The Best Stories from 100 Issues of Trail Runner

Help us celebrate our 100th issue (December 2014) by enjoying a selection of stories from our 15 years of publishing Trail Runner Magazine

Some things never change, especially the essence of our passion. “[Trail running] is an uncommon experience that transcends the mere act of running and embodies the essence of being outdoors,” wrote Trail Runner’s then-Editor Brian Metzler in our magazine’s inaugural issue (pictured above at left). “For those of us who have been trail running for a long time, it’s nothing new. For those just beginning, it can be the start of a whole new way of life.”

All along, our mission has been to inspire and inform both seasoned and new trail runners through compelling articles and photography, and, something must be working, because, nearly 15 years after that first issue, we still have some of our initial subscribers, along with a landslide of new folks who’ve joined our tribe.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to motivating you to hit the trails in the next 15 years. Enjoy these highlights from our 100 issues:

• Issue 1 (Winter 99-2000): Grand Slam Summer – 400 miles of trails, trials and tribulations, by Tyler Curiel
• Issue 22 (July 03): Runner’s Republic – Quirks and all, Boulder is a trail runner’s paradise, by Brian Metzler
• Issue 25 (Jan 04): The New Speedsters and Their Smash Hit: Take Those Old (Trail) Records Off The Shelf! – Tough new trends in backcountry running, by Garett Graubins
• Issue 36 (Nov 05): Decades of Dipsea – Trail running’s holy grail celebrates 100 years, by Heather C. Liston
• Issue 37 (Jan 06): The Twilight Zone – A look at the unusual phenomenon of hallucinations during trail and ultra races, by Mike Strzelecki
• Issue 39 (May 06): Heavyweight Title Bout – Champions of the trail (Bernie Boettcher) and road (Shayne Culpepper) duke it out. Which sport wins?
• Issue 43 (Jan 07): The Naked Guy – Anton Krupicka jumps into the ultra spotlight with a surprise win at Leadville and compelling philosophies, by Elinor Fish
• Issue 54 (Oct 08): The Casual Champion – Superlatives and mixed opinions chase Karl Meltzer. His response? “Whatever, man.”, by Garett Graubins
• Issue 55 (Dec 08): Growing Pains – The sport is booming. But are skyrocketing demand, escalating race fees and other issues threatening the core of trail ultrarunning?, by Garett Graubins
• Issue 64 (Mar 10): Born to Run Excerpt – Tracking down Mexico’s mystical, trail-running Tarahumara tribe and an enigmatic American engulfed in its culture and deep canyons: El Caballo Blanco, by Christopher McDougall
• Issue 67 (Aug 10): The Long Lonesome: 38 Miles per Day, 57 Days – On love, death and getting struck by lightning on the Appalachian Trail, by Jennifer Pharr Davis
• Issue 72 (May 11): Running in Place – Charlie Engle on running across the Sahara Desert, running to overcome drug and alcohol addiction and help others, and running smack into the law, by Michael Benge
• Issue 73 (Jun 11): Pacing Diana – In 2010, Diana Finkel led the brutal Hardrock 100-Mile Endurance Run for over 45 miles, eventually taking second-place overall. But her phenomenal performance came at a cost: Two days after the race, she lay in a hospital bed … , by Ben Woodbeck
• Issue 77 (Jan 12): The Man Behind Ultramarathon Man – How Dean Karnazes became the biggest celebrity in ultrarunning, and where he’s running next, by Sarah Lavender Smith
• Issue 86 (Mar 13): Legends of the Trail – Eight people who’ve been blazed new ground, from a 100-miler pioneer to the grand master of Pikes Peak to a modern-day phenom, by Meghan M. Hicks
• Issue 93 (Jan 14): Saving Leadville – The growing pains of Colorado’s legendary “Race Across the Sky,” by Yitka Winn
• Issue 95/DIRT (Apr 14): (Not) A Runner’s Story: Three Miles A Marathon – The author follows in his mother’s 1969 footsteps to run Alaska’s renowned Mount Marathon Race, by Rickey Gates
• Issue 95/DIRT (Apr 14): Seattle’s Ultrarunning Renaissance – How an original epicenter for ultrarunning elites became one of the world’s best towns for the average runner, by Tim Mathis
• Issue 95/DIRT (Apr 14): My Summer at Camp Hardrock – A runner and her 1975 vintage motor home’s trip to Silverton, Colorado, for the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run, by Jennifer Hughes
• Issue 95/DIRT (Apr 14): A Day in the Life of Dan Lehmann (Order now)- Dan Lehmann lives on a hillside above the small village of Helvetia, West Virginia—pop. 59—and maybe that’s why, unless you’re a local, you haven’t heard about his extensive trail-running exploits, race-directing acumen and down-home lifestyle, by Joel Wolpert
• Issue 95/DIRT (Apr 14): Stranger than Fiction (Order now) – Five years in the lives of Born to Run’s colorful cast of characters, by Yitka Winn
• Issue 95/DIRT (Apr 14): The Word is Chaleureux (Order now) – Epicurian delights along the Swiss Alps’ vibrant trail-racing circuit, by Doug Mayer