The Hobby Jogger Podcast · Hosted by: WeeViews & Branch Sauce

E49 | Burning River 50 Mile - Last Race Before the Ring with Olivia Joseph

·46 min·3 clips
At mile 20, Olivia Joseph started throwing up and still tried to keep going.
1. The Hobby Jogger Podcast centers this episode on Olivia Joseph and the Burning River 50-mile race. 2. Casey Koza hosts with co-host Rob Myers, and Olivia Joseph is the guest because she has a Burning River start, a Devil Dog Ultra win, and a Rim to River 100 DNF to discuss. 3. The episode asks what happens when a runner comes back from a stomach-crash DNF and lines up for another major ultra before her wedding. 4. Olivia says she started running during COVID after being sent home from college and walking about 30,000 steps a day. 5. She says she first ran roads, then moved toward trails after getting a job near Carlisle and noticing the Appalachian Trail. 6. Olivia describes trail running as “more fun and a bit slower,” and she and the hosts keep returning to power hiking as part of the appeal. 7. Rim to River 100 comes up as the race where she started throwing up about 20 miles in and never recovered. 8. She says she was salivating all day, freezing in shorts and a long sleeve, and eventually stopped after Heath called her dad at 3 a.m. 9. Olivia describes the race as a mystery, with her best guess being food poisoning rather than a repeatable fueling problem. 10. She also talks through the course itself, noting New River Gorge, the river, the bridge, and about 11,000 feet of gain. 11. Devil Dog Ultra becomes the comeback race, and Olivia says she found pumpkin bread that sat well enough to keep her moving. 12. She says the late race turned competitive when she called the runner in first place around mile 80 and decided they had to pick it up. 13. Olivia says she passed a runner with a sub-3 marathon background and then built a gap through fast aid-station work and steady pacing. 14. The hosts note that she finished with about an hour on her closest competitor. 15. Tara Dower’s women’s running retreat in Tennessee gives the episode a second major thread, and Olivia says she filled out an Instagram form and got a text from Tara’s crew chief Rascal. 16. Olivia says the retreat included running on the Appalachian Trail, learning contra dancing, and seeing Helene damage and washed-out trail sections firsthand. 17. The tone stays conversational, with Casey and Rob mixing race talk, travel jokes, and repeated references to weather, crew support, and wedding planning. 18. The format feels like a long running catch-up, with Olivia answering detailed questions about training, fueling, loops, aid stations, and East Coast terrain. 19. Listeners who like ultras, trail racing, and athlete-to-athlete race recaps. 20. Listeners looking for polished theory instead of race-day specifics.
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