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Leah Yingling | 2026 UTMB Pre-Race Interview
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Leah Yingling returns to UTMB three years after an impressive 8th place debut finish back in 2023.
In this conversation we discuss her history of racing in Chamonix, adapting to a rapidly professionalizing sport, why success here equates to rejecting complacency, hiring Jack Kuenzle, balancing peak training with parenthood, and some of her predictions for the deepest women’s field ever.
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Single tracks coverage of the 2026 UTMB World Series Finals is brought to you by Norda Precision, Fuel, and Hydration and RAID Research. The single best way you can support our coverage in these next two weeks is by supporting our partners. You can use our discount codes linked in the show notes of these episodes. You can mention us in post-purchase surveys and a lot more, all that good stuff. It helps a ton. A few notes here. Obviously, Norda recently released the 055 shoe model. This is a fantastic trail super shoe, especially, I think, in the multi-day category and in these hundred-mile mountain races. Go check it out. They've also got a new partnership being announced, I believe, on August 26th. So stay tuned on socials for that. Precision, Feel, and Hydration, our official nutrition partner of this coverage. They're going to be set up all week in Chamonix as well. They have a ton of athletes racing, including Caleb Olsen, Rachel Enterkin, Rachel Drake, Tyler Green, to name just a few. And then finally, Raid. They have a showroom here in Chamonix from August 24th through the 29th at St. Glard Sports. That will include a range of 2027 prototypes that can be demoed to get your feedback on. They're also selling their LF5L vest, running belts, and current apparel line. So yeah, thank you to Raid, Norda, and Precision Fill and Hydration for making these entire two weeks possible. We are back. Our coverage of the 2026 UTMB World Series Finals continues. And today I am glad to be joined by friend, oftentimes colleague, Leah Yingling.
SPEAKER_02Happy to be here and uh not in a prognosticating way.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say we we did a preview episode of Brett and I earlier this week, and you were sorely missed.
SPEAKER_02I missed you guys.
SPEAKER_01But I have something to show you before like the crux of the interview happens. We uh for these preview episodes, we requested listener messages, listener call-ins with sort of like your hottest takes for UTMB, CCC, OCC. And uh one was directed squarely at you. Oh no. And uh nervous. I'm gonna play it right now.
SPEAKER_00This is uh anonymous record listener, first time recorder. I'm just gonna say I think the uh English is gonna just smash YouTube. I don't know her, I'm not related to her, but I think really it's gonna smash. And also Brett's gonna leave his bear when her just that's anonymous.
SPEAKER_01Anonymous.
SPEAKER_02I've never heard that voice before. Do you have any guesses as to who that is?
SPEAKER_01Uh I all I know is that it came from the Pittsburgh International Airport. Interesting.
SPEAKER_02Shout out Pittsburgh.
SPEAKER_01Is that a nice airport?
SPEAKER_02It's actually, yeah, it's a brand new airport. Is it really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Flying to Pittsburgh. Visit Pittsburgh, visit Pennsylvania. It's a great place.
SPEAKER_01Anonymous caller from Pittsburgh International Airport says Leah Yingling is gonna smash UTMB and decided to also say that Brett is gonna lose Bear 100.
SPEAKER_02So I think I could agree with both of those statements. Okay.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Well, anyways, great to have you. Great to have you in studio. And uh, I mean, you have a lot of history here. I I think I think it'd be fun to go down memory lane. Talk about your first time here in 2019. What comes to mind?
SPEAKER_02Uh, just inexperience. Uh, we came out here in 2019, and it was me, Mike, and Jimmy Elam, and all three of us were lining up at, I believe, our well, like our first big international race. I had done the Transylvania 50K prior to that as my my first international race, but like me, Mike, and Jimmy knew nothing about really international travel or international racing, and we were all lining up at TDS. And that was the first year that TDS had moved to its 90-mile version of the distance in its current form. And we just didn't know what to expect. And we didn't know how to frame our Europe travel. We flew into Paris, walked 10 miles on foot in Paris. Our Paris hotel room had two twin beds. So me and Mike cuddled in one twin bed, and Jimmy got the other twin bed. We moved over to Chamony and we had these like creaky bunk beds uh right above the city square where every time Jimmy moved on the bunk above us, like it rocked us in the bunk below. And then we slept in Cormayer the night before TDS, and we're stuck outside our Airbnb in a torrential downpour until 10 p.m. And our race was starting at like 2 or 3 a.m. that year. And it, I mean, not surprisingly so, it ended in our eventual all three DNFs at TDS, but it's was probably the best thing that ever happened to us in terms of like international racing. It was everything that you should not do, was what happened to us. It was heinous.
