Archives
To get where you want to be, you have to do much more than you think it’s going to take. You must increase your actions by a factor of 10. — Grant Cardone, The 10x Rule The Chirico Tenpeat has been on my radar for a couple of years, in the same way that a dear great Aunt’s birthday is on your radar. Which is to say that when Facebook reminds you… Read More
It’s been nearly six months since my last blog post, the longest since I began writing about my running in 2016. That post, from July, was about a heartbreaking DNF, perhaps leading a reader to believe that my running life subsequently fell apart. That’s not what happened. Instead, I completed my first 200 mile race in August. 200 miles! You’re thinking. Why the hell didn’t you write about that!? I don’t have… Read More
“Sorry I’m moving so slowly,” I told the valet, as I rolled myself out of the driver’s seat of my rented Nissan Rogue, stopped in front of the luxury Umstead Hotel in Cary, North Carolina, shortly before 8am on Sunday morning. “I just ran 100 miles.” “Oh!” The young man smiled. “You ran the Rock & Roll!” I scowled as I opened the back door to retrieve my drop bags, my mind… Read More
It took twelve months to realize it was about more than the weather. I was exhibiting signs of hypothermia and hypoxemia (low blood oxygen) when I crossed the 2017 Black Canyon 100k finish line. Just happy to be indoors at the Mayer High School auditorium race headquarters, I was shocked when EMTs announced to me, “you are in distress,” before attempting to strip me of my soaked clothing and get me to… Read More
It’s January 14. I’ve been sitting on my final post of 2017 for two weeks. So long, in fact, that I’ve already completed my first race of 2018 — the Bandera 50k on January 6. The 2017 race year ended with an anti-climax. I’d registered for the Sporty Diva Last Run of the Year, marathon distance on December 31. A 2.8 mile loop course, racers can complete distances of 2.8 miles, all… Read More
I remember learning about Rosa Parks as a child. A simplistic story of a black woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, and it started a civil rights movement. As a child, I thought it was a story about a moment of strength. It was not until I got older that I learned the full story. That Rosa Parks got in physical fights as… Read More
Anyone that knows me suspected this would happen. That I would not only meet my quest of running 40 races in 2017 for my 40th birthday, but that, upon doing so, I was unlikely to take a rest. In fact, as I approached 40 races on October 22, there seemed only one real answer to the question, what’s next? That answer is 52. Race 41 was at Cougar Mountain in Newcastle, Washington,… Read More
Four races. Three Days. 26.2 total miles. A journey will culminate in Bethlehem. My girlfriends and I are just a few of the several hundred people gathered on a Friday afternoon for 3.8 trail miles in Bethelhem’s South Mountain Park. We will all complete the Grand Slam – 3.8 mile trail race, a 5k, a 10k and a half marathon over three days. It’s over quickly; I’ve rarely run anything shorter than… Read More
I entered Nicole’s house through the garage at 7:11am, 11 minutes after I’d planned to arrive, but with 19 minutes to spare on our 7:30am departure. Plenty of time, I knew, to use her bathroom; I’d change into my running sneakers on the way to Defiance Point, ten minutes away. As I pinned my bib onto my right thigh, I watched Nicole roll her calves on an acupressure ball. On the… Read More
DNS. Did. Not. Start. Trail runners fear its dirty cousin, the DNF: Did. Not. Finish. But people rarely talk about the DNS which is, to me, the worse of the two by far. The DNF says, “I tried; I really tried and I fell short.” The DNS says, “I never even tried.” Put that way, it seems as though one would need a really, really good reason to DNS. Mine was commute… Read More
