iRunFar Goes Fulltime!
May 11, 2009 by Bryon Powell · 35 Comments
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve deepened my commitment to iRunFar.com and the trail running community that I love. Last Friday, I left my law practice so that I could devote all of my time to iRunFar and other running-related pursuits.
While you may not notice many changes in the short term (I’ll be busy moving from the Washington, DC area to just outside Yosemite National Park), I hope that by this summer you’ll notice an increase in the depth of the articles published on iRunFar. At the same time, I anticipate that iRunFar will be providing more insight into the people, races, and places that make out sport so wonderful. As always, I’d love to know what questions you’d like answered and what content you’d like to see more of on iRunFar. (Feel free to contact me directly.)
I guess now would be a good time to make the first announcement that I am also now offering coaching services. I hope you’ll also be seeing… or reading more of my work in other venues going forward as I try to develop my writing career. Be on the lookout for “running-related” events brought to you by iRunFar.com further down the trail. In the mean time, I’ll be touring the West from mid-June through late-August and maybe well into September. (more on that soon, too…)
While I’ve considered this move over the past few months, I’ve occasionally pondered how I got to this point. Here are a few of the highlights:
- August 1992 – I doubt my ability to make my high school’s freshman soccer team. Neighbor John Parker (a 2:28 marathoner) suffers through 2.5 slow miles with me as I consider the idea of joining the cross country team. A few days later, Theresa, his wife, encourages me through a 4 miler. Having survived both runs, I decide to go out for the cross country team. I am the slowest member of the team… by far.
- August 1992-May 2000 – I spend 24 seasons competing for the Hopewell Valley Central HS and Haverford College cross country and track teams. Did you know I spent 6 collegiate seasons competing as a sprinter and hurdler?
- February 2001 – I run my first marathon – finishing third behind stud ultrarunner/friend Michael Wardian and some random dude.
- Fall 2001 – I wait on a street corner in DuPont Circle, DC for a random man to pick me up at 5 am to drive out to Shenandoah Mountains for a run. It was my first run with the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club.
- April 2002 - I finish my first ultra – the Promise Land 50k.
- November 2002 - After entering law school in August 2002, I launch a personal blog to keep friends and family informed while I balance work, school, running, and not much else.
- July 2006 – While studying for the Utah bar exam, I kill time by buying the iRunFar.com domain, creating a very basic website, and contemplating what I’d like a future website to look like. iRunFar.com goes nowhere for years… but today’s iRunFar very closely resembles those early sketches.
- December 2006 – I decide that I don’t want to subject my non-running friends to an increasing number of running posts on my personal blog. I launch a personal running blog on blogspot.com.
- October 2007 – In preparation for an interview with a Runner’s World writer, I collect my thoughts on choosing and training for a first ultramarathon. This leads me to publish an article on each subject and a decision for me to change iRunFar from a personal running blog to a more general publication.
- February 2008 – The head of La Sportiva North America comments on the blog. This really gets things rolling.
- August 2008 – iRunFar moves from blogspot to iRunFar.com. I attend my first Outdoor Retailer show and cover the TransRockies Run.
- September 2008 - Running Times trail editor Adam Chase gets my first running article – on the JFK 50 – published.
- March/April 2009 – I cover the Marathon des Sables. I return from Morocco at peace with my decision to leave my life as a lawyer to pursue my passion.
- May 2009 – I start my new life!
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- New Beginnings The very first iRunFar post!...
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Filed under Administrative, Bryon ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Congrats!! That is seriously awesome. I commend you on following your passion and wish you a ton of success! What an inspiration. I hope some day I get to follow in your footsteps, seriously.
Good on you!
dude — f’in sweet
keep it up!
Yeeeah! Baby-Yeeeeah! Sweet Swingin’ Sierra’s here comes Bryon.
Best of luck with everything. I love your blog and although I rarely log in to comment, I read here all the time. Kudos to you for chasing your passion – maybe we’ll cross paths at Yosemite someday!
Great Stuff Bryon! You are living the dream my friend, and it encourages me! Here I am, 30 years old, BA in English, just 36 hours removed from my first encounter with an Ultra, having run 27 miles in the 6 hour time limit, bagging my first marathon in the process. As I sit, looking at the clock, realizing it is 2 a.m. and I have to work in a few hours, I wonder why I give a crap about proofing a race report no one will read! I guess it is that same dedication and drive that makes us push through the difficult stretches!
Here’s to continued success for iRunFar!
Best Regards,
Rob
Congratulations Bryon! That’s wonderful. It can be a little scary when you first leave a full time situation to pursue your dream job, but it is so worth it and you’ll soon be wondering why you didn’t do it earlier.
All the best!
Derrick
Just Awesome! I am really happy that you get to pursue a dream like this. We will all get a taste of that dream in the future through your writing. Thanks for that.
Bryon,
Best of luck. I find it extremely respectable to see someone living life by their own standards and ideals; not that of society. We’ll all miss you on the East coast.
Congrats! Love the last bullet point!
btw, I’d love to have a bumper sticker of the .jpg at the top of this blog entry!
This is so exciting! Good for you, Bryon. All the best!
