V for Victor-y! Victor Ballesteros Drops In To Chat About His Company Victory Sportdesign and Their Amazing Bespoke Ultra Running Drop Bags!

If you haven't had a moment to do so yet , please consider heading over to your favorite podcast app hit , follow , rate the show and , if you're getting something of value , leave a review and let others know . My name is Richard Gleave . I've been running ultras since 2017 .

I've taken on and finished at numerous distances now all the way up through 220 miles , and I am unashamedly a member of the back of the pack , just like many of you . Now , on today's episode , we are really thrilled to have Mr Victor Ballesteros join us .

Victor is the founder of Victory Sports Design , a boutique company well-known for creating innovative and practical race gear specific to ultra running , and we'll definitely get into that here in a minute .

But he's also race director for the Tomalpa Headlands 50k out in the Bay Area and on the side has become something of a renowned aid station announcer at the prestigious Western States 100 race . As well as being a business owner and race director .

Victor is also a pretty accomplished ultra runner in his own right and has a wealth of experience to draw on over many years of racing , including a notable second place finish at the inaugural Tahoe 200 back in 2014 and a 12th place finish at Western States in 2009 .

So today we're going to dive into Victor's journey , his contributions to the ultra running community and hopefully get some of the insights he's gained along the way . Stay with us . We're going to be right back , discover raw , inspiring stories from runners who've been right where you are .

This is the Choose to Endure Ultra Running Podcast with your host he's English , not Australian Richard Gleave . Mr Victor , thank you so much for taking a short break from your variety of interests and joining us on the show here . How are you doing , sir ?

I mean my mom too , but my dad was a bit of an adventurer and there was no valley too far to go down into or a mountain too high to climb , and sometimes he would bring me on excursions that a parent shouldn't be bringing their seven-year-old on .

But yeah , I started running in high school and while I was in college I went to school for art , so there really wasn't much of an athletic program at the school that I was going to . But I ran , I did 5Ks , 10ks , road stuff , but nothing really to note . It was for me it was something that I loved doing . Then I stumbled upon the Dipsy .

So the Dipsy Trail here in Marin County and the iconic race . If some of you know it or if you don't know it , it's the second oldest foot race , second to Boston .

It has its own unique story but , in a nutshell , I wanted to run the race and I just discovered that that was probably one of the most beautiful trails that I think I've ever been on and I've been on a lot of trails .

But that trail starts in small little town called Mill Valley and goes up and over the South slope of uh , our our favorite mountain here , mount Tamalpais and uh , and drops down to the beach Stinson beach and it's a 6.6.8, . But you take shortcuts , they have handicaps and it's a mad rush because they handicap it by gender and age .

You have older women , younger women , younger boys , older men start ahead of the youngsters , the 1920s to 1930s , both men and women , and so you have to really pass hundreds and hundreds of people to even get close to to the front of the pack . That race .

I eventually discovered that there was a double dipsy and I used to never , ever , imagine that I would want to run more than like a 10K . To me it just seemed like , hey , that's good enough the more time on my feet . It just wasn't at that time . It wasn't for me .

But because I loved the single dipsy so much , I thought you know what , I wouldn't mind going one direction and then turning around and coming back the other direction .

All right , yeah , and I surprised myself by doing pretty good and I thought , wow , I actually have some sort of a propensity for longer distance and more rugged , not flat running , but hills and downhills and technical running .

So then I discovered there was the quad dipsy and I thought , wow , okay , so we go to the beach , we go back to Mill Valley , back to the beach and back to Mill Valley . Shortest , probably the shortest and hardest ultra , the shortest , hardest ultra , not the hardest ultra , but the shortest , that is hardest 28.2 , 28.2 miles or something like that .

And , uh , I did really well . I mean , I really thought like , oh my God , what just happened ? I was , you know , I was second . Oh , wow , well done . And and it was my first ultra , and I , you know , I really had no idea what I was doing , and this was before we really had , like you could look up blogs and things like this was 2006 .

My wife describes it as like a hamster for drinking , but it's like I took a water bottle and I took like a little fanny pack and I flipped the bottle around and I put I absconded her , she had a gosh , what was the name of the company back in the day that did the bladders and so ? But anyway , I took the hose like a camelback or something .

Yes , camelback and I devised something so that I could just take the hose , drink and then put it back in the belt , because I I still I felt like , why do I have to carry something in my hands ? It just sounds so uncomfortable . So that was my first foray into taking something for running and creating it to fit what I needed .

