Interview with Victor Ballesteros
Artist, Athlete, Entrepreneur
I was born in Mississippi. My parents are a mix of Spanish, Portuguese, and Mexican with some indigenous blood mixed in from a tribe from the San Juan Capistrano area, the Juaneño. My father was born in the US. Once he was old enough, he joined the army, then moved to Mississippi to work as an architectural engineer. Finally, from Mississippi we moved to Novato, California when I was seven.
I started running because I was very impressionable; and fortunately the people who made the biggest impression on me were runners. When my parents went to the track for a walk, I would run! I would run endless circles, or as my mom would say, “My God, that kid just keeps going!” They were very worried that I would hurt myself, but it just made sense to me.
I ran in high school. Nothing to write home about, but I really enjoyed it. I had a wonderful sense of camaraderie with everyone I was running alongside. But, eventually I stepped away from it. I was actually better at art than running. I painted and played instruments, which shouldn’t surprise folks who know about my band, Voodoo Switch.
While attending community college here in Marin I was still focused on art, yet I wanted to be a little more active, so I joined the cross-country team. Once again, nothing to write home about, but as I graduated with my degree in film, painting, and sculpture, I managed to keep the vibe of being outdoors and running that whole time.
Fast forward to 2006 Dipsea, after years of running the event. Then I ran the Double Dipsea a month later and I was really surprised at how well I did. Then I thought, “There’s this race called the Quad Dipsea…”, at that time, it sounded crazy. I was thinking “This race is a little bit over twenty-eight miles, traveling over the west slope of Mount Tam four times!” However, it seemed like something that I should challenge myself to do.
To my astonishment, I did really well, coming in second place. And that was the beginning right there. I did another 50k about a month later, just to see whether or not it was a fluke and I placed second again. I was really excited to know I was good at this.
Then I ran the National 50k trail championships, earning 7th. I was really super stoked, because I was still feeling like my previous podium placements were flukes. I signed up for the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 as my first 50 mile race, and ended up winning it.
Everything was just super organic. In 2009, I had run the Way Too Cool 50k and the American River 50 miler. Apparently I was earning points for the Montrail Ultra Cup, but I wasn’t aware of it. Then somebody said, “Hey! You’re going to do Miwok 100k, that’s another Montrail race.” So I did and was 2nd at Miwok. 2nd place came with a ticket to go to the Western States 100 mile endurance race.
I eventually ended up being the Montrail Ultra Cup champion in 2009. It was an organic progression. The 50k’s I had done. The 50-milers I had done. I’d never done a 100k, so Miwok was my 1st 100k. I’d never done a 100-miler, so Western States was my first 100-miler. I finished 11th at Western States by 30 seconds. But because of that race, Victory Sportdesign was born. (More on this at the end.)
Fast forward to September 2015. Tor Des Geants (TDG) is the Road of the Giants … it’s a mix of French and Italian because that whole region is a Spanglish kinda region. I heard about it after doing Tahoe 200 miler … and placing 2nd.
It intrigued me because it was in the Montblanc area that everyone has been talking about. Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) has become, in the last 3 years, almost like you gotta run UTMB. But I wanted to do something bigger. What was the most challenging thing I could do? TDG was the answer. I always looked at it as a multi-year plan because it’s a lottery so there is no guarantee you can get in each year. I just went into it not knowing what to expect.
The weather was beautiful all the way until the race was about to start. Then it was just a steady rain which eventually turned into hail. Slipping and sliding while climbing through the snow, plus having to push myself to keep my core temperature up had become a growing negative on my body. Descending was a whole ‘nother challenge. I was bracing myself and both my quads were wrenched.
The course is either uphill or downhill. There are very few flat sections. A lot of downhills are on stairs so you can’t even adjust how far you put your leg down. You can’t even shuffle, you have to step down. Every time I stepped down … BOOM! Imagine someone hitting your legs with a hammer. And that’s pretty much how that feeling is going to equate. It was pain management at that point.
