Crooked Road 24 Hour Ultra 2016

A lot has been going on lately! Both of us have been super busy with the end of the semester, finals, and school coming to a close before Christmas break! But before Thanksgiving, we were supposed to tackle the Crooked Road 24 Hour Ultra on November 19! I say supposed to because one of us (ahem... ME) got pneumonia and couldn't participate. The other one got to go, and so we are finally getting around to doing the blog post... 3 weeks later. Whoops! Anyway, here we go!

Mr. Marathon had to leave me at home for this event, and I was just devastated. I was at home, coughing and being miserable. I was diagnosed with a sinus infection, bronchitis, and pneumonia on the Friday, the day before the event. We had come up with a game plan, and by game plan I mean I would stay at home eating soup and being sad and he got to go run in the event. He drove up to Rocky Mount which is about 30 minutes from where we are, and he got there ready for the 8:00 AM start on Saturday morning. The weather wasn't bad (yet) and they were off!

So as the race started, there were a few people who started at a nice pace. Mr. Marathon was not tracking his mileage with his GPS watch, but rather he was just keeping up with the time. He was just keeping pace with the guys at the front of the pack. He said it felt fast, but why not?? After a few laps (each lap was 1.2 miles) the other guys that were up front started slowing down, and Mr. Marathon managed to stay steady. His first break was at the half marathon mark and he took a rest lap and just walked it.

Then he started back at it. As he was running, he decided his next break would be at the marathon mark. Throughout the run, since the event had a very nice fueling station right beside the course that all runners ran by during each and every lap, he could grab Gatorade, water, and snacks of all kinds and just keeping on running. As he approached the marathon mark, he decided to take a 15-20 minute break to really get some good fueling in rather than just eating on the run. He got to take some layers off because the weather had warmed up into the 60s! People were running in tank tops and shorts, or even shirtless!

It was time for him to get back to running until he hit the 50K mark. At this point in the day, it was late morning, and he was already beginning to notice some aches and pains, specifically in his foot, knee, and hip. He had noticed these aches and pains beginning to pop up since before we ran the Marshall University Marathon in mid-October when our training was still pretty intense. Despite his aches, he kept on going.


After the 50K mark, on towards the 40 mile mark, the wind started to pick up and the temperature started to drop significantly around noon. He had to start putting back on the layers that he had just taken off. The aches and pains were definitely there and started to get to him. Fortunately there were some familiar faces that had arrived. As he was walking past the aid station, or more importantly the SNACK STATION!, a little kid ran up to him and grabbed hold of his leg. Why does this kid look so familiar???? he asked himself. Turns out, it was his nephew! Then he looked up to the parking lot and saw his mom, his sister, and his niece! Not only did they bring their presence, but they brought FOOD! Hot soup and hot tea... mmmmmmmm! So he got to camp out in the back of their car and enjoy this awesome surprise! He had to put on a brave act and pretend that everything was fine so his family wouldn't worry about him. He said his goodbyes and hit the trail running again.


For the next 10 miles, he was trying to rest up but definitely keep moving. He finally hit 50 miles at around 6:00 PM. The aches and pains were still very much present and hurting him pretty badly, so he took a break before he did any more. After about 15 minutes he started trying to run/walk but mostly run to stay warm! He was feeling very drained and needed some energy or rest. So he passed by the snack bar (lol) and grabbed a handful of cookies. And by a handful of cookies, I mean like 12 (full size) cookies.... WHAT. He said he "needed the energy".... Anyway, this was at 55 miles, and so he snuggled up (with his precious cookies) in my car that he took (since it was big enough to blow up the air mattress in the back!) and he took a nap that he did not officially consent to.... Ok so then he woke up from this surprise nap shivering with handful of cookies. Bless his little heart. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was around 7:40 PM and he Facetimed me! He was very disheartened due to all of his aches and fatigue, and he really wanted to stop. At this point, I was trying to be encouraging to help him make it to the distance he ran last year (64.98 miles). I didn't really know what he was enduring, but all I did know was that I was freezing cold inside our house because of the cold wind that had moved into our area, so I can only imagine trying to run in it.

