Miles for the Mind

Welcome to Trail Therapy Running — we’re so glad you’re here.

At Trail Therapy, we believe in miles for mental health. Our events are designed to challenge your body, steady your mind, and remind you why you fell in love with trail running in the first place.

Join us for unique, endurance-focused running experiences at beautiful local parks, including Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, WA and McCormick Forest Park in Gig Harbor, WA. We host timed events ranging from 3 hours to 24 hours, welcoming runners of all backgrounds, goals, and grit levels.

Learn more about our individual events:

• Loop Out The Year — December 26, 2026
• McCormick 24 — September 12, 2026

Come for the miles. Stay for the community. 🏃‍♀️🌲

Trail Therapy Running

What another gorgeous night for a group run at Fort Steilacoom Park! We’re loving seeing so many new and returning faces each week.

Honestly, we’re enjoying it so much that we decided to make it work for next Friday, too. We had originally planned to pause due to our race the following day, but consistency and reliability matter to us—and to this group.

So here’s the plan for next week:

📍 New location: Tacoma Nature Center
📅 Friday, 4/17
⏰ 6:00 PM
🏃‍♂️ 3-mile group run (with the option to go longer if you’d like)

We hope you’ll come join us for another great evening on the trails!

Our weekly group trail run returns to Ft Steilacoom Park this Friday, April 10th at 6:00pm. We will meet at the Waughop Lake Trailhead Parking Lot near the dog park. Our group will be located next to the red H-barn near the parking lot.

The route is 5 miles in length. All paces welcome!

We will have post run seltzers following the run or feel free to BYOB!

Hope to see you there!

We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening for our group run at Chambers Creek Canyon. We had some new faces join the fun and soak up the sun with us. It was truly a magical evening in the canyon connecting with our community.

Our group run next week will be at Ft Steilacoom Park on 4/10 at 6:00pm. We will meet at the Waughop Lake trailhead right next to the large tree trunk display. We will run our 5 mile route for our Loop Out The Year course in December.

We hope to see you there next week!

No April Fools' joke here - our group run returns this week to Chambers Creek Canyon Trail. Meet us at the Chambers Creek North Canyon Trailhead off Chambers Creek Road W this Friday, April 3rd at 6:00pm.

Our route spans 5-6 miles, taking us through the north canyon, Kobayashi Preserve, and a neighborhood before connecting to the South Canyon trailhead.

Check our website for directions. Non-alcoholic seltzer will be provided, or BYOB if you prefer.

We can’t wait to see you there!

This week's a break from our group runs, but we've got exciting plans ahead! Take a look at our April and May schedule below. We hope to share the trails with you soon!

To all our friends toeing the line this weekend: best wishes for a fantastic race - soak up the atmosphere and enjoy!

We had our last group run of March at Ft Steilacoom Park last night.. The rain stopped just in time and it ended up being a beautiful evening for a run. Our weekly group run is paused next week to account for multiple events going on in the state.

We will resume our group runs on April 3rd when we return to the Chambers Creek Canyon Trail. We will be posting our group run schedule for April early next week.

Hope to see you on the trails soon!

Last weeks snow and park closure forced us to cancel our group run on Friday the 13th. This week we are back at Ft Steilacoom Park. Join us this Friday at 6pm.

We will meet at the Angle Lane and Elwood Drive parking lot. From there we will run the new 5 mile course for our Loop Out The Year race in December.

Come for the miles, stay for a seltzer (or BYOB)! All paces welcome with regrouping every mile to keep us together!

We look forward to seeing you this Friday!

#grouprun #pnwrunner #tacomarunner

We’re excited to be offering two races this year — McCormick 24 on September 12th and Loop Out The Year (LOTY) on December 26!

McCormick 24 will be held for the very first time this year, with 24-hour, 12-hour day, and 12-hour evening options. The course is a loop just over 2 miles with roughly 300 feet of gain per lap — perfect for chasing distance, testing endurance, or going after a PR.

Loop Out The Year (LOTY) is back for Year 2! We’re offering 3-, 6-, and 8-hour races again this year, with hopes of adding a 12-hour option in Year 3 if the park allows it. We’ve upgraded to a bigger loop this time — about 5 miles with around 500 feet of gain — for an even better end-of-year challenge.

