Welcome back or welcome to the Single Track podcast.

I'm your host Finn Melanson and this is another episode of the Golden Ticket Talks in which we chat with first place female finisher at the 2022 Havolita 100, Devon Yanco.

Devin is a professional trail and ultra runner based in Howard, Colorado.

And in addition to memorable moments during training and the race itself,

we talk about perseverance and handling adversity throughout her career, being open about

and sharing so much wisdom around her physical and mental health to the ultra community,

as well as thoughts on being a sponsored athlete over the years in our sport.

One thing before we get started, this episode is brought to you

by gnarly nutrition, Kodiak cakes, and Inside Tracker. Simply go to the show notes of this episode

for some of the best deals on all of their products. With that, let's get started. All right,

Devin Yanko, it's a pleasure to meet, and it's a pleasure to have you on the

single track podcast. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited to talk to you. So got to address

probably the biggest event here. You just secured a golden ticket to Western States, so

congratulations are in order, but I thought I saw on your Instagram, it wasn't your original intention heading into this race to head back to Western.

You had other things in mind.

So can you talk about where your competitive mindset was heading into this race?

Yeah.

So when I signed up for this race, it was kind of a...

Earlier this year, I had this plan to run 500-mileers because I was turning 40 and

what else should I do but run way more hundreds than I've ever run in the year.

I thought it was going to be a fun way to celebrate.

But the second one, I was ill and I had to stop at like mile seven. So basically,

...