Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running

Epizody

• 
  With Tara Dower | Built Different 20.08.2026 40min

  Ultra running rewards obsession, but Tara Dower seems wired for something beyond results. She wants to solve hard problems, chase the best competition, run faster, and keep finding out what she’s capable of.Tara joins me to talk Western States, her planned Pacific Coast Trail attempt, why she hasn’t raced UTMB, learning from Karl Meltzer, and her evolution with Altra from the Lone Peak to the new Vanish Carbon 3. Underneath it all is a bigger question: as Tara becomes one of the defining athletes of modern ultra running, what parts of herself does she want to keep?For ultra runners interested in the people shaping where the sport goes next.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.This episode is in partnership with Altra for the release of its new super road shoe the Vanish Carbon 3 - a light, responsive, and efficient race day shoe made for PRs.Topics / Timestamps00:00 Introduction02:54 Tara Dower Has Always Been Stubborn07:07 The Problem Solving Mind of Tara Dower09:06 Results vs. A Life of Interesting Running13:38 Why Tara Dower Hasn't Raced UTMB17:54 The Problem with Pro Trail Running20:07 Why Ultrarunners Want to Run Fast | Altra Vanish Carbon 330:31 What Speedgoat Taught Tara36:40 What Tara Dower Wants Her Legacy to BeResources / LinksAltra Vanish Carbon 3Tara Dower Lives Between Two Worlds by Bryce CarlsonSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Borderlands.ccThumbnail Photo by Pete SchreinerRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Karl Meltzer | Speedgoat, UTMB, and Trail Running’s Boom 17.08.2026 1h 2min

  Trail running has exploded into a global business, and Karl Meltzer somehow ended up at the center of it. HOKA turned his Speedgoat nickname into one of trail running’s defining shoes, Red Bull paid him to chase the Appalachian Trail record, and UTMB eventually bought the race he created.Karl came up when ultrarunning was tiny and has watched the money, brands, athletes, and races transform around him. Josh and Karl talk about the strange experience of becoming valuable to an industry that barely existed when he started, selling Speedgoat to UTMB, his relationship with HOKA, and what someone who has lived through the entire boom thinks about where trail running goes from here.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Borderlands.ccLa French TrailRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Harvey Lewis | The Mind Behind the Ultras 13.08.2026 39min

  Ultrarunning eventually becomes a mental problem. The body hurts, the race stops going to plan, and the question becomes what the best ultrarunners understand about continuing when quitting makes sense.Harvey Lewis has spent 30 years figuring that out. In part two of our conversation in Ohio, we get into the mental strategies behind Backyard Ultra, why different races require different mindsets, the failures that changed how Harvey competes, and what decades of Badwater, journey runs, and 200-milers have taught him about going farther than he thought possible.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Thumbnail photo by Romain MayambiTopics / Timestamps00:00 Harvey Lewis Intro01:15 The Mental Game of Ultrarunning10:47 Learning How Not to Quit14:06 Different Mindsets for Different Races16:55 Pilgrimages and Journey Runs23:31 What Failure Taught Harvey Lewis30:33 What the Best Ultrarunners UnderstandResources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Borderlands.ccHigh TonesRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Harvey Lewis | The Man Behind the Ultras 10.08.2026 34min

  Harvey Lewis is one of ultrarunning’s most accomplished endurance athletes, but the more interesting question might be how a high school civics teacher from Ohio became capable of doing any of this. Badwater, Backyard Ultras, Barkley, 250-mile runs. Harvey has built an extraordinary career without making running his entire life.I spent a morning with Harvey at his home in Ohio, days before his 16th consecutive Badwater, trying to understand what makes Harvey Harvey. We talk about the dreamer and engineer he inherited from his parents, the teachers who changed his life, how running and teaching grew together, and why the hardest races have become something closer to pilgrimages.The conversation ends somewhere more personal, with Harvey remembering the person he still imagines waiting for him when things get hard.Thumbnail photo by Romain MayambiPlease give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps2:17 Harvey Lewis' Origins6:33 Harvey Lewis' Parents: The Dreamer and the Engineer18:39 Running and Teaching30:59 Running as PilgrimageResources / LinksTINAR Race Series | RegisterBorderlands.ccLa French TrailSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Ciele Athletics and the Rise of Running Culture 04.08.2026 15min

