The 12 months 2025 was massive within the worlds of path working, ultrarunning, and mountain working, and thus within the iRunFar world. On the threat of being overly sentimental, we’d prefer to take a second to replicate on the previous one year of iRunFar, which have been crammed with enjoyable, magnificence, problem, change, and a number of working.
This 12 months noticed an enormous change-up within the iRunFar employees, with solely editor-in-chief Meghan Hicks staying in her similar function as captain of the ship. With a second child on the best way, managing editor Sarah Brady determined to step away from the function that she had held since 2023 after beginning as an editor in 2022. She was changed by me, Eszter Horanyi, who chances are you’ll acknowledge as a former iRunFar gear editor, photographer, freelance author, and race protection crew member. The previous is a misnomer; I nonetheless do all these issues, besides now I even have to face in entrance of the digicam for interviews at races, as an alternative of hiding behind it.
Nathan Allen, one among our gear editors, has additionally moved on, and our founding editor Bryon Powell has shifted his function to handle all issues gear at iRunFar. There may be maybe nobody who loves trainers as a lot as Bryon, and we’re excited to see what his enthusiasm and management will deliver subsequent to iRunFar’s gear protection.
The beginning of the 2025 Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
We’re all the time grateful for our good, humorous, and ever-consistent crew of writers, who deliver us tales that make us suppose, really feel, and study. More often than not, they hit their deadlines, and once they don’t, they reply to my “That is your pleasant editor asking in your article” emails with grace and humor.
In fact, iRunFar is nothing with out our readers. Thanks for trusting us to ship tales about all issues working — and possibly a little bit of powerhiking as effectively — as a result of with out your readership, we might be shouting into the void. We respect your considerate feedback, in addition to stating after we’ve gotten one thing mistaken.
We’re additionally ceaselessly grateful to the people and corporations that assist our mission. Supporting iRunFar allows us to inform the tales that matter.
The next are a few of our favourite articles, pictures, and reminiscences from the 12 months.
For a visit down Nostalgia Lane, listed below are our best-of articles from 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
iRunFar by the Numbers in 2025
From an editor’s viewpoint, every article printed has distinctive traits, challenges, and charms. Typically, it’s straightforward to get misplaced within the weeds of every thing that goes into producing every story. The top of the 12 months is a good time to step again and see the iRunFar forest for the bushes. When assessing the forest, it isn’t solely thriving as an entire, however every tree can be cared for by an extremely competent and passionate group of individuals.
Right here is our 12 months in numbers:
- We had 94 crew members contribute to iRunFar, starting from editors to writers to venture managers to our invaluable volunteers who work tirelessly and thru all sorts of climate to assist produce our race protection.
- We printed 582 articles.
- Our pre- and post-race interviews provide insights into the ideas, backgrounds, and personalities of high athletes, and this 12 months, we did 85 of them.
- iRunFar was at six occasions for in-person protection — Transvulcania, the Damaged Arrow Skyrace, Western States 100, Hardrock 100, UTMB, and the World Mountain and Path Working Championships — and UTMB takes the literal and figurative cake for the most effective pastry retailers by the end line.
Marinne Hogan on her option to ending third on the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Training
When getting ready to interview for the managing editor function, somebody prompt that essentially the most highly effective interview query somebody might ask was, “What was the very last thing you discovered?” At iRunFar, we’re lifelong college students of the game, and we all know lots of you share this ardour. Thus, we do our greatest to publish not solely articles that offer you a special standpoint on working, but additionally these that may make it easier to diagnose an harm, make sound coaching selections, and, should you learn our Ask a Professional column by Gabe Joyes, study the principle behind sporting armwarmers with a tank high.
- Our Working the Numbers column is one for the information geeks. Zander Chase and Mallory Richard artfully dug deep into the numbers behind our sport to tease out tendencies that could be invisible to the bare eye. Zander took shut seems at pacing, together with asking, Are Path Runners Getting Sooner, in addition to trying on the pacing methods of the highest racers of the 2024 UTMB, in addition to these of this 12 months’s UTMB winners. Mallory, in the meantime, examined the habits of ultrarunners and the qualitative impression that path runners can have on their communities and trails.
