The Steep Stuff Podcast
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The Steep Stuff Podcast
Maya Rayle - 2026 Trail Team Selection
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A Harvard biologist who loved salamanders, a Wisconsin grad-year racer chasing deeper fields, and a Montana transplant who found her stride on steep, technical trails—Maya Rayle's story is a study in smart risk and joyful grit. We sit down to chart her rapid rise from track speed to mountain savvy, including a breakout podium at The Rut 28K and a fresh selection to the Trail Team.
Maya unpacks what it’s really like to be recruited to an Ivy through likely letters, how she balanced organismal and evolutionary biology with Division I training, and why choosing the right coach changed everything. Then we head west: landing in Missoula, discovering a community of world-class mentors, and learning to respect vertical gain, dial in fueling, and keep curiosity front and center. Hear the practical shifts that mattered most—steep sessions on Sentinel, long mountain days, and replacing mind-numbing cross-training with backcountry ski tours, XC skiing, and gravel rides that build aerobic depth without draining stoke.
We also preview what’s next: a spring rust-buster, the rugged challenge of Mount Sunapee, and the stacked field at Broken Arrow 23K. Maya shares how she’s treating 2026 as an exploration year—testing distances, seeking steep profiles, and staying open to a Europe start line. Along the way we spotlight the Missoula crew—Jen Lichter, Adam Peterman, Erin Clark, Jackson Cole—and how training alongside people who care raises your ceiling. If you’re eyeing technical trail races or trying to protect joy while building fitness, this conversation delivers hard-won lessons on community, nutrition, and the art of loving vert.
If this story fires you up, follow Maya at maya_rail on Instagram, hit subscribe, and leave a quick review so more trail runners can find the show. Which mountain range should Maya explore next? Share your pick and join the conversation.
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Welcome And Maya’s Breakout Results
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, James L'Oriello. And today I'm so excited to welcome 2026 Trail Team Selection Maya Rail to the show. An alumnus of Harvard and the University of Wisconsin. Maya is an incredible human. It was really cool to get to actually spend some time with her and chat with her this summer at Cirque Series Grant Targy. And since then she's gone on to get on the podium, so second place at the Rut 28K this past summer in 2025, which I would consider, and I think many would consider probably the toughest uh race under 30k, or probably one of the toughest, if not most technical races under 30k in North America, which is a giant, giant uh thing on her resume. So I hope you guys enjoyed this one. It was really fun getting to catch up with Maya in chat, see what excites her and motivates her in the mountains, and uh I think you guys will get a kick out of it. So without further ado, Maya Rail. Ladies and gentlemen, we awesome. Maya Rail, welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going?
SPEAKER_00Doing good. Yeah, how about you?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing great. Excited to uh have you on the show. It's kind of cool. Like we met back in uh August at the Grand Target race at the Cirque series, and uh then you went on and had this crazy dominant performance of the rut that I was like, oh wow, she's really good at mountain running. Like, this is awesome. And then you now you get selected for the trail team. So lots of exciting things to talk about. And uh I'm so excited to have you on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's great to be on. Thank you.
Origins, Coaches, And Harvard To Wisconsin
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, so all right, so let's get into uh your background. Give me like give me like the five-minute elevator pitch. Like what's uh let's talk Harvard, because that's that's pretty cool. Uh growing up, like where you grew up and how you got into running, uh, and then like running at Wisconsin and stuff like that. So give me give me the give me the background.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sure. So um, yeah, I started running when I was like 12 or 13. Um originally I wanted a dog really badly, and so I started training to like be able to run with my dog. Um, and she's actually still alive. She's 13 years old, her name's Stormy. Um yeah, and just kind of fell in love with it. I started running initially, um just I guess like looking um, I don't know, it was just like really fun. It was like a great way to get out. Um, I didn't I wasn't really very good at ball sports, and so I was like good at getting to the ball, but I couldn't actually like do much once I got there. Um, so I think I figured out pretty quickly that endurance sports were more my jam. Um yeah, Harvard was a really cool experience. Um coach Alex Gibby is awesome. I was really, really lucky to be coached by him. Um, he personalized a lot of training. I had unfortunately did end up having a series of injuries while I was there, but um he was good about working with me, and I think we ended up figuring it out by my senior year. Um yeah, and then then ran a grad program at Wisconsin, just did a fifth year there, which was really great. Coach Lindsay Kravasrat is so awesome, and just like I I really loved working with her. So I've I've been so lucky in the coaching department.
