Canada’s Marianne Hogan is racing the 2024 UTMB, after placing second in 2022. In this interview, she talks about building her fitness back after a major injury at this event two years ago, her 2024 build-up races, and her hopes to be able to race right to the end of this year’s UTMB.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth women’s and men’s previews and follow our live race coverage starting Friday.
Marianne Hogan Pre-2024 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Marianne Hogan. It’s a couple of days before the 2024 UTMB. Marianne, we’re back at the start line of UTMB. How are you?
Marianne Hogan: I’m good, thanks. How are you?
iRunFar: Good. Well, you’re pretty much the local. You moved here, I don’t know, a month, six weeks ago?
Hogan: Yeah, and since January, I spent most of my time out here, but I guess I had a good journey in Colorado as well, but I’m happy to be back in these mountains.
iRunFar: Speaking of journeys, you’ve had a bit of a journey in the last two years since you were last here at this race where you podiumed. You converted to a mobile life. You had quite an injury. And now, since then, you’ve had a very consistent and strong build back. That’s my view of it from the outside looking in. What has these two years looked like? What have they looked like for you?
Hogan: Yeah, it’s a pretty good summary, I would say. I had to work a lot on my patience. UTMB 2022 got a lot out of me. I got a big injury, and it was really hard for me to recover from that injury. Actually, the injury led to another injury, and that kind of almost gave me a blank 2023. I was able to squeeze in one race in 2023, but other than that, I’ve been just building back up and trying to make one good decision after the other. And so far, I’m pretty happy with the decisions that I’ve made, and I feel pretty good to be here, and just to be able to be on the start line is a big, big win for me.
iRunFar: Yeah. I mean, from the outside looking in, it’s looked like the most patient, consistent rebuild. Like you said, you were able to squeeze a race in in 2023. You did Ultra Trail Cape Town the final month of 2023. And I think you’ve had two ultras? Two or three ultras this year.
Hogan: Yeah. Two, I believe.
iRunFar: Two. Did I run an ultra?
Hogan: [laughs]
iRunFar: You were at Transvulcania, and then I think you did a race in Switzerland.
Hogan: Yeah. Swiss Canyon Trail.
iRunFar: Oh, yeah. And both of those seem to be in that whole realm of consistent rebuild, coming back and being ready for 100 mountain miles again.
Hogan: Yeah. I think UTMB last time made me realize how big of an ask it was for my body. And so I wanted to respect its limits and kind of show up healthier. Last year I did, or in 2022, I did Western States and UTMB in the same year, and I feel like that most likely had a big effect on the reason why I had a big injury at Champex. And so I’m hoping that being more patient, and playing the long game will come out beneficial for this time around.
iRunFar: Well, you have already kind of answered my next question, was that your work towards this race has just seemed longer, a thing of consistency, a thing of patience. Rather than like in 2022, it was like, okay, you sort of hit it big with Western States and it was like, I’m going to try to run that train as far as it’ll go.
Hogan: Yeah.
iRunFar: And you’re doing it completely different this time.
Hogan: Yeah, I’m doing it different just because, I mean, I was very happy with my 2022 year, but I realized that it has a huge negative impact. 2023 for me was, I could barely race. I could barely run. And it’s not so much the racing that bothers me, it’s more the running.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Hogan: I just love running, and that’s really when I’m happiest and I can feel it just as a way that I feel. And so, this time around, I was like, well, I want to run UTMB again, because I want to do it justice. I want to race till the end. And the best way for me to do that is show up at the start line as healthy as possible. And I feel like a longer build, a smarter build, was the best way to go for me. Everyone can do differently, but.
iRunFar: On paper and social media, your summer of 2024 has looked really fun. You were over here, you raced in Switzerland, and then you came to America, and you paced Camille Bruyas at Hardrock, and you trained with her also in the San Juans, and then I think you’ve also been here training. Walk us through the fun part, but also the work part of that.
