where from
an athlete standpoint, my two older brothers were phenomenal
athletes and I wasn't near, neartheir, near where they were at.
And it just, I didn't have the guidance of like how to manage
myself around that. You know, I just wanted to quit
(58:09):
because it, it sucked because I just couldn't, I couldn't fill
my shoes. And they probably they, they
simply just didn't know what to do in that situation, which I
don't blame them. Like I don't know what, what do
you do? So I think that that could have
(58:30):
been better. My, my oldest brother, he was,
he was, he was pretty cool. You know, he couldn't, didn't,
didn't care too much for me because he was six years younger
than him. And then my next oldest brother.
Like, yeah, we got along, but not like as, as a mentor type of
(58:52):
relationship. Like we're really good friends
and but not like, hey, Adam, I need to talk to you type like we
never never really did that. And I think I could have
utilized that type of like, hey,mom, I need to sit down and talk
or hey, dad. Well, yeah, I mean, my dad would
have not done that. Help the K1 on us, to be honest.
(59:18):
So it's I think that could have helped me in that's in that
lifetime. Just get through, you know,
because it, it did kind of suck.So just had to bottle it up deep
(59:40):
and push it down inside. Have you popped the top?
Like have you popped the top offand worked?
It I don't know. Not really, but I don't know if
there was much of a pop to top. I did have to, you know, kind of
bail from University of Minnesota and I got out here in
Colorado and so that was nice. Once I got here in Colorado,
(01:00:03):
things, you know, started is life got life got really good.
I was always best when I was, you know, busy when I was
working full time for my dad. That was awesome.
You know, you just always had this.
You wake up and work. You know you work all day.
And you come home. Yeah, you just just have a
(01:00:25):
really good routine. College was kind of tough for me
because it just, I didn't have any, any guidance to college.
But no, not teachers, teachers at school.
There's maybe 1 teacher that waspretty good, but it did nothing.
It was it was still pretty bad, but it's also my fault too.
(01:00:47):
But I just didn't have any guidance outside of what I
currently known in both German so.
Yeah. Well, well, for what it's worth,
I'll say like the fact that you're able to put words to it
is, I think, really valuable thing.
(01:01:08):
Obviously I'm younger than you, so you have a bit more
experience and you have kids, sotake all this with a grain of
salt. But from my perspective, it
seems like you have like the ability to look back and like
all these things were hard. These things were tough.
And I maybe want to make them a little bit different for your
kids and whatnot. So I think that's a good thing.
I allowed so many people, my momincluded, for example, like it
(01:01:30):
took her till just recently. She's not 5354 where she was
able to kind of put words to some of the issues, you know,
after just losing my dad from when I was younger, like in her
going through that whole thing, like she really pushed me and my
sisters like, oh, you got to go deal with your issues.
She didn't really know how to dothem.
And she was like, well, I don't need to, I'm strong.
(01:01:51):
And you know, kind of what you're saying, like I just
bottled up and I'm strong for everybody type of a thing.
So being able to put words to, Ithink is, is like a huge
advantage just for the next generation because, yeah, I'm,
I'm excited to be a parent, hopefully in the next, you know,
couple years or so. I'm also terrified because I
realized the older I get, I'm like, man, I said I would never
(01:02:12):
be like that. And there's my mom right inside
of me saying the things that I said I wouldn't say or wouldn't
do. So you know what, I'll have my
mistakes to make and whatnot. But yeah, for whatever it's
worth, I think that that's really cool that you're able to
look back and and kind of put a name to that.
Thanks. Yeah.
So for my closing question, justwant to give you the opportunity
(01:02:36):
to again, maybe give a little advice to those new professional
triathletes. They just got the pro card.
They're elated. They think doors are going to
open to them. What are some of the steps that
you would give them in the beginning for just getting their
ducks in order to realize just what it means to be a pro
triathlete? Yeah, I think it's just
(01:02:57):
understand that, you know, because because you're pro
doesn't automatically pick me inthat you're going to start
earning money. Like it just doesn't.
It's not like you just signed a contract with an NFL team.
You know, you need there's no there is no base salary.
And I I do believe, I do think that some of these pros are
like, oh, wow, OK, well, I'll start getting sponsorships, you
(01:03:18):
know? Yeah, you're not even you
probably won't even get that. You know, it's it's it's really
tough, but I'm going to take this phrase from from my friend
Justin, but just keep showing up, You know, just always put in
the time. Just just keep showing up, keep
showing up. Don't get discouraged.
Like just, you know, you're going to have maybe a little bit
(01:03:43):
of you know, you're going to be coming to swim, swim practice
and you're going to be with somereally fast people, some
Olympian, some world champs, youknow, some other other pros that
have been in the in the game fora long time.
And you're going to kind of feela little a little down on
yourself. And but you know, you're going
to you're going to earn your stripes.
Just keep showing up and you just have to.
(01:04:12):
It's not going to happen overnight.
And I think too many people see some of these Europeans just
come out of the gates at 22 years old and, you know, just
light it up and you're like, well, why am I not doing that?
And I think you have to understand that people's
(01:04:33):
physiologies are different. Like you might just not be that
good, but that is OK. Like there, there are anomalies
in the sport, like how many, howmany NFL players are there?
But everyone only knows a Tom Brady.
(01:04:54):
Like obviously everyone with other sports players too.
But like there's, there's just these certain good, good
athletes out there. And that's the case of sport
that that's what it is. Like there are, there are just
really good people out there. So you have to just really focus
(01:05:14):
on yourself and be the best thatyou can be, be the best you you
can be. And too many times you come up
into the sport or of any sport and you're like, I need to be
that good. But maybe you can't be, maybe
not yet, but don't think that it's going to happen within this
(01:05:34):
year or even the next year or the next year after that.
Like it is building block after building block after building
block. It takes so much time.
You know, it's so it's, I think a lot of these people just need
to understand that, you know, just because you see this
certain person have such successand why aren't you having a
(01:06:01):
success? And then they tend to maybe give
up and, or just be like completely discouraged.
I mean, I've been there and it's, it's, it's hard, it sucks.
But you know, if you just show up and try hard and you're,
you're have the right guidance and your coach is really on your
(01:06:21):
side and looking at the long game and you're doing everything
you can to stay healthy, then that you have you have to be
satisfied with that. And I think that's something
that these some of these pros just they.
Don't have anyone telling them. Yeah, they just don't have
(01:06:41):
anyone telling them. So they just need to just enjoy
the process because it's it's a long game.
It's a very long game, you know,and it is unfortunate that we
see those, those few people. And it is, it's a few people
that just, you know, they crush it out of gates.
It's sport. You're going to see those
people, you know, But it's got to be the best you that you can
(01:07:07):
be. And I think that's something
that people can learn. Beautiful.
Well, Chris, thank you so much for taking the time, letting me
dive into some existential questions, professional career.
I wish you all the best as your hip continues to heal and
hopefully get to see you racing them back here pretty soon.
But I really appreciate you taking the time man.
(01:07:28):
Yeah. Thanks a lot, Seth.
Thank you so much Chris for coming to the pod and letting me
ask some questions about all kinds of things.
Really appreciated him taking the time and really taking some
time just to come up with some answers that were from the
heart. Really appreciate it when people
do that. So the Chris, thank you so much
(01:07:48):
for being on. If you are watching on YouTube,
if you could like comment, subscribe.
