PODCAST · sports
Free Outside
by Jeff Garmire
Free Outside is a trail running, ultrarunning, thru-hiking, backpacking, and outdoor adventure podcast hosted by Jeff Garmire. Jeff is an Appalachian Trail record holder, professional endurance athlete, coach, author, and someone who has spent an unreasonable amount of his life running through forests and living out of a backpack.The show features honest and entertaining conversations with elite ultrarunners, record-setting thru-hikers, FKT athletes, coaches, race directors, adventurers, and other fascinating people doing difficult things outside.
Episodes
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El Niño, Lake Powell, and the Future of the West with Pete Deneen
Pete Deneen is back, and this conversation goes in a lot of directions—in the best way. We talk about what El Niño actually is, what it could mean for the West, and why Pete thinks it’s time to have a serious conversation about Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. Pete also shares stories from…
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Moab 240: What Actually Happened
The Moab 240 was canceled after flash flooding hit the course, leaving runners and volunteers at Bridger Jack Aid Station overnight. Scott was running the race, and Jacqueline was crewing him. They join me to walk through the timeline: the weather turning, the call to head back, the long night at...
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Joe McConaughy: The “4-Minute Miler” Who Broke the John Muir Trail Record
Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy recently set the supported fastest known time on the John Muir Trail. Somehow, he did it on only 38 minutes of sleep—and felt better on the third day than he expected.Joe and I have been intertwined through FKTs for years. I’ve taken some of his records, he’s…
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Hallucinations, a Broken Pack, and a JMT Record
The John Muir Trail is back in the FKT spotlight, so I dug up the story of one of the wildest things I have ever done. In 2022, I started in Yosemite carrying everything I would need to cover 223 miles unsupported and chase the John Muir Trail record. Over the next three days, I peed brown…
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Should I Ride a Unicycle Into My Wedding?
Nine days before our wedding, Allison Powell and I sit down to settle the truly important details: whether I can ride a unicycle into the ceremony, where Ted will sit and how many wedding plans I have completely forgotten. Then we get into Allison’s unsupported Tahoe-to-Yosemite FKT—the longest...
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15th in the World on a Sprained Ankle: Inside the 100K World Championships
Nine days before the 2026 IAU 100K World Championships, Allison Mercer sprained her ankle and wondered whether she would even reach the starting line. She ultimately ran, finishing 15th in the world and third in the masters competition. Allison returns to Free Outside to take us inside the entire...
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Ultrarunning Was Never Supposed to Get This Big
Andy Jones-Wilkins has been part of ultrarunning for more than 30 years. He remembers when races felt like secret societies, runners learned through stories around campfires, trail shoes barely existed and signing up the day before a race was completely normal. In this episode, AJW and I trace…
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Time Is Worth More Than Your Money
We protect our money like it’s our most valuable resource, but we’re surprisingly careless with something we can never make more of: time. In this solo episode of the Free Outside Podcast, I’m thinking through impending doom, uncertainty about the future, and why maybe being a little worried…
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550 Miles Unsupported: Cody Taylor’s Long Trail Yo-Yo FKT
Cody Taylor returns to the Free Outside Podcast after completing one of the most ambitious unsupported hiking efforts on Vermont’s Long Trail: a complete out-and-back, also known as a Long Trail yo-yo. Cody began near the Canadian border carrying a 51-pound backpack loaded with 16 days of food.…
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Ben Dhiman: Before he was a UTMB Champion
Ben Dhiman is now a UTMB champion, but his path to the top of ultrarunning started long before he considered himself a runner. Ben thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and Continental Divide Trail, navigated the Hayduke Trail, and pushed into increasingly remote adventures through Nepal and the...
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3.65 Million Feet in One Year with Amber Constant
Amber Constant is attempting to climb 3.65 million vertical feet in a single year and claim the overall vertical world record. Rave Cave Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Cqam0r2k1OpuD2fTc4XBJ?si=0fc10ab6187348a9 She took the year off and made the project her full-time job: wake up,...
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Six Hours in the Hot Seat and a Huge Week in Ultrarunning
My Appalachian Trail record film, Rewritten, is finally out in the world. In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of the documentary and share part of the six-hour interview process that helped shape the final film. You’ll hear some of the deeper reflections, uncomfortable moments, absurd...
