Women of Distance

⁠ "Faster as a master" - Jen St. Jean has been competing in track and cross country since 8th grade; with a career that spans NCAA Division 1 competition, post-collegiate Olympic Development, and world class Master's competition, including being a member of the World Record setting 4x800m relay team (women's age 45-49)! She holds Master's age PRs of 4:37 in the 1500m and 2:17 in the 800m, while ju...

Sabrina Stanley has been a force on the trails since she first discovered ultra-running nearly 10 years ago. In that time, she rose quickly from beginner to champion - landing wins, podiums, and course records at some of the most competitive and well known races in the world. (Western States, Hurt 100, Hardrock, Grand Raid, and UTMB just to name a few.) From the outside looking in, you would never...

Traci Falbo has done it all - world championship teams, Western States, the Grand Slam, marathon finishes in all 50 states+, mountains, tracks, 24-hour racing, a 48-hour American Record, and more! In this episode, Lauren and Traci discuss her entry into sport as a method for weight loss, how that evolved step by step into marathon and ultra-running, finding her niche in long distance, and how a di...

Tara Warren is one race away from becoming the first woman to complete the Rocky Mountain Slam since 2016. That's a total of four 100mile races in the Rocky Mountains, across four months of the Summer, culminating with The Bear 100 in Utah at the end of September! (She also successfully completed the Bighorn 100, the Hardrock 100, and the Wasatch 100 as the first three events.) Only 12 women h...

Mary Denholm is a woman on fire - fresh off a summer spent racing and winning the entire Leadville Trail Series (Leadville Trail Marathon, Silver Rush 50, and Leadville 100mile), including running the second fastest time in course history in her debut 100! Despite this being her first season of racing trail and ultra, her transition has been intentional, well planned, and long awaited. In this epi...

Avery Matthews is on the cusp of becoming the only woman to complete the 2024 Grand Slam of Ultrarunning! Actually, the only woman since 2022 - and one of only 60 female finishers since the challenge began in 1986. Yet only a few years ago, she turned down a friend's invitation to run a local 5k because she thought it was too far! In this episode, Lauren and Avery talk about her rapid progress...

Amy Watson is the queen of ultra-speed! A field hockey and lacrosse player, turned marathoner - she began running ultra-distances in her early 40s, and now lays claim to numerous wins and course records at all distances from 50k to 100 mile! But her path to the top was neither easy nor linear. In this episode, Lauren and Amy talk about her journey to success: including struggles with her health an...

Ari Hendrix is an elite marathoner, fresh off the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, with an inspiring story of hard work, determination, failures, successes, and growth - in the sport and in life. Over more than 10 years, she worked her way (one small step at a time) from a 3:57 marathoner, to a multi-year project to break 3 hours, to missing the standard for the 2020 Trials, and finding belief to wor...

Nicole Monette is one of the fastest female 100 mile athletes in history. She's had success as a marathoner, a trail runner, and a road-ultra athlete on the world stage - while at the same time she's also a mother of three, a full time physical therapist, and running coach! In this episode, Lauren and Nicole chat about balancing an elite career and all of the life that intertwines between...

We welcome Courtney Olson BACK to the Women of Distance Podcast! Courtney is a professional runner with Hoka, and the unsung hero of the 2024 Comrades Marathon - where she recently placed 3rd female overall and top American outright, in an Up year (that's 4000+ feet of elevation gain) and her first time racing the event! Courtney is both a marathon and ultra athlete, with an affinity for road...

Tara Dower is an East-Coast based runner, who has been on fire over the past couple years; exploring -and dominating- all surfaces and all distances from the road marathon to the 100 mile to long-trail FKTs! In this episode, Lauren and Tara chat about her origins in the sport, what inspires the races and projects she pursues, what she's learning along the way, and take a deeper dive into her m...

Welcome to episode two! In this episode, we're chatting with East Coast trail crusher, Jana Fridrichova! With an impressive stack of podiums from fast ultras to gnarly courses, it was a real treat to chat with Jana about her full story - where she started, how big challenges in her personal life led to big change - personally and athletically, and where she now draws inspiration to face some o...

Welcome to Women of Distance - the revival! In 2021, elite marathon and ultra runner Devon Yanko started the original Women of Distance podcast (linked below) in an effort to bring attention to women in the sport whose stories and accomplishments were under-shared, under-reported, and deserved attention! Inspired by her example, the podcast is back - now hosted by Lauren Cramer (much-less-elite ma...