Episode 146: Katie Arnold, Author of "Running Home," on The Power of the Mind, Body, and Spirit

Katie Arnold is an elite ultra runner and the 2018 women's champion of Leadville Trail 100 Run. She's also a contributing editor and former managing editor at Outside Magazine, where she worked on staff for 12 years and created and the popular Raising Rippers column about bringing up adventurous kids outdoors. She won the 2018 Jemez Mountains 50 Mile, 2014 TransRockies 3-Day Trail Run, Jemez Mountains 50K, the Mount Taylor 50K. She is two-time overall champion and course record holder at the  Angel Fire 100K. Katie is a sponsored athlete for GU Energy Labs and Balega Socks. As part of her ongoing effort to encourage young athletes, she founded a children’s trail running club, gives motivational talks, and coaches girls’ lacrosse in Santa Fe. In 2019, she published her first memoir, Running Home (Random House), chronicling her "accidental" discovery of ultra running as a way to process grief during her father's terminal diagnosis and death, while also navigating new motherhood, a health anxiety diagnosis, and working as a writer and editor at one of the outdoor industry's most well-respected magazines, Outside. Questions we ask Katie include: How did you get your start in running -- and how did this end up leading you to trail/ultra running, including becoming the 2018 Leadville Champion? "Running Home" - discuss how and why she wrote the book -- from father’s terminal illness and death to motherhood, anxiety, and more. For listeners who have not yet read it, what makes this unique from the normal running novel? In your book, you use running as a metaphor, muse, and path for many things, including: family, parenting, grief, losing yourself, finding yourself, and so much more. What has been one of the most prominent correlations you've seen between running and/or your own life? What lessons did you learn throughout the process of writing a book and more specifically, a memoir? Any advice for an aspiring author? What are a few of your all-time favorite places to run? What advice would you give your younger self? What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you? How can listeners connect with you and what is next on your radar -- retreats, events, writing, races, etc.? Connect with Katie: — Follow Katie on Instagram and Twitter. — Check out her website and learn more about her new book, Running Home.