Episode 75: Hard Things Are Worth Doing with Justin Smith

Episode 75: Hard Things Are Worth Doing with Justin Smith

Episode Description What happens in the dark hours before sunrise on day two, when your body starts asking what exactly you are doing out here? Justin Smith teaches high school in Santa Cruz, California, where his classroom is a working bike shop. By day he runs a Career Tech Ed program through Project Bike Tech, teaching teenagers to fix bikes, build resumes, and solve real problems with their own hands. On his own time, he is an ultra-endurance athlete who has finished the 2,700-mile Tour Divide from Banff, Canada to the Mexico border in 16 days straight, raced the Fiji Eco-Challenge with Team Curl, competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, and returned three times to a 60-hour swimrun across the Swedish archipelago. In this conversation, Justin takes Josh inside the pain cave and the mental game of multi-day racing: the dark hours before sunrise on day two, the difference between the front country and the back country, and why the body only truly comes alive on the second night. He explains how a psychology degree and Outward Bound canoe trips led to a life built around adventure, why he and his wife once lived in a tiny house they built on television, and how putting himself in hard situations makes him a better dad, husband, and teacher. They also talk about the people. From trail angels on the Pacific Crest Trail to a septic-truck driver in Southern California, Justin keeps returning to the connections that outlast the miles. Most of all, this is a story about a simple idea he repeats to his students and his daughter: a ship is safe in its harbor, but that is not what ships were built for, and the more you do hard things, the more you realize hard things are worth doing. Episode Highlights • 00:00 Meet Justin Smith: high school teacher by day, ultra-endurance adventurer on his own time • 02:00 The bike shop classroom and the Project Bike Tech program in Santa Cruz • 08:00 Building a tiny house on the TV show Tiny House Nation • 14:00 The permission slip to not conform, and choosing the hard path on purpose • 16:00 Comfort is what gets sold to us, but hard things are what move the needle • 19:00 Meeting Roy Malone at the 2019 Fiji Eco-Challenge with Team Curl • 20:00 The One Water swimrun across the Swedish archipelago, attempted three times • 26:00 The Stagecoach 400 and sleeping on McDonald's cardboard with no sleeping bag • 31:00 Courtney Dauwalter's pain cave, and learning to redecorate it instead of fighting it • 38:00 Finishing the 2,700-mile Tour Divide in 16 days, from Banff to the Mexico border • 43:00 The Pacific Crest Trail, meeting his wife, and hiking through grief in 2009 • 55:00 Orienteering, gut instinct, and trusting intuition when the map runs out • 01:04:00 A ship is safe in its harbor, but that is not what ships are built for • 01:12:00 The mantra: if you can't get out of it, get into it, and find a way About Justin Smith Justin Smith is a high school Career Tech Ed teacher in Santa Cruz, California, where he leads a bike shop program through Project Bike Tech, and a lifelong endurance athlete and adventurer. A former NCAA swimmer, he has finished the Tour Divide, raced the Fiji Eco-Challenge and multiple expedition-style adventure races, competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, and thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. He lives in Santa Cruz with his wife and daughter, with whom he shares most of his adventures. Connect with Justin Smith • Facebook: www.facebook.com/smilingjustin • Inspire Out: www.instagram.com/inspireout/ [https://www.instagram.com/inspireout/] Connect with the On Adventure Podcast Hosted by Josh Self, financial advisor and everyday explorer. • Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major streaming platforms • Follow on Instagram for short-form clips and behind-the-scenes content • Connect on Facebook: On Adventure Podcast with Josh Self • Connect on LinkedIn: Josh Self • If this episode resonated with you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Episode 74: Carrying a Language Home with Gil Jackson

