UK Trail Running Shock: Ourea Events Collapse + UTMB Broadcast Confusion (Singletrack News)

In this week’s edition of Singletrack News, we break down a major development in the UK trail running scene after Ourea Events - the organizers behind races like Dragon’s Back, Cape Wrath Ultra, and the Northern Traverse - announced they are ceasing trading, putting several iconic races in jeopardy and leaving athletes uncertain about the future of some of the sport’s most ambitious point-to-point events.

We also discuss confusion surrounding UTMB’s new broadcast partnership with FloSports. After speculation online that UTMB races could move behind a paywall, organizers clarified that the UTMB livestream will remain free, with FloSports serving as a simulcast partner in the United States.

Elsewhere, we dig into UTMB’s 2026 live broadcast schedule, which includes 10 races across the World Series - but notably excludes Golden Ticket events like Chianti and Canyons.

We also cover:

• UTMB CEO Fabrice Perrin raising concerns about “ambush marketing” in trail running
• The debut of the Big Alta 100K in Marin Headlands
• Previewing the Chianti by UTMB Golden Ticket battle
• Courtney Dauwalter lining up at Tenerife Blue Trail as an early season test
• Nike recruiting ultrarunners for a 15-week research residency at the Nike Sports Research Lab
• And our content picks of the week, including a conversation between Harry Styles and Haruki Murakami on how running fuels creativity

Partners:

• Precision Fuel and Hydration - use code SINGLETRACK at checkout for 15% off your next order
• Norda - check out the 005: the lightest, fastest, most stable trail racing shoe ever made
• Raide - Making equipment for efficient human-powered movement in the mountains 
• Janji - premium trail running apparel
• Kodiak Cakes - my favorite oatmeal and pancakes 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The single track podcast is brought to you by Norda, the official footwear partner of the show. And if you're getting ready for a race this spring or summer, I must recommend to you their 005 model. It's the lightest, fastest, most stable super shoe on the market right now. Alongside the 055, I'll be using it at key races all season long. Don't wait. Go check it out, NordaRun.com. Today's episode is also brought to you by Precision Fuel and Hydration. If you've ever blown up late in a race, chances are your fueling plan, that's carbs, sodium, fluids, wasn't quite right. Precision has a free fuel and hydration planner that helps you figure out exactly what you should be taking in per hour based on how you've trained your race and the conditions out there. I have been using it recently while dialing in my own race nutrition strategy. I have seen the benefits. If you want to try it out for yourself again, it's free. Head to precisionhydration.com forward slash planner. This is the Monday, March 16th edition of Single Track News, joined as always by Alyssa Clark. Alyssa, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

I'm all right. I mean, we're recording on the Ides of March, and you know, nothing too catastrophic today has happened. So, you know, but we're the Ides of March. How are you doing, Finn?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Okay, I'm gonna say something embarrassing. I don't even know what the Ides of March is.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Oh, okay. So Caesar, I believe it was the day that Caesar was killed by the other senators, and he famously says, etu brutai, because Brutus kills Caesar. Um, and he Caesar had previously believed that Brutus was on his side. So it's the ultimate betrayal. And so this happened, and I'm so sorry to the history nerds out there. This happened on the 15th, and and he Caesar's kind of warned, beware the eyes of March, which is March 15th.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Okay. I learned something new. And now I'm wondering, do we is this applicable to trail? Is someone getting betrayed on trail soon?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

True. But I will say, I think I feel like it's maybe marks the atmosphere of UK trail running scene right now. There's a lot going on, so maybe that's our segue.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