SPEAKER_01So cool, so cool. I gotta ask you this. I've had a bunch of MIT athletes on, I've had I've had Stanford athletes. I've never had a Harvard athlete on the podcast. What is that process like from the recruiting? Is it mostly academic? And then if you're good at running, then you go run on the team like the is it like heavily vetted for academics? Like, how does that process work to go run for a school like Harvard?
Ivy League Recruiting And Campus Culture
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um it Harvard and I think any Ivy League school would be the same as this, but um, there's a likely letter process. So what happens is you submit your application, which includes like your essay, your SAT scores, all of that, and then you send it um to the school, and they the the standard admissions process happens, and so they vet whether you're a suitable student. Um, if you are, then the coach can give you what's called a likely letter. And so that means you're like likely to get in. Um and they only have like a certain number of likely letters. You can think of them as like recruiting spots, um, but it's like kind of a mix of academics and athletics, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Are you like I like growing up, like I had a, you know, I had some family that wanted to get into Michigan or wanted to go to another base, like I went up going to Miami, like that was a dream school for me. What was it like for you? Did you grow up like I want to go to Harvard? Because I feel like that's a lot of that's a big dream for a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00No, I definitely didn't. Um, yeah, I was, I I don't think I really knew where I wanted to go. Um, I wanted to go somewhere where I was able to pursue athletics and academics. Um, both of those are very important to me. And so, and also it was really, really important to me that I liked the coach. Um, and so yeah, like Harvard ended up fitting all of those things, but I definitely was not one of those kids that like dreamed about going to Harvard.
SPEAKER_01Is it like, is it weird when you get there? Like, is it like I mean, I know it's like a it's a like most higher end institutions, it's like a good mix of uh kids that are very academically inclined and then kids that come from immense wealth and like things like that. What what was that like? Uh I guess kind of coming in and getting to uh I don't know, feel out the the community, if you will.
SPEAKER_00It can be a weird environment. Um, I mean, it's a lot of like valedictorian types who are like very high achieving. Um I think it depends on who you surround yourself with. I was really, really lucky and I had I made like a bunch of really great friends from like all around the world who were just like pretty incredible people, just came from like all sorts of different backgrounds and stories and um were driven in different directions. So I think like I think the student body is like quite interesting and like everybody has these like really cool stories, and whether they're athletes or not, um just like a really yeah, I don't know. I mean, and I think I'm sure there are people at Harvard and people at any big school that are like kind of obnoxious, wealthy students. But my experience was I I didn't surround myself with those type of people, and I surrounded myself with people that were interesting and inspiring to me.
SPEAKER_01Dude, at Miami, you should have seen the amount of like Lamborghinis in the parking lot. I was like, what the hell? This isn't reality. This is crazy. So it's it's it's interesting. Um what is it like like running there uh and then trying to balance academics? Like I if I remember I looked up your profile and I saw that you some sort of biology you were studying or something like that. What was it like? Because that's that's not obviously an easy major, being able to balance that with running at a high level.
