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Optimistic Curiosity: The Success Story of Sarah Humble
2026-05-15
**Introduction:** In an act of true altruism, breakout trail runner Sarah Humble gave me an hour of her time to discuss what led to her streak of incredible performances during the last year. This article is a summary of the story she told and specifically about what made her golden ticket performance at the The Canyons 100k possible. During our conversation, rather than highlighting a training intervention, a supplement, or her decade-long running background, Sarah chose to focus on her decision making process during the journey. As she went through the last year, Sarah was consistently driven both by a curiosity of what she was capable of and by an optimism that the effort would be worth it. While she never used these words specifically, I believe that Sarah’s “Optimistic Curiosity” is the core driver of her success. And I hope that, by the end of this article, you see how Sarah’s story of Optimistic Curiosity can apply to you as you chase your own next exciting and intimidating adventure. **The First Steps:** Sarah loves running for running’s sake. In our conversation, she talked about why she’s chosen to keep running as a constant in her life for so long: *“I would say running has so many different purposes and meanings within my life. Some of those pieces are definitely just the enjoyment and the love of it. It's something you can feel a sense of confidence from, even when it's not external. It feels good to get out and run before work in the morning when literally no one knows and you just have this sense of confidence to take into your day. Also the mental clarity portion of it…days when I'm feeling stressed, you get out and move…it's a good way to kind of clear my mind. The people component of it…the people you meet while running…It's easy to connect with people, even if they're very different than you. You go out together on a run…and it's easier to get to those deeper topics.”* While many runners find themselves pulled away from running following big shifts in life—graduation, career opportunities, relationships—Sarah stayed. She competed as a track and cross country athlete throughout high school, invested in road races for a few years, ran the Boston marathon, and eventually settled into the trail running scene around 2021. In our conversation, she talked about being drawn to the trails by her love for exploration and enjoying chasing new experiences. At the beginning of 2025, Sarah and her husband Dan realized that they had the opportunity to take their shared love of exploration and move to Europe for a few months. While in retrospect, this move looks like a runner willing to go all in on training, for Sarah, this was the first step into a journey powered by Optimistic Curiosity. She had the means to make it happen, why not give the big, scary adventure a go? Why wait until retirement to live out that dream? What’s the best that could happen? *“We traveled to Europe because that was a life bucket list thing that I wanted to do, and it wasn't so much, I'm going all in on running and I'm going to go train in the Alps. It was really more like Dan and I want to do this trip, at this time in our lives…and it felt like a good time.* *I kind of just opened my mind to that idea. So I don't know if I really would say that I had the confidence beforehand, but it allowed me to think more broadly about what the possibilities would be.* *It happened gradually. [I] tried out coaching and then that was really cool to be able to have some success with the coach..so I guess it was just bit by bit gaining confidence from trying things.* *That's a little bit how my running of the past year has felt. [For example], maybe people would traditionally recommend training for 6 months before this event, but I'm going to see what I can do in 8 weeks.”* Sarah’s attitude led her from one successful race to another throughout 2025. She performed well at multiple international races and dominated back home in her local Utah scene, taking wins at both the White Pine 50 and the historic Bear 100. In 2026, she stepped onto the most competitive starting line in her ultra running career, the Black Canyon 100k. **Black Canyon 100k: When Things Go Wrong** For those outside of the ultra trail running community, Black Canyon is a unique race because it offers several “golden tickets.” Golden tickets are awarded to the top finishers at six of the largest ultra trail races each year, one of those being Black Canyon. Golden tickets are a guaranteed entry into the Western States 100 which is the oldest, most famous, and most competitive 100-mile trail race in the western hemisphere. Winning a golden ticket is often a right of passage for ultra athletes wanting to land sponsorships and engage with the professional side of the sport. If you want to test what you’re capable of, a golden ticket race is the best way to do it. While Sarah didn’t line up at the Black Canyon 100k for the purpose of winning a golden ticket, this race was the exciting next competitive step she was looking for. Unfortunately, Sarah’s Black Canyon race did not go the way she’d hoped. *“I did want a strong race and definitely fell short of that. I do think running is a really joyful thing, but I also care about it a lot, and I was pretty down after Black Canyon, not necessarily because of my placement in the field or anything like that, but I was just really disappointed with how I did not pivot when things went poorly.* *Midway through the race, I had some vomiting, which I've never experienced before in a race. It's pretty normal, but I just didn't deal with it well. And then you just get passed by so many people as you're walking on runnable terrain, and I was pretty disappointed. I was more disappointed in the mental state that I knew that I was in in the last half. I'm proud that I finished, but at the same time, that wasn't the race mindset that I want to have in the 2nd half of a 100k.”* Her initial response to the disappointing race mirrors what most people would feel: *“[After the race], it's just like, why didn't I do that? You come up with a million reasons…You even have the opportunity to have a pacer at Black Canyon and I was like, oh, no, I don't want a pacer. So many things that probably could have changed the day that I just kept running through in my mind. And then I think for me, sometimes it just takes time.”* But as the disappointment faded, Sarah moved her attention towards improvement and taking on the next big challenge. *“A few weeks after, then it's easier to take that as, okay, what are some valuable lessons we can learn from this? And those are weaknesses that we're going to be exposed to at some point. So now I know what they are and I can work on them.”