We’ve featured a lot of people who have taken on epic challenges, but this guest, Ray Zahab of Quebec, Canada, has done dozens and dozens of them. When we recorded this, Ray had just completed a couple of weeks before a crossing of Death Valley from north to south. I’m very familiar with the Badwater 135, which just completed, but that is run on roads. I didn’t even know it was a thing there to run the shortest route between two points, completely off-road. The terrain is seriously rugged, and it’s pretty hot, and Ray ran it with limited re-supplies in 53:35:21. In case you’re wondering, he drank 75 liters of water. He’s also run across the widest park of Death Valley west to east, crossing two mountain ranges, in 35 hours. He’s run 7500 km across the Sahara Desert in 111 days, 1850 km across the Namib Desert in Africa, 1200 km across the Atacama Desert in Chile, and 2000 km across the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. That’s the hot, dry stuff. He’s crossed Baffin Island in northern Canada nine times in winter and trekked from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole on snowshoes pulling his supply sled. And I’m just scratching the surface. Here’s the WASP comeback story angle: Ray did this last Death Valley project a little more than a year after completing six months of debilitating chemotherapy for a rare form of lymphoma. What’s very cool about Ray is how he shares his projects with schoolchildren with live links, and he has been running his foundation, impossible2Possible, to introduce kids to the kind of adventuring he does and reach beyond their perceived limits. The foundation takes kids to wild places so they can challenge themselves, and it doesn’t even charge them to be there! Yes, they’re free! Ray and his wife have been raising two daughters who get to experience the outdoors unlike the way Ray was when he was younger and was an out-of-shape, pack-a-day smoker. So there’s another comeback. His brother inspired him to get outdoors and Ray now encourages everyone to also do so, including with his expedition company, KapiK1, which leads trips to remote and beautiful places like Baffin Island, the Atacama Desert, and the Gobi Desert. Even though we had a fairly short conversation, you might still find yourself listening in amazement to all that Ray does and get pumped up by his incredible level of energy and excitement.

Ray Zahab
rayzahab.com
impossible2possible.com
kapik1.com
rzahab@impossible2possible.com
Facebook and LinkedIn Ray Zahab
Instagram and X @rayzahab
YouTube @rayzahab1944

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

During my recent long hours on trails training for the Leadville Trail 100, as well as in the Chase the Moon ultramarathon I just ran, I have been listening to several podcasts, and one I recently discovered and really enjoy is Buckle Up with Brian Passenti and Simon Guérard. Fellow New York area guy and Yankees fan Brian grew up running but had some significant detours along the way due to drinking and addiction. He basically missed high school after his mom recognized his issues and sent him to various institutions in what is actually known as the Troubled Teen Industry. His path led him to enlist in the Marines where he served almost his full hitch but got discharged for getting caught smoking weed. Following his return to civilian life, Brian continued to run pretty decently, although probably diminished because many of his runs were done in the morning to work off his hangover so he could show up at his job appearing to be sober. He finished Leadville in 2010 in less than 24 hours and was fourth-place in the challenging Silver Rush 50 while juggling running and drinking. A drunken bike wreck in December, 2016 that resulted in significant bodily injury led him to get sober. His running and his life have taken off since then. He has finished Leadville eight times, Leadman, the Moab 240 in 82 hours, and this year the Cocodona 250 in less than 105 hours. Brian, who has a wife and kids, now has the Buckle Up podcast and a thriving full-time coaching business called Altitude Endurance Coaching, and his clients include many training for Leadville and other ultramarathons. I hope you enjoy this lively chat between two ultrarunning, storytelling East Coast guys.

Brian Passenti
altitudeendurancecoaching.com
Facebook Brian Passenti and Altitude Endurance Coaching
Instagram @passentiontherun
LinkedIn Brian Passenti

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

In January, 2022, episode #187, we brought to you the story of Holocaust survivor Lili Berliner. It is to this day, our episode with the highest number of downloads. We recently lost Lili at the age of 97, and I thought, in a first for the WASP, that we should replay this episode both for those of you who heard it earlier, as well as for those who have joined us more recently. It seems needed in this troubled time in the world that has seen a growing tide of antisemitism and hate. Lili’s story of survival is incredible. Her family was yanked from their home in Transylvania when she was a teenager and shoved into a ghetto that was merely a converted warehouse, along with thousands of others. The Nazis then shipped all of them in a suffocatingly cramped train car to Auschwitz, where her father was immediately killed. Lili, all five feet-nothing of her and her mother against all odds somehow survived the hell of Auschwitz, only to be forced into a death march - barely clothed in frigid winter weather - on which three-quarters of the prisoners perished. They arrived at a labor camp where they craftily survived. Lili was already fluent in seven languages as a teenager, and she used this as a survival skill. When liberated from the infamous Bergen-Belsen by British troops, her mother weighed all of 60 pounds. The Allies used Lili’s language expertise to extract confessions from German guards to use at their war trials.

