107: Making Winter Olympics History | Cam Smith

Welcome to Going In Blind. I'm your host, Zach Tidwell, and my guest this week is a 2026 United States American, super ultra American endurance athlete and winter Olympian. So his name is Cam Smith, as you would expect from someone who has. Made it to the Olympics outside of the Schemo race event that he competed in this year as both as an independent racer and on a mixed relay team.

He is also an incredibly accomplished mountain and trail runner. He's represented the United States at the national level multiple times in addition to. all sorts of other crazy achievements, but I know him through the adaptive world, which some of you guys may have heard me talk about before the skiing and whitewater kayaking and rock climbing stuff that I do.

He is actually an instructor for adaptive athletes at the adaptive sports center in Crested Butte, Colorado, kind of where I got my start in all of this stuff. Kind of cool to get to share all of this with you guys today, in addition to obviously what is a just absolute phenom of a human being.

So before we get into all of that, just a couple of quick announcements. As usual, if you're new to the show, there is a very powerful story behind this podcast in trying to share these other accomplishments and stories of incredible people that I can find around the world.

So if you would like to read about that, head over to ZachTidwell .com. And if anything there tickles your fancy, you can also join the mailing list. There's a sign -up sheet that's pretty obvious to follow the instructions for there. But if you have been listening or watching for a while, please support the show by leaving a rating and review wherever that is and just sharing these things around.

But I think with all of that out of the way, Mr. Cam Smith, thank you for being here. Hey, Zach. Yeah, I'm super pumped, man. We've had some good times climbing and biking and yeah, seeing you out here in Crested Butte. And then you've always been up to fun extracurriculars like this podcast that I've enjoyed hearing about too.

So pumped to, yeah, be with you, be with you here. Yeah, I have to apologize right off the top for the super awkward. I don't know. I think I forgot what I was going to say. So I was like, he's an American, super ultra American. I don't know.

I don't know what that was, but we're here now. So I think I told you, you're the first Olympian that's been on here. But what I didn't tell you is you also take the award for the best hair that's been on here in 100 plus episodes now. So very excited about all of these things.

yeah i think one of the times you came out to climb i made sure to let you know how good looking i was and you said really like tell me more information so you yeah touch the long red hair yeah and so you know you know i've felt it it is more than just a look people there's an aura around this man but um anyway i know we've we've only got about an hour here so let's get into it i i've I guess I'm very curious because it's, I honestly, I mean, I knew you were a freaking animal already just from other people talking about you when I've been around you.

But then once I found out that you were going to the Olympics, I was like, oh God, there's, you know, cause with any, any endeavor like that, there's, there's levels to it. Even if you're, you're killing it on a local or even, you know, in a several state area, maybe there's someone at the national level who's better than you then, you know.

at the world stage level, but I just, I didn't have a full comprehension of how far out there you are. And so always curious where that started. I mean, have you, were you always just a standout endurance athlete through high school and all of that stuff as well?

No, definitely not. Nobody saw this coming 10 years ago, eight years ago, like maybe kind of five years ago. Like I grew up in Illinois and in Rockford. And was kind of like, I'd say good, not great kind of distance runner. Like I didn't really have any like opportunities to run in college or anything.

Never like went to a state meet or won any big races. Like I was just kind of like, I was passionate about it. But yeah, I definitely was far from anything like a phenom. And went out to college in Gunnison, in Gunnison Valley. So Crested Butte's up the road, Western Colorado University.

So yeah, an area you know well. That was when I was 18, right after high school. And that was 2014. And jumped into the mountain sports program out there. So my sister was already a student at the school. She was a senior when I was a freshman. And she had already kind of been, yeah, taken up mountain biking and backcountry skiing.

And was like, I think you're really going to like this program. Yeah. I'd kind of wanted to just like figure all these things out as a recreational athlete. Like I felt like I was on this big adventure living in Colorado after growing up and yeah, kind of like a blue collar Midwest town and yeah.

Learning how to do these things felt like a good way to just make the most of being in this yeah. Mountainous environment that again felt like this big adventure. So. I was really just trying to like learn all these skills to be able to participate in these things and just get out and get on the trails and get onto the peaks.

And that's kind of how the racing and competition went early on too. Like I was crashing a few times in most bike races and making all kinds of technical errors in the Schemo events, finishing last in most of the things I did finish in. Like I think one anecdote there is my first Schemo race I didn't finish.

crashed a few times the skins that stick to your bottoms of your skis to give you traction on the way up. Those all got wet and frozen. Then I couldn't make my way around the course. And then the second race I did, everything went a lot better, but I finished last because I was just like that far off the back, like fitness wise, skill wise, like, um, yeah, that's kind of how it all started, I guess, 12 years ago now.

And, um, it was really like a slow, but linear progression from there. Like I was one of the only kind of younger people participating in Schemo at the time in the US. And so people saw that. And so I was enthusiastic and wanted to get me, hand me down gear and take me out skiing here or there.

And I got that little bit of like gear support, which is, there's a huge barrier to entry with backcountry skiing or Schemo racing. So that helped a lot. And yeah, just a little bit of mentorship and just things sort of, yeah, snowballed from there, like 2017, a few years later.

