The Fear and Freedom of It Might Not Work The ember; the magazine

❝But there’s great freedom in the truth of It Might Not Work. With no guarantee for success lies the unlimited capacity for experimentation and expression.
—Jackson Long
open.substack.com/pub/mountain...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Train With, Not Through A Return to Performance Case Study

❝I can find ways to continue to train my mind and body that won’t create insult to the injury itself […]. This is what it means to train with an injury as opposed to training through it.
—Robert Wilson
open.substack.com/pub/checkeng...

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How do You Deal with Your World Falling Apart? Scott Snell writes about an injury that has severely impacted his running.

2/2 ❝It’s in those moments that if you can retain a bit of hope, you just may be able to come out the other side.
—Scott Snell
www.beastcoasttrailrunning.com/2026/04/how-...

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1/2 ❝Just like in an ultra, when those pessimistic thoughts hit at the lowest points, giving up not only sounds reasonable, it seems like the best possible outcome.

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No Pretentions The very name of the Cheap Marathon says it all. It’s cheap. If you sign up really early, it’s really cheap; it gets a little less cheap a...

❝Just knowing that’s possible sets the experienced marathoner apart from the oh-my-god-I’m-gonna-die-at-[mile-]twenty-one runner.
—Gary Cattarin
thesecondlap.blogspot.com/2026/04/no-p...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

All running can be learned from! Having to think and execute strategies while one’s body is working at those intensities seems superhuman to me.

Always looking forward to the morning shakeout.

the morning shakeout | issue 543 Keep going when you want to call it quits, Wright Thompson on the writing process, detaching from your devices before racing, and a lot more.

2/2 It was a season’s best by nearly four seconds, a Masters PR by well over two, and a good reminder to keep going when your initial instinct is to call it quits.
— @mariofraioli.com
open.substack.com/pub/themorni...

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1/2 ❝“Just drop out,” [the mind monkeys] whispered.
[race unfolds and…]

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Yep.

❝She’d been sandbagged by trail runners before, being told that something would be runnable and then being taken on something she says, “I feel is bananas. I’m like, ‘This is hiking!’”
—Eszter Horanyi/Des Linden
www.irunfar.com/des-linden-p...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

What Trail Running Teaches Us About Creativity | LBBOnline Little Black Book, ATTN:’s creative director Catherine LeClair shares how lessons from ultramarathons can transform approaches to creative work

❝I realised that every run doesn’t have to be the best run I’ve ever done. […] I trust that if I keep aiming for excellence, I’ll get there — just by dedicating myself to the practice.
—Catherine LeClair
lbbonline.com/news/What-Tr...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Training as a Female Mountain Athlete Across Life Stages Female physiology shifts across the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and menopause. Understanding those changes helps female mountain athletes train with greater intention and longevit...

❝The goal isn’t to train around being female. The goal is to understand what’s happening physiologically so that intentional adjustments can be made that allow performance and longevity to improve […].
—Chantelle Robitaille
uphillathlete.com/female-athle...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning

Iditarod day 32, injury day 40 The loneliness of the solo walker

❝I think as we are getting older and experiencing more loss and pain and injury we know we have to fucking get after it when and if we can.
—Jill Homer
open.substack.com/pub/jillouts...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Chianti Post-Mortem Who took this? It’s AMAZING. This past Saturday, I ran the Chianti Castles 120k by UTMB. To say that it was a wild ride would be an understatement, BUT seeing as during my research of the course I …

2/2 ❝and somewhere along the way you realize you’re not just out there with them… you’re racing them.
—Rachel Entrekin
blondeidiotrunning.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/c...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

1/2 ❝But honestly, that’s kind of how this whole sport feels sometimes. You line up next to people you think are on a completely different level,

Nostalgic for Scarcity Tap water, CD collections + Veruca Salt

❝Because when I cut out doing “the hard thing” I also rewire my brain to find everything harder. I create pathways of entitlement. And everything I have and get becomes tap water.
—Kimberly Brown
open.substack.com/pub/kimberly...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

I love videos like this one because they make phony influencer content look even phonier.

