The Questions That Matter More

The Story Behind The Accomplishment

Endurance sports love numbers. Miles. Pace. Vert. Finish times. Podiums. PRs.

They’re easy to measure, easy to post and very easy to turn into the entire identity of the person who accomplished them.

But what if those aren’t the most interesting questions?

As Evan Birch and I looked back at Season 2 of Enduring Minds, one comment kept resurfacing.

Marshall Ulrich told us, “You guys don’t ask the first question. You ask the second question.”

That stuck.

Ask somebody who climbed Everest what it was like and you’ll probably get a great story. Ask how their family responded to the decision to climb Everest and suddenly you’re somewhere else entirely.

That’s where we want Enduring Minds to live.

ADVERTISEMENT

More Than Miles

I said during this episode that I don’t really care about somebody’s pace or how far they went.

That’s probably an odd thing for the guy behind an endurance sports media company to admit.

But I don’t.

I Want To Know Why

I want to know why you did it.

What changed because you did it? Who were you before? Who were you afterward?

Those questions led Season 2 into conversations about vulnerability, shame, identity, relationships and community. They also created relationships that didn’t disappear when we clicked “stop recording.”

Guests became friends. Friends introduced us to other people. Conversations continued offline. That’s the kind of community you can’t manufacture with a marketing campaign.

Welcome To Season 3

That brings us here.

Season 3 isn’t about finding people with increasingly ridiculous athletic résumés. We’ll talk with people who have set world records and people who proudly represent the everyday athlete.

The common denominator is the human being.

Evan described it perfectly near the end of this episode: this is a place where you get to be you. You don’t have to be the thing you’ve accomplished or the thing you’re chasing next.

We’ll still talk about running. We’ll still talk about endurance.

But we’re going to keep asking the second question. Because that’s usually where the good shit starts.

Listen On Apple Podcasts

Listen On Spotify

ADVERTISEMENT