I love running really long distances. Ultra races are the focus of my annual running calendar. I enjoy counting down the days till my next race (i.e. see widget to the right). The build up. The anticipation. It’s like Christmas season all year long for me. But my maintenance 20 mile long runs? Yeah, not…
FAQ for New Ultrarunners
I’m sure several of you who stumble across this blog are relatively new to ultras and have some questions. I’ve shied away from offering advice in the past, however been in the sport long enough now that I can help out with some of the basics. The below questions are ones I’ve seen come up…
The Failed Run
Well, that didn’t turn out like I had planned. There’s lots of different ways to define a failed training run. Maybe you didn’t run as fast as you wanted. Or your effort wasn’t high enough. You could have missed your vert target for the activity. Or possibly you went too hard on an easy day.…
So Long Season of Slow
Well, that lasted longer than I thought it would. What started out as a month or so drop in training intensity, turned into a season, turned into . . . (checks calendar) . . . over three years?!?! Back in 2018, I was getting a little burned out physically so decided to start up my…
Dumb Things I’ve Thought or Said
Here’s an abridged list of dumb things I’ve thought or said over the years. I’ll spare you the unabridged list, which would take me the better part of a week to write. It’s only forty miles. (Naked Bavarian) A flat 100-miler should be much easier. (C&O Canal) It should be light enough that I won’t…
Next up. . . ?
I’m in a bit of a holding pattern right now with my next race. It’s supposed to be the NJ Devil 100 sometime in April, however registration has yet to open for it. Apparently, they’re having some issues getting their permits. I originally signed up to run this race in the fall off 2020 (rescheduled…
Stop the Madness
I’ve got a problem. I keep falling down when I go out for runs. Now this isn’t a new problem. If you read enough of my race reports, you’ll see that this has been going on for quite a while. Typically though this has been limited to races. The only times I can remember hitting…
2022 Phunt 50K Race Report
By popular demand, more photos less whining about me making the same mistakes for the bazillionth time. The Course Phunt is a trail race held at the Fair Hill Nature Center in northeastern Maryland. This was my fifth Phunt and the fifth different course that I’ve run there. It was mostly the same trails, however…
Running as a Lifestyle
My fifth Phunt 50K is this weekend. I was thinking about my training leading up to the race and realized that I probably need to throw some quotation marks around that word. I got a little burned out last year with all of the miles I logged (2500 – new annual best!) and so dialed…
A New Streak
Throughout the first six years of this blog, I’ve been pretty random about posting content. Pretty much the only guarantees would be a race report at some point during the week after a race. Depending on the race, you also had maybe a 50/50 chance of a preview post the week before. Other than that…