The Hobby Jogger Podcast

E49 | Burning River 50 Mile - Last Race Before the Ring with Olivia Joseph

• Hosted by: WeeViews & Branch Sauce • Season 1 • Episode 49

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Olivia's refreshingly honest account of her ultra-running journey reveals both the highs and lows of endurance challenges. From bizarre race-day ailments ("I started throwing up like 20 miles into the race") to unexpected nutrition discoveries (pumpkin bread as the secret ultra fuel), her storytelling captures the unpredictable nature of hundred-mile adventures. Her experience navigating the technical East Coast trails—particularly the rocky Appalachian Trail sections—offers valuable perspective for trail runners at any level.

Beyond her individual achievements, Olivia shares insights from her participation in Tara Dower's women-focused Chump Change Retreat, highlighting the power of community in the ultra world. Together with her fiancé Heath (a previous Hobby Jogger guest), she's creating additional space for ultra running conversations through their "Miles Ahead: An Ultrarunning Podcast", documenting their experiences as a running couple tackling epic challenges together.

As Olivia prepares for the upcoming Burning River 50-mile race—her "last ultra marathon before the wedding"—her blend of strategic preparation and lighthearted approach exemplifies why so many are drawn to the ultra community. Her story isn't just about athletic achievement but about finding unexpected joy and purpose through the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other.

Casey Koza:

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Hobby Jogger podcast. I am your host, Casey Koza, once again joined by my co-host, always traveling the world, Mr Rob Myers. Rob, how are you doing today?

Rob Myers:

I'm doing well. I'm making it through the heat, trying to get out there in the early am Before I sweat to death. It seems like Hard to get more than five or six miles in tops Before I sweat to death. It seems like Hard to get more than five or six miles in tops.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, dew point's been high, dew point's been heavy. Looks like next week, at least in the morning, it's going to be a little bit lighter on that. So, yeah, you're running Burning River Marathon next weekend. Yeah, looking forward to it. Yep, looking forward to it as well. Also looking forward to our guest today, olivia Joseph, one of our friends running the Burning River 50-mile race, coming off a win at the 2024 Devil Dog Ultra, the 100-mile version, and, most importantly, rob, she was second female at my beer mile race this 4th of July.

Rob Myers:

Yeah, that's probably the most important thing we're going to discuss on this podcast.

Casey Koza:

It's what I get the most questions about, Olivia. Welcome to Hobby Jogger. How are you?

Olivia Joseph:

Great Thanks for having me.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, thanks for coming on, taking some time. I know you were traveling today. You got a lot coming up on your plate getting married to previous guest, mr Heath Goshorn. Close enough, close enough. Yeah, pronunciations of names aren't my strong suit, but yeah, you were just out in Carlisle, pa for your bridal party, correct?

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, bachelorette was out there Bachelorette party, sorry. Close enough it's the same thing in my eyes. Yeah, that was fun, didn't get too crazy, so thankful for that.

Casey Koza:

That's always good. Yeah, I attended a bachelor party this past summer and it was yeah, I was hungover for like three days. It wasn't yeah, it wasn't good.

Rob Myers:

It typically takes a couple years off your life.

Casey Koza:

yeah, yeah, it was in Ellicottville Beautiful place. I don't think I'll ever be able to drink Ellicott Brewing's blueberry ale again. I was burping up blueberries for like two days. So, yeah, strike that out. But you're originally from Carlisle, correct, liv?

Olivia Joseph:

I grew up in Maryland, actually.

Casey Koza:

Oh, okay.

Olivia Joseph:

And then moved to. Well, I went to college in like the Carlisle area ish, and then kind of stuck there after college. So what college I went to Messiah university.

Casey Koza:

Okay, I've heard of it. Yep, I grew up in Southwestern Pennsylvania, so definitely heard of it. Um, did you run in college?

Olivia Joseph:

No, Well, I started running. I was still technically in college. But being sent home from COVID is when I said, man, what am I going to do at home with my parents all day? I'm going to go outside and try to run or bike or do something that will not keep me in the house all day.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, yeah, that was a tough time because I uh cause there was nothing to do Couldn't go anywhere. So I just I went out and walked every day. I'd get like 30,000 steps a day just walking around the neighborhood trails, whatever. I wasn't really into running then, but I remember my cousin asking me he's like you don't walk 30,000 steps a day? That's like 15 miles a day, whatever it is. You know, I don't know. But I was like, yeah, here's my Fitbit number, look at that, that's what I do, it's what I do all day.

Rob Myers:

So yeah, I get it.

Casey Koza:

I need to get out of the house, away from mom and dad.

Rob Myers:

A little bit.

Casey Koza:

But, casey, we've heard that story's been quite a few, that that's been.

