Published:
After 3 days and a stressful snowy drive home from Conesus, I am happy to say that my lab and I successfully sampled 11 finger lakes and 16 tributaries! It was a ton of work, but we’re stoked to see what the data tells us.
Published:
After 3 days and a stressful snowy drive home from Conesus, I am happy to say that my lab and I successfully sampled 11 finger lakes and 16 tributaries! It was a ton of work, but we’re stoked to see what the data tells us.
Published:
After 3 days and a stressful snowy drive home from Conesus, I am happy to say that my lab and I successfully sampled 11 finger lakes and 16 tributaries! It was a ton of work, but we’re stoked to see what the data tells us.
Published:
Ultra running is hard. What I love about this sport that simultaneously scares me too is that there is no way to run away from the pain of it. Like a law set in stone, discomfort in ultra running is a given that will find you no matter what you do, and that’s okay. It is this discomfort that makes each race, each distance, a puzzle to be solved. Some days that puzzle may be straightforward. Other times, that puzzle will bury you. My first step into the world of 100 milers presented me with a puzzle that deeply humbled me, hurt me, and gratified me. I missed both my major goals for this race, totally messed up my nutrition, and went out way too hot on legs that clearly were not up to reaching my “A” goal. Yet, for a day that I think could be marred by unaccomplished goals, it instead was defined by compassion and drive from a village of support.
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It’s funny how you can have so many thoughts about a race but once you go to write them down, you have no clue what to say. Virgil Crest Ultras was a race I signed up for kind of last minute (about 2 to maybe 3 weeks out of race day), but had been on my radar for about 2 months. I was looking for a race to use in my build up for Rio Del Lago in November to test my overall fitness and see if I was still on track for my goals. Virgil Crest 50 fit this aim for a few reasons. One, it’s about 6 weeks out from Rio Del Lago. I felt that this gave me a good shot to push myself with ample time to recover should I blow up at the race and need more time to entirely recoup. Two, I haven’t ‘raced’ an ultra marathon or even a marathon since I started grad school. Putting myself back into a position to race before Rio felt important to shake out the cobwebs and to (hopefully) gain some confidence. Third, and somewhat related to two, I often times feel like I don’t even know what I’m doing when it comes to setting my goals and shooting for them when it comes to running. Maybe I just lack confidence, but I have no clue how hard it is to run 100 miles in 18 hours. To be honest, that goal for Rio felt fast, ambitious, but attainable (a ‘goal’ if you will lol). I don’t know if it is going to be a stretch with my fitness to run that time or if that is well within my wheelhouse. My goals for both Rio and Virgil revolve around time, but those times historically have lead to podium finishes at both of these events. That intimidates me. I don’t think of myself as a very fast runner. A quick runner, yes, but out of my element when competing with those going for podiums and wins. It is a different mentality to compete against other runners than it is to solely compete against yourself.