Tomorrow at 6:30 a.m., I’ll take off with nearly 300 other runners at the start of the Dick Collins Firetrails 50. Right now, I should be getting ready to run 50 miles tomorrow — which is exactly 20 percent farther than I have ever run before. I have errands to run, gear to gather, bills to pay, a story to edit, a chapter to finish, email to answer, laundry to fold, an iPod to update, two kids to pick up, one dog to walk, logistics to coordinate. But I have accomplished virtually none of that yet today because I AM FREAKING OUT. Not the head-spinning, hollering kind of behavior that those all-cap words might suggest, but the caving-inward, desperately quiet kind that freezes me to this chair and erases from my mind all — wait, where was I going with this? See, that’s what I mean: I can’t finish a thought, much less a task. (more…)

Anyone who’s ever run a trail race while listening to an MP3 player on shuffle mode probably knows the feeling of hoping that a Rocky-esque song infused with deep meaning will start to play in the final stretch toward a summit. The last thing you want to hear as you push to the top is a saccharine duet by Zac Ephron and Vanessa Hudgens. My preteen daughter’s pop tunes tend to wind up in my music library, so that experience — the audio equivalent of having a nice walk ruined by stepping in dog poop — happens to me from time to time.

Thankfully, this is not about one of those times. (more…)

Being healthy and injury-free is something I never want to take for granted, but inevitably I do. Isn’t it easy to be lulled into complacency? Perhaps that’s why running (or walking or biking — pick your sport) for a charitable cause has become so popular. Connecting with and helping those who are coping with serious medical problems is a powerful reminder that “your health is your wealth.” Plus, it’s another reason to get out the door and run.

Now I have my eye on supporting a small nonprofit called Project Athena (named, of course, for that crafty Goddess of Wisdom who often helped other Greek heroes). The group’s mission is “to help women with breast cancer and other medical or traumatic setbacks live their athletic and adventurous dreams.” I learned about it from Darcie Gorman, a 34-year-old runner from Salt Lake City, Utah, whom I met  almost exactly a year ago at the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 miler, which she won. Eleven months later, we met again in the line for the bathroom at the Imogene Pass Run. (more…)

“I just wish I could go out and run every day. I think I took it for granted. I knew I’d slow down and get older, but I didn’t know there’d be a cliff.”
- Ann Trason

Last fall, I interviewed Ann Trason for a Trail Runner article about the race she and husband Carl Andersen co-direct, The Dick Collins Firetrails 50. Due to space limitations, the magazine ran an abridged version of our Q&A in its January 2009 issue; here’s the longer version of our conversation, along with the introduction: (more…)