🏃 Ultra races, big goals, and YouTubers worth watching

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📹 Watchlist: 6 Marathons in 6 Days in the Sahara Desert (Marathon Des Sables)

You may or may not have heard about it: the Marathon des Sables, often considered the “toughest foot race on Earth.” It’s a seven-day ultramarathon in the Sahara Desert, and this year the race seemed to be covered by more press and influencers than ever before.

It’s possible you saw videos or threads about this race on YouTube, Instagram, or Reddit—but unless you follow Kara and Nate, you may not have seen this video of the race. Kara and Nate are a traveling YouTube couple that I’ve been following for many years now. They’re great at capturing their journeys, as well as events like this. It’s a really fun look into what goes on behind and during the race.

With the video being an hour and a half long, I reckon it’s a good watch for after your Sunday long run (lounging on the sofa with some good snacks), or to finish off the weekend!

I had planned to mention this video last week when it came out, but the launch of Between Miles came in between, oops!

📲 Social Spotlight: Anna Simonsson-Søndenå

Looking for some real running inspiration? Someone who’s genuine and just fully herself? Anna Simonsson-Søndenå is the one for you. I love her true and honest approach to YouTube. As she once told me, “I thought that people wouldn’t like my YouTube videos, which made me want to do it even more.”

Her biggest dream? To run a 100k in Antarctica. And I love this goal of hers. To make it happen, she’ll need quite a sponsorship budget. We all know that to reach something like this, you need both an audience and their trust—something I think she more than deserves. So give her a follow and show her some social love—it all helps contribute to her reaching that incredible goal.

What do you get in return? A smile on your face (I promise). She’s got a big following on Instagram, which you definitely should check out—but honestly, I wouldn’t be doing her justice if I didn’t point you toward her YouTube as well.

Here’s a great video to get to know her better:

🗓 Events & Races: Follow the Coast

If you had asked me 12 months ago whether I’d ever run a 100k, I probably would’ve laughed at you. But… here we are. Next year, I’ll be running a stage of Follow the Coast with six other absolutely mental people (who I happen to call my friends).

Registrations for 2026 opened earlier this week—and every stage is already fully booked. But I wouldn’t be writing about Follow the Coast here if you couldn’t still register, right? Right! You can still sign up for October this year. There are four stages left, all in Italy. Honestly, you couldn’t pick a better place to carb-load before tackling 100 kilometers!

Better be quick though—I think these stages will soon be claimed too.

🎽 Gear & Gadgets: Coros HR Monitor

Coros. A brand I always keep an eye on. Nothing major to announce here, but—if you’re kicking off a new training block this summer and don’t have a heart rate monitor yet—you might want to consider theirs.

I’ve been using a simple one myself: the COOSPO H9Z from Amazon. It was cheap (plus I got a discount), and honestly? It’s fine. But not great. The app is clunky, and the connection to my watch isn’t always stable.

Half the time I have no idea whether the data I’m seeing is actually from the HR monitor or just my watch guessing.

If I could give my younger self a bit of advice, it would be this: don’t be too cheap. Spend just a little more to get something that’s easier to use and more reliable—like the Coros HR monitor. It’s not only super easy to strap on, it also seems to actually work like it should.

Now, if you’re asking, “why would I even need a heart rate monitor?”—fair question. The truth is, the HR sensor on your watch isn’t always trustworthy. Especially when it’s rainy or you’re extra sweaty. Maybe you don’t train by heart rate—and that’s totally fine. Some runners swear by heart rate zones, others don’t. You do you.

I got one because I wanted to be sure I was running easy when I said I was. It helps me keep my easy runs truly easy. These days, I mostly use it for that—and to laugh at how high my heart rate spikes during races. It’s not a “must-have to run,” but it is nice data to have.

So yep—if you’re in the market for a heart rate monitor, this one’s worth a look.

✨ Wild Card: Winning an Ultra Marathon 6 months post-partum

Stephanie Case may have officially become one of my top 5 heroes (’scuze me—heroines!). This Canadian ultrarunner took first place at Ultra-Trail Snowdonia, breastfeeding her 6-month-old daughter, Pepper, along the way. And yes, she still won! Crazy.

Stephanie actually saw this race as a “practice run” in the lead-up to the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run—an approximately 100-mile (161-kilometre), high-altitude race in Colorado happening this July.

Talk about an inspiring woman. You can follow her on Instagram here, and read more about this race here.

🏁 The Finish Line

YOU MADE IT! New PR? How fast did you go through this fourth edition of RunLetters?!

Hope you have an awesome weekend. Hit those trails, pound some pavement, or run the dust of the track. And don’t forget: recover even harder. Whatever it is you’re up to, make it worthwhile.

And hey, if you have any suggestions for the next edition or feedback on this one, simply hit reply! 🙌 I’m all ears!