SPEAKER_01Was that an outlier experience for you in terms of logistics and race prep?
SPEAKER_02I think so. And I think you don't know what you don't know. Like we thought it would be the move to just go to Cormaillera the night before TDS with just our race kits on and our drop bags and sleep close to the start so we could save, save on sleep. And we just we moved around so much on that trip. We didn't know anything. And one of the things that's the coolest, the coolest about that is to see where we're all at now in the sport in our various capacities. Like we didn't know anybody in the sport, we didn't know anybody in Chamini. And it was cool just to be completely self-sufficient amongst our little mini group of three out there. Like we were crewess for the race, we were carrying all the nutrition and everything that we needed on our person, using drop bags, and it was so challenging. And then I was like, when I dropped out of the race, I was hitching a ride with a really nice French couple off the top of a peak out there. And yeah, I think, man, I can really empathize with people's first time over here at a UTMB race because it's no joke and it really does require a few times out here to get some experience under your belt.
SPEAKER_01It's pretty cool that you can have such a rough experience and still want to come back.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. And I mean, like Mike's been signed up for TDS like five times since then and hasn't run it. So I mean, the it just draws you back in some way, shape, or form. And yeah, I feel very similarly about UTMB itself.
SPEAKER_01So you come back five years later and or and this is one of a few times, but you come back five years later, really impressive uh top 10 performance year. It's a great year for the women's race in general. Do you remember any important changes in your mindset for that year? Your approach to the race?
SPEAKER_02I felt I remember lining up on the start line that year. We had spent three weeks um living in Lesouches, and I was taking a sabbatical from work. And you're just really embracing the Euro lifestyle. For about three weeks, we were living with uh Rachel Drake and Tyler Green and their nine-month-old Lewis at the time. And it just felt like this slow way of living like eat, sleep, get out in the mountains, and just enjoy the privilege that it was being out here, enjoy the trails. And I was coming off of Western States, I think that was my second western states, and had about seven weeks, seven or eight weeks of training between. And I just told myself when I was lining up at UTMB, don't take yourself too seriously. And if you just know, if you just do what you know you can do here, it's going to be a good day. And that worked for like 70 miles, and I had a good day. But when people say that UTMB is a race of attrition, like I experienced it in all of its forms out there. Like I had a pretty okay day out there, but I think the only reason I did as well as I did was because everybody around me was dying at the same rate.
SPEAKER_01And I want to talk about that attrition when we get to your training, but just to put on your race commentator hat for a second, when you think about the time that's elapsed since your last time here in 2024, how much change in the tactics of this women's field are you anticipating for this year? And not just that, but also fitness.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, so when I got eighth place here in 2023, I ran just over like 26 hours. And every year since then, 24 and 25, we've seen the women's top 10 like be pretty much like sub-26 each of those years. And I think what we're seeing is like more competitive racing in like a deeper top 10 field. So I think similarly to what we've seen at Western states in recent years is just like that top 10 is getting faster and faster. And like we've seen men's top 10 be separated by kind of like a short amount of time over the last couple years, but I think we're seeing that increasingly so on the women's field. So perhaps like the race will be one in 23 hours, and I don't think top 10 will like will be much beyond like 25 hours if that's do you suspect that like in the back half of this race this year, if you're in a similar position, can you count on that collective fade?
SPEAKER_01Or do you does anything have to change in the way the race itself is executed?
SPEAKER_02I think you like it can't fade in that last 20 miles. I think that's a big change, at least in my mindset since I raced here in 2023. Like I could survive and still hang on to a top 10. I think if I had a similar fade this year, you were losing five to ten places in the last 50k.
