The yr 2025 was large within the worlds of path operating, ultrarunning, and mountain operating, and thus within the iRunFar world. On the threat of being overly sentimental, we’d wish to take a second to replicate on the previous three hundred and sixty five days of iRunFar, which had been crammed with enjoyable, magnificence, problem, change, and a whole lot of operating.
This yr noticed a giant change-up within the iRunFar employees, with solely editor-in-chief Meghan Hicks staying in her identical function as captain of the ship. With a second child on the way in which, 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 you might acknowledge as a former iRunFar gear editor, photographer, freelance author, and race protection staff member. The previous is a misnomer; I nonetheless do all these issues, besides now I even have to face in entrance of the digital camera for interviews at races, as an alternative of hiding behind it.
Nathan Allen, one in every of 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 carry subsequent to iRunFar’s gear protection.
The beginning of the 2025 Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
We’re at all times grateful for our good, humorous, and ever-consistent staff of writers, who carry us tales that make us assume, 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 to 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 operating — and perhaps 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 once we’ve gotten one thing unsuitable.
We’re additionally endlessly grateful to the people and firms that help our mission. Supporting iRunFar permits us to inform the tales that matter.
The next are a few of our favourite articles, pictures, and recollections from the yr.
For a visit down Nostalgia Lane, listed here 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 revealed has distinctive traits, challenges, and charms. Typically, it’s simple to get misplaced within the weeds of all the things that goes into producing every story. The top of the yr is a good time to step again and see the iRunFar forest for the bushes. When assessing the forest, it’s not 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 yr in numbers:
We had 94 staff members contribute to iRunFar, starting from editors to writers to challenge managers to our invaluable volunteers who work tirelessly and thru all varieties of climate to assist produce our race protection.
We revealed 582 articles.
Our pre- and post-race interviews provide insights into the ideas, backgrounds, and personalities of prime athletes, and this yr, 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 Operating Championships — and UTMB takes the literal and figurative cake for the perfect pastry retailers by the end line.
Marinne Hogan on her strategy to ending third on the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Schooling
When making ready to interview for the managing editor function, somebody urged 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 a lot of you share this ardour. Thus, we do our greatest to publish not solely articles that give you a unique standpoint on operating, but additionally these that may allow you to diagnose an harm, make sound coaching selections, and, should you learn our Ask a Professional column by Gabe Joyes, study the idea behind carrying armwarmers with a tank prime.
Our Operating the Numbers column is one for the info geeks. Zander Chase and Mallory Richard artfully dug deep into the numbers behind our sport to tease out traits that could be invisible to the bare eye. Zander took shut seems to be at pacing, together with asking, Are Path Runners Getting Sooner, in addition to wanting on the pacing methods of the highest racers of the 2024 UTMB, in addition to these of this yr’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 yr together with his Ask the Professional column, the place he artfully marries good recommendation and humor to reply questions ranging throughout all features of operating. Whereas many questions revolve round meals — the Joyes family makes a imply Friday evening pizza — Gabe solutions queries about coaching, sweat sodium focus, and protecting toenails connected to your toes.
There’s a research that claims that 79% of runners get injured at the very least as soon as per yr, 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 getting back from harm or recommendation on coping with plantar foot ache, Joe at all times has an insightful tackle topics that too usually obtain solely surface-level remedy. For the non-injured, Joe has recommendation on staying that manner, together with belly-enhanced hip stretches and early-range hip flexor energy workout routines.
Along with protecting our our bodies wholesome, we revealed an article about why and the way dental well being can impression coaching, efficiency, and VO2max.
Adrian Stott provides a near-encyclopedic data of a few of the not-always-trail corners of the extremely world. This yr, he offered invaluable insights in his 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Preview, in addition to his reflections on the 2025 World Mountain and Path Operating Championships.
To an editor in command of fact-checking, Justin Mock’s This Week in Operating column can really feel like a wild goose chase for obscure operating details. Wish to know the origin of the 100-plus-year-old citadel 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, large and small, all over the world and supplies invaluable insights into the performances of the athletes on the prime 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 yr 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 yr, 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 carry our readers trusted opinions of sneakers and different operating equipment. Along with our in-depth product opinions, we additionally revealed a brand new Finest Street-to-Path Sneakers class information.
Columnist Gabe Joyes seems to expertise one other psychological dimension on the Chapman Gulch help station, mile 84.5, of the 2025 Hardrock 100. He went on to complete ninth. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Inspiration
Operating is crammed with fascinating characters. At iRunFar, we’re so proud to have a staff of writers that features philosophers, artists, thinkers, and beer consultants. There generally is a lot extra to operating than simply placing one foot in entrance of the opposite, and these writers provide various views, inspiring us to develop as people and communities.
