Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow “big-boned” runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! Continue reading Hefty Ultra-Runners Unite!
It was supposed to be a 6 mile out-and-back run, but… “Hey, it’s my last day off before I go back to work, want to do a quick trail run?” I asked. Our older boys stared at each other. Their brother, the seven-year-old yells, “I’m in!”, and not wanting to be shown up by their pint-sized competitor, the teenagers change their shoes. “What about you?” … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): The Thirsty Walk Home
Here are 3 ways I’ve been training for the mountains in my 60k: 1. Plant-based Nutrition I eat a strictly plant-based diet, because Herbivores don’t get as sore as Omnivores I went to this intense gym class in my twenties. The goal of the class was to torture its victims by taking individual exercises and doing them for entire songs at a time. So if … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): 3 Ways to Mountain-Proof Those Chicken Legs
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! Dear Training Schedule, You suck. Sincerely, – Nate P.S. I hope you end up in a van down by the river. From now on, I’m going rouge. I’m play my own song, and I’m dance … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): The Break-up (I’ll Run When I Want to!)
Your Strava statistics intimidate me. It took me 4 hours this morning to run 16 miles. According to your profile, you’d be waiting an hour-and-a-half at the finish for me to shuffle in. Are there Facebook groups for runners who take too long to run trails? Maybe a group for IT Band injured runners who hobble down mountains? Can you imagine 30-40 trail runners limping … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): I’m Too Afraid to Run With You
I conjure up the strength to take off towards the mountain. It’s been a month since I’ve climbed it; I’ve let procrastination hold me closer to sea level for too long. Every excuse passes before me: But, what about my endurance bag, it won’t be here till tomorrow! And the boys, they’re doing school right now,and they’ll be pissed if I go without them! And … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): Putting My Procrastination in a Choke-Hold
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! Having five kids is hard. There, I said it. Often, people are will say things like, “Oh, bless your heart for having all those kids,” and “You’re a better man than me”. Hogwash. Having children, … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): It’s Hard Running With a Large Family
My older children nervously chatter behind me.
This is the first time any of us had ran this far.
Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): The Long Run
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! An email from Jenny Baker sat in my inbox. Subject: “The Georgia Jewel”. Here it is. I thought. They’ve cancelled my race. This fear has been in the forefront of my fragile existence for months. … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): Will They Cancel My Race?
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! I need to break this funk I’ve settled into. Forgetting that the world is slipping into a crap volcano is tough to do though. I slide between depression about current events, and enthusiasm for the … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): I’m Going to Make it Through This Year if It Kills Me
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! Last week, my grandmother died from kidney failure. We were forced to bury her at a graveside-only funeral with her immediate family. Tonight, I sit in my dark house, typing on my phone with headlamp … Continue reading My First Ultra-Marathon (Attempt): Endurance Training = Life
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! 26.2 miles. A full marathon. During my training, I’ve got to run a whole one. It’s a ridiculous distance for my relatively weak mind and legs. And the catch. This huge run is only during … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Anticipate the Journey
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! How are you guys training right now? Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): How I’m Training During the Covid Outbreak
A 30 min workout that won’t be affected by a quarantine? What!? Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! I’ve gathered these exercises to attack all the muscle groups used in ultras while strategically limiting the amount of rest required between moves. … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): 30 Minute Indoor Total Strength Workout
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! Spoiler Alert: Remember when Mr T. beat the snot out of Rocky, then Rocky trained during an entire song and was able to destroy the old fool pittyier? Yeah, it takes longer than one inspirational … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Healing IT Band Syndrome
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! The monster claws into the side of my right knee cap. Its ability to remain hidden for so many miles astounds me. I almost believed my dance with this devil had came to an end. … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Facing My Tormentor
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! I practically never buy eBooks for my Kindle e-reader because I’m so cheap. Six months ago, I broke down and purchased a regular priced book. I was using a couch to 5k program with my … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): We Should Write the Book We Want to Read
Check out my new Facebook group for ultra-runners who weigh over 200lbs, otherwise known as Clydesdales! Find fellow husky runner’s weight-specific gear recommendations, injury mitigation strategies, fueling options, and more! The old man in the red Chevy pickup warned us it would happen. His group tromped out of the woods while we threw on our gear at the North Pocket Trail in McLemore Cove outside … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Sane People Just Don’t Understand the Ultra-runner
“Any idiot can run a marathon, but it takes a special idiot to run an ultra-marathon” Dean Karnazes You should have seen the face on my waiter at the Mexican restaurant, “So, wait? You don’t want any meat?” He paused, bewildered. “That’s right.” I said. “No steak, Nate?” He burrowed harder into his investigation. “That’s right, the vegetarian plate.” He beamed, “So… no chicken?” He … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Why I Don’t Eat Meat
I’ve failed a lot. I’ve often thrashed my goals with a whip of laziness; while hanging my ego out to dry. So, can this be any different? Last night, my sprained knee and the pains from adjusting my stride told me to fail. They throbbed my leg and nipped at the cell phone in my pocket like two belligerent, drunks pleading for their phone call. … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Can this be any different?
A metal bin, fixed to a buried wooden 4×4, marked my first allowable outdoor distance. My grandmother could see the paved driveway from her kitchen as she made lunch for her daily wards (5-15 grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and other neighborly passerby’s). “You can go outside, but not past Calvin’s mailbox.” I put in many an hour hovering around the perimeter of that mailbox’s force field. … Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): Why?
35 miles? I I’ll puke now, good preparation for September. Continue reading My First Ultra Marathon (Attempt): The Georgia Jewel 35 Miler
