Becs Goes Around the World in 7 Days with Ultra-Marathoner David Kilgore

One of the world’s best ultramarathoners, David Kilgore, joins Set the Pace this week. He is the current reigning champion of the World Marathon Challenge®, where competitors run 7 marathons on each of the 7 continents in 7 days. David completed 6 of the 7 marathons in under 3 and a half hours, the seventh being his fastest, which he finished in an astonishing 2 hours 41 minutes and 50 seconds. David grew up running cross country and track in Florida and eventually focused on running ultra marathons for the adventure. He talks about what inspired him to take on this ultimate world challenge and what it was like running on every continent, starting in Antarctica, and finishing in Miami. Plus, Becs makes a big announcement about a new challenge that she’s embarking on this year that’s inspired by David’s ultra marathon journey.

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Episode Transcript

Rob Simmelkjaer (00:00):
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(00:21):
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Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you, New York. Today, we're reminded of the power
of community and the power of coming together. Athletes, on
your mark.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
The first woman to finish for the second straight year
here in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman, a smiling
Miki Gorman, and why not. 2:29

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes
to the line.

Speaker 5 (00:57):
Pointing to his chest, pointing to the USA he so proudly
wears across his chest. A great day for Matt (inaudible) .

Rob Simmelkjaer (01:10):
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Set the
Pace presented by Peloton. We are the official podcast of
New York Road Runners. I am your host and the
CEO of NYRR Rob Simmelkjaer, and back with us this
week after a quick hiatus across the pond to her
home country in the UK, Becs Gentry. Becs, great to
have you back. I hope you had a great trip

(01:32):
home to see your family and a nice break for
the 4th of July as well. How you doing?

Becs Gentry (01:37):
Absolutely. So good to be back in the oven that
is New York City right now. Trip to the UK
was fantastic. I actually created my own amazing running routine
while I was there called Chronicles of the Naptime Run,
which I think people were really enjoying on my social.
My daughter, my partner was away in Paris for Fashion

(02:00):
Week, so it was me, my mom and dad and
the baby. And my parents are old and... Older. So naptimes were the
only time I got to run and it was amazing.
I would do the same route every single day and
every day I was just trying to get a little
bit faster. It was... Oh my gosh, you know when you just get
hooked on weird stuff when you're traveling, you're like, "I can do the

(02:20):
same route every day in New York." And it was
awesome, but very good family time. Very-

Rob Simmelkjaer (02:27):
How long are the naps? How long does-

Becs Gentry (02:27):
Two hours. Yeah.

Rob Simmelkjaer (02:30):
Two hours. That's a solid nap. That's really good.

Becs Gentry (02:31):
That's a solid nap, yeah. So got out there, got
the run... Anywhere between six and eight miles (inaudible)
could do with this double loop.

Rob Simmelkjaer (02:41):
A major assist to Tallulah for giving you that kind
of a window for being a two- hour napper because
not every kid is a two- hour napper. You got to
give the love for that.

Becs Gentry (02:52):
Yep, 100%. But no, it was great. And then we had
4th of July, my sister- in- law got married on
the 3rd of July, so we had a big family celebration in
Philly and then we're at the Jersey Shore for the
fireworks and the 4th celebration, which was very calm because
we all celebrated wildly on the third. But we did
the normal, we had the grill, we had the ice

(03:12):
cream, and the family loving, which is important. How about
you? Did you celebrate too?

Rob Simmelkjaer (03:20):
Beautiful, beautiful. Yeah, I had a great 4th. The 4th of July is probably my favorite holiday
to be honest. I love it. I love the summertime,
I love all the traditions, I love the fireworks and
so I actually did not leave Westport, Connecticut where I
live for most of the week and Westport is such
a great place in the summer. A lot of beach

(03:41):
time, a lot of fireworks parties with friends and the
kids were with me part of it. Anika was. Julie's
away in summer camp. So just had so much fun.
The hard part definitely was trying to get some runs
in. It is so hot right now and the humidity,
Becs, just kills me and I'm trying now to get

(04:04):
some decent runs in because I'm not going to announce
anything here today, but I'm thinking about maybe running a
long race in the fall. Let's just put it that
way. And I am just struggling with this humidity. It
feels twice as hard to me when the dew point's
like 75 degrees, as it's been here lately, to just

(04:26):
go out and do what is called a, quote- unquote, "
Easy run" in my training plan feels like race pace
to me. It is like, " Oh my god, how am
I struggling this much to maintain this pace?" I just
think humidity is a killer.

Becs Gentry (04:40):
It really is. Yesterday it was hot, it climbed 21
degrees real feel while I was running yesterday. I did
a half- marathon yesterday, I did 13 and 21 degrees
real feal. But then this morning was-

Rob Simmelkjaer (04:55):
That's celsius-

Becs Gentry (04:55):
So much more humid-

Rob Simmelkjaer (04:57):
For Americans out there, that's probably like ninety- something, right?

Becs Gentry (05:01):
It went from 81... In American, it went from 81 to
103 while I was running. But this morning, because the
dew point was so much higher, we did like four
and a half miles and it felt like running through
a hot sludgy oven. It was just... Yeah, it was

(05:22):
so difficult.

Rob Simmelkjaer (05:23):
I'm finishing these runs, Becs, and it's like I got out
of a swimming pool. I am soaking wet from head
to toe. I'm grabbing a towel. It's just like this
is bananas. So for everybody out there trying to get
your miles in, I know a lot of folks right
now are... If you're on one of those longer marathon

(05:45):
training plans for the TCS New York City Marathon, you
may just be starting to do some of these runs
and put in some miles now, or maybe you're running
Berlin or Chicago or something like that and really into
it, just we feel you because if you're on the
East Coast right now or even out west where the
heat is so high, less humidity, we know that it's

(06:08):
a struggle. The only thing I can say is set
that alarm clock. Get up early. If you're not doing
these runs before, for me, Becs, 8:00 A.M., it's over. By 9
game over. There's no way I can put a run
in these conditions after by 9

Becs Gentry (06:26):
Yeah, I'm with you. I absolutely agree. And run with fluids. Even though
a lot of places have fantastic public water stations, don't
rely on them. And also if you are running later,
they might've been baking in the sun and the water that you're
going to take is actually warm. So run with a
bottle with some electrolytes in it. That's a good tip
from me as well. Also put a compression sock around

(06:47):
your neck with ice cubes in, helps.

