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Author

Gary Dudney

Gary Dudney

Gary Dudney writes the “Running Wise” column. A native of Kansas, he followed his Polish wife to a job located in Monterey, California in 1982 and signed on as a Technology Project Manager at CTB/McGraw-Hill. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he had landed in the center of prime Northern California ultrarunning territory. Over two hundred ultras later, he still finds every race a fresh and unique experience, evident in the dozens of quirky race reports he’s submitted to UltraRunning over the years. He’s also published a raft of short stories in magazines such as Boys’ Life, Highlights for Children, Boys’ Quest, and several lit magazines. He's also the author of two running book The Tao of Running: Your Journey to Mindful and Passionate Running and The Mindful Runner: Finding Your Inner Focus available on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble online. Visit his website at: thetaoofrunning.com.

  • When the Fun Meter Taps Out

    Gary Dudney 04/11/2023
    Gary Dudney 04/11/2023

    We all struggle with the moment in a race when the wheels come off and the pain and suffering seem unbearable. As the saying goes, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” I don’t really buy that suffering is optional in the sense that you can escape it altogether, but how well you manage the suffering and your reaction to it are certainly things that you have control over.

    Read more
  • How to Heat Train for an Ultra Marathon

    Gary Dudney 02/23/2023
    Gary Dudney 02/23/2023

    Think you can’t handle the heat? Actually, you can, but it will take committing to some heat training before your race and then playing it smart on race day. High…

    Read more
  • The Joys of Being a Masters Runner

    Gary Dudney 05/24/2022
    Gary Dudney 05/24/2022

    Let’s stipulate that aging into the masters category and beyond isn’t exactly a bed of roses. But there is a silver lining. The adjustments you need to make in your running in order to stay healthy and extend your running well into the future can actually lead you to find running more enjoyable and rewarding.

    Read more
  • Grandmaster Ultras: Apologies to the Youngsters

    Gary Dudney 03/02/2022
    Gary Dudney 03/02/2022

    The Grandmaster Ultras would be business as usual as far as most ultra events are concerned except, and apologies to younger runners here, you are required to have lived at least half a century in order to participate. Grandmaster, in other words, is where the older generation gets to feel young again and pursue their ultra dreams without all those pesky young runners gumming up the works.

    Read more
  • Resurrection Pass: Alaska’s 100-mile Adventure

    Gary Dudney 09/15/2021
    Gary Dudney 09/15/2021

    Alaska is fabulous. The Resurrection Pass Ultras showcase the Resurrection Pass area of the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage between the towns of Hope in the north and Cooper Landing in the south, which comprises just one tiny corner of the vast miracle that is the state of Alaska. Running the Resurrection Pass 100 was one of the greatest adventures I’ve had in 25 years of ultrarunning.

    Read more
  • Pulse Endurance Runs: There’s Something About a Loop

    Gary Dudney 06/02/2021
    Gary Dudney 06/02/2021

    The Pulse Endurance Runs held in Eagle Island State Park just west of Boise, Idaho, in late May reminded me why I love running 100 miles on a short loop course. Much of the aggravation that comes with running an unfamiliar point-to-point course is stripped away and you can concentrate fully on the distance and on the joy of pure running.

    Read more
  • C&O Canal 100: Running on Hallowed Ground

    Gary Dudney 05/05/2021
    Gary Dudney 05/05/2021

    If you’ve ever used the word “pleasant” to describe a 100-mile race, it’s likely going to be the C&O Canal 100 near Knoxville, Maryland. Forget about tripping down technical trails, battling brutal heat or sub-freezing temps and facing quad-burning elevation. Instead, imagine banks of wildflowers, a wide river flowing nearby and a running surface free of rocks, ruts and anything that would require your attention.

    Read more
  • Wild and Wonderful West Virginia: Rim to River 100

    Gary Dudney 12/28/2020
    Gary Dudney 12/28/2020

    Race Director Bryant Baker worked hard at making the inaugural running of the Rim to River 100 Mile, West Virginia’s first-ever hundred-mile race, something special. At packet pick-up, he mentioned that the course visits every spot in the area he would want his best friend to see if they were out on a run together.

