Scott told me he said, Brian, this is where you put the nail in the coffin. And I just, I knew at that point I was like, yeah, we're not getting caught. You can see the finish line, here are the announcer, here are the crowd. I mean, you're about to win Western states. Take us around that three quarter lap around the track. Welcome to the trailhead of trail runner nation. It's Friday. Oh, maybe it may be Friday and maybe Thursday. I don't know. It's the end of the week. You're getting ready for your weekend run. We are here to help you become a better runner. Healthier human being. Have joy on the, and maybe that translates into being a better human being. Today we're going to run with Brian Morrison. Could a negative event actually be the best thing that could ever happen to you? We're going to talk to Brian Morrison about that today. Time again for another Tafosi Optics Clarity on the Trail Tip. Today's Tafosi Clarity on the Trail Recovery Tip came from our text line at 9.6235 39 28 from Michael in Austin, Texas. He writes, My tip for recovery is elevating my feet 90 degrees straight up in the air against the wall. My wife taught me this yoga pose called legs up against the wall. Of course, that's what it's called. It makes sense. It's a great way to get instant foot relief after a long run. We'll be sending Michael a pair of these to Fosioptics new synchdom muscle sunglasses for sharing his knowledge with the tribe. You can win a pair two of these synchdom muscle glasses that we've been talking about by sharing your tip. The tip is a piece of gear or equipment that you cannot, will not, no negotiation, leave on a trail run without. And you can share it via text in the US at 916-235-3928 or you can post it on Instagram, tag at Fosioptics, at Trail Runer Nation, and use the hashtag,

Clarity on the Trail.

That way we can find it. We absolutely have to find it in order to give you the prize. And each week we're gonna choose one of those submissions and read it right near on the podcast. Why do we say Clarity on the Trail? Because Tafosi Optics have better lenses. The other cheaper sunglasses use acrylic. can easily scratch, distort, or fall out of the frame.

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It allows them to be thicker, more scratch resistant, stay in place, even if you have a wipe out, and most important, less distortion. If you don't wanna take a chance and win a pair, go to our deals page at trailrunnernation.com. Scroll down to the DeFoCi logo you can get 20% off their entire store. Check out all the styles, all of the cool colors. Welcome to another edition of Trailrunner Nation. My name is Don Freeman and I'm Scott War. What if the moment that almost defined you was actually the one that saved you? In today's episode, we're joined by Brian Morrison. He's an elite trail runner and author of the new book, Given to Fly, a story of tragedy, triumph and realization at Western States 100. Brian Morrison takes a sin side, one of the most unforgettable moments in ultra running history, leading the Western States 100 before collapsing just steps from the finish. This is back in 2006. And then he's spending the next decade figuring out what that moment really meant to him. This is story about obsession, identity, and the long road back to redefine success on his own terms. Brian, thanks for joining us. You know, just to get things started off, people might not have been following Western states back in 2006. Take us back to that day in 2006. When you think about those final miles before the track, what do you most remember most clearly? Tell us about the whole story there. Well, first off, thanks for the wonderful introduction. I appreciate you calling me an elite runner. I think that was in there somewhere. I feel like I'm a once was at this point. But hey, I looked at your ultra sign up record, Brian. Elite is the word that is stamped on that pedigree on ultra sign up. Yeah, but if you notice, I haven't raced in a while because I'm trying to preserve that elite level. Hey, whatever it takes, whatever it takes, Brian. Well, 2006, it was an incredibly wild ride. Scott Jurek amazingly sought me out, shared a year before the race that he wasn't gonna be racing again in 2006 after seven straight victories. This was on his final long training run leading up to his final win in 2005. And he shared with me that he believed I could carry the torch for Seattle as he said it and win Western States. And that was the first time that thought had ever crossed my mind. How much experience have you had with racing before he dropped that information on you seven time winner that, hey, I think you can take the next one. How did that hit you and what did your experience lead him to even say that? So I started ultra running in 2002. Chuck and F50K was my first. Had a couple local wins, I think, in 03 and a little more success in 04. I ran my first 100 mile race, Cascade Crest in 04. I finished third and then I ran it again in 05 and had a tougher day. How corner came out and paced me and once, once how I'll join me, things kind of turned around, but I had to take nearly a two hour nap in the middle of it. And I think I finished six that year. So I had 200 mile races and I had some 50K and 50 mile race experience and I'd raced pretty well at the 50K, but there was almost nothing that pointed toward me being a contender of Western states. You know, I want to jump in there. So, you know, the year before I ran Western states, Scott Jerrick and Hal Kurner didn't call me. So, so that's kind of an elite group you're in right there that they think that much of you going into this, this first running of Western states? Well, you know, I was so fortunate to be a part of the Seattle running company and that scene that Scott and Leslie McCubry had created here in Seattle. I started working at this store in 2004 and then how came and worked there in 2005, basically for a year give or take and that was an amazing experience for me

