2026 More Miles Last One Standing Challenge

 

Steven and I running with the boys!
Photo Credit: Mike Stevens 

Returning From Injury 
"Turn your setbacks into comebacks" 
- Anonymous

I pretty much always experience some race anxiety in the last week or so leading up to a race, but this one was different. I felt like I had far more riding on how this race played out and how my body reacted than any other race. The excessive jitters were well within reason and founded on real rational concerns in my mind; this was my first race since dealing with a back injury that sidelined me from running longer than anything else since I started running some 20ish years ago. The injury story is a separate story in itself but to summarize: my back felt really sore from a round trip drive (roughly 30 hours driving time) between New Jersey and Iowa in December, I slipped and tweaked my back while ice skating, and I tweaked it again when I caught my toe on a root while trail running. All of this within a two-week span. I was still running through all of this until the day after the root trip. That seemed to be the final agitation that made it so painful to run that I accepted the fact that my body needed to recover. I spent three months (January – March) focused on recovery: home remedies, doctor visit, steroidal prescription, and physical therapy sessions. By April, I finally felt like I was ready to start rebuilding some larger volume mileage and try to get back into training. Training went well, but with only about a month of solid training time and my longest run since injury topping out at 18 miles, I had a huge degree of uncertainty of how my body would react when pushed in a backyard format race.

The race I chose to test how well my back had recovered was the More Miles Last One Standing Challenge in Knoxville, Maryland. It is a race that follows the standard backyard format but with just a single, primarily trail course for the entirety of the race. I selected this race because the timing was good and it wasn’t too long of a drive for me from home. Taking place at the end of May, I had a little over a month of solid training time. That date was also ideal because it was after my oldest son’s (Steven) track season ended. He had wanted to attempt another backyard since we ran one (BS Backyard) together in March of 2025 but did not want it to interfere with his track or cross country seasons. Our plan leading up to the race was that Steven and I would run the race while my second oldest, Christopher, crewed us. We each had our own goals going into the race: Steven wanted to better his backyard PR from 8 yards to 12 yards and hit the 50-mile distance, I just didn’t want my back injury to be the reason that my race ended.

 

Steven and I in the start corral before yard 1!

A week or so before the race, our plans changed a bit. I had thought this would be just a boys’ weekend with the three of us but after checking into the race venue a bit more, camping options, and sightseeing opportunities nearby, my wife decided it’d be perfect for a family camping weekend. It’s rare when everything lines up for us to turn a race weekend into a family camping adventure, only a handful of times in my 10 plus years of running ultras so when it does happen, I am super grateful to have them there.

We arrived at the race site and set up our aid tent and sleeping tent as the sun set. Not long after, we all settled in to try to get a good night’s sleep before the race started at 7 AM. The first few hours of the race felt like most other backyards for me. I settled into the rhythm of the course and my run/aid routine. The out of the ordinary aspect of the race for me was that a good deal of my focus was on Steven and how he was doing. I wanted to have a good race, but I also wanted him to have a good race and reach his goal. I was going to do whatever I could do to help him achieve it. This meant checking in with him every time I mentally checked myself for rising issues and addressing them before they become bigger problems. It also meant keeping a positive attitude and trying to keep his spirits up as well. That was easy and the kid pretty much was smiling his entire race without much effort from me to lift his spirits.

 

Steven was all SMILES!
Photo Credit: Mike Stevens 

The race course is mostly an all well shaded single track out and back running through the woods. There was a short stretch of gravel road and running along the wood line of a rolling sloped grass field at about the midway point. It had a good amount of elevation change per yard, more than I expected and I believe more than any other backyard I’ve run. My Coros data reported almost 1,100 feet of elevation change per yard which is close to the “533 feet of ascent and descent” reported on the race website. The problem was that I read “ascent and descent” as elevation change expecting 533 feet of change. Turns out I got nearly double that per lap. It also makes it substantially more than the Big’s Backyard day course with around 450 feet of elevation change. Add to that the fact that the More Miles Challenge does not switch to an easier road night course like Big’s (only about 200 feet of elevation change per yard), and you will understand how difficult this backyard course is.

