It is being intentional before you even go into the race and asking yourself what you want to get out of it and what a successful day would look like for you. That's Shea Aquilano's philosophy, and it's shaped everything from how she approaches a 34-mile training run to how she handles a Nike sponsorship contract.

At just 24, she's a two-time US Mountain Running team member and Nike ACG pro athlete living in Boulder. She got there by packing up her car in Indiana with no job, no plan, and nobody's approval.

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There Isn't a Right Path

Shea grew up in Indiana playing travel soccer through high school. After her last season ended, she picked up running to stay in shape. Indiana is pancake flat with barely any trails, but she drove 20 minutes to a local trail on weekends and fell in love with the longer stuff.

She describes ultramarathon distance as more honest. It breaks you open in the best and worst ways. In a marathon you can have a bad couple of miles. In an ultra you can have a bad couple of hours.

Her freshman year of college, COVID sent everyone home. With more time on her hands, she ran a local eight-hour endurance race in Indiana. She didn't really decide to pursue running seriously until senior year. Before that she had the whole notion of what you're supposed to do after college: get a nine to five, save for a house, get a partner or a dog. She watched a lot of friends pursue that track. It just didn't resonate.

She eventually realized there isn't necessarily a right path. There's only the one you build for yourself, and that can look a lot of different ways for a lot of different people.

Packing the Car with No Plan

At the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Austria in 2023, Shea met Andy Wacker for the first time. He told her she needed to move to Colorado. He had a room. She said she couldn't just uproot her life. Then she asked herself why not.

She packed up her car with no job and no plan. Unsponsored. If it didn't work out she'd move back to Indiana. No harm, no foul.

She hadn't realized what she was missing until she met Andy and Carly. You don't know what you don't know when you're trying to get into trail running. She didn't know what races to target or how to navigate the sponsorship world. Having access to the wealth of knowledge they both have, along with a great community of athletes, was really important to her development.

The Trail Team's success comes down to the people. Andy and Carly have a unique ability to attract really good humans first and foremost. Everyone pursuing slightly different disciplines, all coming together to train in the same way, pushing each other to be their best. A rising tide lifts all boats.

The Bonus She's Never Looked At

After a strong performance at Gorge 100K, things happened quickly. Shea is now sponsored by Nike ACG, and she has an agent she describes as her second mom, managing everything from social media inquiries to product outreach.

But she has not looked at the bonus structure on her contract. She doesn't want to know which races earn her money. She only wants to pick races based on what excites her.

Her mom worried when she first signed. She'd heard stories about athletes going pro and losing the joy piece when it starts to feel like a job. Shea never wanted it to feel like that, so she made a deliberate choice before she ever signed.

Nike understands that athletes perform best at races that excite them. There aren't many obligations in terms of which races they want, and the ones they would want are the ones that already excite her anyway.

She now has access to the Breaking2 team at Nike, with resources on heat acclimation, altitude training, fueling strategies, and mental performance. Nike headquarters, in her words, feels like the Disneyland of the running world.

Gentleness Over Toughness

There's a common misconception in ultra running that it's all about toughness. Shea would argue gentleness is more important.

The best racers are the ones who don't panic, don't get too self-critical, and don't spiral when things get uncomfortable. You go in knowing it's probably not going to be enjoyable the entire time, and you embrace that, knowing that other people are probably experiencing it too.

She practices adaptability in training before race day, through visualization and actual training runs, cultivating calm so that when something goes wrong she doesn't panic or spiral. Because if you do those things on race day, things are harder to work through.

Her race goals have two layers: outcome and internal. She'd love a golden ticket back to Western States. But what a successful day looks like starts from being intentional beforehand, asking what she wants to get out of it, then working backward to identify steps that lead to that outcome. Stay on top of fueling. Practice gratitude at a certain mile marker. Stay focused and present.

The Joy North Star

She started running for the joy of it, coming from soccer rather than track or cross country. She asked her coach to keep her long-term sustainability as an athlete first and foremost. If she's ever starting to lose that joy or that spark, they need to backtrack and reevaluate.

When asked what she wants to be proud of in 10 years, her answer was immediate: longevity in the sport and keeping her why central to her running.

And her why? Joy. Have fun.

Do Scary Things Anyway

Shea started trail running as usually the youngest on the start line. She had to make a big mindset shift from feeling like she didn't belong with people she'd followed on social media for years, to showing up with the question of what she could learn from it.

Imposter syndrome, she calls it. She got through it by realizing everyone is just human, out there for the same reason. If you're willing to step up to the line like you belong, something shifts.

Running doesn't owe us anything. Every day is a new day to be grateful we get to do this. She tries to find joy or silver lining in every run, even on hard days. Going through hard things has made her more empathetic and patient in real life. Running makes her the best version of herself in every other area too.

She's now one of the most requested guests on the podcast, named by listeners and other athletes. She finds that a bit hard to process. She was a very different person and athlete six years ago when she started. But she hopes she can keep being that source of motivation for people trying scary things for the first time.

"Everything's temporary," she said. "The good and the bad. So hold on to the good days."

Jon is a runner, cyclist, and podcast host from Boston, MA, who now lives in Boulder, CO. For The Long Run is aimed at exploring the why behind what keeps runners running long, strong, and motivated.

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