Rob Simmelkjaer (06:50):
100%. Anything to cool the body down. All right, Becs, we
have such a fun episode today. You're going to make
a big announcement, which you've been teasing now for a
while. I'm excited to share that with our audience, the
just really amazing thing you're going to do this fall.
That'll be coming up. And our guest today, David Kilgore,

(07:10):
will be about that thing as well. So that's a bit of a hint as to
what you're going to be announcing a little bit later
on. And folks, reminder, if you have a question for Becs or for
Meb or for me, a great way to reach us
is to leave a comment on Apple Podcasts with your
question included and we'll be sure to answer it right
here on the show. Becs, last week we got a

(07:30):
question from Nola70124 who was looking for guidance on how
to host their own 5K as a local fundraising effort.
So thanks for the question, Nola. I think a great
step one if you're looking to do something like that
is to reach out to your local parks and rec
department. They'll first of all probably give you some great

(07:51):
tips on how to do an event. They may be
able to give you a race organizer who's in the
area, someone who's got the experience and course measurement and
timing and all the things you're going to need to
put on an event like that. And then of course
you're going to need a permit from them any way
to put your event on if it's in a park
or if it's on the roads, you'll need help from

(08:12):
the local authorities, police, things like that. So find that
local contact who can help you do it. If there's
another 5K in your area that you're familiar with, you
could reach out to them and ask them for some
help on how to do it as well. People in
the running industry tend to be really helpful, friendly, they
want to help each other out. So those are good
tips. And then another thing I would recommend is if

(08:34):
there's a local running store in your area that might
be willing to work with you to promote it, to
bring runners to it, to help organize it, because the
running stores all want to serve the local runners in
a community. They'll appreciate you reaching out and can be
a good partner in something like that. So I wish
you luck with that, Nola. That's a great, great thing and

(08:54):
a lot of people I know are trying to do
that as well.

Becs Gentry (08:58):
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(09:19):
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Rob Simmelkjaer (09:33):
All right, Becs, so you have been teasing us now
for a few weeks about a big announcement, a new
challenge that you're taking on this year and I'm excited
to hear about it. I know our listeners are excited to hear
about it. And it also relates to our guests this
week. So Becs, take it away.

Becs Gentry (09:50):
Oh my goodness, thank you. I guess this is it.
I guess this is making it real and speaking to
our guests will make it even more real. I have
decided, thanks to our guest, to take part in the
Great World Race, which is seven marathons, seven days, seven
continents happening mid- November this year.

Rob Simmelkjaer (10:13):
Oh my god.

Becs Gentry (10:15):
168 hours.

Rob Simmelkjaer (10:16):
Wait a second. Seven marathons. I just want to get this
straight. Seven marathons, seven days in a row. Not like
seven days spread out by six months, seven days in
a row on seven different continents?

Becs Gentry (10:27):
Yes. Yeah. So from the minute we start our first
race in, wait for it, wait for it, Antarctica, we
have 168 hours to complete seven marathons around the world and
finish our final race in the wonderful City of Miami.

Rob Simmelkjaer (10:51):
That may be both at the same time the craziest
and coolest thing I've ever heard in my life. I
can't believe you're doing this, Becs. I'm so excited for
you. I'm so scared for you. I'm just blown away
that you're doing this.

Becs Gentry (11:10):
Me too. It's been a year in the making in
the convincing in my mind and in other people's minds
and I think part of the reason why I've decided
to do this, as I said, is our guest today.

(11:31):
I'm going to take the reins in introducing this legend
of a human. I consider him a friend. I consider
him a mentor. I consider him one of my biggest
running inspirations. He and his beautiful wife, Molly, and their
gorgeous little fur doggy are constantly traveling the world, putting
in the miles with the biggest smiles on their faces.

(11:53):
And I think if you know the Florida man at
all, you know the legend. That is David Kilgore everybody.
We are going to be talking to him very shortly
and he's going to explain to us all how and
why he convinced me to run this race, whether he
knows it or not.

Rob Simmelkjaer (12:10):
Unbelievable. Can't wait to hear from David. He'll be with us in
just a second and I just can't wait to hear
more about how this happened, how he convinced you to
do this and can't wait to follow this all as
it all plays out. It's amazing. Becs, congrats on the
announcement. Now it's real, you got to do it, and
we're all going to wish you luck and follow it

(12:31):
as you go through this. My God. Wow, I'm exhausted
just talking about this. All right, before we bring David
on, also our friend and trusted advisor, Meb Keflezighi is going to
join us a bit later in the show with local
ultra runner Marie- Ange Brumelot who recently became the second-
fastest female 100K runner of all time and she's a New York

(12:53):
Road Runners member. So can't wait to hear from Marie-
Ange. Then finally today, the Med Minute is appropriately a
tip for those who are looking to up your mileage.
And that is an understatement when it comes to our
guest today, one of the world's best ultra marathoners. David
Kilgore is the current reigning champion of the world Marathon

(13:14):
challenge, this crazy thing that Becs just announced she's going
to do. He completed all seven marathons in under three
and a half hours, but even that doesn't really do
him justice because six of the seven were under three
hours and his seventh marathon in the series of seven
was his fastest, he finished in an astonishing 2 hours,

(13:34):
41 minutes and 50 seconds. This is not normal. David
Kilgore, you are a beast of a man. Welcome to
Set the Pace and congratulations on getting Becs to do this
insane thing.

David Kilgore (13:48):
Yeah, just hearing you talk about it is making me tired already.
I'm so excited though to have Becs on the journey this
time around though. It's absolutely out of this world to
be able to go back on this trip and super, super
stoked to be on it again.