That will continue to help grow the channel there.
If you are listening on Spotify,Apple podcast, any of those
things, make sure to review, like comment and anything you
can do on those platforms will continue to help share and grow
this podcast. Really appreciate it.
Also check out the show notes for any sponsor related content,
(01:08:09):
any discounts and things like that.
I really appreciate you guys being here.
Really enjoy doing this podcast.Thank you for allowing me the
opportunity to do it and we willcatch you in the next one.
See you.
How's it going everyone? Welcome back to another edition
of the Stupid Questions podcast.Thank you so much for jumping
in. Today we're going to be talking
with Chris Leaferman. He's a professional triathlete
from the Colorado area, has a great background aid and, and
typical, wow, I can't speak today and a typical type of
background as getting into the triathlon world.
He jumped in and realized, oh man, I'm kind of good at these
(00:20):
things. Really just cool story and I
hope you enjoy it. So without further ado, I want
to introduce you to Chris Leaferman.
First off, thank you so much fortaking the time to come on the
Humble Pod. Really appreciate it.
Yeah. No problem, thanks for having
me. On yeah, man.
So how was the ride? I was just hunting on your straw
(00:42):
a little bit. It looks like you're preparing
for Unbound gravel, is that right?
No, no, Tyler Butterfield is he's, yeah, he's racing and like
it's a, it's a stages, it's a noon ride here in Boulder.
It's kind of a small group today.
I haven't done it since last year.
So this is only my second time ever doing this group ride.
But it's usually it's, it's short, it's punchy.
(01:06):
And he's on a mountain bike witha lefty fork and like he's on a
hard tailed mountain bike. Like a Cannondale or something
like that. Yeah, and he's got mountain bike
tires on and he's rolling hard with the group and he's up
front. He's taking poles.
It's just like, yeah, he's a very talented cyclist.
(01:29):
Yeah, that's awesome. How did how did the ride go for
you? How are you feeling?
Yeah, it was good. So I have a hip injury and you
know, they say they the doctor of the PT like go ride, go swim,
go do, go elliptical. So I'm riding and swimming and
just trying to keep my mind withit, you know, riding hard is fun
(01:53):
and it's it feels fine. I don't know.
Yeah, my hip isn't. I'm not running, so I don't
know. I don't know what to do.
I'm just trying to. I think I'm doing the right
things. Let's hope so.
Yeah. Is this the first like a hip
injury issue that you've come across?
Yeah, something like this. I had PRP 15 days ago and.
(02:17):
Injections, right? Yeah, yeah.
So just kind of waiting for thatto work.
I don't know. I really just kind of blows my
mind, like how this is going to fix it.
Yeah, tell you the truth. But they say it is and just
trust them. Keep doing PT, keep doing my
(02:38):
strengths. Keep.
Yeah, Just keep keeping on. Yeah, right on, man.
Do you know the science behind PRP?
Like, did they give you an explanation of like how they're
going to do this, why it should work?
Yeah, well, they, you know, they, they spin down the
platelets and the platelets are going to go in and ignite
(03:00):
healing and create an inflammatory response in the
regions that they, they put the injection.
So they, Jason Glowney did it for me and he kind of went
everywhere because I had tendinopathy.
There's a like a tiny, tiny tornlabrum that they actually even
wrote off, like thinking that that wasn't even the issue, but
(03:22):
so injected the labrum tendons, the TfL, the glute tendons on
the greater trochanter went intothe piriformis.
Yeah, just ripped me apart. So he's like, well, why we're in
there, Let's just do it all so there's no delays.
(03:42):
But I don't blame him. I mean, I was, I was destroyed
for a few days. That was I was doing everything
I can not to be a baby in front of my wife and kids.
Like, I'm still going to pull myweight around the house.
But yeah, I don't know. We'll see.
It's I just hope that my writingisn't detrimental to it, which
(04:06):
they say I can. I don't know.
I'm doing nothing like it doesn't hurt so.
Yeah, following the doctor's orders.
What makes it so painful? Is it just 'cause they're using
like a really long needle to getin there and pumping it in or
just. Putting your your platelets back
in there. So it just hurts.
It's just sheer volume, just fluid.
(04:26):
Yeah, just pushing apart the muscles like you when they're
out bretting the into piriformisright where the sciatic nerve
goes, it goes next to. So let me just push it.
You can see on the ultrasound asthe needle goes in there and
then the fluid you just you justsee the expansion of.
(04:47):
Fluid. Oh my goodness.
Under the ultrasound and yeah, Iwas nauseous.
Like I was like, I'm doing everything I can.
Pass out and. Then I'm like, I'm about to
puke, like OK, this is real pain.
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
How big was the needle? I'm sorry, I'm just like 6.
Inches long. Oh my gosh, dude.
(05:09):
Yeah, OK. 5 inches long, Yeah. Yeah, I would be.
That would get me enough. I mean I've had to have some
long injections before but like it sounds like they went in like
multiple times. Yeah, 3 injection sites and then
so the one in the hip where he got the I think the piriformis
(05:30):
and the, and the glute tendons. He re he he kept the needle in
the same ejection site, but he redirected it and you could just
see the needle bend like it was oh.
My gosh, that would make me sickand.
Then redirect it and he's just like bending it, redirecting it.
(05:51):
Yeah, he is AI don't know. He gets the job done.
He's he's good at he's really good at what he does.
So I'm, yeah, I have a lot of chest in him.
Yeah, right on man. Well, thanks for sharing that.
That's super interesting. I've heard about this stuff
happening, but never kind of gota first hand experience telling
of the tale, so I appreciate that.
Yeah, no problem. So first real question for you,
(06:15):
how old are you first, if you don't mind me asking?
38. OK, so you've got some good life
experience. My question to you is who is
Chris I? Don't know, I think it's just.
Well, first foremost, I'm a, I'ma dad and a husband.
(06:38):
I really got a dad and a husbandwho likes to ride bikes.
It's yeah, it's, I would say that that's first and foremost
because it's every time I come home from training, I'm no
longer a triathlete. I guess it's, I have absolute
blinders on. It's, it's kind of nice.
(06:59):
I, I can kind of, I get me, get all the, all the work done, then
just come home and I'm, I'm a dad and a husband and yeah,
family man. So that's, I'd say that's what
I'm at, yeah. Yeah.
What or how old are your kids? They're.
Going to be cruise will be 5 in July and Levi my daughter will
(07:22):
be two in June. Nice coming up.
Yeah. So they're still relatively
young. They probably don't care much
about triathlon yet I would assume.
No, they don't. I mean, this is definitely my
life. They they know that I swim, bike
and run. You know, I'll be headed out in
the morning and Daddy going to go run, Daddy going to go swim,
you know, you know, obviously ifI'm kitted up, they're going to
(07:44):
they know I'm going for a bike ride.
But yeah, yeah, they definitely know what I do, but I don't
think they're just like he's playing.
Yeah. Like what is he doing?
Which is kind of cool because I get to do this for a profession
and that's pretty rad, you know,definitely my wife, she owns her
(08:07):
own real estate firm and she works, you know.
So where's mommy while she's working?
Like, or is she in the office oris she showing homes or like,
you know, she's, she's going to be home late because she's
working, you know. So it's, yeah, they don't really
understand. Yeah.
Really what I do? Yeah, yeah.
