#179 - Kristina Randrup

A pro trail runner who spends her days modeling blue whale populations sounds like a made-up character, but Kristina Randrup is very real and very deep in both worlds. We talk about what it’s actually like to pursue a PhD at the University of Washington while racing ultras for Brooks, and why “computer ecology” can be just as meaningful as fieldwork when the goal is conservation and truth.

We get into blue whale recovery and why the numbers look radically different depending on the population. Khristina explains how blue whales were hunted to near-extinction in some regions, what carrying capacity means, and how management decisions like protections from ship strikes and entanglements lean on population status. She also breaks down the practical science behind abundance estimates, including line transect surveys and photo-based mark-recapture using fluke IDs, plus how models combine historic whaling catches with modern data.

Then we swing back to trail running: growing up around Bay Area running culture, learning to love long runnable ultras, the strange magic of the Dipsy Race, and what it takes to “sell yourself” to sponsors without being weird about it. We also talk Washington training, Cirque Series Crystal Mountain, gear choices like the Brooks Cascadia Elite, and how to find balance when both school and sport demand your best.

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Transcript

Meet A Runner Who Studies Whales

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What's up, guys? Welcome back to this Deep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, James L'Oriello. And today I'm so excited to welcome Christina Randrup to the show. Christina's an interesting character in our space, both a professional runner for Brooks and a PhD student at the University of Washington studying blue whale migration, which I thought was pretty sick. A lot of this conversation we nerd out and talk about the whales, a lot about animal stuff, but we do uh also get into a good amount of discussion on both short trail and long trail, and Christina's running uh Choice's career, all the good stuff there. Um we talk a little bit about Broken Arrow, um, you know, Cirque Series Crystal, um a lot about the Cascades, and uh just some of the mountains get to play in out there in Washington. So I hope you guys enjoy this one. Big fan of Christina's and uh hope you guys enjoy it. Without further ado, Christina Randrup. Hey now. This is the Steep Stuff Podcast. Welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

I'm good. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Yeah, stoked to chat. It's fun conversations. Came up with when I was doing some research on like the Mount Tam FKT, and I screwed up your last name, and I was like, hey, come on my podcast for a conversation.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

This could be honestly, it happens more frequently than I want to admit. I don't think I have a particularly hard last name, but just can't get it right.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Difficult enough that I screwed it up. So how's your uh how's your week going so far?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Um off to a good start, I think. Um sending some fun emails, working on um some notes for my PhD uh uh proposal and uh general exam, you know, really thrilling stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

That's crazy. What what year are you in for your for your PhD studies?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

I'm on my third year. I'm hoping another year, year and a half. Um so I'll take my general exam at the end of this quarter, and then I'll be a PhD candidate. And then once you're a candidate, you're able to defend when you finish all your work.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

What do you what is your like dissertation like specialization?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Um quantitative population blue whale ecology is I is my current working title. So modeling different aspects of blue whale populations.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

That's really cool. That is actually awesome. I I wanted to be a marine biologist, and then I found geology and found it to be slightly, I don't know, like the the undergrad institution that I went to was like slightly more tailored towards that. I was like, oh, maybe I'll plus geologists I'll drink a ton of beer. That's kind of what I was into in college. So a little less chemistry, a little more beer, a little more math, but plus I couldn't pass uh I failed chemistry a couple times being an idiot.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

So well, I took chemistry freshman year of undergrad, and then I never took it again. So really what did you study in undergrad then? I was environmental science with a focus in wildlife, and I minored in math and quantitative science. So I don't do fieldwork. I do and I don't do biology, I do ecology, which is more like the population level stuff. And I we joke that we're computer ecologists because we all do, or my lab does computer like modeling, and we don't do fieldwork, we just kind of like sit on our computers and hypothetical whales and fish.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Hypochet made up whales, kind of exactly. It's crazy. So no field work. Did you want to ever do field work, or is that you're more just like interested in the the quantitative aspect?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

That I like my outdoor time to be like I'm selfish and I want my outdoor time to be in the way that I like exploring. I think field work's cool, but I've always been more interested in like the theoretical applications and yeah, the numbers side of it.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Interesting. Why I'm just out of curio pure curiosity, like were you always interested in studying something like that, or was that just something you kind of found?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

I thought I wanted to do wildlife, but I would have done like I feel like landscape ecology is really cool. Like, why do certain trees turn brown before others, or like what's the like interface of like what's the gradient of different like tree species changing across a landscape? But I was more interested in wildlife. And what I've learned since starting in my lab as a PhD student is that marine mammals are really hard to get into. And I never really intended to do marine mammals, I just kind of fell into it. And I feel really lucky because it's actually if you want to do marine mammals, it's a really hard field to start in. Um, but I just kind of happened upon it, and I think like most of my lab does fish, most of my school does fish. Um, but I'd way rather do like whales.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

So cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

That's I mean, it's way more interesting. When I my first job uh out of undergrad was I was an environmental consultant, and uh my boss was like really into like selling, like it was GIS related, a lot of it was GIS. And uh like the first big project I got into was horrible. This was like, well, I wanted like I just didn't want to do it, I wasn't interested in it. But like he was really uh into the arborist side, and basically for an entire summer, uh I was in South Florida, so I would like walk around getting destroyed by bugs and like shooting like sh like street trees with like a GPS and like recording it and uh like creating this giant file with it. And it was like kind of fun, but not because there's a lot of like mosquitoes and stuff. It was like kind of kind of rough, um, but great for aerobic base, you know. Yeah, how fast you can, you know, shoot the trees. So yeah, it was it was an interesting uh interesting go.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Was it like lidar?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

No, no, it was uh so basically there was a trying to remember, it was um I guess it was a GPS, it was a normal GPS. You'd basically shoot the tree, like to create the uh the file, if you will, or the the the dot, uh, and then recreate like record the DBH and all like the species and and all the good stuff, and then kind of overlay that on on top of a map. And it was funny, I actually looked this is like 10 years ago. I looked the looked this up the other day to see if it was like actually still on their like website, because dude, how many trees that like I was just like, oh yeah, that looks like a live oak. I'm just gonna record it as a live oak. It wasn't gonna go up. So I wonder like how many were just like complete bullshit. Uh, but anyway, it's like still on this like city's website, and like they're like very like highly touting it.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, I mean the data's really useful. Like I got really good at you know, just like Google searching like county, state, shape, polygon, GIS data, or like a string of words and hoping you can find like the right shape file.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

