Member Spotlight: Katy Chrisler
Katy joined Trail Roots in June of 2021 when she was looking to diversify her exercise routine and to learn how to navigate the Austin trail systems – with company. As a single mother to two young boys, a writer and poet, Katy recently set her sights on running the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim with another Trail Roots member and long-time friend. In order to prepare for their adventure, she hired a coach, ramped up on running workouts, and upped her mileage during the longest and hottest consecutive triple digits on record (!). When she’s not running in the dark like a creep, you can find her submerged in water anywhere there is water, at the gym lifting heavy weights, reading library books at Barton Springs or out and about going full tilt with her boys (why yes, certainly, who doesn’t want to pretend to be a Kaiju right now instead of laying on the ground in the shade reading?). We love having her in the group and wanted to ask her a few questions about her journey with running.
What inspired you to start running and working out?
In my family, it was mandatory to play a sport through the age of 18; I exceeded that standard and played soccer in college (therefore I win all the conditional parental love). Being no stranger to working out, I joined the CrossFat cult in 2010 and met a core group of female friends that I’ve lifted with since. Though we've moved on from the post-modern CrossFat era to a strength and conditioning focus, alongside many turbulent life changes – having babies to no good, very bad divorce scenarios – there’s something quite beautiful in showing up and working out hard with one another for a decade plus.
Why did you join Trail Roots?
As mentioned above, I’m a deep-seated creature of habit and the gym has been such a longtime place of safety and knowing. I joined Trail Roots because I wanted to challenge myself to take a step away from my familiar routine. I’ve never been a superfan of running but nature I can get down with. With COVID still wrecking shop, I joined up to explore the greenery with other people also interested in being awake before the sun comes up.
Has your training changed since joining a group?
I’m still slightly trepidatious about running with the Tuesday AM crowd, à la the Brat Pack runners (ahem, you frontrunners know who you are), but have seen my relationship to distance and capability change significantly over the duration of this recent training bout. It’s funny how your spectrum of understanding expands what’s possible.
What do you love about trail running?
Snakes.
As a busy mom and writer, how do you make time for training? Why is it important to you?
I know deeply that I’m a better human, in general, as well as a mother when I make time to do the things that I want/need to do. My physical practice and my creative practice are both core tenets of my being, central to who I am and how I function. It’s less about making more time, believe me, I wish there was more, but with the time I do have, it’s prioritizing activities that give back to me and are in line with my values.
You started the group with our Discovery trail class and are now planning to run rim-to-rim at the Grand Canyon. Tell us how this dream came to fruition?
I originally wanted to run the Grand Canyon last year for my 40th but was reeling in a space of much unknown after being laid off; the startup I was working at went under fast (news flash, I also was recently laid off again this year - if anyone has a writing job, holler). At that time I couldn’t muster myself into any sort of organizational mindset to celebrate or tackle a challenge with such depleted/defeated energy reserves. This year, I told Tim we were doing it regardless of life woes, booked a calendar date at the rim to catalyze action, and then hired Rachel as a coach to have someone tell me what to do – a much welcomed relief from being self-directed.
How has working with a coach and doing the Tuesday/Thursday quality workouts helped your training?
Tuesday AMs are a different sort of beast in that it’s road running and often track workouts. I’ve never been much of a metrics-driven human and instead prefer to operate more intuitively. These workouts challenge that notion and force me to look more closely at pace in a way that’s distinct from wandering along a trail not really giving an F if we are moving at a 9 min or 19 min pace. That being said, the extra miles, pace differentials, efforts and seeing other faces in the group have solidified a sense of group belonging.
“I joined Trail Roots because I wanted to challenge myself to take a step away from my familiar routine. I’ve never been a superfan of running but nature I can get down with. With COVID still wrecking shop, I joined up to explore the greenery with other people also interested in being awake before the sun comes up.”
— Katy
What do you hope to get out of the canyon experience?
My number one goal is to revel in the sublime available within such a space. I consider this a spiritual excursion and am not tethered to any performance-based outcomes. I want to not die, which for me means, train enough that I have bandwidth and attention to give to access the wonder beyond my own physical capacity.
This year you also went on our Big Bend Runcation. How was that experience?
I had wanted to get out to Big Bend for a while and the infrastructure (food/meal/logistics) organized by Trail Roots made it a breeze. I would def recommend the runcation as an intentional way to travel/run solo but together.
What advice would you give people who are new to trail running and want to join a group?
That I’ll grant you a two-year leeway period to learn anyone’s names. Even if sporadic, trail running puts you out in nature in a way that can offset our very dumb, busy lives. I wouldn’t be anybody other than myself if I didn’t quote Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost: “That thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you is usually what you need to find, and finding it is a matter of getting lost.”