SPEAKER_01Talk about the decision to hire Jack Kenzel as a coach. What goes into that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I um I had been coached by Megan Roach from 2017 till like kind of mid-pregnancy of uh 2025. So we like just had a great established relationship for seven going on eight years. And that's the one thing I always told Megan in the sports like I just wanted longevity, and I feel like that's what our relationship and partnership had really evolved to be over the last eight years was just a true friendship, and then also with a main focus on longevity, which I'm really proud to say I feel like I've had in the sport. Like I'm somebody that you never see at the top of a podium, but I have been really proud of just like my consistency over the years and having just like strong executed races. Um during pregnancy and then postpartum, I knew that I wanted to frame my own training for myself and just really guide that for me because I think when you're postpartum, like you might get cleared by your doctor at six weeks to run, but only you know how truly that you're feeling and how your body's feeling and what is safe and what feels good. And that was something I just really wanted to respect because I've seen a variety of postpartum returns in the sport, and I just wanted to do what was best for me. And I actually like didn't feel great postpartum running until 16 to 20 weeks. And when I say great, I mean just like getting back to 30 miles a week around that time. Yeah. And then I did my first race postpartum around eight months uh postpartum, which was like felt like a significant amount of time then. Um and then I just went into Broken Arrow this year, had did the triple crown and finished that and was like, okay, like I trained myself for pretty much the last like year, year and a half, and I knew that UTMB was going to take a very specialized focus for me. And if there's one thing I struggle with in training and ultra racing, is just like loving training and the accountability that comes with like having to execute training. And I thought there was no better fit than Jack, who like you kind of want to be appropriately afraid of somebody in your training. Like you want to feel accountable to them. You want to be like, okay, like if I'm not doing this, like I know he's looking at the metrics, I know he's looking for a certain progression. And if I'm not executing this and I'm not doing this, like it means something. And I think I'd gotten away with just only being accountable to myself over the years that I could just like one day I only felt like running an hour, I'd run an hour. But I think this block has been really important just to like get the work done. And I think having Jack as a coach has really helped me like get the work done.
SPEAKER_01In addition to getting, well, actually, as a maybe as a function of getting that work done, in what ways are you a different or a better ultrarunner?
SPEAKER_02I'm running. Uh yeah, I'm running more. Like in the past, I've I've always thought of myself as like a lower volume athlete. And I still think relative to some of the people in the field, I still check that box. But I've been so much more purposeful about my training, um, so much more resilient. So a big focus I had coming into 2026 was like get the quads strong, get my body strong, and get proficient and less less impacted by running the mountains. So my focus in 2026 has just been on like more mountainous 50Ks. So I started the year at um nine trails out in Santa Barbara, which is like 38 miles. And for an early season race in the States, packs a pretty significant punch with like maybe like 11,000 feet or so, 12,000 feet on pretty technical terrain. And then I did the broken arrow triple crown and then did speed goat. So I don't have a lot of like longer distance racing under my belt this year, but um I feel like my quads have never been more strong and ready. And I think that's where the experience of UTMB has definitely helped me this block. Like I finished UTMB last time and it was like I was like my body was not ready for that effort. And I don't know if it was like coming off of Western states and just like I did pretty minimal training between Western states and UTMB, but I my quads were gone at the top of Grand Col Foray. And I just remember looking down at that descent, being like, God help me. And I knew coming into this year, like I did not want to be standing on top of Grand Colferay feeling that exact way I did in 2023. So I think we've done everything in our power to make sure that I am really resilient and really strong and just have a lot of like fatigue resistance and muscular endurance, like the longer the race goes on and the later it goes.
SPEAKER_01I'm assuming there maybe maybe that maybe there's a there's a level of well, actually, let me ask you this is given your veteran status in the sport and having worked with other coaches for many years, do you get the sense from this training that there's gonna be a degree of confidence that a lot of those questions like that descent off Grand Culfry will be will be answered and you'll feel more confident?
SPEAKER_02I think so. And just like a mini mantra in my head in every race I've done this year is like trust your quads. I've done really hard downhill workouts and training, and that's been something I haven't ever done before. And I think there's a lot of risk with those, but also a decent amount of reward whenever it comes to what you can pack into those workouts. And I think that's gonna be something I'm just completely like chanting to myself in my head out there is trust your quads, because I don't think I've ever been able to trust them in the way that I can. And I think UTMB really does require that. Like there was a video for me coming off of the descent from Valar Scene into that aid station from 2023, and I'm just looking at Mike saying, like, that descent was heinous. And I just want to make sure this year, like I know the descents, I'm probably not gonna love them at times, but I want to make sure that they're not feeling as heinous as they did in 2023.
