Episodes

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! George strives to put on a top-notch race for all of the entrants, and you can find out lots of details here. Be...

Send us a text 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 episodes to let you know what we were up to! We hope you'll enjoy these, and we'll talk to you again soon! https...

Send us a text 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 States finish line shaped his dream, and how his name being drawn at the post-lottery raffle changed everyth...

Send us a text 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 coordination. Together, they unpack the behind-the-scenes work that keeps our trails runnable, beautiful, an...

Send us a text 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 three years, and he's once again been given the honor to run the race in a designated aid station spot (El Dor...

Send us a text 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. George didn't just decide to close up for 2025 once he found out that the dam at Marlette Lake had to be ...

Send us a text 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 the episode and we went over all of the pre-race and race day details and fielded questions from the audience too...

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 bucket list trips and adventures, so make sure to tune in and get some ideas for yourself! We finally wrapped up with som...

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 journey and stories about her many endeavors have great lessons for all of us, whether we're just starting out or are...

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 NorCal Backyard Ultra and a podium finish at the Doomsday Half Marathon. For 2025, he's gunning for a fast finish at C...