I was the only under 23 athlete trying to go to the world championships. And so they let me come, even though I wasn't that fast because they wanted someone to like race in that category. And I wasn't taking this thought away from anyone else. And by then I was like starting to do a little bit better.

Like, yeah, I would like won some like tiny, tiny local races by that point. But then I went to Europe and was kind of back to finishing last place and kind of climbing the ladder from there and just realizing how far behind I was in the sport. And yeah, just like aggressively chasing improvement anywhere I could, like the skills, the gear, just like year after year of grueling training.

And yeah, started to compete a lot, a lot better over time. By 2022, I was, that's kind of when I started, I feel like being competitive internationally. I podiumed in a schema world cup. So I was the first American man to do that. There was a female that did it.

in 2013 Nina Silich but anyway yeah I started to be competitive around then that was when it was announced schema would be in the Olympics four years later which which felt really far away at the time and it went by really fast in a lot of ways really slow in a lot of ways I had an ACL meniscus tear I had major shoulder surgery and yeah kind of like a rocky road along those four years and It really was an all out effort just to qualify, like going into the 24, 25 season and then again into the 25, 26 season, which those two winters made up the qualification period.

Like we were really on the fritz with qualifying or not. And it was, yeah, like a huge accomplishment just to make it. And we really surprised a lot of people by qualifying. And then, yeah, I'm really proud of how we raced once we got there. Yeah, I'll turn it back to you and let you kind of dive down any rabbit hole you want.

Yeah, I want to come back to maybe some of the shifts in a minute, but I think it's important. I didn't know what schema was until I knew you were going to compete in it. And, you know, until a couple of years ago when I met you guys, I didn't know what skins were on skis.

So can you try and no one else listening is going to know what you're talking about either. Well, you just break that down as simply as you can so that people understand like what kind of crazy shit you're doing. Yeah, absolutely. So schema is short for ski mountaineering, which is sort of it's it's an agilist to the backcountry skiing.

where you're skiing without chairlifts. So you're climbing up the mountains and skiing down as opposed to using a chairlift to get up the mountain. So you use specialized gear. It's generally more lightweight. The boots have a flexible cuff, so it'll pivot. So it has kind of a walk mode and will move fore and aft.

And then the bindings in alpine touring, you'll connect just by the toe. and then have like a separate heel piece. And then you put what's called skins on the bottom of your skis, which have glue on one side that stick to the base of the ski, and then kind of have these directional fibers, kind of like a horse hair on the other that will glide going up the hill and then get traction going back.

And so you use this mechanism, the skins, the bindings, the boots, and the lightweight gear. To stride or walk or even like run with your skis on up the hill. And then you get to the top. You can pull those skins off of your skis, fold them up and store them away.

Lock your heels down and then lock your boots into a rigid boot. And then now you're basically wearing an Alpine boot. And so that's kind of the foundation of the sport. You have the ability to climb up the hill and then transition your gear, race back down. There's a little bit more to it with like in more technical sections, steeper, rocky, icy.

You might put your skis on your back and climb with some races using like crampons and ice axes. But with the Olympic format, it was very different than that. There's like staircases instead because they needed to make it. Yeah, very, very spectator friendly and controllable. But anyway, that's all another story.

So that's how the gear works. So yeah, you're racing up, racing down, and then also your transitions in between are really key. And so where a lot of people might have been exposed to it for the first time is that it made its Olympic debut in 2026. So that was the first time it had been on the Olympic program.

And the disciplines were what's called the sprint and mixed relay. So where the origins of the sport are moving in the mountains, like climbing peaks, big objectives. Yeah, just spending lots of time in the wilderness. The sprint version is kind of condensing all of those skills into a two and a half minute race.

So you're sprinting up the hill, doing these transitions in four or five seconds in between. Skinning is what we call striding up the hill with those skis on. Bootpacking is when your skis are on your back and you're running. And like, yeah, the transitions to downhill. That's a two and a half minute race.

And then the mixed relay is sort of a longer version of that where there's. one male, one female competing, kind of tagging off between the two. So the female will do this loop that's kind of like two sprint courses almost, tag back off to her male teammate. He tags off to her, she does her second lap, and then she tags off to him, he does his second lap.

So instead of a two and a half minute race, the whole thing takes more like 30 minutes. So it's a little bit, yeah, more endurance and strength focused. And yeah, those are the two Olympic disciplines. But then in 2030, we'll have what's called the individual race which is more quintessential ski mountaineering like we'll be like what you do so yeah what kind of yeah what my base is and what my background is in um and that's more like traveling out in nature um hopefully it'll like got to nice ridgelines peaks like skiing off piece the whole thing will be off of the ski resort hopefully where the sprint and mixed relay we're on um yeah like groom ski slopes the same place where the the men's alpine races were actually the same exact slope oh that's interesting i guess it made sense that they they had to or make sense now that you say that they tried to make it a controlled environment i guess as they're kind of testing it out and so people can actually watch but it's are you more excited for having the actual individual event now the like that what's truer to what you typically do for yeah absolutely like that's where my strengths are like i'm not much of a sprinter like i'm five nine and 140 pounds like the the short explosive races are not um yeah it is not my strength but yeah the longer uh more endurance focus like longer climbs higher altitudes out in the mountains um that should suit me a little bit better so And I'm really happy that the sprint mix really worked as well for me as they did.