  Ciele helped change what running looked like, but the more interesting story is what sat underneath the aesthetic. This episode is for runners curious about how a hat brand became part of running culture without losing the product discipline that made it credible in the first place.What began as a film about Ciele turned into a deeper look at the rise of running as lifestyle, the influence of skate and snow culture, and the unreleased Miles hat that existed before Ciele had its name. Along the way, a portrait emerges of a brand whose visual identity was copied everywhere, while the craft, function, and ethos behind it were much harder to replicate.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksWatch the Ciele doc on YouTubeJosh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Satisfy x Adidas: Who Won the Circle Pit Backlash? 27.07.2026 19min

  The Satisfy x Adidas collaboration became one of the loudest moments in running, but almost none of the conversation was about the shoe. It became a fight over price, fashion, authenticity, and what running culture is supposed to protect.Josh and Inky Steve look at what the collaboration actually did, why Adidas seemed to gain all the upside while Satisfy absorbed the backlash, and what the circle pit revealed about how tribal running has become.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksBorderlands.ccLa French TrailSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  This is Trail Running Without Mountains. 21.07.2026 31min

  Trail running in the Midwest looks different. No mountain towns. No towering peaks. Just a different kind of commitment. On the drive to Harvey Lewis's house, Josh and Sam Hartman explore what it means to build a trail running culture in flat country, and why some of the sport's deepest communities exist far from the places most runners imagine.Sam Hartman, founder of TINAR Races in Columbus, Ohio, argues that community matters more than scenery, why Midwest trail runners develop a different relationship with the sport, and how trail running becomes part of your identity when getting to the trails takes intention. It's a conversation about place, belonging, and a side of trail running that deserves far more attention.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksTINAR - Alley Trail ClassicBorderlands.ccRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  What If Your Best Running Is Still Ahead? 16.07.2026 22min

  Hardrock 100 gave aging trail runners something many of us didn't realize we needed: hope. Ludovic Pommeret broke the course record at 50. Courtney Dauwalter won again and still walked away chasing something more. If you've ever wondered whether your best running is behind you, this conversation is for that part of you.Josh reads Bryce Carlson's essay Hardrock 100 in real time, stopping throughout to explore why Hardrock rewards wisdom as much as fitness, why experience compounds in endurance sports, and why the stories we tell ourselves about getting older might be our biggest limitation.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps00:00 The Unexpected Gifts of Hard Rock02:29 The Significance of Ludovic Pommeret's Wisdom as Performance06:21 Stripping Away Excuses and Embracing Aging in Running08:20 Ludovic Pomerret’s Record at 5009:39 Courtney Dauwalter’s Continued Excellence15:00 The Field Size and Competition Dynamics17:48 Remarkable Feats: Tara Dower’s Double22:37 Age as an Accumulation of WisdomResources / LinksBryce's articleBorderlands.ccLa French TrailSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  They Refuse to Make Toy Shoes. | Inside HOKA's Culture Strategy 13.07.2026 29min

  HOKA has become one of the few running brands to cross into culture without losing credibility with runners. If you're building a brand, launching new products, or wondering how companies grow without abandoning what made them special, this conversation is for you.Thomas Cykana and Travis Wiseman pull back the curtain on HOKA's collaboration strategy, why they refuse to make "toy shoes," and how fashion found HOKA before HOKA ever chased fashion. It's a conversation about culture, product, trust, and the surprisingly human decisions behind one of running's fastest-growing brands.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps00:00Resources / LinksBorderlands.ccLa French TrailSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningJohn Ruben, founder of UnnaPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  What is Borderlands Actually Building? 07.07.2026 21min

  For the first time in months, I'm stepping away from interviews and monologues for a Borderlands Trail Running founder update.By the time this episode goes live, my family and I will be somewhere over the Atlantic, leaving Paris after two years and moving back to Salt Lake City. I came to France thinking I was building one thing and left building another. I'm leaving with a much bigger vision for what Borderlands can become.In this monologue, I share what changed during our time in Paris, the mission that continues to guide Borderlands, where I want the company to be over the next month, year, and decade, and how everything we're building fits together.In this episodeWhy Paris changed the way I think about media, culture, and BorderlandsThe mission behind Borderlands: The Heart of Trail RunningOne-month, one-year, and ten-year visions for the companyWhy Borderlands is expanding beyond podcasts The role of the website, newsletter, documentaries, YouTube, live events, Arcade, and Live on CourseThe contributors helping shape Borderlands, including Bryce Carlson, Inky Steve, Stan Van Kimmel, Christian Brecheis, and othersA look at where Borderlands is headed nextPlease give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / Links8 Bit Trail Running | ArcadeLive on Course [LoC]Borderlands.ccLa French TrailSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Western States 2026 Analysis | 10 Things I Couldn't Stop Thinking About 29.06.2026 28min