Balancing Biology With Division I Running
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I was really busy all the time. Um I picked a major that I was really interested in. I've loved biology since I was pretty young. I've been pretty fascinated by animals and um just ecology and evolution and those type of questions. And so um I was, especially like after I got through some of the introductory biology and chemistry classes and whatnot, um, I was just taking like super cool, weird classes with like small, small groups and I don't know, learning about like just all sorts of random things, like uh, I don't know, lizard reproductive biology or you know, uh shark mating, like all kinds of crazy stuff that was just like really fun. Um, yeah, I had good relationships with my professors. Um the biology that I studied was organismal and evolutionary biology, which is like the most like sort of animal evolution niche kind of. I don't want to be a doctor, I just want to like learn cool things.
SPEAKER_01Study animals, which is pretty cool. What is your what's your favorite animal?
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's a hard question. That's like a favorite child. Um I don't know. I probably I I really like salamanders. I think salamanders are my favorite.
SPEAKER_01Um that's a good one. It's a good one. I haven't seen a salamander in a long time. We don't really have them in Colorado. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, not so much.
SPEAKER_01No. What's your favorite like megafauna? Like like big species.
SPEAKER_00Big species um like extinct or or still around?
SPEAKER_01Still around, still around.
SPEAKER_00Still around. Um I mean, let's see. I don't know. I feel like the sea life stuff is pretty cool. Like maybe like a um, like a uh what's the like a whale shark or something? Those are really cool.
SPEAKER_01It's legit. I wanted to be a marine biologist so bad in in high school. And I studied. Uh I went up studying geology. I got an undergraduate degree in geology, but dude, I did so bad in I hated chemistry. I just could not stomach chemistry. Like once I got to organic chemistry, I was like, dude, this is not my jam. Like I do not want to do this anymore. We also had like, I don't know, like weed out, like like they're like professors that would like try and just destroy your life. And yeah, that was ended my marine biology studies. So it's kind of bunker.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I feel like I I that's just the wrong attitude. Like, I think professors should be trying to inspire people to do the cool things that they want to do. Um, geology is big though, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Geology is technology, although I could have been the next Jacques Cousteau. You never know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's true.
SPEAKER_01All right, let's let's talk, uh let's talk Wisconsin. Um, you obviously went to go run there for a grad program. What was that decision like? Why, why, why uh like why Wisconsin? Uh was it more for for academics or more for the running side?
SPEAKER_00I wanted a little bit of both. Um, I could see the the decision was primarily running. Um I did a I picked a degree that was like interesting enough that if I got injured or was unhappy or something, like I would still be getting something out of it. But I really chose it because it like I I went on a visit and I I really liked the team. I really, really liked Coach Lindsay. Um and it just seemed like a environment that would be exciting. Like going from the Ivy Lake to the Big Ten was kind of an exciting prospect. I had big goals in the 5K. And um, yeah, I'm I I was so happy with my time at Wisconsin.
Westward Move And First Trail Races
SPEAKER_01What was the competition pool? Is it like obviously different coming from the Ivy? Because like the Big Ten's such like um just bigger schools, bigger recruiting, bigger powerhouses. Like is does it is it a like almost a level up in competition, or is it just about the same if not different?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think um so the Ivy League is quite good right now, and it was like getting better and better sort of as as I was there. Um so actually, like the year the year I went to Wisconsin, I think Harvard and Wisconsin ended up placing about the same at nationals, um, at least on the women's side. Um there's like more athletes and there was like more depth at Wisconsin and then also the Big Ten, um, I mean, now it's like goes coast to coast. At that point, it had already been adding a little bit. And so um, yeah, I mean, the Big Ten is is a really exciting conference, and um, it was it was a cool experience to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a cool town too. Wisconsin's a dope school. Like I I I mean, I've kind of been to most of the Big Ten schools. I've actually never specifically been to that town, but I've heard amazing things, so yeah, it's supposed to be Madison's great. Madison, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Kind of an Ann Arbor guy, you know, but it's fine.
SPEAKER_00They're very similar, to be honest. I don't think difference, although probably the uh Michigan and Wisconsin people will get mad at me for saying that.
SPEAKER_01It's true. That's like you can't say that. That's they take their they take their uh yeah, they take their stuff very seriously. Um how did you how how did you end up in like Montana and getting in the trails? Like how did how did that come to be?
