In May 2021, I made my first self-supported attempt to run the Mason-Dixon Trail. The hardest section of the trail arrives just east of Shank’s Mare Outfitters. The Four Sisters section is probably the gnarliest section of trail in PA. I was about halfway through the section, 65+ miles into my run, and it was…
Moments in Time: 2020 Pine Creek 100
80+ miles in; Zero dark something Here’s where I hit my low for the race. You’ll always reach this point eventually in a hundred though the timing and distance changes from race to race. It’s not a physical low, but a mental one. After hours upon hours (or days) of moving, your mind will just…
Moments in Time: 2015 Oil Creek 100
4:58am, Saturday October 10, 2015 I’m standing in the courtyard of the Titusville Middle School with a hundred nineteen other people waiting to run 100 miles for the first time. I have been thinking, planning, and dreaming about running 100 miles for a couple years now. All of that time and energy has been devoted…
Moments in Time: 2017 Old Dominion 100
It’s sometime around 11pm and I’m tired. My hopes and dreams of buckling the OD100 (no belt buckles for finishes over 24 hours) have just been shattered by the recently completed climb up and over Sherman’s Gap. I’m low on calories and desperately looking for the next aid station, Veach East*. My headlamp dimly lights…
Moments in Time: 2016 C&O Canal 100
It’s 2am and I’m sitting in a chair at the Nolan’s Ferry aid station. Normally, this is not a good sign during the later stages of an ultra. Chairs have magical attractive properties (especially during 100 mile races) such that once your bottom touches them, it’s extremely difficult to extricate yourself from them. Luckily for…