In the woods, on the trail, in the wild. My soul breathes. My soul is free.

Intro

I have a crazy idea. (click the map for an interactive version)

It has been a difficult year. And the next six months or so will continue to see enormous change. In the face of it I’ve felt a sense of lack of agency, having to wait for things to happen without really feeling like I could control them. I was out to dinner with friends a few weeks ago and someone mentioned the Grand Canyon. Running rim-to-rim-to-rim has been a bucket list adventure for a while now, and having no real race plans for 2025 (apart from a long-shot lottery entry to Western States) this mention of it over dinner planted the seed of an idea. I’m planning a National Parks Tour. I’ll drive from park to park, sleeping in my car, running in some of the most gorgeous places in the country. Already there have been many iterations of the itinerary, differing structures of when and where I’d run, and what’s shown above won’t be the final version until after I come home. But the idea of it, being out on my own, free to move about as I please, run where I please, sleep and eat as I please, spending each moment I can out in the wild, is incredibly alluring. I don’t know exactly when I’ll do this- end of April maybe? Scheduling something like this is always difficult when you can’t even plan out your own life, but there are times you just need to pull the trigger and make it happen.
At the very least this gives me something to sink my teeth into for a while! Lots to plan…