The Steep Stuff Podcast

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  #202 - Hillary Allen - on Career, Worlds, Injury, Cycling, 2025 & 2026 Seasons & the North Bend Trailfest 02.10.2026 55Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A last minute race entry. A season stitched together from recovery. A mindset that refuses to let results decide your worth. James L’Oriello sits down with mountain runner and endurance athlete Hillary Allen for a wide ranging conversation that starts with a literal tide mishap on a bike in California and quickly climbs into the real terrain: returning to hard efforts after injury, trusting your body again, and finding joy in the grind of uphill racing. We talk Vertica...
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  Casey Campbell - Pre North Bend Trailfest Interview 01.10.2026 57Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Something wild happens when a runner stops chasing “perfect” and starts chasing what they actually love. Casey Campbell is living proof. Casey joins us to unpack his late-season shift toward uphill racing, including a breakout day at the Broken Arrow Ascent that surprised even him, and the training choices that helped it happen. We talk uphill specificity, winter Nordic skiing as strength-building cross training, and why Bend, Oregon is one of the best all-around places in th...
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  Noah Dusseau - Pre North Bend Trailfest Interview 01.10.2026 31Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A 47-mile pacing shift on a record attempt would be a season highlight for most runners, and Noah Disot treated it like another valuable day in the mountains. Fresh off crewing and pacing Joe McConaughy on a John Muir Trail (JMT) effort, Noah joins us ahead of North Bend Trailfest to talk about what he learned from nonstop movement, staying on top of nutrition, and keeping the vibe positive when the work gets long and messy. We also dig into the Pacific Northwest trail...
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  Dustin Mullaney - Pre North Bend Trailfest Interview 01.10.2026 54Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Race week exposes everything: what you’ve built, what you’ve ignored, and what actually holds up when the course turns steep. We’re joined by Dustin Mullaney, defending North Bend Trail Fest champion, to talk through the reality of racing often, recovering from monster efforts like The Rut, and why a condensed stretch of competition can feel like a cross-country season with a “never-ending taper.” If you’re trying to balance fitness, fatigue, and injury history, this conversa...
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  #201 - Matthew Zupan 30.09.2026 1Std. 3Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A hundred-mile podium doesn’t happen by accident, and Matt Zupan doesn’t chalk it up to luck. From a quiet start in Missouri to finding his stride in the Reno and Truckee trail running scene, Matt tells the full story of how community, mountain obsession, and steady habits shape the runner he is now, including a breakthrough day at the Leadville 100. We talk through the Sierra Nevada pull that keeps bringing him back, from the John Muir Trail to big linkups and the kind of o...
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  Most Replayed Episode: Matt Daniels 26.09.2026 58Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Something breaks in an athlete’s season, and the story usually gets edited into a neat comeback. We do the opposite here. Matt Daniels talks with us in real time about the messy middle: a divorce, an unexpected mold exposure that kept making him sick after travel, and the slow process of feeling like a normal human again. From there, we map how he’s rebuilding toward Run Rabbit Run, including what changed once he brought on CTS coach Cliff Pittman and started treating long-di...
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  #200 - Chrissy Lofgren, 2026 Pikes Peak Marathon Champion 25.09.2026 35Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Winning Pikes Peak isn’t just about fitness, it’s about decisions you make when your lungs are burning, your stomach is turning, and the mountain keeps asking for more. I sit down with Chrissy fresh off her Pikes Peak Marathon win to replay the day from the first miles on Barr Trail to the long, lonely stretches above treeline where you don’t get feedback from the pack, you only get truth from your own pacing. We talk about the tactical side of mountain racing: why the W’s c...
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  #199 - Darren Thomas, 2026 Pikes Peak Marathon Champion 24.09.2026 52Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Ten tries at Pikes Peak can either break you or build you. Our guest Darren Thomas shows exactly what it looks like when it builds you, turning a decade of near-misses into a 2026 Pikes Peak Marathon win that’s equal parts patience, craft, and pure downhill grit. We talk through the emotions of finally getting the hometown title, the weird whiplash of flying home and going straight back to work, and why “post-race depression” gets easier to manage when you return to real life...
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  #198 - Aimee Kohler, RD of the Running Kind Introducing the new Catskill 100 23.09.2026 56Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A new 100-mile race is coming to the Catskill Mountains, and it’s not pulling any punches. Amy Kohler, race director at The Running Kind, joins us to reveal the Catskill 100, a technical Northeast ultra marathon that leans hard into steep climbs, rocky descents, and true backcountry vibes. Think Devil’s Path brutality up front, big mountain linkups across the range, and more than 27,000 feet of vert that won’t feel “easy” for a single step. If you’ve ever felt like the Catski...
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  A Special Discount Code for Listeners 20.09.2026 1Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A Special Discount Code for Listeners Use code SteepStuff for 20% your cart on Sidas.us Follow James on IG - @jameslauriello Follow the Steep Stuff Podcast on IG - @steepstuff_pod Follow Sidas USA on IG - @sidas_usa
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  #197 - Will Johnson 19.09.2026 1Std. 13Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Pikes Peak week has a way of making every runner take stock: what am I chasing, and what’s actually worth it when the climb gets real? I sit down with Will, a full-time high school English teacher and developing mountain runner, to talk about the years-long build behind “overnight” progress and why the best performances usually come from a love of the work, not a fear of the result. We trace his path from the Pacific Northwest to Western Colorado University in Gunnison, where...
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  History of the Pikes Peak Ascent & Marathon with Mark Tatum 18.09.2026 1Std. 37Min.