Becs Gentry (14:07):
Yeah. A big memory for me was following you when
you did the World Marathon Challenge last February, February 2023.
I was in Florida, I was with my aunt and
uncle and Austin and Tallulah, and you were out there. I

(14:27):
was chatting with Molly, " What's happening, where is he?" And
she was just being... She always is the feed telling
us all that you're alive and you're doing well. And
it was just enthralling. I don't know what happened to
me, but I became obsessed. I would wake up in
the night and just be like, " Where is he? Is

(14:49):
he okay? What's happening?" And my aunt and uncle were
just watching me and they got obsessed too. They were like, "
All right, we'll have the baby you guys drive to
Miami, go and see him come in." It just was
unreal watching you do that race but not just do
it, but as Rob just said, crush those races. And

(15:11):
your Antarctic Marathon was still under four, right?

David Kilgore (15:14):
Yeah, it was around 3:20, but it was absolutely brutal when we got
out there. We were actually the race organization, which the
weather changes quite extensively, but they were like, " It might be a little
cold, but I feel like you guys might luck out and

(15:35):
you might have the best weather ever, running... It's like
shorts and a T- shirt is a possibility." We get
out there and it is absolutely blistering. I think it
was 50 mile an hour headwind and about negative 32.
So everybody gets off the plane and is throwing every

(15:55):
single thing that they own on. So yeah, definitely one
piece of advice is to yeah, bring some extra layers
for that. I think I ended up wearing a few
pairs of tights, but I also wore a pair of
dress pants for the first half of the race because
I was so frigid.

Becs Gentry (16:14):
Wow. I remember seeing a picture of your eyes and
your eyebrows and your beard and you were frozen. You
looked... You like had icicles coming off you.

David Kilgore (16:24):
Oh yeah. Yeah, it was absolutely insanity. They basically brought us
to this set of portables and they're like, " Hey, we're
actually going to wait for the weather to pass for
a little while." And about every half hour they were
coming in and being like, " Actually we're going to wait
a little longer. You guys have some coffee, relax, and
we're all just cutting it up with each other and

(16:45):
hanging out." And then about two hours in, it's almost
I feel like out of a movie, they come in
and look terrible and they're like, " The weather's getting so
bad. If we don't get out right now, we're going
to get stuck here for like two days. So everybody
get out there." So we're all just funneling out into
this absolutely horrid weather. And they took these two large

(17:07):
sleds that they carry supplies on out there and flipped
them over on each side of the course because we
switched up the course as well because it was such
low visibility, and did about 13 out and backs on
the ice.

Rob Simmelkjaer (17:22):
Okay. I just have so many questions. I don't really
know where to start, but let me start. I'm just
going to try to ask the questions that I think
are normal runners who listen to this podcast. Many of
them are half marathoners or marathoners, they're serious runners. Very
few of them will ever run an ultra marathon. And

(17:43):
then of that set, very, very, very few of them
will ever think about doing something like this World Marathon
Challenge. So first of all, where did this come from,
David, the concept of this seven marathon, seven days, seven continents,
who thought of this? When did this start?

David Kilgore (18:00):
So I think it's about seven or eight years old,
there's a guy named Richard Donovan whose brother is a world-
class miler, he's an Irish miler, back in his day.
And his brother Richard basically had the running bug as
well, but was really into all these very adventurous stunts.

(18:23):
And so he's currently actually on a mission to run
across every continent in the world. I think he's knocked
off about four right now, which is complete insanity. But
he puts on different races all over the world, puts
on the Antarctic Marathon, which is a different race. Races
up volcanoes, races in the north Pole. And this is

(18:47):
one of his really, really crazy creations. And like Becs,
one of my friends, Mike Wardian, who's definitely a force
in the ultra running world as well, did this I
think about five years back. And when he did it
the first time, I became completely enthralled by it and

(19:07):
just could not stop thinking about it over the years
and was like, " One day I got to get to
this race."

Becs Gentry (19:13):
So you know how it feels.

Rob Simmelkjaer (19:15):
Yeah. Becs, this may be a question for you, but
where does it start? What's the order of the continents?
How does this logistically work?

Becs Gentry (19:24):
As David's already lent into here, the first one and the most difficult logistically
is the Antarctic Marathon because of the weather. So we
all actually convene in Cape Town where we have a pre-
race briefing and meet up with all the other incredible
runners who are taking on this feat. And then they

(19:45):
check the window and all being well a couple of
days later we head out to Antarctica where we go.
This year, they've already changed the location once because of
the (inaudible) winds were due to come in and
they've pushed it back to a location called Wolf's Fang,
which sounds really relaxing, in Antarctica. And it's a two loop, so

(20:11):
two half- marathon loops of Wolf's Fang. We do that,
we thaw out on the plane and we head to Cape
Town where we do... I think that one's a five
loop course. I've got them all in my head, probably
all the wrong way around, but anyway, it's Cape Town,
South Africa. Then we head over to Perth, Australia. Then

(20:31):
we come back to Istanbul. Istanbul is the only country in
the world that broaches two continents, Asia and Europe. So
we do one on one side of the Bosphorus River
and we hop over to the other side of the
Bosphorus River the next day to tick off Asia and
Europe. Then we head to Cartagena, Colombia. We have a bit
of fun in South America. And then on all being

(20:53):
well weather- wise, we should finish in Miami on November
the 21st. So yeah. It seems absurd when I say
it, every time.

David Kilgore (21:06):
Just a quick week, quick loop around the world.

Becs Gentry (21:10):
Yeah, yeah. And that's it. I think one of my
questions to the race organizer was, " So is Istanbul the
only time we're going to get to shower?" Because we'll
be in a hotel, not the plane. And he was like, " Oh,
no, no, no. No, no, Becs, don't worry, you'll be able
to rinse off. We have facilities for you to rinse

(21:31):
off in." It's like, " Oh God." Not that I was...
We're all running, we're all going to stink, but whatever. That
was just saving grace.

Rob Simmelkjaer (21:38):
Yeah, you don't want to get on a flight like
that. Yeah. You want to shower before you get in
the plane. Oh, David. So Antarctica obviously was the most
challenging of these. Are you running on a road, on
ice? What's the surface there?

