The Mile 99 Interview

Send us Fan Mail Hello everyone, it's been a minute! We're back with a pre-race briefing with George Ruiz, race director for the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs coming up on July 18th-19th, 2026!  We cover a lot of race details in this episode and take a number of questions from the audience so make sure to tune in if you're running any of the distances from 23 km to 100 miles! Georg...

Send us Fan Mail Hi everyone! It's been a while, and life just gets busy with work, family, trying to train and keeping up with all of the springtime events! Sorry we've been out of touch, but look for new full-length episodes later in July and August. In the meantime, since Jess and I both volunteered at Western States this past weekend, we thought it would be fun to record some mini ep...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Mile 99 Interview , we sit down with Mike Dimond , a hometown ultrarunner from Auburn, CA , who just punched his ticket to the 2025 Western States 100 —not in the main lottery, but through the exclusive M45 Automotive Auburn residents raffle ! A Sacramento Metro firefighter, father, and long-time runner, Mike shares how living in the shadow of the Western St...

Send us Fan Mail In this inspiring episode of The Mile 99 Interview , we sit down with two passionate trail stewards: Elke Reimer and Tim Tollefson . You might know Tim for his elite trail running accomplishments, but today, he’s wearing a different hat—one of advocacy, stewardship, and public lands protection. Alongside him, Elke shares her deep experience in trail maintenance and volunteer coord...

Send us Fan Mail We had a great time chatting with Joey "Coach" Montoya, local Auburn ultrarunner, football coach and PE teacher at Placer High School. We first met Joey back in episode 60 when he was getting ready for his first attempt at the 2021 Western States. He finished the race, but as he described to us, there was a lot of stress to manage as he approached the event. Fast forward...

Send us Fan Mail George Ruiz, race director of the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs, dropped by to talk about the changes for the 2025 race after getting word that a major reconstruction project would prevent the new 100k and popular 100 mile race from occurring this year. This was a shock to the trail running community since this race is incredibly popular and has extremely dedicated entrants. Geor...

Send us Fan Mail Fourmidable race director Paulo Medina and original founder of the Mile 99 Interview visited us to go over everything related to this year's race! It's one of the traditional 50k races in the Auburn area to kick another season of trail and ultrarunning and always draws a great crowd! There are multiple distances and lots of great information to share about each one in th...

Send us Fan Mail Bri hung out for a while after the main show and talked about her White Mountain Traverse FKT from Boundary Peak in Nevada to White Mountain in California - inspiring stuff! She also shared advice for runners whether they are just getting into trail running or even if they've been around a while. HINT: plan for longevity and incorporate cross training! We talked about other b...

Send us Fan Mail Bri joined us for a fantastic episode where we learned all about her start as a young kid riding her bike and chasing her mom on her runs. She was instinctively drawn to climbing any nearby hill, and this fit well with her future direction in life!  Fast forward to recent years and to the present day, and Bri has become a highly accomplished ultrarunner, coach and FKT holder. Her...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year everyone! We caught up with previous guest Todd Woodward as we kick off 2025 after a bit of a break. Todd last joined us in 2024 after his speedy performance at Miwok 100k. Unfortunately, he had to spend a bit of time rehabbing his ankle after that race and we got all of the details about how that went. He finished the year strong with a solid performance at the Nor...

Send us Fan Mail After some unexpected time off, the Mile 99 team is back on track and making post show content that was recorded earlier this year available to our audience. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for your continued support! Ken stuck around with us after the show and Jess kicked us off with a great story of the first time she ran into Ken during a 50k race that she was having a tough...

Send us Fan Mail After some unexpected time off, the Mile 99 team is back on track and making post show content that was recorded earlier this year available to our audience. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for your continued support! Todd stuck around after the main show to chat with us about his fantastic experience at the 2024 Miwok 100k and having the ability to crank up the speed late in t...

Send us Fan Mail After some unexpected time off, the Mile 99 team is back on track and making post show content that was recorded earlier this year available to our audience. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for your continued support! Doctor JoAnn and Doctor Andy stuck around after the main show and had some time to chat about Andy's upcoming podcast, and we'll be sure to announce it...