And that took like a four year shift of changing my body, changing my lifestyle, changing my whole mindset to be able to kind of fit that mold and compete in those disciplines. And I'm really proud of how it went. And I hope to keep racing the. the mixed relay.

Um, but yeah, this, this sprint is, is a little short for me. And then hopefully I can be kind of like an individual and mixed relay racer, uh, going forward, but yeah, there's so much between now and 2030, um, that can happen. So yeah, it's definitely a goal.

And then the big goal is to then compete in 2034 in Salt Lake. um because then it'll be a home olympics um and that's yeah a big carrot out out in the distance but yeah like honestly i think it's going to be harder and harder to qualify each successive game so i've done it once but i think yeah the road's only going to get tougher from here well yeah because now you guys are going to stoke the fire of the interests in the sport which is a blessing and a curse if you want to go back to the olympics obviously but i'm guessing with that timeline like for 2030 it would be similar in that the 2028 2029 seasons are the big qualifying seasons for you to go back exactly yeah so these next two seasons are kind of a little bit like yeah it's kind of like an ebb and flow with how specific that focus is like i'm still training just as hard but right now it's a little bit more like i'm kind of branching out in the summer and doing longer races and then the winter it'll be a little bit of just trying to like get racing experience and like um a little bit more endurance focus like as a very general generalization and then yeah 28 29 we'll be kind of like dialing back in like focusing on winter 12 months a year instead of um putting as much effort into trail running and then yeah like really sharpening lots more time in the gym lots more intensity so it's kind of two year ebbs and flows as we kind of are in and out of olympic cycles would you potentially get more support like from the olympic training center and stuff like that for this next go -round yes absolutely so It's a little unfortunate going into the Olympics like we were such a long shot just to qualify.

And there I mean, the USOPC, their like mission is to win medals, right? It's not to create Olympians, it's to win medals. And they they looked at our team and thought that we didn't have much of a shot, which like on paper we didn't. And so we didn't have a lot of support going into the games this year.

And then we finished fourth with very little support. And yeah, kind of coming out of nowhere again. So that really got their attention. And then now with it on the 2030 program, there's lots of exciting stuff in the pipeline coming from the USOBC and the Federation. And like, yeah, they're super behind it and getting a lot more support individually.

And then hopefully that triples to the rest of the team as well. And you guys were only like 14 seconds away from the podium, right? yeah exactly it's kind of crazy to think back on like we were we were one bad race like one mistake from not being there at all and then we were yeah maybe it was like yeah 14 17 something like that seconds away from winning a medal in that 30 minute race so like it really exists on razor razor thin uh margins it's yeah crazy to reflect on that's just i mean it has that are you like because you're so humble have you actually maybe at least in private since you don't outwardly express it like been able to register how big of a freaking deal that is like what you guys pulled off yeah i mean like it it's uh it's sunk in in the sense that like i've seen how excited people got about it and how connected people people felt to it and all the people that like were part of my journey or part of my teammate on this journey like feeling connected to what we did and proud of their contribution to what we did for the the team the federation ourselves the country um like it's just amazing to like feel that all resonate um and like i mean so it's july now it's been five months and Like, yeah, I mean, it's on my mind all the time, like just how bonkers that was.

And my wife sometimes turns to me and is like, can you believe that just happened? Like, I mean, like in a lot of ways, no. Like, yeah, I kind of described that I came from a bit more humble beginnings and wasn't really expecting any of this. I just, yeah, just kept working hard and one thing led to another and here we are.

yeah i mean i i guess i'm still processing that in in some ways yeah and it's i mean you came from humble beginnings but your personality is also so humble that it's like i don't i was thinking about that before like you know prepping for today i was like i wonder if that's even if he's capable of actually appreciating that fully because you are so humble but what what about it what about being there was if anything was very you know i guess entirely different than than what you were expecting yeah that's an interesting question like in a lot of ways it was pretty similar to a typical world cup for us which we do six eight ten times a year like a pretty um yeah well established routine at this point like we knew all the racers right like there's only 18 men and 18 women that were in the games and and part of that is because it was a new sport you sort of have to fight for room at the table and you can only have so many medal events and so many athletes and so 18 men and 18 women that's a pretty small um cohort of the entire like group of olympians for that sport you know and so we all know each other we've all raced year after year together and then um we shared an olympic like village with men's alpine but they had essentially moved out by the time we moved in and so like we were just kind of in this hotel with a lot of the same characters like preparing for this race that that is really familiar in this race format that's really familiar what was different is that there's like airport security outside and a hundred volunteers that are like beck and call at all moments and like the the amount of people that were there solely to support anna and i was was pretty unbelievable like we think we had between 70 and 80 people come over from the u .s like just to be part of usa schema and like we're the only two racers like that was like friends family like um yeah like athletes from the team like just there to be be there for us and and we we couldn't really see them before the races because like we were in the village which has pretty tight security and then like yeah focus on the racing of course but then the night after the last race we like picked a some random italian bar and like all met up there and it was like yeah one of the highlights of the experience for sure um and then like on top of that the staff like we had gosh i don't know like four coaches and the president of the federation and a ski tech and two physical therapists and a doctor like a sports medicine doc and the village coordinator and um like two security guards and like that was all just for me and anna like we were a two -person team you know and so just like the amount of like bells and whistles that go into it and like i guess i say that all to kind of uh describe that duality a little bit of like it it was kind of a really familiar routine of all right get ready for the race go race and like a lot of the same people around but there's all these extra people involved and like cameras everywhere and there's like yeah this stands inside of the course we're sold out like you know the whole world is watching and so like that was pretty different of course but if I had to like distill it down to one thing, I think what, what was the most different is just like how other people felt about it.

