When you look at MegMo, she commands the presence of someone who might work at Vogue magazine before she clocks out to climb a mountain. The lady stands tall, knows her worth and has a well deserved ego to prove it. While she sometimes looks so prim you’d assume she’s never pooped in her life, she had zero shame clouding me in her flatulence on the hour bus ride to the airport we shared before Western States – a race where she took 10th at her first attempt at the distance. Meg Morgan is an absolute riot. She laughs at the silliness of uphill treadmill running and wearing six layers of clothes in the sauna, while completely committing herself to that insanity. Meg is going big, really big, and while most of us just get to watch her do it, some of us get to smell her too.

Find Meg on Instagram, Ultrasignup & Strava

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Meg Morgan and you’re watching Disney Channel. As a kid, I practiced doing the wand Mickey ears in the mirror for when I inevitably became a star, so just picture my doing that as you read this.

In all seriousness, I am a 26-year-old ultra trail runner based in Boulder, CO. I run for La Sportiva, Darn Tough Vermont, and The Feed. Full time, I work in climate finance for a non-profit focused on facilitating the energy transition. I was born in Needham, MA. I started running when I was 10 years old and started trail running three years ago through exploring New Hampshire’s White Mountains (though “running” is a strong word for what those mountains allow for). In the remains of my free time, I love drawing/painting, climbing, and skiing.

Do any of your group chats have names? If so, what are you willing to share? How did they get that name? What is a major topic of discussion in them? 

Meg ain’t got time for group chats so…

You have to pick four other runners to be in your boy band, who are they and what is their position in the band? 

Jenny Quilty = base, Katie Asmuth = singer, Bailey Kowalcyzk = keyboard, and Riley Brady = drummer and I would be the guitarist. We wouldn’t release any songs though because we’d be too distracted with our own jokes to be productive.

If you could change one thing about your favorite social media platform, what would it be? 

Including a search function on Instagram story views. You’re lying if you don’t scroll through your story viewers looking for one name.

What is a book of fiction that you really enjoyed, for no other reason than you liked it?

“Though Shall Know Our Velocity” by Dave Eggers. Eggers is a weird guy. This plot is out of left field. The characters are frustrating. But it’s awesome.

What is one song you’ve been listening to on repeat recently? 

This is a risky question to ask me at this time of year, as I am a HUGE fan of the Monster Mash. But, my friends cap me at only 5 repeats of the Monster Mash before I have to change the song, so when I have to change the song, I like “What’s Up” by fanclubwallet right now.

What is one trend that started in 2020 that you love? 

Roller blading. I bought a pair of blades as soon as the pandemic started. My friends and I used to rip around the streets of Boston late at night as our form of socialization. By “rip” I mean roll very slowly while tensing in fear. Blading never got less scary.

What is one trend that started in 2020 that you hate? 

Virtual happy hours. I can’t say much sounds worse to me than drinking alone, staring at a screen, and nodding along while my coworkers discuss the weather in their respective cities.

What are the last three emojis you used?

😂🤯⛄️

What is the last thing you bought online?

 A derailleur cable. I have been biking a lot this summer, but I am a liability around bikes, as I know nothing about them. My gears broke on my bike recently, and my personal bike mechanic (aka my roommate) told me a new derailleur cable would fix it.

What is your most controversial food opinion? 

I dearly hope this isn’t a controversial opinion, but it is a STRONG opinion I have. Cold sandwiches are useless. All sandwiches should be toasted or panini-pressed. Bread makes or breaks a sandwich. Heating up the bread is an easy way to increase the quality of bread. Anything tastes good between two slices of good, toasted bread. Who wants to eat a cold sandwich and have the cold bread just stick to the roof of their mouth?

What three videos are at the top of your YouTube recommended homepage? 

I don’t watch YouTube so…

If you went to prison, what would it be for? Explain

For picking and eating food from the WholeFoods hot bar while walking by.

Which Allie is your favorite? 

The ALLEY-OOP. Only basketball’s most exciting move.

What argument in mass media do you not understand or think is a worthless issue?

