Florida Trail Runners Podcast

This year the teams of Powered by Prosecco and Boob Ice took on the Miami 50/50! Powered by Prosecco with the team of Cassidy Jacobs and Natalia Hester were able to pull off 2nd Overall and First Place for the women. Placing Second Overall for the women was team Boob Ice represented by Kailynn Violette and Janelle Nutting! This race takes you all over Miami, Florida for 50 miles! You travel from L...

It was yet another year at the Lake to Ocean 100k for Andy “Croom” Mathews and Andrew Barrett! These two men have run every Lake to Ocean 100k to date. This course covers some of wettest terrain the state of Florida has to offer and takes you through Dupuis, JW Corbett, Hungryland, Riverbend, and Jonathan Dickinson and ends in the ocean Hobe Sound Beach! Jeff Stephens puts one heck of an event out...

The Western States 100 is coming up on June 25th in the Olympic Valley. For this episode we’ve got “Mr. Western States” Andy Jones-Wilkins and Luis Gomez! ADJ has done the Western States 100 ten times, placing 2nd in 2005. Over his ten years he has placed in the Top 10 numerous times. He continues now with volunteering, cheerleading, announcing, and helping make it happen! Luis is one of the very...

Here we are with Part Two of the 2022 Keys 100! This episode kicks off with Lucien "Mr Hot Chocolate" Boulet, this year he finished in a time of 31:07:07. Last year he ran a time of 27:58:04, however, with the time this year being slower... the journey was different, and that journey is what the true success was! He was also crewed by his amazing kids!  After Lucien, I am joined by Patrick Gallagh...

This year Lovelyn Findley, Pamela Chapman-Markle, and Diane Romero-Lopez were some of the brave ladies who took on the hot and humid Keys 100! Lovelyn did amazing going 29:00:19 for her first true road-ultra after having done the Forgotten Florida 100 back in February and 50k's in the Zion Valley and at Sky to Summit. Pamela is a legend of the sport, at 66, she has done the Keys 100 a total of SEV...

This year Caryn Lubetsky took on her fifth Keys 100! This year was a tremendously hot year with being runners being drenched in sweat, dealing with the thick humidity, and the pavement from Key Largo to Key West. With this year being Caryn's fifth year, it was also her fastest to date on the Keys 100 course. She ran a time of 19:43:52 to take first overall for the women beating her previous course...

Today I hop on with one of most knowledgeable people for local Tampa history, Laura Bradley. She most recently completed the Ocho de Mayhem over in Middleburg, Florida put on by Mike Martinez with Runners 4 Recovery. With having done races like the Withlacoochee Moon River Run, Skunk Ape’s Revenge, Whispering Pines, and the Angry Tortoise… Laura also does the Go! Running Tours – Tampa Bay, which i...

This year Mike Alberts, Courtney Joseph, Carmen Brockdorf, and Stephen Grieger were a few of the Floridians who took on the Cruel Jewel in the Chattahoochee National Forest of the North Georgia Mountains. This is a course that takes you on a wild ride through the Duncan Ridge from Vogel State Park to Blue Ridge and back. For Mike, Carmen, and Stephen… they all took on the “100” mile course that ad...

Like many others C Sawyer took on the challenge of Aravaipa Running's Cocodona 250. He ran 60 of those completely barefoot and the rest in those very minimal Luna Sandals. It was at roughly 167 miles with over 20,000 feet of elevation gain, Sawyer knew he had already far exceeded his training and was asking more of his body than it was able to continue giving, so at roughly 8:30pm after hallucinat...

This year was the second Cocodona 250 put on Aravaipa Running in Arizona. When it comes to Florida, our state had four runners taking on the challenge of 250 miles across the Sonoran Desert with soaring temps both hot and cold, bloody noses, heat rash, gnarly trails and more... For this part-one episode we have Michelle Taylor and Dave Krupski! The second part will be with the barefoot runner C Sa...

For a second time Eddy Souza, the King of Corbett, took on the Tick out in the Ocala National Forest getting his second victory out there! This is a point-to-point 50 Miler that follows the Florida National Scenic Trail from Alexander Springs State Park to the far end of the Rodman Reservoir Dam. In years past, Rich Flint has been the race director... as for this year Andrea Tilley has now taken o...

This year Deanna Doane, Bruce Sung Ho Choi, and Juli Goldstein took on the challenge of the C&O Canal 100 Miler up in Knoxville, Maryland. This was Deanna's first 100 miler and she crushed it with a time of 23:24:53 getting that sub-24 hour finish and that first time belt buckle! This was a comeback race for Juli having last run the Keys 50 Miler in 2019 and her 100 miler at the 2018 Keys 100. Bru...