How was you know, he's an incredible human being as you know and an incredible racer

He was just so much fun to

To race and train with and his arrival in Seattle took my running like I definitely wanted to level up to how and I think's, you know, the experience he had and the fact that I was racing with him and doing some training with him probably put me on Scott's radar as well. Scott would say things to me like, because he didn't work at Seattle Running Company, but he worked in the same building. The odd fellow is building up on Capitol Hill. He was coaching at that point and doing a little bit of physical therapy work and he was in the store pretty regularly using the camera and the biomechanical assessment stuff that was in the store. And so he would tell me, you know, I can just see your work at. You're never the one standing around. You always have a broom in your hand or changing out of mannequin.

And he, he told me he saw a lot of himself just in my work at. So what was your first thought when he said, and I think Western stays could, you could own a Cougar too. What, what were your thoughts then? Like I think did you, did you hand him a goose? I think you're bonking right now, or did you say, I wanna do it? What was your thoughts?

That's such a great question.

You know, shockingly I didn't push back. I think you're bonking right now or did you say I want to do it? What was your thoughts? That's such a great question.

You know, shockingly I didn't push back.

I just thought, well, Jesus, if anybody knows what it takes to win Western states, it's

this guy.

And so I was certainly caught off guard and very humbled by it not long after that.

I mean, I don't think it was the moment he said it, but I just fully bought into it and just believed it. Oh, belief in self, right? He instilled that in you and said, it could be yours. And the fact that he had a whole gang of cougars at his home made you a believer, you know? Absolutely. Yeah. So I interrupt the story as you were going. Yeah. Yeah. off I think. Where do we break off? I think right at the beginning when we said hello. So. Well, yeah. So I mean, that's where it started is it was early June 2005. Scott told me that he thought I could carry the torch for Seattle. And then and then it was actually not long after that that I ran my second hundred that was cascade crestascade Crest and I tried to race with Todd Walker and blew myself up and

napped for two hours.

So I thought, geez, if I can't even win Cascade Crest, not to diminish the talent there,

but how the heck am I going to go win Western States?

So there might have been a little, like, well, maybe this isn't going to happen.

But then by December of 2005, that was when training started just full on. And Scott, there was actually a few of us who was myself in just an angle. And Jeff Phillips was running his first Western states. He was a coaching client of Scott. So we would meet regularly and train together a few days a week. It started with tempo runs around Green Lake, which is kind of Seattle's running hub. And those evolved into then a Squawk Mountain repeats out in Issaquah. And then we'd start doing track workouts and then pretty soon Mount Si repeats. And Scott just let us completely through his training gauntlet. He didn't hold anything back. I mean, any question I had, he was an open book. And so I trained harder than I ever had. I really, I feel like that was the first time I ever truly learned what training was. I joke, but I'm kind of serious prior to that. I felt like I had two speeds. I had my road running speed and then my trail speed. And I learned quickly running with him that, oh, you got to make your hard days hard and your easy days easy. And there's a place for track workouts even when you're racing a hundred miles, which would have never occurred to me. But yeah. And then also I ran that spring. I ran the same race as pretty much that Scott ran in his lead up to Western states every year. Interestingly too, I actually, he invited me to go to the Copper Canyon with him that year, which was famously the born to run you. But I just, you know, work in retail. I was getting married. I did get married later on the summer in 2006.

There was just too much on my plate

...