Like it was, it was a long buildup for me, like, yeah, training to qualify and then compete there like a many year process. But like that, that process is pretty familiar. And like, when I, normally like I go have a race maybe it goes well maybe it doesn't like if it goes well I get a lot of like oh we're happy for you or proud of you like we're happy because you're happy but I think what was most different and what really surprised me is like the joy it created like when when someone feels a part of like an Olympian's journey and like turns on NBC and like oh that's someone I know and like I'm connected to and like I'm part of that process or like maybe they don't and they just like really yeah relate to my journey or Ana's journey or like they see the American flag and it's like that's my team like this is the person who like I'm behind for this race and like yeah just feeling that like resonance of it really like was something that people found joy in and like created joy where like I've never done that in any other like race before you know.

was that hard I guess was that something that you realized after the fact or that you were aware of during oh like yeah super aware of during like the explosive amounts of like texts and calls and messages and like everything we were receiving all times like I just I had my phone off most of the time and like if anyone needs to get a hold of me like it has to be through the coach and like related to the race like it was it was unbelievable and like we had we had a we we qualified um which was actually like at at solitude a resort in utah um and it was the first world cup in the u .s in like 20 or 20 plus years and so like we qualified at a home race and and we don't really have home races most of the the world cups happen in europe and so like pretty immediately crossing the finish line like we see just like the joy in the crowd.

And like, I remember just like looking around at these, like this mass of people and like seeing them like buzzing and dancing and like hugging and crying and like, just like experiencing all this emotion like that happened, like pretty much immediately crossing the finish line of this December world cup three months before the games.

And it's like, we kind of knew right away, like, whoa, this is, this is bigger than anything else. Like this is the Olympics. And yeah. Yeah. Just really. Yeah, something I wish everyone could experience for sure. Yeah, I mean, hopefully you're about to get to experience it again here in a couple of years, man.

I mean, seriously, the fact that you guys were just kind of a, maybe not an afterthought, but just didn't get the real support that a typical team would in this realm and still were able to pull all of that off is just... it's only going to get better from here it's i mean that i after what you just shared i mean that that even feels kind of hard for me to fathom so i'm sure for you that's got to be a a weird thought but what you know i we do this thing as it's human nature i think to Or something that we have to keep in check when we have something that we are fully committed to and committing ourselves to in an all -consuming manner.

Like I'm sure, I mean, you have to for something like that. Where I think we get so focused on the end goal that we don't, one, appreciate. the steps along the way and also maybe build up the actual almost like mythologize the what we have what we expect that end result to finally feel like that when we get there then you're like okay it is it is more awesome than you could possibly describe in the moment of happening but then the next day it is back to normal life right it is back to You're back at your day job.

You're doing all the normal things. And yes, you have this incredible experience to add to all of your memories and now your model of the world around you. But you do go back to normal after that. What was that like for you on both fronts? Did you struggle to actually be able to enjoy that path?

And then what was it like coming home from all of that? being like all right i'm back in crested butte doing the same thing when is my next race and what do i need to do to get ready for it yeah yeah that's a great question so it was a little bit unique for me and i'll get into that in a second but like that that was a big narrative like during the games like when we were just talking to people that had been there before um like yeah the other athletes that we met at ceremonies or like yeah the sports psychologists we were working with or like other kind of team staff um that had kind of olympic experience before it was sort of this like um yeah this like elephant in the room of like oh like the post -olympics blues and like yeah the post -paralympics blues and like people were talking about it openly of like oh man it's gonna be back to regular life i'm like what are you talking about like i've been floating on a cloud like since we we qualified and like it was hard to like imagine coming down from that um but i mean it it absolutely is is right back to regular life but what was a little unique for me is um i had this close like call him a mentor friend like best friend um that has been fighting prostate cancer since 2014 is when he was diagnosed and we like work together kind of coaching kids skiing in Crested Butte.

And he is a bit older. He was 78 this year. Yeah. 78 this year. But we just like got along really well and like, yeah, enjoyed coaching together and working together and skiing together. And like, I just really, yeah, looked up to him and got a lot from him as a, as a mentor.