This year a handful of RunFluent athletes came up to the Buck Fifty in Chillicothe, Ohio. Today I chat with Chris Stangle, Scott Hoover, and Gustave Karagrozis about their time out of Florida up in Ohio. The Buck Fifty was founded to fight the drug problem in local community. They support eight local high school chapters of the Drug Free Clubs of America. The Drug Free Clubs of America Members at...

This year the Dunes were finally back on the trails of Jonathan Dickinson State Park! Today I chat with Andre and Ludi about the epic weekend for the Florida trail running community. Many runners were out on the trails for the first time, or it was their first half-marathon or ultra. This 50k course goes through 13 unique natural communities in 11,000 acres state park. It was awesome to hear about...

This year Christopher Caravello took on the Shadows of the South 100 with a time of 33:43:16! This of course was a race that almost didn't happen, however, the show still went on with a new course just days before race day. For a lot of folks, this would be super discouraging... but not Christopher. He crushed it out there! Christopher has done races like the Destin Beach 100, the Keys 100, Georgi...

Had a fun one with J.D. McGee and Alberto Vargas talking about the JW Corbett weekend. JD did the 50k and Al ran the 50 Mile out there in the JW Corbett Wildlife Management Area. We talk the course, the water, hotel room madness, gators, and so much more! Also! the big news with a new JW Corbett Race Director.  The JW Corbett 50 mile, 50k, and 18 mile has been a staple to the trail and ultra-...

This year Lucien "Hot Chocolate" Boulet and Joseph Greenslade once again took on the Endurance Hunter 100 by ARGEORGIA. Lucien took on the 100 Mile with Joseph taking on the 100k through this course that takes you through the BMT, Pinhoti, and Fort Mountain Trails in Georgia. This race is a true point-to-point challenge. We are also joined by Jeff and Hunter Leininger who put on this event. This i...

Nick Zivolich is the founder of Best Damn Race and Best Damn Events. After finishing a half marathon in St. Pete, Nick Zivolich put into motion his desire to put on his own running event that would still have the professional layout as the corporate races, but with a local race feel. His races would be accessible to all levels of athletes with a unique registration process for low prices on a firs...

Laurel Slyck lives close to the Oregon Trail in Boise, Idaho but she has also run the Croom Zoom 100k in 2020 and competed in Cross Country at Florida State University. She recently released a book titled “Did Anyone Tell You It Was Going To Be Easy?” It is a good one. It’s been a while since I’ve been hooked on a book, and this is one of those. This memoir really reels you in. There’s a lot of re...

This year was quite the rainy year for the Croom Fools Run near Brooksville, Florida. However, that adversity was no problem for many runners... to include my two guests Donna Morris and Doreen Hoffman who both finished the 50 Miler together! They did amazing! The Croom Fools Run has three distances being the 16 Miler, a 50k, and the 50 Miler. For myself, I did the 16 Miler before heading out to a...

Luis Cocco took on the 200 Mile right in the dojang of Hero Martial Arts running 9,696 laps (48.5 laps per Mile) on his 108.9167 foot course. He also raised money for ThumbsUp International in the process. This was his second attempt at completing the World Record for the Shortest Course Ever Utilized to Achieve the 200-mile Distance. Luis made 38,784 sharp 90-degree turns on his journey.  Last ye...

Today I got to hop on with some Floridians who took on the Georgia Death Race up by RunBum Tours. This year you had a first timer on the course Kailynn Violette; Mark Proch who has smashed it twice now; and Joshua Gray who went for redemption. What an amazing recap. These three did great! The Georgia Death Race is 71ishh Miles starting in Vogel State Park with close to 28,000 feet of elevation cha...

The SWAMP 100k, 50k, 30k, & 10k is a race put on by Dawn Lisenby out at Graham Swamp near Flagler Beach, Florida. This course is a 6.2 mile loop that is flowing, single track with a lot of short steep climbs. But don't let that lay easy in your mind, this course is one of the trickiest as it is said that the 50k runs like a 50 miler! This year the 10k race was a fundraiser for breast cancer an...

The Gasparilla Distance Classic takes place every year in Tampa, Florida and hosts four different distances. However, some runners decide to sign up for ALL FOUR in an event called the Michelob Ultra Challenge. It consists of the 15k and 5k on Saturday then the Half Marathon and 8k on Sunday for 30 plus miles! I had the honor to chat with four of those runners; Dale Lively, Beth Waskom, Jeff Beck,...

Today I chat with Laura Drake Cole! She's been competing for years with a lot of success in the IRONMAN having competed at the KONA World Championships on 11 occasions. She's also won the 15k at the Gasparilla Distance Classic three times, with one year winning both the 5k and 15k! She's transitioned more into the trail and ultra-running scene here in Florida (with great success)! Truly great, age...