Dave Mackey on the Accident That Changed Everything, and the Career He Built After

Dave Mackey is a two-time USATF Ultrarunner of the Year, former rim-to-rim-to-rim Grand Canyon record holder, JFK 50 champion, and, after a freak fall off Bear Peak in May 2015, thirteen surgeries, and a voluntary below-the-knee amputation in November 2016, one of the more improbable comebacks in the sport. Buzz and Dave recorded the first part of this episode on the exact rock Dave fell off, on the summit of Bear Peak, in an actual snowstorm, wearing actual shorts. In this conversation, Dave walks through the accident itself and the friends who got him off the mountain alive, why he ultimately chose amputation over more reconstruction, what proprioception feels like on a carbon-fiber running blade, his pre-Western States taper (rock climbing in Tuolumne Meadows), being one of the first American athletes to lace up a pair of absurd-looking early Hokas, and why he thinks modern ultrarunners are faster, better rested, and, for the most part, smiling more than his generation did. He's signed up for the Leadville Challenge again this summer, and he's still, as Travis Macy puts it, a runner's runner. This episode is brought to you by the Wahoo Kickr Run — a high-end smart treadmill with Run-Free mode (the belt auto-adjusts to your pace) and automatic grade control from -3% to +15%. Check it out at wahoofitness.com. The Buzz is part of the UltraSignup Podcast Network.