SN,
Are you saying trail runners do not have an ultra light philosophy? The evidence is to the contrary, your photo being one piece of evidence. On the whole, they go as light as possible...prepared or unprepared. Most appear to be unprepared to handle any emergency.
If you take the entire population of trail runners in the So Cal mountains, you will see 1 to 2% with that type of pack. Most have bottles of water in both hands or one in a fanny pack, one in hand.
