After getting sick just before last year’s race, Tara Dower arrives at the 2026 Western States 100 taking all the precautions to stay healthy. In the following interview, Tara talks about returning to Western States after last year’s disappointment, her winter of training and spring of racing, her thoughts on running faster with the cooler weather forecast for race day, and her appreciation for her crew.
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 watch it.]
Tara Dower Pre-2026 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar. I’m here with Tara Dower. We are two days before the 2026 Western States 100. Tara, how are you?
Tara Dower: I’m great. You can’t tell but I’m smiling under the mask. I was taking a group photo yesterday and I was smiling and I was like, “You can’t see my face. Why am I smiling?”
iRunFar: You smile with your eyes.
Dower: Yeah. Smizing, I think they call it.
iRunFar: Smizing.
Dower: I’m trying to smize.
iRunFar: Perfect.
Dower: Yeah. So I’m happy. I’m not sick. Just taking preventative measures.
iRunFar: Good.
Dower: Yeah.
iRunFar: I feel like last year we were here exactly a year ago. You looked awful. You looked really, truly. You showed up, you had tissues out of all your pockets. You looked terrible.
Dower: Yeah. I had this whole strategy for the cough drops. I had these cough drops that would numb my throat. And they eventually, because you get so wet in Western States, they eventually just morphed into my shorts, and they got all sticky. Everything that could have gone wrong last year went wrong, and that was just one of 10 things-
iRunFar: That went wrong.
Dower: … that went wrong, yeah.
iRunFar: Also, last year you got sick before Western, you were very high on the Hardrock [100] waitlist, but not in Hardrock.
Dower: Yeah.
iRunFar: And then you ended up not being able to run Hardrock. And this year it’s like, you look healthy. You look good. You look fit.
Dower: Thanks.
iRunFar: You have a spot in Hardrock. In a lot of ways it’s sort of a lot of things are the same, a lot of things are different. In your head, how do these two years compare?
Dower: Yeah. I feel almost like they’re similar. They feel similar, especially at this point. Well, before I was sick last year. It feels very similar. I talked to Maggie [Guterl] a lot, and she’s very much around the Hardrock race. And she’s like, “You’re going to get in.” And so I was expecting I was going to run Western and do Hardrock. And so around this time last year, before I was sick, it felt very much the same.
But as I look back more and I think back to the year, I feel like I’m a little more wise. I can always learn something, but I feel a little more wise than I did last year. Last year, I was grinding really hard, and I was just trying to be fully prepared for mostly Western States since I hadn’t gotten into Hardrock yet, so that was obviously the big race. But this year I definitely feel a little more wise, enjoying myself a lot more, trying to enjoy the crew. It slowed me so much down last year, Western States did, that it was just like I had to literally put on the brakes. And then I finally looked around, enjoyed the community, enjoyed the Western States community, enjoyed my crew. But before that, it was just like grinding, grinding, grinding so hard. And I think that just wore me down, the combination of some intense heat training, intense training, and everything that comes with it.
I feel like I’m able to just take it all in and take breaks when I need it, rest. I’ll go on long runs, and I’ll just stop and sit on a rock and just sit there usually. I mean, last year I was like, “I can’t do that. I can’t do that during Western States.” So yeah, definitely feel a little more like I’m enjoying the process a lot more.
iRunFar: So after those two weeks of getting sick before Western, suiting up to do Hardrock, and then not being able to run, what was the emotional recovery from that? Was it more like extreme sadness? Or was it like more of like, “I’m going to come back and do that, and let me show you what I can do?”
Dower: Yeah, it was really tough. Yeah, it was devastating. I know we’re never promised anything, but when you’ve worked so hard for something and then you weren’t able to at least do the thing, the entire race Western States, I had to DNF, and then going to Hardrock and just wanting an opportunity to race there and then not being able to was just like … The best way I can describe it, it was devastating. And I hope that doesn’t happen again. That’s why I’m wearing a mask.
iRunFar: I think you should.
