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Fitness trackers and apps like Garmin, Fitbit, Oura, Strava, and more are ubiquitous among runners. So much so that I’ve seen T-shirts and memes that say, “If you see me passed out on the side of the road, pause my Garmin,” or “You know you’re a runner when you run up and down your street 5 times to get your Garmin to a round number,” or “If you didn’t put your long run on Strava, did it really happen?” I hate these. To me they are gate-keeping and take the joy out of running. I track so much in life and stare at data all day. Why would I want to stare at the data empirically quantifying one of the few activities that regularly gives me joy?

This may come across as a crotchety person complaining about new technology and how things were better in the old days, but I don’t think that is necessarily true. If you’re new to running, having a tracker might really help keep you motivated to go faster and further every week. Some of the Garmins also have cool functions that help you find your way home if you get lost, which I could definitely have used a few times. For me though, the benefits do not outweigh the downsides.

Sometimes, I think I might be the last runner in the US that doesn’t use a smartwatch or an app to track all my activities. Sure, I’ll sometimes use Strava but mostly to see how long a new route is that I haven’t been able to map out with AllTrails for some reason. Back in 2020, I used Strava every day for a month once because if I did, I got sent free HoneyStinger snacks, and I do anything for snacks. But I hated it. It was annoying to carry my phone around, and when I had a disappointing run, knowing all the stats on exactly how slowly I was going made me feel so much worse and stole away what enjoyment I had taken in the run.

This isn’t to say that I don’t time my runs. I like having a rough idea of whether I’m improving or not. However, when I started running in 7th grade track in 2001, I had a digital watch, and today, I have almost the exact same one. It tells me the time, date, day of the week, can set alarms (sort of), and has a stopwatch. In middle school and high school, some people had cell phones, but they were unusual, and definitely did not have the capabilities they do today. Unless you had a spreadsheet, a stopwatch, a heart rate tracker, and the will to manually track all your stats, there was no way to know exactly how many miles at what pace you were running and how your cardiovascular system was handling the exercise. Instead, we had to run as best we could without knowing exactly how fast we were going at any point in time. This intuitive running style is still how I like to run today.

Intuitive running is all about listening to your body to make healthy decisions for yourself. The strict definition of this would have you remove all outside stimuli, goals, and training programs, and just run as far and as fast as feels right every day. This can be really beneficial. If I’m recovering for a week or two after a long training program, I’ll run fully intuitively until I decide what to train for next. However, even in the midst of an intense training program, I like to run while listening to my body instead of my watch or phone. Instead of having a computer tell me, “You just ran an 8 minute mile,” I want to know based on how I feel that I am running an 8 minute mile. To get myself calibrated, I need to know roughly how far I’m going and how long it takes, so I map out all sorts of routes, so that my 5 mile route is the same almost every time, but once I have myself calibrated, I love being able to listen to my body and know what is going on. Querying my breath (How hard am I breathing?), my arms (Should I be pumping harder?), and my legs (Am I tired? Am I getting sore?) keeps me in the moment and helps me let go of the worries and to do lists that clutter my brain. I ask myself if I’m going the pace I should be, if it feels good or bad, and what I could be doing differently to improve my form, pace, or cadence. It is also good mental practice for pacing long races. Without a watch telling me my pace, I have to know my body well enough to know how long I can output different levels of effort. I think this has kept me from getting too sick on long races, and knowing your body that well can boost your confidence in and outside of running.

In summary, I don’t think owning and obsessing over a fitness tracker has anything to do with being a runner. One of the best things about running is how little gear you need (just a good pair of shoes or three). I think everyone should give intuitive running a shot. It gives me the opportunity to fully integrate my mind into my body, thoroughly get to know myself, and feel like a complete human being at least once per day.

Every running blog at some point has to review shoes, but I have been putting off my shoe review post for a while because I only have one or two pairs of running shoes at a time (one for road and one for trails), so I can’t review and compare different brands very easily, and therefore, my thoughts on shoes aren’t very useful to most people. So, instead of a shoe review, I’ve decided to look back on the most memorable shoes I’ve owned and the places these shoes brought me.

Growing pains

I joined the cross country team during my freshman year of high school. I had done track in 7th and 8th grade, so I was used to running, but high school cross-country was my first time doing significant mileage. I didn’t know anything about shoes back then, so I just got Nikes (I don’t remember what kind), because to me Nikes were synonymous with athleticism and performance and because they were nice and padded, which seemed like it might be important for running. Unfortunately, my feet were miserable. They were way too narrow, and I got all the blisters. This was the first time my toenails turned black and fell off, too. Much like high school, these shoes were a painful learning experience. And much like many of my high school experiences, I cringe a little whenever I think about those Nike running shoes.

The lean times

After high school, I was pretty burnt out with running, and during college, I didn’t have time to do much running anyway. Of course, this doesn't count the running, jogging, and speed walking I did trying to get all the way across campus in the 15min between classes. The science buildings were more than a mile away from some of the humanities classrooms. I also didn’t have much money to spend on running shoes back then. I made decent money fixing laptops but not enough to invest in a good pair of running shoes. So, during college, and during the year after when I was working as a lab tech in Baltimore, I bought most of my shoes from Good Will. I was limited to whatever was available there, but that was okay because I wasn’t running very seriously anyway. Beggars can’t be choosers, and just surviving college was my highest priority.

My minimalist years

Once I was in grad school, I got really into running again. I started running and working out like it was my second job, and I started teaching myself about shoes. This was in the early 2010’s, a couple years after Born to Run was published, and the barefoot running craze had reached its peak. I never quite went all in and bought vibram toe shoes, but a lot of the barefoot running philosophy made sense to me, and I bought my first pair of New Balance Minimuses. Towards the end of high school, I had discovered that New Balance shoes didn’t hurt my toes the way Nikes did, and once I discovered the Minimus shoes, I was a total convert. There was almost no sole to the bottom of these shoes, so they would wear out super quickly, but I loved the amount of feedback I got from the road with them. They were well made and so light that it was almost like running barefoot. These shoes made running more fun, and with them, I got back into running. At the same time as I was getting my feet under me in grad school and learning the ins and outs of my research project, I went from struggling to run a 5k at 8 minute pace, to regularly placing in the top 3 of local 5k races and absolutely rocking Tough Mudder and Spartan races.

Looking for a new (shoe) home

Unfortunately, good things don’t last forever. I was going through 2 or 3 pairs of New Balance Minimus shoes every year, when suddenly something changed. I got my newest pair (same brand, same size, but new version), and they did not fit at all. Instead of the soft, slightly stretchy fabric and wide toe box I was used to, the shoe was stiff, it seemed to be much more cheaply made, and the shape was so much more narrow that it hurt to run in them. I ran in my new Minimuses for a couple weeks hoping I would break them in, but if anything, the pain around my forefoot from the narrow shoe got worse. They had re-designed their shoe, and I was going to have to find something new. I was heartbroken. I did a lot of research looking for a shoe that was close to the old Minimuses, and eventually I found a pair of Merrell shoes that weren’t quite as comfortable as my old New Balance shoes but were at least nice and stretchy. I didn’t want to settle for just okay though, so when these started to wear out, I kept looking for better shoes.

Hitting my stride

I discovered Altras around the same time that I defended my dissertation, finished graduate school, and got my first job. I remember going to REI looking for shoes, and the salesperson recommended Altras. I don’t know how I hadn’t heard of them before, but from the first day, they became my favorite shoe brand. Spoiler alert: I have only worn Altra shoes for the last 7 years, and I wear them until they disintegrate. My first Altras were a pair of black Altra Escalantes. Though they were a little heavier and more padded than my old favorites, they did not squish my forefoot at all! The forefoot was already wider than any shoe I’d ever owned, and on top of that the stretchy material had no real seams or structure that could start rubbing after a while. I even learned to appreciate the extra padding when I started increasing the length of my long runs in preparation for my first marathon. My Altra Escalantes took me through my first marathon, my subsequent first major overuse injury (stupid IT band), and through my recovery back to the speed and stamina I had before the injury, while I also progressed at my job from a research scientist to a program manager who got to travel and negotiate with collaborators and partners. I really felt like I could do anything! There was only one problem: road running was getting boring.

