“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.
It was a perfect day for a race in the shadow of WWII heroes. Hosted by the Military Museum of Northern Florida, the race is held on a former WWII airbase and loops through magnificent cypress swamps around the perimeter of the old base. Remains of crashed aircraft and old bunkers are still visible.
A 90-minute drive from Los Angeles, Leona Divide is run mostly on the scenic Pacific Crest Trail among undulating green mountains and views of distant Lake Hughes.
This is the last text from the Sahara, my friends, after three days of cruel intensity. Magdalena Boulet won the race easy. She still looks amazing. Most of us survived it, struggling.
The sandstorm happened last night at midnight and was awful. But it also gave birth to the best day we’ve had so far. The Sahara… go figure.
Gaël Couturier, five-time Marathon Des Sables finisher, reports while running the 2018 Marathon Des Sables in the Sahara desert in Morocco.
By Laurie Staton Snowflakes swirled and wind whipped around us at the Friday noon start of the 2018 Antelope Island…
The sky was dark and the ground was dry when we arrived at the shore of Lake Superior for the ninth annual Wild Duluth 100K on October 21, 2017. There were 74 of us with our crews, gathered at Bayfront Park, only half of whom would finish.
This year’s race was small and intimate. Due to a variety of reasons (not the least being flu or car problems) 12 runners took the start at the Ghost Town 50K, held outside of Hillsboro, New Mexico.
In the heart of winter, the Arrowhead 135, from International Falls to Tower, Minnesota offers many choices to participants: bike, ski, or foot division; supported or unsupported.
