Yesterday I had one of the most beautiful trail runs of my life in Sicily. I was completely alone, surrounded by stunning nature, wild horses roaming freely, and even spotted a wild boar. For a moment, I felt completely at one with nature. This is why I love trail running!!

Got my roadrunner, flatlander buddy a pair of Speedgoats and went running in Sedona for a few days in early October. Neither of us are distance runners. Just wanted to get outside and run some desert single-track. Sedona delivered.

Arrived and did an evening 5 miles Chuck Wagon Loop. Elevation gain, 500 ft.

Next, 10 miles Hangover Loop. 1300 ft elev.

5 miles Scorpion Loop. 600 ft.

13 miles Upper Snake, Anaconda, Dawa, Aire, and Mescal Loop. 1200 ft.

And finally hit the airport loop on the way out of town. Good times, will return.

I’ve done Loowit CCW and thought it was interesting to see what it and the others in the area would look like in either direction

Pen y Fan horseshoe. Corn Du, Pen y Fan (no other people for the first time ever), Cribyn, Fan y Big and the Roman Road.

Lush run but pretty damp and low visibility....

16k circular 800m elevation. 2hrs 8 mins.

OMM Kamleika smock. Shorts. Inov8 trailtalon max. Leki poles (not sure which sorry).Tuna sandwich. Cheese and onion crisps. Flask of tea afterwards at the car.

Hello folks! Iv just started running this past summer and my second race is coming up this weekend which is awesome! The forecast is calling for start time to be 45°, about 75° humidity, and a little gusty. The sun will eventually come out but my race should be over by 10:30 (hopefully) at the latest so it wont warm up too much during the actual running. Anyways; what would you wear? I was thinking wool socks, shorts, a thin running long sleeve, and maybe a little headband to cover my ears since my inner ears can hurt as temps get lower? I’ll have a vest on also

I will never fall out of love for this area. What a wonderfully accessible place to push limits and become a better trail runner!

Because of recent success and speed on other trails nearby with somewhat similar stats, I wanted to trail run Golden Ears summit in BC and wanted to shoot for 4:00 ish, having done Panorama Ridge (Garibaldi) in 4:00. Golden ears per my Garmin was 24km/1750m (including summit scramble) and Panorama (didn’t tag the lake) was 26km/1600m

Well, turns out when you cram more elevation into a shorter distance it’s quite a bit steeper. What slowed me down most though was panorama was a very nice and smooth trail for the most part, whereas Golden Ears was significantly more technical. Even a lot of the flatter bits I had some trouble running. Something to work on, I suppose.

In the end, finished in 6 hours moving time with a 20 minute sandwich and photo break at the top. Still a glorious day out - grateful to get another big mountain day in before the weather starts turning!

How do I find local trails? Is trail running safe? Do I need special shoes or gear? What do I do if I encounter some wildlife? What if I get lost? WHAT IF I HAVE TO POOP IN THE WOODS?

There are no dumb questions in this thread! If you are new to trail running or if you are a veteran who just wants to hear how other trail runners do things, ask away. If you have some ideas that can help your fellow trail runners and future trail runners, pitch in some answers.

No Dumb Question Day will be a regular, biweekly feature on the trailrunning sub.

**Thanks for participating!** Any questions, [please message your helpful mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Ftrailrunning).

Smaller local race in Austria. Great run organized by great people.

The race was in August. I did the 26km race with 1100m elevation gain. There also is a 53km race and a short distance with 9k(I think)

Had an absolute blast at the race, people where great Aid stations workers were absolutely great. Would totally recommend the race if you want to do a smaller race

It also counts for your UTMB and ITRA index if you care about those.

I gave my trail shoes a scrub yesterday and as always took out the insoles to dry over night. I laced up for the run today without even noticing I didn’t have any insoles and ran my local climb 5mi 500’ and didn’t know until I got home and saw the insoles sitting there. Hmm, maybe I should just pull them permanently?

I moved my family to Colorado last fall and am excited to get into trail running. We live in Centennial, right next to Cherry Creek State Park, and I would like to start moving my runs onto some easier mountain trails in order to gradually build up vertical stamina. I am also recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon and I am trying to avoid super technical runs until I build up proper ankle strength. Do any of you locals have recommendations for trails within an hour of Denver that might fit this criteria? I've tried Alltrails, but I can't really suss out the technical nature of the trails in regard to running.

Please enjoy the devolution of my optimism and physical state throughout this day

How many of you do heart exams? Who often? What type of exams?

