The Runner's Trip: Run Long, Travel Far, Discover More
trail running and travel blog by Sarah Lavender Smith
Bart Yasso has what many would consider a dream career. His title is Chief Running Officer at Runner’s World (how cool is that?). Over three decades at the magazine, he became a high-profile and well-liked ambassador for the sport, getting paid to travel and run races in remote areas all over the world. When I […]
Imagine living in rain-ravaged Queensland, Australia. Would you keep your commitment to run if you lived in those conditions? Ultrarunner Andy Bowen of Noosa, Queensland, is sticking with his training plan even if he has to build an ark to reach land to run on. He offers good advice for dealing with drenching conditions.
The Epiphany Ultra is more like a loosely organized escapade than a race. I wondered again, “Why am I doing this?” No answer came. Epiphanies take time.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I ran the Boston Marathon once before, in 2000, and remembered little about the actual run. I could recall being very, very cold while sitting on the ground for several hours at the starting area, a.k.a. the “Athletes Village,” and then hearing women at Wellesley scream at the halfway point, and then peeing in my […]
I woke up Sunday morning feeling I had a job to do: I had to run the 2009 Napa Valley Marathon at my goal pace or better. My brain, on some level of consciousness, must have known it was better to go on autopilot than to approach the race with any depth of thought or […]