The Mile 99 Interview

Our favorite guest, Western States race director Craig Thornley, made some time in his extremely busy schedule before the race to join us for some updates and his plans for the rest of the year. Things are slowly getting back to normal after the Mosquito Fire, and the Duncan Canyon and Dusty Corners aid stations can be accessed via Mosquito Ridge Road again - welcome news!

We also talked about other events surrounding the ...

Ken Michal joined us for an in-depth conversation about his journey from heavy smoking to his current endeavors at all distances of trail runs as well as long timed events. He recently completed the Pigtails Challenge 200 miler in Washington state, winning in a time of just over 71 hours.

We delve into his philosophy around training and racing and all of the things that he has learned over his many years running over 150 ...

Folsom runner Todd Woodward first discovered road running later in life and then found his true calling of trail and ultrarunning right before the pandemic started in 2020. He has taken an analytical approach to his training, nutrition, strategy and racing and has great advice for others looking to pick up the sport after the age of 40.

He has just finished a sub-14 hour Miwok 100k in absolutely horrible weather conditions...

Doctors JoAnn Ellero and Andy Pasternak joined us to talk about how they met in med school, their evolution together as runners and JoAnn's ultimate goal of running Western States happening this June! We've had Dr. Andy on several times in the past as part of our Western States episodes in his role as the medical director, and now we get to learn more about JoAnn and him, all of the races they've done together, both ...

Things got a little busy for the Mile 99 team after the Canyons pre-race briefing and before the start of the race so this is showing up a little late, but we had some time with Abbey, Sean and Chaz after the show. We delved into talking about the various aid stations, their captains and dedicated volunteers and the community that has been built around this iconic race for the past decade.

From Greg's standpoint as a ...

The Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB are less than a week away, and race directors Chaz Sheya, Abbey Drake and Sean Flanagan joined us to go over all of the late-breaking information and updates needed for runners, pacers, crew members and volunteers. It's going to be a huge party in Auburn and on the trails over April 25th-27th, 2024, so make sure to tune in here and see you on course!

Volunteer signup page - get invol...

Join Jessica for this week's episode as she sits down with Ken Krogsrud of Bad Luck Run Club to talk about the second annual Placer Trail Running Festival!

Now in its second year, the PTRF offers something for everyone from a 50k race to a 1k kid's race, a 5k canicross event and many other distances. This is truly a running festival, held over April 13th and 14th this year, and Ken and Jessica get into all of the...

Ethan Veneklasen, co-race director of the Broken Arrow Skyrace sat down with us to do a deep dive in the origins of the race, the formation of the team that brings this unique and iconic event to the Tahoe region and how it has grown over the years.

The Broken Arrow Skyrace is now a nationally and internationally recognized race that has grown hugely popular but still retains its grassroots feel. The race directors are com...

Bob, Tim, Elke, Jennifer and Hal from the History Expeditions team hung around with us for a bit after the main show and we got the inside scoop on the snoring volume, the ability to ward off coyotes, team jokes and all of the great times spent around the campfire. The team connected with so many people from all walks of life along the way, adding another enriching element to their experience.

Join us for all of the detail...

The History Expeditions team of Bob Crowley, Tim Twietmeyer, Elke Reimer, Jennifer Hemmen and Hal Hall sat down with us shortly after completing their epic trek from Placerville, CA to Genoa, NV over the course of 5 days.

The 2024 expedition they chose was a commemoration of the incredible efforts of John "Snowshoe" Thompson, a legendary figure of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California in the mid-1800s. Snowsh...

In our third and final of three consecutive weeks of pre-race briefings to cover the early season 50k races here in the Auburn area, race director Julie Fingar and special guest Jennifer Maxwell, founder of JAMBAR, joined us to walk through all of the Way Too Cool 50k race details.

This race is a classic and now in its 34th year with plenty of heavy hitters showing up year after year and also drawing a large contingent of ...

In our second of three consecutive weeks of pre-race briefings to cover the early season 50k races here in the Auburn area, race founder Roger Leasure and race director Clint Claassen joined us to talk about the Salmon Falls 50k and new half-marathon course.

We got all of the details about how the race started, how it benefits the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and all of the logistics needed for the 50k and ...

The Northern California ultra trail racing season is upon us, and what better way to kick it off than with a pre-race briefing for the classic FOURmidable race held in mid-February in Auburn every year? Race director Paulo Medina joins us again to give us all of the details for the various race distances from 13k to 50k and everything in between!

We had plenty of questions from the audience and answered all of them and mor...

Bruna, Kelly and Jack stuck around after the main show to talk more about the DPMR trail running festival planned for June and what goes into planning and organizing this new event! This festival will bridge the weekends of the Broken Arrow Sky Race and the Western States Endurance Run and will include daily events, runs and other festivities designed for the whole community.

Bruna also described what it's like step into the ro...

It's been a while since we've talked to our friends at Donner Party Mountain Runners up the hill in the Tahoe/Truckee area, and what better time to do that again than just before their winter snowshoe race!

Previous DPMR board members Kelly Barber and Jack Macy joined us along with new board member Bruna Bradford, and we were glad to meet Bruna and hear about her running journey that eventually brought her to the...

Nick stayed on the line with us after the main show, and we got to dig into a lot more topics like how he ended up in California after growing up in a hockey family in Michigan and how the crossover from hockey to trail running has its advantages. We also dug into a topic near and dear to the Mile 99 - the importance of the running community, and then wrapped up by talking about some of the extreme races he's done and his opin...

Jess and Greg sat down with Nick Budzyn, an extremely accomplished Northern California ultrarunner with an impressive resumé who came into the sport of road and trail running after a lengthy hockey career in his school years spent in Michigan.

He's now an Altra tech rep in the area and has put down some major performances since 2009 when he decided to try a 100 miler as his very first ultra distance race! Nick also j...

Jess and Greg kept chatting some more after the main show and were joined by upcoming guest Nicholas Budzyn, Altra shoe rep who joined in the RDL livestream and kept it going along with the team!

We chatted about adjusting to managing the podcast with two co-hosts, some of our favorite road and trail options around our homes, and caught up with Nicholas about what he's been up to since RDL and some exciting Altra shoe announcem...

Join us in this episode as we dig into each other's backgrounds a bit for new listeners, thank our dedicated supporters, talk about goals and resolutions for 2024 and all of the  impact that our listeners have had over the years in volunteering, trail work and fundraisers. We couldn't have done it without you!

It was also a bittersweet episode after the December announcement that our original co-host Mike had dec...