Latest / The Steep Stuff Podcast / Joseph B Demoor | 2022 World Skyrunning Vertical Champ & 2024 Team Captain

Transcript

Joseph B Demoor | 2022 World Skyrunning Vertical Champ & 2024 Team Captain · The Steep Stuff Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, fam, welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, james Lauriello, and today we have a really special episode, this one not coming to you on a Friday, coming to you on a Wednesday.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Like I said, this is a really special one off.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: We want to welcome to the podcast my Las Partiva teammate and the pride of Carbondale, colorado, mr Joseph B DeMoore.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Joins us on the pod.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: This was a quick one, just a short little conversation.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Joins us on the pod.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: This was a quick one, just a short little conversation.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I wanted to have Joe on.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: He and I actually got an opportunity to meet and get some miles in at the La Sportiva group run this past Thursday and we had a very special event.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons why I had him on.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Joseph is the captain this year and is conducting a fundraising campaign for the US sky running team that is headed over to Europe to go compete in just about a month.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, we wanted to have one half of the legendary Damore brothers on to kind of have this conversation, learn a little bit more about US sky running.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: We did go a little bit more into Joseph's background and, most importantly, we are actually going to have him on, as well as his brother, hopefully, for round two.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Talk a little bit more about these guys, because there's just so much you can cover in way more than 35, 40 minutes.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: So, without further ado, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: This is a personal favorite of mine.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Joseph is not only just so inspiring, but it's really exciting to see him take on a big leadership role in paying it forward with this US sky running team that is full of just absolute killers.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So really exciting.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Hope you guys enjoy this one.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Without further ado, Steep Stuff Podcast and Mr Joseph DeMoor.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: It's time We'll be right back.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, we are live sitting here, with Joe DeMore Dude.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming on the podcast.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, man.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I know this is a cool space.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I've been in a number of Las Portivas stores in Europe and it's cool to see this one become a reality.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's beautiful, isn't it?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: A little construction in the basement, but we're hanging out in the break room right now just getting a little pod going.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's sweet.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: So what are we here for tonight?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: What do we got going on?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, uh, I guess recording this right before we have a group run here from the store and uh, yeah, it's part of a fundraiser for the U S sky running team.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Um, so, yeah, pretty cool event that we've got going on tonight.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Heck, yeah man.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Do you know what?
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Before, um, before we get going, why don't we talk a little bit about your background and your, uh, your Colorado guy, born and bred?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Um, this is, you know the sport.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Uh, you're very close to the sport and have been close to the sport for a long time, so maybe give a little you know, a little bit about, about your background, where you grew up and go from there.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Nice, yeah, I guess.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, I've been around the sport my entire life.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: My parents met through running down in Durango, colorado, back in the seventies and so, yeah, like I said, yeah, I've been around it for a long time and my brother's also a competitive runner.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: He'll be here this evening, which will be cool, but yeah, still happy to be in the sport after you know plenty of highs and lows and yeah happy to still be getting out in the mountains and chasing down different adventures.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Hell yeah, and you're you're based in Carbondale still be getting out in the mountains and chasing down different adventures.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Hell yeah, and you're, uh, you're based in Carbondale.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, my wife and I live in Carbondale.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Uh, grew up in Buena Vista, so not too too far away, just on the other side of independence.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Pass from where we're at now and um yeah, beautiful, beautiful area.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was telling you earlier my aunt and uncle live over theret.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: I'm just like you're lucky bastard, it is cool, yeah, it's really cool.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: And um, you know I went to school here in boulder and, uh, just driving in though I'm kind of reminded of you know, boulder's a special place too.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: It's, uh, it's cool to be back here for a little bit and um, yeah it's gonna be a fun evening.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you, you went to school.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Uh, you ran cross country and track here, right, yeah you see b.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: So uh followed in my brother's footsteps.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: He ran here and uh, we're about five years apart, but we overlapped just a little bit here in college, which was cool, so got to be teammates for just a little bit.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: That's super cool.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Now, which one of you ran with Allie Mack?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Did you guys both run with Allie or?
