Today on Ultra Origins, we meet Om Gandhi, an inspiring ultra runner who transformed his life through endurance running. From 5Ks to 200 mile races, Om shares his journey of overcoming personal challenges, embracing failure as growth, and redefining what's possible one step at a time.

In this episode, we meet April Shrum, who at the end of September ran the Mountain Lakes 100, her first time training for and completing that distance. April shares her journey from marathons to completing 100 miles with grit and determination.

This week, we meet Drew Shetley, a runner from Memphis, Tennessee, who recently took on his first 50 miler at the Man Against Horse event in Arizona. It was really fun to talk with Drew and hear about how he chose and prepared for this fascinating race. Be sure to check out the description of this video for a link to Drew's video from his Man Against Horse event. It is a really beautiful race.

In this episode, we meet Ingrid Sarris, a resident of Jerome, Arizona, one of the iconic towns the Cocodona 250 course runs through. Ingrid was 71 years old in 2021, when she watched the inaugural Cocodona 250 livestream, and she was so inspired by what she saw that in 2023, she signed up for and completed the inaugural Eldon Crest 36. And then this year at the age of 74, Ingrid came back and finished the Eldon Crest 38, finishing more than five hours faster than the year before. And she has signed up to hike the Sedona Canyons 125 in 2025. I had a great time talking with this remarkable athlete, and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

In this episode, we meet Brandon Sparks, an athlete from Ohio who has always been active, but found as he got older, the weight he had gained made it difficult for him to do the things he wanted. So in 2021, he started his weight loss journey and after losing about 150 pounds, he decided to take on the thing he hated most, running. A note for viewers on YouTube, we did have some technical challenges making this recording and I only have video of Brandon, so you will only hear my voice during this conversation.

In this episode, Jocelyn Briggs, a dedicated ultra runner from Ontario, Canada, shares her journey from her first 50-miler to recently conquering 200 and 250-mile distances. She reflects on how she's adapted her training, her passion for the sport, and her evolving mindset towards challenges and the camaraderie of the ultra running community.

In this podcast episode, Austin Posey shares his inspiring journey of training for and completing his first 100-mile ultra marathon, the Blue Heron Hundreds in Alabama. As a firefighter, father of three, and husband, Austin discusses the challenges of balancing intense training with a busy life, his mental resilience during the race, and the emotional motivation drawn from honoring a loved one.

In this episode, we speak with Amy Goblirsch, who ran her first trail race, a 50K in Arizona in 2022. And then after having a baby in 2023, Amy turned her training towards running her first 100 miler at the inaugural Zion 100 mile challenge at the end of this last August. As is common in a long ultra, Amy needed to adapt to the conditions as nausea threatened her nutrition plan, but the volunteers helped keep her moving and she finished the event. Amy shares how the kindness of the ultra community will keep her coming back, and she looks forward to running another 100 miler.