Well, as they get older, hopefully.
Where are you from? Minnesota Southern Minnesota
(08:31):
cornfield, soy, soybean fields and hog bar.
Yeah, yeah, Hog. Bar.
It's a flat, pretty flat. A lot, a lot different than
where you're at now. Very flat, yeah, it's much
different. Yeah, I don't miss it, but
definitely there's an interesting good way to good way
to grow up 1000. Oh wow.
(08:53):
Very rural. Yeah, it was a rural town and
yeah, wanna change it? Do you have siblings, family
back there in Minnesota? Yeah, yeah.
Well, they're all, they're up byMinneapolis, Saint Paul area.
So I'm one of four boys, third in line, and they're all up, up
(09:13):
out in the metro. Yeah, my parents ended up moving
up northwest of Minneapolis, so got out of that one horse town.
Yeah. Was that something from a
relatively young age like you were?
Like I think I want to spread mywings and go elsewhere.
No, Never crossed any of our minds, really.
(09:34):
Yeah, no. And I don't even think it
crossed anyone in the town's mind, honestly.
Like it just was never. Have what?
You need. Yeah.
It's just kind of we all just kind of did, you know, like no
one ever thought like, I want togo here, I want to go there, I
want to get a sponsorship or, sorry, a scholarship or yeah,
(09:58):
everyone just kind of did their thing, went to school, played
sports and figured out the next step.
Yeah, So what do Did or do your parents do?
My dad was a master electrician so he owned his own business my
for about 40 years. And my mom, she was a lab tech
(10:18):
for a while and then she ended up being, and she's working as
my dad's secretary for many years and then eventually was
just full time working for my dad.
Nice. Did you business?
Yeah. Yeah.
Did you grow up then pull online?
Was it more commercial or real residential?
Residential. A lot of rural, so a lot of
(10:39):
farms, a lot of green lakes out of hog barns, you know, a lot of
service calls. Not too many people were
building houses in, in our town,but we, you know, I had a few,
few houses, a few additions, buta lot of lot of farming.
So towards the end of my, I guess working for my dad was a
(11:01):
lot of grain lakes. Corn prices are pretty high.
So people, you know, you always start to see if hog prices are
good, we're building barns. If corn prices are good, we're
building grain lakes. So it just kind of ebbed and
flows. There's a time where, you know,
so both hog prices and corn prices were were shit.
So I was, I had to work for the city.
My dad just couldn't afford to keep me on.
(11:21):
So it's yeah. Then another summer I had to
work, work for a hog barn. So I was doing that.
But yeah, so I was, yeah. I worked from a very young age.
Yeah, how young I? Mean, I was on the payroll in
6th grade I think. Oh let's go.
(11:43):
Like I was literally getting a weekly paycheck.
That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think so.
Yeah. I mean, I teach you, teach you a
lot. I mean, how money can evaporate
quickly. Like, do you remember getting
that first paycheck, kind of what that felt like after the
hard work was done? Yeah, I mean, then my parents
would teach you how to, you know, set, set X amount aside.
(12:04):
I think I bought a BMXA Schwinn.Oh yeah, is orange is a BMX bike
with my with at the end of the summer.
Nice to have. Did it have pegs on it?
Yeah. Of course, yeah.
Pegs that we never used. Yeah, totally.
There's only stand on. It's only just the whole friends
from from house to house. Yeah.
(12:24):
Yeah, it's so funny. I remember getting like a
Mongoose that I guess is like the one of the cheaper ones, but
you could like turn this, the handlebars all the way around
and like that was the feature. Yeah, yeah, that's so funny.
So whenever you started working from a young age, I mean, so I
worked construction for a numberof years, but not to like high
school and college, just throughfriends, families, you know,
(12:46):
doing framing, electrical, some plumbing work.
So I got my hands dirty and I remember like learning a lot of
lessons from that style of work because it's very, you do
something with your hands, either you progress or you make
a mistake and you kind of learn and recircle back.
So a lot of life lessons I learned in those years.
Do you recall any just life lessons or things that you learn
(13:06):
from being on the job? Yeah, absolutely.
One thing that really stood out is my dad was was the boss and
had been for many years. And he had, he had men
underneath him and she was supergood at delegating.
But you never saw him tell someone to do something that he
wouldn't or hasn't hasn't done himself.
(13:28):
Because when you're working in the shit at the hog barn, like
literally, and you tell someone to go do this because they're a
grunt, you don't do it just because you don't want to do it.
You do it because it's somethinglike it's kind of after like
he's my dad has done all of this, you know, And so that was
(13:48):
just kind of kind of cool. You you always saw the boss
doing some of the hardest stuff and I thought that was really
cool to to see because I worked for the city and dude, they were
terrible. They were so freaking
frustrating watching them work. I'm just like, just fire all of
them and let me let me do the job.
(14:11):
But you know, you just saw you just saw the boss work so
freaking hard and it just, it never, you always just did it.
You never questioned like, oh man, and you know, this kind of
sucks like or do I do this like you'd like?
We have we're on a time schedule.
(14:31):
You have to do this job has to get done.
You know, you'd be you'd be running from the truck to the
grain leg to save time. Like you like you worked so
freaking hard. You ate your lunches on your
feet. You learned that brakes actually
make you lethargic. Like if if you just keep rolling
(14:52):
through the day, you know, there's a lot of stuff that just
as far as getting the job done and working hard and earning,
earning that Coke at the end of the at the end of the day or the
beer if you're old enough. So it was, yeah, there's a lot
of a lot of stuff that I took from that.
(15:12):
But I'd say watching my dad delegate was a really good take
home. So given the experience you do
have with your parents and the work and kind of what you're
doing today, who would you thinkthat you're more like, your mom
or your dad? Oh, my dad.
Yeah, for sure. All of us.
(15:35):
Yeah. Oh, all of the all of the boys.
Yeah. Yeah.
How so? Like what makes the just.
Yeah, expound on that if you don't mind.
No, just just the work. I think if we all, we're all
leaders. I'm not saying that my mom
isn't. It's just that we never really
(15:55):
saw her in that role. Like it was always, she was my
dad's secretary. You know, maybe she was before I
was able to witness it. But, you know, she took care of
her. She took care of us boys.
Like, we always saw her as mom and then we always saw dad as,
you know, the breadwinner. And I mean, her role was
(16:19):
probably more important than what her dad did.
And any, any mom's role is, is as important, if not more than a
husband's role in that situation.
But I think seeing it from us boys standpoint was, was, you
know, seeing the dad that way. But yeah, my older brother owns
(16:43):
his own deck building company. He's almost #1 he's #2 if not
number one biggest deck company in the Minneapolis Saint Paul
metro area, which is pretty baller.
My younger brother works for him.
My, my other brother, he's the head of the, the Buffalo
(17:04):
community. And they're, they're putting up
this $5,000,000 building that he's in charge of.
And he's like just taking the reins on all of all of the, the
inner workings of that. And, you know, it's all just
just kind of cool to see. And I think that wouldn't have
(17:24):
happened had we not had that, that upbringing.
So and you know, I'm a triathlete.
I don't have a team underneath me, but you know, it's, it's,
it's hard work day in and day out.
And I think that was instilled early on.
Yeah, for sure. Thanks for sharing that.
