This is the second Curious Seeds, an interview series with beautiful, fascinating humans and/or creatures. Suggest someone to interview here.
Dan Kraus is an endurance athlete, a racing driver, a father, and a very thoughtful human. Dan finished his first 100-mile trail race (let that sink in) in mid-December, and ran his first marathon in 2009. He’s also my brother-in-law, although I knew Dan long before we were ever legally bound. It’s fun how life works out sometimes! If you’re interested in pushing yourself further than you have gone before, Dan is your person. I haven’t met a better coach. Drop any questions for him below.
Let’s play the game I made up called, "this or that, without context." You choose one and share why, or not.
Pasta or slip angle? Slip angle. It has more forward momentum tied to it.
Learning new things or letting things go? For now, letting things go.
Start line or finish line? Start line. I absolutely love the start line.
A sip of Sprite or a penny? A penny.
Time or space? Tough one. Space.
3rd gear or 5th gear? 3rd gear. I learned how much I loved 3rd gear driving my Dad's 1991 Spirit R/T. A true sleeper.
You ran 100 miles in the woods, over thousands of feet of elevation and ~29 hours, without stopping and without any music at all. What was your mind like?
My mind was very focused and clear at the start. Somewhere after halfway I would drift off a little and had to remind myself to just 'be here'.
You sound like a jedi. How did your mind become like that?
I had actually signed up for a 100 mile race six months earlier, in March, which I never started. I realized afterwards it was because my mind wasn't prepared. My body could've done it. Once I realized that, I used every hard moment from then on to build mental preparation for the 100 miler in December. I worked to build the internal confidence that I was mentally prepared for the race, even though it was very much an unknown (and especially if I could complete it before the 32 hour cut off).
What is the most fun thing about trail running?
I think it's fun to be free. There's so much life in being free. Running in general gives me that feeling.
What is your relationship with physical pain?
I don't like it, but I try not to let physical pain stop me. When I experience physical pain it's an opportunity to ask myself how I'm going to respond to it.
What is the venn diagram between race car driving and endurance running?
Where they overlap for me is in preparation and execution. When I drive on the race track I'm focused on executing a solid lap by 'hitting my marks'. At the basic level in driving, this means knowing your turn in, apex point, and track out. I'm still learning what hitting my marks looks like in endurance running. I think it's mostly trying to keep good form, checking in on my effort, and keeping up with nutrition. The neat part about running compared to race car driving is you can pay someone to prepare the car to race but you can't pay anyone to prepare your body/mind to race. I look forward to taking what I learn from running and applying it back to race car driving in the future.
Do you have a singular goal for your mental state, whether you are racing cars or racing your legs?
The singular goal for my mental state is 100% focus.
What does 100% focus feel like?
I've never thought about what it feels like, but I suppose it feels peaceful.
How do you speak to yourself in the hardest moments and what are some of those moments?
I strive to speak to myself with encouragement. When I check in with myself I'm asking if my exertion level is appropriate for me at that time. Low exertion for me can come from a place of fear, which has it's own questions. Too much exertion is often ego, and competing against the person near me which is never worth it. The hard moments for me are when I find myself at either end of that effort spectrum and then beat myself up for it.
Ultimately, I'm trying to find my true effort — one that I'll be proud of. I’m realizing now that my true effort is my 100% focus. If I let thoughts in that are judging, worried, scared, etc. that interrupts my focus. So I’m striving to enter and stay in the zone of focus. Between practice and awareness, I'm able to recognize when I'm not focused and work to get it back.
Talk to me a bit about love between brothers, blood or otherwise.
It's a big part of my life. I've been very lucky to have very loving and supportive siblings. With two older brothers and one younger sister it was natural for my brother closest to me in age and I to share a lot of time together. We bonded over many things growing up and because of that when I would be stuck in my tracks, my brother could see it and tell me what I needed to hear so I could keep moving forward. It's a remarkable gift that I could only hope every person on earth has that 'brother', blood or otherwise on their side. I truly sit back and think how lucky I am to have the siblings I have.
Something that you can’t live without today that you could a year or so ago.
The pursuit of being true to myself.
Something that’s not a part of your life right now that was a year or so ago. Alcohol.
What have you been pecking at lately?
I don't know the word for it but I'm making my home feel more like my home.
(I think the word is “nesting”!) What have you squirreled away for later?
Race car driving.
Anything else to leave us with?
Well, this was really helpful for me. So much to keep discovering! If you’re reading this from our friend Jess and your name gets thrown in the hat to be interviewed, please say yes:) Thank you for all the effort you put in, Jess!
Absolutely loved this.