14. Minimalism in Trail Running, Storytelling, and Magazines with Jess Vandenbush

In episode 14 of the Outdoor Minimalist podcast, we are going to be talking about a few things that hold a lot of space in my life: trail running and storytelling.

Combining those two things with minimalism, I’m excited to have Jess Vandenbush on the show to discuss Eat Clean, Run Dirty magazine.

Jess has shameless enthusiasm for wild places, fresh air, small-town diners, culture, art, road trips, and simple pleasures. She relishes in doing the hard things from running up mountains to launching a print-only magazine during a global pandemic. She regularly bites off more than she can chew and figures it out as she goes.

Eat Clean Run Dirty Magazine is her love letter to trail and ultra running and all the humans that are a part of it.

Eat Clean, Run Dirty

Magazine: https://www.eatcleanrundirty.com/read

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eat_clean_run_dirty/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatcleanrundirty

Podcast: https://www.eatcleanrundirty.com/listen

Contact Jess To Contribute to the Magazine: jess@eatcleanrundirty.com

This transcript was edited to remove some filler words and phrases and is not verbatim according to what is spoken in the audio recording.

MEG: Thank you so much for being on the show today with me, Jess. I'm super stoked to have you here to not only discuss your love and passion for running, but also all of the ups, downs, and all-arounds that you've experienced while launching a trail running magazine, Eat Clean Run Dirty.

So before we dive into all that, can you tell us more about your love for the outdoors, your experience in the outdoor industry, and how Eat Clean Run Dirty was born?

JESS: I'm glad you asked that! In the running community, I've noticed a lot of runners say things like, “Oh, back in college...” when they first start running. For me, it’s not just about running; it’s about being outside.

So my question that I like to ask people is: how did you first start getting outside?

I'm from Wisconsin, born and raised in Green Bay. My family only went on vacations in a tent, and I spent weeks on end in northern Wisconsin, especially in the Eagle River area in Vilas County, camping in a canvas tent with my family, fishing for breakfast, going on hikes, and being out in the woods and in nature on my own. I think that’s what really led me to be the trail runner I am now—my love for being outside, seeing wild places, and just being in it.

As a young girl, when they asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I had two answers: one was a park ranger, and the other was a news lady, or basically a journalist. I realized I’ve kind of invented my own job where I can be a little of both.

I can be involved in the outdoors and stewardship while also telling the stories that I want to share through my own radio show and magazine. It’s a culmination of all those things that brought me to where I am today as the founder and editor-in-chief of Eat Clean Run Dirty.

MEG: That feels so perfect to me because I grew up in Minnesota with the quintessential Midwestern upbringing! So, did Eat Clean Run Dirty start as the podcast?

JESS: It actually started as a running club! I had the podcast since 2015. I hadn’t realized that I was actually the first female podcast host to talk about trail running in podcasting. Since 2015, I’ve hosted this show, and if you dig back, you can listen to the first couple of episodes, which are a little bit embarrassing, but that’s okay.

I used to call it the Sugar Stride podcast. Then I started a monthly trail running meetup in downtown Cleveland at a restaurant that was the country’s first 100% non-GMO restaurant. I convinced them to let me host a group run there, where after the run, we would go on a four-mile run around Cleveland and see the cool stuff in the city. After the run, they would give us free beer!

Somehow, I convinced this really cool non-GMO restaurant, which was the hippest place in town, to give a bunch of rowdy runner folk free beers. I called the club Eat Clean Run Dirty, and the thought process behind that was “eat clean,” like eating healthy food, but also eating local, knowing where your food comes from, and making it your own if you can. Make your own food, grow your own food, but also put good things in your body: meditate, sleep well, read books, write poetry, make art—everything that contributes to wellness and living your best life.

And then “run dirty” means trail running, but also being unapologetically messy in the pursuit of achieving goals and doing hard things. Don't worry about your makeup smudging, or being sweaty and gross, or getting muddy—just get over yourself and go after it. That’s what Eat Clean Run Dirty means. I came up with that name for the group run, and then I changed the name of the podcast to Eat Clean Run Dirty Podcast. When I decided to have a magazine, it made sense to call it the same thing too.

