October/November 2024

Heading Into the Unknown

Lucy Bartholomew
Oct 2024

I live in Australia—a land far away where every plant and animal could kill you, and we ride kangaroos to work.

Only joking…sort of.

As I type this, I just boarded my next flight from Australian winter to European summer for the yearly migration.

I love traveling—the unknown, the exploration, the curiosity and the adventure. I have been crossing the globe for the last 10 years for both family and running. I know what to expect when I sit down at a family dinner, especially with my grandparents. I know they will make meat and three veggies, and always enquire if I still don’t eat meat and ask if I am still doing that running thing.

The number of times I have really learned what I am capable of, how much I actually had in the tank and how I respond when it’s just me and an obstacle has given me the biggest growth.

But, when I go running, there is no routine, no questions with repetitive answers or a menu that can’t be altered. It's usually me with my Strava map sitting on the couch, scouting out where most people go, where some people pass through and where no one has dared to cross (yet).

Map the course, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, and out I go.

For me, exploring places on foot is the most superior experience you can give yourself. You can take in the sights and smells, share a wave and a smile, run into private land and turn around, add extra miles or shave off a section by a shortcut the map didn't say existed, but did. You can run past plants that swipe your leg and either tickle you, slice you or give you itchy, bumpy skin and remind you that nature rules all.

People always ask me if I would do the Barkley Marathons with the navigation, rugged terrain and crazy difficult conditions. I always say that I get lost in shopping malls and would still be in Frozen Head State Park if I ever stood at that famous yellow gate. However, when I can have my phone and my digital map, along with the course on my watch that beeps, vibrates and freaks out if I take the wrong way, then I feel comfortable in making it around a course with a backpack of snacks, a mind full of good attitude and a curious heart.

The author makes her way to a 10th-place finish at the 2024 UTMB. Jess Meniere

I think it’s good for the soul to get lost sometimes. One of my favorite quotes is, “Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself.” The number of times I have really learned what I am capable of, how much I actually had in the tank and how I respond when it’s just me and an obstacle has given me the biggest growth. Repeating the same loop and the data saying I am getting faster or the app saying I am now the “local legend” doesn’t give me the foundational confidence to lean on when going for an adventure run.

From the UK I will fly to the Pyrenees to train for the UTMB 100-mile event. I have been toying with the idea of going back to the Chamonix circus and training on the course, to be terrain specific, while also feeling secure in where I am: the trails, the cafés and the creature comforts that exist there. Right now, my heart says I know the course from doing the race before and visiting the area for the last 10 years. I should try something new, something diffrent and something unknown. Climbing a mountain is climbing a mountain, and that’s what I need to do to be ready for this race. It doesn’t matter which mountain it is.

I’ve decided to head into the unknown. I want to expand my experiences, put my feet on new soil, see new things and enjoy the adventure aspect of ultrarunning.

If you don't hear from me in the next issue, you’ll know why—I'm probably still out there.

“Adventure is calling, and I must go.”

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