Tara Dower | 2026 Western States 100 Pre-Race Interview

One of the most exciting and versatile athletes in our sport, Tara Dower joins us in the studio to reflect on this year’s mission to race the vaunted Western States-Hardrock double. 

There’s a bit of a “revenge” narrative at play here as illness forced her to DNF at last year’s Western States and she was the very first person on the wait list at last year’s Hardrock, even suiting up for the start line the morning of the race in hopes that magic would happen. Ultimately, the stars didn’t align. But now it’s here. 

We talk a lot about her process approaching the double, but also ask her about other interests in the sport, life in Durango, performance mantras, and her ability to dig remarkably deep in so many of these races.

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 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Norda is the official footwear partner of our 2026 Western States 100 coverage. All the rage this summer is the imminent release of their new model, the 055, the shoe that Rachel Entrakin wore start to finish en route to her course record victory at the Cocodona 250 earlier this year. Go check it out at NordaRun.com and make sure you are subscribed to their mailing list to get exclusive early access to the shoe. I've put a bunch of training miles in it. It's the real deal. All right, we are back. It is Wednesday, June 24th. Another day, another dollar, another day of coverage, athlete interviews ahead of the 2026 Western States 100, Leah Yingling and Brett Horning joining me in the co-hosting position. And we are blessed to have Tara Dower in studio. Tara, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Too blessed to be stressed.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Just off the dome.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yeah. Yeah. I'm good. Yeah. Um not sick and I'm really thankful for that.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Yeah, this is this is preventative.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, this is preventative for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I even have the face mask here. Yeah, and I guess if you're listening to just the audio version, we've got Tara O'Dower decked out in pink latex gloves, a pink N95. And she did remove her nice uh kind of face shield right before we start recording. ASMR. You can hear it. You can hear. Yeah. Very nice. Pulling all the stops. Yeah. We're not we're not pulling any chances.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

I mean, are you do you think this is the future?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

It should be. I mean, it definitely should be. You you people, athletes, me, all my fellow athletes, we all work so hard to get here. Why wouldn't you take the extra precaution? Wear a mask. Wash your hands, wear gloves, wear a face shield. Like, you work so hard. People are bringing the rice makers to UTB, you said, so why not wear a face mask?

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Yeah, you even washed your gloves.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah. Well, yeah, I did wash the gloves. It's I guess it's the same as washing your hands.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Those those that are your hands, yeah. Before we dive into all the questions for this moment, can we just take a moment to reflect back on one of the greatest post-race interviews of all time between these two right here?

unknown 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

What a moment.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

It was it was okay. So first of all, I thought it wasn't live. I didn't know it was live. I thought you guys were going to like go back and like cut stuff, stuff together. So it's just like, I'm literally just gonna say whatever, like this is this is not live. Turns out it was fully live. Yeah, it was reacting live time.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

But I had I had no communication with that with like Leah and Skylar and studio. No, I had no earpiece or anything. So I like the camera person who was there was just kind of counting me in, and then it was just blind, so I had no idea. Like I was pretending it wasn't live because I didn't I didn't know what was going on on the on the other side of the internet.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

And what was going on on the other side was Skylar rolling on the ground, cracking up. We could not keep it together, but I do believe that goes down as probably the greatest interview of all time, one of the best in ultra running.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

And for folks that don't know, this is the 2026 Black King 100k post-race interview with Tara.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yeah. I mean, I think we've got, you know, your pretty dry humor. And I was just tired. I think it was a good dynamic.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

