Latest / Reimagine Running / Reimagine Running | Interview with Luke Richins S1E25
Transcript
- Ryan Head: Alright everybody, welcome back to Reimagine Running, the podcast talking about why we run. I'm excited today to have my next guest on. He is someone who, over the last year or two, has really been kind of taking Utah running by storm, in my honest opinion. ⁓ He is someone that truly, in my like, in in the few interactions that we've had in person, I've always been like, this guy is just so humble. He's like, he won't talk much about himself. So this is gonna be good to make him talk about himself on this on this episode of the podcast. ⁓ but he's just been a really humble dude. He's just like he just goes out, silently gets work done, ⁓ and just sends it. And that's what's been really cool. You know, one of my fun memories with him is, you know, in the past year, and and I again I don't wanna put the cart before the horse, is he was at the Wasich 100 with me in 2025, and he had a blazing ⁓ time there. ⁓ I don't want to give it away. I want him to be able to share a little bit of that because what talking Wasatch is usually my favorite thing to do on these episodes. So any who anybody who's been a part of it, anybody that's either ran, volunteered, ⁓ paced, man, that's that's my favorite. So I'm excited to talk to him about Wasatch as well as all the other things he's been doing ⁓ last year and what he's gonna be doing this year. So I'm expi excited to bring my very next guest on, Luke ⁓ Richens. Luke. Welcome to the podcast, man. Luke Richins: Hey, thanks Ryan. I'm glad to be on here. ⁓ I definitely don't feel like I've taken anything by storm, but I'm excited to be here to talk about running and especially to talk about Washatch. It's just such a such a special re race, so this will be great. Look looking forward to this. Ryan Head: That's that's awesome, dude. And and I really mean that. Like, I think the key is like the way I look at it is anybody that can do man, I don't want to give it away, but anyone that can do back-to-back grueling races within a month, ⁓ I think is doing something special. And I'm not I and ⁓ by by no means am I to saying people should do that. I'm just saying that if you can go do like a a hundred miler and then turn around do a fifty or another hundred within a month's time period. ⁓ you're doing some pretty crazy stuff. So, again, that's a teaser for people. Get excited because it's gonna be amazing to hear what he's doing. So, let me give you a little intro to who he is. So, Luke grew up in Bountiful and he currently lives in North Salt Lake. So, pretty close, kind of in that same area. He's married to his incredible wife, Brittany, ⁓ who and they've been married for eight years now. They have three kids, ages five down to two months old. There you go. He just and and he delivered, I like that story, he delivered. His second child in their bathroom at home. ⁓ I really want to hear a little bit about that story. That's gonna be crazy. So we'll we'll get to that in a second. ⁓ he has lots of hobbies outside of running, but the young family running is the hobby he can fit mostly around his schedule with his family, his job, so on and so forth. I'm excited to hear about some of his other hobbies because that's one of my favorite questions. We've been throwing at guests as they come on. And then ⁓ you know, he has been He's been running for a long time, but really got into it probably about three years ago. Again, probably he's answering all the questions I usually throw at people. But more than anything, I'm just excited to have Luke on today because I think this episode is gonna be amazing. So before we jump into it, as always, excuse me. Alright, as we do with every before we jump into it with every guest, I want to do a quick plug for our premiere sponsor, Fleet Fee, who's been doing an amazing job in the community, and they're just a great Great partner to have. If you have any shoe needs, nutrition needs, gear needs, go over and see those guys both in Ogden and Layton. They'll get you taken care of. Jamie and the team over there, ⁓ they're doing some great stuff. Again, just fantastic with the community, doing great stuff partnering with Ogden Marathon and other races in this area. So make sure to go get those guys checked out. If you have any shoe needs, nutrition needs, gear needs, they'll get you taken care of. So awesome. Well, Luke, let's do this, man. I've been excited for this episode. ⁓ it's one that I've been thinking about for for a little while now. ⁓ You know, before we jump into anything talking about running, I wanna ask you the question that I've been l I've been I I've had a lot of fun asking people. I've kind of drifted from it for the last couple of episodes, but I'm gonna throw it at you this time. So outside of running, tell me one of your other hobbies, man. Obviously you cut you kinda you kinda like alluded to it with your intro to me. ⁓ what's something else you're super passionate about or something else that you like outside of running? Luke Richins: Yeah, I would say my biggest hobby outside of ⁓ of running is definitely hunting. ⁓ and specifically bow hunting. So yeah, that's definitely the biggest one. Which makes it hard because most of your awesome hundred milers are fall races and almost all my hunting takes place in the fall, so it's it's a busy time for sure. Ryan Head: Okay. That's awesome. What's your favorite thing to hunt? Luke Richins: ⁓ definitely elk. ⁓ I actually so last year I shot so I ran Wasatch one Saturday and then the next Saturday morning ⁓ I shot an elk with my bow. So I think I'm in probably a really small percentage of people who have ever done that. Ryan Head: Yeah, that's crazy, man. I was gonna say, that's impressive. Like, that'd be like the ultimate back to back Saturdays. You're like one weekend you're celebrating a finish and then the next week I'm again, I'm putting the cart before the horse here, but ⁓ and then another weekend you're getting ⁓ you're getting a kill with ⁓ with you know, for it with an elk. That's amazing, dude. That's super, super cool. Do you have a favorite spot that you like to go to ⁓ in this area? I don't want I don't want you to give away your your favorite hunting places, but is there a place that you're like, yeah, we like to be Luke Richins: From Ryan Head: Whatever. You you don't have to give like specific location. Luke Richins: ⁓ let's just say that like mo Utah's hundred milers. I'm very f I was familiar with a lot of the courses before I run any of ⁓ you know, so I'll just put it there. I don't want to be giving away any spots, but I love the Wasatch front, you know. I mean I can there's so many things I can do before I get before I like sit down for a day of work or before I, you know, come out on a Saturday, you know. And go for a long run, you can hunt for a half day, ⁓ backcountry ski climb, there's so many things. ⁓ and so So I won't blow it up, but let's just say that I've I've spent a l I was very familiar with much of the Wasatch course before I ever stepped afoot on, before I ever knew about the race. Ryan Head: That's cool. No. Honestly, no that surprises me just because I I have a couple of friends who who like to do stuff I'll just say around Big Mountain. I won't say any more than that. And then ⁓ my very first year running Wasatch of all things right w right around sessions lift off, so right around mile twenty of the course, ⁓ I ran into a bunch of hunters and I remember being like, Man, I'm so glad I and and that yeah, that was the year I had my orange hoodie on and I like, Man, I'm glad I have orange on today. So Luke Richins: What Ryan Head: Anyways, they were really cool. They were like super nice. They're like they were cheering for us. It was they were just they were fantastic. And so, ⁓ So it was awesome. So that's super cool. We won't give away any of your locations. I don't blame you for s not saying that, but ⁓ definitely seen a lot of hunters as I've run ⁓ the Wasatch 100 before. So that is cool. Well, awesome, dude. You know what? Before we jump into it, I you're gonna be the first guest. I throw two questions at. I think it's gonna be really cool. So you alluded to helping ⁓ deliver your second baby. I've a I kinda wanna hear this story. Like, because one thing that I've I've Found fascinating as I've been doing these episodes, and you know, I know you've been listening to a few of them, is everybody has this different life outside of running. And I know this is what this podcast is about. It's about running, why we run. It's cool to hear people's stories, but I also like to hear people's just like what happens in their regular life and whatnot. And when I hear something like this, it gets me kind of excited. I'm like, dude, that is wild that you had to deliver. Like that was one of my honest fears, to be honest with you. So, dude, yeah, tell like we had two kids and That was like one of my biggest fears. And I could tell you about our second and how that almost happened as well. But luckily it didn't. And ⁓ we made it to the hospital and everything was okay. But yeah, how d what happened, dude? Like I wanna hear more about this story. Luke Richins: ⁓ so my my wife was from like the time that we got married, she was very into the idea of home birth and I was pretty against it. ⁓ however she convinced me. ⁓ and so we've actually had all three of our kids at home. ⁓ using this just using the midwife and so all three of my kids have been born in North Salt Lake and they're among the very few kids born in North Salt Lake because we don't have any hospitals. So with my daughter, ⁓ my first our first child, ⁓ labor was pretty long. like it it started and then it kinda plateaued and it just took a while. ⁓ and so when my wife was pregnant with my son, she went into labor at like, I think like ten o'clock. and we didn't wanna we let our midwife know, but we didn't wanna bug her because we thought that things were gonna take a while to ramp up. And so we did some prep. You know, there's you know, you blow up a birth pool and get h warm water in it. ⁓ and it became increasingly apparent that this baby was coming way faster than we anticipated. ⁓ and so we you know, sh ⁓ we called her, she was like twenty minutes away, she got all of her stuff and started on her way and we realized like we can't stop this baby, he's coming now. So ⁓ unexpectedly delivered the baby in our bathroom. ⁓ everything turned out fine. He's super healthy and happy, but it was a very, very ⁓ intense and adrenaline-filled night for sure. Ryan Head: That's crazy. Wow. Hopefully it was a little bit cheaper for you too. I'm just teasing, I'm teasing, but Luke Richins: No, as it turns out, catching the baby's the easy part, is what I was told. So ⁓ but no, it was I mean, it was scary. Like I'd seen my daughter be born, but he came out and the cord was kind of around his neck and my wife wasn't like she was like standing, so I actually caught him and I couldn't remember like is this a normal color that they're supposed to be? And it it just was it was very, very nerve wracking. And then we had this beautiful ten minutes after, you know, the baby was breathing and everything was good where we got to just Ryan Head: Yeah, that's awesome. Luke Richins: My wife and I got to sit with our brand new baby just waiting for ⁓ the our our midwife to to show up at the house and help with all the other stuff was which is the reason we pay her. ⁓ and so it was it was really great. Yeah, it was intense. But I'm very glad to report that the third baby was far and away the easiest birth for me. So I did no work. I I mean I had to do I had to do like work, but there's no catching the baby. I gotta be very in the moment. Ryan Head: That's awesome. Hmm. Luke Richins: Way better than baby two. Ryan Head: That's awesome. That's crazy. Well, dude, that is that is impressive. Well done. ⁓ I think that that is like the ultimate for so many of us, ⁓ you know, guys with with our wives, if you will, and and just being like, ⁓ man, like I hope I don't have to be called into action 'cause you you know, you y especially on your first, I think you're like, Man, I don't want to break this kid and you're afraid and You're you learn quickly after having a kid that, you know, they're not they're you know, they're not brittle, they don't fall apart, you know, kids are very resilient, but you're nervous, you're nervous, especially on some of those you know, on the first one. So, anyways, that's crazy, dude. Well, congratulations. ⁓ you've done what probably ninety nine percent of the population has never done before, especially in our day and age, maybe two hundred years ago that was par for the course, but ⁓ but yeah, definitely not in our day and age. So that's crazy. Well thanks for sharing that, dude. That's that's kinda cool. I was very ear I was very curious about that story, but well cool. We'll jump into it, man. You know, kinda like I do with every guest, the same question I kick this off with with everybody. When did running kind of first enter your life? Was it when you were junior high, high school, elementary or You know, I know you kind of alluded to it already. You said it was probably about three years ago it really took off, but I also think you said ⁓ it's kind of always been there too. So yeah, tell us maybe when it first kind of became important to you in your life, man. Luke Richins: Yeah, I don't know if I would say it was like important at this stage, but when it first came into my life, so I had ⁓ like my parents, I wouldn't call them like athletes, but I had very, very like consistent, like disciplined parents. So my mom would wake up several mornings a week and run like three to six miles. My dad rode his bike a lot. He would ride his bike from Bountiful to Midvale to go to work and back sometimes, it's like twenty miles, and he'd time himself. So I mean I had like very consistent parents and I'm not Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: I'm not quite sure why they did this, but probably when I was in like junior high, or maybe I was in elementary school