Olivia Joseph:

You know the reason, the reason why, and olivia, you chose trail running, seemingly correct mostly uh, I started road running, I guess, and then, I don't know when I was, when I got my job up in Carlisle I was like, oh, appalachian trails here, like that'd be cool. But I, yeah, I started road running and then slowly turned. I mean, it took me like a year and a half until I did, I guess, my first trail race. Maybe that was 2022. It took me like two years until I fully discovered that trails were more fun and a bit slower paced.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, that's what I like about it the slower pace. Power hiking, rob. You know, rob and I are expert power hikers.

Olivia Joseph:

Me too, trust me.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, it's, it's uh, we. I was, I don't know who it was, but it was like some coach and he was talking about the walk-run method. I was like that's stupid, Like why would anyone do that? And then Annie was like don't you do that? Like it's kind of what you do every race.

Rob Myers:

Like yeah, you make a good point.

Casey Koza:

I do do a lot of walking and running. Oh it's power hiking.

Olivia Joseph:

It's different. Power hiking A lot different.

Casey Koza:

Power hiking. Yeah, I substitute the walk for the power hike. That is correct. So we talked, you know before and what I wanted to start out with, because I think it's a really cool race and I want to hear about it because I don't know that we've had anyone on here that's run the race.

Olivia Joseph:

But you ran the Rim to River 100 last fall, correct, didn't turn out so well, but yeah, I technically ran the entire course, since it's an out and back. I just didn't get all the way back well, that's yeah.

Casey Koza:

So you saw the whole course, yeah yeah, that's a fair point. Though that's a fair point yeah, so that race is one that intrigues me because it has a wait list. Seems super popular. It's down I, and where is it?

Olivia Joseph:

It's in new river gorge Um you start like right outside of Fayetteville, west Virginia. Um beautiful area. I love it down there.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, yeah it is, that's one of my favorite places to go.

Rob Myers:

Uh, we went rafting there a few years ago down to the new river gorge. You ever been there, rob? Oh yeah, yeah, I've gone that rafting trip a few times. I'm trying to remember. I think it was class five was it yeah, it was good. Have you gone during galley season, though? I've heard it's really intense during galley season we went in the fall.

Casey Koza:

I don't know, it was like kind of late fall, I think whenever they released the water from the dam okay, yeah, I don't know when that is. That's. I like it, though. It was fun, but was that your first attempt at 100 live?

Olivia Joseph:

I had done two before that. This was my first dnf ever, so it was humbling. But I'll be back this year. Like I got off of the not off the wait list, but I got picked from the lottery. Nice yeah, if you're a female, your like chances of getting in are like really high, cause it's like split, I think 50, 50. So I was like we'll see, I think. I think I might.

Casey Koza:

So Cool, so you're just going, you're going back to take it on again. Might so cool, so you're just going, you're going back to take it on again. Yeah, I, I off the top of my head. I want to say it was like stomach issues, correct it's?

Olivia Joseph:

like not eating. I I started throwing up like 20 miles into the race. It was really bizarre. My best guess is food poisoning. We still to this day, like don't really know what happened.

Olivia Joseph:

I remember thinking during the race like, ah, I can't possibly do this the whole race right, like this, I'm gonna get better. I got a little bit better after I like walked for like eight hours, but like I, it was awful. People were passing me that like I knew, and I was just like laid out on the side of the trail. Uh, one guy, he did the first 100. I did, but like we didn't realize that until I was driving him to his car when he dnf'd oil creek 100. And then we like put it together and he like was like Olivia, what are you doing? I was like I'm just going through it, like I'm okay, and he was like come on, like try to run with me and like like he drops me, and I was like that's okay. But yeah, it was. It was a bad day. I like rallied for a little bit, picked Heath up for I guess I had him for almost 20 miles. A little less than 20 miles. I was like salivating all day. A little less than 20 miles. I was like salivating all day, which was really weird, I don't know. I was like guys, I just like I keep spinning. I wasn't eating but I was like, okay, it's fine, like we're I, I've rallied some, it'll be fine. And then there was like a stretch we were coming up to an aid station and we had like a 10 mile stretch between mile 70 and mile 80. There was no crew at this aid station. We were a couple miles before it and I was just like stopping, spitting. He was like you're like a faucet right now and I was like I told you guys it was really weird. But we like left that last aid station that we saw crew and like didn't take any layers, put on a pair of gloves and but I was in like shorts and like a long sleeve with gloves and it was like 55, and then dropped to like mid 30s really quickly and I'm like stopping and spitting and we don't have great service. But Heath's like hey, we might need to call this, because he was like these 10 miles are going to take us like five hours if we continue going at this pace and I was like I guess that's true. Huh, I hadn't really thought about that and I was like, do you want to look if there's like a road we can like hitchhike out onto? And he's like that doesn't seem like a smart idea. And I was like, yeah, no, you're probably right. And at that point I was just kind of like over it.