And, and he had a. Right. I think it was like a five -year prognosis when he was diagnosed in 2014. But he's this ex -Masters triathlete and ex -Masters Nordic ski champion and an amazing athlete and the most positive person you've ever met and took great care of himself.

Goes a long way. Yeah, was still alive this winter. And he also... Like when I was early in that journey and I talked about kind of not showing any promise, but having enthusiasm and then people jumped into support. Like I couldn't afford the gear or the travel to pursue this sport.

And he saw that and like created a bank account in my name and then like rallied the community. Like, hey, anyone that wants to support this like 22 year old trying to go to like the Schemo World Cup that has this big dream. like chip in 25 bucks, 50 bucks, whatever.

And like, that's what got me through a lot of those, those early years. And then in addition, like, yeah, the, the mentorship of him having been there and done that as an athlete and then seeing that all in retrospect, like now in his seventies and fighting a terminal illness, like just, yeah, the, the wisdom that he had was huge for me.

And so, um, yeah, we just grew really close over the last 12 years. And I, um, I really wanted to go to the Olympics for him. Like he had, had been such a contribution to like what I was doing and like, it never could have happened without him.

That's a, that's an absolute truth. And so it was like, Oh, I really want to go to the Olympics, not to make my dream come true, but to validate the support that people had given me. Like, Oh, like I, I. like, yeah, whatever they did for me or whatever they did, like in their jobs, in their roles as like family member and friends, like, wow, look what it turned into.

Like, it's just such a tangible thing. Like it's the Olympics instead of like, oh, I helped this young kid race in this obscure sport and he had a great time. Like, it's just so like tangible. And I wanted to give that tangible thank you to all the people that had been part of it.

And he was, was one of the biggest, absolutely. he was like a big motivation in the the training and racing for all the qualification races that two -year period and then going into that final world cup at solitude where it was kind of do or die like we would either race well and qualify or we wouldn't and we wouldn't go it was like he was the biggest thing on my mind of like i want to like get him to italy to bormio like in what's seeming like his his last um like years and months of of life like I want to have this experience together before he passes and then he took a downturn this winter and wasn't able to travel to the world cup but watched it all um live and like was just so proud and like was the first person I talked to on the phone at least um once I got out of the crowd at the finish line And then like had all his tickets to go to Borneo and everything where we raced, but was continuing to do worse and worse, realized he wouldn't be able to travel, gave those tickets away to some other mutual friends of ours and was in palliative care, like essentially hospice care for those last few weeks in like January and February.

And essentially he was ready to go end of January, like in a lot of pain, really not. yeah just enjoying life the way he he wanted to and he essentially like made a team made a plan with his care team like i need to live to february 21st sometime like morning afternoon and then i'm ready to go and that's that's exactly what he did and it that's the um last day of our olympic racing so he he held on to like watch it all happen and like see the fruits of his labor in that way He watched the race.

We FaceTimed after said goodbye. And then he like he had an hour or two with his family and then like took his cocktail and was ready to go then. So it was like this huge, huge emotional load on top of like essentially a lifelong like physical build up to this this athletic peak on top of getting thousands and thousands of messages on top of like the thousands of.

of in -person interactions of like this high energy like oh my god it's the olympics and then we raced went to the closing ceremony the next day flew all night to get home um because i was rushing home to see him in case he did make it any further um and then like got home it was a monday and then like boom it ended like just the most like unbelievable like emotional mental physical toll and then like poof it all goes away and like I'm at home um and like I was still absolutely like riding the high of like how amazing the experience was and like so grateful that he he was able to to see it but I had just lost one of the like most important people in my life um and then like hadn't slept in three days and like landed at home and like boom it all ended um so like yeah there was a rough few days for sure just like processing all that at the same time like being really excited for everyone that um yeah like i was back home i was sort of recluse for that week so like i didn't have to deal with too much but like going to the grocery store that week like trying to sneak onto the chairlift that week not sneak i have a pass but like try to not be recognized on the chairlifts that we uh like there was a little bit of like the high energy interactions and then like yeah after kind of five days of like yeah processing his passing and processing it all and kind of getting back to training um like that coincided with a a five -day like off period so i lost my like way to cope which is like skiing just an exercise destroy yourself every day yeah yeah um so like yeah kind of a week later i was back to it but i absolutely had like what what they call the post post olympics blues for those few days and um it has like totally slowed down um and like been essentially back to reality or like close to what things were like before in the last month or two of like everyone's kind of gotten their like excitement out of the way um and it yeah things mostly feel back to normal and um now I just like reflect on just the absolute most amazing memories of my life and um like have that that those memories forever which I'll be grateful for like every day until I go and um yeah it's back to normal with just that incredible um yeah extra sphere to life now well i mean how special that that man what did you say his name was his name is murray i don't know if i i'm actually murray okay how special i mean he endured additional hell obviously if he was at the point where he was ready to go that he's not in a good spot And he did that.

And that's, yes, obviously people believed in your, your work ethic and what you wanted to do, but that says a lot about you, man, just your, your actual character. I mean, those are through interactions with you and he's seen you as a human being and he stuck that out for an extra, it sounds like almost two months to be able to see you get to do that, to be able to watch you do that on TV, man.

