Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running

Ultra running rewards obsession, but Tara Dower seems wired for something beyond results. She wants to solve hard problems, chase the best competition, run faster, and keep finding out what she’s capable of.
Tara joins me to talk Western States, her planned Pacific Coast Trail attempt, why she hasn’t raced UTMB, learning from Karl Meltzer, and her evolution with Altra from the Lone Peak to the new Vanish Carbon 3. Underneath it all is a bigger question: as Tara becomes one of the defining athletes of modern ultra running, what parts of herself does she want to keep?
For ultra runners interested in the people shaping where the sport goes next.
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If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
This episode is in partnership with Altra for the release of its new super road shoe the Vanish Carbon 3 - a light, responsive, and efficient race day shoe made for PRs.
Topics / Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
02:54 Tara Dower Has Always Been Stubborn
07:07 The Problem Solving Mind of Tara Dower
09:06 Results vs. A Life of Interesting Running
13:38 Why Tara Dower Hasn't Raced UTMB
17:54 The Problem with Pro Trail Running
20:07 Why Ultrarunners Want to Run Fast | Altra Vanish Carbon 3
30:31 What Speedgoat Taught Tara
36:40 What Tara Dower Wants Her Legacy to Be

Resources / Links
Altra Vanish Carbon 3
Tara Dower Lives Between Two Worlds by Bryce Carlson
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Borderlands.cc
Thumbnail Photo by Pete Schreiner

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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
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Trail running has exploded into a global business, and Karl Meltzer somehow ended up at the center of it. HOKA turned his Speedgoat nickname into one of trail running’s defining shoes, Red Bull paid him to chase the Appalachian Trail record, and UTMB eventually bought the race he created.
Karl came up when ultrarunning was tiny and has watched the money, brands, athletes, and races transform around him. Josh and Karl talk about the strange experience of becoming valuable to an industry that barely existed when he started, selling Speedgoat to UTMB, his relationship with HOKA, and what someone who has lived through the entire boom thinks about where trail running goes from here.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Resources / Links
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
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

Ultrarunning eventually becomes a mental problem. The body hurts, the race stops going to plan, and the question becomes what the best ultrarunners understand about continuing when quitting makes sense.
Harvey Lewis has spent 30 years figuring that out. In part two of our conversation in Ohio, we get into the mental strategies behind Backyard Ultra, why different races require different mindsets, the failures that changed how Harvey competes, and what decades of Badwater, journey runs, and 200-milers have taught him about going farther than he thought possible.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Thumbnail photo by Romain Mayambi
Topics / Timestamps
00:00 Harvey Lewis Intro
01:15 The Mental Game of Ultrarunning
10:47 Learning How Not to Quit
14:06 Different Mindsets for Different Races
16:55 Pilgrimages and Journey Runs
23:31 What Failure Taught Harvey Lewis
30:33 What the Best Ultrarunners Understand

Resources / Links

Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Borderlands.cc
High Tones

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

Harvey Lewis is one of ultrarunning’s most accomplished endurance athletes, but the more interesting question might be how a high school civics teacher from Ohio became capable of doing any of this. Badwater, Backyard Ultras, Barkley, 250-mile runs. Harvey has built an extraordinary career without making running his entire life.
I spent a morning with Harvey at his home in Ohio, days before his 16th consecutive Badwater, trying to understand what makes Harvey Harvey. We talk about the dreamer and engineer he inherited from his parents, the teachers who changed his life, how running and teaching grew together, and why the hardest races have become something closer to pilgrimages.
The conversation ends somewhere more personal, with Harvey remembering the person he still imagines waiting for him when things get hard.
Thumbnail photo by Romain Mayambi
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
2:17 Harvey Lewis' Origins
6:33 Harvey Lewis' Parents: The Dreamer and the Engineer
18:39 Running and Teaching
30:59 Running as Pilgrimage

Resources / Links
TINAR Race Series | Register
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

Ciele helped change what running looked like, but the more interesting story is what sat underneath the aesthetic. This episode is for runners curious about how a hat brand became part of running culture without losing the product discipline that made it credible in the first place.
What began as a film about Ciele turned into a deeper look at the rise of running as lifestyle, the influence of skate and snow culture, and the unreleased Miles hat that existed before Ciele had its name. Along the way, a portrait emerges of a brand whose visual identity was copied everywhere, while the craft, function, and ethos behind it were much harder to replicate.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Resources / Links
Watch the Ciele doc on YouTube
Josh Rosenthal on IG
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