Trail running is growing fast, but what happens to the races that don’t scale cleanly? After spending one night volunteering at the Wasatch 100 and the next day at a brand-new UTMB race, I came away wondering whether the messy, human parts of ultra running are exactly the parts we can’t afford to lose.

Pacers, old-timers, exhausted volunteers, DNFs, polished finish lines, UTMB, and the strange ways a race becomes more than a race. This isn’t an argument for grassroots over corporate. It’s about why trail running needs both, what each is uniquely good at, and what disappears when every race starts looking the same.

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Topics / Timestamps

  • 2:22 Races like Wasatch fill the human spirit.
  • 6:09 I love ultrarunning pacer culture.
  • 10:29 Someone else’s problem becomes mine.
  • 14:55 The back of the pack is where I come alive.
  • 16:52 Wasatch rewards staying.
  • 22:04 You can’t manufacture heritage.
  • 26:21 The fragile one is not the one I thought.


Resources / Links

  1. Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
  2. Borderlands.cc


Related Episodes

  1. Ultra Running isn't Just Running


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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.

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