Katie Arnold

Grand Haven, New Mexico

BRIEF FLASHINGS IN THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, 2024. RUNNING HOME memoir; bylines @Outsidemagazine, @NYT @WSJ. Leadville 100 champ. Reader, writer, wild runner.

Articles

The Best Audiobooks for Running Inspiration

3 weeks ago | audible.com | Seth Hartman |Rich Roll |Dean Karnazes |Katie Arnold

Running can be an arduous task, especially for those who are new to the sport. It can also be a life-giving force for those who are already more involved in the running community. Either way, it’s one of the best athletic ventures to couple with a great audiobook. Listening to the inspirational stories of other runners can be just what you need to push through a difficult jog or set a new personal record.
the men

Feb 7, 2025 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

work in process has been under the weather this week, so I’m going to take my own advice: Don’t ask for permission or wait for someone to come knocking. Say the thing you need to say. In that spirit—and in protest of this week’s heartless equity + care cuts and for ALL the girls out there, listen up bitches: Here’s a teaser from my forthcoming book, How to Disappear. The MenThe men at work were divided into two groups: the safe ones and the threatening ones.
young forever

Nov 2, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

A couple of days ago, I had a birthday. I turned 53. That number looks alarmingly large when I write it here, but in truth, I’ve never been younger. I don’t mean I’ve never felt younger, though I do feel young. My body’s not as creaky as it was a year ago. My running’s more fluid, and I can almost walk the length of our 30-foot slack line without falling off. In August, I rode my mountain bike 100 miles at over 10,000 feet and woke up the next morning and could almost have done it again.
After A Devastating Injury, These "Mental PT" Practices Saved Me

Oct 12, 2024 | mindbodygreen.com | Katie Arnold

Image by Milles Studio / StocksyOctober 12, 2024In 2016, I fell out of a raft and badly injured my leg. It was our first day of a six-day wilderness trip down Idaho's remote Middle Fork of the Salmon River. For the next five days, my husband and I navigated 100 major rapids in 100 miles with a leg that couldn't bear weight. When at last we got out safely, I learned my leg was broken and I'd have to have surgery.
the zen of new jersey

Oct 11, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

Last weekend, I went to my high school reunion. There are more glamorous places to grow up than suburban New Jersey, but few that are so normal and real, and, in such a basic way, good. New Jersey gets a bad rap for being a polluted, industrial snarl of highways and factories, but except for the nefarious wasteland near Newark airport, it’s surprisingly pretty, practically bucolic.
swish: turning obstacles into energy

Aug 18, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

Hi and welcome back to work in process! I’ve been on summer break for the past few weeks, wrapping up our annual trip to our family cottage in Ontario just in time to re-acclimate to altitude and ride the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race last Saturday. (Amazing! More on that soon.)One of my favorite parts of this summer was teaching a writing workshop on Stony Lake.
center of effort: stability for uncertain times

Jul 15, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

Hello from our cottage on Stony Lake, Ontario. What a week it’s been. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, this is a good moment to stop and take a long, deep breath. Come back to your center. In almost every art form, spiritual tradition, and scientific law, the center is a powerful expression of balance, equanimity, and stability. But it’s not just a symbol of these qualities; it’s also a method for cultivating them in ourselves and in the world.
literary inspiration (or finding alice munro)

May 23, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

Hello, I’m back with a bonus post for paying subscribers, this week on lifelong literary inspiration. If you’d like to enjoy this in full, please consider supporting work in process with a modest subscription fee. I’ll be back to bi-weekly posts, on Tuesdays and Fridays (or if I’m running behind, Wednesdays and Saturdays). I do hope you’ll join us. Now, as my dad used to say, Onward….. I was in a hotel room in Florida last week when I learned that Alice Munro had died at 92.
radical possibility

May 11, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

Hi! I’m back from a fun first leg of the Brief Flashings book tour. If I met you, thank you for coming out in support of this wild little wonder. If you missed this round, I’ll be in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Boca Grande, Florida, this coming week before returning to Santa Fe for a sold-out wild writing workshop at the Santa Fe International Literary Festival on May 20. California was a dream.
hustle + flow

Apr 19, 2024 | katiearnoldauthor.substack.com | Katie Arnold

The other morning I went for a mountain bike ride. I am supposedly “training” for the Leadville 100 bike race in August, but the minute I start thinking of biking as training, the idea of racing 100 miles seems like the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. So I have to trick myself. I am just riding my bike. A lot. The trail network has a sweet flow trail called Hustle and Flow, a rolly-smooth downhill dirt track with bermed sides and little jumps.