    Read more
  • Strawberry Fields Forever 30 Hours

    Gary Dudney 07/28/2020
    Gary Dudney 07/28/2020

    Were it not for the circumstances of the pandemic, I would never have been shopping around for a race, but fate brought me together with the Strawberry Fields Forever 30 Hours in North Bonneville, Washington, near the Columbia River. It turned out to be a wonderfully well run and satisfying ultra with just 3,200 feet of elevation gain.

    Read more
  • Loco Challenge: Racing 100 Miles in a Pandemic

    Gary Dudney 07/08/2020
    Gary Dudney 07/08/2020

    At last, I found a race held in the shadow of the COVID-19 lockdown, and there was no series of ominous email warnings followed by a reluctant cancellation notice. The Loco Challenge race series held in parts of the Lassen National Forest on June 6 in north central California.

    Read more
  • Ordnance 100K: February in Fabulous Fort Ord

    Gary Dudney 03/13/2020
    Gary Dudney 03/13/2020

    Fort Ord Trail runs take place in Monterey, California, on the first weekend of February each year. It’s just a short drive south from San Francisco and runners can choose from a 100K, 50K, 25K or 10K, or run your ultra and let the rest of the family run the shorter distances.

    Read more
  • Pinhoti 100: Like Moths to a Flame

    Gary Dudney 11/19/2019
    Gary Dudney 11/19/2019

    Runners love Pinhoti. It seemed like everybody I talked to at packet pickup was either returning to run this race in Alabama because they couldn’t get enough of it or they were out to avenge a DNF. Pinhoti is like a flame in the night – drawing in moths, but also, ready to burn them into oblivion.

    Read more
  • All Business at No Business

    Gary Dudney 10/23/2019
    Gary Dudney 10/23/2019

    Runners experience a wonderland of rugged forest, waterfalls, natural arches, streams and river while tackling this demanding 100-mile tour of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area that begins in southern Kentucky and drops into Tennessee.

    Read more
  • Keeping It Ironic: Burning River 100 Mile

    Gary Dudney 08/21/2019
    Gary Dudney 08/21/2019

    Burning River has always been a race with a heart of irony. The race celebrates health, strength, vitality, natural beauty and of course, the Cuyahoga River. Yet 50 years ago, the actual events that led to the Cuyahoga earning the name “burning river” were tragic and ugly.

    Read more
  • Forbidden Forest 30-Hour Ultra Run: All Winners in Connecticut

    Gary Dudney 08/06/2019
    Gary Dudney 08/06/2019

    The format at Forbidden Forest is not the usual 100-mile race with a 30-hour cutoff. It’s a no-one-DNFs 30-hour run with the win going to whomever runs the farthest, and special buckles for everyone that manages 45 laps of the 2.23 mile loop, or 100.35 miles. Consequently, the race was a mix of runners with widely varying goals and dreams.

    Read more
  • The Train Depot in Garnett, Kansas

    Gary Dudney 06/19/2019
    Gary Dudney 06/19/2019

    The Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra 100 Mile in eastern Kansas is a rails-to-trails course that follows an old route of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad through the small town of Garnett. A brick depot building, built in 1934, serves as a key aid station halfway between the race start in Ottawa and Iola.

    Read more
  • Riverlands 100 in the Maine Forest

    Gary Dudney 06/05/2019
    Gary Dudney 06/05/2019

    Only in its third year, race directors Valerie Abradi and Mindy Slovinsky have put together an ultra event with an old-school feeling and lots of down home charm that will simultaneously delight and challenge you. Riverlands is a great up-and-coming destination race. Put it on your calendar before the word gets out.

    Read more
  • Your First 100-Miler

    Gary Dudney 03/07/2019
    Gary Dudney 03/07/2019

    Compared to shorter ultras you may have completed, the 100-mile race is a strange and formidable beast and nothing like bowling. It’ll be harder than anything you’ve done before, so here are some ways to prepare and ensure your first hundo is a success.

    Read more
  • Getting Answers at the Long Haul 100

    Gary Dudney 02/23/2019
    Gary Dudney 02/23/2019

    At 66 years old, could I still go the distance? Was 2019 going to continue my bad luck from 2018? Could I still notch a 100-mile finish as a spanking-new granddad and add Florida to my long list of states where I’d run a 100-mile race?