But from that point on I just thought , wow , this is cool , I can do this , I can really get into this . And you know , and it definitely helped that , there was that motivation of , oh , if I do this or I do that in my training , I could probably be better . And you know , it just was . That was really the beginning of the beginning of the end .

And I wouldn't have done that had I not run into a fellow runner who's passed away , is no longer with us but he asked if I was going to run the race and I said no , I . And he says well , I can't and I can give you my bib . I talked to the race director and she says I can give my bib to whoever I want , as long as you let her know .

And so I thought , okay , yeah , sure , I'll do that race . And it went great . I mean , I , I , I did , I did really well and I was really proud of my finish there . And then I thought , well , there's the American River , 50-miler . I hadn't done that 50-miler and I thought , okay , I'll do that .

It's great training , because I signed up for Miwok 100K and Miwok 100K was going to be my first 100K . So after American River , again , I was pretty , pretty happy , pretty satisfied with my finish there yeah and then miwok came and the day of the race was this massive , massive storm here in marin , and uh , it was so .

It was so intense that you run along a ridge that overlooks the ocean and the wind was literally blowing the rain straight up . So I had rain coming straight up my face , but again , it did really well there and and and earned a ticket . And I have to say that back then you know it may sound like , oh my God , you're so fast or you were whatever .

People got really fast . Now I mean , you know I , there's no way I could at that age compete with the same people now , which is really amazing . Love it .

I love seeing how the competitive fields have just flourished and honestly , I even think that , like for for folks who maybe were like middle and back of the packers then as well , I think that just with with the , the training methods that we have available to us now , the , the gear that we have available to us now , I think that everybody has actually kind of

upped the ante for their own , their own performances and and and how it benefits them . But but , yeah , I got into western states and never , never , knew what it was going to be like past 62 miles . Yeah , it looks like that was your first hundred too , so that was my first hundred . What ?

I've been an actor and a performer and to me it was very much like preparing for a part in a play . You learn all your lines and you're blocking your songs . If it's a musical , yeah , but then the moment the show starts , you kind of don't think about it and you just step right out on stage and you just do it .

And I always felt like running in an event was very much like that . You kind of you have some , you have some nerves going right beforehand , you have some nerves , but then once you step out on the stage , it's like , okay , well , here we go .

I think it's absolutely fantastic the products you offer . So how did Victory Sports Design come about ? When did that whole idea germinate with you and what really inspired you to go to go start the company ?

He passed away about five years ago but , yeah , he was an architectural engineer and so I was always around that sort of atmosphere of building something , designing something , finding out what works , what doesn't work , and so it was Western States that was the catalyst for Victory Sport Design .

I have a really good friend , mark Gilligan , who is the mastermind of Ultra Sign Up . Who is he was ? He is the mastermind of ultra sign up and he's passed that torch along to to others and he was going to pace me and crew with my wife , jenna , and again I discovered oh , I need drop bags . Yeah , what is that ?

So he gave me these little duffel bags and I threw the things that I thought I was going to need . And there was a number of times when I would get to that spot and I would open it up and I was like , oh my God , like I can't , where was that ? Where was those glasses ? Where was that ? You know , the gloves , where was the light ?

I don't , I can't find anything . And so so when it was said and done , I thought , wow , there's got to be something better than that . I mean , I looked around , I thought , okay , well then , maybe I should just go buy a drop bag .

So when I was in college I took an industrial design class . My main major the whole way through was fine art . But I did this design . I changed my major to design because my dad was afraid that if I was an artist that I would starve .

And I went back to fine art , yeah , which my dad was OK with , At least you know he felt like hey , at least you try . Yeah , at least you try . But when I was doing that , I designed a bag for my art supplies and that was my project and I ended up thinking , well , that's a great idea , but I don't have time to really do anything with it .

So I made a very cheap patent where you just you do the patent form and you put it in a you mail to yourself and then you put it away in a safe deposit box and that's like a fair , cheap patent . And my dad even did the schematics for me and it just sat and sat and sat and sat and I did nothing with it .

And then after States I thought , oh , there's that bag I made way back when . So I pulled it out and fortunately my wife my wife Jenna's dad he has some connections with factories overseas . So Just in conversation I said , yeah , I have this idea . It would be awesome if I could get a prototype .

