“I definitely was planning to chase the record. You know, the course is in better condition this year. It seemed like it'd be possible.”
Beating a personal best is always a great outcome. To beat a personal best by 18 hours would seemingly be one of those great outcomes. To beat the course record along the way by 8 hours is a pretty sweet cherry on top. All of that is what happened to Bigfoot 200 champ Mika Thewes recently. Mika blazed through the difficult course (though she mentions conditions were great for record chasing this year) and landed atop the podium (she also made sure to point out that all three women on the podium beat the previous course record). She is super humble and it was really fun hearing about the race from the champ. She had words of encouragement for anyone thinking about taking on a long race like Bigfoot 200.
“I'm not going to say it's easy or anything like that, but it's not as intimidating as you might think. You know, the volunteers are also great out there and they want everyone to succeed, and they're super helpful. And, you know, if you learn just how to manage, it's just about managing yourself, really managing your feet, your sleep, your stomach. If you can get all that under control, I think really anyone could, if they put in a little bit of training, can tackle it.”
I hope you enjoy hearing from Mika as much as I did, it was a great time and I appreciate her taking the time to chat with us. Good luck to her during her upcoming Canadian 200 miler, The Divide 200!
Andrew Miller Coaching Giveaway
Friend of the show and trail running coach Andrew Miller reached out to me recently as he wants to give away a month of free coaching and we’re launching that today! Head over to this link and get yourself entered into the draw. Andrew was a great guest and you can listen to his interview and see if you think you two would be a good fit!
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Music by REDproductions from Pixabay.
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Ep. 55 Bigfoot 200 champ Mika Thewes