The Active Joe

The Active Joe The Active Joe is about providing fun, friendly, & affordable opportunities for people to get active!

I'm Libby Jones, The Active Joe's Founding "Joe", and owner. I'm a mom, a runner, and a race director, whose days are busy balancing all of these things while celebrating getting active and helping others do the same! I'm a back-of-the-pack runner, and consider myself just "an average joe" who is working hard to get active, thus... The Active Joe!

For many of our Dino Valley runners, the next few weeks will likely feature your longest training runs, and we wanted to...
09/15/2026

For many of our Dino Valley runners, the next few weeks will likely feature your longest training runs, and we wanted to offer this gentle reminder:

Your longest training run isn't about mega mileage; it's about practicing what matters most on race day.

This run is about staying patient, eating before you’re hungry, solving problems as they come up, and continuing forward when the day stops going exactly as planned.

Build a run that gets your head in good shape, and your body will thank you.

See you in Glen Rose soon! 🦖

Crews and pacers are special: they remember the plan when you’ve forgotten it, find the dry socks buried in your drop ba...
09/09/2026

Crews and pacers are special: they remember the plan when you’ve forgotten it, find the dry socks buried in your drop bag, and they can lie spectacularly when that’s what it takes to keep you moving.🏃

If someone is crewing or pacing you at Dino Valley, now is the time to make your plan together, and sign up for our Crew Newsletter to stay in the loop.📰

Head to www.theactivejoe.com/crewing-at-dino to sign up.

09/08/2026

Race day is not the time to discover that your headlamp bounces, your fuel loses its appeal after six hours, or your socks have strong opinions about wet feet.

Use the next ten weeks to test everything: your vest, lamp, food, and full nutrition plan. Make adjustments now while they’re still easy, and Future You will be grateful.

What part of your Dino Valley race plan still needs a trial run?

Committing to a start line doesn’t mean your goal can never change.Training might reveal a strength you didn’t know you ...
09/05/2026

Committing to a start line doesn’t mean your goal can never change.

Training might reveal a strength you didn’t know you had. Life might require a different plan. Race day might ask you to adjust your expectations one mile at a time.

Changing the plan isn’t the same as giving up. Sometimes it’s the smartest way to keep moving toward what mattered to you in the first place.

Choose the goal. Begin the work. Give yourself room to adapt along the way.

What has training taught you about changing the plan?

📸 .dawns

You don’t have to wait until January 1 to start working towards a new goal.🥇Choose your distance. Put the first few trai...
09/02/2026

You don’t have to wait until January 1 to start working towards a new goal.🥇

Choose your distance. Put the first few training days on the calendar. Take one imperfect step, then take another before you have time to overthink it.

By the time New Years Double arrives, you won’t be starting from scratch. You’ll have months of small choices behind you, and a 5K, half marathon, or marathon waiting on December 31, January 1, or both.

What can you begin today that your race-day self will thank you for?

The calendar changes for everyone on January 1. How you choose to begin the year is entirely up to you.At New Years Doub...
08/31/2026

The calendar changes for everyone on January 1. How you choose to begin the year is entirely up to you.

At New Years Double, your goal might be a new distance, a faster finish, or simply starting the year by doing something good for yourself.

Run or walk a 5K. Take on a half marathon. Go after 26.2. Join us on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, or both.

There’s no single right way to start the year, and no goal too big or too small to matter.

What goal would you like to bring to the start line?

Big goals deserve real support, and we are thrilled to introduce two runners with very big goals.The Active Joe is proud...
08/27/2026

Big goals deserve real support, and we are thrilled to introduce two runners with very big goals.

The Active Joe is proud to partner with Women in Ultrarunning to welcome the recipients of the Women In Ultrarunning–Dino Valley Grant:

🦕 Amber Cook (she/her)
Bayfield, Colorado
Favorite dinosaur: Parasaurolophus

🦖 Lauren Scott (they/them)
Vernon, New Jersey
Favorite dinosaur: Deinocheirus

Through this grant, Amber and Lauren will each receive round-trip airfare, shared accommodations and transportation, entry into the Dino Valley 100 Mile, crew space at the start/finish, and on-site logistical and crew support from Women in Ultrarunning.

