Grit, Guts and Determination: The Leadville Race Series Podcast Cole Chlouber

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 40-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Junko Kazukawa.

Meet Junko Kazukawa and hear how she has not only faced adversity since a PE class in grade school, but how she's faced all those adversities head-on to shape not only who she is but what she does for a living today. She's also a two-time cancer survivor and the best human you'll ever meet. You also won't ever catch Junko without a smile on her face, a can do attitude, and an encouraging note she'll pass along to you. If you are looking for a coach, Junko Mountain Training and Boundless Coaching is a stop for you!

Please remember to give us a like and subscribe where you are getting your podcasts, and we can't wait to see you at home, we can't wait to see you in Leadville!

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 40-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Dr. John Byrne.

In this episode John tells us what it was like growing up on the younger side of a large Catholic family. Find out what made John tick early in life to give him such a strong work ethic. You will also hear how all of this strengthened when John was asked later in his career about what "fired his jets." Fifteen years later and John's jets are still firing and in this episode he lets us know how it all started with Leadville and he's passionate about sharing it with you, his Leadville family.

Listen in and hear not only what John is up to today but what you can take from what John has already done and make your own lives count, make them better!

As always, thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope to see you in Leadville!

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 40-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Randall "Bike" Bennett.

In this episode, Randall shares what it was like growing up on the wrong side of the tracks and not knowing it. Randall and Cole unpack all of Randall's early life challenges, challenges that started so early that "Digging Deep" just might be intwined into Randall's DNA.

Randall went on to find success in almost anything he touched, however, sometimes he found other parts of life that may have got lost in the shuffle. Waking up as a business success one day, left Randall realizing his physical appearance had taken a toll. In this episode you will hear how Randall not only took back control of his physical success but excelled at this also. Randal went from overweight to pedaling his bike over 12,000'! Today you can catch Randall spreading the word of Leadville while he's volunteering for, or participating in, his favorite LRS races.

Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope to see you in Leadville!

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 40-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! We are celebrating the 40th year anniversary of the Leadville Trail 100 and the third official season of Grit, Guts and Determination, the Leadville Race Series! Host Cole Chlouber is now the interviewee, with Merilee and Cole’s Dad, Ken Chlouber. Listen in to hear about what the Leadville Family means to him.

To begin, Merilee and Ken Chlouber ask Cole how Leadville found him. He shares that it was not by choice, but his Dad found a job in the mine, which moved their family to Leadville. In 1982, the mine closed and everyone was out of work. Cole was only 7 years old and remembers the sacrifices his family made. The Leadville Race 100 was birthed out of that situation. Ken and Marilee started the race because it gave them a sense of purpose. Cole says Leadville 100 changed his life because it made him learn what it means to dig deep to fight for something. But it didn’t always start out that way! Cole quit the race multiple times when he ran and biked it. That all changed when his Dad asked him to sweep on a 4 wheeler and he was behind an individual that he believed shouldn’t have been out there. As he stopped at each station, he saw an increased number of people that looked like him quit, but this individual did not. He learned that day what it means to keep going. The Leadville 100 Race is like mining- it may be dark and you’re in despair, but better things are on the other side.

Next, Cole shares his most meaningful athletic accomplishment in a competition that he ran for the Lake County Cross Country. It was a horrible weather day for a meet, and he remembered an opposing team saying that no one had a shot that day, it’s anybody’s game. His team had been training in this weather for months and it was their game- not just anybody’s. His coach, Frank, said not to be afraid to lead or win. Most of the time, the team had carried Cole, but that race he got to carry them. He also shares that running the Leadville Race in 2013 was a big accomplishment for him. He gave a speech to the people of Leadville inspiring them, but when it came to race time he was sicker than a dog. His Dad saw the look in his eyes, grabbed him by the collar and said, “You remember what you told those people.” Cole didn't have another problem the rest of the race, and it taught him what these races take and to keep digging deep.

Lastly, Cole discusses the preparation needed for race day. He says that the real training occurs between the 5 inches between your ears. You can physically train, and you should, but that won’t get you across the finish line. Your mentality will. You need to train yourself on your why. Then, when you hear the shotgun ring out and it’s your race day, nothing will stop you. In the next 20 years, Cole sees the races as bigger, brighter family reunions. The Leadville Trail 100 is about changing lives, but it had to start with changing ours. His purpose is to continue this passion they’ve created, to help people get to the finish line and to share the magic of Leadville with others so they can experience this family support system and the race for themselves. They say to every biker, runner and person: “You're better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can.” This has changed thousands of lives at the finish line and they hope it will change yours too!

