Articles by Lucy Bartholomew
After giving a talk to a group of school kids and describing the sport of ultrarunning, they gave me mixed looks of confusion, awe and concern for my sanity.
As athletes, we love to have a goal to work toward – something to strive for and drive toward. But what happens when the season of big, lofty race start lines slows down and stops, and the season changes to one of rest,...
This year, I had the opportunity to be a part of Ryan Sandes’ Cocodona 250-mile pilgrimage from Phoenix to Flagstaff, Arizona. What I witnessed during my 62 hours pacing, crewing and observing wasn’t a competition in the traditional sense. It was a shared journey
When you sign up for a race, you’re signing up for an adventure – not just the distance from the start line to the finish, but the journey leading up to it. The race becomes a celebration of that journey. It’s the cherry...
What I love about running is that you can take something which seems simple and make it incredibly challenging: fast, intense and unpredictable. Left foot, right foot, repeat – simple, right? But what if the terrain is...
“Feeling ready?” It’s one of the most common questions I get asked before a race. Although I have trained hard, I have also run enough miles in my life to know that even if you get 8 hours of sleep, write in your journal...
It’s a huge challenge to finish the full Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). Actually, the challenge begins when trying to understand how to get the stones and qualify for a spot at the start line at the end of August in C...
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...
Nothing builds connection quite like running through difficult terrain with others who share the same passions and big dreams. When my sponsor, Salomon, brings together its international running team each year, athlet...
Goals, like grains of sand, add up and are pivotal to the evolution of your journey. Write down big, audacious goals and beneath them, write down goals that will set you up with benchmarks along the way.
My first race of the year was the Black Canyon 100k in Arizona. Highly regarded as the most competitive starting field in the US, this race is technically downhill, and the times that fill the top of the results list ar...
Change is the spice of life. My favorite thing about running is the many forms it can take the shape of: track, road, trail, multi-day, ultra, vertical and sky running. You can dip your toe in it all and as usual, you’ll come out the other side with a new experience, a good workout, lessons learned and more memories.
I’ve changed, you’ve changed and the world has changed. The sport of ultrarunning has changed. When I entered the sport of ultrarunning in 2012, I remember my first 50k where there was a total of 45 people on the start...
Visiting a rural town in Australia called Karratha, I had to fly 7 hours to the west coast from my home located on the southeast coast of Australia. I changed planes and took another 2.5-hour flight to a town that made m...
There is a quote that goes, “The tough get going when the going gets tough.” This sums up my latest race at the Ultra Trail Australia 100k, which is my ‘local’ big deal race. It’s where the best athletes from aroun...
I can’t count how many times I’ve said that I love running, but the people of the sport have continually inspired me not to give up, helped lift me up and keep me always wanting to show up. When I reflect on m...
The author crosses the finish at Tarawera in February. Courtesy Author To tell the story of how I ended up sleeping in a van on the side of a road and hopping on a bus to Lake Okataina at 4 a.m. to r...
I have been working with a coach since I was 16 years old, and was first coached by someone who loved the data and numbers—the metrics mattered. I was constantly trying to stay in the correct heart rate zone,...
Much like the result of climate change, it can be hard to know what season we are in, in both nature and sport. With ultra and trail running booming in participation numbers, so are the number of races that seem to sp...
In August, I had the privilege of jumping the border from France into Switzerland to help crew, pace and support a friend taking on a 100-mile trail race that climbs and descends 33,000 feet of elevation....
What is “race day mentality?” It’s that mindset that we slip into as we chase a goal we’ve been working toward and have dedicated hours of preparation — not only in training the body but also training the mind to be f...
Before a race, we have (usually) done the hard work. We trained as best we could, given the circumstances we were offered. We got enough sleep, ate well, consumed enough water and tried to remain positive. However, we still think about everything that we “coulda, shoulda, woulda” in the past and what “mighta” happen in the future. The beauty of races is the unknown, and the unknown is scary and comes with a host of emotional, physical and mental reactions.
I live in Australia and my house sits in a suburb called Diamond Creek. The name supposedly came from a cow called Diamond that fell into a creek and died. (Or so, that's what my Dad and I were told when we moved here...
Here we go again. Welcome to a new year, a fresh start, clean slate or whatever you want to call it. Maybe you are starting from ground zero, drawing up floorplans of what you’re going to be building. What is running...
Before talking about winter, I want to mention that I am an Australian who has lived her life avoiding the cold by continent-hopping, chasing dry, warm and sunny trails where I can roam around rocking a sports bra,...
The Oxford dictionary defines “legend” as “an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.” In Australia, we throw the world legend around, particularly if we can’t quite remember a person’...
I remember the exact moment I heard footsteps behind me, the shuffling of feet and the “swish, swish” sound of knee-length shorts rhythmically moving at the cadence of someone still running, 50 miles deep into a 100-mile...
Returning to my house after six weeks of being away, and having been in this little bubble of a residence for 13 months, was equally exciting, terrifying and understandably, felt unfamiliar. Especially...
They say it’s about the journey – not the destination. I say it’s all about the company – not the trail. “What is your favorite trail?” It’s a question I am regularly asked along with, “What is your favorite distanc...
Curiosity is the word I use to describe how I live my life. I chase answers to questions, I chase new experiences, and I’m willing to try – succeed or fail. I’m incredibly lucky to have had so many opportunities, but...
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn To do anything today is to believe in a tomorrow – we book appointments, arrange to catch up with friends and train for races because we believe that...
This year, I endured my first winter in Australia. It may sound like a small feat, but for six years I have followed the sun around the globe while chasing the running calendar. Winter in Australia makes a lot of peop...
I’ve often been told that starting with your why is the best place to start anything. Once you have that, the what, where, who and when doesn’t matter so much. And when two people share the same why, you have more than c...