D3: Can you tell us a little bit about your sports background? Which sports did you do as a kid and as you got older?

SB: I played youth soccer and little league baseball growing up, but by the time I got to junior high, I was all about running. I ran cross country in junior high and continued with track and cross country in high school. I also increased my skiing quite a bit when I moved to Colorado for school.

D3: What is your current job and what do you do?

SB: Officially, I am the Campaign Finance Manager for the Colorado Secretary of State. Right now, it pays the bills, but it is only temporary. Ultimately, I am hoping to continue developing and expanding on some post-expedition projects and create an international, education-based non-profit that will keep me out of the office and exploring the world permanently.

D3: When and where was your first race?

SB: My first non-school related race was the Bay to Breakers way back in 1993. It's a great race; it's like the Bolder Boulder on crack.

D3: You and a friend spent 2 and 1/2 years traveling around the world by car a few years back and were up for Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic Adventure Magazine. While it must have been amazing, what did you do to stay in shape?

SB: We were always doing something active on the expedition. Whether it was surfing in Australia, climbing one of the most active volcanoes in the world in Indonesia in the dark to try and catch a summit sunrise, mountain biking the infamous "Death Road" in Bolivia, or rock climbing pretty much everywhere we got the chance, we were active. You also end up walking quite a bit. With big trucks, you usually end up parking them in a secure location and then walking everywhere—walking to find a place to stay, walking to get food. I probably walked an average of 5 miles a day exploring places we were in. At least that is what it felt like.

D3: You recently raced a 50k trail run, what got you into the ultrarunning scene and how do you balance the needs of ultrarunning with triathlon?

SB: I love triathlons, but I am a runner at heart, and I never delved into the long distances until I heard about an Ultramarathon in South Africa called the Comrades. It is an 87-kilometer race outside Durban, and in 2008 nearly 13,000 people started with just over 10,000 finishing it. It sounded amazing, and I knew I wanted to come back and do it someday. When I came back to the states, I started running and running and running. The hardest part of ultrarunning is balancing the need to get training time in without overdoing it and getting hurt. Therefore, Curt has me continuing to train frequently on the bike and in the pool to give my legs a break every now and then and to aid in recovery from long weekend runs.

D3: What is your favorite race and why?

SB: The Bolder Boulder is always a great time. I can go and push myself hard but show up with a group of friends who are just jogging, and we can meet at the end and celebrate. For triathlons, hands down Roth is the best. It's a great race, and a great atmosphere. The people are amazing, the course is fast, and the competition will humble you. I got passed by a guy on a bike that must have weighed 30 pounds and outsprinted by another guy who I later saw smoking cigarettes and drinking beer post-race.

D3: What are your long-term goals for endurance races?

SB: To test my own limits. Triathlon is a mental and physical sport, and ultrarunning is no different, maybe even more so from a mental standpoint because you start to get into variables such as extreme exhaustion in 24+ hour races. I would like to see just how far I can push myself. I guess that is one of my personality traits—if someone tells me they think what I am doing is crazy or can't be done, it just pushes me to want to do it even more. A lot of people thought driving around the world was crazy or that we would fail, but we proved them wrong. A lot of people can't fathom running an ultramarathon and think I am insane, but just as soon as I finish one, I can't wait to attempt another.

D3: If you could spend a day training with anyone, who would it be?

SB: I would like to go see if I can hang on a run with the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico.

D3: What's on your schedule for the rest of 2010?

SB: Leadville Marathon, Vail Half Marathon, Leadville Trail 100, and possibly Harvest Moon Triathlon or Boulder Backroads Marathon.

D3: What's your favorite workout?

SB: Hill repeats. Nothing makes your legs and lungs burn like repetitive 3-minute sprints up a steep hill, and the fitness boost is amazing.

D3: What's your least favorite workout?

SB: Anything on the track. There is something about running around in circles that I never liked. You spend hours running but never go anywhere. I'd rather be out on the trail enjoying the scenery.

Big thanks to Steve for answering our questions.

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