Running to Thousand Letters

Discovered at a 1997 estate sale, 1,000 letters dated 1899 ? 1943 were about to go to auction. On an impulse, lifelong adventurer Wendy Drake bought them. Fifteen years later, every letter offered endless routes for exploration into other people's lives and Drake's. Letter after letter led to dead ends, dead people, and her resistance to explore a recurring subject: herself. Frustrated, she considered abandoning the project and focusing on her passion for mountain adventures. But, near...
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Discovered at a 1997 estate sale, 1,000 letters dated 1899 ? 1943 were about to go to auction. On an impulse, lifelong adventurer Wendy Drake bought them. Fifteen years later, every letter offered endless routes for exploration into other people's lives and Drake's. Letter after letter led to dead ends, dead people, and her resistance to explore a recurring subject: herself. Frustrated, she considered abandoning the project and focusing on her passion for mountain adventures. But, near the end of a run to the top of Colorado's continental divide, Drake had a thought so distracting she tripped and fell face first in the dirt. ?Giving up on the letters is giving up on myself? ?Not Now. Not EVER!? she insisted. Ignoring blood trickling from her knee toward her shin she ran home to the letters. Insight became inspiration for Running to Thousand Letters. Drake leads us through the letters as if they were one of her trail running adventures: precisely planned, responsive to the unplanned. Both are equally mesmerizing.