Jared Burdick, second at Cayuga Trails 50 on his first ultra

The Cayuga Trails 50 in Ithaca served as the USATF 50-mile Trail Championship, which means the field was as deep as American trail running gets. Second place went to somebody almost nobody in the sport had heard of, running his first ultramarathon.

This interview was recorded shortly after, largely to find out who he was.

Who he turned out to be

Jared Burdick: a soft-spoken Korean-American electronic engineer with solid road times, no meaningful trail history, and — the detail that explained a lot — a college teammate named Zach Miller, who had by then made a considerable impression on the sport by winning races in a style best described as ill-advised and effective.

The episode

• Why start with a championship. Choosing a national championship race as a first ultra is either supreme confidence or a failure to appreciate the situation. His answer is closer to the second, and better for it.
• The nickname. He goes by Rufio. The explanation is exactly as good as it needs to be.
• What Zach told him beforehand. Advice from someone whose racing philosophy is not obviously transferable.
• What he learned during and after. Mostly about fuelling and about the second half of a 50-miler being a different sport from the first.
• Cats. At some length.

Around the interview

The rest of the episode is the show’s regular furniture. There is a discussion of the Alberto Salazar allegations that had broken shortly before, and what a doping story in the distance world means for a sport with no testing to speak of. There is a trekking-pole segment, testing a new set from LEKI on trails where poles are still slightly controversial. And there is the weekly round-up of the most-clicked Daily News links.

There is also an extended argument about Rochester garbage plates, which is a regional food item that Cayuga runners are contractually obliged to discuss, and which does not survive description.