Welcome back or welcome to the Single Track podcast. I'm your host, Finn Melanson, and in this

episode I talk with Doug Mayer. Doug is an author, journalist, and founder of the trail running

tour company Run the Alps. He's also the past producer of the NPR show Car Talk. Doug

lives in Chamonie France. He's run UTMB twice. And he recently wrote a book titled The Race

That Changed Running, The Inside Story of UTMB. and he recently wrote a book titled The Race that Changed Running,

The Inside Story of UTMB. And that is where we focus this conversation discussing the

founding story of the race, the background of the Palletti's common criticisms about the event,

the power it has over athletes, operators, and other events in our world, and whether

there is such a thing as a

trail running industrial complex. Before we get started, this episode is brought to you by Rabbit,

makers of the best trail running apparel. If you're in the market for new kit and you want

to support the single track podcast in the process, head over to their website and use code

single track 20 at checkout for

20% off your next order. With that, let's get started. Doug Mayer, welcome to the single track

podcast. Pleasure to have you here. Hi, great to be here. Really nice to be joining you. Yeah,

thanks, Finn. There's so much that I want to talk about. You just wrote a book, one of the only books out there that I'm aware of that really goes deep into the modern day story of UTMB. And I think the first question I want to ask you, I'll start with my own little monologue here. We're in this era of the sport. And maybe it's always been this way where everyone has an opinion, everyone is a

self-appointed arbiter, every single move by athletes, events, etc., is strictly scrutinized.

And you touch on that in the book. You say that it's part of being a quote-unquote soul sport.

So what is a soul sport? I think this is an interesting characterization.

I think that's right, and that's a good place to start. I mean, a soul sport? I think this is an interesting characterization. I think that's right,

and that's a good place to start. I mean, a soul sport is something that I think we really care passionately about, and it's sort of part of our DNA maybe, more than just a sport where you

might switch from one sport to the next. A sole sport is something I think

...