After we hung up, he was feeling discouraged because he was hurting so bad but he knew he had to keep going to 65 miles. That was the new goal at this point. It was about 8:15 PM, and it was dark and windy and cold and miserable. That made it all that much harder to get out and run, but he did! He changed into his tights (he had been wearing shorts up until this point!) and put on a few extra layers on top and a beanie and some gloves and got out and got walking to try to warm up (lol) his body.

When he made it to the 100K (62 miles) it was 38 degrees with 28 windchill! Brr! You also have to keep in mind that the weather earlier in the week was in the 60s pretty much every day. This was a rude (and very cold!) wake up call! His body was warmed up and he was trying to stay moving and wasn't going to stop until he reached his 65 miles. His body was still hurting, but he noticed that it was aching less when he tried to run as opposed to just walking. Granted, aching less doesn't mean it didn't hurt when he was running. Just a more tolerable pain.

As he hit 65 miles, he was walking with a few jokesters who were very encouraging in great spirits despite the conditions. They were carrying on having a jolly old time! So Mr. Marathon was able to keep on keeping on. At this point he decided to hit 70 miles as his new goal. As he was running he was thinking that he stopped at 62 miles last time so he should stop again at 72 miles. He hit the 72 miles mark with about 4 and a half hours left. He knew that he had to stay moving if he wanted to hit the 100 mile mark, which was a goal that was in the back of his mind this whole time. He got a burst of motivation and decided that he was going to run! He felt that he was running at like a 5 or 6 min/mile pace (his usual). Remember, he was not tracking his distance or pace with his GPS watch. But since there were people keeping up with laps and timing and yelling out lap count, they also yelled out his pace... and he was moving at a 10:05 min/mile pace. Which is a little different that 5 or 6 min/mile pace. He couldn't believe it, since he was pushing SO HARD, He decided to continue and just keep pushing and giving it all he had, even if it was a 10:05 min/mile pace.

He did a vlog series on his Instagram 
every so often... check it out!

Finally, he decided to stop and calculate how far he was and how long he had. He was at 81.5 miles. He did the math and he had 3 and a half hours left. And his body was hurting bad, still. He knew that he wouldn't be able to maintain the 10ish minute miles, and with 18.5 miles left, so he knew he would have to maintain at least an 11:30 min/mile pace. (He had plenty of time to do math to occupy his brain!) He knew he wouldn't be able to keep that up, especially since he hadn't even gotten to take a break from the last 10 miles he finished. He had to think: What's going to be harder? That I stop now? Or keep going and come just shy of 100 miles after going through all of this extra pain? At this point, he decided to valiantly bow out and accept his great accomplishment of completing 81.5 miles. This is 16.5 miles more than he did last year, and the total mileage was just a little over the equivalent of 3 full marathons! He also wanted to get home to his sickly wife (cough cough). So he said his goodbyes, and arrived home at 6:00 AM Sunday morning. He took a hot shower immediately trying to thaw out a little bit, then went to SLEEP!

Final thoughts: He fell short of his crazy far-fetched goal of 100 miles that he says he could have probably reached if he had started more conservatively earlier in the day. However, the aches and pains that he had would have probably still hit him because of the hard races that he had leading up to this event (cross country races, Spartan race, and the MUM). He is glad that he was able to recognize his limitations and not push himself to the point of serious injury. This just prolongs the 100 mile. Til we meet again, Crooked Road.

Long sleeve tech shirt with the logo!

What's Your Wall? 4

As many of you loyal readers may recall, last year we both participated in a 7 day endurance challenge. I ran 6.2 miles each day for 7 days, and he ran 15 miles a day each day for 7 days. (Read about it here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here!)

Anyway, this year, The Brick Running and Tri Store put on this challenge again! Last year, we used this as marathon training since it was the month before the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon. However, this year, it came after our marathon. Since I just came out of my training cycle, I figured I needed a break so I wouldn't become burned out. Of course, that didn't stop Mr. Marathon. He decided to tackle the What's Your Wall? challenge again this year. And since last year he completed the 15 mile distance, he had to do that again! Because that makes sense!

