Photo courtesy Mateo Sanchez DeLope

We sat down with 20-year-old Mateo Sanchez DeLope, a junior at UC Davis and a multiple-time 100-mile finisher, who ran his first ultra at the Canyons 100-miler in 2023 and will be on the starting line at UTMB this year. Mateo shares his journey into ultrarunning and what keeps him going.

How did you get into running, and then progress into ultrarunning?

In high school, I wrestled but before I got to college, I had a bucket list of things I wanted to do, and one of them was to run a marathon. On a random day, I just put on my running shoes and borrowed my sister’s Apple watch and started running. I did manage to do the marathon, but it was pretty horrible because I didn’t really plan for it.

Then, I got to college, and I wasn’t really running. I was doing the more typical college experience, which is like meeting people, going out and all that, but I have a twin brother, and he was going to do an Ironman during his gap year. I was like, “Well, my brother signed up for an Ironman. I’m not gonna do that,” but I always knew I wanted to do 100 miles after hearing some stories about it, and so I was like, “Screw it. Let’s just sign up for this crazy race and get back into exercise.”

Are endurance sports a passion shared just by you and your brother, or your entire family?

Just me and my brother. Both my parents were born and raised in Mexico and sports are not nearly as big over there. They’re always very encouraging. At least for my brother and I, we both took our respective sports in high school pretty seriously. And because I’d played sports my whole life, going from that super high intensity to nothing is kind of weird—it didn’t work.

Photo courtesy Mateo Sanchez DeLope

Your first ultra was a 100-miler. Why the big jump?

I’ve always been a kind of a more all-in, all-out kind of guy. I was looking for something that would be scary to think about. Not to say that anything shorter than 100 [miles] isn’t hard, but for me, at least, I was looking for something that would be scary to think about.

Talk us through your run at the Canyons 100-miler. How did that go?

In hindsight, Canyons went perfectly, considering my lack of knowledge of ultrarunning. I had a plan that I stuck with, and it worked out pretty well. Also, I met Dean Karnazes. I talked to him for 40 minutes at Canyons. Everyone in ultrarunning is pretty awesome. It’s a very cool community. So, after that first one, I was like, “Yeah, this is definitely something I want to keep doing.”

What are some of the lessons you learned from the process of running that first 100?

I learned the incorrect ways to train. My thinking going into signing up was, if I can build up to doing a marathon once a week and then keep doing more, then I’ll be good. I did four weeks of that, and then my Achilles just gave up and I couldn’t run or do anything for two months. Then, I learned you’ve got to be a little smart with the training and all that. I wouldn’t say I run more than a Division I athlete—my long runs are just longer and I have a lot less speedwork to do.

Finishing Canyons in 2023 qualified you for UTMB. What are your goals going into UTMB this year?

I don’t really have any crazy goals. I’d like to finish under 35 hours, but to just get it done would be cool. It is a pretty awesome race, and I don’t know when I’ll be back, so just have a good time.

What have your experiences been as a young ultrarunner who is a generation below the average age in most races?

I haven’t really noticed it too much. I met this guy at a 50-mile race who was a couple of months younger than me, and so I’m good friends with him now. I noticed it the most at Canyons when there was no one in my age group. So, I was like, “I have to finish this race.” But other than that, I mean, I don’t really think about it too much.

Finishing up with a couple rapid-fire questions:

Favorite race? Kodiak.

Favorite pre-race meal? I usually don’t eat much. Maybe a bagel.

Favorite in-race fuel? Goldfish.

Favorite music to run to? I don’t listen to music when I run. I call it moving meditation.

Favorite weather to run in? Anything that’s not freezing!