For the first time in months, I'm stepping away from interviews and monologues for a Borderlands Trail Running founder update.

By the time this episode goes live, my family and I will be somewhere over the Atlantic, leaving Paris after two years and moving back to Salt Lake City. I came to France thinking I was building one thing and left building another. I'm leaving with a much bigger vision for what Borderlands can become.

In this monologue, I share what changed during our time in Paris, the mission that continues to guide Borderlands, where I want the company to be over the next month, year, and decade, and how everything we're building fits together.

• Why Paris changed the way I think about media, culture, and Borderlands
• The mission behind Borderlands: The Heart of Trail Running
• One-month, one-year, and ten-year visions for the company
• Why Borderlands is expanding beyond podcasts
• The role of the website, newsletter, documentaries, YouTube, live events, Arcade, and Live on Course
• The contributors helping shape Borderlands, including Bryce Carlson, Inky Steve, Stan Van Kimmel, Christian Brecheis, and others
• A look at where Borderlands is headed next

Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.

If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.

1. 8 Bit Trail Running | Arcade
2. Live on Course [LoC]
3. Borderlands.cc
4. La French Trail
5. Subwhatever

1. Ultra Running isn't Just Running

Presented by Kiprun.

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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.

Watch on YouTube

Read on Substack

HOKA has become one of the few running brands to cross into culture without losing credibility with runners. If you're building a brand, launching new products, or wondering how companies grow without abandoning what made them special, this conversation is for you.

Thomas Cykana and Travis Wiseman pull back the curtain on HOKA's collaboration strategy, why they refuse to make "toy shoes," and how fashion found HOKA before HOKA ever chased fashion. It's a conversation about culture, product, trust, and the surprisingly human decisions behind one of running's fastest-growing brands.

Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.

If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.

00:00

1. Borderlands.cc
2. La French Trail
3. Subwhatever

1. Ultra Running isn't Just Running
2. John Ruben, founder of Unna

Presented by Kiprun.

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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.

Watch on YouTube

Read on Substack

Western States 2026 is over. The course records have been set, the winners crowned, and the internet has already moved on. This isn't another race recap. It's a cultural breakdown of what Western States revealed about trail running, its media, and where the sport is headed next.

From Dylan Bowman becoming the voice of trail running, to Hans Troyer's fearless pacing, to why Thomas Cardin exposed a storytelling gap, Josh shares the ten ideas he couldn't stop thinking about after the biggest weekend in trail running. Along the way, he asks whether Western States has outgrown its broadcast and why the next frontier isn't better cameras, but better context.

Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.

If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.

• 01:05 Dylan Bowman is the Voice of Trail Running/Racing
• 04:10 The Broadcast Knows Where Everyone Is
• 09:05 We Don't Care About Places, We Care About Stories
• 11:38 We Interviewed the Wrong People
• 16:14 Whose Job is it to Find Tomorrow's Stories?
• 20:21 Hans is the Rabbit I Was Asking For
• 21:53 American Men Ran it Like Old Days at UTMB
• 22:46 The Race has Outgrown the Broadcast
• 26:23 The Next Frontier

1. 8 Bit Trail Running
2. Borderlands.cc
3. Subwhatever

1. Ultra Running isn't Just Running

Presented by Kiprun.

----

Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.

Watch on YouTube

Read on Substack