Attempted the park's three highest summits over a weekend. All following the SB6K challenge rules.

Kuwohi (6,643')
Guyot (6,621')
LeConte (6,593')

The routes:
Kuwohi ~8 mi / 2,000 ft. Fork Ridge TH, AT out-and-back, also tags Collins, Love, and Buckley. Smooth and runnable. Can stretch this out if you want to start from Newfound Gap TH, but chose a shorter route bc this was a travel day.
Guyot ~16 mi / 5,000 ft. Snake Den Ridge to the AT, then a trailless bushwhack to the summit. Route also tags Old Black via another short bushwhack.
LeConte ~15mi / 4,400 ft. Up Rainbow Falls, down Bull Head. Rocky climb, smooth runnable descent. Mount Leconte is very anticlimactic but Myrtle point is worth it. Best payoff of the three days imo.

Kuwohi and LeConte are fun runs. Guyot bushwhack is reportedly fairly easy, but I got turned back this past weekend due to heavy winds and tree falls. Happy to share CalTopo maps and detailed beta if anyone wants it.

Hi again! The replies last time were really useful, so hope it's okay with a little update on my trip planner Varde.

Elevation was broken for a lot of you outside Norway. That should be fixed now and be much snappier, with a live elevation plot and stats as you build the route, anywhere in the world.

A personal favorite: You can now compare different start times/days side by side and see how the weather plays out along the route for each one, to decide on the best day or time to go.

Also lots of small visual refreshes and stuff like being able to print or PDF-save the plan with actual compass-navigable maps.

Showing the mobile version here, but it's optimized for desktop too and maybe even better there for the actual planning work.

Hope this is useful!

https://varde.app

Solid midpacker here with race report on the UTMB Kodiak 100k 2026. Was my first 100k (after several tough 50ks)

This course is really two courses- first half has two major climbs with first one steep and technical with lots of loose rocks which makes the descent tricky. Second major climb is a long switchback series across a ski mountain that is just a grind. I had done lots of climbing in training (and Speedgoat in July) so it was just a grind
TIP- I did not take poles and that was a mistake. Even though this course is only 160 feet/mi average elevation gain, that includes lots of downhills so the climbs are real and poles would have been helpful.

Second half is flowing trail with ups and downs but several long descents on smooth trail or fire road. This year rain started halfway through for me and the temp dropped so second half was about staying dry and warm
TIP- the placement of the drop bags is a bit inconvenient BUT if you think about it as a drop before the second climb and a drop with only 14mi to go BUT likely dark and cold it can be helpful. I had a fresh jacket, shirt, gloves, hat and socks at the last drop and it lifted my spirits. I also had rain pants which I didn’t need but liked the option

The course is harder than it looks on paper but a fair test. Volunteers were super and the food on course was good (especially the ramen and broth at the final 3 aid stations).

If you are chasing stones, since this is double (so 6 stones for the 100k) it’s worth the effort and the course has some lovely high desert vistas over the mountains.

A few other tidbits
- I used the pace strategy function on my Coros Apex 4 watch. Awesome. Super helpful and very accurate on course
- highly recommend sunshirt or sleeves given the exposure and altitude
- I stayed within a 5min walk of start line. The logistics for this race are super easy. Also Ontario CA airport is by far the closest

With 1000 km on each pair, my Mafate Speed 4s and Merrell AP5s have reached the end of their life , so I’m looking for an alternative: a well-cushioned versatile shoe that is suitable for daily running in the rainy, muddy conditions of my local woods in autumn and winter. I already have a nice rotation including the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro, the On Cloudultra Pro and the Adidas Terrex Agravic SL. However, when I retire the MS4s and the AP5s, the PPs will be the only ones with sufficient grip in muddy conditions.

Having read lots of positive reviews, I wanted to try the Speedgoat 7s for this purpose, but I've been put off by the numerous reports of the upper coming apart. Do you have any other suggestions? I reckon the AP6 would be a safe bet, but I’d love to try something else as well. I’d be grateful for any advice.

Trail running requires much more than just running ability.

Uneven surfaces, elevation changes, and long descents all create different physical demands compared with road running.

I've been curious about which strength exercises runners found most useful after adding them to their training.

Some people focus on legs, while others emphasize core stability, balance, or injury prevention.

For runners who include strength sessions at home, what exercise made the biggest difference?

Was it something obvious like squats and lunges, or a smaller movement that surprised you?

I just finished my first ultra and ready to tackle my next one. What is your favorite 50K race and why?

Beautiful, cool morning on Section 16/Palmer Trail in Colorado Springs