“I went further than I ever thought possible, I felt better than I ever thought possible, and I completely surprised myself. I had had the experience of a lifetime.”

In 2019, Lauren Jones had the chance of a lifetime. She was in her dream race, the Leadville 100. But her dream race turned into one she couldn't finish. In her words, she was broken and mentally crushed. 

The day after Lauren dropped from her race, she went back and watched the final hour of the final finishers at Leadville and that sealed the deal. She knew she'd be ready the next time.

That vow would begin in 2020 - that would be her redemption year. 

Unfortunately, it would also be the year of COVID. All those redemption races she'd signed up for were suddenly cancelled. Lauren needed to find a pursuit to ease the sting - something to focus her training - an outlet for her pent up redemption energy. 

She didn't go small, that's for sure. Around a campfire her and some friends decided that outlet would be chasing the fastest known time on the 350 mile Pinhoti trail - which was about 5 1/2 days...

In this interview Lauren tells us about the beauty she found in the chase. 

She told me the most beautiful part of the experience was the people.

"The people made it the experience. I thought it would be just grinding and getting miles and doing the thing. But I actually had such an incredible experience seeing how kind and how generous and how loving all these people were. There were some I didn't know at all and some I barely knew and some that I knew very well. All coming together and all working together and all working out this one common goal for this one person. I was just overwhelmed at the kindness of people. That was the whole experience of this thing for me. The people."

This a beautiful story about human strength. It's the story of what happens when one discovers doing something isn't as scary as it sounded. 

Read Lauren's Pinhoti Trail Recap Here: Race Report - Pinhoti In Review