It's pretty over that race at the time. I think I'm gonna go back anyways. Why not? Why not just do it again? Maybe we can meet back in 2027.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, maybe maybe we'll chat on like what is it, Saturday evening?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Yeah. Yeah, we could do that. I'm knocking on one cont wood continuously. I don't even know if I'll make it there. I thought I'd make it there last year. I didn't. Everyone knock on wood.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Setting aside the fact that you're taking the necessary health precautions here, as a veteran of the sport, do you still get nervous for these races?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah. Oh my gosh, so nervous. Yeah, I mean, again, we put so much into training. You know, everything, for me at least, and I know for a lot of athletes, like everything as a full-time athlete goes into this. So sleeping enough. I have to make sure I sleep enough. I have to make sure I'm eating enough and getting the necessary carbs and then like preparing for a run. Like you want to be able to have the carbs on your run. So you're preparing your bottles, and then you go out on your run, and you then you do recovery work. It's like everything. You can't really put it down. You can't put the job down. Um, I mean, obviously, there's days where you can like have a rest day and an off day, and you can drink a beer or do whatever else you want, but everything goes into it. So, like, yeah, it's it's hard not to feel nervous when this is everything you're training for. Um but the nerves, like everyone says, the nerves means you care. So that's also good. If I didn't feel nervous, then I'd be a little worried. You showed up at the start line last year, uh, a little sick. But prior to getting sick, you were very much ready to go. You show up this year. Does it feel like you've been training for Western states for the last two years? Yeah. Um I think I'm able to compartmentalize really well. So it's really just like the next race. When I think about it, going back to training, it was like training for um you know, long trail after Western, and then it was training for, you know, the little bit of time I had for Havelena, and then um after that it was training for Black Canyon and then for Gorge. Um, so I'm really good at compartmentalizing, but it has been in the back of my mind this entire time. It's like I just really want to perform well, I want to do my best, I want to show up healthy, I want to respect my fellow competitors and push them, and I want to be pushed by them. And it's just like it's always in your head. I think anyone can agree. How would you compare, besides the fact that you got sick last year, how would you compare how you showed up last year to how you're showing up this year? Yeah, I think um I had a lot of aggression last year. I felt like I'm going to like do everything I can to win this race. And I think I feel that now to a degree, but I think I feel um I think I'm looking at the entire, my entire career too, looking at the entire picture, the entire story. Um, and I'll be happy if I have a performance where I try really hard, I work really hard. Um, obviously I'm I have a good level of aggression right now. I want to go into this race, but I think I was like everything, like my entire life. Like, I know I just said that like my entire life, everything goes to racing, like eating, sleeping, all that. But like last year I was like, it was it was pretty intense. Everything and like everything was like this race. Western 25. Everything was that this year. I'm like, I've got hard rock afterwards, and I've got some pretty fun adventures this summer um after the race. And I've got I've got many years ahead of me. Um, and I want to do really well. I'm always going to compete to my fullest ability. That's never in question, but I think I've kind of relaxed a little bit. So aggressive, but not as intense.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

I I was watching your uh post-Gorge 50K YouTube vlog, and one of the things that I took from it, because again, to give the audience context, you took third place, first and second, Miao Yao and Jenlicht are two of the best 50k runners, not just of this generation, but of all time. Amazing result. But in that vlog, it I sense that you're struggling to accept satisfaction with that third place result. Can you talk about how or whether that inability to appreciate such a great result serves you well in the sport or it works against you?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Oh, that's you always have the best questions uh that really get me thinking. Um I think it could be possibly both. Um kind of never satisfied with anything. Like that, the it was very much that feeling after Black Canyon 2, just feeling like, you know, I feel like there's more there. And I just like I worked really hard, but there's still like I'm not satisfied. Same thing with Gorge. Um, and I think that pushes me to push harder in races and to discover more. So I have a mindset coach and we like go through things in races and I try to like decode why wasn't I pushing here? What was going on in my head and like training, where can I improve? But I think um if I let it get out of control, it can definitely derail some training runs. Um, I've never really let it derail a race before where I get so hyped up and so anxious. Um, I have anxiety, and I haven't let it get so bad to where I'm like, um, I'm unable to perform. But in training runs for sure. And that is, you know, you have to get that under control if you're not having like a good training run. Um, I mean, that's one, that's like not why I'm here in the sport. I'm not here. I'm here to like have fun, um, to enjoy myself to win. That's also how I enjoy myself, but I don't know, it's just like we nobody wants to go to go do a training run and feel like have an anxiety attack and feel terrible.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

