Community Trail Running

“100 mile races definitely feel like a lifetime already, 200 miles at some point, you've just been there your whole life. Like, this is what you do, this is my job. I live in Tahoe and I hike these trails. I will preface by saying that I normally have very standard hallucinations, but this time I did see a moving stegosaurus.” Aum Gandhi recently completed the Jurassic Park version of the Tahoe 20...

“Our vision is that sports nutrition should taste amazing. Not that it should taste good. It should taste amazing. There's no reason why it shouldn't. And so we're on this quest to bring functional sports nutrition to folks and we're doing that in the realm of chocolate.” Kristyn Carriere has spent her life working in chocolate. So when 7 Summits Snacks was launched, she knew what she was doing wh...

“We go for the run and then I see them enjoying themselves and then they come back for another run and that's when I know like, okay, this was a good thing. And then I'm glad they stuck with us and I'm glad that we had this event to help draw new people. It's a great sport and everybody should give it a try sometime in a non-pressure situation.” Jeannine and I have been friends since we worked tog...

Words still to come as the Alberta tour has put us a bit behind. In the meantime, I wanted to share this great with Desirèe Houle and at least give you her website and IG links! Get full access to Community Trail Running at communitytrailrunning.substack.com/subscribe

“It's going to be a challenge and yes, it's scary, but I know it's going to be a lot easier than being a race director. And I think it's important that runners know that and really appreciate race directors because it's a lot of hard work. And we're so lucky that there are so many races that we can now pick from.” - Susan Lowe-Wylde on running the Minotaur after directing it for many years Susan a...

“So Fitzy, of course, sleeps in. He's like, “hey, where's my ride, Houda?” I'm like, “it's already gone, Fitzy.” He's like, “how am I going to get there?” So long story short, Fitzy made his way from the bottom of the mountain, hiked to the very top. It's 12,500 feet, so it's cold, right? He didn't bring nothing but a onesie, right? A onesie. That's all he brought. Cowboy boots and cowboy hat.” -...

I've always kind of taken charge and tried to get everybody involved. I think it was an opportunity to be the first face that someone sees when they showed up in those early days and, reminding them that, you're welcome here. You don't have to be super fast. You don't have to be an accomplished runner. It's a privilege to give someone that opportunity and welcome them into a space because you'll s...

“There's a window of tolerance. All changes, whether they actually are physical changes to our muscles, or to the cells of our brain, all these changes kind of find that window of tolerance between mild and moderate levels of stress. That's the sweet spot for change. And so what I want to create for my clients is some distress, but mild to moderate levels of stress. Where they're going to have the...

“It's a beautiful setting, great sense of pride in the local community. And we're in a time where people are more inclined to get outside test their boundaries and enjoy themselves. Sports and entertainment is a great way to attract a visitor who has a similar ethics to the one that the community already possesses there and that's why we feel it's a great fit for this region and this place.” - Nic...

“The part that I enjoy the most about it is seeing athletes through from goal creation to looking at a year plan and then getting into the nitty gritty of individual workouts. What systems they're working on to develop aerobic and develop your muscular that you need for the demands of whatever your goal is. I love that whole process of it.” Joedy Dalke and coaching have gone together quite natural...

“The more that society in general has sort of moved away from your traditional ties. Sometimes people don't attend the church their parents did, or they don't have a community association, or like Joel moved across the country or myself moving from Winnipeg. You don't have those gathering places that you once did. So I think there's work, there's home, and that third place is where you can find be...

“I couldn't do it without my wife and a whole host of volunteers, of course, dedicated volunteers that have been with me from the start. It is really a labour of love.” Bryan Wallace started running later in life but enjoyed it thoroughly. We loved the challenge and the community. So as he got older and his body wasn’t able to keep trail running, he started hosting runners and putting them through...