Baby’s first trail runner

Once I got out of grad school and got my first job, I finally had some disposable income that allowed me to get out of town for hiking and backpacking trips almost every weekend, which was great for my mental health and much more interesting than road running. In the back of my head, I knew that trail running shoes were a thing, but I had grown up with running shoes and big hiking boots, so I was sticking with what I knew - ankle support. However, at some point, I started hearing more and more about trail running shoes and how they were actually better for hiking than hiking boots. I was skeptical, but the ideas seemed to align with the barefoot running principles I liked, so I bought a pair of Altra Lone Peaks ahead of a week-long hiking and backpacking trip in Grand Teton National Park. In retrospect, I should have spent more time getting my feet used to hiking in trail runners because my ankles felt super wobbly and tired the whole time. Therefore, over that fall and winter when my job started feeling more and more like a dead end, I bought a few pairs of the Altra Lone Peak hiking boots to use while hiking the Appalachian Trail that next summer. These were essentially the same Altra shoe shape and the same Altra Lone Peak shoe, but they had extra upper material to go around the ankles. These are my favorite shoes of all time. Three pairs of these shoes took me more than 2200 miles from Maine to Georgia. When you’ve walked that far in a single type of shoe, you (or I at least) develop an emotional attachment.

Keep trying new things

Today, I keep trying new things. After I finished the Appalachian Trail, my feet were a mess. I had some metatarsalgia, a bunion so red and swollen I could barely move my big toe, and so many calluses that my feet were more accurately classified as hooves. I thought maybe my Altra days were over, so I went to the local running store and tried on literally every shoe they had, but even though they shipped in the widest version of Hokas they could find, nothing fit my foot shape like Altras. In the end, I stuck with them, though since then, I’ve moved away from the Escalantes because they can be a little harder to find in stores and have a little less padding than some of the others. Padding has become more important than it used to be. I like both the Altra Rivera and Altra Provision for road shoes right now. The Provision is especially fun because it has more midfoot support that prevents pronation, but I’d warn you not to wear them in wet weather because they will disintegrate immediately. So, not great if you live in a rainforest. For trail running, the Lone Peaks still have my heart and soul. But, they might change their design someday, and my running needs might also change after a while. I know people that swear by Hokas, Salomons, and inov-8. I’m just glad that this sport is popular enough to support a whole ecosystem of shoe types. Hopefully, there will always be something for everyone.

This is Part 2 of a two-part blog about my experiences running into animals on the trail. Check out part 1 below!

Part 2

1. Stepping (and not stepping on) rattlesnakes

Magic 1/10, Terror 8/10

There are pros and cons to rattlesnakes. On one hand, they usually let you know when you’re getting too close. On the other hand, they are very venomous and very very camouflaged. I have yet to see a rattlesnake before they see me, no matter how careful I’m being about looking at the trail in front of me. The first time I saw a rattlesnake in the wild, I was in Connecticut, hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was the height of blueberry season, so I was hiking along quickly scanning the side of the trail, looking for blueberries to munch on. Suddenly, I heard something that made me stop and launch myself back down the trail the way I had come. It wasn’t until I stopped moving that my frontal cortex interpreted the sound as that of a rattlesnake’s rattle. It is one of the most instantly terrifying sounds possible. When I reacted to it, it was like the most ancient part of my brain knew that that sound was something to avoid, and I reacted as if I had just touched a hot stove. Once I identified the threat and located the rattlesnake in the bushes at the side of the trail, I admired it from a healthy distance as I made my way around it and continued down the trail. I encountered a few other venomous snakes (rattlesnakes and copperheads) and non-venomous snakes (including a huge black snake that fell out of a tree) on the trail, but the last rattlesnake I encountered didn’t see me, and I new saw it. It was in Georgia and the second to last day on the trail. Reid was hiking behind me, when suddenly I heard him yelp and give out a strangled scream. We had spent enough time together at that point that I knew that sound meant either hornets or snakes, so I ran forward a few paces to get ahead of the threat before turning around to see what was wrong. It turns out, a rattlesnake had been curled up right in the middle of the trail, and Reid had watched me step right on top of it. It was a miracle I didn’t get bitten, but it must have been sleepy from a recent meal, which is why it didn’t see me and warn me of its presence. I really hope I didn’t injure the poor snake. Who knows how many snakes I’ve stepped on without someone hiking behind me to tell me?

2. Hearing wolves

Magic 8/10, Terror 9/10

I was recently doing a quick two night backpacking trip in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana / Idaho. This trip was fantastic because it was at the height of the fall colors, the scenery was amazing, but I didn’t see anyone on the trail besides a couple of hunters near a fire tower on the first day. On the first night of the trip, I camped at the far end of an alpine lake surrounded by flame-bright color of huckleberry bushes in late September. I set my pack down near where I thought I would want to pitch my tent and then went down to the lake’s edge to explore the area. As I reached the marshy edge of the lake, I stopped to take a photo of the lake as the sun was setting. When I looked down to get my phone out of my pocket, I saw a recently dead hawk at the foot of the tree next to me. It hadn’t really started rotting, and it was still majestic. As I turned to get a closer look, I heard the creepiest sound. The hairs on my head and neck rose as I approached the dead hawk and the sound seemed to get louder. At first I thought it was maybe moose or elk bugling because I know there were some in the area, but once I heard some barking too, I knew it was wolves. It sounded nothing like coyotes I’ve heard before - more otherworldly and dangerous. I have no idea how far away they were, but I made sure to hang my food up extra well. Once they got started, I heard them on and off all night. As you might imagine, I did not get much sleep that night, and when I did, I had nightmares of being chased by wolves.

3. Beaver pond in the trail

Magic 7/10, Terror 1/10

Here’s another story from the Appalachian Trail. This one takes place in Maine. Beavers can be found all over the United States, but they really seem to love the marshes and rivers near the Appalachian Trail. And unfortunately, beavers have no idea that there are trails running through their forests, so when they decide to build a dam, they seem to regularly flood sections of trail. At this point in my hike, I had already seen a couple beavers swimming in the distance, and I thought that that was going to be the extent of my beaver encounters. On this day, though, I was hiking down the trail in the middle of the forest, when suddenly the trail ended in what looked like a small pond with a tipi made of sticks in the middle. Huge trees were growing out of the pond, so it must not have been there long. As I stood there, marveling at the surprise obstacle in my path and trying to figure out where the trail went, I saw a beaver come out of the tipi and swim toward me. I stood very still and watched it approach, chewing on a stick as it paddled towards me. It came right to the edge of the pond where I was, and it swam back and forth for a few minutes nibbling on its stick with an eye on me the whole time. I didn’t want the beaver to think I was a threat so after a couple minutes, I backed away and watched it from a distance. Considering that beavers are just large rodents, it was surprisingly cute, and it moved through the water gracefully and almost lazily. It was then that I noticed a faint path through the bushes to the right of the beaver pond. Hoping that it led back to the trail on the other side of the pond, I went on my way, thanking the beaver in my head for spending a few minutes of its day with me.

4. The bald eagle that tried to give me a feather

Magic 8/10, Terror 0/10

Picking a favorite national park for me is just as hard as it would be for a parent to pick a favorite child. But if I had to choose a top 3, I think Grand Teton National Park would be on that list. I’ve been there a few times, and even when the main park is crowded, I’ve found ways to get out and away from the crowds to experience the magic of the backcountry. On this particular trip, I was only there for 2 days, and I decided to do a quick run from the Colter Bay Campground where I was staying out and around Hermitage Point. As I was approaching the point with Jackson Lake to my side and the peaks of the Tetons arranged in front of me, I saw a large bald eagle take flight from a tree right in front of me. Outside of a zoo, I had never seen a bald eagle so close before. It flew to another tree further down the trail, and I slowed to a walk as I approached that tree to get a better look. Sadly, it didn’t want to hang out with me like the beaver did, so it took flight, circling a few times overhead before heading off to another part of the island. As it flew away though, I saw one large feather fall slowly down to the Earth. I tried to find the feather because since I was the only one out on the trail, it felt like a gift from the spirits of the Tetons. However, since I didn’t see where it landed, I couldn’t find it. This was probably for the best since it’s illegal to keep eagle feathers in the US. If I’d found it, I would have brought it to the ranger station, but since I didn’t, I thanked the eagle and went on my way.

5. Surprise fisher cat

Magic 10/10, Terror 10/10

This story didn’t happen to me, but I was nearby, so I’m counting it. Some of my friends and I were taking part in a 24 hour trail relay race in Vermont. When we signed up, it sounded like a lot of fun. Everyone takes turns running different routes. When you weren’t running, there were supposed to be giveaways, marshmallow roasting, and movie marathons to enjoy. Unfortunately, on the day of the race it rained. It rained hard. And it rained ALL DAY. The trails became so muddy and slippery with hundreds of people traversing them that it was impossible to stay on your feet. As day turned to night, headlamps came out and as rumors of broken bones and sprained joints started to trickle through camp, more and more teams gave up on the race. I only had to do a 5 mile section in the middle of the night, but it easily took an hour and a half. I didn’t hear the full story of the fisher cat until the next morning, but my friend Brian’s night time run was supposed to be 9 miles. He was out there for hours. Conditions were so bad at that point that they had started re-routing trails, and it was hard to walk, let alone run. Brian was miserably pushing through though, when suddenly he heard a ghostly banshee-like shriek right above him. He had no idea what it was, and he said that he felt his heart race as he raised his hands in the air to try and look as big as possible as adrenaline gave him the energy to sprint down the trail as fast as he could. It wasn’t until later that we looked up the sounds of a variety of animals native to Vermont and discovered that he’d encountered a fisher cat. Fisher cats are small (no more than 13lbs usually) carnivorous mammals in the weasel family (not cats). If you don’t know what they sound like, check out this link and imagine hearing that alone in the dark!