SPEAKER_00It was kind of random. So I I was at at Wisconsin, I was just kind of like looking for a job. I I'm from Oregon originally, and so I I really wanted to come back out west. It was something like I knew I wanted to do. Um just I I love the West and knew that that was home. Um, and so yeah, so I was just like browsing jobs in like approximately 10 western states, like was willing to go to anywhere really. Um, and yeah, just came found this job in Montana. I'd never been to Montana before, but I just like packed up my car and drove out from Wisconsin. And um, I arrived here July of 2024. So I've been here like a a little over a year and a half now.
SPEAKER_01Cool. And you you absolutely love it. Like, is there uh I I every person I know that like goes there and lives there, absolutely like it's the it's the place to be.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, definitely. No, there are like no complaints. It's amazing. I love it here.
SPEAKER_01How did uh how did you find trail running then? Was that like always maybe like a cross-training tool you used and then kind of figured out that there was races for this? Or how did you how did you kind of hop in your first race?
Discovering Community In Missoula
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I'd never done a trail race before April of last year. Um, I well, so I oh no, that's not true. Sorry. I I did I tried the Rut uh VK kind of randomly as soon as I moved to Montana. Um But yeah, I I'd I guess like trails had always appealed to me. Um, like I so I grew up running like Forest Park in Portland and then also just a bunch of trails. And I kind of grew up in a mix of Portland and Head River, and so I was always trail running on my easy days, but I started to do that less and less. Um mainly just because I was like supposed to hit certain paces for my base runs. And so once college started and I was home for different periods of time, like I just wouldn't really do that anymore. It didn't really fit the training. Um, so I guess I'd already always enjoyed trails. I just had never like considered myself a trail runner. But then I showed up in Montana and all of a sudden everybody around me was running trails, and so I just started like all of the friends that I was making of like, you know, hey, like you're fast, you're a runner. Like, do you want to be friends? Um, they're all trail runners. And so then I just kind of got peer pressured into it.
SPEAKER_01It's crazy too, because like in a very fast period of time, like now you're I I don't know, I'm sure people have like let you know, like you're all over the live stream for black uh for Black Canyon. Um crew in Jen Lichner in an ACG uh jersey with Nick. I was like, oh, this is so funny. I was like, uh that's kind of kind of cool. How have you liked the sport so far? Like it's it's it's pretty neat, right? Like uh everybody's really cool and yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love the trail community. I I think it's so fun. I think it's like it's like all of the best things about like a cross country type vibe. It's like weird characters and like fun personalities, and everybody's super friendly. Um, yeah, I I love it. I think it's like the perfect vibe.
Cracking The Rut 28K And Training Lessons
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I gotta ask you this. So Targi's a different kind of beast because that's more a track meet in the mountains, so that's a lot of fitness-based stuff, but the rut is a different animal on its own right. Like the 28k is probably the hardest, I mean, I would argue probably 20 hardest 25 to 30k race in the lower 48. I don't think there's anything really harder than that. What did you like how does training go? And how did you pull that off? Like going like second place, like on the podium, like at your first go at that. Like that is a very difficult race to crack.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. I think part of it was probably ignorance. Like, I did not know very much. I I think I showed up. Fortunately, I had people around me telling me what to do and what not to do, but I was like, oh, like one gel is probably good enough, right? And um, turns out that is false, and so I was like prevented from making like some stupid nutritional mistakes. Um, yeah, I mean, I think I had like Jen Lichter was giving me a lot of advice. Um, she was she told me to like go do a bunch of like steep runs of Sentinel and stuff like that. Sentinel is our local mountain that we can all access like right from town. Um, yeah, and then I was like, I guess, yeah, like playing in the mountains with Jackson and stuff, doing a bunch of like mountainous runs. Um, so yeah, I