and my dad started doing this, he would like rollerblade across Davis Boulevard in Bountiful And he would have me ride my bike along with him in the mornings. So we'd wake up like a couple mornings a week and do that. And then that turned into my mom would have me come and run with her sometimes in the summer and you know, it stayed throughout the school year. And so I wasn't running, you know, at a pretty young age, I was running several miles, you know, like three mu three to four miles a couple of times a week. ⁓ and so I think it was just there. ⁓ I wasn't a good runner, but I was Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: I was getting out and doing it. I've never quite understood why they did that, because they didn't with my other siblings, but maybe they just needed to get the energy out of me, I don't know. Ryan Head: Yeah, that's crazy. That's super cool to hear. And like I've said before with so many of my other guests, I find it fascinating how not fascinating, probably that's not the right word. It's just it's consistent. Like how vi how how much our parents impact our like our our lives, right? And whether that's with, you know, intellectually, whether that's physically, whether that's emotionally, spiritually, whatever, right? Our parents play such a huge role in that. And it's really cool to hear that you, like so many of my other guests that I've had on, you know, whether it because their parents did something like this with them, ⁓ it became important in their life. And again, that maybe like you said, maybe it wasn't that you were good at it at the time and I don't think any you know, s eight, nine, ten, whatever age you were when you were doing this, is necessarily good at running, but it it kinda started to like plant that seed, if you will, or or set that foundation for you. I think that's so important. I I love hearing these types of stories because ⁓ I I always tell people, you know, you know, I get a lot of people say, like how why do you do hundreds? Why do you why do you do the crazy things you do? And I'm like, you know, my dad taught me early age like I can do hard things, and that I'm capable of doing things That people don't normally think is possible. And I appreciate that about my dad because he would get us up, and I I hated it at the time. My dad would be like, my dad worked up a Hill Air Force base, and he would get ⁓ every other Friday off in the summer. Well, he'd get every other Friday off no matter what, but then he'd like get tons of PTO or vacation or whatever, and he'd like save that stuff for the summer and work us to death. We lived on a kind of a farm, if you will, and my my parents had a landscaping business too, so I kid you not like. Summers. I almost like was so excited when fall and winter came along because I was just like, dude, he can't work us, but we would spend all summer long just getting worked to death. And and I remember being like, I hated it. Like, I was out there in the sun, just like digging trenches, like digging, you know, putting pipes together, putting like you know, valve boxes together, all the stuff, and I was I hate every minute of this, like, this is no fun. But it's kind of been cool because as it's transitioned into my older life, like I did an LDS mission. At times that was really really hard. I I went to college, I got both my bachelor's, my masters, and then you I've I've kind of sprung this into going on a mission or ⁓ you know, doing these ultras and I can do hard. And I think that's wh I I'm I'm just super grateful for my parents for for instilling that in me. So just super cool. So so cool to hear that, you know, you kind of had that same experience. I think is pretty awesome. Luke Richins: Yeah, and I think it's interesting too that when you have these these difficult experiences, right? Like you alluded to, you know, like working hard in your youth and ⁓ you know, like an LDS mission or something of that. What I don't feel like people talk about enough is like the fun of it. Like that's you know, I wor I've worked with kids talking about like, you know, going on an LDS mission or going to college and stuff and you always people always like want to scare ⁓ and tell ⁓ how hard it is, but you have to remind ⁓ like, listen, it's gonna be fun. Ryan Head: Yep. Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: you're gonna have a lot of fun times. And that's what I tell people about the ultras. Like I don't think people necessarily believe it, but large parts of it are really pretty fun. Like it's enjoyable. Or else I don't think I would do it if I just hated every minute of it. ⁓ and so I think being able to find like j some parts of joy and things you like and difficult things is is part of how we grow. So Ryan Head: Yeah. Dude, you like I love that. I hundred percent agree with you 'cause like like you said, I remember, you know, not that we're getting on our a religious podcast episode, but like I remember being a missionary and I remember missionaries hating being out there. And I get it, right? Sometimes, like especially a lot of our our listeners, either are LDS or know the LDS culture. ⁓ And like at times, yeah, it's a it's a pain in the butt. But like it's finding the fun in that. And like I love that you transition that to ultra running because like you like you said, like there are times where it's hard. I know the hard times of my on hundreds and and marathons and any other distance, but there are those times where you're like, This is so much fun and quite frankly a lot of the times it is fun. ⁓ it's just those those dark moments can get really dark, as you know and I know. ⁓ You know, especially when you're trying to climb up Catherine's pass in the dark or I don't know, maybe you got there before it got dark, but Luke Richins: ⁓ no, I was we we'll we'll talk about that. Catherine's was one of the highlights of my race. Yeah. Ryan Head: ⁓ dude, that's awesome. I've done it three times now and ⁓ I don't know if anytime it's ever been a highlight. I just know I just gotta get up it. And for some reason I'm weird, but if it's dark, it's easier for me to climb. That's how the Bear 100's been. Everyone always talks about how horrible Tony Grove the climb up to Tony Grove is. And I personally, just me personally, I don't find it hard. ⁓ just because I always do it in the dark. ⁓ because I'm not as fast as a lot of other people. And so when I do it in the dark, I'm like, dude, this is actually really sweet. ⁓ it's not bad, it's just, you know, just climb, just keep climbing. But when it's light and I can see how far I still have to go. That's what it usually kind of starts to mess with me mentally. So but that's cool. I I really appreciate you bringing that up about finding the joy and all this and and the fun because ⁓ it is meant to be fun because if you're if you were doing this if we're doing these crazy things we're paying to do this stuff right if we're doing it why why are we paying to not be happy about it? Like I love that you say that. So yeah thanks for sharing that. So ⁓ well cool dude. Well let's transit let's let's move forward a little bit. So as a kid you did this You know, it sounds like you went on an LDS mission, you came back. ⁓ what was your what was your twenties like, you know, and you know, as you've been slowly getting to running and maybe I don't know. I mean obviously I've got your ultra sign up profile pulled up here, but did you run any like road races? Were you ever doing any of that kind of stuff? Like when did running kind of start to creep back into your life, if you will, and kind of became important again? Luke Richins: Yeah, so in my early twenties I realized that like while I had had like a really good childhood and a lot of like f I did a lot of cool things that there were there were like gaps in my resume you can call it and so like in in my early twenties within not that long I picked up I started running a lot more. ⁓ I taught myself how to snowboard, I taught myself how to mountain bike, ⁓ and I just started really trying to get just I just sort started trying to be outside more. I realized that was what I w what I really liked. ⁓ and so I yeah, so my twenties were I mean, I was single for a lot of it, just trying to push through school and so I was ⁓ I actually was trying to plan my college years, my college schedule around. I wanted to have several days open each week so that I could go snowboard at Snow Basin. ⁓ that was like my my thing and so I planned that around. I didn't Ryan Head: Ha. Luke Richins: work a ton. and I was kinda just trying to trying to make sure that I was progressing forward in the school and employment thing while also having a lot of fun. ⁓ and I feel like I did a pretty good job of that. and I I mean I I feel like I kept doing that for a while. ⁓ and then in my mid twenties I was I was still biking, I was still I was rock climbing a lot more at the time. ⁓ but I was working full time and doing school several nights a week, ⁓ trying to get my masters. And so I was just bur I was just burnt out all the time. Like I wasn't sleeping hardly at all. I was just like barely hanging on. ⁓ and then I got married right after I got my masters and things got way better. So Ryan Head: Yeah. That's awesome. I hear ya. I hear you about being burnt out, man. I when I did my masters, I unfortunately well, fortunately sorry, I shouldn't say that. My wife will shoot me for saying that. I was married and we had our second in the middle of my MBA program and Luke Richins: Ooh, yeah. Ryan Head: I love my wife. I'm grateful to be married to her, but that almost I think that almost ended our marriage single-handedly. Being in school, having a baby. You know the late nights with MBA program assignments. It's a nightmare. Absolutely. And I wasn't running at the time. All I was doing was working out at the gym. So ⁓ I don't if I had gotten into ultra running at that time, I think things would have gone sideways 100% guaranteed. So anyway, sorry to interrupt you. I just love it you say that because I'm like, dude, MBA was really hard. Any of our listeners who are thinking about going in for an MBA or master's doesn't have to be in business administration. Luke Richins: Yeah. Ryan Head: Just know it's hard. It does take up a lot of time. It's fun again. It goes back to what we were talking about before. It is fun. ⁓ it's fun to learn. I felt like that intellectually I grew a lot in those years, but ⁓ it's stressful. Big time. Luke Richins: Yeah, for sure. And so I mean those those years were filled with I feel like I was ⁓ I was riding bikes a lot and I was like I was mountain biking more than anything. ⁓ I'd run like here and there just kinda to keep in shape. ⁓ and then I was rock climbing a lot. ⁓ and what's funny is so I w I was probably twenty two when I ran my first marathon, but I like did no research. I was I like Ryan Head: ⁓ cool. Luke Richins: Just trained for a summer. I had no idea about nutrition. I'm thinking back, I'm pretty sure I didn't eat anything the morning of the marathon. ⁓ and I pulled my IT band and walked it in. ⁓ it was so bad. And my IT band was just such a problem that I I kind of got in my own head and told myself that I wasn't built to run long distances, which is hilarious now. ⁓ and I stayed away from running. I I would run like Ryan Head: ⁓ yeah. Luke Richins: twice a week for like three miles and I did that for years at at most. So I was running maybe six to ten miles a week, but I was just I was like riding my mountain bike off jumps and drops and rock climbing. So I was just I don't know, I was just kinda dumb. It was really fun though. Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. That's awesome. Dude, that's crazy. Okay, we have to go here because I love that you brought up your first marathon. What was your first marathon and what was your time if you can remember? Maybe you're like Ryan, I don't remember what my time was, but hey, even if you're guesstimating what was it? ⁓ nice, yeah, yeah. Heck yeah, that was great r that was a great race. Luke Richins: ⁓ I was top of Utah. Yeah, and I I honestly don't know. I don't think I've ever looked it up. ⁓ I like I said, I I think I just wrecked my IT band and I'm pretty sure I like walked it in. I it it must have been four and a half plus hours. I don't know what it was, but it was it was not very good. So Ryan Head: Yeah. Hey, that was my first full marathon as well. I was four thirty-seven. I've never forgotten. So I I I w it's funny how it's almost been it's been it was eight years this year since my first one and how far I've come and I'm like, man, I I shaved a whole hour off. This was the first year that I shaved an hour off and I felt good about that. But ⁓ I was like wow, go no yeah, go for it. Luke Richins: Yeah, and I yeah, what's funny is when I got back sorry, when I got back into running, ⁓ I decided that I was just gonna like run a marathon by myself, you know, and just I had like ⁓ what do they call them? Like a camelback and I like threw some food in there and I did it on roads, but I think I gained like two thousand feet of vert and I did it in under four hours. And so now I look back and I was like Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Luke Richins: Huh, I really did not do very well. I did not prepare very well that first marathon at all. So I'm I probably should do one just to see where I'm at, but I'm just I don't have the desire right now. So we'll see. Maybe soon. Ryan Head: Yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know what, and and that's totally cool. It's funny how we've had a lot of people on who, you know, whether they're they're focused more on roads or they're focused on trails right now, it's totally fine. And sometimes it's like, you know, I I would love to do a road road like I've kinda said the same thing. Like I think I've come along I've come far enough now that I think I could probably Boston qualify, ⁓ because I've learned enough about myself running. But I don't I'm having so much fun on trails, I don't know if I want to at this point. So I think that's cool. I totally get where you're coming from. So That's super, super cool. So okay. So you told us about your first marathon. Dude, take us the last three years. Like, what's been going on these last three years as you've really gotten into? Because you've done a really good lead up talking about how you're like, Yeah, I was more into biking and you know, rock climbing and then right, you were going to school, you got married, all the regular stuff, which is so, so cool. I love hearing about these things. ⁓ but You know, obviously running took a turn for some reason. Yeah, like tell us more about this man. Why what got you back into it and got you going crazy direction you're going now. Luke Richins: Yeah, so ⁓ s so probably ⁓ so I think I really started running three years ago. ⁓ I had been like I said, I have tons of hobbies. ⁓ I was candy mirroring a lot at the time, so I like going down to the desert several times a year. and I was still snowboarding a lot and like I had had we'd had one we'd had one kid, so leaving my wife didn't feel too bad. And then the second one came and it kinda became like, okay, this is Leaving leaving the kids is now a burden. ⁓ and at that same time I read a book. ⁓ it's the only self-health book I've ever read. It's called The Comfort Crisis. And ⁓ I don't know if you've read it, really good book, and one of the main points of it is we're too comfortable and it's not good for us. And then also it the guy made a really b good point about like humans are made to run long distances. ⁓ so I got in, you know, I got in better shape than I'd ever been in. Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: And ⁓ summer of twenty-three I was just running trails a lot more. ⁓ I was getting out I was getting out way more and in good shape. ⁓ and I had a friend in my neighborhood who'd signed up for Wasatch. And I you know, good guy, I didn't I like we weren't like close, ⁓ but he had a pacer dropout and he asked me to come run with him. And I I didn't think I could do it because of so it's ⁓ big mountain lambs Ryan Head: Go. Luke Richins: and I said, I haven't run that far this year, I haven't run that much elevation. I don't think I can I don't know if I'm gonna be able to keep up with you. And my good friend Matt Sanford said, You should just come, you'll enjoy it. ⁓ and I had I had a blast. I thought it was so fun and I was instantly sucked in. and within I think within let's see within four or five months I was I did my first fifty. so Ryan Head: Mm. Ha ha ha. Heck yeah. Luke Richins: It might have been six, but I I just got pulled in and I had all these things that just kinda pushed me into ultra running is gonna be your thing now and it all really worked out well. ⁓ so I just had a very I had a very hot start. Ryan Head: That's awesome. That's super cool. I've always like said that to people, is I'm like, if you come to a hundred miler, whether that's you know, and it could be any other ones in this area, whether it's Wasatch, Bear, ⁓ Antelope, Bu you know, Buffalo one hundred, ⁓ Scout Mountain, yeah, Ute, Salt Flats, Pony Express. I don't care. You name any one of the hundreds out there, if you come to it, you're c it it can be very it can be very bad because you're like I gotta throw my hat in the ring. Like I've gotta figure out if I can do this. Especially where like you you know you're a good enough runner, like you know you're a good enough athlete. Like you at this point, right, you're in your thirties and you're like, Well, I've been, you know, I've done marathons, like I I can l I can suffer, I can do this, like, you know, and that's the cool thing that I've loved about ultra running is like getting from new friends to do it and they're like, Dude I want to do this. I'm like, you should do this, like and I know this sport is exploding. And in a lot of ways that's probably it may be bad, right? Because it's harder to get into races. But I'm also like, I love it. Like, you know what, the more there is, because it's, you know, it's the whole supply and demand curve, if you will. And, you know, if there's a if there's huge demand, then there's gonna be more supply. Like people are gonna come keep coming up with races to do. And, you know, I know you had a good friend who who was doing a race this year. ⁓ he did a backyard ultra up there at Manaway. And ⁓ I thought that was a cool race. Like I didn't run it, but I, you know, I spent a little bit of time. time there and ⁓ so it's cool like you're starting to see some new races coming out ⁓ and different formats too it doesn't necessarily have to be a hundred it can be you know a four hour or four mile loop but it's cool to see people getting into this because it's like like you said like you start to believe in yourself and you're like I'm capable of this like I can totally do it so that's awesome though I know that you know obviously I've I know the big mountain to lambs it's cool that you you stick with it because I know that section can be screaming hot. Was it hot when you paste it? Luke Richins: Yeah, it was super hot. And what's funny is you bring up like, well, hey, you you know like you said like, ⁓ you know that you could do it and I absolutely did not. I had I did not have that kind of faith in myself. ⁓ but I'll tell you what, man, brick by brick, all of a sudden the faith starts starts to grow and you start believing that you can do it. So it's wild. And I and I think the the supply and demand thing is interesting because you're you know, you talked about some classic hundred milers in Utah, right? And in the last few years we've had goat rattler Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: ⁓ I know of a hundred that should be starting next year from talking to a race director. I know a different one who's trying to get another one going. I think that we're gonna see ⁓ higher supply and so you're gonna have some races that are gonna be lotteries and hard to get into, but I think we're gonna still have that that local cool race, which I'm really looking forward to 'cause I'm a big, you know, support your local race guy. Ryan Head: That's super cool. Yeah, and I 100% agree with you. It it's cool to see some of these smaller ones coming to fruition. And ⁓ I'm not gonna lie, like when I did the Buffalo 100 on Antelope Island, it's a it's a smaller race. I don't know if they're ever gonna bring back the hundred. I hope they do. ⁓ so Luke Richins: Breaking news, they're bringing it back. Thanks. Ryan Head: Yeah, good, good. I'm like, Fink, come on, buddy. It'd be nice if you brought it back. Come on now. I've I've been messaging them a little bit, but that's cool that they're gonna bring it back. but, ⁓ I loved how small it was. To me that was really cool to be like I love that it there wasn't you know, four hundred runners like there is at Wasuch and Bear. It was like Luke Richins: Wing. Ryan Head: I think when I did it there was like sixty. I I think I'm being generous. Like running the hundred. Obviously there was more for the fifty, the fifty K, the twenty-five K, but Luke Richins: I think that's I think that's right, 'cause that's where we met, right? I think it was there was not a lot of people up there. I was a little surprised. ⁓ cool race though. Ryan Head: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great race and it's a fun course. I love everything about it. Obviously it was my place where I I DNF for my first time too, but it was such a such a good place. And I've always been like, you know, I know he ⁓ he didn't do it this year, but I'm like, come on, bud, you gotta bring it back. So, anyways, that's great news. And ⁓ hopefully we don't get in trouble for saying that, but hopefully, ⁓ hopefully we'll bring back. I know there's a lot of people very, very excited to to do that. So, well cool, dude. So let's let's jump into this first so was your very first ⁓ hundred not hundred. Your very first fifty miler was the Antelope Canyon, ⁓ fifty miler in Page, Arizona. Luke Richins: Yeah, yeah, so that's ⁓ that's a vacation races race. ⁓ it w that was a cool race. ⁓ that's the one that goes through you go through Antelope Canyon and through Horseshoe Bend. And then most years you get to go through another slot canyon, but didn't get the permits that year. But that's yeah, that was a good race. Ryan Head: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, to walk us through it a little bit. I mean, obviously you you did great with that race. You were overall seventeenth. ⁓ in your division you were fourteenth. ⁓ that's fantastic. He had a great time for fifty miler. I mean, that's that's that's not jump change, right? Like you're you're moving for that. Yeah, how did that all go for you? Hmm. Luke Richins: ⁓ yeah, Antelope, I mean I I went in with no expectations. My family asked how long do you think this is gonna take? And I said, Let's call it twelve hours and see how it goes. ⁓ like I had no pacing chart, ⁓ I just kinda went off of how I felt. ⁓ went really well. That's a really sandy race. ⁓ and so sometimes moving felt really slow. ⁓ and then a lot of times you're on slick rock too. ⁓ and so the navigation actually got pretty tough as you know well I don't know if you've done desert races, but those desert races can be tough when you're, you know, trying to go over, you know, up and over these little ⁓ these little up and downs to try and see where the you know, see the next place we were supposed to go is. But ⁓ it was a beautiful race. It was early enough in the year that it wasn't super hot. ⁓ but I had, you know, your classic thirty miles, my stomach went, ⁓ nothing tasted good and I was too scared to try new foods. ⁓ Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: But I I pushed pretty hard and I felt ⁓ I felt like it was a good race. I had a lot of family support and yeah, I think I was like ten hours twenty five minutes or something. So I mean ⁓ there you go. Yeah. So Ryan Head: Yeah, you're spot on in 21 seconds. Well done, dude. Well done. The That's impressive. Give give our listeners a little bit of advice about nutrition. What's something you have learned since then about nutrition? Cause I love what you said about how you're like sometimes things start to go sideways with nutrition. ⁓ and especially early on, because heaven knows I was the same way. ⁓ but Tell us a little bit more, yeah. I'd love to hear something that you have changed that has really helped you accomplish your goals because obviously you're not doing what you've been doing ⁓ in 2025 and then also this year as well ⁓ by getting lucky and just hoping that nutrition works out. Luke Richins: I'm sure we'll get into this later, but I have had some real nutrition slash heat fails. ⁓ and so I'm not an expert. But ⁓ once I kind of started to figure out more of here are Here's about the amount of ⁓ carbs that I need an hour. Here's the calories, and here's the easiest way to do the math on that, to actually keep up with it. ⁓ that's when I I feel like I started to really improve in the later parts of the race. You know, the first couple of hours you can kind of fudge it. but as as I've spent more time learning about it and trying to dial it in, I mean I'm not doing anything special. Everything I'm not buying like specialty products. I'm buying stuff from the grocery store and just making it work. I just think that figuring out how to eat while moving, ⁓ and that something doesn't have to taste good for it to be nutritious and something you should eat. Like I remember at ⁓ at Antelope, once like peanut butter sandwiches and pretzels and salty things, once they didn't t taste good, I stopped eating And I've realized now that you just gotta chew those things, put some water in it and just Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: Suck it down. It's it's sad, but it's true. You just have to like force feed yourself and say, I need the calories and I can't eat something sweet right now. I'm just gonna have to eat this, even though it does not taste good at all. Ryan Head: Yep. Dude, perfectly said. Thank you for sharing that. It's good for our listeners to hear stuff outside of me always sharing the same advice, but ⁓ I a hundred percent agree with you. Like you have to be get past the idea that it always has to taste good, it's always gotta feel good. ⁓ you know, when it comes to f eating food, right, out there. Because, you know, I know a lot of times people are like, ⁓ man, I just want to die I just want to coke out here and that's all I want. And I'm like, dude, you've got to eat more than a coke. Like drink, obviously. I know that's drinking, but you're like 'cause they're like, I don't want to eat any more food, I just I just want to coke and I'm like, Okay, you're gonna DNF if that's all you're doing. Like you got to do more. I'm like and I'd say the same thing always. I'm like, listen Get get a couple of these peanut butter j beater peanut butter and jelly squares or whatever, or get a quesadilla, start getting some of this food in ya, get the potato chips, just chew it up, drink a bunch of water and slosh it down ya. And I'm like, I know you don't want to, do it. Like it's gonna keep you in the race. So thank you for sharing that. I think that truly is is like once you're like mile sixty, if you will, ⁓ that just becomes the name of the game. Like you're just like, Yeah, I just gotta push through this no matter what. So awesome advice. So Well, cool. ⁓ before we jump into what you did this year in 2026, you had a big 2025. I am excited to chat with you about this because I think you did some crazy stuff. You had a fat you had a fantastic year. And it all started at Connor's Claim. 