A collection of race reports and other writings of and about ultrarunning, trail running, and other running related topics with a strong focus on the East Coast. The "Beast Coast" has a strong trail running community and some amazing events; this blog aims to showcase some of that.
I racked up 385 miles last month with the majority of them during the Big’s Backyard Individual World Championships. The end of the race was a little bittersweet for me as I had hoped to stay in the race quite a bit longer than I did. At the same time, my final yard was one of the most intense pushes to complete a yard that I have ever made at a backyard. It was all the more enjoyable as I was working with Levi Yoder, teammate from the 2022 USA Backyard Team, for the last two miles or so of the yard and we made it in with just over two minutes to spare. Overall, the experience was great with the highlights being meeting so many talented backyard runners from around the world and being able to run with the majority of the 2022 USA Backyard Team again! What a great group that I look forward to running with again! Which leads me to my 2024 plans, or lack thereof. As of now, nothing is certain but going back to Big's for a second team competition year is certainly on my list of possibilities. Especially if my 75 yard performance at Capital this year holds up and is good enough for an at large spot on the team. For the rest of the year, well I'm still trying to figure that out.
On a bit of whim that popped in my head while running I decided to create a poll to gauge the backyard community’s thoughts on how they expect and how they would hope to see the 2023 Individual World Championship play out this year at Big’s Backyard. I shared the link to the poll in multiple Facebook groups, on several 𝕏 posts, and on the r/backyardultra subreddit. The poll asked six questions:
Will a new course record be set this year at Big's Backyard?
Will a new world record be set this year at Big's Backyard?
How many yards will Big's Backyard go this year?
Who do you want to see win?
Who do you think will provide the assist?
Who do you think will be the last one standing?
This poll was strictly for fun, and it has been quite fun to check in as the responses are received. As promised, here is a summary of the results. The full data set of results are available on this Google Sheet.
*In the interest of full disclosure, I submitted a response which is included in the results. *
Will a new course record be set this year at Big's?
The overwhelming majority of respondents believe that a new course record will be set this year at Big’s. In fact, 90.5% of all responses were “Yes.” I didn’t look at the survey results on a regular schedule, but every time I did check the “Yes” responses hovered right around 90%.
Will a new world record be set this year at Big's?
Again, the majority of respondents are predicting a new world record will be set at Big’s. It is certainly a bit more balanced than the prediction for the course record with 56.2% responding “Yes” and 43.8% giving a “No” response. The results from this question fluctuated a bit more than the course record question. The first few times I checked results, it was pretty evenly split with close to 50/50 responses. It wasn’t until the last few days of the poll that the responses started leaning more heavily towards a “Yes” majority.
How many yards will Big's go this year?
This question received the most evenly distribute responses of all the questions that had more than two options. Nearly all respondents (96.3%) agree that Big’s will go over 80 yards. The most common response was 81-95 yards which was selected by 20.4% of respondents. The second most common response was 106-110 with 19.7%. I’m not ruling out that Big’s will go over 120 yards, but I was surprised by how many people believe it will. The “greater than 120” response was the third most common tied with 96-100, each selected by 14.6% of respondents.
Who do you want to see win?
Phil Gore, Jennifer Russo, and Harvey Lewis were the three stand out runners for this question receiving 16.1, 11.7, and 10.9% of the total responses. I assume that most runners who responded to this poll selected themselves for this question, I unabashedly admit I did and can understand why. What I don’t understand is why anyone would select “No winner” for this question, but there it is with 1.5% of the responses received.
Who do you think will provide the assist?
Selected by over 60% of respondents, four runners were picked as the strong favorites to provide the assist this year at Big’s: Phil Gore (16.8%), Harvey Lewis (15.3%), Merijn Geerts (14.6%), and Sam Harvey (13.9%).
Who do you think will be the last one standing?
I think it comes as no surprise to anyone that the most picked runner to be the last one standing is the current backyard ultra world record holder, Phil Gore, selected by 29.2% of all respondents. Also not surprisingly, former co-backyard ultra world record holder, Merijn Geerts was picked second most frequently. Geerts was selected by 16.1% of all respondents. A close third, selected by 13.1% of all respondents, was Sam Harvey who provided the assist to Phil Gore this year at Dead Cow Gully Backyard where the current world record was set. Former world record holder, current US record holder, and Big’s Backyard course record holder, Harvey Lewis, was selected by 9.5% of all respondents making him the fourth most selected runner to be the last one standing. A result that I found surprising was that Ivo Steyaert, former co-backyard ultra world record holder with Geerts, was only selected by 3.6% of respondents, barely ranking in the top 5 most frequently selected runners.