To the reader: Victor was going over boulders and traversing cliffs ledges. If he had slipped on those wet surfaces, he could’ve been seriously injured or died.
By the next morning, the second morning, after 136 miles and 58,000 feet of climb, I was done. I was devastated because I never imagined I would not finish it. Jena and I went into it with some worst case scenarios, but in all of them, we finished. What’s considered the hardest 10 mile section of the course had taken me 15-20 hours. The front runners in the best strength case scenarios take about 10 hours to cover that same section.
In retrospect, I did well with what I had. Jena was there to help me and the energy of that expectation went a long way. It took me through some of the most painful, painful nightmares that I would experience in my whole entire life. That night before I stopped was unbelievably painful. I don’t think I’ve experienced anything that harsh mentally and physically.
I don’t want to say I went into it 100% physically ready, but I felt prepared to have a strong race. I’d trained for the climbing. I got there 3 weeks before the race. I did not need to acclimate to the altitude because we sleep in in altitude tent, so I had that pretty dialed in. I just wanted to really understand the terrain. But the weather was a complete curve ball and your running changes when the weather changes. I walked away with lessons on top of lessons.
VICTOR WANTS YOU TO KNOW …
I enjoy meeting people who know me from running and say … you don’t know me but I’m your Facebook friend or I follow you on Strava. It’s flattering. I would hate it if somebody thinks I’m unapproachable. When I did theatre, it was really cool to be recognized by what I had done on stage.
There are people that are out in the running world right now that I actually feel, well, I don’t want to bother them. Whether it’s someone who has done something fantastic in a race or someone who was running next to you and they pushed you really hard.
Don’t be afraid to go up to them and acknowledge them. I think it strengthens our community even more so when you don’t have the inhibition to say, thank you so much for what you did out there, running with me, inspiring me. Make a new friend because you made that connection on the trail and that energy is forever.
WHAT’S NEXT WITH VICTORY SPORTDESIGN
Basically, the Victory Bags were born because I needed drop bags for Western States. My friend gave me a bunch of duffel bags and they were just these big black holes and I couldn’t find what I needed quickly. Had I actually had Victory Bags, could I have made up those 30 seconds and gotten that 10th spot? Who knows?
But afterwards I thought okay, I’ve always really been into creating things that solve problems. So, I went around looking for a bag that I thought would be the perfect drop bag for races. And I couldn’t find anything. The closest thing I could find were diaper bags, which weren’t going to hold up to rough treatment like people throwing them to the back of the truck.
My wife Jena’s father worked in manufacturing. And he said, hey, we’ve made bags with the factories that we’ve worked with. If you want us to make you a sample of a bag, we could do it. And so I designed a bag, and I used that bag for about a year, and that whole time, people kept asking me about it, where I got it. People were fascinated by it.
I made a very focused effort to make sure that it was just more than just a drop bag for ultras. That it was a really durable, super-organized gear bag. You can just use it at your races or at home or in the trunk of your car, it’s like your go-to tool box.
To the reader: When I was at the Beals Point Aid Station at the 2015 American River 50 miler, half the drop bags there were the trademark fire-engine red Victory Sportdesign Bear II bags.
We’ve been redesigning a lot of stuff. We’re going to round out a lot of the edges and make things a lot sexier. But, the big thing is the Grizzly. You could run with it, as a long expedition fast pack. The Grizzly is more like an expedition trip travel pack. It’s definitely within a carryon size for airlines though. When I was coming back from Asia and going through customs, the guy was a little befuddled because the construction of it is so different. When he opened it, he instantly saw everything because of the interior shelving units.
He was seriously shocked and surprised and then he asked me…Where did you get this bag? And I said, I’m on a business trip here in Asia and I make ‘em.
For more of Victor’s talents, check out his blog and a YouTube video of Voodoo Switch. And here’s the link to his Ultrasignup page.
