I'm on one side of the mic with Tina Muir in this podcast about raising adventurous kids and the struggle many of us have with controlling our enthusiasm, and the growth of ultramarathons and URP. …and on the other side of the mic in this new URP ...
I’m on one side of the mic with Tina Muir in this podcast about raising adventurous kids and the struggle many of us have with controlling our enthusiasm, and the growth of ultramarathons and URP.
…and on the other side of the mic in this new URP episode where we talk with Josh Ritter about why he DNFed the same hundred miler three times…and what he did to get it right the fourth.
“I chased her for 181 miles,” Curtin said. “I was super amped up. I took a ton of energy drinks, but I think it was more the thrill of the chase and being neck-and-neck for two days into a race that really had me going. I didn’t mean to catch her that quickly. It was way easier to chase than to constantly look back to see how far ahead I was.
The clunky ‘this is really what you want to see’ algorithm by Twitter makes following anything that depends on chronology (like, say, a race) frustrating and impossible. Apparently we can switch back to the old version now. Woohoo!
Kipchoge’s ‘drink guy’ gets some media love. I agree with Gault’s analysis of why so many people connected with him: We’ve all worked aid stations and have felt that little piece of pride that we helped someone do something awesome….no matter how tiny our part was, we were there and did it well.
I downed a full pack of ramen, a quesadilla, oreos, all totaling 500+ calories, in 7 minutes, and then I was gone into the evening light across an angrily frothing White River…
–This type of sentence makes no sense to 99.9% of the population, but it made sense to Ghelfi on his FKT of the Wonderland Trail and many of us will relate. Great read and lessons about pacing…check it out here.
Josh Ritter started running ultramarathons in 2012 and in that first year lined up at Hal Koerner’s Pine to Palm 100. He wouldn’t finish the race, taking a DNF around mile 70.
This is an episode that follows Josh’s journey from 2012 through three DNFs on the same course and multiple wild fires, until he eventually earned his buckle just two weeks ago. What was the magic secret, and what did he do to balance family commitments with his running goals? If you’re someone who’s struggled with cutoffs or persistent, you’ll want to pay attention to this episode.
A trick that’ll help ensure you run easy on your easy days. Only works for fellas, though I assume a braless approach would work for the ladies too. Oh, just go ahead and read it.
Woman breaks overall speed record on a bike (184mph!) on the Utah salt flats. I’m not sure what I expected the bike to look like, but it was more high-tech and aerodynamic than what she rode.
As the crew, as a spectator, as a pacer, our job is to support. That’s it. It’s not our race. It’s the runner’s. There is definitely a line to walk in pushing your runner when the mental barriers are too strong, to keep them going when we know they can. But there is also a time when we must let the runner decide what’s best for them, for that day and their future and in that decision, to still be their biggest fan. How do we strike that balance?
New interview coming soon: Josh toed the line at Pine to Palm four times over the past six years and DNFed each attempt. Then two weeks ago, he lined up and made it to the finish line. We’ll find out how he did it. Stay tuned for an inspiring episode.
Avast ye! If you’re running trails in the PNW and see helicopters carrying mountain goats off hilltops, fear not. It’s not your fatigue or your eyes or your edibles. It’s this.
So how do we get more kids, more women, more people involved in this stupid sport? Forcing them in (either by overly-enthusiastic parents or by quotas) is not the answer, and I find the divisiveness popular with some millennials to be counterproductive at best. I’m not going to mention her name out of respect for privacy–and primarily because she did this completely under the radar–but Sunny received a wholly unexpected letter from someone (an uber-elite woman) Monday congratulating on her running and encouraging her love for adventure. Sunny beamed and told all of her friends about the letter and now more of her friends want to hit the trails with us this weekend. It’s a tiny gesture that creates small waves, but those turn into bigger waves, right? These are the things that stick with kids (and hell, adults!) for the long run. Real life super heroes (and pirates) exist and have incredible powers for real change.
More endurance madness: Ashley Horner was giving it the ol heave ho and attempting to complete 50 Ironman-distance triathlons in fifty days, but she’s called it quits after a medical scare and decided to walk the plank. Here’s the story, and be sure to pay attention to the detail that many of you/us likely skipped over:
She received intravenous fluids for six hours, then left the ER, sent Viada the results of her blood test, ate a pizza, and got a full night of sleep.
I hope you caught our interview with #1 American at UTMB Chris Hammes. We had a free-flowing conversation about his love of vert, how he handles pain and discomfort, and what he wants out of this silly sport of ours. Super nice guy, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on him whenever he toes the line at tough races.
“I just kept going longer and at one point I wanted to run across the country,” McCarthy said.
