The Molly Seidel Western States story is not just about whether an Olympic medalist can run 100 miles. It is about what happens when a runner who has already reached the highest level starts looking for a different kind of running.
Life is short, I have been told. I am sure you have been told too. For me, that has become less of a saying and more of a fact. My dad died when he was 55. I just turned 44. That math is sobering.
So what are we supposed to do with that? “Live life to the fullest” sounds nice, but it also doesn’t tell you much. For me, the answer has mostly been to keep changing. Maybe I am curious. Maybe I get bored easily. Probably both.
I started my career in full-time music ministry. In my thirties, I went back to school and became a lawyer. In my forties, I became a serious runner. My wife and I are now starting a plant-based food company for athletes. More on that in a future column.
The point is that I like stories of reinvention, especially when they are not born out of failure. Sometimes people start over because something went wrong. Sometimes people start over because the old thing worked, and staying there just doesn’t feel like the whole story.
Molly Seidel’s Trail Running Turn Is Not a Fallback Plan
That is why the Molly Seidel Western States story has my attention. Seidel is not arriving at Olympic Valley to prove she belongs in running. That would be ridiculous. She has an Olympic bronze medal in the marathon. She has lived in the serious world of professional road racing and reached a level almost nobody reaches.
But the last few years were not simple. She missed the 2024 Olympic Trials with a knee injury. Her Puma contract ended. She stepped away from the most obvious version of what everyone probably expected her career to be. Still, I don’t read trail running as her fallback plan. I read it as the place she wants to be.
Western States was not some random name on a race calendar. She learned about it as a kid reading Born to Run. She has called it a dream. And when she talks about trails now, the words are about mountains, friends, freedom, and training that puts her in a better mental place.
Molly Seidel trail running is compelling because she seems to have found the version of running she actually wants right now.
Her new Satisfy partnership fits this version of Seidel too. Smaller, stranger, more style-forward, and more at home in the trail world. Some dirtbag runners (I mean that with admiration) will roll their eyes at some of the fashion. But the pairing makes sense.
And to be clear, this is not just a good story. Seidel won Bandera 50K outright in January and set a women’s course record. Then she finished fourth at Black Canyon 100K and earned a Golden Ticket to Western States. That is a short trail resume, but it is not a soft one.
Is Molly Seidel a real threat at WSER?
Yes. But I’m not necessarily picking her to win. The women’s field is deep with names like Abby Hall and Fuzhao Xiang. And Western States is good at punishing certainty. Just ask David Roche. Seidel’s engine is obvious. Her racing instincts are obvious. But a hundred miles is not just a longer marathon. Can you eat when you don’t want to eat? Can you manage heat before it manages you? Can you descend late without your legs going? Can you keep making decent decisions after the part of the race where talent stops being enough?
That is what I will be watching when the gun goes off. Not the first 30 miles. I expect her to look good there. I want to see what happens after the canyons, and then after Foresthill. If she is still moving well late, she can be dangerous.
A top ten would not surprise me. A podium would be aggressive, but not crazy. A win would be a shock. If it happens, I will admit I was too cautious.
The result matters. It is Western States. But I think people are drawn to Molly Seidel ultrarunning because she seems drawn to it herself. There is a difference between showing up somewhere because the market told you to go there and showing up because something in you wants to be there.
Trail running is not magic. But at its best, it gives people room to be new again without pretending the old version did not count. I do not want to spend my life defending old decisions just because they made sense at the time. Sometimes the old thing made sense for a long while, and then one day it just doesn’t fit the same way.
For Seidel, that starts this month in Olympic Valley and ends, if things go right, on the track in Auburn.
More by Bryce Carlson →
