A New Year & A New Schedule

It's hard to believe that I have been ultra running for just about ten years now. I reflect back to my first ultra experience at the Vermont 50 and realize how much I have grown as a runner and as a person. I certainly have changed, but the excitement and nervousness that I feel that I get when preparing and toeing the line still exists. For me, this is an indication that I still love the sport and I still am eager to compete. Like I mentioned about it all started with the Vermont 50 for me and then I took what felt like a big leap and raced in Massachusetts at the Stone Cat 50. At the time traveling that far to race and running on terrain I had never seen before was overwhelming. With time I got a little more comfortable with driving 3-6 hours for a race as I branched out and raced in up state New York and parts of New Hampshire. It all felt like a lot as I don't like to travel all that much and like the security of home. In 2010 I flew to Texas to race in the Bandera 100k. Let me say that again, I flew to Texas, which is pretty amazing for me given my fear of flying. It was fun seeing new terrain and new faces. Racing outside of New England created a new challenge where I had to focus on other things beyond running like travel details, food options and weather. Having back up plans for travel nightmares, figuring out what food to pack and what food can be bought once arriving and packing for all sorts of weather has become second nature. Despite all this practice of the art of traveling, I always seem hit some sort of "bump in the road," but in doing so I have learned a lot. Admittedly I am not yet a pro, but I am getting better. This growth has allowed me to commit to participating in the Ultra-Trail World Tour this year. This means that I am taking another big step and racing two races that require major international travel, as one is in Spain and one is in Japan. I am very intimidated, yet excited at the same time. I hope that with this step comes more growth both personally and athletically. A huge thanks to my family, friends and Salomon for supporting me to make this happen in all regards!