Trail Stories - The Youngest at the Finish Line with Kaylee Frederick

At 16, Kaylee Frederick laid down in the middle of a 100-mile race at mile 93 and cried for what felt like the rest of her life while other runners stepped around her asking if she was okay. She told them she was fine. She got up. She walked the slowest seven miles she had ever walked. She finished. Two years later she became the youngest person ever to finish the Badwater 135 (135 miles through Death Valley in July) and felt on cloud nine the entire time. She has since won the Eastern States 100 outright (first woman ever, first to break 24 hours), finished 12th female in the world at the 24-Hour World Championship, and done most of this while double-majoring, minoring in chemistry, earning an ESL certification, working four part-time jobs including certified forklift operator, and trying, gradually, to sleep a little more. She is 21. She is calling from New Zealand on a Monday morning after a five-mile warmup at 4 AM. She did not mind being the youngest person at the start line because she always knew she would be the youngest person at the finish line. The full interview with Kaylee drops Wednesday in two parts on the Hiker Trash Radio feed.