Emily Hawgood | 2023 Western States 100 Pre-Race Interview

Welcome back, or welcome, to the Single Track podcast. I'm your host, finn Milansen, and in this episode, we're joined by Emily Hoggud. Ahead of the 2023 Western States 100. Before we get started, though, this episode is brought to you by Hoka Rabbit Morton and Features. Head to the show notes page of this episode for new product releases and discount codes from each of our four sponsors. With that, let's get started. Emily Hoggud, it's great to have you back on the Single Track podcast in in person here in Olympic Valley.

Super great to be in person. It's nice not just staring at a screen.

I think that there is an added bonus to the in person vibe, and I mean remote is great. We did it during COVID, but this is special, so thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you so much for having me, i think maybe a good place to start is just the fact that the last time we talked, i think, you were based up in Idaho and now you're closer to the Western States course, so talk about that move.

Yeah, so just helping out. I didn't have any way to live after grad school and had friends that needed kind of a house sitter And they were like, yeah, would you help out and clean the pool and back off to the yard. And I was like, yeah, let's do it. How has that?

affected your training, like, do you think it's been much more beneficial to be able to get out and see you know as much of the course you know all year long, essentially?

Yeah, i mean obviously this year is a little different because we had some fires with a lot of closures on the course, so not a bunch of the trail was open super early. But last year definitely saw all the course before the race And that was really cool And I think even more than that. Just it's really become home trails and home community, like I know the people out here now and even running you know just a casual Wednesday run and you run into people and you know who they are, they know who you are Just as really. Yeah, i love the community out here, like the urban community in Roseville and the Western States community. That is all all year round community, not just this weekend.

Kind of the hometown hero now.

Yeah, I mean we have a lot of heroes, a lot of hard workers. Especially this year, It's been amazing to see everyone come together and work on the trails And yeah, it's pretty special for everyone who's going to be out there this weekend. Like there's been hours and hours and hours of work out there And just incredible people that have given up Saturday, Sundays, Fridays, random days in the week to go cut branches, clear debris and, yeah, build trail. It's amazing. You had such a good day at Western States last year.

I believe you finished fifth overall, but for at least 50 miles of that day you shared the lead with Ruth Croft or you were in contention for the lead. Was that part of the plan from the get go?

No, just as normal Western States kind of just has his own plan for each day. But it was pretty special and unique for both of us.

Talk more about that day, just like what went well, the lessons you took from it, anything from the experience that you applied, your training and your outlook for the race on Saturday.

Yeah, I mean Ruth's always been an athlete that I've looked up to. I've lucked out that pretty much my whole running career We've been teammates. We were on Scott together and then we moved to Adidas together And I mean that's really really special to kind of share the time with her. I've always, you know, looked up to her and suddenly we got to run side by side and both kind of have little lows during that time and help each other through, and we just kind of clicked into okay, we're here together, we're going to work together and move together and check on each other Like, hey, you're taking salt, you got some water in there, that sort of stuff. And yeah, the miles flew by and it was really, really special, i think, because I also looked at Ruth as like a much more established athlete than I was, which was really special I was, which probably helped my confidence a little bit. Even, you know, since that race racing, i've been like oh, it's like really cool that you can put yourself in that position and race with the great Ruth Croft and others.

I was going to say were there anything that you learned about yourself that day in terms of capacity, capability, stuff like that?

Yeah, i think the leaving in yourself. You know it was special to know that like you can guide someone, as much as they can guide you. So me and Ruth could work equally, even though we have different experiences and different knowledge on the course. But even in ultra running, like all together And we were equals, which was super cool And yeah, just kind of seeing how each of us approached different situations and their strengths, my strengths yeah, a little of that.

So looking, it's, yeah, it's funny, it's like, yeah, you can run western states multiple times and it seems like every single year it's a different race, especially this year, with how much the course you know has really changed. How much, um, how much planning do you do? and you know, like the lead up to the actual like maybe quote unquote strategy of the race versus starting, see what happens. You know some people have like splits down to the second. Where do you lie on that scale of pre-race planning?

Um, not on the time schedule as much, just you see how the day goes and how things are moving. But I like having my own personal race plan and trying to just kind of shut out everyone else and not, you know, to ignore that they're there, but just to make smart decisions. For obviously I know where my training's at and what I've put in and the knowledge of the trail I have and kind of where I want to have legs or don't want to have legs or um, and kind of that sort of stuff is where I go down to the nail. But then, as always in a hundred miles, there's stuff like it's thrown in your bucket. And sometimes it's good stuff, like you're like oh, i have legs here and I can really roll. Or it's bad stuff of like my stomach turned. I have to figure out what I'm going to do from here on out.

