The Hunting + Running Lifestyle

Welcome to a small snippet of my life!

I wanted to do a bit of an introduction to kick off this newsletter. A little bit about me - I wear many hats: I am a hunter, runner, wife, small business owner with my husband, run coach, good food enthusiast, and dog mom.

One thing about me is that I’m not one to dabble in my pursuits. Both hunting and running are lifestyles that I embody each and every day. While neither running nor hunting is the entirety of who I am, they both undoubtedly shape the way I live, think, and grow.

I’ve hunted almost my whole life, but the passion grew when I met my (now) husband, Chance. In fact, turkey hunting is how we began our relationship. Since then, the rhythm of our lives are conducted by the various hunting seasons. It’s how we both connect with each other, the outdoors, and with lifelong friends. It provides a clean & ethical food source for us. It ignites an extremely powerful drive from within that lights up other areas of life. The lessons learned from hunting are applicable to anything and everything. The ever-evolving nature of hunting forces us to continually adapt and never get too comfortable with one way of doing things, which I believe is a core pillar of humanity. I believe that hunting makes us human.

I began running my freshman year of high school when I joined the track team. I quickly realized that the sprints, jumps, and throws weren’t for me and jointed the distance crew. And now here we are 11 years later, still at it! Throughout the last 11 years, running has been a “constant” that keeps me both centered and striving for more. It serves many different purposes in my life. Preparing for a race feeds my competitive mindset and pushes me past self-perceived limits. Day-to-day easy runs in the outdoors serve as a calming sensory experience that lifts the weight of any anxieties or worries I’m carrying. It is a mode of seeing the world in its most raw & pure form; on foot, in real life, in places I’d otherwise never go. Like hunting, running is something I will do everything in my power to cherish and maintain throughout my life — even if the goals and reasoning behind it changes.

I created this newsletter in hopes to speak to those with similar experiences, ambitions, or to reach those who are curious to what it’s like to balance such different yet similar passions. I’m no self-proclaimed expert in either field, but I hope my passion about both could help someone, someday, in some way.

Thanks for following along! Stay tuned for more.

—Emmy