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…
Tag: blts
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…
8 Hours of Hell – May 2018
Big long thing #160 and Keys 100 dress rehearsal/taper madness relief 50k today at the 8 Hours of Hell Trail Race in Alva, Florida. Up and down BMX trails in the midday heat (although luckily coolish today) amidst old Florida charm of rooty live oaks and one for real snake (harmless corn snake). It was…
Flying Pig Marathon 2018
First, congratulations to Halbert Walston on his 200th marathon. After years of conflicts I finally got the chance to try the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. The much ballyhooed “hills” were little to write home about. It is a moderately hilly marathon (less than Mad, Atlanta, San Francisco, but more than Pittsburgh and New York)…
Glass City Marathon 2018
Please forgive while I brag on my childhood neighbor’s first marathon today at the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio. Joseph R. Elder somehow found time to train while working a more than full time job and raising two kids. Apparently he fell in with the wrong crowd on a Z Adventures cruise and caught…
Bataan Memorial Death March
Finished today at the Bataan Memorial Death March civilian heavy division (carrying a 35lb ruck) in just under 7 hours. Making it my second slowest marathon finish. I really don’t have a benchmark for this sort of thing. So, it is neither good, nor bad. It’s just a thing. On a related note, if you…
2018 Mesa-PHX Marathon [DNF]
Happy 50th marathon to Hollie Ashby at the Mesa-PHX marathon. Great seeing you, JM Gabriel, and Andy Bowden. Today was not my day. Between injury, the worst cold of my life, and no real sleep this should have been a Did Not Start but I’m a stubborn idiot who needed 16 miles to figure that…
Fort Lauderdale A1a Marathon 2018
Marathon #156, took a while to get to this one after Houston and I wish I could say the wait was worth it. My worst hometown throw down to my knowledge, sub 5, barely, on a warm always flat, flat, flat, flat course. Anyway, great to see friends, acquaintances, that creepy chick from Australia, and…