I told the story. I had uh Olivia Ember on the show a couple weeks ago, and I was telling her the story where our like on in undergrad, like our GIS was basically I had someone that would like went through the whole program before me, so it kind of just gave me the answers to a ton of stuff. So it didn't really study as hard as I probably should have. So I knew shit about GIS, even though I had a minor in it. And obviously that's like super applicable when you go get a job. And I'll never forget like my first day. I sat down, like we uh it was doing like this um it's like a reef survey. Uh so I got to do some diving like my first day, and I sat down after the fact, and he was like, Boss was like, you know, you know GIS. He's like, You can you can basically create this deliverable. And I'm thinking in my head, like, oh my god, I have no idea what it is. I had to like Google it and stuff. I'm like asking the guy next to me to help me. Yeah, it was it was it was fun stuff. GIS is yeah, there's a lot actually a lot of listeners, uh, believe it or not, that have reached out to me, like one particular like listener, like in particular that like is a big GIS guy, so quite a few. So interesting.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah, my first job was like a GIS intern, or my first like proper job was GIS intern with the Nature Conservancy, which was great experience and how I got my like a paper um published, and I mean probably like the reason I got into PhD by having like published work.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

How do you like the Seattle area, like Washington in general?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

I mean, I've been here for so long that it's home at this point, but I really I love it. It's it's easy to get to good trails like during the week just to get out to Issaqua, and then during the summer, like mountain access is unmatched. You can get so many places within a two, two and a half hour radius.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Oh wow. What what is so I I always see this like the Issaqua Alps everybody talks about. I've always wanted to go like do the uh what is it? It just happened this past weekend, uh the tiger call race. Yeah, that has like a good ascent. Um, but never got a chance to get out there just because of the kind of the timing of the year. But I hear it's beautiful. Actually, like great running.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yeah, it's great running and it's really like all year access. So in the in the winter, pretty much anything like past if you go out the I-90 quarter, anything past Tiger Mountain gets a decent amount of snow in the winter, but the Issy Alps area will get a couple days of snow, but for the most part stays snow free and just as a great year-round training ground.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Super cool. Yeah.

From Avoiding Running To Ultras

SPEAKER_02 9:22

All right, we should probably get in the running aspect. I feel like I I completely nerded out for the first 10 minutes. Uh let's I want what's your background? Like, what's your how did your relationship with running kind of start? How did you get into it? Like, take take me back to the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, so I for a long time I didn't want to run. Um what a lot of my if you grew up, if you were if you're from the Bay Area and know me, you probably know that my parents run and that my mom ran ultras when I was growing up. Um so I didn't, I was very like averse to joining cross country because I was like, oh, they're gonna come to a race and like watch me run and like criticize me. So I was like very adamant that I wouldn't run. And then my sophomore year of high school, I ran like a couple trail 10Ks that they signed me up for um with like no training. And I remember the cross country team was like, Christina, like what are you doing? Like, why aren't you on our team? And then the next year I joined cross country and I was good at it. And I yeah, did cross-country and track junior and senior year, but then I wasn't fast enough to run in college. So I just kind of kept running on my own. And the summer after my first year of undergrad, when I was back home in Berkeley, my mom was like, Hey, I do this 50k every year. You should do it. I was like, that's so crazy. Like, I'm 18, I don't need to run that far. Sign me up.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

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SPEAKER_00 11:46

And I remember the night before, they're like, okay, Christina, like it's not a cross-country race. You're not gonna be running the whole time, like you're not gonna win. And I was like, I think I'm gonna run 430. And they're like, okay, Christina, like 430 for 50k, sure. And then I ran 429. So I was like, it was kind of like, oh, I'm good at this. And then I just kind of kept going with it and just went longer.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

That's crazy. So I I like this. This is this is interesting because a lot of people either come from like a soccer background, if they didn't, if they didn't run in college.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, I think. I did some team sports badly, like for the high school team, but I didn't really play much because I wasn't like coordinated enough to kick a ball and run at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

What was it like kind of growing up in that Bay Area? Like, like you said, mom and dad were runners. Uh obviously it's you know, Mount Tam, all of these, uh, you know, it's just very iconic trails. It's a it's a very athletic area, uh, if there is one kind of outside of you know more of the mountains and stuff like that. Yeah, what is it like growing up in a place like that?

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah, I think um I didn't spend too much time in Marin growing up, but I lived really close to Tilden Park, which is one of the East Bay parks, and like you can go everywhere from those parks. So when I started running, the default was just trails because it was what we had. And in high school we ran trails like two, like three or four days a week. Um so it's just like a very outdoorsy area, but I think also when you're growing up and you have active parents, like you don't really think too hard about it. It's not like oh, I have I'm going outside and like I'm doing these active things, it's just what you do. Like it's not something you're really conscious of, or like you don't realize how special the area is because it's just what you're used to. So I think it's hit me a lot more growing older and being like, wow, like I grew up in this crazy area that has this unmatched access to these beautiful places.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah. It's crazy. When when I first got into sport, like I had no idea. I I would really say like Dylan and and the whole free trail thing, like kind of opened my eyes to the whole Marin County, and obviously now there's uh you know the Big Alta and races like that and the Dipsy. Um, you know, there's like a lot of iconic trails and then a lot of iconic races, but I had no idea like San Francisco was like a running community. I was like, wait, what? Like yeah, it's kind of unique. It's a very unique as far as like metropolitan areas because like even like I live in Colorado and you know I'm not far from Denver, but Denver's obviously has a lot of athletic folks, but I would never classify that as like a running, like a mountain town or like a running community. Like it's it's it's sprawling urban area, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Yeah, I I wish I had like run more in Marin when I was growing up, but I mean I'm glad I get to now. But like I never did dipsy as a kid. Um I only started doing it a few years ago, like as an adult.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

What's your what's your take on the dipsy race? Because it's like it's so different and unique because it's it's you obviously for folks that don't know, there's there's handicaps. Like the older you are, sometimes you can start ahead, and it's uh the timing starts are all kind of I don't know, to me I always thought it was kind of strange, but it's so important to the local community. Uh people it's like got a cult following there.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yeah, I I love it. I won't get into the handicaps too much because I know some of the handicaps are a little controversial to some people. There's a lot of really strong opinions. Um, but I think it's like just a cool concept that anyone can anyone can win, like hypothetically. Um so I think that that's really cool. And then the reason I kind of got into it was my dad did Dipsy in 1974 and 1975.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

So cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

So I did it in 2024 as like, well, we were both gonna do it, and then he didn't register because he thought he was gonna be gone as like, oh, it's been 50 years since he did it the first time, and then last summer he did it, and it was you know 50 years since he last did it. Um so I think just the history of it is awesome. There are people who have been doing it since the 70s continuously. Like, where else are you gonna find that?

