After forgetting to hit record, AFB and Anna G welcome Brian Vanderheiden of Steep Endurance to talk about the races, people, and ideas shaping the Connecticut trail-running community.

Brian went from running ultras to putting on races in some of Connecticut's best natural spaces. What started as a passion project to share his favorite trails has grown into a busy race calendar featuring a wide range of distances, challenging courses, and events designed to welcome more people into trail running.

We talk about the growth of women's trail running, including the Lake Mohegan women's-only trail race, and why having approachable events can make a difference for runners who are new to the sport. Brian also shares the thinking behind his race calendar, the challenge of creating new events, and his perspective as a race director.

Along the way, we wander through old-school New England trail races, the Nipmuck Marathon, Catskills classics, the legendary Escarpment Trail Run, and the joys of courses that make you actually run when all you want to do is walk.

We also get into the changing economics of ultrarunning, the eye-opening prize money announced for Run Rabbit Run, and the evolving world of UltraSignup and race registration.

And, of course, there's some CUT112 talk. Registration is open, and we're looking for more women to take on the Connecticut Ultra Traverse. You won't be alone out there!

Plus, a special appreciation for the race directors, volunteers, and supporters who keep this whole wonderfully muddy enterprise going.

Cultra remains 112% listener-supported, thanks to the patrons and supporters who keep us out in the woods and behind the microphones. We are pleased to shout out all of our Patreons by name in this episode.

Steep Endurance Website

Blue Blaze Race Series

Bimblers Bluff

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Outro music by Nick Byram

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Miles Victors is back on Cultra with a story that goes way beyond running.

In 2022, Miles Victors weighed 450 pounds and needed a cane to walk. A half-mile trip to a pharmacy became the beginning of a transformation that took him from 3,000 steps a day to 100-mile races and eventually to a much deeper realization: he was enough.

Miles talks about his weight-loss journey, addiction, mental health, his Wasatch 100 DNF, the voices in his head, and the powerful experience in the Copper Canyons that changed his perspective on running and his purpose.

Now he's putting that purpose into action. On October 10th, Miles plans to run 420 miles across Utah in seven days, raising $25,000 for Still I Run, an organization that uses running and community to support people struggling with mental health.

We also get into Luna sandals, exposed Utah roads, 55–60 mile days, crew logistics, dirtbag races, Born to Run, wasps, and why sometimes the most important thing you can do is simply keep moving forward. We are so glad to have our long time supporter and number 1 Utah Cultra Personality back on.

You are enough.

Miles Victors' Link Tree to Connect with it all!

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Outro music by Nick Byram

Become a Cultra Crew Patreon Supporter basic licker. If you lick us, we will most likely lick you right back

Cultra Facebook Fan Page Go here to talk shit and complain and give us advice that we wont follow

Cultra Trail Running Instagram Don't watch this with your kids

Note: AI tools used to create final song

Buy Fred's Book Running Home

More Information on the #CUT112

Patreons First, then on to the show: Motherhood, Mindset & the Pursuit of More

What happens when a former collegiate high jumper, coach, mother and lifelong athlete decides to find out just how far she can push herself?

Kat Bright joins Art, Anna G. and Phred to talk about her incredible journey from high-level track and field to ultrarunning—and the very personal path that eventually led her to a supported FKT on the Pennsylvania section of the Appalachian Trail.

Kat covered roughly 230 miles and 31,000 feet of elevation gain in 4 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes and 10 seconds, traveling from the Delaware Water Gap area south toward Maryland.

But the FKT is only part of the story.

Kat talks openly about two dramatically different pregnancies, including one that required her to spend the entire pregnancy on bed rest before an emergency C-section at 32 weeks. During that period, she used sports-psychology visualization to mentally run the trails and tracks she couldn't physically access.

Running eventually became part of her recovery and a way to reconnect with a body she felt she had lost trust in.

We get into her evolution as an ultrarunner, including a difficult first Eastern States 100 where she finished DFL with only minutes to spare—and how that experience eventually convinced her that she was capable of much more.

Kat explains how she prepared for the Pennsylvania AT while balancing two kids, family responsibilities, a business and all the normal chaos of life. Her training included treadmill work, repeated runs on familiar trails, and deliberately boring sessions designed to prepare her brain for the monotony of hundreds of miles.

Kat also talks about her coaching business, where she works primarily with women 35 and older. Her philosophy is refreshingly realistic: training doesn't have to be perfect to work.

Missed workouts happen. Life happens. Sometimes you only have 10 or 15 minutes.

The goal isn't perfection. It's showing up repeatedly.

She discusses strength training, cardiovascular fitness, mobility, pregnancy and postpartum training, perimenopause and menopause, and why women shouldn't allow age, motherhood or hormones to define what their bodies are capable of.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea that applies far beyond running:

You don't have to feel motivated to take the first step.

The voice of doubt never completely disappears. But the more you show up, the quieter it becomes.

And sometimes, when you're standing at the trailhead wondering if you have any business attempting something completely ridiculous, the answer is simply:

Fuck it. Let's go for it.

https://www.instagram.com/milesfromherview

https://www.instagram.com/katfitstrength/

Website: www.kat.fit

Fastest Know Time

Get your official Cultra Clothes and other Cultra TRP PodSwag at our store!

Outro music by Nick Byram

Become a Cultra Crew Patreon Supporter basic licker. If you lick us, we will most likely lick you right back

Cultra Facebook Fan Page Go here to talk shit and complain and give us advice that we wont follow

Cultra Trail Running Instagram Don't watch this with your kids

Buy Fred's Book Running Home

More Information on the #CUT112