This year, Emily Hawgood is running the Western States 100 for the fourth straight year. In the following interview, Emily talks about what brings her back to Western States again, what she attributes her consistent improvement at the race to, and how she’s able to break the course into bite-sized pieces.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our women’s and men’s previews and follow our live race coverage on race day.
Emily Hawgood Pre-2024 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Emily Hawgood before the 2024 Western States 100. How are you, Emily?
Emily Hawgood: I’m doing so well. Yeah, good to see you.
iRunFar: Likewise. A nice pleasant evening up here in Olympic Valley.
Hawgood: Yeah, perfect. I haven’t put a sweatshirt on in a while.
iRunFar: Probably not. You live down relatively close to the finish area in Roseville near Auburn.
Hawgood: Yep.
iRunFar: It’s been a hot June, yeah?
Hawgood: Yeah, it’s been perfect.
iRunFar: Lots of heat training.
Hawgood: Yep. Lots of heat training. Super nice to be able to get out on the course in the heat and not have to do it all in the sauna.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Hawgood: Yep.
iRunFar: Well, the forecast is pretty good, pretty cool, relatively speaking, for Saturday. Are you excited about that or would you take more heat if you could?
Hawgood: I would definitely crank the temperatures as high as possible. The nice thing is we’ve had the heat for a while, so it’s going to bake the canyons anyway. It could be 70 on race day and it’ll still be hot, which is super nice.
iRunFar: Yeah. This is your fourth straight year at Western States. What keeps bringing you back every year?
Hawgood: I love it. My heart kind of explodes when we get to talk about it, and this week is so exciting for me. The community’s incredible and they’ve become my community. This is where I live and train. Yeah, the magic of Western States has totally grasped me. I’ll be here forever.
iRunFar: So the community’s there, the course excites you, the competition, what other aspects?
Hawgood: That’s a great question, but all of it. Yeah, the community’s there. The opportunities to get out and do trail work and give back and support local races, and that just is front and center here in this community. Then, obviously, the history of it. Obviously, the history with my coach [Paul Lind]. This year Cody Lind is pacing me, too, so I have two aspects of that on course with me. It should be amazing to share the magic and running those footsteps we’ve been talking about so much, which is special.
Yeah, the competition. States is always stacked. It’s always incredible. Everyone works super hard and I have the biggest respect for anyone stepping up to the start line. Everyone’s put in the work, everyone’s ready, which is magical for a day.
iRunFar: Now you have your own history here.
Hawgood: Yeah, it’s cool.
iRunFar: If you look back the last three years, you’ve been seventh, fifth, and fifth. Relative consistency place-wise. One could think that, oh, nothing’s really changed, but you’ve run almost an hour faster the second year and then another hour faster the third year. What do you owe that improvement to?
Hawgood: Definitely getting to know the course. Obviously, the first year I came in not tired, but I’d run a pretty big load leading up to it, and it definitely became a, I get to stand on the start line and this is going to be just magical. Take it all in. I’d run three 100Ks before that, with the one before being eight weeks out. It’s different. You don’t get to specifically train for a race when you are racing so much leading up to it.
Then the second year, coming in with a year’s experience was incredible. Again, just filling up the toolbox in training, as well as on race day, getting to know the course better and the competition and learning how to work with the heat and all the different things that Western brings. Then the third year was cool because we got to throw in snow and cool weather. So that was a whole other aspect to learn and develop and get to know.
So this year, I’m just excited to have a full toolbox. Like I said earlier today, the training hadn’t started just 365 days ago. It started the first day I stepped up for my first Golden Ticket race, and that’s what I really feel. My training shows that. It has never been the same over this whole four-year period, so it’s pretty exciting.
iRunFar: So what new tools do you bring to the start line on Saturday?
Hawgood: So many things. Knowledge is probably the first one.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Hawgood: Yep. Knowledge. Just being a more maybe confident runner out there, but hopefully smarter too. Knowing the course more. I have three years of experience, so it’s cool to be able to break sections down into really bite-sized pieces because I know it super well. I know it from extremes. I know the super-hot temps. I know super-cold temps. I know when we were neck and neck in competition. Like last year, the girls. I didn’t have someone behind me, finally, coming into the aid station as I was leaving…it took all the way to the Quarry aid station for me to finally leave an aid station without someone coming in right behind me, a girl. So it was stacked. It’s just intense. It’s just super cool. Yeah, it’s been fun. Every year is a race to the finish. Always had that close, either someone passing me or try to catch someone, so that keeps it exciting.
iRunFar: That’s exciting for you. For me, that sounds horrible having to race at mile 97.
Hawgood: Yeah. You can’t lift the foot off the gas yet.
iRunFar: No. Going to be some sprints around the track on Saturday for sure.
Hawgood: Yeah, for sure.
iRunFar: Yeah. So speaking of confidence and competition, you were second in the CCC last year. Had a really great race. How would you compare that to running really fast at Western States last year? Was one of them a better performance?
Hawgood: So that, too, was my obviously third time through most of CCC because I’d run UTMB twice before. So again, bringing that knowledge to the course I think helped a ton. That’s the same aspect I’m working with here, just knowing the course and knowing how to race. Also, here at States, I never feel any outside pressure. I think I felt that at CCC, too. Rob [ Muecke], our adidas Terrex manager, is so good. We just came out of a meeting with him and he is like, “You guys are here. This is the magic. This is the part that actually really counts.” Saturday is definitely just a cherry on the top, and my whole journey with Terrex and with Paul as my coach has been like that, and that’s been really special. So it just is exciting to get to the start line and be confident and know that you don’t have any pressure. You just get to go show what you’ve been doing.
iRunFar: Nice.
Hawgood: Yeah.
iRunFar: Well, it’ll be really fun to watch and see what you do on Saturday. So best of luck out there.
Hawgood: Thank you. Thank you so much.