After a few hours of running, Steven and I had settled into a routine as did Christopher with providing us aid. Having my boy run with me while Christopher crewed us and my wife and our two younger boys cheered us on made this race extra special. Everything went smoothly after realizing and accepting how much more elevation change I’d be dealing with over the course of the race. I had good conversations with some runners I met that day and a couple I had known and ran with in the past. Of them all, though, the biggest, most pleasant surprise was when Marty Fox showed up to volunteer. Nothing against anyone else I chatted with that day, but Marty has crewed me on several occasions and I credit him with saving me from DNFs on more than one occasion. On top of just being an amazing person, he’s also an amazing seventy-something runner that can still break 100 miles within 24 hours.

 

Marty Fox crewing me at Big's 2023.

With the day’s high temperature just reaching the low 70s and having shade most of the day, it didn’t feel like much of a struggle. The biggest complaint I had was how a decent amount of the trail was on a slant perpendicular to the direction of travel. It wasn’t huge, but it was noticeable enough and after 8 hours or so it felt like it was causing a little extra wear and tear on the ankles. Minor complaint, but I knew if the race went long enough it would likely become a bigger issue.

It felt like we reached Steven’s goal of 50 miles without him struggling too much. He was definitely tired, and a little cranky with Christopher in the aid tent towards the end but he hit his goal. With a little help from a fellow runner we had met (Samir), we coaxed him into going out for one more yard to surpass 50 miles. Now we were at a point that I had semi jokingly mentioned leading up to the race. I had said that once he breaks 50, he might as well keep going to hit 100k. He was tired and showing it at this point, but I know he wanted that 100k threshold. He finished yard 13 and said he was done. I told him it was his decision and I was proud of him. Uncertain about how to end his race, he decided he would put his Crocs on and head out for another yard then turn around. I said that was a great idea and would be funny. After heading out with his Crocs on for yard 14 he didn’t turn around. He said his feet felt good and he was going to do one more yard in Crocs. It cracked me up and I was talking about his magic Crocs to anyone who would listen. He put his shoes back on for his fifteenth and final yard to break the 100k threshold. Shortly after he crashed out in his sleeping bag getting some well-deserved rest.

  

Samir and I chatting on course.
Photo Credit: Mike Stevens 

Without Steven running with me and darkness settled on the trail course, it felt a bit lonely for me as I entered the nighttime hours. The course actually was a lot emptier. The race started with 80 runners. At the start of the yard 16, only 14 remained. The night was tough for me. I hadn’t run through the night since October at Big’s and it had been even longer since I ran through the night on trails. I was struggling with sleepiness especially on the rolling hills of the grassy stretches that I was walking. My walking pace really began to drop off the sleepier I got. Things got pretty bad in the wee hours of the morning. I was coming in with little time between yards and found my crew man Christopher sleeping on the cot with his phone alarm going off. I didn’t have the heart to wake him so I managed as best I could on my own. I cut a few of the yards close coming in with only around 2 minutes. I got to a point where I felt like it was a death spiral that I could not recover from. I kept turning around to go back out, not expecting to make it back in time. Eventually, Marty must have noticed and picked up on how bad I was struggling. Around 3 or 4 AM, he had Christopher up and getting me coffee with a chair set up right next to the start/finish corral. Every interloopal period the two of them were encouraging me and getting calories and caffeine into my system. Eventually, their efforts paid off, and I was able to claw my way out of the death spiral.

Steven and I coming in from his Magic Crocs yard.
Photo Credit: Mike Stevens 

 

At one of my lowest points during the night hours, my headlamp died just before the halfway point of the course. Navigating the rocks and roots in the dark, I’m not sure if I could have made it back within the hour. Thankfully, another runner, Danielle Andolina, was just ahead of me on the trail. I caught up to her quickly and asked if she would mind if I ran with her so I could follow her headlamp. Not only did she say she didn’t mind, but she also reached in her pack and pulled out her spare headlamp for me to borrow. It was a selfless and kind act, but not surprising in the backyard world. I’ve seen it happen many times in the ultrarunning community where runners help one another out, all with the goal of trying to push everyone to achieve their best effort. I’m not going to lie. Without Danielle’s help, there’s a good chance my race would have been over on that 5 AM yard.

Shortly after the sun came up, my whole attitude shifted. My wife and kids were all cheering for me, I had food in my belly, and my back wasn’t hurting. Everything I had hoped for from this race had already been accomplished. I felt pain in my glutes for a few hours overnight when I was struggling. This concerned me because that was a consistent symptom of my back injury. I thought about ending my race a few times because of it, but in retrospect I believe that was just my mind trying to make an acceptable excuse to quit. I expect it’s something I will have to battle through at future backyards. Long story short, once my mind was in a better place, the glute pain negligible.