For this last training block leading up to Western states, what have been some of the most enjoyable parts of the training?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah. Oh I have I really love just running super fast and pushing like those um speed runs that my coach Megan puts on my log and just like really pushing my limits there. But I think like another part was my training, um, training camp up in Silverton, training for both Hard Rock and Western, which is very unique, very unique training camp. Uh, but that was so cool. It I did have some tough moments. Um, just sleeping was hard, always at altitude, eating is hard at altitude. But uh, you have to do it, you have to train that gut, and you also you have to run even if you don't sleep. So uh I think that was tough, but it was like obviously gorgeous. It's kind of sad going up into the mountains in early June and not seeing a lot of snow. That's depressing. But like being up there among the San Juans is a very special experience. Yeah, you're definitely oh yeah. How are you balancing the specificity required for both Western states and hard rock while you were training in the San Juans? Yeah, it was um, it was kind of like mostly Western states training. Um, obviously had the acclimation going into that for hard rock. Uh, we did me and Careth and Robin, we did like some big, we did like the entire course except for like maybe 16 to 20 miles, 20 to 16 miles. Um so we did the entire course. Um, but on the downhills, like the uphills were just like recon, but the downhills were training, like you know, those downhills going from Little Giant. That's like a really fun downhill. Going down Campbell is really fun. So you got to slam the quads for Western. And that's what I ended up doing. Uh I felt that felt great to you know open up the legs a little bit on those downhills. Did you coerce Robin and Kareth into doing the same with you, or was this a solo Western States training for on those downhills? Robin was totally down because she was doing broken arrow. She did the 46k and she um, yeah, she was down to she was keen to do those downhills. Uh, I think Kerith was like, Whoa, I need to practice my downhill. She actually said that we were in the sauna the other day. She was like, that was like you went so fast on those downhills. And that's that's kind of like what I enjoy. I love a good downhill. I'm just gonna like open it up and just like run that downhill. Ever since Run Rabbit that one year, I was just like, ha, this is it. I could do this. My quads are primed for downhills.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Well, that seems to bode well for Western States being in that downhill course.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Precision fuel and hydration is the official nutrition partner of our 2026 Western States 100 coverage. And guess what? They've got a new watermelon flavor of their chews launching this Tuesday, or Tuesday, as they're calling it, June 23rd. If you've utilized their original or mint and lemon flavored chews before, you'll probably be stoked. I received a sample a few weeks back. The taste is great. The watermelon is there, and it's kind of like a chewy Jolly Rancher sensation. Same as always, each packet contains two chews, efficiently delivering 15 grams of carbs each. They've got a high carb to weight ratio, making them a great choice when you need to travel light. They contain no artificial ingredients, they're vegan and gluten-free, and batch tested for anti-doping. And again, they taste amazing. And to celebrate the launch, Precision is going to be at TrailCon with a watermelon stall by the Precision Fuel and Hydration Stage in the Event Village. And then they're going to be supporting their athletes all weekend out there on the Broken Arrow and Western States courses. If you want to try these out for yourself, head over to their website, pick up a pack, and please use code SINGLETRACK at checkout for 15% off your next order. Thanks to Precision for making this content possible.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Where do you think uh you know your strengths as a runner suit you best on this course?

