The Runner's Trip: Run Long, Travel Far, Discover More
trail running and travel blog by Sarah Lavender Smith
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.
When Ultimate Direction came out with a new-and-improved version of the Ultra Vesta—and also launched a women’s version of the larger-capacity SJ Ultra Vest (which I use for longer, unsupported treks)—you bet I was excited to try them.
Doing “just” the 50K felt like pedaling behind the big kids with training wheels on my bike. Here’s my Sean O’Brien 50K race report, with bonus content at the end: “The Idiot’s Guide to Race Day Planning.”
After five days and some 60 miles on the trail, I felt far more fulfilled than fatigued, perhaps because, as John Muir once said, “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”
Every year I discover a few products for running and for the outdoors that I genuinely like, and this annual gift guide is my chance to recommend things to buy for yourself or for another runner/adventurer in your life. I hope you enjoy this eclectic list of stuff. For full disclosure, I admit I’m also doing this gift […]
The story of my client Jami Sutter shows how careful, steady training and mental determination can lead to a highly respectable mid-pack finish in a grueling stage race. Jami answers questions about the highs, the lows and the lessons learned.
Fish-outta-water is how I felt while boarding a bus at the San Antonio airport to drive two hours with dozens of military men and women, all of us headed to a trail-running camp at a remote Christian-oriented, no-frills outdoorsy outpost called Camp Eagle. Team Red White & Blue, a nonprofit devoted to improving the lives of […]
I began to think I was in a time machine in which I aged a year with each mile, and the miles mirrored my imaginary age, so as we approached 70 I was morphing into an arthritic septuagenarian who needed to nap a lot.