[Advendure]: The truth is that the reason for this interview was the recent announcement by Ultraspire about your collaboration. As a website dedicated to trail running, we are certainly interested in introducing the outdoor community in our country to a woman who loves trail running and has Greek roots, as well as significant writing work. So, let's start the interview by discussing details about your life, your relationship with Greece and the trails, and where we can find you now.

[Henriette Lazaridis]: My parents came to the States in the mid-1950s and settled outside Boston. My father was an engineer (from the Πολυτεχνείο) and came to join a friend of his who had started a technology company. Every summer, my mother and I spent three months in Greece, and my father would join for August. We spoke only Greek at home, so I always felt completely comfortable among family and friends in Greece. But it was also a bit strange for me. I didn’t have any sort of American accent, so everyone assumed I was Greek and, thus, knew all the slang and the cultural jokes and such. And I liked to pretend that I did, but there was often something just quite out of reach. And frankly, there was something just out of reach for me in the States, too, where things like baseball seemed exotic, and what Americans ate during the big holiday of Thanksgiving seemed strange and unfamiliar.

These days, I’m able to spend one solid month in Greece each year, which I spend almost entirely in Papigo, my father’s family’s ancestral village. It’s there that I noticed, over a decade ago, that some people were running on the trails we hiked. This seemed both insane and thrilling–and of course became something I wanted to try. I happened to be in Papigo one summer many years ago at the same time that the Zagori Mountain Running events were taking place, and I entered the 10k on a whim. I came in third in my age group, but, even without the nice result, I was hooked. I loved engaging with the mountains that way, traveling from village to village, trying to move fast. Since that first race, I’ve run the 21km and the 44km. This year will be my third 44km ZMR race.

[Advendure]: Looking for information, we see that outdoor sports have always played a significant role in your life. Trail running, rowing, and cross-country skiing indicate a person who loves sports. Is that true? Tell us about sports in your life, especially running on trails.

[Henriette Lazaridis]: I was lucky to grow up with two parents who had been athletes themselves, and who didn’t think twice about encouraging their only child to participate in sports. My mother was a noted swimmer with “Ναυτικός Όμιλος Πατρών”, and my father swam for the “Ναυτικός Όμιλος of either Πειραιάς or Φάληρο” (I can’t remember). They both skied and hiked (with the “Ορειβατικός Όμιλος” of their towns). My Swiss grandmother whom I’m named after was the first director of the Girl Guides in Patras. So sports and the outdoors were in my blood! For me, sports is a form of creative expression. I’m not a dancer in any way, but I feel as though I can achieve a kind of grace through skiing and running–just moving my body through space. While I did team sports in school (soccer, chief among them), I took up road running in my teens, and, in my twenties and early thirties, ran a few marathons. (I’m registered for the Athens Marathon this year, after delays from Covid and injury, and I can’t wait!) I’ve come to realize that I was a trail runner, though, long before I did the ZMR 10km, because, while raising my family in the suburbs of Boston, I used to take my dogs on runs for exercise in the woods. These days, I run a lot on a trail along the Charles River where I also row. But at least once a week, I drive to one of two large “wild” areas in Boston for a long run. Something that I wish I’d discovered sooner: the trails along Imittos! My grandmother lived in Papagou, where my parents spent half of each year, and then my mother lived year-round after my father’s death, and I only recently discovered the amazing trails with views of all of Athens. I love running there!

[Advendure]: Staying on the topic of trail running, how did the collaboration with Ultraspire come about, which, I have to mention, has passionate fans in the ultra trail community, in our country? Give us some information about the context and goals of this collaboration.

[Henriette Lazaridis]: When I was training for the ZMR 21km, I realized I would need a hydration vest. I scoured the photos of competitors from previous races and figured out what people were using–how much capacity, what sorts of pockets, etc. I really liked the UltrAspire Basham race vest, which I got for the 21km and still use for the 44km. I knew they were seeking athletes for their team, and I applied, making the case that they really should accept an older athlete as an example of how it’s possible to keep competing into your 60s, especially for women, who are under-represented in that age group. To my delight, I was accepted into the team of roughly 300 athletes, which includes runners of all ages and abilities with a shared passion for the sport. We’re not the fully sponsored elites, but we make up a robust team of athletes who support and encourage each other through group communications. We’re compensated with discounts and promotion of our races, and with some race entries as well. I really admire the way UltrAspire’s founder Bryce Thatcher keeps trying to improve their products, and the way the company solicits input from members of the team on design suggestions and offers advice if we have questions about equipment.

[Advendure]: You are an acclaimed author, and your latest book, "Terra Nova," takes us back in time to one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, Antarctica, exploring aspects of human nature such as ambition, love, and rivalry that create passions and adventures. Tell us a bit about “Terra Nova”. Will it be released in Greek language?

[Henriette Lazaridis]: TERRA NOVA is about two fictional Antarctic explorers in 1910 and the woman photojournalist back in London who loves them both. While the men are racing a Norwegian team to be first to the Pole, Viola becomes involved in the women’s suffrage movement, creating a photographic exhibition that is groundbreaking and controversial. When the men return to London, she discovers something troubling in their photos from the Pole, and she must decide whether to reveal their secret or protect her own artistic ambitions. Appropriately enough, I came up with the character of Viola while thinking of Homer’s Penelope who keeps the suitors at bay by saying she will marry one of them once her tapestry is complete–but who unravels the tapestry every night. I wanted to create a female character who, of course, wants her beloved men to return, but who is also able to use her art to expand her time, and to expand her power. At the moment, there aren’t any plans for a Greek translation of the novel, but the rights are available.

