Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Mari Perez and Josh Garcia founded the online community Trail Gains in June 2024, to ease the learning curve of getting into trail running. Primarily an Instagram-based organization, Trail Gains shares daily tips on training, nutrition, hydration and some of the most essential challenges of becoming trail runners that the duo learned on their own (oftentimes the hard way!). “We’re putting content out there that we couldn’t find but thought people needed to hear,” said Josh.
He continued, describing the lowkey but approachable style of Trail Gains that speaks to beginners, “We felt like much of the content out there was a little too polished up or detailed, we wanted something more raw. We’re putting our videos out there without any fancy cameras, few preset agendas and staying true to who we are and what we think can help people try trail running for the first time.” In addition to producing content for Trail Gains and responding to questions from the community, the pair both work in the medical field as physical and occupational therapists.
Trail addicts
“I was one of many road converts to trail,” said Josh about when he swapped road for trail running in 2015. His reasoning was rooted largely in his experience as a physical therapist who deals with common running overuse injuries, “On roads, I was always getting injured. It began to make sense that repetitive patterns of road running weren’t the best thing for me and running trails was a great way to vary up movements and build strength in different ways.” He has since run 50Ks, 50 milers and aims to break into 100 milers.
Mari became a trail runner two years after traveling with her husband to a trail race in Arizona, “The trail community instantly sparked my interest. It felt so open, free and welcoming. After tagging along for Josh’s race, I decided to sign up for a trail race when we got back!”
Mari is hooked on short distance (10K and below) trail races, but certainly envisions extending beyond 10K to the half marathon this season, “It’s an escalating drug. To push to farther distances, run different types of trails, and try new challenges, it just keeps getting more exciting.” Some of the pair’s favorite races have been organized by Aravaipa, Mad Moose and a local race series in Albuquerque, Avidya Running.
But neither Mari and Josh knew much about trail running before they began, “When we first started trail running, we didn’t know anything. We had to learn by making a bunch of mistakes, painful mistakes,” said Mari. She recalls experiences running without proper hydration, and some of the dangers of running in the middle of the mountains, “Trail gains was really founded on our own inexperience when we started. We wanted to be able to help people and prevent making some of the mistakes that we’ve made. We also wanted to build a community, so everyone could share their tips and experiences with each other.”
ABQ trail strong
Since founding Trail Gains in 2024, much of the early success, inspiration and support has come from Mari and Josh’s local trail running community in Albuquerque (ABQ), New Mexico. While not traditionally thought of as a ‘trail town” (check out our featured trail towns …which may soon feature an ABQ edition!), it is most certainly an undiscovered gem that offers hundreds of miles of trails in Sandia Mountains, desert single/doubletrack, high altitude and ideal weather for year-round running. “There’s actually a very large group of trail runners here,” says Mari. The pair has drawn inspiration from local race series organizers of Avidya Running and connected with various groups such as the Albuquerque Trail Running Crew on Facebook.
Evolving platform
“Pacer: A pacer is that overly enthusiastic friend who signs up to run part of your ultra—not the whole thing, just enough to stay fresh while you slowly disintegrate.” —Trail Gains Instagram, Trail Term Thursday post
In the beginning, Trail Gains had little structure or themes for its content, “We’ve become a bit more structured and consistent in recent months, but initially we didn’t have any kind of format. We started putting out content we thought would be interesting and valuable,” said Josh.
Trail Gains videos and posts currently follow a weekly structure of Motivational Monday, Tuesday Trail Tip, Workout Wednesday, Thursday Trail Term, Friday interviews, Scenic Saturday, and Summit Sunday. These topics have showcased explanations of the 80/20 training principle or basic running-specific strength exercises such as the Romanian Deadlift, as well as “Scenic Saturdays” videos of trails in their local Sandia Mountains, interviews with 100 and 200 mile racers and much more.
Mari or Josh had no prior experience in content creation before Trail Gains, let alone for creating an online trail running community. Josh describes this learning experience, “This is definitely a whole new world to me coming from the healthcare field. But learning and connecting with different people I never would have connected with before has been the best part. We’ve had people reach out from across different states and there’s such a joy to have the community we do now. It felt like an organic process.”
Mari similarly describes her inexperience but excitement to continue growing the Trail Gains platform, “I’m certainly feeling like I’m learning as we’re going as well. We have so many great, experienced people around us and have had a ton of support. We’re fortunate to have the support system we do and wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”
In contrast to a growing trend of more polished and professional trail running content, Trail Gains aims to stay true to the lowkey roots of the sport. Many interviews on Trail Gains are unedited, with some even held on the run, “We want to show the real thing and really understand who people are,” said Mari. Josh continues on their commitment to be real with their audience, “The real world is full of ups and downs. So is trail running. It’s raw and natural and that’s what we want to reflect, not to destroy by overediting.”
Nutrition gains
Trail gains prioritizes nutrition as one of the most essential components of trail, and specifically ultrarunning, success. As Josh and Mari learned more about trail running, they realized the importance of proper nutrition and how to develop strategies for hydration/caloric needs that worked with their stomach on runs, as well as aided in recovery afterwards. But they weren’t finding the kind of nutrition products that met their needs, “When we realized all of the things we wanted, there wasn’t an endurance product available. We wanted clean ingredients and a way to not have to take so many supplements, powders, etc. and just have it all in one,” said Josh. “We began mixing different things in our kitchen and creating a product that we have now decided to put on the market.”
This product, Endurance Stack, is a mix of electrolytes, long-lasting energizers, and proteins concocted in their kitchen. It was launched in January 2025. Mari spoke about the product’s development, “Our trail running groups have been testing it out and helping us make revisions. The idea is to provide a solid foundation while helping you recover afterwards.”
Trail gains, life gains
At the core of Trail Gains is an appreciation of how trail running can change peoples lives for the better. Mari shares her personal “gains” when she first joined the sport, “Before trail running, I primarily did strength training and group fitness classes. Trail running has been giving me a whole different kind of clarity and community.” She continues, speaking on how she’s currently gaining appreciation for the sport and its special moments, “I’ve heard people talk about the amazing sensation of what it’s like to be in the moment when you’re running and I just recently experienced that for the first time—it was a moment of peace and realizing how beautiful it is to be out in nature and the mountains. The stronger I get, the less I feel like I’m going to crash and burn, the more I can have moments like this.”
Josh’s decade of trail running has been a character building journey that has allowed him to push through obstacles on the trail and in life, “Acceptance is the best thing I’ve gained from being a trail runner. When you’re out in the middle of nowhere on a trail, it’s about finding peace with whatever feelings you’re having at the moment. It’s about reminding yourself that this is what you chose to do. No matter how hard it is, it’s being grateful for these hard times and that we’re lucky to be able to be there.”
Learn more about Trail Gains on their website here. Follow their Instagram here.
