By Jimmy Grant, Hammer Nutrition sponsored athlete
When I think adventure, I think wilderness: lofty mountains, deep canyons, remote, wild, inspiring. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act and I could come up with no better way to honor its legacy than running through Montana's wilderness. I called it the Wilderness Running Project. The idea was simple: go for a run in Montana's wilderness areas - all 15 of them.
This weekend, Montana Trail Crew will feature a short film, "Running Wilderness," about my summer adventure at its second annual Mountain Running Film Festival. Hammer Nutrition is not only a product sponsor of the film festival; it also proved to be the most faithful companion of my entire summer journey. Hammer products joined me on every single run, meeting my nutritional needs for both fueling and recovery.
As the inclusion of "Running Wilderness" might suggest, the mountain running film festival is a celebration of trail running, open spaces, and wild lands. All of the films in the lineup - the year's very best trail running films - speak to our love for wild landscapes and recognize the intrinsic link between the trail runner and the trail.
While the Mountain Running Film Festival is a gathering to enjoy film, it's just as much a gathering to enjoy community; a rare opportunity to celebrate our shared passions that enrich our lives in so many ways. The event is truly Montana Trail Crew in a nutshell. We founded the trail crew as an educational and conservation-based non-profit with a mission to not only promote trail running in our state, but to advocate on behalf of the public lands and wild places that are integral components of the trail running experience. This means trail workdays, thoughtful articles, race reports, and so much more. For more information on the Mountain Running Film Festival, the Wilderness Running Project, and anything else Montana trail running check out: www.montanatrailcrew.com.