SO when did you first come in contact with triathlon and tell
(17:48):
me about that story, just the genesis of it, how you decided
and start to realize, oh, maybe I can be a professional this and
to kind of bring us up to today.Yeah, I didn't.
To be honest, I didn't know anything about professional
triathlon and when I did my first triathlon is a Mankato, MN
(18:09):
or University of Minnesota Mankato indoor try.
I've been running. I built a house in in southern
Colorado. As I point like you guys know
where I'm pointing. I pointed to I, I built a house
in southern Colorado and I was running three days a week
because I was, you know, I was just wanted to lose some weight
(18:31):
while I was down there and. But working 14 hours a day all
summer to get that done. And yeah, my brother, he had
been mountain biking in college.So when I came back, he wanted
someone to ride with. And he built up a bike.
He's working at a bike shop. He built that.
(18:52):
So he found a bike, he built it up and told me to ride.
And he goes start swimming because I signed you up for a
triathlon. So I started swimming and I
ended up winning the first triathlon and then that summer I
just started doing, you know, every weekend or every other
weekend. I was just doing doing races all
(19:14):
summer in Minnesota. You can kind of pick, I don't
know if it is still today, but when I was doing it like every
weekend there was a little triathlon at a little lake, you
know, because there's so many options.
You would just go and bounce around and you know that.
I think Minnesota had a series and I think I I won the series,
(19:35):
but it was unbeknownst to me that I had won it.
I just happened to have chosen the right amount of races that.
Qualify. For it and.
And then I raced was it yeah, itwas a lifetime yeah.
So the lifetime Olympic series so that that Minneapolis.
So my wave was at my wave was at8:30 and it was just a
(19:59):
blistering hot humid day and. It was so late, like it was
already in the 90s by the time Istarted my race, but the pros
went off at 6:30 and and I'm like, well I want to start
early, so how do I get to be pro?
Starting early and. I look on USAT and I'm like, OK,
(20:21):
so you have to come in, you know, has all the criteria to
become pro. So then I ended up going down to
Austin, TX so that I could get that elite card so that I could
have an earlier time slot in thenext.
Year, I love it. I go down to Austin, I qualify.
(20:43):
I emailed the race director for Minneapolis and I'm like, hey,
can I get into the elite spot? And so he, so I ended up getting
that elite spot and it was just,and still then I hadn't race.
So let me let me backtrack a little bit.
(21:03):
There's a pro wave and then like15 minutes later was an elite
wave. So it's like a 630 start and
then a 645 start. So I started in the 645 even
though I had qualified for pro, but I had no idea that that's
what that's the case. I just wanted to be in that
spot. Earlier.
(21:24):
So then it wasn't until. So this is maybe, oh, 2010.
So I think I or two, yeah, something like that.
And then and then I didn't do myfirst pro race until 2013, like
officially pro race. I did Memphis in May and then I
(21:46):
was, I had transferred out to Colorado State University and
joined the triathlon team there.So I was doing collegiate races
and, and then my wife Zana, she was on the team too.
So then we ended up, we're dating at the time and we ended
(22:07):
up going out to Memphis in May. And that was my first pro race.
I won that race. And then every race after that
was pro. But it would just like just kind
of fell into it. Zana was like, Oh my gosh, you
should race pro because you don't have to pay entry fees.
And earlier start times. No entry fees.
(22:27):
This is the life. Yeah, she's.
Like, you know, you're paying for all these entry fees and
just turn pro and then you can have a free, free entry fee.
And like, that's just kind of how it went.
It was never this thing. I don't know.
I, I did my first race in 2008. My first pro race was five years
(22:49):
later. I'd qualified for pro in my
first year. Like, I don't know, it's just.
Kind of. A weird, weird trajectory.
I'm continuously or increasinglysurprised at how many stories
amongst professional triathletesthat this, this kind of a story
(23:10):
is somewhere in that existence. Because for me, like, you know,
I was interested in like, oh, maybe I could GoPro, you know,
very early on, like, oh, maybe Iwant to shoot for this thing.
And I think that's because the sport has grown, but it's
shocking to me how many in our age group, I'm a little bit
younger than you, but like in the 30s, like I guess going back
15 years, how many people are just kind of stumbled into it.
(23:30):
Oh, I was cross training for this because I had an injury.
And then I did it and I won thisand it just kind of happened.
But I mean, it can't go without saying.
Obviously the sports gotten morecompetitive over time.
But I can't go without saying, like you, you must have had some
level of just natural talent OR ability to go and just win this.
And then you went to Texas and oh, I won.
And your fresh pro race, Oh, I won.
Was it? Do you chalk it up to just
(23:53):
having a lot of athletic ability?
Like, is it luck? What do you think?
Well, I would say athletic ability.
I I wrestled, played football and baseball my entire life.
I should have ran. I never did.
I just hated it, you know, and but I couldn't Sprint for shit.
(24:16):
So I should have known that likein football and in baseball,
like it was terrible. Like because that's such a
short, fast twitch sport. Wrestling.
I excelled in the third period, you know, as like I was just out
in Durham and yeah, but I didn'thave the guidance or someone to
(24:42):
be like, dude, like set me down and and tell me like, this is
not your jam because no one didn't have that type of
guidance in German. But but it's also fun.
I was playing with most of my friends, you know, baseball was
legit. I played spring ball and summer
(25:02):
ball and you're just out there every day, every weekend,
practicing with your friends, throwing the ball around.
And it was that was that was just fun.
Yeah, Had I not known your previous history, just kind of
looking at you like you seem like you could be like a
professional baseball player. Maybe it's the cap a little bit,
the athletic shirt. But I'm like, I'm seeing like,
(25:24):
oh, do you play for the Dodgers like?
Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, I think I got asked that
question a few years back, like what professional sport would I
be in if I could choose anything?
And I, I chose baseball, you know, 100 and 170 two games a
year. It's 162 games a year, 172, you
know, that's a, it's a heck of aschedule, but wow, it's pretty
(25:49):
fun. It's really.
Fun, Yeah. So at what point did you start
to think, oh, I'm not just getting free entries now?
Like maybe there's some viability to me doing this as a
career? I mean, I was I went to school
and I was working, I was doing out in jobs, handyman jobs.
(26:11):
I was going to school full time and I was training as well.
So and racing and, you know, following some doing some Rev
threes, doing some iron Man's. And then every year I'd kind of
go a little more in like I would, I'd do less handyman
(26:32):
work. But I think once that'd probably
been I think when and move down here.
I think when I saw I won Iron Man Montreal Blanc and that was
pretty eye opening because I wasstill working doing handyman
work. It wasn't, it wasn't a ton, but
(26:54):
I was still like advertising myself on next door and on
Craigslist and to as a handyman.So I was still doing stuff, but
I was able to say no if I wantedto, you know, But then once I,
once I won that race, then it was like, OK, I, I think I
(27:15):
should like stop. Yeah, go for it.
Yeah. And then then go full in.
So that was 15 I believe or 16/20/16.
And yes, that's about it. And then again, like it's still,
(27:38):
it's still kind of weird. Like I always had this in the
back of my head that my family was like, what are you doing?
Like, why aren't you working? Like, why aren't you like
clocking in, clocking out? And it I would, I battled that
for a long, long time. But now my family's, you know,
(27:58):
my biggest fan and they're, I think kind of a little jealous
with the travel that I'm allowedto do and what I get to do day
in and day out. And, you know, I send them
photos from the top of Trail Ridge or and, you know, they so
it's that has slowly dwindled. But that was a long time that I
(28:22):
was just like, OK, I kind of, I feel like I always have to work
just to satisfy this demon that is just telling me like, I
should be doing triathlon. Yeah.
