This race was a late addition to my schedule. My primary October race is Tussey mOUTaiNBACK 100 mile in 2 weeks, however I noticed on Facebook a month ago that they can cancel the race if less than 10 people were signed up for it. Well, there were only 4 of us signed up at…
Jack Of All Ultras (Master Of None)
At a very basic level, my goal with this hobby is to be good at running long distances. Initially, this was defined as merely finishing a given distance (50K, 50M, 100M, etc.). After I finished several races, time goals became a way to determine whether I was any good at this. I quickly exited the…
Virgil Crest 100 Mile Race Report
When I got into ultras a decade ago, Virgil Crest was one of the first hundreds that I read about and wanted to run. With 22,000 feet of elevation gain/loss though, it was a race I was going to have to work up to. Unfortunately, by the time I felt I was ready to give…
Virgil Crest 100M Preview
It’s only been 4 weeks since ES100, so obviously it’s time to run another race. When I started looking at ultras back in 2013/2014, Virgil Crest was one of the first hundreds that I read about. It had a certain cachet about it due to the elevation gain/loss and overall toughness. This was not an…
Running Through A Cyclical Low
Daily running is not a steady state affair. If only. Some days are better than others (stupid rain). Some weeks are better than others (stupid work obligations). And some months. . . This has been one of those months for me. Coming out of Eastern States, I was back to 100% physically within about 10…
I Could If I Wanted To
I mean, that’s the excuse, right? Sure I could do X. Anybody could do X. I just don’t want to. This is something we learn at a young age as a way to push back against our shortcomings. It’s also a nice lie we tell ourselves to boost our self esteem. It’s not that I…
How To Process A 100 Mile Attempt/Finish
First off, it was your race and your result so you’re allowed to feel however you want about it. If you’re happy, great. It’s fine to be disappointed. And extremely freaking frustrated can explain a couple dozen of my ultra results. Don’t let other people tell you how you should feel. Acceptance is step one.…
2025 Eastern States 100 Race Report
As I pass by Harrisburg on my drive up to Waterville, I got beeped at by a passing car. This was right where a bunch of highways merge and split off and I’m thinking “uh-oh, did I just cut someone off?” (it’s happened before). The driver flashed me the peace sign though so he probably…
2025 Eastern States 100 Preview
It’s kinda crazy to think that this is the tenth ES100 that I’ve signed up for. Unfortunately, I don’t have 9 buckles to show for this. I have 6 buckles and three partial refunds. One year the race was cancelled due to an issue with their communications team (ham radio operator backed out). Then there…
2025 ES100 Runner Data
When I started out running ultras I used to look at the runner data for races that I was signed up for. How many races they had run, number of hundreds, age, gender, length of ultra career; that sort of thing. I was curious to see what type of person signed up for these events…