Finding Your Limits with Josh Sprague

What happens when endurance stops being about the finish line and starts becoming a way to explore what you’re capable of? Stephanie sits down with Josh Sprague, founder and CEO of Orange Mud, to talk about his journey from growing up as a country kid who loved exploring outside to racing ultras, Ironman events, mountain bikes, gravel bikes, and multi-day adventure races. Josh shares how adventure racing became one of his favorite ways to keep endurance sports fresh—and why sometimes changing the challenge is exactly what keeps the love of the sport alive.

From two unsuccessful attempts at the Leadville 100 to a 550-mile gravel race where a mysteriously disabled phone kept him from quitting, Josh has no shortage of stories about pushing through the moments when stopping sounds a whole lot easier. He recounts outrunning a tornado on a bike across South Dakota, hallucinating—or perhaps being visited by—his late golden retriever during a 720-mile race, and discovering the strange clarity that comes from spending days alone with nothing but your thoughts. Along the way, Stephanie and Josh dig into the mental side of endurance: DNFs, solitude, self-doubt, staying positive, and the realization that sometimes the only difference between finishing and quitting is continuing to move forward.

Josh also shares how frustration with traditional hydration gear led him to build the first Orange Mud prototype in his garage and eventually leave his corporate career to grow the company alongside his wife. But even after decades of chasing big adventures, he’s still figuring out what the next chapter looks like. After a recent motorcycle crash forced him to reconsider how much risk is worth taking, the conversation turns to a bigger question: How do you keep pursuing adventure without sacrificing the ability to keep adventuring for years to come? It’s an episode about endurance, perspective, knowing when to push, knowing when to pivot, and remembering that sometimes the biggest limits are simply the ones we’ve convinced ourselves exist.

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