Meet Telluride's Top Female Mountain Runner
A conversation with Lindsay Allison about her breakout year and how she got here
Welcome back to another Wednesday installment of Mountain Running & Living. Occasionally, I use this newsletter to spotlight other notable runners, and this is one of those times. I’m excited to introduce Lindsay Allison of Telluride to a wider audience, and I have a feeling this will be the first of several articles about her, given her rise on the mountain/ultra/trail scene. Scroll down for an excerpt of our talk and a video of our full conversation. But first, I bring you two short updates.
Get checked
Last February, I wrote about Magda Boulet, an Olympic marathoner and Western States Endurance Run 100-mile champ who has a compelling background as an immigrant. I followed Magda and often crossed paths with her when I lived in the East Bay Area, since she lives in Oakland. In the earlier post, we talked about her comeback to running after turning 50 and having a full hip replacement.
Last week, she shared the surprising and concerning news that she has been diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent chemo and radiation therapy earlier this summer, and now she’s recovering and regaining strength. She wrote on her Instagram post: “My hope is that by sharing my experience, I can encourage other women to not skip their routine Pap tests like I did.” You can read her full update here:
My heart goes out to Magda. I deeply admire her and wish for her return to full health soon.
Mostly, I thank her for sharing her news and encouraging others to get routine health screenings. Whether it’s a Pap, colonoscopy, skin check, mammogram, complete blood panel to check cholesterol and other markers, or any other test that can help you prevent or catch a problem in an early stage, don’t delay! Schedule it now. Take it from me, someone who didn’t think I needed a colonoscopy because I’m a healthy runner with low risk, but I had aggressive precancerous polyps that got removed early enough; and, I didn’t think I needed to see a dermatologist, but I got precancerous growths removed from my forearms. Get an appointment on calendar, then you can put it out of mind until that date.
Utah’s lawsuit against the U.S. jeopardizes public land stewardship
If you read this newsletter regularly, you know that I am raising funds and awareness for Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF), the only nonprofit dedicated to protecting special and sensitive public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In addition to supporting a network of 80 grassroots environmental organizations throughout the West that closely monitor and care for these landscapes and their wildlife, CLF engages in advocacy on policy and legal fronts.
Last week, CLF’s team sprung to action to help fight a new lawsuit filed by the state of Utah that challenges federal control of some 18.5 million acres of public land in Utah managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
CLF’s leaders said in a statement, “This lawsuit is as frivolous as they come and a blatant power-grab by a handful of Utah politicians whose escalating aggression has become an attack on all public lands as we know them.”
But the best commentary on the lawsuit comes from environmental writer
, who wrote: “[Utah] Gov. Spencer Cox is apparently feeling sensitive about his opponent and state lawmaker Phil Lyman out-wing-nutting him on public lands issues. … Cox has gone all in on the MAGA grievance party, in which he whines and cries about having too much public land in his state, even though that public land is easily the state’s most valuable asset and alluring draw. It’s all a vain and vacuous spectacle aimed at riling up the extreme right wing that is increasingly calling the shots in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.”You can read Thompson’s full story about the lawsuit here, and this article in High Country News explains it well also.
Meanwhile, I’d sincerely appreciate if you click through to my fundraising page to learn more about the Conservation Lands Foundation and consider making a donation to my campaign to support CLF’s mission.
From CA to CO, Lindsay Allison is crushing all types of trail races
I used to follow races and keep on top of who’s who in the sport of ultrarunning. A decade ago, for example, I closely scanned race results every week and had a vote in Ultrarunning Magazine’s Ultrarunner of the Year contest.
But my interest in covering the sport’s up-and-comers has faded as I’ve grown older and as the newer, younger stars have crowded the scene. I’m also turned off by their excessive attempts to be “influencers” and gain attention and sponsorship, making the sport’s once-humble ethos seem quaint.
That’s why I find a new, younger star here in Telluride refreshing, because she doesn’t seek the spotlight; she just runs her ass off, on top of a full-time career, and gets increasingly impressive results.
When Lindsay Allison, 28, won back-to-back races during the last two weekends—thereby demonstrating her versatility and endurance—I thought, OK, it’s time to spread the word about Lindsay, because she’s much more than a local phenom.
On August 17, she won the USATF Trail 50K Championship race in the Marin Headlands north of San Francisco—a coastal route that’s hilly but mostly runnable and therefore demands speed as well as strength.* Then a mere week later, back on high-altitude home turf, she won the gnarly 24-mile division of the Telluride Mountain Run in stormy weather.
(*And let me tell ya, having run many 50Ks around the Marin Headlands in my heyday, always trying to break 5 hours and only once squeaking under for a 4:59 and the win, Lindsay’s time of 4:30 in the Headlands 50K two weekends ago is fierce.)
Although she had impressive podium finishes before this year—such as winning the 2023 Broken Arrow Skyrace Triple Crown—2024 will be seen as the year she really broke through. Consider this string of finishes:
1st place Marin Ultra Challenge 50K in March
2nd place Crown King Scramble 50K also in March (two weeks after MUC50K)
1st place Lake Sonoma 50M in April
4th place at the uber-competitive Broken Arrow Skyrace 46K in June
1st place at Telluride’s Rundola 1.3-mile hill climb race
5th place at Speedgoat by UTMB 50K in July
followed by the two wins at the Headlands 50K and Telluride Mountain Run mentioned above.