- Gabe Joyes continues into his second 12 months together with his Ask the Professional column, the place he artfully marries good recommendation and humor to reply questions ranging throughout all features of working. Whereas many questions revolve round meals — the Joyes family makes a imply Friday night time pizza — Gabe solutions queries about coaching, sweat sodium focus, and maintaining toenails hooked up to your toes.
- There’s a research that claims that 79% of runners get injured not less than as soon as per 12 months, so we’re eternally grateful to physiotherapist Joe Uhan for serving to us diagnose and resolve points in his Keep the Course column. Whether or not it’s a stoplight system for coming back from harm or recommendation on coping with plantar foot ache, Joe all the time has an insightful tackle topics that too usually obtain solely surface-level remedy. For the non-injured, Joe has recommendation on staying that means, together with belly-enhanced hip stretches and early-range hip flexor power workout routines.
- Along with maintaining our our bodies wholesome, we printed an article about why and how dental well being can impression coaching, efficiency, and VO2max.
- Adrian Stott gives a near-encyclopedic data of a few of the not-always-trail corners of the extremely world. This 12 months, he offered helpful insights in his 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Preview, in addition to his reflections on the 2025 World Mountain and Path Working Championships.
- To an editor accountable for fact-checking, Justin Mock’s This Week in Working column can really feel like a wild goose chase for obscure working details. Need to know the origin of the 100-plus-year-old fort that’s the centerpiece of the Conquer the Fortress Path Race in Ohio? Justin has a solution for that! The column retains all of us present with races, massive and small, around the globe and supplies helpful insights into the performances of the athletes on the high of the game.
- Along with our on-site race protection, we additionally publish common in-depth outcomes articles for a few of the largest races, this 12 months together with CCC, Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, and Black Canyon 100k.
- We’ve additionally had an opportunity to cowl some wonderful quickest identified time (FKT) efforts this 12 months, together with François D’Haene setting a brand new Nolan’s 14 FKT, after which David Hedges coming again to reclaim his earlier FKT on the route.
- We love gear, and we’re proud to deliver our readers trusted evaluations of sneakers and different working equipment. Along with our in-depth product evaluations, we additionally printed a brand new Finest Street-to-Path Sneakers class information.
Columnist Gabe Joyes seems to expertise one other psychological dimension on the Chapman Gulch support station, mile 84.5, of the 2025 Hardrock 100. He went on to complete ninth. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Inspiration
Working is crammed with attention-grabbing characters. At iRunFar, we’re so proud to have a crew of writers that features philosophers, artists, thinkers, and beer consultants. There could be a lot extra to working than simply placing one foot in entrance of the opposite, and these writers provide different views, inspiring us to develop as people and communities.
- Sabrina Little’s column, The Examined Run, asks us to suppose extra deeply about our working, relationships, and lives — and the way all three overlap. Whether or not she’s pondering why athletes cheat, tips on how to navigate the section of life after our aggressive days finish, or advocating for the civic worth of sport, Sabrina supplies helpful insights into what it means to be a runner and a human.
- Final 12 months, artist-runner Hannah Inexperienced began a brand new collection, The Artwork of Working, the place she interviewed runners who have been additionally artists. This 12 months, she continued with interviews with filmmaker Matt Trappe, graphic designer Vernan Kee, and extra. Hannah additionally stored up her Notes from the Path collection, and wrote concerning the classes we are able to study from the mountains.
- iRunFar founding editor, Bryon Powell, continues together with his month-to-month column about his ever-evolving relationship with working. Whether or not it’s extolling the virtues of getting a Massive Bushy Audacious Objective for staying motivated, offering suggestions for working your individual self-supported extremely, or providing warnings of when it’s time to rein in your working, Bryon’s matters resonate with a big selection of runners.
- Zach Miller wears his coronary heart on his sleeve for the world to see, whether or not he’s writing his month-to-month column, Discovering Phrases, or racing on the world’s largest phases. In a working world that appears ever extra hyper-focused on particulars, Zach argues that science isn’t the dying of artwork. He additionally deftly weaves the story of his rocking chairs right into a questioning of why we’re so fast to guage one another.
