Where the Road Ends Launch Week (with Contests!)

A week celebrating the launch of Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running published by iRunFar’s Meghan Hicks and Bryon Powell.

By on April 11, 2016 | Comments

[Note: Links to all seven launch week contests are found below.]

Dear iRunFar readers,

Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail RunningFor nearly two years, both of iRunFar’s full-time editors have been working behind the scenes to write Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running, a full-length guide for prospective as well as beginner-to-intermediate trail runners. It’s with great excitement that we will share that hard work with the world beginning this Wednesday, April 13th. With that in mind, we hope to have your excitement match ours… especially with nearly $12,000 in prizes!!

This book represents the single biggest effort in iRunFar’s history with countless hours of writing, editing, and collaboration. We believe that last element has been one of iRunFar’s strengths for years, and while often more difficult than working solo, yields in a better result from everyone involved. We’re proud to have carried that over to Where the Road Ends.

The book itself isn’t meant to get the long-time trail runner from 98% to 100% of her potential. Rather, with it we hope to:

  • Provide someone starting from scratch all the tools necessary to become a trail runner;
  • Help other outdoor athletes feel as comfortable in their new mode of locomotion as in their more familiar ones;
  • Aid road runners in making a comfortable and confident transition to the trails;
  • Give beginner-to-intermediate trail runners the information they need to get more out of their adventures or racing, including filling in any specific proficiency gaps that a long-time trail runner may have, such as learning more about choosing gear, extreme conditions, wilderness safety, navigation skills, nutrition and hydration, or building a training plan.

To this end, we drew on our own decades of experience, countless conversations with fellow trail runners, and the expert advice of some of the world’s best trail runners, including Kilian Jornet, Emelie Forsberg, Anna Frost, Dylan Bowman, and Stephanie Howe.

With the book, we also hope to inspire folks to get out there and hit the trails, which is why it’s awesome to have the entire book in full color with stunning images throughout. What’s more, each chapter ends with a “Races and Places to Inspire” section highlighting a selection of such places that will get your heart racing and your mind dreaming.

If you love trail running as much as we do, consider picking this up for a friend, family member, or colleague who’s dabbled in or considered dipping her or his toe into trail running. Heck, if you love trail running, you might want to pick up a copy yourself to see if you can glean some seeds of wisdom from a new source. If you’d be so kind to us and as helpful to others, you can spread the word about the book, by tweeting or Facebooking about it, writing a review on Amazon or another review site, or simply telling a friend about it. (Here are some other ideas for helping out!)

The book should be available immediately upon launch–this Wednesday, April 13–from Amazon.com as well as many online retailers. It should hit American retailers’ shelves in the coming days and weeks with broad distribution throughout the English-speaking world within a few weeks. (With a little luck, it’ll make it into a few other languages, as well.)

Get out there!
Bryon and Meghan

Ps. As a fun fact, Where the Road Ends officially launches almost exactly five years and one day after Bryon’s Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons launched.

Launch Week Contests!

To celebrate the launch of Where the Road Ends, we’re holding an amazing series of giveaways over the five seven days worth nearly $12,000 in total(!?). Each day this week, we’ll open up a new week-long contest that pulls together a full kit for a trail runner, new or old! Feel free to enter one or all of them! We’ll announce the contests below as they go live!

[NOTE: You must enter contests on their respective pages, NOT on this page!]

Winners will be determined in the weeks following the contests’ closure. We’ll notify all winners directly.

Bryon Powell

Bryon Powell is the Founding Editor of iRunFar. He’s been writing about trail running, ultrarunning, and running gear for more than 15 years. Aside from iRunFar, he’s authored the books Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running, been a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, written for publications including Outside, Sierra, and Running Times, and coached ultrarunners of all abilities. Based in Silverton, Colorado, Bryon is an avid trail runner and ultrarunner who competes in events from the Hardrock 100 Mile just out his front door to races long and short around the world, that is, when he’s not fly fishing or tending to his garden.