15 March 2015

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Ultimate Direction SJ Ultra Vest
As I prepare for the ultimate adventure and one of my top ten bucket list items, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in France in August 2015, I will be testing out and evaluating different gear options that are either going to be part of the mandatory gear or are optional but that I consider essential for my ability to reach the finish line.

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The coolest race shirt design I've seen to date.
I had been looking forward to this race for a long time. It was meant to be my first official "training race" as I slowly ramped up my training for the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc later this summer. The UTMB is a bucket list race for me, so I wanted to prepare for it like I'd never prepared for a 100 miler before.

01 March 2015

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My Huntsville crew.
Coming off a very satisfying performance at Mountain Mist 50K in January, I had big goals for this year's Mount Cheaha 50K...and then I got a sinus infection along with a cold just one week after the Mist. A steroid shot and a round of antibiotics eventually fixed it, but I did lose a whole week of training. I got back into my weekly training routine and ended the week with a self-supported training run, the Dismal 50K, which boasts over 12,000ft of elevation gain, feeling great. Weather kept me to only two training runs the following week, but I had the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham to look forward to as a training run. I had signed up as the 3:45 pacer and was looking forward to helping some folks accomplish some goals or maybe even qualify for Boston. I arrived in Birmingham the afternoon before the race and settled in to my hotel, when sickness struck for the second time in less than two weeks. Without being too graphic, I spent the next 24 hours more or less exclusively in the bathroom of my hotel room before driving back home. Suffice it to say, I did not run the marathon Sunday morning. Whats more, my last run had been 4 days earlier and I was unable to run for another 3 days due to the stomach flu. I was also on yet another round of antibiotics that I would have to continue to take all the way thru race day and beyond. Let's just say I drove down to Oxford, Alabama feeling slightly underprepared and undertrained to be having any goals other than finish the race, hopefully in better shape than last year, but that was not a given considering my last 2 weeks.

US STATES WITH 100 MILE RACES COMPLETED (15)

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COUNTRIES WITH ULTRAMARATHONS COMPLETED (13)

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RACE CALENDAR

  • Mount Mitchell Heartbreaker 50M (Old Fort, NC) - March 23, 2024
  • Oak Mountain 50K (Birmingham, AL) - March 30, 2024
  • Southern States 200M (Delta, AL) April 12-16, 2024
  • Cocodona 250M (Black Canyon City, AZ) - May 6-11, 2024
  • Mohican 100M (Loudonville, OH) - June 1, 2024
  • Bighorn 100M (Dayton, WY) - June 14, 2024
  • Crazy Mountain 100M (Lennep, MT) - July 26, 2024
  • Eastern States 100M (Waterville, PA) - August 10, 2024
  • SwissPeaks 360 (Valais, Switzerland) - September 1-8, 2024
  • Indiana Trail 100M (Albion, IN) - October 12, 2024
  • Rim To River 100M (New River Gorge, WV) - November 2, 2024 (WAITLIST #99)
  • Charleston 100M (Mount Pleasant, SC) - December 27, 2024
  • The Montane Winter Spine 268M (Edale, UK) - January 12-19, 2025

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