In six weeks, Lindsay will make her 100-mile debut at the Kodiak by UTMB 100M in the mountains of Big Bear, outside of Los Angeles.
Lindsay and I talked a couple of days ago while she worked remotely from home for LinkedIn, where she is a senior associate in business operations and strategy. “I primarily focus on abusive accounts, trying to keep bad actors off of the LinkedIn platform,” she explained.
I wondered aloud how she’s able to hold down a professional job and also log training weeks that often top 100 miles in these mountains, which means her training also includes a ton of vert.
“I run and I work, and that's about it,” she said with a laugh. “I'll get up early to run before work every day. And then most days I do something in the afternoon too. That's why I try to combine my socializing and my running.”
Lindsay runs with a speedy group of Telluride/Ophir locals on Tuesday nights, plus she logs many of her miles with friends including her partner, Ryan Becker, who’s also a top runner in this region.
I got to witness Ryan and Lindsay finish strong near each other on July 4, during our town’s nutty race up a ski slope (1800 feet of gain in a little over a mile). It was the first time in many years that I skipped participating in it and instead spectated from the top near the finish line. Ryan came up the hill like a rocket, defying gravity with a superhuman long stride, and set a new course record. Not far behind, Lindsay bounded up on legs that seemed made of springs to win the women’s race.
Because her legs seem so strong and springy, it didn’t surprise me to learn that she has a background in competitive gymnastics as well as downhill ski racing. “I grew up doing a million sports—nothing serious, everything in moderation,” she said.
She grew up in the Bay Area and went to high school in Marin, near the base of Mount Tamalpais, hence the reason she returns there often to train and race. She ran cross country for a couple of years, before graduating from high school in 2014, and during that time met Alex Varner, a notable Bay Area trail/ultra runner and pro Nike athlete who was in his prime when Lindsay met him. Varner went to Lindsay’s same school a decade earlier and would sometimes help coach their team.
“I was super inspired by him, and that's kind of when ultra got on my radar,” she said. “He did Western States that year [2014], and I was just blown away that you could run 100 miles.”
Then she went to Stanford University, “so I did not run there. They're way too good for me.” Instead, she joined the club ski team to ski race and would run “a couple of miles here and there.” But her junior year, she connected with an outdoorsy peer group and started running more with them in the hills around Stanford. She ran a few trail half marathons and then in 2018, the year she graduated, she ran her first ultra—the Broken Arrow Sky Race.
A year ago, when she won the Broken Arrow triple crown, she reflected in an Instagram post on that first big race five years earlier: “This race is so special to me. Growing up a ski racer, this mountain was my home for 20+ years…. This was my 5th time at the event—the first in 2018 was my first 50K, the day before my college graduation. I remember being completely unable to sleep the night before, thinking finishing would be impossible. Fast forward five years, I slept great! (And finished almost three hours faster in the 50k, albeit on a modified course.)”
When she started running more seriously during college, however, she found herself repeatedly injured. She didn’t break the cycle of injury and run with consistency until relocating to Telluride, first in 2018 temporarily, following graduation, and then permanently in mid-2021.
She credits the more varied pace in the mountains, which blends in hiking, for keeping her healthy.
“Growing up in the Bay Area, there’s a ton of trails, but it’s not mountain running. It’s a different type of running. I remember doing the [Sneffels] Highline for the first time”—a 12-mile trail above Telluride with 4000+ feet of elevation gain and a high point above 12,000 feet—“and thinking, like, I was hiking! What was that? Like, that wasn't running! But it was so beautiful, and I fell in love with it so much. That was my first mountain-running summer. …
“I had been really injured through college, just battling thing after thing. And that summer was the first summer I didn't have anything pop up. I attributed it a lot to just not running as fast and hiking more. … Living here is really healthy. And I think I’m a better person. Growing up in the Bay Area is amazing, but it's also really competitive and breeds a Type-A personality, which I have [she laughs]. It’s refreshing to be surrounded by a different type of person, and I think mellowing out is really good for me.”
I asked about how and when she met Ryan, since it seems they have a supportive relationship as training partners. She met him when she moved to Boulder in 2019 to start her LinkedIn job, and she lived in a house with Andy Wacker, a top trail runner who founded The Trail Team to support and develop other trail runners. Turns out, Ryan was living in that house, too.
I asked her, “When you met, did you look at each other and say, ‘Hey, you look like me, we could be siblings’?” because they look a lot alike.
She laughed, “We do look really similar, it’s pretty wild.” (They played on their similar appearance when announcing that she was asked to join rabbit’s elite trail team. Click through to check out this funny post.)
“So yeah, we met at Andy’s, and the funny part of our relationship is we’ve never not lived together. In terms of training, Ryan is arguably the reason I’ve gotten so much better at running. He is so supportive of me, always willing to do my workouts with me and usually will de-prioritize himself to help me, which is the most amazing thing you could ever ask for. …
“It's really special for us to be able to go on adventure runs together and train together as well. I'm super grateful. He’s obviously an amazing runner and definitely pushes me to be better.”
I’ll end on that sweet note and invite you to watch the video Q&A below, in which Lindsay talks about her upcoming 100-mile race, her longer-term goals, and more.
Thank you, Lindsay, for opening up about your background with me! It warms my jaded heart to talk to positive and grateful younger people like you who stay grounded even as your star rises.
Thank you for spotlighting this delightful human and sharing more of her story. I met Lindsay last fall at the Tuesday night running club…you are spot on about her humility - and toughness. Awesome combo!