Cyrus Walker lived a sedentary lifestyle her entire life. She left a corporate job after 24 years, lost 100 lbs with diet and exercise and found her true love - trail running.

He started his ultra journey in 2019 completed a few 50k s, a 100k in Zion in 2021, and a host of other shorter races. In Oct 2021, he was injured training for a 100miler in Colorado, which resulted in knee surgery, followed by a bad septic infection that landed him in the hospital for a week and was in bad shape. Subsequently, he suffered five infections, gained 40 pounds, and was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic. He has since lost 38 pounds and has Rocky Raccoon 100 on his radar for 2024.

I finished a 10K at The Flying Pig yesterday, which was an accomplishment.

Here is my kickass playlist

James Boler is a lifelong Memphis resident who has had a lifelong love of being active.

He says he's always been an athlete mainly in the baseball world.  He played competitive softball from age 22-38.    After that, he started running, at age 40 .He  made a bet with his wife that he could run a half marathon without training.  He ran the race and regretted not training as had to walk pretty much the entire race. Once he ran the half he decided to run a marathon the next year but would actually train for it.   

Since then, he's finished three hundred milers and tried a 200, but dropped at (only) 140 miles.

He will return to Cruel Jewel on May 19 and plans to conquer the Cowboy 200 in September, after last year's DNF.

He is going to be a first-time race director in November when he is in charge of the Mamba 100. There are shorter distances, too.

Amanda Eaton has only done a few races, but she has won a few of them. Most notably, she won the Habanero Hundred in August 2022, along with her fellow Rio Grande Valley compadre, Art Hurtado. Amanda talks to me about her running adventures, wins and future plans.

I also talk about "active listening" and upcoming events.

After the devastating loss of his longtime partner, Kenny Gardner got more bad news: he was overweight and diagnosed with diabetes. He had to change his habits from eating junk food as a comfort to finding joy in eating clean and working out. He's also returned to running and plans on conquering his first 50K this fall. As of this recording, he is down 47 pounds and counting.

Aurora Kerr ran her first 50K in February at Jackalope Jam. She turned 11 in November. Aurora, who has the cutest giggle, recounts that race and what led up to it in her running career. She likes math and science and has some ideas about what she wants to be later in life. Oh, and there will be more 50Ks.

Howard Avery suffered a stroke while training last fall. After a brief hospitalization, he was back at it. The only concession was that he dropped from the 50-miler to the 55K at Antelope Canyon race in mid-March.

He finished the race and is eyeing a flattish, warm-weather 50 or 100-miler in the not-so-distant future.

Avery, who hails from Memphis, will turn 74 in a few days.

I'm trying to make a lot of changes. Some are going better than others, but I haven't given up.

One of the biggest realizations is the need to be grateful for something every day, no matter how crappy the day is.

This is hard for me because I am hard on myself and sometimes set unrealistic expectations.

But I'm getting there.

Liza Howard is one of the kindest, most down-to-earth ultrarunners you will ever meet,. She wins races but is humble about it. She also coaches runners to reach their goals. She also has a couple of other hats she wears. Oh, and she has a family. On March 18, she will tackle Badwater Cape Fear.

Find her at https://www.sharmanultra.com/coaching

Vincent Antunez was sitting on a mountaintop in Afghanistan when the idea for Trail Toes foot creme came to him. The accomplished ultrarunner was deployed there at the time and was devising ways to soothe the tortured soles and toes of fellow runners. At first, people thought it was just for the feet. But, it can go anywhere -- and he means anywhere. The company has evolved from one creme type to three and a fourth is on the way. He has also developed tire-dragging gear, sewn and created travel bags and even gear and cremes for dogs. Oh, and his day job is as a professor at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth. https://www.trailtoes.com/