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The Goal I Was Afraid to Say Out Loud + The Story Behind Rewritten
For years, there was one goal I wasn't sure I was good enough to accomplish: breaking the self-supported Appalachian Trail record. I planned to try in 2020. It never happened. And for the next five years, the goal sat there. In this episode, I talk about why we're so afraid to say our biggest…
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Appalachian Trail Record Untold Stories (and a Costco Pizza)
What does an Appalachian Trail record attempt look like from the perspective of the person watching from home? Check out the substack on eating an entire Costco Pizza: https://freeoutside.substack.com/p/what-a-costco-pizza-taught-me-about? Allison Powell shares the untold story behind Jeff...
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You Can’t Buy Your Way to the Top of Running?
Derrick Lytle has spent the year filming some of the best ultrarunners in the world at Western States, Hardrock, Speedgoat, Black Canyon, and beyond. After watching elite athletes train, race, recover, and work with their coaches, what does he think actually separates them from everyone else? We...
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Doping, Money and the Future of Ultrarunning with Zach Bitter
Running culture is changing fast. Athletes now share every workout, fans follow races year-round, money and attention are concentrated around a handful of major events, and ultrarunning is being forced to confront doping, peptides and what “clean sport” actually means. Ultrarunner, coach and...
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What Have Adventures Lost? | Halfway Anywhere
Mac, the creator of Halfway Anywhere and the annual PCT Thru-Hiker Survey, joins the show to talk about hiking Corsica’s GR20, how the Pacific Crest Trail has changed, and whether modern thru-hiking has lost some of its mystery. We compare our experiences on the GR20, including huts, snow…
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How I Trained for the Appalachian Trail Record (+ Our New Podcast)
One year after standing on Katahdin wondering if I even had a chance, I finally sat down to break down exactly how I trained for the Appalachian Trail self-supported FKT. In this episode, I go through the numbers, the workouts, the training camps, and the philosophy that helped me prepare for 45...
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You Don't Have to Live the Life Everyone Expects | Mike Kratzer
I met Mike Kratzer at the Zugspitze 100 after organizers turned our 100-mile race into a 100K just hours before the start. Somewhere between sharing a helmet that I never ended up using, surviving the German heat, and talking after the race, I realized Mike had something that draws people in. In...
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Records are falling everywhere (Badwater, PCT, mile world record)
Every weekend it feels like another record falls. This week we're diving into one of the biggest stretches of performances trail running has seen in years. We break down Max Jolliffe and Carmen Pérez's record-setting runs at Badwater 135, Aurélien Sanchez's Pacific Crest Trail FKT, Josh Kerr's...
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Beyond Western States with Canyon Woodward
Western States made Canyon Woodward one of the top ultrarunners in America—but that's only part of his story. Before earning a top-10 finish at Western States, Canyon spent years organizing political campaigns in rural communities, helping flip a state senate seat through a 100% positive…
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My Wildest Hitchhiking Stories From Europe
This week is a little different. We catch up on everything happening in the trail running world, from Greybeard's incredible Appalachian Trail attempt and the latest Pacific Crest Trail FKT chase to Josh Kerr's mile world record, Hardrock discussion, and why America's public lands matter so much....
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Your Free Diet Outside Sucks? The Truth About Fueling for Endurance Athletes
Sports nutrition has never been more confusing. One day carbs are the enemy. The next day protein is the answer to everything. Every week there's a new supplement, a new study, or another influencer promising the next breakthrough. So how do endurance athletes separate good science from good...
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Wildfires, Hitchhiking & The Future of Outdoor Gear
After wrapping up my month in Europe, I thought the adventure was over. Instead, it ended with a wildfire blocking my route through the Pyrenees, hitchhiking across Spain, a Tour de France road closure, and enough ticks to send me to the doctor with a Lyme disease scare. I start this episode by...
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Same Cost, New Location
Welcome to the very first episode of **Free Inside**. This is our new weekly show where we sit down with no guests, no script, and no real agenda—just whatever we've been thinking about, experiencing, or laughing about that week. In our first episode, we introduce ourselves, recap Allison's...
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Hardest Trail in Europe? The GR 20
After hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc and racing the Zugspitz 100K, I flew to Corsica for one final adventure: the GR20, often called the hardest long-distance trail in Europe. I expected another scenic alpine trek. Instead, I found endless scrambling, brutal climbs, snowfields, technical descents,...
