Brandon Birdsong and Brittni Hutton Training While Living in Van – runnersworld.com

Brandon Birdsong was an aspiring pro runner when he arrived to his first workout for Scott Simmons’s American Distance Project in May 2012. With times that helped win the Division-II NCAA cross-country title at Adams State University, he had wheels that had potential to make a career in the sport.

It was with that speed in his legs that caught the eye of Brittni Hutton when she arrived for her first workout with ADP in May 2013.

“I was like, ‘Holy moly, this guy is fast,’” Hutton tells Runner’s World. “He was rocking this badass Euro mullet that was legit. I was like, ‘I need to know who what that is.’”

Birdsong noticed Hutton too that day, but for a slightly different reason.

“Brittni had this entire pizza to herself from Ruffrano’s Hell’s Kitchen in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She destroyed it,” Birdsong told Runner’s World. “I was like, ‘This girl can eat.’”

With appetites for running and eating, the two became quick friends. Though infatuated with each other, they both were dating other people at the time, so a relationship was out of the question. However, when those fizzled out by Thanksgiving that year, Birdsong and Hutton quickly gravitated to each other and started dating.

For the next few years, they trained under Simmons’s tutelage. Highs and lows of success and injuries led to promising starts to their careers. Birdsong’s highest achievement came in his appearance at the 2016 Olympic Trials. Though the day didn’t go as planned, he finished and followed through with .

“I may have lost the race, but I gained a life partner,” Birdsong said at the time. “I took home my gold medal that day.”

Christian Pondella

Together, the duo brought the best out in each other. So when they decided to leave the American Distance Project in 2017, they had no problem training together outside of an official program when they relocated from Colorado Springs to Alamosa, Colorado, in 2014 while Birdsong pursued an M.B.A. Though they briefly had a stint with in Mammoth Lakes, California, with the Mammoth Track Club, they eventually settled in Santa Barbara, California, where they hoped to one day acquire a tiny home.

Minimalism appealed to them. The idea of waking up near the beach for runs each day was enticing. But for those who seek a road-less-traveled lifestyle, thinking about it and committing to it are two different things.

So they eased into the idea at first, continuing to live out their lives: They took trips on the weekends, exploring the world around them and meeting people wherever they went. They worked on postgrad degrees and trained. The routine fit them, though it wasn’t yet what they hoped to build up to.

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The Road Less Traveled

But that all changed on May 15, 2017. Birdsong took his bike out for ride when he was hit head-on by a garbage truck. He doesn’t remember much other than waking up in the hospital with a laundry list of injuries: Twenty-seven broken bones, a lacerated liver, broken scapula, fractured vertebra, and a collapsed lung.

With life at a screeching halt, Birdsong and Hutton had to figure out a course of action. Doctors didn’t know if Birdsong would ever be able to compete at a high level again—in fact, they weren’t even sure he was going to be able to run again.

The thought of never running again floored both of them, but at the same time, another thought swirled in their heads, too: He survived. He easily couldn’t have, and the realization that life is worth living now rather than later led them to a mutual conclusion.

“We were sick of living for the weekend,” Hutton says. “We’re both so nomadic. We want to go on adventures, be in the mountains, be at the beach. So, we did.”

Courtesy of Brandon Birdsong

The tiny home was appealing, but it left them fixed to a single location. Being by the beach was nice, but sometimes they wanted to wake up in the mountains or at altitude. They wanted to take their minimalistic lifestyle on the road.

So with a little research, they found themselves on a redeye to Washington, D.C., to drive south to Stafford, Virginia, to pick up “Big Bertha”—a 2017 4×4 Mercedes Sprinter that they were about to make their home.

“You can’t name a dog until you see it,” Birdsong says. “She was just a beast when we saw her. So, we started calling her ‘Big Bertha,’ and it just felt right.”

Bertha had lots of cargo space in the rear, so Birdsong and Hutton went to town turning the emptiness into their functional—though understandably minimal—home on the run.

As modifications were added, the two practiced on weekends away from their brick-and-mortar home in California. After getting a sense for van life, they downsized their home to a 6×6 storage unit in Birdsong’s Texas hometown and set off for full-time life in on the road.

Training To-Go

Because Birdsong is unable to run much because of his injuries, he has taken up online coaching, training around 40 clients who range from beginners to near elites. He has one client he coaches in person, and that’s Hutton, who relies on her coach for everything from training plans to race strategies.

One of the perks of the nomadic training is they can train wherever they want from high altitude to hotter or cooler climates. It’s whatever they want.

“We wake up with the sun and go to bed with the sun,” Birdsong says. “Everything is an adventure. Even finding parking is fun whether at a scenic location or a spot downtown. We love parking outside coffee shops. That’s a great place to wake up to.”

Their strategy so far has paid off. Hutton, in her marathon debut at the 2018 Grandma’s Marathon reached the B-standard—which requires running faster than 2:45—with a . Since then, she had a tough race at the in May followed by tying for first at the in June. She also has her sights set on the —which requires running below a 2:37—when she takes on the Chicago Marathon in October and is aiming to break 2:36.

This requires waking up most mornings to train wherever the van is. But once that is done, especially if there is no weight-training session in the afternoon, the rest of the day is an adventure that’s open for exploring nearby parks and forests, stopping at art museums, or taking it easy in the van.

“Most importantly, we get to nap,” Hutton says. “We have a great mattress set up that we couldn’t live without.”

Though the lifestyle comes with perks, it also comes with challenges. Eating so far has been a struggle. They’ve been working to install a oven/stove appliance, but have not finished that renovation just yet. Because they only have a fridge, meals often come in cold form—think lots of sandwiches, oatmeal, and salads.

They manage, often getting creative with visiting friends who offer meals, or they find the one place that cannot pass on any trip.

“We feel blessed if we find a Chipotle,” Hutton says. “Brandon orders a bowl with everything, both beans and both rices, and I do the same minus the dairy.”

Mapping Out the Future

While Hutton pursues her running dreams, Brandon is still recovering from his injuries. Ankle problems are the main culprit these days that keep him from pushing at the pro level at which he once competed. He’s not sure if he’ll ever get back to that, but right now, he’s not too concerned about it.

Peter Maksimow

“People ask me all the time, ‘Aren’t you mad at the world? You were here and now you’re a coach,’” he says. “I’m not. I’m grateful to be alive. If I never ran again, I feel fortunate to be able to still be part of the sport.”

Birdsong would, of course, like to be running again. It was his life. But because of the accident, he found another life he loves as a coach and a van lifer, traveling the country with his fiancée. Life could be different if things went a little differently, but he and Hutton wouldn’t have it any other way right now.

“All you really have is your health and the time you have on this earth,” Hutton says. “For us, this is the best way to spend our lives at this age: to explore, visit, and embrace the world that’s out there.”

Peter Maksimow

Gear & News Editor Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand.