The Trail Ahead

In this conversation with Mirna Valerio, ultramarathoner, cyclist, skier, author, and so much more, we start with the origin story of how she fell in love with running and then dive into what it means to know and love your body in all of its stages - especially during recovery. We also talk about her memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress, what she is excited about next, ansd how she's pushing her limits to go FURTHER as part of a new initiative with our episode sponsor lululemon.

Our debrief this episode features acclaimed ultrarunner and long distsnce coach Megan Roche of SWAP Running.

Related Episode Links:

Mirna’s Website: https://themirnavator.com/

Mirna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themirnavator/

REI Presents: The Mirnavator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5-CSQcYeXk

Lululemon’s FURTHER project: https://shop.lululemon.com/story/run-further

Azores race

Coalition Snow: https://www.coalitionsnow.com/

National Geographic Adventurer of the Year: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/mirna-valerio-ultramarathon-runner

One of Mirna’s Favorite Races, Azores Trail Run: https://www.instagram.com/azorestrailrun/

Megan Roche of SWAP Running: https://swaprunning.com/

Some Work all Play podcast: https://swaprunning.com/podcast

Our Theme Music is by Alekesam: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2JM2yzMSOgq7VeG6nKm3PY?si=tGkc2q88QHm1nwDD2kYk3A

Everett is a curator, organizer, and adventure cyclist currently based in the coastal mountains of a region now known as Santa Cruz, CA. For over a decade they've been using bicycle travel as a way of exploring their relationship to the worlds within and without. As a trans and genderqueer adventure cyclist they find themself seeking out the in between places, finding trails and unpaved roads to connect the dots between people, places and ideas.

After working for several years as a tours specialist and cycling guide, they left the full time bike life and returned to the world of arts nonprofits where they now work to organize collaborative exhibitions that help dismantle social norms and share underrepresented stories. You can find their essays on art and cycling in Adventure Cyclist Magazine and The Bikepacking Journal.

We talk about, connecting with nature as a way of connecting with self, about healing and recovery, about route-creation as art-making, artistic inspirations freedom and play and so much more. They also went into depth about upcoming work in Iceland supported by their affiliation with the non-profit We Got Next.

Content Note:

Hi listeners, before we jump into the full episode, I wanted to add a quick content note. This episode includes a detailed description of an accident in which our subject experiences bodily harm. We wanted to give you a heads up because it was jarring and difficult for us to hear as friends.

Corrections:

For Adventure Cycling, Everett worked in the office as a Tours Specialist, not as a director.

Kait Boyle's accident, which led to similar injuries as Everett's, was a car crash and not a bike accident. We didn't go into detail in the episode, but we don't want that to be misunderstood or for it to seem like the accident was in any way her fault or responsibility.

This episode refers to Tenzing Namdo, who now goes by Arya Samsarya.

Ingrid Backstrom has been a professional skier for over twenty years and is a household name and someone widely considered a “legend” in the world of free skiing. She is also a mother, a filmmaker, and co-founder of S.A.F.E. A.S. backcountry clinics. In this conversation we discuss Ingrid’s professional skiing career and her journey as a woman in a male-dominated sport. We also talk about her work to make skiing more fun and inclusive, how she has learned from mistakes along the way, and how you don’t have to be a mom to “ski like a mother.” We first connected with Ingrid around “The Approach” film, a project she’s been helping lead for the past three years. We talk about the joy of seeing others learn to love a new passion, learning to look a life from a different perspective and making mistakes along the way, how to interrupt an entrenched industry - even as an underdog, what she's learned in her 20 years of being a pro-skier and much more.

Our "debrief" this episode is a conversation between host Faith Briggs Rose and her mother, Hope Briggs. Faith asks her mom about what it's been like to be a white woman navigating racial awareness, based on being in an interracial marriage for almost 40 years, especially coming from a sheltered background. It's a challenging, illuminating and raw conversation.