 

Photo Credit: Mike Stevens 

With the sun up and only four runners left, I was becoming confident that I had a good chance of being the last one standing. My body felt good and spirits were high. I knew I could last all day into another night which I thought may be enough, but it all depended on the other runners. A couple of hours later, there were just three of us: me, Danielle, and Brendan Morgan. I had run and chatted with Brendan a bit during the first day so I knew his goal was to go all out and last as long as he could. Brendan was looking rough at the start of every yard for the last few hours but then would finish looking strong. I thought we would end up battling it out most of the day based on our conversation the first day, but before I knew it, he had pretty much blown up. He was just past the halfway point of the course going out while I was on my way back for yard 28. We stopped and chatted a bit congratulating one another when we passed. He wished me luck as I kept grinding on with just one other runner left.

Danielle was still looking consistent and comfortable. I thought this could go on into a second night. Unexpectedly, she would choose to turn around just after the start of yard 29, taking the assist. She said something to me on an earlier yard that I’ve thought about since the race. As we passed one another near the course turnaround, she asked if I planned to go for 370 miles. I laughed a bit about it at the time and responded with something along the lines that I wasn’t planning on it. Looking back, this comment reinforced my thoughts about how much of the backyard format is a mental game. I assume she knew my PR was 366 which is where the 370-mile comment stemmed from. I know from my early experience in backyards that it can be discouraging or intimidating battling against another runner that has run a greater distance than you have. I specifically remember during Keystone Backyard thinking I was fighting a hopeless battle when it was down to me and one other runner who had finished multiple 200-mile races. At the time, I thought about quitting because it seemed like I was fighting a losing battle and it was only a matter of time until I DNFed. I didn’t quit and battled on though, holding on to hope to eventually be the last one standing there. I say all this just to stress one of my major pieces, maybe the most important piece of advice for backyard ultras: stay positive and hold on to hope at all costs.

Steven and I at home in our own backyard with
the Mount to Coast shoes we wore for the race.

After the race wrapped up, we slowly got our gear packed up and got cleaned up and rested at a local hotel. We started the following day with an awesome hotel continental breakfast (pancakes with peanut butter and honey, granola and yogurt, bacon, and cheesy omelets) then spent the day exploring Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Steven and I were a bit mobility challenged, but we all made the best of a beautiful day and nearly perfect race weekend.

 

At the finish with my beautiful family! Blessed!

 

 

Scott Snell

12 June 2026

 

How do You Deal with Your World Falling Apart?

It’s approaching mid-April as I write about this issue that started at the end of December. I’m still somewhat shocked and maybe in a state of disbelief that this issue is still ongoing. I never expected that after over three months I would still be grasping hope that things are still going to improve. It all started with a long drive, about fifteen hours each way from New Jersey to Iowa and back. I usually feel some back pain after spending a long time in the driver's seat, but it’s completely resolved after a day or two usually. This time it was different. Confounding the problem, I also had a slip on the ice while ice skating that tweaked my back between the two stretches of the drive. Even with all that, the back pain didn’t affect my running. My back hurt and I struggled to put on my socks, but running didn’t aggravate it. My plan was to start training seriously in January for this year’s races and I wasn’t going to let a little back pain get in the way of that. Everything started well. I ran seventeen miles on New Year’s Day, six miles on the second, and twenty miles on the third. Unfortunately, that’s when everything came crashing down. About halfway through my twenty mile run, I caught my toe on a root, nearly did a superman fall, and again tweaked my back. After that, it was brutal to run. Maybe against my better judgement, I pushed through the pain and finished the last ten miles of the twenty I wanted to get in that day. I thought even if it hurt during the run, it would feel better tomorrow. I was ridiculously wrong.

 

The next day my back was screaming just from walking. I realized I’d have to take some time off from running; I just had no clue it would be this long. After a month or so of rest, home remedies, and not a huge improvement, I finally decided to go to the doctor. After an x-ray and a lower back strain diagnosis, he gave me a prescription for steroids and physical therapy. Flash forward another 6 weeks or so to today and I have been discharged from physical therapy and much better than where I was. However, there is still discomfort and I have not really put to the test how recovered I am. My longest run since the injury at this point was sixteen miles and my longest back-to-back runs have been two days of twelve mile runs. It’s a huge improvement over where I was in January when I cut the 1.4 mile morning dog walk to 0.25 miles because the pain was so bad, but I’m still not back to where I want to be.

