I don’t think I need to drag us all through a recap the things that have happened so far in 2020. You already know. Two angles, first the Ruby Crest Trail and how this ended up being my main personal race goal this summer. Second, as a coach of around 25 athletes I’ve been able to get an inside look at how lots of different people have dealt with the adversity this year has thrown at runners across the entire globe. I want dive into these ideas, and to talk about how I hope we can be looking into the future with optimism.
Posts Tagged: Ryan Ghelfi
For the past few years I’ve gravitated towards doing, and putting more emphasis on longer races, primarily 100 milers. I thought that 100s had to be my best event. I mean I am not a sub 2:20 marathoner! I can’t compete with all these fast guys in the “short” distance ultras. I’ve slugged it out with long trails, Euro 100 milers and for the most part I’ve lost the battles. I certainly don’t intend to lose the war, but I needed to start 2018 on a good note. I decided I’d race at Way Too Cool. I’d never run this event before. With it’s long history and runnable course I figured I’d at least be able to maximize my fitness level and really see where I was at.
Summers never seem to last long enough. Not that I dislike winter, on the contrary, I LOVE winter. If I were not a runner, I would be one of those skiers chasing storms from the Northern to Southern Hemisphere searching for powder and steep lines 12 months a year. When I say summer is never long enough I mean as a runner, all the coolest, raddest, most fun trails are high up in the mountains where snow can linger long into July and August. There is a short window of time to tackle what has become a fast growing list of MUST DO mountain running objectives. A person could have worse problems obviously.
It’s a Beautiful Day in Chicago
So many guys had great races in 2015, I’m really honored to be named the 2015 UltraRunner of the Year.
The fact is ultrarunnning isn’t about times, awards, buckles, trail selfies or the newest gear. For most of us trail running is about overcoming obstacles and working towards the goals we have set for ourselves.