But this is a story of hope. Lili met her husband Walter, one of the Ritchie Boys, who were German-speaking Austrians who joined the U.S. Army and provided the bulk of intelligence to the Allies during the war. They were married in the first Jewish ceremony in Germany following the war. The couple moved to the U.S. and settled in Queens, New York, and raised a family, including my college roommate at the University of Pennsylvania, Steve. Because the Nazis had interrupted her education, Lili went back and got her high school diploma at age 55, and three years later received a nursing degree. She gave back to others in the medical field until she finally retired at age 85. Along the way, I can attest that she was the warmest, kindest person you would ever meet and a loving mother and grandmother, so amazing for someone who’d seen such horrors. To quote her, “Living well is the greatest revenge.” After listening to this, I encourage you to read her riveting memoir, “And the Month was May,” which you can find on Amazon. Please listen along and be amazed by this incredible survival story.

Steve Berliner
Facebook Steve Berliner
Instagram @berlinersteve

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

Trevor Farnes founded MTN OPS, a self-described outdoor performance supplements company. You may ask why you would listen to a chat about another company in this crowded space, but you will quickly find out that MTN OPS is a very different kind of company. For one, their customers are not anonymous buyers but part of a community that shares experiences and triumphs. Interestingly, MTN OPS focuses on the hunting community, but their products are also extremely well-suited for any endurance athletes. It makes sense when you think about it, because hunters spend long hours and days in the field and require proper fueling. Trevor has also created a unique MTN OPS corporate culture that is based on 12 principles that begin with recognizing God, empowering their employees from what he calls the Four Quadrants of Life, and community service. This latter principle led him to create Operation Conquer Hunger, an organization that has provided six million meals to families in the United States and the African country of Malawi. This project was spurred by Trevor’s own life in which his prior business ventures failed and his ability to put food on his family’s table was in question. It’s an impressive operation that brings people together to assemble meal kits in various communities. What’s very cool is that MTN OPS donates a meal for every sale they make. I also like that they are very serious about testing and delivering on their formulations, especially in the wake of recent reports about a prominent company in this field that was not delivering what was promised on its packaging. This is a very interesting story about the birth of this company, which evolved from when Trevor created a concoction that helped prolong his father’s life, to locating in a historic building in a small Utah town where they are literally the only business, to developing this unique culture and community. I hope you enjoy hearing from this engaging, faith-based force in the performance supplements world.

Trevor Farnes
mtnops.com
Facebook and YouTube MTN OPS
Instagram and Threads @mtnops and @trevorfarnes

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

What a difference a year makes. After a bunion that broke through the skin and eventually resulted in surgery wiped out pretty much all of my running and other activities in 2023, this year has seen me excitedly get back into doing big things - whether it was an amazing mountaineering trip in Chile, tearing out the turf in part of my yard and replacing it with a waterwise garden with native plants, editing Cole Chlouber's memoir, "Grit, Guts & Determination," about the birth and growth of the Leadville Race Series, and now completing the Leadville Heavy Half. The latter was with Team Leadville and that included the challenge of raising funds for Warriors' Ascent. The race went very well and the group collected more than $125,000 to fund programs that help prevent veteran and first responder suicide, SAVING 62 lives! Everything is building up to the Leadville Trail 100 in August where I'll be attempting to become the first runner to ever finish it in four different 10-year age groups. Do you have it in you to do something big? Train for a big event? Write that book? Take an epic adventure? I hope I can inspire you to take the leap to give it your best shot to challenge yourself to do something big!

