Race Report - 2014 Georgia Jewel 35 Miler

Hanging out with Jerry and Todd prior to their 100 Mile start.

Originally, I had planned to run the 50 miler as part of my Pinhoti 100 training. However, things changed. By luck, I was able to run a tough 100K mountain race in Poland during a business trip 3 weeks earlier, so I figured there was no need to beat up my body more than necessary in preparation for my goal race. I also found out that my wife and I had been invited to a wedding that race day afternoon, so the 35 mile distance was the only distance that would even give me a shot at making the wedding 3 hours away in Birmingham that same afternoon.

Race Report - 2014 Bieg 7 Dolin 100K

The ultimate reward after a hard day's work, a local beer:-)

The adventure begins...

I got the opportunity to run this race completely by accident. A business trip required that I visited Ireland and Poland in early September and as usual, I immediately started to look for races in those locations or just cool places to run. After about a week of research, I located a really cool looking ultra marathon in Poland at the site of last year's World Mountain Running Championships. The "Festiwal Biegowy" or Festival of Races takes place in Krynica, Poland just a couple of hours drive outside of Krakow in the Carpathian Mountains (Eastern European extension of the Alps) over the first weekend in September. There were races on the calendar from the 100 m dash all the way to a 100K ultra marathon, the "Bieg 7 Dolin" or Seven Valleys Run 100K. In between, there were 5Ks and half marathons, and 33K and even a 66K distance as well, but I figured go big or go home. After all, I probably will never ever get the opportunity again to run an ultra in this region.