Dower: Yeah. Obviously, I’ve worked really hard for these opportunities. I’ve worked to get a Golden Ticket, and obviously, I’m in Dale [Garland]’s good graces too, and that’s awesome. I’ve worked really hard, but I’m also extremely grateful and thankful for these opportunities, and I just want to enjoy, like I said, enjoy the process and the entire experience, and hopefully run really fast because that’s also how I enjoy the experience too.
iRunFar: You touched on this a little bit, the last year versus this year, but I feel like coming into last year’s race, you’d done the AT, the Appalachian Trail FKT, did a ton of media after that. You didn’t get your Golden Ticket to Western States until Black Canyon [100k], which is relatively late in the game, versus this year, you did a shorter FKT last fall with probably slightly less recovery. And then you had your Golden Ticket by end of October. How did that influence your winter of training and your lead-up to this?
Dower: Yeah, the winter was a lot of fun. Me and my really good friend Robyn [Lesh] and her partner Teddy [Eyster] went to Thailand, and we did a race in Chiang Mai [50k], and that, for me, it was just for the experience. It was like so much fun. Thailand’s so beautiful. The people are so welcoming. And then after that, it was kind of like game time. It’s like, “Okay, well I know I need to practice competitiveness, and I need to practice fueling, all the things that come with it, heat training.” And so I thought Black Canyon was the perfect place to go. And so after Chiang Mai, me and my coach Megan [Roche] started training pretty hard to do well at Black Canyon. And then I had Gorge Waterfalls [50k], which was practicing more of that competitiveness, but also the very fast running that goes with Western States.
iRunFar: And do you feel, given your Black Canyon performance, which was third and under course record pace, and then Gorge also really third against a really strong field, do you feel like you’re coming into this stronger than last year?
Dower: Yeah, I really do. I think I do. Gorge was good, and I felt very happy about that, but Black Canyon felt very difficult. It was a good experience, but it felt very difficult. It’s so frustrating to fall so much. I am feeling very strong physically, mentally I’m feeling strong, but I think the thing I’m always worried about in these races, the fear I always have, is falling. I know people think it’s hilarious when I fall, and yeah, it’s funny sometimes for me too, but getting bloody and like falling down, any trail runner knows that it’s really frustrating and it really throws you off. So that’s kind of like my fear for this year is like something happening and tripping on a rock, and I’m getting bloodier, falling and injuring myself.
iRunFar: Have you done anything specific to try to fall over less, for lack of a better way of putting it?
Dower: Yeah. So I have a strength coach, Kam [Harder], who lives in Flagstaff, and we’ve done a lot of strength stuff together, but we’ve also done like balance and stability work. He had me do warmups before my trail runs that have kind of helped a little bit. If anything, it’s like warmed me up a little more before I start running. And it’s helped, but I think it’s in me too, because my mom is super clumsy.
iRunFar: Sorry, Mom.
Dower: Yeah, Debbie. I love my mom, but like we have the klutz genes in us, and I think it’s just part of me, unfortunately. It’s trying to get over not letting that derail me, like it did at Black Canyon. I feel like I fell those two first times before Bumblebee, and I was just like, “Ahhhh.” I was so frustrated. But I think it’s more like trying to get up and go, and not even worry about it, just brush it off. If I’m not injured, great, we’re just going to keep boogieing.
iRunFar: Yeah. So coming to this year’s race, the weather forecast is a big thing. I know you’re super meticulous about your heat training. You do more heat training than a lot of people, so obviously, you’re ready for the heat. But you’re also a super fearless racer. You go out, and you go out hard, and it seems to me like you’re more willing to take risks than some people, which a cooler weather forecast might reward because hot Westerns are so much about self-preservation. So what are your thoughts on a cooler weather forecast? Risk-taking versus your heat training?
