“If you’re going to make bad choices, make sure they’re worth it.” —Shea Aquilano
Shea Aquilano, a 23-year-old trail running up-and-comer who already has a 100-mile win and a Team USA jersey from the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships on her resume, decided to race on a sprained ankle at the 2024 Black Canyon 100k. Even under normal health circumstances, a race such as this would be extremely competitive and difficult to finish. But Aquilano needed to know what her body could do.
It had only been two days before the race that she rolled her ankle, but despite the swollenness and tape from a PT, she felt drawn to explore the possible, even when it wasn’t necessarily logical, “I let myself stay open to the possibility that I could still finish and run 62 miles on a sprained ankle,” said Aquilano, “I don’t think any doctor would probably recommend doing that, but I think I would have been more disappointed if I hadn’t at least given myself the shot at trying. Welcoming the fear of the possibility of failure and trying it anyway was a really important thing for me.”
Aquilano placed fifteenth at the Black Canyon 100K, which showed herself what she was capable of on the day, though she eagerly hopes to return to this race. It was an experience that Aquilano described comically as a “bad choice,” but one that was definitely worth it.
Leaps of Curiosity
Aquilano’s progression in distance as an ultrarunner in her teens and early twenties was unlike that of many runners. While most young elite trail runners come from backgrounds in high school cross country or track running, Aquilano was a high school soccer player. In her senior year of high school, she took up running for fun (and to be better prepared for soccer matches) and would run with her parents at their local parks in the humble midwest suburban city of Carmel in Hamilton County, Indiana. What ultimately guided Aquilano’s running progression – more than structured training and racing goals – was a curiosity about how far she could go.
In 2020, Aquilano ran her first race, a virtual 50K race in a local park. While most runners would start with a 5K, 10K, or even half marathon, Aquilano felt drawn to running longer distances. After completing her first 50K, she was hooked on ultrarunning. She ran more marathons and ultras and started to make a name for herself in the running community.
Aquilano left home to pursue an education at the University of Notre Dame, where she continued running on a club team. Though she enjoyed her time on the team, especially for the social aspects of being around other runners, she only ran a few cross country 6-kilometer races for the club team. The shorter distance races were not her favorite, and she admits that she still has never owned a pair of cross country racing spikes (she would borrow them when she needed them!). Aquilano’s interests in running were not as much in speed as distance.
In October 2020, Aquilano tested herself in one of the most classic distances in ultra running: 100 miles. Her first 100-mile race, The Indiana Trail 100, took place at Chain O’Lakes State Park in northern Indiana. Unfortunately, early fall weather set in to challenge participants with a body-numbing cold front. It was the first race Aquilano did not finish (DNFed).
“I was pulled from the race at mile 91,” said Aquilano, who was feeling symptoms of hypothermia throughout the race but refused to quit until she absolutely couldn’t go any further. It was devastating not to be able to finish, but that didn’t stop Aquilano from returning the following year, where she set a new course record in a time of 16:03:17 and finished second overall.
Aquilano reflected on the learning experience of this race, “In a certain respect, failing the first year was integral to coming back and performing well the next year. This win has already had me thinking about the next 100-mile race I want to run. I again want to challenge myself with something new.” Aquilano recently ran her second 100-mile race in fall 2024, Run Rabbit Run, held in Steamboat Springs, CO, where she was challenged by mountainous terrain and higher altitudes. While Aquilano was in podium position for the entire race, she took an unfortunate wrong turn and was disqualified. Similar to her mindset after her DNF at the Indiana Trail 100, Aquilano has maintained a positive attitude post-race and already looks forward to returning one day for a victory at this historic race.
Mom and Pop Trail Roots
Growing up in flat midwest Carmel, IN, doesn’t exactly seem like the environment to produce a world-class trail runner such as Aquilano, but there’s more to the midwest trail running scene than most realize. Races such as the Superior 100, Kettle Moraine 100, and Birkie Trail Run Fest have had a place in the history of the sport, although they don’t typically garner the kind of media support one finds in the West. Midwest race organizations such as Ornery Mule and Trailblazer Running are innovating the sport in grassroots ways. Such races are far removed from the corporate giant that is the international UTMB-Ironman series or the sponsor-driven direction many races are choosing in the west and east coasts of the US. The Midwest captures an old-fashioned era of the sport, one that rests on strong community, tough courses, and where the best athletes still have a raw desire for the sport itself and not corporate deals.