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Um, I guess technically we did.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: But yeah, Allie Mack and I, uh, were in the same high school class.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, so yeah, and you have known Allie since high school.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Um, we went to a foot Walker together our senior year and um, yeah now he's amazing.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: What a small world.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Now, when you uh, so obviously you ran cross country track here.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Wait, were you the same.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Wait were you Andy's era as well, Andy.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Wacker the same, like were you andy's era as well.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Andy wacker, yeah, uh, yeah, andy was, uh, let's see, I think two classes above me, uh, so yeah, I've known andy as well for a really long time.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: He's someone I look to, you know, look up to a ton and, um, yeah, I I've kind of followed in his footsteps a bit with the uh transition from college into trail running and mountain short sub-ultra type of racing how did that work for you?
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: did you know this was something you wanted to pursue after college, or no?
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: not really.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know I've had a lot of different dreams around the sport of running.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I guess for a long time I thought I'd be living in Europe, you know, chasing after diamond league, like track races, and uh yeah, the way college shook out, you know I needed to take some time away from running after college and then finally kind of found my love of the sport again, mostly just through the mountains, and that's really what it comes down to.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: You know, for me still today it's just moving in the mountains and, um, yeah, a little bit of racing mixed in there too, heck yeah.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Um, dude, did you compete a few weeks ago at a U S mountain running champs and snowbird, or?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Um, I didn't.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I I was planning to.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: I was also planning to go to the vertical championships at moon mountain.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, but yeah, about a week before that it was on june 30th I took a pretty bad fall coming down a 14er um sliced my foot open, had to go to urgent care, get stitches and whatnot.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: So, uh, yeah, unfortunately, kind of the middle part of my summer got derailed a little bit.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Damn dude sorry, that was not a setup question.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I wasn't sure if that was before or after.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, all good yeah no, it's all good.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: So I was planning to do some of those races.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: And now, yeah, kind of regrouping and excited to chase down some races over in Europe in a little over a month Sweet yeah.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Wow man, so really quick.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I just want to kind of like backtrack a little bit into kind of this transitionary period, when you kind of like what got you into trail running, about running Cause like you've been in the sport for a while now and you've done so much like what, what kind of started this?
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that I kind of like said it was just, you know, just really being in the mountains.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, I grew up in Buena Vista and you know it was playing, exploring in the mountains.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: You know my entire life, you know quote unquote trail running, um, even when it wasn't necessarily trail running, just playing and exploring and everything.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's pretty natural for me, I think.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: And, um, I don't know, I think that there was like one race you stumbled upon where you're like oh wow, Like Kendall or something like that, or you're like this is amazing.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean I guess a number of races around Colorado, even like smallest kind of stuff you know, like the Fibark races in Salida and Golden Leaf near Aspen, and yeah, kendall is definitely you know one that that piqued my interest.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think, uh, you know, after college I started pursuing other mountain projects.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: I worked on like summoning the centennial peaks in Colorado, um kind of started dreaming up different FKT routes with my brother and things like that, and and then you know the, the competitive itch was there and so, yeah, I think it makes sense at this point in life to still, you know, still be racing a bit.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: But, um, yeah, I don't know, it's just uh, at the same time for me just getting out and and being out in the in the mountains.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So can you speak a little bit?
