Just nine days before the race Melissa Tucker got the call off the wait list and got to fulfill her dream to run Western States. This week on Singletrack she shares how she dealt with being undertrained, how she was not being able to eat due to the heat and how she still made it to Auburn in one piece.

Melissa is also the new race director for Secret Beach in Gold Beach, Oregon and we chat about the challenge and beauty of putting on a race right on the beach.

• WS Twitter announcement of Melissa getting picked off the wait list
• Melissa Tucker on Instagram
• All Terrain Adventures, Melissa's racing company
• Secret Beach on Instagram
• Secret Beach on UltraSignup

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In this episode of Singletrack I am chatting with Tomasz Drybala from Poland. He's a long, long, long distance runner, motivational speaker and book author. Searching for a new direction, Tomasz discovered running, and through it a new perspective on life, while covering huge distances in Asia, the UK, and Poland.

• Tomasz Dryballa's website
• Flow Up – the book
• The US Tour
• Electric Cable Car

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Historian, Bavarian, author and ultra runner Andrea Löw joins Singletrack to talk about running as balance to lots of work and a full life. She shares adventure stories from multi-day races in Mozambique and Australia, the festival feeling at UTMB - CCC and the joy of spontaneously signing up for a local overnight 50 Miler.

• Andrea Löw's blog
• Andrea Löw on Instagram
• Andrea Löw on Twitter
• Andrea Löw on Asics Frontrunner Team
• Cover photo credit: Canal Adventure
• Rock Candy Running's Summer Races

Just a handful of runners finished this year's Mount Baker Ultra race and Jeremy Anderson was one of them. He joins Singletrack to talk about one of the nuttiest racing days the Pacific Northwest has seen in awhile. Jeremy shares his motivation to find that flow state while running long in the mountains. And we talk about the practical preparation and planning required to keep one safe.

• Jeremy Anderson on Strava
• Jeremy Anderson on Instagram
• Mount Baker Ultra
• Mount Baker Ultra race director Daniel Probst on Singletrack

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Adam Lee, "Substacker" and fellow trail podcaster joins me this week on the show. In between interval training sessions he talks about discovering trails in Vancouver, BC and launching a newsletter for the trail running community, and a podcast, where I was guest on a couple of weeks ago.

• Adam Lee on Substack
• Adam Lee on Instagram
• Ultrapostie, with yours truly
• La Sportiva – Vento
• Joshua Tree Skincare – CBD recovery salve
• Electric Cable Car – a commentary on the evolution of the mountain sport trail running

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Riley Nachtrieb joins Singletrack to share her incredible journey to set a new FKT on the Olympic Discovery Trail. This 135 mile trail leads from Port Townsend long the northern side of the Olympic Peninsula to La Push and the Pacific Ocean. Riley has been dreaming of completing this project for several years and a couple of weeks ago she did just that.

• Riley Nachtrieb on Instagram
• Riley Nachtrieb on Fastest Known Time
• Arc'teryx Aerios 30 Pack

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This week I am joined by Eva Sperger - mountain athlete, ultra runner, psychotherapist from München, Germany. She's part of the Salomon Trailrunning team, the German Ultratrail Champion, and she stood on many podiums across the Alps. Eva takes us from the Zugspitze to Mont Blanc and we talk about her incredible high-alpine mountain project from last year, and her preparation and training for big races all over the Alps. As a psychologist she brings a unique focus to her training and we talk about the all important mental game especially during a race when things go sideways.

• Eva Sperger on Instagram
• Eva's practice

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Nick Coleman from the Miles, Mountains and Brews podcast joins Singletrack to share his personal story of pain, perseverance and triumph. His journey takes us to a military base in Germany, a DNF at Badger, and a climb up Mt. Hood in freezing cold winter conditions.

• Miles, Mountains & Brews podcast
• Miles, Mountains & Brews on Instagram

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Alex Bond is back on Singletrack and after his season kickoff race, the Yakima Skyline 50K he has stories to tell and questions to ask. This race is not an easy one but Alex's training was on point. So, what do you do during the a race when the doubts start creeping in? How do you respond and fight back when things turn out the way you hoped? And how do you pick yourself up afterwards and look into the future?

• Alex Bond on Singletrack
• Alex Bond on Instagram
• Alex Bond on Strava
• Yakima Skyline by Rainshadow Running

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German pro trail running athlete Moritz auf der Heide joins us from Innsbruck, Austria today talk about his stellar performance at the Madeira Island Ultra Trail trail marathon. We talk about balancing priorities as a pro athlete, training philosophies and the real challenge of the shorter race distances.

• Moritz auf der Heide on Instagram
• Moritz auf der Heide on Strava
• Madeira Island Ultra Trail
• Cover photo by Raphael Weber