So it was all internal like it wasn't yet like was your family
supportive like pretty much fromall were?
Supportive. Yeah, there is.
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, there's one time at
(28:46):
Lifetime Fitness because when Lifetime Fitness was in its
prime, there was some heavy hitters, right.
I don't know if you followed that.
And I got I got 4th at Lifetime Minneapolis in an Olympic.
Like, yeah. I wish they had them still,
yeah. And, and, you know, my whole
(29:08):
family came to watch me that that time.
And that one was, I think they're just like shit, like,
you know, I was the head of a handful of Olympians and.
Chris. Chris is legit.
Yeah, right, right, right. So I think we're, we're eating,
we're eating dinner at my or eating lunch at my brother's
place that afternoon. And, you know, they were just,
(29:28):
they, my brother invited all thefriends over.
Like he was just like trying to show me off a little.
Bit yeah, here's my pro athlete.My chest outlet, you know, like
I'm pretty proud too, but so that was, you know, that was
that's pretty cool to see, but it still just didn't.
It's just hard. It's hard to really, really take
(29:49):
it in and and deal with it. You know, even like right now,
like I'm sitting, I'm sitting around here.
I'm not racing. I was supposed to race Oceanside
in Texas and I have a hip injuryand I'm like, and it kind of
sucks to walk around because it hurts.
But so I'm like, OK, let me helppull the weight around here.
And, you know, I am taking a lotmore on with the kids, but you
(30:13):
know, I want to do some housework.
But I'm like, OK, no, don't do it.
Don't do it. Just it's fine, you know, Yelps,
you'll have time to do it later or some other time.
But yeah, so there's still a little bit of me that I just, I
just can't kick it. Yeah, that that that internal
burn to to keep moving and keep working.
(30:33):
I think it's a good thing to have.
Like that kind of begs me to my next question is like, once you
decide that the sun is setting on the triathlon career, like
what do you want to do next? Like you seem entrepreneurial,
you obviously have that Dr. internally to do an excel at
whatever you put your hand to. Like what do you think is next?
(30:55):
Well, yeah, I've actually thought about this quite a bit.
My first thing is just get do a lot of stuff around the house
because I am notorious for starting jobs and not finishing
them. Your poor wife.
Yeah, like I get myself into trouble because I'm very capable
(31:15):
of doing a lot of things, but I'll, I'll put in like a massive
push, right? But then I'll, I won't have any
of the trim work done or the done or like, you know, all
those little things. Like I could just see it right
now. There's just so much.
Like holes of drywall in your house.
Yeah, yeah. So I just all those things like,
(31:37):
you know, the I haven't cocked over there and just like all
these, all the little stuff needs to get done.
But my wife, she owns her own real estate firm.
She is the best in the county. And I think her and I as a team
flipping houses would be a really, really good step
(31:57):
forward. So and would make sense and I
think that would be awesome. It'd be fun, be gratifying.
And yeah, we'd make a would makea really good team.
So that would be, but that just doesn't happen overnight.
Like you have to find the right house, right?
You can't just be like, oh, let's just go flip a house
(32:18):
tomorrow. Yeah, for sure I can find that
property. We'd have to, you know, make
sure that that we find the rightproperties and but I don't
necessarily want to be a handyman.
I think that'd be, I really didn't enjoy some of the jobs
(32:39):
that I had to do back in the past.
So definitely be working for myself and doing stuff I think
wouldn't wouldn't make it work. You know, I think we'd have
yeah, yeah. It would be a good team and find
a good niche. I thought it would be cool to.
I want to volunteer too, though I feel like I've been a pretty
(33:01):
selfish person, so I want to do some, do some stuff for Boulder
County, maybe in the Forest Service.
So that'd be something that I would do either on a, you know,
bimonthly or twice a month basissomething.
Like, yeah, for moving on to doing something else like, you
(33:26):
know, the past, like you're saying past 10 years, you've
taken this very seriously. You've been racing obviously for
1520 years. Like this is a very long time
and like essentially half of your life you've been doing this
sport. Do you think that when you do
decide to move on it is it goingto be difficult in terms of how
you identify just yourself worthand you know who Chris is as an
(33:47):
individual? I don't think so, but I'm afraid
that when it does happen, I willI will struggle with it, but
sitting here, I think like, Nope, I'll be able to move on.
I've done my time, I've had a I've had a good career, but it
(34:13):
is good. I think it will be tough just
because, you know, reality is going to sit in my, my, my buddy
Justin Dare is, he's a sports psychologist and he raced
professionally for many years. And he actually excels with
talking to people in this instance, that kind of this,
(34:35):
this transition period. And I think he's, you know, I, I
see because I, I say that it's going to be easy for me because
I did come from the sport when Iwas 12 years old, five years
old, like. Yeah, you weren't born.
Into it, yeah. Like I wasn't born into it.
I started when I was 21. That's when I started swimming.
(34:59):
And it's just so I think the transition will be easier.
I think it's those people who have, you know, maybe even had a
collegiate, collegiate sports career.
And, you know, we're, we're in asystem growing up and then all
of a sudden sport is done. It's like, OK, what's next?
(35:19):
It's like, well, you know, I think that transition for me
will, will be easier. But you know, I'm a little
afraid of it. I freaking love this lifestyle.
It's awesome. I'm glad I get to do it.
And I think what's going to be hard is trying to run or go on
(35:40):
some group rides and get shelledout the back.
Not that. Knowing that I was the guy in
the front shelling people out the back and now I'm being
shelled, so I think that would be that.
'D be tough because. You know, I, I, I think I'll be
an athlete for life too. So it's, yeah, we'll see.
(36:04):
I don't want to think about it now.
Yeah. Well, I was going to ask one
more question. Do you think like that you'll
continue to stay involved in thesport of triathlon?
Like you still want to race? Do you want to volunteer like as
a part of the community or maybeeven start a business in that
world? Or you're pretty committed to
just closing that down and move into something totally
different? Yeah, I don't, I feel like there
(36:25):
would be like I I would want to help young pros as more of like
a mentor. I've, I've been thinking about
this because I think if, if you,if you, if you start triathlon
and win a world champion, you'regoing to be sorted.
Don't worry about it. But there's a lot of these young
pros who get the pro card and think doors are going to open
(36:46):
for them and they don't. And I think someone could be
there as a guidance for these people are, or to be able to
help someone who has seen some really good success and help
them like capitalize on this. And you know that I, I think
(37:11):
some of these people just don't have the right mentorship.
I don't think that I necessarilydid when I won Iron Man match
and blonde. I feel like there could have
been a bit more guidance for me in that, in that time space, but
(37:31):
so it, I don't know, I, I would like to help people in that
direction. I don't know if I ever will, but
I, I, I see that they're, I justsee some people just think that
they're just going to have the best thing happened to them just
(37:51):
because they turn pro and triathlon.
And it's like, no, you just wentfrom being an age grouper
passing people. Now you're just going to be in
the most boring race possible because.
Yeah, get just completely dusted, yeah.
But you can still have fun and be pro and, you know, go and
travel the world and get sponsors.