Dower: I mean, you could just run a lot faster, and I want to run a lot faster. Last year, I got kind of cold. I got into Foresthill, and it was kind of cold. So I think I did pretty good heat training, even though maybe it derailed me a little bit with just grinding too much and doing too much of a couple things. But I think I’m pretty good in the heat, and I was kind of hoping for a really hot race. I do like being hot. But I don’t know. I think it just changes a little bit with the salt plan. The good thing is you can run faster if it’s not as hot, and also you don’t need to stop at the aid stations for as much water or ice. I was planning on stopping at every aid station to fill up my ice bandana and to put ice in my sleeves. But if I don’t have to do that, I mean, it doesn’t take that long, but it’s like 10 seconds at each aid station. That’s pretty significant.
iRunFar: And now it’s like, it’s going to be below freezing up at the top of the Escarpment. Who needs ice?
Dower: I know. I even saw, yesterday I was looking at the weather, and I saw on Saturday there’s like one snowflake.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Dower: What does that mean? Right before I left, though, I’m an overpacker, but for some reason I was like, “I’m not going to pack any warm stuff.” And then at the last moment before I was going to leave, the morning of, I was like, “Okay, I’m going to bring my arm sleeves, like my warm arm sleeves. I’m going to bring a wind jacket and gloves just in case.” And I’m so glad I did, because I think I actually need it. I think it’s going to be like 60 mile-per-hour winds up there.
iRunFar: I think the first couple hours are not going to be warm.
Dower: Cool. I’m down. I think all trail runners, I’ve heard this from so many fellow competitors and people I compete against, everyone says this, and I think it’s just common among trail runners, but I like to say it too, is like, I thrive in not the best conditions. And I think that’s just all trail runners, honestly. That’s why we’re out there in nature.
iRunFar: Yes. We deal with what we’ve got.
Dower: Yeah. Yeah.
iRunFar: So last question. I have heard that you have a big crew that has a lot of glitter, a lot of pink, and a lot of fun. Who’s out there for you?
Dower: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I have so many people. So two crews. I have Reese, she crew chiefs all of my races. And then I have Scott, who’s going to be crew chief number two. And then under that, I have a lot of people. I hope I can remember everyone. Jake, he crews Rachel Entrekin. He’s crewed Rachel Entrekin at Cocodona [250 Mile] and he’s super dialed. Chris Myers is one of my pacers. Robyn Lesh is one of my pacers. Chris’ partner, Amanda, is going to be there crewing. Maggie is going to be there, of course. Cam and Vic, Vic is my nutritionist, and Kam is my strength coach. Oh man. Did I say Rascal?
iRunFar: Not yet.
Dower: Okay. Rascal. That’d be so funny if I just forgot Rascal. Oh, who did I forget? I don’t think I forgot… Oh, Kenna. I also have my other friend Kenna, that’s going to be out there. And then I’ve also had a lot of people contact me about coming out and help because maybe one of their runners dropped or something. But honestly, I don’t think I need any more crew people because I think if it was a hot year, you would want a lot of people pouring ice, doing ice in the sleeves. Like, one person doing ice in sleeves, one person doing ice bandana, one person pouring water, another person pouring water somewhere else. But honestly, I don’t think I need anyone else. I think I got a good number right now. There’s a lot of people.
iRunFar: And it feels like you’re very close with your crew. What does that mean to you to have those people out there?
Dower: Yeah, it means a lot. I am very thankful for my friends. They’ve always supported me really well. My friends mean the world to me, not to say anything cliche. I mean, they really do. I’m really thankful for their support. And it’s never a question if they’re going to be there. It’s like, I got my Golden Ticket, and they’re like, “Okay, let’s start planning.” Me and Reese start planning for Western States. There’s no question that she wasn’t going to be there. So I’m really thankful for the support. And, they’re really enthusiastic about racing. So I think they’re just like, it’s enjoyable for them.
iRunFar: Tara Dower, best of luck Saturday.
Dower: Thank you.
iRunFar: We look forward to seeing you out there.
Dower: Yeah, thank you so much.