- AJW is the longest-running columnist on the iRunFar crew — 14 years and going sturdy — with AJW’s Taproom. This 12 months’s Legendary Help Stations collection launched us to a few of the finest support stations within the sport, together with Cow Camp on the Loopy Mountain 100 Mile. His Working and Ageing collection gives recommendation on getting older as a runner, together with taking what the day provides you. And, in fact, we are able to’t overlook AJW’s enduring love for the Western States 100, proudly displayed in his first-timers’ information to in-person spectating on the occasion, in addition to his evaluation of intriguing storylines and predictions for the 2025 Western States 100.
- iRunFar partnered with Hoka to create the Tempo Setters collection, telling the tales of three inspirational runners, together with Chef Tee in Chicago, Adrian Villarreal in Los Angeles, and Miguel Hernandez in New York Metropolis.
- Our Neighborhood Voices column options tales and views from around the globe. This 12 months, Filippo Caon shared a narrative concerning the Translagorai Basic and Amy Cockerham talked about how meals may be an integral a part of memory-making in our outside ventures.
Bryon Powell working throughout his 2025 FINSANITY! self-supported 100-mile journey. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Interviews and Profiles
In the long run, our sport is particular due to the folks, and we do our greatest to deliver you that human aspect of the game by means of interviews and profiles.
- Our WeRunFar column has undergone a sport of scorching potato prior to now 12 months, however not from an absence of affection. I used to be fortunate sufficient to take over the column in late 2024 and spent the primary half of 2025 writing profiles of people that impressed me past perception. A few of my favourite experiences included speaking to the ever-nonchalant Megan Eckert after she broke the ladies’s yard extremely report, studying an enormous quantity about amputee runners by interviewing Zach Friedley and Adam Popp, and redefining my relationship with gratitude after speaking to the first-ever Western States 100 Golden Hour Ticket winner, Neeraj Egbert. Alli Miles took over the column for the second half of the 12 months, penning enjoyable profiles on Sean Meissner and Yassine Diboun. The column now passes to the considerate arms of Lydia Thomson for 2026.
- The Lengthy Sport, our column profiling high runners within the sport, has additionally modified arms. Sarah Brady wrote a number of inspiring profiles in the course of the first half of the 12 months, together with ones on Riley Brady and Elhoussine Elazzaoui. I’ve taken over the column since Sarah’s departure and have had a number of attention-grabbing conversations with high runners who take unconventional approaches to their working, together with Anne Flower after her gorgeous 2025 Leadville 100 Mile course report, and Tove Alexandersson after her spectacular 2025 Path World Championships Quick Path win.
- iRunFar is understood for its pre- and post-race interviews. We interviewed Katie Schide no fewer than 4 occasions over the course of her 2025 Hardrock 100 and 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path wins. We additionally had some new faces on digicam, together with Caleb Olson after his win on the 2025 Western States 100, and Chris Myers after his second-place end. The pre- and post-race interviews with Ludo Pommeret at Hardrock are private favorites.
Chris Myers having an excellent snigger in second place on the Rucky Chucky river crossing in the course of the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Pictures
We’re lucky that our sport takes place in gorgeous places, and it’s unimaginable to precisely cowl it with out capturing the landscapes by means of which we transfer. We’ve been lucky to work with wonderful photographers this 12 months and to seize our personal pictures all through the course of our race and occasion protection as effectively.
Katie Schide touches the rock after successful the 2025 Hardrock 100 in course report time. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Caleb Olson wins the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Zach Miller working with full focus with 10k to go on the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Jornet tops out on Handies Peak in Colorado at sundown throughout his States of Elevation venture. Photograph: Nick Danielson
Caitriona Jennings trying happy together with her new ladies’s 100-mile world report. Photograph: Micki Colson/Colson Pictures
Ruth Croft and Camille Bruyas on the 2025 UTMB end line after ending first and second, respectively. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Reminiscences
Our crew members have had massive years, each professionally and personally, and we requested them to share a few of their favourite reminiscences from the 12 months.
Justin Mock
In 2008, you didn’t want a reservation or a four-day allow to go to Arizona’s Havasu Falls. However regrettably, again then, I solely spent a single day, and never even a full one, on my journey run to and from Navajo, Havasu, and Mooney Falls.
