Ellie Greenwood is ultra running royalty. I also got the impression from our chat that she’s incredibly humble and I suspect that description may not sit comfortably with her — but it’s the truth.
A 2x winner of one of the world’s most famous and revered races, the Western States Endurance Run 100 (that’s 100mi/160km).
In 2012, she also smashed the course record — that record still stands today.
She’s also a 2x winner of the World 100km Championship and in 2014 she also won the Comrades Marathon, an 89km race in South Africa, regarded as the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon.
While we touch on those races in this conversation, we spend much of our time behind-the-scenes, with Ellie sharing:
- how her athletic identity changed from someone who ran for fun to that of a ‘semi-professional’ and potential winner,
- how you don’t need to have the ‘perfect race’ to achieve the best result you can,
- her struggle with injuries and her advice on how to get your running ‘fix’ when you’re injured and how to remain optimistic when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,
- how it took her 2nd win at the Western States 100 for her to finally call herself a 100-mile runner, and
- whether she secretly crosses her fingers and hopes that no-one breaks her record at the Western States 100 each year.
Get the full show notes for the episode here.
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