Goat,
So happy you have succeeded in finding your true calling, and that you are now going to “live the dream” as we say. Best of luck to you and I look forward to reading iRunFar for many years! Have a wonderful summer of adventure.
S
Many congrats Trail Goat on these latest developments. I have enjoyed getting to know you over the last few years, am honored to have become a part of iRunFar.com’s writing staff, and look forward to the continued growth and success of iRunFar.com !
Congrats brother !
Congrats, Goat! Fantastic and I love the framework/background/timeline that led to your new life. I hope I get there some day as well.
AND, I second the bumper sticker idea. I don’t rock many stickers on the truck, but I’d sport an irunfar.com sticker for sure.
Best,
Mike V.
Yahoo! I’m envious my friend. As always, I can’t wait to follow closely your journey AND cannot wait for all the new material you’ll be punching out.
Best of luck.
Cheers!
wow…this is REALLY cool news.
although, i know the REAL reason you’re moving to yosemite. wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
it’s even cooler news because there’s a chance that i’ll be relocating the family to coarsegold, oakhurst or mariposa this summer and now i know that there’s at least two awesome ultra folks in the immediate area to hit up for pre-dawn runs.
Very cool. Looking forward to all the new things you mentioned.
Good for you! Way to make the leap! If your “summer tour” takes you through Utah, look me up and we will hit the trails.
Again, congrats and I wish you much success!
Aric
Bryon, congratulations! I was amazed that you could practice law full-time AND write such an outstanding, in-depth blog. I wish you all the best and will continue to enjoy iRunFar.
Sorry to see you leave the area.
Best of luck!
Awesome! Congrats and Best of Luck to your new career. I will be watching:)
Congrats Byron.
I quit my job last year too to make trail ultra-running my career also. way less money, but it’s my passion. Enjoy the freedom.
Cheers, Paul
Bryon, seriously, I got chills reading your post. You freakin’ rock!!!!! I am so excited for you, this is huge. You’re doing what so few of us ever do: make a run for it and go for exactly what we want. I admire you and can’t wait to read all about things to come :)
I’ll embarking on my own version of this very soon (scary!), but until then, I’m living vicariously through you. Best of luck to you!!!!
Congratulations Bryon. Those left in the legal community salute you.
Wish I could write that in Latin off the top of my head and sound “cooler.”
Keep up the fantastic writing.
Live the dream! One day…
Congrats on the “Promotion”! and we’re excited to have you out here on the West coast! As we your readers, we can only hope you’ll see the success you wish to see here on irunfar
I forgot to mention, for those of you wishing to make the transition from adult-onset ADD (Adventure Deficit Disorder) to living your passion fulltime, I recommend reading The Four Hour workweek.
Tim Ferriss offers some great advice. It certainly helped give me the confidence to go out and do my own thing. See you in the Sierras.
Cheers, Paul
Wow, guys! Your support is overwhelming. Thanks so much! :-D
Donald, I hope we do cross paths in Yosemite. Drop me a note when you are around the park.
RunninRob, I sit here as a 30 yo with a BA in History wondering why I’m proofreading comments on my own website. ;-)
Casseday, Thanks for your words. They mean a lot coming from you.
Derrick, It’s definitely scary! That said, I already can’t imagine going back to my old job!
Jamie, the JPg at ath etop of the website rotates. Can you describe the image you liked? If so, you’ll soon get an iRunFar bumper sticker. :-)
Tony, You’re the best for being iRunFar’s only weekly correspondent!
Mike V, On your second, there will be iRunFar bumper stickers in the near future!
Jeff, May we be one anothers’ company for many a run through the Sierras!
Aric, While my summer schedule is still evolving, I may be in SLC for a few days before the summer OR show. Also, if I’m not sick of being on the road by September, I may spend the week or two before Wasatch in the SLC area.
Paul, I’m glad to know that I’m following in such good footsteps.
Paige, What adventures are you embarking upon?
Hey Bryon – can’t speak for Jamie, but I think the idea was the JPEG at the top of this particular post:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Vu0Dgvw8MHg/Sgjghk99q5I/AAAAAAAADnM/-VWGEbsRX88/s1600-h/iRunFar+logo.jpg
The bumper sticker I’d be after is the iRunFar.com logo, which says it all, helps further your “brand” and anyone who sees the bumper sticker will remember. Way cool.
Bryon, the jpg I was referring to is this one
http://tinyurl.com/pfs2es
edit: what Michael said!
Mike V.,
Good to know. I was planning on getting mostly standard iRunFar logo bumper stickers made, but would have gotten a couple custom bumper stickers made of the header images at the top of the website made if there was a request.
Now that Jamie has chimed in, we’re all on the same page. I work on getting these made later today!
Awesome new Bryon. Best of luck and I look forward to more things to come on your site.
Bedford
I will miss you!
from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
You must be excited for your new adventures Bryon! I’m glad we connected via e mail last month- thanks so much for contacting me.
Congratulations on choosing new endeavors and if you are ever in or near Portland, let us know!
I have to dust off your book and get back to training as the weather gets nicer… :)
lisa
Hi Lisa,
It’s been almost three year since I made “the move,” but I’m still enjoying my new adventures every day. :-)