2021 Hellgate 100km++
The Hellgate 100km. The race where David Horton talks 140 people at the end of a long year of racing into lacing their shoes back up and setting off into the Blue Ridge mountains at 12:01am in the middle of December.
I must admit though, there is something about this race. It took me 11 years after my first ultra to run it for the first time and another 3 to come back. But it is growing on me, and I have a feeling I’ll be back again next year if Horton lets me. Maybe it is the small community and the Cheers vibe where everybody knows your name. Maybe it is the love that Horton and the volunteers put into this race. Maybe I’ve lost too many brain cells from running so many ultras. Whatever it is, Hellgate truly is one of a kind.
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UTMB 2021 Race Report
107.6 miles
33,500 +- vertical feet
Arriving in Chamonix felt like a return to the glory days. I was back in trail running paradise for the Superbowl of mountain ultras and my 3rd UTMB.
I came to the start line fit, strong, and prepared after enlisting the help of Coach Damian Hall (5th place at the 2018 UTMB). Jen couldn’t make it to crew this year, so Keith Knipling – the man, the myth, the legend – came all the way out to help.
Race day arrived with clear skies and cool weather. It would be cold and windy up at high altitude, but otherwise we had great conditions for the lap around Mont Blanc. If all went well, I hoped to best my time of 28:23 in 2019, but that was a perfect race and would be tough to top. Most of all I wanted to enjoy the ride, soak in the experience, and finish this epic adventure.
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Val d'Aran 105km Race Report
65 miles
+-21,800 feet
I decided last fall to run the Val d’Aran 105km in the Pyrenees to get back to big European mountains after a 2-year hiatus, explore a new area, and get in a tune up before UTMB. The Val d’Aran region is a special place. It is a UNESCO world heritage site with wild, epic terrain and plenty of big mountains. I had a great discussion about it with an Aussie restaurant owner who has traveled extensively but called it home for the last 20 years. A good way to sum it up is that Val d’Aran is less “polished” than Chamonix but is also less discovered with lots of heart and soul.
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Big 2020 Plans!
After a 5 week break from running at the end of last year, I started laying down plans for 2020 races. It is going to be a big year!
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UTMB Race Report
107.6 miles
33,500 +- vertical feet
I had an amazing experience at UTMB in 2017. I surpassed my expectations, finishing in 30 hours 17 minutes and 138th place. I figured the only place to go was down, so the wise choice would have been to not return. Well, I’m not very wise. While watching from the sidelines in 2018, I knew I had to come back. It wasn’t about trying to go faster, though I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to always improve. It is just a special, unique, magical race that gets in your blood. I had to make the run around the mountain again.
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Tour de Fiz 64km Race Report
40 miles
+-16,700 feet
10h5min
GPX Track
During our family trip to Chamonix, I signed up for the Tour de Fiz race as part of the build up to UTMB. It’s 40 miles with almost 17,000 feet of vertical, which is no joke even for races in the Alps. It is a bit longer with 3,500 more feet of vertical than the Trail Verbier race I did two years ago before UTMB, so it would also be a good test of fitness. I ran 17 minute miles at Trail Verbier, so I was shooting for sub 12 hours and 17 minute miles or so.
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Prealps Trail du Mouret Race Report
28 miles
+-9,000 feet
5h45min
GPX Track
I managed to sneak in a stopover in Switzerland on a work trip to India. I landed in Geneva on Saturday and swung through Chamonix. Ahhh, how I love Chamonix. I drove up to Lac Emosson and spent some time exploring the area, as we hadn’t been there in our prior visits. Definitely need to go back there with the family!
I found a 28 mile race on Sunday in a part of Switzerland I hadn’t been to before. The plan was to run it on Sunday, swing through Grindelwald on the way to Zurich, and then fly Sunday night over India. Totally reasonable, right?!
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Gran Trail Courmayeur Race Report
66 miles
+-23,000 feet
19h2min
GPX track (missing last 4.5 miles downhill)
Without UTMB looming, I was able to pick a big, challenging, scenic race while on the family summer trip to the Alps. This time around it was the Gran Trail Courmayeur 105km. With over 23,000 feet of vertical it looked plenty tough! I was also very excited for the course. I’d get to see some of the scenic sections of UTMB that I did at nighttime, explore some new areas, and see a bit of the course for my new unicorn race, the Tor des Geants.
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