Tara Dower discusses her transition from thru-hiking and FKTs to professional ultrarunning, balancing racing ambitions with exploratory adventures and insights on training, equipment, and coaching.
Tara Dower has become one of the most interesting figures in ultra running because there is still no obvious template for what kind of runner she is becoming.
She has the results of an increasingly polished professional athlete, including major performances at Western States and Black Canyon, but her instincts still seem rooted somewhere else.
Tara came into the sport through thru-hiking, FKTs, long days in the mountains, and an almost compulsive attraction to difficult problems. She likes racing, but she also likes figuring things out. She wants to get faster, but not necessarily at the expense of doing strange, ambitious things with running.
That tension sits underneath this conversation.
We talk about the stubbornness Tara Dower has carried since childhood, why she believes there is still time to take out of Western States, her interest in a future PCT attempt, and why she can criticize UTMB while still admitting that she wants to eventually stand on its starting line and race the best women in the world.
We also get into road speed, the new Altra Vanish Carbon 3, Tara’s long history with Altra, and what she learned from former coach Karl “Speedgoat” Meltzer. Somewhere in there, a useful picture of Tara emerges: part modern professional ultrarunner, part old-school dirtbag, and increasingly capable of being both.
