If you're looking for Kelsey Hogan, you can usually find her on the trails. The 28-year-old ultramarathon trail runner from Steady Brook, Newfoundland, is a self-professed nature lover and outdoor adventurer. Growing up, she loved running with her brothers through the mountains and trails of her hometown. That love for running has persisted into adulthood: this year alone, Hogan has competed in extra-long races from B.C. to Quebec and even France and Wales. 

For the uninitiated, an ultramarathon is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon of 42.195 kilometres. The supersized races are not for the faint of heart: In 2022, Hogan ran more than 28 hours straight to win a 160-kilometre race through the Charlevoix and Beaupré regions of Quebec, making her a two-time Quebec Mega-Trail champ. “I love it. I feel so fortunate to be able to see so many places on my own two feet,” Hogan says. 

After many successful races this year, Hogan wrapped her season in September with the 170-kilometre UTMB race in Chamonix, France, dubbed the “most mythical and prestigious trail running race in the world.” The race, which goes through three countries and reaches a total elevation gain of over 10,000 metres, attracts runners from all over the world. “It’s sort of the Wimbledon or Masters of ultra running,” Hogan says. The scenery doesn’t hurt either: “I get really charged up taking in the views and the places around me.”

Though the high kilometre count may seem daunting to many, it’s where Hogan thrives. “My sweet spot is the really long, really mountainous runs,” Hogan says. “When you get into that 100-mile distance, you're really in some pretty wild and spectacular terrain. It becomes so much more mental than physical.” Learning and problem solving on the fly is a big part of the experience in ultramarathons. “I want to find the place where I’m at the edge of my limits and have to work through the problems, the fear, and the doubt.” 

That mental element informs Hogan’s drive and passion for sport off the trail, too. After studying psychology in undergrad, she went on to earn a Master of Science Kinesiology in Sport Psychology at Dalhousie University. 

During her masters, she worked on a project with the Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic and her Dalhousie supervisor, Dr. Lori Dithurbide, to study the mental health of community sport coaches. “Coach mental health is something that's typically not been the focus of a lot of resources and programs,” Hogan says. Though there were programs for athletes’ mental health, the research found a gap for coaches at the grassroots level. The two-phase study was recently wrapped, and Hogan has since presented the findings at academic conferences and through CSI Atlantic’s Podium Performance Webinars.

Lately, Hogan has been wearing many hats — athlete, researcher, and mental performance consultant. Each role informs each other and fuels her forward. With her graduate program completed, she’s leaning into running even more as she prepares for next season. She’s also sharing snippets of her grueling feats of endurance with followers online, inspiring people all over. “By doing something that people felt was maybe hard to comprehend, or big and impossible-sounding, I’m able to show people that it’s possible to take on these big wild things,” she says. “Maybe it’s not even running. We all have our own ‘ultras’ in our lives that we’re working to overcome. And if there’s just a little spark of inspiration from sharing what I’m doing, then that makes it so worth it.”