Canada’s Marianne Hogan returns to the 2026 Western States 100 after finishing third both last year and in 2022. In the following interview, Marianne talks about her unfinished business with the race, the injury that hampered her last year and which she’s managed since, her lead-up to this year’s race, including time spent training in Flagstaff, Arizona, and how she’s approaching Saturday’s race.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our women’s and men’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 access it.]
Marianne Hogan Pre-2026 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar here with Marianne Hogan a few days ahead of the 2026 Western States 100. You were third last year. How does it feel to be back in Olympic Valley?
Marianne Hogan: It always feels good to be back here. I feel like it has become a June tradition, and I don’t know what I’ll do with my June if I don’t show up here, but it’s good to be back. I can feel the energy and I’m excited to have Saturday come quick.
iRunFar: You only have a few more days.
Hogan: Yeah, a few more days. [laughs]
iRunFar: Last year when you came into this, you were a two-time third-place finisher. You finished third in 2022. When we talked to you last year, you said you came back because you had unfinished business.
Hogan: Yeah.
iRunFar: What was that unfinished business, and do you have that same unfinished business this year?
Hogan: For sure. I feel like I had a tough experience in 2022 and a tough experience last year at least. I think I just want to come out here and have a race that I feel like is good for me regardless of the final position. I want to have less “what if this didn’t happen, and what if that didn’t happen, what would the scenario would be?” Of course, there are a lot of things I can’t control out there, and I know things will arise, but I’m hoping for a smoother experience this year. [laughs]
iRunFar: So last year you came into this nursing a bit of a niggling injury, and then about a kilometer into the race you mentioned off camera this is going to be a thing.
iRunFar: Yeah, yeah.
iRunFar: Can you give a little recap of how did last year go down?
Hogan: Yeah, so I ended up having a disc protrusion in my back that causes sciatic pain. Last year it was undiagnosed, so we didn’t really know what was going on, and we were trying to deal with the pain and the ailments. But I pushed my body way over its limit last year, and this year now that I’m aware that I’m dealing with this, it’s been a year-long project to get rid of the pain and rehab and all that. Obviously, it’s something I think I’ll deal with maybe for the rest of my career, but now that we know about it, I can play around much better in terms of physical training and managing the pain and making sure it stays under control. The way I see it is, we always have a line we can’t cross, and last year I was way beyond that line. This year I managed to stay below, so I’m confident there should be fewer issues with my back this year.
iRunFar: And you haven’t raced much since Western States last year. Was that all because you were trying to figure out how to deal with this?
Hogan: Yeah, I was trying to figure it out, and it’s also a circumstance. I was looking to maybe do a race in April or May, but decided to go to Madeira and train with my teammates who were out there. That was a decision for me as well that was more of a personal, fun decision. I also feel like I race better when I’m really ready to go, and it’s been a while, so I don’t have a problem with not racing before showing up at Western States. For me it’s the opposite. I feel like I have more excitement if I haven’t raced in a while.
iRunFar: Okay. You seem like a runner who very much loves running with people, and loves running with your friends, and a lot of your joy from running is with getting to hang out with your friends. Could you speak to that?
Hogan: I think in an ideal world I’d be able to race with my friends as well. That doesn’t really happen. For me, ultrarunning started off as a community thing, and I think it will always have that aspect for me. Trail running is very team centric. I’m very close to my teammates, and they have become my closest friends, and whenever we can have training camps together, we do them. Sometimes if I don’t have my teammates with me, I like to improvise some new teammates. [laughs] That’s what we did out in Flagstaff for the last couple of weeks. I think if we’re out there for hours, it’s really nice to share that moment with people. For me, it just makes the moment way more meaningful when you’re sharing it with someone.
iRunFar: So tell me about your lead up to this, because you came over to the States in May, correct?
Hogan: May, yeah.
iRunFar: What was that for, in the theme of friendship and running with people?
Hogan: When I travel like this, I spend a lot of my time between Europe and North America, and when I come to North America, I like to come for a while, not just for the week of the race. That’s another thing I appreciate is coming here and soaking in a lot of the stuff I love about North America, which is different from Europe for sure.
