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Author

Sarah Lavender Smith

Sarah Lavender Smith

Sarah Lavender Smith is an ultrarunning coach, writer and mom of two who divides her time between the Bay Area and southwestern Colorado. She is the author of the book, The Trail Runner’s Companion: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trail Running and Racing, from 5Ks to Ultras. Follow her newsletter Colorado Mountain Running & Living.

  • It’s OK to Care, but Not Too Much

    Sarah Lavender Smith 04/04/2023
    Sarah Lavender Smith 04/04/2023

    Success at ultras depends in part on striking an appropriate mental balance between ambivalence and obsession, between not caring enough and too much. You should feel invested in the race and stoke a desire to finish as best you can, but also realize that it’s just one day of your life and it does not define you, nor will it negate all the worthwhile months of training leading to the big event.

    Read more
  • Keys to Successful DIY Coaching

    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/14/2023
    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/14/2023

    Training independently—doing things your way, free of charge—is appealing. You can train more intuitively, like Courtney Dauwalter (who isn’t coached), less beholden to a coach’s workouts that might not fit with your life and all of its stressors. If you decide to coach yourself, here are some suggestions to help you make the most of your training.

    Read more
  • One Last Hurrah

    Sarah Lavender Smith 09/28/2022
    Sarah Lavender Smith 09/28/2022

    Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, the end of the calendar year brings colder temps, shorter days, rain and perhaps snow. Between Thanksgiving and January, I tend to run less and sleep and eat more. But wait—I have one last ultra of the year on the calendar to get my rear into gear. One last hurrah to challenge my legs and lungs to run hard before taking a holiday-oriented break.

    Read more
  • Anna Frost: From Podiums to Parenting

    Sarah Lavender Smith 11/15/2021
    Sarah Lavender Smith 11/15/2021

    While running the 40-mile Telluride Mountain Run in late August—an extremely tough high-altitude ultra that circumnavigates the town and crosses four mountain passes—I felt a bit glum that I didn’t recognize any of the fresh-faced runners sharing the trail. Imagine my delight, therefore, when I spotted a blonde woman with legendary status as she approached me on a switchback above tree line.

    Read more
  • High Drama at the High Lonesome 100

    Sarah Lavender Smith 08/11/2021
    Sarah Lavender Smith 08/11/2021

    Around mile 28 of the High Lonesome 100, when thunder rumbled overhead from slate-gray clouds to the west, a man ahead of me turned back to ask, “What do you think, is it safe to keep going?”

    Read more
  • Know Your Motivators

    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/11/2021
    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/11/2021

    “I’m just going to run it for fun.” I hear that phrase all the time, and I understand the sentiment behind it. It’s expressed partly to lower expectations and self-pressure, and partly to give oneself permission to participate in a race with relatively easy effort and save one’s real effort for a later race. It sounds like a harmless approach to an enjoyable training run. And sometimes, it is.

    Read more
  • Listen to Your Mom: Be Prepared

    Sarah Lavender Smith 09/09/2020
    Sarah Lavender Smith 09/09/2020

    “Anything can happen in the mountains,” I tell my 19-year-old son, Kyle, as I show him how to use the SOS button on my GPS tracking device. When I hand him a windbreaker, he looks at me as if I’m insane, because we’re living through a heat wave and the sky is cloudless.

    Read more
  • A Renewed Relationship with Ultrarunning

    Sarah Lavender Smith 06/09/2020
    Sarah Lavender Smith 06/09/2020

    When the pandemic erased the motivator of ultras from our calendars, we had to reconnect with deeper reasons why we run long. Personally, I desperately needed to re-establish and fortify my bread-and-butter weekly running routine for reasons that have little to do with preparing for ultras.

    Read more
  • Running Up for Air : An Ultra With a Purpose Inspires a Series of Events

    Sarah Lavender Smith 05/05/2020
    Sarah Lavender Smith 05/05/2020

    Ultrarunner Jared Campbell started the Running Up for Air timed event at Grandeur Peak (Outside of Salt Lake City) to raise awareness and money to fight air pollution in his hometown region. He saw and felt the effects of the winter inversion layer firsthand on daily training runs up Grandeur Peak.

    Read more
  • Ultra Lessons for Real Life

    Sarah Lavender Smith 08/13/2019
    Sarah Lavender Smith 08/13/2019

    When my son, Kyle, proudly grasped his diploma and pumped his fist in triumph during his high school graduation this past June, I cheered loudly while infused with feelings of relief, happiness and love. As odd as it might be to think of ultrarunning during that emotional milestone as a parent, the “golden hour” of the Western States finish line flashed through my mind.

    Read more
  • A Marathon Can Rev Up Your Ultrarunning

    Sarah Lavender Smith 05/15/2019
    Sarah Lavender Smith 05/15/2019

    As I considered the apples-to-oranges comparison between road marathons and mountain ultras, I wondered. What if, instead of trying to be the marathon runner I used to be, I embraced the tougher, heavier, more truck-like ultrarunner I’ve become?

    Read more
  • Kami Semick’s Comeback: Racing Again with a Fresh Outlook

    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/18/2019
    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/18/2019

    A decade ago, at 42, Kami Semick reached the pinnacle of ultrarunning. She won every race she entered in 2009, including two world championship events in the 100K and 50K, and earned UltraRunning’s Ultrarunner of the Year title for the second year in a row. But five years later, she called it quits and disappeared from the sport.

    Read more
  • You Don’t Have to Super-Size Your Ultras

    Sarah Lavender Smith 11/24/2018
    Sarah Lavender Smith 11/24/2018

    In this era of 200-is-the-new-100, it feels almost inevitable that many runners and race directors will super-size perfectly good and satisfying ultra routes, and we ultrarunners will feel compelled to choose the longer option or feel slightly guilty or less accomplished if we take the shorter route.

    Read more
  • When a Search-and-Rescue 
Hits Close to Home

    Sarah Lavender Smith 09/19/2018
    Sarah Lavender Smith 09/19/2018

    The sound of a helicopter circling over our property near Telluride, Colorado, filled my ears for several days straight. The sight of teams of volunteers dressed in hiking gear, fanning out in the aspen groves and bushwhacking off trail while shouting, “Tim,” pulled at my heart.

    Read more
  • The Beauty of the Buddy System

    Sarah Lavender Smith 02/15/2018
    Sarah Lavender Smith 02/15/2018

    Barely past the halfway point of Run Rabbit Run 100 last September, my legs and feet rebelled. Stiff muscles, achy joints and soles so tender that I winced with each step conspired to abort yet another attempt to run. Dejectedly hiking in the fading light of dusk on a gentle stretch of trail above Steamboat Springs, I said to my pacer, Jacob Kaplan-Moss, “Sorry, this is all I can manage right now.”

    Read more

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A roundup of the week's content and race results. Sent every Thursday.

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