The Human Potential Running Series Podcast · John Lacroix

HPRS Podcast – Episode 60: It's Time to Support Our Land Partners, Not Demand More.

·1 hr 45 min·5 clips

The Forest Service proposal would have raised one race permit from $500 to $2,000 overnight.

Episode 60 begins with John LaCroix welcoming listeners back to the Human Potential Running Series podcast and pointing them toward the season's upcoming events. He highlights the Endure Trail Runs at Mueller State Park in Divide, Colorado, including the 10K and half marathon on May 17, along with the timed events that day. From there he widens the focus to the question of what trail runners owe the land and the agencies that manage it. He brings in the work of volunteer groups and conservation organizations that spend their time on trail efforts, invasive species removal, and habitat repair. He treats that labor as part of the same system that makes races possible. He argues that using public land for endurance events is a privilege, not a right. He says the community should give back by doing trail work on the lands it uses. He then turns to his own race operations as an example. He explains that he has told a ranger district about moving races that used to fall in June and March. He also says he plans to get rid of the 200-mile option at the Sangra. That change would shorten the event footprint from five days to two. His hope is that those changes will reduce the burden placed on the ranger district. He describes that burden as more than issuing a permit. It also includes administration, compliance checks, and on-site verification. He notes that staff have to confirm the medical team, portable toilets, and operating plan are all actually in place. He stresses that the agency is not just rubber-stamping a race and walking away. It is doing real oversight work. That leads him into his broader point about the sport's attitude toward public lands. He rejects the idea that runners should be asking for more prize money or for the sport to get bigger. He says the sport does not need to grow just for growth's sake. It needs to be a better partner and a better advocate. He pushes back on victim language and on blaming the federal government. He ends by calling for gratitude and a simple question: what can we do to help? The episode closes on that note of responsibility, with the message that trail runners should show up as a useful user group and not a demanding one.

As heard by us

A blunt reminder that trail users need to give back before asking for more.

Episode 60 makes a straightforward case for treating public land like something borrowed, not owned. John LaCroix folds race logistics, permit pressure, trail maintenance, and shifts in event planning into one clear argument: if runners want access, they have to help carry the…

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Why you'd press play

When you need straight talk about earning trail access, not demanding it.

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