193: The Best Western States Preview Show Ever

MERRY STATESMAS! It's Western States week and a shit ton of our friends are running it this year! First up, Ellie Pell makes her like 300th appearance on the pod, she's basically a regular. She's also super humble so we will brag for her- she's going to freaking slay it. She talks about her training, her awesome build up, her three podiums at big races (Bandera 100k for the Golden Ticket, Chuckanut 50k and Gorge Waterfalls 100k) and that she is NOT AFRAID. Ellie runs hard on nothing but her love for the Beast Coast and Aldi's snacks. I give her bad advice and we talk the virtues of Corn Flake consumption. Then we holla at Steve LaBranche and he might put some sandwiches in his pants, or he might run The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning this summer. Either way dude is a badass and has a practical approach to running a lot of hundreds in a short amount of time. This is Steve's second WSER start and #2 of his Summer of 100s (has already run Old Dominion, then Western States and Vermont, and finally Wasatch).  Last up is THE DESTROYER Tom Starodaj. Tom's strengths are his actual running, followed by his signature short shorts, his dope ultra beard and finally his insanely awesome crew. All stalwarts in the local scene, not to mention Patreons for YEARS they will have our dude on point for all 100.2 miles. Marc "Machine Gun" Kelly, Stefan "Mr Ragged Himself", Julia "The Thrasher" and Tha Homie Bessic all chime in with some behind the scenes Q and A that is not all awkward.   Outro music by Nick Byram Become a Cultra Crew Patreon Supporter Cultra Facebook Fan Page Sign up for a race at Live Loud Running Sign up for a crazy adventure at Rat Race