Welcome back or welcome to the Single Track podcast.

I'm your host, Finn Melanson, and in this episode we're talking with Allison Baca,

an ultra trail runner based in Golden, Colorado, who just took sixth overall in Top American at the 80K World Trail Championships in Innsbruck, Australia this past week.

Allison joins the show to debrief the race as well as to discuss some of her

background in the sport. Before we get started, though, this episode is brought to you by Rabbit, Features,

and Morton. Use code single track 20 for trail apparel on the rabbit website. Use code single track 20 also

on the features website for Trail Sox. And we have more details to come on that Morton

partnership. With that, let's get started. Alison Baca, it's an absolute pleasure to have

you on the Single Track podcast. Thank you so much, Finn, for having me. So first American and

sixth overall at the 80K World Trail Championships this past week, you

had said on social media prior to your race that your goal would be just a finish and

anything else would be a bonus. Was this exceptional of a result on your radar?

I would say, you know, going to the race, I was really excited about racing as part of a team.

And I was thinking less so about the individual result.

Same with during the race.

So it was, I would say, a surprise.

And I was just trying to not put any pressure on myself.

I mean, the course, if you've seen the profile, it was pretty gnarly.

So truly just finishing that race, like, was an accomplishment. And I wasn't really sure if it was

possible. But, I mean, that's kind of why we love ultra running. So, yeah, it wasn't necessarily

on my radar, but I also didn't have too many expectations going into it.

Yeah, to talk more about the course there for a second, you had said in our brief finish line interview that it was, quote, the hardest thing you've ever done.

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