Learning to Fly

Under a full moon over the Alps, a headlamp bobs through the dark for the eighteenth hour. This is ultra running: 100 miles of mountain terrain, run through the night, chasing something just past the edge of what seems humanly possible.

LEARNING TO FLY follows Aisha McAdams - a photographer, and once a competitive runner herself - as she embeds with the sport's biggest names, including Jim Walmsley and Eszter Csillag, at the legendary Western States Endurance Run and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Her lens captures the 2 a.m. camaraderie, heartbreaking losses, and euphoric finishes.

But the closer Aisha gets to these athletes, the closer she gets to the runner she left behind, and the reasons she walked away from a sport that once gave her everything. Watching this community chase the impossible, Aisha is forced to ask whether she still has it in her to fly.