Wendall grew up between California and Washington State, ran cross-country in high school, and signed up for a North Face 50-miler at 16 after an ad crossed his laptop and his mum said fine. He cramped at halfway, a stranger handed him a salt tab, and a year later he was third in North America in the vertical kilometre. Then came a two-year church mission in Berlin with no real training, and a decade in Germany since. When Germany had no team at the youth skyrunning championships, he asked the International Skyrunning Federation if he could start one. They thought he was joking. He did it anyway, and now he picks the youth, senior and masters teams, argues with the national athletics and alpine associations about who owns the sport, and tries not to give himself a spot someone faster should have. He explains trail vs mountain vs skyrunning, tells the story of an athlete who lost his flight and his luggage and won in borrowed kit, and makes the case that big-race sponsorship and technical mountains don’t mix, because the mountain doesn’t care who you are. The second half goes wider. He learned Arabic on his mission, went back to university for it, and wrote his thesis on two Palestinian distance runners and how Arabic, English and Hebrew media cover them differently. He’s Protect Our Winters’ first summer athlete and argues for imperfect activism over all-or-nothing. Plus gear that lasts a decade vs gear that lasts two years, running 14:41 for 5k in Vienna in shoes he should have retired, chasing a road 50k with no sponsor, and why a Tour du Mont Blanc with a pizza every 5k beats a 200-miler. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:58 Meet Wendall: California, Washington, Berlin 3:02 High school cross-country, and skipping the NCAA 5:32 A 50-miler at 16, and a stranger’s salt tab 8:28 Trail vs mountain vs skyrunning 11:00 Training volume, and why a VK hurts differently 12:47 Why Germany, and two years without training 16:44 Founding the German Skyrunning Federation 20:10 Turf war with the DLV and DAV 22:56 Picking the national team, and the Lucas Ehrle story 25:45 UTMB, sponsors, and “the mountain doesn’t care who you are” 30:14 Salty Trail Running 31:56 Kienbergtrail, a bobsled track, and Ötzi 37:22 Learning Arabic, and a thesis on Palestinian distance runners 43:11 Translating interviews and the Arabic dialect continuum 46:36 Protect Our Winters and imperfect activism 51:20 Gear, consumerism and re-soling shoes 55:04 No vest, no belt: the whole race kit in his tights 59:32 14:41 in Vienna 63:27 No sponsor, and chasing the German 50k record 66:46 Nutrition, unmeasured 71:13 Longer ultras, FKTs and a pizza every 5k 74:27 Where to find Wendall Find Wendall: @warndel on Instagram and Strava · Skyrunning Germany: @skyrunning_germany · Protect Our Winters Germany: @protectourwintersgermany Hosted by Stoddy (@elastictime) · Crew Cast (@crewcast030)