Yeah, Going back to the experience with Ruth last year, and again, i'm just a spectator and I'm a fan. I'm definitely not an elite athlete, so I can't say that I've had the experience. But when you share that many miles with a world-class athlete and I put you in that category too, as a world-class athlete does it give you confidence on Saturday, when the gun goes off, to be right there with, like Katie Scheid and Courtney DeWalter and Heather Jackson sharing a lot of miles together? is that something that you want to do?

Yeah, i think, if my plan, you know, works alongside that, they're going to be running right with me, or I'm going to be running right with them. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, i'm not going to be shy of it, which will be good. But also I think I'm going to carry a little bit of Ruth out there and have her right beside me the whole way too.

Yes, channel your inner Ruth. So I guess, going back to the course a little bit, so you I mean there's been so much talk, like you know, the big snow year and then all the rain, and then I mean going back even for the fire that you know heavily changed the course, i guess what? what about this year's course? maybe intrigues you or you're excited to cover.

Yeah, i mean, i love the high country. It's just kind of such an untouched area I think we get out there and there's not very many people that go out there all year so that makes it really unique and special. But then also getting down lower onto the sections of the course, i know really well, like I know I told one of my pacers, like on this little section, like I know which side of the tree I'm going to go, so probably stay a little further back and just follow in my footsteps, because I know which side of the tree I'm going to go, which jump over the rock I'm going to take and I don't want to bash into you or anything.

I think that's. That's super helpful, you know, to be able to know exactly where you are, especially late into the race, when you know, thinking becomes difficult. You know, the more on autopilot you can be, the better.

Yep for sure. Yeah, like my first year, i had my head lamp die, coming out of point of rocks and. I remember saying to my face oh don't worry, i ran the section in the dark because I forgot my head lamp one night, like I got this. So it's kind of fun to know bits of the trail. Yeah, like that.

As a veteran of this race, i think you've at least on the race, is it two times now two times? what are you doing? what have you done differently this time in training to prepare for this race and indeed in years past, like? is there any particular skillset you've worked on or part of your nutrition plan? What's a new facet of your game that you're bringing to this race on Saturday?

Yeah, i think I mean I've really taken into account everything I've experienced in the past two years, kind of grown as an athlete more. I mean even, i think, just the confidence side and the self-belief out there And even just trusting in my training. I know that consistency is probably more key in our sport than anything else And so building on those skills over the past few years it's not really anything different, but maybe honed in a little more And obviously built endurance, built speed, that sort of stuff. So I've been able to do a little more in all the areas and build on maybe weaknesses more. So I'm not scared of an uphill or scared of a downhill, whereas when I was probably a first athlete I definitely had like, oh, i'm going to crush the uphills, but on the downhills I'm going to be nervous, so things like that.

Maybe a bit of a weird question, but, on the self-belief part of this whole thing, is growing your self-belief more important when it comes to getting to the start line feeling good, or is it something you find that you utilize most deep into the race, when you've hit a low patch? Where do you find that most useful?

Yeah, definitely deep in the race. We were joking the other night that we want to get to 50 miles in and then the race starts And you have to dig deep and find out what you're made of and what everyone else is made of around you, And that's the way the magic happens of ultra running.

You got anything else.

I'm ready to continue on with our single track HQ tradition.

Emily, we have a new tradition. It started with Courtney DeWalter yesterday. You are now the fourth person to go through this interview initiation process.

We're very excited Ethan's going to grab the official watermelon of Western states Nice. So every guest that's come through the studio, we will have them do two things. The first is that we'll give you 15 seconds to draw your best cougar on the watermelon And then we'll have you sign it And this Western states watermelon is going to travel with us during the day of the race And then maybe we'll all split it at the finish.

Perfect, i'll have a slice of watermelon.

Let's find you a good spot. No peeking on it. OK, so the other ones.

Well, I'll do a 3, 2, 1, then you have a 15 second countdown. Ok, deal 3, 2, 1, go 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time's up.

Emily, you were done at 10 seconds I know, You're a four.

You're like well, i guess I'll add some. We have an artist in studio.

Wow, i think I'll change the rules from round to pointy. No, let's take a peek at this thing.

Oh yeah, this is great.

There's a nice little small, small and agile cougar, right, ok, you can look at Yeah great. And then we'll have you just sign it. I'll just let everyone know who's responsible for that masterpiece. I think I'll have to follow it.

Emily, it's such a pleasure to have you here in studio. We know that as the race gets closer, it's a hectic week. It's a media week. You have a lot of obligations, so we really appreciate you making time for us And you added so much in terms of fireworks to the race last year and such an interesting storyline, and we're excited to see you run it back this year and maybe even win the race.

Thank you so much And I think I just want to take the opportunity to say thanks to you guys because it's an honor to you know people say like, oh, you're so busy on race week and everything, but I hope more athletes realize it's a privilege to earn that time And we really appreciate you guys getting us on And sharing our story, sharing our time and sharing this journey with us. So thank you.

We're not worthy. We are not worthy.

We are not worthy.