Journey to Ultra

In this episode, we talk about growing up with 2 older siblings, being diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 12, travelling Europe and Australia, school, working at Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), and how he went from couch to 50k...and beyond!!!

James is the race director of Rainshadow Running, an amazing ultra marathon trail race series on the West Coast. He himself has been running ultras for 18 years and has 5 hard rock finishes to his name. In this episode he talks about growing up out East, hiking the Appalachian trail, what brought him out West, starting Rainshadow, running ultras and everything in between!

Shanda Hill is an endurance athlete who lives in Vernon, British Columbia. She recently became the first Canadian and 3rd female ever to complete a Double Deca Triathlon. This involves a 76k pool swim, 3600k bike, 844k run. In this episode I interview Shanda about her training and lead up to the race and how each stage of the race played out. We talk about some of the adversity she faced and what kept her going mentally.

In this episode we dive into being raised by a single mom and growing up with 3 sisters in Northern Quebec, how she got into acting and sports at a young age, how she initially used running to combat insomnia and anxiety, overcoming an eating disorder, getting into triathlon and Ironmans, ultras, her first 100 miler, all the crazy activities she enjoys (paragliding, kite boarding, mountain biking, skiing), and love!

Jennifer Pharr Davis is a hiker, author, speaker and National Geographic Adventurer of the year who has covered over 14,000 miles of long distance hiking on 6 different continents. 

In 2011, Jennifer covered the 2185 mile Appalachian Trail (AT) in 46 days, 11 hrs and 20 minutes and she became the first women to set an overall record. She received the ultra runner performance of the year award for this feat.

This is an interview I did with Hilary Spires, the host of The Trail Running Women Podcast. She recorded me about my journey in life and in running. In this episode we talk about my early days growing up as an athlete, how my parents influenced/help to develop my skills, playing varsity basketball at Cap U, walking onto the UBC track and field/Cross country team, a subclinical eating disorder I developed while in college, becoming an ultra runner, my 14 years of running and racing and life beyond running.

Hailey Van Dyk is an ultra runner, wife, dog mom and ER Nurse living in beautiful Squamish, BC. In this episode we talk about her early days growing up with 2 brothers, becoming a nurse, the organic creation of the popular Facebook page "Run like a girl" (RLAG), the behind the scenes/realities of someone who travels the world, the ups and downs in deciding to part ways with RLAG, dreaming big and making those dreams a reality.

On her first training run in her new town, Tara found herself in the middle of the Squamish 50. Tara's interest was piqued and she decided to sign up for her first ultra the following year. Training was going great until she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Running has helped Tara overcome many of life's challenges. Tune in to find out about Tara's childhood growing up in Quebec, how she got into running, how running has helped Tara get through life's biggest challenges, and what is up next for Tara!

Nick Elson is an all around mountain athlete and he's inspired by adventures that blur the lines between different mountain disciplines. He holds many FKT's including the Grand Teton Traverse. In this podcast we get into his early childhood experiences growing up in Campbell River (British Columbia), getting into climbing, running on the varsity track and xc team at UBC, getting into ultras, FKT's, the accident with Adam Campbell, competing against Kilian Jornet and so much more.

Joanna may have gotten her start in road running but she loves to climb mountains. In fact she has a goal of climbing (on foot) 25 new summits and completing 1 million vertical feet. In this episode we talk about what it was like growing up with 5 other siblings, her mothers influence on getting her into the mountains, being competitive, setting big goals, how she got into ultra running, her near epic miss at this years Bighorn 100, and everything in between!