Olivia Joseph:

It was like 3am, because I wasn't going at a pace that I was going to like I was going to get cut off at some point and I was also like freezing. He like gave me his hand warmers. He was like here and I was like shivering so badly and he was like I think I should call your dad. So he calls my dad. My dad picks up at 3 am after one ring and he's like were you up? And he was like no, what do you need? They come pick me up. And I was like, ok, I continue to salivate for like 24 hours afterwards, like it never got better. So I was like at least I rest assured that, like I wasn't going to just keep walking and get better. It was the weirdest thing. So you know.

Casey Koza:

That's at least good, that it's not like a problem you have to solve for the race, that it was just like kind of an anomaly, yeah, Something that you couldn't, you know, hopefully likely not to repeat. So that's, that's at least good. Yeah, I was going to have you, I wanted to have you on after that and I was like, eh, you know, as much fun as a full episode on on, as much as I wanted to do something on that race. I was like I I just remember reading the race report. I knew it was stomach. I was like, yeah, maybe, maybe we'll wait till Liv has something else coming up or you know.

Olivia Joseph:

But like great race, I've done the other two races that like that racing company puts on Like they do Rim to River, cabin Fever, 50k and Falling Water, 100k. Great races, great people. I love the courses, so I'll I mean I'll be back in the fall and just kind of hope that you know if I can get into the miles 27, eight station and not be thrown up like we're going to call that a win.

Casey Koza:

So well, that's what we're rooting for it does. It does look like a brutal course. I mean, it's West Virginia, it's East coast, it's straight up, straight down. It's like 11,000's West Virginia, it's East Coast, it's straight up, straight down.

Olivia Joseph:

It's like 11,000 feet of gain, which was like the flattest 100 that I've done so far, Like my first 100 had like almost 25,000 feet of gain. So I was like what's 11,? You know, in the scheme of things there's like a couple of steep sections, but for the most part there's a lot of really runnable sections. It's like technical, but not insanely, I don't know. It's just a beautiful course. You can see the river, you can see the bridge, everything about it's great except for, you know, throwing up.

Rob Myers:

So that's very cool. I mean, most East coast trails are very technical. Yeah, it's like dry creek bed. So yeah. I rarely hear something's runnable in the East Coast.

Olivia Joseph:

No, that's so fair.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, unless, like the course somehow has, like fire, roads on it, or you know, that's usually the runnable section.

Rob Myers:

Yeah, not the single tracks.

Casey Koza:

No.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, but it's for the most part tame for East Coast. I think it's not bad.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, and I know the race has gotten super popular over the years.

Olivia Joseph:

It's only been around since, I think, 2020.

Casey Koza:

Yeah. I was going to say the last few years. It's blown up. I didn't realize it was that new, but I know I hear a lot about it and I see people running it Caleb Bowen, formerly on the show, I know he's run it.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, I know like Dan Green has the course record, but that's also like in his backyard, which is cool.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, that is the Mountain State, the Mountaineer State, I don't know. I should know these things, but from down there, but you then you know, the devil dog ultra was after that correct.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, as I was like dropping. I was like Heath. I walked for like 16 hours today. I did all this training, but I ran three hours of all of this Cause. I woke up the next day and I was like I don't even feel that bad outside of like the weird spitting thing, like my legs feel okay. So I was like I want to do something else this calendar year, like I want to get a second one under my belt this year, and so I found devil dog, like really quickly, and I wanted to wait a little bit. I didn't really tell anyone that I was going to sign up for it because I was like let me give it some time, think about it, see if that's like what I actually want to do, if I actually want to dive back into like 106 weeks later and the answer was yes.

Olivia Joseph:

Yes, I did so. Devil dog's a really cool race too now that was.

Casey Koza:

It was when I just looked at your ultra sign up. That is new to me. I had not heard of the devil Dog Ultras down in Virginia Triangle, virginia.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, it's like near DC kind of like an hour from DC, so not like the super duper rocky sections of Virginia. It was definitely a little, maybe a hair more technical than Rim to River is.

Olivia Joseph:

There's a flight section on a service road, but it's about the same elevation gain. I think it's around 11,000 too, but, like tara dower has the female course record, I know carl metzler's ran it a whole bunch, so cool race. I feel like it's been around for like maybe 10 years or so, maybe like 2014. But yeah, it's a looped course which a slightly bigger loop than rapid raccoon is. The first loops like 23 miles, it like adds on a little more, and then it's 19 miles loops for the last three.

Casey Koza:

So okay, yeah which, like I, liked yeah, I like it because you get to go back to. You know your crew doesn't have as far to go, they they're just driving around in circles basically. So that certainly helps and we get to go back to like the, the base every 20 miles or so. So, yeah, that's I think I prefer. I like the point to point. What do you like, rob?