SPEAKER_01I pulled a quote. This was uh it was from your Instagram. It was right after the Spigo 50K, and maybe I can get your comment here just on more context. You say, quote, I have been trying to desensitize myself to types of terrain, training, and racing I have previously considered to be my weakest, my weakest spots this year and yesterday at Speed Goat felt like a big step forward, end quote.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was that. I I if you're from Salt Lake City or you're from Utah, you're probably familiar with West Granger. And starting in about like February, but more specifically picking up in May this year, I made it my duty to be on West Grandeur weekly. And I think before this year, I probably did one West Grandeur every two years. Like I hated it. All of everybody I've ever run with knows I hate it. Like I love the church for cent of of uh grandeur, and grandeur itself is like 4.4 miles round trip with 33 3,300 feet, roughly. So 2.2 miles with 3,300 feet of vertical and like 30% grade pretty much the whole way. And I never considered hiking up West Grandeur, let alone running up West Grandeur, a strength of mine. It was something I just absolutely hated. And then you get to the top and you have to descend it, and I hated that even more. So every week I've pretty much been on West Grandeur, and that's been part of just like desensitizing myself to descending and like descents that I don't love and just a type of grade that I don't like. And I've always told myself that I'm not a particularly good like hike racer. So, like in the context of racing, like when you have to start hiking, I've just never felt like I'm equally as good as my competitors. So I'm just trying to get really strong in that area as well because like UTMB for 70% of it is a hiking race. Have you enjoyed this training?
SPEAKER_01In retrospect.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, in retrospect, yes. Yeah, I like West Granger a lot. I was doing yo-yos on it, I was doing uh some like weighted uh workouts on it, which was really cool and just intimidating. I like when I've trained for marathons in the past and it's been like seven years, I always say like marathon training to me is way more intimidating than travel training, and I would always get like race nerves the day before I would do like a Saturday long run. And this training block, I feel like I know the training's working when I'm getting like nervous about a workout the next day. And I felt that way about just my weekly workouts that I'd be doing. But I will say, like, I haven't really felt progress in training over the last, you know, five years. Like I think each year I was leveling up because I was really consistent in my training and I was leveling up with the women's fields and the competition. But I never like saw really true growth over a block of training. And I think this block in particular, there's been just markers of improvement, which has been really satisfying and competence-inducing.
SPEAKER_01You mentioned black, uh, sorry, broken air earlier doing the triple. And I remember you, because we were together that whole week of Western States, I remember you saying something to the effect of just like you didn't realize how much fun you would have with the shorter distances, like the VK and the 23K, and maybe like just like the place that that can have in your ultra career. Can you talk more about that?
SPEAKER_02I hated the 23K. Um, but the vertical race was awesome. The 23k, okay. But I probably hated the 23k because it was on day three of the three races. But the vertical race was awesome. And I I think like I really surprised myself with that one. It was a style of racing where if you're kind of this longer endurance runner, like I tend to be, and like I gravitate more towards the hundred-mile distance. It's fun to see like how you stack up with different race tactics. Like, I think a lot of the people who run the vertical races more often like just redline from the start. And I just feel like that is physically impossible for me to do. So I was almost like racing this vertical race, like it was a long endurance race, and I was having to like move my way up. So that's exactly what happened throughout that. I'm like, man, I need to have more of these in my training because it just felt like a true test of fitness. And I feel like, you know, 100 milers end up being a test of a lot of different things. And oftentimes it's not just a test of fitness, but a vertical race felt like, okay, yeah, this is fitness.
SPEAKER_01Especially if it's the shorter stuff, maybe it is all just the VKs. Um do you see value in racing more in the future?
SPEAKER_02Oh, totally. And I actually something that sounds pretty desirable to me as a new parent is having a block that is just like dedicated to like a vertical ascent training or a VK training. I think it's something that doesn't need to be as time intensive either. Like that's been the one thing I've enjoyed this block of training looking back, but I've never spent this much time training before. And there's a lot of trade-offs with family life when it comes to that, especially when your partner also trains at a a level for like hundred-mile races as well. So I just felt like there was a lot of competing priorities and a lot of ways I I wanted to be spending my time differently this block. And I feel like training for a vertical race would be like really good bang for your buck.