6. Surprise wild cat

Magic 2/10, Terror 9/10

This is my favorite encounter outside of the United States. My friend Julia and I were vacationing in Costa Rica. We were staying in an amazing beach house cabin. It was open to the air, but you could shutter the windows at night to keep most of the wildlife out. Even so, there was a small space between the top of the wall and the roof. Lizards would get in through this space all the time. Earlier in the day, we had gone to a wildlife sanctuary and seen all the different types of wild cats that live in the jungles of Costa Rica, including jaguars, ocelots, and margays. We had wild cats on the brain. So, when around 10pm that night, as I was drifting off to sleep and heard meowing, my immediate thought was, “A jaguar is trying to get into the house.” I knew that pumas meow like house cats because one of the pumas at the Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota had looked me right in the eye and meowed once, so I assumed other wild cats meowed too. I woke Julia up to make sure she could hear the meowing too, and I wasn't just losing my mind. We couldn’t see out the windows because we’d already shuttered them for the night, and we didn’t want to open the shutters and give the wild cat an easy entrance into the house. So, being the more athletic of the two of us, I used my rock climbing skills to climb up onto the narrow window ledge, so I could try and look over the edge of the wall in that narrow space between the wall and the roof. As I was inching myself up holding onto narrow windowsills to peer over the edge, I heard a loud thump on the other side of the wall. It must have heard me climbing and realized that there was an entrance on top of the wall. In terror, I fell / jumped back towards the ground, and told Julia, “IT'S CLIMBING THE WALL!.” We stood, paralyzed, unsure what to do, when a tiny house cat appeared on the edge and plopped onto Julia’s bed. I almost melted with relief that we weren’t dealing with a jaguar or even an ocelot, but we still had to figure out how to deal with this cat. We didn’t want to touch it in case it was diseased, had rabies, or was flea-ridden, but it was aggressively following us around the house, meowing its head off. Eventually I grabbed some salami, picked up the cat, and brought them both outside. It clawed me a little in its attempt to get at the salami, but once it ate a few slices, it dashed off into the woods. I bet it does this routine with every visitor.

There’s a lot of wildlife out there on the trails. Even if you can’t see them, there are lots of animals out there watching you. Understanding what wildlife you might expect to see during your adventures is an important part of preparation. But, no matter how much you prepare, the wildlife finds you. Sometimes, this is terrifying, but sometimes it’s magical. In no particular order, I present Part 1 of my Top 12 Wild (and not so wild) life encounters while out on the trails.

1. Fierce Baby Raccoon

Magic 8/10, Terror 2/10

I was out on an early morning trail run near a nature center in Fountain, CO last year, when I came across a tiny animal in the middle of the trail. At first I thought it might be dead because it was curled up and not moving, but when I slowed down to approach, it’s tiny head popped up and it wobbled onto its front legs to face me. Only then could I see the telltale mask of a raccoon. I was worried about the little guy, but I didn’t want to mess with him because the raccoon mama might be around, he might be rabid, and sometimes it’s better just to let nature take its course if he was sick or hurt. So, I decided to keep going, but if the little guy was still there on my way back, I’d call up the nature center and report it, so someone could help him. Sadly, he was still there on my way back, but as soon as I looked up the nature center’s phone number, a guy from the nature center came by in his ATV to try and deal with the situation. I guess someone had already called about the little raccoon, but unfortunately animal rescue wouldn’t touch him unless he was there for 24 hours. So, I watched as the guy from the nature center tried to use a broom to gently scooch the baby raccoon into the tall grass, where it would be harder for a hawk or owl to find him. The baby raccoon did not appreciate this. I have never heard such a tiny thing make such angry growls and hisses as it tried to bite and fight the broom! However, it eventually figured out how to wobble into the tall grass, where it curled up in a little ball. Once camouflaged in the grass, he was impossible to see unless you knew exactly where to look. I hope the raccoon mama found him there. I’m optimistic that he’s okay because I saw a lot of raccoon prints in the mud, so I think his family was nearby.

2. Yellow Jackets catching me with my pants down

Magic 0/10, Terror 6/10

This story is taken from our book on the Appalachian Trail, which we hope to publish soon. The context here is that I had just finished hiking with my friend, Matt, through one of the more scenic and crowded sections of trail in Pennsylvania.

“… We said goodbye quickly because I had to go to the bathroom. It was a relatively uneventful hike until I got attacked by hornets. There were lots of people around, but I finally found a secluded area to go dig a cat hole. It has been so rocky that it’s hard to dig a hole, but I saw what I thought was an animal hole nearby and figured the ground was soft enough to dig. I dug a hole near the animal hole and got my pants down when I suddenly felt pain and things crawling all over my butt and thighs. Turns out the other hole was a hornet nest, and they didn’t like that I had dug a hole near theirs. I got stung right on the ass while pooping. I ran away as best I could while pulling my pants up. Getting stung on the butt is 0% fun. I’m going to be a lot more careful about digging catholes in the future.”

One would think this would be the worst stinging insect experience on the trail, but just a few days later, Reid fell into a whole nest of yellow jackets. I’ll leave it to him to tell that story, but if it wasn’t for the Benadryl I had in my first aid kit, we might have had to take a quick trip off trail to the ER.

3. Deer in the mist

Magic 9/10, Terror 2/10

This is another tale from the Appalachian trail, but this one is from New York. I had been having a rough few days. I was getting over an episode of some kind of food poisoning, and the night before, I’d had to hike three more miles than I’d planned because when I got to the shelter I wanted to stay at, it was covered in food with no one around to make sure the wildlife stayed away from the food. It seemed like a recipe for aggressive bears, which I was in no mood for, so I’d had to keep going and find a place to camp. Then, as soon as I found a sneaky place to set up my tent and eat my dinner, a huge thunderstorm rolled through. The lightning was so bright, I could see it through my closed eyelids. It stormed on and off all night, and I barely slept at all. I wasn’t looking forward to hiking in the wet and mud in the morning, but as soon as I set off, my mood changed. The lingering mist in the dawn light gave everything an otherworldly glow. I could see fog rolling through the woods, sometimes showing me the way, and sometimes making me feel like I was walking through a haunted forest. The best part, though, was when I walked into a clearing and saw the mist framing a young buck grazing in the bushes. He seemed completely unafraid as I stood there watching him, even staring directly into my eyes, as I inched closer to see if I could get a good photo. I felt like I was meeting an enchanted forest prince. I stood and watched, and he eventually wandered off, but after that, my whole outlook on the day had changed. Even now, when I think of special moments that belong to only me, that one is on the top of the list.

4. Moose on the loose

Magic 4/10, Terror 9/10

Though this is not the most scared I’ve been in a wildlife encounter, this was definitely the most dangerous situation, so I’ll preface this with a reminder: DO NOT MESS WITH AROUND WITH MOOSE. They, like bison, deer, elk, and other large herbivores may seem docile and calm, but they will not hesitate to throw you around or trample you into a pulp if you do something that threatens them.

In this case, I was on a trail run outside Jackson, WY, where there are some fantastic trails near the pass over to Idaho. It was another early morning run, and I was carrying bear spray because both black bears and grizzly bears were in the area. I was about a mile into the run, heading across a steep slope covered in dense underbrush, when I turned a corner and ran almost right smack dab into a mama and baby moose. Running into a mama and baby moose is pretty much the worst case scenario because mama moose can get very aggressive about protecting their young. I came to a very abrupt halt, and I don’t know what I said out loud, but in my head, I was repeating, “oh shit. oh shit. oh shit,” over and over as I steadily but quickly backed away from the moose. In my terror, my kickboxing training kicked in, and I had my hands up in a Muay Thai style defensive stance, as I backed away, hands up and maintaining a wide, stable stance with my legs. At first, the mama moose just stood there watching me back away, and I thought I might have gotten away, but then she started charging towards me. The “oh shits” in the back of my head got louder, as I continued to back away, not sure what else to do. I think my only plan was to throw a hard slashing elbow at the moose’s nose if it got close enough. When the moose was only a couple feet away, it suddenly stopped like it had forgotten what it was doing, turned around, and walked back to its baby. I kept backing away in my defensive stance until I got around a corner where the moose couldn’t see me, and I wondered what to do next. The terrain was too steep and dense for me to bushwhack around the moose, but I didn’t want to go back the way I came, giving up on my run only a mile in. While I was wondering, three other trail runners showed up. With all four of us yelling and waving our arms, we were able to herd the small moose family down the trail. A couple hundred meters down the trail, the terrain flattened and opened up, and the moose were able to safely exit the trail into the woods. I was still so keyed up from my close moose encounter, when the group of trail runners invited me to run with them, I immediately agreed. This was a good decision because not a half mile later, we ran into ANOTHER MOOSE FAMILY. This time, we were able to bushwhack around them. Unfortunately, the bushwhack was through a field of stinging nettles.

