The Mile 99 Interview

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the First 99 Gear Review, co-hosts Mike Turner and Greg Larkin talked to gear reviewer and ultrarunner Brian Goldman about the Coros and Garmin running watches, their features and modes and of course, strengths and weaknesses! Garmin is the established player in the space with excellent brand recognition, and while Coros is relatively new on the scene, they offe...

Send us Fan Mail The modern-day Forlorn Hope Expedition Team sat down with us in this episode to talk about the genesis, planning and execution of their recently-completed journey from Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee, CA to Johnson's Ranch in Wheatland. Their route closely mirrored that of the original Forlorn Hope team that left the stranded Donner Party on December 16th, 1846 in an at...

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca Sperry, a hiker from New Hampshire joined us for the third of several episodes talking about her redlining goal in the White Mountain National Forest when she was temporarily sidelined by a breast cancer diagnosis in August 2020. In this episode, Rebecca updated us about her 9th round of chemotherapy and how she has been handling that. We then spent time talking about the...

Send us Fan Mail Auburn resident Eddie Schmidt sat down with us for a great conversation about his early years as a runner and how much family and the ultrarunning community means to him. Eddie started running seriously later in life after some inspiration early on from his sister and then meeting several people over the years. He was joined by his daughter Hannah, a new convert to ultrarunning wi...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the First 99 Gear Review, our co-host Mike Turner delves into the Topo Athletic Trailventure trail running/light hiker shoe. He explores the reasons he decided on this shoe initially and then the experiences he had with it running and hiking all over the harsh trails of the Northern California river canyons and volcanic rock formations of the high mountains. Tun...

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca Sperry, a hiker from New Hampshire joined us for the second of several episodes talking about her redlining goal in the White Mountain National Forest when she was temporarily sidelined by a breast cancer diagnosis in August 2020. In this episode, we got an update from Rebecca about how she has been feeling through her 7th week of chemotherapy out of 12 total weeks. She al...

Send us Fan Mail Western States Endurance Run race director Craig Thornley, board member Tim Twietmeyer and medical director Dr. Andy Pasternak joined us for our 21st episode to talk all about the current state of the race as we head into 2021. We found out about how the board reacted to the original onset of the pandemic, handling the cancellation and the plans to hold the race in 2021. Dr. Paste...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the First 99 Gear Review, our co-host Mike Turner delves into two popular GPS trackers that are perfect for expeditions into remote areas with no cellular service. Tune in to hear Mike's thoughts on what features he likes for different types of outings, comparison of plans and other features. SPOT Tracker products: https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-...

Send us Fan Mail Donner Party Mountain Runners board member Chris Cloyd held a virtual conversation with Jeff Rauenhorst, local Incline Village resident, who set a new high mark for the unsupported FKT (Fastest Known Time) on the 310-mile Superior Hiking Trail in September 2020. Hear Jeff and Chris dig into the details of this amazing route, what led up to this outing, the ins and outs of his expe...

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca Sperry, a hiker from New Hampshire joined us for the first of several episodes talking about her redlining goal in the White Mountain National Forest when she was temporarily sidelined by a breast cancer diagnosis in August 2020. In this episode, we'll get to know Rebecca, hear about about her early years, her single-year White Mountains redlining project, her breast...

Send us Fan Mail Bryan Paisley joined us for an honest and in-depth look at his life, how he emerged from addiction and manages his bipolar diagnosis through meditation and running. He shared many stories, the joy he finds in running, finding his essence and his ways for dealing with everyday life. Bryan is also an accomplished musician waiting for gigs to start happening again! You'll find i...

Send us Fan Mail We're announcing a new series of podcast episodes that are planned coming up over the next couple of months. The series is called “Rebecca Redlines Cancer”, and we’re posting this trailer episode today to let you know a bit more about it. These episodes will be released along with our continuing format of individual interviews as we’ve been doing since May of 2020. Rebecca Sp...