SPEAKER_01Last question on the race is uh what's the verdict on speedgoat?
unknownOh, okay.
SPEAKER_02If you would have asked me how I felt about speedgoat years ago, I would have thought it was terrible. Like I've been signed up for Speed Goat five times, and I never made it to the start line, mostly due to like Western State's recovery, or I think I pulled my hamstring during doing yard work two times in like the two weeks leading up to speed goat. So I never made it to a start line. And this year, I know that's my husband's to do more yard work. Yeah. Oh, me. But I yeah, who would have thought? Um, but this year I finally felt like mentally ready to tackle Speedgoat. And I've done portions of the course over the years, and I think one of the things that stood out the most to me this year was there's the descent down Mary Ellen Gulch into American Fork Canyon. And I used to do that a few years ago when we did this longer route in the Wasatch, and I hated it. I hated every step of it. I was like, this is terrible, I want this to be over. And this year going down it, I was like, oh my God, this is not bad at all. Like, what was I talking about? And I think that just spoke to like the growth I've had with descending over the last year or so is that I could look at something that used to be horrible and I was counting down the minutes until it was over and actually kind of enjoying it. And I think that was the whole speed goat course for me. I actually loved nearly every minute of it. And I was approaching it not as like a full out race effort this year, just more of like, I want this to be like a really good up tempo training. Training run where I'm doing all the things I need to be doing and really taking care of myself. And I think that in part helped me feel the way I did about SpeedGo because it's not that enjoyable of a course, but I found myself out there having so much fun and really just soaking in the whole community that was out there as well and all the volunteers.
SPEAKER_01Shout out uh any of the training partners in this block. Oh who you've been working with, who you've been training with.
SPEAKER_02That's a great question because I do feel like there's been a chunk of this block that's been more solo than ever before. So shout out to my audiobooks.
SPEAKER_01You and Caleb on the audiobooks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I had a a lot of audiobooks. Um I did a lot of running with like Andrea Stofko and Rachel Spaulding and Salt Lake City, Rachel Drake, whenever I could uh pull her away from all of her competing priorities. Uh my husband Mike McMonagal, we got like we've really been trying to finangle our clock lately when it comes to uh balancing family life and balancing parenting with both of us training. So something that we tried to do weekly was do an early daycare drop-off with Monty, drop them off around like 7, 15, run for like an hour and a half together before I started my workday. And that way we were just getting this like uninterrupted like partner time, but then also being able to like get back to our roots of training together, which prior to having a baby, I think Mike and I did 90% of my training together, which was amazing. And I always like like he was always the reason my training was what it was was because he got me out the door for nearly all of that.
SPEAKER_01You uh well, it's interesting. We I got here a little under a week ago, and I was telling Brett that it kind of I feel like it changes year over here, but it kind of blows my mind how many pros are getting here, not just early, but like almost spending the entire summer here. And that's become the new thing. Like almost I feel like this race, way more so even than Western states, has this like massive extended training camp for professionals like yourself. Um, but you've been in the Wasatch largely all summer. Are you happy with that? Like, are you satisfied with kind of where you were based?
SPEAKER_02I'm so happy, so satisfied. I have been commenting to Mike in the last week or so that there was actually no part of me that wanted to be out here any sooner. I think even seeing everybody out here, I just had no FOMO. And I think that's my introvert speaking too. Like the one thing you don't see is just how energy and soul sucking that can be, just like being on all the time in the weeks leading up to UTMB. And that's just something like we've done it in the past. Like we've come out for you know three weeks in Lesouches, but that was really like chill time when we were out here uh a couple years ago. And then we came back out a few years ago and just did more like Switzerland travel, just me and Mike, and just like preserving your energy, I think, is really important. And being on just like trails in my backyard that I could go from the door in, you know, five to ten minutes and do these awesome routes and just really embrace everything that the Wasatch has to offer. And the Wasatch had a lot to offer this summer. It had hundred, I think we had the longest streak of a hundred plus degree days. Yeah. So it was a really hot summer in the Wasatch. Um just got to do a lot of steep training, got to be at altitude for as long as I possibly could, which was great. And I think the Wasatch has a way of like making the trails here feel not so bad. I think they are different, like there's things that we can't simulate entirely, but I actually think the Wasatch on paper is probably like harder than a lot of the parts of the UTMB course.