Note: one thing I should have done during my moose encounter that I did not do was take out my bear spray from its easily accessible chest pocket on my running vest. If I had, when the moose charged me, I would have had a better defense than my strong right elbow.

5. Real bear encounters

Magic 5/10, Terror 5/10

I wanted to include a bear encounter on this list, but I couldn’t think of just one that really stuck with me. Black bears are incredibly common on the East Coast, and though they seem to be a bit more skittish out in the Rocky Mountains, you should still practice bear safety whenever you’re in bear habitat. While I want nothing to do with grizzly bears while out in the wilderness, black bears are significantly less terrifying. I’m not going to go out covered in honey trying to snuggle them, and I’m going to give them as much space as I can when I meet them, but I don’t worry about them as much as I used to. Unless they’ve been taught to see humans as a source of food (like the bear the park ranger in the Adirondacks told us about that was asking hikers for their backpacks or the bear in North Carolina that learned to open unlocked car doors), black bears either don’t care about you or want nothing to do with you. If they’re used to seeing people around, they tend to go about their business and ignore the excited exclamations of tourists and hikers. If not, though, they tend to run away as fast as they can. I’ll never forget the bear we surprised in Shenandoah National Park. It was way up a tree as we hiked down the trail towards it. We probably wouldn’t have seen it at all if it hadn’t freaked out when it saw us, slid down the tree like a clumsy kid sliding down a fireman’s pole, and sprinted off into the woods, making more noise than a herd of elephants.

6. Imaginary bear encounters

Magic 0/10, Terror 10/10

While my real life bear encounters have been mildly thrilling at best, my imagination has created some terrifying bear situations. One time, I was hammock camping in the backcountry of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Earlier in the day, a hiker had told us a bear had been sighted in the area, so I had bears on the brain when I went to sleep. In the middle of the night, I startled wide awake because I was positive something had brushed up against my leg, and in my head, it was definitely a bear about to eat me up in my hammock like a big burrito. I was scared stiff, and I didn’t think I would get back to sleep, but I must have eventually because I suddenly startled awake when I felt the thing brush up against my leg AGAIN! The process of being startled awake, being too scared to move, and then eventually falling back asleep repeated more times than I care to admit before I finally realized what was happening. I have restless leg syndrome and tend to move my legs around a lot in the middle of the night. What I thought was a bear brushing up against my leg was actually my own leg kicking a small nearby bush from inside my hammock. Even though no one saw me freaking out over a bush, I was very embarrassed and felt like a scared idiot the rest of the night.

One of my favorite books of all time is “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman. I’ve read it so many times, my paperback copy is starting to fall apart. In the book, the protagonist, Shadow, helps the old gods of Europe, Asia, and Africa in their fight against the new gods of Media, Technology, and Commerce. It is a fantastic book, but the reason it sticks in my head is because of its ideas about land. There are two themes present in the book that I often think about while I’m out on the trails. The first theme is on the power and sacredness of the land and the second is on the power of belief and sacrifice.

In “American Gods ,“ there is something special about the land here in the United States. The spirits are strong. We and the old gods brought over by our ancestors from other countries are only here because they allow us to stay here. It is because of the power of these land spirits that these old gods tend to wither away and disappear. Even new gods don’t tend to stick around for long, which is why there is so much constant change in this country. In this book, the only constant in this country is the land, even though it is invisible to many people in the midst of modern life. However, the land powers this country, both literally in terms of providing coal, oil, and other natural resources and metaphorically / spiritually. Without the magnificence of this land and its spirits to inspire us, we would not be the country we are today. I don’t tend to think of myself as religious, or even spiritual, but there are some places I have been that feel so old and raw that I think there must be souls in the rocks around me. One of the places where I have felt this the strongest is on Black Elk Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Though Black Elk Peak is the highest peak East of the Rocky Mountains, it is a pretty short climb from the base of the trailhead. This is because the rocky granite outcroppings that make up the peak (considered a sacred place by the Lakota Sioux) are actually the hard heart of one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. This granite, which used to be at the center of a high mountain range, is 2.8 billion years old. To help you get a sense of that timescale, 2.8 billion years ago, photosynthesis was still evolving, and multicellular organisms wouldn’t exist for another BILLION years! Over the last 2.8 billion years, the mountain range has eroded away into the prairie, leaving only its bones sticking up above the plains. From the top of the peak, these outcroppings look like the vertebrae, skulls, and pelvises of giants. I feel sure that there is memory there, if not actual spirits, and I still feel a chill when I think about the magnitude and power of that place.

Which brings me to the second theme of “American Gods” that I think about while out and about in the wilderness. What gives the land its power? In this story, power comes from belief and sacrifice. The gods of the old world continue to exist in America as long as there are humans who believe in them and perform their rituals, and rituals always involve sacrifice. While few people are sacrificing animals to ancient gods or leaving food out for the fairies anymore, we often sacrifice our time, energy, and sanity to the gods of Media and Technology. Every time you binge a Netflix show or sit scrolling on Instagram, you are sacrificing your precious time (and maybe your health) to those gods, making them stronger. I would prefer to sacrifice my time to the spirits of the land, and when I’m spending time out on the trail running or hiking, I can almost feel my sweat and effort giving power back to the land. And if done correctly (with Leave No Trace principles and by helping to maintain the trails you use regularly), exploring trails and new places can actually give back to the land too! The more people that learn about and explore the wild places of this land, the more people will understand that they need to be conserved and protected. There are also some places that are so powerful and sacred, though, that they draw people to them. In the book, this sometimes results in strange roadside attractions in the middle of nowhere, but I think this also happens on very popular trails. Sometimes when I’m on a popular trail, particularly a loop trail, I feel like a single molecule of water on a water wheel. By myself, I don’t provide much power, but when combined with all the other people on the trail in awe of and admiring the scenery around us, we help give power back to the land.

Maybe it’s just the endorphins, but with the land inspiring and powering me and my sacrifice of time and sweat powering the land, I feel connected to the whole world.

Pull out one of these classics this holiday season.

1. Silent Night Hike

Silent night

Cool night

All is dark

Headlamp bright

Round yon tree I tripped on a rock

Hold up there's a stick in my sock

Screaming at the top of my lu-ungs

Is that a bear! Oh no no!

2. We Three Runners

We three runners arrive in a car

With lots of snacks and outfits bizarre

Field and fountain, moor and mountain

Following the trail so far

Oh, trail so brutal, trail so steep

Trail with rocks to make me weep

Onward leading, still proceeding

Guide me back before I fall asleep

3. Reidolph The Barefoot Runner

Reidolph the barefoot runner

Had some very smelly feet

And if you ever smelled them

You might think they'd melt concrete

All of the other runners

Used to laugh and call him names

They never let poor Reidolph

Join in any runner games

Then one foggy Olympic Eve

Usain came to say

"Reidolph, with your feet so bare

Would you like a shoe - how about a pair?"

Then all the runners loved him

As they shouted out with glee

"Reidolph the barefoot runner

Your feet are no longer smelly"

It has already started getting quite hot in Queensland, and it’s only going to get hotter over the coming months. There are additional dangers to consider and manage when adventuring during the hotter months, and I will delve into these in this post.

I believe in approaching these dangers from a risk management perspective. This allows us to still enjoy the outdoors during this period knowing that we have minimised risk of unwanted outcomes. This can be achieved through the effective identification of hazards, potential consequences, preventative controls, and mitigating controls.

Risk

It is important to brainstorm potential hazards with a diverse group, as a single person may neglect something really important. The first things that come to my mind that are additional hazards in summer include but are not limited to:

• Increased temperature and exposure to UV radiation

• Increased presence of venomous snakes on or near trails

• Getting caught in a thunderstorm

• Increased likelihood of bushfires

• Increased presence of ticks

These hazards can then lead us to any potential unwanted outcome and any preventative and/or mitigating controls. Let’s examine these hazards and determine what undesired outcomes could result from this.