mean the training for it I think was natural and was just like the type of exploring and enjoying the mountains that I wanted to be doing and just increasing vertical, which is something I like hadn't really done before. I mean, I was like a 1500 runner that had just transitioned to the 5K by like my senior year. So um, yeah, I mean, I I think like learning to kind of value and respect vertical, but also maybe just being like ignorant enough to be willing to go for it, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it does. It does. I mean, it also helps to have like incredible people in your corner too. Like Jen Lichner is one of the best in the world, probably the best 50k female runner on planet Earth right now, which is kind of crazy. And then who knows how good she is at the Ultra stuff. So it is has it been great to just kind of like train with her and learn from her and uh just pick information from her.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. I mean, she's like she's an incredible person and is just like so much fun to hang out with. So um, yeah, I mean, I I would consider her like a close friend to start with. And, you know, I didn't even know that she was that good when I first started hanging out with her. I was just like, oh, she's just like an ultra runner. Like she seems really cool. Um, but yeah, no, I mean it's great. And you know, like Missoula is this like awesome community. Like there's uh Erin Clark was like my second friend here, and she's a badass, and um Adam Peterman obviously is like incredible. Um Jackson Cole, you know, it's like I'm surrounded by these like really, really good runners that like know a lot. Um, Jeff, of course, yeah. So yeah, it's I I'm very lucky. I yeah, absolutely.
Mentors, Teammates, And Leveling Up
SPEAKER_01It's it's kind of cool because it like raises the level. Like you see that level, like they're all I mean, Jackson is, you know, I I I think one of the most underrated, and probably another one who's one of the best mountain runners walking around pound for pound right now. And then you Adam Peterman, Jeff, Aaron. That's gotta, I mean, seeing that level has gotta, and being able to train with these people and and and hang out and just that community in its own right, just definitely raises the level and it's only gonna make you better, which is kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, totally. No, I'm I'm very lucky, and they're all just awesome people. So it's it's great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Missoula's cool. I haven't made it up there. I I've talked to Jackson a few times about making it up and and just checking out, like just seeing what it's all about. Maybe the summer, maybe uh if I go out for the rut, I'll probably uh just travel north and see what it's all about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can come home up. You can stay with us. We can we'll we'll show you around.
SPEAKER_01That's right. That'd be that'd be fun, very fun. Um, let's talk trail team. That that is a huge thing, super cool. You were a selection for the trail team this year. Um giant honor. And uh yeah, what are your what are your first first thoughts about it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm I'm so stoked on it. I think um Andy and Carly are just like really, really cool people. I think they've built something really special with the trail team. I think it's a it just seems like a community of like, you know, very high caliber athletes that are um wanting to do well, but also just like really care about each other. Like it feels like a team. And so I'm I'm so excited to be part of it. I think it'll be great.
SPEAKER_01Very cool. It's kind of interesting, right? Like you're you you make the trail team, you're kind of uh very quickly you have success in the sport, you're kind of thrown into it, right? What do you want to do? Like what excites you? Like, do you want to go the professional athlete route and go get a sponsorship and live that life? Or is it more about I don't want to say more about fun, but it do you have different goals? Like what are your specific goals for the sport?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it all comes from like like it's all about loving the mountains, loving the trails, loving racing. And so I think anything that comes out of that and stems from that is like a huge positive. Um, I don't know where it's gonna take me. Um yeah, I think I'm in a very exploratory phase right now where I just want to try different races. I'm like very intrigued by some of the like steeper mountain stuff, but I also want to like, yeah, I'm just stoked on trails and want to see what happens this year.
