State number 18 for the third round, a typical towpath/rail trail marathon along the Lehigh River and canal system from Allentown to Easton, Pennsylvania. Some slight hills, just to move you from one part of the towpath trail to another, on a cool, endlessly drizzling day. Met new friend, Kevin Abraszek by way of Karen…
Category: Running
Reikjavík Marathon 2018
Big, long thing (marathon or longer) 168, country 11, Iceland, at the Reykjavík Marathon done in 4:18, a decent performance for me. Small rolling hills around mostly coastal Reykjavík on roads and bike paths. Well supported by both the race officials and the local community. A beautiful day in a place that can be very…
Sweat, Swat, and Swear 25k+ 2018
I was supposed to do a 50K today at the inaugural Sweat, Swat, and Swear 50k. I was supposed to pack sunscreen and not throat spray. I think I was supposed to turn right and then left. Anyway, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Instead I ran a nice, pleasant 10K trail, then a…
San Francisco “Ultra” 2018
The San Francisco “Ultra” completed in San Francisco consisting of the Nohtaram Ocsicnarf Nas (the San Francisco marathon in reverse) followed by the regular old marathon for a total of 52.4 miles. About the air quotes, this isn’t so much an ultra as two distinct marathons with common start times for each race. So that…
8 Hours of Hell-July 2018
I love that ultras could be confused with a family barbecue sometimes. Marathon or longer number 164 was the July installment of the 8 Hours of Hell series in Oscar Scherer Park just outside Sarasota. The course is a 3.25 mile loop consisting of 1 mile of beautiful Florida trail run followed by a mile…
Zermatt Ultra 2018
10th country and 163rd big long thing down at the Zermatt Marathon in the Helvetic Confederation (aka Switzerland). Barely an ultra it was 45.5 km so I thought “How hard can it be?” Well, it was kind of like one of those Revel races but instead of starting at the summit and falling down it…
Athena War Trail 6-Hour
Today was supposed to be big long thing number 163, a 6 hour race near Tampa. Unfortunately not enough participants for it to “count,” coupled with the fact I’ve been in a major funk lately (lots of aborted runs for me lately and people avoidance. The good news is that my therapist doesn’t think it’s…
Maratona do Rio 2018
Marathon country number 9, Brazil, at the Maratona do Rio in Rio de Janeiro. A muggy day on a flat coastal course. Today was a tough day for me for the strangest of reasons: a sore neck and shoulders. By mile 7 it hurt just to hold my head up. Not sure what that’s about…
Keys 100 2018
Confucius say, “If at first you don’t succeed, congratulations, you found something hard.” Big Long Thing #161, the Keys 100, a 100 miler from Key Largo to Key West. Flat, unusually cool this year (70s as opposed to 90s), with off and on rain. I failed in my first 100 attempt at Rocky Raccoon. I…