On August 7th, 2012, Barack Obama was still in his first term as President. The Avengers was playing in movie theaters. Bitcoin was trading under $10. And I went for a 1.1 mile run. Ten years ago, my wife and I were training for our first half marathon. We had been running sporadically over the…
Know Your Why Not
To be successful in ultras, you need to know your why. Why do you want to run long distances? Why explore your limits? Knowing this why will help you push through the dark moments and reach the finish line. To enjoy ultras, I think it’s also good to know why you don’t do ultras. Acknowledging…
Paying The Price
There’s a cost to running ultramarathons. I’m not referring to registration fees. Or the trials of actually completing a race. I’m talking about the miles that need to be racked up. The workouts stacked on top of workouts. All of the training that needs to be done just to get you to the starting line.…
Eastern States Training Volumes
For a number of years, I’ve tracked the amount of miles and long runs that I’ve done heading into my hundred milers. These aren’t training plans or even training blocks per se. More a general description of my running volume leading up to races. First, let’s take a look at the 100 days before each…
Ironstone 100k Volunteering
TL;DR: 31 finishers of 62 starters = 50%. Volunteering is awesome. Rocks. I have a confession to make. While I have been a member of the ultra community for a number of years now, I have not necessarily been in the best of standing. You see, up until last weekend, I had only volunteered at…
Eating Competitions
It’s said that ultras are glorified eating competitions. The implication being that the person who eats the most will perform the best. While this is obviously a little hyperbolic, it’s not completely so. I was reminded of this yet again at MDLD where I did a less than stellar job of shoving calories into my…
Mason Dixon Longest Day 100K Race Report
MDLD, as it’s known, is a 100k(ish) fat ass-styled event held the Saturday closest to the longest day of the year. It follows the Mason-Dixon Trail (MDT) from the Rock Run Mill in Susquehanna state park north to the steps of Shank’s Mare Outfitters in Wrightsville, PA. The Trail Dawgs host this “dis-organized” run and…
10 Years a Runner
It was during the summer of 2012 that I became a runner. That’s not to say I had never run before. Back in the ’80s, I did 2 seasons of spring track (high hurdles). I had also done the random 5K and mud run with the (very) occasional training run leading up to them. I…
Capital Backyard Ultra Race Report
First off, thanks to Sarah (RD) and all the amazing volunteers who helped put on this event. All of your hard work is greatly appreciated! Capital Backyard is a Last Man Standing race put on over Memorial Day weekend in Lorton, VA. For those not in the know, backyard ultras consist of a 4.16 mile…
20,000 Lifetime Miles
Well, I hit another major running milestone this past week. After logging my 200th long run a couple weeks back, I crossed over the 20,000 lifetime miles threshold on a run last weekend. I’ve ramped up my weekly mileage over the past couple years so what took almost 6 years for the first 10k only…