MEG: I really love how you described it. I wish every running club had that mindset—a holistic approach that isn’t just about running fast and hard, but about community building and experiencing everything your body and mind are going through. It’s really beautiful.

JESS: Thank you! When I think of Eat Clean Run Dirty, I envision it kind of like a Sunday supper, where we have a spot saved for everybody, no matter if you’re fast or slow, a hiker, or whoever you are—young, old, cool, nerdy, road runner, trail runner, track runner—we take all kinds, and there’s a seat saved for you at that table.

Even when we had the group run going, we would talk about what we wanted from our group run. We always marked the course so nobody got lost, and we had someone we called the White Knight, who would make sure nobody got left behind—doubling back if necessary to make sure everyone felt taken care of. Dogs are invited, cyclists are invited, walkers are invited—please bring new people!

If for some reason you’re hurt or you’re not a runner, we invite you for that free beer at the end anyway. That’s the culture we wanted to create around that group. I think it really makes people feel welcome and like they belong to something.

MEG: Building that sense of community is such a natural human desire. One thing I've noticed, not just in the running communities but in the outdoor industry, is sometimes there is a lack of inclusivity. Is that a word? Inclusiveness? I don't really know how to phrase it, but it sounds like you're trying to meld that into the trail running community.

JESS: Yeah, I think that’s an interesting way to look at it. It’s human nature to want to be a part of a tribe. You see it in kids, and you definitely remember it from middle school and high school—people kind of team up. Sometimes that’s how you identify yourself: Are you one of the band nerds, one of the football players, or one of the hippie kids? That doesn’t stop once you get out of school; it continues on into adulthood.

Even within bigger umbrellas, like the outdoor community, there are very much tribes within that—like the climbing people and the mountain bikers. Even though we have so many common interests, you see it at any trailhead: the mountain bikers and the runners versus the dirt bike people or the horseback riders. We’re all out there because we love the same thing, but sometimes we can forget that. As much as feeling a part of something is important, it can also really divide us in the action of creating that identity for ourselves.

So absolutely, I’m trying to break the paradigm of what it means to be a runner. Who is that, and what are we going to do about it? The running community, Meg, is way more than just runners. Some of the people who have made the biggest impact on me as a trail runner have been folks who don’t run at all—like aid station captains or volunteers. They are just as big a part of the community as anybody else.

MEG: That’s funny that you mention that because I feel like we often forget about them—the hidden part of the running community. They’re very important and valuable.

JESS: Right! I just did a race out in Pennsylvania called Oil Creek, and that race has been going on for a pretty long time. The aid stations at that race have been run by the same families for years. The mayor parks cars at the middle school, which is the start/finish line, and we camp in the gym.

There’s a whole town around this race that has been supporting the running community for all this time. Even the train that goes through town drops off supplies at the aid stations. It’s really cool, and those people are just as important to the running community as the runners.

It’s a beautiful thing, and I really make sure that we involve those folks. That’s why, when I look at articles for Eat Clean Run Dirty, we talk about race reports. I not only want to include writing from the winner or the mid-pack runners, but I also get reports from volunteers who made grilled cheese sandwiches, from the race director, or the medical staff—the nurse who helps you with your blistered feet. They’re a huge part of our community, and hearing their perspectives on what brings them to these events is important too.

MEG: I think you already touched on some aspects of the next question I have. There are a lot of magazines out there, and specifically a lot of running magazines. So my general question is: in what ways does Eat Clean Run Dirty stand out from them, or maybe even do things better?

JESS: Yes, there are a lot of magazines, and I actually love magazines—that’s part of why I thought to start one. I’ve been subscribed to magazines my whole life since I was a kid. I subscribed to Highlights!

MEG: I loved that magazine!

JESS: Right? I also loved National Geographic as a young person. Even when we had those Scholastic Book Fair orders at school, I would order different activity magazines or even Mad Libs. I’ve always been a fan.