I also like to hunker down for if I have a big goal like this. It’s really easy for me to say, okay, for two months I’m focusing, and everything I’m doing is in preparation for Western States. So when I’m away from all the distractions of life that we sometimes have when we’re surrounded by friends and family, I feel like I do a better job of doing every little thing I can to be ready for my goal. So that was a lot of the reason, but it also coincided nicely with showing up in Flagstaff in time to pace Courtney [Dauwalter] at Cocodona [250 Mile].
Hogan: I think this year, last year I spent a lot of time in Auburn in preparation for Western States, and I wanted to try something different this year. Flagstaff has proven that it’s solid ground for training for Western States, so I wanted to give it a go, and I definitely haven’t been disappointed with the Grand Canyon experience.
iRunFar: [laughs] How many times did you end up running in the canyon?
Hogan: I don’t know, I ran a lot in the Grand Canyon. Obviously not every day, because it’s quite a drive, but I did most of my long runs in the Grand Canyon.
iRunFar: And you trained a lot with Fu-Zhao [Xiang] too, who was second last year. What’s that friendship like?
Hogan: I think it’s really special, because I feel like Fu-Zhao and I are two international athletes running in the U.S., and I think we’ve both found a love for Western States and we both have a similar attitude. We’re pretty chill. We push each other in training, but we’re not fighting every step when we’re running together, and we’ve developed a really strong bond. I sometimes find myself being the international person sometimes when I’m in Europe and different countries where I don’t necessarily speak the local language, and I’ve always appreciated it when people have helped me. I don’t know if you’ve ever traveled to China.
iRunFar: I have not.
Hogan: When I traveled to China I really appreciated local people, and I understand that I’m not American, but I speak English well and driving here is easy, so I think I was able to help Fu-Zhao in that, and she’s helped me a lot just in terms of having a running buddy. So I think there’s a lot of benefit for us training together. We hold each other accountable, and it’s just easy for us to run together. It’s been really special for sure.
iRunFar: It seems like you guys went on a lot of really cool adventures out there.
Hogan: Yeah, we did Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim together which was really nice to share with her for sure.
iRunFar: Was that your first time you’ve done a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim?
Hogan: Yeah, first time.
iRunFar: What did you think?
Hogan: I loved it. I think it was one of my highlights of my running life, if you will. In terms of like, it’s really crazy, the Grand Canyon. There’s nothing else like it, and for me, running uphill is always more of a challenge. When you find yourself at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, there’s no option other than to run up, and I like that. I think it definitely helped my uphill abilities.
iRunFar: It’s pretty committing.
Hogan: Yeah, exactly.
iRunFar: If you’re there, you’re there.
Hogan: You’d better find a way to get out of there.
iRunFar: So last year’s race, you went into it with injuries. You had a pretty rough first half and then after Foresthill you stepped on the gas. You were sort of fourth or fifth in that range up until then, and then you worked your way up to third, running that last 40 miles like ten minutes faster than Abby [Hall] ran it. How does that inform race strategy this year, knowing you did that?
Hogan: I think it’s also a testament to my way of running. I’m much more of a downhill runner than I am an uphill runner. And it also has to do with the fact that when you get to Foresthill, the team is really there often. You have your pacer, and I’m very extroverted in terms of motivation. It really helps me having a pacer, and I did the same thing in 2022 from Foresthill, where I kind of became alive again. So I’m hoping for the same kind of feelings this year, but you never know what will happen. I’m excited. I’m actually really excited to make it to Foresthill. And the way I see it, once I get to Foresthill it’s almost my pacer’s job. I like that I can rely on them really strongly to get me to the finish line as quickly as I can.
iRunFar: Pressure’s off on you, all you have to do is run, right?
Hogan: Yeah, exactly. [laughs]
iRunFar: What do you think about the weather forecast? Most years we’re talking about how hot it’s going to be, how much ice there’s going to be. It’s going to be kind of chilly this year. What are your thoughts?
Hogan: Obviously the weather is the same for everyone, so we have to roll with it. It’s not as if I can control it, and everyone will benefit from cooler weather. I personally like the classic Western States experience. Like for me Western States is heat, it’s hard, and you have to really fight for your way to the finish line, but on the other hand I can’t control it, and nobody can, so we might as well roll with it and enjoy the fact that it might be a little cooler down in the canyons.
iRunFar: Well, best of luck on Saturday, and we’ll see you out there.
Hogan: Thank you!