(the rest of this post is told from Mr. Marathon's perspective)

Each day I allotted 2 hours and 15 minutes (plus time to change and all that good stuff) for each day's run. My Monday/Wednesday/Friday class schedule was pretty tight, so I literally had 3 hours to change, run, swim, change, and eat lunch. On Tuesday and Thursday I was even more pressed for time because I only had 2 hours and 15 minutes in between classes. That meant I had to skip lunch those days and grab it after my 1:00 class, and then I got my swim in after that, then be ready to go into work at 3:00. Now, let me explain the swimming. Swimming was not part of the challenge, but I decided that in addition to my 15 miles a day, I wanted to find a way to keep my muscles loosey goosey and relaxed, and what better way to do that than to swim an easy 500 meters? I did my swim every day except Sunday (Day 7).  Anyway, this post is intended to give you the RUNdown (lol) of each day. So buckle up and away we go!

Day 1: MONDAY

After my morning classes ended at 12:00, the clock was ticking until my afternoon class. I had 3 hours to complete today's run and swim. So I headed on down to the Danville YMCA, got changed, and was out on the trail by 12:15. Now, I don't know exactly how long the Riverwalk Trail is, so I just headed out the way I knew first. It was a 4 mile loop one way, so I had to do an 11 mile loop the other way. And it turns out that it was niiiiiice and hilly!!! Yay!  But who doesn't like a challenge on top of a challenge???? (don't answer that) Oh, and by the way, the temperature was 70 degrees! So it was HOT! And by the time I was coming in to finish my run, I realized that I had been sweating and I was not taking in enough fluids, since my body was not used to that temperature anymore. I felt a little light headed, and my legs felt as if they were swollen and very tingly. But I swam it out after my run and felt a little better. So moving right along to....

Day 1 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

Day 2: TUESDAY

Tuesday's run was a little more stressful due to my time constraint: having exactly 2 hours and 15 minutes between classes meant I had no choice but to run from the school parking lot to the Riverwalk, but hey that gave me 3 miles there and 3 miles back, so I knew I would have 6 miles not even counting the trail, so all I had left to do on the Riverwalk was 9 miles! It was a nice downhill for the first 3 miles from the school to the Riverwalk.... However, this meant that I was going to have those same 3 miles uphill to the finish. And I was not excited. But as I ran, I said "Eh, future me can deal with that..." and kept on going. Fortunately for me I had a Honey Stinger gel with me (didn't have one on Monday) and took it at mile 10 when I was very tired and feeling drained, and by mile 12.5, I started running, yes, running up the hill and as I kept running, I felt weird because I was supposed to be walking, tired, defeated, out of juice, but instead, I had a great stride going up the hill and I felt strong all the way to the finish! And it was a good thing, because I had to get my bookbag out of my car and go straight into class. No time to stretch, no time to eat! (I did get time to hydrate though, learned by lesson from Day 1) After class, I ate lunch and headed over the Y to do my swimming. That's a wrap on Tuesday now....

Day 2 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

Day 3: WEDNESDAY

My flight instructor at school had scheduled another student during my scheduled time with him on Wednesday, so that meant I had all morning off until class at 3:00! Plenty of time to run! I had no worries, I just checked the temperature, got dressed, and headed out... and headed back inside the house to get a rain jacket, then headed back out. Womp womp, lots of rain. I figured I could do Wednesday's run on the Martinsville Half Marathon course (plus some obviously... I CAN MATH) since I got to run at home instead of in Danville since I didn't have class. So I headed over to the Martinsville Y to start my run there. It seemed to be just a little sprinkle coming down. I stepped into the Y to get myself ready to run, and when I stepped back out, it was POURING rain!!! And to top it off, we were under a severe weather warning as well as a flood warning! I had no choice but to do what I do. So I did. Another hilly course, but I knew what I was getting myself into with that. And to top it off, I got 15 miles FULL of HYDRATION! Hydration from the sky, that is. Yay? As cars were flying past me, I'm sure they had to think to themselves "What an idiot... does he not know it's raining?????" But I will be honest, that run was one of the best runs I had all week, simply because not many people would have been out otherwise, and I got to thinking about all the other participants in the What's Your Wall challenge and felt kind of proud of everybody. So I just took a bad situation and tried to turn it into a good situation. Fast forward, I had a great run, swam afterwards, and I headed to class on my merry way. NEXT!

