Vivek Gowri owns San Francisco Running Company, works at NVIDIA, and is using the store to expand access to trail running including a women's half marathon with a $25,000 prize.
Who Belongs in Trail Running? A Conversation with Vivek Gowri
There are easier ways to love trail running than buying a running store.
Vivek Gowri bought San Francisco Running Company, a store that had been central to his own experience in the sport for more than a decade. He wasn’t starting something new. He was taking responsibility for something people already loved.
Vivek also works at NVIDIA, helping build technology at the frontier of computing. There’s an interesting contrast between that work and owning a decidedly old-fashioned brick-and-mortar running store. But for Vivek, both come from the same place: a fascination with tangible products and a willingness to invest deeply in things he cares about.
Our conversation eventually found its way to representation, and specifically what it means to see someone you identify with accomplish something extraordinary.
When Ben Dhiman won UTMB, his performance was historic on its own. But for Vivek, an Indian runner who had spent years in a predominantly white sport, the victory carried an additional meaning.
He talked about how much it meant to see an Indian man win the biggest race in trail running, and how friends who didn’t even follow the sport reached out afterward.
I found that particularly interesting because representation is something I’ve had the luxury of rarely thinking about. I’ve always seen people I could identify with in running. It took conversations like this one to recognize that what I considered normal wasn’t necessarily everyone’s experience.
Seeing someone you identify with do something extraordinary can change what you believe is possible.
For Vivek, this isn’t simply an observation about the sport. It’s informing what he does with San Francisco Running Company.
He’s using the store to invite more people into trail running, bringing different communities together through group runs and events. He’s also investing in a women’s trail half marathon with a $25,000 prize purse, free training opportunities, transportation to the race, and thoughtful support for runners throughout the field.
What interests me is that he’s approaching all of this as a responsibility that comes with owning something meaningful.
He loves the culture of trail running. He wants to preserve the camaraderie, the friendships, and the simple experience of showing up at a trailhead with other people.
But preserving something doesn’t necessarily mean keeping it exactly as it is.
That’s the tension at the center of this conversation. How do we protect what makes trail running special while making sure more people have the opportunity to experience it?
Vivek has some thoughtful answers, and he’s doing the work to explore them.
Episode 327 of the Borderlands Trail & Ultrarunning Podcast is available now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Borderlands is presented by KIPRUN.
