Borderlands Pod Network

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Chaîne • 4 émissions

Course

Course

2 fois par semaine
Forme et santé

Forme et santé

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Course

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Toutes les 2 semaines
Course

Course

2 fois par semaine

22 juin

Trail Running Culture Doesn't Scale | Bob Crowley's Response

Western States and UTMB are often framed as opposite visions for the future of trail running. One protects through limits. The other protects through growth. But after publishing an episode on that tension, I received an unexpected response from Bob Crowley, former President of the International Trail Running Association (ITRA). Bob argues that both sides may be focused on the wrong thing. What follows is a conversation about culture, stewardship, local races, and whether the values that built trail running can survive success. Somewhere along the way, the debate stops being about Western States and UTMB and becomes something much bigger. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Resources / LinksWestern States Wants to Protect, UTMB Wants to GrowBob's Full Op-edBorderlands.ccLa French Trail Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

22 juin

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23 min
19 juin

Western States Wants to Protect, UTMB Wants to Grow

Western States and UTMB have become the two most influential institutions in trail running, but beneath the debate over lotteries, race series, and growth is a deeper question: when something becomes successful, how do you protect it? Josh explores why UTMB believes trail running is important enough to scale globally while Western States believes it's important enough not to. Along the way, he examines scarcity, culture, the hidden cost of success, and whether the thing worth protecting was ever the race itself. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Topics / Timestamps01:33 Two Philosophies of Trail Running03:19 Is Growth in Trail Running Corruption?06:13 The Scale Problem in Trail Running11:06 What Cultre are We Protecting in Trail Running?15:50 The Supply Chain of Trail Running Culture Resources / Links8 Bit Trail RunningJosh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French Trail Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

19 juin

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17 min
16 juin

Wasatch 100 & Bear 100: When Ultra Running Just Hurts

Wasatch 100 and Bear 100 are two of the hardest races in ultra running. Michael Whiteside ran both just three weeks apart, and what stayed with me from this conversation wasn't the accomplishment. It was the way he talked about suffering, expectations, and the moment he realized he wasn't going to feel better. What follows is less a race report and more a conversation about endurance. Crew guilt, self-doubt, late-race bargaining, and the strange acceptance that sometimes arrives when the problem in front of you can no longer be solved. Somewhere in the middle, Michael offers one of the best descriptions of ultra running I've heard: it wasn't hard, it just hurt. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Resources / LinksBorderlands.ccLa French Trail Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

16 juin

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15 min
12 juin

The Trail Running Sea of Sameness | Nike ACG, Nostalgia, and the Cost of Optimization

Modern trail running shoes are better than they've ever been. So why do so many runners still find themselves drawn to older designs like the Nike ACG LDV? Josh and Inky use one nostalgic shoe to explore a bigger question: what happens when an industry spends years optimizing toward the same answer? Somewhere between old Nike catalogs, modern trail shoes, and a sea of increasingly similar products, they uncover why certain designs still stop us in our tracks. Shout out to Marty from Global Sales Guys who talks about the Sea of Sameness in outdoor retail. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Resources / LinksThe Mountain That Made ACGInky's Article about theROCKER Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just RunningI Was Wrong About Kiprun Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

12 juin

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28 min
30 mars

Billy Yang - Why People Run 100 Miles

Why do people run 100 miles and keep coming back to ultra running even after it hurts, slows them down, and offers no obvious reward? If you’ve ever been curious about ultra running or felt the pull toward doing something hard without fully understanding why, this conversation is for you. In this episode, Billy Yang helps unpack what draws people into ultra running and what they’re actually searching for out there. It’s less about racing and more about identity, suffering, and the deeper reasons people choose to keep going. For runners and anyone trying to understand why we choose hard things. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. Topics / Timestamps00:00 Why Would ANYONE Run 100 Miles05:55 The Journey of the Soul in Ultra Running09:01 The Power of Storytelling in Sports16:08 Exploring the Stories Behind the Sport23:02 Why Do We Keep Going Back to the 100 Mile Starting Line28:11 Reframing Your 'Why'30:30 Ultra Running is the Great Equalizer Resources / LinksThe Why by Billy Yang"Nike Boys" DocI Finally Conquered 100 Miles Related EpisodesNils Arend, TSP FounderScott Jurek, Has Ultra Running Become too Polished? Presented by Kiprun. ---- Find us at Borderlands.cc and sign up for the newsletter. Want to run in the Salt Lake area? Check out the Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races happening May 30, 2026. And if you haven't checked out Wylder yet, it's worth a look. iOS or Android

30 mars

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32 min
9 juin

Why Western States is America's Most Important Race | More than a Run

Western States 100 occupies a different place in trail running than almost any other race. Months before the starting gun, runners and fans are already studying the field, imagining the canyons, debating contenders, and wondering what story will emerge from Auburn. This episode explores why Western States feels bigger than a race. From Jim Walmsley and Kilian Jornet to Wendell Robie, Rucky Chucky, and the old buckle holders still working aid stations, Josh makes the case that Western States belongs in the same conversation as The Masters and the Kentucky Derby. Not because of the sport, but because of what happens when greatness, history, place, and uncertainty all meet in the same event. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Topics / Timestamps01:54 Elite Runners vs 'Participation Runners'08:05 The Course as Character11:14 The Importance of The Course13:54 The Importance of Rucky Chucky16:12 The Dual Nature of the Race19:58 The Spirit of American Trail Running22:09 The Unfolding Drama of Race Day Resources / Links2026 WSER Entrants ListLive on Course - LoC by BorderlandsBorderlands.ccLa French Trail Related EpisodesTrail Running Loves Winners, Does it Love Competitors?Ultra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

9 juin

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24 min
4 juin

Why Trail Running Hides Competition

Trail running culture loves winners. That's obvious. The sport builds documentaries about them, fills Instagram feeds with them, and spends months debating who will win Western States. But the more Josh thinks about it, the more he wonders whether trail running is actually comfortable with the competitive mindset that creates those winners in the first place. As Western States season begins, this conversation explores the difference between the participation version of trail running and the elite version, why those two worlds often get conflated, and what we miss when we use the values of one to understand the athletes competing in the other. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Topics / Timestamps00:00 Two Sports Sharing One Start Line02:51 The Values That Make Champions05:49 Elite, Professional, and Why It Matters08:38 What Trail Running Rewards11:26 Telling an Inward Story About an Outward Competition14:22 Do We Actually Want Competitors? Resources / LinksBorderlands.ccSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IG Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

4 juin

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18 min
4 mai

Why Fueling Stops Working During Ultras

Ultra running nutrition is getting more extreme. More carbs, more precision, more pressure to “get it right.” But if you’ve ever had your stomach shut down mid-race, you know something isn’t adding up. This episode is for runners trying to fuel better without breaking their body in the process. I sit down with Chris Bellamy, engineer, ultra runner, and founder of Yanaa, to explore the hidden cost of the high-carb movement, what it’s doing to gut health, and why real food might be the missing piece. We get into the tension between performance and health, and what elite athletes are actually doing when it matters. This is for ultra runners who want to perform without sabotaging their system. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Resources / LinksWhite Paper - From Health to PerformanceSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailHigh TonesSubwhatever Related EpisodesAn Elite Coach Reframes Fueling for UltrarunnersPre-Race Nutrition for UltrarunnersNutrition Myths for Ultrarunners Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

4 mai

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45 min
25 mai

What Happens When Running Becomes Your Job? | Jacob Puzey

Professional running can quietly turn into pressure, performance, sponsorship obligations, and constant visibility. This episode with Jacob Puzey is for runners who have felt burnout creeping into the thing they once loved and want to rediscover simplicity, rhythm, and freedom in running again. After twenty years as a professional runner, coach, race director, and sponsored athlete, Jacob reflects on what happened when the pressure finally disappeared. What starts as a conversation about road running slowly becomes something much deeper about identity, aging, social media, routine, and why signing up for hard things still matters even after competition stops mattering. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Topics / Timestamps00:43 Rediscovering the Joy of Running 07:41 The Journey Back to Running 11:39 The Transition from Competition to Personal Growth 14:50 The Journey to Scholarship and Running 19:20 The Importance of Commitment in Running Resources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailHigh TonesSubwhatever Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

25 mai

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20 min
21 mai

The Race That Makes Trail Running Real

Trail running usually becomes real for people at a local ultra, not while watching UTMB or Western States online. The parking lot at 5am with 53 runners, one exhausted race director, and volunteers giving up their Saturday to help strangers keep moving is still the clearest entry point into the sport. This episode is for the runners who believe the soul of trail running still lives there. Josh explores why the local 50K may be the most important layer in trail running, how participation precedes fandom in ultra culture, why authenticity in trail running still feels earned instead of performed, and why the small grassroots races that built the sport are becoming increasingly fragile in the modern era of spectacle, prestige, and professionalization. Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review. If you’re new to Borderlands, start here. Topics / Timestamps02:52 The Turning Point of the Race03:57 The Ecosystem of Trail Running07:45 The Local Ultra: An Introduction to Trail Running Culture11:22 The Challenges of Local Trail Races18:00 The Importance of Local Races in Trail Running Resources / LinksSalt Lake Foothills Trail Races Josh Rosenthal on IGBorderlands.ccLa French TrailHigh TonesSubwhatever Related EpisodesUltra Running isn't Just Running Presented by Kiprun. ---- Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it. Watch on YouTube Read on Substack

21 mai

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19 min

Borderlands | The Heart of Trail Running™