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💪🏾 Muscles and Miles
How Alissa Lay Conquered Both Trails and Reps
Angela Hollowell
May 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Running is the foundation for her fitness journey, yet she never planned on running on anything but a track surface. Alissa Lay was a high school track athlete who found her way to the trails in college. As someone who’s always considered themselves an athlete, it appears the off-roading adventures weren’t enough for her. Soon after graduating, she started bodybuilding, because that’s a natural next step everyone would take. After a few competitions, she reconnected with an old friend and agreed to ride in a 250-mile bike ride commemorating the 1928 Harlem to DC route. Runner. Bodybuilder. Cyclist. Sure, why not?
I was bodybuilding while training for the bike ride at the same time. And if you understand a little bit about bodybuilding, you're normally like reducing your calories, not eating as much carbs. And if you know anything about cycling, it's like all the carbs so it was a interesting balance.
Alissa was a new mom of twins when she participated in her first official trail run. She only had 3 months to train following the birth of her boys, and wore a GoPro to document her run. While she ran, she talked to her boys and left them messages to stay motivated. Hearing this during our conversation on the podcast warmed my heart.
[To her boys] Hey, mommy's doing hard things. And this is just an example. When you see these videos, when you see the footage, I just want you to know, when you're thinking about doing hard things, you can do it.
Since her first race, she has been an advocate of getting other BIPOC folks in trail races. She is one of the founding members of We Run Long (formerly Dirtbag Runs) and they have an annual event that does just that with the support of incredible brand partners.
This mission is to get more Black, indigenous and people of color into trail running to make sure that we're acknowledging the lands that we run on because these are native lands.
Her first endurance race was a 50K trail run, or a little over 31 miles, so she knows what it’s like to run more than a marathon. She wants to make the barrier to entry more accessible to others, while also connecting them to people and place. Check out our fun conversation wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to leave us a review if you enjoyed the episode!
Happy Trails!
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