Follow along and learn more about Ingrid on Instagram via https://www.instagram.com/ingridbackstrom/

Grace Anderson is a dreamer, a builder, and a Black queer feminist who writes and imagines futures where choice is a human right. In this conversation we discuss why she loves to giggle and fly downhills on her bike, solo adventures in the outdoors, the importance of journaling, and learning that it's important to build what you're for and not what you're against. Faith and Grace also talk a lot about their identity as Black women, their journeys to develop and exude a strong pride specifically in that identity, and why it feels so important to them to continue to center Black women in so much of the work. This episode includes a pretty incredible reading list too by the end, so make sure to check out the related links to the resources mentioned and to connect with Grace via Instagram included in the episode show notes.

Welcome back to Season 3 of The Trail Ahead, hosted by Faith E. Briggs & Addie Thompson.

In this episode they reflect on why bringing together their multiplicities of identity is essential to their theory of change - which is (clumsily) that with a multi-racial dialogue that seeks to amplify the voices on the frontlines of environmental justice they can encourage more people to fall in love with the natural world and aim to protect it. They discuss the potential flaws in this theory, how it has changed, how much they are learning and where they go from here. While Addie and Faith originally met through trailrunning, they bonded through their passions. Faith is a documentary filmmaker with a background in representation and a focus on identity politics. Addie's road to stories is grounded in work that has been a mix of climate policy and environmental grantmaking. It is at this intersection where these conversations live. This episode reflects on previous seasons and gives some sneak peeks on the kind of conversations coming down the road.

Theme music is "All is Forgiven" from the band Alekesam and the Album Sound Proof Heart.

This episode is sponsored by Subaru, learn more on social via @subaru_usa.

Additional music comes from Track Club by Marmoset.

In January 2021 we sat down for what became a 3 hour conversation with the legendary Selema Masekela. We laughed, we cried, and by the end we realized we were undeniably tethered for life, a beautiful heart tether. We've had many people ask to hear the whole conversation, rather than the more edited 1 hour conversation we put out in April 2021. In this episode we go into beautiful stories about Selema's relationship with his father, the late great Hugh Masekela, and include a deeper conversation around making music himself, and what it meant in 2020 to shout about racial justice (and finally be passed a mic when doing so) in a sport as historically white as surfing. We're so please to present the full episode now. The music you hear at the very beginning is the multitalented and multifaceted Selema himself, with the song "All is Forgiven" from his band Alekesam.

This week we feature an episode of a podcast we love that is also working toward a more inclusive and community minded outdoor community: The Outside Voices Podcast.

Outside Voices Podcast: https://www.outsidevoicespodcast.com/

Outside Voices on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outsidevoicespodcast/

Cassandra Lam of Collective Rest & The Cosmos: https://www.collective-rest.com/

Article about The Cosmos in The Lily: https://www.thelily.com/what-does-it-mean-to-come-together-as-asian-american-women-this-group-has-been-seeking-an-answer/

This week we're introducing you to a podcast we love, Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios podcast hosted by journalist, adventurer and all-around curious person, Shelby Stanger!  Today’s guest in Evelynn Escobar, a changemaker in the outdoor industry who is the founder and CEO of Hike Clerb! Hike Clerb is an intersectional women’s hiking club with the mission of equipping Black, Indigenous, women of color with the tools, education, resources and experiences they need to collectively heal in nature. Faith worked with REI and Evelynn earlier this year to create a short film together, so this episode felt like a perfect fit to share with you!

In this episode Addie and Faith revisit some of their favorite quotes from the last season. They dive into ideas from earlier episodes that have impacted their thinking about how we co-create a more inclusive and welcoming outdoors while caring for our planet and each other. Topics include moving beyond white guilt, holding yourself accountable to action, holding the door open for others, gatekeeping and geotagging, the reality of feeling unsafe in the outdoors and more. The voices you'll hear in this episode include Dr. Carolyn Finney, Dr. Rae-Wyn Grant, Alex Piechowski-Begay, Erin McGrady, Atongular Monique and José González.

Kamilah Journét is a long-distance runner, environmental advocate, and brand marketing strategist. She discovered her love for running in junior high and continued competing in Cross Country and Track at high school and collegiate levels. She joins The Trail Ahead for a conversation about the endless possibilities and experiences the outdoors offers.

The Debrief features Sarah Jacquette Ray author of A Field Guide To Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Cool on a Warming Planet