Tara Dower

the last week and a day🤪

✈️virginia for AT trail days🚙drive to northern VA to pace Scott at his first 100 miler at 🚙drive to VT ✈️ fly to denver for athlete team camp

Lets take a journey back to my first ultramarathon ever in July 2021! The first and LAST Ridge Route Ultra - 50 miler in Castaic California. It was a literal s**t show from the beginning. I asked my sweet friend Liz to come crew as she was the only one I really knew that actually ran ultras. We drove up from San Diego the day before going through the LA area with no AC in July. We camped that night near a farm where a pig hung around our camp and it was EXTREMELY hot so I didn’t really sleep well. The race wasn’t managed well but I had nothing to base this on since it was my first ever ultramarathon. The aid stations were running out of water and people didn’t really know what was going on. The water thing would have been sort of manageable if it wasn’t 99+ degrees on the exposed ridge running point to point. With around 20 miles left I began to have SERIOUS GI issues. I was pulling down my pants every so often. At one point I was in a bush on the side of the trail and looked up toward the hill I just came down and saw a runner that looked exactly like Jesus sprinting toward me. I pulled up my pants too early and s**t all in my pants. I kept looking back to see this fast mystery messiah running behind me and no one was there… that was one of my first notable hallucinations. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

mountains, trails, running – yay!

fast 50k run, time with friends, rough hike, Goodr shoot in LA, and board games… happy busy girl

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“your best is good enough” this saying was running through my head through the entire race! the Thirfty Car Rental dude was right about this spiritual journey i’m on.

3rd lady, 4:17 and I THINK I ran under the previous course record before Jen demolished it .. i actually don’t know though

Thankful for the ladies I raced against today , and . 50K races are okay i guess especially when you are somewhere gorgeous!!! thank you to volunteers and race directors & ! so so so thankful for for crewing ❤️❤️❤️ she is the best

lastly thanks to the team and my sponsors - .doctor .sports.dietitian


also **tinthewoods with the pics!!!! so great to see so many friends and fun folks out there.

a kind employee from Thrifty Car Rental told me I looked like I was on spiritual journey. He gave me a quote to remember for the Gorge Waterfall 50k tomorrow and I suppose also for life. “we hustle for bread and meat if we don’t hustle we don’t eat” so tomorrow i’m going to hustle and try my best to run really really really fast 🤞

been doing some heavy training for Gorge Waterfalls 50K coming up in a little more than a week. I’ve been using the new SONIC Gs. Makes me look quick and cool 🩷🖤 should I wear black or pink?

A new gritty sponsorship to chase gritty goals! I began running ultras in 2021 in a Suunto Ambit and back then I had no clue the direction this sport would take me. Look at us now! Fast forward to 2026 and I’m proud to announce my partnership with 🤝 Thankful for their belief in my abilities and support of my BIG lofty goals in the ultramarathon and FKT space.



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I’m working on a special project about the AT FKT. I love to look back at photos and videos my friends took during that time. The first batch are from and during particularly difficult moments in Southern Maine and The Whites. The terrain wrecked me and the weather progressively got worse. My only thought during those moments weren’t about the FKT but only about making it to Hanover. The last batch is from , and which was days before finishing. I was exhausted but my body had transformed from those early difficult miles in the North East. It adapted to the daily miles and the exhaustion. I love looking back at these memories and can’t believe it’s been 1.5 years since finishing.

black canyon ‘26 was a character building experience. i’m proud of my effort and thankful for the race. & made this epic race video linked in my bio.
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shoes by
nutrition from
socks by
sunglasses from
watch by
pack from
pre race nutrition from chimpkin minis terminal b