More information can be found on our website or on Ultrasignup.
Be sure to follow the link in our bio to learn more and register!

Don’t let Friday the 13th scare you away from our group run this week! We’re stronger in numbers anyway. 👻🏃‍♂️

Join us Friday at 6:00 PM at Pt. Defiance Park. We’ll meet near the rear SAMI entrance on Mildred Street. Please park on the hill outside the park on Mildred and look for us near the Parks Tacoma sign.

The plan is to run the 4-mile Blue Loop, with the option to add a few extra miles for anyone who wants more.

Stick around afterward for post-run seltzers (or BYOB) and some good conversation.

Hope to see you there!

We got rain, mud, and fantastic company at our Chambers Creek Canyon run. This could be our last group run in the dark before the time change tomorrow.

Join us next week for our return to Point Defiance park.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Join us this Friday, March 6th at Chambers Creek Canyon Trail!

We’ll meet at the street parking near the fence line by Oakbrook Golf Club.

The trail is a 3-mile out-and-back. You can choose to do one lap or stick with us for two out-and-backs if you’re feeling good. All paces are welcome!

Post-run seltzers will be available, or BYOB if you’d like to hang out and socialize afterward.

GPS directions are available on our website — simply click the link in our bio. Information on all upcoming events can be found on the homepage and under the Events tab.

We hope to see you this Friday!

There’s only a few weeks left of running in the dark. The best part? Having friends to run with you!

Next week we will be running the Chambers Creek Canyon Trail at 6pm on Friday 3/6.

Would anyone be interested if we added another run group day and time for early morning runs (ie 4:30 or 5:00am start)?

✨ Finish line feels ✨

There’s just something about crossing a finish line. Whether you emptied the tank or treated the race as a stepping stone, that moment of coming in never gets old.

What finish lines are you chasing this year? 🏁

PC 📸 @rebeccalpowell

Looking to connect with your local trail running community?

We’re excited to launch a weekly Friday trail group run in Tacoma, starting this Friday, February 20th!

This week’s run:
📍 Point Defiance Park
⏰ 6:00 PM start (we’ll wait at least 10 minutes before heading out)
🏃‍♂️ Blue Loop – just over 4 miles

This is a no-drop group — all paces are welcome!

Each Friday, we’ll meet at a different local trail, as outlined on our schedule. Weekly reminders and meeting details will be posted every Wednesday. Some routes may be familiar, others might become new favorites.

We’ll have post-run seltzers available, or feel free to BYOB.

Questions? Drop a comment or send us a DM.
We can’t wait to see you on the trails!

#grouprun #tacoma #tacomatrails #runtogether

You’re invited! 🌲✨

Trail Therapy Running is hosting our first-ever group trail run this Friday, February 20!

📍 Location: Blue Loop – Point Defiance Park
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM

Because we’ll be running in the evening, we’ll meet just outside the park at the Mildred Street entrance. We’ll park on the hill and head onto the Blue Trail from there.

This will be a no-drop run — our run leaders will wait at major intersections (road crossings, tops of hills, etc.) so everyone stays together.

If you plan to run ahead of the group and won’t be waiting, please let us know you know the route so we don’t worry about you 🙂

🔦 Important: Bring a headlamp — it will be dark!

All paces welcome. Come run, chat, and enjoy the trails with us!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday from Trail Therapy Running (formerly the LOTY crew)! Go Seahawks! AI is pretty wild - but apparently this fits our vibe.

#superbowlsunday #goseahawks #12

🎉 Exciting announcement! 🎉
We were officially approved yesterday for our newest race offering: McCormick 24!

McCormick 24 will take place at McCormick Forest Park in Gig Harbor, WA on Saturday, September 12, 2026. Runners can choose from three options:
• 🕛 24 hours
• 🌞 12 hours (daytime start)
• 🌙 12 hours (nighttime start)

More details are coming soon, but in the meantime feel free to check out our Ultrasignup page to get on the list. We’re actively working on updates to our website to fully reflect what to expect at McCormick 24.

