He continues to pull energy from that day. I felt very just connected to my body, nature, and the environment around me.” I would be among all these birds, and the water would hit the shore. “I used to go on this dirt trail by my house, down by the water. “I had just moved from the Seattle suburbs to Alaska, a town of 1,000 people,” Montgomery explained. Montgomery’s ‘why’ began in middle school when he was living on the western coast of Prince of Wales Island in the small fishing community of Craig, Alaska. (Photo: Mike McMonagle) Montgomery’s ‘Why’ in Running “If you ask the question, ‘Tell me one of your first experiences trail running, or the first time you fell in love with running, where you almost forgot your running and felt like you were in that flow state?’ Most of the time, technology is not part of that story.” Here, he references the inclination for many to become hyper-focused on pace, heart rate monitors, music, and other data inputs. “It’s easy to get caught up in that and forget your ‘why statement ’ in running,” said Montgomery. While incorporating new information into your running practice can be valuable for insights into fatigue or gait metrics, it is important not to lose sight of the technology’s purpose. The 28-year-old Utah runner’s accomplishments include numerous podium finishes over the past seven years, including Tarawera Ultramarathon, Javelina Jundred, and Tahoe 200 Endurance Run.

“ It’s very easy to get caught up in new technologies and training log data,” said elite ultrarunner Ryan Montgomery. We are currently in an era of abundant information and easily accessible data at our fingertips.

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