Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Honey Stinger - My First Sponsor!

I have really exciting news!! This morning I got an email confirming my first sponsorship! Honey Stinger has been kind enough to show their support of me and my journey to the 7 Dirty Thirties. 

Friday, November 28, 2014

Up the Ante - Finding My Next Challenge


“Endurance sports are about finding a challenge and conquering it. When the challenge has been conquered, you must raise the bar or get bored.”

            Until recently, I was training for a marathon in February. I know, full well, the challenge involved with running a marathon and I will never diminish or discount it. However, I did not feel the excitement or energy that I usually experience when I start to train for my next goal. I did not feel challenged or pushed with the concept of training for a road marathon. I hadn’t fully realized this until I attended an event recently, called the TrailRunning Film Festival, which showcases short films about trail running, trail runners, and trail running races. During this event, I came to the realization that I needed a bigger challenge and that the marathon I was planning on doing was not enough.

Friday, October 31, 2014

How Do You Start? How Bad Do You Want It?

            There are a lot of people out there that want to “get into shape” and that want to “start working out.” I often get asked, “How do I start?” or they tell me, “I’ve been wanting to start.” So I decided to answer this question as best as I can and hopefully someone will read this and will finally take the step.

Monday, October 27, 2014

From 5Ks to Ultras, You’re All Runners

What defines a “runner”? What makes someone identify him or herself as a “runner”? I am a firm believer that whether you exclusively run 5Ks or whether you are an ultra-running beast logging over 100 miles a week, you are a runner. On more than one occasion, I have found myself in a conversation where the other person says something like, “I only run 5Ks, I’m not a real runner.” I can’t help but smile and shake my head when they say this because they are saying, “I only RUN 5Ks, so I’m not a real RUNNER.”

Monday, October 20, 2014

Racing in Adverse Conditions

This past weekend, the Soma Triathlon hit the streets of Tempe, Arizona. This race has been popular in the ever-growing triathlon community in Arizona for many years and this year it included the half-Iron distance, and an Olympic-esque distance called the Quarterman. The biggest challenge of the day was the Arizona heat, blazing down on the athletes during the final stage of the race: the run. Year after year, people have a hard time getting through the run, despite it being an easy, flat course. People cramp, hit the wall, feel sluggish, and generally finish saying, “the bike felt good, but that run was hard.” Of course, when the conditions change so drastically from the beginning of the race to the end, it is hard to gauge effort effectively and pace yourself in a way that allows you to feel good, despite a harsh environment. Or is it?

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Mount Taylor 50K - Reflections



            September 27th, 2014, Katlyn, my running partner and love of my life, and I woke up as we had done countless times before, got dressed as if by autopilot, and began preparing ourselves for the challenge of the day. The weather was much colder than we were used to from the last 4 months of training in the Arizona summer desert. There was a chance it would rain, but the sky was pretty clear that morning so it was impossible to tell. Another challenge we were expecting was the elevation of this particular race. We had trained at 1400-2500 feet above sea-level in Phoenix, Arizona and ran a couple of times at Flagstaff’s 6000-ish feet, but the 31 miles ahead of us today were all above 9000 feet with a peak of 11,300 feet. The air would be thinner than we had ever experienced, the terrain would be unknown, and the weather was uncertain. This left for very little that was under our control, but these conditions weren’t new or uncharted for us. This was an ultra, not a catered road race, and these challenges were part of the game. Overall, we were ready.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Thoughts From A Difficult Weekend

One of the things I enjoy most is doing what I can to inspire and motivate people to be healthy and fit. It is an amazing sense of gratification when I am able to play even a small part in helping someone get more out of life. Something that needs to be said, however, is that people who enjoy motivating and inspiring others sometimes need to be motivated or inspired as well. It is very difficult to be super-motivated 100% of the time and this past weekend was a good example of that.

This dip in motivation was due to a variety of things: constant training over the past few years, long weekends that led to low energy levels throughout the weeks, and a general lack of sufficient sleep were just a few factors that weighed heavy on my "motivato-meter". These things are fairly common in ultra-distance event training, however, and it's how we react to these challenges that determine our readiness for these events. This past weekend inspired some thoughts that I'd like to share about these challenges and how they might apply to life, in general. (Disclaimer: you don't have to be an ultra-distance athlete to get something out of this, so read on.)


Monday, August 25, 2014

The Themed Run Craze & What It Has Created

Running is a passion for me. It's something I grew up doing and it's something I'm fairly serious about; serious in the sense that I do it regularly and enjoy it a lot, not that I take it so serious that I don't have fun with it. When I participate in a running event, it's typically timed, there are awards (although I rarely win any), and they are long enough that they require a certain training commitment from all the participants. This is how the running industry was for a long time. 

Rubbish and Sensibility in Wellness

It seems like once a week, every week, there's a new article about nutrition or about exercise. Some "expert" wants to let people know that he or she has the answer to every problem they have ever encountered when it comes to health, wellness and, more specifically, fitness. This isn't exclusive to any particular level of fitness or wellness, however. You can go online and find an article that will defend or condemn anything. 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Reasons Why Phoenix Is A Great Place To Live

I recently saw an article going around the inter-webs that was titled "Reasons Why Phoenix Is The Worst Place Ever" and it made me very angry. The author seemed like a very bitter, whiney person who, after saying he was a resident, continued to list some very inaccurate, bitter reasons why he disliked Phoenix. So I decided to turn the tables, and list some reasons why I love living here. I'll leave it to whoever reads this article to decide if they'd rather agree with the negativity of the other guy, or appreciate the great things we have in this beautiful place.