Zach Miller Zach Miller

MAY 2024

The great thing about PHONE IT IN is you and I get to take a look inside someone else’s life. We meet their pets, check out their fridge, and snoop around their home. In Zach’s case, home is the bus in the picture above—a converted Ford E350 shuttle bus. Crazy to think he’s been living in that sucker for the last three years, and even crazier is the fact that most of us are envious of him. He doesn’t pay rent and his front yard is whatever trailhead he’s pulled up to. Can you even imagine how great that must be?

Maybe you should get a bus. You probably could’ve bought one already with the money you spent on rent this year. Rent money is dead money, man. Get an E350, whack a mattress in the back, and start living your best life on the trails. You only live once. Do it. Do it. Do it.

Most Recent Photo On Your Phone

This is the last photo on my phone. It’s a photo of a gel mix that I have been testing out in training.

First Thing You See When You Wake Up

This is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. It is the underside of the cabinets in my bus that I sleep beneath. My bed is lofted to allow for gear storage underneath, so my head rests about ten inches below the cabinets.

The Other Thing You See When You Wake Up

Aside from the cabinets, this is the first thing I see in the morning when I get out of bed. What you see here is nearly my entire living quarters.

The Place You Keep All Your Running Gear

This is my multi-purpose bathroom/gear storage closet where I keep some of my running gear (packs, poles, etc.). To be honest, my running gear is tucked away in various spots all throughout my bus.

A Dog, A Cat, or A Bird

This is a photo of a dog that I found at a gas station in a desert somewhere, maybe Arizona. I saw it on my way to the Grand Canyon and then again about three weeks later while traveling back to Colorado. The gas station worker said they didn’t know who it belonged to. I tried to get it to come inside my bus so I could take it with me to Colorado, but it wouldn’t jump in.

One of Your Favorite Humans

This is one of my favorite humans, my wonderful girlfriend Jess.

You As a Kid

Not me as a kid, but me with a kid—my nephew Ansel, who probably looks a bit like me when I was a kid.

The Inside of Your Refrigerator

This is the inside of my refrigerator.

Where You Are When You're Not Running

When I’m not running, you can find me skiing, cycling, or working on my bus.

A Scar & The Story Behind It

Apparently, scars don’t always photograph very well, but this is a picture of a big scar that I have on my right leg. It’s like six inches long and fairly wide. I got it when I was descending a steep slope on the side of Pikes Peak with my friend Amanda Basham. I slipped and sliced my leg open on a piece of rock or something. We ran back to the cabin at Barr Camp, where I was working as a caretaker/hut worker. The cut was pretty big, but I never bothered making the 6.25-mile trek into town to get it stitched up, so now I just have this big scar and a cool memory.

Something From Under Your Bed

Something from under my bed: the space beneath my bed (half my bed flips up for easier access) is a large storage area. This is where I keep my gravel bike, lots of running shoes, a spare tire for the bus, ski boots, snowboard boots, cycling shoes, Nordic ski boots, etc.