Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running
Josh Rosenthal | Ultra Runner

Latest episode
315 episodes
- HOKA has become one of the few running brands to cross into culture without losing credibility with runners. If you're building a brand, launching new products, or wondering how companies grow without abandoning what made them special, this conversation is for you.
Thomas Cykana and Travis Wiseman pull back the curtain on HOKA's collaboration strategy, why they refuse to make "toy shoes," and how fashion found HOKA before HOKA ever chased fashion. It's a conversation about culture, product, trust, and the surprisingly human decisions behind one of running's fastest-growing brands.
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If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
00:00
Resources / Links
Borderlands.cc
La French Trail
Subwhatever
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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
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Read on Substack - For the first time in months, I'm stepping away from interviews and monologues for a Borderlands Trail Running founder update.
By the time this episode goes live, my family and I will be somewhere over the Atlantic, leaving Paris after two years and moving back to Salt Lake City. I came to France thinking I was building one thing and left building another. I'm leaving with a much bigger vision for what Borderlands can become.
In this monologue, I share what changed during our time in Paris, the mission that continues to guide Borderlands, where I want the company to be over the next month, year, and decade, and how everything we're building fits together.
In this episode
Why Paris changed the way I think about media, culture, and Borderlands
The mission behind Borderlands: The Heart of Trail Running
One-month, one-year, and ten-year visions for the company
Why Borderlands is expanding beyond podcasts
The role of the website, newsletter, documentaries, YouTube, live events, Arcade, and Live on Course
The contributors helping shape Borderlands, including Bryce Carlson, Inky Steve, Stan Van Kimmel, Christian Brecheis, and others
A look at where Borderlands is headed next
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Resources / Links
8 Bit Trail Running | Arcade
Live on Course [LoC]
Borderlands.cc
La French Trail
Subwhatever
Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running
Presented by Kiprun.
----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack - Western States 2026 is over. The course records have been set, the winners crowned, and the internet has already moved on. This isn't another race recap. It's a cultural breakdown of what Western States revealed about trail running, its media, and where the sport is headed next.
From Dylan Bowman becoming the voice of trail running, to Hans Troyer's fearless pacing, to why Thomas Cardin exposed a storytelling gap, Josh shares the ten ideas he couldn't stop thinking about after the biggest weekend in trail running. Along the way, he asks whether Western States has outgrown its broadcast and why the next frontier isn't better cameras, but better context.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
01:05 Dylan Bowman is the Voice of Trail Running/Racing
04:10 The Broadcast Knows Where Everyone Is
09:05 We Don't Care About Places, We Care About Stories
11:38 We Interviewed the Wrong People
16:14 Whose Job is it to Find Tomorrow's Stories?
20:21 Hans is the Rabbit I Was Asking For
21:53 American Men Ran it Like Old Days at UTMB
22:46 The Race has Outgrown the Broadcast
26:23 The Next Frontier
Resources / Links
8 Bit Trail Running
Borderlands.cc
Subwhatever
Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running
Presented by Kiprun.
----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack - Western States and UTMB are often framed as opposite visions for the future of trail running. One protects through limits. The other protects through growth. But after publishing an episode on that tension, I received an unexpected response from Bob Crowley, former President of the International Trail Running Association (ITRA).
Bob argues that both sides may be focused on the wrong thing. What follows is a conversation about culture, stewardship, local races, and whether the values that built trail running can survive success. Somewhere along the way, the debate stops being about Western States and UTMB and becomes something much bigger.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Resources / Links
Western States Wants to Protect, UTMB Wants to Grow
Bob's Full Op-ed
Borderlands.cc
La French Trail
Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running
Presented by Kiprun.
----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack - Western States and UTMB have become the two most influential institutions in trail running, but beneath the debate over lotteries, race series, and growth is a deeper question: when something becomes successful, how do you protect it?
Josh explores why UTMB believes trail running is important enough to scale globally while Western States believes it's important enough not to. Along the way, he examines scarcity, culture, the hidden cost of success, and whether the thing worth protecting was ever the race itself.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
01:33 Two Philosophies of Trail Running
03:19 Is Growth in Trail Running Corruption?
06:13 The Scale Problem in Trail Running
11:06 What Cultre are We Protecting in Trail Running?
15:50 The Supply Chain of Trail Running Culture
Resources / Links
8 Bit Trail Running
Josh Rosenthal on IG
Borderlands.cc
La French Trail
Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running
Presented by Kiprun.
----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack
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About Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running
Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running is a storytelling podcast for ultra runners who love this sport deeply, the iconic races, the legendary athletes, the gear, and the culture that makes all of it worth caring about.
Hosted by Josh Rosenthal, founder of Borderlands Trail Running, this show exists to collect the ultra running stories that define the sport, from spending a day at Laz Lake's home to deep conversations with Scott Jurek, Dean Karnazes, Camille Herron, and the everyday runners doing extraordinary things out on the trails.
This podcast covers the full world of ultra and trail running: race coverage and analysis of marquee events including Western States Endurance Run and UTMB, honest trail running shoes reviews and ultra running gear breakdowns from someone who has tested 44 pairs over 6,000 miles, and big conversations about where the sport is headed, including what dirtbag runners bring to a sport that's growing fast.
This show gives ultra runners the stories, perspectives, and gear knowledge to go deeper into a sport they already love while celebrating what makes trail and ultra running unlike anything else.
We'll answer questions like:
- Who is Laz Lake, and why does everyone in ultra running revere him?
- What makes the Barkley Marathons the hardest race in the world?
- How does Western States Endurance Run work, and why is it so hard to get in?
- What are the best trail running shoes and ultra running gear right now?
- Who are the greatest ultra runners of all time?
- What does dirtbag running culture actually mean?
- How is ultra running changing, and is that a good thing?
- What does it take to run a 100 mile ultra marathon?
- What should ultra runners eat during training and on race day?
If you want the stories, the gear, and the culture that make ultra and trail running the most addictive sport on earth, you're in the right place.
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