Yeah. Yeah. And to like, know that, like I, I gave him that joyful moment, like on the last day, like just means, means the world and like really shows what, um, yeah, just like what the Olympics are. Like, I, I hope that he like, and I believe that, that why he went through all that to watch is that like, he saw me on the course and like, felt like it was his.

work and effort that was just like um yeah manifesting out on the course right like he helped create that moment for me which also like meant so much to so many other people and like i i just yeah i know that he felt so proud of it watching it happen and like and saw a little bit of himself like in in that race happening and then like in in that way like saw himself and like felt what it was like for him to like be an Olympian in in that way and like or like yeah like create that and and have his Olympic moment and and that was um yeah something he could enjoy on his last day and and just like so special that we could do something that that meant that much to to him um and and maybe it didn't mean as much to like all those other touch points out there but But yeah, there's some people that it really impacted and like just, yeah, so much to reflect on and, and just so grateful that, that I got that opportunity.

Yeah. Also what a crazy thing to have to process in addition to everything else coming home. Like, God, man, I mean, that's a lot. That was already as big of an experience as you could have. And then you lose your, your mentor. For sure. Like and in the weeks before, you know, like I didn't know that he would make it that long and he didn't know that he would make it that long.

It's like, oh, I really want to try to get to the 21st. And like, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying. And they're drawing things out and drawing things out. And it worked so beautifully in the end. Well, I mean, beautiful in like, yeah, a hellish, incredibly painful way for him.

Like he he went through so much more suffering than anyone else did. to make it happen um but yeah in those weeks like that last three or four weeks of training going into the games like i had to yeah process all that and had a lot of hard times um and yeah really difficult days amongst that and and i think that shows too like yeah the person you see on the screen with the the fancy rings on their chest and the yeah the american flag or whatever country's flag like our our humans too going through all kinds of things and and it really like yeah humanized the olympics and humanized like professional sport and all that for me too like um yeah it was a really difficult few weeks going in like amongst it being yeah the greatest thing ever like yeah yeah crazy and i know i know we've got like 15 minutes left here so i'm gonna try and be I'm trying to be mindful so I can still ask you.

I've got a million things I want to ask you about that I'm not going to be able to. I guess I'll ask this as a two -part question so we can lead into both things. This thing that we've kind of almost danced around a little bit is there obviously any sport, performing at that level is is as much a mental affair as it is a physical affair but i think especially for like the the long endurance stuff that you do i think that is even you know some sports are more mental affairs than other wrestling is that way like collegiate wrestlers are freaking savages and then also you know these very very long endurance events like you do so you know you And I think you actually mentioned that there was some sort of mindset shift, maybe as you were talking about Murray earlier on.

But I'm curious, coming from where you weren't a standout athlete to getting to the point where you were from the outside looking in, it seems to be obsessed with all of these things. And that having started through an introduction to these things just by happenstance in college. that.

What was that mindset shift and has the adaptive world that play a role in any of that? Yeah, totally. In a huge way. And I'll I'm going to take another roundabout way to get there. So I guess starting back to like we talked about kind of being like a good, not great high school athlete like I didn't.

like start being more motivated to to find my potential uh when it became like an olympic pursuit like i've been just as obsessed with the details since the beginning i just wasn't any good like in high school i I went to the local YMCA every single morning at 6am.

And I did like everything other than run. So I, I swam, I lifted, I like sat in saunas, I like did like all the extra stuff. And then I went to school all day. And then I would have like my track practice in the afternoon and like do do everything else.

And like, that was so that I could like try to win the like Wednesday afternoon after school meet between like two or three local high schools in like a random Illinois city you know like it was it was to try to run yeah just like two seconds faster in in this like super uh yeah I mean just like high school sport like and like I wasn't trying to like win big races I wasn't trying to go to national meets I think I said earlier, like I never even like went to a state meet and that's a state meet in high school.

Yeah. Like I, but I was like obsessed with like, well, can I like finish 16th instead of 17th at the like regional or whatever? Like I was just obsessed with like trying to do as well as I could. And like, it became, it didn't like become any more motivating when the level got higher.

It, there's just so much more external pressure. trying to do something like compete for a medal in the olympics versus like be some random high school athlete in this illinois city so i think what the like the culmination years of obsession that you had even though maybe you weren't so physically gifted earlier on like that started all of that that that years of obsession starts to compound to where again the skill gaps are getting bridged and so you're able to make up with maybe or for some of those natural gifts that you didn't have which hard work always outvalues like because of the fact that you are having to earn what you're what you're working for but it seems like it all contributed to that because you were always a psycho it sounds like Yeah.

