New Year, New Me
Just kidding. I am going to keep things rolling and maybe add some strength training in this year. I was going to write about my goals for 2025 here, but those are pretty simple: finish the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run in April and do something in the Fall that helps me on my way to finishing Hellbender in May of 2026. Pretty easy, I guess, especially considering that my wife and I are expecting our third child in May.
Instead, I am going to wrap up 2024 with the Three R’s.
Running
2024 was my biggest year ever running-wise. I went 50k or further eight times as part of a race or training run. According to Strava, I walked or ran 1750 miles (and swam 1.1 miles) and climbed 210,000 feet this year.
My big take away from the year can be summed up in one word: humility. Every single time I let my ego runaway prior to a race, I was humbled. Every time I humbled myself prior to the race, I came out with a better performance than expected. Part of that humility was learning to ask for help. With that, came some great new friendships.
Hopefully, I will stay humble in 2025 and continue to improve my running. I plan to recap most of these races in the coming months and will keep you updated as I continue training for Umstead.
I attempted the following races 2024 (ultra distance or time only):
Holly Springs Race Against the Sun – 24 Hour: 32 miles in 12 hours, 23 minutes
Firefly Trail Run – 12 Hour: 31 miles in 10 hours, 59 minutes
Ridge to Rails - 50K: 9 hours, 43 minutes
Philmont Trail Run – 50 Mile: DNF at 17 miles
Pilot Mountain to Hanging Rock – 50 Mile: DNF at 34 miles
Uwharrie 100 – 100K: 21 hours, 53 minutes
Old Fort Endurance Festival – 24 Hour: 32 miles in 11 hours, 5 minutes
Also established an FKT on the Birkhead Mountain Trail (which has since been taken by some asshole that recorded it as a hike).
Reading
I did not do a great job of keeping track of what I read this year, something I hope to improve upon in 2025. This has also been my least productive year in the last ten years with regards to reading. I was never able to get any momentum going and had a lot of did-not-finishes.
I picked up Brendan Leonard’s writing this year, starting with Ultra-Something, which he released in 2024. I had previously read his book, I Hate Running and You Can Too based on a recommendation from my friend, Barry.
While reading Ultra-Something, I made the connection to a YouTube video I have watched a dozen times, “How to Run 100 Miles,” that was also created by Leonard. From there, I picked up several of his books. Sixty Meters to Anywhere was my favorite read this year. The book tells the story of Leonard’s struggle with alcohol as a young man, treatment, and moving on with his life. One quote from the book really stuck with me.
“If I hadn't quit drinking, yeah, maybe I'd be dead or in jail. But probably I'd just be missing out on an extraordinary life. And that would be a tragedy.”
Have Fun Out There or Not, a collection of his running essays, included the piece “Happiness is Your Backyard Trail.” This and others can be found on his website, semi-rad.com.
“For every Instagram-worthy, magazine-cover-headline-inspiring, do-this-before-you-die trail, there are thousands of miles of unsung (or less-sung) trails like those. When people ask, “What’s your favorite trail?” we tell them some trail we’ve been on once or twice in our lives, instead of the one we could walk blindfolded. And we keep going back to our backyard trails not because of one or two unforgettable experiences, but because of dozens of good experiences.”
This quote really hit me hard this year. I spend a lot of time dreaming about being in the mountains, far away from home. Really, I need to be happy to have the access I do have to train on trails nearly everyday and gain the fitness I need to go run those “Instagram-worthy” trails occasionally.
Leonard’s writing inspired me to start this blog, so send him any hate mail.
Reproducing
2024 was a good reproducing year for me. One for one. I did not intend to impregnate my wife less than a year after our second child was born, but nevertheless, I persisted. We are still trying to figure out how it happened. It is likely punishment for wondering aloud two days before we found out we were expecting, “how do high school kids get pregnant? They must screw like rabbits.”
It should not have been a surprise. I guess you would be surprised too if you were in the kitchen with all the ingredients to bake a cake laid out on the counter. Then suddenly, you mix all of those ingredients together and pour them into a cake pan and then put the cake pan in the oven and 40 minutes later you are surprised to learn that you have baked a cake.
Despite everyone being in absolute shock that two adults could raise more than two children, we are ecstatic to welcome our third child to the world in 2025. I will have to reevaluate how my running looks once we have another mouth to feed, but hopefully it just means I get to spend more running with my kids (and wife).