SPEAKER_02 16:22

It's nuts. I have a friend of mine, uh, he's he's uh I think he's level 60. I think he's 66. He called level, uh he's 66 years old. He calls himself level 66. But Mark Tatum, he's a former champion. Wow. Uh and he's he's always on the podium there. Um and he's like obsessed with this race. Um, and I've just I I I could never get it. Like to me, like as a as an athlete, like it didn't make sense to me, but I feel like you have to uh like live in the area, be from the area, or just get a better understanding of the history before you'd be like, like I know Max King is doing it this year. He's like super into the whole thing and was like obsessed with it now. So yeah, it's uh it's interesting just to kind of see like you know, you have different choices in the sport to do, you know, just interesting things.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Yeah, I think also having friends who are really into it definitely um affects my interest of it. But you know, growing up in the Bay Area, still spending a lot of time and racing in California a lot. I like I have to I have to do it.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah. You so you've had some good finishes at Broken Arrow. I'm just curious, like growing up, obviously that's not like Tahoe's not far from the Bay area. It like did you grow up skiing or kind of uh like going up to those mountains and and exploring there, or was it uh kind of a new thing to you when you got into mountain running?

SPEAKER_00 17:39

I did some downhill skiing, not competitively by any means. I we'd like once a year, my dad and I would go downhill skiing for a few days. And like I was okay at it. Like I could rip down a black diamond, no problem. But now I look at I look at ski slopes, and I was like, I would never go down that on skis. Um so the first time I did Broken Arrow, I remember like looking at the ski area and I was like, wonder why did I ever go down this on snow? That's crazy. But running on it, it's it's so different to see it in the summer. It's gorgeous and stunning. And now I just prefer to explore on two feet instead of um skis.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Yeah, I don't blame it. I don't I sometimes like we you know, we've got a lot of most of the big races we all do are you know generally like on somewhere near a ski resort. Yeah, and yeah, like you said, you look up at it, I'm like, dude, if you're not a skier or like not like a like a serious skier, like sometimes I'm like, why do people rip down? Like this is I like my knees just the way they are. I'd rather much rather be running up it. Like people think I'm weird like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

I have no fear.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Yeah, yeah. It's it's uh yeah, I guess the older I get, I'm more yeah, just terrified to like break something or destroy something, you know. Yeah.

Turning Results Into A Brooks Contract

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Uh let's let's put it. I want to get into so you found out you had a knack for this. You ran a fast 50k. I'm just curious, like, how does the story evolve from there? And now and then you get on the Brooks team. Like, how how kind of bridge that gap for me to help me understand like the success you had and and how you took it from you know having some success here and then realizing like I I want to be a professional at this.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah, I did that. So I did that first 50k, and then I didn't, I mean, I did some road races in Seattle, but I didn't do another 50k until a year later. I did the same one. And then I remember that next Christmas, so that must have been, I think, winter 2018. I was like, my New Year's resolution is throwing a 50 miler. And and then I was like, oh, I want to like get into Western states someday. I want to do like this race, like I want to do this. And I remember my mom was like, you need help, you need to get a coach. I you can't do this on your own. Um, so then I did American River 50 Miler in 2019 as my first 50 mile, and it went really well. I think I um I don't think anyone expected me to do well. It's um and I just kind of realized that as I go longer, like I feel good, and I've never been like a super fast person, but I can go for a long time. I like to say like I can go a very mediocre pace indefinitely. Um, that's not like totally tested, but that's my experience so far. Um and I just kind of kept doing it, like signing up for more races, um, trying different types of races. I think in terms of what I'm good at, I'm better at the longer runnable stuff, but I really enjoy dabbling in the sub Ultra and the mountain running because those are the types of trails I like to run in the summer when we have that access. But I don't think that's where I excel. Um and yeah, I don't, I just like knew I just you have a feeling of this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Obviously, I do this other this stuff. Um but and like what gives me just really big fulfillment is running, and I just kind of kept going, um doing well and poking brands for a long time. And I mean, my Brooks has always been my favorite shoe, so there wasn't really another brand that I like wanted, and then I think doing really well at Gorge 100K in 2024, and then two other good 50 milers that year was like okay, like there's good potential here, um, and enough to. Take a chance on me, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Maybe maybe telling.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah, maybe help tell that story. Because I think there's a lot of you know aspiring professionals that listen to this podcast. And sometimes it rubs me the wrong way when athletes are like they just they want it to happen for them and they're like waiting. But I don't think peace sometimes people realize like you almost have to be a salesperson for yourself to go out there.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

You have to keep keep knocking at their door. Um I know a lot of people who work at Brooks, so I definitely have like a lot of close connections. And I've been wear testing shoes for Brooks for a long time. Um and also I know our athlete manager. We have a lot of mutual friends. Um, but I also like I always made a point to not like if I saw him at someone's like birthday hangout, I wasn't gonna go up to him and be like, look, I want to talk about like getting me on the team. Like I want I made a very big point to not like cross that over because I that feels disrespectful. But just emailing him all the time, um, emailing other brands, like you really just have to advocate your for yourself and be annoying. Um, and that's really hard to do, especially it's it can just be really hard to even get a response from someone. So, I mean, you just have to like keep training, keep emailing, keep putting up results, and eventually something will bite. It's not like a glamorous journey. Um, but like you can get there if you keep being consistent.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yeah. No, I think it's the name of the game. Like I said, you gotta be a salesperson and advocate for yourself, and it's it's uh, you know, it's uh yeah, it's tricky, tricky space out there. It's a it's an interesting one. But yes, I I think that's the way to do it. I mean, that's all that's all it worked for me with Sportiva. It was just a pain in the ass and got to know people and told doors open up, you know. Obviously, yeah, performances are important as well, but I think it's the the whole holistic picture. Um, you know. Plus, it it's great for you too, being in the Seattle area. Um that's a great fit, you know. Get to, you know, like you said, wear testing and then get to have those relationships with people, you know, in inside and it's it you know kind of blossoms, which is pretty dope.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah. I mean the headquarters is like two miles from campus.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Oh wow.