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I know you and your brother have a very special relationship.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I know he's obviously a huge name in the sport as well.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Can you speak a little bit to like that, that relationship Cause I know you guys have done little bit to like that, that relationship Cause I know you guys have done tried to do Nolan's together, like there's, there's a lot of history there.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, yeah, the Nolan's adventure, uh, it was definitely an adventure.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, I mean, he's my best friend, he's someone I've looked up to my entire life I've been, you know, chasing his footsteps kind of literally, and uh, um yeah, he's someone that I can always, you know, look to you for coaching, advice or mentorship and, um, yeah, he's amazing.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Uh, I don't know what else to?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: say, but yeah, big brother, I've always looked up to him and um uh, yeah, that's special, that's very spot and it's cool too, cause I would have imagined he got in the sport first, so then kind of followed him there, or yeah, I think.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: So it's like yeah he was running and you know middle school and high school and everything, and so I just was kind of following his lead and, um, yeah, it's been fun being able to chase after him and push each other.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: You know, we still we have an adventure planned, uh, this weekend and you know, last week we were up on Mount Elbert.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's super fun it's.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: It's great to be able to to have that bond with him and and still be able to to push each other, even though you know we're getting a little bit older and how old is he now?
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Uh, let's see he is.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: He's a 38.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: So you're, you and I are probably the same age, that I am 33.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, sweet yeah, okay, so I get it.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: How does that?
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: How does that change for you, as you've kind of like cause you have been in the sport for a long time now as you've.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Obviously you're an extremely competitive athlete.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Does that do you?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know, does the feeling and wanting to do certain things change as you've gotten older?
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's good to always kind of be open to you know exploring new areas of the sport.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: For me for a long time it was, you know, track and cross country and and kind of that side of things and, uh, being open to trail running and just really any type of you know different.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: You know shorter, longer.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've actually been thinking a lot about longevity recently and you know, is it more, you know, fulfilling to just have a really long career and running, or is it better to just have like a really you know, high peak?
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: You know it's different for different people.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: I think we're seeing more and more people compete at the highest level until they're, you know, 40 or 50 years old, which we just saw at hard rock.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: And um, so you've raced like max and stuff like that, and max is not young.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, totally yeah.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Max King is, uh, he's beaten me real bad and uh he's, you know, a decent amount older, and so I don't know.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I think, uh, longevity in the sport is cool.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: it's something that I, I um yeah, I'm just kind of grateful, because there's been plenty of highs and lows and yeah and so just to be in the sport, still enjoying it, mixing it up, meeting new people, getting to travel, um, it's been good, it is crazy, man like I um, I I've had a few strange injuries as time has gone on, like I haven't been in the sport a super long time, but, like you know, like throughout your running career, things pop up and it is weird now to be 33, turning 34 and starting to think about that and like, all right, is it?
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: What are you thinking more about?
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Legacy?
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Are you thinking about, you know, like, what I want to do long-term with this?
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And it's cool that you are seeing people like Ludovic Pomeroy, like a max king you know doing I'm just competing, like max just got second in mountain marathon just bananas, you know.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: So to see these people at an older age or deep into their 40s still being able to perform, gives me hope at least yeah yeah, totally.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I look to my brother, I look to you.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Know people like joe gray, like joe gray is still pretty much unbeatable.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah 40 and he's uh and dude your brother too like the at pikes last year, like dude.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I talked to so many people that were like saff just came out of the blue and just waxed everybody above treeline, like this, this, like mirage, and I'm like nobody passes people above treeline.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: How is this possible?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: oh, man, he had an incredible race actually.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was uh, fairly, fairly buried like up until maybe mile five or six or so, and I think he passed probably like 25 people.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, finished fourth.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: So that's bananas dude yeah no, he's a beast, it's uh.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty amazing so, uh, I would definitely want to transition to talk a little bit more about we start.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: What we started with was which was the sky running um, championships, trying sky running worlds.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Maybe we can kind of dive into that a little bit about who the team members are going to be this year, how the selection process went and just things like that.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, nice yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: So the uh world sky running championships happens every two years.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Um, this year it'll be in Soria, spain.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Uh, I was at the 2022, uh world championships in Northern Italy and, yeah, it was a.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: It was a great experience and I had some success on the individual level, but didn't have a team there with me and so, pretty much right away, my wife was was with me and I remember just telling her, like you know, if I'm going to come back to this event, like I want to come back with a team, um, I've been lucky to be on other, you know, oh, I guess teams my entire life, um, but you know, trail running teams.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I was on the world mountain championship team in Thailand um a couple of years ago.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, it's super fulfilling experience and and lucky this year to have there's going to be 12 of us, so we have a full team going back to, uh, the world championships and, um, yeah, it's a great group of people.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: That's awesome.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Now, when it comes to like the team selection process or how you found yourself out there, was it a qualification for yourself and that's how you made it out, or yeah?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: So we do an application Uh, it's kind of similar to what a lot of other countries do for sky running.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Um, it would be great to have qualification races.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: I think the lack of sky running races in the United States makes it tough.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: I think the reality is, too, that there's just so many races already and, you know, I look to like the USATF kind of US national championship model, which I think is great.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: It's just also like then you have to travel for those.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I think in the future, um, it would be really cool to incorporate, like FKTs and and have some kind of set routes that mimic, you know, closer to sky running, but then people can kind of maybe regionally travel to just cause it is hard.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Like, do you have one on the East coast, one on the West coast, one in Colorado?
