“You are living such a wonderful adventurous life, no wonder you smile all the time!”

I got several comments like this from folks seeing pictures of me on our recent trip to Switzerland. I too was struck by the joy on my face in the photos.

Our tour group had a professional photographer along (Sam Hill), which was such a treat. I’m usually the one taking the pictures, so I rarely see candid shots of myself. They are such a treasured keepsake of our adventure. (Nearly all of the amazing photos in this blog post were taken by Sam, so photo credits to him!)

I’ve always known being in the outdoors is my “happy place,” but I didn’t quite realize how much my joy shines through when I’m in my element. Even when hikes or runs are challenging, I’m almost always smiling and having a good time.

That was particularly true on this adventure.

The trip was organized by Run the Alps, a company that specializes in trail running tours in the Alps of Switzerland, France and Italy. They provide guided trips and self-guided itineraries for trail runners from around the world.

This trip was done in partnership with the indomitable Mirna Valerio (@themirnavator). I had the good fortune of meeting Mirna in person a little over a year ago when we ran over a volcano in the middle of the North Atlantic together.

I’ve written before about how she’s been such a huge positive influence in my life, and my experiences with her on this recent trip are no exception.

Mirna has worked with Run the Alps to curate trail running trips designed to serve folks who either need to, or wish to, run at a “slow AF” pace. The needs and desires of slower clientele can be a bit different than the typical folks who might book a trail running trip with Run the Alps.

Mirna worked with them to come up with challenging – yet doable – itineraries that included lots of options to help participants fully enjoy the experience. For example, they offered longer and shorter trail route options, and utilized trains/cable cars/gondolas/funiculars/zip-lines to get us up or down steeper sections. And trust me, in the Alps, there’s ALWAYS steeper sections!

Normally, I would never sign up for a group trail running trip, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to achieve the pace or the distance of the other participants. The stress that comes with such a mismatch in abilities can suck the joy out of an adventure, even before it begins.

I’m a firm believer in the “run your own race” and “hike your own hike” mantras, but no one enjoys the anxiety that comes from feeling like they don’t belong or are inconveniencing others.

In this case, however, I trusted that Mirna wouldn’t have put her name to a trip that she didn’t feel would be accessible and inclusive for folks like me.

And so that, my friends, is how I found myself running trails in the Swiss Alps. It was truly a magical trip, which I attribute to three things…

First, the scenery.

I’ve experienced a lot of big mountain ranges in my life…the Sierras, the Canadian Rockies and the Andes to name a few. But goodness, the Alps are something special.

Towering peaks, colossal cliffs, quaint mountain towns, cascading waterfalls, alpine meadows bursting with wildflowers, remote huts serving decadent chocolate, cheese and pastries…the Alps have it all.

Several friends commented that my photos and videos couldn’t possibly be real and must have been generated by AI. It felt that way in person too…like I was on some fake Disney Land ride.

The camaraderie of our group was the second element that made for such a splendid adventure.

I’ve written before about the power of being in the company of others with whom I have a shared lived experience (e.g., hiking Paria Canyon/Buckskin Gulch with a group of other kick-ass women).

In this case, beyond being great humans individually, all the folks who signed up for this tour share a joy in trail running at a more leisurely pace. As such, I didn’t have to worry about keeping up and I was surrounded by friends who were unfailingly fun and supportive, day in and day out.

Lastly, the guides Becki and Giles, and our photographer Sam, were key to making this a trip of a lifetime.

I was nervous before the trip about what the guides were going to be like. It’s one thing to have a trip curated for slower clientele on paper, but it’s another to pull that off in a way that doesn’t feel demeaning.

Professional trail guides like those from Run the Alps take clients on challenging mountain runs day in and day out. They are in spectacular physical shape and are used to long, hard days on the trail with (what I imagine to be) other elite hikers and runners. I was worried that the guides would become frustrated with my slow pace or be dismissive of my abilities.

I found the exact opposite to be true.

Our guides were infinitely generous, supportive and flexible. They seemed quite content to mosey along at whatever pace we desired and never put any pressure on the group to speed up.