And that is perfect. Major UK race organizer, Area events, ceases trading in in American parlance. This basically means declaring bankruptcy, going out of business, leaving notable races like the Dragons back, the Northern Traverse, and Cape Wrath, and Uncertain Future. I think we should start here. You have personal on the ground, you have run the Dragons back. Talk about like the ambiance of that event and before we get into all of this.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Absolutely. So I have attempted it once and completed it a second time. I attempted in 2019 and dropped out on the fourth day, was struggling with honestly, I think just massive calorie deficiency. And then I did finish it turned into a six-day event, just needed one more day of fun, and finished that in 2023. The absolute logistical carnival that it is alone is absolutely incredible. They set up uh tents every, I mean like a tent city every night, and they have one group that's going ahead a day to set everything up. So they're kind of leapfrogging. There's a catering tent, there's masses and massive amounts of volunteers, just the actual structure. And all of this is being done a lot on private land. It's unmarked, so you're following GPS routes. It is truly an incredible endeavor and race to put on. It's a point-to-point. So just on that front, and and they really take care of you. I mean, it's an incredible event. I feel very fortunate to have taken part. I would be, it would be very sad to see that disappear. I know Cape Wrath is an incredible event as well, as well as the Northern Traverse. So it's a real, I think, loss to the running community if we don't see these events continue. I mean, it is a truly remarkable course to run the length of Wales along essentially it's its dragon's spine.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Wild. And to give our primarily North American audience more context, this would be the equivalent of an organization like Daybreak Racing announcing tomorrow that they're going out. You know, like a lot of these events were like core events on the UK scene as you described. Another one, Glen Coast Skyline, uh, that brought some of the top, top mountain athletes from across the world, Killian Jornette, Emily Forrestberg, Katie Scheid, John Albin, Jasmine Paris, just to name a few. These Shane and his team played a critical, critical role over there. And it sounds like it was a multitude of factors. They got hit pretty hard during the COVID pandemic. They got hit hard by Brexit. I think they've gotten hit hard by just the changing landscape of independent versus corporate events out there. Um, so yeah, like it's it's one thing to survive COVID and a lot of these major institutional forces, but like in the long term, is it a fatal blow? So just a little bit more context there. Do you have any like what were your initial thoughts when you got this news?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Unfortunately, I had heard that the company was struggling a few years back just from a few people who were trying to help, I think, bolster. It's an incredibly expensive endeavor to put these races on. They are not simple, they are logistically complex. The amount of people, the gear, the overhead, I think is very high. And so very, very sad. I was hoping that there was a way that this could be remedied without this happening. Not honestly altogether surprising, have having heard that things were struggling. And also just, I mean, the state of the world is very unstable right now. I just feel so much for the people who lost the opportunity and potentially the funding. There hasn't been word of what's going to happen if people are going to receive refunds. Also, uh, the travel costs, the training costs, the emotional investment. I feel so much for them and I feel for Shane and for the company because no one's winning out of this. No one's coming out being like, ah, I stole money and now I'm gonna run away. No, no, no. Like Shane is not having a good time right now. I can I can tell you that, and no one in that company is. And so I just, it's really sad to see just a really difficult thing happen for the trail running community in the UK and in the greater world. In the scheme of things, there's a lot happening. You know, wars, etc. It's not great in the world right now, but this is just it's sad for the community to see such a stalwart uh tumble.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

This is the second consecutive week we're talking about major news on the UK scene. For folks that want to dive into this a little bit deeper, we I would encourage three podcasts: uh the Feet First Podcast, the Centurion Running Podcast, and Home Trails all have in-depth episodes covering this news along with Snowdonian news. We're gonna have James Elson on the podcast this week. James is the owner-operator of Centurion Running. He's a race director. He puts on uh the South Downs Way, which is a part of the Rural Trail Majors. He has an online retail store coaching. He's an athlete himself, so I think he'll provide interesting perspective. I think the biggest open question for me is is there any chance that these events actually stay above board in 26? Like, can someone come in and have enough basically time on the clock to keep them alive? And then in the long term, is it a local event or is it a major series that comes in if a transition happens? I'll be so curious.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah, as far as the saving the ones this year, from what I'm hearing, the Northern Traverse is supposed to happen in, I believe, less than two weeks. I don't think that there's a very high possibility of that being salvaged at this point. I do think there's a little bit more hope for Dragons Back, which is in September, but it's still tough because it's like, what are the transferable funds? Is someone gonna buy it up and then people have to re-enter? You know, it's it's it's tricky. I am very hopeful that a company or someone will be able to swoop in and help. I don't think it's going to be what I think it's gonna be unconventional, perhaps, because I think there's a lot of pieces to it. I think it's they're very unique races. So I'm I'm hopeful and I'm curious to see what comes up.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Next up, UTMB responds to social media confusion. Flow Sports Deal does not put UTMB behind a live stream paywall. This is something that you would have had to have been on Instagram for a few days ago, almost like the conflict resolution transpired in an eight to 10 hour window. It's it's crazy how fast news moves, but UTMB has clarified that its race live streams will remain free to watch. Earlier this week, UTMB revealed its uh 2026 live broadcast calendar. It includes 10 events streamed throughout the year. As part of that announcement, uh the organization also shared that Flow Sports is going to become a broadcast partner in the U.S. The announcement sparked speculation online that U Timbrig races might now move behind a Flow Sports subscription paywall. Not the case, the UTMB.live stream that we all know and appreciate that has, you know, been in play for years now, that stays intact. This is effectively what we would call in uh in media terms a simulcast partnership. Your thoughts here.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

