Here at Garage Grown Gear, we’re an office full of geeky ultrarunners. We no longer raise an eyebrow when someone mentions running up a 4,000-foot mountain ... three times in the same day. And we routinely find ourselves rubbing shoulders at local trail races. No surprise then that Territory Run Co. and the message from founder Brett Farrell on why we should try running without a watch resonated with us, big time. We’re super thrilled to share this guest post and video from Brett. And, if you find yourself wanting to head out for a run after reading this, don’t worry. That’s the point.
Have you noticed how running is portrayed in the mainstream media? It is all about pain and exercise, work and struggle. You are supposed to work harder, sweat your brains out, turn your body into a photoshopped model, and do it all faster than you did yesterday.
When you get back from your run, you can post it on an app and see exactly how fast or slow you are compared to everyone else in the world. Race everything. And there is something to all this - running can be hard work, and it is empowering to push through the pain and discomfort and sweat. It’s this bad ass thing that you do, and you should be proud of it.
I ran in high school, and I remember this quote I had up on my wall: “Pain is temporary, Pride is forever.” Oh and I was proud. But that isn’t the whole story.
A few months before I started Territory, I quit my job and took a road trip across the US. I didn’t have a specific direction. I was just running in cool places and meeting new people.
I was drained from a job that took too much and gave too little, and I needed to escape for a while. Near the beginning of that road trip, I drove into Salt Lake City. I remember seeing this big grassy mountain from a distance, and thinking wow that looks like a cool place to run.
So I started driving towards it. No GPS, no map, just this mountain in the distance, and the roads I was guessing would take me there. They did. I reached the base, found a trail, threw on some shorts and a tee, and ran up that mountain. I had never done anything like that before.
And yes, the run was hard. It was a mountain, and it was a struggle to get to the top. But what stands out to me in that experience was the feeling of absolute freedom.
Of seeing a mountain you want to run up, finding a trail, and just doing it. No watch, no map, no logistics, no cell phone. Just you and the trail.
I created Territory Run Co. to share this side of the running story. The wild places, the in-between, the friends and escaping all of the noise to find something true out on the trail.
When I got back from that road trip I set up a website and started Territory with one t-shirt design. That first design along with all the others that have come out since are focused on the aspect of running I felt on that mountain in Salt Lake; freedom.
