After previously running the fastest debut time in race history, Jeff Mogavero lines up for the 2026 Western States 100 ready to explore what else is possible. In the following interview, Jeff talks about his underwhelming experience at the Chianti 120k earlier this year, his high-volume training and time on the Western States course, and how he’s ready to make the most of whatever race day brings.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our men’s and women’s previews before following our live race coverage on race day.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to watch it.]
Jeff Mogavero Pre-2026 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Gabe Joyes here of iRunFar at the 2026 Western States 100 with Jeff Mogavero. Jeff, welcome to Olympic Valley. How are you, man?
Jeff Mogavero: Thanks. Good to be here.
iRunFar: Good. I think the place we’ve got to start with is last year, you had the fastest debut time in Western States history, right?
Mogavero: I did.
iRunFar: How does one go about improving that?
Mogavero: Last year, I didn’t know what time I was running until I crossed the line, and I hope the same thing happens this year. Just absorbed in the racing and not concerned about time or anything. But improving it, there are things I worked on in the last year, just from weaknesses I felt I had from the race last year. I carried way too much ice. That won’t be a problem this year because it’s not going to be that hot. Just kind of fine tuning things and continuing to stack bricks in training.
iRunFar: Yeah, you did carry a lot of ice. In my mind, you have a bit of a reputation of someone who handles heat extremely well.
Mogavero: I hate the heat. [laughs] I do terrible in the heat so I use a lot of ice and it works out.
iRunFar: Good. How excited are you about the forecast?
Mogavero: I honestly did say I hate the heat, but I wish it was hotter. I want it to be over a hundred. It gets harder. It’s more to manage. It’s going to be really fast this year, which is awesome. I hope people don’t make mistakes thinking they don’t need to cool.
iRunFar: Yes, I agree. Looking at the deep level of competition, how much are you looking internally towards your own performance goals and how much are you looking at what other people are capable of accomplishing on this course?
Mogavero: I’m not really concerned about what anyone else is doing. To me, it’s a race, and I feel like I will use the people in the race to get the most out of myself. But ultimately, it’s a group of people I’m really excited to run with, and given the temperatures, I think it’s going to be really fast. I think someone’s going to do something special. If it’s not me, it’s someone else, and that’s awesome.
iRunFar: Very excited to watch that play out. Let’s back up a little bit though. Tell us about your spring. Tell us about training. I think it went maybe a little bit up and down. Is that fair to say?
Mogavero: It was pretty good. Pretty good.
iRunFar: Okay.
Mogavero: There’s definitely always some challenges I think. I had some knee pain for like a week or so. I had to dial back slightly, but was able to rally back from that just fine. And putting in a lot of volume and also intensity, and it felt good. I feel like I respond really well to volume. I need a lot of it, or I’m slow. [laughs] And I have to work really hard to be faster. So I did that this spring, and it’s been great.
iRunFar: You spent a lot of time on course, right?
Mogavero: I did a week-long training camp with my coach, John Fitzgerald, and Jen Lichter and Will Murray. We ran 160 miles of the course and repeated it a bunch, which is really fun. I feel like I got to know sections of it quite intimately, which was special, because in the race, it’s just so chaotic, and you don’t have that chance.
iRunFar: You wrote a bit about kind of falling in love with running again through that experience. Tell us a little bit about that.
Mogavero: I feel like flowers started coming up in Missoula, and training started clicking. I went on some adventure runs and then went to this training camp and just had so much fun. At training camp, Coach John brought some baseball mitts, so we were just playing ball and stuff, too. It was great. It was so relaxed and I just fell in love with it again.
iRunFar: That’s amazing. Good for you. Can you maybe talk a little bit about, you did two prep races, right? Don’t Fence Me In. That went well. And then you did Chianti Ultra Trail.
Mogavero: Yeah.
iRunFar: How was Chianti for you in Italy?
Mogavero: Chianti was definitely not my best day. I ended up over there alone for the week beforehand. I got really lonely, and then I kind of discovered, maybe a little too late, that I was very uninspired by the course. It was just this big random loop through the early spring wine country, and I just had a really hard time getting excited about it. I think that, coupled with being lonely, just made it really mentally challenging. This race feels the complete opposite. I’m like, man, I can’t wait to run from literally right here to way over there. It feels like the 50-yard dash when I was in elementary school, just slightly longer.
iRunFar: Yeah, and not lonely here, right? Do you have some good support with you?
Mogavero: Yeah. Between my crew is good friends and family, and then I just feel like this whole week I keep running into people who I’ve met over the last 12 or so years of doing this, and it’s so fun. This fills my cup up. I’m really happy, and everyone in the race, too, I know. And it’s fun racing with a group of people you have a lot of respect for, and everyone’s going to go out there and push hard.
iRunFar: Yeah. Is there any particular part of the course on Saturday you’re looking forward to?
Mogavero: I’m really looking forward to Cal Street. I ran Cal Street a couple times in training camp and finally learned that it is uphill between Cal 1 and Cal 2, and that feels like it was important. Everyone’s like, “Oh, it’s downhill to the river!” And it’s not. So I’m excited to run that section in particular. I’m like, I am running that hard. So I can’t wait for that, and I’ll be paced by a good friend there, too. I feel like that section, having a pacer there, it just feels like you’re running with a buddy and that’s a blast. Good to share it with someone.
iRunFar: Amazing. And then when you hit the track in Auburn, how will you know if you’ve succeeded in your race day goals?
Mogavero: My big goal is just to take whatever I’m given on Saturday and make the most of it, and that could be a lot of different things depending on what I’m given. I’m so excited just to problem solve and figure out how to squeeze the most out of myself, and I think I’ll know when I hit the track if I did that or not. I can’t tell you exactly what that will be. My wife keeps reminding me, we’re just going to make memories, have ourselves a day, have fun, push harder than I’ve ever pushed before.
iRunFar: Well, we can’t wait to see you make memories and know you’re fit and ready for it, so thanks so much for talking with us today.
Mogavero: You bet. Super excited to race.
iRunFar: This is Jeff Mogavero before the 2026 Western States 100.