unknown 24:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

My uh our actually our presenting spar uh presenting sponsor is uh Cetus. And I think they're they're based in Washington, probably not far from there. But I know like during uh like when we were supposed to do something for uh Cirque Series Crystal this past year, but we didn't make it happen. But maybe this year we'll do it. But yeah, it's that whole area is dope. I hope to get out there this year and actually get to see uh some of that area and go down to Crystal and get it.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Yeah, come to Cirque Series Crystal.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

Crystal Mountain Racing And Washington Trails

SPEAKER_02 24:55

how was that? You must have had fun had a blast there.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

I had a lot of fun. It was um hard.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

That's all they all are.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

It's also like I feel like if you're looking to do a Cirque series race, but most of them scare you, I feel like Crystal is maybe the easiest one.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Well, that's a bold statement.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

I just I think it's like if you look at the like mileage to vert ratio on most of them, Crystal is like nine miles with or eight miles with like 2,500 feet of climbing, and a lot of the other ones are like six miles with 3,000 feet of climbing. So if you want to do a Cirque series race in a beautiful location that feels maybe less intimidating, I think it's a great option. And the trails rip.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

What is that?

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Talk to me about the course, because I like I said, I almost I literally was like, I had my flight booked and I had to, I got sick and didn't wind up going. I was so upset because my season kind of ended in a shit way because of that. But um talk to me about the course because I know it's like it basically starts out on the road, and just like all Stark series races, that you find yourself on a ridge and it it is it technical or is it not?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

They pop you so you start on the road and then you're on a single track for a little bit, and then they pop you off the trail and just like cut up the ridge, um, which is kind of technical, but it's not like too crazy because you're going uphill, so that helps. And then you pop, you go past like the upper gondola, and then you kind of like pop off the side across like a rock field, which I think is the most technical part. It's pretty short, but it's can be like loose. Um and it's pretty steep, so you feel like kind of unstable. And then once you're off that stretch of rocks, you're just coming down the bowl and like through the trees, and it's single track, and it just it's so fast.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Wow. I'm sold. I'll be there. Yeah. I think I might do that in Baldy. I don't know. We'll see. I gotta mix it up at the end of the year, but it sounds fun. And the area is cool. It's it, but it's not very it's not like super close to Seattle, is it? It's like an hour or two.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

It's like two hours, I think.

unknown 27:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

It's not bad. Nice. What do you what do you think about the Skyrunner series getting uh obviously out on the Olympic Peninsula, Beast of Big Creek is gonna be on the World Series this year, which is kind of nuts.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Yeah, I don't know. I'm I don't know too much about the Skyrunner series, um, but I think the Olympic Peninsula is a fantastic place. Um it's one of my favorite places to go run. So I think it's really cool that it's getting that attention. I'm a little curious about the choice of location, just because it is like tricky to get to. You need to like most people are probably gonna take the ferry. Um it's just awkward to get to. I feel like a lot of like we do a lot of races off in remote places, but there aren't many that require a ferry within the United States. Um I mean you can go around like across the Tacoma Narrows and up, but I think most people will take the ferry um usually when they go to the peninsula. So it's I think it's just like an interesting yeah, like I feel like it doesn't get a lot of big races or big names out there, even though it is like world-class trails, but it's usually overlooked.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Interesting. Well, you know, and I've heard many people say that it's legit, like it's some of the best like trail and mountain running, like you're gonna get in an area. Talk about it. Like, is it was it like big mountains? Is it kind of like the cascades, or is it just unique in its own way?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

The cascades I think are rockier. Um the Olympics feel like wider and more open than the Cascades. I mean, it depends on where you are in the mountains, but it's easy to get or easy to get like up on top of the ridges in the peninsula and it's just open, and there's fewer trees like when you're up at the top on the ridge lines versus the tree line seems to stay higher in the cascades, so you're in the trees a lot more. Um there's just so there's such a diversity of trails on the peninsula that you can get anything. You can get like low trails by or that follow a river like for 20 miles, or you can get short and steep up to a peak, or you can do off-trail to a different like summit or like connections all across and get like all different types of trails in one go.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Interesting. All right, so I that's what I kind of like. I find Washington very interesting in this way, right? Like Colorado, it's kind of all one thing, right? The tree line is a 12,000 feet, so it's you gotta it takes forever to get up there, and then once you're up there, you can barely breathe because it's ridiculous. But in Washington, it's neat because you get the diversity. Obviously, you get the volcanic systems there with Rainier uh and um you know all the volcanoes, and then you also have the Cascades, which are their own very unique thing, and then the Olympics, which are it's you know, very close to the ocean. It's just it's just a lot of biodiversity and just a lot of uh interesting geomorphology. That was the word I was looking for.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yeah. I mean, Washington has such a range of landscapes because, like you said, well everything you mentioned is just the west side of Washington. And if you go out east side, you get the scrublands, you get the high desert, similar to Oregon on that side. Like you can get any kind of running, any kind of ecosystem. Like it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah, this is a really cool place. I mean, I went to Gorge a couple years ago, and I was just blown away by like the Columbia River Gorge. I thought that was super unique in its own way, with you know, kind of these big towering walls. Like you're not in in the mountains per se, but it's still, I mean, you can get a ton of vertical gain. It's it's it's it's its own unique kind of zone, which is cool.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

