POCATELLO — About 80 miles into the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race, Brittany Peterson found herself in a position to potentially bring home a first-place finish.

Peterson had been in third place for most of the day when the race leader endured an injury forcing her to walk and then ultimately drop out, which catapulted Peterson into second place and just behind the front runner.

“All of the sudden I’m chasing one woman for the win, which is somewhat of a game changer at mile 80,” Peterson said.

With just 6 miles left in the race, Peterson was positioned 90 seconds behind the leader.

“That’s pretty unheard of to be duking it out with someone that late into a 100-mile race,” Peterson said. “She pulled out this epic surge in the last 4 miles and ended up beating me, and while of course I wished I finished on top, both of us realized we couldn’t have finished so well without one another pushing each other.”

Competing in — and nearly winning — the 2019 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is one of the most memorable race experiences for Peterson, a Nike Trail ultrarunner who lives in Pocatello with her partner, Cody Lind, an ultrarunner with SCOTT International. Peterson teaches in the occupational therapy assistant program at Idaho State University’s College of Technology and was recently ranked as the fourth best female ultrarunner in the U.S. for 2021 by UltraRunning Magazine.

The Idaho State Journal interviewed Peterson by phone on Thursday to discuss the ever-growing popularity of ultrarunning, her newfound success and what upcoming events she has her sights set on for 2022.

A native of northern Minnesota, Peterson grew up on the edge of Jay Cooke State Park just north of Minneapolis. She ran track and cross country in high school and college, but credits her admiration for ultrarunning to her high school coaches.

“We were always playing in the woods, climbing trees and playing in creek beds,” Peterson said. “My high school coach did such a great job of fostering the adventure of running. I ran my first marathon at 17 and my second at 18. In college, I began to focus on long-distance running before moving to Boise where I really got into road running.”

It was just over 10 years ago when Peterson said the sport of ultra trail running really entered the mainstream and started to boom.

“I went to watch my first ultra race in Montana with some friends in 2011 and my perception at the time was that it was a 50-year-old man sport because at that one race all of the runners were older, gray-haired men,” Peterson said. “Other than my friends, who were the youngest participants, there were hardly any females.”

According to a June 2021 article published in The Guardian, ultrarunning has soared in popularity, with a report in May showing a 345 percent increase in participation globally over the past 10 years and thousands of events taking place annually. Generally, ultrarunning broadly refers to any race over the length of a marathon, and can come in many shapes and sizes — including the six-day, 251K Marathon des Sables across the Sahara, and the 100-mile, 50-mile and 21-mile treks through the peaks of Scout Mountain near Pocatello.

Peterson ran her first 50K in Boise in 2011, the Foothills 50K Frenzy, which was a race she says connected her roots of trail running with a newfound love of mountain running. That’s about the same time Peterson was introduced to historical ultra races throughout the U.S, such as the Western States Endurance Run in California.

Peterson landed her sponsorship with Nike Trail in 2017, an achievement she says opened up so many horizons and ultimately pushed her to increase from 50K races up to 50 miles, then to 100K and up to 100-mile races.

In 2021, Peterson set a course record in winning the Black Canyon 100K in Central Arizona in February, finishing with a time of just over eight hours, and then placed fourth and was the top American at her second Western States attempt in June.

Peterson’s mindset as she competes or trains differs depending on the type of competition and the environment. She definitely prefers trail or mountain running to road running.

“Road running is so boring,” she said. “It’s winter right now and the trails are so crappy that I’ve been doing so much road running, which is where I will listen to music or audiobooks. But I have dogs, too, and they are my best training buddies because it’s not just all about me, it’s about me and my buddies going together.”

Peterson continued, “Trail running is so different from road running and in Pocatello we are very lucky. We have a gorgeous trail system and a plethora of trails that are not overly busy. You can feel that aspect of being one with nature. I don’t listen to music while trail running and really just get lost in my own thoughts. It’s an adventure with a purpose, like I am trying to get to the top of this peak, and it’s this intimate connection with how hard I am working.”

Aside from the 2019 Western States run, Peterson says competing in an international circuit that took her to various locations in Europe every several weeks in 2018 and the bonds she formed with mostly strangers was atop the list of fond memories.

“After one of these races toward the end of the circuit, about 20 of us elite runners with different brands, nationalities and languages had some drinks and we were all sharing stories and playing games together and just had such an incredible time. The camaraderie was just amazing. It didn’t matter what happened on the race course but all of these like-minded people came together,” she said.

Peterson’s ultrarunning career has taken her to Bulgaria, Europe, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and, among others, Norway.

Conquering her self-described Achilles heel, the acclaimed Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, also known as the UTMB, is a major goal for Peterson in 2022.

Each year at the end of August, the elite of the trail-running world meet in Chamonix, France, where almost 10,000 runners participate in one of the event’s seven races. The UTMB crosses three countries — France, Italy and Switzerland — and takes participants on a journey through the French Alps and its beautiful valleys, forest paths, mellow curves and incomparable flora.

“UTMB was the race last year that I started and things didn’t go well so I ended up not finishing,” Peterson said. “I want to go back and dial in UTMB and perform well on that grand stage.”

As Peterson embarks on what will hopefully be her most successful year yet, she leaves aspiring ultrarunners with one piece of advice.

“Consistency is key,” she said. “Don’t be intimidated by how big an ultra race is, knowing that you can walk if you need to. That, and find ways to have fun and dream big.”