David Kilgore (21:58):
It's absolutely quite incredible actually. It's just all ice everywhere
you look and it's probably one of the most special
places I've ever been in my life. When we landed,
so you land on an airfield that's... Yeah, it's all
ice and very, very tacky snow. And it's just... As

(22:20):
you could imagine, it's just so untouched. So any which
way you look, it's absolutely just stunning. It's unbelievable to
see. And even though the wind was quite extensive and
made the run quite difficult, it made it so wonderful
in a lot of ways too because as you were
running out and back, the snow drift from the wind

(22:42):
made it just absolutely stunning and it exposed the most blue
ice I've ever seen in my life. So you had
to shift over quite a bit to avoid that ice, but it was,
yeah, miraculous.

Becs Gentry (22:55):
And you run in normal trainers or did you put crampons on?

David Kilgore (23:00):
Actually, yeah, the snow was... I brought some very small
grade crampons in the yaktrax just in case, but the snow
was actually so tacky and coarse that I just wore...
I run for On, so our super shoe is the Cloudboom
Echo. So I ran in that shoe the whole time

(23:22):
without any type of extra tackiness or extra traction.

Becs Gentry (23:32):
Wow. Did you have to go up a size to get some thick socks on?

David Kilgore (23:34):
Yes, definitely. Yeah, I went up a half size to
wear some thicker wool socks.

Becs Gentry (23:40):
Yeah, some wool socks. There we go.

David Kilgore (23:41):
Yeah.

Becs Gentry (23:41):
All these tips and (inaudible) .

David Kilgore (23:45):
I'll have to send it over to you too as well, Becs, but there was this
mask that I had as well and pretty much it's
a... It's almost like a regular face mask, but the
front of the mask around this area is all magnetic
but it comes on and off so it's very easy
to pull off and tuck away after you warm up.

(24:06):
But it's quite nice to start, especially for the exposure
on your face.

Becs Gentry (24:09):
Yeah. Wow.

Rob Simmelkjaer (24:12):
So when I think about this, what I'm wondering is
what's the hardest part of this? Is it the running,
is it the logistics of just getting to these places and
being able to run, is it your rest or nutrition?
What's the hardest part about pulling this off?

David Kilgore (24:32):
I think it's going with the flow a little bit and also
the recovery aspect of it. The climates that you're running
through of course are insanity. Going from Antarctica, from a
condition like that, to South Africa and then to Australia.

(24:55):
The timing of everything matters so much from year to
year because last year as well, we were just off
a little bit after the second marathon and that shifted
the dynamic of the entire race. So instead of some
of the races that were going to be a lot cooler,
we were running in like 95 degree heat the next
day in Australia as well. So I feel like the

(25:18):
best or the most difficult thing is I feel like mitigating the
recovery for each day and just battling the conditions. And
again, I think with a lot of this adventure type racing,
I think going with the flow and having that mindset
to be ever- changeable is definitely the move. And also

(25:42):
have a good buddy on the plane.

Becs Gentry (25:46):
I'm going to be bugging you the whole time. Yeah,
I think Antarctica... So for me, where it all began
in my mind of adventure racing was I've not done
ultras for a long time. After having Tallulah, I wanted
to finish my Six Star and then I said to myself, "

(26:08):
I think I want to get back into ultras." I
enjoyed them so much. I love the adventure aspect of
traveling to all parts of the world to run because
that's where it started for me. That was my love
of running, was trail running. So for as long as
I can remember, I've wanted to run the Antarctica Marathon,
for so long. And I don't know why because I

(26:29):
absolutely hate the cold. I have Raynaud's, so my hands
will freeze up, so I'm going to have to have
mitts and all sorts of stuff for my hands. And when I
looked into it, I was just like, " I may as
well do all of these." But I think weirdly enough,
I think that one is so far beyond my comprehension

(26:49):
as somebody who lives in New York that I'm more
worried about the back- to- back potential 95 degree hot,
humid races of South Africa, Perth, Australia. Istanbul I think
at that time of year should be somewhat of a
relief for us in November. I think that one's going
to... Could be quite nice. But then we go to Columbia

(27:12):
and Miami. That's a lot of recovery, staving off cramps,
staving off just that dehydration or over- hydration. I'm a
sucker for hyponatremia, which is when you drink too much
and you end up actually being more sick that way.
So that's what's like in my brain of I need

(27:34):
to lean on you and the other people who've done
it, like how do we look after ourselves?

David Kilgore (27:42):
Yeah, I think a really great part about this as well
is that the plane that we'll be on, the majority
of it, besides the plane to Antarctica, because that one's
slightly different, we'll be able to lay down the full
duration of the flights, will be great. And I think
one of the funniest pieces of this last year when
I was on the trip as well is this is

(28:04):
such a great point, is everybody so I feel like worried
about the recovery aspect of it, which is definitely a
huge piece of it, but as we got on the
plane, everybody's pulling out of their bag their Normatec boots,
their massage guns. I'll have to send you the video
Becs. I think there was somebody holding like 20 massage

(28:25):
guns all at once.

Becs Gentry (28:27):
Wow.

David Kilgore (28:27):
Because they were-

Becs Gentry (28:28):
Full Kit. One bag full of recovery tools, one bag full
of running kit. This is great. This'll be me. I'll
look like, I don't know, a celebrity pulling up to
Paris Fashion Week. Instead, it's me getting on the plane
with all my recovery tools.

Rob Simmelkjaer (28:47):
How many people do this? How many folks are on this journey with you?

David Kilgore (28:52):
So I'm not sure the exact number that'll be participating
this year. I think it'll probably be similar I would
say to what it was last year, but I believe
there was around 47 or 48 participants and about 15
to 20 members of staff.

Rob Simmelkjaer (29:15):
And you guys are all on the same plane, essentially,
like a chartered jet that's taken you around to these
places except for Antarctica?

David Kilgore (29:22):
Yes, exactly. So we'll have one specific plane to land
on the ice out in Antarctica, which is... It's actually surreal
being on that plane. It's really, really cool. And then
one other plane to fly us everywhere else, which is
definitely quite nice too, to be able to have your
stuff set up and all in one spot to be
able to jump in and out of the plane.