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Um, and, like I said, the schedule is already so full.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: But you know, I do know there's just there's so many people that are hungry to, you know, represent the U?
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: S and to compete on these teams.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Like, just having another opportunity for people to do that, I think is, uh, is pretty sweet, cause we've had yeah, it's, it's been amazing the amount of interest.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: How deep was the application pool?
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: this year Was it crazy.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, it was pretty crazy.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: I mean crazy, I mean it was, you know, I think, 50 or so, and then like still just getting email, still getting a lot of interest so yeah it's been great, tons of really strong folks and yeah, it's uh, it's been amazing to see, so, uh, ryan kerrigan.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: He's the representative for the us with theF, the international sky running Federation, so he kind of heads up the U S sky running side of things.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: And then, um, I just knew kind of how things went in 2022, in order to have a team, I was going to have to take more of a leadership role uh, this year and try to um, yeah, get as many people on board as I could Love it Do you know, is it going to be.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: So we have 12 members of the team.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: How does it work?
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Is it going to be like four people in each distance?
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: So you can have up to six per discipline.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: So six for the 70 K, uh, six for the 37 and six for the VK, and then you can divide up the genders, um, basically like three and three or four and two, um, and so we really like, we strove to have an equal split as best as as we could.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: So for the 70 K, it's three men and three women, and then for the 37 K VK double, it's a four men and two women.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, who's on the team this year?
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Um, let's see.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: So, for the 37 K, for the other men, morgan Elliott.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: 37k for the other men morgan elliott, uh, steve kerr.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Josh taylor from alaska, yeah, and then, uh, laurel moyer and um michelle, uh, merlis dude.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I just raced laurel at the cirque brighton.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: She's strong dude, yeah, yeah, very good no, I'm psyched.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: She's, uh, I'm not super familiar with, with her background, but um, I think she's had some really strong results in the um, kind of short mountain type of races.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: So I think she's gonna do really well sweet yeah who else do we have?
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and then going.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: So what's kind of cool too about sky running, is they?
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: They commit to this true vk, which I really appreciate, and then they also have a category of doubling with the 37 and the vk.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: So all those people, yeah, so it's kind of a cool and then it's, you know, it's great for people to be able to travel all the way to europe and get two races instead of going all the way just for a vk or something.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Race is over in 45 minutes.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Like, what do I do the whole time?
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Rest of the time I'm here, yeah totally so.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I think that's kind of neat.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: So all those people just named they're doing the 37 and the VK Okay.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: And then on the 70K for the men, we have Dan Button out of Idaho, Jeff Stern out of California and Travis Lavin yeah, he's from Reno, Nevada, Sweet man.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So yeah, Got some depth there.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, aaron Tom, marissa Watson, and I knew this.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Uh, mercedes, okay, cycle gator yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: We've had mercedes on the pot, we've had aaron on the pot, obviously too, and I've had a chance to run with aaron.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Dude, aaron's good, I'm impressed.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see aaron and, like, because I I kind of pressed her on the podcast last time, I was like you're gonna race at all, like what's, what are we doing here?