“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.” — Michelangelo
I was pretty apprehensive about going into my training plan this September. It is the last full month of training leading up to Big’s Backyard and I had just missed my mileage training goal for August. I wasn’t sure how I would rebound from that missed mark. I felt like if it didn’t go well, I wouldn’t have a chance at Big’s to accomplish anywhere near what I hope to accomplish. Thankfully, with some perseverance and determination, September’s training went better than I ever expected and I bounced right back to where I hoped to be by the end of September. Not only did I hit my mileage goal of averaging at least 11 miles per day, I exceeded it by quite a bit averaging 12.49 miles per day with a total of 374.7 miles! Last year I averaged 10.2 miles per day for September; with the increase in training mileage this year I fully expect to have an improved performance at Big’s. Not only do I have the increased training boosting my confidence as I conclude my training and begin to gradually taper, but I also have the advantage this year of having experienced running through a third night in the backyard format during Capital Backyard Ultra (CBU). Having overcome the mental hurdle that accompanies running through a third night, I feel far more prepared this year than I did last year going into Big’s. Additionally, having been there last year, having a respectable performance, and then bettering my PR with a win at CBU, I finally feel like I’ve overcome the imposter syndrome that I felt last year at Big’s. I finally feel like I’ve earned my spot there. That is a much better mental space to be in when taking on a challenge that you fully expect to push you to your limit, testing you physically and mentally until either you break or succeed. And that is how I intend for Big’s to conclude, with either success or failure.
#Monthlymileage check in... Initially I was pretty disappointed with my August mileage. I finished the month with 268 miles for an average of 8.66 miles per day. It felt like it was a pretty big drop from my July mileage of 313 miles with an average of 10.11 miles per day. Since my loose training plan for Big's is to increase my average daily mileage every month leading up to Big's (June - September), I obviously missed the mark for August. Like I said, at first I was pretty upset about this, but then I realized I had still run a higher daily average mileage this August than August of last year (8.4 miles per day) leading up to Big's. Then I considered the number of rest days and lower mileage days I had in August and the reasons for them: a week long camping trip with the family, a day trip to Philadelphia and a Phillies game with my older boys, and a few visits with extended family. After considering it all, I was no longer upset about the mileage drop and decided maybe it was for the best. I may have burned myself out trying to keep up that mileage for another entire month. Now, as I start focusing on September training, I feel fresh and excited to ramp up the volume and be in the best form possible mentally and physically for Big's in October!
Monthly Mileage check in! I ran 151.82 miles in June. This was a bit less than my normal training mileage and a huge drop from last month when I ran over 500 miles, but it was too be expected. I knew I'd have a few weeks of lower mileage for recovery after Capital. Then I just wanted to take some time to enjoy with the family before diving back into serious training. A week long bout of colds and congestion in our household also added a few unplanned rest days. Some down time is good between training cycles. It reinvigorates and prevents burn out while reminding me that there are more important things in life than this silly running habit of mine. In the midst of serious training cycles I can develop some pretty serious tunnel vision. Sometimes I need to step away to appreciate the bigger picture life goals.
This month's mileage is also a great reminder of the relativity of it all. I ran my first ultra in 2015, the Blues Cruise 50k. That year my highest monthly mileage was 155. I only exceeded 100 miles four months that year. After 7-8 years of getting into this whole ultrarunning thing, a low mileage month with a recovery and some sickness is about the same as my best month from my first year of ultrarunning. This exercise of comparing my present self to my past self helps to remind me of how far I've come as a runner and how I continue to push my standards and work for improvement.
Well, my first recovery run after Capital Backyard Ultra felt pretty good. I had some muscle soreness, but for taking only four rest days after a 312.5 mile effort I felt pretty good about the run. I was on my way back from my normal road/trail route and on my last stretch of trail along a power line cut when I caught my toe on a root. This is a non technical trail that I really shouldn’t be falling on, not saying I never have before, but it really shouldn’t happen if I’m not over tired or just not paying attention. Anyway, I took a fall, got up, and dusted myself off. Then I laughed. I laughed because in the 312.5 miles I ran at Capital Backyard Ultra, even with the severe sleep deprivation and through the darkness, I never fell once. And now on this easy trail run, less than a quarter mile until I’m back on a paved surface, I eat crap on the trail. Funny how life and trail running works out sometimes.
Monthly Mileage check in! I feel like it's kind of misleading to claim 521 monthly miles for May without including some acknowledgement that the bulk of those miles (312.5 of them to be exact) came from a single run at Capital Backyard Ultra (CBU). Also important to note is that I also had a couple of taper weeks with reduced mileage leading up to CBU, so maybe it all kinda balances out. However you slice it though, it is a new personal record for me for monthly mileage with my previous best being May last year with 380 miles, so as far as I’m concerned it is cause for celebration. After some rest and recovery, I’m back at it and training for what’s next. That includes Big’s this October and possibly a shorter race between now and then… we’ll see.
