Elena Horton

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Travel

Blog posts about international travel experiences

Travel

How to backpack around the world

Have a few months and a healthy dose of wanderlust? This post is all about how you can make all your travel dreams a reality, hopefully without having anything go horribly wrong in the process. All of this is from my own experience backpacking through Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Read more…

By Elena Horton, 3 yearsDecember 21, 2021 ago
Travel

The Bikeventure: my month of multisport travel in the PNW

This was a big adventure ~2 years in the making. I knew I was moving out of the PNW (sad!) in July, so I wanted a challenge that could both require me to use all the skills I’ve learned in Seattle for the past few years and give me some Read more…

By Elena Horton, 4 yearsJuly 23, 2021 ago
Travel

Reflections on my travels

Originally written July 2019 Do you ever look ahead to some fairly certain date, like a distant graduation or an exciting vacation, and think “yeah that’s going to happen. And when it happens I’m going to think back to this moment and remember how I thought about how this would Read more…

By Elena Horton, 6 yearsJuly 28, 2019 ago
Travel

How To Hike Doi Luang Chiang Dao Without a Guide (and out of season!)

(originally written September 8th, 2018) *EDIT* 6 January 2019: Regrettably I’ve been informed from other travelers that the Thai government has recently beefed up all their security around here (I’m betting because it’s now the on season). The barbed wire fence has been replaced and they often have at least one Read more…

By Elena Horton, 7 yearsSeptember 8, 2018 ago
Travel

My motivations and goals for backpacking around the world

For the few who have made it here, go you! I can’t emphasize how important knowing your motivations is to shaping your experience. Here’s a copy of what I originally wrote for myself before I left to backpack for 6 months in 2018. Hopefully it helps to give you a Read more…

By Elena Horton, 7 yearsJune 22, 2018 ago

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good thing that ig allows up to 20 photos per post good thing that ig allows up to 20 photos per post now because I wasn’t going to be able to narrow it down! Magical river trip on the middle fork of the salmon— truly soul medicine for our little group to be entirely isolated in nature for a bit. There’s something really nice about the day’s goal only being to get from point a to point b on the river, with plenty of fishing, natural hot spring soaks, native pictograph searching, cold water swims, canyon trail jogs,  cliff jumps, campfire meals, and stargazing along the way 💚
honeymoon was worth the wait!! Big post-vacation s honeymoon was worth the wait!! Big post-vacation scaries after 2 weeks of exploring around with my lifetime adventure buddy :)

got in a little bit of everything on this one— some running, some biking, some backpacking, some climbing, some city exploring, some driving, some spa-ing, some eating & some drinking. 

📍Cortina d’Ampezzo, Brixen, Val Gardena, Alleghe, Venice, Bled, Triglav, Brunate, Como
Lavaredo DNF ⛰️ I guess I have a lot to say ab Lavaredo DNF ⛰️ I guess I have a lot to say about this one, but the tldr is that this is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been and also the worst running has ever felt— so it goes!

I’ve known that I’ve been struggling recently, so my plan coming into this one was to go for around 50k and see how I was feeling. But all the body alarm bells were going off from the start— high HR that I couldn’t bring down, sick stomach, sore throat, and deep achy legs. Calling it early was disappointing but not unexpected, and it was definitely what I needed.

Like most people, I like to share some pretty or funny or happy things on social media every so often, and I’m definitely guilty of hiding all the shitty stuff. 2 months ago I got to race my first 100 miler (which was awesome!). But the day after that I lost a close friend to cancer, and a day hasn’t gone by without me thinking about her bravery and how much I miss her. It also kicked off a wild mix of work and life travel that took me on 13 planes with many sleepless nights in the last 8 weeks (worth it for some very restoring visits with friends & fam though). And it’s all left me struggling to understand if I feel horrible because of running 100 miles, of grief, or of travel and life fatigue. Probably a mix of all! 

All of this is to say that I’m sharing some pretty sweet pics (imho), but the behind the scenes has not been so pretty lately. The Dolomites are insane and I feel so lucky to be here with friends and even line up to race at all (starting in the pro chute was the coolest experience even though I felt very undeserving of it…). I also learned how to run with poles! But I’m in an ebb of the journey right now and that’s ok, it makes the flows more fun anyways.

While I’m still sad that I didn’t get to cover this whole amazing course, I’m also feeling beyond thrilled for Britta who rocked it out there for 4th!! So so strong. Also there’s a lot more pretty pics with normal captions to come because it’s honeymoon time :)

That’s all, just putting it out there for anyone who’s also been wading through quicksand recently. I know I’ll come back stronger, I just need a lot of pizza and sleep first.
First 100 miler complete with great people, lots o First 100 miler complete with great people, lots of rain & mud, some sun, a few low lows and of course a big high finishing with the victory alongside my friend and teammate @canyonwoodward (who flew out there!). UTMB here I come!!

Ultras are always a team sport, so the biggest of thank yous to @jwillj for being my amazing crew, @jpnorton1 and @greenracingproject for supporting me getting here, @patagonia_trailrunning for the gear, @fenixlight for their awesome headlamps that got me through the dark wet cold night, and of course all the race staff and volunteers at @canyonsenduranceruns that made this incredible event possible!

📸: @banta.visuals
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