Episode 74: Carrying a Language Home with Gil Jackson Episode Description What does it mean to be so connected to a place that even your name carries it? Gil Jackson, known by the Cherokee name Dohi, meaning outside or outdoors, was born in Robbinsville, North Carolina in 1951 and today lives on 30 acres just 200 yards from the spot where he came into the world. He is a fluent Cherokee speaker, one of roughly 130 left, an elder of the Snowbird community, and an educator who has taught at Stanford, UNC Asheville, and Duke. In 2014, he thru-hiked all 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail, walking in part to honor his ancestors on the Trail of Tears. In this conversation, Gil takes Josh inside a tight-knit upbringing built on Gadugi, the Cherokee construct of community, where neighbors came together to cut wood, harvest crops, and care for anyone in need. He explains why family kept him rooted in Western North Carolina even when opportunity called him elsewhere, how a community school preserved the language while the wider world pushed assimilation, and why Cherokee is considered one of the ten hardest languages in the world. They also talk about why Gil keeps walking. From a 48-mile day in the Great Smoky Mountains to the ladder-strewn West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, his adventures are less about conquering anything and more about seeing the creator's creation. Most of all, this is a story about a race against time: preserving a language, the knowledge of medicinal plants, and the sacred sites that risk being lost before the next generation can carry them forward. Episode Highlights • 00:00 A name that means outdoors, and a home built 200 yards from where he was born • 02:00 The Cherokee tradition of burying the umbilical cord to connect a child to the land • 05:00 Why family kept him rooted in Western North Carolina despite chances to leave • 06:00 Growing up in 1950s Snowbird: one gravel road, one light bulb per room, no TV • 08:00 Gadugi explained: the community coming together to help in times of need • 13:00 An aunt's middle-class home, new clothes, and the family that raised him • 21:00 Selling moss for 25 cents a pound to buy a guitar he still owns • 22:00 A community school that taught English while protecting the Cherokee language • 24:00 Only about 130 fluent speakers left, and losing two and a half each month • 27:00 What makes Cherokee one of the ten hardest languages in the world • 29:00 Degrees in education, administration, and planning, and leading a language immersion school • 33:00 How Cherokee end-of-life traditions have changed over a lifetime • 35:00 Finding the therapeutic in streams, trees, and birdsong • 39:00 Why he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2014 to honor the Trail of Tears • 43:00 The brutal West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, with 100 ladders and 10 hours for six miles • 45:00 A tense night cooking near foraging bears in Virginia • 46:00 A trail family of five speaking four languages, all wanting to learn Cherokee • 53:00 Losing the knowledge of edible and medicinal plants, and the sacred sites that hold the stories • 57:00 Rapid-fire: Gvgeyu (I love you), favorite sunrises, beloved teachers, and the White Mountains About Gil Jackson Gil Jackson (Dohi) is a fluent Cherokee speaker, elder of the Snowbird community in Robbinsville, North Carolina, and a lifelong educator who has taught at Stanford, UNC Asheville, and Duke and served as principal of a Cherokee language immersion school. He remains committed to preserving the Cherokee language, traditional plant knowledge, and the region's sacred sites, and is an avid long-distance hiker who thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2014. Connect with the On Adventure Podcast Hosted by Josh Self, financial advisor and everyday explorer. • Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major streaming platforms • Follow on Instagram for short-form clips and behind-the-scenes content • Connect on Facebook: On Adventure Podcast with Josh Self • Connect on LinkedIn: Josh Self • If this episode resonated with you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it