"It's good for the series. It's good for the sport. It's good to give athletes a shot in other places, to actually expand the series a bit. We made an effort to expand in Asia. North America in particular is somewhere we're really focused on. Really happy that we have Andrew's Meet the Minotaur race.” - Etienne Rodriguez The Skyrunner World Series has 21 races in 14 countries, including Meet the M...

“It's really unique to this area, Western Canada, because you're surrounded by boreal forest. You have a huge river called the Athabasca River that flows beside this park. You have sand everywhere and it's pretty compacted for the most part, but there's parts on the hills that have eroded a bit and it's like sand dunes. It's old ancient sand dunes underneath that boreal forest. I brought a friend...

“Vancouver, I'm so excited to hang with you!” Mathias Eichler is the Executive Director of the Trail Running Film Festival and he will be here in Vancouver, BC for our Thursday April 4 screening! It was fantastic to catch up with him about how the festival is going. We touched on the quality of the films, what it means to have Brooks as a title sponsor, where he sees the festival going, and what h...

“We're (Lethbridge, AB) a huge arts community and a huge sports community and so it's a really cool mix to be able to mix the arts and sport. So just excited to see some returning faces and hopefully some new ones too. What stands out to me from the event last year was all the socializing that happened before and after the film started. I just loved seeing that. I love seeing people out in the foy...

“I just decided this is going to be kind of part of my life mission, to try to just be an open book and share my struggles and share the triumph over them, and help people realize that there is life outside of that. That's kind of how we got to be where we are now. I work a lot with people in recovery still to this day. And, just want to keep spreading the word that recovery is possible and we do...

“Through our program, “Running on Native Lands Initiative” to bring land blessings and land acknowledgments to life at these events, at races, but also go beyond that and really bring communities together, bring awareness to Indigenous peoples, bring awareness to Indigenous stewardship, the lands, the history, the people connected to them, even if they were displaced or not there presently. But al...

“We were kind of in the thick of her going to her first couple trips to Mexico. We were alongside her when she first went there and everything, so yeah, it was really interesting. I think it would have been pretty easy to lean into some cliches about loss and grieving and going to find out about people in your family, and I think I think we avoided those pretty well.” - Stephen Kersh Rabbitwolf Cr...

“There's a lot of people that talk about running being their therapy, and the the line that I like to use now is running can be complementary to therapy. But I think, you know, seek it out. Seek out support in any way, shape or form. If you feel as though you're alone in this, you're not. It's shared experience. We're not meant to do this alone. We're not meant to do it in isolation. Mental health...

“I grew up in Montreal and maybe we prioritized culture and arts and music and late nights. But from an early age, I really felt the alure towards the mountains. Now I'm living in North Vancouver and with endless trails in the backyard, I'm able to pursue my love for exploring the trails and wilderness. But in between those two things, I've had a few key experiences in my life that are guiding wha...

“Sarah's story was really surprising to me. We all make judgments about people, it's a very natural human thing to do. We go and we look at people and we create a story in our mind about who they are and what they do and where they come from and blah blah blah. Part of this process for me of filmmaking is to challenge that in me and there were things that I thought I knew about Sarah, I assumed ma...

“In 2015, I think the first the first group that came, we had maybe six people showed up. We ran some intervals at Quarry Lake and it was kind of fun, we had a beer afterward and really from there it just it it it's grown and grown. I mean it's become a real fixture here in Canmore.” Dr. Andy Reed started Dirt Bag Runners Bow Valley because he wanted some help to stay motivated while training. He...

“I spent the first 20-something years as an amputee, both not knowing what was possible, but also not knowing that my prosthetics hurting me every single day wasn't normal… …It took me two decades to learn that. So my goal with my platform is to make sure that specifically amputees, but para athletes or anybody else know that there's ways to overcome these obstacles and for amputees knowing that p...

“He really wants to pave the way for the advocacy for para-athletes to say “hey you're not just gonna be on the couch all day, you can actually go out there and compete” so I think just that in itself is so powerful that like anytime I can tell his story and help push it into the world, I think that's just kind of the most rewarding part of that. At the end of the day, this guy probably can outwor...