Endurance Athlete Makes Unusual Trek To Denver For Book Signing

DENVER (CBS4) - Endurance athlete Travis Macy may be a little drenched and drained by the time he arrives for his book signing.

Understandable. He is running 31 miles to get there.

To promote his new book, "The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion's 8 Core Principles for Success In Business, Sports and Life," Macy is taking off from his home in Evergreen, Colorado, Friday afternoon and making his way to a not-so-nearby bookstore in Denver (The Tattered Cover, Colfax location, at 7 p.m.).

Want to join? Be his guest. He'll give you a preview of the book, which he co-wrote with John Hanc. The leisurely trek should take about five hours.

Macy's no stranger to long-distance excursions. The 32-year-old has completed more than 100 ultra-endurance in his career, including the Leadman, a series of high-altitude events that combines the times of a trail running marathon, 50-mile mountain biking race, a 100-mile mountain biking race, a 10-kilometer run, and a 100-mile trail run all within a six-week span.

Somewhere along his travels — from rappelling into caves in China to running through the desert in Utah — Macy decided to become an author. His book offers insight into setting goals and provides strategies to achieve them. He boiled it down to eight core principles, things like "Mindset No. 4: Have an ego and use it — until it's time to put your ego aside." Or "Mindset No. 6: The 4:30 a.m. Rule: When you have no choice, anything is possible."

"The goal of the book is to really provide some tangible and relevant mindset principles that people might apply to endurance racing or running or mountain biking or adventure racing," Macy said. "But hopefully it will be more widely applied to other areas of their life like work, parenting, relationships or personal growth."

His fondness for distance running was launched by his father, Mark, who used to take the family to races for vacations. When Mark Macy turned 40, he celebrated by running 40 miles to work. A tradition was hatched.

That's why Travis Macy decided to run to his book signing. The event also is a fundraiser for the Chris Klug Foundation. Klug is a snowboarder who had a liver transplant in 2000 and captured a bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. His foundation advocates for organ and tissue donation.

It's a cause near to Macy because his mom, Pam, has undergone liver and kidney transplants.

"She's doing great," Macy said.

These days, Macy typically runs about 70 miles a week. At elevation, too, with most of his training at 7,500 feet.

"I like being in the mountains, that's what fuels me up, training in the hills every day," said Macy, whose book is 274 pages and includes a foreword by fellow ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes.

This summer, he and his wife, Amy, are loading up their two young kids in a camper and traveling around to races.

An intriguing adventure.

He's been on quite a few of those, which his book recounts. Like his race in the French Alps and how he protected his integrity, even if it cost him a top-three finish. He was on the homestretch of the race in Val d'Isere, France, when he noticed his crampons must have fallen out of his backpack. The organizers stressed a runner must have everything with them when they finish, so he went back in search of his gear. Instead of finishing third, he wound up sixth.

That night, he wrestled with his decision, telling himself no one would've known he lost his gear. He silenced that by saying, "Enough second-guessing, enough rehashing, enough beating yourself up. Accept the choice you made today. Learn from it ..."

Macy slept soundly after that.

Then there's the tale to illustrate "Mindset 7: Bad stories, good stories: The ones you tell yourself make all the difference." He listed some of his negative beliefs, from childhood to this one in 2012: "I'm going to be turning 30. I'm about to have my second child, and adventure racing isn't feasible for me anymore. ... I'm done as an athlete!"

He wrote out his own plot to put a more positive spin on the situation.

"Part of what I want to share with readers is that you have the power to rewrite the story," Macy explained. "You can create a new story that validates you and makes life more enjoyable."

By PAT GRAHAM, AP Sports Writer

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