(38:13):
But I just think people just need to understand what they're
coming up against. Yeah, well, the sport's changing
quite a bit. I mean, I've only been a part of
it now for like 5 or 6 years andit's changed wildly just in that
time, especially post COVID. But it is interesting to see
like how the sport has changed what is expected of a
(38:34):
professional athlete just in terms of sponsorships.
And you know what it is you haveto do to to be on the top top
end performance wise. Like it's, it's definitely
changing and growing, which is agood thing.
And I love the the community aspect of triathlon.
It's almost in a lot of ways like a religion, because people,
this is where they get their community, That's where they get
the sense of worth. That's where they, you know, try
(38:55):
to earn a living. Some of them or some of them,
it's just spending money. If you're an age group, that's
all you do is just spend, spend,spend.
But yeah, it's, it's interestingto see how it's how it continues
to grow. And I hope that it doesn't lose
that as it becomes more and moreof a a top tier sport and still
has a lot of growth, but still it's growing quick.
Yeah, I think it still has a lotof growth just because it's like
(39:17):
a lot has changed since 2020. A lot like that was a massive
bump. And so we're still in its
infancy and you're you're starting to see people come in
to to pro triathlon who have been triathletes their entire
(39:39):
life, not just a runner turned triathlete or not just a cyclist
turned triathlete or not just a,a wrestler, baseball football
player turned triathlete. Like you're seeing triathletes
now come all the way up like they are lifelong triathletes.
And for better or for worse, youknow, you have, you're obviously
(40:01):
going to end up starting to see burnout and people not doing it
because they had done it so long.
But the people who hang on are going to be freaking good.
Like. And that's what we're seeing.
So yeah. So for you as a professional,
like what gets you in the zone when you're getting ready to
make it happen? Training or racing?
(40:22):
Both. Both.
Well, just the fact that I get to do it, the fact that I get to
go out and ride my bike or run healthy, it's just exciting.
(40:43):
And you know, swimming, swimmingcan get tough, but the group
that we swim with, Julie Dibbensleads an awesome squad.
And you know, you go there and people are going to show up
ready to swim hard. Obviously you have your days
that you're you're flat, you're you're not feeling it, but you
still show up and you have a good time.
And I've been doing a lot of group rides lately and some fun
(41:06):
rides and being able to if get out and do that on a today was a
Tuesday and I was riding my bikein the middle of the day.
Like that's awesome. And just that aspect of of the
sport just keeps me coming back for it.
So it's. Yeah, like gratitude.
(41:27):
Yeah, I mean weather. Weather has downsides.
Obviously I'm not all pep. You know, it's you're you're
you're tired. Weather is crap or it's, you
know, just other, other factors are, are are hard to beat, you
know, hard to mentally overcome,but you get out and do it coming
(41:49):
back and, you know, finishing a set, knowing that you put your
you you didn't quit like I there's so many times that I
would go out and say basic set like 4 by 10 minutes and you do
the first one you're like, wow, that was really hard.
Even though it's like I have three more.
So and then you do the second one and you kind of Peter off
(42:11):
towards the end and then you're almost about to pull the pin.
You're like, well, no, let's just, let's just see how the
next one goes. You know, I got 2 1/2 hours, 3
hours to, to tick off. So I'll just, I got to keep
riding anyway. And then you do it and then you
get to the 4th 1:00. And then you then you like kind
of finally come around and you just kind of you have the sense
of like, man, I could, I could have pulled the pin 40 minutes
(42:34):
ago, but I didn't. And even though I know it's just
kind of miniscule wind, but evento this day of how many, how
many intervals have I done on the bike or but I still get
gratification out of like pushing through and not giving
(42:55):
up. And yeah, so it's those things
make, make it more enjoyable. And you know the the
satisfaction you get when you come home is pretty rewarding.
Yeah, getting a little dopamine hit, and I don't know if you're
into Strava that much, but when you get that notification that
(43:17):
it uploads and I'll let me go see what my heart rate was.
Oh, let me see, Did I build it? Every one of those intervals?
How many watts did I had? Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Heart rate was low. Yeah.
Yeah. So what gets you in the zone
race wise? Do you have like a protocol or a
specific place you go to mentally?
Maybe it's music. Yeah, no, I don't.
(43:37):
I actually talk to people. Like I just kind of distract
myself from from like if you're in transition, right?
Like I, I talk to people. I don't listen to any music.
I actually had Iron Man Saint George.
I had headphones in and my brothers after the race were
(43:57):
like, what music were you listening to?
Because they saw me on, saw me on TV.
They're like, I bet you're listening to Korn.
No, I bet you're a system. Like they're kind of thinking
about what I was listening to. I'm like, I didn't have the
headphones on at all. I just had a mince and no one,
no one had bugged me. And I actually had AI, had AI,
had a good race that day. I probably should have thought
(44:21):
more about it. But yeah, I guess I was.
I was pretty well focused. But I always try to come up with
some sort of distraction and sometimes talking to people is
that is that distraction. But it's it's weird.
You get in once that gun goes off, every, everything
(44:42):
disappears. Every thought that like it is
it, it it's a switch. I don't know if other people
have this, but Oh yeah, yeah, itis an absolute switch.
So it's it's cool that I can kind of put the blinders on and
get into that over the top zone.Yeah, what are you looking
(45:03):
forward to most? To getting back to racing?
I know you're probably not love loving being injured.
Every year I get, I get, I get better.
I am, I'm swimming. I want to test myself.
I'm swimming faster. So I'm I'm excited to test
myself against the group and getup there and put everything that
(45:27):
I have out there. Yeah, and I know the competition
is getting faster too, but I'm, I'm 38 years old and I'm, I'm
putting out better numbers everysingle year.
It's just, it's just a linear progression.
And it's awesome. And I love that I'm able to
continue to do that. And I just want to keep keep
testing it. And I know that if I put out, if
(45:47):
I execute a good day, I'm going to be on the podium.
Like I'm very confident in myself that way.
You know, it's unfortunately, you know, too many.
There's a lot of variables that can happen in an Iron Man.
So it's, it's tough to execute every single race to perfection.
But I know that I have the speedand talent to make it happen.
(46:07):
So I just want to go out there and improve myself.
So it's, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
And I just, I love, I love training and racing healthy.
So I'm just want to get, want toget back to running.
I just can't wait for what happens.
Yeah. When it, what is your trajectory
looking like for getting back torunning?
And then do you have a race thatyou're kind of loosely shooting?
(46:30):
For, I mean loosely in early June.
So there's Eagle Man and Boulderboth back-to-back week, so
hopefully be able to race one ofthose.
So we'll see. Yeah, I don't know.
Just just waiting. Waiting.
Yeah, just wait and see how the PRPPRP, right?
That's what I'll say. Yeah, sweet man.
(46:53):
Well then. So let me ask you a couple other
questions. By the way, this is a bigger 1,
so take take as much time as youwant to think about this one.
But what would you say is the most important thing that you've
ever done in your life? Marrying Zanna, I think Ellen's.
(47:15):
I mean, without her none of thiswould have been possible.
And she's been in my corner thisentire time.
We have two amazing children. We're going on 10 years this
year. Congratulations.
Man, and you know, we're we're happy.
(47:35):
Like, I don't know, life, life'sgood, dude.
I can't, I cannot complain. And I have some Susanna for all
that. So yeah, that's pretty
important. Yeah, that's phenomenal.