So I took a um not to nerd out again, but I took a landscape ecology class as an undergrad, and we did a field trip to the Columbia River Gorge. So when I ran the 100K in 2024, I did a lot of miles with Lottie, and I was just yapping her ear off about how the gorge was formed, like the trees, this one rock that like the army wanted to blow up. And then in her post-race interview, she was like, Christina just like had so many facts. She was talking about a rock and like the trees.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Dude, it's that's the half the fun though. Like, I'm the same way. Listen, like, I was on a run the other day with someone, and I we were looking at like some like sandstone, and I was like, Oh, look at the iron nodules, that's so sick. I'm like, and then everybody looks at me, he's like, What the hell is wrong with you? Yeah, it's uh but that's half the fun, is like either the history of it or like the ecology and the rocks and like knowing like what you're putting because every zone is different. Like, I that's one thing. Like every time I travel to a race, I'm always nerding out about like this this new location and why it's special, like and what makes it special, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

I really love knowing like native plants in the area or native birds and other wildlife. And I think it's just cool to be able to identify like what you see as you're going, but also I think it's like an important connection to the place you're in of you know what's there and you know what you're seeing, and it grounds you, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

Yeah, yeah, it fascinates the hell out of me. Like I was thinking about this the other day. I was I was conversating with a friend about this because we're talking about tree lines, and like Colorado, like I said before, the tree line in Colorado is so high, but you travel 500 miles or 400 miles north to like let's say Jackson, Wyoming, and the tree line's at like 9,000 feet, so it's much lower. And like that just small amount of mileage and for like different different trees and stuff to develop in like in in those areas versus you know not too far south. That's just so weird. I don't know. I find that that stuff to be absolutely fascinating, like it's and it kind of it plays such a good role for us as runners uh to be able to understand that better, you know, for you know, obviously course knowledge, but also just like to the locations that you travel to.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Way to nerd out. There you go. Did you know there's like giant sturgeon in in those uh in the Columbia River? Like they're like gigantic. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

One of my favorite things about being in my department is we'll get um because people do a lot of field work of fish. Um, if I didn't say before, I'm in the school of aquatic and fishery sciences, so most people do fisheries work. Um, but we'll get emails sometimes to our listserv of like, hey, I have like five sturgeon, does anyone want them? Or like I have these two fish that I'm done dissecting, like, does anyone want them? I'm like, I don't want the fish, but like I'm kind of curious of just can I get the fish? That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Yeah, it's uh there's yeah. Dude, you've you've can I get do you guys have like fish tanks and stuff there?

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Um no. There is I'm sure some people do like some stuff with there are people who do with like the juveniles, but I think they do like work at like a NOAA office or at like a Department of Ecology office. Our lab work well, I don't do the lab work, but my knowledge from other labs is we have like microscopes and centrifuges and that kind and equipment for that, but we don't have equipment for like growing fish or like hatchery work. You would actually have to go work with a hatchery if you wanted to do something like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Yeah. When I was young, I wanted to do aquaculture so bad. I grew up in South Florida, so that's like the big thing is everybody uh not not everybody, but some people uh are kind of into that. Um it's like so neat. Like you could kind of grow your own clownfish and stuff and like or your own all your own stuff. Yeah, it's such how do you how do you like being on campus all the time or like kind of like in in like on in a college setting? I don't know. I feel like that's super fun. It's better than being like in an office all day where everybody's just kind of bummed out. You're actually like doing interesting work.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

I mean, I am in an office all day, but it's different, right? Yeah, I'm like doing really interesting work, and I feel like it's meaningful work.

Why Blue Whales Matter To Us

SPEAKER_00 35:35

I've had people talk to me of like, well, why does like the work you're doing matter? Like, why do we care about blue whales? Why do we care about this like fish species? Like, what like why why does it matter? I'm like, it I don't think it has to have important, it has to have like material worth to humans for it to matter. Like it should matter because it's important to that species. And most large whales were hunted to very low numbers, particularly the blue whales, particularly Antarctic blue whales, were hunted to near extinction and they've been recovering since whaling stopped. But there's so much we still don't know about blue whales because they were hunted down to like 2% of their historic capacity. Um, sure, like my work doesn't do anything like direct that directly benefits humans, but why don't we want to know about them? Why don't we want to know about endangered species? Like it matters because it's important to that species. So I think just feeling like you're doing meaningful work is a is nice. Um like selfishly, I feel like I'm doing something good for the world.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

It's better than shareholder value, dude.

unknown 36:49

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Uh how how are the whales doing? Are they are they coming back? Like, what's the what is the quantitative like aspect? I mean, I think everybody would be curious about this.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Complicated question. Um, so when we do assessments, we look at it at a population level. The Antarctic blue whales, they're a single population across the entire Antarctic. My lab mate who just graduated just did an updated assessment, and we think they're at like 4% of historic capacity. That's true. Um but they've they've increased and they are still increasing. But then the eastern North Pacific population, which I'm updating the assessment for now that we have new estimates, the last assessment that was done, they're at 96% of carrying capacity, but they were also hunted much to a much lower extent than those in the Antarctic. So each population is at a very different level because the Antarctic was hunted so heavily and they got hit the worst, but a lot of the other populations are doing a lot better, but they also started at much lower numbers. So it depends.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Now, will this data go to I guess like fisheries managed? Like, let's say, like the, for instance, like the blue well, endangered species, right? Um, will this data be impactful on future delisting or increasing regulatory, you know, kind of provisions on them, stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00 38:22

So at a global level, the species will still be endangered because of how um how depleted the Antarctic population is. But there's a couple other bodies that are interested at a population level. Within the US, our management wants to know the status of populations that are in our waters. So the East North Pacific population is important to U.S. management because they're on our west coast. And then also, if we consider a population recovered, their potential biological removal, which is the number of that can be killed a year that won't decrease the population, um will increase. But also when a population is not considered not recovered or considered depleted, that has more leverage towards um regulations like uh to avoid ship strikes or entanglements. And I'm on the East Coast, quite famously, the North Atlantic right whale is severely endangered because of these entanglements and chip strikes they get constantly killing the individuals. So knowing the status helps put in regulations that protect the population. So that's why the US would be interested in the North At least in north eastern North Pacific population. Um but then also there's something called the International Whaling Commission, and they were formed to try to preserve stocks um uh for whaling. Now it's more kind of looking at conservation, but some countries want to go back to whaling. It's kind of like politically like contentious, but um they as a committee want to know the population of each theoretically, they want to get an in-depth assessment of every population of whale anywhere. Um, and then once a an assessment has been done and the commission approves it, then they like check their little box and they're like, okay, next one. But it that like the next one takes years.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

How does it, and this is just out of pure curiosity, is while you might not, I don't even know if you'd be able to answer this question, but like how do they how do they like get an idea or at least a rough assessment? Like there's not like they're going out there one whale, two whale, three whale, four, and then like kind of is it really?

