Seitanic Possession

Pinhoti 100–The DNF that was an epiphany. We are measuring ourselves by the wrong metrics. This was my third and likely final time trying to get a Pinhoti buckle. I was convinced that this was the year it was going to happen. I was running with my best friend, my accountability partner, the person who I’ve known since 2008, who actually got me running crazy distances. Over the last year both of…

The Pinhoti 100 Article that Ultrarunning Magazine edited to nothing…

I wrote what I considered my best race article when I covered Pinhoti 100 last November.  I submitted it to Ultrarunning Magazine, who, so they could publish another person’s Pinhoti Race report, cut mine to the bone.  What remains embarrasses me.

  Here is the full thing, for which I am quite proud, even if it never sees the light of day.

  ————-

In the early morning of Sunday November 5 a…

Ruffner Mountain Trail Running Festival

Crusher Ridge 42K Race report

Ruffner Mountain is all kinds of beauty for trail runners.

One of the crushers.

Looking down in to the quarry Crusher Ridge 42K

The overlook. You can see Birmingham in the distance

Sitting down after one of the hardest trail races in the state

My bib. Marked at checkpoints

Look like an elderly man. But I am about to jump for a finish line photo.

  Drop bags all nice and sorted. Waiting for runners. Pinhoti 100

Adam’s Gap Aid Station. Mile 55 Pinhoti 100

Too afraid to ask. Mile 55. Pinhoti 100 Adams Gap

Mile 80 Pinhoti 100. The quiet acceptance of the end of his race.

The moon hangs on

Dawn Breaks at Pinhoti 100

A course sweeper takes a selfie. film at 11

Dehydrated and out of it. Barely able to walk the .10 of a mile to the aid station where he’l be told his race is over. The 100 mile race is a cruel mistress

Early one fall morning along the Pinhoti. stunning

Product Review: Mizuno Wave Rider 20 @mizunorunning

  I’ve always had an on-again-off-again relationship with Mizuno.  I ran my first marathon in a pair of Renegade 4 (2009).

Ran my first marathon in these. The Renegade 4

Five years later I went Mizuno-crazy looking for a fresh running start after bilateral inguinal hernia repair.  I fell in love with the Precision 13.  They had a Robin’s egg blue and Canary color way that I love to this day. (I…

Product Review: Brooks Cascadia Shell

It’s an endless pursuit for the runner.  A search that never seems to end.  Like the peak of an endless climb, the search for a rain shell that repeals the rain, weighs little, and doesn’t produce sauna conditions when worn seems endless. Oh, and doesn’t cost 200 dollars.

Does such a jacket exist?  Like the mysterious yeti, can the lightweight, affordable rainshell be located by the…

Brooks Neuro Review: Not Your Father’s Brooks

I can’t remember when Brooks came out with an entirely new shoe model since before the Pure Project series.  That’s the kind of cool thing about Brooks, they don’t go chasing the newest fad just because everyone else is doing it.  Case in point: Brooks hasn’t yet joined the max cushion movement, especially in trail shoes.  Here is the Cascade, they tell you, it will get you there.  We worked long…

Lake Martin 100 Race Report #trailrunning #100miler #trailandultra #runchat

Precious

“If something is easy how much reward is there?” –David Horton, Barkleys Finisher

“You can’t really tell how much you can do until you try to do something that’s more.” –Lazarus Lake, Barkleys Founder

“I will never ever do a 100 mile race.  Nothing will change my mind.”– Gordon Harvey (July 2010)

Loads of gear and planning go into a 100

When I first began running, I was sure that I…

Reclaiming an Analog Life #running #runchat #fieldnotes

There was a period about two years ago, when iPad was booming and everyone had to have one, where I decided I’d go all in on the digital lifestyle.  I’d leave pen and paper behind and have all my notes and information at my fingertips. That worked for a while, but I soon found that my analog-trained mind needed to feel the paper and pencil. And as much as  wanted to preserve and have available…

You're No Spring Chicken #trailrunning #riodellago #westernstates

“Your destination is on the right.”

No, its not, Google Maps, there is no destination on my right.  Only a field, I think.  I can’t see farther than 15 feet outside the car because I’m atop some random California mountain at 11 o’clock on a Saturday night.  I forgot my wallet.  I’m driving the car of someone I met only an hour ago.  I’m from Alabama.  I have a slight southern accent.  There’s no…

Shoe Review: NB980 Trail Fresh Foam #trailrunning @newbalance

The New Balance 980 Trail

Yes, I know NB has released an update to this shoe (the Hierro), and any good reviewer wouldn’t publish a review of an “outdated” shoe.  But I love this trail shoe.  The love needs to be shared

When I first started running trails, and given that I was a Brooks man through and through, I did what any Brooks man would do and order a pair of Cascadia (version 7).

You never…

Shoe Review: Brooks Ghost 8 #running @brooksrunning

This is one of several reviews that I have been meaning to write since this summer.  It has been a crazy busy summer and fall for me and I’ve also published an academic book (my day job is professor of history and department chair) and reading galley proofs, securing photo rights, and taking care of final edits took priority.

As always I have a Facebook page, please “like” it if you don’t mind.

I…

18 Miles along the Pinhoti #pinhoti100 #trailrunning @buffusa

I met some trail friends for a run along the Pinhoti Trail this morning.  Some were having their final long run before the Pinhoti 100 in two weeks.  Others, like me, were in the build phases for races a little further down the calendar.

This is a section of the Pinhoti that I’d never run before.  If you are Pinhoti 100 runner, you will recognize this section as it extends from Porter’s Gap to…