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: You know, uh, so it'll be fun to see her kind of like in a racing format, um, kind of throw down, cause she's very competitive.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's super competitive and she's also really, really strong.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I think she's going to do great.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: It'll be kind of cool and I know she's interested in a little more racing, so it'll be exciting, heck yeah, heck, yeah.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Um, I don't want to bury the lead too much.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: You were the 2022 VK champion.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Um, it's pretty, pretty insane, um, are you?
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: You're racing the VK again this year, as long as the heel holds up, yeah, yeah.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be racing the VK and the 37 K and um, yeah, I mean, the main goal for me this year, like I was saying, is just to have a strong team try to compete for the team championship.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm the same end, like I.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're going to be going to defend that title as well, Absolutely.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Definitely not going all the way to Europe just to play around.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: So to the death I like it.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Um, is is that you said ISF is like the governing body for this, so it's kind of like a different than like a USATF kind of deal, or yeah, exactly, it gets a little confusing, I think.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: but usatf, wmra, like usopc, like all the different categories um sky running, yeah, kind of has its own uh governing body federation, I guess what did from, like your personal experience?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: like what did you think because, like you raced obviously at worlds, it's chiang mai, that's a completely different kind of world in its own right.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Like what did you think as far as from the differences, like, did you like one more than the other?
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Um, let's see, I would say, I mean, chiang Mai was amazing.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Uh, that event was pretty.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Uh, I've also raced a number of like WMRA, like world cup kind of races.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: I guess I've raced the game and I've raced golden trail series.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: They all have their different feel.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I think it just depends on on kind of what you're going for.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: For me at this point it's really all about the, I would say, like the terrain.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: You know, the type of racing and sky running.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: I just I love the slightly more technical nature, the commitment to being high elevation kind of high Alpine.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Um, that's what I'm most drawn to.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: So I think that's the main thing.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Like, you know, if you're into the style of racing, that golden trail is like, go after those races, like that is sweet and um, you know all the other stuff around it, like kind of the politics and logistics and all that kind of stuff.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Like, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you truly love the event and love them and the type of terrain you're on.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you this Do you still work at Aspen mountain?
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: no, I've actually been over at buttermilk ski area for about a year, so yeah, sweet.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I was on Aspen mountain starting in 2016 until last year and, um yeah, now I manage the snowcat department at buttermilk ski area.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: The reason I ask is I was curious because I know aspen used to put on this like they have this perfect vk course.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Um, I haven't ran that segment yet.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Something literally started on my strava that I want to go run one of these days.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I just I live far away.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Um, do you think that'll ever like come back as a race?
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: I know there was like a formal vk yeah, we've talked about it quite a bit within the company and, yeah, I think that there's just there's so many races, but, um, it would be great.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I raced that one, I think back in 2016,.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I remember Joe gray won it that year.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Uh, wacker was there and yeah, it's an amazing VK course.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Do you um?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Do they still do the winter one?
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I know there was a winter one too, yeah.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one, I know there was a winter one too, yeah, yeah, I've done the winter one like four or five times, um, done it on skis and on on foot.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: I'll just throw that on my schedule for this year.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the winter one's cool.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: They do a night winter one as well.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I got a couple different options I like that.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: What do you?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: What does your training look like?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Do you do most of your stuff like on 14ers and like 13ers or like what do you do to like, prepare for a lot of these races?
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, Yep, Getting up high as much as possible above uh, above tree line Um yeah.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Chasing down a lot of FKTs.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I kind of turn FKTs into kind of long workout kind of things and just like long runs I guess.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, my training in the winter you know a ski focused Um, so I really don't run too, too much for a good chunk of the winter.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, get the running shoes out in the spring and and, uh, try to transition the ski fitness into running fitness.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: How?
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: was that that transition?
