Liz Derstine lives at the intersection of endurance and artistry.

She is one of the most accomplished long-distance trail runners in the world, holding multiple women’s Fastest Known Times on some of the toughest trails known to man, including the Appalachian Trail (northbound), the Long Trail, the Pinhoti Trail, and Sweden’s Kungsleden. Most recently, Liz completed the 2,655-mile Pacific Crest Trail in under 70 days — the third-fastest self-supported finish by a woman.

But Liz’s story doesn’t end on the trail.

She is also an award-winning pianist and composer whose work bridges classical training with pop innovation, creating music inspired by nature, movement, and lived experience. Classically trained from a young age, Liz earned dual Master of Music degrees in Collaborative Piano and Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where she was recognized for her commitment to collaboration and innovation. Her musical career has taken her from concert halls to international touring as a keyboardist and singer, performing at iconic venues like the Troubadour and festivals including Coachella. Her original compositions have been featured on television shows such as Awkward (MTV) and Wednesday (Netflix).

In this conversation, Liz shares how thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail reshaped her creative voice, how she balances elite endurance athletics with a demanding music career, and why time in nature is central to both her performance and her art. We talk about discipline, obsession, solitude, creativity, and what it means to pursue two worlds that demand everything you have.

Liz has been featured in Outside, Runner’s World, Women’s Running, Trail Running Magazine, and on the cover of Competitor Magazine for “running by day and music touring by night.” She represents Mountain Hardwear and writes the popular newsletter Pink Feathers, where she explores the overlap between wild places, long miles, and creative life.

This episode is about pushing limits — on the trail, at the piano, and within yourself — and finding harmony between endurance and expression.

Colby Brown’s childhood was anything but stable. Raised by a mother who was constantly on the move, Colby was dragged from California to Hawaii, back to California, then Florida, back to Hawaii, and eventually Las Vegas—never long enough to feel rooted, never safe enough to feel settled. Along the way, his life was surrounded by drugs, violence, and chaos, exposing him to experiences no child should ever have to endure.

During those turbulent years, Colby suffered physical abuse, was groomed by an adult, and at the height of the madness, was forced into helping dispose of a body—a moment that would mark a breaking point in an already shattered sense of normalcy.

But this is not just a story about trauma. It’s a story about escape, survival, and choosing a different future.

In the dead of night, Colby made a quiet but life-altering decision. He slipped away from the only life he’d ever known and headed to Oregon, determined to break the cycle. There, he began rebuilding—finding stability, purpose, and eventually starting a new family with the love of his life.

This episode is a raw, unfiltered look at how far someone can fall—and how powerful the decision can be to walk away and start over.

For five years, Drew committed himself to an extreme goal: completing one million pushups in a single year. It became a daily ritual, a source of purpose, and a promise to himself. On the final day of the challenge, with just 400 pushups left, everything was supposed to end in triumph.

Instead, two detectives arrived at his door.

They were there to inform Drew that his lifelong best friend — who had been over for dinner the night before — had passed away. In an instant, the challenge that once defined the day became meaningless in the face of unimaginable loss.

This podcast is the story of that moment — the collision of discipline and grief — and what it takes to keep moving forward when the thing you were striving for no longer matters the way it once did. It’s about resilience, friendship, perspective, and learning how to finish life’s hardest set when the count no longer makes sense.