When I saw the pictures and videos of the Never Summer 100K race, I knew I had to run there. Every year I like to run a destination race somewhere beautiful. Never Summer in remote mountains of Northern Colorado captivated me with its stunning beauty, and became my epic ultra for 2018.

When the race weekend kicks off with pizza and bluegrass, you know you’ve come to the right place.

Yeti Snakebite is put on by Jason Green, a punk-rock-loving skateboarder who decided to start his own trail army, the Yeti Trail Runners. Race information is sparse, curse words are prolific and if Fireball and vodka-soaked pickles at aid stations offend your senses, his races are not for you.

This was by far the toughest 100-miler I’ve ever been in, but I was more determined than ever to finish. I’m grateful to my friends, fellow runners, and volunteers that got me there.

Running 50 miles will change your life and running 100 miles will rewire your brain. But what happens when you run twice as far as the 100-mile distance? Running 200 miles will not only reshape your mind…it will bend your reality.

This was the first time that a trail race held in New Hampshire’s White Mountains went over summits of the 4,000-foot peaks.

The inaugural UrbanICT 50K and 50-mile race was held in Wichita, Kansas under the full moon. This unique race had a 9 p.m. Friday start time.

Sandwiched in between 4th of July festivities, the Afton Trail Run 25k/50k draws a celebratory crowd, and has a loose, joyful, rock festival vibe that suits the season.

I had a calm confidence I could traverse the entire Burning River 100. While I knew my training had not been optimal, I felt showing up healthy and gutting it out would provide the opportunity for success. I could walk if I ran out of gas… How dangerous a thought this was.

“Relentless” is a word that gets tossed around a lot by folks who have run Black Hills, and the Centennial trail certainly fits the description. Is the Centennial more relentless than you?

It’s the middle of the night in Coney Island and with over 80 miles on our legs, Rob and I are feeling it.

We are waiting at the finish line for our final runner. It is our special pleasure to present Edna Vazquez Lung with her finisher buckle, the last Kettle Moraine 100 award we will be giving out, due to our “retirement.”

On a toasty morning, I toed the line for my first crack at the Titletown Ultra Series 15.5-hour event on June 30. There are three time lengths to choose from: six hours, eight hours, and the solstice run challenge where you run 15.5 hours from sun up to sun down.

Through a variety of different sights and sounds, I was reminded time and again of places and races I have run. It all felt… familiar.

2018 – the year I turned 40 and the year I tackled my first 50 mile race – the Ice Age Trail 50!

The Burning River 50 Mile was my second “race-cation.” My husband, Jon, and I combined it with four days of short, easy hiking at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio before the ultra on July 28.

After a very rainy week, runners saw clouds lifting and blue skies for the 6th edition of the HARRC’s Conococheague 50K Trail Run. The event is held on rock-covered single track and forest service roads in the wilds of western Perry County, Pennsylvania, in the Tuscarora State Forest. The course has five major climbs totaling more than 6,100 feet of ascent.

Meander along babbling brooks, by waterfalls, through rhododendron tunnels and into the highest points in Virginia where ponies roam.

On May 5, 2018 Rockhopper Races launched its first race in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Although White Lake Ultras was not held on the rugged terrain that the White Mountains are known for, it did provide a variety of trails that went around White Lake. There were beautiful mountain views from parts of the 2.9-mile race course as well as snowmobile trails and technical single track.

When I first turned to ultras in 2017, I needed the solitude of the trails and long hours to work through some demons. Within that, I discovered an amazing community. This year, I secretly hoped for a podium place and set my sights on Earth Day 50K.

With almost perfect weather, we had a record number of participants (231), a record number doing 100 or more miles (nine), a record number doing 50 or more miles (154), and set six new state age group records.

In 1999, Suzi Cope created the Grasslands Trail Run not long after moving to north Texas from California. As a pioneer in women’s ultrarunning – she was the first woman to complete the Grand Slam – it was important to build a stronger trail running community in her new home state.

You don’t often see the words “Iowa” and “ultrarunning” in the same sentence. The Hawkeye State has no mountains and little gnarly single track to attract hardcore masochists. But, there are a few ultras scattered around the state, and they have their charms. The Hawkeye 50K is one example.

The Napa Valley 50K takes runners from downtown Calistoga, California to the top of Mount St. Helena, running along the Palisades Trail. Runners consistently praise the course for its remoteness, technical challenge, almost 8k of vertical, and stunning views of the Napa Valley.

Every May the Born to Run Ultra Marathons draw over 1,000 people from a world-wide pool of misfit athletes, creating a legendary running journey through the creative mind of shotgun-toting Race Director Luis Escobar. 

The course, as the race name indicates, goes along the Chubb Trail, a seven-ish mile route that offers some technical rocky/rooty Midwest single track and a nice flat section along the Meramec River.

Somewhere around mile 45 two more runners caught up to me. They weren’t the first to catch me in this section. A few miles earlier I had gotten it into my head that my legs just couldn’t run anymore. I was slowed to a walk, or was “Miwalking”.

Race founders Stacy and Phil Sheridan greeted each runner with a smile and a hug.

I wanted an Ice Age belt buckle. At 72-years-young, now wouldn’t be too soon. I expected to be on the edge, chasing the cutoff most of the day… if most things went right.

I didn’t intend to run my first ultra in a blizzard.