How Whale Populations Get Counted

SPEAKER_00 40:52

There's two ways you can get abundance estimates. Oh, this is great. This is great practice for my general exam. Um you can do a line transect survey, and on that survey, you're going like zigzagging across the ocean or in a defined area, and then from your line, you're looking and you're counting how many encounters do you have of a species, and then from your encounter and you can calculate detection rate, then you have your density along your track line, and then you can extrapolate to the area, and then you have X number in an area. Or you can do so that's one way to get an abundance estimate. The other way is to do marker capture, and with whales, we do photo marker capture, and we can match the flukes to other photos, and then doing a lot of complicated math, you um can estimate the population from one year to the next. So those are our two ways of getting abundance estimates, and then to do a proper assessment to figure out status, we want to calculate carrying capacity and growth rate. So, and then we also have the number of catches for a whale species from whaling logs. So then you start, we assume that the population starts at carrying capacity, and then using a logistic growth model, which is a pretty standard just um population density dependence model, you fit to your catches, which is your data and your abundance estimates, and you find the combination of growth rate and carrying capacity that like fits your data the best.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

So interesting. Dude, all right, so I'm gonna take this conversation on a way left-hand turn. So people think like, I mean, I I I would agree. I think cetaceans are like incredibly so people don't know. Cetaceans are I it's the it's not the genus for whale, it's a uh it's the I don't know, I can't remember my scientific stuff, yeah. Um I got you. It's been a while, it's been a minute. Um, but like cetaceans, people think like they're they're generally very intelligent. Do you think we'll get to a point with like AI when we can like actually figure out like some way like they're what they're saying and like talking? Because like I feel like with dolphins and stuff like that, like that's kind of where they want to take some AI models.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

I feel like our understanding of language is so human that like sure, maybe at some point we'll have like a direct translation of it, but I think right now our understanding of the calls is actually quite good. Um, it's a little harder for blue whales and other large whales. Blue whales, we have very we only know one or two call types, um, but with like smaller whales or toothed whales, they're they call a lot more frequently, and the different call types indicate different things. So I think we have a good understanding of what calls. They're making like during feeding, during mating, during migration, and like loosely how they communicate. But I think we are so focused on like sentence structure and one word means one thing that I don't think that's really like I don't know if our human brains can like really understand how cetaceans think and communicate. Same way we like we don't know how like birds are understanding the calls or how um like other land mammals understand the calls that they're making to each other.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Yeah. Interesting. So it's not like the whale's like, hey, what is what's Bill doing? You know, he's off on his own, like hey Bill, come back. Like they're not like talking to each other in that way.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Not that we know of.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Okay. Interesting. Yeah, I don't know. Thank you for breaking that down. I um what is your take, especially being in Washington? In Colorado, we have this big uh it's always a big issue with the wolves, and we just reintroduced, we're in the process now of reintroducing Wolverines. And I uh my hunch is that we're probably not far, maybe 20 years away from like, you know, the Grizzly Nash naturally expanding kind of down into Colorado from Wyoming, and then uh, you know, possible like reintroduction into the San Juans and stuff like that. Washington, obviously, that's a that's always a conversation because I know they've had or they I I want to say there's like a reintroduction program into the Cascades.

SPEAKER_00 45:32

There's a reintroduction program that they just I'm not too caught up on my um bear knowledge, um, but I did some bear work um as an undergrad. But I think there's some reintroduction either starting or about to start. Um I'm all for it. Like they used to be here, they should be here. It's not it's not their fault. We showed up and scared them away.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

It's true. It's true. I'm surprised more haven't come down from like BC. It's I find that very strange.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

So we don't have a in Washington, we don't have a resident population of grizzlies, but you know, borders don't exist to wildlife. So we definitely I would say at any given moment, we probably have a grizzly bear in the state, but there's no resident population. But it's they're totally coming across the border.

unknown 46:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Yeah, I'm curious to see when we're gonna get them back in Colorado. I don't know, I'm like always that's like the I'm a nerd about the grizzlies because every time I'm in Wyoming, I'm like, oh, there's something big and mean in the woods, you know, like uh that's not a moose, you know, or a black bear.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Do you I mean we would need I would need to I like take more precautions if you're gonna be running in grizzly bear territory. But I see black bears all the time. And they run away. They're great.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

They're all right, they're hanging out.

unknown 46:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

So what are you uh not to we take this conversation back to running, but what would you race in

Racing Plans Shoes And Team Life

SPEAKER_02 46:53

that? What are you racing this year?

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Well, so I was supposed to do tiger claw this weekend, um, but I've had some hamstring issues like pop up on and off this year, which have been really frustrating. It hasn't been anything major, but just like little tweaks that keep popping up. Um it's been annoying. I'm trying so I'm cross-training right now and hoping that just I'll be really smart and hopefully nippet um and it won't come back. But I'm gonna do Waldo 100k at the beginning of August. Um and then I'm gonna do JFK in November or end of November. And I was hoping to do a race at Kodiak, but everything's sold out. But I do still have my my stones are still valid for next year, so I'll do CCC next year. Um and then I have some stuff to figure out in like the fall, September, October time. Probably do some local-ish races. I'll throw in some sub ultras for sure. Just some fun races.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Are you gonna be at Cirque Series Crystal maybe?

SPEAKER_00 48:00

I'll probably do it again. Okay. I mean, like, why not?