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Is that like a pain in the neck, or is it kind of different from year to year?
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a little different from year to year.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: For instance, um, like last year, I didn't do much spring uh ski touring because there were some early uh trail races I was doing.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: So this year I kind of pushed the skiing a little bit further, a little bit longer, had some amazing ski tours, skied some great peaks and everything so um so, yeah, it's been a little bit of a slower start to the summer, running wise and I think, yeah, every year is a little bit different.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: It kind of depends on, depends on the race schedule, it depends on the snow, do you do?
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of like.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: What's like, what are your schemo goals?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: More, so to speak, like, do you do a lot of schemo races as well?
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, quite a bit.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Um, it was a full winter of racing.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I raced almost 20 times um this past uh winter.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, there's a lot of schemo racing, a lot of ski touring, um, yeah, chasing down a few different projects for skiing, different peaks here in colorado, different lines and and everything, everything, um, for this next season I'll be on the uh us national Schemo team.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, hoping to.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I was over in Europe racing, uh this spring for the last world cup races in Cortina, italy, and yeah, hoping to make it back over there, uh this coming winter for some more racing.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: So I had Ray Kobel on the podcast a few weeks ago and we were chatting because she has like very high aspirations and goals to to get on the Slovenian Olympic team, if, if they do get chosen, kind of thing.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah, all right, is that like a idea in your head?
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Possibly like, depending on how the american contingent looks like?
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's a yeah, I'd be a dream to be on an olympic team, uh, but the reality is, for this olympics it's only going to be two disciplines the sprint and the uh, mixed relay.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and definitely the probably my weakest events in schema so who's like our, our studs in the mixed relay?
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I'm still trying to learn as much as possible about this.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nice.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Um, let's see.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I I probably am going to miss some people, but like Arthur Whitehead out of Frisco, colorado, he's super strong in the sprints.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Um, Jules, googly out of uh and sorry if I just butchered his last name, but he's out of salt Lake uh, super handful of guys, you know.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Cam is really strong and pretty much every discipline.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: John Gaston, up in Aspen he doesn't do much sprints but I'm sure if he trained at it for a little bit he'd be great.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow, that's super cool.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: And what is the selection?
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: So Ray kind of went into like the way the selection process worked for, like I guess, the Slovenian team.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Is it the same concept for the Americans as well?
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Or are we in a different thing?
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: There's a couple of different qualification guidelines, um, it's basically there's a like a national cup series.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I think there was maybe 12 or so races on that this past year and so if you finish, there's different tiers and if you finish, let's say, top four and like six of those races, then you're automatically on the team and that's basically.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I just pursued, uh, those races for the most part and then was just over in europe for the last world cup.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: But then if you're on the team already and you're competing in world cups and you finish in like the certain percentile, um in each race, then then, yeah, you keep your spot on the team.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's interesting, it's really cool yeah, and then, like the olympic side of it, it's, like you know, very much sprint and relay focus for this next, uh, this next year and and the world cup schedule reflects that and um, yeah it'd be interesting to kind of see how it grows and I'm hoping longterm to see more of like the individual and vertical races Cause and even the team like I think that's really the heart of Schemo Um, and so I think you know, the more that the Olympic side can embrace that um, at least long-term I think will be the you know for the better as an athlete.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Like how do you feel I know you just kind of dipped into it a little bit, but like how do you feel about that's your like that's one of your sports becoming an olympic sport, because I'm kind of I'm going to kind of segue that into like how you feel about trail running possibly in the future oh yeah, yeah, nice, um, let's see, I mean I don't like honestly think about it too too much.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: I get asked about it a lot, but uh, yeah, I think my thought is it's kind of like climbing in the olympics or skateboarding or surfing.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Like the kind of like climbing in the Olympics or skateboarding or surfing, like the reality is like climbing in the Olympics is probably not the pinnacle of climbing, right, maybe if you're a speed climber, boulder or whatever disciplines are in the Olympics.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: But really like I think the best of the best climbers are.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: You know they're working on big projects and you know somebody or something.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: That's kind of my take on it.