He said I can do that , I can send it off and they'll make you a little prototype . It was nothing other than just for myself . I used it for a good number of events . People started to see it and would ask what is that ? Where did you get that ? I told them I made this . It was just an idea I had would ask like , what is that ?

Where'd you get that ?

And I did tell him I made this and it was just something I an idea I had , and eventually I got to the point where I thought , wow , this is actually something that people would really use and if I don't do something , I'm going to kick myself for for not , and because I I feel like I'm going to see somebody else somewhere down the road .

Yeah , do this , and so so , yeah . So I took a huge , huge leap of faith because again I I describe myself as more as an artist .

I would never stand and say my business senses are the greatest , or , fortunately , again , I surrounded myself with people who were able to help me take this idea and go forward with it , and that was 2012 and it's been a very fun adventure since then .

And the funny thing behind that , too I used to hate my name , and I was maybe about five or six , probably six , and I told my mom how much I hated my name , and she said why it just sounds like a weird Victor , like why can't I be Billy or John or Matt ? Nobody else is Victor .

And she said you know , do you realize , though , that Victor stands for victorious victory , a conqueror ? Ooh , I like it . I'm sorry , that's actually I . I , I had a little verklempt moment there , because I'm thinking back about that moment when my mom like made me realize , like , oh , oh , okay , I can , I can go with that . Yeah , that's cool .

So that was it Victory sport design the victory bags .

Yeah , exactly , exactly now . So , victor , maybe you can walk us through quickly . Like what are ? What products do you have out there from a , from a drop bag perspective , at this point ? Because there's a , there's a couple of different varieties , different sizes , you know , and ? And why would we get have one rather than the other ?

What's , what's the difference between them ?

Because sometimes there's a specification like we don't want you to bring anything that's bigger than six by eight by you know whatever , 12 . Yeah , size of a shoe box . Yeah , anything more , we don't want that , don't bring that . And so that's where I started and I said , okay , let me make it those dimensions .

Let me think about how I want to have , like , do I want water bottles here I mean insulated water bottle holders . How do I want to ? So I began to make a modular unit and obviously , if you're going to start a business , you can't just have one thing .

So then I thought , well , if I had something that was going to be half the size , that might be useful . If I was going to have something smaller , but I could change it so that it could become bigger , that could be useful . So then I just started to design different functionalities to the different bags .

If you didn't want a big bag , you could have a smaller bag . If you wanted a bigger bag , then you had that option . And then eventually I had enough people say I love this bag , I wish it were bigger .

And I fought against that for a long time because I would tell them you don't want bigger , because the bigger you go , the more stuff you're going to put in there Right and when you're at an event . You don't need all that stuff .

But sometimes if you start to look at , well , what do I really need , you start to realize , oh , actually I can go with something smaller , more compact , and I can , I can find everything much quicker and easier in something that's more manageable .

But I did acquiesce to the the request for a bigger bag . So I made two bigger bags called the Kodiak and the Grizzly , which are more like packs . Actually , I use the Grizzly to either go out to the backcountry , go up to Shasta and backpack , and my wife uses the Kodiak . It's a little bit more manageable but it's TSA approved .

Kodiak , it's a little bit more manageable but it's a . You know it's TSA approved , but it's just right there where it's a good , solid travel pack that you know can keep everything organized as well .

And it's interesting because that's been a trend in the last I want to say six , seven years of people , manufacturers , trying to make bags that do the exact same thing , and so there's really . So if you look out there , you'll find all kinds of different bags now , but back then there was nothing .

So it's cool to be able to have done something that maybe you can consider like , oh , you were the first person to do that and honestly , there were a lot of people who thought it was a terrible idea .

There were people and there's still people who go well , you know what , I don't need to spend the money on that , because I'll just bring my Ziploc bag and that's all , and that's great . I actually feel like if that's all you need , then perfect . You know , sometimes people are surprised that I don't try to sell them on the idea .

I just feel like , oh , you know what , whatever is going to work for you , is going to work for you . And yet sometimes I find people who say you know what , I'm fine with my little duffel bag , duffel bag .

before the race and he he had no drop bags and nothing . He went to I think it was a dollar general and he bought pillowcases and he used pillowcases . He just shoved some stuff in a pillowcase and went and dropped it and he still came forth . So I mean , yeah , you can do that kind of thing .

But I think there's so many people now coming into the sport it's having such a boom and there's a lot of us towards the back of the pack we're going to be out there quite a bit longer and a lot of people like me , and this is why I love the products that you have too .