SPEAKER_02 48:03

Super fun, super fun. Well done. Yo, JFK is a dope race. Because that's such a fast uh 50 mile, it's it's like runs like a 50k in so many ways.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

Yeah, I did it in 22 or 23. Didn't 22? I don't know. I did it a few years ago, and I think I can run faster. Um like super shoes have gotten better. I didn't change shoes the last time I did it, so I did the whole thing in just trail shoes, which was fine. Um, but I definitely left some like a couple minutes on the table.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

Oh, for sure. Probably, yeah, probably more than that. If you guys what's the new super shoe that Brooks, I mean, obviously now you have two new super shoes. You've got the what is it, the uh is it Hyperion maybe? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Hyperion Elite for the road and Cascadia Elite um for trail.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

How do you like the new Cascadia Elite? That's a sick looking shoe.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

It's a great shoe. It's um I personally like lower stack shoes. So if I'm on anything technical, it's not really my go-to, but I even though it's not like it's not it's for like I think it's a really great shoe, and I can absolutely recognize that it's not my go-to all the time just because of how I prefer to run, but like when I put it on, I'm like, yeah, this is this rips.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

Um it's got some pop in it.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

Yeah, yeah, it's it's a really good shoe. It's just not usually my first choice for a lot of the trails that we have around. Um but like on I think especially on like climbs and smooth trail, smoother trails is for me like where it shines the most. Um, but I've seen teammates use it on every single kind of terrain.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Yeah, freaking Remy LaRue, dude, all in the northeast, like all over the rocks. I'm kind of impressed. Because it's like, I mean, for people that don't know, it's like a I guess you could say it's like a Tecton X3 or maybe a little bulkier than like a prodigio pro. It's a it's a and I don't know what type of foam it has. Is it's does it have a carbon plate in it or no?

SPEAKER_00 50:03

It's it has a plate, uh uh it's some kind of foam. I should have studied up on my foams.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

I know PIBA foam. That's the that's the catchy one, but I that's that's all I yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

Probably. Um and then I yeah, the hyperinelite on the road, and I use that for my workouts. I don't really race much on the road, but if I did, like I would I I really like those shoes.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

Yeah, yeah. I've been looking at, yeah, I'm like funny with super shoes. I I had the uh socky and dwarf and elites, and I always felt like I don't know, something with the foam, it's like well is messed up my hips, if that makes sense, because of my form. Um totally messed with my form a little bit. So I was like, all right, like I need to get a different super shoe for you know in the offseason when I do like road stuff. And the Hyperion Elites were one of the ones I was looking at, or the Pumas.

SPEAKER_00 50:55

Pumas looked like I it's fun too, because I've never I never used the first round of the Hyperion Elite, but starting with the Hyperion Elite 2, like I've used all the iterations, and it's been really cool to just see and feel the shoe getting better and better, and to see the like public reception of it just getting better and better and better.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

It's just yeah, as a Brooks fan and as a Brooks athlete, like it's really exciting to watch.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

How much do you love being on that team? Like, that's a that's a stacked team of incredible humans, like Anna Gibson, Dan Kurtz, Remy LaRue, Taylor Stack, Sidney, Peterson. Like, there's so many amazing people on that team. How did you I because I know you guys just had a camp, what, three something like three months ago?

SPEAKER_00 51:38

Yeah, in February.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

Yeah. I mean, God, I'm like, what am I doing with these people? They're so incredible. It's really inspiring to have such like an awesome team of such strong athletes. And like they're so supportive. Um Barrett, my teammate, who was injured all of last year, ran Tiger Claw this weekend, and she finished second, and it was like her first race, her first 50k in a long time. And our group, like everyone was super excited for her. So like it's people are just super supportive. I love I love it.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Yeah, that's super cool. Yeah, it's always cool to have like interesting, like fun people you can bounce ideas off of, and like, I don't know, everybody's supportive of one another. It it definitely goes a long way. How do you um how do you balance everything? Like, you know, it's obviously not easy, you know, getting ready for you know, trying to get your PhD and going through that life, and you've lived this entirely different life as well, uh, you know, as an athlete. How do you find balance in both?

SPEAKER_00 52:39

Yeah, I think ebbs and flows, there's definitely times where I have to prioritize school and this work because like there's certain milestones you have to hit or deadlines, um, or things are just more stressful. Like I was TA ing in the winter and I was TAing for the first time. Um and finding like the balance of not burning myself out, like took most of the quarter, but now I know for next winter quarter when I TA, like I know how it'll feel, and I know like what I can expect of myself performance-wise. Um but then there's also some times when I'm like, yeah, maybe I'll just like play in the mountains today and do a little bit of work. Um so just figuring out like it's something I'm always working on, but making sure that neither thing is fully draining me. Like I want to have enough time and energy to perform, to like do my workouts, to fill my cup with mountain time. But I also like want to make sure I'm producing good work. Or if I'm going to a conference, like running, I'll do, I'll do my running and I'll get my workout in, but it's not about running that week. It's about being at the conference or like presenting a poster. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Who do you work with uh work with as a coach?

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Um, I worked with David Roach for six years, but in the fall I took my qualifying exam, and so I've been kind of coaching myself since then. Uh just because the qualifying exam I was really scared about. So I wanted to just have my own like freedom to do what I want. And I felt like it was easier to just figure out training for myself than to be like, actually, this week I'm changing it up because this came up. Or like it didn't feel fair to just be like, I know I'm gonna have this stressful thing that I'm gonna constantly be changing your plans, and that doesn't feel fair to you. So I kind of like took a step back from being coached for the time being.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

I like that. And it's it's all a matter of just like finding the balance. It's uh and you gotta find what works for you.

The Reality Of PhD Milestones

SPEAKER_02 54:51

Qualifying exam, like how does that work with like the PhD structure? So you have you take your qualifying exam, then you have X amount of time before you, I guess you write your paper and get that published and defend your dissertation?

SPEAKER_00 55:02

Uh no.

unknown 55:04

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

So um, yeah, there's every school does it a little bit differently, but in general, you start in a PhD track, you do some exams, and you become a PhD candidate. And then once you're a PhD candidate, you're able to defend. Um, and you usually defend like a year after or something. So your qualifying exam in our department is a week-long thing. You're given a question a day by your committee for five days, and you have eight hours to answer the question, and then they tell you if you passed or not. So each people, each person will give you a reading list and then they'll ask you questions based on that reading list. So it's just like 40 hours of writing as frantically as you can. Um, so I passed that in the fall, and then you'd kind of do your proposal and your general exam a quarter or two later. So spring quarter, I'm doing it two quarters later, where now I've written up my proposal, and your proposal it's like is a step through of all the chapters you're planning on doing. Each chapter is a project that hopefully will end in a paper. Um, and your general exam is a defense of your proposal. And then once you pass your general exam, you're a PhD candidate. And then once you're a candidate, you get a little raise, which is exciting. Um and then between becoming a candidate and defending can be a year, it can be two years, it can be an any range of time that allows you to just complete your chapters and your work. Um so I'll just keep chipping away at the chapters once I become a candidate. Um I have two papers that I've submitted for my first chapter. I'm working on a paper for my second chapter, and then I'm waiting for some data from other people for one of my other chapters. So I've got like a couple things like up in the air.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

How is it is it difficult picking an advisor, like when you picked your advisor for for your program?