[Advendure]: Your first novel, "The Clover House," carries the scent of Greece as it is set during the Carnival in Patras. Obviously, you have strong memories of our country. What are the first images that come to your mind when you hear about Greece?

[Henriette Lazaridis]: It is indeed the scent of Greece that first comes to mind. I’m leaving for Greece four weeks from now, as I write this, and already I’m imagining the way the air smells, the way the summer heat feels. It’s always instantly familiar to me once I step outside the airport. I actually feel finally home whenever I arrive in Greece, like it’s the place I’m supposed to be. When I wrote THE CLOVER HOUSE, it was such a treat to immerse myself in Patras, specifically, where I spent a lot of time with my mother’s family when I was growing up. I have very fond memories of the city, it’s “στοές”, the beaches by “Ριο”, “Πλατεία Όλγας” where I used to play with my cousins.

[Advendure]: Trail running has experienced a significant boom in our country, and you have participated in races in Greece. Which ones have you run, and what impression have they left on you? Do you have any races as goals, either in our country or internationally?

[Henriette Lazaridis]: Yes, I am so excited to see how big a sport trail running is in Greece. Honestly, if I lived in my mother’s house now, in the megalopolis of Athens, I could have easier access to trails than I do here in Boston! I could just run out the door and be heading up a mountain. I am always explaining to people that Greece is so much more than whitewash and beaches. It’s a country of mountains! The only race I’ve been able to participate in so far is the excellent and impressively well run Zagori Mountain Running, at the 10km, 21km, and 44km distance. I wish I could do more trail races in Greece, but my schedule doesn’t permit it now. After this year’s ZMR, my next goal in Greece is going to be the Athens Authentic Marathon, which I’m really looking forward to, as I first signed up for it in 2020, and we know how that turned out, alas. Here in the States, I will run an 18-mile race and a 50km, both in Vermont in September. Other international races I want to try sometime soon are: one of the Skyline Scotland races, and the Stranda Fjord Trail Race (I was signed up for the 2020 race, but had to do that one virtually, on hills here in Boston, which is not at all the same).

[Advendure]: Writing books and long-distance running. At first glance, they seem like completely different activities. Is that true, though? Do you find similarities and human qualities that are needed in both?

[Henriette Lazaridis]: I am always finding connections between my writing and the sports I do, especially the trail running and the skimo racing that I do in winter. Both the creative and the athletic pursuits require enormous stamina and dedication. You have to stay at it, even though you might feel as though everything is terrible. With writing, as with trail running, you have to find the upper limit of what you can sustain–as with running up from the “Βοϊδομάτης” all the way to the “Καταφύγιο Αστράκας”–and keep pushing yourself. And perhaps most importantly, you have to enjoy these things not for the results but for the experiences themselves. Running keeps reminding me, teaching me, that you have to focus on the creation itself, because you can’t control the outcome. Whether you medal or not, whether your book is successful or not, that’s out of your hands. Your job is to put in your best effort and to enjoy that process.

[Advendure]: The Odyssey, which your father read to you during your childhood, was the first source of inspiration for becoming an author. As we read in your biography, nostalgia and the search for identity were sources of exploration for you in both your first book and other works. What truly motivates someone to write? And what drives them to go out and wander, running or hiking in nature?

[Henriette Lazaridis]: That is a great question! I’m sure the answer depends on the person, but for me, I think I’m always writing to create something I miss, something I wish I could inhabit. My next novel is the direct result of how much I missed Greece during the pandemic when we couldn’t travel. At the same time, I’m writing to ask a question. I write about things that puzzle me, that I want to investigate more deeply. This was the case for TERRA NOVA, where I wanted to explore the ethical questions of Polar exploration.

As for running or hiking in nature, for me there is something truly magical about covering a certain distance under your own power. It’s a way to feel alive in the world, and to express yourself physically through the simplest thing of putting one foot in front of the other. I’m much more interested in distance than in speed, and so these activities like ski-mountaineering or trail running or hiking allow me to experience that flow state of long-term movement.

[Advendure]: Finally, tell us a bit about your future goals, both for a new book and a trail running race.

[Henriette Lazaridis]: At the moment, I’m four weeks away from the Zagori 44km. I had a knee injury a month ago, so I had to take some time off of training and I won’t be as prepared as I had hoped, but I’m excited. I will be able to do it, and even if I’m not going to be faster than last year, I think I’ll have a good race. The course is just so spectacular, it’s impossible not to enjoy it, and it passes right through my home village of Papigo.

In April of 2024, my next book will be coming out, and it’s set entirely in Athens. It’s called LAST DAYS IN PLAKA, and I wrote it during the pandemic, spurred by how much I missed Greece. It was my way of thinking about the question of time running out, especially for an older person, while also living in Athens in my imagination.

Dimitrios Troupis