Daylight savings. Darkness is always inconvenient, but we can’t get rid of it. For some reason daylight savings gives people the illusion that we can control darkness. It gives everyone something to complain about for a week or two and then turns back into a worthless issue. I don’t have an opinion on this issue. I just dislike it when people talk about it so much. I’d say there are two groups of people that this issue mainly affects: farmers and runners. I don’t know enough about farming to comment on the issue from their point of view, but at least farmers have more concrete arguments other than “it’s so dark!” To fellow runners, I say, “grab a headlamp and/or a buddy.”

When you go home for the holidays, what is the food or tradition that it wouldn’t be the holidays without? 

Christmas morning is one of the only two days a year when my mom makes her special French toast (the other being Easter). Honestly, I don’t like French toast and grew up pouring myself a bowl of cereal for Christmas breakfast instead. Still, the smell of that French toast reminds me of the holidays and my family being together, and I do love seeing how excited my siblings get watching my mom prepare it.

When I say in-seam you say…? 

Skin.

When has your ego caused you to do something you sort of regret but also would describe as wild and worth it?

 In 2021, my friends pumped me up to jump a 15-foot cliff while skiing. I’d never jumped a cliff before, but it was a beautiful day, and I was jazzed. I fell badly and broke my collarbone. I refused to acknowledge that it was broken and continued skiing and drinking beer for three more days. I kept running for a week and insisted that if I just held my arm against my body that I could run fine. I don’t necessarily regret it because I think life should always leave room for spontaneous decisions and resulting funny stories, but it did mean I had to pull out of a marathon that I was training hard for and take four weeks off running.

What was your worst running fuel decision? What was the surprising best?

The worst: poptart mid race. There are pictures of this. I had eaten poptarts a million times while running before but never while racing. The speed stomach did NOT like it. I spent most of that race spitting up artificial strawberry chunks. 

The best: switching to Maurten from SIS halfway through WSER. SIS was tasting too sweet. The boogery Maurten gels were sitting just right. 

The most controversial: I was fast packing the Tahoe Rim Trail and wanted to keep my pack light, so I didn’t have a stove. Therefore, for dinner every night, I’d crush up uncooked ramen and roll it into a peanut butter tortilla. Delicious. But it almost cost me my running partner, as she was disgusted.

What is your death row meal? 

Sweet potato gnocchi with sage butter garlic sauce. It’s fitting that this is also the meal I eat two days before a race.

Out and back or looped course? Why? 

I am the biggest advocate for Out-and-backs. They’re simple to plan, you can get an exact distance, AND it mentally cuts the distance in half.

Barkley or 24H track race? Why? 

This is the worst “would you rather” I’ve ever encountered. I’ll say Barkley because at least it involves some good humor and creativity. I didn’t run track in high school because even that was too many monotonous laps for my brain. I’d also be lying if I said getting woken up by a conch shell wasn’t on my bucket list.

When I say PTRA you say? 

Petrie. The pteranodon from The Land Before Time.

When I say UTMB you say?

Up The Mountain, B*%ch.

What is one thing that absolutely scares you? Why? 

Not being able to be physically active at one point in my life. I love independence and acting on ambition and physical movement provides an outlet for both of those. I find my mind settles best when my body is occupied with movement. I also associate movement with spending time outdoors and with how I’ve made my closest friends.

And slugs. They’re gooey. And I stepped on one with bare feet once as a kid. That stuff sticks with you. Literally.

What is a time you felt you didn’t measure up? How did you get through that? 

I was projected to perform well at my senior year high school championship meet. I was hoping to get top 20, so I could move on to the all-star meet. Instead, I got so anxious that I puked my guts out a quarter mile into the race and jogged in the rest. My coach was really understanding of the pressure I put on myself so assured me that I was not a failure and that this was just one race. I spent the months, and years, following that race running without a watch to rekindle my love of running without the accompanying anxiety. I trained for my first marathon a few months after that meet, so I could feel closure in my high school running career.

Who is another runner that flies under the radar that we should all get to know? 

David Kennedy. He hasn’t done many official races, but he’s been collecting all the heavy-vert FKTs in Boulder as if he’s just picking apples.