While Cassie Scallon generally crushes 50-mile events, she didn’t fare so well at last year’s Les Templiers, but she’s back to give it another shot! In the following interview, Cassie talks about what went wrong last year, how her summer has gone, and how she’s feeling for this weekend’s race.
For more information on who’s running Les Templiers, you can check out our men’s and women’s previews.
[Click here if you can’t see the video above.]
Cassie Scallon Pre-2015 Les Templiers Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Cassie Scallon before the 2015 Les Templiers. How are you, Cassie?
Cassie Scallon: Really good.
iRunFar: Last time we chatted was after your really good run at Lake Sonoma.
Scallon: Yes.
iRunFar: What have you been up to since then?
Scallon: What month was that?
iRunFar: That was April.
Scallon: In May I had two races. I raced over in Australia, TNF Australia, and then I raced the world championships 50 mile here in France again. They were really close together. They were only two weeks apart. Then I just spent the summer bouncing around to Hardrock and to Western States just to spectate and cheer people on. That was a lot of fun, and it energized me for the fall. I raced Squamish.
iRunFar: You won the 50 miler. How did that feel?
Scallon: Yes, good, especially since the year before I felt like it went pretty bad. It’s good to come back to a race and do a little better.
iRunFar: You have another opportunity to do that. Your run at Les Templiers last year was not up to your capabilities. What happened?
Scallon: I was between ankle surgeries.
iRunFar: You still had the pin in at that point?
Scallon: Yeah, I was hoping the pin would work out and just be the fix that I needed, but it was very painful the whole time it was in. I had to get that taken out.
iRunFar: That probably affected your training around that time?
Scallon: Yeah, I just never felt good, and it wasn’t very fun.
iRunFar: The race itself, were you in pain the whole time or were you just not very fit?
Scallon: I don’t think I was very fit. I thought that maybe taking a little bit of pain killers would have helped and I could have gotten through it, but it just wears on you mentally I think, too, so that’s where I was at.
iRunFar: What brought you back here?
Scallon: The opportunity to come and do a little bit better.
iRunFar: How do you think you can do? What are you shooting for this weekend?
Scallon: Last year I think I ran 8:36 as a time, and I’d definitely like to improve on that. As far as place goes, I don’t know, definitely be in the top 10 I hope, but you never know how it’s going to play out.
iRunFar: The conditions should be beautiful and great for running.
Scallon: Yeah, yesterday was quite a bit warmer, and today is cool but good running weather. Who knows?
iRunFar: It could go well. This course, you now know it. In terms of it’s flat in sections, it’s steep in sections, it’s rocky in sections—what shoes are you going to throw on for tomorrow?
Scallon: Oh, boy. Of course, a pair of Salomons. What do I have with me? I haven’t picked them out yet, so I’m not sure.
iRunFar: Have the races this year—Sonoma and Squamish—give you your confidence back after having a pretty rough 2014?
Scallon: Yeah, I feel good about my running. I think I feel a little more relaxed about it, too. It sucks to be injured, but there are many other things to do. Next injury I’m planning on taking a pottery class.
iRunFar: You’ve already planned that out.
Scallon: When I’m feeling good and racing well, every race is just a fun opportunity.
iRunFar: So you’ve really noticed a shift mentally. Do you just put less pressure on yourself having come back from the injury? What’s changed?
Scallon: Yeah, I guess just going with the flow a little bit more. Even though these are amazing opportunities to travel to these great places and to be able to run, everyone has their up days and down days, so I just accept whatever tomorrow is.
iRunFar: Nice. Well, good luck out there whatever it might be.
Scallon: Thank you.