• Increased temperature and exposure to UV radiation

Heat related illnesses like heat stroke and heat exhaustion

Running out of water due to increased perspiration

• Increased presence of venomous snakes on or near trails
  

Getting bitten by a snake

• Getting caught in a thunderstorm

Branch falling onto you

Getting hypothermia

Getting struck by lightning

• Increased likelihood of bushfires

Getting caught in a fire

Now we have an idea of what could happen if a hazard were to precipitate into an undesired outcome, we can start planning an effective strategy to prevent or mitigate these risks to an acceptable level.

Controls

For the first undesired outcome of heat related illnesses, we can implement both preventative and mitigating controls to help manage the risk. We can lower the likelihood of the risk by only recreating outdoors during the morning or afternoon and other times when it is cooler. We can also mitigate these risks through the application of SPF50 sunscreen and clothing. A preventative control would also be to carry 50% more water than normal during this season to reduce the likelihood that you will run out of water, which also in turn can reduce the likelihood of heat related illnesses.

Some preventative controls include reducing the likelihood of a snake encounter, which are more likely during the early morning or late in the evening. By managing and storing waste and scraps in a way that is safe from rodents and other wildlife, you will also minimise the likelihood that a snake will be in the area. But sometimes you can’t help it and will come across a snake, like I have done countless times, and you should know what to do. You should slowly back away from the snake whilst keeping your eyes on it and taking note of where it goes if it slithers away. This way you can also direct other group members away from the snake. However, sometimes you can just be unlucky and not see one until it is too late, and now you need some mitigating controls. Some of these mitigating controls include; carrying a snake bandage (and knowing how to use it), knowing first aid, adventuring with someone else who can get help, and knowing what to do when bitten (like not moving to slow the spread of the venom through your body).

To minimise the risk associated with thunderstorms during this season, always check the weather before an adventure and postpone any activities if a thunderstorm is likely. However, some thunderstorms are unpredictable and sometimes you do not have reception to check the weather. You can plan your day to avoid high points in the afternoon when storms are more likely. We also need some mitigating controls for when it does happen and is out of your control. Some of these include; seeking low ground and rolling hills, avoiding peaks and ridges, not travelling through open fields, and maintaining a safe distance from other group members (15m). When worst comes to worst, assuming the lightning position (sitting with your feet off the ground) can even be a mitigating control, as it can reduce the severity of a strike if one does happen.

Similarly with bushfires, by checking the fire danger beforehand you can make a more informed decision and choose not to go if you think the risk is too high. But bushfires can happen when you least expect them. Like housefires, you should leave everything not essential to yours or other peoples survival behind. Always have a printed map and compass so that you can plan a route to safety, and have enough supplies with you to survive the alternate route.

Running long distances is all about endurance, but what is endurance? What is actually going on in your body when you push through a hard run? What gives some people better endurance than others? As part of my (Marina’s) day job, I research scientific topics that impact biotech startups’ research and development strategy, and though I know a lot about different diseases, I realized I don’t know that much about the science of endurance, so I did a quick research project. It turns out this has been studied pretty extensively, and there are A LOT of factors that go into endurance.

Just last year, there was a systematic review published that looked into the different factors that impact performance in an ultramarathon (1). As part of this analysis, the authors looked at many different aspects of endurance in different types of running races and in different populations. These studies found a lot of factors associated with differences in performance.

• Performance is highly associated with VO2max and the fraction of VO2max the race was performed at.

• Lower oxygen cost of transport was related to greater muscular power and a lower footprint index (greater ankle stability). This suggests that ankle stability can lead to better performance independent of training and other factors.

• Similarly, knee extensor strength and fatigability seem to impact performance in ultras more than other muscle groups.

• Some people need more electrolytes than others. Low electrolyte levels (hyponatremia) is not necessarily associated with those that drank more water (diluting existing electrolytes is the usual cause of hyponatremia). Other physiological factors must be in play.

• Outside of physiological factors, outstanding athletes tend to have greater mental and emotional strength as well. They are more able to make decisions and extrapolate relevant information in order to anticipate future events and outcomes, which could lead to a better race strategy.

• There is also a strong connection between cognitive functioning and physiological abilities. One study (2) showed that faster runners had a greater capacity to inhibit a dominant, but inappropriate, motor response. This means that those with enhanced motor inhibition are better able to choose where they put their feet when running rocky trails for example. Motor inhibition is important in many physical skills, particularly agility, which is very important for technical trail races.

However, some changes in the body happen after an ultra race to almost everyone:

• Ultra-running increases pro-inflammatory markers in the blood, and because of this as well as damage caused by increased blood flow over a long time, the walls of the blood vessels can become slightly damaged. This might result in changes in blood pressure after an ultra. Blood pressure tends to decrease after an ultra-marathon in almost everyone.

• There tends to be a lot of skeletal muscle damage after an ultra marathon, but this can vary a lot person to person. Interestingly, the levels of muscle damage did not correlate to any other parameter one might expect to affect muscle damage including age, previous training, race time, and other blood markers. This suggests some people might just be more prone to muscle damage than others.

• Gastrointestinal distress during a race has happened to about 50% of runners but is more common in women than men.

• Running ultras affects your immune system. Though some types of antibodies changed after a race (some increase, some decrease), these normalize after three days.

Some things that you might expect to matter, actually don’t!

• I always assumed that running strengthened my respiratory muscles because I was breathing so hard. However, it turns out that training for and running a marathon does not significantly change the strength of the respiratory muscles. In one study, Those that ran an 80km race had the same maximum inspiratory pressure as age-matched non-ultra runners.

• Another study looked at differences in post race food consumption between people running marathons, a 67km race, and a 112km race. While you might expect that food and water consumption per hour would be different for the different races, caloric intake was similar for all races. Interestingly, the lowest water intake per hour was observed in the longest race.

• People generally assume that elite athletes have the ability to push themselves past the limits of normal humans and finish with nothing left in the tank - that through mental strength and resilience they can “dig deeper” and force their body to new performance heights. However, there is no scientific evidence to support that this is true. If you feel like you ran a race as fast as you possibly could, you are working just as hard mentally as an Olympian.

What should you do with all this information? According to the results from this review of the literature, I think the best thing you can do is try to improve your VO2 max. Improving this aspect of your physiology will allow you to run faster for longer during your races. Also, based on this research, I would recommend strengthening the knee and ankle stability muscles. The stronger these muscles are, the more efficient your movements are, and the lower the cost of oxygen transport to these areas of your body. Working with a sports physician or physical trainer will help you optimize aspects of fitness.

Finally, during the course of this research, I came across a model for endurance known as the “Flush model”, which helps explain neuromuscular fatigue during endurance activities and can help you think about how to optimize your endurance (3). This model consists of a tank containing your perceived exertion. A ball sits in the tank, detecting the levels of perceived exertion over time. The levels of exertion in the tank are controlled by a fill pipe and a waste pipe. How fast the tank fills up and you can’t run anymore depends on how full the tank is already (are you racing after a night of poor sleep or sickness?), how fast the tank fills (did you start off your race too fast or not drink enough water?), and how fast the tank empties (the only real way to empty the tank is rest). If levels in the tank become too high and the tank fills to a predetermined security reserve level, exercise must stop or you risk injury and death. You can increase your endurance by optimizing your Flush model. Make sure your tank is as empty as possible before a race or a long run, do whatever you have to to fill the tank slowly (pace yourself, stay hydrated, etc.), and race smart so you can find opportunities where you might be able to empty your tank a little. There’s not much you can do to change the level of your security reserve, but through practice and knowing how much you can safely push yourself, you might be able to increase its height and improve your endurance.

References:

1. Garbisu-Hualde, Arkaitz, and Jordan Santos-Concejero. “What are the Limiting Factors During an Ultra-Marathon? A Systematic Review of the Scientific Literature.” Journal of human kinetics vol. 72 129-139. 31 Mar. 2020, doi:10.2478/hukin-2019-0102

2. Cona, Giorgia et al. “It's a Matter of Mind! Cognitive Functioning Predicts the Athletic Performance in Ultra-Marathon Runners.” PloS one vol. 10,7 e0132943. 14 Jul. 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0132943

3. Millet, Guillaume Y. “Can neuromuscular fatigue explain running strategies and performance in ultra-marathons?: the flush model.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 41,6 (2011): 489-506. doi:10.2165/11588760-000000000-00000

Winter is coming! Last weekend, I encountered some snow on my long weekend run for the first time this year. A lot of people think that running and hiking has to stop in the winter, but though it requires some additional planning and preparation, it definitely doesn’t have to. I try to do something fun every weekend, as long as the conditions are safe. The three main things you have to think about with winter running and hiking that you might not think about as much the rest of the year are: Protection from the elements, Traction, and Hydration and nutrition.

