Welcome New York Times Visitors!
March 20, 2013 by Bryon Powell · 33 Comments
The runners here at iRunFar would like to welcome all our new visitors from the New York Times Magazine article on Kilian Jornet. If you’re completely new to iRunFar.com, we’re an online magazine dedicated to sharing the people, places, and things that make trail running and ultrarunning so special. That means race reports, interviews, gear reviews, educational resources, general editorial content, and much more.
For a sampling of what we’re all about, take a look at the following resources:
- How to Train for an Ultramarathon
- iRunFar’s shoe reviews
- The best of iRunFar in 2012
- iRunFar’s regular columns
- Your Ultra-Training Bag of Tricks (a collection of ultramarathon training articles)
- Ultramarathon clubs (get out there yourself!)
- TrailPorn.com (safe-for-work images to inspire the trail runner in all of us)
For those looking to learn more about Kilian Jornet, we’ve interviewed and written about him many times over the past four years. Here are the highlights:
- Kilian’s 2009 Tahoe Rim Trail Record – A Pacer’s Perspective
- 2010 Western States 100 – Pre-Race & Post-Race (video interviews on both sides of Kilian’s 3rd-place finish)
- 2011 Western States 100 – Pre-Race & Post-Race (video interviews on both sides of Kilian’s win)
- 2011 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc – Pre-Race & Post-Race (video interviews on both sides of Kilian’s win)
- Kilian’s Racing Nutrition
- Post-2012 TransVulcania Ultramarathon (post-race video interview after Kilian’s 3rd-place finish)
- 100-meter World Record attempt on La Palma (retro video)
- 2012 Zegama Marathon (post-race video interview after Kilian’s win)
- An introduction to Summits of My Life, Kilian’s multi-year quest over many of the world’s most iconic mountains
- Pre-2012 Speedgoat 50k (video interview)
- Grand Teton Fastest Known Time (video interview)
- 2012 Pikes Peak Marathon (post-race interview after Kilian’s win)
- A review of A Fine Line, a filming highlighting the start of Kilian’s Summits of My Life project
If you enjoy what you see of iRunFar, consider subscribing to iRunFar to get all the latest ultra info from iRunFar.com subscribe via RSS or email. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter.
Happy trails,
Bryon Powell
Kilian Jornet and Anton Krupicka on La Palma in 2012.
Related articles:
- Kilian Jornet Pre-2011 Western States 100 Interview iRunFar's Bryon Powell interviews Kilian Jornet before the 2011 Western States 100....
- Kilian Jornet Post-2011 Western States 100 Interview An interview with Kilian Jornet, the 2011 Western States 100 champion, following the race....
- Kilian's Quest Episode 7 – Go West Young Man With little over a week until Catalan’s Kilian Jornet runs the Tahoe Rim Trail, we’re getting pretty excited here at iRunFar. As each new detail filters in, the journey becomes...
Filed under No Feed ·
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
Great now everyone knows about our “quirky” sport :)
Don’t worry, most people will think we are crazy, or idiots. ;)
Yeah, no doubt. “50 miles. I don’t even like to drive that far. Hee Hee Hee” And people think they are original :)
Based on the comments on the times article our sport is safe. Normal people don’t get what we do or why we do it and no article will ever change that.
Probably the same folks from over at Letsrun :)
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!
I think the ‘print’ version of the article will be in this Weekend’s NY Times magazine, if I read it correctly.
Time for me to support print journalism!
I wouldn’t go and do anything rash. :)
Ha! Which will go first: print, the British monarchy, or the Electoral College? (I kid, I kid)
Sadly i think it will be print, we will hang on to our outdated superficial tourist attration if you don’t mind ;)
So glad you’re not offended by my attempt at “humour.” :-D
Your attempt at “humour” is greatfully received. I do worry that it wont be long until we will see the death of printed material. Don’t get me wrong i think that resources like this work much better online and “live” but what the hell am i going to use to light my fire, when all the newspapers go ditial only.
Also Bryon, can i just say a heartfelt thankyou to you and your team for this resource
“British Queen Urged to Relinquish Power” http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/24/295057/queen/
Foreclosed corporations includes United States of America and United Kingdom. “the British monarchy, or the Electoral College” Looks like it’s a tie.
http://americankabuki.blogspot.com/2013/02/for-immediate-release-foreclosure-on.html
When I read that article I had one of those moments where you feel like you are an insider and your beloved ,band,sport,brand,activity,whatever, is being exposed to the masses for them to adopt,exploit, and ruin.
Maybe I’m just cynical but it just reminded me of when a band I’ve been listening to for years all of a sudden gets featured in some stupid commercial and the next day everyone acts as if they’ve been fans for years.
