Outside Podcast

Most of us, at some point in our lives, will put a goal aside, with every intention of coming back to it later on in life. Maybe it’s that marathon you always thought you should run. Maybe it’s going for that big promotion at work. Or perhaps it’s trying to learn how to play guitar or a new sport or…the list is endless.

The point is, we all have dreams, big, small, audacious, or somewhere in between. But, while the goal setting is endless, the follow through is often nonexistent. Unless you’re pianist, composer, and sailor Anne-Marie Keane, who's currently fulfilling a life-long—and long delayed—goal of sailing the globe. In today's episode, she gives a master class in navigation, not just of the seas, but of a life well lived.

On this week's Long Read, with Outside Magazine's Features Editor Fred Drier, we welcome you to fall—specifically, to Oktoberfest. Thanks to the magic of marketing, the German festival where people don lederhosen, drink beer, and sing songs has spawned a new tradition.

Masskrugstemmen is the German word for competitive steinholding. You heard that right; it's a competition in with competitors hold beer steins full of beer and ... well, that's about it.

In 2025, reporter Martin Fritz Huber traveled to Central Park to check out the Masskrugstemmen National Competition, to soak up the suds and the fun at the event, and then for this story, he took a deep dive into the wacky world of Steinholding.

This past July, host PaddyO checked the box of a bucket list adventure 20 years in the making: boating all 280 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. And, of course, he couldn’t go without a microphone stuffed into his drybag. PaddyO interviewed a handful of guests, complete strangers to him, and a few dory boat guides tasked with navigating more than 250 rapids over 15 days. Sure, the Grand is known for its beauty and thrills, but there is something else that draws people here. When boaters arrive at the Lee’s Ferry put-in, somehow, the Grand Canyon becomes whatever they need it to be–-a mirror, a teacher, a therapist, a parent. By the time you hit the Pearce Ferry takeout two weeks later, you’re a different person. Skeptical? Just listen.

On this week's Long Read, Abby Wise, Brand Director for Outside, takes us into the world of ultra running that has watched in awe as American runner Rachel Entrekin completely dominates the sport's most grueling distances. Known as the Queen of Cocodona for her consecutive wins at the punishing 250 mile race in Arizona, she made history this spring by winning the event outright, beating the entire men's field by over an hour, but her remarkable season was far from over. Just recently, Entrekin made her highly anticipated debut at the legendary UTMB race in Chamonix, France, trading desert heat for the brutal technical climbs of the Alps.

She proved her versatility against a stacked international field, taking an incredible second place in the women's race with a time of 22 hours and 15 minutes. To find out what drives one of endurance sports rising stars, we turned to writer Rebecca Byerly. Rebecca had a front row seat to Rachel's history making performance this year as she was out on the trails pacing another runner at Cocodona. In this in-depth profile, Rebecca explores Rachel's rise to the top, her unique approach to training, and the joy that fuels her through hundreds and hundreds of miles.

When’s the last time you were lost, as in  “zero connectivity, a map you don’t understand, and tens of miles between you and shelter” lost? If you’ve ever been in that situation you know it awakens a kind of primal panic. It's not pleasant, but it's an amazing classroom, and it's one that Emily Miller has intentionally led people into for over 15 years. Emily's a gifted rally racer, which means she's used to being lost while at speeds near 100 miles an hour. But as interesting as her racing career is (and listen on for just how interesting it was!), it's the race she founded that's really fascinating. The Rebelle Rally is the longest navigation race in the U.S., and it's only open to women. In the past decade, Emily has trained more than 8,000 women to race it, which mean's she's taught them how to get excruciatingly lost, and then find their way home. Turns out, those skills are pretty translatable to the rest of your life.