To be honest, I was not quite as struck by this news because I'm not a huge track and field person. So I don't really know the graph. I actually asked a friend, I was like, I know people don't love flow track. Can you explain to me a little bit of why that's the case? So to me, it wasn't quite as, oh no, they're partnering with Flowtrack as much as other news. So I wasn't quite as struck by it, but I'm glad I know that that was a concern. I'm very glad to see that it's not changing the way and the accessibility uh people have to these events. I think they're incredible avenues for people to be introduced to trail running, um, as we can see with you know Mountain Outposts live streaming. So exciting to see more events live streamed. I hope that it stays along these tracks.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Just to give the audience some examples outside of our sport where this has been in play. And I don't think it's threatened to the integrity of those productions. If you take tennis, for example, uh a big event like Wimbledon, that might be broadcast through a channel like ESPN or BBC, which in that case would be the Flow Sports equivalent. Simultaneously, the event would be streamed through Wimbledon's own digital platforms and apps, which is like UTMB. Uh these broadcast partners, it gets you new fans, different platforms work better in different regions. And then, of course, or you hopefully the event keeps its own direct-to-consumer product.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

That is one thing I didn't notice, and I think could be very interesting, is just the exposure to more people, just a greater audience that's you know, flipping through stations and they see trail running and go, oh wow, what's this? I kind of want to watch people run through the woods and eat snacks. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

And that's a great open question, right? Like I would love for UTMB, if possible, to share data a year from now, demonstrating just some key figures around, okay, how many new people were exposed to the to these UTMB events through Flow Sports, but also through all of those other partners. Because I think, again, don't quote me on this, but there are multiple partners in multiple regions across the world that are simulcasting.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Can I also just give massive kudos to the production teams that are putting on these events in absolutely incredible areas and they're just pure athleticism? I mean, I am truly astounded because I've run with cameramen, I've seen them work, and just the ability to run with equipment to get to places to bring this coverage to us is absolutely astounding. I think there's some of the best athletes out there. So hats off to all the camera people.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

That reminds me, one of the craziest things I've ever seen on the ground. OCC last year, I was at the Martini aid station waiting for Jim Walmsley to arrive. Jim Walmsley passes. I kind of sprint to catch up with or to keep up with him just to kind of watch the action. There's a live stream bike right behind him. And I don't know what you call those uh like what like bigger, longer rectangular water fountains that are on the course. You know, they're kind of like endemic to Europe, to France. But like on a dime. Steve is like a fountain. A fountain, basically. But Jim, like it looks like he's gonna run past the fountain, stops on a dime and like takes out his flask, and the it almost sent the bike flying. I mean, the the this guy's ability to stop on a dime was he salvaged and he had like a heavy camera. It was just it was amazing athleticism. So you're totally right.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Yeah. They're incredible.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

