In four months, on October 9, I’m going to become an ultrarunner when I attempt to run 50 miles.

Me on my 41st birthday last month, running a 40K through mountains above Tuscany.

There, I said it! I wasn’t going to. I wasn’t going to graduate to that distance, and I wasn’t going to turn this blog into a personal training log — the kind of painfully dull and obsessive narrative that chronicles miles run, blisters taped and gels digested. But now I’m doing it. Here’s why I’m going public with my plan and will track the progress here: (more…)

Running along the coastal trail in the Cinque Terre region of Italy.

A year ago, I wrote about running through my hometown on my 40th birthday. Now, having recently celebrated my 41st birthday by running, hiking and eating my way through a 40K in the mountains of Tuscany, I’m reflecting on how running affected our round-the-world travel and how travel influenced my running.

So much changed in one year: We left our home, Morgan left his job and our family experienced an entirely different lifestyle as we traveled the globe. Our trip is drawing to an end, with just a few weeks until we’re back in California. There are so many things about this past year I will miss, but running in far-flung destinations is near the top of the list (behind family togetherness and a simpler, less scheduled lifestyle). Week after week, in whatever place we found ourselves, running was a friend and travel guide, providing familiarity and pointing me in new places to explore. (more…)

A stretch of the Coast Track in Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand, where Morgan and I ran last week.

Where will running take you in 2010? I’m picking up from the closing line in the last post, “May you go new places and envision new possibilities in the year ahead.”

This week, Morgan and I will take a detour to a wild corner of New Zealand’s West Coast for a 26K trail event, and next month we’ll head toward the bush by Melbourne for the sake of another trail race. We’re planning our Italy itinerary by looking at race websites as much as Lonely Planet, and we’re already thinking about where we can go to run during the week in August when both kids will be at sleep-away camp.

An interviewer for the website RunAbroad.com recently asked me, “One more reason to go running?” and I replied, “Running inspires and enhances travel. I can think of no better way to get to know a stretch of countryside or city than running through it, or better yet, participating in a race at a destination. When I think of trips I took over the past year or so with my family, I always visualize what I saw during my runs.” (I was flattered to be profiled by this cool website, which profiles races around the globe; you can read the whole interview here.)

I’d like to encourage all of you who gaze at your calendars in January and pencil in running goals and races for the year to find a running event that transports you to a completely different environment. Run it not necessarily for time but as a tourist, soaking up all the sights and sensations, and you may have an experience like I did at the Buenos Aires Marathon.

New Zealand is a dream destination for runners. This country has a network of well-maintained trails known as Great Walks that traverse the visually stunning glaciers, forests and beaches that New Zealand is famous for. My new friend Paul Charteris, an ultrarunner we ran with on the North Island, wrote an excellent overview of NZ’s running scene for IRunFar.com, and he also has loads of info on where to run on his blog, TrailruNZ.

Obviously travel and adventure are on my mind — not just the destinations and running events themselves, but why and how to make going new places and trying new things a top priority. I feel incredibly fortunate to discover firsthand how long-term family travel to unfamiliar, not-always-comfortable destinations can enhance personal growth, relationships and pure happiness in countless ways, which is a topic I touch on in our Away Together blog and hope to explore more this year. For that reason, I’d really appreciate hearing from others in the comment field below about where you’d like to run and explore in the not-too-distant future and why — and what’s your plan for going there, or what stands in your way.

I anticipate answers along the lines of “life gets in the way of living” — i.e. work and family commitments and/or lack of money keep you from going where you want to go and doing what you dream of doing. If that’s the case for you, then do you see a way around?

We had a whole list of reasons why we couldn’t and shouldn’t take the long trip we’re on, but we did it anyway. Running gave us a lot of the motivation and nerve we needed to get here.

So I’ll repeat the question because I’m really curious to know: Where will running take you?

New Zealand's trails (known as tracks) have taken us up mountains and down to the coast. This run was on the coast in the North Island's Bay of Plenty region.

Windy Point on the Dun Mountain Track above Nelson, New Zealand, lived up to its name and almost blew Morgan's hat away. This was on January 1, when we maintained our tradition of running up a mountain to start the new year.

“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 feeling stupid and stiff, wondering how I’ll ever regain a sense of flow at the keyboard or striding out on the trail.”