  Western States 2026 is over. The course records have been set, the winners crowned, and the internet has already moved on. This isn't another race recap. It's a cultural breakdown of what Western States revealed about trail running, its media, and where the sport is headed next.From Dylan Bowman becoming the voice of trail running, to Hans Troyer's fearless pacing, to why Thomas Cardin exposed a storytelling gap, Josh shares the ten ideas he couldn't stop thinking about after the biggest weekend in trail running. Along the way, he asks whether Western States has outgrown its broadcast and why the next frontier isn't better cameras, but better context.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps01:05 Dylan Bowman is the Voice of Trail Running/Racing04:10 The Broadcast Knows Where Everyone Is09:05 We Don't Care About Places, We Care About Stories11:38 We Interviewed the Wrong People16:14 Whose Job is it to Find Tomorrow's Stories?20:21 Hans is the Rabbit I Was Asking For21:53 American Men Ran it Like Old Days at UTMB22:46 The Race has Outgrown the Broadcast26:23 The Next FrontierResources / Links8 Bit Trail RunningBorderlands.ccSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Trail Running Culture Doesn't Scale | Bob Crowley's Response 22.06.2026 22min

  Western States and UTMB are often framed as opposite visions for the future of trail running. One protects through limits. The other protects through growth. But after publishing an episode on that tension, I received an unexpected response from Bob Crowley, former President of the International Trail Running Association (ITRA).Bob argues that both sides may be focused on the wrong thing. What follows is a conversation about culture, stewardship, local races, and whether the values that built trail running can survive success. Somewhere along the way, the debate stops being about Western States and UTMB and becomes something much bigger.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksWestern States Wants to Protect, UTMB Wants to GrowBob's Full Op-edBorderlands.ccLa French TrailRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Western States Wants to Protect, UTMB Wants to Grow 19.06.2026 17min

  Western States and UTMB have become the two most influential institutions in trail running, but beneath the debate over lotteries, race series, and growth is a deeper question: when something becomes successful, how do you protect it?Josh explores why UTMB believes trail running is important enough to scale globally while Western States believes it's important enough not to. Along the way, he examines scarcity, culture, the hidden cost of success, and whether the thing worth protecting was ever the race itself.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps01:33 Two Philosophies of Trail Running03:19 Is Growth in Trail Running Corruption?06:13 The Scale Problem in Trail Running11:06 What Cultre are We Protecting in Trail Running?15:50 The Supply Chain of Trail Running CultureResources / Links8 Bit Trail RunningJosh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Wasatch 100 & Bear 100: When Ultra Running Just Hurts 16.06.2026 14min

  Wasatch 100 and Bear 100 are two of the hardest races in ultra running. Michael Whiteside ran both just three weeks apart, and what stayed with me from this conversation wasn't the accomplishment. It was the way he talked about suffering, expectations, and the moment he realized he wasn't going to feel better.What follows is less a race report and more a conversation about endurance. Crew guilt, self-doubt, late-race bargaining, and the strange acceptance that sometimes arrives when the problem in front of you can no longer be solved. Somewhere in the middle, Michael offers one of the best descriptions of ultra running I've heard: it wasn't hard, it just hurt.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksBorderlands.ccLa French TrailRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  The Trail Running Sea of Sameness | Nike ACG, Nostalgia, and the Cost of Optimization 12.06.2026 28min

  Modern trail running shoes are better than they've ever been. So why do so many runners still find themselves drawn to older designs like the Nike ACG LDV?Josh and Inky use one nostalgic shoe to explore a bigger question: what happens when an industry spends years optimizing toward the same answer? Somewhere between old Nike catalogs, modern trail shoes, and a sea of increasingly similar products, they uncover why certain designs still stop us in our tracks.Shout out to Marty from Global Sales Guys who talks about the Sea of Sameness in outdoor retail.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Resources / LinksThe Mountain That Made ACGInky's Article about theROCKERRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningI Was Wrong About KiprunPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Why Western States is America's Most Important Race | More than a Run 09.06.2026 23min