Episode 73: Running is Life with Aaron Saft

ON ADVENTURE PODCAST | EPISODE 73 Episode 73: Running is Life with Aaron Saft As a species, we only do things if there is truly a reward on the other side. So when the reward is pain, struggle, suffering, and danger, what exactly keeps driving us back out the door? Aaron Saft has spent his life chasing that answer. A five-time ACC champion at NC State whose teams finished third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, he traded the track for the trail, ran his first 100-miler in 2016, and has since become one of the most experienced ultrarunners in the Southeast. Today he coaches roughly 75 athletes full-time through his Running Is Life platform and podcast, a business he deliberately renamed from "MR Running Pains" because he believes running, done right, should bring as much joy as it does suffering. His résumé reads like a bucket list for the sport: the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, the Bigfoot 200, Hardrock, Leadville, UTMB, and the Tor des Géants in the Italian Alps, where a fall, a head injury, and a watchful medic ended his race. He has finished a 100-miler while spiking a 100-degree fever, outrun a mother grizzly and her cubs in Canada, and learned the hard way when to push and when to stop. But ask Aaron why he does it and he won't point to a trophy. He'll point to the upside-down photo of his family pinned to his quad, the one he looks down at in the darkest miles to remember who he is suffering for. In this conversation, Josh and Aaron trace the many forms the "why" can take. They dig into presence, learning to run a hundred miles one mile at a time, and the moment an empty drop bag at Leadville taught Aaron everything he needed to know about the generosity of the trail community. They talk about the one question you never ask an ultrarunner, the evolution from chasing a place to simply chasing the finish line, why legacy is something children catch rather than something we teach, and how an abundance mindset shaped the coaching practice he built from the ground up. It is a conversation for every everyday explorer about doing the hard things that make life fuller, right now, not someday. Episode Highlights • 06:00 The Terry Foxworth connection and the heart of On Adventure: the reward beneath the suffering • 15:00 Running Is Life: why words matter and reframing the sport away from pain • 19:00 From reluctant soccer goalie to cross country, and the high school coach who changed his life • 24:00 The NC State years: five ACC titles, redshirting, and racing the steeplechase • 28:00 Virginia, mentor Ben Thomas, the run shop, and the move into trail running • 33:00 First 50K to first 100: the long adventure runs that planted the seed • 37:00 What 100 and 200 miles teach you that a marathon never will: presence, mile by mile • 38:00 Finishing the Grand Slam and the Wasatch 100 with a 100-degree fever • 44:00 When to keep going and when to stop: the Tor des Géants head injury and a fevered DNF on Mount Mitchell • 52:00 Intrinsic motivation, the family photo on the quad, and the "debt" a race director taught him about • 55:00 The empty drop bag at Leadville and the generosity of the trail community • 59:00 "What do you need?" The only question you ask an ultrarunner • 01:01:00 Adventure versus performance, "level 49," and racing for the finish line instead of the place • 01:08:00 Legacy as something caught, not taught, and raising two runners of his own • 01:13:00 From brick-and-mortar to online coaching: 75 athletes, an abundance mindset, and a teaching heart • 01:25:00 Rapid fire: the grizzly bear, the Altra Lone Peak 9+, best and worst races, and five 100-milers in one summer Resources and Mentions from This Episode Here are the people, places, and resources Aaron mentioned in this episode: • Running Is Life [https://www.runningislife.run/], Aaron's coaching practice and podcast • Training for the Uphill Athlete, the team's recent book study and a foundational training manual • Races referenced: Grindstone 100, Mountain Masochist 50, Hellgate 100K, Western States, Leadville 100, Wasatch 100, Hardrock 100, UTMB, the Bigfoot 200, the Tor des Géants, the Cocodona 250, and the Ouray 100 • Gear note: the Altra Lone Peak 9+ with the Vibram outsole Free for Listeners: The Money Trail Guide Josh's free resource for everyday explorers is packed with practical insights on planning for any adventure, big or small, minimizing trail waste along the way (yes, that means taxes), and living with confidence toward whatever is most meaningful to you. It also includes key takeaways from recent On Adventure guests to help inspire your next steps. Grab your copy at ridgelinewealthadvisors.com [https://WWW.RIDGELINEWEALTHADVISORS.COM]. Connect with the On Adventure Podcast Hosted by Josh Self, financial advisor and everyday explorer. • Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major streaming platforms • Follow on Instagram for short-form clips and behind-the-scenes content • Connect on Facebook: On Adventure Podcast with Josh Self • Connect on LinkedIn: Josh Self • If this episode resonated with you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it