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah, um, I would say the downhills. Um Gorge was a really good race to do to get in like some of that uphill. Like it was very, it's very like undulating. Um, but there's like a good amount of down, but there's a lot of uphill as well. Fast uphills. Um, so I found that you know I'm a pretty good climber. Uh, maybe not the best in the sport. I know there's people who are just that's their specialty. Um, but I got a lot of confidence from doing like these training blocks and doing my fast uphills. Um, but definitely the downhills, and also just like though the temperature is not gonna be super hot, it's still going to be hot. Like it's still gonna be hot during the race. It's like the least hot year in Western is still like for most races, hot. Um, so I I think I do uh specialize in like the hotter weather races.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

So Leah pointed this out to me before we went on the air. She listened to all of the women of distance previous interviews that Lauren did for Western. And one of the trends Leah noticed was, and I think Lauren was trying to prompt this in people, no one would like flat out state that they're going for the win. And I'm wondering, do you think we're culturally ready for more elite women to just like put that out there and be more assertive in their goals?

SPEAKER_00 15:22

That's a great question. That was very, you know, I felt the same thing. I was because I listened to some of the interviews. Um I don't know. I kind of respect that a little bit. I think that's the difference between men and women's racing, maybe. Um and maybe like that would be that would be like the the thing that not that women racing our racing isn't like getting a lot of exposure, or like maybe that it's not like I mean it's super fast. Um, but maybe like we get even faster, you know, if we have multiple people saying I'm going for the win. Um I don't know. That's that's a great question. Uh nobody said they were I don't think so. Yeah. Maybe one kind of alluded to it. I think people like I think people say like, like, obviously I'm wanna win, but there's a lot of that. Um and I kind of feel the same way. I think mostly for me it's like superstition. I am s I am superstitious, like on the Appalachian Trail ass rascal. But on like towards the end, it was ridiculous. Like I was knocking on that was my thing. It was like this like tick of mine. I was knocking on all the trees, knock on wood. Um, I think it's more superstition, and I don't want to like call something and be like, why'd you say that? I'm very superstitious.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

So it's not it's not because you'll think you'll get public pushback.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Oh no, I would I would, yeah, it's superstition for sure. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

I'm a little stitched.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

I'm just a little stitched. I was about to say I'm super superstitious.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

We've heard some people talk about that too. It's it's like if the only goal is to win, sometimes that can backfire when there's ultimately a low point in the race. Like even the person that wins might have a rough patch, and if you're not mentally prepared for it, you're like, oh, now my day, it's done.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

It's hard to have just one singular goal for a racist lawns.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then like the expectations you're setting up too. Like, obviously, we're all we all want to win, but I think like setting up proper expectations for yourself is really important. And for me, it doesn't look like proclaiming that I'm gonna win.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

First the escarpment. First red star. For 60 mile an hour gusts.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Yeah, it's gonna be windy up there. 60? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

The the village uh last night got destroyed, apparently. Yeah, trail contents like went down, and we're not recovering. Yeah, it was just a pictures. There's like a pile of tents.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Six sixty at the top of the escarpment, yeah. And it's gonna be and then maybe like 40 mile. Those are gusts, so it's 40 mile an hour gusts. Oh, but isn't that like hurricane level?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

It's pretty true. It's gonna be like going over Mount Washington on the AT.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Hell yeah. I've done that before.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

I know you have. Can you imagine how fast it'll be if it's a tailwind, though?

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Oh, just getting pushed up the escarpment. Oh man, I didn't realize that. That's wild. Do you have a race in your running career so far that you feel like you met all of the expectations you set for yourself and even exceeded them? No. Um, like I think around a race, a recent race, what would you say?

SPEAKER_02 18:52

I feel like javelina.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Well, no, like, okay, so like what I was gonna say is like javelina, I didn't know was gonna happen. I didn't know if the 80 miles a month ago that I had on my legs from Mammoth was going to serve me. Um, I like going into that race, I really was like, I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know how my body's gonna react. I don't know how the competitors are gonna do. Like, I just had no idea. Um, so I had like zero expectations going into that race. And I also was not racing, I was not running for the course record. I knew in the last 10 miles that I was ahead of the course record. I was not looking at my watch at all. And then Chris was like, if we run fast, you could get the course record. I was like, great, let's do it. Um but when I think back to like races, like Um said, yeah, that was that was a race I put a lot of research in and like wanted to win um for the women, didn't expect to win overall. But no, I it's like this I have this mental block um from expecting too much, and that's something I'm trying to work on. I think it could benefit me to like maybe say I'm gonna win and or maybe not. I don't know, it's working for me right now. Um but yeah, it's like going back to 2025 Black Canyon. I did not think that would happen and think I'd get second. That race has always eluded me. So yeah. No.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

You've had uh you've had different phrases for other race, like the mantras, like be like water, comatose.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

What is it this week?

