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Nicole Smith

@nativegirladventures

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🪶Native (Jemez/Navajo)
❤️Adventure. Trail Running. SUP.
🤗 @lululemon @squirrels_nut_butter @saltstick #leagueofgarmin

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Hey friends! I am so stoked to share that I am now a @lululemon Ambassador! Crazy, eh?!

🥳Today was my first product experience as an ambassador and I am feeling just so blessed.

🤩A big shout out to @angels_ventures who first inspired me with her lululemon ambassadorship! You paved the way, and I am honored to carry on the Native girl lululemon Ambassador torch.

📣And I cannot forget @kylestepp who passed on the lululemon Run mantle to me. You really inspired me this past year with everything you built with the Collective here in ABQ and all the other amazing work you’re doing. You’ve set the bar high, my friend. Hope I can measure up!

❤️I’m grateful for this opportunity and the partnership I’ve been able to build with my Albuquerque lululemon store. @lauranicpage has been such a supporter of our local @native_women_run work over the past year and I’m excited about all the great things that are going to come out of our continued partnership.

🪶For all my fellow Natives out there, let’s keep running and dreaming big! We are just getting started.

#lululemonambassador taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico by @nativegirladventures

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7 months ago

This was such an amazing video/photo shoot to do for @nikewomen 🤗.
Back in November, I had the opportunity to join some of the @native_women_running ladies in Paige, AZ to do this shoot. We were in a beautiful place doing this awesome shoot…the whole experience was pretty special. I have a whole bunch of behind the scenes photos/videos to share so check back for all fun stuff.
And thank you so much @nikewomen for highlighting @native_women_running ❤️. It was a pleasure working with you.

Repost from @nikewomen
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Women who run together, stay together ✌

That’s the goal for @native_women_running, who encourage Indigenous women across the country to honor their heritage by running as one. Members in Page, Arizona, say every run is an opportunity to connect with each other, their land and their ancestors.“ The feeling is different than when you’re running on your own. It’s almost like you were missing something that you didn’t know was missing, and now it’s all together,” says team leader @angels_ventures, of the Navajo Nation.

Between training runs, chill jogs and racing events, these women show up for each other through the finish line and beyond. What women keep you going? Let us know in the comments 👇 #FeelYourAll.

#nativerunners #trailrunning #trailrunners #trailrunningwomen #runtheland #nativewomenrunning taken in Paige , Arizona by @nativegirladventures

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4 years ago

We are about to kick off another weekend of racing, but before we do let’s take it back to last Saturday, 10/10, when several @native_women_run runners went out for the 12 miler Big Tesuque Trail Race in Santa Fe.

📸And we have two photos because we had some runners starting at 8 am and some at 9 am.

⛰️It was a beautiful weekend in the mountains with the Aspens changing colors. But don’t let that lovely view fool you into thinking this was a run in the park. This race starts out at 10,000 ft and you run six miles up to 12,000 ft and 6 miles back downhill. The air is thin, the lungs burn, and your quads take a beating on the run down.

✅And our runners did us proud. Everyone finished! And we enjoyed the festive atmosphere after the race.

🤗Thank you to @wings_of_america for the complimentary entries for our Native runners. We really appreciate the support you continue to share with our Native community. Shout out to the race organizers and sponsors…we enjoyed the dancing, burritos, and good fun on the course.

🏃🏽‍♀️And now, on to another weekend of racing. This time we have runners doing the Duke Marathon races. You’ll get to meet them in another post so stay tuned for lots of fun updates this weekend.

#nativewomenrun #runsantafe #runnm taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico by @nativegirladventures

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4 hours ago

Sharing because this first photo deserves a permanent place on the feed. Finally found a Pueblo of Jemez flag small enough that I can take to my races. Super stoked to grab a picture with it at the @westlinewinder 30k this weekend.

📸Special shout out to @chaudley__ who I think was our unofficial group fun photographer for grabbing the mid-race photos. I was just tired after mile 10, so I know I seemed grumpy but it wasn’t at you.

🫶Thanks again @werunlong for a great weekend and chance to do the West Line Winder with this fun group of BIPOC runners. I’m happy to say that yes, “We are still here!” And thank you to @jchapell for the awesome group photo at the end.

👟Oh, and random tidbit but I have to spotlight these @topoathletic Vista trail shoes because I wore these to run in Europe 3 weeks ago to do the 106 mile TMB AND just wore them for the 30k and they are still going strong. Due to some plantar fasciitis in the left foot, I needed the high cushion to run every day on the TMB and they delivered. And now, thankfully my plantar fasciitis is starting to go away again. Btw…not sponsored in any way by Topo. My shoes have just carried me amazing places this past month and wanted to share the ❤️ for these great shoes in case anyone is shopping for high cushion trail runners.

