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…
Viaduct Plan B
I was planning to use the Viaduct 100M race last weekend as the primary training stimulus leading into Eastern States, however the race ended up being cancelled due to downed trees on the course. I think I’ve gotten faster at the hundred mile distance this year due to all the hundreds that I’ve been running…
It’s June. . . But ES100 Is Coming
What motivates you to train for ultras? How do you get out of bed before light when it’s raining outside? What forces you to do add that second (or third) workout to your weekly schedule? Or the extra repeat when your lungs are shot and your legs completely fried? The back-to-back long runs? How do…
2024 Eastern States 100 Mile Non-Race Report
Well, that sucked in a completely different manner than it normally does. World Class Race Organization You really can’t gauge someone’s character until they’re tested by adversity. I believe this adage applies to race organizations as well. The Eastern States race organization has steadily improved over the past ten years, but it’s been in all…
2024 Eastern States 100 Preview
This will be my seventh trip to Little Pine State Park. While it’s true I always look forward to my hundred mile races, I’m especially excited for this year’s ES100. I’m coming off two amazing events and my fingers are crossed that the Summer of Phil can continue for one more race. The Dream Race…
2023 ES100 Additional/Final Thoughts
If you hadn’t guessed yet, I’m pretty obsessed with Eastern States so here’s yet another post on the race. Let’s start with finish times. Here are the median finish times over the years and how mine compare. 2023 was the second slowest year to the infamous 2016 race (oh yeah, it sucked). This makes me…
Strategies For A Successful Eastern States 100
I’m going a different direction with my race report this year. More of a How-To guide on running the race. If you’re interested in a more traditional accounting, you can check out my races in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022. Or my photo journey in 2021. Strategy #1: Go out fast Don’t listen to all those…
Eastern States 100 Splits
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This post is for those people who think a chart full of numbers is worth a thousand words. There’s a lot to unpack here so let’s start at the end. Somehow I’ve managed to finish each race quicker than the year before. In 2016, I was…