Morgan and me running last week on the North Island of New Zealand. A year ago, I never imagined we'd end the year here!

I wrote those lines in my first-ever blog post in August 2008 while nursing a broken foot and hoping 2009 would be a comeback year.

I got the comeback I wished for and more, but what I’m most proud and grateful for is I headed off in completely new and unforeseen directions. Never, ever would I have imagined I would write this year-end post from New Zealand, having embarked with my family on a round-the-world journey after six months of reaching new personal bests as a runner. Just as I never, ever would have imagined that when I started jogging 15 years ago I would actually stick with it to the point where I could call myself “a runner.”

I’m not writing this to gloat. I’m here to remind myself and others that life takes entirely unexpected turns, and being open to change and thinking that what seems impossible might actually be possible can take you to places you thought only other people, not you, could go. (more…)

A peaceful run last week overlooking Lago Nahuel Huapi in the Patagonia lake district of Argentina.

Staying safe while running is always an issue, but as Morgan and I find ourselves running in some rather far-flung places during our year abroad, safety has become a top concern. Two days ago, for instance, we left the kids in our cabaña and went to run a remote dirt road above the town of Bariloche, Argentina, in the Andean range of Patagonia. Our picture-perfect run suddenly turned threatening, and tense moments ensued. (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…)

Earlier this year I wrote an article for Trail Runner Magazine, just published in their August issue, called Trail Bloggers: Find Training Tips and Wacky Wisdom on the Blogosphere’s Virtual Trails. It’s not available online so I’m reprinting an excerpt here to share the links, or you can read the PDF in my portfolio. Want to recommend any must-read running blogs? Then share a link in the comment section below! I already heard from one person: a representative from Team Inov-8. It’s true, their blog looks deserving of inclusion in the “Team Spirit” section below, and since I recently started running in Inov-8s with a good deal of satisfaction, I’m happy to recommend them. Here’s the story:

Trail runners make great bloggers. Seeking adventure while spending hours in the quiet company of nature, they spin yarns like Twain and wax philosophical like Thoreau. They sweat the details of their sport and yearn to swap information about it. And they tend have a geek streak.

It’s no wonder so many trail runners have established a presence online to chronicle their experiences and connect with kindred spirits. The search tool Technorati recently counted over 245 blogs tagged for “trail running” and some 5000 postings on the topic. They’re brimming with trail tips, race reports, personal progress, gear gripes and, of course, the meaning of life.  But like the idiosyncratic runners themselves, they’re all over the map. Many personal blogs are virtual bogs—unless you really like to read about every mile logged and the runner’s gastro-intestinal well-being along the way.

Reading blogs can inspire and inform your own training, but fruitlessly searching for worthwhile ones can drain time better spent outdoors. What follows is a guide to 25 to take you on a trail runner’s tour of the blogosphere’s incredibly diverse landscape. Think of them as virtual trailheads—good starting points to visit frequently—that link to other paths you might explore as well. (more…)

What makes “a great run”? I’d say it boils down to four key ingredients, a recipe I cooked up during the May 31 Ohlone Wilderness 50K. I’m not going to write a regular race report because I did a full-blown narrative of last year’s Ohlone 50K (available here in PDF), which was and remains the hardest run I’ve ever done, and others have detailed reports on this year’s competition (see below for links). Suffice to say I had A Great Run, and here’s why: (more…)

If you know about the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, then you probably know about Tim Twietmeyer, the five-time champion of the famed course that runs through the Northern California wilderness from Squaw Valley to Auburn. He has run the race an unprecedented number of times and serves as president of the event’s board of directors.

Tim Twietmeyer at the RRCA convention.

For all of you who are getting ready for the 2009 edition of the WS100 on June 27,  and for anyone else interested in tasting some of the flavor of Western States, I made the following podcast from remarks Tim made earlier this spring at the Road Runners Club of America convention in San Francisco. Listen and you’ll hear a couple of his memorable stories from the trail, along with some training advice. (Working with audio is new for me, so please excuse the rough edges in this production.)

I know several people who have suffered through the Western States 100 and who are training for it again, and I regard them with the same admiration and fascination I feel while watching documentaries showing nearly-frozen, oxygen-deprived climbers shuffling toward the summit of Everest: I’m utterly impressed, but glad it’s them up there and not me!

I hope you enjoy this audio piece — let me know what you think.

“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…)