Now that I’m this adult person who runs through the woods and eats snacks with my friends as a major part of my day, I looked at all the magazines and thought, “There’s not really one for us.”

There are plenty of magazines about getting outside and being a runner, but the articles in them are often super glossy, trying to fit a ton of content in bullet points on one page. Then there are five pages of advertisements, and the stories often focus on how to run faster by losing weight.

That is so not what I’m trying to do. I run because I like spending quality time with my friends, doing hard things, and trying to accomplish things I’m not sure I can pull off. I love being in wild places that you can't drive to. Running a point-to-point hundred-mile race gets you into areas that nobody else can see unless they're willing to run that far on their own two feet. Those are the reasons I run.

The content of other running magazines isn’t necessarily based on that and the community around it. So, I decided to start something completely different, with minimal to no advertising, focused on art and storytelling instead—about the community that inspires me and that I love so much. I’d say it’s completely different because it’s about what we’re actually here to do instead of trying to sell things.

MEG: I think advertisements obviously pay for a lot of content, whether it be print or digital. They’re part of the reason I stopped subscribing to some magazines. I just got tired of them trying to sell things to me; I want to read stories and real-life experiences that I can relate to.

JESS: Exactly! It’s tough because you have to pay the bills somehow. There are a lot of companies doing cool things—innovating or operating sustainably—like Patagonia, for instance. They’re a big business, but they’re doing a lot of things the right way. Prana is another brand leading the way in sustainability. So, buying gear isn’t bad. I believe in conscious consumerism.

But what’s happened with magazines is they’ve kind of shifted away from storytelling for me. I thought, “I wish there were a magazine that got me really excited and wrote about what we like to do in running,” and there wasn’t one out there. So I kind of thought, “Well, I suppose I’m going to have to start it myself.” I was forced into it, and since I’m the one making it, it can be exactly what I want it to be.

I only hope to do justice to the community that Eat Clean Run Dirty serves by representing them appropriately in those pages.

MEG: I guess, as I hear you talk about the magazine—and having seen it as well—how do you, as the editor, decide the direction of each issue and the things you want to include?

JESS: Sometimes it’s just literally things that inspire me. When I’m out for a run and in that flow state, I get a lot of my best ideas. Ideas just occur to me; I don’t know how they happen for other people, but I have these thoughts about stuff. Then, I think about how to pull them all together, or I see what other people are doing and learn more about that.

For instance, there’s an article in the upcoming issue that I believe will be the greatest magazine I’ve ever made—let alone possibly the best trail running magazine I’ve ever seen. I’m so excited about it! There’s an article about canceled races. Current events sometimes inspire that. This piece will explore why races get canceled, how it’s handled, and the reasons behind those decisions. I’ll be talking to race directors about their decision-making process—what made it hard for them to cancel a race, the challenges they faced.

This goes beyond COVID-related cancellations; it covers weather and all kinds of reasons. For example, what do race directors do when they don’t cancel a race but severe weather hits? Some of these races are in the mountains and can present life-threatening conditions.

The idea for this article came from knowing people who do really cool things, from my own experience of having races canceled, and from understanding rather than judging. It’s about being curious about the world around us and asking those race directors, “What went into canceling this race? How was that decision made? What challenges did you face?”

Being a curious lover of life and a curious trail runner, learning more about the people and places around me inspires certain articles like that.

MEG: So that’s one you’re really excited about? Is it in the next issue?

JESS: Yes, it’s in the next issue! Today is November 10th, and that issue goes to the printers in two days. It should be in mailboxes within two weeks after that. Like I said, it’s not just about COVID-related cancellations; it also covers wildfires closing races or situations like the recent one in Utah, where a race director didn’t cancel despite a huge winter storm. Runners had to be evacuated from a mountain during whiteout conditions, facing hypothermia and even death.

There are so many factors that go into permitting races: Is there an evacuation plan? Is there search and rescue on course? What are the required gear protocols? The politics of all that is really interesting.

