Articles

As we get into the middle of summer, many races involve running in severely hot weather. The most experienced runners use several tricks to deal with this, which are most evident at two Californian races renowned for their searing heat—Western States 100 and Badwater 135.

Hillary Allen, who sports the apropos moniker Hillygoat, has quickly risen to prominence in the ultrarunning world—especially in races with a lot of vertical. Though relatively new to running, the Colorado native has won several big name races, including this year’s Speedgoat 50K in 6:37:35.

As youths we have visions of grandeur. We see ourselves accomplishing great goals and becoming outstanding athletes. We watch the Olympics and other sporting events and visualize ourselves standing on the podium receiving the accolades of our peers and the public. Somehow, time slips away, and before you know it you’re married, have kids, a job, a house payment, and those childhood dreams are just that… dreams.

We were an hour outside of Putaendo, when the yerba maté started to take effect. It was June and deep mid winter. All that afternoon we had driven north towards the sun, which now was on its low drawling descent into the Pacific Ocean.

Ultramarathon races take hours, days. What’s a few lost seconds, right? Wrong. Seconds really do matter. Let me share with you a little story that illustrates this point. The race wasn’t a traditional ultramarathon, but a multiday adventure race involving a variety of disciplines, which included running, mountain biking, paddling and rock climbing.