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Author

Sarah Lavender Smith

Sarah Lavender Smith

Sarah Lavender Smith lives and runs near Telluride, Colorado, and publishes “Mountain Running & Living,” a weekly newsletter at sarahrunning.substack.com.

  • If Only I Knew Then What I Know Now

    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/10/2025
    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/10/2025

    Here are a few pieces of advice that might not be so obvious to those who are new to the sport of trail and ultrarunning.

    Read more
  • Find Your Niche

    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/05/2024
    Sarah Lavender Smith 03/05/2024

    Our once-fringe-now-mainstream sport used to be its own cozy niche, but over the decades, it has split into many niches loosely defined by geography, age, distance of trail routes, clubs …

    Read more
  • 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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    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, …

    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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    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, …

    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 …

    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 …

    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 …

    Read more

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