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A Week Of Training: Winter summits + snow + school dropoffs + shuffling

❝But I love to run on trails and am grateful that I get to do it most weeks, and I thought I’d attempt to share what that feels like.
— @semi-rad.com
open.substack.com/pub/semirad/...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Thoughtful and thought-provoking as always.

❝There is a lot of learning and unlearning that occurs over the course of a long running life.
— @sabrinablittle.bsky.social
www.irunfar.com/what-pride-f...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

25 lbs for 80 miles?! Leave it to ultrarunners to make an already difficult thing barely survivable.

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2,820 Minutes at the 2026 Conquer the Wall 47-Hour Rucksack Race. Screenshot I spent this past weekend rucking and running in the Conquer the Wall Endurance Challenge in Williamson, West Virginia. I raced in 47 Hour Individual Ruck Division from 7PM Friday to 7PM…

❝I know this may sound strange, it’s an ultramarathon, you’re supposed to run…but this was 80 miles into a race carrying more than 25lbs on my back the entire time.
—Tim Hardy
oneaveragerunner.wordpress.com/2026/03/17/2...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Way to go! Most people have never and will never finish an ultra. But the consistent showing up is even more impressive to me. 💪

5 Things Aging Runners Need To Do In Your 50s, 60s, and Beyond - CTS As a 50+ athlete who coaches many aging runners, CTS Coach Andy Jones-Wilkins says there are 5 things that will keep runners strong and happy after 50.

❝[E]ither live in the moment and be content with the [older] runner you are now, or flip that comparison on its head and be proud of your experience and all the things you know now that you didn’t know then.
—Andy Jones-Wilkins
trainright.com/tips-for-agi...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning

Vitamin D in athletes Vitamin D remains a recurring topic in sport because low vitamin D status is common in athletic populations, particularly during winter at higher latitudes, and because vitamin D has well-established ...

❝This is not a claim that vitamin D alone prevents bone injury; it is the narrower and more defensible claim that deficiency should be avoided in athletes whose skeleton is repeatedly stressed.
—Graeme Close
www.mysportscience.com/post/vitamin...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Round and Around and Around We Go Lessons from the Will Rogers 12 hr loop experiment

Part of why I love this sport so much: SO MANY LEVERS that can be pulled.

❝So, if my pace and competitive edge are fading, but I still want to perform well, what other levers can I pull?
—John Maynard
open.substack.com/pub/runandge...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

Why Can’t I Sleep After a Hard Workout or Race? - CTS Discover why you can't sleep after a hard workout or race. Explore the factors behind post-exercise insomnia and learn practical solutions to improve your sleep quality.

Great information and tips on how to overcome post-exercise insomnia.

❝Maximize your fitness: [Y]our fitness gives you greater ability to absorb the stress before it impacts your sleep.
—Jim Rutberg
trainright.com/cant-sleep-h...

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Chapter 13: And Then It Was Done 8 marathons. 62 days. No plan for the morning after.

❝No matter how massive the goal, no matter how long you spend on it, it always just ends. One step, you’re still doing the thing. The next step, you’re not.
—Dylan Zuccherino
open.substack.com/pub/dylanzuc...

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Resilience Revisited - Ultra Running Magazine If you knew me years ago, you might have described me as someone built for endurance. I tended to lean into activities that took time and effort: graduate studies, yoga training, writing and long-dist...

❝For me, resilience has often been synonymous with movement – mental and physical. Yet […] I’ve come to believe resilience starts in stillness: how we show up in our minds and hearts when we can’t run away.
—Jodi Weiss
ultrarunning.com/featured/res...

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❝When I finish a run, every part of me is smiling.
—Jeff Galloway

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My Brief Wondrous Pursuit of Rowing Hot takes on being a quitter

❝[M]any of the things that I love about running aren’t unique to running at all; they’re universal truths about the way that sport, and community, can bring out the best in humanity.
—Yitka Winn
open.substack.com/pub/runnersw...

#running #trailrunning #ultrarunning #runsky

It’s not therapy. But it is therapeutic.

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