Episode 72: Risk in Every Form with Greg Winchester

ON ADVENTURE PODCAST | EPISODE 72 Episode 72: Risk in Every Form with Greg Winchester Episode Description What does it take to keep saying yes to risk, in the boardroom, on the trail, and across all seven continents, for forty years and counting? Greg Winchester calls himself an armchair explorer, but the title sells him short. Over a 40-plus-year career in commercial real estate, he has worked through the savings and loan crisis, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID, first as a banker, then as a co-owner, and today as an investor through his family office, Summit Investors. In 2003, he and two partners bought their company from its founders in a management buyout, personally guaranteeing the entire debt with 300 employees and no safety net. As Greg puts it, it was like walking to the end of the diving board and jumping, hoping there was water below. A lifelong Boy Scout who fell in love with the outdoors in the Roan Highlands of North Carolina, Greg went on to serve on the board of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and to build a life of generosity that reaches all seven continents, inspired by the book Seven Summits. From an orphanage in Bolivia to a pastors' training center in Uganda, a nearly thousand-year-old cathedral in Winchester, England, and Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave on South Georgia Island near Antarctica, he and his wife set out to support smaller, lesser-known nonprofits and build real relationships, not just write checks. In this conversation, Josh and Greg trace the many forms risk can take. They dig into why leverage is a two-edged sword, how diversification and dry powder let you run into the fire when others are running out, why your gut becomes a kind of superpower after twenty years in any arena, and how setting goals every year since his twenties shaped a life of purpose. Greg also shares the two questions a pair of mentors asked him in his mid-fifties, what is a noble cause you can get involved with, and what do you actually want to do, and why finishing well may be the greatest adventure of all. Episode Highlights 00:00 An armchair explorer who spent forty years navigating real estate's biggest crises 03:00 Stumbling into commercial real estate from a bank management trainee program 06:00 The 2003 management buyout: 300 employees and everything personally guaranteed 12:00 Jumping off the high dive and hoping there is water below 14:00 A lucky break, a termination fee, and the real mix of hard work and luck 17:00 Three things that get people in trouble: cycles, capital structure, and diversification 20:00 Running into the fire in 2008 and why leverage is a two-edged sword 23:00 The gut instinct you earn after twenty years in any arena 25:00 Seven Summits and a vision to serve nonprofits on all seven continents 29:00 Winchester Cathedral, a 950-year-old Bible, and Shackleton's grave near Antarctica 38:00 What rises to the top: relationships, faith, family, and friends 40:00 A Boy Scout in the Roan Highlands and a lifelong love of the trail 46:00 Moving toward something, not away, and setting goals every year since his twenties 50:00 Finishing well and the two questions that reshaped Greg's second act Causes and Organizations Greg Supports Here are the people and organizations Greg mentioned in this episode: • Summit Investors, his family office investing in real estate across the Sun Belt • Auburn University Master of Real Estate Development program, where he serves as an adjunct and industry connector • The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, where he served on the board • The South Georgia Heritage Trust, stewards of the historic church and museum on South Georgia Island • The National Christian Foundation, which helped guide his international giving Free for Listeners: The Money Trail Guide Josh's free resource for everyday explorers is packed with practical insights on planning for any adventure, big or small, minimizing trail waste along the way (yes, that means taxes), and living with confidence toward whatever is most meaningful to you. It also includes key takeaways from recent On Adventure guests to help inspire your next steps. Grab your copy at ridgelinewealthadvisors.com [https://ridgelinewealthadvisors.com]. Connect with the On Adventure Podcast Hosted by Josh Self, financial advisor and everyday explorer. • Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major streaming platforms • Follow on Instagram for short-form clips and behind-the-scenes content • Connect on Facebook: On Adventure Podcast with Josh Self • Connect on LinkedIn: Josh Self • If this episode resonated with you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it

