As the year winds down, the holidays near, and running goals of 2026 begin to dawn on the horizon, I’m once again fielding the annual question from patients and runners alike: What do you get a runner who already owns every running shoe, performance sock, and gel flavor known to humankind?
Each December, I pause to appreciate the real gifts running bestows — resilient bodies, hard-earned lessons in patience, and the quiet satisfaction of staying healthy enough to keep showing up.
In that spirit, here’s an updated holiday gift guide from a sports medicine perspective, featuring items selected from my physical therapy clinic, coaching practice, and years spent on the roads and trails. They are practical tools for recovery, injury prevention, and long-term durability.
Gifts for ultrarunners can help them run farther, faster, and injury-free. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
In this year’s haul, I have a handful of gifts in three categories:
- Under the Tree: Body work tools to enhance mobility and performance
- Stocking Stuffers: Nutritional gifts for fueling and recovery
- Spoiled by Santa: Bigger-ticket, indulgent, but high-utility gifts
Under The Tree: Body Work Tools
These are two old-school self-massage tools still near and dear to me. They are the ones I most often recommend to my physio and running clients.
The Stick: A flexible, spindle-lined massage rod designed for rapid, portable, self-myofascial release. This was my go-to massage tool during my early running days and when I began coaching over 20 years ago. With the exploding popularity of foam rolling, they fell to the wayside. In the clinic, I am bringing them back.
Besides their superior portability, massage sticks allow runners and body workers alike to apply mobilizing force at a shallower angle. This targets more superficial fascial tightness, where many dysfunctions live, particularly in the lower legs. A massage stick is also a great way to work on certain areas more comfortably. Rolling the quadriceps with a massage stick is much easier and less excruciating than putting one’s full body weight on a roller!
A massage stick is a great way to target specific muscles for self-myofascial release. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The Orb: A firm 5-inch massage ball delivers targeted, deeper-tissue work, not just for the legs, pelvis, and rib cage, but also for the belly. It is my go-to tool for visceral mobilization — a key strategy for an ultrarunner’s orthopedic and digestive health.
Stocking Stuffers: Fueling and Recovery
Nutrition products for running, particularly for endurance athletes, are like the hottest toys for kids: They have big hype, but not always the best staying power.
Two of my favorite options are easy to use, inexpensive, and provide big benefits for the hardworking athletes in your family.
Creatine: Once reserved for the bulking gym athletes, creatine has gained traction as a high-utility supplement for all athletes, especially runners. Recent data has shown that creatine not only builds muscle but also aids in faster muscle and connective tissue recovery. More recently, it has proven to be a neurological aid, enhancing nervous system recovery and supporting brain and nerve function during periods of sleep deprivation and prolonged exercise — the exact demands of ultrarunning. Creatine is inexpensive and easy to use. It can be added to recovery beverages or hot coffee in the morning, which is my strategy.
Creatine can aid in faster muscle and connective tissue recovery, so you can make the most of your runs. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Gelatin: Once thought to be reserved for grandma’s holiday Jell-O dish, or to thicken her winter-warming soups, gelatin is gaining major traction in the health and wellness spheres for its unique amino acid (protein building block) profile. While gelatin is a protein supplement, it differs from whey or plant protein and collagen, all of which are also useful in rebuilding muscle and connective tissue. Gelatin is an animal-based, connective tissue protein made of 19 amino acids. It contains approximately 30% glycine, 15% proline, and 15% hydroxyproline, three amino acids that are abundant in connective tissues but relatively scarce in muscle meats.
What makes gelatin unique is that it provides many restorative effects to multiple body systems. It helps repair and build muscle and connective tissue, repairs and maintains gut health, supports the immune system, and aids in nervous system function and recovery, all major body systems that require and readily gobble up these key amino acids. Like creatine, it is a natural supplement that is relatively affordable and has minimal side effects. And if you can’t get grandma’s Jell-O year-round, you can easily add gelatin to your morning coffee, post-workout recovery beverages, or even your post-long run scrambled eggs and pancakes!
Spoiled by Santa: Big-Ticket, High-Utility Gifts
These two gifts, while higher-priced, may provide the biggest return for runners and their supporters.
Manual Therapy and Sports Medicine Gift Certificates: Running is one of the most stressful activities on the body, with the repetitive impact load straining even the most efficient bodies with impeccable running strides. The demands of trail and ultramarathon running only add to that load. As such, every runner can benefit from both routine soft tissue mobilization — typically the purview of massage therapists — as well as routine orthopedic check-ups from sports and running specialist physiotherapists, which help assess and restore mobility, strength, and running efficiency.
The emerging trend in sports medicine is that the highest-value sports medicine and body workers are direct-pay providers, rather than being contracted through specific insurance companies. Although you may be eligible for reimbursement from insurance or health savings accounts, seeing these talented sports and performance practitioners requires a direct cash or card payment. The good news is that most offer discounted multi-visit packages.
A gift certificate for bodywork from a highly trained physio can restore mobility, strength, and running efficiency. Photo courtesy of Joe Uhan.
During my competitive ultrarunning career, I saw my orthopedic physio once a month. Each visit was valuable, and we never ran out of areas to work on. Moreover, I left those visits not only feeling better, but also equipped with specific tools and strategies — exercises and running cues — that helped keep me moving and running better.
To get a gift certificate for the runner in your life, check in with their favorite provider. Many of us are running end-of-year or “open enrollment” discounts on treatment plans for 2026 and beyond. These range from three to four visits — often priced as low as $150 per hour session — upward to 20 visits, redeemable for a year or longer.
Regular visits to a massage therapist or physio can help keep you running injury-free. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Infrared Sauna: This is a great gift that the entire family can benefit from. Sauna usage has well-documented health benefits, including improved circulation and lowered blood pressure, decreased systemic inflammation through detoxification via sweating, and enhanced sleep and recovery.
For runners gearing up for blazing hot races like the Western States 100 or Badwater 135 Mile, the sauna is a crucial strategy for heat acclimation. It can drive the adaptations that help the circulatory system disperse heat, enhance sweat rate, and generate more “heat shock proteins,” which are structures that help protect working muscle cells during hot events.
But besides warming and cleansing the Nordic folks on winter days and tempering the crazy ultrarunners for those hottest days, sauna use has now been shown to enhance recovery, health, and performance for all runners. Heat training with saunas has been shown to boost VO2max and enhance neuromuscular function, resulting in faster top speeds and improved endurance, regardless of the temperature during the race.
Best of all, once considered luxury items, the technology for in-home saunas has improved, and their prices have decreased. Two-person saunas are widely available, including at discount chains like Costco, for under $2,000, and they plug into the standard 110-volt, 15-ampere outlets found in all homes.
A sauna not only provides health benefits, but is a great way to warm up after a chilly run. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Final Thoughts
Whether it’s a slender massage stick slipped into a stocking with care, a scoop of creatine stirred into Christmas morning cocoa, or an infrared sauna glowing quietly in the corner of the garage, the best gifts aren’t about more stuff — they’re about giving the ultrarunner in your life a few more healthy, fast, pain-free miles in the years ahead. In the end, every dollar spent on better mobility, stronger connective tissue, faster recovery, or professional bodywork is an investment in the one thing we all want most: the privilege of getting out and running.
Happy holidays, and here’s to a fast, far, and fun 2026!
Call for Comments
- What gifts have you given ultrarunners in your life?
- What meaningful gifts have you received in the past?
[Author’s Note: The author is neither affiliated with nor compensated by any company or product mentioned. Specific item brands do not necessarily represent an endorsement for the best product in a particular field; they are only an example of novel or quality products.]