They are bringing the courage, commitment, and willingness to take on 100 miles. Together, Women in Ultrarunning and The Active Joe are helping provide the practical support that makes reaching the starting line possible.

We were blown away by the stories shared through the application process and reminded once again how many women and gender-expansive runners are dreaming big, pushing their boundaries, and reshaping what ultrarunning can look like.

And since this is Dino Valley, we have to appreciate a runner who chooses a dinosaur described as having “a humpback, a duck-like beak, and claws that looked scarier than they were,” a 30-foot oddball that looked like “a prehistoric lab experiment that somehow worked.”

Honestly, that feels like exactly the kind of beautifully unexpected energy 100 miles calls for.

Congratulations, Amber and Lauren. We cannot wait to welcome you to Dino Valley and cheer you through every loop of your journey. We’ll see you at the start line! 🦖

Big goals deserve real support, and we are thrilled to introduce two runners with very big goals.The Active Joe is proud...
08/27/2026

Big goals deserve real support, and we are thrilled to introduce two runners with very big goals.

The Active Joe is proud to partner with Women in Ultrarunning to welcome the recipients of the Women in Ultrarunning–Dino Valley Grant:

🦕 Amber Cook (she/her)
Bayfield, Colorado
Favorite dinosaur: Parasaurolophus

🦖 Lauren Scott (they/them)
Vernon, New Jersey
Favorite dinosaur: Deinocheirus

Through this grant, Amber and Lauren will each receive round-trip airfare, shared accommodations and transportation, entry into the Dino Valley 100 Mile, crew space at the start/finish, and on-site logistical and crew support from Women in Ultrarunning.

They are bringing the courage, commitment, and willingness to take on 100 miles. Together, Women in Ultrarunning and The Active Joe are helping provide the practical support that makes reaching the starting line possible.

We were blown away by the stories shared through the application process and reminded once again how many women and gender-expansive runners are dreaming big, pushing their boundaries, and reshaping what ultrarunning can look like.

And since this is Dino Valley, we have to appreciate a runner who chooses a dinosaur described as having “a humpback, a duck-like beak, and claws that looked scarier than they were,” a 30-foot oddball that looked like “a prehistoric lab experiment that somehow worked.”

Honestly, that feels like exactly the kind of beautifully unexpected energy 100 miles calls for.

Congratulations, Amber and Lauren. We cannot wait to welcome you to Dino Valley and cheer you through every loop of your journey. We’ll see you at the start line! 🦖

08/26/2026

A 46% increase over this time last year!! Dino Valley is selling as if race entries risk future extinction - oh wait, it does! This race will sell out, but you don’t want to miss out! 100 Mile, 100K, 50K, 25K, 5 Mile at Dino Valley State Park in Glen Rose, TX.
📸: Our amazing team of Dino Valley photographers: Jennifer Thorsen Jenny L. Tee, John Knepper John Knepper, Misty Herron Misty Herron

08/23/2026

Dino Valley is filled with big distances in the 100 mile and 100k, but the biggest stories aren’t always about Sauropod-sized mileage.
They are about the runner who kept putting one foot in front of the other all night. They are about the strangers who become friends between Fenceline and Cedar Brake aid stations.

They are also about the runner who adjusted the goal, learned from the day and came home ready to try again.

Extraordinary doesn’t have one pace, distance, or finish time.
At Dino Valley, it begins with the courage to start.
What would make your Dino Valley experience extraordinary?
📸: Our amazing team of Dino Valley photographers: Jennifer Thorsen Jenny L. Tee, John Knepper John Knepper, Misty Herron Misty Herron

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West Juniper 32843 Hwy 377
Gordonville, TX
76245

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