SPEAKER_00 57:04

I kind of really only wanted to work with my advisor. Um I it all happened very quickly. It was I emailed him because I took his classes when I was an undergrad. And I emailed him and I was like, hey, are you maybe looking for grad students? I think I want to get a PhD. And then we chatted, and he was like, Yeah, I think you should apply. And then I was like, Okay, so the application is actually closed because he had taken so long for him to get back to me. And then he was like, Okay, email the front office and tell them to open the application for you. So then I did that. I had like two days to put together my application. Um, and then I sent my application. Like two weeks later, I was invited to come to campus for like a visit. And then like two or three weeks after that, I was given an offer letter. So it all kind of happened in a month, um, which is crazy. Like you within a month, I'm like, okay, my entire life is gonna be different. So I was working at the time. Um, I mean, I was still running, but I was like, okay, I'm gonna like have a completely different job. I'm gonna need to relearn everything I knew a few years ago. I'm not gonna work here anymore, I don't have time. Like, whoa. But yeah, I somehow convinced him to let me work with him. Um I mean, I really like working with him, and I think within our department, like everyone loves him. He's a really great person to learn from.

SPEAKER_02 58:40

Wow. All right, I got two questions left for you. The first one is when you when you become doctor, are you gonna make people call you Dr. Randrop?

SPEAKER_00 58:46

Uh sometimes. Why not?

SPEAKER_02 58:48

Fair enough. I was thinking, like, when you've crossed the finish line, like at races, like Oh, well, maybe not at races.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Maybe not at races, but I think like have fun with it. Like you did all that work for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

Like hell yeah. I would make everybody call me doctor, dude. Are you kidding me? Yeah. I don't want to be objective with it. Yeah, I mean, depends depends on how wild you want to get. Um and then last question is back to running

Bucket List Races And Big Goals

SPEAKER_02 59:15

like races. Like, what what do you still want to do, like in the sense of career? Like what what bucket list races do you have that you want to get to that you haven't gotten to yet?

SPEAKER_00 59:23

Um, I mean, some of the ones that immediately come to mind for me are Western states. I think I'm gonna I want to do Canyons next year, assuming it's still a ticket race. Um but Western States and UTMB have always been like pinnacle races I want to do. Um I'd love to do Sears and all. I don't think it's a race that I'll necessarily excel at, but it's one that I've always just like looked at and been like, I want to be there. Um Lavareto is also one that feels like that to me. Um what else?

SPEAKER_02 59:59

I had a chance to go to Laveredo this year and totally biffed it. A little upset about that. Just couldn't figure out the schedule.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

Um Ultra Town Cape tour Cape Town. I I feel like that's a really cool 100k course. Um yeah, what like there's just so many. Oh, um Wild Strubel 100K is one of the UTMB races in just like the stunning valley in Switzerland, which I don't it's not like I mean it's a UTMB race, so it has that to its name, but it's I don't think it's a particularly like competitive or like known or important race, but it just looks stunning.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:44

Um good backdrop.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:46

Yeah. Um maybe oh, and let Le Templier in France. I think that would also be a really cool one.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:55

Yeah, I gotta work on my mystery. Yeah, I gotta work on my French. Uh yeah, no, those are all good ones. Ceres and all is is dope. It's obviously the you know, it's like the super bowl of the short trail stuff, but yeah, there's uh there's some good ones on the list. And UTCT next year, like that's it's gonna be the place to be. I mean, that'll be a week before worlds, and then it kind of like picks up, like it's gonna be like a two-week-long celebration.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

Yeah, I mean, if I if I can get to worlds, I'd you know, I'd want to race worlds, but now we're talking. Yeah, but getting down there for some trail running would be would be really cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:32

It also is um my um my advisor is from Cape Town, so it is one of the races that he like when I talk about like, oh, you go up with Table Mountain, like he knows the area, so it's one that I think to him is like like I think it's he he can grasp ultra running or like the trail running thing because he can visualize the course he's like wow, that's crazy. Um but you know it's one that he just like understands because he's from there, so I think that's also kind of a cool connection.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:04

Yeah, no, a hundred percent. It's supposed to be beautiful. I mean, and super technical. I I guess that table mountain area, like all through there, is like quite technical and different.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:13

It's definitely on the list. Like, I feel like I'd love to go there maybe next year for uh like world coverage and stuff like that. And uh just like the biodiversity too. Like getting back to our like nerding out, like, dude, you could dive with great white sharks, and there's like apparently cobras like all over the trails there, too. Like it's it's it's legit. There's penguins. I didn't know. Yeah. That's nuts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:33

I'll let you see the penguins.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

Yeah, yeah. 10 out of 10. Uh

Final Thoughts And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_02 1:02:38

that's a good chat. Christina, thank you so much for coming on the show. It was a fun hour of uh of like not just talking about running like I normally do. It was actually talked about something interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:46

So I'm I love the excuse to talk about uh whales.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:50

Yeah, oh yeah, heck yeah, heck yeah. Well, it's it's yeah, it's something fun, something different. So I definitely appreciate uh you coming on and uh thanks for so much for the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

Yeah. All right, we are done recording. This will come out uh I think Thursday. I'll drop this. So thanks so much for tuning in, guys. Uh, genuinely appreciate it. The best way to support Christina is give her a follow on Instagram. You can find her on Instagram at Christina Randrup or Christina.randrup. It's gonna be linked in the show notes. Definitely give her a follow. Uh thanks for tuning in. What a crazy week with all the Zagama stuff. Um, yeah, just appreciate you guys listening and following. And uh have a great rest of your week.