Hogan: Yeah. Well, we discussed it off camera before we started, but San Juan was, it’s a whole different type of mountain, and most precisely because of the altitude. The elevation is just really high, and it’s just hard on the body, and everybody reacts differently. But in July, it was a lot of grinding for me. We laughed because during Softrock with Camille, I was struggling so much, and it was hard to say if I was out of shape or just reacting to the altitude, or tired from my Swiss Canyon.
But it paid off, because then when I showed up to here in Europe, I felt really great and it’s just nice to see. And I think it’s representative, too, of sometimes during the year you have downs and you have highs. And I think it was the right time for me to have it. And in preparation for Camille, it was great. Like, it was a great experience and I would definitely do it again.
iRunFar: Or would you put your name in the lottery for Hardrock is more the question.
Hogan: Yeah, I would put my name, but I think I have to respect the limits of my body. And I think I have to be honest with myself that I’m fragile. I broke my leg. I had two surgeries, and I’m not as resistant as I once was, and that’s just my reality. And I feel like UTMB is pushing the limit, and Hardrock would be like pushing the limit even more.
So I feel like in a couple of years, if my body is able to sustain a hundred miles, maybe I’ll put my name in the Hardrock, but I think I need to develop more maturity. My body needs to develop more before I can, I can show up at Hardrock, but it is certainly on the top of the list of the races that I want to do.
iRunFar: Well that is definitely some psychological maturity there.
Hogan: [laughs]
iRunFar: Now we just wait for the bones and the muscles and the soft tissues to join in.
Hogan: Exactly.
iRunFar: So, let’s talk about this race for a minute. In 2022, what’s the right way to put it? Like, it felt like you were racing with your heart, racing with your guts that day. And it certainly turned into you had to race with your guts in the last bit coming home with an injury. What is it where are you at mentally? What are you planning to, what are you thinking about mentally for race day?
Hogan: Yeah, I think it’s interesting because for the first time this week, I was looking at my pacing of 2022 and I was like, well, I actually ran pretty fast the first part.
iRunFar: You took it out! Yeah.
Hogan: And it wasn’t necessarily a strategy. I always really run on feeling, and that’s just the way that I run, I can’t really do differently. You can’t really have me run fast when I’m feeling down, and you can’t have me run slow when I’m feeling up. So I feel like I just take it to my advantage and whenever I feel good, I go with it. And I’m hoping that I’m going to feel good on Friday, and we’ll see how far that brings me, but, of course, I want to respect the distance, the mountains, the elevation. And I’m going to have to bring the brain in for a little while there before I start racing fully with my heart, but I’m excited to go out and see what the day brings, and give it a solid effort, hopefully all the way to the end.
iRunFar: And have you taken the time to sort of visualize what a different race ending looks like this time? Where you know that you’re kind of hurting yourself to get to the finish line, are you thinking about a different potential reality?
Hogan: Yeah, it’s interesting because in some ways I was in excruciating pain in 2022, just because my tear was horrible. But at the same time, it’s a different type of pain as to racing till the end, and I just feel like racing those three last more steep uphills will definitely be a different type of effort. And mentally I’m trying to get there because I haven’t lived there. I know what it means to race all the way to Champex, but I have no idea what it means to race after that.
iRunFar: The last 30Ks or whatever it is.
Hogan: Yeah, it’s even 40, I think it was 45.
iRunFar: Sorry.
Hogan: No, all good, but to me, it’s a big difference, so yeah, I just want to be prepared mentally to show up at that distance and give it the best effort. You know, I’m excited. I’m hoping that my body will be able to run downhills this time around, because walking from the top of Trient all the way to Vallorcine, was not the way that I wanted to run the race or that I had visualized it, but we’ll see what the day brings.
iRunFar: Best of luck to you in your second UTMB.
Hogan: Thank you.
iRunFar: And the most luck for the last 40ks.
Hogan: Thank you, I appreciate it.