50 Miler in Stockton, Utah. What happened there, dude? I don't want to give it away. What did you do? This is where you really got on my radar if you if you want me to be completely honest. Because ⁓ I remember thinking What in the world? And a couple of my friends were like, dude, do you know who Luke is? And I was like, ⁓ I'm like we follow each other on Strava and I think like Instagram, but I don't think I know him that well. And then that was when I was like, Okay, this guy this guy's special. So yeah, tell us what happened at Connor's Claim. Luke Richins: Yeah, Connors is wild. ⁓ so that's ⁓ so for the listeners, if you aren't aware, so Connors Claims takes place out in Stockton, Utah between it's really like a mining and ⁓ just it's almost like a ghost town. ⁓ really pretty area, you know, like big mountains, and it's it's one of the steepest fifty milers in the country. ⁓ it's ⁓ I think it's got like almost fourteen thousand feet of vert, ⁓ and a lot of it is actually backloaded. ⁓ so it's really like it's a tough race. It'll push ya. ⁓ very small race, but I ⁓ I think there were maybe fifteen to twenty of us that towed the line, and of that I wanna say that a third had taken a podium at a different race and we had some guys who were so fast. that race was really good. ⁓ I At le well it was for me. ⁓ I had volunteered at it the year before. I had really trained hard for it. I had spent all spring doing doing lots of vert working on, you know, like like climbing a hill, running down and then climbing a different hill to get my legs really used to like the up and down of a race like that. and the first I I feel like I stayed really in my zone for probably twenty five to like thirty miles. I didn't want to race. I didn't want to try and push for anything. and I I just kinda like played my game. I had you know I had a pacer come out and help me and that race is interesting because you come into mile twenty-four and then you do two loops of the same section where you go clockwise and then you go counterclockwise. So you are going to get to see everybody who's in front of you and then everybody's who b who's behind you. ⁓ and starting at mile twenty-four and going until mile forty, it's two eight mile loops. ⁓ and so on the first loop I f ⁓ I'd been in fourth place all day, but somebody dropped, so I found out that I was in third. ⁓ and I found out that I was probably a a mile, maybe a mile and a half behind second. ⁓ and then 'Cause we passed each other on this out and back. And then I figured out that I was about six miles behind first. ⁓ and the guy in first is insane. He's his name's Sam Collins. He is a wasatch killer. He is so fast. ⁓ he's crazy. I knew I wasn't gonna catch him. and so at that point my goal became I'm on the podium, I don't wanna lose this and let's see if I can move up into second. ⁓ so again I stayed I stayed behind him for the entire next loop and knew that he wasn't too far ahead of me. ⁓ he left like the mile 48 station at the same time that I a couple minutes after I pulled in. ⁓ and I knew from there it was gonna be we had a huge climb and I had poles, I was feeling pretty good, and I figured that if I was gonna catch him, I was gonna have to catch him on the climb. so I caught him a couple miles in. ⁓ he was actually sitting on the side of the trail, just like felt like he couldn't move any ⁓ er no, he he was like doubled over on his poles and saw me looking backwards through his legs and then just sat down on the side of the trail, like kind of defeated. And I felt a little bit bad, but ⁓ I passed him, which was cool. ⁓ and I knew the other guy was so far ahead of me that I had no chance and so I at that point I was just pushing to try and ⁓ get close to the get close the course record and beat that knowing that I was gonna come in second. ⁓ and Connors, the the race director Jimmy Thomas is really like mean because you get to this beautiful ATV road that cuts across ⁓ this mountain and then you look and realize that the course does not follow that beautiful ATV road to the to the next aid station and You actually have to go straight up this like scree mountain to the top of a mountain, and then you have to go straight off the other side of that same scree mountain to get to the eight station. It is extremely rude and very, very on par for Jimmy. it I mean, it's so bad. But Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: As I came to that road and started climbing, my dad and I, who was my dad was pacing me, ⁓ we looked up and realized that there was a runner in front of me, and I legitimately thought that it was a 50k runner who had just gotten way behind. ⁓ and as we got closer, I recognized that no, it was the first place guy, and he'd just been having a real hard time of it. ⁓ So we he and I hit the peak together, ⁓ and then dropped off to the aid station at the same time. And I just was feeling good and I was really worried because he's so much faster than me. So I made a really quick eight station stop, told him bye and I'll see you at the finish one way or another. ⁓ and basically just ran my heart out. ⁓ I had there was one short climb and then I had about five miles on a gravel road and I looked it up today. I think I ran like ten minute mile, nine minute mile Nine minute mile, eight and a half minute mile, ten minute mile or something. I was at the end of a fifty fifty miler after my legs are just thrashed, that was like all I had in me. and I and so I I did take the win. It was completely unexpected. It was pretty wild. Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Heck yeah. Dude dude, congratulations. I I remember hearing about this and you know hearing people talking about they're dwho's dude who's this Luke Richards guy? He just won the Connors claim. And again, very well known thanks to Jacob Bateman about how difficult this race is. He loves to tell everybody about it on all you know, when he was doing his podcast, he'd talk about it all the time. ⁓ which again, not saying it's not hard. I totally understand. That's it's a tough fifty miler and fifty K but ⁓ but yeah, just so so impressive what you did. And I remember being like, Whoa, this guy crushed it. And then I know me and you have been chatting at that time and you're like, hey, I'm gonna do Wasatch this year. And I'm like, dude, like, let's go. Like you're gonna do fantastic at Wasatch just because of what you just did here. So you know, without further ado, let's go to Wasatch in 2025. I mean, I was there with you. you know, walk us through how that went for you and yeah last year in 2025. Luke Richins: Yeah, Waspatch was great. I mean I I timed things wrong, so I was at the do this just based on the time that I got there and trying to use the facilities, I was at the very back of the race. You and I, I think high fived right at the start line. but it probably was a good thing. ⁓ I mean I think Wasatch is awesome. Like that bear climb is so hard and I like you got stung several times on the on the climb, which was so I I don't think I'll ever forget all of us ⁓ Ryan Head: Yeah, yeah, that's right. Luke Richins: Like we fanned out and there were like eight of us and I think we just kinda figured that they can't attack all of us if we fan out far enough. And just running along that stupid shale up bare trying not to get trying not to get bit was just crazy. ⁓ that was so hard. 'Cause you got you got stung what, like ten times or something? Ryan Head: ⁓ I was twelve plus. I quit I quit counting after I and the cool thing is I as I've told a lot of people, I actually took pictures of it 'cause I'm like, no one will ever believe that I that I got sung twelve times so or plus. 'Cause I I I quit counting at twelve. I like, dude, I'm d I think Luke Richins: Games. Ryan Head: Doesn't it's a mute point at this point, like doesn't matter. And I maybe I should have DNF'd, I don't know, but I was like, you know what? I had trained so hard last well, in twenty twenty five and I was like I had all these plans. I mean I wasn't gonna be anywhere near where your pace was, but I was hoping to be a lot faster. ⁓ and the ratios became a survival fest and and I've I've talked about that a few times on other podcasts and on here as well. But yeah, that was rough, man. Like how many times were you stung? Did you get did you get a count or you just knew it was a few times? Luke Richins: I I think I was only I was probably only three or four. ⁓ I was I was pretty fortunate, yeah. And 'cause I was one of the fur there was a you know, I was in a conga line and I was one of the first people to get stung and then somehow made it through like the second wave. W I think I only got one more one or two more after that. So I felt pretty fortunate 'cause it was yeah, that was gnarly. Long Wood of Lost Batch twenty twenty five. ⁓ yeah. Ryan Head: You are so lucky dude. ⁓ nice. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. I love that. I know I actually know the person who came up with the AI image of that and he started sending it out to everybody. It was pretty funny w when he did that because he he knew about what happened and so he he created it and set it out and that was hilarious. Dude, I ⁓ I you know before well, I we'll jump into it a little bit with with ⁓ did you feel like the wasps affected your race at all? Like did you feel like cause for me it kept making my heart like the it was spiking my adrenaline, ⁓ the wasp venom. Luke Richins: What did they? ⁓ that's awesome. Ryan Head: ⁓ And so anytime I tried to run, my heart rate would jump up to like 171. ⁓ I just couldn't do anything. All I could do is walk, and even walking, right? Like if I go walk on the trails tomorrow morning, I'm gonna be like a 110, maybe, maybe, maybe even less than that. ⁓ I was walking at a 151 heart rate, and I was like, My race is over. I remember just saying, like, I'm not gonna drop, they're gonna have to pull me from the race, which I was not gonna fight them when they Hey, you didn't make cutoff, like you need to drop. And so that's what Luke Richins: Whoa. Ryan Head: happened to me. I was so mad because I again I trained so hard and I was like, ⁓ my gosh, but do you did you feel like the wasp affected your race at all? Like did it did you feel like it was messing with your cardiovascular system or were you like, it hurt, but not really Luke Richins: I was more the second one. ⁓ I I don't really know how or why, ⁓ but I I feel like I recovered pretty well from it. ⁓ I didn't I don't like to do heart rates during races because it starts getting into my head. ⁓ and so I just kinda stayed away from it and I mean I felt I felt okay after that. I mean I had you know, Wasatch like like I've kinda talked about, the Wastach is my home, right? Like I grew up here and you know, I've skied on the mountains, I've rock climbed, you know, hunted, like I just Ryan Head: Yeah, smart. Heck yeah. Luke Richins: like the Wasatch is my home and so I knew I wanted to do it no matter what and give it like my best shot. And so I I don't know. I was just like so grateful to be there. ⁓ and it was it was just so cool. yeah, so why I mean I really the first the first ten miles were slower than I wanted to be for sure. ⁓ just 'cause I got back in the pack and whatever. But really the first up through ⁓ Big Mountain, I feel like I did really well. Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. That's awesome. Luke Richins: I did good through the Arthur section. I like going across the top of Holbrook and over sessions. ⁓ I just I feel like I was running at a good pace. I felt like things were going really well. I came into Big Mountain with a big smile on my face. Like I'm probably not quite on pace for the 30-hour finish I planned for, but I'm I'm pretty close. ⁓ and I think I can make up the time. You know, and my kids are there. My brother, my wife's there, my brother who's my crew chief is there, and then surprised my other brother was there. so I went I left Big Mountain just like on top of the world, like, all right, let's go get this. And within five minutes I had a complete one eighty. ⁓ I threw up, I was feeling horrible, and I ⁓ I just felt so bad. I couldn't believe how quickly things had turned around, especially after an aid station where I ate well, I felt good, and it was just rough. ⁓ I remember calling my wife and ⁓ she was really surprised that I, you know, was just not sounding good and I I told her through like you know, I was I was like pretty upset, like, hun, I know I can do this for twenty miles. I could probably do this for more than twenty miles. I don't know if I can feel like this for seventy miles and I'm not sure I want to. and it was really kind of ⁓ you know, what are you gonna do in this moment? ⁓ and I was I was pretty nervous for myself, but I I mean, I just kept pushing. I wasn't going very fast anymore and I was just trying everything I could to to just fix the problem. ⁓ and really nothing worked. ⁓ I went through the Alexandriaid station, was trying to eat different things, didn't work. I was trying to get a lot of hydration, didn't work. I was doing anti acids, just nothing worked. So I came into Lambs and just looked horrible. ⁓ I felt bad 'cause my kids were there and I I didn't want to show my kids that I was suffering, but I was I was in really bad shape coming into Lambs. ⁓ At that point I felt like my goals were completely out the window. ⁓ I was nervous that I had, you know, fifty plus miles of just suffering ahead of me. And I was I just didn't have a very good attitude at that point. And I luckily there I picked up my first pacer, my friend Norm. ⁓ Norm's an anesthesiologist and just a good guy, like a very calming presence. and I think it's exactly what I needed at the time because as I went up over I went up over over land dropping into Mill Creek, I remember I I took an applesauce 'cause I was like, all right, if anything's gonna sit good, right, like it's fruit. And I I take it and just immediately feel terrible. And something clicked in my head and I was like, Norm, is this because I've been taking too much sugar? He's like, It's probably a combination of the sugar and the heat. And I suddenly became like, Okay, if this is it, I just gotta get all this crap out of my system and I'm just gonna make a night charge. so I dropped down to Mill Creek Yeah, dropped down into the that Mill Creek aid station and had some mashed potatoes and some ramen and I was just like I I all of a sudden things were looking up. I wasn't feeling way better yet, but I could see I could see the path for me to to get back into this game. Char I I wouldn't say I charged up, but I mean I kept hiking and never really stopped all the way up ⁓ to what's the aid station before Scott's? Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Desolation. Luke Richins: Desolate. Yeah. So at Dezo I started feeling good. I had some bacon. And really going into Scots is where I f I started feeling like myself again. And coming out of Scots, I felt awesome. ⁓ I felt kind of bad because my pacer norm was not. He had some altitude stuff going on and he said, Just go. Like if you're feeling good, don't wait for me, just go. And I think between Scots in Brighton. I probably passed eight guys, eight people, maybe ten. I was just flying. ⁓ got into Brighton, felt really good. ⁓ and then Matt Sanford, my friend who had run Wasatch before, he and his wife and my crew chief brother Ryan were there. ⁓ I lay down for a few minutes, got taken care of, and drank a rock star for the I have had I'd had one energy drink in my entire life up to that point and I left Brighton a completely new person. Like the running gods had smiled upon my broken body and I was ready to roll. I had heard from somebody, it may have been you, somebody who said that if you're going up Catherine's doing like a forty minute mile, that's okay. And if you're doing a thirty-five minute mile, you're doing well. I think I was in like the mid to low twenties. Like I was going Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Luke Richins: I felt so good. I was just passing people, passing people, passing people. ⁓ and like I like I said, I just became a new man. I remember coming into pole line pass, ⁓ which is you know like ten miles later, but I remember coming in and wondering like what sort of reality I was in because I'd gone from like feeling horrible to feeling great. Ryan Head: ⁓ yeah. Luke Richins: To all of a sudden sitting there in this dirt parking lot with really, really good pizza and music and like music videos and people just bringing me stuff, like I felt like I was in a weird, like dream like a like a drug trance or something. It was like the weirdest experience of my whole life. ⁓ but yeah, I I I just became like a whole new person in those couple of hours. I was running so much better. It was awesome. Ryan Head: Hmm, that is so stinking cool to hear. So take us through the rest of the race. How did it go for you? 'Cause I I have some questions about the race but I don't wanna ask ⁓ yet until we hear how it how it finishes for you. Luke Richins: Yeah. Yeah, so then ⁓ so a after polar line, you know, I I I've slowed down a little bit. I mean maybe the caffeine wore off or something, but I was still moving okay and I came through Rock Springs and started doing math. And based on the paces I've been doing, I realized, which is mile 80. ⁓ I in my head I was like, okay, I'm probably gonna be between thirty-one and thirty-two hours based as things sit. That's just how it's gonna be. That's okay, I'll have to come back and my 30 hour goal, I'll just have to do it another year. and then I saw that second sunrise and just something inside of me just like grew and said, like, no, you are doing it now. You are not coming back. You and there was this other part of my mind because I'd run eighty-five percent of the Wasatch course and I'd run the entire last twenty miles. And so I knew what all of a sudden it clicked that the next twenty miles are the most runnable miles I'd had in forever. And I just completely something in my mindset just shifted. so I got off of the technical part and tried to skip the next aid station because I felt so good. ⁓ I can't remember it's the one at like the campsite. ⁓ Deer Creek. Or Decker. Decker. Decker or Deer Creek, one of those. ⁓ I skipped that. I'm with my pacer. and my pacer actually was like, just go, I'll tell your f and I had told him, like, hey, tell my family Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Yeah, it's the d ⁓ Decker Yeah, I forget yeah. Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: I don't think I'm gonna make it at this time, but tell them to be there at ten thirty, which would be a twenty nine and a half hour finish. And then I caught up with my next pacer and I just kept running. Like we're we're talking I'm like ninety ish miles into the race and I'm running ten minute miles, eleven minute miles, which at that point in the race feels like I was running like a seven minute mile. I just absolute pedal to the metal. ⁓ and we're running and running and I Ryan Head: Let's go. ⁓ yeah. Luke Richins: I tell my pacer, like, listen, you gotta call my wife again and tell be there at ten fifteen because I think I'm gonna be close to ten fifteen. And we keep running and running and I'm just not losing steam. And I call ⁓ I tell them again, call my wife, tell ⁓ to be there at ten. I'm not gonna be there before ten, but they need to be there at ten, because I'm gonna be close. and all of a sudden I had like this fee this this realization that not only was I gonna go under thirty, like for sure, but But I was gonna be forty-five minutes under thirty. ⁓ and it just was this really cool moment where I just gotta almost celebrate for the last five miles. and yet I had a really competitive pacer who like kept in my head and we kept playing the games of like ⁓ man, that girl is only like a quarter of a mile ahead. I think I can pass her. And it was like, I I don't like need to, but I want to because I'm feeling competitive again. Like I wanna race. And so and so we just kept like playing games and cat and mouse with people and it was really it was it was amazing. It was so cool to finish out and have my family come in with me and ⁓ I think I finished in like twenty nine, thirteen or something. Ryan Head: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: ⁓ so I I beat my goal. I was really happy with myself. and yeah, it was it was a great first hundred. Ryan Head: Dude, that's awesome. Yeah, you were the 2911. So first first first hundred on a Wasatch 100, a very difficult, very mountainous, very again technical course. Luke Richins: ⁓ okay. Ryan Head: You absolutely slayed it. Congratulations. And it just goes to talk about just your d dedication, your commitment, your desire to be good, ⁓ and just go after it. I mean it it just talks so much about you know, and I remember you reaching out to me a couple of times just asking for, you know, tidbits and you know what how how to attack this race. And I and and I fortunately had that same thing happen when I did it my very first time. I had and I still go back to the same people I talk to every time. I'm just like, okay, what am I forgetting? What am I missing? ⁓ you know, how what should I pre- what should I plan for? What you know again, remind me something I need to do again. ⁓ which has just been awesome. But that being said, I l always love to ask anyone who's finished Wasach, I've even asked people who have DNF'd it. What's one bit of advice outside of heat, because everyone knows you gotta worry about the heat for Wasatch, what's one bit of advice you would give to somebody that's like, I'm doing Wasatch for my first time this year, what do I need to do to be prepared for this? Luke, what is it that you'd say to somebody? Luke Richins: What's one bit of advice you want to give me? wow, what would I say? I would say that ⁓ you've gotta get really comfortable being uncomfortable. ⁓ that race that race is gonna make you uncomfortable. I feel like there are so many parts of it that in your mind you should be able to run that you just can't. Like it just it doesn't make sense. ⁓ at least for like us mortals, right? And I I think you just have to Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Yeah. Luke Richins: just understand that that is not it's a runnable race for lots of it, but it's not as runnable as you'd want it to be. ⁓ and so you just gotta be comfortable being uncomfortable both physically and mentally because it's gonna mess with you. Like doing a twenty minute mile when it seems like it should be flat really put a damper on me. Ryan Head: ⁓ yeah. Luke Richins: You know, doing like I think that I had some miles in like the thirties and maybe even in the forties, it really put a damper on my soul and I just got better at it. But I I don't know if you remember, Ryan, but we met at Antelope. which we met at Antelope at like the hundred K aid station and I had just gotten drawn for Wasatch like three weeks earlier. And your piece of advice to me your piece of advice to me was talk to people who have done Wasatch. Ryan Head: Remember this. Luke Richins: And so I talked to so many people. Like I was reaching out to people I didn't know to get to get advice. I was watching videos and I think that helped me to understand. That's how I figured out, like, this race is not gonna be comfortable and it's gonna like just feel slower than I want it to feel. ⁓ but it was yeah, that's my piece of advice is get get really comfortable being uncomfortable. Ryan Head: Dude, I love that you say that for many reasons, but I love that you really did take that bit of advice that I shared with you there at ⁓ the ranch house out there on Antelope Island. Cause I remember sharing that with you now that you bring that up. That's so crazy ⁓ that you you remember that and I remember it now that you're saying that. But ⁓ you know, that's the cool thing about asking, you know, most people who've done ultras are very willing to share information. ⁓ they want to talk about they love because it was such a good experience, like what you're saying. Like there's hard times but there are Good times, and you remember the fun times, and it's all the stuff, right? But everybody wants to share what they learned from it and ⁓ I love that you say get uncomfortable with being uncomfortable because it's so true, man. So so true. You're gonna have times where you're having a great time and then there's times where you're gonna be like being split apart both mentally and physically, and you're just like, What is happening? And you know, you're you're down to nothing left right in the tank. And then you're like me on my very first one at mile eighty three, and I'm praying to Heavenly Father just to give me some strength to just finish this 'cause at that point I was going down the the grunt. ⁓ or no yeah. ⁓ yeah, right? Is that what I was doing? I'm trying to remember. I was going down the no the plunge. I was going down the plunge there at what is that mile 83, 84? And I remember being like, this is it, this is where I DNF, like I was so far behind time. I was like, this is it, this is where it all ends, and I had nothing left but to pray and and ask for help. So it was it was a really good, it's one of those change life-changing moments in my life. So I love that you share that and love your story about Wasach. I think you crushed. Luke Richins: Large. Ryan Head: it and you did a fantastic job. Like, you know, especially for your first ⁓ hundred, just well done dude. Congratulations. And again, like I said from the get-go after you gave us the recap, ⁓ you put the work in, you deserve to ⁓ win. You deserve to win and and have the results that you did. one question I have because it sounds like that was maybe a one and done. Are you going back to Wasach anytime soon? Luke Richins: ⁓ I don't know if I'll go back soon, but I'm gonna go back. I I love Losatch. ⁓ there are I've got enough races like in the hopper that I wanna do first, but I'll go back. Yeah, I'll go back for sure. Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Yeah. You should. I think I think you should, especially where you love it so much or love love the course, right? I'm the same way as you. I love the course. I know so much of it. I've trained on it. ⁓ to me it's home. It's definitely I always say the Ogden Marathon is my home road marathon. ⁓ and the Wasatch 100 is my home ultra. It's it's what I always say. Like even though Antelope was my first, Wasatch will always be my my hometown ⁓ hometown race and I love it. So that's cool. That's really cool. Well, Not to get us too long-winded moving forward, but you know, one month later, what did you do? Like, which is insane because I think it's impressive. He finishes Wasach 100 September 5th. I think it was September 5th, September 6th, last year in 2025. No kidding, less than a month later, what did you do? Luke Richins: So we are we gonna glaze over the fact that you ran Wasatch and then Bear two weeks later? I are we gonna glaze over that you did it two years in a row. We're gonna glaze just let's just let I'll I'll put some respect on Ryanhead's name. ⁓ No, so ⁓ so last year I was ⁓ I was fortunate enough to win Ryan Head: We don't we ⁓ Yeah, this th this podcast is about you, brother, not me, man. I appreciate the kind words, but yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Luke Richins: I I or I I got a free entry into DC Peaks fifty ⁓ through their ⁓ the golden the golden tick it's not golden ticket, their gold rush program. ⁓ and so I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but I signed up for the fifty anyways. ⁓ and it was about a month after Wasatch. So that month I didn't run a lot. I ran some. but I was mostly just trying to survive at that point and so I ran DC Peaks fifty and for those who aren't aware, ⁓ Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: DC Peaks 50 last year took place on the day of the biggest rainstorm in Salt Lake in over a hundred years. it was insane. It rained so much. Like it r I think it rained over two inches that day. and you know, we had an alternate course. ⁓ I was fortunate enough to help Nick and Jake actually kind of like put that course together. ⁓ because they had it w it was really fun. ⁓ it was a great course. ⁓ and I I actually had a ⁓ really, really good fifty K. Really, really good. ⁓ I it didn't matter like I didn't care that I was wet. I think I had like from Wasatch I had learned like listen if I'm gonna be uncomfortable, this is just gonna be it. Like this is as uncomfortable as I'm gonna get. because you know, the rain soaked through my rain jacket, ⁓ my shoes were wet all day, my feet were wet all day, I was