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Few trail runners have as inspiring and impressive of a story as Mira Rai. Born in the remote village of Bhojpur, Nepal (200-plus miles east of Kathmandu), Rai rocked the trail running world when she won the 50 kilometer Himalayan Outdoor Festival race in 2014. Not only did she win, but she did it without any fancy gear or hydration packs of energy gels bouncing around in her vest. That’s because she showed up completely unprepared for the race. As far as she knew, she was just meeting up with some new friends for another run on the trails.
Rai quickly catapulted to the upper echelons of the sport, traveling across the globe to compete in some of the world’s most challenging races where she often found herself at the top of the podium. A ruptured ACL slowed her down in 2016, but she came back the next year to set a new course record for the 120-kilometer Ben Nevis Ultrain Race Race in Scotland. She capped that season off…
