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Ask anyone at last month’s Canyons 100K which athlete was grinning ear-to-ear at aid stations and clearly having the absolute time of his life, and you’ll likely get one answer: Preston Cates. The 23-year-old finished in sixth place and was just 21 minutes off the podium in one of the most competitive ultras in the country—and this was just his third official ultra finish.

The 22nd Chubb 25 & 50K was held on April 17, 2021 after a hiatus in 2020. In the months leading up to the start, I wasn’t sure if the St. Louis County restrictions would allow us to run our normal race with a mass start, a smorgasbord of ultra snacks and a post-race barbeque. However, since I am writing this report, you can assume that some kind of race actually happened. Here’s how it went down.

There’s nothing quite like the excitement of an ultramarathon, with pre-race nerves the night before and visualization of the challenges ahead. However, run an ultra from home and while the nerves might be less jittery, the excitement is still front and center.

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.

Brighter days and longer miles during the spring months help build a base for fun adventures throughout the year. Just in time for your ramp up in training, we’ve tested a new crop of socks to keep your feet comfortable.

Marshall Ulrich is an endurance athlete and ultrarunning legend with over 130 ultra finishes. He recently crossed Death Valley for the 30th time on foot in February when he set out to raise money in honor of his friend and teammate, Mark Macy. Macy is a long-time friend and recently competed on Amazon’s World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji with his son, Travis. Ulrich’s team, The Stray Dogs also competed alongside the Macy’s during the adventure race. Eco-Challenge Team Stray Dogs originally included both Ulrich and Macy until Macy was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018.

Why 267 miles? Why the 90-hour time limit? In the spirit of the Badwater Ultra Cup—which consists of completing Badwater Cape Fear (51 miles), Badwater Salton Sea (81 miles), and Badwater 135 (135 miles)—the Badwater 267 Virtual Race Elite combined the mileage of all three Badwater events, and the 90 hours included the combined time limits of each race: 14 hours, 28 hours and 48 hours, respectively.

Two months before the start of my dream of running the 223-mile Ouachita Trail FKT, my 59-year-old father passed away due to COVID-19 just one week after being admitted to the emergency room. The 223-mile journey along a technical, rocky trail with 40,000 feet of gain would take everything I had mentally, physically and emotionally. Could I do it after the sudden loss of my father?

I made a long trip up to the still-thawing-out Pacific Northwest for the 19th Annual Peterson Ridge Rumble, previously advertised as a 40-miler, but really known to only be 60k. Either way, it’s a fast and runnable course with two big climbs and tons of flowy single track southwest of Sisters, Oregon, in the Deschutes National Forest.

When I found out that Terrain Trail Runners was adding a 100-mile distance to its Ozark Foothills lineup, I was beyond excited. This is a first-of-its-kind for the greater St. Louis area. We have a strong trail and ultrarunning community, but somewhat lack in the availability of races over 50 miles.

The last time I’d been to Zumbro was as a pacer during the blizzard of 2018, where I watched the trail disappear amidst wild raging winds and swirling piles of snow. In 2019, yet another blizzard had prevented the race from happening, followed by 2020, when it was canceled, along with most everything else. But in 2021, this southern Minnesota race was back. Things looked different, of course. The 17-mile race remained, but the 100-mile and 50-mile races were exchanged for a 34-mile option.

Salomon has had a longstanding commitment to socially responsible manufacturing practices, and this spring they are debuting a flagship running shoe that exemplifies this concept. The Index.01 is designed as a high performance road running shoe that is completely recyclable: it is made entirely of repurposed materials and is intended to be completely disassembled and recycled after its lifespan, with the raw materials incorporated into other Salomon products.

Ultrarunner Duane Konyn recounts his medevac rescue while running the Bigfoot 200 in 2019 in Washington state. Konyn suffered a rare but life-threatening injury after passing the 150-mile mark of the 200-mile race. He talks to Scotty about the details of his medical condition and the helicopter and medical crew that came to his rescue, not to mention his pacer who helped out when Konyn was doubled over in pain.

Saucony’s Kinvara and Peregrine shoes share similar DNA, even though one is a road shoe and the other is designed for trails. Both were born from the minimalist running shoe boom of the mid-2000s, combining sleek design with lightweight construction and just enough performance elements to allow fast but natural movement. Each of these models have been through a number of revisions since that time, but they haven’t strayed from their original mission and both received a few updates this spring.

There is no shame in a DNF. No one wants to enter a race and not finish, but sometimes bailing out is unavoidable. Regardless of your skill level, there is no guarantee that any ultramarathon will go smoothly. But if you give it your best you have nothing to be ashamed of, even if you must pull the plug before your goal has been reached.

