Stephanie White is new to hiking, yet she is already an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. Her main discipline is the seemingly crazy sport of ultra running and, with three 200-mile races to compete in this year, she looked around for something to prepare her for the races.

Choosing the Appalachian Trail as a five-month warm up may seem excessive to some, but Stephanie discovered far more than her endurance once she'd immersed herself in the trail culture.

If you'd like to read Stephanie's blog, you can find it here. http://www.polyultrarunner.wordpress.com/, while she can also be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.white.9404362.

The Outdoor Retailers Summer Market interviews this week are from Bryan Dunster at Hydra Light - http://www.hydralight.net/

Jeff Arias at Zulu Audio - https://zuluaudio.com/

Barry Ryan at 8K FlexWarm - https://8kflexwarm.com/

We hope that you take the opportunity to support our sponsor, Trailtopia, when you consider your next backpacking trip. Go to https://www.trailtopia.com/ to check out their wide variety of meals.