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: That's kind of how I would explain it.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: So for me, with ski mountaineering, it's like, yeah, I guess it's cool, it's in the olympics, but um, at the end of the day, like I think that there's other sides of the sport that are honestly better yeah so I totally agree with you.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: That's why I was kind of curious too, because like they, I didn't want to say they butchered climbing.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: But it's not like you.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Like you said, it's not.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: It's not the same.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: You know, it's completely different yeah, and I mean I guess it's ultimately, you know, like what are the olympics?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: It's great to bring people together, it's great to be of people an opportunity to you know, represent their country, and and it gives exposure to sports that don't get you know, it's not football and soccer and basketball, it's like you get these sports that don't get a lot of attention and so it draws awareness to them and helps them grow.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: So ultimately it's a good thing.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: But yeah, no, I agree I don't.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I just don't know, um, personally, how I feel about it being a good thing for trail running in the long term, because I know you, like I do.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: We live in the sub ultra world where that's probably going to be, unless there's some sort of 24 hour thing they implement, I feel like sub ultra something underneath an ultra marathon is what they're probably going to choose if we do become an olympic sport.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: But I just don't know if that's good for the long term of our sport, like what that looks like you know, yeah, yeah, I don't know, I don't think it necessarily, I don't think it hurts the sport by any means, or you know, I guess it's just another, another part of the sport.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Like there's so many different large organizations there's, you know, it's like the utmb goliath and golden trail goliaths and stuff, and then, yeah, the olympics would just be another side of things, I guess.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I could see that that's pretty sweet, definitely.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Uh, dude, our sport's changing, oh my gosh.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: You know, like when you first came in to compare it to now, like I'm sure you've seen, you've seen a lot of change.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I would say so.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, um, yeah, there's a decent amount of change.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: There's uh, you know, maybe there's more money involved in in some areas and uh, more investment from companies and whatnot, but um yeah at its core.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: It's still running.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: It's still uh, you know, still just a pretty low-key boo caller kind of sport I love that.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: It's like it's my favorite part, the fact that like it's, it's not.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: It's not like I just we just came off the tour right and I just wasted the last I don't know how many weeks of my life following the tour super close, and it's just such a professionalized sport and I'm just like I don't think we'll ever I mean we'll get to this like we're getting.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I guess that like the pointy end of the sport we're getting to it, but I don't know how much I want it to become that, because it's kind of more fun yeah, I hear that, I know.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: And then too, when you add the professionalization, it's like, yeah, it's a double-edged sword.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: There's good and bad with all of that, for sure, heck yeah uh, one of the things I noticed is you're wearing a pit viper hat.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Dude, I love their glasses.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: They're fucking sweet nice.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I brought a few pairs for the raffle uh tonight, so maybe you'll score my throw a ticket in there.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've been working with pit viper for a long time and yeah they make sweet shades and, uh, pretty hilarious company.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Lots of good people out there in salt lake super rad man.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Well, all right, so I don't want to keep you too too much longer.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: We'll get into some funny questions, um, and hopefully down the line at some point.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: We could do like a longer form interview.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: I'd love to sit down and talk more.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Um, dude, what's your take on the aliens?
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: the I gotta throw a few funny questions take on the aliens what aliens are we talking about?
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, what could be any alien?
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know, uh well, uh, yeah, I didn't grow up too far away from the sand louis valley so uh, yeah, I've been to the alien uh observatory area there near the sand dunes and um, yeah, I'm not gonna say I don't believe I don't know how well you know jackson, but the first thing jackson talked about was in alamosa they had, like he was talked about this like cattle mutal, like a very famous cattle mutalization that happened down there.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: How do you know about?
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: this.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's an interesting little part of colorado.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: And uh, yeah, the alligator farm.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I always forgot about that.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: She asked that recently uh, one more.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: What is your, what's your take on grizzlies in colorado, on the bears?
