Episode 77 - Alex Nichols
“I learned early on with ultrarunning that there's always going to be ebbs and flows. So when I’m really hurting, I just tell myself, ‘OK, this is an ebb. We’ll get to a flow soon enough!’ So repeating that there will be another side to this darkness.”
We move up in distance this week and speak with Colorado College head coach, Alex Nichols. Alex is professional trail/ultra runner for Scott Running and finished 3rd overall at the USATF 100mile Road Championships.
Alex was drawn to Colorado College due to the access to the trails and the unique academic calendar. His freshman class was large and showed a lot potential to become a great team. Throughout his time at CC, they would consistently send individuals to the national meet but come up just shy of making it as a team. His senior year, they accomplished what they set out to do by making it as a team. Alex finished 14th overall and CC finished 21st.
After college, Alex had early success at Pikes Peak Marathon where he beat multiple sponsored athletes. He wanted to see how far he could take trail running especially when he knew there was an all expensed paid trip to compete internationally. He competed multiple times for Team USA at the Mountain Running Championships and was highlighted by a 6th place finish in 2015 where Team USA earned 2nd place.
Photo Credit: Kirk Reynolds - Alex Nichols finishing the 2021 Western States
His success doesn’t end there as notable highlights from his trail/ultra career including winning the Pikes Peak Marathon twice, holding the course record at Mont Blanc 80k, and a 2nd place finish at Western States in 2017.
D3 Glory Days Patreon
We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.
This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.
How to Support D3 Glory Days
As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating on Spotify!
We launched a live D3 Track Show. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.
If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.
If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.