Some 17 years later, I lastly bought again to those amazingly blue waters on the Havasupai Reservation. Navajo Falls wasn’t like in 2008, flash floods had washed it out, however this time I bought means additional into the canyon on a four-day tenting journey with my girlfriend. An opportunity encounter on the trailhead led to some native villagers letting us take their mules on the eight-mile journey into the village. It was in all probability slower than climbing, however added to the enjoyable. And whether or not due to July warmth, the excessive allow value, or wildfires close by, the camp and falls have been shockingly uncrowded. Our days have been spent creekside, with day by day journeys up and down the sketchy Mooney Falls ladder, and with frequent cool-off swims underneath the falls.
Revisiting the Havasupai Reservation. Photograph: iRunFar/Justin Mock
Bryon Powell
I used to be grateful for Kilian Jornet sharing a part of his States of Elevation venture with me, regardless of not needing any firm or help. It bought me out in good firm, in a reasonably place, for one among my few lengthy runs of the summer season. After which, I bought to share that have with iRunFar’s readers.
On a purely private entrance, it was a blast lastly making an attempt an journey I name FINSANITY!, a run/fish outing with the intention of working 100 miles, climbing 10,000 toes, and catching 10 species of fish inside 48 hours. For this run on and round Colorado’s Grand Mesa, I threw within the journey of creating it my first self-supported 100 miler. I made it in round 30 hours and, a day later, joined Kevin B, who turned the second particular person ever to finish FINSANITY! as his very first 100 miler.
The moon displays on a lake throughout Bryon Powell’s 2025 FINSANITY! run. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Meghan Hicks
There’s loads to rejoice in iRunFar in 2025, however one of many issues I’m most pleased with is the crew’s work in overlaying three occasions in-person over the span of 4 weeks in June and July. The Damaged Arrow Skyrace, Western States 100, and Hardrock 100 are three extremely aggressive occasions which can be stacked intently collectively on the race calendar. Whereas we coated these occasions, we additionally maintained our day by day publishing schedule of normal materials. It was an all-hands-on-deck state of affairs, and I used to be so pleased with our crew’s onerous work throughout that point!
The previous few years have been difficult when it comes to prioritizing myself amongst life’s different obligations. My working and basic health, sadly, mirrored this, so a significant aim for this 12 months was to work on my bodily conditioning. As we shut 2025, I’m pleased to say I’m ending the 12 months fitter and more healthy than it started. I ran my first 100 miler in three years — shout out to the Scout Mountain 100 Mile! I constructed as much as endeavor an 8.5-day, 265-mile working journey on the Trans Bhutan Path in Asia. And, I’ll be logging my highest mileage 12 months within the final 5 years. I nonetheless have work I need to do, however I’m pleased with this!
In November 2025, iRunFar’s Meghan Hicks, Rinzin Dorji, and Anna Frost ran the 265-mile Trans Bhutan Path in Bhutan in 8.5 days, whereas supported by Tenzin Wangda. On this photograph (left to proper) are Tenzin Wangda, Anna Frost, Rinzin Dorji, and Meghan Hicks close to Trashigang, Bhutan, the morning after finishing the journey. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Robbie Harms
I actually loved writing the story on Will Murray after his breakout efficiency on the Black Canyon 100k, and earlier than his course report on the Javelina 100 Mile. I beloved listening to about how Murray balanced his coaching together with his instructing and training jobs, and the way a comparatively unknown runner went toe-to-toe with a few of the finest American ultrarunners. My favourite anecdote from the story is when Western States 100 race director Craig Thornley, as he shook Murray’s hand on the end line, mentioned, “I do not know who you might be.” Murray, like many ultrarunners, was humble and enjoyable to speak to, and I’m excited to proceed watching his rise.
Eszter Horanyi
I spent an wonderful day above treeline in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains with good pals in the midst of a busy iRunFar summer season season, and it was precisely what my soul wanted.
Hannah Inexperienced (left) and Eszter Horanyi (celebration shirt) on a San Juan Mountains summit. Photograph: Max Robinson
Name for Feedback
- Do you’ve got a favourite iRunFar story from 2025?
- What was the spotlight of your 12 months?