    Read more
  • No Business 100: A Classic 100-Miler in the Making

    Gary Dudney 12/11/2018
    Gary Dudney 12/11/2018

    In its second year, the No Business 100 Mile Trail Ultra race course spills over the lower Kentucky border into Tennessee and provides the same amazing natural wonders and scenery of the Great Smoky Mountains, but, as Race Director Bryan Gajus points out, without the long lines.

    Read more
  • Enjoy the Training

    Gary Dudney 02/28/2018
    Gary Dudney 02/28/2018

    When you first signed up to be an ultrarunner, you know, at your local ultrarunning recruitment center at the mall, I hope you paid attention to the fine print on the contract. It said in no uncertain terms, “You are now obligated to do a whole sh** load of training.”

    Read more
  • Uwharrie 100 Mile/100K: Now Entering the Land that Time Forgot

    Gary Dudney 11/21/2017
    Gary Dudney 11/21/2017

    At the start of the Uwharrie 100, you depart Wood Run Trail Head and are swallowed up immediately by a thick, dark, mysterious forest. Underfoot are protruding rocks and a snake pit of tangled roots, all camouflaged by a layering of dead leaves. The 20.5 mile trail, which follows a figure eight route, will prove to be an almost unbroken minefield of trip hazards.

    Read more
  • Angel Fire Endurance Runs

    Gary Dudney 07/07/2017
    Gary Dudney 07/07/2017

    A gentle “angelic” loop around the valley floor gives you a chance to adjust to the altitude, enjoy the pine forest and valley meadows, and picturesque mountain cabins and ski chalets. The “fire” comes when you begin the 18.5-mile out and back over the top of the ski resort and down the other side, topping out at about 11,000 feet where you feel like the sun is microwaving your exposed skin.

    Read more
  • Coyote Backbone Trail Ultras

    Gary Dudney 03/22/2017
    Gary Dudney 03/22/2017

    Just fully completed in 2016, the 68 mile long Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California’s Golden coast has been designated a National Recreational Trail and offers a unique and stunning venue for the Coyote Backbone Trail Ultras.

    Read more
  • Feeling the Burn: Burning River 100 Mile and 50 Mile

    Gary Dudney 08/16/2016
    Gary Dudney 08/16/2016

    The race’s name, “Burning River,” is of course ironic, harkening back to the numerous times the Cuyahoga River, once one of America’s most polluted waterways, actually caught on fire.

    Read more
  • Training to Tame Big Climbs

    Gary Dudney 07/13/2016
    Gary Dudney 07/13/2016

    A regular program of LSD will certainly make you into an ultrarunner and get you ready to run the 50k, 50-mile or 100k distance, but the problem is that for many ultra courses, it will not be enough.

    Read more
  • Kettle Moraine 100 Endurance Run

    Gary Dudney 06/23/2016
    Gary Dudney 06/23/2016

    “Kettle Moraine.” The name is striking, weird, mysterious. But it turns out understanding the name helps you appreciate the awesome beauty and the mighty geology behind this classic Wisconsin 100 mile endurance run.

    Read more
  • When to Dump Your Shoes

    Gary Dudney 11/05/2015
    Gary Dudney 11/05/2015

    Industry representatives generally put the lifespan of a shoe between 400 and 600 miles. The mileage you personally can expect to get, however, will vary depending on factors such as your weight, the surface you run on, your foot strike tendencies, whether you switch off pairs from one run to another and of course the resilience of the materials and design.

    Read more
  • Give It a Rest

    Gary Dudney 08/26/2015
    Gary Dudney 08/26/2015

    As hard charging, fiercely driven, superhero ultrarunners, we love to pile up the miles, train until we drop and skimp on rest days. But one of the great ironies about…

    Read more
  • Riding the Hot Desert Wind

    Gary Dudney 07/30/2015
    Gary Dudney 07/30/2015

    Ride the Wind is a desert race through and through with cactus, kangaroo mice, wadis, coyotes, painted rocks, lizards, one hundred percent exposure, and a UV index that could strip paint off the space shuttle. Even the cactus was dying out there.

    Read more
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