We are off to Slovenia soon to race the Ultra Trail Vipava Valley UTVV for short on April 27. It will be our first time there and it came on our radar after our chat with Canadian Galen Reynolds in Episode 81 who lives and trains near the capital, Ljubljana. Since we know very little about this part of the world or these trails we figured why not ask someone who has run the course, so we reached out to runner Anze Sobocan who not only has run the race but has completed every distance this event has to offer including several podium finishes. Anze is 39 and a member of Team Salomon Slovenia.&nb ..read more

Returning to the podcast is Ihor Verys.  Based in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Ihor is the first Ukranian-Canadian finisher and ultimate winner of the 2024 The Barkley Marathons! Ihor has been very busy since we last spoke to him after his Fat Dog 120 win in 2022 including runner up at Big’s Backyard World Championship running over 715k last year and a win at Hurt 100 this year. We touch on a few key elements from those two races and then dive into The Barkley Marathons.  In a year that saw five finishers in total including the first woman, Jasmin Paris, Ihor was the winner in 58 ho ..read more

The Sulphur Springs Trail Race is a 20K loop course, in the Dundas Valley Conservation Area just outside of Hamilton, Ontario that has been running for more than 30 years, making it the oldest running Ultra Marathon in Canada!  Distances offered include 10k up to 100 miles.  This year, the race seeks to become Ontario’s first Western States 100 qualifier - which would be a huge accomplishment - so we reached out to the trio of Race Directors from Straw Dog Racing which includes Steve Connor, Mauro Campanelli, and Russell Thacker, to get their insights on the legacy of this iconic spr ..read more

On this episode, we feature 53 year old Jeff Bond, an ultra runner from Manitoba.  He has competed in several ultras including the Canadian Death Race, Epic East Gate in Riding Mountain National Park and the Dead Horse Ultra. He just completed 100 miles on foot at the Yukon Arctic Ultra; a race not for the faint of heart! You can choose your mode of discipline at this event either by foot, cross country skis or mountain bike.   Jeff is a member of The Manitoba Association of Trail Runners which is associated with the Ultimate Trails of Manitoba series or UTofMB for short (we see ..read more

Lauren Puretz is a 40 year old practicing gynecologist in Colorado Springs, CO.  She has been running ultras for a few years now and has always been in the mix of things - 5th at Bandera 2021, 7th at Black Canyon 2022, and 4th at last year's Javelina Jundred.  She is a member of the Colorado Aravaipa running team. Fun fact - she won the Sawatch Ascent 50K in Colorado outright last year and the only other woman to do that was Courtney Dauwalter!  Lauren earned a golden ticket to Western States 100 by placing 3rd at Black Canyon 100 K a couple weeks ago, much to her ..read more

Hot off the Arizona trails is Becca Windell, celebrating not only her podium finish at Black Canyons 100k but capturing one of the elusive golden tickets to Western States 100K. Her passion for wildlife led her down the path to her career as a biologist, studying diseases threatening the fauna in the American west. We also chat about her experience at The Bear 100 in 2021; her only 100 miler to date and what she learned at The Canyons in 2021 that helped her to succeed at this year's Black Canyons. She also shares her dreams of racing in the new World Trail Majors series and her answers to rap ..read more

Tania shares a fascinating chronicle of her journey into ultra running, from her initial days of being a non-runner to resolutely training and completing ultra-marathons, over 20 to date.  She details her latest adventure, to race across five deserts (Namibia, Gobi, Jordan, Antarctica, Chile) in 12 months with the aim of raising funds for Indigenous children in Mexico.  Find out why she chose this challenge in particular and what race she ultimately has set her sights on for 2025. We plan to check back in with Tania after each desert race to find out how it went! All this and more so ..read more

Jakob Herrmann is a Swiss living in California, and an experienced runner who has completed an incredible number of races including seventy-nine marathons, over fifty 50K’s, and twenty-five 100 milers. His first ultra was back in 2005 at the JFK 50 - go big or go home!    Some of his more notable races include Javelina 100, Rio Del Largo 100, and Man vs Horse.  Jakob is also the race director of the Swiss Alps 100 which is a qualifier for three of the biggest North American races - Hardrock, Western States 100, and Badwater 135. It includes over 10,000 metres of climbing in a st ..read more

Marcus Kjellberg is an ultra runner with diabetes and content creator from Sweden.  We came across one of his YouTube videos that he created about the Val D’Aran race in Spain last year - it’s an event put on by UTMB and some say the 100 miler is equal to or harder than the UTMB’s 100 miler. During his Val D'Aran experience it turned into a lightning show and the race was stopped,  what happened next?  We also chat with Marcus about some of his other YT videos such as his UTMB and Kullamannen 100 races.     Here is Marcus...   You can follow Marcus on Instagr ..read more

Wow Wow Wow !! What a year 2023 has been, we hit 100 episodes and chatted with amazing ultra athletes. The 4 events in our Gotta Run Racing series were a success and we have added more content on our YouTube Channel with new virtual runs, our running adventures and Podcast chats.  Head on over to our Youtube channel and subscribe to not miss any uploaded videos. If you enjoy our show, please leave a rating and review.  We would really appreciate it. Check out GottaRunRacing website here and use promo code GRRPODCAST for discounts - gottarunracing.com Check out our YouTube Channel her ..read more