Then there’s another article where runners write haikus. It ranges from serious journalism—what I would call slow journalism—to poetry and fun pieces. Sometimes there are recipes, and articles about having your own container garden. I guess it all comes down to what inspires me at the time, which is one of the cool things about having your own magazine—it can be whatever you dream of!

MEG: I really appreciate the artistic side of the magazine. The way you lay things out highlights visuals. Photography is important, but there was one issue—I don’t remember which one—but the cover featured a drawing or a painting. I love how you’re featuring artists and their perspectives of the community.

JESS: Thank you, Meg! In this new issue, we feature three different artists, including paintings to accompany the articles—not just photography but paintings and some charcoal drawings.

I’m glad you mentioned that specific issue. The cover featured a painting of a trail runner, created by a 14-year-old girl from Bozeman, Montana. She’s an avid outdoorswoman—she fly fishes, horseback rides, does bird hunting, and enjoys hiking and camping.

For her age, she’s quite accomplished! I asked her to paint a picture of a trail runner, and she chose to depict a woman alone in the woods, looking happy and strong. To me, when Hayden painted that, it signified what’s possible. She didn’t paint a man or an Olympic athlete; she painted a confident, healthy woman enjoying her time in the mountains on the trail.

That’s what it’s all about—seeing yourself as possible in these wild spaces and stories. Storytelling connects people and inspires them. That’s why Hayden’s painting landed the cover of her first magazine. I’m sure she’ll have many more to come! I hope that what we create inspires others to see the potential in their own work and make something even better.

Supporting the arts is a huge part of what Eat Clean Run Dirty is about, and I’m really proud to support different independent local artists through this storytelling. There’s something intimate about print; it’s different to hold it in your hands, see it, and smell it.

MEG: I got weirdly emotional when you were explaining the painting that Hayden did. I definitely identify with the art on the cover. For someone of such an impressionable age, I remember being 14 and extremely awkward and self-conscious. To paint a powerful image that impacts not just others her age but women in the trail running community is amazing and powerful.

JESS: You know, I’m from Wisconsin and you’re from Minnesota, and young Hayden’s from Montana, but growing up, I wasn’t the pretty girl. I wore flannel shirts my dad got from Fleet Farm and thrift store jeans. I was more interested in building giant ice snowballs on the playground than chasing boys. I played Kick the Can and ghost in the graveyard, climbed trees, rode bikes, read books, listened to music, went camping, and learned how to clean fish. I took wood shop, forestry, animal husbandry, and hunter safety classes in high school. I had a different existence than some people, but that was who I was.

Trail running has helped me connect with other people who enjoy similar things. It’s cool to find that sense of community, especially among women. I’ve benefited from meeting amazing people, like yourself, who prioritize adventure, learning, and exploration. It’s such a different group of people, and I’m so glad I finally got to meet them—being that young girl who went snowmobiling and ice fishing with her dad.

MEG: Listening to you talk about your childhood, it strikes me that the media we had growing up didn’t necessarily represent the people we were or were becoming—especially in running. I used to despise running until I got into hiking and discovered trail running, which includes hiking! It was such a revelation. The community is awesome, but I never saw it presented as an option for me to be a part of.

JESS: Absolutely. Representation is huge, and it matters. Bringing it back to Hayden’s cover, the things you see in media are so important because they make you feel possible and inspire you to pursue bigger things. Growing up, I watched shows like Full House, and DJ Tanner didn’t go fishing.

Now, with this podcast and my magazine, we can show those stories and highlight people who have always existed—adventurous women, men, and people who live life with purpose. I can’t wait to see what this next generation, with access to this type of media and representation, will create and what they’ll envision as possible. It’s an exciting time, and there’s a lot of shifting happening, not just in the outdoor community but in media as a whole.

MEG: It really is! Before we wrap up, can you share two things: what has been your biggest obstacle in creating Eat Clean Run Dirty, and what would you say is your biggest win?

JESS: The biggest obstacle has been learning as I go. You don’t know what you don’t know. Many people who want to start something prepare extensively, but I didn’t do that. I recorded my first podcast on my old computer with no microphone, just Googling how to do it. I took the same approach with the magazine. I started with an issue zero, having no graphic design experience or publishing background. I didn’t even go to college; I was a teen mom who just decided to do this.