Rob Myers:

Yeah, probably point to point. I had to pick one.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Rob Myers:

But there's plenty of good races out there that I don't know. I don't mind if I see the same thing twice, or you know part of it's a loop, it's kind of that lasso where you run out. You know you're only going to run like five, ten miles of the same course.

Casey Koza:

Then you do the loop and come back. Yeah, Canyons was a run out little loop, come back. Yeah, I like that as well, because it's kind of like an out Well, it's not an out and back it is an out and back.

Rob Myers:

Yeah, but you get to go back to your car and you got all your stuff and you're not waiting for somebody to pick you up and they have to go to some obscure place and you, just you, can finish.

Casey Koza:

Everyone finishes in the same spot and yeah, it's cool. So, yeah, you, you, so you win the devil dog. Did you make any changes other than, like, not being sick, probably for the race?

Olivia Joseph:

yeah, um, I don't know, it was really nice or I guess it started decently cold, like I didn't go in to devil dog having like many expectations on how the day was going to go. But then I really not really quickly, I guess by like mile 80 is when I called the girl that had been in first place and I was like well, all right, I guess we got to pick it up. I did eat a lot of pumpkin bread that race and that for some reason sat really well on my stomach.

Casey Koza:

So is that our go-to now? Is that our go-to food? Yeah, pumpkin bread.

Rob Myers:

I think that's what she's saying, Casey. That's the secret to the number one spot right there.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, ain't broke, don't fix it.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, exactly. So I'm going to have to bring that down to Rim, to River and, uh, hope for the best take your pumpkin bread to Rim to River so, yeah, that was like a really random experience.

Olivia Joseph:

I like don't consider myself like a phenomenal athlete and the girl that wasn't first was like I think she's ran like sub three marathons and, uh, it was first hundred, but like she knew the race directors, so they were, like, I think, not confused, but they were like surprised when they saw that we were like kind of like catching up to each other Because I like pass her right before the end of the third loop, within like a half mile of like the big, the pavilion that was like the hub at the start finish. And like the race director like pops into my face and is like who are you? And at this point it's the middle of the night. I was like, should I know who you are? Like as politely as possible. And then I like looked down at his shirt and it says devil dog, race director. And I was like, oh, I'm sorry, but he was like go kill it, you're, you're doing great. And I was like, okay, it's only 20 more miles, you know that's all.

Casey Koza:

Just 20 more miles live, no big deal it was fine.

Olivia Joseph:

You know we got it done after some point after the pumpkin bread plenty of pumpkin bread and some hot black coffee and sent me back on my way.

Olivia Joseph:

I like did things really quickly in that aid station. My like crew chief was like throwing bottles at me and I like was like, all right, well, I guess we should go, because I wanted to create as much of a gap as possible. Um, I was like, why not? That seems like a fun thing to do. So I think I ended up putting like an hour on her overall. Nice, yeah, that was.

Casey Koza:

She could stick that 240 marathon or whatever.

Rob Myers:

Welcome to the trail.

Casey Koza:

Welcome to the trail. 240-something marathon or whatever sub-three doesn't matter a whole lot in a 100-mile race in Virginia. Exactly A little bit of a difference, I think, from a flat whatever. Go hard for 26 miles to go to 100 in Virginia.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, awesome winning a 100-mile race. We don't have too many people who have won 100-mile races on the show. Well, I guess we've had a few, so yeah. We've had a few for sure. Yeah, you joined some good company there, liv, of 100 mile winners here on the show. Now you've mentioned that you've, you know you. You grew up in Carlisle, which is or not grew up, but you went to school at Carlisle, which is right near the Appalachian trail.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Casey Koza:

You recently, well in May, in the spring, went down to the chump change retreat in.

Olivia Joseph:

May, in the spring, went down to the chump change retreat I did.

Casey Koza:

That seems like it was put on by. Was it put on by Tara Dower? It was Okay, so what?

Olivia Joseph:

was that, and how did you get involved in it? Tara had posted on Instagram like hey, if anybody wants to come to like a woman's running retreat in Tennessee, fill out this form. And like it was just posted and I was like, why not, that would be cool. If, like, it wasn't like a selection, I think it was like a almost like a first come, first serve situation. I'm not really sure, I didn't really ask, but I didn't think much of it Filled it out and then a couple of weeks later her crew chief, rascal, had like texted me and I was like, oh okay, she was like hey, olivia, like if you want to come, like these are the dates. It was like $100 to go, might as well. I was like that would be so cool to like pick both of their brains on running things. So, yeah, I went down there in the middle of May and got to run on the Appalachian Trail a lot, although I guess they pronounce it Appalachian Trail.

Rob Myers:

Yes, which is the proper way to say it. I live in Tennessee. It's Appalachia.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, that's the right way, I should know better I know my fault.

Rob Myers:

When you're in northern or casing, you can say Appalachian, you get away with it in the North, just don't come down here with it.