cold. ⁓ but my first 50k was really really pretty good. And after that I felt bad because that's when I picked up my pacers and my body just got too cold and I started to really, really slow down, ⁓ a lot. Which hurt because I was on all these trails that I run on all the time and I know what I can do and ⁓ I felt like my nutrition was on point. as much as I could be for it pouring and not wanting to like eat a lot, but I was Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: eating and drinking well. I just couldn't stay warm. ⁓ and so I I lost a lot of time in that last like twenty miles. ⁓ but I did do it. I kept pushing through. I've that's one of the coldest days of my life. Maybe the coldest day of my life. ⁓ but it was it was a really cool experience that I don't want to do again. Ryan Head: I love it, dude. I love it. Well let me just share, as an outsider, I was there. I know I'm crazy about running, but I was pacing and and crewing. ⁓ I paced the last 15 miles of it. ⁓ that day it was a week after Bear, but I was like, I'm doing it. I want in. I gotta help out. And and when he talks about the biggest rainstorm that Utah has seen in a hundred years, it's ⁓ there's no exaggeration. it reminded me of being in Houston, Texas. Again, that's where I did my LDS mission. ⁓ but it wasn't like one of these quick torrential downpours and then it was over. It w it was all day long. It didn't stop. You could see the raindrops. The the path was completely muddy. ⁓ the whole course was multiple mud, you know, water puddles on the course that you just didn't see the rocks underneath. So you're twisting your ankles, you're tripping, you're slamming in the ground. ⁓ it it was really bad. A lot of people DNF'd, a lot of people did not start as well. And no shame. I mean, for those who towed the line and tried their best, kudos to them. It was a rough, rough day. ⁓ and for those who finished, you you probably learned a lot about yourself, like you're saying. Very awesome, glad you did it. Probably don't I've had a lot of people tell me they're like I don't ever want to go back. Yeah. Luke Richins: Yeah. No, and and I I I'm going back this year to do the regular course. But ⁓ I I don't think I'll ever forget this is one of the like my coolest moments in ultra running. So they started the race an hour before the rain was supposed to start. And so I was at the top of I was at the top of this climb and we were about to start the descent and that's when like the thunder claps really hit and it started to rain. And all of a sudden there was a group of like ten of us that were spread out that just Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Luke Richins: gave out like this battle cry, like we were going to war with the rain for the rest of the day. And it just like at least for that moment I was like, I can do this. I'm gonna do it and and I did. It was that was again, not a race I wanna I don't wanna have that race experience again, but it was I'm glad that I did it. Ryan Head: Heck yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, I I know right where you're at. You were going to headed up Great Western and yeah, you're about to head back down afterwards, you know, from from Great Western and head head over there to ⁓ basically ⁓ what is that Antelope Drive? But anyways, super cool dude. Such a good experience. I he's not exaggerating, it was chaos to say the least. So super, super amazing. ⁓ Luke Richins: Yeah. Yeah. Ryan Head: You know, just to move us forward. You know, I I wanna just touch on just really quickly what you've done so far this year. So it looks like you did another hundred. What happened there? I mean you looks like you did one the Zion one ultras one hundred down ⁓ in last in April, is that correct? Luke Richins: Yeah, I did Zion Hundred. ⁓ Zion Hundred was an awesome race. ⁓ the first, you know, thirty miles you're on these beautiful mountain bike mesas, just cruising. It wasn't too hot that day ⁓ to start. And so I was just flying. I'll try and go a little faster. I realize I've been I've been going pretty slow on these discussions, but ⁓ you know, you're doing these beautiful mesas, you're looking at Zion National Park, I'm just having the time of my life. Ryan Head: ⁓ you're good. You're good. Luke Richins: And then right around mile probably like forty-five, forty to forty-five it got it got hot. ⁓ it was windy, but it was really hot. And so much like at Wasatch, my stomach just went. ⁓ I didn't I didn't topically cool very well. And so I was like, ⁓ man, here we go again. This sucks. ⁓ I mean I had a great crew, my brother and my parents were there to help crew me, to do what they could, but you know, those desert the desert heat is just hard. And so I I feel like miles like forty to fifty-five were difficult mentally because it was all stuff that I should have been running, but I wasn't running very often because I just felt like crap. But again, my friend Matt Sanford, the one who helped get me into into Wasatch initially, he happened to be down there for a bike race and called me and said, Hey, I'll meet ya. If how are you doing? And I said, ⁓ I'm not doing very well, Matt. Like I I'm I'll survive and I'm gonna finish this race, but this sucks. ⁓ and he met me at the highway, walked with me for a little bit, his wife like got me some peptobismol. I slept in the back of their truck for fifteen minutes because I just I was just a wreck. It was right before sundown. ⁓ I had a I had a one of the bigger climbs on the course in front of me. And I was really grateful to have, you know, this ultra running community. You know, this guy had just ridden his bike a hundred miles and he's out here helping me. ⁓ it was really that really had a big impact on me. and I pushed through. I mean that race is like deceptively technical because there's so much of it that seems runnable and you look at the map and it seems like, ⁓ I I should be able to run that. And you just you just can't and you have these really steep you know, crazy mountain bike descents that I knew were coming and just were so slow and hard. but and there's, you know, tricky navigation 'cause you're you're on these mesas in the dark and it's hard to find where you're going. But I really liked Zion and it it kind of mirrored Wasatch in a way of, you know, I had a really good first third and then a really crappy middle and then I just stormed back at the end. Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Heck yeah. Luke Richins: Yeah, it was it was really fun. So, you know, my I remember I met up with my brother and my mom and my mom hadn't been to Wasatch, my brother had, and my mom saw me at mile seventy coming through like coming out of being, you know, just in pain and terrible, but knowing that I'm gonna I'm feeling better now. And she was like, Are you okay? Like are your feet okay? Are you gonna like survive? And I just told her, mom, I am about like I am on the upswing right now. It you may not believe it, but this is where we on the upswing. I'm gonna finish and I'm gonna do well. ⁓ so I made it through that section. I picked up my dad at mile like ninety and ⁓ I think the wastage climbing legs just came back because there's one last really ⁓ steep last climb. And again, I was just passing people and passing people. ⁓ and I looked it up and there was one guy that I like started the climb with. Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Luke Richins: And I think I finished a half hour in front of him because I just pushed. I pushed on the climb. And again, for the last five miles, I think I was running, you know, ten, eleven, twelve minute miles back into finish. So I gotta figure out how to get that middle part on these hundreds. Cause I've got the start and f I've got the start and finish down. I just gotta get that middle. Ryan Head: Well. Yeah, you're you're a fantastic starter and finisher. Like and honestly if that's your weak area, dude, you're doing amazing 'cause I feel like I'm a good starter and then it just gets worse from there. So I'm impressed. I'm so impressed with your results. I mean, like I said, I've been kind of watching your journey, if you will, ⁓ and just being so impressed with you and you know, jumping to what you did just, you know, a few What was a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month or so ago, you know, he did a he did a backyard ultra and I was fortunate enough to be there and you you look so strong. And and I know the course is easy, it's a flat, you know, whatever, four mile loop. But it's mentally it's mentally challenging. Like It's call it what it is. It's not easy and I was there to support one of my athletes and good friends, Joe Paquette. But like seeing you there, you look strong. I mean, how did you do there? Like how many miles did you go and what was that like for you? Luke Richins: ⁓ so I so I went in so that was another race where it rained for the first seven hours, but luckily like with DC Peaks in the background, I was like, this is nothing. ⁓ my problem was about fifteen miles into the race I started to get shin pain and I hadn't had that during training. I'd had like other issues, but I had some shin pain and it just progressively got worse and worse. I was switching shoes, I was like trying to KT tape it, I was doing anything I could. And my shins just got worse and worse. ⁓ but I was I was very proud of myself because I at mile probably like thirty-five, I thought to myself, like, I think I maybe only have one more loop, maybe two left. And then I just kept pushing and pushing and I'm I ended up making it to mile eighty. so I Ryan Head: Heck yeah, dude. Heck yeah. Luke Richins: And the recovery from that, like that was so much worse than either either of my hundreds. I've never taken a full week off of running. I didn't run for a full week. ⁓ I was walking around my house with trekking poles with the little with like plastic things on the bottom 'cause I I couldn't move. The first two nights, Ryan, I could not sleep because if I turned at all, my legs just were in horrific pain. Ryan Head: Mm-hmm. Luke Richins: I I wrecked my shins so bad. I wanted to make it to a hundred. and that's the best I've ever done nutritionally. Nutritionally I felt awesome. Like cardio, awesome. I could have kept I was super consistent. All my loops were fifty to fifty-two minutes pretty much. And Ryan Head: Yeah. Good. Yeah. Luke Richins: I finally realized like if I keep going I can't go five I'm not gonna make it to a hundred. I knew that because my my body couldn't do it. And my brother was going to leave and so I was gonna be by myself and I was gonna get to the point of I can either sit down and help myself or I'm just gonna have to stand and actually get aid. I just I knew I couldn't do it. So I it's crazy to say I was disappointed that I only did eighty miles, but I I know I can I know I can do better if I can just get my stupid shins in line. And luckily now they're good. Ryan Head: Yeah. Well, you know, a couple of things I think about with that, 'cause I remember you mentioning that to me when we were out there and I was helping my friend at mile fifty. You were just like, My shins are hurting really bad, and I remember thinking to myself, you know, dude, the reality is is you're on a flat course, and that's exactly why, and I know you know this already, but it's like when you're not doing ups and downs and using different muscles, you're using the same ones over and over and over, and it's just repetitive and it's just monotonous and it's gonna catch up to you. It's gonna get you. And ⁓ you know, ⁓ I I have a love-hate relationship with Backyard Ultras. I think they're awesome, but I'm also like, I don't know if I ever really want to do one. I'm happy to support people and be a part of it, but man, I you know, especially if it's a flat course, I'm like, ⁓ it just sounds so bad, like with just how much it beats you up. But you know, at the end of the day, still an impressive result. I think you did awesome. I think if I remember correctly, you finished 12th overall on that race. nothing to be. ashamed of. Yeah, a 12th overall, 11th ⁓ in your division. Like, congratulations, dude. Like, you you did amazing. I again, I know we've kind of, you know, some of the races we've touched on for a little bit longer, like Wasatch, ⁓ but we've been touching on a lot of these races he's been doing. He has been on a tear people. I'm telling you, if you're not following him on Strava, if you're not following him on Instagram, you you gotta follow him. And even though this year is maybe a little bit quieter for him, ⁓ he still did do 100 earlier in April. ⁓ he's got DC peaks later this year. He's he's a good dad. He's doing the right thing. He he's right where he needs to be, taking care of a newborn, being there for his wife. Like you you're doing all the right stuff. I love that you're doing that. But the same question I pose to everybody, and I'll pose it to you. Why do you do all this, man? Because you know what? You have a lot on your plate. ⁓ you you like obviously your results are impressive. You're not getting these results by just getting lucky. ⁓ obviously maybe your first one may have been lucky, your Connors claim may have been. Lucky from the get-go, but since then it's been you've been dominating since you're you're doing great, and I know you're like, well, dominating is is relative, and it is relative. I think being dominant in what you're doing is you're strong, you're being able to have a pretty good old race overall. I know there's parts of your races that maybe aren't the best, but you're doing great. You're you've slayed multiple hundreds now, you're doing fantastic at other race distances. You're you're being, you know, very what's the word? You're you're being very diversified. ⁓ in the different types of races you're doing and you're dominating on all of them. So dude, I ask, why do you do this to yourself? Like that's what this podcast is all about. Why? Why is this why is this something that's so important to you? Luke Richins: I think I just like being in the mountains. So I think I like it. ⁓ I realize