We can’t wait to share more — and we hope to see you out on the trails! 🏃‍♀️🌲

A few more familiar faces have trickled onto our entrants list—welcome back for year two! 👋✨

• Joella Bolen is doubling down on the fun this year and stepping up to the 6-hour event.
• Chris and Austra Gardner, one our favorite father–daughter duos, are returning! Chris is back to take on 8 hours, while Austra is leveling up from unofficial loops while crewing last year to a full 6 hours on course. She’s officially our youngest registrant to date—how cool is that?!

Haven’t signed up yet? No worries—you’ve got until Christmas Eve to decide if you want to party with us too. 🎄
📅 Race day: 12/26
⏱️ 3-, 6-, and 8-hour timed events

Come close out the year with us 🖤🏃‍♀️🌲

The LOTY crew is thrilled to welcome back these amazing runners for another year of non-stop fun:

• George Tung - returning for 8 hours and building on his impressive ultra debut at LOTY 2025
• Alma Sisk - back for 8 hours and ready to make LOTY an annual tradition
• Brigette Presswood - returning to defend her 3-hour course record
• Laurie Kesgard - bringing back her signature, weather-defying hairstyle to the 3-hour event

We can't wait to see these familiar faces again. Who else will be joining the fun this year?

#loty #loopouttheyear #timedevent

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, December 26, 2026 - 6 & 8 Hour starting at 8:00am. 3 hour staring at 9:00am
Registration opens: February 1, 2026.

You can expect some new views of Ft Steilacoom with an even larger loop to challenge you. Our start/finish/aid location will be moving near the dog park with those amazing indoor bathrooms. What’s even better? We will have porta potties at the start!

Our 2026 will be even bigger as we are able to open up registration for 200 people across the three events.

More details to be shared soon! We can’t wait to get loopy with you!

#loty #loopouttheyear #timedevent #race

We are working on getting registration open by March 1st. There may be a starting location change and an alteration to the course.

With this in mind, we want to ask those who ran LOTY in 2025 what their favorite and least favorite part of the course was?

We would love any feedback!

We are excited to announce that our crew has been asked to be apart of the Ultrasignup Race Director Expo Dirt Circus in Seattle on Wednesday, July 22. Come check out the expo and join for a free community run! I’ll post registration when it’s available.

This will give us an opportunity to engage with our community and find other ways we can serve. Our mission is simple: provide low-cost, high-fun races for our comminuty and help other race organizers out when we can. Our hearts are so full.

Here’s some photos from LOTY 2025 that I just love ❤️ 😍.

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@trailtherapyrunning

Upcoming Events

Join us for our weekly group trail run every Friday at 6pm. Locations vary week to week. See schedule below for details.

Multiple Dates

4 days to the event

Tacoma Nature Center Group Run

Fri, Apr 17

Tacoma Nature Center

Join us for a short and sweet 3 mile jaunt around Snake Lake. Participants can choose to go further if they would like.

RSVP

Multiple Dates

11 days to the event

Pt Defiance Group Trail Run

Fri, Apr 24

Fort Nisqually Living History Museum

Meet at Ft Nisqually!

RSVP

Multiple Dates

18 days to the event

Chambers Creek Canyon Group Trail Run

Fri, May 01

Chambers Creek Canyon North Trailhead

We will meet at Chambers Creek Canyon North Trailhead off of Chambers Creek Road W. From there we will cross Kobayashi Preserve and run the pavement to the Chambers Creek Canyon South Trail. This run is approximately 5.5-6 miles long.

RSVP

Multiple Dates

32 days to the event

Ft Steilacoom Group Trail Run

Fri, May 15

Fort Steilacoom Dog Park

Run the new LOTY route!

RSVP

152 days to the event

McCormick 24

Sat, Sep 12

McCormick Forest Park

24 hour, 12 hour day and 12 hour night Race in Gig Harbor, WA.

Details

257 days to the event

Loop Out The Year

Sat, Dec 26

Fort Steilacoom Dog Park

8, 6 and 3 hour endurance run at Ft Steilacoom Park.

Details

About Us

Our Passion for Running

At Trail Therapy Running, we strive to create an environment of growth, competition, inclusivity and support. Our community of runners are dedicated to helping each other achieve their goals and reach new heights.

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Trail Therapy Running

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Upcoming Events

About Us

Trail Therapy Running Events