Olivia Joseph:

So, yeah, that was really cool because she was in like the peak training for Western States and all that stuff. So I was like I was just like don't be overkill. But like also like so what's your training? Like, you know, how do you make yourself run 50 to 60 miles every day for 40 days? Cause that sounds miserable. So it was cool. All the girls that came were really cool. We got to learn how to contra dance, which is like I didn't know what it was, but it's like line dancing. So we like were there while a contra dance Festival was also going on, so we learned how to dance and also ran a lot. So, yeah, it was really cool. And now we're in a group chat and we'll just send random things back and forth and I'm like this is cool. This is a nice little running community of girls from literally all over. Like a girl flew from like Idaho and I was like that's a far way to come, but that's awesome.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, good for her, especially seeing the Appalachian Trail. There you go, rob. See, got it, you're close, you've got to remove that N. Appalachia. Okay, appalachia. See, that's what I call it. I call it Appalachia that works. But I thought that was really cool of her to do. Yeah, you know I hadn't seen anything really like that in trail running and down in the middle of Tennessee, correct?

Olivia Joseph:

Yes, it was very much like middle of nowhere, like you kind of see, like some of the remnants of Helene, like we were getting on one part of we're getting on one trail that ended up going onto the AT and it was like completely washed out, like tape was up, it was just like in the river and I was like, well, um, you'd see where, like they'd repaved. So it was really interesting to like see all that firsthand. I guess, rob, you probably have seen more of that, being in Tennessee, but it's a little farther North.

Rob Myers:

I'm down in Southeast Tennessee, but yeah, I've seen parts of it.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, but yeah, really, I was like I it's cool that you're just inviting 15 girls, that you hope like no one's a serial killer and you're just going to stick them in a cabin and hope for the best, and it turned out great. I hope she does it again. I think she wants to do it for like a week next year, so that'd be really cool.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, I'm assuming again on cause she has a close connect. She's from, she's a Maryland.

Olivia Joseph:

I think she was born in Virginia. No, it might've been Maryland.

Casey Koza:

Okay, she's East coast, so she's Appalachian Trail. The record holder, overall record holder of did she go northbound to southbound, southbound to northbound? Nobo Sobo, I know those terms.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, she went, no, she went. She started in Maine, went to Georgia.

Casey Koza:

Okay, yeah, Brutal, brutal trail I mean that is. We were up in Vermont and I ran one. I think I might've ran five miles up and down like a mountain in Vermont and it took me an hour and a half. Yeah, it was just. Every step was massive rocks and wet and it was cool, though it was awesome. I don't know how she did it. 40 miles you said she went 40 miles a day on.

Olivia Joseph:

I think it's to do that. I think the math is like 50 to 60. I, I, I couldn't, I don't know how. Like everything holds up. It's really impressive. I just don't think I've got the mental fortitude to like want to continue. I think by like day three. I'd be like you know, I tried, that was fun.

Rob Myers:

Yeah, that is impressive. I mean I've done two segments so far on the AT Okay, I started at the beginning in Georgia, made it as far as Franklin, north Carolina, okay, and total was maybe 12 days, two separate trips and I think 11, 12 miles hiking most of the day was as far as I could go. So I can't even imagine doing like 40 miles in one day. I mean that terrain is just so intense.

Olivia Joseph:

Yes, yeah, I took Heath to Carlisle because he never ran on the AT. This was when I was training for Rim to River and I was like we're going to do 20 miles, like it's going to be a decent amount of elevation gain. It'll be fun when we get on the trail and Heath's like this is awful. He waited until further in to be like, hey, this is awful. But we had done like an out and back and I was like, yeah, it's pretty rocky. So he was like I don't know why anyone would want to run on that ever. He was like how do you still trail run after starting trail running? On that I like an acquired taste. I don't know. It's something. Some parts are better than others, for sure.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, even Carlisle, you're not that far from the Laurel Highlands Trail, which is very similar to True. I ran six miles on it this past on Laurel Highlands and I was just like this is just and it's tiring, it's just, yeah, it's yeah.

Olivia Joseph:

It's just it's. It's. Yeah, tiny is the entire time to like get over all the rocks.

Casey Koza:

Exactly that's what I was telling Will. I was like it's you could be running downhill, but you still have to step up.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Casey Koza:

To like go it's it is, it's tiring running on on our trails out here in the well, more of the East coast, to where you know Carlisle and such it's just people underestimate the rock, the rockiness of of the east coast.

Olivia Joseph:

Now you, you also finished live second at my beer mile I did which big accomplishment yeah, yeah, I, I, uh, I said I was never going to do it again after the first year. And then Amber was like you should do it again and I was like, okay, all right, still hung over from the previous year, but do it.

Casey Koza:

You did get beat out by one of the rugby girls, our friend Bree.

