Interviews
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.
Latest from the archive
Deferral, transfer or nothing: when an injury takes the start line
Western States, UTMB and Transgrancanaria treat an injured entrant three different ways: a place rolled to next year, handed to another runner, or simply lost. None of them covers the flights to Gran Canaria, the room near the start, or a short loan from Wandoo that paid for both.
Leah Yingling on the Wasatch, and a rabbit apparel round-up
By 2020 Leah Yingling had spent several seasons collecting podiums across the Mountain West — the Grand Traverse, The North Face endurance series, Bear 100, Squaw Peak, Telluride Mountain Run — and had also done the thing that says more about someone’s relationship with the sport than any result: she put on her own event, a free, unofficial 40-mile traverse across a serious stretch of Wasatch terrain, which promptly became popular.
Ellie Pell after the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials
Ellie Pell’s route into distance running is the one every coach says does not happen: team sports through high school, no particular running background, and then an accidental win at a half marathon that suggested she should probably take this more seriously.
Jonathan Levitt on making a running podcast, and 2019 Western States picks
Most running podcasts never discuss themselves. This one does, at length, which is why it has outlasted a lot of the interviews around it. Jonathan Levitt, a runner from Massachusetts, had started For the Long Run earlier in 2019.
Sean Blanton on a disputed call at Georgia Death Race, and the state of the sport
The 2019 Georgia Death Race produced a race-director decision that a lot of people had opinions about, including the host of this show, who disagreed with it. Rather than write it up, he got Sean Blanton — the RD in question, of Run Bum Tours — on a call and argued it out.
Dani Moreno wins her first ultra, and takes a national title with it
Winning your first ultramarathon is unusual. Winning the USATF 50k Trail Championship at your first ultramarathon is a different category of unusual. Dani Moreno did it at FOURmidable in February 2019, and this episode was recorded shortly afterwards. The “first ultra” framing undersells the preparation.
A year without a beer: what happens when you take the drink out of running culture
Trail and ultrarunning has an unusually explicit relationship with alcohol. Races hand out beer at the finish. Breweries sponsor events. Post-run pints are the default social structure. A whole tier of races exists mainly as an excuse for the thing that happens afterwards.
Bob Shebest: everyone has a plan until it falls apart
Bob Shebest came into Western States 2018 in the best shape he had been in. A high-mileage block timed properly, podiums elsewhere, no injuries — the sort of preparation that makes a runner quietly confident. For sixty-two miles it worked exactly as designed.
Brendan Leonard on hating running, doing it anyway, and How to Run 100 Miles
Brendan Leonard writes Semi-Rad, which occupies an unusual position in outdoor media: a site about adventure whose central premise is that the person doing the adventuring is mediocre, tired and frequently regretting it. That framing has made him one of the few outdoor writers people actually quote to each other.
