Lee Grabarek - From the Nutmeg State to Ōtautahi, a trail well travelled - Dirt Church Radio 289.
Kia ora e te whanau! This week Matt has the distinct privilege of speaking to Lee Grabarek. Lee (they/them) is a non-binary person who has been ripping it up on the trails and roads of Aotearoa for the last ten years, after travelling from Connecticut, where they enjoyed a very outdoorsy existence.
Matt spoke to Lee about their life growing up, their initial foray into trail running and the sweet, sweet, sweet, transgression of wearing road shoes on the trail. We discuss Lee’s attendance at Out Trails, a trail running retreat for queer and trans people, and the massive impact that this had on their life. Lee, who puts it elegantly, does not “think about my gender every second of every day” so what this conversation is mostly about is running, how unifying this is, and what work there is to do in the space.
Lee is here to, in their words, “Send it” and will be competing at this year's Crater Rim 30km. This is a truly interesting conversation with a super-interesting runner.
Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake
Enjoy!
Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake
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Available from the DCR website
Our mates at Squadrun have come up with a special four week training trial for listeners of DCR. Now as you’ll know from listening to DCR over the years, Squadrun is the baby of Kerry Suter and Ali Pottinger, and they have coached thousands of runners to success at a bunch of events we love and cherish and if you’ve been to any trail races on either side of the Tasman you’ll have seen the squadrun colours being represented strongly. So, if you want to give it a crack, here’s the link.
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Where we’re headed:
August: Come join Matt and Ali in the Blue Mountains for the Firies Climb for Motor Neurone Disease. 24 hours of climbing up and down the Furber Stairs, for a great cause.
December: We’re heading back to the mighty Kepler Challenge in Te Anau. Entries open July 6. Don’t miss out!
Get Off The Internet And Go The F*&k Outside (preferably with other people)
– Matt
We hear/see/write so much about how the connection to others during a run is so important. It’s a tenet of what we cling to as a community. Ironically, this happens via the medium of social media, whose very goal is to isolate and divide us. Let’s be clear, the goal of social media is not primarily political gain, it’s monetary. And I know the crushing irony of writing this on a platform where we actively encourage people to subscribe ... but hear me out. Not to be too Johann Hari about it all, but the Aotearoa trail running community, as small as it is, has on the periphery some characters who operate in a manner that is terminally online. Lately I’ve been struck by the ferocity of some of these exchanges. Their expressions of impotent sadness and rage are baffling, unwarranted, and unfortunate. The anodyne thing to say would be “you should go touch some grass” but I get a sense it’s a whole lot more complicated than that.
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