Olivia Joseph:

By a lot.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, it's more in her wheelhouse, I think. Yeah, the drinking aspect definitely is more of a rugby thing. It's very similar to you versus the marathon girl in the 100. The rugby girl you're kind of going into her wheelhouse with the four beer chugs. So yeah, but yeah, appreciate you showing up to that, both you and Heath, for two years in a row, taking home second place female.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, it took a lot out of me. Probably took more out of Heath. Heath had a rougher day overall. But you know, I think I started walking lap one because why not? We're here for a good time. You know, I think I started walking lap one, because, why not? We're here for a good time, you know, and a long time.

Rob Myers:

Heath had a very good time. Yes, he had a great time yes.

Casey Koza:

No reversal of fortune, so that's good. That's what we aim for.

Olivia Joseph:

Exactly.

Casey Koza:

Yeah. Now another venture that you and Heath started is the Miles Ahead Ultra podcast, correct? You guys started a. You guys have now host a podcast, so those listening give it a listen at Miles Ahead Ultra podcast Available where Liv.

Olivia Joseph:

On Spotify and Apple and if I remember, I post it to YouTube, but only if I remember.

Casey Koza:

Nice. So how did you come? What gave you the inspiration for that?

Olivia Joseph:

Um, I don't know, I'd like toyed around with the idea. Like when we first met, I was like I don't know. I think it's an interesting perspective of like you're really good, I'm just kind of there. It's cool to have like the couple dynamic of like I'm just kind of there. It's cool to have like the couple dynamic of like we run together and stuff like that.

Olivia Joseph:

And yeah, we kind of thought about it for a while and then we started it in January like New Year's resolution. You know we're going to start the podcast and so we've been doing it since then and it's fun to just like I genuinely don't know if anyone listens, and that's okay it's just fun to like sit down and talk to Heath for like an hour. It's like I think it'll be cool to look back in like 20 years and be like oh yeah, I forgot that this really specific thing happened during this race. But yeah, it's cool to talk about different topics, different races. It's fun to review races, talk about what went wrong when went right. Talk about what went wrong. What went right Usually more of what went wrong.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like a journal for you. I know we had Grace and Murphy on the show and actually now I have one of her journals and you're doing a digital journal. But it definitely helps to be able to go back because you remember things differently than how they really happened. Yeah, that's a good point. I didn't think of that. You're leaving like a digital journal of you know it's fresh in your mind things that went right, pumpkin bread, things that went wrong, you know salivating like a rabid dog, you know. Yeah, so that's that's good, to leave a digital kind of journal and that's that's cool to see.

Casey Koza:

and I, I mean the podcast space is definitely growing and yeah, for sure, you know I know when we had heath on he, he got a lot of views for us, so I I I know there's some people watching for sure like 10 of them.

Olivia Joseph:

Maybe probably 10 to 50 of the views were probably me listening like over and over. But like some of them maybe weren't you know, maybe like two or three were like new people Hopefully.

Rob Myers:

You guys are great. I'm halfway through the burning river podcast and you guys definitely have chemistry. I mean, it's obvious, within the first five minutes you can hear it just the back and forth. So so keep doing what you're doing. It works.

Olivia Joseph:

We'll do. Yeah, it's fun when, like I'm crewing and he's running, or like I'm running and he's crewing, because like the two different perspectives I think are really cool, just because, like you're having completely opposite days and it's cool to be like all of this crazy things happened and then you were also running and then all of these crazy things happened. So it's cool to like weave the story throughout the day chronologically and be like, wow, it's crazy how all of this came together.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, and especially if you go into detail of races, I think you get more viewers, because I know, when we talk about specific races or something, that there's algorithms. Rob, you probably understand a lot better than I do, especially David, but it seems to me there's certain things that trigger it and you get more lessons.

Rob Myers:

Right, rob. Yeah, 100%, yeah, especially when you go up into the top 100, which you'll get there. But it's funny because you release a podcast and then, like a day, maybe two days later, you'll pop up into the top 100 and then you're quickly gone, but there's almost a trail that resonates from when you're in the top 100. You'll pick up a few more listeners.

Casey Koza:

So it's really interesting. So, yeah, I'm happy that you guys are doing that and he's quite the character. You know, he's a funny dude.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Casey Koza:

You're a character, so that's what you need. You need, you know we need more of that in ultra running, I think, as well as characters and just good, good entertainment of it, and really bring it out to like for for people to listen to. Yeah, good on you guys. Miles ahead, ultra podcast get it where you get your podcast, which is wherever you're probably listening to this, I imagine.

Casey Koza:

Hopefully now onto what we have coming up here live. You're running the Burning River 50-mile race, which goes right through my backyard here which is awesome my local race. I will be participating. I'm no longer the defending, co-defending champion of the relay. Our relay team is back in action, though, this year, so that's good, but you're running the 50-mile starts at 530 in the morning Yep 530 downtown Cuyahoga Falls. How are we feeling?

