Free Outside
by Jeff Garmire
Latest episode
Six Marathon Majors to a First 100 Miler: Cal Calamia on Javelina…
Six Marathon Majors to a First 100 Miler: Cal Calamia on Javelina…
About this podcast
Free Outside is a trail running, ultrarunning, thru-hiking, backpacking, and outdoor adventure podcast hosted by Jeff Garmire. Jeff is an Appalachian Trail record holder, professional endurance athlete, coach, author, and someone who has spent an unreasonable amount of his life running through forests and living out of a backpack.
The show features honest and entertaining conversations with elite ultrarunners, record-setting thru-hikers, FKT athletes, coaches, race directors, adventurers, and other fascinating people doing difficult things outside.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 263 episodes
- Six Marathon Majors to a First 100 Miler: Cal Calamia on Javelina, Podiums & Pronouns · 1 h 3 minCal Calamia has raced all six World Marathon Majors and run a 2:40, but this weekend he’s running his first 100 miler at Javelina. In the desert, on Halloween, and I get to pace…
- Who’s Carrying the Boats? Moab 240 Fallout, Backyard Ultra Hype & Javelina 100 Predictions · 1 h 8 minText or call the Free Outside hotline: 541-903-8065 Allison Mercer, our award-winning correspondent of the year, is back, and we brought some hot takes. We start with the…
- Two Runners Just Broke the Backyard Ultra World Record · 21 minAt the time we recorded this, Belgian runners Ivo Steyaert and Merijn Geerts had been running for 123 hours—five days and three hours—and had each covered about 512 miles. They’d…
- 636 Miles in 6 Days: Meg Eckert on the Art of Going Further · 1 h 4 minI’ve been spending the last few months trying to become a better runner. After years of long hikes and FKTs, I’ve been doing more speed work—and now I’m taking that fitness into…
- El Niño, Lake Powell, and the Future of the West with Pete Deneen · 1 h 33 minPete Deneen is back, and this conversation goes in a lot of directions—in the best way. We talk about what El Niño actually is, what it could mean for the West, and why Pete…
- Moab 240: What Actually Happened · 56 minThe Moab 240 was canceled after flash flooding hit the course, leaving runners and volunteers at Bridger Jack Aid Station overnight. Scott was running the race, and Jacqueline…
- Joe McConaughy: The “4-Minute Miler” Who Broke the John Muir Trail Record · 1 h 2 minJoe “Stringbean” McConaughy recently set the supported fastest known time on the John Muir Trail. Somehow, he did it on only 38 minutes of sleep—and felt better on the third day…
- Hallucinations, a Broken Pack, and a JMT Record · 30 minThe John Muir Trail is back in the FKT spotlight, so I dug up the story of one of the wildest things I have ever done. In 2022, I started in Yosemite carrying everything I would…
- Should I Ride a Unicycle Into My Wedding? · 1 h 7 minNine days before our wedding, Allison Powell and I sit down to settle the truly important details: whether I can ride a unicycle into the ceremony, where Ted will sit and how…
- 15th in the World on a Sprained Ankle: Inside the 100K World Championships · 1 h 9 minNine days before the 2026 IAU 100K World Championships, Allison Mercer sprained her ankle and wondered whether she would even reach the starting line. She ultimately ran…
- Ultrarunning Was Never Supposed to Get This Big · 1 h 13 minAndy Jones-Wilkins has been part of ultrarunning for more than 30 years. He remembers when races felt like secret societies, runners learned through stories around campfires…
- Time Is Worth More Than Your Money · 27 minWe protect our money like it’s our most valuable resource, but we’re surprisingly careless with something we can never make more of: time. In this solo episode of the Free…
- 550 Miles Unsupported: Cody Taylor’s Long Trail Yo-Yo FKT · 1 h 1 minCody Taylor returns to the Free Outside Podcast after completing one of the most ambitious unsupported hiking efforts on Vermont’s Long Trail: a complete out-and-back, also known…
- Ben Dhiman: Before he was a UTMB Champion · 1 h 35 minBen Dhiman is now a UTMB champion, but his path to the top of ultrarunning started long before he considered himself a runner. Ben thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and…
- 3.65 Million Feet in One Year with Amber Constant · 1 h 13 minAmber Constant is attempting to climb 3.65 million vertical feet in a single year and claim the overall vertical world record. Rave Cave Playlist…
- Six Hours in the Hot Seat and a Huge Week in Ultrarunning · 45 minMy Appalachian Trail record film, Rewritten, is finally out in the world. In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of the documentary and share part of the six-hour…
- The Goal I Was Afraid to Say Out Loud + The Story Behind Rewritten · 15 minFor years, there was one goal I wasn't sure I was good enough to accomplish: breaking the self-supported Appalachian Trail record. I planned to try in 2020. It never happened…
- Appalachian Trail Record Untold Stories (and a Costco Pizza) · 1 h 7 minWhat does an Appalachian Trail record attempt look like from the perspective of the person watching from home? Check out the substack on eating an entire Costco Pizza…
- You Can’t Buy Your Way to the Top of Running? · 1 h 12 minDerrick Lytle has spent the year filming some of the best ultrarunners in the world at Western States, Hardrock, Speedgoat, Black Canyon, and beyond. After watching elite…
- Doping, Money and the Future of Ultrarunning with Zach Bitter · 1 h 22 minRunning culture is changing fast. Athletes now share every workout, fans follow races year-round, money and attention are concentrated around a handful of major events, and…