1. Protection from the elements

I would say this is by far the most important thing to think about during winter hiking and running, and the most important thing to think about is staying warm. The easiest way to stay protected is to check the weather every few days and try to do your longest and hardest runs or hikes on the days with the best weather. Don’t attempt to climb a mountain or run 20 miles if a blizzard is on its way. In bad conditions, hypothermia and frostbite can happen more quickly than you think, and sometimes your own body heat can actually work against you.

The trick in the winter is staying warm and protecting exposed skin without sweating too much. The danger of sweating is that though you might still feel warm while you’re moving around, as soon as you stop, the sweat soaking your clothes will start to cool and pull all the warmth from your body as it evaporates. When it gets much below freezing, especially if there’s a wind chill, you want to protect your exposed skin from wind burn, frostbite, and sunburn. Just because it’s not hot, it doesn’t mean the sun’s not still beating down on you. In fact, the light reflecting off snow and ice can increase the likelihood of sunburn. Everyone is different, but for me, staying warm in the winter generally means a warm fleece hat, long-sleeved fleece-lined shirt, and leggings, and a buff to protect my neck and face in really bad weather. My hands and feet rarely get cold while I’m out and moving around, but I generally carry gloves just in case I need to stop. I also avoid toe socks in the winter because the separation of the toes from each other actually makes it harder for them to stay warm. Unless the temperature is trending towards 0ºF (-18ºC), I don’t wear more than one long sleeved layer, though sometimes the layer is pretty thick and cozy. This is important because I’ve found that for me, this amount of clothing helps me stay warm without getting super sweaty. Sometimes it takes a couple of miles to really warm up, but this is better than being warm right out of the door and removing sweaty clothes as you warm up. Instead, when I know I’m going to be gone for a while, I’ll carry a couple dry layers in my hydration vest. That way, if something happens, and I’m not able to make it back right away, I’ll have dry clothes to put on and stay warm instead of sweaty clothes. Also, make sure to carry an emergency blanket with you if you’re going on an adventure away from civilization. They’re surprisingly warm and might save your life in an emergency.

As for protection from precipitation (rain and snow), this will depend on the weather in your area, how long you’ll be out for, and how you handle being wet and cold. I’ve found that generally, snow is much better than rain. Though it is colder, it won’t stick to you much, so you can remain relatively dry with your normal running clothes. Rain, sleet, and wintry mix, on the other hand, will soak you. I will generally reorganize my training schedule to avoid long runs on these days, and I avoid hiking entirely if there’s a significant chance of precipitation. Wet precipitation will soak through your normal running clothes and sometimes even the best rain coats. Getting wet in temperatures close to freezing is a perfect recipe for hypothermia. Your body has to work so hard to keep your body temperature up, you run through your energy stores and have nothing left for exercise. I’ve also found that once I get soaked through in wet weather, it is very hard to get warm again. I think this tends to be true for smaller people because they have a higher surface area to body ratio. The higher surface area lets us cool down faster, which is great in the summer, but for me, sometimes very hard to deal with in the winter. I find the best treatment is a scalding hot shower followed by a hot tea to warm myself back up inside and out.

2. Traction

They say that the Eskimo languages have 50 words for snow, and I believe it. In fact, I’m surprised there are only 50. Once you have run or hiked in the winter, you really start to get a sense for the infinite variations of ice and snow out there. On one end of the spectrum is the black ice, so invisible and slick that it’s impossible to stay upright. On the other end of the spectrum is deep fluffy snow that covers rocks, roots, and other obstacles.. In between are infinite variations such as cold wet slush, crunchy ice, and wet grippable snow. You might encounter all of them on a single trip.

Some people don’t like to worry about wearing additional traction in the winter, but I think they’re lazy and are one good fall away from a broken tailbone miles from home. There are a few different kinds of traction you can buy that easily attaches to your normal shoes or boots. On the scale from least to most spiky, you have traction cleats, microspikes, and crampons. I won’t go into crampons here because I associate them more with mountaineering than the trail running and day hiking adventures I am focusing on here. Traction cleats are things like Yaktrax, small metal springs/rings on a rubber frame that fits over your shoes. I find that there are few conditions where these are more useful than microspikes. I think their optimal use case is actually on semi-cleared paved or gravel trails where there is already some traction with the ground and where the ground is hard enough to make using the microspikes uncomfortable. Microspikes, on the other hand, are small metal spikes on a metal chain that attaches to a rubber circle fitting over your shoe. You get traction from both the metal chain and the spikes. Though you still might skid on an icy downhill, and in deep snow, they do not help much, I find them to be the most versatile, and you can find your footing in almost every wintry condition. I would definitely recommend investing in a pair of these if you plan to get outside much this winter. The main downside of any kind of traction I have used is that because they fit over your shoes, they make your shoes fit a little more tightly. I tend to get a few more blisters and painful toenails wearing traction, but it’s worth it to feel like a mountain goat charging up and down the icy hills!

3. Hydration and nutrition

Hydration and nutrition are important to think about all year round, but the concerns in winter are slightly different. In the summer, you might go through liter after liter of water on a hot and humid day, but if you were to do the same route in the winter, you would likely feel much less thirsty. Because you are sweating much less, you will need to carry less water. However, make sure to drink regularly even if you aren’t super thirsty. The drier winter air can dehydrate you surprisingly fast. Because it is so cold and dry, your sweat will evaporate quickly, and you might not notice how much water you are losing. On long winter adventures, I’ll still bring a sugar and electrolyte mix like Tailwind, but it is much less important than it is on my summer runs.

The other hydration related thing to worry about in the winter is that if it is cold enough, the water you bring might freeze. I’ve had this happen enough times now that I’ve come up with strategies to avoid it. First, don’t use one of those hydration packs where all the water is on your back in a big reservoir with a long narrow tube to the front. Though the main reservoir probably won’t freeze since it’s close to your body, the water in the tube will definitely freeze quickly without anything to insulate it. Once the water in the tube is frozen, it is almost impossible to get the water out the reservoir, since they generally aren’t designed for easy access. I find the small soft flasks work best. On really cold days, you can put them in pockets inside your jacket and closer to your own body heat to prevent freezing. Even if water does freeze in the lid and nozzle area, they are still pretty easy to open and drink out of.

Nutrition is more similar to summer adventuring. As always, bring more snacks than you’ll think you need. However, make sure to keep in mind that because it is cold out, your body will be working a little bit harder than usual just to keep your body at a normal temperature, so you might need to bring even more extra snacks to burn as fuel. I also find that it’s helpful to have some warm food or warm drinks in a thermos waiting for me when I’m done to help resupply my body with the energy it needs to stay warm.

I hope you’ve found this helpful! Depending on what winters are like in your area, some of this advice might not apply to you! Don’t be afraid to hike or run no matter the season. There can be a lot of beauty in winter adventures, but with the beauty comes some additional challenges. Just make sure you’re prepared, and don’t do anything you’re not 100% comfortable with. Reach out if you have any questions and enjoy your winter!

After running the UTA100 (a gruelling 100km trail through the Blue Mountains) and crossing the finish line, I felt mentally amazing. Physically however, I felt horrendous. The cold winter night paired with a layer of sweat and low energy stores made me shiver like nothing else. I could barely walk because my hips were in so much pain, something I only barely felt throughout my run. Thankfully, there was a recovery tent with a fire, warm blankets, and hot soup.

Eventually, I warmed up, but pain still shot through my hips with every step as I tried to make it to the car. I gave up about half way and sat down. Instead, my dad brought the car to me and we left. After a roadside camp on the way back to QLD, I felt a lot better - my hips seemed 50% recovered. It seemed as though I could start running again in a few days' time.

After returning to normal life for a few days, I felt good enough to go for a morning run. I felt a bit strange at first but soon set into a good rhythm running alongside the Brisbane River. The sharp pain started after about 2km, forcing me to hop on my right leg as I slowed to a halt. Something was seriously wrong with my left knee. I walked for a little while, but I could still feel a shadow of the pain in my knee. Testing it out, I ran a few steps. Sure enough, the sharp pain returned, and I walked with a limp the rest of the way home.

I tried running here and there for the next two weeks. I hoped the pain was just a residual effect of the race that would just fade away over time, but the pain didn’t go away. So I went to a physio, who said that it was probably IT Band Syndrome, and would take quite a long time to recover. Unfortunately, my next race was coming up in only two months. So we worked out some strengthening exercises and came up with a recovery plan. I did my strengthening exercises every day, and the muscles surrounding my knee were triggered and released through dry needling for the next month.

