Recently I participated in a trail half-marathon on the local mountain bike trails I train on most days after work.  Having never won any single person event in my life (I came in 2nd in a musical chairs fiasco that still haunts me to this day), I realized that this race was a great opportunity.  The trails were covered in snow and slush which definitely made the race much more challenging as going uphill in slush SUCKED, but the conditions probably worked in my favor (I’m not very fast so I was able to run closer to my regular pace).  Continue reading

I ran my first 50k in Charlotte, NC in October. The WC-50 consisted of either a 50k or 50 mile run through the woods. Having never ran any distance over a marathon, I chose to participate in the 50k which required that the racers run three laps around an 11 mile single track mountain bike course.

I signed up for the race months previous and had been training really hard.  My goal was simple: finish the race.  Little did I realize all of the wisdom I would gain during those 6 and a half hours.  If you have never ran a race before, I don’t care if it’s an ultra, a half marathon, a 5k, an obstacle race, or a fun run, my advice to you is to sign up.  Get outside and get running.  The world always looks a little brighter afterwards and you always learn some valuable lessons. Continue reading