Becs Gentry (29:44):
It's a bougie hotel room in the sky.

David Kilgore (29:50):
Yeah, exactly.

Rob Simmelkjaer (29:50):
Wow. All right, the questions are going to keep coming, Becs, for you
as you get closer and closer to this.

Becs Gentry (29:54):
Yes.

Rob Simmelkjaer (29:55):
Because I've got so many, but I want to just
find out a bit about David and how he came
to be what he is. David, you started out as
a quote- unquote, " Normal runner." You were a collegiate runner
at Florida, did very well there. I don't know what
your best distances were in college, but talk about the

(30:16):
evolution of being a runner to what you're doing now
with this incredible ultra running.

David Kilgore (30:23):
Honestly, yeah, I grew up down in Florida and something
that I didn't know existed out there was a lot
of this adventure racing and even trial and ultra racing
as a whole. So when I was growing up, I
grew up doing cross country and track and field, but
I was always training a lot in the woods and
spending a lot of time outside. As I grew and

(30:47):
went off to college and pretty much halfway through university,
I found out about this whole new world of this
type of racing and it really just enthralled me. And
once I exited university and took a little bit of
a... Took some downtime from running, I had been doing
it for quite an extensive part of my life at
that time, the next step I was like, " Hey, I

(31:09):
really want to get into this field of running." And I
definitely like to joke around about it a little bit
that I didn't realize that there was shorter distance trail
racing and started doing these large ultra adventures and multi-
stage adventures and I was like, " This is what I got
now. I'm too far gone, I got to stick with

(31:30):
this." And yeah. But honestly, it's something that I absolutely
love and these types of events are definitely just what
I love the most. I love the adventurous type racing
and I love the excitement of a new challenge and
just pushing the body in a whole new way and

(31:50):
adding these different elements of lack of recovery, different environments
in such a quick timeframe and the distance itself of
course is just a bear all on its own.

Becs Gentry (32:02):
Yeah, that's so true. And I feel like you hit
the nail on the head there. You never see David Kilgore running a
Omega 50K race. David pops out to run a hundred
miles to... You always do it for great causes as
well. I know you've done a lot of relief effort
running down for Floridians. There's always something between you or

(32:27):
your wife Molly who between you, you have an incredible cause
behind these, somewhat random because I think a lot of
them are... You're a big name within the unsanctioned races, so
I think it's not unusual to see David just rock
up in a random part of Florida and be like, "

(32:48):
Okay, he's seeing if he can get the fastest known
time for a random trail in the backwaters of Florida
with Molly and some friends crewing him." It's wild. How
do you plan those? How do you come up with those?

David Kilgore (33:07):
Yeah, thanks, Becs, I appreciate that. I don't know, it's something
that excites me constantly so I feel like it's a
ever evolving thing too where people are just like... I
guess along my journey in life people are telling me
about these different things like, " Hey, have you checked this
out? You got to go do this, you got to

(33:28):
do that." And if somebody's so inclined to join me
on that or so excited about it, I think that's
what I get my energy from most in life is
just the excitement and joy of others. So I feel
like no matter what it is, if they're like, " Hey,
you got to check out this crazy adventure, we got
to go do this," I'm like, " Sign me up, let's

(33:49):
go check it out. I'm down. I'm down to do that.2

Becs Gentry (33:52):
Rings so true. You were one of the first to do TSP
solo and after doing it many years as part of
a team. You've done... I think you've done pretty much...
I'm waiting for you to just say you're running across Australia or
something by yourself or something wild like that.

David Kilgore (34:13):
Likewise, Becs. I feel like you've done crazy adventures and insane marathons
and really fast clips all over the world. Has the
build up to this event been any different so far?

Becs Gentry (34:29):
I have to word this in the nicest possible way and
remind everybody listening that we are all different and I
have had to learn to run slower because there is
no way I'm going to stay healthy racking up this

(34:51):
mileage, let alone doing seven marathons in seven days in
seven continents at the speeds I think I want to
run at. This has been the biggest difference for me,
is learning to go out and just as you said,
go with the flow, not worry about what the watch

(35:12):
is beeping at, not worry about time, which also means
carving out more time in my schedule. It's been really
enjoyable. It's really actually made those past training runs at
a historically... They weigh heavy on you when you're like, "
Oh no, I've got to go out and hit this
time for these many miles and this is going to

(35:36):
be hard." This is hard in a different way because
it's like, " Okay, I got to go out for my
third run of the day, my legs are tired," but I've deleted
that one element of like, " Okay, I don't have to
hit any specific pace because..." Essentially we have... There's eight
hours to complete each race. We have to have... Or

(35:56):
there's eight hours for everyone to be back on the
plane and out. So that's a nice... What's that called?
It's like a lifebuoy for me, a life vest.

David Kilgore (36:10):
Yeah, it is quite nice. I think that's one of the great
part about this race too, especially if you're running at a
slightly faster clip, is being able to be in these
locations for a nice bit of time and actually I
feel like get a little bit of extra recovery. So I

(36:30):
feel like it is an interesting aspect too with recovery
in that respect too of balancing the amount of speed
and the amount of time you have to recover in
these locations afterwards because yeah, it's a little bit more
time where you're able to be off your feet and
actually get I would say a solid meal in these

(36:54):
different locations around the world.

Becs Gentry (36:56):
I just want to meet a penguin in Antarctica.

David Kilgore (37:01):
Same. Let's put it on our bucket list.

Becs Gentry (37:04):
Yeah. We'll get this marathon done, look out for Becs Bambi on
ice the first few miles. Make sure you've got a phone
ready to film how hilarious I'm going to look.

David Kilgore (37:15):
We're all just penguins, slide on our stomachs on ice, yeah.

Becs Gentry (37:18):
It'll be me. The penguins will just flock to me. They'll be like, "
Oh, she's one of us, she's on her belly."