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SPEAKER_00 15:36

Honestly, I was very surprised not to see Chianti or Canyons on that. That was one of the first things I noticed. It feels very Eurocentric, which again, there's no problem with that. I was just a bit surprised not. And of course, Keanti is in Europe, golden ticket race, but the other events were incredible events, but to me didn't have quite as much weight as, say, a Kianti or a Canyon's do. So was surprised by that. Perhaps though, it's going to give more visibility to events that they're saying bringing up or that they are trying to highlight. So it could be an interesting marketing strategy of giving not quite the most thought-of events uh a little bit more visibility. So I'm excited. I wish that a few more were added because I would love to see them live, but you know, here we are.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

I'll reach out to the UTMB media team this week to hopefully get an answer on why Keonti was dropped for this year. It's it's almost unfathomable to me. It's almost unfathomable to me that we are not getting two golden ticket races on the circuit live streamed Keonti and Canyons. It just seems in this era unacceptable. One thing that I love that's coming out of this, in the press release, they mentioned these 45-minute best of recap shows that are produced shortly after each stream finishes. And I think that is a fantastic option to make sure that you're consuming all the critical parts of a stream. If you can't be there, you know, button-seat for 24 hours.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I also, I mean, that's something that I loved with the Coca-Dona Chronicles, I believe, where they were recapping and putting out content of like, this is what's happening on day one, this is what's happening day two. I think that that's really useful for events that are difficult to view the whole time. I mean, ultra races are long. And so I think these bite-sized information feeding that that's really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Next up, the CEO of UTMB group, Fabrice Perrin, took to LinkedIn last week to write about uh what he sees as the problems of an increasingly common ambush marketing strategy in our sport. Did you get a chance to read this?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

I did. It's I did, but you can continue.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Okay. Uh well, what were your thoughts? Any any takeaways?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Well, I think we do you want to explain a little bit of what ambush marketing is?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Sure. Yeah. Perrin describes ambush marketing essentially as when brands create the impression that they are associated with an event without being an official sponsor. So they get all the benefits of attention and visibility without paying any sponsorship rights. So basically, by doing that, it undermines all the credibility that the event has reaching out to brands and creating these partnership deals. Because then these brands are like, well, why am I paying for this if all of my competitors in a vertical are out there basically doing the same thing with the same amount of success and they're doing it for free?

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Here's what I thought was interesting about his take is that it seemed more targeted at the Olympics and a few other events than it was at UTMB because he said, and again, this was my interpretation. It seemed like, but I'm not talking about Shamini and what happens there. That's okay. We expect events, we expect runs, we don't expect everything to be the official partners or no one else is allowed to come. So I wasn't quite, he seemed very to have a lot of strong feelings, but it didn't really seem targeted necessarily at UTMB week, which is what I would have assumed. I will say, having a little bit of an idea watching the Olympics, I was surprised at the amount of companies that were putting on a lot of marketing and putting a lot of time and energy that I kind of went, I didn't really think they had much of an affiliation with the Olympics. That's surprising to me. But yeah, what were your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Uh, just how like when you get to the stature that UTMB is at, that this is actually a problem. I think about our our own events and how small we are and how um, yes, we do solicit paid partnerships and we have those and they are vital to our business, and we try to go above and beyond to fulfill on those and surprise and delight, et cetera. But in a lot of cases, if if if an athlete comes in and they're like, hey, like we would like to bring a content team here and you know, I'm affiliated with this brand and it's like not, you know, one for one, I'm still stoked about it, right? Because we're in that stage where we need more attention, we need more visibility, more storytelling. So I don't think we're anywhere close to the point where it's like we need to gatekeep this and hire someone to police the situation. But I, you know, at UTMB at Western States, at a few golden ticket races over the years, certainly I have seen examples where it's like not just a community run or a pop-up or content. It's like a brand is there at a critical aid station. They're set up like giving out free samples. And I can see where like someone like February should be like, that can't, that can't hold. Like that is undermining our relationship with this shoe brand. Like that has to go. There has to be a consequence there.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

On kind of a similar but slightly different note, I have had an idea for a perhaps a content uh video strategy, et cetera, is can someone run all of the shakeout runs in chamony and equal the amount of distance of running one of the races? How many shakeout runs can you do? Film them all. How many miles do you rack up not racing a single race at UTMB? I would love someone to do this, please.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