#bipocrunners #nativerunner #trailrunner taken in Buena Vista, Colorado by @nativegirladventures

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17 days ago

Just got back from a fun weekend with Camp @werunlong where we also ran the @westlinewinder 🏃🏽‍♀️in Buena Vista, CO. (BV was formerly home to Day 1 of the Transrockies Run, so you know I love that little town).

⛰️It was a beautiful rainy and sunny weekend of running with other BIPOC runners from around the country who call came together for Camp We Run Long. I knew a few of the Native runners already, but I got to meet a whole bunch more other awesome runners and we had a great time.

🏕️We were homebased at Silver Cliff Ranch which sat next to a creek and had its own hot springs pool! It was a weekend of a lot of eating, running, cheering on other runners doing the Sawatch 50 challenge, a little bit of small town Buena Vista shopping, running short film watching, and a lot of laughing. I arrived tired and bit overwhelmed from normal work stuff and left refreshed and happy!

🤗A big thank you to all the amazing coordinators for this weekend. @ninjayako @longcommakelsey you did a fabulous job! And thank you for this opportunity to participate in WRL.

❤️To all my new WRL friends, I can’t wait to run with you at another race.

✅Well, this wraps up my end of summer adventures. (I still owe you all my Europe adventure pics…don’t worry, they’re coming!)

Happy for a bit of a break, but also sad I don’t have any big adventures scheduled for the fall (I’m a bit poor at the moment). BUT if anyone wants to send me somewhere amazing to sample a new adventure…I’m totally game!

#runningweekend #werunlong #bipocrunners taken in Buena Vista, Colorado by @nativegirladventures

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18 days ago

Well, it’s been such a BUSY trip, so I’m woefully behind on sharing each day. So, let me catch you up…

🏔️Like I said, I’m behind on posting so today is actually Day 7 (I think) of the trip, but only day 5 of running. The trip is considered 10 days long, but the first day was only dinner with the group and the last day will be breakfast with the group. After 3 days of running, we had a rest day in Courmayeur and got to see the UTMB pros come through very early in the AM. (And yes, I saw Rachel Entrekin run by…but that’s another post).

🏃🏽‍♀️But that’s go back before that. This is a mix of photos from day 1-3. A little out of order, but this first photo is from when we crossed over the border from France into Italy. No fanfare with this border. No signs that say “Welcome to Italy.” I think there was a monument though.
And so far, Italy has been my favorite country. Food, people, and views ❤️.

This was from Day 1 before we really started on the TMB. Still, it was my first view of the Alps from a trail, so it was pretty special.

Day 1: This was the place we stopped and had a drink and snack. The TDS runners were coming by all day this day, and the aid tent was right out of this photo. Got to see Sally McRae stop in so that was pretty cool.

Just a moody view. The weather has been mostly sunny with a day of rainy, cool weather.

This mountain kinda reminded me of the Ko’olaus, so I had to get a photo.

More views…

So, we actually came down this trail. That one hurt coming down for so long.

Our hotel for Day 1. It was very cute.

Just another trail view.

We have two guides for our group. Gary (the guy in the white hat) is the head guide and our other guide is Chris (farthest away in the photo). Both are impressive mountain guides with amazing experience.

This is my roommate Gabi! She’s originally from Brazil, but has lived in Spain for the last 10 years. She’s lots of fun🤗.

We have passed over a lot of rivers. Many of them are fed from the glaciers.

So, during the day we run the trail, and in the evening we stay at one of the hotels near the trail. At this particular hotel, they didn’t allow you to wear your shoes inside the hotel.

Backyar by @nativegirladventures

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2 months ago

I made it to Chamonix! But my luggage didn’t.

✈️Fortunately, this isn’t my first rodeo flying far, so I knew to bring basic toiletries and a change of clothes in my carryon. The only thing is I wasn’t paying attention when I threw extra clothes in my carryon, and my clothes don’t match😂😂. So, I may or may not be wearing three vastly different shades in the red family tomorrow until my bag arrives in the evening.

Off to bed. More exploring in the AM, and then I’ll meet the group I’ll be running with tomorrow evening. Very excited to be here.

#chamonixmontblanc

Here’s a better view of Mont Blanc from the front facing camera.

Beautiful in the evening. Can’t wait to explore it in the day.