The race date for The Guzzler was rapidly approaching, and I didn’t feel ready to run another 100km so soon. I’d barely run more than 10km at once since my time in the Blue Mountains. My knee was feeling a lot better but nowhere where I wanted or needed it to be. So I downgraded to the 50km race and set my expectations low. I didn’t need to prove anything to myself this time. I just wanted to finish, even if I had to walk the second half of the race.

The race kicked off nice and early on a cool July morning. The sun was just rising as we set off from the start line. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline or if my knee had improved a lot, but I started off feeling suspiciously good. A nice flat section around the base of Mount Coot-tha gave way to the first ascent up the mountain. I didn’t feel as fit as usual, but I didn't stop either. Going down a series of steps and switchbacks on the other side of the mountain triggered my knee early in the race. A lot of people passed me as I took care not to hurt my knee any more going downhill. As the course passed Enoggera Reservoir and headed up steep hills into D’Aguilar National Park, I kept a good pace. It wasn’t too painful on the uphills or the flat, only the downhills, and I slowly came up with a solution to manage the downhill pain - I only had to keep my left foot stiff as I descended.

As the hours went by, my pace was surprisingly good, well at least until Gold Creek Reservoir. The narrow, winding, and very steep trails around here made my knee hurt like nothing else, slowing me down to a walk. As the trail headed back up to the ridge, I made up for some lost time. The trail became easier as it descended back to Mount Coot-tha, but also more painful. I knew the Kokoda Track awaited me soon, the last and steepest hill of the race. My heart was already pounding at the start of the hill, and it only sped up with each step I took.

I think about what I should eat to fuel or refuel my upcoming runs and whether I can afford to risk eating dairy (or am I going to be running somewhere with no emergency bathroom break options). In the afternoons and evenings, I check what my workout is the next day, and I go to bed early enough that I’ll be able to wake up, run, and shower before my first meeting of the day. If I’m going to be driving somewhere to run, I make sure to have a full tank of gas and a full vest of water and snacks packed the night before.

More important than thinking about the logistics of running to me, is the thinking I do during a run. I started running in the early mornings 7 years ago because it was more convenient for my work schedule, and I discovered that there is something about running as the sun rises that is better for my mental health than any comfort food. When I run with the sunrise, I’m more than just a human with a job that involves staring at my computer for hours everyday. I’m greeting that moment of transition between dark and the new day with the other early morning animals like the foxes heading to their dens for the day, the birds leaving their nests to look for breakfast, and the deer leaping across the fields.

I think what I like about running the most is the simplicity of it. When you are running, you have only one job - to keep going. In everyday life, which seems to get more complex every year, there is side-stepping, backpedaling, pivoting, but often not a lot of forward movement. Running gives me the feeling that you are going somewhere even when the rest of my life is stagnant or chaotic. And when your only job is to keep going, it frees your brain up to dream, ponder, and reflect. Sometimes it takes a while for my legs, arms, and cardiovascular system to come to terms with the fact that yes, we are doing this again, even though we are sore and tired and it’s dark outside, but once all my body parts are on the same page, my brain gets to roam free. I almost never listen to anything while running because I need this small amount of time to myself, to let my thoughts come and go, to explore new ideas, and to plan new directions. I haven’t been able to figure out meditation while sitting still, but once I get my legs moving, it’s easy.

So, what do I think about when I think about running? Honestly, everything. Today I thought about this blog post, the new birds I’ve been seeing on this route (possibly migrating South for the winter), how I shouldn’t have eaten so many apples yesterday, and what color the leaves of fruit trees turn in the fall, to name a few. On my best days, I get an endorphin rush, and I think about how amazing it is to have a body that can do this. I think about the complex muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones that make up this machine of my body and how with the right fuel and training, I could run down a deer as a persistence hunter. On my bad days, I think about the mistakes I’ve made in my life, the people I’ve hurt and disappointed, and the opportunities I’ve missed. Sometimes I’m more emotionally fatigued on those days, and I’m slower than usual. Other times, the anger drives me to some of my fastest most grueling paces. Either way, running helps me connect my thoughts and emotions to my physical body, completing me as a person, and helping me get through the rest of the day.

Imposter syndrome is defined as feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience, and accomplishments. To counter these feelings, you might end up working harder and holding yourself to ever higher standards. Feeling like an imposter in the outdoors is a huge problem, particularly for women and minorities. It can be hard to enjoy your time outside if you do not feel welcome or are not confident in your abilities and expertise.

This is something I still struggle with from time to time, even though one would think after backpacking the 2000 miles of the Appalachian Trail, climbing the 48 4000 footers of New Hampshire, writing a trail running guidebook, and having numerous trail running adventures and misadventures all over the globe, this wouldn’t be a problem anymore. Unfortunately, particularly when I’m alone, sometimes I still feel as nervous and judged as I did the first time I went hiking by myself. I wonder what people think when they see me alone on the trails, whether they know something I don’t, and whether they think I don’t belong.

Research into imposter syndrome has shown that one of the many factors involved in developing imposter syndrome is not seeing people like you represented in the activity of interest. According to the Outdoor Foundation’s 2019 Outdoor Recreation Report, 73.7% of those recreating in the outdoors in the U.S. were non-Hispanic white Americans, even though this group makes up only 57.8% of the U.S. population. On the other hand, while Hispanic people make up 18.3% of the U.S. population, only 10.3% of them report moderate participation in outdoor activities. Sure, there are plenty of elite athletes and role models of many different genders and ethnicities, but what really matters is who you see every day on your trails? In my case, I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman running or hiking by herself on my somewhat intense running and hiking trips. Even on the Appalachian trail, which thousands of people hike every year, I can count on one hand the number of women I met who were hiking alone like me.

But why don’t some people recreate outdoors? There are a lot of barriers to outdoor recreation that you might not think about if you grew up doing a lot of family adventuring outside.

I think the three biggest barriers are safety, inclusivity, and access. One of the main reasons that you do not see many women alone in the wilderness is because of a fear for our safety. Women tend to be more cautious than men and are more likely to wait to go for a hike until a friend can go with them. You never know who or what you might meet when on a hike. An angry moose might not be intimidated by one person but would back down if confronted by a group of 2 or 3. Yes, it is best to recreate with a partner or a group just in case something happens but with the right training and experience, you can learn to manage most situations alone.

Inclusivity and access are harder problems to solve. Improving inclusivity may take a long time and will require changing attitudes across many aspects of society. I have had good and bad experiences with people out on the trails, but the times I felt most included were when I was treated with respect and friendship and when the others assumed that I knew what I was doing. However, countless men have mansplained hiking and running to me over the years, even when they knew that this was a hobby I’ve had for decades. Hopefully over time, more people will learn to be more welcoming to people from all walks of life to the trails.

Finally, how can we increase access to the outdoors? There are many different types of access including, financial, logistical, and knowledge. Good gear can be very expensive, and unless you have a car, it can be hard to really get out of the city and onto the trails. There was a reason why I only went hiking a few times per year when I was a grad student in Boston. It was far too expensive to rent a car to get out of the city regularly. I think access is slowly improving. I have seen more and more used gear stores in recent years, which may make the financial access a little easier. Places like REI or the American Outdoor School offer courses in all sorts of outdoor skills form Wilderness First Aid to Planning Your First Backpacking Trip. Meetup and Facebook Groups online let you meet others in your area and organize trips together to decrease some of the financial and logistics related barriers to access.

I’m working on my own feelings of imposter syndrome in the outdoors, but I am lucky in that I have been able to address issues related to my own barriers to the outdoors. Hopefully this blog post helps increase the understanding of imposter syndrome in yourself and others around you!

I, Reid, am a plant-based runner. I decided to go vegan 5 years ago because I care about animals too much to be a part of their mistreatment in much of the food industry. Though many people think that it’s hard to be a plant-based athlete, I have fueled my runs with plant-based foods for over 5 years now, and I have never felt better. On the trails, I can eat most things other runners do, like; Clif Bars (Cool Mint Chocolate is my favourite) and Energy Gels (Clif Shot – Mocha is the best if you want a hit of caffeine), but I also love to bring along PB&J sandwiches for my longer runs. Off the trails, my diet doesn’t look too dissimilar.

Much like other runners, carbs are the bedrock of my diet. They give me sustained energy throughout my days and runs. However, instead of meat as a source of protein and iron, I get these through a variety of healthy sources like tofu, beans, cashews, spinach, chickpeas, broccoli, peanut butter (22g protein/100g!), and much, much more. I am still able to donate blood regularly, and have always had sufficient haemoglobin, so it must be working.