Aquilano describes first-hand her experience maturing as a trail runner in the Midwest, “Races in the Midwest have more of a mom-and-pop feel. I’ve seen Boy Scout troops come out to cook homemade soups at the finish line, and the atmosphere feels more low-key. It’s a very homey community, and really, the essence of what trail running is all about in my mind. Midwest trail races are the types of races where race organizers just draw a line in the dirt and say, ‘Go!’ I love that most. Everyone’s just in it for the love of the sport.”
Alpine Ignorance
Aquilano’s results at the Indiana Trail 100, as well as her wins at the TransRockies 58 Mile, Full Mo 50K, Bryce Canyon Ultras 30K, Ice Age 50 mile, THE HUFF 50K, The Falls 100k, and podium at the 2022 JFK 50 Mile, built a resume worthy of being selected for one of the most important teams in her career thus far, the US Team competing at the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. While she had successfully trained for many competitive races before the 2022 World Championships, she’d never faced as challenging of a course as what awaited her in the Austrian Alps. The course featured a quad-whopping 19,500 feet elevation gain and descent! Aquilano described her approach to one of the largest challenges of her running career so far, “Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If you don’t know what’s coming, it’s easier to just accept the attitude, ‘ok, this is what we’re doing, and I’m just going to do it.’ You don’t need to know what’s ahead, as that can just make you anxious. The second part is working with your environment. I was doing what I could in South Bend, Indiana when I was in school at Notre Dame: 0.1-mile hill repeats, uphill treadmill workouts, and believing that what I was doing would be good enough when race day came around.”
Aquilano placed thirty-third at the championships and fourth for Team USA as the youngest member of the team by over a decade. Aquilano’s exposure to many of the trail runners she’d looked up to throughout her career was equally important as the result. She giddily recalled being on the same text thread for the team with legends such as Jim Walmsley, Zach Miller, and Grayson Murphy and rooming with Emily Schmitz. The trip also connected her with fellow teammate Andy Wacker, The Trail Team founder, who has since adopted Aquilano on The Trail Team Club. Aquilano said about her experience with Team USA, “It was really incredible to get to be a part of a group of people that I’ve looked up to for the longest time. All of my teammates had super-established running careers and have performed super well on the global stage at many different races, so I went into the experience a little bit starstruck. But at the end of the day, after hanging out with everyone, it’s fun to realize they’re just humble people too. Everyone was friendly, welcoming, and it was an amazing experience.”
Team Player
Aquilano’s acceptance on The Trail Team club has encouraged her to move to one of the trail running capitals of the US—Boulder, CO. While the group has athletes based all over the US, there is a strong contingent of club athletes around Boulder, including team founder and his wife Andy Wacker and Karly Rempel. Aquilano said about what she’s learned from being on the team so far, “It’s definitely been great to have community, a support system and to learn more about the ins and outs of the sport in terms of sponsorships, how races and racing structure works, and about all of the most competitive race series in the US and Europe. Sometimes, I feel like growing up running in the Midwest; I was away from a lot of the trail community. There’s historically more focus on what’s happening in the West and in Europe, so it’s great to finally be exposed to this scene. The sport is still very much about who you know, and being able to grow my network and connections through The Trail Team has been so helpful.”
Transcendent Transrockies
Aquilano is racing to win, not just by beating other women but also all the men. In an era of the sport where legends such as Courtney Dauwalter are winning ultramarathon competitions outright, there is more conversation about respect for female performance in distance running (check out this interesting article by running coach Jason Koop, “Can Women Outperform Men in Ultramarathons?”).
Aquilano is following in the footsteps of female ultrarunning pioneers and is already becoming one herself. She not only finished within ten minutes of being the top male runner at the 2022 Indiana Trail 100 (and over four and a half hours in front of the next female!), but in the summer of 2024, she placed third overall at the TransRockies stage race. Aquilano described her experience and battle at this event with 2019 Canadian Long Distance Mountain Running Champion and Run Rabbit Run course record holder Emilie Mann, “TransRockies was so much fun and provided me with an amazing training block and confidence booster headed into Run Rabbit Run 100M. I was on the podium every day, most days running it in and tying for first place with Emilie Mann.”
At only twenty-three years old and with an unwavering positive attitude to make the most of all of her race experiences (the good, the bad, and the unexpected DNFs or DQs), Aquilano is well-positioned to be at the top of the sport for years to come. Her roots in the humble midwest trail scene and her recent connections to The Trail Team club have shaped her career and, most importantly, allowed her to see a future for herself in the sport. Aquilano is curious about how far she can go, both in terms of literal distance but perhaps even more exceptionally in the mental side of exploring her own limits and potential as an athlete.
Follow Aquilano’s journey on Instagram!
[All photos in this article have been generously provided by Shea Aquilano.]