I'm an organizer , so I like to have things in specific spots so that I know exactly where to go to get what I need and I'm not faffing around in the dark with losing a headlamp and trying to dig around underneath stuff . So I absolutely loved the modular aspect of these bags and I think that speaks to a lot of people too .

So and I've looked around , I looked for drop bags you can get some really cheap kind of waterproof stuff just just kind of the , the sacks and and those kind of work .

But again , it's just all your stuff shoved in one in one place and it's it's really difficult , especially when it's late at night or you're into your second or third day , or more in some cases , and your head isn't working properly .

It's super cool to have organized modular stuff , even better if you can stick a label on it and you can read oh , this is , you know , medical stuff right here , or food right here , or day three , this section , you know whatever .

Yeah , I think that's tremendous and that's really why I I love this and hopefully , uh , I know a lot of people out there have the bags , as we were talking before , you know , before we came on air , and I'm sure a lot more will go by them in the future .

But I think these are fantastic and they're totally different to anything else I've been able to find . It's hard still to find spot-on drop bags out there somebody selling drop bags specifically . So I I love the product and I think it's great and um it also I mean for for the crews too .

Yeah , I got to go , and so it's like you know , and even if they're not , like you know , I'm in fourth place or fifth place , even if they come in and they're like , oh , my God , that was the roughest section , I feel like hell , I'm angry , and you know , and you're basically yelling at your crew yeah , so the last thing you want is the crew to you know

like , okay , so just give me my bottle , and you're like , looking Right , exactly , it's like oh , here it is , and so it helps in that in those situations as well .

But same for mid and back of the pack , particularly in our case , if we're chasing cutoffs , definitely there are times when you need to be in and out of an aid station pretty quickly and so , again , just the same kind of thing the ability to be able to find stuff , shove it in a pack and go with your 20 seconds that you've got before they shut the aid

station . Right , you know again , I just think the whole organizational aspect and the modular aspect of it is really cool . I

love that . And I did want to ask too you know , as you've grown with the business it's been a few years now At this point do you have any new products or innovations that we can expect to see in bags or new types of bags ? Is there anything you're working on right now or excited about that ? You feel compelled to share .

You know , and I've been , you know , I've been taking care of her In that time . Of course , we had this thing called the pandemic , yeah , that sort of skewed , a lot of things that impacted the business , and then we also had some pretty negative issues with the tariffs that were put on export imports and that also put a big kick in our gut .

So that was a kick . And then the pandemic came , and so I actually like 2021 I think it was the summer . I thought to myself I don't know if we're gonna make it , because it's like this is , you know , yes , I always tell everybody it's just a bag .

You can put all your gear , be it snow gear , going to the beach gear , the diaper , baby diaper bag , your camera stuff . You know it really has been very specifically geared towards runners and you know what happened there was no races , there was no running , races , there was no running .

So I started to think that maybe I should think about a different path with the company , something different , instead of trying to continue doing what I've been doing . So , yeah , I have a I'll keep it pseudo secret . So I have a good friend who he's here in the bay area and he started making bags a while back .

Right when I met him I said , oh , that's awesome , I like that idea and I could use somebody close by who's making bags because I can design it . But I'm no stitcher , I don't , I don't sew . Yeah . So we got to a point where we were working together and we were developing a few things right before the pandemic happened .

So some of those things had to go on the shelf . And so now I'm thinking , he and I . So he started a company called Unolome and he does very boutique bags , extremely boutique bags , extremely boutique bags . But he and I were thinking like what if we took both of our things and put them together ?

And you know it would really broaden the , the type of bags that we could offer , and you know your experience with any kind of manufacturer and his experience with really having these really tight engineering skills , I just thought like this this would be great . I would love doing this as long as it , as long as it allows me to continue what I .

What I like to say is having fun going out to races and being a part of them and volunteering and seeing other people use something that , uh , that I put out there . That actually has you know it's . It's not something that's just going to you're going to throw away in like five years . That's that's the other thing .

I really worked myself into a corner because there are a lot of people who say , victor , I got your original bag and I'm still using it and there's no reason for me to get a new one . It's too good . And I'm like I'll say , hey , you know what ?

That's fine , that's okay , but yeah , so that's a little something that I'm really trying to put together and , as I said , right now life is trying to balance the two things the personal things in my life and the hopes to continue taking this creative thing that I've put out there and to see it still continue .

