No Such Thing as “Bad Weather”

“Whether the weather, block out the sunwhether the weather bring rainwhether the weather can weather this fogstupid questions are to blame…” Keller Williams, “Stupid Questions” It’s been said about the outdoors that there’s “no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing” and I completely agree. I thrive in shit weather. There’s nothing more pointless and disheartening than obsessing about the…

As Good a Time as Any to Start Blogging Again…

Let’s dust this thing off and start writing again. First: big news. I started my dream job today and I have to tell you about it. Backstory: in September of 2019 my friend Lee-Stuart Evans came to me with an opportunity to support a group of adventure racers in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Our plan was to drive five hours to the Upper Works Trailhead of the Tahawus Preserve and hike up…

The 2019 Manitou’s Revenge Race Report: I Can’t Do This Alone

You want the condensed version, fine: Manitou’s Revenge had its way with me. Again.

You want the pedantic version: okay then, buckle up kiddos. This is gonna be long…

Yeah, so the 54 miles of rocks, mud, roots, never-ending climbs, insanely technical descents, sphincter-tightening rock scrambles, creek crossings and general Catskills awesomeness has completely humbled me once again.

My legs are…

The 2019 Traprock 50k: You Get What You GIF

I’ll start this blog off with some context, here- read this: 2o17 Traprock 50k Race Report

This is basically the summary of the above link

I came into this year’s edition with a ginormous chip on my shoulder, not really at anyone or anything- just with something to prove after my shitty performance here two years ago. I also came in here having not run an official ultra since the JFK50 almost 17…

Putting 2018 to Bed

Hi reader, sorry I’ve been neglecting you. I thought I didn’t have anything to say, but it turns out I’ve got a lot to tell you. It’s been a while since I wrote one of these. A lot has happened. More than four months have passed since my last entry, and in internet time that’s like 13 years.

I did some running. I ran some races. I put on an event. I signed up for some 2019 races, too.

Let’s go…

The Summer of Speed (and a Labor Day debacle to end it!)

Running fast is terrifying. Writing about it is even more terrifying.

Especially since running is such a niche sport; even though a half a million of you have finished a marathon last year literally none of you even care about running. Hence, the USATF needs to be kept alive by a subsidy from a large shoe company. But I digress; the terrifying part of writing I mentioned above is knowing that…

Moving in a Different Direction for 2018 and Beyond

Flashback: November, 2011… 

I can distinctly remember finding out about this thing called “ultramarathon”.

I had just finished the Coastal Trail Runs’ Chabot Half Marathon, my first trail race. I had been dueling it out with this guy in an orange shirt for the last few miles on that awesome singletrack under the eucalyptus trees- every time I threw in a little surge he’d match me, staying just a…

The 2018 Boston Marathon: The Dudebro Abides

I’m gonna say something super controversial right now: I really didn’t mind the weather at Boston this year (gasp!) The real challenge for me was all the training done in my first official New England winter. But wait, you may say, you’ve been back east for two winters now! I spent most of 2016-17 winter on a treadmill. Oof. I hid from what everyone agreed was a very mild winter.

Coming from…

The 2017 JFK 50 Race Report: Fake It ’til You Make It

Ugh, I’ve been dreading this moment- sitting down and putting all my thoughts together about the JFK 50-miler in blog form for the world to see. I kind of just want to skip it, make pretend the race never happened, just make it go away. But I know I can’t fully process this thing until I write about it, gotta put it down on paper and give it away so I can let it go.

This was supposed to be the…

The 2017 Eastern States 100 Race Report

Eastern States 100 was such an awesome experience. I had the time of my life out there, spending almost 32 hours on that course and loving every second of it. If I could use two words to define the day I’d come up with gratitude and joy. So grateful for all the people I had out there helping me and sharing in the joy of what that meant. It takes a village, y’all.

Friday afternoon

I had to save a…

2017 Manitou’s Revenge Race Report: Hot Takes!

Manitou’s Revenge is a 54 mile point-to-point ultra with 15,000 feet of gain along the Long Path of the Catskill Mountains that runs like a 100-miler, at least that’s how my legs are feeling in the aftermath…

I had the loose goal of ~16 hours, wanted to finish in daylight…

I started in wave 5 (at 5:22 am, 20 mins after the first wave) so had to amend the finishing goal to 15:38 (since 9 pm was…

The 2017 North Face Bear Mountain 50 Miler Race Report: Hashtag Edition

Trying really hard to step up my Twitter game lately, so please forgive all the hashtags. #sorrynotsorry

Somewhere around mile 35 it dawned on me, I was having a pretty great day out there. #joyofrunning

Silvermine Aid, mile 8.9. photo by Brian Vanderheiden #steeprockendurance

Sure, the weather was absolutely foul but I kept repeating an old mantra (don’t know who coined it), but it goes…

Traprock 50k: Jimmy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Synopsis: the author tries to come to terms with a recent string of injuries.

I have decided to make myself a checklist in order to determine my readiness for my next race, it’s going to look something like this:

Are you hurt? If yes, you should not start this race. If no, proceed to #3

You answered “yes” to #1, so on a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain are you in? Do you have a decent range of…

The 2016 Boston Marathon Race Report

Ambivalence. Defined as the “uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by an inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things.”

That word (or the idea) has been plaguing me since getting accepted to Boston in September of 2015. At first I wasn’t going to go.

What do you mean you’re not going to run the most iconic, most recognizable…

The 2017 Two Rivers Marathon Race Report

For those keeping score that’s two bad races in a row to start the year; after ending 2016 on such a high note (another BQ and a 50-mile PR) I’m left wondering WTF?

Not really, I know exactly what went wrong. I’ve had the last 3 days to settle down, get over myself and really sit with the discomfort of knowing that my training has been not great. Taking an extended off-season complete with the…