Episode 71: Solo Female Travel, Real Risk, and the Belonging We All Crave with Amanda Black

ON ADVENTURE PODCAST | EPISODE 71 Episode 71: Solo Female Travel, Real Risk, and the Belonging We All Crave with Amanda Black Episode Description What does it actually take to step on a plane alone, head somewhere most people would call risky, and come home a different woman? Amanda Black is the founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network, a community of more than half a million women that started as a small Facebook group during her expat years in Australia. Ten years and roughly thirty tours a year later, she leads women into places the average traveler tends to avoid: Egypt, Morocco, India, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and beyond. Bali was the first trip. Seventeen women signed up. Nine of them ended up with the company logo tattooed by the end of it. We talk about why she leans into destinations perceived as less safe, what real risk actually looks like versus the version we imagine, and why she pushes back on the idea that travel is simply safe or unsafe. Risk, she argues, is a spectrum and a muscle, and most women have a lot more capacity to build it than they have been told. We also get into the quieter side of all this. The cobblestone cafe in Sighișoara, Romania, where women who had known each other only a few days started telling the truth about how lonely life back home really feels. The Golden Eagle Festival in Mongolia, where she felt like she had walked into a movie set with no electricity. The unexpected pattern she keeps noticing across every trip, every country, every group: people are not really upset about the hotel room. They want to belong. Amanda also shares why she launched Kindred Community, a smaller, slower offering built around connection retreats in Southern California, and what almost a decade of leading women into the wild has taught her about courage, capability, and the kind of friendships that get a logo tattooed on someone's wrist. Episode Highlights 00:00 Welcoming Amanda Black, founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network 01:00 Building a community of 500,000+ women and running tours in 25 countries 03:00 Why she leans into destinations perceived as less safe: Egypt, Morocco, India, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan 05:00 How strangers become a travel family inside the first 48 hours of a trip 08:00 From a Facebook group in Australia to a first Bali trip where 9 of 17 women got the company logo tattooed 12:00 Talking honestly with women about safety, fear, and the gray areas of real risk 15:00 Risk on a spectrum: why "safe or unsafe" is the wrong question, and how to build the muscle over time 17:00 Mongolia and the Golden Eagle Festival: stepping into a place that felt like going back in time 20:00 What solo travel reveals about how strong and capable women really are 22:00 The hidden business lesson behind a decade of tours: everybody just wants to belong 24:00 A cobblestone cafe in Sighișoara, Romania, and the loneliness that surfaces when women finally feel safe to share 27:00 Kindred Community and the next chapter: building belonging closer to home Connect with Amanda Black Bonus for Listeners (Free Travel Quiz): https://thesolofemaletravelernetwork.com/where-should-i-travel-next-quiz/ [https://thesolofemaletravelernetwork.com/where-should-i-travel-next-quiz/] The Solo Female Traveler Network Website: thesolofemaletravelernetwork.com [https://thesolofemaletravelernetwork.com/] Instagram: @solofemaletravel [https://www.instagram.com/solofemaletravel/] TikTok: @sofetravel [https://www.tiktok.com/@sofetravel] YouTube: @sofetravel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtl3Kr_pzDbYlV0XZveCq3Q] Amanda's TEDx Talk Shared Firsts: Redesigning how we find belonging youtube.com/watch?v=xSaVJH2b5H0 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSaVJH2b5H0] Amanda's Website meetamandablack.com [https://meetamandablack.com/] Kindred Community Website: kindredcommunity.co [https://kindredcommunity.co/] Instagram: @kindred.sd [https://www.instagram.com/kindred.sd/] Connect with the On Adventure Podcast Hosted by Josh Self, financial advisor and everyday explorer. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major streaming platforms Follow on Instagram for short-form clips and behind-the-scenes content Connect on Facebook: On Adventure Podcast with Josh Self Connect on LinkedIn: Josh Self If this episode resonated with you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it.