Olivia Joseph:

if it pours the whole time. It's only 50 miles. I'm like how much can go wrong If it's really hot, cool? I've sat in the sauna a lot. We'll see how much that does anything. So I'm looking for it to be fun. I think I'm going to wear all white, you know, and I also I'm going to try to do it like I've got right now. I've got a whole bunch of temporary tattoos from my bachelorette on and I think I'm just going to put them all on. We're going to wear all white. We're going to be like there's no funny way or like nothing that rhymes. That's like last ultra marathon before the wedding. I've not looked it up on chat GPT, a way to rhyme that, but that's how we're treating it and it'll be cool to like toe the line with Heath one more time.

Casey Koza:

He's running the 50 as well. Oh sweet, you guys get a nice little. You know, husband, wife rivalry going last race before the ring. Yeah, before the ring, there you go.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, perfect.

Casey Koza:

Awesome, that's cool. Yeah, I usually walk. I got to take Annie to the start line of the marathon, but I usually go down to the parkour trail, which is right down the street here, and see the runners come through in the dark, which is always make sure they don't get lost and turn into the parking lot. But, yeah, I actually had to help out the course marking crew down there last year.

Olivia Joseph:

That's so funny.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, they were, which is weird. They were like kind of confused and I was like, no, it goes up this way, I promise, Like I every year. It's not, it was the parkour, I think. Yeah, Cause it went straight through. It didn't go up the parkour last year and they started. I don't know, but man, I think that was last, maybe it was the year before, I don't know. One of those years I helped him out down there. So, yeah, looking forward to it, what is how's the? I know you said that you had the hip and you're trying to get the last one in here before it rimmed a river. But what do we? What's our goal?

Olivia Joseph:

I think my realistic goal is like finish in like nine hours 30 minutes. I think that's decently realistic. I think it'll depend on how the day goes. I've got some carbs fuel gels to. I've been trying those a fair amount and they're okay. I just think that I need to not take them every hour on the hour for them to like sit well on my stomach. So we're gonna try some different fueling things. We're gonna get out that handy ice bandana those things are great.

Olivia Joseph:

Like I did a 12 hour race last summer and like the ice bandana was amazing. I was like this is great, it's like 90, but it doesn't feel like 90. So we're going to go out and try to have a lot of fun. Yeah, hip's been feeling better and like I would love a really solid nutrition day under my belt before going into Rim to River. So I think whatever the weather is cool. I, and also I feel like I've ran so much of the course already Like I'm excited to like put it all together Cause like in my head I know how everything goes, but like it'll be cool to actually be there and be like ah, yes, okay, I remember the state station.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, and and weather's always, and weather's always. It's always some kind of weather. On Burning River Day it seems like downpour, then super humid, hot, sunny. It's a tough. It's a tough 100-mile race, like it's not flat. Please don't be hot Hoping for rain rub.

Rob Myers:

Please don't be hot.

Casey Koza:

Please. And I think that a lot of people think that ohio is flat. They think of because you see all these people come in and I talked to some of them after and they were like I didn't realize that you know it was that unflat, like yeah, it's. There's some hills here in in the cuyahoga Valley where the river has over centuries carved, I guess, through the valley.

Rob Myers:

That sounds right.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, it sounds like what it is, so yeah.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Casey Koza:

Cool course they do put on a great race. It's well-received by international people, national people. We get people from, I think, every state, maybe not Alaska and Hawaii, but they don't count so definitely from Canada and Mexico, and I know Japan. Usually there's usually a couple of Japanese runners. So yeah, looking, looking forward to it. Looking at the weather now high of 83, not bad. I don't like the little lightning bolt.

Olivia Joseph:

High of 83,.

Casey Koza:

Not bad. I don't like the little lightning bolt Me neither. Yeah, 67% chance of rain. So yeah, it was a couple years ago. There was a bad lightning storm at like 430 in the morning when it started.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, yeah, I know my friend that year. He said that at the last minute he handed his glasses off and his phone and he was like I'm glad I did because like, as soon as we started it started downpouring, so he was like I wouldn't be able to see anyway and I was going to get my phone soaked. So like, well, you know, might be a repeat of that yep, I, I, definitely, I know.

Casey Koza:

That year I saw him. Obi and I were in the car and the pouring rain down at parkour watching them come through, shining the flashlight onto the next trail for the people. And yeah, we had our, we had the umbrella out, it was. It was pouring river Cause it used to go down like right next to the Cuyahoga river.

Olivia Joseph:

Okay.

Casey Koza:

What's that? Cascade park, I think it's called. But the river overflowed and people couldn't get through. Our relay runner, my neighbor grace, was that leg and she couldn't. Like they were like wading through the side of the river, like that's not very safe. So they have since changed it to come down and across the bridge rather than go across the river. So smart yeah always some weather here at the burning river.