It's an amazing idea. And let's go one step further. I would also love to see the heat map after the fact to see how much ingenuity there is in routes versus just like writing it in and you're just running down the main strip there in sham.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah. I would love someone to take this on. So please.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Next up, golden ticket battles at Keonti, Courtney DeWalter heads to Tenerife, and the new Big Alta 100k Digital. Debuts. First, looking at the inaugural Big Alta 100K. It's in California's Marine Headlands. People have said this, but I agree. Looks like an instant classic. Early start list includes folks like Alex King, Darren Thomas, Robin Lesh, Anna Louden. Um it any thoughts here? Because this is what like for a debut year, there's already a lot of hype around it.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

I think it's a great 100K test of it's hilly, but it's not massively mountainous. It should be really runnable terrain, beautiful weather. I actually think it's going to be really hot, which will be interesting. But I think that having free trail behind it, you know, Dylan Bowman's energy and enthusiasm and um ability to market, I think just makes it, yeah, like an instant classic agreed. And I think that this area has been looking for another race. There was, you know, the North Face 50. I know that was traditionally in November, but I do think another like classic, beautiful Northern California Marin Headlands race. We've been we've been watching this, so I'm not surprised.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I'm not a voter, but if I was, I think Big Alta in the long run should be a golden ticket race. If I had to pick between Big Alta and Gorge among the daybreak inventory, I would go Big Alta. And I think there's too long of a gap. I've said this before in other podcasts, but I think there's too long of a gap between Black Canyon and Canyons. We need something in March here stateside. And this is very live streamable too. So yeah. Uh okay, Chianti by UTMB. We have four golden tickets on the line. Do you have picks here or just any thoughts on the field?

SPEAKER_00 23:51

I haven't looked at it super closely, to be honest. My good friend Jeff Mogavero is headed over there. So my money's always on Jeff. I love him. He's a teammate, a really good friend. So I'm rooting for Jeff to uh to take that. But yeah, I'm curious more on your side. I haven't been as in depth with uh the previews.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

One uh two things from me. And this this dog's all multi-day athletes in our sport, but I believe Rachel Endrokin is going to be there. And I think this is her latest, greatest chance to prove that uh, you know, she transcends the the 200-mile scene. She's not just a specialist there, and she's great basically at any ultra distance, or at least in the mix for wins and podiums. So that sticks out to me. And then this is a little bit under the radar, but I'm a really big Gavin Pryor fan. I think he has the talent and the right mentality to be a future elite pro in the sport. So he's he's one of the other Americans alongside Jeff on that start list. And then I'd love to see Vincent take another crack at Western States. He got a ticket here last year, battling with Jim and Killian. And I just think he might have been sick or something didn't go right for him early on at States last year. So uh I would love to see him add to that storyline there. So that's it for me.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

From what I've heard with uh Vincent is that he's struggled a lot with stomach issues. Uh, kind of since UTMB happened, it's really been a little bit up and down. So I would just love to see him feeling better and knocking it out of the park as we know he can.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