Day 3 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

Day 4: THURSDAY

Thursday's run was the same course as Tuesday, with just a few additional challenges. Remember the rain from Day 3? Well, that completely flooded some parts of the Riverwalk! So during my run, I tried to avoid the flooding by jumping, prancing, inching, sliding, shuffling and even climbing over a fence! Yes, I climbed over a fence during my run. No, I did not get any kind of extra credit for it! But then, it occurred to me that I got very muddy trying to avoid the flood, so I sucked it up and ran through the flooded areas on the way back after the turnaround. So I ended up running through knee-high water that was pretty freezing cold and nasty and muddy! But whatever. Then after my swim, wait, I mean my run. Yeah that was just my run. Anyway I got my bookbag and went to class. As I was sitting in class, I was like "Man, my left shoe got really muddy! But it's like really red mud, not like normal mud color..." So when I went to do my INTENTIONAL swim, I took my shoe off and as it turns out it wasn't mud that had stained my shoe... it was blood. No big deal, I had no time to worry about that. I still had 3 more days to go! Moving on!

Day 4 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

Day 5: FRIDAY

Friday was similar to Monday, the only difference was that I was not looking at my watch. I didn't want to put any more stress on my body than I had to. Each day, I had unintentionally started the first hour of my runs at an easier pace to warm up. Then after that, typically around mile 7, I would begin to find my stride. Friday was no exception. I started easy, then fell into a rhythm, and finished feeling ok. And I got my swim in afterwards, and I was ready for the next day!

Day 5 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

Day 6: SATURDAY

This was work day. I was scheduled to work at 10:00 Saturday morning. This meant I could use my whole afternoon/evening to run after I got off. However, would I have done that? Don't know, and I didn't want to find out. All I knew was that I didn't want that run nagging at me all morning and most of the afternoon at work. So I got up at 5:30, left the house at 6:00, and arrived at the Danville Y at 7:00 (for those of you who don't know I work an hour away in Danville as well as go to school there). I took off on the Riverwalk and headed towards Main St through Downtown Danville and just kept running until my watch said 7.5 miles, then I turned around and did the exact same 7.5 back. I got to the Danville Y at 9:00, got my swim in, showered, and headed on to work. Without my run nagging at me! I must say, that was a great feeling! But not as great as....

Day 6 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

DAY 7: SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday was a great day for most of America. Not because of some football game, but because it was the last day of the What's Your Wall challenge! A few friends of mine were going for a long run on Sunday morning and extended the invite. And so I took them up on the offer and met with them at 7:00 am and ran the Dick and Willie Trail. They were going to run an hour and forty-five minutes, which gave us about 11 miles by the time they finished. The last 4, I was going to knock out by myself. However, I had great motivation because Sunday runs are BREAKFAST RUNS with our normal running buddies. So I knew at the end of today's run, there would be a joyous feast awaiting me. And by joyous feast, I mean BISCUITS!!!!!! So I finished successfully (with the motivation of biscuits of course) and the rest is history!
FYI- History is very hard to download from your watch. Especially when you haven't downloaded said history in over a year.... 

Enjoying my joyous feast! ALL THE BISCUITS!!!!!
IT WAS BO TIME!

Day 7 Elevation (green) and Pace (blue)

Day 8: THE AFTERMATH 

So, after 7 days, 105 miles, some blood, sweat, a few blisters, and a questionable-looking pinky toe, (I'll spare you the gory details...) I got to take today off! And I get to hop back onto my marathon training plan tomorrow! Woohoo! Man, this day feels like a whole week off! I'm rested and ready to get back at it! I think!

Hello? Is this thing on?

Ahem, hellooooo? Is anybody there? Oh wait, you're all here. I'm the one missing. Sorry for being such a neglectful blogger! Anyway, I'm here now for a catch-up post and that's all that matters, right? Right!

Busted Soles

Ok so first of all, we are going to rewind to May 6. May 6 was the first race of the Busted Soles Trail Race Series in Danville, VA. This trail series was Mr. Marathon's way to stay motivated and stay in shape. These races were held once a week for the 4 weeks in May on various trails around Anglers Park and Dan Daniel Park in Danville. The runs were varying lengths, from 4 to 6 miles each week. It was hard to tell the distance because GPS watches aren't very reliable on those trails, between the trees and intense elevation change. Anyway, he came in first place for each race and won the series! He enjoyed the races each week, and all the camaraderie involved. Fun! Moving on!