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Pro Skier, Drew Peterson, and in today’s episode Drew talks about his Sub 25hr Leadville 100, mental health and more!

To begin, Drew starts off explaining how the Leadviille experience is everything he hoped it would be- it included the good and the bad, lived up to his expectations and lived out his childhood dream. He explored deep parts of himself, met new people and enjoyed connecting again with the mountains. The day of the race started off rocky by getting in late and sneaking up to the front. He discusses his mistakes including not drinking caffeine at first and he made potatoes at the Airbnb, but they were bad, and created stomach issues during the race. He became frustrated with himself during the race because of those mistakes and it started to bring him down, but he changed his attitude with his mental fortitude, and decided he already learned some lessons today, but he could apply them to the rest of the race.

Next, Drew goes into his entire play-by-play of the race and how he thought he was going too fast starting off, so he started talking to people to see if he could hold conversations with them. He has a weak right foot and 2 miles into the race that started to hurt, but it quickly went away and that pain didn't pop up again the rest of the race. He explained his mental state that no matter how bad things get, they’re always going to get better and vice versa. He continued on and ran downhill really well, which gave him a boost of confidence, but then he hit a wall. His women coaches encouraged him and told him to have fun and go climb Hope Pass, and that’s exactly what he did. The climbing part of Hope Pass was his favorite part of the race in getting to reconnect with the mountains, get some confidence and positivity and even let out a wolf howl! He kept up that positivity, but the last 30 miles were the hardest where he was full of pain and struggled. His older brother paced him for the last section and getting to share that with him meant the world.

Finally, Drew explains how going across the finish line let all the emotions catch up with him. He was surrounded by his crew, was excited and cried from elation at the finish line. Drew continues on by talking about his film called “Ups + Downs,” which discusses how Drew navigated the mountains and valleys of mental health through skiing. He shares that if you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, they can call the mental health hotline or check out his website for more resources. His last piece of advice is to start out slower in the race, but to make up your mind ahead of time that you are going to finish the race. Don’t leave any space to question whether or not you will finish, but to decide you will. No matter how bad things get, things will always get better.

Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Adrian Macdonald, who has won first place in the Leadville Trail 100 twice. On this episode, Adrian shares his experiences winning the Leadville Trail 100 race, his advice in the sport and how he found Leadville.

To begin, Adrian tells how he began running during his sophomore year of high school, and fell in love with the self-improvement aspect of the sport and found it addicting. He started running longer distances and ran cross country in college at Gettysburg University in Pennsylvania. He ran his first marathon after college in the Gettysburg marathon and had a perfect first attempt. His time was 2:30 and it took him four years to beat his personal best in Houston. Adrian was living in Boston and they canceled the 2020 marathon a month out due to COVID. He still wanted to race, so he started competing in trail running and found his body did well with the elevation gains and losses. He then found Leadville and shared with his mentor, Nick Clark, that he wanted to compete in the 2021 race and he was very supportive, and volunteered to crew and pace for him.

Next, Adrian shares how in his first Leadville Trail 100 race in 2021 that he was very aware of Cody Reed and Tyler Andrews- some of the other racers that were going after the record and setting the pace for the first half. He passed both of those racers and at 50 miles out, the race was very special to him after realizing that he was going to win. He was 35 minutes out on everyone else and he wanted to enjoy the last bit of the race and soak in the experience of winning. When Adrian returned to the Leadville 100 in 2022, he had a film crew and sponsors, but he says the most pressure he received was from himself. He won the 2022 Leadville Trail 100 as well, but he wasn’t feeling as good during this race and spent about half of his time running and walking. The other competitors were supporting him and the crowd was cheering him by name and knew who he was. He has a film coming out on YouTube in the next few weeks called “Out and Back” by Rabbit Wolf Creative. You can also check Adrian’s sponsors: Ultimate Direction for gear and On Running for shoes in the links below.

Adrian continues his passion for running as a cross country coach at Mountain View High School in Loveland, CO. His goal is to create life-long runners, but he tells the kids they will have more fun if they run fast! He is also a financial officer at Colorado State University in the Department of Statistics and he gives back to the Leadville Running Community. Adrian’s advice is to put yourself out there by meeting new people and going to new places. He says to enjoy the whole process of training for the Leadville 100 and that if you love what you’re doing and having fun, then you will train harder for it and find people to share it with. Adrian states that the Leadville 100 was a life-changing moment for him and has opened up opportunities for him to meet new people and given him confidence. He finishes up the conversation by saying that Leadville really does change your life and feels like family. You can find Adrian racing in Australia in mid-December and potentially the UTMB next summer!