Riding the White Rim jeep road through Utah’s Canyonlands National Park in one day has been on my to-do list ever since moving to the southwest in 2012. In October 2020, I was able to gather four like-minded friends (four ultrarunners and one ironman) to join me. We loaded up our bikes and packs with six liters of water each, as well as plenty of snacks to last at least 12 hours.

Jeff Beaudoin had been waiting 10 years for this moment. On a cool September day in 2020, gusty winds blew high in the White Mountains of New Hampshire as three headlamps dotted the landscape and Jeff and his buddies ran along the rugged and rocky trail of the Presidential (Presi) Traverse. The 20+ mile point-to-point run brings runners and hikers along numerous peaks, and summits the highest mountain in the northeastern United States: Mt. Washington.

A longtime staple of the Arc’teryx lineup, the Atom SL (Super Light) Hoody has proven to be a versatile piece for hikers, runners and climbers alike. Designed as a dual purpose garment, this jacket bridges the gap between winter and spring seasons by acting as an effective layer under a shell or a standalone garment.

After nabbing the 1,200-mile FKT on the Ice Age Trail last summer, Coree Woltering has already completed four ultras in just the first two months of the year. Most recently, he finished the Black Canyon Ultras “double” he dubbed “the Black Canyon 100,” running the 100k race on Saturday and coming back bright and early the next morning to compete the 60k course.

Have you had hallucinations while running an ultra? Scotty sat down with Van “Pigtails” Phan, Tim White, Jason Wagner and Bev Anderson-Abbs to get their personal hallucination stories which range from humorous to very scary.

Respecting the distance does not start at the race. It forms during the months or often years of preparation. Any runner that crosses the finish line with tears of pride, relief and pure joy could tell you, as much as the race day itself, it’s the commitment to preparing for the distance that brings deep satisfaction: to be able to stand at the starting line as your best self, before even one step has been taken.

Instead of gathering in Hong Kong, Vibram Hong Kong 100 runners from across the world were offered an alternative: run it anywhere, on their own course. The rules were straightforward: run the course in Hong Kong without any official support from the race organizers, only if you were a local resident. Or, run and match the distance and elevation from wherever you live. That’s the brilliant part. 

In November 2020, Anne Lang set out to attempt the first female FKT on a trail that winds its way from the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee to the foothills of Appalachia in northern Kentucky: the beautiful and rugged 341-mile Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail.

The Finishers is a photographic record of the superhumans who have completed the toughest race on Earth, the Barkley Marathons. Ultrarunning photographer Alexis Berg and journalist Aurélien Delfosse criss-crossed the United States capturing stunning photographs and in-depth interviews with each of the 15 finishers.

Beverley Anderson-Abbs is a recent winner of the Jed Smith 50-miler in Sacramento, CA. After suffering from overtraining syndrome and briefly being unable to even walk, Bev rebounded to finish with an American and Canadian age group record.

Spring temperatures are often warm enough to ditch the jacket, but still too cold for short sleeves. That’s where long sleeve shirts come to the rescue. Having a variety of thicknesses to choose from allows you to customize the degree of insulation or ventilation you might need depending what temperature awaits outside.

There are many reasons why athletes take on ultras, whether it’s looking for a new challenge, different terrain or reading an inspirational book. One of the key components underlying all those reasons is the need for adventure, especially in a world of sedentary office jobs. Normal life can seem dull in comparison to traveling to an exotic location, making new friends and doing something genuinely hard. Yet, this year, monotony and frustration with lock-downs has been especially difficult to cope with for our mental and physical well-being.

“I’m just going to run it for fun.” I hear that phrase all the time, and I understand the sentiment behind it. It’s expressed partly to lower expectations and self-pressure, and partly to give oneself permission to participate in a race with relatively easy effort and save one’s real effort for a later race. It sounds like a harmless approach to an enjoyable training run. And sometimes, it is.

UltrAspire is known for its innovative approach in the hydration vest space, and their design philosophy emphasizes minimizing the footprint of the vest against your body while still providing adequate storage for a variety of adventures. This spring, UltrAspire updated two of its popular unisex minimalist vests, the Alpha 4.0 and Momentum 2.0.

Out of all the local trails near Flagstaff, AZ, the San Francisco Peaks and the Humphreys summit are my go-to for training, catching up with friends and solitary bliss. With four main routes up to the top, each trail has a spectacular offering of views, vegetation and wildlife, and always induces heavy breathing.