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Um it's like uh I'm still like trying to, you know, usually it just comes to me, somebody says something, um, and it's like that is it. Um but my mindset coach Danielle, she was saying like she was just talking about uh running without fear, and I was like, that is what I want to do. I don't wanna I don't wanna finish the race. Hopefully I finish. And I don't want to finish the race and um like think like fear held me back, like fear of like bombing it, like blowing up in a race, um, getting ahead, and then all of a sudden like getting GI distressed and then 10 people past me. I don't want to be afraid of that. I just want to go for it and see what happens. Say it's Monday after Western states and all you know about your race is that you're disappointed in it. What do you think happened? I think what happened was probably I fell and really hurt myself. Um yeah, I think that would probably be that's the thing that's on the top of my mind is like, you know, with all the downhills it comes a really fast pace and if you for me at least if I look up at any point and I'm not looking at my feet, I can fall very easily in very fast downhills. Or what if I fell in forced hill? Right on the pavement. The space verse.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I don't think I don't think we've seen that yet. I I'm stealing I'm stealing Leah's follow-up, but conversely, if you wake up on Sunday and you're the champion, what do you think were the factors that led to that?

SPEAKER_03 22:17

How do you beat the rest of the field?

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Yeah, because in this day and age you have to you have to know these things what you excel in. Um I think like grit probably not saying my competitors don't have grit, but I think um probably pushing through low moments, uh hopefully better than other people. Because in a hundred, you're gonna have a handful of low moments among like a lot of really great moments.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

I just want to say, I mean, I I know there's massive benefits to to the mindset coaches, but you always you strike me as someone who needs one? No, you no, no, no, you you strike me as someone whose mind is already an asset in races.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Wow, thanks.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

It's working. Like you don't you don't need to learn how to push. You don't need to learn how to push. Like you already push, you you're like extraordinary for pushing.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Is that why you have a mindset, coach, to learn how to push?

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

It feels like it comes intuitively to you.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Well, okay, but like I've I've said this several times, but I think like I still there's still like a part of my brain that needs to be unlocked because I don't think I can fully run without fear. I think there's still some work to do. I want to just you know go for it. Um, and like people tell me all the time, kind of like similar to what you said, but I still in in truly, I think I have somewhere in my brain, I have somewhere I need to unlock. And usually that comes in racing. I have these epiphanies when I'm racing. I'm like, when I was finishing Gorge, I was like, why I think Bailey was like nearby, and I like thought in my head, I was like, I'm gonna like, you know, go a little slower. And then I was like, why are you going slower? And you know, I went through this entire like train of thought and um, you know, figured out, thought I figured out why, and then I just pushed beyond that. And I think there's just somewhere in my brain that needs to be unlocked. I need to go a little further. I don't know where that is. We're still we're still searching.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Do you think you'll know when you you find that piece?

