Tag: ultra running

Running Through Loss

Before my dad’s decline, I was planning to run the Keys 100 for my tenth time and training for my sixth go at Badwater 135 this July. Excitement, optimism, and commitment fueled my runs. Then, my dad fell and was taken away in an ambulance, and I rushed from the Keys 100 pre-race gathering with my crew, and drove four…

Keeping Going

“Quitting is not an option.” – Marshall Ulrich I flew to Florida to see my dad over Memorial Day weekend. It was a last minute decision, but with May 22nd marking the 9th anniversary of my mom’s passing, it was almost as if I could hear her say to me that Friday in her just do it spirit, “Go see…

RESET: Long Haul 100

After getting injured during running Daytona 100 in December 2019, I was clear: I needed to heal up and recover well, as I had big plans for 2020, and at this point in my life, feeling good and enjoying running is critical to me. I immersed myself in cross training, cut way back on the running, and was studious with…

Risk and Reward: Tahoe 200

Pre-Race 24-hours before the start of Tahoe 200, a 205.5-mile endurance run that circumnavigates the magnificent and dazzlingly blue Lake Tahoe, by way of the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), with occasional detours through aspen meadows, rock gardens, canopied forests, and ridge lines, I was petrified. It wasn’t the course and its substantial climbs and descents that frightened me by that…

Ultra-Humanity

I heard a new broadcaster remark this week that it’s important right now that we “do not lose faith in humanity.” It was in reference to the 11 people that were gunned down at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. It brought me back to classrooms on college campuses, and how after our lock-down drills I would worry about the…

The Desert

More than any other adventure in my life, running Badwater 135 has taught me about the long and winding road, the struggles involved in our journeys, the joys, the importance of teamwork and trust, and what it means to propel yourself forward in adverse situations. Badwater 135 has educated me about aspirations, preparation, and how to rebound when I spiral…

Finance & Fitness: The Key to a Wholehearted Life

Many of us possess our own ideas on what it takes to achieve a wholehearted life. The term wholehearted is defined as showing complete sincerity and commitment, and its synonyms consist of adjectives such as positive, devoted, dedicated, and enthusiastic. In a time when society is often rushed, in debt, overweight, and disillusioned, who doesn’t want to attain a wholehearted…