Caitlin grew up in Oakland, CA and now lives in San Francisco, CA with her boyfriend, Daniel after going to college in the Midwest. She grew up playing soccer, then rugby, then discovered Australian Rules Football after graduating from college in 2015. She made the national Australian Rules Football team in 2019 and was going to compete in Australia in 2020 in the International Cup, but then COVID shut the world down.  The outdoors have always been a huge part of Caitlin’s life. Her parent’s first took her backpacking when she was 3 years old and did numerous trips in the Sierra Nevada’s that Caitlin eventually came to love (although at first, she thought her parents were torturing her and depriving her of a normal childhood). She discovered distance running in 2014 when she was training to hike across Spain but didn’t have the time to go on longer hikes so resorted to running. In 2016, she came to the realization that you can not only hike on trails, but you can also run on them! She ran her first trail marathon in 2017 and applied to Becoming Ultra at the end of 2021 right after she had foot surgery for a foot injury that had sidelined her from running for a year and a half. Since then, she’s re-fallen in love with trail running and has found amazing communities though Becoming Ultra and Trail Sisters. She’s run two 50Ks, an “ultra” Ragnar, and has her first 50-mile race in Oregon in early July. 

Ever wonder where exposing your children to the great outdoors can lead?  Caitlin grew up with parents who exposed her to lots of camping, hiking, and backpacking in amazing places.  It is so fun to hear her talk about her adventures throughout her life, which includes a very special hike with her Dad.  Caitlin shares her experience with training for her first ultra and the disappointment of dealing with an injury.  We also discuss her first 50-mile race at Mt. Hood (that she crushed by the way).  This is a fun, feel good episode.  I will leave you with one of Caitlin’s favorite quotes that I cannot stop thinking about.  “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire”.