Rob Simmelkjaer (37:22):
I think this could happen for you. I feel like this video is coming.
I'm excited about this. David, for someone who is, again,
a quote- unquote, " Normal runner," running normal distances, normal races,
maybe even marathons, what is the type of person... How
do you know ultra marathons maybe are for you? I

(37:46):
know some folks who have graduated up to this and
is it just you get to 26.2 and you're like, "
Gosh, it's just not enough, I just need more. That's
not enough, it's not enough of an adventure for me.
I need something more than that." Is that how you know?

David Kilgore (38:05):
Yeah, I feel like that's definitely hard to put an exact pen in
because even as Becs mentioned earlier with that race I
did (inaudible) , an unsanctioned race from LA to Vegas,
which is a little over 300 miles. I remember when
I first did my first ultra, which was a 50- mile

(38:25):
race, and someone asked me about that actually when it
was whispers in the scene and at the time I
was like, " Dude, I just did this 50 mile race
and there's no way anybody's convinced me to ever do
that because I just went through so much pain to conquer
this 50 mile race." So I think it has to be a mixture

(38:48):
of I think just I guess excitement for a new challenge
after you feel like you have gotten some of this
under your belt. And then also I feel like when I'm
ever in a low spot in some of these ultra
distance races, what drives me so much too is again, I feel
like being around people and having that intimate time with

(39:11):
other people. I feel like it just breaks you down
and grinds you down to exactly who you're supposed to
be in that exact moment. And then also just looking
around, a lot of the places that I gravitate towards
are more of these I feel like wild and more
natural places when I'm racing. And yeah, even when I'm

(39:33):
deep, deep in the pain cave, I feel like looking
around and just being like, " Oh my god, this is
really painful right now," but I'm so pumped about where
I am right now and I'm loving every minute of this
in my mind.

Becs Gentry (39:47):
Wow. Out of all of the wild locations, distances, and
challenges you've put yourself through, is there any that stick
out as being the most challenging so far?

David Kilgore (40:06):
I would've to say actually a race that I did last year
as well in late April. There's a race called MDS
Marathon Des Sables and it's a multi- stage race across
a portion of the Sahara desert. And I just think
that that race was so difficult for me because it

(40:28):
just incorporated so many new elements where you have to
carry all of your own food and hydration for the
entirety of the week, anything that you're sleeping on and
staying in. So it's a true backpacking experience, but fast
packing race through a very treacherous part of the world.

(40:50):
And they even ration the amount of water and type
of fuel that you have in that event. So I
think because of that, it was a whole new stimulus
for me that I wasn't as familiar with. It definitely
made it completely... I don't know, I think there's layers
of racing to me usually where it's like, " Wow, that

(41:12):
was an incredible hard effort" and I expected that going
into it, but there was definitely layers of enjoyment into
that. And I think during MDS, I was suffering I feel like the majority of it. I was like, "
Wow, this is no joke." But I think that's a
lot to be said too with a lot of these multi-

(41:35):
stage races. And again nodding back to that recovery, I
think it matters so much going day after day after
day after day, the same for the Great World Race that
we're about to embark on.

Becs Gentry (41:52):
MDS is similar in that you've got to get to the tent and sleep and it's as
quick as you get to the next rest stop, the
more time you're going to have to recover before the
next day's challenge awaits you essentially.

David Kilgore (42:05):
Yes, exactly. And again, I feel like what's really fun about
these races too, and I feel like I get a lot of
my energy off of is it's so fun to be
able to put in such an incredible effort and to
be able to, I feel like, run... Everybody's able to
run their own pace and race against each other, but

(42:26):
then coming back and to all one unit and I feel like
to be able to go through the same experience together
but everybody at different pace, it's quite a special thing.
I joked around a little bit about the Great World
Race last year or the World Marathon Challenge and that

(42:46):
it was... I feel like it was a dull like airplane
and marathoning camp that I spent for a week.

Becs Gentry (42:55):
It's just a week.

Rob Simmelkjaer (42:57):
David, I've followed you on Strava since this interview began
and I've been scrolling through your Strava feed and it's
actually... A lot of it's remarkably normal. It looks like
mine. You got five miles here, five miles there, and
then like a 43- mile evening run will just pop
up somewhere in the feed. I'm like, " Okay, that's not

(43:19):
in my Strava feed. I don't have that." So it's
a fun follow by the way, David Kilgore on Strava.
I recommend it. What's the training like? How many miles
are you putting in? We're talking right now, you're in
New York, you're in the South Bronx, just showed us
a view of outside your window with Yankee Stadium right

(43:40):
in the background. How many miles will you do in
just a normal week where you're not in the middle
of some major global running situation?

David Kilgore (43:50):
It's definitely all dependent. Again, I feel like I keep
going back to this, but I feel like I get so much
inspiration and stuff out of other people, so I feel
like if there's a lot of group runs and events
and stuff going on, I think I'll tack in a
little bit extra. But I would say on average, I
pretty much train I would say like a lower mileage

(44:13):
marathoner on a normal basis where I'm probably hitting between...
I know it's a little bit of a range, but
probably like 50 to 80 miles on a normal basis. And again,
that depends on... I feel like either week or bi- weekly,
I feel like I always throw in some type of

(44:34):
a big adventure where I run just a longer route
that I've wanted to do for a while, whether it's
a loop around Manhattan in the city or playing around
in the Alps.

Becs Gentry (44:44):
Casual, so casual.

Rob Simmelkjaer (44:46):
Yeah, just (inaudible) . It all makes sense. How was
the experience running the TCS New York City Marathon? I'm
looking at your photos from it on Strava. Looked like
you had a good time, pretty impressive time you ran.
How was it?

David Kilgore (45:02):
Oh man, it's definitely my favorite marathon I think in
the world. Yeah, it's incredible in every way. I feel
like being in New York now for eight or nine
years have fostered a fantastic running family and community here.
It's really cool to be able to, one, I feel

(45:22):
like run through every borough in one day and just
the energy every step of the way compiled with, again,
all the vibes and love from friends and family across
the course, it's so, so sick. It's unlike anything else I
feel like or a marathon that I've experienced. And I
think over the years too, it's been awesome to see

(45:45):
just the buildup. I feel like each borough has notched
in their belt their own identity. So it's really cool
to hit each borough and really feel the energy, see
different DJs just like blast some music, different run crews along
the way. It's an incredible experience.