Super Run

As we have mentioned before, mister and I coach the running program at the elementary school where we worked this past school year: I coached Girls on the Run and he coached STRIDE (Success + Teamwork + Respect + Inspiration + Determination = Excellence in character!). After the season began in March, we have been working with our teammates on character development, and of course running. We had a long, interesting season, and we ended our season with the Super Run 5K as our celebration on May 16. It was Super Fun! (see what I did there?????) I was an official Running Buddy, and my little runner girl did pretty great! She kept pushing, even though she was tired. Every time she needed to take a break she would walk, catch her breath, then take a deep breath in, then out, then she would confidently say, "OK, I'm READY!" and we would take off again. Love it!

Oh, and that guy that runs with me sometimes came in 2nd place overall. Way to go... (see picture below). K moving on.

Yippee.... HAH!

Off the Rails Sprint Triathlon

Most recently, our adventure has been a triathlon on May 31. Mr. Marathon's recent goals include a little more swimming and biking, and just as much running (stay tuned...!). Anyway, last year he did the Off the Rails Sprint Triathlon in Roanoke, VA, and loved it so much that he decided to do it again this year! And do even better!

MHC Inspire representing!

What you might not have expected is that I did it too! Just one leg of it, though, so it's not that impressive. I formed a relay team with my runner dad, whom I've mentioned before, and my biking bald-headed brother, who owns Chain of Fools Bike Repair in Uptown Martinsville. We had so much fun being Team "Hulkfeldt" (which is a play on their last name/my maiden name "Huckfeldt" and it's super duper funny because I came up with it!!) and we rocked out in the mixed relay team category and placed 3rd! Out of 3 but not that it matters because we had lots of fun.  Mister placed 3rd in his age group, with a time of 57:48! Fun was had by all!

3rd place mixed relay! Woohoo!

3rd place Age Group Male 25-29

Ok, so the medals are intended to be a part of a 3-race series of triathlons and duathlons.
Each race you get another piece to the "puzzle."
But my relay team had three people. Mission accomplished!

Women's shirt logo.... one of my faves, definitely.

Triathlon: The Aftermath (even though it was just a sprint)
The receipt says it all: FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD haha!
And in case you didn't believe us, here is hubbs, showing off his FOOD (before and after).

Mister's splits for the tri.... total time 57:48.6!

Relay splits didn't come through, but here's our total time! 1:11:40!

Oh, and hubbs finished his semester off strong
and even won 2 awards for being a smarty pants!

BRM 2015

This year was Mr. Marathon's 6th time running the Blue Ridge Marathon-- America's Toughest Road Marathon! (Read about previous years' races: 2014 and 2013) This year, he decided to tackle his training for this marathon head-on. He took his long runs, he did his speed work, and he even took a training run on a couple of the mountains that are part of the marathon course. He still thinks he could have trained a lot harder or better, but considering this is the marathon that he keeps signing up for year after year, he'll take what we can get on it.

First of all, one thing that he felt helped him a lot was his practice run. A couple of weekends ago, he decided to go up to Roanoke to train on the course. Despite it being cold and windy, he took off from the River's Edge Complex in downtown Roanoke, heading up the Greenway towards the Parkway. His first mountain was Roanoke Mountain, which is about a 4 mile loop literally up and down a MOUNTAIN. Then right after that, he headed straight to Mill Mountain, home of the famous Roanoke Star. Then, he headed back down Mill Mountain and finished up on the Greenway. It seems like it would be short and simple, but it was a total of 15 miles with some serious elevation changes. It ended up taking him 2 hours and a few minutes, which he was very happy with, but it also made him realize that he should have been training hard on tougher courses throughout his training.

Fast forward two weeks from the training run. Race day is upon us! As we woke up at the crack of dawn (or just 5:00 AM like I always do), we had a goal to leave our house at 6 to make it there in time to get in line for porta-potties. And of course, like warm-up and stuff. But mostly porta-potties. After standing in line for a significant amount of time, it was T-10 minutes to race time. As the countdown began, it was ready or not, here we go! Runners for all three races (half, full, and 10K) were off from the mass start (and I went to get breakfast...). Mr. Marathon as he was beginning to climb up towards the Parkway, he was at 3 miles in 23 minutes, and as he was approaching Roanoke Mountain, he was trying to come up with a strategy, which ultimately ended up being slowing down on the uphills, taking off on the downhills, and maintaining a steady pace on any straightaways, or as straightaway as it can be on the BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY. He made it to 9 miles at 1:09, and by that point, he was headed towards Mill Mountain. This was still area that he had covered on his practice run, so he was pretty comfortable with it, and it made it fly by! By the half marathon split, it was 1:40, and he was still going strong, or at least pretending to. He still felt great, and kept trying to be confident that he would meet his modest goal of breaking 4 hours.

