Lauren Jones — Inner Circle

Inner Circle
Lauren Jones

154 miles.
One day.


Her day job is keeping kids asleep through surgery. Her other job is staying awake through 200 miles. A pediatric nurse anesthetist from Atlanta with 50-plus finishes, a sub-24 at Western States, and a Team USA singlet. She's broken an ankle mid-race and come back to win the same race. That's the file.

Home
Atlanta, GA
Day job
Pediatric CRNA
Site
lojo.run
Shop her kit↓ Visit lojo.run↗ Back to the Inner Circle→
24-hour PR
154.05 mi
100-mile PR
14:46:22
Western States · 2023
Sub-24
Cocodona 250 · 2026
8th woman
Lauren Jones racing
01 — The Origin

Mid-pack to the front.

Subject@lauren.runs.for.grilled.cheeseSitelojo.run · race reports, in her own wordsHomeAtlanta, GADay jobPediatric nurse anesthetistCrew chiefHusband Tim AdkinsCoachNicole MonetteHonorsTeam USA · 2025 IAU 24-Hour World ChampionshipsLatestJavelina 100, Oct 31, 2026 · DNF after 60 miles

Lauren didn't start running until her late twenties, after graduate school. Road races first, then trails (UltraSignup Trailhead).

She came in as a mid-pack runner chasing adventure, not podiums (Women of Distance). The adventure list is long: the Pinhoti Slam, Leadville, races in the Alps, and a 50-miler in Bali run to raise money for the Bali Children Foundation (lojo.run).

In April 2021 she ran the entire Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail, from the North Carolina line to Springer Mountain, in 19:43:20 for the supported FKT. Her summary of it: "This trail is no joke." She cried happy tears on the summit plaque (FKT report).

Fifty-plus finishes later, the adventure runner is one of the fastest American women at 100 miles and 24 hours.

"I've learned what I'm capable of."— Lauren Jones, to UltraSignup Trailhead
02 — The Range

Track. Trail. Desert.

Most ultrarunners pick a lane. Lauren runs all of them, and finishes near the front in each.

  • Georgia AT FKT2021 · supported · 19:43:20
  • Cocodona 2502022 · 2nd woman
  • Western States 1002023 · 18th woman · sub-24
  • No Business 1002023 · 1st woman · 3rd overall
  • USATF 100-mile road champs2024 · 2nd woman · 14:46:22
  • Stinger 6-hour track2024 · 1st overall · course record
  • Desert Solstice 24-hour2024 · 2nd woman · 154.05 mi
  • Ohio's Backyard Ultra2025 · 1st woman · 38 yards
  • Feral Mountain 502025 · 1st overall
  • Tahoe 2002025 · 2nd woman · 66:23:25
  • Cocodona 2502026 · 8th woman · 79:35:47

A trail FKT, a flat road championship, a mountain 200, a backyard, a track. Same runner (lojo.run).

03 — Auburn

Seven lotteries. One knee scooter.

Lauren put her name in the Western States lottery for seven years. When it finally came up, she was in a dive bar on Tybee Island celebrating Tim's birthday, on a knee scooter, with a broken ankle. She hadn't walked in almost three months (lojo.run).

Physical therapy several times a week. Relearning how to walk. Run-walks starting about four months out.

Race day, 2023, the 50th running. Snow and ice from about a mile in, for 25 to 30 miles. She figures she fell 30 or 40 times. She hit a low on the climb to Devil's Thumb, got told to get gritty at Michigan Bluff, and found her legs again. Her friends Holly and Rebecca paced her in, laughing across the river and passing runners near No Hands Bridge.

She finished 18th woman, under 24 hours. She called the turn onto the Auburn track one of the best moments of her running life. The full story is on her site.

04 — The Track

Same lap. Final hour.

December 2024, Desert Solstice in Phoenix. A 400-meter track, 24 hours, and what Lauren called the most competitive 24-hour race in women's history.

In the final hour, the top three women were on the same lap, within about 400 meters of each other: Lauren, Marisa Lizak, and Meg Eckert (Women of Distance). Two of those three are now in the FRXN Inner Circle.

Lauren finished second woman, third overall, with 154.05 miles. By her count it was the sixth-best North American 24-hour result ever, and the end of a two-year push to make the U.S. 24-hour team (lojo.run).

It worked. In October 2025 she raced for Team USA at the IAU 24-Hour World Championships in Albi, France (iRunFar).