And so it's like those habits are ingrained. And then under immense amounts of pressure, we go back to what's familiar and we go back to our habits that we've learned. Right. So because I guess it's like 15 years ago now, like I was training 20 hours a week to try to like, again, finish like, I don't know what number like, yeah, 16th instead of 17th at the regional meet and like obsessed with those details.

then when all the the pressure came down on me like I wasn't it wasn't like okay now I need to lock in now I need to try extra hard now I need to find that extra percent like those those habits were were already there and so like when things got scary of like are we gonna make it or not or like our coaches careers are on the line and like our federation staff's careers are on the line and my career's on the line my financial well -being's on the line my whole future's on the line my like the juniors on on my team that are going to be racing for the next decades like the opportunities available to them are on the line and like I didn't need to change the way that I approach things because I I had those habits right and so that's the one thing absolutely that you just pointed out and then the other is so we had it was seven races that went into um the olympic qualifying like season so it's six races in the winter of 24 25 and then the very first race of the 25 26 season so again this the solitude utah world cup so we were six sevenths got to be careful the way you say those numbers i have an eight -year -old sister i am painfully aware yes we were six sevenths of the way through the qualifying period in april of 25 And then we had an eight -month wait for the seventh race.

And after those first six races, we were ranked 13th as a relay team, and the top 12 teams would qualify for the Olympics. So we were one spot out, and we were one point behind the team that we needed to beat to qualify, which unfortunately was Canada, who are also like all of our best friends in the sport and our neighbors.

And so unfortunately, it was kind of down to us in Canada at the very end. And so we had eight months knowing that like this 30 minute race on December 6th would determine everything. And so it would kind of become a question of who dealt with that pressure the best.

Like you have eight months to think about like you're either going to the Olympics or you're not based on how you perform on that one day. and there's so much that goes into the sport like there's the physical element of the fitness that you have but there's so many skills and the gear management and the downhill and the transitions and the weather and like so much that goes into it that like it's almost biathlon -esque just like maybe not as cool um as far as like they have to like push super hard and then like shoot the like yeah shoot the target and like focus in and like execute that really precise skill it's similar similar to that for us with like executing the transitions and so like whoever like dealt with that pressure the best was going to be able to like push themselves up the hill make those really really like fine movements for the transition while their heart's beating at 200 beats a minute and ski down really well and like all those details were going to be really important and so it all became like a question of pressure dealing with pressure And I think what was different for me than like the team that we ended up beating or like, yeah, the teams that we ended up beating and like the other athletes that I had to beat in order to like earn my spot as the one that would represent the US since we only had that one male and one female spot.

Like, anyway, what made the difference for me is that I had that extra sphere of, of working at adaptive like what I what I thought about a lot and I was like doing so much mental prep for that race and like one of the quotes I came across during that prep was at the end of the day you don't know what's best for you like you think like oh I dream of going to the Olympics option a going to the Olympics is the better thing and then like if it doesn't work out I have to go to B which is not as good and then here's what B entails but it's like what the quote was is that you don't know what's actually better.

You don't know if what you think you want is the better thing for your life. And I thought about that. Like if I go all in on this pursuit and come up short and like have that story to tell for the rest of my life of like, I went all in, it didn't work out.

And like, I loved the process anyway. And I became a better athlete and a better person anyway. And like had that story to tell and that had all that extra time and energy. to be an adaptive instructor where like, I see people doing things that they never thought they could do.

And I'm there for all these really incredible moments and like there for people, maybe at a vulnerable, vulnerable time there for people when like, maybe not a lot of other people were in like, do this have more energy for this thing that like maybe adds more color, more depth, more meaning to my life than if I go to the Olympics.

And so it's like, I'm going to go all in and leave no stone unturned and like make sure I gave my absolute best effort to make it happen. And then like, maybe it's this way. Maybe it's that way. Maybe it's the Olympics. Maybe it's not. But I don't know what leads to a better life.

And that gave me so much peace. And it just like motivated me to do nothing other than like perform. excellently and perform at the absolute limit of my potential. And because of that, I wasn't focused on like, Oh, I have to do this because I need to go to the Olympics.

It was like, it took all that away and let me just focus. And I think that's what really led to such a breakthrough in performances that like, I was able to just focus on excellence and remove everything else in a way that I don't think many other people were and adaptive to answer your question.

is is a huge part of what gave me that ability well i mean it's it's kind of ridiculous i which i i didn't realize you and i were the same age i thought i was a couple years older than you but the like i mean you've lived such a full life already and are actively doing it i mean the yeah olympics aside all that just the i i really i i've kind of arrived at this conclusion at least for now you know it's i'm it's probably a temporary conclusion but i really i feel like if i had to put a finger on what the the purpose of life is that it is simply to experience as much as you can you know like and what you know that can be as simple as literally just actually being present for the things that you are have going on in your daily life and actually taking note of what is happening as a as a as a as a as a as a or where it's a you know a a day where you are having to go through the motions just because of what it is you know appointments or whatever like find something where you can extract a nugget where it is okay there was an experience that day outside of and you know if not just be thankful that you're fucking here and able to experience that monotonous thing um but and so outside of the olympics man just the the stuff that you've done i think internally inside of your own head that you have to, to be able to accomplish the things that you're doing as an athlete, like that, that I'm sure go into some dark places during some of these races as your body is probably breaking apart, doing some of this stuff, but, and all of the races that you're doing, but also, you know, professionally, I mean, you kind of hit the nail on the head with the, the power of these adaptive programs.