Trail Team Selection And Goals
SPEAKER_01No, I love that. It's a great approach. I think that's the way to be because I I talk to too many people. They're like, oh, I need to get sponsorship and it needs to happen this year. And it's like, just enjoy it, have fun, enjoy the process, and uh yeah, whatever comes out of that comes out of it. And I think when you're running and enjoying the running and it's fun, then it I think things come so much more natural and it's it's more enjoyable. Um talk about races. I know you're signed up for Broken Arrow, which I'm so excited to see uh how you perform at that race. That's I think that that's gonna be awesome for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm excited. I I mean it's a stacked field, so who knows? Um, but yeah, it it should be great. Um Um yeah, I think I'm gonna do I'm sort of figuring out what I'm gonna do in April, but probably some sort of Rustbuster of some sort. And then um I want to do Sunope. Um so I'm signed up for that. Um it looks like a cool race. Um yeah, I'm I haven't really ever ran out out that direction other than like track races back in college and stuff. So um yeah, it should be great to be in New Hampshire. Um and then Broken Arrow. Um kind of figuring out the rest of it, but I think I'm probably gonna do the Y East 50K in like August and yeah, kind of see see where it goes from there. But yeah, I guess I guess the theme of it is just kind of like trying sort of different distances, different disciplines.
SPEAKER_01Very cool. Have they uh has the trail team talked to you yet about um the camps that they're gonna put on? I actually have not asked Andy this, so this is news to me as far as what camps that they're gonna wind up doing. I know they usually do Grand Lake, that's the and something in Europe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think there's a camp um Grand Lake in Colorado, which is um July or something. I yeah, he sent an email and I'm potentially not not reading everything super carefully. Um and I think there might be a camp in Portland potentially, but that's still TVD. Um yeah, yeah, it should be good. Um yeah, no, I'm I'm really excited. It should be fun to get to know all of them better and everything too.
SPEAKER_01I like it. Has uh has the Missoula contingent gotten in your ear yet about racing abroad? Like talking about series and all, which is another one. Like there's so many cool races in Europe. Anything over there like pique your interest uh that you think you might want to try this year or next year?
Race Plans: Sunapee And Broken Arrow
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would I mean I would love to make a race happen in Europe at some point. I think that would be really, really cool. Um yeah, I mean, you'll just have to like see what ends up happening and what opportunities arise and stuff. But yeah, they definitely talk to them about races that they're all doing. So yeah, I guess I'll see, you know, it'd be awesome to do at some point for sure.
SPEAKER_01Very cool. What is what does your training look like now? Like I I know you guys get a ton of snow, like way more than we do right now in Colorado. So are you doing doing a bunch of skiing and running or or kind of what is your your off season look like?
Off-Season Cross-Training And Joy
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we've had like unfortunately a lot less snow than normal. Um, so I I've tried to get out skiing like a decent amount. Um, I really like like just skinning and skiing, getting out in the backcountry, um at least a little bit, and then sometimes just snowball laps, which snowball is just the local hill. Um yeah, I I do some mountain biking when it's like a little bit nicer out and a little bit of gravel biking sometimes too. Um I also really like cross-country skiing. I think that can be a good, a good way to do it. Um, I'm actually doing a race with a couple friends. Um, we're gonna do the rendezvous. I don't know if I'm doing the 50k or the 25k yet. I have to decide, but um that's that's this weekend, which should be really fun. Um, yeah, I think it's like good to mix it up. Um, like I think part of what has appealed to me about trail running is just that like you don't have to be sacrificing so many things, like the way that college running kind of expects you to put everything else aside and like maybe you do some stationary biking and ellipticaling, but there's like no joy in either of those, to be honest. Um and so yeah, I like I I think I I grew up in the mountains, like doing lots of mountain sports, um, which you know I'm very, very lucky to have that be the case. My parents are pretty adventurous people that just like had us uh just were taking us out, like skiing and stuff like that, um at the local hills and stuff. And so yeah, kind of like reconnecting with some of that. Like I I've always loved it, and um, it's just fun. Like, you know, if if you're going out for like eight or nine hours and you're just like in some beautiful place and seeing cool animal tracks, seeing like amazing views, like it's it's just so much more fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is. On that topic, like I know, I know everything's so objective based, but like what zones and like what uh mountains like call to you right now? Like anything you're interested in. Like, I know last year we had met, you guys were exploring the Tetons, and then we had a lot of conversation around that. Is any places or mountain ranges or things that have you interested right now that you're like, oh, I want to go check that zone out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I think like British Columbia, like Banf area would be like, I would love to spend some time there. Um, that's like a very intriguing mountain range, I think. Um I'm also I think I I might go back to Oregon this spring and just do a little bit of like revisit some of the awesome mountains that we have there, like Hood, Adams, Rainier. Um just for fun and like get them up 'em a little bit faster than I have in the past and see how that is. So um yeah, I mean, I there's so much to explore. Like, I I fell in love with like Beartooth Absorka area um this past summer. I think that area is just so gorgeous. The wind river range, like I honestly like the list is endless.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, dude, the winds, like I I plan on doing, I'll be in the winds a bunch. Like Jackson got in my ear about Gannett, and now I'm obsessed with doing Gannett this summer. Like, um, yeah, dude. It's I Gannett and T Wanot, I think, are my two like fun objective-based goals. Like, I definitely want to do this summer. So there's always something. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. That's so fun. Yeah, I I hope you enjoy that. That'll it'll be amazing. But it's just like so beautiful there. It's unreal.
Dream Ranges And Mountain Objectives
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. It's I don't know. I feel like the funny thing about our sport is like it's like I said, it's always objective-based, but like you start to think about like peel back the layers, and you're like, all right, well, what ranges interest you? Like what what you know, different, like because everything's so different, like unique and different geographically. Like the the volcanoes, you know, where you're from are completely different than like stuff you would find in Colorado versus like, like you said, BC or even you know, like Montana. So the West is a cool place, and even the East Coast, like if you go race Sunnepe, highly suggests like if you can get some time out there, like yo, New Hampshire's legit. Like there's some some fun mountains out there.
SPEAKER_00Oh, totally. Yeah. No, it's I mean, it it's it's kind of amazing. It's like everything is this incredible playground of like places that you could be exploring around and checking out.
SPEAKER_01For sure, for sure. Well, Maya, I think this is a good, this is a good, this is a good first episode. I uh I appreciate it. Um, yeah, just a fun little one to introduce you to the audience and talk about the trail team and get your name out there. And uh yeah, super excited for what's gonna happen to the season. And we'll do a uh before either probably well, if you do Sana P, we'll do a pre-Sune P episode. And when you do broken arrow, we'll do a pre-broken arrow episode. So we'll be talking a bunch this year.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Well, thank you so much, James. It was great to talk to you again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you as well. Good to see you. And uh thanks again for coming on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely.
Closing Thoughts And Support
SPEAKER_01What did you guys think? Oh man, always a fun episode. Super excited to get to catch up with Maya and uh just learn more about her motivations in the mountains and what excites her uh for just adventures and and uh also better past. It's always cool. Definitely first Harvard alumnus that I've had on the show. A lot of Stanford and MIT folks, but uh always interested to hear about the the Ivies. Um, you know, especially when it comes to the you know running situation and and kind of how that works with academics. And so I really appreciate Maya kind of painting that picture and uh yeah. Uh like I said, such a big fan. Guys, telling you right now, mark that name down for your free trail fantasy for the broken arrow 23k. You are gonna be seriously sorry if you don't. Uh, definitely a sleeper pick and someone that can make an immediate impact on the racing scene in 2026. Um yeah, and the best way you could support her, give her a follow on Instagram. You can find her at Maya underscore rail. It's gonna be linked in the show notes. Uh, give her a follow, let you know, let her know what you thought about the episode. I'm sure she'd love to hear from uh tons of random people. Um yeah, so guys, thanks for tuning in. If you've been enjoying these episodes, please give us a five-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. Definitely hit that subscribe button on YouTube. And uh just thanks so much for tuning in. Lots of good stuff coming down the pipeline.
