Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running

UTMB is the center of trail running for one week every year, and somehow the people most frustrated by it keep showing up. After a week in Chamonix, I came home thinking the problem with hating UTMB is that the race keeps complicating the argument against it.
The fan experience is better than the criticism suggests, TDS might be the hardest race of the week, the women are racing with ego, and some of the most interesting parts of UTMB have almost nothing to do with racing. Ten observations from inside the chaos, including what brands keep getting wrong, what Chamonix reveals about status in trail running, and why everyone should be reading Raz Rauf.
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Presented by Kiprun.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
02:36 The Critics Are at UTMB
08:12 UTMB Doesn’t Have a Fan Problem
12:24 TDS Might Be the Hardest Race at UTMB
16:26 The DNSs Aren’t About Professionalization
20:38 The Women Are Racing With Ego
24:57 UTMB Isn’t Just About Running
28:20 The Ultimate UTMB Flex Is Not Needing Chamonix
30:34 Brands: Embrace the Chaos
32:21 Read Raz Rauf. Read Running Sucks.
35:45 Limiting Brand Activations Made UTMB Better - The Chamonix Mayor was Right

Resources / Links
Like the Wind | Run Culture Live
Running Sucks - Raz Rauf
Borderlands.cc

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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
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UTMB is the biggest trail race in the world, but why did it happen in France? The easy answer is Mont Blanc. The better answer has more to do with culture, timing, and the kind of endurance tradition that was already there long before UTMB existed.
Josh talks with Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps and author of The Race That Changed Running, about the deeper conditions that made UTMB possible, from old mountain races and ski mountaineering to the Pellettis’ execution and the way places like Vallorcine turned the race into something people gather around, not just run.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Resources / Links
Run the Alps
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Josh Rosenthal on IG
Borderlands.cc
Subwhatever

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Ultra Running isn't Just Running

Presented by Kiprun.
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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
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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.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
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

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

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

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Ultra Running isn't Just Running

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----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
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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

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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