Unstoppable Voices: Running Proud – Runner’s World
Running has the unique power to help us move forward and overcome life’s obstacles so we can either stay the course or accomplish amazing things. It has the power to make us persistent. In this series, Unstoppable Voices, Runner’s World has partnered with Brooks Running to expand the platforms of ordinary runners: Run Happy Advocates who use their voices and their feet to make life better for themselves and others.
Mikah Meyer’s father loved taking road trips. He particularly loved driving Meyer’s older sisters to and from college, where he’d bestow the best wisdom a pastor father could give. He looked forward to doing the same for his son.
Sadly, the elder Meyer passed away at age 58, just before his son went to college. Although he was devastated when his father died, Meyer knew just the thing to help the grieving process. “I started taking a road trip every year in my dad’s memory,” he said. “Every time I’d hit the road, I’d feel a little bit of him there with me.”
Shortly before his 30th birthday, over a decade after his dad’s passing, Meyer decided that the perfect way to honor his father’s love of the open road was to take an epic trip to all the national parks—419 at that time. “It was something fun and positive that I could document on social media to share the lesson I learned the hard way—that none of us are guaranteed anything,” he said. “I wanted to encourage people to live for today.” After three years of full-time travel, Meyer set the record as the first person to visit every national park in the United States nonstop.
Finding Courage to Come Out
Having hidden his homosexuality for most of his life, Meyer finally came out after his father passed and he discovered a new sense of perspective and a desire to live his truth. As he realized there was a lack of representation of LGBTQ+ people in the outdoors industry, he decided to keep his sexuality under wraps while he looked for sponsors to help fund the national parks record.
Still, he couldn’t completely hide who he was on social media, and he received plenty of hate mail. Then, about a year into his national parks journey, he received a message that changed everything. It read: “I am 15 and attend a Baptist school in Texas. I’m not out of the closet, but I read about your journey and now I know that when I grow up, I can be ordinary—and I can also be extraordinary.”
At that moment, Meyer knew he had an incredible opportunity. “I realized I needed to use my journey to be the openly gay role model I had always wanted,” he said. Sharing the beauty of our national parks—and being 100 percent himself while doing it—drew the attention of national outdoors brands, and Meyer became, to his knowledge, the first openly gay man featured in an outdoor recreation ad.
“My dad talked a lot about vocation, where the world’s greatest needs and your greatest talents come together,” said Meyer. “That journey through the national parks helped me find my vocation.”
Running for Health—and Pride
A year later, during a routine checkup, Meyer’s doctor told him that all the traveling was taking a toll on his body. He needed to start living a healthier lifestyle, and fast. “Sitting in a van, eating junk food, and being unable to join a gym or play sports because I was traveling somewhere new every day meant my only option was running,” he said. “So, at 32, I started running.”
At first, Meyer couldn’t run more than a few blocks without having to stop and walk, but every day he increased his distance, and within two months he was able to run for a full hour. “Running is now my daily meditation,” he said. “If I’m struggling with a project at work or in my personal life, my daily run is where everything seems to get sorted out.”
Meyer then shared his newfound love of running with his thousands of social media followers. The more he documented his adventures, the more committed he became to doing his part to make the outdoors a place where everyone is welcome. “I would pull people in with the adventure aspects of what I was doing, then use that common interest to start a conversation about the lack of [LGBTQ+] representation outdoors,” he said. Soon Meyer began receiving invitations to speak at colleges and corporate events.
Creating Safer Outdoor Spaces
Today, Meyer is a proud LGBTQ+ advocate, runner, speaker, and adventurer. This past summer, he competed in an international multisport competition for the gay community in Europe. “I was intrigued by the idea because, for the vast majority of queer kids, sports have always been a scary place for us,” he said.
Pride was on display for the majority of the event, but with only 41 countries represented (out of 193 countries in the world) Meyer once again found himself wishing for more representation in sports and outdoors. When he learned that next year’s competition will be held in Bern, Switzerland, a place where he lived and worked as a diplomat after college, it sparked an idea. “It just so happens the current ambassador to the U.S. Embassy, where I worked, is gay, so I asked him to host athletes for an Embassy reception next year in a show of support” he explained. “The ambassador went beyond that and said he’d run in the event’s 10K race! To me, that is an amazing use of sports as a diplomatic tool.”
Meyer speaks regularly at conferences and clubs around the world, and he’s used his credibility to launch the Outside Safe Space program and expand access for LGBTQ+ people in the outdoors. “The number one thing I hear from queer people is that it isn’t other queer people who make them feel unsafe when they’re on the trails or visiting campsites—it’s straight people,” said Meyer, who’s also a Brooks Run Happy Advocate. To help change that narrative, he created a symbol for allies to wear as pins, patches, or stickers on their clothes or gear in a show of support. “The only way to make outdoor spaces more welcoming is for the majority of the people to make themselves allies,” he said.
Thanks to his initial journey through our national parks, Meyer has been able to reach millions of people—not just on social media, but also though speaking engagements, advocacy work, and as a travel expert offering LGBTQ+friendly trip planning. “Travel can be a powerful tool for adventure advocacy, and I’m so excited to be part of that solution,” he said. “I’m showing the world that you can be who you are and still do the profession you dream about.”
Meyer has become an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community through his Outside Safe Space program.
Meyer is still traveling and keeps a model car that belonged to his father on his dashboard as a constant reminder of what—and who—inspires him. “No matter how many years it’s been,” said Meyer, “every time I hit the road for a long drive, I feel a little bit of him is there with me.”