On todays show we have Karl Meltzer.  Karl is one of the first runners in our sport to truly go pro, specializing early on in his career in the 100 mile event. Since the late 1990s, he's won over 40 races, including at least 1 every year for for the last 19 years - both are records that may never be broken.  He’s also the Race Director for the Speedgoat 50k and perhaps most importantly, he’s just a guy you’d wanna have a beer with. He brings so much awesome perspective to the sport. 

In this episode, we do some analysis on the American contingent at this year's UTMB, we talk about race directing, we speculate on a potential new 100 mile race in the central Wasatch range, and we reflect on what it takes to make a career out of this sport. 

I won’t spoil anything for you, but this was one of my favorite conversations to date. Enjoy!

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On today’s show, we have Eric Senseman. Eric is a professional trail runner for Hoka One One, Rabbit, and Gu Energy.  Alongside Jim Walmsley, Tim Freriks, Stephen Kirsch, Jared Hazen, and Cody Reed,  Eric is also a member of the Coconino Cowboys, the famous training group based in the American endurance sports Mecca of Flagstaff, AZ. Like previous guests of the pod, one of the things I appreciate about Eric is how willing and excited he is to comment on some of the biggest issues, opportunities, and questions around our sport.  

We discuss: the factors required to create the Coconino Cowboys, the similarities and differences of their setup to counterparts like Hoka NAZ Elite in the track and field space, as well the conditions needed to build similar training groups elsewhere in the US. Eric reflects on his strategy of surrounding himself with better runners in order to fast track his ascent in the sport. We talk about the makings of a good trail town, and we cover how media coverage is evolving in our sport and what innovation will look like in the near and long terms. 

Enjoy!

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Jimmy Daly joins the podcast to talk about how pro trail runners currently handle social media obligations, what can be improved, how they can measure their ROI to brands they work with, and how those brands can better support athlete content creation efforts. We riff on a constant theme in this show - how to grow the sport of Mountain Ultra Trail Running. And finally, we have a ton of fun going back and forth on some business ideas we'd like to see take shape in our sport. 

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Chase Parnell joins the podcast to talk about whether this generation of elite ultra runners are as compelling as previous ones, Anton Krupicka's return to the Leadville 100 this month and whether it's the start of a greater comeback tour for one of the legends, the tools at his disposal and his process for providing pre, post, and in-race coverage, the price of being a full time creator in this sport and what's required to make it, and more!

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Dylan Bowman joins the podcast to talk abut his decision to go "all-in" on Pyllars, his broadcasting opportunities at Western States and UTMB, the rigors of being a professional athlete, the future of Mountain Ultra Trail Running, and the challenges of being a creator and visionary in our community. 

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Welcome to the Singletrack, a podcast covering the growth of the mountain ultra trail running scene. 

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