And then Tenerife Blue Trail. So this is going to be live streamed. It's actually UTMB's kickoff for the broadcast season. It's a largely international field, but notably one key American, Courtney DeWalter, will be lining up. Courtney, uh, you know, I I'm assuming that her, one of her, if it's not her A goal this year besides Hard Rock, Kokodona is uh six, seven weeks from now. So this is like an early test for her to see like, is it all systems go for Cocodona and beyond? I'm excited to tune in almost exclusively for that, but then you've got Minon Bohard on the men's side, Andreas Riderer, Raul Buttaci, Songe Sherp on the line. So yeah, this is a part of that whole circle of islands out there, Grand Canaria. Uh, I was gonna say Madeira, but that's not where it is. Uh Tanerif, it's it's a it's a beautiful area of the world. Your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah, it's so funny because I had just been, I don't know why, but I was thinking about, I think I was looking at Crowd King Scramble, and I know that she done that last year in kind of a tune-up for Cocodona, and I was thinking, huh, Courtney hasn't really raced since the marathon. I wonder if she's gonna fit something in before Cocodona or if she's just kind of, you know, enjoying a little bit of a chill downtime before a big summer. But I'm excited to see her line up and you just, I don't know, she's just so great. Anytime she's down to the start line, I'm stoked.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Next up, Nike is studying ultrarunners and they are looking for test subjects. Nike has posted a new opportunity for ultrarunners to participate in a research project at Nike Sports Research Lab in Beaverton, Oregon. The program is recruiting U.S.-based runners willing to commit to a 15-week research residency where participants train under Nike's applied performance science team. They undergo physical, biomechanical, psychological testing, a few stipulations. They have to be capable of handling high-volume training. They have to relocate to Beaverton. It looks like they get some assistance, housing support, coaching, modest financial compensation, and they cannot be sponsored. They have to be unsponsored runners. When you saw this job posting, or not job posting, but opportunity post-up, your thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

We were chatting about this a little bit before we started recording, and I think we have two different takes about perhaps what purpose it's serving. So this demographic that I would assume that they're probably targeting is a younger, perhaps, well, it has to be unsponsored, you know, up and coming. So I could see this as a pipeline of recruitment of young athletes that they're testing their potential. I mean, we see several teams that do a lot of testing of VO2 max. I know Red Bull does a lot of testing. Um, and so I'm curious if they're kind of identifying perhaps future talent in the sport. So that's super exciting. I just love that they're focusing on ultra. It that makes me really happy. I think anytime you see a big company like Nike putting focus on a sport, I think it says a lot about what they think the potential growth of that sport is. What about you, Finn?

SPEAKER_01 28:53

I would love to know what research questions they are most curious about. I would love to know which answers to which questions they believe unlock the most leverage in our sport. Um, my first thought when I saw this job, this job posting was that basically they're hiring guinea pigs. I don't think that that's a bad thing. I think that's just a funny, easily rememberable label. But if that is the case, are they the first in line among all the other brands to do the exact same thing? Is this a trend where if you have pro athletes, you hire almost like a front guard who goes and tests a bunch of hypothesis and then the ones that stick go to your athlete team? Um, or are these people that, you know, provide valuable information for shoelines down the road? But I like your, I mean, your idea is certainly the most optimistic one, right? Of like this is that we're they are surreptitiously bringing in like the next generation of elite athletes.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

So I think that's yeah, I I mean, that's my thought because I think that's what we've been missing in the sport is the youth development. And so I think that's something Nike, for better or for worse, at times has been very good at identifying is up-and-coming talent. And so I wouldn't be surprised if this was along those lines.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Last thing, this is for anyone that is listening, watching, that is interested in applying, you have until tomorrow, Tuesday, March 17th. So you have 24 hours or less if you're listening right when this thing publishes to do it. So sorry, but time is of the essence. Goodbye, get on it. Alyssa, let's let's end here. Let's do um, let's do our content picks of the week. What's yours?

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Ooh, but you do have one that I actually think is I would love is this uh Run the Alps is putting out this writing residency based out of Chamonix, where it's in collaboration with Like the Wind. Also, Like the Wind is coming to the United States, which is incredibly exciting. It's a beautiful magazine. And so they are offering a kind of all expenses paid trip to create writing pieces, one I believe will be featured in Like the Wind if you are selected. So I think this is an incredible opportunity. Honestly, I was contemplating putting my own name in it. Really? Because yeah, writing is I always joke that writing and running are the two things that make the most sense in my mind in the world. Yeah, they it's where I lose track of time. So was considering it, but I think this is an incredible opportunity. And then the other content piece perhaps isn't well, it it's kind of a two-parter. So I wish that I'd saved the name of the person who wrote this, but you know on LinkedIn you'll get like someone you know liked this post, and you don't really know the origin of the post. But it was talking about the importance of endurance, and they said it's not really about being faster, stronger, having abs, all of that. They need endurance that helps us keep showing up when life gets difficult, uncertain, and messy, and also the endurance to help each other out and to stick together. And I just loved that reminder that that's really what we're training for is we're training for life and we can get caught up in all of the numbers. And it also ties a little bit. I don't know if you're a Bojack Horseman fan.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