Send us Fan Mail Wow, where does the time go?? Hello again everyone, and sorry for being out of touch since our last episode in July before TRT. A lot has happened since then for both of us, and we've missed our trail running community and audience, and we're so glad you're all still here for us. Jess and I sat down for a catching-up episode to get us back on track, and we're l...

Send us Fan Mail Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs race director George Ruiz joined us again this year to dig into all of the last minute details of the race, answer runner and crew questions and get everyone pumped for the race! We got through a ton of information and audience questions, and if you're running, crewing, volunteering or supporting the race in any way, don't miss this one! TR...

Send us Fan Mail Our favorite guest, Western States race director Craig Thornley, made some time in his extremely busy schedule before the race to join us for some updates and his plans for the rest of the year. Things are slowly getting back to normal after the Mosquito Fire, and the Duncan Canyon and Dusty Corners aid stations can be accessed via Mosquito Ridge Road again - welcome news! We also...

Send us Fan Mail Ken Michal joined us for an in-depth conversation about his journey from heavy smoking to his current endeavors at all distances of trail runs as well as long timed events. He recently completed the Pigtails Challenge 200 miler in Washington state, winning in a time of just over 71 hours. We delve into his philosophy around training and racing and all of the things that he has lea...

Send us Fan Mail Folsom runner Todd Woodward first discovered road running later in life and then found his true calling of trail and ultrarunning right before the pandemic started in 2020. He has taken an analytical approach to his training, nutrition, strategy and racing and has great advice for others looking to pick up the sport after the age of 40. He has just finished a sub-14 hour Miwok 100...

Send us Fan Mail Doctors JoAnn Ellero and Andy Pasternak joined us to talk about how they met in med school, their evolution together as runners and JoAnn's ultimate goal of running Western States happening this June! We've had Dr. Andy on several times in the past as part of our Western States episodes in his role as the medical director, and now we get to learn more about JoAnn and him...

Send us Fan Mail Things got a little busy for the Mile 99 team after the Canyons pre-race briefing and before the start of the race so this is showing up a little late, but we had some time with Abbey, Sean and Chaz after the show. We delved into talking about the various aid stations, their captains and dedicated volunteers and the community that has been built around this iconic race for the pas...

Send us Fan Mail The Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB are less than a week away, and race directors Chaz Sheya, Abbey Drake and Sean Flanagan joined us to go over all of the late-breaking information and updates needed for runners, pacers, crew members and volunteers. It's going to be a huge party in Auburn and on the trails over April 25th-27th, 2024, so make sure to tune in here and see you o...

Send us Fan Mail Join Jessica for this week's episode as she sits down with Ken Krogsrud of Bad Luck Run Club to talk about the second annual Placer Trail Running Festival! Now in its second year, the PTRF offers something for everyone from a 50k race to a 1k kid's race, a 5k canicross event and many other distances. This is truly a running festival, held over April 13th and 14th this ye...

Send us Fan Mail Ethan Veneklasen, co-race director of the Broken Arrow Skyrace sat down with us to do a deep dive in the origins of the race, the formation of the team that brings this unique and iconic event to the Tahoe region and how it has grown over the years. The Broken Arrow Skyrace is now a nationally and internationally recognized race that has grown hugely popular but still retains its...

Send us Fan Mail Bob, Tim, Elke, Jennifer and Hal from the History Expeditions team hung around with us for a bit after the main show and we got the inside scoop on the snoring volume, the ability to ward off coyotes, team jokes and all of the great times spent around the campfire. The team connected with so many people from all walks of life along the way, adding another enriching element to thei...

Send us Fan Mail The History Expeditions team of Bob Crowley, Tim Twietmeyer, Elke Reimer, Jennifer Hemmen and Hal Hall sat down with us shortly after completing their epic trek from Placerville, CA to Genoa, NV over the course of 5 days. The 2024 expedition they chose was a commemoration of the incredible efforts of John "Snowshoe" Thompson, a legendary figure of the Sierra Nevada mount...