Rob Simmelkjaer (46:04):
Two hours and 31 minutes by the way, not too shabby.
Outstanding. With your speed, David, you could be running at
a very elite level. Where along the way did you
decide that distance was your thing because you've got some
actual speed there. That's an impressive time. If you trained

(46:26):
for speed, and I don't know that you're doing that,
what do you think the limit could be for you
in terms of speed at the marathon distance?

David Kilgore (46:38):
I think I'm almost at it actually for myself. I
could probably take a little bit off my time and
maybe get into the teams or something (inaudible) very,
very specified at what I was doing. But I think
that's something that's never as much spoke to me and

(46:59):
I just love the way I view running and the way
I partake or participate in running now where I get
to do a little bit of everything where I still
am definitely on more of a professional circuit in the trial and ultra
world and do some of those races, but going after
some of these larger stunts and adventure racing. Like I

(47:22):
was saying too in my training that I feel like
I would be a nightmare to coach, but going out
and just being able to do some really fun routes
that I've had my eye on for a while, it's
something that just speaks to myself and speaks to my
soul and it's something that I love to be able

(47:43):
to get out every day and choose my path.

Becs Gentry (47:46):
I love that.

Rob Simmelkjaer (47:46):
All right, I want to hear one piece of advice you
can give Becs live here as she starts to get
ready for this unbelievable adventure of the world Marathon challenge.
What's the number one thing Becs needs to hear as
she tries to pull this off?

David Kilgore (48:09):
I would say bring a great sleeping mat or pillow
for the plane. Use that for the plane. The best
thing I feel like is to... I feel like rest
is always undersold, so I think getting a good night
of shut- eye is the move. And then also I

(48:29):
think it's over seven days, so I think probably with
the first marathon, it's always nice to probably play it
a little bit easier on that first one and just really
settle into the pace. But honestly, I think by the
third or fourth day, it's weird what the body does.

(48:51):
I think it just... The body's like, " This is what we
do now."

Becs Gentry (48:53):
" This is us."

David Kilgore (48:55):
Yeah. " We run a marathon and we get back on a
plane and we sleep." So I feel like you really sit
into it by the third or fourth day. That would
be my piece of advice, is have a great sleeping
arrangement and definitely just listen to your body from the gate.

Becs Gentry (49:14):
Okay. Sleeping mat, pillow, take it easy. Sounds good. Sounds
like going on proper a vacation.

Rob Simmelkjaer (49:22):
Oh, that's not a vacation. No. There is nothing vacation-
like about what you are going to do, but it
will be an experience of a lifetime. And I wish
you luck. I can't wait to watch this all play
out, Becs. It's going to be amazing. Congrats to you
for taking it on. And David, thank you for coming

(49:43):
on and giving us a peek inside this really incredible
world of ultra marathon running. We know about that, but at
the level that you do it and the scale at
which you do it globally, it's just something that's very
unique in the running world. So congrats, good luck, and
we can't wait to see how it all plays out
for you.

David Kilgore (50:03):
Much appreciated. Yeah, super grateful for you guys having me
on. And Becs, I'm so stoked for you to be on this trip. You're
absolutely going to crush it. And yeah, let's have a
few piña coladas at Cartagena before we head over to
Miami. That'll ease the trip a little bit too.

Becs Gentry (50:21):
Absolutely down for that.

Rob Simmelkjaer (50:22):
All right. David Kilgore on Set the Pace, thank you very much.

David Kilgore (50:28):
Awesome, thanks y'all.

Rob Simmelkjaer (50:44):
Time now for our New York Road Runners member moment
and today's member is Marie- Ange Brumelot. Marie recently made
history by running under seven hours in her first 100K
ultra marathon at Steenwerck, France becoming the second- fastest female
100K runner of all time. This amazing performance also set

(51:04):
a new record for the fastest European 100K surpassing the
previous best by seven minutes and qualifying Marie- Ange for
the 100K World Championships, which will be held in Bengaluru,
India in December of this year. Incredible. Meanwhile, here in
New York City, Marie- Ange was named the Fred Lebow
runner of the year after being a top five finisher

(51:27):
in eight of the NYRR races she competed in. Here
with Marie- Ange is Meb Keflezighi.

Meb Keflezighi (51:33):
Thanks, Rob. Welcome Marie to the Set the Pace podcast. You
were frustrated with your marathon performance, so you decided to try
the 100K ultra race. Why did you think that you
might be suited to the ultra rather than to the marathons?

Marie-Ange Brumelot (51:50):
They tell you if you can't run faster, you got
to run longer. So I gave it a shot. Yeah,
I needed to do something different, not progressing in the
marathon as much as I wanted to, so I tried
to go longer and it all worked out.

Meb Keflezighi (52:06):
You have described your ultra strategy as a research for data
driven. Tell us all about it.

Marie-Ange Brumelot (52:12):
Yes, coming from the marathon, we know so much about
it. It's a big Olympic event. There's so much information
out there. And stepping to this new event, the 100K,
information is not flowing as much. We don't know as much
about it. It's not an event that's as popular as the marathon.

(52:34):
So I thought I could be good at it, but I
wanted to back it up with some information. So to
bring me some confidence or some or just to find
out was I right in my pursuit of this event,
I just looked at those performances compared to the marathon to
try to extrapolate, " All right, here's my marathon, so here's

(52:55):
what it could be 100K" because I was looking at the European record
and it seemed attainable. And again, I just (inaudible) up and
the numbers did, so that brought me some confidence.

Meb Keflezighi (53:06):
Not only get confidence, but now you have qualified for
the 100K world championship in India this December. How will
that course compare to Steenwerck, France or what does your
training look like?

Marie-Ange Brumelot (53:20):
So the course is going to be comparable. It's a smaller loop, but
usually these events always run on a flat road. What's the major
difference between the world championships in India and the race that I
did, it's going to be the conditions. India is not
known to be a cool and dry country, so that
is going to be the major thing. So I am right

(53:43):
now trying to embrace the hot and humid summer because
most likely this is what I'm going to have to
face in December.