I mean, I, I met you guys. I, I, I, the adaptive sports center was the first place I went to after I shot myself. That was about eight and a half months afterwards. And it, it entirely changed my life. It changed the, the trajectory of my life. Like I was, it, it gave, it helped aim.

I knew where I wanted to go. I didn't know how to get there. And that first experience being there, like really, I mean, it set me on that path and it continues to be those, those pivotal check -ins for me. And it's just, it's just, like you and everyone else who works there or at any facility like that is how big it is for someone to take a chance on you for things that most people would think are impossible i think possibility outside of the laws of physics really is just a means of perception or of perspective right like you can you can find people who are willing to take a chance on you or just you know, shed maybe a little bit of disbelief and maybe make some mistakes with you or give you the space to make those mistakes and be there to help maybe facilitate learning from those mistakes that like it really, the bar for what's possible begins to shift very, very quickly.

And so. The fact that you were able to focus on the fact and knowing that you have those impacts and you probably can't even fully appreciate it because you haven't been on the receiving end of, of, of what a gift those kinds of programs are, man. But it's just, you're doing it.

And it's crazy that you're only 30. Like, it's just, it's, it's so, so ridiculous. And I just, I am, I know we're at the time limit here, so I will let you go, but I'm just, I'm freaking astounded by everything that you've done. And I wish we could sit here for two and a half hours and talk.

Cause I have so much more than I want to pick your brain on, but here's stud. So thanks for saying all that. Like, like hearing you say that. And we've had these conversations before, of course, people, people might not know, but like someone saying that and like realizing what.

like our programs meant for you to then like launching this incredible life that you've created for yourself not that adaptive was the only thing that did that but like the people you met there and like the the yeah confidence you got from those experiences like was a big part certainly and um like just to know how much like our programs meant for you like if i hear that one out of 100 one out of 200 days then like that's enough to like keep you coming back like for that high you know it's almost like playing a slot machine it's like you show up to work and like not every day is easy and sometimes it is it is tough and then like if you just hear that like a few times a year that's like oh like this is the most important thing I can possibly be doing with my time and like I'm in the right place but the thing is like we hear it probably more often than not like more than half the days and so it's like i just i love that job like you're just we're kind of the end of the therapeutic recreation chain and so like a lot of people work really hard like in hospitals post injuries like in physical therapy like and all kinds of things depending on what the disability is and then we just see them like for the part where they learn to go mountain biking.

And so it's like the easiest and the most rewarding part of the journey. And we just like, I have so much fun on like a day -to -day basis doing it and meeting people like you. And like I just described, like being on those lessons and meeting people like you is what helped me become an Olympian and become that kind of athlete and become the person that I wanted to be.

And so in a lot of ways, I get as much or more from the programs than the participants do. And so there's a lot of like, oh, how noble you like commit your time to being an adaptive sports center instructor. It's like, oh no, I, this is for me.

I enjoy this so much and grow from this so much. And like, yeah, to have the friendship I have with you and like all the other mutual friends that we have and all the people that come to the program, like it's, yeah, just something I'm so grateful for.

And yeah, grateful to be able to balance it with. with the racing career. And like, I just feel like I'm in, yeah, such a good place right now with enjoying all those things. And like, I just, I, I can't believe this all happened. Like, like the way we described where I came from, or there's a lot more details there that I guess we didn't, but like, I was just a random kid from the Midwest blue collar town of Rockford, Illinois.

And then here we are like enjoying life to this extent. Like it's just, yeah. So special. Yeah, man. Next time. Next time we'll have to make sure that we have the normal allotted time for an episode so we can dig into it. I'll see you for episode two.

Because I know you need to go. Where can people find you? And if there's a way to support you, how can they do that? Yeah, I'm the most active on Instagram. It's Cam from CBE or Cam from Crested Butte. I live here in Crested Butte. It's the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte, Colorado.

um is the organization we keep mentioning and yeah that's where where you can find me physically and online um and as far as supporting me like like there were times that i needed that extra 25 bucks to be able to afford the plane ticket over to europe and then now um yeah the federation us obc and sponsors are helping me out a lot more so if you want to support me Cheer for Team USA and just be there for the journey because, yeah, we got a lot more mountains to climb and a lot more to do.

So hop on the bandwagon because we welcome everyone. Awesome, man. I appreciate you so much. And like the other 1 ,200 people that you probably heard of already, I'm very, very proud of you. And just thanks for coming on and sharing all this. Thanks so much, man. Thanks for listening to another episode of Going In Blind.

Please, again, if you haven't already, just support the show by following it wherever you found this episode and then share this thing around. It just helps me keep attracting these incredible guests. And if you are on an audio -only platform like Apple Podcasts, please leave a rating and review.

That goes a very, very long way as well. Again, Cam and I were talking about the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte, Colorado. That is the actual name of the place is Adaptive Sports Center. So if you know of someone with disabilities who's into anything from rock climbing and hiking to mountain biking and skiing or whatever, if it doesn't matter what your disability is, they will find a way to get you doing that thing.

Whether it's for the first time or recovering from an injury, they are incredible. please reach out to them. I will have a link to their website in the show notes. So check that out. And thanks for being here. I'll see you next time. Bye.