Send us Fan Mail On October 30th, 2020 Dan Barger started from the Placer High School track, the legendary finish line of the Western States Endurance Run with his second attempt to complete a full out and back from Auburn to Olympic Valley and back to Auburn. The route would follow the WSER trails for a total distance of 200.4 miles and finishing back on the track. After a disappointing first att...

Send us Fan Mail Bruce Nguyen started his running career in 2013 with a 5k race, and fast forward seven years to 2020 where he completed the Moab 240 trail race in 106 hours! Bruce joined us for this episode to talk about his journey from that starting point all the way to accomplishing something that was truly transcendent for him and his crew and pacers. Bruce has used running as a way to stave...

Send us Fan Mail Bob Crowley, ultrarunning legend and current ITRA (International Trail Running Association) president, joined us in this episode to talk about his start in the sport,  his involvement with ITRA, his latest adventure project and many other topics! Bob has been trail running for 30 years and has finished some of the hardest multi-day 200+ mile races in the world. As the new presiden...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Nottingham is an ultrarunner, community builder and mental health advocate. He sat down with us to talk about his journey from a stressed out daily existence to finding running and physical activity as a means to improve his mental health. Along the way, he created a vibrant Facebook group ( We Are Greater Than Zero ) with like-minded people to share inspiring stories, keep...

Send us Fan Mail CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains discussion of domestic abuse and suicidal thoughts Kristina Folcik is a trail runner, race director, coach, multiple FKT (fastest known time) record holder and domestic abuse survivor. She joined us from New Hampshire to talk about the various forms of abuse she suffered for years, what it took to finally exit her marriage, and the people and...

Send us Fan Mail Jennifer Hemmen is an accomplished ultrarunner who has been running since her childhood. Along the way, she was inspired by her older sister, other runners, athletes and coaches to take on some of the toughest races out there, including a sub-24 hour finish at the 2015 Western States Endurance Run. Most recently, she has added adventure racer to her resumé, and what better way to...

Send us Fan Mail Renee sat down with us in this episode just two weeks after her successful FKT record on the Sierra High Route, a challenging route covering nearly 200 miles, mostly off-trail and typically above 9000’ elevation! Renee is a rock climber, mountaineer and runner and had to bring all of those skills to bear in order to complete her record under her target time. Executing an effort li...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we chatted with Bob Shebest, a pro ultrarunner (sponsored by Salomon , Buff , GU and Squirrel's Nut Butter ), coach and middle-school educator. Bob recently relocated to the foothills from Sonoma County and is back on the roads around the area on his bike and seeking adventure on the trails here and in the mountains of the Tahoe region. He recently paced Adam...

Send us Fan Mail From time to time, we'd like to bring you additional special episodes like this one! Mike Turner and I have been doing a lot more exploring around the area since the racing season has been effectively cancelled. We've gone on several trips out to the North Fork of the American River canyon. Many of the trails are lightly-used, fairly remote and sometimes obscure. It make...

Send us Fan Mail Sean Ranney is an ultrarunner, adventurer and race director of Northern California's answer to the Barkley Marathons, the Euchre Bar Massacre. We talked to him about how got into running after coming from a multi-sport background and how he created this incredibly tough race that travels all throughout the historic North Fork of the American River canyon. The North Fork is st...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode, we have collaborated with the Donner Party Mountain Runners to bring you a podcast recorded from their live interview with Helen Pelster and Adam Kimble, two incredible ultrarunners who both set fastest known time (FKT) records on the Tahoe Rim Trail, a 171 mile loop around Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada. Thanks very much to DPMR board member Jack Mac...

Send us Fan Mail Helen Pelster is an accomplished ultrarunner based in Truckee, CA, and in this episode we spoke with her about her initial discovery as running as a way to get in shape but then things really took off from there, culminating in successful completions of fastest known times (FKTs) on the Tahoe Rim Trail in 2019 and 2020. We hear all about those huge achievements and how she approac...

Send us Fan Mail Camille Herron joined us for an interesting and inspiring talk about her lengthy running career in a wide variety of disciplines of the sport. She is a multiple national and world record holder, has dozens of victories at the marathon distance and is looking forward to more trail racing in her future. We got her insights into her science-based approach to training and racing, chal...