I talked a couple of episodes ago to the folks over at Path Projects , too , that make the apparel , and I think they're in Southern California . They're the same way .

They're like , hey , deliberately trying to make quality versus quantity and that's going to be part of our thing , like it's a quality product , we don't want it to break , so but yeah , I love that approach .

I can't just like say , hey , I'm doing this thing and and then I mean I , I do run into , you know , moments when somebody will say , oh hey , like my zipper , this happened , or there was a little rip , and of course it's like , okay , what do you need , we'll take care of it .

Yeah , but yeah , I , I just couldn't imagine putting something out that , you know , just didn't have quality , and still be out with these people saying hey , how's , your how's ? your running . So that was that was really important . I mean , it's always important . I think that's quality should always be important , no matter what what it is you're doing .

I think that's a great moniker for life Just be proud of what you're doing , put the effort in Make it quality and , whatever the outcome , at least you're proud of what you've got out there . So , again , I think the focus on quality is something I really like , something I really like .

That's why I wanted to talk to you and to other folks out there making quality products that are used daily in our ultra community . And the bags are just kind of new to me , but I'm like wow , like eyes wide open on this , because that's like my ideal thing .

So I'm coming to you for a bag or two , that's for sure , at some point , because he's like amazing folks , go look at the website .

And so there's still a lot of people who have never , ever seen the bags I'll go to . I was at a broken arrow a couple of weekends ago and there was a lot of people who would come up and I'd say , have you seen these bags before ? And they'd be all no , never .

So there's really only so much that we can sometimes do to kind of like really get the word out there . I know of one company that went all out a while back when they started . I'm not going to name names , but they went all out with advertising .

Like you couldn't turn anywhere if you were in a running store or a race without seeing , there they are , yeah . And then all of a sudden what happened ? They wouldn't , they put so much into that , but the return with the purchase of the products didn't match up .

So I was always like , okay , I didn't continue that business administration semester , but I have to really think about how big do I get ? If I get too much , then I could easily fall on my face , easily fall on my face .

So and it's funny that sometimes I'll get I'll get like an email from someone who thinks we're a major corporation and I just , oh hey , now it's me , victor , here . Let me answer your question . I'm the only one here , my wife Jenna . She could probably answer the question too , because she also works very closely with me .

So just the idea that I can actually email or call and get a live answer almost from you know , in your case , the individual running the company making the bags . I just I think that's wonderful and I love it . So I'm definitely encouraging everyone to go check out the site , see what bag you like .

And there was a young man who bought a bag from me years and years and years ago I say years and years , it hasn't been that long and he was going to do a race out here in Marin and I asked him oh , that's awesome , who was going to crew for you ? And he says nobody . Oh , who's going to pay ? Nobody , I don't have one . I said do you want one ?

Yeah , I think that would be helpful . Well then , do you want me to pay you ? Oh , come on , pay you . And it was amazing . I mean , it's like when I get to help other people , to me that is the most I don't know . I get so much out of that .

I personally get a lot out of it , especially seeing them succeed in whatever it is that they were , whatever distance it was . They were doing conversation and and he said this this is victor victor by his status and he owns the victory bags .

And if you buy a bag from him , not only will you get an awesome bag , but he'll come and he'll pace you at your rate . So you get a bag and you get a pacer what kind ?

So , and you know , again , as part of that , giving back , giving back and thinking about our community , have you always been involved in the Headlands 50K or did you take over race directing duties ?

It's had a few inconsistencies . There have been some years where it just wasn't picked up . It's put on by our local , one of our big local running clubs , the Tomalpa Runners . So I think there's always been a bit of an issue of holding onto somebody who is like I'm going to be the race director for this race until I just can't do it anymore .

So there was a little bit of a revolving door there , which is kind of weird because we consider it to be an old school classic .

So I still want to be in with this community , and so I , so I volunteer as much as I can like . As I said , I'll crew or I'll pace , and so my wife and I started doing one of the major aid station of the race .

We were the captains , and so we were doing that for a couple of years , and then this year they found themselves in a position where they needed a new director , and I had always thought at some point , I think that would be one of the best ways for me to give back . And I never knew what race it was going to be .

Would it be a race that I created , a race that already existed ? And so when this happened I thought , oh , perfect , that's it , this is going to be the race . But funny thing is I didn't even realize I was being interviewed .

