After his debut performance last year, Jia-Sheng Shen of China is back at the 2024 Western States 100. In his first interview with iRunFar, he discusses how his race goals this year involve a finish time that starts with the number 14, how he’s evolved his training and preparation this year, and how he seems to be a bear magnet on the Western States Trail.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage on race day.
Thanks so much to Kyle Obermann for translating this interview!
Jia-Sheng Shen Pre-2024 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Jia-Sheng Shen. It’s a couple of days before the 2024 Western States 100. Ni Hao. Hello.
Jia-Sheng Shen: [through a translator] Thank you.
iRunFar: Also thank you, Kyle, for the translation today.
Kyle Obermann: I’ll try my best.
iRunFar: Shen, you’re back at Western States for the second year in a row. You are the second fastest returning male after having finished fifth in 15:19. Does it feel good to be back at Western States?
Shen: So I feel really prepared this year to come back, and I’m very excited. I’ve been doing a lot of training just for this race. And, yeah, I feel very prepared and ready to go.
iRunFar: One of the questions I always like to ask when somebody returns to an event again is, what brings you back? What do you think you can do better, and what are you looking to improve upon this year?
Shen: So, I think that the American running culture is really special, really interesting, and just want to experience it again another time, and I really hope I can break 15 hours.
iRunFar: Okay, so you want a finish that has a 14 hour on it.
Shen: 15 hours is great. 14 hours is impossible. But we’ll see.
iRunFar: I love that. This is iRunFar’s first interview with you, so we’d love to learn a little bit about who you are. You’re married. You have a boy. And we’d also love to know how you got into the sport of trail running. I think maybe seven years or so as an ultrarunning you’ve been?
Shen: So, I am married, and I have a young son, and I’ve been running for a long time. I’ve been running ever since I was little. So kind of like when you think of kids running in Kenya, I also grew up in the mountains in a village, and have been running since a very young age because of that. So I’ve always been running until now.
iRunFar: And then how did you find mountain ultrarunning? Or, how did you find trail ultrarunning? How did you transition from playing as what you did in running to being a professional runner in China?
Shen: So, I was running already long distance races like marathons, and then 2017, that was my first time running trail races. So I’ve been running trail now professionally for about six, seven years.
iRunFar: You’ve had many good performances over the years, but it seems the year 2023 was a really big year for you. You finished top five at Western States, and top two at the CCC. Looking at your own career, does this past year seem like a transition for you as well?
Shen: Last year I trained a lot, and I got a lot back from it. So, this year is kind of the same strategy. I’ve just been training a lot and giving it my best, and hopefully we’ll also get a lot out of this year as well.
iRunFar: A quick look back at last year’s race. You said earlier in the interview, you came back. You came for your first experience, and you wanted to come back and do it again. I’d love to know what you thought went really good about your race last year, and what are some things you’re working on doing a little bit differently this year?
Shen: So yeah, this year I’ve been adding volume, especially as far as time, as far as training volume, into my training. And last year, one of the things we could have done better was just in the aid stations, the transitions, the refueling, we could have done better. So as a team, so we’ve been working on just kind of really nailing that, so that during those aid stations, we can spend less time and be in and out much quicker.
iRunFar: Two fun questions for you. First of all, you said you really like the American running culture and being in America. What are some like, a funny story or an interesting story about being embedded with American running culture?
Shen: Okay, so I think the running culture here, everyone runs, everyone’s very fit and active. And it’s really special and cool to see how fit and active everyone is here, and how encouraging they are. They’ll say hi to you as you’re running up, even up on a training run today. And a funny story that I was talking with him was last year, the first run in America, we were in Auburn, but we we’re outside, and we’re running on the small road, and, like, kind of just backcountry neighborhoods, where houses are really deep, the driveways are very long. And he turned to me, he said, “It looks like some kind of like, ghost town.”
iRunFar: [laughs]
Shen: Because there was just nobody here. And it was like, I remember we stopped. There was a deer, and so it’s just very, like, spread out. People have land, and it’s very, you know, it’s a much different feel than China.
iRunFar: Totally. My last question for you, your social media is filled with American bears, both this year and last year. Are you a bear magnet?
Shen: I’ve always kind of suspected, yeah, I’m like a bear magnet, I kind of attract them. And this year I’ve seen too many bears. This year I’ve already met five bears on the trail.
iRunFar: Well, you’re friendly with them ahead of the race, so they should let you have good passage on Saturday.
Shen: I hope in the race they’re behind me chasing me, that way I can go faster.
iRunFar: I love it. Thank you very much. Xièxiè. And best of luck to you in your second Western States.
Shen: Thank you, and I really hope to do a good job this year, and I also hope to come back next year.
iRunFar: Alright. We’ll see you on Saturday, and we’ll see you next year.
Shen: See you next year.