that that's probably like not the sexy answer, but I I I enjoy I I know there are a lot of people who don't, but I I really like being out in the foothills above my house. I like, you know, running Mueller Park. I like running, you know, up to up to Holbrook or whatever. I really I I just find joy in it. I like pushing myself, I like that Ryan Head: Sure. Luke Richins: I realize that ultra running maybe isn't like the healthiest thing in the world to do. I mean you look at you know what it can do to your knees and muscles and what we eat, but I think it's good for my health in a lot of ways. ⁓ and partially my mental health and I like showing my kids that you know, things that are difficult, we don't have to avoid things that are difficult and that that we can find joy in ⁓ that it's fun. So I I don't know. I just I find joy in it and it it helps me like Center. Ryan Head: Yeah, I love it, dude. And you know what? That's a great answer, in my honest opinion. Like, you know, I find joy in doing the exact same thing. Like I love as I've told a lot of people, like I have found joy in training. And I think that's important if you're gonna do these races because you have to fall in love with being able to go up there day in and day out, get the miles, push yourself. ⁓ And it's enjoyable. I know a lot of people are like, dude, you do almost like the same course every day, the same BST trail. I'm like, yeah, and I don't get sick of it. I'm like, if I want the results, I've got to do the work. And the work is good enough for that. And yes, I do I do do other stuff like on weekends, but I'm also trying to be a good employee. I'm trying to be a good husband. I'm trying to be a good dad, as well as all the other stuff I have going on with my church callings and all this other jazz, you know, that I got stuff going on and and also being present for my daughter's softball stuff. And so I I I it to me it works. And I find joy in the process. So I love that you say that. I think that's super cool. And I get you, I get I understand your why very, very well. And I think that's super cool. And you know, just like you said, I think a lot of us, I think most of us who have kids are the same way. We can teach our kids that we can do hard things. And I I think that's beautiful that you say that. So that's awesome. Well, dude, this has been awesome. It's been so fun to go through your stories, hear what you've been doing, see where you're at. I think you're crushing it. I really do think that. I think it's gonna be fun to continue to follow your journey. I hope you go back to Wasatch. ⁓ there's just something about you that screams Wasatch. And not that you need to be ⁓ an old timer like me, who that's my goal is to be a a 20, 30-year-old, ⁓ 20-30 ⁓ finisher. ⁓ that's my goal. I want to be that, that's what I want to do. And I know I'm probably missing out on other races, but I love Wasatch that much. I think that's my goal in life. And Wasach is so humbling, it it never ceases to beat me down and make me feel like I'm I'm not good at this sport, but it also is really fun. So I I I think you're a Wasatch person. I think you should go back and and do it again soon. Not not, you know, in a year or two, but sometime soon would be awesome because you're good. You're good at what you do and it's fun to see someone dominate and and own that race. So but well cool, dude. Well should we jump into the funnest part of the no, I know if it's the funnest part, the lightning ground. Should we do it? Luke Richins: Let's do it. Yeah, I'm excited for the lightning round. Ryan Head: Okay, awesome. Well I'm gonna throw, as all of our listens listeners have heard multiple times, I'm gonna throw at you a bunch of questions. ⁓ you can answer with one word, you can answer with two words, you can give a little explanation, whatever you want. It can be as simple as you want it to be. So awesome. We'll jump into the first one. So favorite race distance. Luke Richins: ⁓ I think it's gotta be a hundred. ⁓ there's something about I would I wish I was fast enough that this wasn't the case, but that second sunrise is just like so pristine and it feels like such an accomplishment to have made it there. Again, I would love to be fast enough that I don't see the second sunrise until I'm done. But it's so f I I love the hundred. ⁓ if we if we didn't have a kid this year, I would have for sure did a hundred, another hundred this fall. Ryan Head: Let's go. Yeah. Luke Richins: I just didn't feel like I could put in a full summer of getting ready for one and put out like my best effort. Ryan Head: No. Yeah, smart man. You're putting family that's your priority. I think you're doing the right thing for sure. That's awesome. Cool. Favorite that's my favorite ⁓ trail distance as well. So love it, love it. Road or trails? Luke Richins: ⁓ this is trails. My wife and I my wife and I are trying to move and like my one of my primary drivers is like how close is this house to a trailhead? Like right now my house is I can be, you know, pavement to dirt in a quarter of a mile. So like that's big deal. Ryan Head: Haha, let's go. ⁓ dude. Yeah, yeah, you're not like me and you have to travel fifteen minutes just to get to the truck. Well, I yeah, just under fifteen minutes to get to to Adams, so it's a nightmare. But anyways, that's okay you you got it right, man. Quarter mile, perfect, perfect distance. So love it. Morning or evening runs? Luke Richins: ⁓ this is hard 'cause I mean I like waking up and running in the morning and just feeling good about it, but there is something like spooky and yet like just so fun about night ops. I love running all night. I that was maybe my favorite part of ⁓ getting ready for Wastach last year was you know, doing ten to fifteen miles at night was just one of my favorite things. So I'm I'm I'm split. Ryan Head: That's super cool. That's cool. Nope, I get it. Yeah, I always say to people like i I love run I love the r night sections of hundreds. ⁓ that is if I if there is a spot where I dominate, it's usually there because I can pass people left and right. I am just if if the sun's on on me and it's cool weather, watch out 'cause I'm coming. And so ⁓ I'm not obviously running too crazy because it I don't want to trip and twist an ankle and then be out of the race, but I can move quick. ⁓ at night. So that's cool. I love evening evening runs as well. I do most of my training in the morning, but yeah, evenings I night runs are so fun. So awesome. Next one. Favorite post run or post race meal? Luke Richins: Hmm. I'm a pretty big rice guy, so like a nice burrito bowl, you know, like cafe Rio style, I'm I'm big on. But I'm also just like a classic like steak and potatoes with, you know, ice cream for dessert. I can do that all day. Ryan Head: Nice. Hec yeah. Dude, good on you. I cannot do ice cream after a race. I think I would get so sick. So good on you. I'm like, that would be the last thing I'd want to eat. But dude, good on you, man. That's super cool. Like, I love it. Sacred potatoes. I would yeah, I think that would be that that doesn't sound yummy. It sounds yummy right now. So ⁓ awesome. Okay, last question. It could be a two parter. Music, podcasts, or silence on your races? Luke Richins: So on easy runs I'm r I go through audiobooks, ⁓ with some podcasts thrown in, you know, I gotta gotta listen to my guys. speed workouts I'm doing music, but then during a race I like to do audiobooks on the climb and then switch to music when I'm going downhill or when it's flat. Ryan Head: Nice. Heck yeah, dude, you're smart. I like that. That's strategic. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, this is it. This is good stuff right here. I like why you do that. I I understand why you're doing that. Luke Richins: So yeah, and Yeah, 'cause I feel like if I turn the music on on the climb, you know, my my heart rate gets higher and I I'll push myself too hard. But if I'm listening to an audio book when I should be trying to run fast, I don't push enough. So that's kind of the balance I found. Granted, it when I'm in like the struggle bus in the middle of the day, I don't really want music on. So if I'm on like a struggle bus in a hundred, I'm gonna keep podcasts on just to like keep in a good mental state, but that's my general rule is On the way up I'm listening to something, an audio book or a podcast and on the way down music's getting put on. Ryan Head: That's cool. ⁓ like I've been doing it with every guest, and we're gonna get this playlist put together eventually. What's on your playlist? Give me a song, give me something. Whoever who who's on your playlist right now Luke Richins: ⁓ man. Jealous by Chromeo. ⁓ it's ⁓ jealous by Chrome will get you moving. Yeah, that and I feel like I've I've kinda had a lot of daft punk lately, so probably like Yeah. Yeah. I'll send feed. Ryan Head: Okay, I don't know that song. I wish I did. It's good? Okay, yeah, yeah, that punk I'm familiar with. Yeah. Huh. Dude, that is super. Okay, I'm gonna look it up. It's going on the playlist. It'll go on the playlist for for all of our listeners. Everyone's been asking for it, so I need to I need to get that thing put together and and just combine all the songs into one playlist and people can download ⁓ on whatever whatever platform out there. So that's super cool. Well dude, awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. ⁓ I don't know. You know, the yeah. Luke Richins: Yay. Ryan, can I can I take over your podcast for a min minute and ask you some lightning round questions? Ryan Head: Sure, why not? This will be awesome. I like this idea. Yeah, dude, why not? Let's do it. Luke Richins: Yeah, I mean y you ask you ask us so many questions and I know you do some like Silvo podcasts but just as I've been getting ready for this I'm like these are these are some things I want to hear from Ryan. Okay. So question one. I know that you are a big music guy. If aid stations had a walk up song, like baseball players going up to bat or out to pitch, what would your walk up song be? Ryan Head: Two to one one. It'd be one of two songs. First one, if it was years ago, it would have been Nice Guys Finish Last by Green Day. So, because I'm usually at the end, which is totally fine. On Hunters, on on Marathons, not really, but ⁓ but yeah, it'd be that. Or ⁓ it would be Luke Richins: Okay. Ryan Head: ⁓ feeling this by Blink 182 for sure. Cause usually you're filling you're feeling it the whole time. So I I I would say that's probably yeah, I I can't tell how many times I've listened to to Blink on on hundreds, but especially filling this 'cause I'm like, yeah, I'm I'm feeling this. So I like that. That's a great question. I love it, man. Luke Richins: ⁓ yeah. As somebody who follows you on Strata, that tracks. Like that yeah, I I can see both of those. Okay. Okay, number two. What is a food or drink that you like love and swear by that you think is underutilized by other runners? Ryan Head: Ooh. Number one, without a question, in my mind, ⁓ potatoes. I think potatoes are completely underutilized. I think people shy away from them because they think they're too carb rich. and they may be dry or that they're not easy to digest. I think all those are faults. Like they're they're not like I think that's everything you need ⁓ when you're on a race. They're calorie rich, they've got carbs in them and you could even put a little protein with it in some different ways, whether you put mix that with like a ⁓ tortilla. I usually like to make one of my favorite is a is a burrito, potato burrito that I wrap in a wheat tortilla that has a little protein. ⁓ and then I'll put a little bit of ⁓ like butter and milk and and stuff in there. And it's like my favorite thing. I think potatoes are highly underutilized. And ⁓ some of the greats out there utilize them like crazy, like Jamil Corey is a big fan. He's the race director for the Havelina hundred. He's a great runner. He just did hard rock a few weeks back. ⁓ anyways, yeah, I think highly underutilized, and I think people shy away from it and they should not. It very easy to digest. Stomach can digest those very easily. Luke Richins: Spoken by a true coach, I love it. ⁓ that is way better than my answer of Pop Tarts, but that's that's great. Okay, all right. Keep for cut for races completed by Ryan Head. Okay, so they're full y so you gotta choose with each race. You gotta pick are you gonna keep it or you gonna cut it? And I've got eight races. And I'm I'm pretty sure you've done all these, okay? So race number one, Ogden Marathon. Ryan Head: Love it. Okay. Keep a hundred percent. Luke Richins: Yeah, I I knew that one was coming. Okay. Well no more needs to be said. Scout Mountain One Hundred Ryan Head: Ooh ooh. I have a love hate relationship with that race this year. ⁓ and you said I could only keep four of ⁓ is that what you said? Luke Richins: Yeah, yep, so you get to keep four and then you're gonna have to cut four. And race directors, this is not him saying that he did not like your race. He's not saying you didn't have a good experience. This is just this is just Ryan's personal taste. Yeah. gonna have to cut this one. Okay. That that race is very high on my list and I know that you liked it, so I I wanted to put that one up front. Okay. Next, St. George Marathon. ⁓ I mean I've cut it. Ryan Head: Yeah. I'm gonna have to cut this one. ⁓ I'm gonna have to cut it, man. I love it. I love the race, but I do I I'm I will follow my sword on this. I think Ogden is a b I think the Ogden Marathon is the best marathon in the state. And I I I I can go into all the details why I believe that. I know everyone loves St. George, but St. George does not get pretty until you get to Snow Canyon. That's mile fifteen. I'm sorry. Ogden is pretty the whole way, so just my opinion. Luke Richins: Hot takes, put this in the clips. Okay, bear one hundred. Ryan Head: ⁓ keep, keep, keep, keep. Bye, bye, bye. Like that is that's a must, man. I pleasantly surprised first time I've done it and I'm I think I'll do it every year they let me in. Luke Richins: I went on my first run on the Bear course this last weekend and that is it that is like my dream for next year is to get drawn for bear. ⁓ so ab so no blame. Okay. So we're now through four, you have two keeps, two cuts, antelope island hundred. Ryan Head: Heck yeah. ⁓ dude, yeah. ⁓ I gotta cut it. I gotta cut it. I mean it it's a good race. ⁓ yeah, I ⁓ man, I could say so much about that, but I don't want to get in trouble and I know I know it's under new ownership, so I'll just leave it at that. But there's so many things that race could do and I feel like it it drops, but hopefully you know, I I believe in Finn what he's trying to do. I hope it's a fantastic race moving forward. Luke Richins: Okay. Alright, next, Salt Lake City Marathon. Ryan Head: Ooh man, that one's tough. That one's tough. Luke Richins: No so you're through three cuts, you've got three cuts already and there's three races left. So you only have to cut one more. Ryan Head: Ooh. You know, Salt Lake is I I'm gonna have to cut Salt Lake, to be honest with ya. ⁓ I like it, but I don't love it. Salt Lake is very hilly, and if you're trying to like it's ⁓ it's a good prep race, let me put it that way. If you're if you're looking for a good long run that's gonna push you, Salt Lake's the best way to go. If you're looking for a downhill, you know, try to PR or BQ, it's not the race for ya. It's not the race for you. Luke Richins: Okay. Okay, so now I'm gonna let you okay, so next one is Big Cottonwood Marathon. Ryan Head: ⁓ dude, come on. ⁓ you're making these tough. ⁓ I'm gonna Luke Richins: So you can keep them both. Ryan Head: I ⁓ well I'm not I'm not the biggest fan of Big Cottonwood, that's why I'm like I think I personally believe Big Cottonwood is harder than than Wasatch, physically. I I one hundred percent believe that. ⁓ so I think I would go back, I would keep Scout and cut ⁓ and cut Big Cottonwood. 