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Guest Runners

Run the Alps is fortunate to be tapped into a world of adventurous trail runners with a wide range of experiences, knowledge and insights. Some are elite runners, others have deep experience in differing facets of the trail running world, including story telling, nutrition and adventuring. All of them have taken to heart Run the Alps’ inclusive, supportive philosophy.

Our guest runner program enables us to share a little bit of their world with you.

Here’s who’s coming this year:

2025

Elyse Kopecky

Elyse Kopecky

Trip: Run Fast. Eat Slow. With Elyse Kopecky in Chamonix & Run Fast. Eat Slow. With Elyse Kopecky in Switzerland

This summer Run the Alps is hosting an Alps trail running retreat with three-time New York Times bestselling author Elyse Kopecky. Her books “Run Fast. Eat Slow,” “Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow,” and “Rise & Run” have transformed how we think about the intersection of food and sports.

Elyse is well known and much adored for her bestselling cookbooks on improving running performance and long-term health and happiness. On this tour, which is open to all levels of trail runner, we’ll explore the best trails of the region while eating well and taking in classic Alps culture. Elyse will give talks on nutrition and take us through run warm-up and stretching sessions.

Jen Hansard

Jen Hansard

Trip: Rawk the Alps with Jen Hansard

We’re excited to welcome Jen to the Alps! Her story is one many of us can relate to: the stress of raising a family combined with too much caffeine and processed foods were pointing her in the wrong direction. Then she discovered green smoothies, her gateway to a healthier life. She embraced this daily healthy habit to fuel her body so she could chase her passion: the great outdoors.

“Rawkstars” is the unique name for Jen’s community, who get excited to blend raw fruits and vegetables into smoothies. Here, “Raw” means close to nature, minimally processed and nutrient dense.

Learn more about Jen on her website, and join more than 350,000 followers on her instagram account.

Max King

Max King

Trip: Stay tuned…

Run the Alps is delighted to welcome Max King, one of the US’s legendary trail runners, for a trip this season.

Max has consistently ranked as one of the top trail runners in the world, and has shown exceptional versatility and consistency in his performances. He has a win at the World Mountain Running Championships, has stood on the podium at Chamonix’s Mont Blanc Marathon and set records for some of North America’s top ultras, including the JFK 50-miler. He’s also run both the Steeplechase and marathon at the Olympic trials (2:14 marathon time, in case you were wondering).

What’s less known is that back in his home of Bend, Oregon, Max runs his own trail running camps, has launched a winter ski mountaineering program, and is a driving force for Salomon’s global trail running efforts, where he is one of the lead product testers who is directly involved in the development of new trail running shoes.

Best of all, Max is a great guy, admired for his honed trail running skills and deep knowledge of the sport, and his willingness to share it all with others. We look forward to welcoming him to the trails around Chamonix and Annecy, France!

You can read more about Max in this wonderful Trail Runner profile of him by fellow Salomon runner Rickey Gates, and check out his full race results over at our friends, Ultrasignup. (Heads up: he’s got 125 races and plenty of top-10 results under his belt!)

Mirna Valerio

Mirna Valerio

Trip: Mirnavator in the Alps

What do you see when you close your eyes and think of a typical trail runner? Although trail running seems to be the domain of thin, fast people, it is also a sport that has welcomed people like Mirna Valerio, who in her own words is a plus-sized, slow-AF runner who lives and breathes the trail. This African-American adventurer, hailing (presently) from Winooski, Vermont, defies trail running stereotypes.

Author of the blog Fatgirlrunning and best selling novel ‘A Beautiful Work in Progress’, Mirna shares her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner athletes. Mirna’s story has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Runner’s World, on the NBC Nightly News, CNN, on the CW Network, and in REI’s documentary, The Mirnavator.

Her writing has been featured in Women’s Running Magazine, Self Magazine Online, Outside Online, and Runner’s World Magazine. She was chosen as a 2018 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.

We’re psyched to welcome Mirna to the Alps!

“This body is fierce, beautiful, and unapologetic. It’s meant to move through the world as it wishes: lifting, walking, and running, rolls and all. Love handles, bouncy boobs, curves, tummy, butt, back fat, and all.” (Mirna Valerio)

Yassine Diboun

Yassine Diboun

Trip: Classic Haute Route with Yassine Diboun

This summer we are happy to welcome Yassine Diboun, an accomplished ultra runner and flat out one of the nicest guys we have ever met, on our trip this summer.

A few of his accomplishments in the running world include competing for the United States in the 2015 World Trail Running Championships, a top 10 finish at the Western States Endurance Run 100 mile race, and a third place finish at the HURT 100 mile race in Hawaii. His love for running and the outdoors has led him to dabble in many endurance sports, including triathlon, mountaineering, and long-distance fast-packing (which includes crossing the Oregon Pacific Crest Trail in 8.5 days w/ friends!)

For Yassine, running is much more than fast times and results. He uses the sport to address issues in his community that are important to him, including race and inclusion, and substance addiction recovery. He helped create a local run group in Portland, called Run TRG (The Recovery Gym), which focuses on creating community and fostering recovery from substance addiction. Part of that program is an annual sunset to sunrise run to support recovery, and mental health, called Move Through Darkness. Yassine is co-owner of Wy’east Wolfpack, a company that provides personal training, coaching, corporate wellness, youth programs, and much more!

We are inspired by Yassine and excited to welcome him to the Alps this summer!

2024

2023

2022

2021

2019

2018

Blog

How did we get here? What Run the Alps has Taught me over Ten Years

How did we get here? What Run the Alps has Taught me over Ten Years

As Run the Alps celebrates its 10th Anniversary, Founder Doug Mayer looks back on the journey.

Guided

Mirnavator in the Alps

Mirnavator in the Alps

Smart, funny, endearing, our special guest Mirna Valerio also shatters trail running stereotypes. We can’t wait to run with “the Mirnavator” in the Alps!

New gear

Chamonix Topo Cap

Chamonix Topo Cap

Designed from scratch with friends here in Chamonix, we love our Run the Alps cap!