The Runner's Trip: Run Long, Travel Far, Discover More
trail running and travel blog by Sarah Lavender Smith
I’m writing about goals and grit rather than “new year’s resolutions” because that phrase seems so prone to failure. Goals take grit, which might be defined as perseverance combined with passion. Also, I want others to go public with their goals here. How about we make a virtual pact to go for it?
I like to think of running in terms of a trip, in all senses of the word: a journey, a mind-bending head trip, and a stumble that represents unexpected challenges and comebacks. Infected by wanderlust, I love to take all kinds of trips. I came up with “the runner’s trip” to capture those concepts and […]
When I don’t feel like going to the track, or I’m traveling and a track isn’t available, then I do this speed workout on the open trail or road.
Our running gear made our bags burst. Here’s how we kept our promise to pack only what we easily could carry, and still have the gear we needed to run on our trip.
Being a student and groupie of ultrarunning for several years could not prepare me for what I had to learn firsthand. I felt baptized into the sport when I said in my head, “Oh, so this is what it’s all about—this is what I signed up for. It’s supposed to hurt. It’s supposed to be […]
If you wanna combine a dazzling seaside destination with running, consider Brighton and one of these two races.
I never imagined I would commit to my first triathlon moments before the event began, while I was still groggy from sleep and wearing my pajamas. But that’s what happened when Morgan, the kids and I recently found ourselves on the edge of a lake in a eucalyptus forest north of Melbourne, in a community […]
A Conversation 38,000 Feet Up With The Two-Time Kona Ironman World Champ I’m phobic about flying and didn’t want to be squeezed between strangers on the 14-hour flight from Sydney to LAX, so I chose a seat in the rear of the Qantas 747 where I’d have only one person at my side. Whose elbows […]
“Two things in life that I have experienced moderate success at, and that I love when they’re going well, are writing and running. Neither is going very well at the moment. This blog represents my commitment to get both going again. Writing and running have been on hold due to inaction and injury. … I’m […]
This is a postscript to my last post, “Humbled,” about training for the Sept. 12 Imogene Pass Run from the town of Ouray to Telluride. As that post detailed, the 17-mile Imogene Pass, which summits at 13,100 feet, loomed large in my mind. Family history and childhood memories ran through the precipitous rocky road, while […]