Hey, fam, welcome to the free trail podcast. Of course, I'm your host, Dylan Bowman, here today with Dakota Jones, my good friend,

all-time legend, who has now been competing at the top of the sport for literally half of his life,

still only 34 years old, with a lot of gas left in the tank. Dakota is, of course, undisputedly,

obviously a Hall of Famer, but also he has always been driven

to make an impact off the trail and off of the race course, which is what he is here to talk about

today. In addition to being a pro athlete, Dakota is also the founder and executive director

of footprints and environmental nonprofit that endeavors to nurture a new

generation of leaders in tackling climate action projects in their local communities.

And in just a couple of weeks, Dakota is planning a 100-mile American record attempt at the

Jackpot Ultras in Las Vegas, where he will marry his athletic prowess

with his quote unquote heartwork, a concept that we discuss in the podcast today.

At Jackpot, Dakota will not only be hoping to better Zach Bitter's 11 hour and 19 minute,

100 mile American record, but also he's using the race to raise money for the 2025

Footprints Camp. The fundraiser is open now and we would really appreciate it if you,

the free trail audience, would get behind Dakota and footprints and help them do this really

important work in the world. Free Trail made a contribution already,

and we hope the broader trail community

will also step up to support

after hearing Dakota talk a little bit more about it today.

There are links in the show notes

where you can go learn more and chip in.

The fundraiser, like I said, is open now and will remain open until February 21st.

...