Meb Keflezighi (53:51):
That's great. Congratulations on going to the world championship. How
does that compare for you going for time versus and
now a pure championship races?

Marie-Ange Brumelot (54:01):
I think it alleviates a bit of the pressure. In (inaudible) race, I
wanted to win, of course, but I wanted to have a
time associated with it. So you're looking at everything that
goes on around you, you're looking at how... You're very
focused on yourself, of course, but I also had to be focused
on the splits and the numbers along the way because

(54:22):
that was very driven or here's the standards I want
to be able to achieve. So moving forward to the
world, Championships, that last part is not going to be
as essential. It's more, all right here are the best
athletes in the world in that event right now. Now it's
just a matter of competition. It's just a championship race, so
the numbers don't really matter. It's just running the smartest

(54:45):
race for me in order to beat the field because that's
going to be my goal. Again, it's not about being
so driven into the numbers. You can look (inaudible) .
The time at the end of the day, it's not going to matter,
it's all about placing.

Meb Keflezighi (55:02):
Are ultras your future or will you come back to
the marathons after the world Championships?

Marie-Ange Brumelot (55:07):
Yeah, I'm definitely not done with a marathon. There's definitely going
to be more marathon in the future and I do
think they can... Those two events can work together, just
like marathoners have to step down to do half- marathons
and 10K once in a while to spin the legs because it
just makes you more efficient. I think it's just this

(55:28):
similar idea. My best performances just maybe in those ultra
events. But I do think it is in my best
interest to try to get faster in the marathon because
it translates. You'll see me again in the marathon. I
still think I have some minutes to shave, so I'll be giving
it a go at some point within the next few years.

Meb Keflezighi (55:49):
How is it for my personal knowledge your body feels after
a 100K versus a marathon? I know for me personally after running a
marathon, I'm done for about a week or five days,
at very minimum, can't walk. But how does your body
feel when you run a 100K?

Marie-Ange Brumelot (56:05):
So after the race, the recovery process, that's why (inaudible)
was very different. I didn't know what to expect
because it was my first one. After a marathon, for me
personally, I would be very sore for especially the day
after. But that soreness carries for maximum 72 hours and
then I can start jogging. I feel quite okay. I

(56:26):
thought it would be smoother. I don't know why it was really
not though. I try to jog because (inaudible) I
felt like all the soreness is gone, I can hop
along (inaudible) light jog because it just feels (inaudible)
to get blood flow going. But I feel like the
pounding, all my (inaudible) area felt weird. Everything was

(56:48):
off for a couple weeks. It was definitely a lot
more demanding, which makes sense when you think about it.
Two, two and a half hour events versus a six
and a half hour, seven- hour event. So of course
the body's going to react a little bit differently.

Meb Keflezighi (57:03):
Wow, you're doing a great job, keep it up. One
more question for you. You hold a very unique Guinness
world record. Will you tell us about it?

Marie-Ange Brumelot (57:13):
Yeah, so it's a family thing, so it's dear to
my heart. So my father and I, at the 2022 Brooklyn half-
marathon held at New York Road Runners, we ran the
fastest half- marathon by father and child. So our time
was... May not be able to get it down to
the second, but he ran 131 and some change and

(57:36):
I ran 113 and some change. So we got the
record. It was taken from us since, so we'll be
giving it a go again. I'm not sure if you'll
be able to squeeze in the fall. If it's not
going to be this fall, it's going to be in the next spring (inaudible)
to get it again, so we'll go for it soon.

Meb Keflezighi (57:53):
Wow. Congratulations on that. That's so awesome. And thank you for
being a today's Member Moment. So wish you all the
best, especially in India for the world championship 100K, and
thanks for being with us.

Marie-Ange Brumelot (58:09):
Thank you so much, Meb.

Rob Simmelkjaer (58:09):
All right, Marie-Ange and Meb, thank you so much. And thank you Marie- Ange for being
a member of New York Road Runners and we are
all rooting for you as you look ahead to the
100K World Championships later this year. Now it's time for
today's Meb Minutes.

Meb Keflezighi (58:22):
Hi everyone, this is the Meb Minutes and this week
will be upping up the mileage. Running is a beautiful
thing, but the number one rule that you want to
try to avoid is injury. So how do you make
a progress upping up your mileage if you're getting ready
for ultras or continent seven marathons like Becs or Marie getting

(58:45):
ready for a 100K is important? But you know you
have to put the training. And people see me sometimes
Meb, "You look fit, you look strong, you're going to run
at 26.2 miles." Now, the training is so important, you
have to put in your dues and that will get you to
that finish line. But you want to do it systematically
that you don't want to hamper or get injured and
things like that. So you have to increase 10% a

(59:09):
week. So this is a time where you have to
assess your body what you are capable of doing. You
don't want to push too much where you are in
trouble because the whole point, the whole goal is to
stay healthy, strong, and get to the (inaudible) as
healthy as possible. But to do that, you got to get
your mileage in and those miles know with the intervals, tempos,

(59:33):
long runs, you want to be able to feel saying, "
I could do more. I could do more." And stop
the workout because you don't want to say, " I could
do one more or two more and get over the
top." When you do go over the top, a lot
of dreams can be shattered. So you have to be
careful to be able to just say, " Hey, am I
making the right progress? Am I making the right decision?"

(59:54):
By having a training log, helps to see what you
have done last week, what you are doing this week, where you can
go next week. So be very careful of assessing your
mileage as you up your mileage to the best that
you can and have fun because training is part of
the journey and getting to the finish line is no shortcuts to
it. But by upping your mileage correctly and slowly, it's

(01:00:18):
going to get you to the finish line as strong as
possible. Wish you guys all the best as you increase
your mileage.

Rob Simmelkjaer (01:00:23):
All right, we've reached the finish line of another episode
of Set the Pace. Thank you to David Kilgore and
to New York Road Runners member Marie- Ange Brumelot. If you
like this episode, please go ahead, subscribe, rate or leave
a comment for the show. It'll help others find it
as well. Hope you all enjoyed it. Enjoy the miles,
we'll see you next week.