  Send us Fan Mail One mountain, nearly a century of stories, and a finish line that keeps moving further into the clouds. We sit down to unpack the deep history of the Pikes Peak Marathon and Pikes Peak Ascent, from its early ascent roots to the moment it becomes one of the most competitive mountain running events in the United States. We talk about how the race really starts taking shape, including the strange early “smokers vs non-smokers” era, the legends who helped define what was possibl...
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  #196 - Erin Ton, FKT on Mount Kilimanjaro 17.09.2026 1Std. 5Min.

  Send us Fan Mail She didn’t just beat a record on Mount Kilimanjaro, she rewrote what “supported speed” can look like at 19,000 feet. Aaron Ton joins us fresh off a massive double: new supported ascent and supported round-trip Fastest Known Times on Kilimanjaro, plus an honest look at the parts that felt smooth and the part that nearly derailed everything when altitude slammed her around 15,000 feet. We get into the real build behind a big mountain FKT: stacking altitude in Colorado, grabbin...
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  #195 - Marie Nivet, 2026 UTMB ETC Champion 15.09.2026 54Min.

  Send us Fan Mail She called it a “bonus race,” showed up with no pressure, and walked away with one of the biggest wins of her career. Marie Nive joins me right after UTMB week to unpack what it felt like to win ETC, why that result matters for mountain running, and how she reframes nerves when the stakes get loud. We talk about the specific thing she wanted to fix from last year, technical downhills, and why confidence comes from solving real race problems rather than trying to “feel ready.”...
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  Most Replayed Episode: Cam Smith, 2026 U.S. Skimo Olympian 12.09.2026 1Std. 12Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A skimo World Cup podium is rare. Coming back after an ACL and meniscus tear, then surviving a major shoulder injury right after, is even rarer. We sit down with Cam Smith to talk about what it really takes to rebuild your body and your confidence when momentum gets ripped away and the biggest goal is still out there: qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics (Milano Cortina) in ski mountaineering. Cam walks us from Rockford, Illinois to Western Colorado University’s Mou...
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  #193 - Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy - RD North Bend Trailfest & Ultrarunner 11.09.2026 1Std. 6Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A mountain town, a brutally steep VK, and a trail festival that’s trying to feel like a hometown party instead of a corporate expo. We’re joined by Joe McConaughey, ultrarunner, coach, and race director of North Bend Trailfest, to break down why Mount Si delivers one of the most compelling short-course mountain running tests in the Pacific Northwest and why that matters for the future of sub-ultra racing. We talk course specifics and what you actually get when you show up: a...
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  #194 - Adam Sjolund 09.09.2026 57Min.

  Send us Fan Mail A lot of runners dream about a breakthrough season. Adam Joland is living one, and he’s honest about how messy it looks from the inside. Right after a standout run at Sierre-Zinal and a strong Golden Trail campaign, we sit down to dissect what actually went right: keeping the monster climb under control, staying mentally present for the whole race, and learning how to race with confidence instead of just hanging on and hoping. If you follow mountain running, Golden Trail Worl...
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  Most Replayed Episode: Mason Coppi, 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Champion 08.09.2026 1Std. 20Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Mason Copi just came off a win at Cirque Series Alta, and what stood out to us wasn’t only the speed it was the optimism. We talk right after the race about the course, the steep Baldy descent, and why feeling “locked in” can look like smiling, waving, and actually enjoying the chaos. From there we zoom out into Mason’s full arc: Southern California roots, a nationally competitive high school program, Division I running at Furman, and the moment the sport started to feel lik...
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  A Special Discount Code for Listeners 06.09.2026 1Min.

  Send us Fan Mail Use code SteepStuff for 20% your cart on Sidas.us Follow James on IG - @jameslauriello Follow the Steep Stuff Podcast on IG - @steepstuff_pod Follow Sidas USA on IG - @sidas_usa
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  Most Replayed Episode: Michelino Sunseri, Grand Teton FKT Holder 05.09.2026 1Std. 15Min.

  Send us Fan Mail He just set a Grand Teton FKT, but what grabbed me most wasn’t the time on the clock. It was the way Michelino “Mike” Sanseri thinks about mountains, suffering, joy, and what it actually takes to become dangerous on a start line without losing yourself along the way. We talk about how a single run on the Teton Crest Trail and a moment on Hurricane Pass pushed him to leave Tahoe and move to Teton Valley, why trails always felt like home, and why college running on roads and f...