Running with Confidence - Bull Run Run Race Report

Bull Run Run is an awesome event - put on by the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club, it is a great way to kick off an ultra season.  I've only had the opportunity to run BRR twice, since it typically conflicts with Boston Marathon.  This year, the calendar aligned again!

Over the years, I've put so much pressure on myself to run well.  I develop pacing charts, I research the course map and terrain, I focus my efforts on the task at hand.  I allow my OCD nature and my internal competitiveness (with myself) to dictate race plans and approach. 

(Gary Knipling with RDs Alisa Springman and Jim Daniels, who organized an awesome event!)

2015 in Review

If there was one word to describe 2015, it would probably be crazy.  We had some highs, we had some lows, and we had numerous adventures along the way.  Beyond the racing that Brian and I did, this year also included race directing which added another element of chaos.

Brian proved that he knows how to run a great 100 mile race.  He won the Massanutten 100 miler in May, and won Grindstone 100 in October.  He also snagged a strong 2nd place finish at Vermont 100 in July, despite volunteering for me in the days leading up to the race.

(Brian, cruising to victory at Massanutten 100)

Burning in Hellgate

I've wanted to do the Hellgate 100km for a while.  I don't know why this race has fascinated me, but it has.  Maybe it's the 1 minute past midnight start, maybe it's the mid-December weather, perhaps it's that it's a Horton race measured in Horton miles, perhaps I had a morbid fascination with the stories about Hellgate eyes (frozen corneas) as the most common race injury, I don't know. 

But, I've wanted to do Helgate for years.  I've even signed up the last two years and then the universe prevented me from actually getting to the race.  In 2013, it was a blizzard/ice storm that would be hitting the area (and my entire drive home) that put into perspective how reckless and irresponsible it would be to travel to Virginia and back through those driving conditions simply for a race.  It didn't help that I was still recovering from an injury incurred during a road race the previous weekend.  Then, in 2014, my Achilles flared up just prior to the race and I was again unable to attend.  This year, nothing was going to stop me from getting to Hellgate and finishing this race!