100%. Luke Richins: Okay. All right. All right. We'll we'll allow a little we'll allow a little revisionist history. And then the last one is Wasatch. I mean I think we all know you're keeping it. Yeah. Ryan Head: Keep, keep, keep, keep, keep. I knew it was coming. I I was saving one for I figured you'd probably put it at the end. I was like, I gotta keep Wasatch for sure. So hundred percent keep. So yeah. Ooh, good questions, dude. That was tough. That was tough, but ⁓ yeah, I I stand by everything I said. Okay. Luke Richins: Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I've got two more. Actually we might be able to do three, but at least two. So okay. If you're doing a race and there's gonna be an aid station that is run by a fast food restaurant, full menu available, like you pull up, you can order whatever you want. What restaurant would you want it to be? Ryan Head: Chick fil A, no question. Hundred percent man. I Chick fil A's always good. Always good. I no question. Luke Richins: Boom. Chick-fil-A is the truth. I I love it. Okay. You are given entry to any race in the world. You get a skip past any lottery, qualification, entrance fees. What race do you want to do? Ryan Head: ⁓ man, this is tough. Hmm. Luke Richins: I'm not as nice as you. I ask the hard questions. The people I'm giving the people what they want. Ryan Head: ⁓ man. ⁓ dude. Man, there's so many races I want to do. That's the problem, is I'm like, I could go road or trail. You know, I I think you have to go where it all started. I mean my my tickets are are increasing as we speak. ⁓ I think I gotta do Western States. I think I have to do that. You know, it is it like the number one race I want to do? No, but I when I think of Western States, I think of the Boston Marathon. They're a they're both well known. They're basically the most popular race of both distances. I mean y y you have to sh you have to show the respect to the probably the greatest one of them all. So I I think that's what I'd have to say. ⁓ Western is is just iconic. It is it is the hundred that started all hundred, so yeah. Luke Richins: Okay, love it. Alright, last one, let's give a shout out to we talk a lot about the big races. What is a lesser known, like under the radar race that you'd like to do or like let's say give some love to? Ryan Head: Ooh, that is a really good question. ⁓ you know, I'll I'll I'll give I'll throw a couple out there. So probably my favorite road race that is it's it's bigger and you've done it, part of it at least. I know they've changed kind of things up, but favorite road race that is under the radar, top of you to half, ⁓ is fantastic. Luke Richins: ⁓ well. Ryan Head: ⁓ I think it sells out every year. It's an amazing half marathon. ⁓ the full marathon and the half they split. They're not the same thing any longer. So it's it's kind of a s there's a story there. But Tapa Utah half is probably the funnest half, I think, in the state. It's it's not a barn burner like Temp or or Big Cottonwood where your your legs are just destroyed, but it's a good gradual downhill, beautiful course. Down Blacksmith Fort Canyon up there in Logan ⁓ or Hiram area, just beautiful. So I'd I'd go there. Trail race, you know, ⁓ I don't know if it's really a quiet race any longer or under the radar, but I I have always been a huge fan of the Mueller Trail Half Marathon by Laura and Race Pace. That that race is ⁓ I I mean it's it's getting ⁓ really big, but that that course that they go up North Canyon, hit Rudy's and then go down ⁓ Mueller is is beautiful. And especially the time of year that they do it. It's usually the week after D C peaks. ⁓ such a beautiful race. Yeah, well and and it's you still kinda have a small, you know, race fill. I think it's beautiful. I d you know, I'm I obviously do work for them. I'm one of their c I'm their coach for their program, but I love the race. I think they're amazing. I think what they're doing is awesome. It's a small race fill. You you can't go wrong with it. So ⁓ I really like that one. And and you know if I was to say, you know, I I guess I'll take it back to, you know, what if I was to go a hundred, if there was a hundred miler that I would recommend to anybody that I was like, you know, show a little bit of love to. ⁓ if you're looking to do your first 100 miler, ⁓ it's obviously a very popular one, but cut your teeth on Bear 100. ⁓ you will love the course. ⁓ you will it it'll change your life. Like it is it is probably ⁓ as much as I love Wasuch Wasuch will always be my favorite hundred, Bear is probably the best hundred in the state. I'm just gonna call it like I see it. Luke Richins: Yeah. Okay, I love it. ⁓ I'm gonna give two answers as well. Those are those are great answers, and especially as a bountiful boy, I very much approve of the Mueller Trail half marathon. ⁓ so I'm actually doing the Uinta Wilderness Ultra. I'm pumped about that one. First race in the Uintas. ⁓ go signs in August, so I'm pumped about that. I haven't I haven't signed up yet, but I am doing it. ⁓ so that one is gonna be awesome. Just Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Heck yeah. Luke Richins: Looks like such a cool race. And then I don't know if you're even aware of this one. There's a hundred in the San Juans called San Juan Softy. That's my vote. ⁓ so if you would like to do hard rock, but you're not gonna get into hard rock, it looks like San Juan Softy has some similar vibes, but instead of thirty thousand feet of climbing, it's like twenty two, so it's Wasatch esque. San Juan Softy's on my list. I'm gonna do it one day. Ryan Head: Hmm, I wasn't aware of this. Heck yeah. I think my my running coach that I had there for a while, he did it his first year. I think Carl Meltzer had talked about this. Anyways, I might be wrong by that, but I think he talked about that he did that race when he was coaching me. So, anyways, that's super cool. I think I've looked it up and it it's beautiful. Like it would be a fun one. So that's cool. Glad you brought that one up. That's super, super cool. Luke Richins: Yeah. Well thank you for letting me I won't bore you anymore, but thank you for letting me take over as as host of the podcast for a minute. So Ryan Head: Heck yeah, dude. No, thank you for doing that. That was fun. That was a good twist. I love it. I actually thought that was really fun. So, ⁓ well, I'll take back over. I'll ask you one last question and we'll wrap it up. What would you say to someone who's maybe lost their why right now? That's maybe struggling, and it doesn't have to necessarily be with running. It could be in their personal life. It could be with their job. It could be with whatever. I mean, obviously this running podcast, so if it's related to running, that would be awesome. But what would you say someone who's maybe lost their why that's just struggling with Just doing all of this. Luke Richins: think that's I think when it comes to to running, I think that it is okay to lose your why with running, right? Like in the in the grand scheme of things, running isn't that important. Like if I you know if I go into next year and I'm like not finding joy in running, I'm not gonna sign up for all these races. It's it's okay when something is a big part of your life to let it be a beautiful memory of your life, but you don't have to keep doing it just to keep doing it. ⁓ and so I think it's important that running is running is fun, it doesn't have to be your everything, and it doesn't have to be your identity. ⁓ so I would just say that first. But I think if you're if you're losing your why in in other other parts of life, I think you just have to look for what brought you joy or what could bring you joy. ⁓ You know, I I'm always gonna find joy in my family, even when they're I don't necessarily when they're bugging me, right? I'm always gonna find joy in them. And so through that I'm gonna have that could be my why for work. ⁓ so it may be that your why is your family, ⁓ or something, but I think it's I think sometimes it's important too, or we can get stuck in ruts. It can just be important to do something new. So if somebody's losing their why for running and they wanna get it back, like Buy some new shoes. Go try that trail that you've always kind of had on your list but you haven't done yet. Take a Saturday, take a day off and go do it. ⁓ sign up for a race and don't run a PR. Just do it because you want to. Or if you've been, you know, if you're getting burnt out from 60 mile weeks, cut back. Come join us in the 40 mile a week club. You can still do all of your goals you can you can go for if you're doing less mileage. I think that Ryan Head: Heck yeah. Luke Richins: You know, in running there's this obsession of like I need to keep putting on miles and miles and miles and like I look at you and Ryan, I feel like you're a you're a high mileage athlete and I am not a high mileage athlete. But that doesn't mean that I don't belong. and so I think that just figuring out I think figuring out your your nation where you fit's important. It may be that you are you really want to do hundreds and that's your why, but your why may be like, you know what, I wanna really get good at like fifteen, you know, half trail half marathons or trail marathons. Just find it, you know? And I think I don't know, running is fun, but it's just not that important. Ryan Head: Yep. Hundred percent. Yeah. ⁓ I always say like if you if you lose the most important things in your life because you you're be so addicted to running, ⁓ I think you'll and you'll you'll get to the end of this life and you'll regret it. ⁓ you know, family's most important, you take care of your family, your religion is important, you know, having some belief system, ⁓ you know, being there for your family, you know, your family, for your friends. ⁓ those things are truly important. So I a hundred percent agree with you. And and ⁓ trust me, we'll I'm gonna be coming out with an episode here very shortly talking about exactly what you just talked about. Just because I do, you know, 60, 70, 80 mile weeks doesn't mean someone everybody has to do that. I a hundred percent agree with you. I do it because it brings me peace of mind. But Luke, you're you're a fantastic athlete. Look, like let's call what it is. You're a better runner. You're faster runner than I am. And you don't need that to be able to run the races you do. And hopefully that made all sense. But like it it you don't have to do what I'm doing. It it brings me peace of mind. It brings me to where I believe I can do good with my hundreds or whatever race. But you have found what works for you, and I think that's beautiful. And I'd say that to every person. You don't have to be do what Ryan Head does. You don't have to do what ⁓ John Smith, John Doe, whatever it does. You don't have to follow the same people. You do what you do that gets you this success and the results you want and stick to that. And I think that's that's amazing. So I love that you share that because yeah, you don't always have to be like, I gotta get all the vert in the world or I gotta get 100 mile weeks, week in, week out. You don't have to do that to be successful at hundreds, you don't. And you're a living example of that. So I love it. Thank you for sharing that. That was really good. So awesome. Well, Luke, dude, this has been amazing. Thanks for coming on, dude. Like this has been insightful. I think it's gonna be really good for people to hear, you know, just your thoughts, your thought process on this. I mean, obviously you're a fantastic runner, but I love that you're very balanced and you also see life, ⁓ that there's more to it than just running. And I think that's beautiful. I love where you come from. ⁓ I think you're doing some great stuff, and I love that you threw a twist on this episode. I think that was really fun to for me to be able to answer some questions. So thanks for giving me the opportunity to to ask some qu or to answer some questions because I always have a lot to say, but this is always about you guys. But I appreciate your like, dude, let's do this. This will be fun. So, anyways, Luke, thanks for coming on, man. It's been a pleasure. Luke Richins: Hey, thank you, Ryan. It w the pleasure was all mine. This was great. Ryan Head: Awesome. Thanks, man.