For the part , I just had a friend tell me that they're looking for a new director , and if I wanted to jump on a Zoom call and talk to the different people who are trying to figure this out , the different people who are trying to figure this out . And by the second zoom call I thought , well , wait a minute , are you guys ? Are you guys interviewing me ?

It sounds like an interview , and I was . I was a little trepidatious . I thought , wow , oh man , I wanted to do it , I've wanted to always do it , but can I do it ? Yeah , that was just the first second . I only had that thought for a second . Then I thought like , yeah , yeah , yeah , I can do this . Wow , so it's been an interesting journey .

I've had a very short amount of time to put the race on , so I don't think I mean , usually you get a year . The day after the race is done , you start your planning for the next year . You have a nice stretch where you don't necessarily have to worry about everything every day . But I had about four months to to put it all together .

Yeah , so it's , yeah , but it's , but it's coming together . I mean , I definitely had some , some sleepless nights , but it's coming together that , I think , is the life of the race director

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Okay , it travels through an area that's part of the golden gate national recreation area , the marine headlands , your beach , up mount tam , down to stinson and back towards the mirror , the mirror beach area . It's got about 6 500 feet of gain . It's a it's it's . It's a challenging course but it's also a very beautiful course .

There's one specific area called Pirate's Cove and you come down into it . I mean it's like I've actually , with the design of like the shirts and the hats , I've sort of focused on that area as kind of like an iconic little image for the race , sort of a unique aspect , aspect , a standout thing . we're , we're , we're even we're even brewing our own beer .

We're gonna have a special get away ipa . It's uh , it's a rum infused . Ipa gonna be called the pirates cove rum runner get away . And we're just gonna do a small batch . It's gonna we're gonna have cans . We we're going to have image of we put something together that's going to be really , really cool . So that's just , and me walking into this event .

I have it's always been . I called it old school . There's always been a very old school vibe to it . It's been very low key . You know no big arches and you know , yes , they're starting to say , well , hey , you know sponsors , you know vendors , you guys can come down to the finish line so you can be a part of that .

You know we have our ultra villages and that's never really been a part of how the race has been done . So one of the things that I've been focused on is it's starting to introduce that kind of a , an atmosphere , more of like a little bit more , a little bit of a festival atmosphere , but still keep the , the roots together . But you know it's it's .

It's been an interesting , it's been an interesting journey . That's all I can say is it's been an interesting journey . That's all I can say is it's been an interesting journey . I look forward . I look a little bit more forward to next year because , again , it's going to be awesome . This year is going to be awesome . Nike Trail is our title sponsor .

It's going to be $10,000 purse for that's really good for , you know , the front runners . Yeah , but , we got some good . We got some good things for the mid Packers in the back of the Packers . I've actually have always as we sponsor races . One of the things that I noticed was it's , it's , it's nice to give , like , a bag as an award to the winners .

Yeah , but , and nothing against the winners Sometimes they'll get the bag and they'll go oh cool , thanks , and they'll just kind of put it to the side . But I noticed that if you wait for , like , the very last runner , you know who we affectionately call the DFLs . Yes , if they come in and I have a bag and I go , you know what . This is yours .

You earn this because you worked so hard . You work just as hard in in many different ways as all those people who finished however many hours ahead of you and are all dressed up and are just sitting there drinking a beer and their their face lights up like they may be exhausted , but they're like wait a minute , are you kidding me ? No , how , why ?

Yeah , it's like because you earned it , because you earned it . So that's a little thing that we've , we've , we've been doing for a while , and we decided to change it from the dfl award to the rising star award oh , I like it .

Anyone out there who's still looking for a 50 fun , 50k destination race , if you're out there in Texas , come out to California . The weather is great here right now .

I do think too , though , victor , it's a really interesting I don't know if it's a concept , but just this this sort of these old school races now , and really , you know , you might think of western states coming this way as well , but but like trying to balance that traditional old school race and the elements that made it awesome for so long with modern

advancements that we're seeing in ultra running yeah , you know , I think that's well . That's a tricky tightrope to walk because you want to keep the old school feel , but you may need to introduce in your case , some of the sponsors might be , you know , are there any other kind of modern advancements that you're looking to bring into this race ?

And sort of , how can you balance that with the traditional aspect of this race , because it's been going on so long ?

I'd bring my tent , my big sport design tent , do a little gorilla advertising , put it up so that people could have some shade , nice , and we'd just hang out . And that was it Hang out , cheer people on , tell anybody , hey , you want a crew under the tent with the shade , go for it .

