Emily Lyons is a runner from Castle Hayne, North Carolina in the Wilmington area who races all the time. Her schedule is always packed with ultras, and she loves taking part in them. Emily also has a special affinity for races with the word "Badwater" in them. She is a finisher of all three Badwater races, Badwater Cape Fear, Badwater Salton Sea and Badwater 135. On this episode, Emily tells us about her recent finish at the 2024 Umstead 100, her finish at the 2023 Badwater 135 and her recent finish at the 2024 Badwater Cape Fear. You can follow Emily on Instagram @hungry_vegan_runner.

Tara Dower made history at the 2024 Umstead 100 by becoming just the second woman in the race's history to finish first place overall. The Virginia Beach native finished in a blazing fast time of 14:58:21. On this episode, Tara talks us through how the race went down, and she also tells us about her new status as a professional runner (sponsored by Altra, Ultraspire and First Endurance) and her love of running FKTs (she holds the overall FKT for the Benton Mackaye Trail and the female FKT for the Mountains to Sea Trail and is chasing the Appalachian Trail FKT this year!)

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Part one of this episode features Blackbeard’s Revenge 100 Race Director Rich Swor, who talks about the craziness that was the 2024 Blackbeard’s Revenge

Part two of this episode begins at 42:16 and features Rachel Craft and Suzy Goodwin, who both finished the race despite the horrendous weather conditions. Hear from them about how it all went down.

Find out more about the Blackbeard's Revenge 100 at https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/Corolla/BlackbeardsRevenge100.

On this episode, Patrick's wife Tatiana comes in as guest host to interview Patrick and his friend Brandon Johnston to talk about their experience running the Blackbeard's Revenge 100, as well as their one-man crew, Andy Barrett. The boys talk all about how their race went down, how they dealt with the brutal weather conditions and what it was like crossing that 100 mile finish line. Patrick finished the race in 9th place overall with a time of 22:45:23, and Brandon finished in 11th place overall and 2nd place male masters with a time of 23:26:21.

Dave Moore is a Lowcountry ultra runner who, even in the extreme world of ultra running, runs distances that are considered extreme. Dave has several 200+ mile distance finishes under his belt like Vol State and Heart of the South. His most recent super long distance finish was the Swammie Shuffle 200, which is mostly in the Outer Banks of North Carolina but also has some portions in the Outer Banks of Virginia. On this episode, Dave talks about how he got into the extreme distances, running 100 miles in firefighter gear, how he's able to take so much time off work to run these insane races, and he recaps his Swammie Shuffle experience.

Mikie Pylilo is an ultra runner who lives part time in Myrtle Beach and part time in Columbia. She has run incredible races like Desert Rats, the Denali 135 and more. On this episode, Mikie chats through her recent DNF at the Daufuskie Island 100 as well as some non-running related topics like growing up in Alaska.

Matt Hammersmith is one of the most recognizable names in the running community in the upstate of South Carolina. Countless people have run their first ultra at his events. On this episode, Matt talks about his history in the sport, how he grew the running community in the upstate, his races he directs with a focus on Country Mile 48 hr, his future running goals and much more. Find out more about the Upstate Race Series at https://runsignup.com/w/UpstateRunningClub. Find out more about Matt's coaching services at https://www.iamwithoutlimits.com/coaches/matt-hammersmith/.

Chris Squires is one of the two co-race directors, along with Rhonda Hampton, of the Umstead 100, which is one of the biggest and most important 100 mile races in the Carolinas. Umstead is the only Western States qualifier in the Carolinas as well. On this episode, Chris talks about the history of the race, the course, notable past performances, and he gives advice for runners who are running the race. We also play a little Umstead trivia at the end. For more information on the Umstead 100, visit https://www.umstead100.org/.

With the 2024 Blackbeard's Revenge 100 coming up soon, 2022 finisher Tim Garriss joins the podcast to talk about his experience at the race to give runners a good idea of what to expect at the race. Tim also talks about his background in running, his background in martial arts and more. To read Tim's race reports and other content from him, visit http://timgarriss.blogspot.com/.