{"id":27179,"date":"2024-06-13T15:38:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T21:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/long-distance-runner-chronicles-460-mile-trek-grief-in-new-book\/"},"modified":"2024-06-13T21:38:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T21:38:57","slug":"long-distance-runner-chronicles-460-mile-trek-grief-in-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/long-distance-runner-chronicles-460-mile-trek-grief-in-new-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-distance runner chronicles 460-mile trek, grief in new book"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Emily
Emily Halnon runs past Rosary Lakes, a little before reaching the halfway point of her run on the Pacific Crest Trail. (Courtesy of Emily Halnon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Emily Halnon\u2019s mother, Andrea, is the reason she runs.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Eugene, Oregon, resident is spending her third consecutive summer in Silverton getting ready for the annual Hardrock 100 endurance run.<\/p>\n

\"Emily
Emily Halnon runs past Rosary Lakes, a little before reaching the halfway point of her run on the Pacific Crest Trail. (Courtesy of Emily Halnon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

WHAT:<\/strong> Author event and book-signing with Emily Halnon, \u201cTo The Gorge: Running, grief, resilience and 460 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHEN:<\/strong> 6-8 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n

WHERE: <\/strong>The Rochester Hotel, 726 East Second Ave.<\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION: <\/strong>Visit https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/4a9e3xcj<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Halnon will be in Durango next week to talk about her new book, \u201cTo the Gorge: Running, grief resilience and 460 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.\u201d It\u2019s a book that takes readers with her on her 2020 record-breaking run of the 460-mile Oregon section of the PCT, a National Scenic Trail that, according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association, covers 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada.<\/p>\n

She did it in seven days, 19 hours and 23 minutes, averaging about 60 miles of running per day and battling through everything nature and her own mind could throw at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got into running because my mom ran her first marathon the year she turned 50. At the time, I really wasn\u2019t a runner. Watching your 50-year-old mother pick up the sport and then complete a marathon is a pretty inspiring thing,\u201d Halnon said. \u201cAnd so I started. I did a marathon a few years after that, and she did it with me, or she did it ahead of me \u2013 she beat me by about 20 minutes that day. And then I got totally hooked on long-distance running, as I think a lot of people do.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a deeper meaning to her runs \u2013 especially the one chronicled in \u201cTo the Gorge.\u201d In 2020, Andrea died from a rare uterine cancer at age 66, after being diagnosed 13 months before. So for Halnon, running became not only a way to honor her mother and the athletic feats she accomplished relatively later in life, it also became a way for her to try to process her grief.<\/p>\n

\"Emily
Emily and her mother, Andrea Halnon. (Courtesy of Emily Halnon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

She said her mother radically changed the way she lived after a health scare in her 40s. Andrea started off small, walking the dirt roads around the family home in Vermont. That led to race walking and then running. Halnon said she even learned to swim when she turned 60 so she could compete in triathlons (That was the same year she went skydiving to celebrate her birthday.)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just got so hooked on living in this just bold, wholehearted way, in every way,\u201d Halnon said. \u201cShe did it all over the place with her life, and especially through sports and endurance sports. She learned to swim when she was a 60-year-old woman because she wanted to do her first triathlon. And just going to a pool as a 60-year-old woman, and not really knowing how to get from one end to the other, but taking on that challenge is just so incredible. Then she got really into triathlons, and did a ton of them. And as she got into triathlons, she got into long-distance biking.\u201d<\/p>\n

While \u201cTo the Gorge\u201d is no doubt a book that will appeal to those seeking an adventure story, it\u2019s also a story about coming to terms with losing a loved one and trying to move forward \u2013 much like having to put one foot in front of the other on the trail when the going gets tough. And like the support she received when she lost her mom, she also had a group of friends who lent support during her run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think through both grief and running, you appreciate the power of when you\u2019re going through your hardest, lowest moments that no one can actually fix, like when you\u2019re deep in the depths of the swamp of grief, it\u2019s like no one can really fix it for you; they can\u2019t bring back the person you\u2019re grieving,\u201d Halnon said. \u201cBut just having people who are willing to move with you through those moments and show love to you, shine light at you, just the power of that in both grief and running is just so huge, I think, and I really felt that in my run across Oregon, just feeling like I was supported and feeling like I was loved while I was doing a hard thing was so extraordinarily powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Emily
Emily Halnon celebrates on the Bridge of the Gods after setting a new overall record on the Oregon Pacific Crest Trail in 7 days, 19 hours and 23 minutes. (Photo by Jon Meyers)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In a society that doesn\u2019t give a lot of time for people to grieve, Halnon said she hopes her book offers space and connection for grappling with grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that for people who have known their own deep grief that they feel comforted through that, or feel connection through that. I hope that they feel seen,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that reading this book for people who are grieving, or who have known grief \u2026 that it feels like their feelings are valid, that it feels like they have permission to grieve, that it feels like they\u2019re connected to others who have also been grieving. \u2026 And then I really hope that it invites people to ask that question of how they want to live and what they want to do with their days. And I hope the stories about my mom really move people to think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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