My name is Dani Moreno, and I am a trail runner galloping and residing in the Eastern Sierra mountain town of Mammoth Lakes, CA. I moved here at the end of 2020 from the utopian coast town of Santa Barbara, where I lived for a decade and graduated from the University of Santa Barbara, California.

While at UCSB, I competed for the women's Cross Country and Track and Field programs under Coach Pete Dolan's guidance. During my collegiate career, I was lucky enough to produce times that made me competitive on both the conference and national level. However, this isn't what made my experience memorable. Instead, it was everything that happened outside those PR's; the kooky vulgar humor-filled friendships, Super Cucas breakfast burritos after Wednesday morning drills, Co-op runs and runs with my PIC Coop (nicest person in a milky way), Free-Ride Fridays, Space Cakes, stories of former gauchos turning in fast times despite our crappy cement bump-filled track, hill circuits overlooking the ocean, vision quests, and so much more.

Following graduation, I was perplexed, I thought I still wanted to run, but admittedly I was burnt out on counting miles and the daily commitment. During that time, I focused on rediscovering myself. Throughout this life cataclysm, I leaned into my outdoor guiding and let myself be engulfed by pursuing adrenaline-boosting activities. I thought if I could consistently push myself to my physiological limits, I would somehow trigger the “life-defining moment" I craved.

What was I searching for, you may ask? A lot of things. A sign that pursuing my college running career was worth it, that I would be okay in life financially, that I wasn’t my last result, that all the mistakes and bad relationships I had chosen to indulge in were part of the plan, and that better times were ahead of me, etc, etc, etc. Pretty much everything a post-grad with no life plan yearns an answer for.

While it was tough in the moment I learned from others that this doomsday mentality was common for college grads, but like anyone who has experienced this "lack of purpose" in life, it's hard to pull yourself out of the funk while the aimlessness still feels very heavy, present, and real. See, unlike other students who pursued strategic internships and really thought about their major, I felt as though I had put all my eggs into the wrong basket, the running basket. But the funny thing is throughout this whole phase of my life, despite doing these other fun things, none of them gave me the same satisfaction running did. It was hard to admit, but whatever heartbreak I had felt from running, I hit a point where I was ready to amend it and try again because that's what true love does - keeps trying. 😉

So as I worked as an outdoor guide for a few years, I eventually found myself sneaking away during campfires or morning coffee talks to run. These days, 10-20minutes was all I was doing, but I started to explore TRAILS even with that short amount of time. And slowly but surely, I started to experience that same raw elated feeling I had when I originally fell in love with the sport.

Trails ignited me and entertained my desire to feel raw and primal. And, before I knew it, I was exploring the Los Padres National Forest's front range on my off days. It was here that I was introduced to the term "trail running." I mean, I had run on dirt throughout college, but this was much different. Trail running immediately appealed to all aspects of my personality in a way that no other type of running had before. It was dirty, painful (all the time), required a new set of skills, had an ever-changing environment and required true knowledge and faith of one's body. It was as if someone had taken to me to another planet named Dani and just dropped me off and slapped me as they were leaving as to say, "It's been here all along egg noodle."

As I began to race trails, it was been mind-blowing to see how many new opportunities and doors seemed to appear out of nowhere. I felt reawaken and brought back to life as I began to plan a life that encompassed these goals and aspirations.

My first few years in the sport couldn't have been more amazing. I was traveling all over the United States and even to new countries. And no matter how the races panned out, the feeling I walk away with is always the same: gratitude.

That theme has continued as now I am a handful of years deep into the sport. And, I expect that it will never stop.