Bear Right! Trail Pod

What a great catch up with this year's Hyner Champs!

We get to know Noah, Alicia and Andrew and learn about their journeys in the sport. This became "the family" episode by surprise! It makes sense though when Hyner truly does feel like a family event!

Thanks to everyone and hope you all enjoy!

Did you want a breakdown of the competitive field?

Did you want race predictions?

Cours Record watch? Storylines and hot takes?

Well sorry, this ain't that kinda preview. We dive into kaleidoscopic web of Matt Lipsey's mind to discover tidbits of geologic history, find out why fish were born to run and hints on how to locate fresh water on course. Could it be by befriending a deaf squirrel?

Whether this is useful to anyone is to be debated but it's certainly way more fun than your typical preview!

Well the 2025 HAT 50K is in the books and we recap the awesome team competition with Men's Champ Pat Blair and Team Champ Member/Top Banana Chris Lewars.

Then we delve into the History of HAT 50K and find out how Tim got hoodwinked into RDing for nearly 20 years now.

We talk about how truly special this race is, the course, the swag, the check-in process from heaven, the awards and of course THE VOLUNTEERS. So many races claim to have the best but they obviously haven't been to HAT then. Yeah, so for the...

In episode 15 Sam and Chris welcome Pat Blair, Adam Driscoll, Simon Arendt, Jeremy Splitter and Niko Teller to the podcast to hash out the team competition set to take place at this year's HAT 50K. We sort of figure out the race structure at some point, try to figure out who is actually fit and take a few questionable tangents.

have fun!

Karen Dunn joins the Pod!

Karen is a VDOT and UESCA Certified Running Coach and is the Head Coach & Trainer for Strengthen Your Stride run coaching. There she works with runners of all ages and ambitions, helping them to reach their running goals!

Karen and Sam talk about her growth in the sport and what brought her to the ultra-trail scene. We talk about tackling big ambitious goals like qualifying for the Olympic Trials as a masters athlete and just what a commitment that is.

Karen shares her personal experiences with some of...

In this post Black Canyon celebratory episode we chat with Elliot Cardin and Ferdinand Airault about their equally amazing and incredibly different races at Black Canyon 100K this year. Both Elliot and Ferdinand are in the professional class of athletes and it was really fun to get a look into what its like to compete with the very best in the world. We could have gone on for hours with this one and look forward to speaking with Elliot and Ferdinand more in the future!

Enjoy, and as always remember to subscribe to the pod!

Chris and Sam catch up and shoot the breeze on a variety of pressing and extremely important trail running topics and ask for listener input. We finish up the episode celebrating some of the east coasters headed southwest for Black Canyon!

The beast has risen in the east and we are deep in the snow and winter cold!

How hard has it been for you to get out the door? Do the work? Stay motivated? Stay Positive? Stay Connected?

Sam flies solo for a short set of things we can all do to keep it going and keep our minds, bodies and souls in a healthy place this winter!

Sam and Chris launch into the 2025 trail season by sharing nutrition, gear and trail favorites and fails. The discussion gets into season planning, hopes and dreams for the future of our sport and is there a place for parkour in trail running?

Enjoy the ride with us here and happy trails!

In our final episode of 2024/first episode of 2025 Sam and Chris catch up on Dirty Bird and Hellgate as well as wax nostalgic on the year that was trail running on the East Coast. And we tackled the most challenging of subjects: "what makes and east coaster an east coaster?"

Happy New Year Everyone!

The video version of episode 8, where we talk about the rugged splendor of Hellgate!

Its Hellgate week! And Sam is joined by two Hellgate veterans, Carl Bligan and Mike McMonagle.

Discussion ranges around memories, lessons and experiences from Hellgate and other races as well has the magnetic draw of this East Coast 100k now in It's 22nd year.

You can feel that the stoke is already high and we are all excited to close the 2024 racing season out with a bang!

Remember to subscribe, leave a review and of course follow us and our guests on the socials!

Enjoy!

Sam catches up with 3 of our East Coast racers from last weekend's thrilling JFK 50 Mile.

In this hour and a half you'll hear stories, jokes, mishaps and successes. Our guests share about how the race went for each of them, what it was like to have front row seat to a history making performance, what happens when you don't eat in an ultra and end with a reminder on why it's so important to run with love for ourselves and others.

Hope you enjoy

In part 2 of our JFK Preview Chris and Sam talk about notable scratches from the race and what kind of conditions the runners can expect on Saturday and the implications for how that could impact the race dynamics, strategy and gear decisions. 

Sam offers some tips from his own experiences in running the race, especially how to set body position on the AT to protect your ankles and hamstrings and set-up you up for success later in the race.  We talk about why the flatness of the canal path at JFK can be tricky for trail runners an...

Wow! What an incredible person Holly Benner is!

Holly and Sam sit down in this part "Getting to Know You" part JFK strategy session that tracks Holly's movement through sport bringing her to this current moment. We speak about Metta Performance, her coaching/consulting business with Co-Founder Michael Seiler. Holly illuminates us on her coaching philosophy that focuses on conversation and listening within our trades, be that on the trails or in the board room! Their company, Metta Performance, takes its name from a Pali word, meaning "loving-kindness." Holly puts this front and center in contrast to...

We welcome elite ultra trail runner and entrepreneur Ryan Clifford to the pod! In take 2 with Ryan we talk starting a small business race strategy nuts and bolts and get to know what happens 20 years later if you break 7 minutes in the mile at age 7! Seriously? Sheesh...

This guy does it differently, making his own projects and problems to solve.

Questions that may go unanswered... Is there anything this guy won't tackle? Will anyone be able to conquer his escape rooms? Will Cody have to carry Ryan to their Grand Opening?

Make sure...

Josh joins Chris and Sam for a preview of the JFK 50 Miler elite fields. We talk about the course, race, strategies and take some jabs at Josh's age. Things go sideways early when Josh arrives on set but stick with us! We get to it all eventually...

Josh is a Bear Right! Trail Team member competing in the 50+ division and has an impressive ultra-trail career, including 2 USATF Age Group National Champs!

We talk about the competitive field and offer our predictions and hot takes. We may be a little East Coast Biased but someone has...

Sam and Chris chat with Local Favorite, Local Legend and all around East Coast Trail Boss Andrew Simpson. We discuss his start in the sport, why he loves JFK so much and his own personal training and racing style, that doesn't fit the traditional mold. You can find Andrew on Instagram and Strava as well as at races up and down the East Coast!

Make sure to cheer him on virtually OR in person at JFK!

Ferdinand joins the Bear Right! Trail Podcast for our very first episode!

We talk about his move to the US, visions for an East Coast Trail Series and finding new perspective in how running and the great outdoors can enhance our lives!

Make sure to follow Ferdinand's journey at JFK this year!