The Mile 99 Interview
The Mile 99 Interview podcast is here to support runners and athletes in Northern CA and is a place to keep the community in touch and share stories.
Episodes
Hi everyone! It's been a while, and life just gets busy with work, family, trying to train and keeping up with all of the springtime events! Sorry we've been out of touch, but look for new full-length episodes later in July and August.
In the meantime, since Jess and I both volunteered at Western States this past weekend, we thought it would be fun to record some mini episodes to let you know what we were u...
In this episode of The Mile 99 Interview, we sit down with Mike Dimond, a hometown ultrarunner from Auburn, CA, who just punched his ticket to the 2025 Western States 100—not in the main lottery, but through the exclusive M45 Automotive Auburn residents raffle!
A Sacramento Metro firefighter, father, and long-time runner, Mike shares how living in the shadow of the Western States finish line shaped his dream, and how...
In this inspiring episode of The Mile 99 Interview, we sit down with two passionate trail stewards: Elke Reimer and Tim Tollefson. You might know Tim for his elite trail running accomplishments, but today, he’s wearing a different hat—one of advocacy, stewardship, and public lands protection. Alongside him, Elke shares her deep experience in trail maintenance and volunteer coordination.
Together, they unpack the behi...
We had a great time chatting with Joey "Coach" Montoya, local Auburn ultrarunner, football coach and PE teacher at Placer High School. We first met Joey back in episode 60 when he was getting ready for his first attempt at the 2021 Western States. He finished the race, but as he described to us, there was a lot of stress to manage as he approached the event.
Fast forward three years, and he's once agai...
George Ruiz, race director of the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs, dropped by to talk about the changes for the 2025 race after getting word that a major reconstruction project would prevent the new 100k and popular 100 mile race from occurring this year. This was a shock to the trail running community since this race is incredibly popular and has extremely dedicated entrants.
George didn't just decide to close u...
Fourmidable race director Paulo Medina and original founder of the Mile 99 Interview visited us to go over everything related to this year's race! It's one of the traditional 50k races in the Auburn area to kick another season of trail and ultrarunning and always draws a great crowd!
There are multiple distances and lots of great information to share about each one in the episode and we went over all of the...
Bri hung out for a while after the main show and talked about her White Mountain Traverse FKT from Boundary Peak in Nevada to White Mountain in California - inspiring stuff!
She also shared advice for runners whether they are just getting into trail running or even if they've been around a while. HINT: plan for longevity and incorporate cross training!
We talked about other bucket list trips and adventures, so ma...
Bri joined us for a fantastic episode where we learned all about her start as a young kid riding her bike and chasing her mom on her runs. She was instinctively drawn to climbing any nearby hill, and this fit well with her future direction in life!
Fast forward to recent years and to the present day, and Bri has become a highly accomplished ultrarunner, coach and FKT holder. Her journey and stories about her many en...
Happy New Year everyone!
We caught up with previous guest Todd Woodward as we kick off 2025 after a bit of a break. Todd last joined us in 2024 after his speedy performance at Miwok 100k. Unfortunately, he had to spend a bit of time rehabbing his ankle after that race and we got all of the details about how that went.
He finished the year strong with a solid performance at the NorCal Backyard Ultra...
After some unexpected time off, the Mile 99 team is back on track and making post show content that was recorded earlier this year available to our audience. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for your continued support!
Ken stuck around with us after the show and Jess kicked us off with a great story of the first time she ran into Ken during a 50k race that she was having a tough time at. We covered a lot of other t...
After some unexpected time off, the Mile 99 team is back on track and making post show content that was recorded earlier this year available to our audience. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for your continued support!
Todd stuck around after the main show to chat with us about his fantastic experience at the 2024 Miwok 100k and having the ability to crank up the speed late in the race to get a sub-14 hour finish! ...
After some unexpected time off, the Mile 99 team is back on track and making post show content that was recorded earlier this year available to our audience. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for your continued support!
Doctor JoAnn and Doctor Andy stuck around after the main show and had some time to chat about Andy's upcoming podcast, and we'll be sure to announce it when it's ready! JoAnn was in th...
Wow, where does the time go?? Hello again everyone, and sorry for being out of touch since our last episode in July before TRT. A lot has happened since then for both of us, and we've missed our trail running community and audience, and we're so glad you're all still here for us.
Jess and I sat down for a catching-up episode to get us back on track, and we're looking forward to more epis...
Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs race director George Ruiz joined us again this year to dig into all of the last minute details of the race, answer runner and crew questions and get everyone pumped for the race! We got through a ton of information and audience questions, and if you're running, crewing, volunteering or supporting the race in any way, don't miss this one!
TRT main site
TRT li...
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 ...
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 r...
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 we...
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...
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 ...
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 ...
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