And then there were a couple of friends who were announcing the runners as they came in . And about three years ago , four years ago , I was just hanging out with them and one of them had used the bathroom and so she said can you take the mic ? And and and again , I'm a performer , I sing in a band and I , I I've acted on stage .

Yeah , I , and I knew so many people who were coming through .

So the introduction of the live stream , I think , really was something that started to make a huge shift in how how these races , these older races , start to embrace modern you know anything . Be you know like let's have more sponsors here on site but let's have this live feed . So Michigan bluff used to always be kind of like the , the , the secret party .

Forest hill , which is about mile 62 was that was kind of the big sort of festival , semi-european feel . Just everybody was lying down the streets and it was just a big rush to get there . But I don't like crowds so I stayed away , I stayed in Michigan Bluff .

So we started using a Starlink so that we had a really good signal out there and I used to always have just my tent . But when I got there there was like three other tents and I thought , oh , that's interesting , like tents with sponsors' names on them and everything yeah . And I thought , oh okay , that's interesting .

And then we went into the area where we set up for our announcing table and there was like four Starlinks on the lawn and the woman who lives there , she came up and I said , wow , this is whose are these for ? She goes , well , they just dropped them off .

They said it was for the live stream , it was for the timing matters , for the television guys , and I thought , oh okay , that's interesting , we are evolving . And it was yeah , it was with the camera , guys and gals running around and following all the different runners .

And we watched the live feed and , honestly , they did a smashing job I mean really Really , and and it what it does , as is to be expected , it allows people who aren't going to be there to actually get a better feel of the race . Like they have the drones , you , you could see the runners coming up . It was . It was like a like watching tour de France .

It was like a very professional thing where you felt like , oh , wow , I'm , I'm kind of there . So that I think that shift is a very interesting one that will also bring in some of what you're saying the changes that well , yeah , how do we introduce more of sponsors or running stores who just set up on the course but still keep the .

You know the , the , the organization as it . You know that feeling of what it , what it's always been . It's like where does it start to transition ?

And suddenly you've got big , big events like Western States pulling in and the Mountain Outpost guys to do all the all the fantastic coverage , which is truly awesome , but I think it's going to be a really interesting time , as we progress over the next couple of years , where we figure out OK .

It's still , though , got to have the feel of being Western States old school race and other old school races too , without kind of overstepping that line , so I think it'll be interesting to see where that line eventually falls .

You get to see people at aid stations , you get to see the elite folks coming through and how they do their changes and what they look like as they're coming through and the tension is they're asking how far ahead they are from the next guy . And you see the next guy coming through the field , you know , and it just is brilliant TV .

I used to . I used to put my name in for a number of years and I had like I don't know , like 85 tickets or something , and then I never got pulled . And then a friend who had like three he's like they got pulled and I just said you know what ? It's okay , I enjoy . I enjoy hanging out at Michigan bluff .

To everyone who was out on Michigan Bluff I said okay , jim , some guy's coming . I think his name begins with a J , last name W . I don't know . I don't know who he is . He's a dark horse , but when he comes in I want everybody to hide and when he comes through , jump out and say , surprise , get away . No , but you know , I was just .

That's the thing I love to do there . I just like I , I just I have fun

and that's yeah . But but , yes , seeing seeing those , okay , actually here , this is it , the , the final call , the , the final cutoff at at michigan bluff that , to me , has always been , that's been , the most intense highlight . I mean seeing all those guys come through and whether they look awesome or don't look so great .

Sometimes , when you see one of the favorites come through and and they look like hell , and you go , ooh , okay , well , that's going to , that's going to be interesting .

But then , once you get to the middle of the pack and the back of the pack and you see those folks coming in and you know , and some of them , if they're struggling , you even sort of try to lift them up . I mean , I do when I'm on the mic and I'll just try to say , hey , everybody , let's give .

Let's give this runner like , all of our love , because they need it right now and they got to get through and they got to get to forest hill .

But when it's , uh , there's a horn , that's 20 minutes before the cutoff , 10 minutes , five minutes , and the the intensity just goes through the sky because we're telling the people there we're like your runner has to get past that point by this time .

Yeah , and and and if they're not here yet , just , you gotta be ready , you know , gotta be ready for them and and for , for , for me , for me at least , I feel like I want to see all those runners make it through and we'll get a report , we'll get a report .