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Care More: Why Fandom Connects Us
Why do we care so much about sports, adventures, and the stories we choose to follow? We record right after the Egypt and Argentina world cup game. In this episode, I sit down with award-winning soccer coach and backpacker Jon Schwarze to talk about the power of fandom, connection, and the...
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Last Skier Standing and the Art of Suffering
Most runners think a backyard ultra is crazy. Lukas Janulitis looked at that format and decided it wasn't hard enough. Try a Last Skier Standing, an event where athletes skin uphill 1,200 feet every hour, ski back down, and repeat until only one person remains. That means battling sleep...
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Western States Awards: Course Records, DNFs, and the Biggest Storylines
Western States 2026 delivered one of the most memorable races we've ever seen. Instead of doing a mile-by-mile recap, Allison and I hand out our completely unofficial Western States Awards. We talk about the biggest performances, the most impressive comebacks, the heartbreaking DNFs, the smartest...
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Ann Trason on Western States, Aging, and What Endurance Means After the Records
Ann Trason won Western States 100 fourteen times. Fourteen. 14 time western states winner! Long before live streams, social media, sponsorships, and modern ultrarunning, Ann was redefining what was possible in endurance sports. She wasn't just competing against other women. She was competing with...
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The Race Changed 3 Hours Before the Start: My first European Ultra
I came to Europe planning to run the Zugspitz 100, a mountain 100-miler around Germany's highest peak. Three hours before the start, the race directors announced that thunderstorms would force a major course change. The 100-mile race became a 100K, helmets were no longer required, aid stations...
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The Walkman, The Startup, and Cocodona 250
Zach Hauer went from collegiate track athlete to entrepreneur, Open Fuel co-founder, Javelina 100 runner, and now Cocodona 250 finisher. In this conversation, we dive into Zach's first experience at the 250-mile distance, the highs and lows of Cocodona, sleep deprivation, aid station mistakes…
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Tour du Mont Blanc Recap: Three Countries, One Fox Bite
I finally made it to Europe. And I did the Tour Du Mont Blanc! After spending years building it up in my head as complicated, intimidating, and full of opportunities to embarrass myself, I decided to jump into the deep end and hike the Tour du Mont Blanc. Over three days, I crossed France, Italy,...
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An Unsolved Outdoor Mystery
What happens when nine experienced hikers flee their tent in the middle of a Siberian winter, leaving behind their boots, gear, and any chance of a normal explanation? In 1959, the Dyatlov Pass Incident became one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in outdoor history. A group of young hikers…
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From Barkley Crew to Professional Trail Runner: Jade Belzberg
Before Jade Bellsberg was winning races and competing against some of the best trail runners in the world, she was a writer filling notebook after notebook with stories. In this conversation, Jade shares her unconventional path into ultrarunning, from crewing the Barkley Marathons before she'd…
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The FKT That Took Bob Stewart 3 Tries to Finish
Bob Stewart joins the Free Outside Podcast fresh off finally setting the Benton MacKaye Trail FKT after two previous failed attempts. What started as a backpacking challenge turned into an obsession with Fastest Known Times, leading Bob to records on trails like the Superior Hiking Trail, Pinhoti...
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Rory Linkletter on the Olympics, Social Media, and the Future of Running
Rory Linkletter is one of the best marathon runners in North America, an Olympian for Canada, and one of the most thoughtful voices in professional running. Fresh off a 2:09 performance at the Ottawa Marathon and a congratulatory call from the Prime Minister of Canada, Rory joins the Free Outside...
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Sage Canaday on Competition, Content, and the Future of Running
Sage Canaday has done a lot in running. A 2:16 marathoner, mountain running champion, Western States golden ticket winner, coach, YouTuber, and one of the few people who can jump into a conversation about track workouts, UTMB, 200 milers, social media, and sports nutrition without it feeling out…
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The Mental Side of Ultrarunning | Lauren Jones on Failure, Hallucinations, and Hard Things
Lauren Jones. Lauren balances a demanding career as a pediatric nurse anesthetist, family life, and somehow still finds time to chase some of the hardest endurance goals imaginable. Multi-day races. Cocodona. Fixed time racing. Running over 150 miles in 24 hours. Team USA. Hallucinations. DNFs....
