The Digital Trail: Privacy, Online Harassment and Cult Followings

In this episode of Pain Cave to Power, Melissa and Brandy take on one of the most urgent safety conversations in the trail and ultra community: the hidden risks that live online.

From invasive DMs to obsessive monitoring, fake accounts, stalking behaviors, and cult followings around charismatic leaders, we explore how digital harassment often becomes real-world danger with real-world effects, especially for women and vulnerable runners.

Together, we examine how much information athletes unintentionally share, how predators exploit digital spaces and vulnerable populations, and why online boundaries are as essential to safety.

This episode is a candid, necessary deep dive into the places the trail community rarely talks about, because safety isn’t just about headlamps and bear spray. It’s about the spaces we occupy online, and the people who may be watching.

Listen now, share widely, and help us make the running world safer on every trail, including the digital ones.