Who Are These People?

Portland has an excellent trail running community. Not only are there a lot of runners, there are a lot of companies these runners have started. I’m not sure how this city compares to others, but it seems as though there is an exceptionally large percentage of runners with an entrepreneurial spirit.

I thought it’d be nice to call out a few I know of and show how we’re all connected. Partly because these people worked so hard to get their businesses off the ground and are trying to make a living from doing what they love, so they deserve some recognition. But more so because it’s a bit of an incestuous group and it is easy to be confused about who is who. Maybe incestuous is the wrong term… one big happy running family is a better way to describe it. Or for you visual types, it is like a really crowded Venn diagram.

Animal Athletics
Who: Yassine Diboun and Willie McBride
What: Coaching and personal and group training like boot camps and organized runs
When: Born 2012
Where: http://animalathleticspdx.com/

Ultra U
Who: Dana Katz
What: Coaching and personal training
When: Born 2012
Where: http://www.ultraufitness.com/

Run Amok Tours
Who: T.J. Ford
What: Organizes and leads small marathon and ultra marathon tours around the world
When: Born 2009
Where: http://www.runamoktours.com/

Trail Butter
Who: Jeff Boggess and his brother Brad
What: All-natural nut-butter that provides lasting whole-food energy and nutrition
When: Born 2012
Where: http://trailbutter.com/

Territory Run Co.
Who: Brett Farrell
What: Running t-shirts
When: Just born 2014
Where: http://www.territoryrun.co/

Go Beyond Racing
Who: Todd Janssen, Renee Seker and Trevor Hostetler
What: Race production company: NW Mountain Trail Series (Smith Rock Ascent, Mountain Lakes 100, Mt. Hood 50, Volcanic 50, Elk-Kings Mtn Traverse, Dog Mt. 10/20/30K), Lake of Death Relay, Portland Trail Series, TrailFactor 50K.
When: (Re)born 2013
Where: https://gobeyondracing.com/

TrailFactor
Who: Over 400 members in the Facebook Group
What: Free trail running club that has group runs every Tuesday evening, some weekends and is host of the TrailFactor race.
When: Born 2008
Where: https://www.facebook.com/groups/63735063104/

How it gets confusing:

• Animal Athletics sponsors many Go Beyond Racing events; marking courses and manning aid stations.
• Dana also works with Animal Athletics, leading trainings and volunteering with them at events.
• Trail Butter sponsors several Go Beyond races and Jeff runs in many of them. He also samples the product at events, and runs with TrailFactor on Tuesday nights.
• Renee and Todd are the race directors for the TrailFactor 50K and organize the group’s annual trail work and most of the group runs.

So these are my people. I’m guessing they are your people too. Good people, all of them. Do you know other runners who have started a business? Give them a shout out here in the Comments.

Photo credit: Tristian Martin on Flickr