This Wild Life
Trail Runner|Fall 2021
ONE MAN’S 92-MILE RUN OF GRIEF AND SELF-DISCOVERY.
Patrick Rodgers
This Wild Life

I stood there, arms raised, begging my GPS to find a signal. As I crossed the remote mountain border between Colorado and Wyoming on mile 37 of a 92-mile run, the rugged trail I had been following suddenly disappeared into a wall of ghastly gray downed trees, remnants of the recent bark-beetle epidemic. The thick canopy overhead had blocked the fragile link between my GPS and SPOT devices.

Alone, calorie-depleted and far from help, I felt painfully isolated. It was the same feeling I had nine months earlier, as I sat beside my father and watched his life come to a premature end. Devastated by that loss, my life spiraled into an abyss of depression, the path out of grief nowhere in sight.

My dad, Neil, was a kind, joyful man with wavy, gray hair, frequently adorned with a sweat-soaked National Geographic Today ball cap and a plain black T-shirt (also drenched in sweat)—his signature hiking apparel on a hot summer day. Neil was a lover of the wild—wildlife, wild places and— never shy to shout it from the mountaintops— wily me. Our adventures hiking, fishing and hunting in the mountains together instilled in me a same love for the wild, so much so that I decided to become a wildlife biologist to try and conserve what fleeting wildness remains.

Denne historien er fra Fall 2021-utgaven av Trail Runner.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra Fall 2021-utgaven av Trail Runner.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA TRAIL RUNNERSe alt
You Cannot Erase us
Trail Runner

You Cannot Erase us

Over the years and through thousands of miles of running, I have thought about the words that marked the beginning of colonialism on the land and the end of Indigenous sovereignty.

time-read
2 mins  |
Fall 2021
Inside The Adaptable Mind
Trail Runner

Inside The Adaptable Mind

How Courtney Dauwalter uses adaptability to stay cool, calm and collected when the going gets tough.

time-read
4 mins  |
Fall 2021
Take it Easy
Trail Runner

Take it Easy

How to stay at aerobic pace when you live in the hills

time-read
4 mins  |
Fall 2021
Here Comes the Sun
Trail Runner

Here Comes the Sun

Where pessimism meets its match

time-read
3 mins  |
Fall 2021
Connecting the Dots
Trail Runner

Connecting the Dots

How Laura Cortez uses her passion for trails to build community.

time-read
4 mins  |
Fall 2021
Carbohydrate Confusion
Trail Runner

Carbohydrate Confusion

When it comes to food and nutrition, we tend to overcomplicate things. Eat this, not that. Run fasted, restrict sugar. Unfortunately, much of the controversy stems from observations and sensationalized media headlines vs. actual data, leaving the consumer more confused from their Google search than they were before.

time-read
2 mins  |
Fall 2021
This Wild Life
Trail Runner

This Wild Life

ONE MAN’S 92-MILE RUN OF GRIEF AND SELF-DISCOVERY.

time-read
5 mins  |
Fall 2021
Our Town
Trail Runner

Our Town

Trail running is all about the community it fosters and the beauty and diversity within the community. Here’s a look at seven places, and the faces that call them home.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Fall 2021
Fueling for Females
Trail Runner

Fueling for Females

Here’s how female runners can use recent research findings for performance breakthroughs

time-read
4 mins  |
Summer 2021
Lose Weight with a Shake
Trail Runner

Lose Weight with a Shake

Being a health and nutrition correspondent means that companies frequently send me their products, and ask for my stamp of approval.

time-read
3 mins  |
Summer 2021