Florida Trail Runners Podcast

The Mighty Gallatin is an adventure that took place over September 5th to September 11th, 2022; it was created by our Florida Man, Helgi Olafson! The goal of this event was to reach upwards of 350 miles in the Gallatin Mountain Range in Montana with emphasis on a reduced carbon footprint with a total elevation gain of 76,332 ft! Helgi is a yacht chef based out of South Florida. He has done races l...

The Osprey Trail Run was back for 2022 at the George LeStrange Preserve in Fort Pierce, Florida! With 186 total finishers between the 25k and 8k distance; Adam Savo, Lauren Starr, and Amy Columbo were among the many. They did amazing! Adam placed 8th overall with a time of 2:21:31 for the 25k. Running has always been the thing athletically to push him to his limits. His last few races haven't gone...

This year we had a few Floridians travel north to Pennsylvania for raced called the Pine Creek Challenge. This is a 100 Miler in Wellsboro, PA and the section they run next to on the Pine Creek is listed as a National Natural Landmark. On the chat, we've got Andy "Croom" Mathews and Ty Aronson! This is the race that ended a little DNF hot streak for Andy and it was awesome to hear what went into i...

This was the inaugural year for the Last of the Felascans in Alachua, Florida. Andy Sholly was the Last Person Standing with a total of 26 yards for 26 hours running a total of 103.34 miles! Sholly is no stranger to this race format having won the 2022 Death at Depuis here in Florida and won the Last at the Lake in West Point Lake, Georgia. Matt Clapper took second place this year and his final la...

For Episode 56 we've got two-time Olympian and American Record holder in the 15k, Todd Williams. He is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and operates Monroe Jiu-Jitsu in Michigan. It's truly an honor to have Todd on the podcast. In this episode we chat about what we can do to prevent being attacked, how to be better be prepared, as well as, what to do when attacked. He also goes into some of the...

It was another year for the Pinellas Trail Challenge! This time we've got Matt Clapper, Katrina Pelican, Jeremy Hutson, and Shawn Eckert! Matt has run the PTC in 2021 for his first go at the race after overcoming a serious back injury. Katrina has run the race also in 2021! Jeremy has done the PTC four times now with 2018, 2019, 2020, and now 2022. Shawn is new into the ultra-running scene with th...

This year Tyler Andrews was one of the elite contenders in the men's field for the Leadville 100. He had previously run there in 2021 placing 16th overall and this year he placed 4th overall with a time of 18:40:04! He has had some pretty serious FKTs on the high-altitude trails in Chile, Ecuador and Peru as part of a journey dubbed the Los 10 FKT Project. He’s also a two-time U.S. Olympic Trials...

This year Julian Serrano was one of the Floridians who took on the iconic Leadville 100 in Colorado. He crushed it this year with a time of 29:18:56! This was redemption. Last time Julian ran the Leadville 100, he had to take the DNF. In the 2021 race, he rolled his ankle around 7 miles in, heard a pop, he watched runners pass him by for 31 miles as he hobbled onward. By the time he made it to Twi...

Here we are with Brenda Baader-Lips! This summer she was the woman's champion out at Mikey Bee's The Trident: Ridge to Nowhere! She absolutely crushed it out there battling the heat and all of the sand! She also ran her first 100k this year at the Iron Horse! Not only was she the woman's champion, but she also placed second overall! Amazing athlete and a superhero mom! 

Here we are with Part Two of the Stories from the Skunk Ape Night Run! This time we've got Paul Gibbs, Greg Burnham, Gary James, and Noel Medina! This year Noel Medina made it out with a last-minute decision on race day, he went on to place second overall behind Kalo Axsom! Paul Gibbs has done the Skunk Ape Night Run before, and this time is crushed it going 3:55:50 from last year's 4:38:58! As fo...

Here we are with Episode 50! This time we've got four of the ladies who crushed it at the Skunk Ape Night Run back on July 23rd; Laura Walker, Laura Bradely, Renee Tavakoli, and Lisa Hanes-Cox! Laura Walker was your woman's champion with a time of 2:43:12, smashing the previous woman's course record 2:56:00 held by Deanna Doane. Renee Tavakoli also placed 3rd Overall for the woman, her time of 3:0...

This year Joey Lichter came back to the Last Annual Vol State 500k for redemption, and he did it! He made it to "the Rock" with a total of 7 days, 17 hours, 3 seconds!!! This was far better from his 2018 appearance where Joey had to pull the plug at 60 Miles, just two days into his journey. This year he managed to find that inner peace, overcome some brutal conditions to his feet, and the randomne...

Chris Twiggs is the Chief Training Officer & National Program Director at Jeff Galloway Productions and this year he completed his 16th Hardrock 100! This year he ran a time of 38:43:49 crewed by his amazing family and friends. He also placed 48th overall breaking into the Top 50. One of the biggest goals for this year was to break the 40-Hour barrier, a feat he hasn't done since 2010... and h...

