King of the Castle – Idaho Mountain Festival
The Idaho Mountain Festival, brought to you by Asana, is a 4-day rock climbing and trail running event that has little to do with competition and more about the celebration and gathering of these great outdoor sports. Castle Rock and City of Rocks are home to some of the best granite domes for sport climbing, traditional climbing, and bouldering. The trail systems through both parks make for great hiking, trail running, and mountain...
Bryce 100 Race Report
These things are always hard for me write and, in fact, I never planned on a post race report regardless of the outcome. While I usually never shut up about running, I struggle with idea of talking about my own personal victories and balancing that line between humility and boastfulness. After many requests though, I guess I can concede. And the only way for me to approach this is to just shoot it straight. My pre race report pretty...
Bighorn 100 Pre-Race Photo Reflections
This morning I awoke before my 4:50am alarm. I drowsily stumbled around, threw on my favorite soft running clothes, tracked down a handheld and a pair of shoes and tossed them in the car. Scoping out the wildcat ridge It is fitting that my last taper run is where it all started: on Wire – a short, steep mountain climb overlooking Salt Lake City. I turned on my Wire playlist as I drove, realizing I was a few minutes behind. Yes,...
Bryce 100 Pre Race Report
This weekend I will be toeing the line for the Bryce 100. Keeping with my 100 mile rituals, I’m typing this while enjoying a beverage at the town’s only coffee shop. I spend a couple days before the race camping out with my pacer mentally preparing for what’s about to take place. Convincing my body that it’s OK to run 100 miles and getting myself right mentally are just as important as the months of physical preparation that...
TNF Endurance Series
I recently had the opportunity to work and support runners at The Northface Endurance Series race in Bear Mountain State Park, NY. Prior to this, I had not considered participating in these sort of larger scale races for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, was just a general limitation of financial resources which significantly limited my registration into races. Additionally, the locations for the series were further away then...
Corre Libre – Born To Run 100K
The Born to Run was everything I imagined and even more. A fun weekend, filled with music, dancing, camping and running – a celebration of life. After running the double marathon few weeks before, I was confident going into my very first 100K race. Even though it was little difficult finding out the elevation profile for this run, I was able to determine that there would be about 7500 ft of elevation gain, very similar to what I...
Zion Traverse: Ultrarunning
Trans-Zion….The “Zion Traverse”. Yeah, I’d heard of it. I had no idea though. No clue how mind-blowing this place was. The only comparison I have in my head is the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim. After running both, I’d put Zion above the Grand Canyon crossing any day. Zion was the most amazing place I have ever seen. There is beauty in 360 degrees from the start of the run to the finish. The trails are...
Dirty German Endurance Fest 50 Mile Race Report
I have officially completed my first stand-alone 50 miler and it was on beautiful trails in the city of Philadelphia! I had the lucky chance to interview the RD of this race a month back, which had me even more excited for the race! The race occurred in Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia with ideal weather conditions (low temps started in the 50s with a high in the mid-60s, with a few rain sprinkles). Packet pick-up was quick...