Olivia Joseph:

So, yeah, I hope to experience a little bit of all of it. I'm excited to watch the hundred milers run back and be like you suckers. Sucks to be young, which, like I feel like I can say cause, like you know in there, but like man that sucks. And if it's raining I'm going to like chuckle to myself a little bit more and be like good job, you got it.

Casey Koza:

Yeah.

Olivia Joseph:

I look forward to you know, doing a point to point, finishing a mile 50 and saying that was a fun day, you know.

Casey Koza:

Yep, watching them cook on the uh the hiking bike up there on on stow. Yeah, rob, that's a tough you. Well, you ran the marathon. That finishes on that.

Rob Myers:

Yeah, last, well, you ran the marathon that finishes on that. Yeah, last year and running it again this year. It's tough because it's hot and, man, that blacktop is just boiling. You can just feel the heat coming off of it and you're just done. At that point it's a rough part of the race.

Casey Koza:

I mean, I think the toughest trails of the course are definitely Wet, more salt run area. So you, it's after that and you, just you get up to this asphalt that's been baking in the hot sun hope and if it rains then it's 110 percent humidity, 90 degree dew point and there's just just a lot of suffering on that, on that hike and bike it's gonna be great I don't know why we like this sport so much, Rob.

Rob Myers:

Yeah, I don't know it's a silly sport.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, yeah, we will see. Well, that's awesome, olivia, we'll be out there, you know, rooting for you Awesome. Hopefully I see you. I'm sure I will.

Olivia Joseph:

You'll see me coming. I'm in all white but I'm intrigued. I just got a pair of Hoka Mach 6s after Heath has gone through like what feels like 15 pairs of them Because, like the Brooks ghosts have changed a bit in their newer models and I'm not loving the changes and I'm like I'm really excited to get this new pair of shoes. I like tried them out this morning. I'm like these feel pretty nice. We'll see what happens. I'm like it's going to pour and I'm going to have to wear trail shoes and it's going to be really funny.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, that is one thing. You could definitely wear road shoes for the Burning River if it doesn't rain.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah.

Casey Koza:

But if it rains it does get a little muddy through quite a few sections rains. It does get a little little muddy through quite a few sections. Sand run gets really, because that's a very well hiked, traveled trail so as soon as it rains that becomes super slick. Yeah, I'd never go on it when it rains because of that, because I've taken more than one spill into the woods. So, yeah, don't need that, rob, don't need that in my life.

Rob Myers:

No, no, I will be in trail shoes.

Olivia Joseph:

I'm going to be an all white and then I'm going to like eat it and then be like half white, half mud, and it's going to be great, you know.

Casey Koza:

Yeah, I actually had my burning river white long sleeve shirt on, okay One morning and I did. I just ate it at the top of like Dogwood trail and sand run and just had mud all down this brand new white shirt and I was like that was stupid to wear. So learn my lesson Also, learn that it is yeah, it's real slick out there, cause those are very well-traveled trails that if it hasn't rained for a little bit and then it rains, it does get a little dicey out there on the on the burning river. So looking forward to you seeing that and also live, definitely looking forward to your redemption down at rim to river and you know we will, you know, go for the wind down there. You know pick up another hundred mile wind. I'd like to hear more about it. So we're going to be rooting for you at the burning river. I'll be rooting for you watching the results come in at a rim to river down there in West Virginia, seeing some country roads.

Olivia Joseph:

Oh, I will, Don't you worry. As soon as we cross over that border, I put it on. I have to, you know.

Casey Koza:

I recommend the Timmy trumpet version. It's it's a, you know techno. I guess kids don't call it techno anymore, rob, I I believe it's edm they don't.

Rob Myers:

I think it's. Oh, you're right. Yeah, I heard that once. And then I heard clutch. Clutch is the thing I don't know. Fire something higher. All these new words I'm not familiar with skivity.

Casey Koza:

I think, I think I don't know what that means.

Olivia Joseph:

Maybe one day I'm good it's a new, new generational terms.

Casey Koza:

But yeah, country roads by timmy trumpet and the bass jackers, that's my jam. I do like it. They did a good job with it. So now we'll have to sing the country road song. Maybe next time, next episode, maybe we'll play that one rob. But ol, where can our listeners here at the Hobby Jogger find you?

Olivia Joseph:

My at name on Instagram is olivin underscore my life. O-l-i-v-i-n underscore my life. And then I guess Strava is Olivia Joseph. I think my picture is me really tired after 100 miles or so.

Casey Koza:

Perfect. Thanks again. So much Everyone. Please check out Olivia and he's podcast at miles ahead Ultra podcast.

Olivia Joseph:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Casey Koza:

We will see you next time.