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76 Miles and 28.5 Hours

This was my contribution to the Bigfoot 120. It also represents possibly the most fun I've had yet at an ultra race despite the epic weather. Despite a lot of things. I'm super proud of my 78 miles and 28 plus hours of running as well as my first ever all night running achievement. These and flashes of apocalyptic scenery from what little was illuminated by sun and LED are what I'll take with me into the dark recesses of my memory. But for all the fun I had this race review is full of rant, controversy, bliss, and a side of my very first hallucination. Yey! Pics From the Weekend. First the rant. My God! what have we allowed to be done to our public lands? From the google satellite view there appears to be, all around the first 40 miles of Bigfoot, the squared off clear-cuts of Washington State s 'sustainable' logging operations. Jesus. No, really, Jesus help us. I used to be not totally against logging but it's just so spiritually ugly I just can

Poop-Moss and a 50% Fugly White River 50

...On the Path to Bigfoot 120. If the White River 50 were ever in need of a refresh, the time would be now. White River was my first ultra, and the race that for me inspired many more ultras. It was here I was introduced to the runners high, where a race director named Scott showed me how runner comradery could result in a type of youthful optimism that infused every racer and volunteer at White River with a 24 hour natural-high. It was as if this well-established ultra-community seemed to be hopped up on some uppers which may or may not have been snuck into the pasta feed the night before. Above all, White River showed me running was fun, no matter how much personal torture I might be going through. And ever since I’ve told everyone who’ll listen that it’s the people and the smiles that make the race more than anything else. Fast forward to July 25th, 2015, give yourself the cloudiest wettest weekend in Seattle so far this year, half a course v-shaped with the rutted after-tho

Yakima Skyline Rim 50k Race Review

It was beautiful. It was hot. It was hard. Enough said? Right at the start it was sunny. As a portent of things to come James Varner of Rainshadow Racing had schooled us on carrying a lot of water and that there would be no shade for nearly the entire course. Then on a count of ten he sent us packing with the promise of IPA and wood-fire pizza for our reward. And sure enough there was no more than 5-10 minutes of shade right there in the bottom of Umtanum Canyon near the start of the race. I was hot by minute 15. I lost my first liter in sweat by minute 20. Two miles in we were greeted with this: The very first views off the ridge-line were that of the Yakima Canyon and the seemingly not-so-distant Stewart Range. Ten minutes down the ridge we were greeted with sweeping views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, nearby Selah, Yakima, Manastash Ridge and I-82, and our very own Umtanum Ridge and Canyon stretching into the heart of the nearby Cascades. Yeah, it was a good day to

The Bigfoot 120 - Or Why a Spiritual Evolution Will Be Necessary To Finish My First 100+ Race

Candice Burt has not so quietly become the most seductively insane race evangelists in the country. At least as far as 100s go she threw out bait I just couldn't resist. The Bigfoot 120. It's like running after a lithe trail-running fairy princess into a dewy mountain meadow of daisies. I love my hometown Cascade mountain range and for a couple years now have dreamed of completing my first 100 here in my beloved home state or somewhere close by. But races such as the Cascade Crest 100 have lotteries, Badger suffers from notoriously bad weather and a slew of bad reviews, Mountain Lakes 100 down in Oregon seems kinda "meh" (I really don't want to see the same trail twice) and a bunch of others outside the state are just out of my price range. Pine to Palm has tempted me in the past but its fair share of logging roads don't sound appealing to me anymore. Since my DNF in Leadville I've been looking for something more local and perhaps more reason