Run Wild Retreats + Wellness specializes in trail running- and wellness-based travel experiences that support women’s overall health and well being. Our programs feature mindful running techniques that help the women run better while maximizing running’s stress-reducing effects on the body and mind. Set in some of the world’s most inspiring natural destinations known to runners, each itinerary is an immersion in nature and wellness experiences such as yoga, hot springs or spa.
We include the specific elements you need to have wonderful retreat and leave out anything that doesn’t support that mission. Here’s an overview of what makes our retreat experiences so unique. To learn more about what’s included in a retreat package, click here.
Meet Our Team
Elinor Fish
Founder + CEO
Lives In: Carbondale, Colorado
Elinor Fish has worked in the travel, tourism and running industries since 1999. The Canadian ex-pat, who now calls Colorado home, has long been an avid trail runner, writer and traveler, having lived most her adult life abroad. She spent four years as the managing editor of Trail Runner magazine and founded Run Wild Retreats + Wellness in 2010. Drawing from her career in tourism marketing for such destinations as Banff and Lake Louise (Canada), the Province of Alberta and Catalina Island, California, she has grown Run Wild Retreats Inc into an international travel company offering running and wellness-focused tours in six countries.
As a writer, Elinor has written numerous magazine articles and recorded dozens of podcasts about mindful running that have helped thousands of runners make their running a mindfulness practice to reduce their stress, overcome obstacles to consistent running and improve their overall well being.
She lives in the mountain town of Carbondale, Colorado, with her mountain-bike loving son and husband, and their senior black Lab.
Rebecca Picard
Travel Operations Manager
Lives In: Providence, Rhode Island
Rebecca was born and raised in northern Maine where she developed a strong love of nature and the outdoors at a young age. After getting a degree in graphic design, she moved to Vermont where she spent 10 years as a professional commercial and travel photographer, developing award-winning photography campaigns for artists and small businesses around the globe. In 2009, she followed her love of travel and has worked in the travel and tourism industry ever since.
Rebecca’s career and personal travels have taken her to over 55 countries and all seven continents. Some of her favorite travel experiences include whitewater rafting in Bali and Costa Rica, trekking the Himalayas in Bhutan, hiking glaciers and swimming in Antarctica, drinking tea with locals in Iran, getting up-close and personal with the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, and exploring the food and culture of Vietnam. She has led groups of travelers to Turkey and Syria, through the Panama Canal, Central America and the Caribbean, and throughout Southeast Asia. She believes deeply in the transformative and educational value of travel and loves designing new adventures that inspire self-reflection and appreciation for the world around us.
Hallie Stuart
Guest Experience Specialist
Lives In: Evergreen, Colorado
Hallie was born and raised in Aspen, Colorado where an outdoor lifestyle became a big part of who she is, and what she loves. A strong connection to nature, outdoor recreation, and mindfulness practices, keep her happy and healthy. After earning a degree in Environmental Studies, Hallie realized there were many different avenues she could take in her career. She believes that by connecting people to nature, they become more likely to protect it. Hallie’s enormous passion for adventure, travel, and wellness led her to pursue a career in the adventure + wellness travel industry. She continues to expand her skillset by pursuing a masters certificate in Adventure Tourism.
Charlotte Roennau
Director of Mindful Leadership and Guest Transformation
Lives In: Aspen, Colorado
Charlotte is a former professional sprinter who has evolved into a mindful long-distance runner whose priority now is to run for fun. Once known as Denmark’s fastest woman, Charlotte’s competitive mindset was wired for goal setting, performance and achievement. But as career stakes rose—along with them, the pressure to perform—she discovered the drawbacks to gold medals. Failing to qualify for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona in the 400 meter hurdles led Charlotte to period of depression.
Putting her track career behind her, Charlotte forged a new career path that combined her sports-science degree with a new interest in mindfulness and yoga. She spent a decade using sports as a tool to create peaceful co-existence, social cohesion and reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Her work with Cross Cultures Project Association (CCPA) and Global Education through Sports (GES) brought the core values of sports to bring kids, families, communities and cities together in conflict areas with respect for diversity, religion, culture and gender.
Janet Curl
Retreat Leader
Lives In: Berkeley, California
Janet is a lifelong believer in the benefits of exercise and travel, for the body and mind. With a foundation of discipline and commitment as a collegiate rower at Boston University, Janet created her own outdoor fitness company, FitFirst in 2003 in Berkeley, California. She has led and inspired its members, who range in age from 35 to 70, to meet, often before the sun rises, and work through a full body conditioning program at beautiful outdoor locations throughout the year.
Along with her family and their senior dog, Janet’s favorite things are running and traveling. She considers herself a self-propelled outdoor enthusiast with a love of running trails, mountain biking and swimming in wide open spaces. Her travel adventures have included scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef as well as taking a ten-day silent Buddhist meditation retreat in Thailand. Janet lives her story and delights in supporting others to do so as well.
Lucy Shaffer Croft
Retreat Leader
Lives In: Atlantic Beach, Florida
Swimming, tennis, soccer, skiing, golf, skydiving, even figure skating; there aren’t many sports
Lucy hasn’t tried. A lifelong athlete, Lucy has made running around the world her lifestyle,
literally! She’s completed 46 marathons in 15 states and on all 7 continents and is an accomplished
distance triathlete. Lucy loves nothing more than running while exploring new terrain
underfoot, whether it’s the dust of Kenya, the tundra of Antarctica, the sands of the coastline,
or the clay of Bordeaux, France. She’s a certified fitness instructor with Athletic Fitness
Association of America (AFAA) and teaches spin and exercise classes for LA Fitness.
Lucy’s commitment to health and wellness have woven throughout her professional journey,
from teaching to higher-education administration to leadership education. With a master’s
degree in community counseling and Doctor of Education, her career-long focus has been
inspiring others to follow a healthy mindset through authenticity and mindfulness. Today, Lucy
brings this wealth of experience to Run Wild Retreats and Wellness as a retreat leader. From
her home base of Atlantic Beach, Florida, Lucy spends time between journeys trekking the
beaches with her husband Dan and Golden Retriever, Linus.
Liz Arnold
Retreat Leader
Lives In: Denver, Colorado
Liz Arnold is an avid traveler and certified yoga instructor who has been a runner for over 30 years and completed 20+ marathons. Her most memorable finish was in Bilbao, Spain with her 20 year old daughter. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Liz now lives in Denver, Colorado where she enjoys skiing with her family, hiking 14ers with her two daughters, trail running with friends and strolling alongside her English Setter dog Wendell. Her running group has participated in several 24-hour overnight relays, gone on back-country hut trips, and frequents the Manitou Incline in Colorado Springs. Needless to say, each outing brings it’s own terrific adventure! She is passionate about sharing her love for running with women of all ages and coached Girls on the Run for 3rd-5th grade girls for 5 years.
As a runner-yogi, Liz appreciates how breath work, alignment, and mental clarity transcend both athletic disciplines. She loves to travel and fully appreciates that getting to know a new place is best done on the trail; taking in local scents, foliage, sounds, and sights. She sets out each year to try something outside her comfort zone and believes in trying new things and embracing a learning mindset. She plays tennis, rock climbs, and enjoys gardening and cooking and reading non-fiction books.