Okay , there's five people who have gotten to the bottom Eldorado Creek , and they're coming up the hill to Michigan bluff and we're waiting and the anticipation is so intense , intense , and there's , actually there was .

There was a gal who came up and she said , can , can you not be so intense because one of the crew members is crying because their person isn't here yet ? And I was like , okay , I'm sorry . I said , I said , look , they're going to get here , it's going to be fun and even , and even if they don't make it , they're still amazing superheroes .

I mean that's the whole thing . It's like they've gotten this far and that's amazing . Like , don't despair because this is the end of their day . Just revel with them in the effort that they put forth and that's your celebration . You know , don't get stuck . I mean , yes , I get all . You know , like , here we go , here we go , um .

But but yeah , don't , don't think that just because they don't , they didn't achieve their goal , that it's all for nothing , so that that kind of changed that , that changed the atmosphere for the better , um , but yeah , watch .

And however far you go in the race is your day , and that's cool and I love that . I think it's fantastic . Yeah , yeah .

I know a few of the people who are going to be running , but I don't really pay attention to that . I spend more time really getting into , yeah , the middle of the race and the end of the race , especially the end of the race .

You know , I would encourage anybody , whether you're a runner or not a runner , whoever you are , go and spend some time at the finish line of an ultra running race , especially one like Western States , where you've got the golden hour , obviously , and that is just insane in of itself .

One of these days I'm going to go there just to go to the finish line and be a part of that whole thing . But yeah , go and spend some time at the end , at the , at the finish line of any ultra race .

It's it's so uplifting and it's so emotional to see these people especially so uplifting and it's so emotional to see these people , especially in my world , the middle back of the pack world , to see folks who've been out there just battling all day long . They've put everything into it .

They're coming up against the final cutoffs at aid stations and the finish line . It's just , it's so uplifting . It's such a great place to spend some time , be around the celebrations at the finish and just see the emotions coming through . What a fantastic place to be .

Yeah , but ultra , ultra people , we stay , we party , we cheer each other on and the majority of those folks , those fast , fast , fast folks , they'll be there at the end of the race to cheer those guys on too , which is what I think makes the whole ultra tribe like amazing to me . Yeah , yeah , and for me , the beer at the end helps immensely .

How many other road racers .

Oh no , so it it , yeah , it became , it became a uh , well , let's just , let's just experience it kind of event so I'd like to go back where it's .

And then , at some point after the race was over , I had done a training run and I went through there and I realized there's no house here , nothing here . But what I saw was like a dream , vivid . It was a house , people on top having a party .

I've spoken to craig thornley , the race director , about it like an out and back it's so yeah , so start , start at the finish , go all the way to the start , but be an official entrant yeah be an official entrant for the race . Get there with just enough time .

Give yourself a little bit , not like a day or , you know , to like okay , I went this way , but really to turn it more into a 200 miler by getting to the finish and like okay , here we go . I mean getting to the start and then saying , okay , here we go , let's go to the finish .

Now , did you have a song that really speaks to you from a running perspective , and if so , what is it and why does it resonate with you ? Why does it resonate with you .

Ok , it was really sort of thinking of this whole theme of you know , I was able to take something in with my experiences trail running and ultra running and then I'm at a point where , like now , I'm just sort of trying to give it back , so to give it all away .

When I say give it all away in terms of the song , it's not just like , yeah , give it all away , but give something back . You take the love , you give the love back .

So thank you for for picking that and for sharing your really incredible journey and your insights with us today , from the inception of Victory Sports Design and the impact that it's having on the ultra running community , to the unique challenges of Headlands 50k and your invaluable experiences at Western States .

I mean it's clear to me at least that your contributions to the sport go way beyond your own personal achievements . Your dedication to making the sport more accessible , more enjoyable for runners . I think that's pretty inspiring . So thank you on behalf of everybody out there . Thank you .

Doing any of those things really helps promote the podcast , which in turn helps get the word out and increases chances of other runners like you and I finding the information that awesome guests like Victor give up their time to come on here and share with us .

You can find us on Instagram and Facebook and over at choosetoendurecom , so be sure to head over to any of those spots , check us out , send a message , say hello or suggest a topic for the podcast If you have a moment . I definitely love getting all those interactions . That's what this is all about . We're trying to share information .

We're trying to provide things of value out to the community . So until next time , go buy a Victory Sports Design drop bag . Go sign up for the Headlands 50K so that you can continue to run long , run strong and keep choosing to endure .