Tania Carmona: Making Ultra Stage Race History en Route to Cocodona 250

Mar 31, 2026 · 48 min · Ep 213

In addition to testing her limits on the trails, Tania is a coach and she has a podcast called the Ultra Happy Podcast, which she cohosts with her husband, Andy, and it follows her running journey.

Tania is also a world citizen: while she is from Mexico and now lives in Dubai, she has also lived in Canada and the US, in addition to living for several years in Scotland, which is where her husband is from. You’ll hear about Tania’s time in Scotland in this episode because it does figure strongly into her running story. As Tania says, she was born in Mexico, but she was built in Scotland, especially when it comes to trail running.

Tania came to running as an adult and initially hated it. But when she found the trails, she was hooked and now challenging ultra adventures are a driving force in her life. And, as if it weren't enough that Tania ran the 4 Deserts Grand Slam Plus in a 12-month period—which took place in Namibia, Mongolia, Jordan, Antarctica, and Chile—there is more. She did that with an even bigger goal in mind: the Cocodona 250, which she went after just weeks after the final stage race.

Tania’s story is all about developing into the ultra-endurance athlete she is today, and especially how that’s played out over the past few years. Tania provides excellent insight into what it takes to develop the mental, physical, and emotional skills to be able to take on these huge adventures.

Her strength, fearlessness, and patience, as well as her ability to focus on solutions, however uncomfortable they might be, instead of lamenting the tough situations she finds herself in—and her ability to always be so nice to herself, are all exemplary. There’s a lot we can learn from her.

From this Episode

Tania Carmona on Instagram: @taniaruns_theworld

Tania Carmona's website: taniacarmona.run

The Ultra Happy Podcast: taniacarmona.run/podcast

Racing the Planet: racingtheplanet.com

Grand Slam Plus: racingtheplanet.com/4-deserts-grand-slam-plus

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