Hope Is an Action: Raising Kids to Care for Wild Places with Ultrarunner Mike Foote

Mike Foote is a race director, small-business owner and dad to two young boys—and a longtime friend Ashley first came to know through the trail-running world. Years ago, they raced and traveled together. Now, they find themselves in a very different season of life, navigating parenthood, work and changing relationships with adventure. Mike shares how his own free-range childhood shaped the way he is raising his boys, why he tries to let them set the pace outside and how becoming a parent surprised him by making him want to stay closer to home. He also talks candidly about living with anxiety and depression and spending 20 months unable to run or move normally after developing pericarditis following COVID. That experience forced him to reconsider an identity built around endurance and taught him to notice what he once moved too quickly to see. Ashley and Mike talk about: - The freedom and unstructured outdoor play Mike experienced as a child - Letting kids take risks while still keeping them safe - Why family adventure does not need to be big or impressive - Giving children room to set the pace and find their own fun - Turning fear about climate change into action - How parenthood changed Mike’s relationship with travel and adventure - Creating space to be physically and mentally present with our kids - Anxiety, depression and the role of outdoor connection - Losing access to movement while recovering from pericarditis - Finding meaning outside beyond speed, distance and achievement - Noticing the landscapes we once hurried through Learn more and find links at thewildidea.com. Raising Wild is a podcast about raising kids—and ourselves—a little more feral, with more freedom, courage, curiosity and connection to nature.