So one thing that I will use as almost a sledgehammer to kick
people off the pedestal in my life is often times these are
(47:59):
business people, sometimes athletes, they'll be up there.
And then I realized that, oh man, they had a failed marriage.
And don't get me wrong, like there's, there's various reasons
why people can have failed marriages, obviously.
But to have a successful 1, likeyou have to have both sides
fighting and loving and being willing to work on that
marriage. I think constantly, and I mean,
that's just like anything with endurance sport, no matter what.
So to have people be successful as an athlete or successful as a
(48:23):
as a business person, that's onething.
But to have a successful family I think is like the ultimate
penultimate version of success. What do you think, like are some
of the lessons that you have learned to make marriage work in
a lifestyle? Like where your wife's is
working has her own business, You have arguably your own
business with the triathlon. You're doing your own contracts
(48:44):
and then you have children in the mix and, you know, all these
other things, Like what are someof the linchpins that have kept
things together and to get to 10years of marriage.
Oh. Jeez, I don't know, I think I
don't have to. I don't have the best answer for
that. I I think for us, well,
childcare, I think childcare is like people say, Oh my gosh,
(49:08):
childcare is expensive. I'm like, dude, it's going to
save your relationship. Like you have to, as much as our
kids are awesome and as much as you know that they actually are
easy, but they're kids Like it's, it's a it's a lot.
And you know, for us to, you know, it allows us to be able to
(49:29):
work full time and then we love the hell out of them.
But when, when we're home in theevening and in the mornings and
it's, it's great. And but yeah, it's, it actually
has been tough, to be honest. What's having kids like?
We I want to go on a date with Zanna.
I don't think we've gone on a date since January and we're
(49:51):
recording this in April. So it's that kind of sucks, but
you know, we'll, we, I don't know, we allow each other to, to
do like we, we don't like she went out with her girlfriends
(50:13):
the other day and it's just like, yeah, no big deal.
Go for it. Like I, I'm allowed to do do
what I want, obviously within reason.
There's obviously some other things, but I can go on some
dangerous. I can go on races like I can.
Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of things that you have to allow
your partner to do because they are also an individual like it's
(50:41):
and that has that has really helped.
But we also have the same like she's, she was a professional
triathlete for four years that we met through triathlon.
So she she gets my lifestyle andyou know, we kind of grew with
(51:04):
each other and I think that thatreally helped out.
So, I mean, everyone's relationship is different and it
is so hard. There is not a right answer.
I, I, I wish I could say that wehave the best communication.
We don't, we could totally be better at that.
(51:26):
And but we, we try, we, we try to show affection in front of
our kids so that they don't growup thinking that.
Mommy and Dad are friends. Just friends.
Yeah. So it's, yeah, I don't know.
We we have a good what I don't know for doing something right.
(51:48):
Yeah. We're trying.
I think that's a mutual try. Yeah.
Thanks for sharing. SO for for you in your mind,
what do you need to see or what needs to happen, if anything,
(52:09):
for you to look back on your life and be like, yeah, that was
a success. And it it can be triathlon
specific. It can be life specific, just as
being a human. Like what do you think?
In life, I just want our kids toalways like be cool with us.
Like, I just don't want, I don'twant our kids to get to, you
(52:35):
know, teenagers, OK, they're going to have their times like
any teenager will. But like after, after high
school, like I want them to always want to come back and
always want to see us. And we're like, like we're my
family's super tight. And I want that, you know, I
think if we if we continue to gothrough life and US kids and
(53:00):
Zana and I like we always call each other on a daily basis or,
you know, like those things, like I think that would be that
would be a win in life for sure.Because yeah, I mean, what?
How many more years of life do Ihave left?
(53:21):
You know, how many more years oftriathlon do I have life left
versus how many years of life doI have left?
I am far more concerned with howmany more years of life I have
left. Yeah.
I think with having that aspect of being able to see my kids
grow and be part of their lives for the rest of their life is a
(53:47):
good goal. Yeah, I want to ask you
experimental question. I have never asked this one
before, but a given just the theperspective of maybe not may not
be the best word, but just giventhe mindset that you currently
find yourself in when I'm picking up, I feel like this
would be an interesting question.
So your kids are Levi and what was your boy's name?
(54:10):
Cruise. So let's pretend for a second
that they are are somehow going to watch this when they are
turning 18. So they're like figuring out,
oh, I'm not going to be a teenager much longer.
They think they know everything in the world, but they are
secretly deep down looking for some level of just like
direction from dad. What would you say to your kids
if they were watching this rightnow if they were 18?
(54:30):
Oh. Dude, UK so I don't have a good
answer for that. And I haven't had a good answer
about anything of kids because it all just like happens as it
happens. Like you learn, you learn to
change a diaper because the diaper needs to be changed.
(54:51):
You know, you learn to you, you learn to feed the bottle to the
baby because this is the stage in life.
Like, yeah, so just to say how I'm going to feel the cruise
when he's 18 or Levi when she's 18 is really tough because I
(55:14):
don't know, like it's it's it's really hard to to think that
because I haven't had an 18 yearold.
I was probably maybe I was toughfor my parents or maybe I didn't
necessarily have the best guidance because, you know, my
dad was working from sunup to sundown.
(55:34):
You know, my mom was like, there'd be times we'd be come
home from school and there'd be,there'd be a casserole in the in
the oven with a direction sayingturn it to 350 and bake for this
long because no one was home. Like it was, you know, they're
they were working their butts off.
So yeah, I, yeah, I don't have agood answer for you.
(55:58):
I know it's, I know what you want, but it's.
No, I don't know what I want, but I do know that I want to ask
another question. Yeah, go.
For it. So what is something then like
for you when you were like 1819?What is something that you
wanted to know maybe or something that you wish like
would have been instilled a little bit further that you
would have confidence in? Because I know for me, my
(56:19):
perspective, you know, when I was able to go from the age of
seeing my mom and dad as my parents to seeing them as a
human, realizing that, oh, they were just a kid as well.
Like the way that I was able to shift that perspective gave me a
lot more of just understanding of, you know, why they did
things, things the way that theydid them and forgiving them for
(56:39):
some things and loving them for a lot of things that they did
because they were trying their best to give us the better life
that, you know, they never had. So like, what is something you
think that you wished when you were younger you would have had
a little bit more confidence in,in relation to like the
relationship with your parents? See, you've had time.
These are hard, deep questions. Time to think about this
(57:00):
question, right? The answer I don't, I think a
lot of they didn't a lot of the answers to their guidance was
(57:21):
like, just do it like you have, you have, I don't know there,
there is no thought behind why Ineeded to do things or if I was
feeling, you know, I think we'rewe're now much more aware of
mental health. Not that I've I've struggled as
an 18 year old, but I think thatit was I had really big shoes to
(57:46):
fill. I I think you know, where from
an athlete standpoint, my two older brothers were phenomenal
athletes and I wasn't near, neartheir, near where they were at.
And it just, I didn't have the guidance of like how to manage
myself around that. You know, I just wanted to quit
(58:09):
because it, it sucked because I just couldn't, I couldn't fill
my shoes. And they probably they, they
simply just didn't know what to do in that situation, which I
don't blame them. Like I don't know what, what do
you do? So I think that that could have
(58:30):
been better. My, my oldest brother, he was,
he was, he was pretty cool. You know, he couldn't, didn't,
didn't care too much for me because he was six years younger
than him. And then my next oldest brother.
