Race Report - 2016 Yeti Snakebite 50K

The bounty of my labor.

It had been a while since I'd toed the starting line of an ultra marathon. The longest time between ultras for a while. In fact, crossing the finish line at the Cruel Jewel 100 Miler, I was ready to take a serious break from ultras. It was time to recover and do some stuff just for fun. Not that I don't love running, but training for an ultra is always a serious time commitment and it requires one to be somewhat serious about their training. Anyway, I decided to just run for fun and not race for a while, I started to dabble a little in mountain biking and road cycling, attempted a couple of MTB time trials and logged a few century rides on my newly acquired road bike. But it was time to get back for some fun in the mountains. Heck, I couldn't even remember the last time I ran a local 5K. I started to look at my calendar and it looked pretty blank. Time to fill 'er up. The Yeti Snakebite 50K had been on my calendar, but I wasn't even close to tackle this race as a competitor, so I decided to start properly training again in August and to use the Yeti as a fun training race with friends. I knew a lot of other Huntsville runners would be there, so hopefully I would have some company as I trudged through the woods.

Race Report - 2016 Cruel Jewel 100 Miler

The Huntsville crew just before things got real.

After completing my toughest and most epic race to date at last year's UTMB, I wasn't sure if that level of difficulty could ever be matched by another 100 mile race other than the famed Hard Rock 100. And then I signed up for the Cruel Jewel 100. You'd think I would have known better than to do that. After all, I had run the Cruel Jewel 50 Miler last year in preparation for UTMB. Well, the mind of an ultrarunner is a funny thing, I guess. We somehow have the ability to forget all the misery we endure during these events. So Thursday afternoon after I left the office, I grabbed my bags, jumped into my car and headed over to my buddy Paul's house to meet him and Jerry before all of us piled into his car along with our gear for the four hour road trip to Vogel State Park.

Race Report - 2016 Ultra-Trail Barcelona

Extremely fortunate circumstances had me in Europe during the Ultra-Trail Barcelona 100K. I decided to sign up for it as my final tune-up race for the Cruel Jewel 100 Miler two weeks later. I arrived the evening before the race, picked up my packet and returned back to my hotel. No point in sticking around for any prerace briefing...it was in Spanish only. This would actually be the theme with pretty much anything, but I managed.

Race Report - 2016 Boston Marathon

Team Nuun

I had never run Boston, so when I got a qualifying time of 3:02 at the 2014 Rocket City Marathon, I couldn't wait to sign up. I know, I know, initially I said all I cared about was a BQ, actually running the race wasn't that important. I guess I was wrong about that one. Luckily, my wife agreed to come along. Would not have been the same without her there. We were able to split a room with a couple of our friends (Kelsey and Andrew) just a couple of blocks fro the finish. Andrew knew the area and chose the hotel, which was perfect.

Race Report - 2016 Georgia Death Race 68M

Huntsville ultra runners were well represented at this year's GDR.

I had run the Georgia Death Race for the first time last year and really had no intention of running it again. After all, why would you want to suffer the same way more than once:-) However, I changed my mind after I decided to sign up for the Cruel Jewel 100 Miler as my goal race for the year. What better way to get ready then to run part of the course during the GDR. In addition, the course was reversed this year to reflect the direction it was originally intended to be run in, but had to be changed last year due to heavy rainfalls. This would mean an entirely different race experience. The weather was also going to be much better than last year, when fog and 24 hour downpours made it impossible to enjoy any of the scenery. On top of all of that, we had 10 Huntsville runners sign up for this thing, including most of my regular training crew. How could I turn that down:-)