The Runner's Trip: Run Long, Travel Far, Discover More
trail running and travel blog by Sarah Lavender Smith
Some of you may have expected a UROY post in which I geek out about my Ultrarunner of the Year ballot picks like many esteemed blogging peers. I decided to write a middle-aged-mom diary entry instead with some real-life, empirically untested self-help tips.
During the last few weeks, people involved in this sport pulled me out of a funk and motivated me to run hard and with joy. I needed it.
Could I successfully race for three days straight? Could the organizers pull off their idea for a trail-running “festival”? How the heck would they shuttle hundreds of runners for hours each day to trailheads on the edges of the national parks? Turns out, the transportation became a part of the adventure.
The pain numbed out. But suddenly something replaced the pain: a bright red, shiny wet spot seeping through my sock.
You could call it “extreme fast trekking.” It’s hard to articulate how ridiculously slow and tough this mountain “running” is, but I’ll try.
I put off writing a race report because I felt the kind of turned-inside-out fatigue and brain fog that a new mother feels the week after giving birth.
I’m excited, but fear sneaks up on me. … Something unreal yet way too real happened that partially explains why I savor the purpose, focus, escapism and sense of control that preparing for the Western States 100 offers.
From my perspective as a child growing up in Ojai, the mountains that make up the Nordhoff Ridge always looked so big and far away. I could only reach them on horseback. On my last visit, I decided to step out of my comfort zone of running familiar streets and go up and along the […]
I was nervous, not so much about the competition—which was out of my league, attracting the country’s top ultrarunners—but about how I’d do compared to my younger self.
This can’t be good. I’m supposed to be sleeping well and tapering for a race next weekend that I care about. … But I’ve been through this kind of big transition before, the “what have we done, how are we gonna do this …” state of excitement mixed with anxiety.