It’s good exposure for the sport and to illuminate people to the reality that humans can do this stuff…but still it just had that feel to it.
On a positive note: Hopefully this will be a big breakout for iRunfar!
Sport and the mountains are for everyone. As long as people are not trashing the place then the more the merrier. I certainly feel like a better person after spending time in the mountains, the more people that can learn to enjoy, appreciate and work with the natural environments the better for society in general.
And personally i cant see Killian getting all ‘rock and roll’ on us throwing TV’s out the window, turning up to races still drunk from wild parties and neglecting his training. His mum (and the mountains) would kick his ass.
Good for you iRunFar!
Will be interesting to see if you notice any significant boost in the traffic for the next few days.
//Matt
Nice to see Kilian get the recognition he deserves, no point in worrying or being cynical.
great in-depth interview of him(in Spanish):
http://www.jotdown.es/2013/02/kilian-jornet-la-montana-es-la-cruda-realidad-te-obliga-a-ser-quien-eres/?fb_action_ids=10151541473185569&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map={%2210151541473185569%22%3A567963989881020}&action_type_map={%2210151541473185569%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map=[]
Its now available online: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/magazine/creating-the-all-terrain-human.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1&
Check out his VO2 Max! Very close to the great Bjorn Daehlie.
Daehlie was/is a ‘Norse God.’
$10 bucks says they put the nudie shot on the cover.
I did find it ironic that, with all the great pics (here at iRF and elsewhere) of KJ running amid spectacular peaks, they would instead feature the lower half of his 125 lbs in the flesh. I guess NYT knows what sells …
On the bright side, the article painted a really nice — if perhaps a bit idealized — portrait of an interesting and compelling athlete and mountaineer extraordinaire.
More and more we find that the explanation for why some human beings are so successful at certain activities is that they are a. born to the right parents/lineage, b. live in are raised at high altitude c. perform lifetime aerobic exercise in that environment, and d. have the desire to perform and enjoy those activities to the best of their abilities.
yep, I think we underestimate the importance of d. (see above)
$ 10 bucks there are thousands of folks born in the mountains with high V02max and low heart rates watching T.V. and eating French Fries.
Probably not thousands, and probably not eating fries. The low resting heart rate doesn’t come without training either.
The timing of this article is kind of funny. Damn near two years to the day from when this one was published:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/born-to-be-a-trail-runner/
I’ve got a feeling waaaaay more people started running ultras (barefoot, minimalist or fully shod) after that one came out than will try to go out and set an FKT or run up the nearest mountain after reading the piece on Kilian.
johan
Quakertown, PA
Johan, NYTimes is very in tune to emerging trends of all sorts. They have vast resources, talent, and contacts. There is a big, big difference in what the editors see as interesting/important or trending, and often people are profiled, between The Well blog article and this feature article in the magazine. This feature is very significant. I did find it interesting that there is no mention beyond that Killian is the only fully sponsored athlete of how he can afford to live this way, Salomon I would imagine. Now do all or very many Times readers trail run or do ultras probably not but I am sure many run and might have the means and ability to trail run more. I am always surprised at the number of regular runners who ski mountains but to whom running in the mountains just isn’t even on the their radar. All of this will probably mean an influx of new runners to ultras and mountain races, to semi organized FKT, etc.. I just enjoy running the mountains and have for going on 40 years.
I love how many of the commentators bring the article back to lance armstrong. LA is apparently the only endurance athlete they have ever heard of. I also want to add that we are all our own person, and no one but ourselves gets to choose what we spend our time doing.
Yeah, reading the comments was a tad depressing. Nice article, though. I’d kind of expected it to have a patronizing, “look at those whack-a-doos” tone to it, but it didn’t. Perhaps because the author is a marathoner and skiier.
I read some of the comments on the article at the nytimes page, I couldn’t help myself. Some of the responses there were nauseating. Even the psuedo-intellectual wording couldn’t mask the ignorance of many of the comments. There were also a few sweeping generalizations based on supposed facts that were of course completely incorrect. I won’t make that mistake again. The article itself is of course fantastic. It’s a shame.
Sort the comment’s by ‘Reader’s Picks’ — they are really many, many beautiful comments about the article.
Interesting to note that on his Facebook page, Lance Armstrong linked to the article and commented something to the effect of: “Best endurance athlete on the planet, quite possibly”
And I agree with “Reader’s Picks” as a way to view the comments.
I’ve had several “normie” friends call me to day to say they read the article and asked me was this guy part of the crazy sport I liked…
…all of them said they were struck by the combination of incredible talent with what seems to be a very down to earth attitude.
If that’s the impression they are getting, then whether it reaches 10 people or 10,000, it’s cool as far as I’m concerned. Plus, Bryon as a source for the New York Times… How great is that!