They created lots of options to suit the needs of each individual in the group. It wasn’t uncommon for us to split up, with the guides taking smaller sub-groups of folks in different directions depending on what we wanted to do (e.g., running down the mountain vs. taking the gondola down).

They presented these options with a sense of abundance, and without judgement or patronization. “The world is your oyster, we’ll help you do whatever you want!”

At one point I overheard the guides conversing over a map about the various trail options they would present to us for the following day. It went something like, “we could run this trail up to the mountain hut…they have good cake there. Or we could take the gondola up and run the traverse trail over to the next valley…where they have great beer.” 

I knew in that moment that these guides were my kind of people!

All this is to say, there were so many factors that came together to make a trail running vacation not only possible, but a tremendous amount of fun.

I can’t speak for all fat and/or slow outdoorists, but for me…there’s always a certain amount of stress when planning to hike or run with a group of people I’ve never met before.

What if I can’t do this? Will I be too slow and get left behind? Will everyone be frustrated with me because I can’t keep up or because I can’t go the extra distance?

These little anxieties live happily in the background of my psyche, and I often don’t even realize I’m carrying them around until they are lifted. It’s like a sweater you didn’t realize was making you hot and uncomfortable until you took it off.

The scenery, the other participants and the guides all came together in the most spectacular of ways.

All my worries and concerns about being on a trip running through the Swiss Alps fell away almost immediately upon arrival. I felt like I belonged, and that is such a powerful, powerful state of being.

I’m deeply grateful to Mirna for doing the hard work to advocate for her community of slower paced trail runners.

The white part of me cringes at the idea of benefiting off the labor of a Black woman in this way…knowing that the advocacy work she does almost certainly takes a personal toll, no matter how receptive and well-intentioned the folks on the other side of that interaction are.

But the fat and slow parts of me rejoice that Mirna is willing to use her platform, influence and charisma to advocate for the inclusion of bodies of all sizes and abilities in the world of trail running.

I wouldn’t have found myself basking in the alpenglow of Switzerland’s mountains without:

• Mirna’s joyful embodiment, leadership and stedfast advocacy in the trail running community (and lots of other athletic spaces like biking and skiing).
• My fellow “slow AF” running friends like Glenn, Sayuri, JoeMarie and Rachel, who know how to have fun on the trail.
• Receptive and forward-thinking organizations like Run the Alps who are seeking to make their offerings more inclusive.
• The mountain goat skills of Sam to position himself in the best locations to take stunning photographs of our group. Seeing my joy reflected back to me in his photos was such an unexpected gift!
• Amazing guides like Becki and Giles who created a flexible, supportive and fun environment en route to some of the most spectacular sites I’ve ever seen.

I’m deeply grateful to all these folks. My smile says it all!  

I made lots of Instagram videos of our adventures, which helps to bring the experiences to life in fun and creative ways. You’ll find those videos linked at the bottom of this post. Check them out!

For those interested in the details of our adventure…

Our trip was in Switzerland’s scenic Bernese Oberland area, which has some of the most famous mountain terrain in the world. Each day we ran and hiked about 4-8 miles, and most days there was several thousand feet of elevation gain and/or loss.

Sites we visited included Schwarzwaldalp, Grosse Scheidegg Pass, Grindelwald Valley, the Eiger North Face, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen Valley, and lastly Mürren with amazing views of Jungfrau.

One of my favorite adventures was the grueling hike up to the Obersteinberg mountain hut where we spent the night in rustic splendor. Like truly one of the most magical places I’ve ever laid my head to rest. This was the same hike where a lovely herd of goats escorted us for quite a distance on the trail.

Another highlight was doing a tasting tour of homemade “apricot cake” (which is less like a cake, and more like a custard-based fruit tart with buttery crust, topped with fresh whipped cream) at the various mountain huts along the trails. I’m eager to return to continue this important research, as I’m not sure we found the best apricot cake (beer, cheese and chocolate) in all the Alps just yet!