62- Snaketail: Running for Something Bigger Than the Finish Line

This week we break down Snaketail, a trail race set on private land in Summertown, Tennessee, hosted at The Farm Community—a well-known hippie commune with decades of history and thousands of acres of protected land. The race exists to do more than just put on an event—it helps support the Swan Conservation Trust and their work preserving land across the Highland Rim. The weekend itself was a mix of chaos and purpose—accidentally gassing ourselves with wasp spray, arguing over outrageously expensive milk, and dealing with a drum circle that made sleep optional—but the race delivered where it counts. With distances from a 5K up to a 50-miler, it brought in first-time trail runners and experienced ultrarunners alike, including one guy who accidentally ran a half marathon and had to own it. The course looks runnable but slowly wears you down, and the entire event is built around community, access to land you normally wouldn’t see, and a bigger mission that goes beyond the finish line. It’s not trying to be the biggest race out there—but it is trying to make sure places like this still exist.