Like, yeah, we got along, but not like as, as a mentor type of
(58:52):
relationship. Like we're really good friends
and but not like, hey, Adam, I need to talk to you type like we
never never really did that. And I think I could have
utilized that type of like, hey,mom, I need to sit down and talk
or hey, dad. Well, yeah, I mean, my dad would
have not done that. Help the K1 on us, to be honest.
(59:18):
So it's I think that could have helped me in that's in that
lifetime. Just get through, you know,
because it, it did kind of suck.So just had to bottle it up deep
(59:40):
and push it down inside. Have you popped the top?
Like have you popped the top offand worked?
It I don't know. Not really, but I don't know if
there was much of a pop to top. I did have to, you know, kind of
bail from University of Minnesota and I got out here in
Colorado and so that was nice. Once I got here in Colorado,
(01:00:03):
things, you know, started is life got life got really good.
I was always best when I was, you know, busy when I was
working full time for my dad. That was awesome.
You know, you just always had this.
You wake up and work. You know you work all day.
And you come home. Yeah, you just just have a
(01:00:25):
really good routine. College was kind of tough for me
because it just, I didn't have any, any guidance to college.
But no, not teachers, teachers at school.
There's maybe 1 teacher that waspretty good, but it did nothing.
It was it was still pretty bad, but it's also my fault too.
(01:00:47):
But I just didn't have any guidance outside of what I
currently known in both German so.
Yeah. Well, well, for what it's worth,
I'll say like the fact that you're able to put words to it
is, I think, really valuable thing.
(01:01:08):
Obviously I'm younger than you, so you have a bit more
experience and you have kids, sotake all this with a grain of
salt. But from my perspective, it
seems like you have like the ability to look back and like
all these things were hard. These things were tough.
And I maybe want to make them a little bit different for your
kids and whatnot. So I think that's a good thing.
I allowed so many people, my momincluded, for example, like it
(01:01:30):
took her till just recently. She's not 5354 where she was
able to kind of put words to some of the issues, you know,
after just losing my dad from when I was younger, like in her
going through that whole thing, like she really pushed me and my
sisters like, oh, you got to go deal with your issues.
She didn't really know how to dothem.
And she was like, well, I don't need to, I'm strong.
(01:01:51):
And you know, kind of what you're saying, like I just
bottled up and I'm strong for everybody type of a thing.
So being able to put words to, Ithink is, is like a huge
advantage just for the next generation because, yeah, I'm,
I'm excited to be a parent, hopefully in the next, you know,
couple years or so. I'm also terrified because I
realized the older I get, I'm like, man, I said I would never
(01:02:12):
be like that. And there's my mom right inside
of me saying the things that I said I wouldn't say or wouldn't
do. So you know what, I'll have my
mistakes to make and whatnot. But yeah, for whatever it's
worth, I think that that's really cool that you're able to
look back and and kind of put a name to that.
Thanks. Yeah.
So for my closing question, justwant to give you the opportunity
(01:02:36):
to again, maybe give a little advice to those new professional
triathletes. They just got the pro card.
They're elated. They think doors are going to
open to them. What are some of the steps that
you would give them in the beginning for just getting their
ducks in order to realize just what it means to be a pro
triathlete? Yeah, I think it's just
(01:02:57):
understand that, you know, because because you're pro
doesn't automatically pick me inthat you're going to start
earning money. Like it just doesn't.
It's not like you just signed a contract with an NFL team.
You know, you need there's no there is no base salary.
And I I do believe, I do think that some of these pros are
like, oh, wow, OK, well, I'll start getting sponsorships, you
(01:03:18):
know? Yeah, you're not even you
probably won't even get that. You know, it's it's it's really
tough, but I'm going to take this phrase from from my friend
Justin, but just keep showing up, You know, just always put in
the time. Just just keep showing up, keep
showing up. Don't get discouraged.
Like just, you know, you're going to have maybe a little bit
(01:03:43):
of you know, you're going to be coming to swim, swim practice
and you're going to be with somereally fast people, some
Olympian, some world champs, youknow, some other other pros that
have been in the in the game fora long time.
And you're going to kind of feela little a little down on
yourself. And but you know, you're going
to you're going to earn your stripes.
Just keep showing up and you just have to.
(01:04:12):
It's not going to happen overnight.
And I think too many people see some of these Europeans just
come out of the gates at 22 years old and, you know, just
light it up and you're like, well, why am I not doing that?
And I think you have to understand that people's
(01:04:33):
physiologies are different. Like you might just not be that
good, but that is OK. Like there, there are anomalies
in the sport, like how many, howmany NFL players are there?
But everyone only knows a Tom Brady.
(01:04:54):
Like obviously everyone with other sports players too.
But like there's, there's just these certain good, good
athletes out there. And that's the case of sport
that that's what it is. Like there are, there are just
really good people out there. So you have to just really focus
(01:05:14):
on yourself and be the best thatyou can be, be the best you you
can be. And too many times you come up
into the sport or of any sport and you're like, I need to be
that good. But maybe you can't be, maybe
not yet, but don't think that it's going to happen within this
(01:05:34):
year or even the next year or the next year after that.
Like it is building block after building block after building
block. It takes so much time.
You know, it's so it's, I think a lot of these people just need
to understand that, you know, just because you see this
certain person have such successand why aren't you having a
(01:06:01):
success? And then they tend to maybe give
up and, or just be like completely discouraged.
I mean, I've been there and it's, it's, it's hard, it sucks.
But you know, if you just show up and try hard and you're,
you're have the right guidance and your coach is really on your
(01:06:21):
side and looking at the long game and you're doing everything
you can to stay healthy, then that you have you have to be
satisfied with that. And I think that's something
that these some of these pros just they.
Don't have anyone telling them. Yeah, they just don't have
(01:06:41):
anyone telling them. So they just need to just enjoy
the process because it's it's a long game.
It's a very long game, you know,and it is unfortunate that we
see those, those few people. And it is, it's a few people
that just, you know, they crush it out of gates.
It's sport. You're going to see those
people, you know, But it's got to be the best you that you can
(01:07:07):
be. And I think that's something
that people can learn. Beautiful.
Well, Chris, thank you so much for taking the time, letting me
dive into some existential questions, professional career.
I wish you all the best as your hip continues to heal and
hopefully get to see you racing them back here pretty soon.
But I really appreciate you taking the time man.
(01:07:28):
Yeah. Thanks a lot, Seth.
Thank you so much Chris for coming to the pod and letting me
ask some questions about all kinds of things.
Really appreciated him taking the time and really taking some
time just to come up with some answers that were from the
heart. Really appreciate it when people
do that. So the Chris, thank you so much
(01:07:48):
for being on. If you are watching on YouTube,
if you could like comment, subscribe.
That will continue to help grow the channel there.
If you are listening on Spotify,Apple podcast, any of those
things, make sure to review, like comment and anything you
can do on those platforms will continue to help share and grow
this podcast. Really appreciate it.
Also check out the show notes for any sponsor related content,
(01:08:09):
any discounts and things like that.
I really appreciate you guys being here.
Really enjoy doing this podcast.Thank you for allowing me the
opportunity to do it and we willcatch you in the next one.
See you.
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