Here we are with part three of the Stories from the Badwater 135, we've got Ted Williamson, Dawn Lisenby, and Alexia Garcia of the Florida Nine! This year both Ted and Dawn had their ups and downs... Ted battled it out to mile 90 with Dawn making it to mile 42 on the "World's Toughest Footrace." Alexis Garcia got that belt buckle finishing with a time of 46:35:36! He shares his story from the cour...

Here we are with Part Two! This time we've got Michael Ryan, Amy Costa, and Malu Paredes of the Florida Nine at Badwater this year! Michael Ryan completed 72 miles of the "World's Toughest Footrace," with Amy and Malu taking home that belt buckle with a time of 41:57:48 and 39:18:02. Malu was also the first-ever Venezuelan finisher of the Badwater 135! Michael Ryan is a man you might know from his...

For 2022, Florida had nine runners in the Badwater 135, the World's Toughest Footrace, on the chat today for Part One is David Castro, Bob Becker and Caryn Lubetsky. This year, Bob Becker truly inspired us all with gritting it out to the finish and finishing only 17 minutes past the official 48-Hour cutoff. David Castro took his first journey into Badwater completing 49.03 miles of the absolutely...

It was another year for the Vero Beach Octopus Ultra. Of the many runners across the numerous distances, this year Chris Stangle, Jacob Strezinski, and Phil Patterson Jr took on the course. Chris won the 50k race with a time of 5:41:25! As for Jacob, this was his first ultra-marathon ever and he placed second behind Violetta Yazlovskaya with a time of 8:27:09. Phil finished this year with a time o...

The 2022 Western States 100 has come and gone, and Luis Gomez was one of the few Floridians who crushed it this year. On episode 33, we had a pre-race chat joined by “Mr. Western States” Andy Jones-Wilkins. So without a doubt, we are back again to recap and hash out how that race went down!  Andy Jones-Wilkins has done the Western States 100 ten times, placing 2nd in 2005. Over his ten years...

This year Lindsay Raley was one of the three Floridians at the Western States 100 in California. He crushed the course with a time of 29:12:51. Lindsay is no stranger to the distance and challenging courses as he's also finished the Black Canyon 100k twice, the Pinhoti 100, Croom Zoom, Lake Martin 100, and the Bloodrock 50 Miler.  He's coached by the man at the finish line, Tom Flahavan who f...

This year at the Tahoe 200, several Floridians took on the challenge of coverage this years out and back course. I'm chatting with Melody Diehl, John Becker, and Justin Yonker! John and Melody finished 21 minutes apart (96:29:25 and 96:50:19) with Justin taking the great achievement of holding the 2nd to last finisher spot with a grand total of 99 hrs, 15 mins, and 30 seconds of the 100-hour time...

We've covered the trails, the roads, and now the 6 Days in the Dome! This is the race where Zach Bitter set that 100 Mile World Record in 2019! For this year, our state truly represented with Lisa Devona taking the overall victory in the 72-Hour event running a total of 203 miles! As for my guests today, I've got Alycia Slyck, Martha Mayer, and Michael Ryan. Alycia and Martha took on the 48-Hour e...

This year at the Moon Over Croom, like so many, some runners experienced there first ever trail run! Two of my guests today, Amie Balistreri and Jennie Eftikides did just that! Jennie has previously done races like the Pinellas Trail Challenge, but this was her first time on real dirt trails! I also dive into the race with some trail veterans like Nick Urena and Rusty Smith! We talk about this yea...

This year John Parker and Jeff Forrester went up to Tennessee to compete at the Mid-State Mile. Both men took it on with John running 22 some miles and Jeff Forrester coming home with 5 miles. John Parker was one of the three winners at the Forgotten Florida 100! He's also raced numerous Last Man Standing races, including Florida's at Death at Depuis. Jeff Forrester is new to the trails, but he kn...

Chris Kostman is one of the most iconic names in Ultra, he is your Race Director for The Badwater 135. He also set world ultra-cycling records, to include riding against the clock from San Francisco City Hall to Los Angeles City Hall and completed the 3,127 mile Race Across America bike race in less than eleven days at age of 20.  The Badwater 135 tends to draw folks from all over the world a...

This year, for a third time, Eric Kienle took on the Mid-State Mile in Tennessee. He absolutely crushed it running 127.6 miles with 39,440 feet of elevation gain/loss. Eric is a former Florida resident who recently moved out to Montana, he's won races like the Itch, the SWAMP 50k, the first-ever Skunk Ape Night Run, and the Wild Florida 120.  The Mid-State Mile course is housed on private lan...