* Undeterred, she signed up for the Canyons 100k, the final golden ticket race for the 2026 Western States race. The Canyons 100k was barely two months after Black Canyon. In ultra running, that short of a turnaround is gutsy to say the least, but Sarah was still asking herself the optimistic questions: What excites me? What’s possible? And what am I capable of on a good day? Initially, the Black Canyon 100k was meant to be the race that capped off her year-long investment into trail and ultra running, but in the aftermath of Black Canyon and after finding that she could still train consistently while starting her new job, she stepped up to another starting line. **The Canyons 100k: When Things Go Right** Sarah’s recovery from Black Canyon went smoothly. She worked to address the pitfalls of her Black Canyon strategy, and identified where and how she wanted to improve. *“The main thing, as far as logistics was, I did a sweat test, and I think I just needed to hydrate way more. It was one factor from Black Canyon, so I definitely planned that a little better with a little bit more data.* *My main goal that I latched on to was more of an execution goal, which is, I wanted to run every step of the last 20 miles. And that helped me fixate on what I could be doing in that moment that was manageable rather than I'm trying to get top 10 or whatever. And I had a time goal as well.* *The plan was, be calm in the first half, calmer on the hills than you think, than I naturally want to when it's so exciting, and there's so many fast women that I want to run with. Honestly, it wasn't too different from my plan at Black Canyon. I think I just had a little bit more of a determination to actually run a smart first half and then be really diligent with the hydration, so I didn't run into that same issue.”* Sarah went out and executed her plan, letting the leaders go out hard and fast and then moving up through the field, staying focused and staying competitive. *“When I saw, okay, there's a bigger pack out in front than I had expected, I was like, that's sweet. I'm stoked that there's that many people that want to go out with the lead. I'm not quite feeling like that is where I want to be right now, but I felt pretty positive.* *I would say there was a pretty long stretch in the middle there where I was in no man's land, I hadn't seen anybody for a while, and it's just kind of the mid race portion where you're not close to the end, but you're far enough in to be tired. There's definitely places where it's easy to check out, or be like, oh, there's no one around me. So this is probably fine.* *At the end of that portion, from mile 37 to mile 45, and [Ellaney Matarese] passed me. I hadn't seen any ladies for a while, so it was a good reminder of like, oh, they're all coming for me. But that got my attention going.* *Honestly, I wasn't quite sure if I was in a golden ticket spot or not. I was still committed to the idea of, I'm gonna run this whole thing and I'm gonna be strong, but, I don't know, she seems like she's really strong, and if she gets the golden ticket, that's okay. But then after that, I was able to hang close enough to her, to see her for a while, and as we ran within sight distance, my competitiveness gained and I was like, okay, maybe I can hang on to this and maybe pass her. And that got me excited.* *At some point, we passed one of the other women in the race who was dropping back. And that was a total shock to me, because [I thought] that we weren't in golden ticket spot[s]. That was probably the moment that I was reminded to be a little more competitive.”* From there, the potential to live the dream of earning a golden ticket began to become more and more of a reality. *“When we hit the final road, I knew Ellaney was right behind me, but I had no idea if there was four other women right behind her that were chasing me down. I was trying to put in a pace where you're gonna have to work hard to get up here, but at the same time, you never know how well people are running behind you. And then the final stretch on the roads around Auburn, I was starting to get a little bit excited. But even then, not till the finish line [did it set in]. Wow, that actually happened, I actually finished.”* Sarah finished fourth overall in just over 10 hours, and earned the golden ticket. She described the experience of finishing Canyons like this: *“I would say I'm a pretty nostalgic person, but Canyons was a really cool full circle moment, because I wanted a good day at Black Canyon so bad. And part of the reason was [because] I was starting a new job in March. It'd be really cool to have this year of not working to culminate with [a] really good race in a competitive field.* *But then looking back now, I'm like, wow, I never would have signed up for Canyons if I hadn't had a bad day at Black Canyon. Because I think even if I had…gotten top ten at Black Canyon and run really strong till the end I wouldn't have been like, Oh, let me sign up for Canyons.* *I signed up because I wanted a second chance at a 100k that I was proud of. In retrospect, it's really cool that I actually had a much better day after I have been working during the training block leading up to Canyons. And it's a nice confidence boost [because] I actually have been able to carry the things that I have learned through this year of having more freedom to dedicate to training and trying new things and being open to that, but then still be able to do that while I'm working a new job. So that was pretty cool for me, bringing in the personal side of it.”* **Conclusion:** Sarah’s story is incredible not because she put in the hours and made big leaps in ability, although that’s certainly a story in and of itself. Sarah’s story is remarkable because it’s the story of someone who has the confidence to invest in themselves with curiosity and optimism. During our conversation, she never came across with the grandiosity or bravado that you’d expect from the typical professional athlete. She seemed thrilled at the act of doing things that excite her and putting in the work to pursue the life she wants to live. Whether it’s a self-made study abroad or an eight week build into a competitive 100k, she was motivated by the question of what could be possible if she were only willing to try. She’s held to her Optimistic Curiosity through disappointing races and in between jobs. And when I asked if there’s anything specific she’d like to finish with, she summed up our conversation with this. *“You never know what you're capable of. And it sounds cliche, but it’s very true. My one year ago self would be beyond surprised [to hear] I'm running Western states with a golden ticket. And maybe that's not the outcome that everyone ends up with, but just taking whatever step it is to try something a little bit scary but super exciting is always worth it.”* Sarah gives credit to her husband, Dan, for helping push her to go after her goals, and specifically wanted to shoutout her parents and extended family who have been fully on board supporting her ultra running journey however they can. Sarah’s next races are the Western States 100 miler on June 27th and the Run Rabbit Run 100 on September 18th.