SPEAKER_01That's interesting, actually. Harder.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it's more rugged. Like the Wasatch is pretty rugged at times. And I think when the UTMB course is rugged, it's like the pyramid section, which like we have a lot of stuff like that in the Wasatch. And then also like the descending is rooty and rocky, which we don't have a ton of roots in the Wasatch, but everything else I feel like my pace in the Wasatch is pretty significantly slower than what I can do on a trail out here.
SPEAKER_01Talk about what success looks like for you on race day. What would you be happy with?
SPEAKER_02I'm just like the most complacent runner at times. And I think something I'm really challenging myself to do this go is to not tell myself that that person like should be beating me, is is better than me. I think there's some cons to being like in the seat as a prognosticator sometimes when it comes to competing in the sport. And I think one of those things is like I tell myself, like, oh, that person should be beating me. Like they're better than me, they're this, they're that. This is their strengths, like they don't have weaknesses, this is my weakness. And I think something I'm challenging myself to do in the race this time is like I am just as strong as all of these women out here, and I'm just as capable. And I want to really stay true to that. So I think success for me is just having that that mindset the whole time. And I know on my best day out there that like I can be running under 24 hours on this course, and I should be running under 24 hours on this course. And if I don't, it's likely because I like have paced it like incorrectly and haven't run my own race. So I think truly running my own race and taking care of myself, and those have always been things that I feel like I've done well. My last UTMB, I feel like I did get carried away by like wanting to like be in it more early on. And yeah, I'm not so sure I would like replicate exactly how I raced it last time.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. So you felt in 24, you felt both like a bit of an outsider, but also feeling an obligation to be up front early.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I it's funny too, like even looking back, like I said, oh, I'm gonna put myself in it more, and like in it for me early on is being like, you know, in 15th instead of you know, my typical like 40th. And I think that like worked for a while, but I think when you don't have the like muscular endurance to back it up late in the race, it really like it shows itself. And I think this time around, like I could race the first 50k exactly the same, but I'm going to be feeling like physiologically and like anatomically way better than I did last time.
SPEAKER_01Okay, this is so for all the fans like myself that will be dot watching and glued to the tracker from start to finish, if we see you on the same 50k pace this year as you were in 24, there's a degree of confidence that you're on sub-24 pace.
SPEAKER_02I think so. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, I think that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01So that you'll give patience, you'll have patience regardless of what's going on around you.
SPEAKER_02I think so. And I really, really want to. And I know that I can. And, you know, it's funny, I was thinking back to the last time like you interviewed me more as like an athlete and as before Western States in 2024. And the one thing I told you was like, I just don't want to be in 10th again at the river. Because I was 10th every single year at the river. And then like there was an iron far tweet after the race. I was like, Lee Angling rolls into the river in 10th place. I was like, God damn it. Um so, you know, I think there's aspects of that that like of racing that way that is a strength for me. Um, but I think it's becoming more and more apparent in the sport that like if you want to win these races, you can't be like that far back at like, say, Cormayer, for example. So you still have to be in like shooting distance, I would say. And I think that's something like I want to be able to know confidently is like, okay, I'm in a comfortable enough position that I can make this last sort of the race like a strength of mine.
SPEAKER_01Last question before we go. Um, you're just over a year into this whole parenting thing. You talked about the post-part journey a little bit. Any other advice for either parents to be, aspiring parents, current parents that have worked for you, being able to navigate both ultra and family life.
