Matt Daniels recently had one of the best race performances that the ultra trail running community has seen in a while. He finished 4that the most competitive 100-miler in the US: The Western States 100. This was his 100-mile-ultra debut.

Matt’s running journey began when he was 11 years old. He first started running track, then started running longer and longer distance, all on road. 

While in college, Matt ran a sub-4-minute mile. He also qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the marathon. The guy is fast!

But after years of focusing on roads and dealing with burnout and life, Matt realized that running trails is what he was meant to do, it’s where his passion is. 

On this conversation, Matt talks about his first trail races and how his training and racing philosophy and mindset changed when he started working with his current coach David Roche.

It’s very inspiring to see the positive influence that David has had on Matt’s perspective and attitude; you can see that reflected on his performance.

And Matt is in no rush. He’s being smart, he’s building a solid foundation, he wants to do this for a long time. Trust me, you’ll hear more from him in the future.

Follow Matt on Instagram (@mattdaniels480). You can also contact him at  [email protected] visit his coaching website (www.mattdanielsrunclub.com) …he’s taking on new athletes!