I’ll find out the name of the river tomorrow. taken in Chamonix, France by @nativegirladventures

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2 months ago

I’m officially on the plane headed for Geneva!

🏃🏽‍♀️Super stoked to finally be on the plane headed to run the Tour du Mont Blanc with @runthealps ❤️. This is an amazing opportunity that I’m used to seeing on other people’s feeds, so to now have the chance to run the trail….it’s very exciting!

⛰️I will keep you updated along the way, but it’s a long flight across the ocean so come back later tomorrow for more trip fun.

✈️Now, it’s time to take off!

#trailrun #nativewomenrun #trailrunner by @nativegirladventures

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2 months ago

Almost a week late, but I couldn’t miss sharing my photos from last Saturday’s trip out to Mt Taylor.

⛰️Along with several runners from our NWR Run Club, I joined the crew doing a course preview run for the @mttaylor50k. This was the second course preview run, so of course we did the second half of the course. And I’m glad I came back for this one because it totally stormed during the first course preview run last month and the views weren’t as fabulous (and you know I do all this mountain stuff for the views!) I also might’ve taken a wrong turn a couple of times last time and ended up being the last person to come in. That “might’ve” been me😉.

☀️But no rain this time, the views were fabulous, no lost earrings (I also lost one side of my favorite earrings last course preview run😭), and I didn’t get lost! A total win of a run.

❤️Thank you again to the Mt Taylor 50k race directors who put this course preview on and to the Native runners who came out to run. It was a glorious day in the mountains with you!

#runnewmexico #womenwhoexplorenewmexico #trailrunning taken in New Mexico by @nativegirladventures

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2 months ago

Can we please get a round of applause for our new beautiful tent from @actionsportscanopies 🙌🙌🙌. If you didn’t know, Action Sport Canopies chose NWR as the winner of their non-profit giveaway which is how we got such a great 🎪.

⛈️And it came in handy at last evening’s run as we huddled underneath it waiting for the pouring rain to pass. If you were wondering if we ran or cancelled again last night due to the weather…we did have to wait it out a bit, but we braved the last droplets and started our run at 7 pm. By 7:05 pm, the rain had completely stopped and the Loop Challenge was on.

🏃🏽‍♀️We ended up with a four way tie! We had four people complete the same number of loops, and the rest of us just enjoyed our casual run at the beautiful park. Shout out to #leagueofgarmin for the prize packs for our winners!

✅As a fyi…September’s events will be posted shortly, but with our group lead, Nicole, on trips at the beginning AND end of Sep we will only have 3 events next month. Hope to see you there!

#nativewomenrun #runabq taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico by @nativegirladventures

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2 months ago

Can you fail at something yet be proud of the effort at the same time?

⛰️This weekend I headed to Utah for the Speedgoat 50k. Known as the toughest 50k in US, this race is 31 miles long with 11,400 ft of elevation gain. As if that isn’t hard enough, you go up over 11,000 ft high during the race. Knowing all that I still signed up. But unfortunately, I didn’t make the time cutoff and I got my first DNF.

😢That stung. I registered for the race because I wanted a BIG challenge this summer. I wanted to train hard, push myself, and see if I was up to knocking this race out. And since the race is so hard, I had no time goals other than finishing. But I just fell short.

😬Before the race, the prospect of taking on that much elevation gain threw me into a mental funk which is unusual for me (I’m pretty positive usually). I think it had something to do with that in the weeks prior to the race my cousin died and I had two long training runs where I did rather terrible. Not what you want to happen right before a tough race.

🎽But come race morning I prayed, calmed down, and decided to enjoy the scenery. The Wasatch Mountains are stunning! And despite the course being ROUGH and not making time cut off, I truly enjoyed my time out there.

❤️I am thankful that I had some amazing support going into this race. The outcome wasn’t what we hoped for, but I appreciate @womenofthewasatch providing the race entry, new shoes, and a chance to speak on the panel before the race. All of it was an AMAZING opportunity and experience I won’t soon forget. @stridegrant THANK YOU for helping make this race accessible for me by covering travel expenses and 2 key pieces of gear.

✅DNFs are hard. But in times like this, I go back to one of my favorite quotes by Teddy Roosevelt.

“…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, sweat, and blood: who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again; who spends himself in a worthy cause…if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Until next year, Speedgoat🫡. by @nativegirladventures

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3 months ago

We will miss you, Lawrence. Glad you are now at peace❤️🕊️.

#veteran by @nativegirladventures

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3 months ago