Does the past or does the future lead us onward? Is it a hello or a goodbye? Everything we experience makes us who we need to be, who we are asked to become. Who am I and who do I want to become?
New writing is up on Substack. 🫀 I’ll link in my story and it’s always accessible at blairspeedcreative.com -> About.
Thank you to all who have joined this word heart community.
@substack
I get to shoot in incredible spaces. I am grateful for this soul pod that can take me there.
English, Western, or bareback. I rode for 15 years as a kid, a few lifetimes ago. Getting to fly across the Kentucky countryside riding XC was complete freedom mixed with discipline + adventure. Horses are conduits and it is always a special day when I get to just be in their presence. A really special day when I get to ride.
NYC Shoot: runnin’ 3 mile with a 45 lb pack to get shots on the Brooklyn Bridge quickly before the shoot. Pouring so much sweat when we got up there it was hard to see through the lens. We laughed + pivoted constantly to get shots between all the humans walkin up there. I loved this day.
Climbin with folks I love.
I don’t really drink and I definitely don’t have Fireball out of a box in a strip mall parking lot in Alabama regularly but if we’re on a shoot and it helps me connect with who I get to document I am. All. About. It. Thank you, new friends.
I love playing on shoots and exploring “Why nots.” Ashley was shooting video and so I just ran behind her taking pictures to see what would happen around the track. And we ended up using some of the shots! This track shoot in Austin, TX still one of my favorites.
Setting up the fixed line and getting to jumar up before The Pat Callis climbed Scepter. One of my most cherished days. Trav orchestrated it all with encouragement and then documented with a drone. Pat is one of the most incredible humans I’ve ever gotten to know in my life and one of my dearest friends. It was a really special experience to just be up there with him, without the fear of not being able to follow up, and to just witness him.
He is amazing.
And the last slide here, my favorite shoot ever. Trav arranged for me to document the SAR Heli Team (which he had been a part of for a long time). This image is one I hold closest to my heart. Trav and I together on short haul below Carish’s heli as I take pictures. I still wear this god ring on my harness when I climb. Poppi. 🫀
Photography takes you into so many different worlds. Every person has a unique lens of experience + passions. I love getting to explore within them.
I know places we can go, babe.
Shelba Welba Ding Dongs and I met in middle school, along with a shocking amount of amazing humans that would become lifelong friends (high school & college & beyond - till today). Shelby has been there, a foundation of love and steadiness in my life, while also easily breaking into a dance party for the heart (and art) of joy and silliness. Hallelujah.
She came and lived with me for weeks at a time, multiple times, after Trav died. Trav was a very dear friend to her and we are lifelong-through-it-all-friends. She’d take care of Catsby and Charlotte when I had week long photoshoots so I could do my work and take care of my family. She asked me deep questions and always let me be me - whatever that looked like in a multitude of ever changing seasons. Shelby has experienced her own profound losses and she could just be there with me. In it.
She hadn’t been out to Montana since those early days of loss. It felt really special to share my home with her last week. The new art that’s filled the home. Books. Critters. Chef Mark meals. To share my work with her and introduce her to a few new incredible friends made. Another season shared. And I was able to take her to Trav’s Altar where she brought him her love and offerings.
Richard Albert says it most concisely and with all the heart, “We’re all just walking each other home.”
Thanks for walking with me, Shelby. đź«€
@shelbawelbadingdongs
My mantra lately, “Stay in your garden.”
When I run I am not making anyone else happy. That’s the story I tell. It’s just me and the trees. And, Kate. And, Kelsey and Meesh and and and a list of strong women. Strong men too. The depths of our conversations and connections out on the trails makes me feel alive and less alone. We are brave enough and simultaneously vulnerable enough to talk about placentas, multiverses, fears, desires, histories and personal stories - we are full-hearted messy humans together. This depth and presence happens naturally simply running side by side of one another. Wouldn’t it break my heart if they never knew what an incredible impact they have had on me and my life? Wouldn’t it be a travesty if they thought that running was selfish?
New writing is up on the Substack as I continue to learn and be moved just by witnessing my dear friend, @stacy_townsend , just be herself. Stacy has modeled bravery, hard work, empowerment, encouragement, evolution, clear lens, and big big heart for me for the almost 20 years I’ve known her. She continues to give and to teach just by being.
I am so grateful to know her.
I am more whole because I get to know her.
She might be a little shocked to hear she’s also my Running Coach.
