Hi y’all, Oats here! I’m the Social Media Wiz for The Trek back on IG Live with another interview from the Appalachian Trail. The interview I have for you today hits close to home because Trishadee is a Trek Blogger who has been providing phenomenal updates from her journey since before she took her first steps.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The full recorded interview can be found here @appalachian.trail on Instagram. All photos courtesy of Trishadee Newlin.
In your Blogger Bio on The Trek, you mention that you ran a mile for the first time in your life at 30 years old and that you’ve been moving the goalposts back ever since. How would you say you got to the point of the goalposts eventually stretching from Georgia to Maine?
I actually injured myself training for my last half-marathon. I think I tore something in my hip flexor about a month before the race and still ran anyway (because sometimes we don’t make good decisions), and that kind of put an end to my running career. Then I found myself asking, “Well, what’s next?”
I was living in Albania at the time and walked everywhere because traffic was crazy, and my grandfather grew up deep in the Appalachian Mountains, even more so than I am right now on trail. So, with all my walking recently and growing up around the mountains, I did a 450-mile LASH back in 2019 and knew that wasn’t enough. That meant it was time to move the goalposts further back and I decided to go for all 2,200 miles this year.
I understand your trail name is Dandelion – can you tell us the story behind it?
Dandelion was given to me on my LASH in 2019. Obviously, I have a ton of hair – it goes all the way down to my waist. I have a tiny little brush I carry with me on trail, I can’t keep my hair in braids like some girls do. So, I was brushing my hair out at camp one night and a girl noticed I was making little “dandelion puffs” out of what was coming out of my brush. I think it fits, I have quite a lion’s mane! I’m actually here at Angel’s Rest and the shuttle driver who picked me up said, “Oh you’re Dandelion!” That happened in 2019 too, my reputation precedes me, and I sure hope it’s a good one!
What life experiences would you say have helped you in adjusting to life on trail?
The biggest adjustment, and something …….