  Western States 100 occupies a different place in trail running than almost any other race. Months before the starting gun, runners and fans are already studying the field, imagining the canyons, debating contenders, and wondering what story will emerge from Auburn.This episode explores why Western States feels bigger than a race. From Jim Walmsley and Kilian Jornet to Wendell Robie, Rucky Chucky, and the old buckle holders still working aid stations, Josh makes the case that Western States belongs in the same conversation as The Masters and the Kentucky Derby.Not because of the sport, but because of what happens when greatness, history, place, and uncertainty all meet in the same event.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps01:54 Elite Runners vs 'Participation Runners'08:05 The Course as Character11:14 The Importance of The Course13:54 The Importance of Rucky Chucky16:12 The Dual Nature of the Race19:58 The Spirit of American Trail Running22:09 The Unfolding Drama of Race DayResources / Links2026 WSER Entrants ListLive on Course - LoC by BorderlandsBorderlands.ccLa French TrailRelated EpisodesTrail Running Loves Winners, Does it Love Competitors?Ultra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  Why Trail Running Hides Competition 04.06.2026 17min

  Trail running culture loves winners. That's obvious. The sport builds documentaries about them, fills Instagram feeds with them, and spends months debating who will win Western States. But the more Josh thinks about it, the more he wonders whether trail running is actually comfortable with the competitive mindset that creates those winners in the first place.As Western States season begins, this conversation explores the difference between the participation version of trail running and the elite version, why those two worlds often get conflated, and what we miss when we use the values of one to understand the athletes competing in the other.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps00:00 Two Sports Sharing One Start Line02:51 The Values That Make Champions05:49 Elite, Professional, and Why It Matters08:38 What Trail Running Rewards11:26 Telling an Inward Story About an Outward Competition14:22 Do We Actually Want Competitors?Resources / LinksBorderlands.ccSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  What Happens When Running Becomes Your Job? | Jacob Puzey 25.05.2026 19min

  Professional running can quietly turn into pressure, performance, sponsorship obligations, and constant visibility. This episode with Jacob Puzey is for runners who have felt burnout creeping into the thing they once loved and want to rediscover simplicity, rhythm, and freedom in running again.After twenty years as a professional runner, coach, race director, and sponsored athlete, Jacob reflects on what happened when the pressure finally disappeared. What starts as a conversation about road running slowly becomes something much deeper about identity, aging, social media, routine, and why signing up for hard things still matters even after competition stops mattering.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps00:43 Rediscovering the Joy of Running07:41 The Journey Back to Running11:39 The Transition from Competition to Personal Growth14:50 The Journey to Scholarship and Running19:20 The Importance of Commitment in RunningResources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailHigh TonesSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  The Race That Makes Trail Running Real 21.05.2026 18min

  Trail running usually becomes real for people at a local ultra, not while watching UTMB or Western States online. The parking lot at 5am with 53 runners, one exhausted race director, and volunteers giving up their Saturday to help strangers keep moving is still the clearest entry point into the sport. This episode is for the runners who believe the soul of trail running still lives there.Josh explores why the local 50K may be the most important layer in trail running, how participation precedes fandom in ultra culture, why authenticity in trail running still feels earned instead of performed, and why the small grassroots races that built the sport are becoming increasingly fragile in the modern era of spectacle, prestige, and professionalization.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps02:52 The Turning Point of the Race03:57 The Ecosystem of Trail Running07:45 The Local Ultra: An Introduction to Trail Running Culture11:22 The Challenges of Local Trail Races18:00 The Importance of Local Races in Trail RunningResources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailHigh TonesSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack
• 
  What SATISFY Reveals About Trail Running 18.05.2026 9min

  Trail running culture melted down this weekend after a Satisfy x Adidas event triggered accusations of cringe, elitism, rich-kid cosplay, and the death of authenticity. But the backlash revealed something much deeper about where trail running is headed and why so many runners reacted emotionally to it.In this episode, Josh explores why the footage felt so disconnected online, why Satisfy exposes contradictions already present inside trail running, and how the sport may already be transforming into something larger than athletics alone. From Cocodona and expensive race culture to meme accounts, identity signaling, and the rise of trail running media, this conversation is about the growing tension between authenticity, aesthetics, status, and culture inside modern trail running.This one’s for the trail runners trying to understand what the sport is becoming and why that question suddenly feels so uncomfortable.Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.Topics / Timestamps00:00Resources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailHigh TonesSubwhateverRelated EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningPresented by Kiprun.----Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.Watch on YouTubeRead on Substack