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Three years ago, I made a goal that started out as a simple pipe dream. During the fall of 2018, I not only started training for my first 100-mile race, but I also got my skydiving license. Around this time, I heard about a race called the Skydive Ultramarathon. It was then that I told myself I wanted to become the first person to hit their 100th skydive followed by running 100 miles.
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Things happen deep in the woods, in the middle of the night, with almost a full day of running on your legs. Rocks grow bigger. Tree trunks sway in your headlamp; they turn and stare. Alone, seeing strange things in the dark, it’s difficult to remember why you picked this journey. But this is The Hawk, and out here people have a way of picking you up and helping you keep moving ahead.
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I have come to realize that the true magic moments at Hellgate are indeed the “I have made it this far so that now I may suffer” moments. To have put yourself in a position to really test yourself. Most people don’t ever make it to the beginning of such an exam.
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Wacky weather greeted runners on race day with light rain dampening the early miles on this 50-mile loop. Made up of mostly of unpaved fire roads in central Pennsylvania’s Rothrock State Forest, the course received a few rays of sunlight after the rain subsided in the afternoon.
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The inaugural Devil’s Gulch 36-miler gave me butterflies, which was a sign that I was in the right place at the right time. As the race began, the first two miles had me unsure of what I had signed up for. However, the next 22 miles would surely change my mind.
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All Swiss Alps 100 race distances run along the longest glacier in the Swiss Alps, the 14-mile-long Aletsch glacier, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. It’s a true privilege to be there. Along the way, there are three suspension bridges, a big dam, many small villages and even cows to feast your eyes on.