Member Spotlight: Casey Enyeart
Casey Enyeart joined Trail Roots in 2020 when she was looking for a social outlet during the pandemic and to learn more about trail running. Growing up playing a myriad of sports from soccer to ice hockey, Casey has been a lifelong athlete. She now focuses on triathlon and road marathon training, with the goal of qualifying for the coveted Boston Marathon. Along with her sidekick dog, Reyna, she rounds out her athletic lifestyle with trail running, running vacations, cycling, and is an avid strength trainer. After years being dissatisfied with how running shorts fit her, she has now started developing her own pair of running shorts! Casey is a powerhouse and an advocate for supporting women in running. We wanted to ask her a few questions about her journey with running and Trail Roots.
What inspired you to start running?
I grew up playing a lot of sports and for soccer most teams I tried out for had a 1 or 2 mile time trial, but I always struggled with those. Then when I went to college I decided to go to a large university instead of a smaller one to play D3, because I wasn’t good enough to play D1. So I just played club ice hockey, which only had 1 practice a week so I had a lot more time to be in charge of my own fitness and just slowly started running and going to the gym on my own. I enjoyed using running as a tool to explore, be outside, have time to think, or space to get away from stress as well as seeing the improvements in my pace and distance.
Why did you join Trail Roots?
I joined in October of 2020 because during the pandemic I had been fine for a few months staying home and not socializing much as an introvert, but it finally started to get to me and I thought a running group would be a great way to get out and meet new people that also loved running in a “safe” way for covid social distancing standards. I also wanted to explore and learn more about trail running, at that point I had just dabbled in it a little and wanted to learn more trails and other things about trail running. It’s one of those things I like learning from others with more experience, they tend to share useful information you wouldn’t otherwise think of.
Has your training changed since joining a group?
Yes and no, I have run in other groups before, but Trail Roots definitely has it’s own ‘vibe’, it’s much smaller and more laid back, I’ve discovered a lot more trails and also love the group chats, it’s funny, but also I love to see when people ask a question other people are very willing to help. It helps keep me connected to the group because as a morning runner, there are so many evening people I rarely ever see. I’ve definitely discovered more trails and even considered maybe one day running and ultra, which was never even a thought for me a couple years ago.
What do you love about running and sports?
Where do I start? Haha, I grew up playing a lot of sports and it’s really the main way that I’ve always made friends, not sure if that’s considered odd, but it’s where I feel the most comfortable, and on team sports you really need to bond with your team and even if you don’t you can get to understand people really quickly that way. I love challenging myself physically and sometimes mentally. What I love about running is that it’s so simple or primal, in that, besides supershoes, it’s just pure effort and mental fortitude as well as knowing when to push and when to hold back. Also, I’m a data nerd and love looking at metrics and improvement or lack of.
What is your favorite trail to run with Trail Roots?
That’s tough, but probably Steiner Ranch, it’s got a little of everything.
Why is qualifying for Boston such a motivator for you?
I’m a very goal oriented person and I’ve gotten close at just 8 min away from my goal time, but I think it’s just always been something I wanted to challenge myself to achieve and getting kinda close, I know it’s within reach. I kinda feel like it’s a bucket list thing to prove to myself that I can do it and then I’ll probably switch over to more trails, ha.
How did Reyna come into your life and how did you train her to run with you?
I lost my last dog to severe epilepsy and when she passed I took it really hard so I wasn’t ready to get another dog anytime soon. However, I lived alone and missed having dogs around so I fostered a lot for a year and kept seeing the APA emails for puppies and when I finally felt ready I saw her on the APA website. Deb, as she was originally named, was the second puppy I met at a foster house and as soon as I met her I knew she was my girl, she crawled in my lap and started licking my face in the sweetest way. I also tried to find a puppy I thought would be a running dog, luckily I guessed well. When I finally picked her to take home I could tell she was gonna be a handful, she wasn’t scared at all and even climbed up on the dashboard (yeah I didn’t bring a crate because I was so used to puppies being scared and just crawling on the floor).
For training her, I could tell she had a lot of energy and just started with running down the block with her after my runs, then gradually got a little bit longer every few weeks or so. And I could tell she loved it.
You’ve joined us on our Big Bend Runcation, how was that experience?
Big Bend National Park is one of my favorite places in the world. Big Bend was the first ever place I went camping at 26, so it has some special meaning to me. On the Trail Roots runcation it was great to explore new trails and I convinced my now fiance to go even though he’s not a runner so I got to share that with him, but I also got to spend more time with some awesome people in Trail Roots and get to know them. Also, I surprisingly loved the desert run day, and got to have that feeling of being somewhat alone in the desert, but also felt safe knowing that Erik and the group weren’t far away in case anything happened.
What made you want to design your own pair of running shorts? What has that experience been like?
So I consider myself a mid-size runner, and have always struggled with running shorts. I tend to wear the longer spandex shorts to avoid chafing and wanting pockets, but I find that they are still uncomfortable in the middle with all the seams, so I looked all over for a year for the perfect running shorts I had in mind and couldn’t find them. I have many many times thought about different ideas to bring into reality and finally I just decided that this would be the thing I actually try, why not? It’s still in the very early stages of trying to find suppliers, manufacturers and designing, but hoping by summer to have some samples for any ladies that also struggle with shorts to try out and give me feedback to update.
What goals do you have this year either with running or life?
This year feels like one of those years where there’s somehow all the things going on. I got engaged in November and we are hoping to get married this year, but haven’t made any progress. We want something small, cheap, and easy so at least there’s that. I'm more excited about the honeymoon. I’m hoping to get the shorts business off the ground and at least start selling some shorts this year.
Running, I’m not sure, I’m in a weird place right now with running because I’ve been battling a hip injury for about 3 years. I am signed up for the Tunnel Marathon in June with the hopes of a BQ, but am not entirely sure if I’m there yet, so I need to make a decision on that soon.
This is also my last year with Explore Austin as a mentor. I just wanted to plug that organization, because they really do some awesome things, and I’ve had a great experience with it. Me and 3 other mentors work with a group of young girls for 6 years doing various outdoor activities that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. And each summer we have a week long trip and they have increasingly more responsibility so this summer they are almost fully planning our rock climbing trip to New River Gorge and are going to have to camp alone for one night. It’s been impressive to see how much they’ve grown from when I first started working with them and now, but I’m also sad it’s our last year together.
What advice would you give people who are new to running and want to join a group?
Be easy on yourself and find your own path. Everyone is going to have a different path and be at a different part of that path when you meet them, so don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions or for help. Runner’s will love to talk about running and share their knowledge or help you out, but sometimes you just have to ask. And if you’re a socially awkward and introvert like me, give it time to find your people.
If you want to follow along with Casey’s shorts brand, follow @mdl.run