TOPICS & TIMES:
- Growing up in Minnesota, discovering trail running (3:57)
- Bonking during her first 100 mile race (15:15)
- A “transcendental” moment during the Marathon des Sables (18:20)
- Identifying as a journalist vs. identifying as a runner (21:16)
- Running 100 ultras? (26:55)
- How to get better at running without getting faster (28:07)
- What do most people misunderstand about ultrarunning? (30:09)
- Meghan’s early aspirations in writing (33:13)
- Growing iRunFar from a blog to a business (41:12)
- Meghan’s lowest low in a race (52:08)
- Pizza (57:00)
Brendan Leonard and I recently talked to Meghan Hicks, who is one hell of a trail runner in her own right, in addition to being the managing editor of iRunFar, a website that, among other things, produces some of the best race coverage out there — or as Meghan so eloquently puts it, they cover and capture “everything from the puke fests to the transcendental moments” that make up this sport of trail running.
Meghan is also just a real joy to talk to, even if she made Brendan and me work really hard to get her to talk about her accomplishments. But try we did, and along the way, Meghan painted for us a very interesting picture of her life and background; how iRunFar.com came to be; what motivates her to run; her unusual but wonderful combination of self-deprecation and overflowing optimism; her lowest lows lows and highest highs as a runner; what she thinks is the most misunderstood thing about ultra races; and more.
