How to Grow a Runner

This story is three months late. It took some self reflection to truly process the experience and will be joined by some companion pieces on other races soon. Why do I Run: Pumpkin Hollar Hundred We were fresh from an international flight after spending four days in Paris. She met me there as I was coming in from my two week trip volunteering in Togo, Africa. We had not seen one another for two weeks and were enraptured being together, being in a new country, and we did it all on foot, walking on average 14-16 miles a day. We arrived home Thursday and on Friday left again. So, we spent four days days walking around a foreign city we didn’t know, came home, unpacked one suit case only to load up four others: for myself, Jessy, and the two kids. We loaded everything into our small Ranger truck and drove four hours north into Oklahoma. We dropped the kids off with a close friend and babysitter and continued North to Talequah to the race site. Here, we climbed in th...

The cold sat in my ribcage, aggravated with my heavy breaths. Smoke billowed from my mouth and nostrils as I sucked in and blew out the cold and damaging air. My right foot drug. I would push it ahead with my right hand to slightly in front of my center of gravity, then push off of my left foot to pivot forward. Every once in a while I would hit a rock and cry out in pain or become frustrated reaching even a small incline, as it made the laborious process that much more challenging.   When I would cry out from the pain, Jessy would stop and turn. While I would be doubled over and catching my breath, she would count to ten. At ten, I would straighten up and we would continue forward.   This awkward and painful march took us over the final seven miles of my fourth of six loops at the Brazos Bend 100. I signed up for this December race one night this past summer. I was sitting in a camping chair in my kitchen looking at races and drinking a margarita while Jessy stirr...

       In April of this year, I was incredibly lucky to be chosen as one of nine Team Members from Whole Foods Market to attend the Team Member Volunteer program trip to Togo, Africa. This program sends employees to places around the world where micro lending with the goal to alleviate poverty occurs. The trip is taken with the intent of education as well as the execution of volunteer projects that benefit the communities we visit.   The Whole Planet Foundation Team Member Volunteer trip to Togo started the moment we all met in the Airport. Our group quickly became friends.  Our first day was spent at the Entrepreneurs de Monde office in Lome, the country's capital city. Here we learned the logistical processes of micro lending in Togo and first hand saw the impact a small loan given can be for some incredibly impoverished Togolese people.  One young man refurbished furniture on a broken down porch with little shade in the heat from fo...

What makes a strong runner? I pondered this as I climbed the relentless upward trajectory that was the final push out of Lone Pine and into the Whitney Portal. I had risen at 7 am in my hostel like hotel room in Lone Pine. The place looked straight out of a hokey western, and I later learned that was on purpose as many of those old westerns were filmed in the hills just north of our location. We ended up there as we carted Dale toward the race end in search of somewhere for him to relax and recover. Also we all wanted to finish out the full Badwater experience, so we searched for somewhere to stay in Lone Pine, the final town stop and place of the post-race awards and hang.  After checking in, our crew team ventured out into the hills above Lone pine to do some running in the movie famous hills while Dale took a much needed nap then headed over to Jake’s Saloon. Here the walls are lined with Sharpie’d signatures from some of the world’s most elite runners. The all wood d...

The adventure began at 6am with a text, “We are outside.” I grabbed the bags I had meticulously packed over the previous three nights full of running cloths, long sleeves and pants, running lights, running shoes, head gear, cooling gear, nutrition supplements as well as food to consume while in the crew van. It was all packed and separated, labelled and organized to the great chagrin of my girlfriend. The airport outfit was also chosen based on packability and usefulness during the ultra marathon.   I exited my house, locked the door and said a loud and gregarious “Good Morning!” to Dale Cougot.   Dale Cougot. I met the man in a Starbucks in Richardson, Texas after a friend sent me his Facebook page where he advertised a wish to build a trail running group in the DFW area. I had been a road runner all my life and active in the triathlon community for many years, but always tenuous about trails. We messaged back and forth for a couple weeks before our schedules finally a...

So I started out writing a post about my training, but this became tough because in my mind, training is completely dependent on lifestyle and on who you are. So before I talk about my training, let me tell you about myself. My family runs. I grew up around an aunt and father and cousins who all ran for fitness and fun, and yearly as a group participated in a July 10k in downtown Atlanta, GA. I first joined this summer run when I was ten years old and to this day, the tale of this run is still my father’s favorite story to share about me as a child.   I did train for the race, but being a small kiddo at the time, my training covered a few short miles through our West Virginia neighborhood. They were slow and often very distracted when I saw trees or dogs or other things that seem more fun to a ten year old than training for a 10k in the Georgia Summer heat. When race day came, my dad drug me along through a grueling and hot six miles, only to watch me sprint ahead and ...