Sabrina Little’s column, The Examined Run, asks us to assume extra deeply about our operating, relationships, and lives — and the way all three overlap. Whether or not she’s pondering why athletes cheat, methods to navigate the section of life after our aggressive days finish, or advocating for the civic worth of sport, Sabrina supplies invaluable insights into what it means to be a runner and a human.
Final yr, artist-runner Hannah Inexperienced began a brand new collection, The Artwork of Operating, the place she interviewed runners who had been additionally artists. This yr, she continued with interviews with filmmaker Matt Trappe, graphic designer Vernan Kee, and extra. Hannah additionally saved up her Notes from the Path collection, and wrote in regards to the classes we will study from the mountains.
iRunFar founding editor, Bryon Powell, continues together with his month-to-month column about his ever-evolving relationship with operating. Whether or not it’s extolling the virtues of getting a Massive Bushy Audacious Purpose for staying motivated, offering ideas for operating your personal self-supported extremely, or providing warnings of when it’s time to rein in your operating, Bryon’s subjects 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 operating world that appears ever extra hyper-focused on particulars, Zach argues that science will not be the loss of life 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 staff — 14 years and going robust — with AJW’s Taproom. This yr’s Legendary Help Stations collection launched us to a few of the finest help stations within the sport, together with Cow Camp on the Loopy Mountain 100 Mile. His Operating and Growing old collection provides recommendation on getting older as a runner, together with taking what the day offers you. And, in fact, we will’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 all over the world. This yr, Filippo Caon shared a narrative in regards to the Translagorai Traditional and Amy Cockerham talked about how meals might be an integral a part of memory-making in our out of doors ventures.
Bryon Powell operating 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 individuals, and we do our greatest to carry you that human facet of the game by means of interviews and profiles.
Our WeRunFar column has undergone a sport of sizzling potato up 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 file, 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 yr, penning enjoyable profiles on Sean Meissner and Yassine Diboun. The column now passes to the considerate arms of Lydia Thomson for 2026.
The Lengthy Recreation, our column profiling prime runners within the sport, has additionally modified arms. Sarah Brady wrote a number of inspiring profiles throughout the first half of the yr, 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 fascinating conversations with prime runners who take unconventional approaches to their operating, together with Anne Flower after her gorgeous 2025 Leadville 100 Mile course file, and Tove Alexandersson after her spectacular 2025 Path World Championships Brief Path win.
iRunFar is thought for its pre- and post-race interviews. We interviewed Katie Schide no fewer than 4 instances over the course of her 2025 Hardrock 100 and 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path wins. We additionally had some new faces on digital camera, 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 a great chuckle in second place on the Rucky Chucky river crossing throughout the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Pictures
We’re lucky that our sport takes place in gorgeous places, and it’s unattainable 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 yr and to seize our personal pictures all through the course of our race and occasion protection as effectively.
Katie Schide touches the rock after profitable the 2025 Hardrock 100 in course file time. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Caleb Olson wins the 2025 Western States 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Zach Miller operating 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 challenge. Photograph: Nick Danielson
Caitriona Jennings wanting happy along with her new girls’s 100-mile world file. 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 staff members have had large years, each professionally and personally, and we requested them to share a few of their favourite recollections from the yr.
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 acquired 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 acquired manner 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 most likely slower than mountain climbing, however added to the enjoyable. And whether or not due to July warmth, the excessive allow price, or wildfires close by, the camp and falls had been shockingly uncrowded. Our days had been spent creekside, with each 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 challenge with me, regardless of not needing any firm or help. It acquired me out in good firm, in a reasonably place, for one in every of my few lengthy runs of the summer time. After which, I acquired 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 goal of operating 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 individual 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 lots to rejoice in iRunFar in 2025, however one of many issues I’m most happy with is the staff’s work in masking 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 are stacked carefully collectively on the race calendar. Whereas we lined these occasions, we additionally maintained our each day publishing schedule of standard materials. It was an all-hands-on-deck state of affairs, and I used to be so happy with our staff’s onerous work throughout that point!
The previous couple of years have been difficult when it comes to prioritizing myself amongst life’s different tasks. My operating and basic health, sadly, mirrored this, so a significant aim for this yr was to work on my bodily conditioning. As we shut 2025, I’m joyful to say I’m ending the yr 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 enterprise an 8.5-day, 265-mile operating journey on the Trans Bhutan Path in Asia. And, I’ll be logging my highest mileage yr within the final 5 years. I nonetheless have work I wish to do, however I’m happy 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 picture (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 file on the Javelina 100 Mile. I cherished listening to about how Murray balanced his coaching together with his educating 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 don’t 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 incredible day above treeline in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains with good mates in the midst of a busy iRunFar summer time 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 yr?