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

After Nick Jonsson, a Swedish-born, Southeast Asian businessman, found the mounting stresses of his job and climbing the corporate ladder untenable, he began drinking heavily, abandoned his fitness regimen, and put on a ton of weight, leading to him losing his job, as well as his wife and son. After getting help to control his alcoholism, Nick, who has now been sober for six years, recognized that one of the primary reasons business leaders were failing was having no one available to open up to about these stresses. Instead, they blew off steam in the bars and in other unhealthy outlets. He realized that businessmen, in particular, could benefit from having support to cope, just as he had to regain his sobriety. The well-traveled Nick now leads the Executive’s Global Network in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia to bring business leaders together to discuss issues they face both in and out of the office. He encourages leaders all over the globe to seek out similar groups before work stresses cause them to slip down the slopes that he did. His book, “Executive Loneliness – The 5 Pathways to Overcoming Isolation, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in the Modern Business World” is an Amazon worldwide bestseller, and provides a very logical framework with which to put anyone, not just business leaders, onto the path of a more fulfilling career and overall life. In the meantime, Nick has hammered himself back into prime shape and is one of the top-ranked competitors in the Ironman 70.3 Triathlon World Championship in New Zealand this December. I hope you will enjoy this chat with a very insightful business leader and accomplished triathlete.

To donate to Team Leadville and Warriors' Ascent, which saves lives by providing holistic programs helping veterans and first responders dealing with PTS symptoms, go to:
https://give.classy.org/We-Are-Superman
Thank you!

Nick Jonsson
www.nickjonsson.com
LinkedIn Nick Jonsson
“Executive Loneliness – The 5 Pathways to Overcoming Isolation, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in the Modern Business World” is available on Amazon and his web site

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

On a bike ride on an open road in New Jersey in 2011, Ron Gold was struck head-on by an SUV whose driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel even though it was the middle of the day. He barely survived, suffering critical injuries, and was left a paraplegic. It was bad enough the driver was totally unapologetic about causing this tragic event. Ron spent many months in rehab, not to mention wrestling with feelings of despair and hopelessness. After he finally got back home, one thing he learned, which you would likely never find out otherwise, is how challenging it is to find a reliable home health care provider. Ron and I are fellow alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, and leveraging the business acumen he had gleaned both there and in his Wall Street jobs, Ron and his wife Betsy, who had encouraged him to find purpose in his life despite his situation, founded and run LeanOnWe. This organization serves to help pair people in the New York Tri-State area who need home healthcare with screened providers, as well as enable those providers to receive a livable wage, which is often a barrier to many remaining in the profession. LeanOnWe innovatively addresses both of these shortcomings, and has now matched more than 1900 individuals with providers. In the meantime, Ron has charged back in to the athletic world, in both para-rowing, in which he has competed in the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, and as a marathoner using a handcycle, where he is roughly horizontal to the ground and “pedals” with his arms. He completed the Hartford Marathon in 2:56, and then improved to 2:42 at the New York City Marathon. Along the way, he has helped the fundraising efforts of Eric LeGrand, the Rutgers football player who was paralyzed in 2010 and is now an inspiring entrepreneur himself. Ron’s efforts have helped raise more than $36,000 for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to aid paralysis research and treatment. Ron’s story will inspire you how he pushed back against very dark times in his life, found a purpose, and had he not done that, the impacts on others that never would have been possible.

Ron Gold
LeanOnWe.com
rongold@leanonwe.com
www.RonGold.live
substack.com/@rongold
Instagram and Threads @the_ronnieg
Facebook and LinkedIn Ron Gold
YouTube RonGold.live

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

The We Are Superman Podcast has hit 300 episodes... we think. But thanks to David's impetus, inspirational WASP guests have touched millions of listeners around the world. Or at least thousands. After a quick historical recap, I'm honored to bring you my recounting of my truly amazing trip to Chile and climbing peaks in the Andes as high as almost 20,000 feet in the driest and one of the most remote spots on Earth, the Atacama Desert. Our trip included many impressive elite athletes, surprising sights, spectacular scenery, jaw-dropping starry night skies, and consuming so many wraps that I still haven't eaten one since. The climbs were some of the toughest challenges I've ever undertaken, but the rewards of exploring my limits - as well as seeing the others doing so - were well worth it. I hope you enjoy following along with this awesome adventure (which you can do as well, see below).

If you'd like to take the same amazing trip, contact Tyler Andrews at:
Instagram @TylerCAndrews
chaski.run/contact

To donate to Team Leadville and Warriors' Ascent, go to:
https://give.classy.org/We-Are-Superman
Thank you!

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