Her first fixed-time race had only been a month before Solstice: a six-hour track race, where she set the course record and won outright.

05 — 2 A.M.

The call she doesn't remember.

Deep into a 200-miler, around 2 a.m., Lauren called her husband Tim. Hallucinating and disoriented, she didn't know who he was.

Tim talked her down. Her name. Where she was. What she was doing. Hours later she was running steadily again, racing like nothing happened (UltraSignup Trailhead).

"I'm Lauren's partner, coach, support system, nutritionist, caretaker, therapist and garbageman all-in-one."— Tim Adkins, crew chief

She's talked openly about failure, hallucinations, and why she keeps choosing hard things (Free Outside). She sobbed at Cocodona before the halfway point. She finished anyway.

That's the job. Not avoiding the low. Getting back up out of it.

06 — Redemption

She comes back.

Lauren has a pattern. A race takes something from her. She returns and takes it back.

  • No Business 100 · 2022Broken ankle at halfway · DNF
  • No Business 100 · 20231st woman · 3rd overall
  • Tahoe 200 · 2024Dropped at mile 40
  • Tahoe 200 · 20252nd woman · 7th overall

No Business, 2022. She was cruising to halfway, by her own account having the race of her life. Then she fell. She tried to walk it off, sat on a log and cried, soaked the ankle in a creek, and limped three miles back to the aid station with other runners looking out for her. It was broken (lojo.run).

She went back the next October and won it. Her line on that one: she "really enjoyed not breaking my ankle this year."

Tahoe, 2024. She dropped at mile 40, "not at all prepared to run 200 miles while planning a wedding." She got married that July in Leadville. Then she went back to work. August 2025: second woman, seventh overall, 66:23:25 (results).

"I've had some of my highest highs and my lowest lows out on the trails."— Lauren Jones, to UltraSignup Trailhead
07 — The Protocol

Consistency over excess.

No 150-mile weeks. Lauren builds around hospital shifts, overnight calls, and long workdays, and gets the miles in early (UltraSignup Trailhead).

  • Weekly volumeAbout 70–75 miles
  • WhenEarly, before shifts
  • CoachNicole Monette
  • The ruleSustainable, long-term
  • CrewTim, for everything
  • PacersHer friends

She credits Tim as the only reason she's able to have the success she does. At Western States and on the Georgia AT, it was friends who ran her home.

Long days compound friction.

A track repeats the same stride thousands of times. A 200 adds heat, dust, and days. Either way, a hot spot at hour six is a problem at hour sixty.

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09 — Next

Javelina. Not this time.

October 31, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Arizona. Five loops on granite, rock, and sand, with Western States entry for the top two women. Lauren made it through three loops, 60 miles, then stopped. Not her day.

The DNFs stay in the file. So do the comebacks.

// Follow the file

Follow along at @lauren.runs.for.grilled.cheese and @frictionprescription. Race reports land at lojo.run.

On the record.

Every podcast, profile, and race report we could find. Newest first.

Podcasts + her own words

Happy Hour with Haley · May 2026Cocodona 250 + Chattanooga 70.3 Double→Free Outside · May 2026Failure, Hallucinations, and Hard Things→Distance To Empty · Apr 2026Flagstaff Bound at the 2026 Cocodona 250→Dirt and Vert · Oct 2025Chasing Dreams: Lauren's Journey to Team USA→lojo.run · Jun 2025Fast Forward to 2025→Women of Distance · Jan 2025From the Mid-Pack to the Front of the Pack→Let's Run That Again · Oct 2024Doing Things That Scare You→Miles With Marty · Nov 2023Lauren Runs for Grilled Cheese→The Adventure Jogger · Nov 2023Redemption at the No Business 100→Dirt and Vert · Nov 2023The redemption story to a podium at No Business→lojo.run · Oct 202350th Running of the Western States 100→Running Is Life · Jul 202318th Place at Western States→lojo.run · Nov 2022No Business 100 DNF→The Adventure Jogger · Jun 2022That Wasn't Terrible: Cocodona 250→Diz Runs Radio · Nov 2021Making Trail Running Accessible to All→The Running4Soles Podcast · Nov 2020In pursuit of the Pinhoti Trail FKT→
// Inner Circle

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Nine athletes. One file at a time.

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// Her site

Read it in her words.

Race reports from Western States, No Business, and beyond.

lojo.run ↗
// The Line

Surface friction is solvable.

We make the balm. You handle the rest.

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// Embrace the friction. // FRXN // Inner Circle // File 03