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Yeah, I think so. I think it'll racing will make more sense in my head. Um, and not that it doesn't, like I I have great results and I work really hard. Um, and my body takes me very far, but I want my brain to be as aligned as my body is. This is wild to hear because I think of all the brains in this sport, yours is like the most progressed when it comes to the grit category. So yeah, it's just compelling to hear that you still find that there's work to be done there. Well, I mean, I also have the type of mind where like nothing's good enough. Um, and I don't know, I'm not speaking for anyone who I compete against. This is just what I know about myself is that, you know, I've grown up with this mindset and like, you know, ever since college and you know, rugby when I played rugby and then running, getting into running, it's just like nothing's good enough. And that's probably why. So when is it gonna be good enough? I don't know. I thought that might be the next question.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

I just Raid Research is the official equipment and apparel partner of our 2026 Western States 100 coverage. You've definitely heard me talk about their LF5L Vest launch and their trail tech shorts in the past. And yes, they are both already sold out, but they're gonna be restocked in early July. So make sure that you are subscribed to their mailing list so you don't miss the update. In other news, Raid has many new summer trail products set to release later this week. They are relaunching their first running tee. That's gonna be followed by an ultralight Anorak Rain Shell, women's cargo crop top, and a very exciting women's specific belt in the first half of July. So again, join their mailing list so you don't miss a beat. Other than that, if you are listening to this during the week of TrailCon and in the area, Raid is gonna have a booth there. So go say hello. Thanks again to Raid for supporting our coverage this week. Go check out all of their products at raidresearch.com. And if you end up buying anything at checkout, please let them know that the folks at Single Track sent you.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Answered it.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

So a win at Western States doesn't solve anything.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

No, you can't be comfortable. You can't, I don't think I don't think you can be, I don't think like a win, yeah, a win at Western States would be awesome, but like there's a lot of factors that go into that too. Like your competitors, like you're racing people, so I guess also their days. Um yeah, I think there's still just a lot of work to be done always. If you get complacent, then I'm scared what would happen if I got complacent. Outside of the mindset piece, were there any like physical attributes in your training this block that you felt were an unlock for your performance? I think Gorge was um that whole training block excuse me, was a really good um kind of unlocked like what I was talking about earlier, is like, wow, I can run really fast uphill. Um and not just like on, you know, a like a 10%, 12% grade. Like I can run pretty quick um going uphill. And also I think I've like um just beyond like the training, I've also like trusted, I'm trusting my body more that my body knows how to do this. My body knows how to run 100s really well. Um, I've been in the store the sport for not as long as some of these ladies, um, but but I've done a lot of things and I've ran a lot of miles and I think I'm trusting my body more. Do you think you ever outperform your training? Or when you perform, do you see glimmers of your training then in your racing?

SPEAKER_03 28:24

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Um I don't I I compartmalize a lot. Um, so I don't think I actually can see or even remember a point where I'm like, here it is. This is I know that there was a training run that I did before Gorge and it was an uphill workout, and I I remember back to that one and I was like, that was that was like really good. That was a really good workout. Um, I also do a lot of strength with my strength coach Cam. Um I think as far as training goes, not that, but like definitely mindset. I'm in my brain all the time.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

So I'm wearing this shirt. It's a it's a one of one, it's a corny also. It says extra thank you, Courtney. You were actually responsible for for this uh really this shirt, yeah. It was the Black Canyon preview episode uh after you did the AT. So it was like your first big race after the AT. And Finn said something along the lines of like, I'm so excited to see what Tara can do because this is going to be like one of the greatest experiments in exercise fizz. And then like this is how I saw it in my head, and I was like, wait, that would be a sick nutrition company. And then Courtney Olsen made the shirts like it's always just you've been the the perfect example of exercise fizz.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

That's great. It's kind of like when I discovered catch up because exactly the same. My mom growing up, she was always I was a slow walker all the time, believe it or not. Um, but she would always say catch up, Tara, catch up. So in my head, I thought she meant the red stuff, catch up, and I thought that was just a weird American way of saying, like, let's go. And then I was like, it had to be in high school. It was like an obnoxiously old age that I found out that she was meeting C A T C H U P. So that's kind of the same thing almost.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

I gotcha. Yeah. So thanks for exercise, Fizz.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Yeah, of course. Maybe we should how was that experiment? It was pretty I think it was a pretty good experiment.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Well, I think uh one thing maybe Brett's about to say the same thing, but we just had Killian Jornett in studio yesterday, and he talked about how when he did his States of Elevation project, that multi-week experience, yeah, he got a super compensation out of it. Like he got fitter as a result of it. Yeah. And I think given that this is such this is like ex like multi-week is so voodoo magic right now. I think my hypothesis was it's almost like could it be a career ender because of the toll it takes on your body? But like you, Joe McConaughey, Kelly, like you guys are all prime examples of like you can do that and um supercompensate off of it and be better in different ways.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah, yeah, I I totally agree with that. I think I think it does take probably like a specific person. Um, I don't know, I don't know anything, but I don't think I don't know if everyone could do that. Um, but like obviously like Killian and Joe and Scott and Carl Melter, um, there's a lot of people that can do that and come back and race pretty hard, or like um Jeff Browning too, uh Kyle Curden. Um Garmeyer. Garmeyer, yeah. Um, and that could also be because we do it so often too, because I was very my first like long distance um anything, like I hadn't even done like an official race, but I did the Mounds of Sea Trail that spans the state of North Carolina, and that was the first thing I ever did. And like my body broke down. I was like very deficient. Um, I had lost a lot of weight. I was pale because I was so iron deficient and it was just like really bad. And my my body was messed up for a while, but then like I kept going back. I kept doing these long distance things and then priming my body. Um so by the time I got to the Appalachian Trail, I had a lot of experience and my body was used to the miles. Um, so I don't think it like, I don't think it's not telling people to go after like a long FKT or like a long um like a nurse effort um that might break you if that's your first one. But like I think it can help. I think I've been I have raced way better after the Appalachian Trail than I did ever did before the Appalachian Trail. Knowing what you know about those efforts and how your racing and training has gone after the fact, have you implemented any like higher volume blocks for Western states this year as you've approached it? No, no, not a high volume runner, um which is weird, right? But I do always every year I do a long distance trail that's like in like ethos, is that the right word? That's just something I want to do every year, is like uh a trail over a hundred miles, more like 200, but I say a hundred um because some of the trails are just like right there on the cusp. Um that's like in my my goals is doing an FKT that's a long distance trail.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Last question for me. Uh you kind of you're alluding to it. Is there when you're not thinking about Western states, is there an FKT route that is on your mind?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yeah, I love FKT so much. Um, yeah, there's uh several, and we're planning some. One, um, we're still trying to plan at the moment, but um for sure, like one one of these days based on snow year, um based on the right conditions, PCT. That would be so cool to see the PC.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Could that be this year?

SPEAKER_00 34:03

No, no, not not this year. Though this year would pretty it'd be pretty perfect. Um just didn't plan it. We could, Rascal. No, she's shaking your head now. You can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

I was just thinking, I was like, oh, if you do the PCT, you're gonna be like 25 minutes right now. So just pop in, run a couple hundred miles at you.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Run the Western States course. It's like over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Did you have a question?

SPEAKER_00 34:31

No, I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Tara, we can't thank you enough for the time. And uh yeah, obviously you you're one of those people that just makes this race so exciting. So thanks for being out there. Given that you're all being vulnerable, we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Thanks. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

All right, thanks for tuning in to our 2026 Western States 100 coverage. This is our fourth year doing it, and we're having the time of our lives. Before we go, I wanted to ask the following from you: if you're motivated to contribute to what we're doing, please consider leaving a detailed rating and review on Apple and Spotify. Leave a comment on any of these episodes on YouTube, and support our partners and let them know that we sent you. For example, uh, go get one of the new vests from Raid the LF5L, let them know that we sent you at checkout. Same goes for Nord or Precision. Use our discount code in the show notes there, and use the link as well to complete their nutrition planner for your next race. These are the specific actions that truly keep the lights on for us and make this annual pilgrimage to Olympic Valley, this tradition, this great tradition possible. Thanks for considering, and we will see you on the next episode.