I found that switching to a plant based diet has also increased the diversity of my meals as well as the contents within. I am cooking more often and experimenting more with new and interesting foods. And while I sometimes have limited options when going out to eat, options are getting better every day, especially in urban areas.

Going plant based doesn’t mean you have to miss out on your favourite foods. I still eat classics like nachos and pizza all the time, but simply swap out the meat and dairy for plant-based alternatives like cheese made out of cashew, and even vegan pepperoni on some of my pizzas. After a big long day running, there is nothing better than cracking open your favourite tub of ice cream to reintroduce all of the calories you just burned. I do this too, there are so many dairy-free ice creams available now that taste amazing.

People often get worried about my Calcium or Vitamin B12 intake, but these are the least of my concerns. Much of our day to day staples (at least in Australia) are now fortified, making supplements obsolete for many people. Most plant-based milks and similar products now have added B12 and Calcium that bring my intake to well above the daily recommended level.

On top of this, there are also many health benefits that will pair with your running to help you reach the pinnacle of wellbeing (I probably eat too many sweets to truly reach the pinnacle of fitness). Eating legumes regularly, which I do, has been shown to reduce colorectal cancer by 9-18%. Research also suggests that eating 7 portions of fresh fruits and vegetables per day can decrease your risk of dying by cancer by up to 15%. But the main health benefit comes from avoiding the intake of smoked or processed meats, which are thought to promote certain types of cancers, such as bladder, colorectal, and breast. Furthermore, a healthy, plant-based diet usually means more fiber. A high fiber diet promotes a diverse microbiome, which has been shown to be important for preventing infections, metabolic, and immune disorders.

In conclusion, my experience as a plant-based athlete has been great. There are many ecological, societal, and medical benefits of eating more plants, and I encourage you to try it. Of course, everyone is different and a plant-based diet is not for everyone. Each person has different nutritional requirements, and if you are thinking about going plant-based, make sure to talk to your doctor and/or consider taking a multivitamin if you tend toward vitamin or iron deficiencies.

I recently realized that I have been running regularly for more than 20 years (with the usual breaks for injuries and exceptionally busy college semesters). I started running in 7th and 8th grade track and field, where I ran the mile, but it wasn’t until high school when I joined cross country and started running 3 mile races that I really learned what it meant to seriously run. Our team was always a top finisher at state, and we trained hard. Since high school, I have gone through a 5k race phase, an obstacle course run phase (think Tough Mudders and Spartan Races), and slowly worked my way up to ultra marathons.

Fast forward to earlier this summer. I trained for and ran a 40 mile race that absolutely wiped me out. I was exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. Furthermore, I was frustrated with my training and performance. Sure, my endurance was fantastic, and I could keep a slow jog up essentially indefinitely, but I didn’t feel strong, flexible, or agile. My hips felt like they were starting to fossilize, and I could barely reach my toes some mornings. I wasn’t injured, but I had plateaued, and I couldn’t figure out how to get better. After the race, I took two full weeks off from running: one full week of rest and one week of yoga and strength training, but I still couldn’t get excited about running. I didn’t have any races to train for, so I didn’t even know what kind of distances to think about training for.

Then, my little sister (currently in high school cross-country) had an idea. She said, “Why don’t you run shorter distances? Like 5k races?” I loved the idea! Doing shorter runs every day sounded really refreshing, and I would be back to a racing distance I know really well. I was as excited as if I had plans to visit an old friend I hadn’t seen in 10 years. Furthermore, I was excited that I would have so much more time than I did when training for marathons and ultra-marathons. And what could I do with that extra time? More non-running workouts of course! I started doing 30min to 1hr of yoga and/or weight lifting three or four days per week on top of the Advanced 5k Training Plan by Hal Higdon. I like his plans because they’re free and they incorporate a lot of different types of speed workouts. The one change I made was my weekend long run. Instead of a road run, I went for a much longer trail run or hike because getting out to nature one day per week is the closest thing I have to a religion. For my cross-training, I use Peloton (an app with a lot of different fitness workouts, both pre-recorded and live streamed). I like having someone tell me what to do for these types of workouts. That way I don’t have to think about it at all – I just turn on a class and do it.

Two weeks ago, I finished the 5k training plan. From the beginning to the end of the 8 week plan, I cut a little over a minute off my 5k time on the route I use around here. I was hoping to get closer to my all-time best time, but I was still pretty happy with this. There’s a big hill on this route, and I need an actual race to really see how fast I can go. Moreover, I feel so much stronger than I did before. The power yoga in particular has helped me strengthen my glutes and all the little balancing muscles in my ankles. I haven’t rolled my ankles in MONTHS! At its worst, I was rolling them almost every trail run. Along with strength, I’m also feeling more flexible and less stiff. I did a perfect backbend last week without feeling like I might tear something in my hips or shoulders. My foot pain has almost completely disappeared, and my IT band, which starts to nag at me when I’m overdoing it, has not twinged once. I can’t believe that I haven’t done this before. Now that my 5k training plan is over, I’m going to do Hal Higdon’s Advanced 10k training plan, and I’m going to try and get to the point where I can do some of these upside down headstand/handstand yoga poses. I’m considering working my way all the way back up to marathon distances in this way, but we’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll go back to shorter distances for the whole winter.

In conclusion, if you’re not feeling like your running self anymore, get back to the basics, whatever that may mean for you! Maybe that means a Couch to 5k or perfecting your mile times on the track. Maybe it’s a non-running activity like backpacking or biking. Either way, I bet it’ll renew your appreciation for running and make you all the more excited to lace up your shoes and get back out there.

Trail running is so much more than simply running along trails. Trail running is about connecting with nature. Trail running is about challenging yourself. Trail running is about exploring new and exciting places. Whether you are on the fence about trail running or simply after a new perspective, these 5 key tips are going to help you get on the trails, and stay on the trails for longer.

1. Shoes Shmooze

I remember running my first trail marathon thinking I knew everything there is to know about trail running. I was out in front wearing my expensive trail running shoes that were built for this exact terrain. Then, I was overtaken by a guy in beat up old Nike’s. He went on to win the race and set a new course record. I, on the other hand, was left to ponder the legitimacy of trail running shoes. And whilst I still think that trail running shoes have their place in this sport, I believe that any comfortable running shoe can do the job. I have since ran the UTA100 in my normal road running shoes, finishing in just 13 hours. So if you are thinking about picking up the sport, I encourage you to just go out and run in whatever comfortable shoes you have. And if you’ve been trail running for a while, try your road shoes out on the trails, if the conditions aren’t too technical or muddy. And if your feet hurt, or your shoes start getting beat up, get new ones before they’re fully worn out. Your feet with thank you.

2. Walk the Walk

Running is hard work, especially up hills. Trails can be unforgiving at times and all you want to do is stop running, and that’s OK! Walking is a huge part of trail running. Whether you are gassed, your hips are sore, or you simply need a break, there is nothing wrong with slowing down to a walk. Sometimes I find it helps me gather enough energy for another long section of running.

3. Always pack Extra!

Whether it’s water, snacks, warm clothes, or first aid, it’s always worth carrying more than you need for your intended route. Most of the time you won’t need it and it doesn’t add much extra weight (you may also get more gains from this additional weight). But when you come across someone who is lost or injured, or you find yourself in this same situation, you’ll be grateful for the extra Clif Bar and the emergency blanket. Sometimes trails are impassable at points, forcing you to take alternative routes, and that extra 500ml could mean the difference between heat exhaustion and a lovely run.

4. Bring a Mate

Trail running with someone else can take the enjoyment of this sport to a whole new level. A running buddy can make the impossible feel possible as you cheer each other on up a mighty hill. A running buddy can make the gruelling challenges more bearable and the vistas more rewarding. Nothing is better than sharing the triumph of finishing a long run with a mate (especially over an ice-cold Bundaberg Ginger Beer).

If you’re new to the sport or don’t have many trail running friends, look online for trail running clubs in your area. Most clubs will have a Facebook page from where you can join organised runs, or simply see if anyone is interested in tagging along on your next adventure.

5. Patience

If you aren’t seeing the progress you were hoping for, that’s ok, just keep running and you will get better, faster, and more resilient. Try a targeted running plan to help keep you on track towards your goal at a reasonable pace. Some plans are even targeted for specific trail races. Hanny Allston currently has some free training planners available on her website. Some are suitable for beginners, with others being tailored for specific ultramarathons across Australia.

Some injuries take a long time to heal, and sometimes you have to put trail running on the side line for a while. But trail running will always be there for you when you’re ready to pick up the shoes again. In the meantime, try to stay active in other ways. With my current IT band injury I’ve been doing a lot of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and strength training.