Interview with the Indomitable Jenn Shelton


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Jenn Shelton is an American ultra marathoner and running nomad. She spends her winters ski mountaineering in the Italian Alps and her summers trail running on far-flung mountain ranges.

In 2007 she set the women’s U.S. 100-mile trail record at the Rocky Raccoon Ultramarathon. She has also won numerous trail and road races and has run a 2:45 marathon, which qualified her for the Olympic Marathon trials.

She is perhaps best known from Christopher McDougall’s best-selling book Born to Run in which she is one of the main characters. Get the book!

Interview with the Indomitable Jenn Shelton

photo credit: Jenn Shelton


Least I forget . . . there is a short film about Jenn called Outside Voices which follows her from place to place as she lives in her van, traverses spectacular trails and jumps naked into alpine lakes. The film doesn’t follow any sort of plot other than to give people a look into her bohemian life. In the last scene she is playing a game that involves sprinting, chugging beer and shooting a beer can off a fence.

photo credit: Jenn Shelton

photo credit: Jenn Shelton[

I’ve always been fascinated by people who live an adventurous life (at the moment we are on our own adventure in Alaska and Canada), so it was exciting to speak with Jenn. I’ve been following her on social media ever since reading Born to Run and it seems that she is always exploring some epic place.

The lighting is bad but here you go. 😉

We happened to be in Juneau at the same time, we were there for the Juneau Marathon and Jenn was in town for Geoff Roe’s mountain running camp.

We met in the upstairs of a pizza restaurant at 9:00 pm, so you will hear some background noise in the interview. I hope you enjoy getting to know Jenn Shelton a little better. Follower her on Twitter and Instagram @sheltonjenn. She and a friend are working on a coloring book for runners. If you are interested in supporting the project (not sure if they are doing a kickstarter campaign or what) you can direct message her on Instagram.

Also Mentioned in This Episode . . .

Angie’s Summer Reading List

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4 Responses to Interview with the Indomitable Jenn Shelton

  1. Jj August 7, 2018 at 1:55 pm #

    After listening to this, I felt sad for her. I do t know why?

  2. sooz August 8, 2018 at 6:04 am #

    I really enjoyed your interview with Jen…she leads such an unusual life. Her commitment to being joyful, adventurous and connecting with nature is inspiring.

  3. All Day January 25, 2019 at 1:44 pm #

    So hot in so many ways. If only I were to stumble across her out on the trails. -Secret Admirer

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. McDougall's BORN TO RUN Crippled Me and Renewed Me - Book Review - November 13, 2019

    […] including Instagram. In 2015, a 45-minute film was done about her, available on Vimeo. Here’s an interview she did in 2018, and here’s her latest race […]

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