As he started heading to the third and final mountain, he really became more and more motivated. This is because the third mountain goes through residential areas and a lot of local residents are out, cheering on runners, passing out sustenance, or even offering an alcoholic boost! He only accepted the first two though. Peakwood, affectionately known as Pukewood, is the most infamous mountain on the course. At this point, you are most likely starting to wear down, and you're not able to push yourself as much as you want. At this point, your body begins to control you. But nevertheless, he kept trucking on and pushing up the mountain.

One thing that he talks about that kept him motivated was not necessarily passing the half marathoners, but the way they treated him as he ran by. They made him feel important and like he was a big deal. They would say, "Marathoner coming! Move over! Let him by!" and he would tell them, "You don't have to do that. I can go around. This is your race too, and you're all doing awesome!" This was not said to him just once or twice, but multiple times, as if he was passing the same person with the same great attitude, when in reality, this mentality was shared by a good majority of the runners in this small-town race. He couldn't believe the great attitude they had, despite being passed by a marathoner, they still had it in them to motivate one another, and even the guy that's passing them. He appreciates this because this is what he likes to do himself. He likes to pass on the positivity to fellow participants, and he loves it when the favor is returned.

Once he got up to Peakwood, he reached the peak of Peakwood (redundant right???) and felt a huge relief during his descent. But he knew he still had a few small hills to overcome. He says it was funny the way his mentality was working at this point because he began to change his plan of attack. Now it was power-walk up the hills and try to run everything else. The first hill he had to power-walk was at the 20 mile marker, which by the time he got it, he saw a sign that said "WHAT WALL?" And he was like, "Really???????????????????? What wall? WHAT WALL? THIS! THIS WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" They honestly couldn't have placed that sign at a better point in the race for him. He was really beginning to hit his wall, but he didn't officially "hit the wall" until about mile 23, at which point, he really had to slow down and walk most of the time, and run only whenever he had enough energy to do so. It didn't help that by this time of day, the sun began really beating down, and it was about 75 degrees, which seems like a beautiful day most normal people, but it is a scorching day while you're trying to run a marathon! It was tough to try to stay cool and finish strong, but finish strong he did. When he turned the last corner and saw the downhill finishing chute, he took off and gave it all he had, or what he had left anyway.

BRM, sixth time running!

As he finished, people were telling him that he was only the 11th marathoner to finish, but at this point, he was looking for me and ice, not necessarily in that order. He dunked himself in the ice that was intended to cool off beverages, not a sweaty marathoner, but hey, sweaty marathoners gotta do what they gotta do! So he did. My personal favorite moment from that day was when he just looked at me after rolling around in the ice tubs and said deliriously, "Do you ever have that moment when you just have to shove ice down your pants???" Um, no, babe. But uh, you do what you want... And so he proceeded to do just that, but I'll spare you additional details. However, he decided that a kiddie pool that had a sign that read, "FEET WELCOME" he decided that this was discrimination to butts and decided to fight the man on this one and plop down into it and roll around.

Impromptu ice bath!

After cooling off finally, he laid down in the shade on a blanket in the grass and did not move. He rested for a while, then proceeded to drink 3 Vanilla Cokes and eat some pizza and oranges. That was only the snack before lunch/dinner at Steak N Shake!

Chillaxin'

Mmmm soda! He hadn't had soda in weeks
due to his training!

We stuck around for the awards ceremony because his time of 3:32:44 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) landed him not only at a surprising 10th place overall finish, but it also landed him 2nd place in his age group!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After running this race for 6 consecutive years, he finally won an award!!!!!!!!

Showing off his 2nd place age group award

Official stats

The ever-intimidating elevation map of the course...

Stay tuned as we approach our triathlon season and ramp up our training for some upcoming goals of ours...!