At just 22 years old (as of September!), ultrarunner Alexa Dickerson (sponsored by recovery drink Genr8 Vitargo)  has already cruised through the standard race distances from 5K to recently finishing her first 100 mile race, the Javalina Jundred.  I caught up with Alexa to get the lowdown on everything from how she started running to the hardest part about running a 100 mile race.

AM: How long have you been running?

AD:  I started running my freshman year of high school. I ran track and cross country and have been running ever since. In high school we would do a lot of trail runs at Whiting Ranch, which is right behind my house.  I would go running back there by myself a lot, which probably wasn’t the smartest idea. I ran my first marathon when I was 19 and then 2 months later I ran my first 50k, Mt. Disappointment, which I for sure wasn’t ready for, but I finished.

AM:  Why did you decide to start running in ultras?

AD:  I really wanted to run a marathon when I graduated high school. I thought that was the furthest race there was and that I was so cool because I was training for a marathon. Then I joined a trail running group and found out about ultras because a lot of the other members ran them,so right after I finished my first marathon I signed up for a 50k. Even though I thought it was the hardest thing I had ever done, it was just such a great feeling of accomplishment and I had a lot of fun. I just got kind of addicted to it and then wanted to push myself further and further.

Continue Reading