There have been so many growing pains because I had no idea what I was doing. I’ve had to learn about things like permits for bulk mail or how magazine pages need to be in multiples of eight due to cutting. I’ve learned everything publicly, which has made my mistakes visible too. It’s been a big lesson in being bold and brave. I hope that by sharing this, anyone listening who’s thinking about starting something but feels unprepared will be encouraged to just start. Start where you are, with what you have.

And as for my biggest win? Seeing the growth from issue zero to issue five has been incredible. It’s the most beautiful magazine about running I’ve ever seen. Our readers have seen that journey, from my first issue to where we are now, and that’s something I’m really proud of.

MEG: That’s inspiring! Thank you for sharing that.

JESS: I guess my biggest win would be those celebratory moments, right? They've often been quiet ones. I've received notes from readers that really touch me. For example, a woman from Florida, who's 50 years old and lives in Boca Raton, wrote to me. There isn’t much of a trail running community there, but she runs anyway. She’s just starting out as a new runner at 50, and after reading the stories in Eat Clean Run Dirty, she feels like she belongs to something bigger than herself. That she’s part of a movement and feels possible—that’s huge.

Another moment that stands out was when one of our photographers shared her first published article. Her mom commented on it, saying she couldn’t believe it was her daughter. I get emotional just thinking about it. It’s a big deal to spotlight the hard work of people who aren’t always understood in typical media. Being able to help share those stories and celebrate those milestones means so much to me.

Those wins may seem little, but they really aren’t. They’re about creating a canvas for others to realize their potential and accomplish their dreams. That’s what Eat Clean Run Dirty is all about.

MEG: Those moments are definitely impactful and help you reconnect with your mission, right? You’re creating that canvas and allowing others to be a part of it, which is incredible.

So, the magazine is subscription-only and print-only. How can people get it?

JESS: Yes! There are a couple of ways to subscribe to Eat Clean Run Dirty. You can visit our website at eatcleanrundirty.com. There’s a link there to subscribe; we offer four issues a year. If someone is facing tough times and can’t afford a subscription but still wants to receive the magazine, I encourage them to reach out. We have scholarship subscriptions available. Everyone deserves a place at our table.

If someone prefers not to handle digital payments, they can mail me a check too. I know that the digital world can feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to minimizing our carbon footprint. However, there’s something beautifully intimate about a physical magazine. I want people to be able to tear out pages for gift wrap or keep them on their coffee tables. Even if it's print, it doesn't have to be bad for the environment; there are ways to upcycle it.

MEG: And for those who haven’t seen the magazine, it’s not made of standard magazine materials. It doesn’t have that glossy finish, making it easy to repurpose or even compost!

JESS: Exactly! You can write on it, and sometimes there are interactive features. I even contacted my printer about making paper with seeds in it, which would be amazing, but it’s a bit costly right now.

MEG: That would be awesome! How can people get in touch with you or follow along with Eat Clean Run Dirty on social media?

JESS: You can follow us on Instagram at @eatcleanrundirty. We also have a Facebook page, but I’m more active on Instagram since I’m a visual storyteller.

You can email me directly at jess@eatcleanrundirty.com if you have questions or want to contribute. We love to hear from artists, photographers, and writers! There’s also a podcast available on iTunes and Google Play called Eat Clean Run Dirty.

MEG: I’ll link all of that in the show notes, including your email, so people can reach out easily. Thank you so much for chatting with me today; it was truly inspiring!

JESS: Thank you, Meg! I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this mission on your show. I’m a big fan of your work, so it’s an honor to be here.

MEG: I always enjoy talking to you, Jess.

If you’re interested in contributing to Eat Clean Run Dirty magazine, check out Jess's email in the show notes. I encourage artists, photographers, and writers to reach out; Jess is fantastic to work with and has a great vision for the magazine.

And if you’re looking for a thoughtful holiday gift, consider subscribing to Eat Clean Run Dirty—it's a gift any runner would appreciate!