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Why Trail Running Can't Stop Fighting Itself: TLDR Dumpster Fire Observations
Trail TMZ is back. Host and award-winning correspondent Allison Mercer dive into one of the strangest weeks of trail running that we have seen in a while. From the Satisfy and Adidas backlash and influencer culture debates, to doping discussions around Cam Hanes, Sage Canaday and clean sport…
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40TH PLACE IN THE WORLD, The Midwest McGrady of Running
Patrick “Bubba The Midwest McGrady" Kavanagh joins the Free Outside Podcast after surviving Cocodona 250 with less than two hours of sleep, a lot of hallucinations, and peak Midwest politeness. We talk about passive aid station etiquette, the infamous Cocodona “fight,” hallucinating sepia-toned...
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The Good Wolf with Yassine Diboun
Yassine Diboun comes on to talk about imposter syndrome, ultra running, positivity, sobriety, community, and why none of us actually feel as confident as we pretend to. Yassine has been in the ultra running world for nearly 20 years, from the old-school blog era and handwritten race applications…
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Cocodona 250 Was Pure Chaos
Allison Mercer and I recap the chaos of Cocodona 250. From a tracker glitch that placed Jeff in Africa in 1969, to GI issues, hallucinations, Mingus basketball, sleepless nights, and a fifth straight top 10 finish, this year’s race felt bigger, faster, and stranger than ever. They also dive into...
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Before Cocodona 250: Nerves, Training, and the PCT Mindset
Cocodona 250 starts in two days, so I’m talking through the plan, the nerves, the training block, and why this race still matters so much to me. This episode is also the two-year anniversary of the Free Outside Podcast, which launched during Cocodona because I was too nervous to watch whether...
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Who Wins, Who Falls, and Who Knows: Cocodona 250 Preview Show Ft. Tara and Allison
Cocodona 250 is here, and right after recording this, I’m heading out the door to go run it. So naturally, the best thing to do before a 250-mile race is sit down and try to predict everything that’s about to happen. In this episode of the Free Outside Podcast, I’m joined by Tara Dower and…
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Walker of the Year: The Secret to Having the Most Fun
What if ultrarunning wasn’t about suffering… but about having more fun? Andrea Moore has run 200s, 300s, and more races than most people would ever consider—and somehow, she makes all of it look like a moving party. We talk about: Why the back of the pack might be having the most fun The real...
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Sally McRae on Cocodona, Mindset, and What Actually Matters in Ultras
I sit down with Sally McRae to talk about Cocodona 250, 200-mile racing, her career, and what actually matters in running. We get into why Sally is coming back to Cocodona, what went wrong the first time, and how she’s approaching it differently this year. From dialing in gear and nutrition to...
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Cocodona 250 History: The Stories Beneath the Miles
We spend a lot of time talking about how hard Cocodona 250 is. The miles, the climbing, the heat, the sleep deprivation. But this course didn’t start as a race. Bryce Brooks teaches us all about that. In this episode, we go through the history of the Cocodona 250 route, from Black Canyon City to...
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What You Become Before the Finish Line
Most people think the finish line is the point.That’s where the photo happens, where the time gets recorded, where you finally get to stop. But after enough races, FKTs, and long efforts, I’m starting to think the finish line is actually the least important part of the whole thing.In this…
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Go Two More
Ultra running gets talked about like it has to be miserable. Stay hard. Go one more. Keep hammering. Suffer better. In this episode, I unpack why I think that mindset can miss the whole point of going long in the first place. Yes, hard things matter. Resilience matters. Pushing past limits…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Free Outside is a trail running, ultrarunning, thru-hiking, backpacking, and outdoor adventure podcast hosted by Jeff Garmire. Jeff is an Appalachian Trail record holder, professional endurance athlete, coach, author, and someone who has spent an unreasonable amount of his life running through forests and living out of a backpack.The show features honest and entertaining conversations with elite ultrarunners, record-setting thru-hikers, FKT athletes, coaches, race directors, adventurers, and other fascinating people doing difficult things outside.
HOSTED BY
Jeff Garmire
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Free Outside have?
Free Outside currently has 257 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Free Outside about?
Free Outside is a trail running, ultrarunning, thru-hiking, backpacking, and outdoor adventure podcast hosted by Jeff Garmire. Jeff is an Appalachian Trail record holder, professional endurance athlete, coach, author, and someone who has spent an unreasonable amount of his life running through...
How often does Free Outside release new episodes?
Free Outside publishes regularly with 257 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Free Outside?
You can listen to Free Outside on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Free Outside?
Free Outside is created and hosted by Jeff Garmire.
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