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Favorite Foods And Gear Of Three Top Trail Runners

  • By Sabrina Grotewold
  • Published Mar. 19, 2012
  • Updated Mar. 20, 2012 at 6:04 PM UTC
Rickey Gates will often throw on his iPod when out for an easy off-road run. Photo: Robert Schwartz, Antarctic Sun

Rickey Gates’ Top Picks

Races with names like the Canadian Death Race, an event held in central Alberta whose course includes three summits and 17,000 feet of elevation change, don’t intimidate Rickey Gates. The 29-year-old mountain runner, who lives in Boulder, Colo., showed up at that 78-mile (125K) race last July—his first ultra—and won, crushing the course record by nearly 33 minutes. Gates owns the Half Dome trail running record (2:28:18) at Yosemite National Park and, when he won the 2009 Mount Washington Road Race, was only the second American to complete the course in under one hour.

Rickey Gates’ Top Five Trail Race Nutrition Picks:

  • Cookie dough
  • Miso soup
  • Bananas
  • Chewy fruit bars
  • Nutella, banana and honey sandwiches

Gates’ Top Four Trail Gear Picks:

  • Salomon skin pack: “It’s super lightweight; you hardly notice you’re wearing it.”
  • Camera
  • Salomon fast wing jacket: “It’s lightweight and packable, and warm enough for most mountain conditions.”
  • iPod: “Sometimes for long, slow, boring runs, I bring my iPod and listen to podcasts. I like Radiolab, the Moth and This American Life. If it’s really engaging, it ensures I don’t run too fast on a slow day.”
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Sabrina Grotewold

Sabrina Grotewold

Sabrina Grotewold is runner and editor based in southern California. Christened the Kitchen MacGyver by her husband, she’s determined to persuade people to eat their veggies.