Last weekend was my second running of the Catoctin 50K or what I’m sure will become known as the COVID CAT50K. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the race was quite a bit different than last year’s race. Here a just a couple of the changes: No official start time. You could start whenever you wanted…
It’s Go Time
After almost 6 long months and three cancelled/postponed races, it’s finally time to pin a bib on again. Kinda. The Catoctin 50K is all set to go off Saturday morning. In order to secure their permits though, they were forced to make some serious changes to the structure of the race. Here’s the short list:…
M-DT Trip Report – Maps 7 & 8
With the cancellation of Hat 50K, I decided on running maps 7 and 8 of the Mason-Dixon Trail as plan B. I am in the middle of section hiking/running the M-DT as prep for a fastest known time attempt at some point in the distant future. My son and I did the last 2 sections…
2019 Catoctin 50K Race Report
Let’s address any doubts you may have about how difficult this race is right at the beginning. Yes, this race is as hard as advertised. If anything, it might even be more challenging. First, start with the extra 2 miles (course measures 33+ miles). Then toss in temperatures that are always hot and humid (over…
2019 Phunt 50K Race Report
I’m always amazed at the number of people who sign up for this race considering the weather is normally less than ideal. There were a little over 500 starters this year for both races and chances are the slots available for the 2020 race are already filled by the time you read this. Don’t lose…
2018 Blues Cruise 50K Race Report
This race bills itself as a good introduction to ultra running and even goes as far as to call the course runnable. The implication being that this is an easy course. While I would definitely recommend this as someone’s first ultra, nothing about running 50K on this or any other course is easy. And there…
Who’s Running 2018 Blues Cruise 50K?
I’m always curious about the other crazies that run ultras so I’ve started looking at the demographics of those that run the same races I do. All of the data below was pulled from Ultrasignup and while I’ve found it to be fairly accurate (i.e. all my ultra finishes are listed there), it’s not going…
2018 Phunt 50K Race Report
While you never know what type of weather you’re gonna get in the middle of January in the Mid-Atlantic, it’s a safe bet that warm will not be part of it. This usually isn’t a big deal for me, yet for some reason I couldn’t figure out what to wear for the race. The complicating…
2018 Phunt 50K Preview
My 2018 “race” season starts Saturday at the Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area in Elkton, MD. I throw quotes in there because while I will be wearing a bib, I won’t really be racing at Phunt. It’s kinda tough to be in race shape after only a couple weeks of increased training volumes. So…
2017 Year in Review
I’m more of a looking forward type of person than someone who dwells on the past. That’s probably why I posted my 2018 schedule before I got around to how I think this year went. But if you’re going to grow and improve, then you need to review and critique your performances. I came into the…