Hosted by UltraSignup · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 96 episodes
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The Trailhead isn't your typical trail running podcast—we're not dissecting splits or debating race strategies. Instead, hosts Zoë Rom and Brendan Leonard take you straight to the heart (and funny bone) of the sport, celebrating the people, stories, and quirks that make trail running so special. With a mix of humor, heart, and a little irreverence, we explore the personalities, people, artists, and everyday athletes who give the sport its soul—because trail running is about more than just the miles.
UltraSignup hosts The Trailhead, a sports show with 96 episodes published.
Dillon Osleger is a geologist, professional mountain biker, and longtime trail steward whose debut book, Trail Work: Restoring the Paths and Stories of America's Public Lands, uncovers the buried history beneath the trai
Dr. Nick Tiller is an exercise scientist at the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA, a two-decade ultrarunner, and the author of The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science and the new The Health and Wellness Lie . In this conv
Ben Ratliff is a former New York Times music critic, a writing professor at NYU, and the author of Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening, longlisted for the National Book Award and named a finalist for the
When you hit the wall at mile 19 of a marathon (or mile 80 of a 100-miler) it feels like your body is the problem. Your legs are concrete, your stomach is in revolt, and the finish line might as well be on the moon. But
David Raichlen is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California whose research examines how human evolution, physical activity, and brain health are linked across the lifespan. In this conve
Rochelle Bilow is a romance novelist, food writer, French Culinary Institute graduate, former Bon Appétit editor, and current kitchen gear expert at Serious Eats, and she just came back to ultrarunning after nearly a dec
Ryan Goodman grew up on a cattle ranch in Arkansas, studied beef cattle science at Oklahoma State University, and now manages WSU's beef cattle research program as Beef Cattle Operations Manager in Pullman, Washington, w
C. Thi Nguyen is a philosopher at the University of Utah, a former food writer for the Los Angeles Times , a rock climber, and one of the world's leading thinkers on the philosophy of games. His new book, The Score: How
Pavel Cenkl is a climate writer, ultrarunner, and Dean of Academics at Prescott College who has run hundreds of miles across Iceland, Scandinavia, and the Arctic through his project Climate Run. He grew up in the White M
Christie Aschwanden is a New York Times bestselling author, former lead science writer at FiveThirtyEight, and one of the sharpest science journalists working today. She's also a former elite Nordic skier for Team Rossig
Brad Stulberg co-wrote Peak Performance with Steve Magness and has spent over a decade studying what excellence actually requires. He joins Zoë and Brendan to dismantle the myths of hustle culture and explain why genuine
What happens when you strip away sleep, ego, and every external measure of success for 330 kilometers? Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps, former Car Talk producer, and three-time Tour de Géants finisher, has spent year
Pat Cade has a PhD in mathematics, coaches high school cross country in Leadville, Colorado, and has finished the Leadville 100 six times. In this conversation, he explains what years of research math taught him about en
For the final episode of 2025, Zoë and Brendan share their own year-end reflections, summits, snacks, and slogs, including Zoë's experience hitchhiking to the start line of a 78-mile race in Italy, arriving 90 seconds be
Romy Ancona is a DJ, trail runner, and the force behind Broken Arrow's famously joyful finish line. Born in Cozumel and now based in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley, Romy learned to mix on a trackpad on their mom's Window
Lindsey Freeman is a sociologist, writer, and lifelong runner whose book Running offers a feminist and queer reading of the sport. In this conversation, Zoë and Brendan talk with Lindsey about what it means to treat runn
Raziq Rauf didn't set out to become a running writer, he set out to avoid burnout as a music journalist covering London's metal and hardcore scene. Now, through his newsletter Running Sucks, he brings that same critical
Nick Thompson has spent his life chasing big stories and finish lines. The CEO of The Atlantic and author of The Running Ground joins Zoë and Brendan to talk about running through life's hardest moments, from a cancer di
What kind of person dreams up the hardest race on earth, and then follows it up with one of the weirdest? This week on The Trailhead , Zoë and Brendan dive deep into the mind of Lazarus Lake, the man behind both the Bark
Harvard evolutionary biologist Dan Lieberman is the scientist whose work reshaped how we understand running. His research on human evolution helped popularize the idea that we're born to run, that our bodies, from our to
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The Trailhead is hosted by UltraSignup. The show is categorised under sports (running) and has published 96 episodes.
The Trailhead has published 96 episodes.
The Trailhead regularly covers sports, running, health. It sits in the sports category, with a running focus.
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Episodes of The Trailhead average 59 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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