Leah Yingling on the Wasatch, and a rabbit apparel round-up
One of four sisters on the same high school cross country team, and where that ends up.
Section
Interviews
Runners after the race, race directors mid-argument, and the people who write the sport down.
Interviews ran here from 2011 to 2023. Athletes came on after races that went well and, more usefully, after races that went badly. Race directors turned up to defend decisions. Writers, biographers, guides and people who had simply been in the sport for thirty years came on to explain how it actually works.
The audio files are gone — the service that hosted them no longer serves them. What is here is the record of each episode: who was on, when, and what was discussed.
2020
Ellie Pell after the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials
A road-and-trail career assembled backwards, and what came next.
2019
Jared Beasley on Al Howie, the runner who crossed Canada in 72 days
A biographer's account of a runner whose life ran to extremes in both directions.
Jonathan Levitt on making a running podcast, and 2019 Western States picks
The rare episode about how the sausage gets made, recorded at Broken Arrow in 2019.
Sean Blanton on a disputed call at Georgia Death Race, and the state of the sport
An argument conducted in public, which is rarer in this sport than it should be.
Dani Moreno wins her first ultra, and takes a national title with it
Patience, then a very fast debut.
2018
Bob Shebest: everyone has a plan until it falls apart
What a Western States day looks like when the plan stops working at Foresthill.
Brendan Leonard on hating running, doing it anyway, and How to Run 100 Miles
A conversation with someone who makes a living being honest about not being very good at this.
2017
Courtney Dauwalter: blind perseverance at Run Rabbit Run 100
The episode that turned a Steamboat Springs win into one of the sport's most-repeated stories.
Kyle Robidoux on guides, and the first Athletes with Disabilities division at Vermont 100
How a blind runner trains for a rolling hundred-miler from the middle of Boston.
John Kelly, the fifteenth Barkley finisher
Two prior attempts, decades of local knowledge, and a plan detailed enough to survive not being able to think.
Stephanie Case on the Alps rescue, and running where running isn't allowed
A hundred-hour racer, a UN human rights lawyer, and a solo winter accident that nearly ended it.
2016
Jim Walmsley on the 2016 Western States wrong turn
One of the great front-running performances at Western States, and the navigational error that ended it.
Starchy Grant on Barkley 2016, and the record nobody sets on purpose
The year the race handed out a record that came with no prize and no obvious way to be pleased about it.
Avery Collins on HURT 100, and the cannabis argument nobody wanted to have
The episode that made a lot of people in the sport uncomfortable, on purpose.
2015
Mike Foote on the Crown Traverse: Missoula to Banff, mostly off trail
Not a race, not an FKT — an expedition that happened to be done by runners.
Western States 2015 preview: Ryan Smith and Michele Yates
A dark horse and an aggressive front-runner, recorded before either knew how it would go.
Jared Burdick, second at Cayuga Trails 50 on his first ultra
An electronic engineer, a fast road background, and a very abrupt introduction.
Bob Shebest on winning hundreds as a masters runner with a day job
Not living in a truck, not chasing sponsors, still winning.
2014
Michele Graglia: three years from first race to Grand to Grand winner
No coach, no base, no idea — and a results sheet that stopped being funny some time ago.
Seth who? Second place at Western States 2014
The question everyone in Auburn was asking, answered.
2013
Hal Koerner on the John Muir Trail FKT with Mike Wolfe
The fastest known time that made the JMT a target for the next decade.
Russ Thomas, one year on
The follow-up episode, which is the one most shows never make.
2012
Victor Ballesteros and the Tahoe Rim Trail record attempt
A record attempt that started as a group project and ended as one man walking.
Scott Jurek on Eat & Run, and the argument he was tired of having
Recorded the week his memoir came out, when ultrarunning was briefly a mainstream publishing category.
Errol 'Rocket' Jones on pacing, patience and thirty years on the trail
The pacer's craft, explained by someone who did it at the highest level the sport had.
Russ Thomas, the Kansas City Kid
The first of two conversations, recorded early in a long change.
2011
Catra Corbett on getting sober, and running an unreasonable number of hundreds
One of the earliest episodes, with one of Northern California's most recognisable runners.
Gordy Ainsleigh: the man who started the hundred-mile race
A lame horse, a 24-hour deadline, and the accidental founding of a sport.