I know BoJack, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

It's it is truly, I'm not a big cartoon person. BoJack is kind of exceptional. And there's one part where BoJack is so for anyone who doesn't know, cycles of addiction. He's trying to get his life back together, so he starts jogging and he's really overweight. He's jogging up a hill, and a baboon passes him. And the baboon says, it gets easier every day. It gets a little easier, but you gotta do it every day. That's the hard part. And I liked that. So that's kind of my two-part content. What about you, Finn?

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Well, it's the first time Bojack Horseman's ever been mentioned in the pod, but I'm glad it was. Uh yeah, I like both those. You know, uh great to hear that you that writing is so important to you. I have said this on other podcasts again. I am still waiting for the next great book that reflects on some aspects of our sport. And I wonder if this type of sweepstakes uh residency contest encourages that talent pool. And maybe these articles that are produced are the first chapter of something like that, you know. Like it's been a long time since Born to Run. There's been some other stuff in between, but like I'm looking for that next one, you know. And I think it's a very unsaturated space. I know Substack is the big thing right now, but I still feel like there's plenty of room for more great writing. So absolutely. Okay, mine is uh okay, Runner's World published it a fascinating conversation between pop star Harry Stiles and the legendary novelist Haruki Murakami. It's about their shared love of running. Two takeaways from it for me. You don't have to follow the tortured artist stereotype to be creative. You can live a structured, healthy life and still produce great art. In fact, Haruki would say that that is essential for long-termism. And then he also describes running as building the quote unquote vessel that creativity fills. So you train the body and the mind so that ideas have somewhere to land. And the waiting and the patience is critical. Like you have to be there unobstructed. You can't be necessarily listening to music or podcasts. Like you have to be open and totally unobstructed for the next thing to hit you to work on. So I thought that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Do you last question? Do you listen to music podcasts when you're running, or do you leave space?

SPEAKER_01 35:08

I used to do it every single run. And if I have a lot of research to do, I do it. But I lost my watch like a week ago. So like the last week I've done nothing. Um, I just haven't brought any tech. Like the watch inspired me to bring no tech. And every so often I have like a fleeting inspiration to to go know technology, so I'll do it then. But yeah, I would say I'm far from it, but definitely inspired by it. How about you?

SPEAKER_00 35:40

I find that when my mind is really noisy, when there's a lot going on, I run in silence because there's so much chaos already happening. I can't focus on anything else. And so I will shut off what's going on. I do primarily risk listen to podcasts, but when things are really loud, I say in my head, then I have to turn everything else off.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Until next time, Melissa, thank you so much. This is Ben, the Single Track News. Let us know. Shoot us a comment on YouTube, a DM on Instagram. We'd love to hear from you. Any inbound news for next week. This episode of the Single Track Podcast is also brought to you by Kodiak. When you're deep into a training block, being on program isn't just about mileage, it's about nutrition too. For me, breakfast is pretty much non-negotiable. In the next two weeks, the alarm clock is going to be going off at 5 a.m. I am not going to be trying to think too hard about what to eat. I just need something that fuels the run and helps with recovery. That is where Kodiak's protein oatmeal comes in. Their rolled protein oats give you about 10 grams of protein per serving with no added sugar, so you can make it. You're alan, throw in some fruit, granola, cinnamon, whatever you like. And if you want something a little bit more performance-oriented, the peak oatmeal packets were developed with Kodiak Athletes. They've got 20 grams of protein, 40% less sugar than the original packets, so they're great for recovery after a long run or for those big training days when you're stacking mileage. I'll often bring a few packets traveling to races, toss them in a drop bag, or keep them in the car for a quick post run meal. Kodiak makes it easy to fuel your runs with real ingredients and 100% whole grains, carbs for the work, protein for the repair. Check them out the next time you're stacking up for your next big race.