And also, Laura, who asked the best question.
blairspeed.substack.com
@stacy_townsend@townsendcollective@shopcommonform
🫀🪴
Lifelong childhood friends that walk the journey with us are so special. And, there’s also something so incredible & soul affirming to make a friend that speaks to your heart and spirit as an adult. I am so wildly grateful for Kate’s friendship. We have “Our Run,” the same distance and the same trail we do together every week except when we throw a curve ball. No matter where we’re at on the Spectrum of Humaning I feel more alive, supported, and seen after I get to share miles with Kate. My Soul Sister that also listens to trees, speaks too.
This year, I had the chance to photograph Kate making her Art on her birthday. What a celebration. Thank you. As I edited her pictures, I’d realize that I was just repeating, “To know her is to love her,” while I edited. And if you know, then you know.
Thank you, Kate.
Please keep putting your art (heart) into the world.
@valleyclay.co@kate.belton
#k8
Meesh & I were on a run when we admitted our shared individual mutual, of course, desire to co-lead a retreat. She’s led incredible yoga retreats around the world for years but we wanted to add the simple part of step left step right out into the landscape through running or hiking. Exploring the external world along with the internal. One of our favorite ways to connect with a new land is simply to move through it. Reverence. Connection. Effort.
It was special for me to connect with runners through words before, during, and after our week together - thank you. And, to run & fly next to our incredible local running guide and host, Kevin(!!).
I couldn’t have known what this week would look like, how it would naturally unfold with each person’s own magic, and how that would impact my life. My heart.
When I was younger I was SO curious and so brave/shy/inquisitive/did I mention curious? I wanted to know what it was like to run that trail, climb that mountain, learn that job, talk to that person, be with that person, go to that city, state, country. I had an insatiable appetite for the human condition. For experiences. And, then, I entered a time when experiences became really painful, filled with more hurt than I could have imagined/understood until I did. Losing Trav and the years that just kept following. I stayed brave but it just changed in form. The effervescent and enthusiastic part of me began to hide, afraid of what new pain might be found.
Heidi reminded me right before this Spain Retreat how we had known one another for more than four months before we discovered that we were both funny (hilarious! Silly!) because we were both moving through such difficult and profound seasons in our lives. But what a joy and testament to spirit to be silly.
I am so grateful to the absolutely amazing humans & lemurs that I got to experience and create together with on this great adventure. Our hosts, our guides, our new and old friends. I am grateful to be reminded of my own curious & enthusiastic self. Hi, Blair. I remember.
I want to carry these reminders & openings forward.
Thank you to every person, place, tree, lemur, and dancing soul that made this trip.
22KM. 1200M GAIN. PURE TRAIL ENERGY. 🔥
Last week we took on an incredible trail run up to the summit of #marededeudelmont and what a day it turned out to be.
Strong pace, evenly matched levels, and nonstop good vibes from start to finish. The climbs were tough, but every step paid off with unreal views waiting at the top. 🏔️
What really made it special was the group. Pushing together, sharing the effort, and enjoying every moment along the way.
Already looking forward to the next adventure. 🙌
#trailrunninglife
#garrotxa
#bedandbreakfastspain
#retreatspain
Morning well spent 🌿
Started with yoga and flowed straight into a beautiful trail run through #lafageda . We even passed by the stunning #santamargarida church along the way.
Such a fun experience, great vibes, a steady pace, and the whole group moving together as one. Couldn’t have asked for better company out there.
@meeshsundypoo , @blairspeed , @briwithaview
#trailrun #garrotxa #bedandbreakfastspain
Wait?! Am I late to the 2016 trend?!
What are social media rules anyway? Never heard of them.
2016 was magic. Lots of running and climbing as I was on edge of starting my own business and could still play a lot. Trav and I got engaged!! Which truly was the best day ever. We climbed with Pat nearly every weekend. Trav raced his first 55k off the couch and by off the couch I mean “working and SARing constantly.” No music so you can hear his short race monologue. It’s gold.
Jodi and I finally figured out the loop @jgriffmt was trying to teach us. Trav and I climbed Granite again even though I had yelled to the sky, “Let’s climb this thing because I am never coming back here again!” The first time we did it. I placed in a lot of races and Trav got us a bottle of Pappy to celebrate me not dying during a race (long story).
Trav and I camped at The Dump in Cooke City as much as possible to ski. #highclass And, we’d finished building the house the year before (kind of me to say to myself, Trav finished building our house) but we were too exhausted to furnish/decorate. So it was a year of a plastic table and crash pads for interior design. DIY forever.
And we took our engagement pictures in front of Cowen.
Which feels mystical.
Spiritual. Known.
Love all of these shared adventures. Loved building our home. Miss the ones that have gone on to the next adventure.
Sure wonder what 2036 will look like. đź«€