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: yeah, uh, let's see.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: I mean I've never seen, never seen a grizzly bear.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Lots of uh, brown bears, black bears, maybe, technically I'm not sure which um, but yeah, never had any issues been pretty close to some mountain lions.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Uh, some moose had a really close uh encounter with a moose one time.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: That's probably the most terrifying wildlife I've ever come across.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: But do you want to talk about this real quick?
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Um, I mean, yeah, it was actually not too too far.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: It was allen's park, in between here and estes park, and was on a but uh, on a run with my buddy steve and yeah, this moose came out of out of the woods and god, just ran right at us and got on the trail in front of us you know, just a few feet away and took off, luckily on the other direction, not towards us, but yeah.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Oh shit, yeah, they're big animals.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: They're pretty aggressive too, I know, cause they like.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Apparently they can't see very well.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: So it's like, it's like the thing is that blind me, blind Mises.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Nice Mises Moose Well dude thanks so much for coming on.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: I don't want to hold you up to too much more Um, and we got a group run in the next 20 minutes.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, no, thanks for having me on.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Thanks for fitting this in before the group run it's great to meet you and chat a little bit about running.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: So really quick.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: One last thing if people are interested in donating to the USA sky running team, how can they?
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: How can they do that?
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do have a fundraising page.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Um, let's see, it's give buttercom backslash sky running 2024.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: And yeah, that would be amazing.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: We are self-funded.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: We don't have funding from, you know, larger groups like USATF and whatnot.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, hoping to get all the kits and and uh accommodations covered for all the athletes on the team and then as much of the travel as possible.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: So, uh, yeah, any support would be greatly appreciated.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Awesome bro, well, thanks so much for coming on.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: So, uh, yeah, any support would be greatly appreciated.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Awesome bro, well, thanks so much for coming on.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Like I said, we'll do this again and uh, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to donate, go ahead and head on over to that URL, and I'll put that in the show notes as well.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Thanks, man, right on, thanks.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: What'd you guys think?
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: What a fun episode.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Uh, really enjoyed having Joe on.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Like I said, um, hopefully we can get them on in the future to chat a little bit about more about himself, um, and get more conversations going, not just about the U S sky running Siri or U S sky running team, um, but also about himself, his background and a lot of the things that he does.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: The sky is um.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: You know, if you don't know that name, everybody knows that name.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: When it comes to Colorado mountain running, him and his brother are just absolute legends of the game.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: So really exciting to have him on and meet him and hoping, hoping for much more.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: With that said, if you guys are interested in giving Joe a follow, head on over to Instagram.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: He's got a really interesting feed, lots of fun pictures and all kinds of good stuff on a lot of his endeavors in the mountains.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: You can find him at Jose J J-O-S-E.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Damore D-E-M-O-O-R on Instagram.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Head on over and give Joe a follow.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Most importantly as well, if you guys are interested and I'm going to link this in the show notes if you guys are interested in donating to the US Skyrunning team, they are actively seeking donations and supporters.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: If you guys are interested in doing that, you can go to givebuttercom.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Slash sky running.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I'm also going to give a keep the link in the show notes as well, so you guys can go ahead and support and they can help raise some funds.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: And if you guys are interested as well, if you don't want to give through that, if you are interested in donating independently, you can just go ahead and hop on Instagram, find Joe Damore and just shoot him a DM and I'm sure he'll get right back to you on how you can just give directly to him.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's awesome.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for giving this episode a listen and really appreciate your support.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Last but not least, if you guys did enjoy this episode episode, my goal is to get this out to as many people as possible, so get this out to the world.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: So if you guys enjoyed this one, please give us a rating and a review on apple and spotify.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: It makes a huge deal.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: So thanks so much, guys.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Again, really appreciate it until the next one, which will be coming out tomorrow.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: So we got we got three back-to-back-to-back for you guys.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Enjoy, thank you.