SPEAKER_02Like just to enjoy every moment because it really is so fleeting. And to, I think, like lean on your people. We've had to lean on a lot of people in this block. Um, there was a week where I was solo parenting while Mike was shooting a race in China, and that happened to be like one of my peak weeks, and it also happened to be a week where it was a string of 105 degree temps in Salt Lake City. And I just like kept telling myself like no excuses. And it really forced me to like, you have this small window of time to get out during the day whenever you're a parent and like you're working full time and you're balancing a lot. And that was something like I wasn't taking for granted. This block was if I'm not getting out in this chunk of time, like it's not getting done. So I think there's this thing about being a new parent that really forces you to be more like diligent with your time. Because if you don't, like you're tapping into time with your family and time with your child, and that time is so fleeting and it's so important to me. It's so important to Mike. And I think that's uh something that I really tried to be good about this training block was like getting it done when I said I was going to get it done. So I think there is like a nice constraint in some ways about parenting that I didn't have before that has just motivated me in a lot, a lot of different ways. Um, but then also like not being afraid to ask for help. Uh, I think our whole friend group is we're all raising children in Salt Lake City with no family around. And I think we have a group chat where like we put out PSAs and like SOS half the time that's like, hey, can somebody like come over while Monty's napping and just like sit in the living room and watch the watch the monitor so we can uh Mike and I can get out for a little run. So I think we had a lot of people in this block that really just like could see those little glimmers of neat want or need that we were having and step in and uh give us a little hand. So yeah, shout out to a lot of our community in Salt Lake because I really think it does take a village whenever you're trying to raise kids and still pursue things that bring you joy.
SPEAKER_01I think what you're saying about the constraints is spot on, and I I wish I could go back in time and like shake my old self and be like, you have way more time today than you think. And please, like it's almost like pretend you have kids.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, yeah. I've always told myself, like, when I'm in job interviews, it's like, yeah, what are your strengths and weaknesses? And I'm like, I work great under deadlines, and it's like having a child is just this constant deadline, and it's been great for me. Like my training's never been better because yeah, Monty's the the best constraint possible.
SPEAKER_01Okay, last, last question. You I have to ask you to put your commentator hat on one more time. And it could be about any of the races OCC, CCC, UTMB, men's or women's fields. Uh an interesting take that doesn't have to do with your own race. Something that you feel strongly about, or at least you're just curious to see play out in some way, shape, or form.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02That's a great question. Or prediction. Or prediction. I think this is the best women's best field in the women the women's race has ever seen at UTMB. I'm so excited to see Ruth come back here and race it. And I think she's doing it in like a way that she hasn't done before, and I think she'll race a bit more aggressive, is like my feelings. And I'm excited to see the number of people that like will go with Ruth this year. Because I think we could see some magic happen with a women's field that is like truly going punch for punch up front. And yeah, I think some of those days will end great, but I actually think some of those days could lead to later carnage, especially if we're like dished out some some fun weather out there.
SPEAKER_01In terms of the women's collective top 10, uh what like what time for 10th place wouldn't surprise you this year?
SPEAKER_02You know, it's it depending if we have a course change or not, like for weather. Um the pyramids are still there. Yeah, if the pyramids are still there, I'd say like 25 hours for um for top 10. And I think two years ago when the pyramids were included, I want to say it was like 2555. Lucy Bartholomew ran for like 10th place. And that was the fastest 10th place time that we had had on like the full course. And I think we could see a full hour taken off that to be yeah, 25. Because I think people are running this just generally smarter and faster and fueling and doing all the things. But you know, you say that and we make all these predictions and like they blow up in our face. So it could very well not be that, too.
SPEAKER_01Well Leah, uh, we cannot wait to follow your race this coming weekend and at the same time also look forward to having you back in the commentator seat soon. I think we got a golden ticket race in October and our end of the year stuff, and probably do some analysis of CCC and whatnot. So looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, we should uh check in on Brett's currently running MCC. Okay. We should see how he's doing out there before we When we check before the interview, he was in I think 50th.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But for the audience that doesn't know, Brett is a highly intelligent racer, and he is known for uh he's kind of like a janitor in how well he cleans up.
SPEAKER_02So he told you he moved up eight spots since we last checked, so he is 42nd overall right now.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the field in front of Brett is cratering as we speak.
SPEAKER_02Hey, but he might be an age grouper. He's six in his category right now. So Brett Horning is now uh he might be closing in on his age group if this is that top ten finish he was looking for. These might be the thing he starts demoting himself to as he gets older here.
SPEAKER_01I think this is gonna go live in like two hours, so the race will be done, but whatever. We talked about it. Uh Leah, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02This has been awesome, Finn. Thanks.