I’ve thought a lot about what this all means for my running habit over the last two months. It hasn’t been easy. I’ve had so many questions and worries: How long will this take to get better? Will this be a recurring injury? What if I can’t run ultras anymore? I’ve tried my best not to let it affect the other aspects of my life, but when running has been such a big part of your life for so long it’s hard to not allow the emotions to bleed out into other areas.

So that’s where I am now: hopeful but uncertain of what the future holds. And I still haven’t answered the question that is the title to this post, “How do you Deal with Your World Falling Apart?” That’s because I don’t have an answer. I have found that I fall back to the two most common pieces of advice I give myself when things aren’t going well for me during a race.

The first being to continue forward progress. Whether it feels slow or pointless, just keep moving. I used this while working through this injury. First, home remedies then the doctor visit and finally trusting the process of physical therapy. All steps I had some skepticism about the value of, but they were something to move in the direction I wanted to go.

The second piece of advice is to grasp hope with everything. This situation has felt utterly hopeless to me at times. I’ve had thoughts that I may have to give up running altogether. Just like in an ultra, when those pessimistic thoughts hit at the lowest points, giving up not only sounds reasonable, it seems like the best possible outcome. It’s in those moments that if you can retain a bit of hope, you just may be able to come out the other side.

Scott Snell

9 April 2026

2025 Big’s Backyard Individual World Championship

    Photo credit: Jacob Zocherman 

A 270 Mile Run that Feels Like Failure

Maybe the title of this race report tells you all you need to know. Big’s Backyard, the Individual Backyard Ultra World Championship, did not go as I had hoped this year. I’m not saying that 270 miles isn’t far or not something to be proud of, but I did have some much larger backyard goals that I fell short of. By mileage alone, this backyard performance still ranks as my third best following my run at Capital 2022 (75 yards) and Big’s 2024 (88 yards). However, when it felt like I still had fuel in the tank, but tapped out at 65 yards primarily due to one nagging issue that seemed to just continually get worse, I’m not sure how it can’t feel at least somewhat disappointing.

 

At the start of the race, all positive at this point!

I want to move on to focus specifically on my race experience this year at Big’s, but before doing so let me give a brief description of the “backayard” race format for anyone reading who may not be familiar. Basically, it is a race of attrition without a set distance. The race continues until only one runner remains. Hence, these races are also referred to as “last person standing” races. So how are runners eliminated? By not completing a 4.167 mile lap every hour on the hour. Every hour all runners start a lap and must finish before the end of the hour. If they finish early, they must wait until the start of the next hour to start their next lap. With that caveat, this race prevents any runner from building a lead, more or less taking away the advantage of speedy runners. The cycle of on the hour lap starts continues indefinitely until all but one runner has opted to not continue running or has timed out. The last runner remaining must run one complete lap more than all other runners within the hour time limit before being named the winner. This leaves the possibility that there could be no winner (which has happened) if several runners go out for a lap and they all time out.

Day one of the race went about as well as any backyard has gone for me. I felt more nervous than normal the first few hours, but I think that was just due to energy of the event and the amount of attention it draws. Having multiple media people running around taking pictures and live streaming the event makes me a little uncomfortable. That combined with knowing the big goals I hoped to achieve and how far off they seemed made me more anxious than I usually am at races. Thankfully though, I had my faithful and dependent crew chief Jaron Holmes there with me again this year to pull me back to Earth and make sure I didn’t forget to have fun. The best joke he came armed with this year that I remember: “Why did the lizard go to the doctor? He was suffering from EREPTILE dysfunction!”

 

Jaron Holmes and Scott Snell before the start of the race.

After 11 hours of running trails and chatting with runners from around the world and my teammates from last year, it was time to switch to the road course for the first night of running. For the most part I was happy for the change of surface and scenery. However, there were forecasts of storms and rain overnight which I was not so happy about. I was hoping the rain would be light or just a quick drenching rain that would pass through, soak everything, and then leave. Unfortunately, it was neither of those. There were heavy rain showers over a good part of the night and into the morning hours. I had a light rain resistant jacket that soaked through within minutes of the first of a series of downpours. I switched to a heavier, nonbreathable raincoat which kept me a bit warmer in the cold rain. Being soaked and cold wasn’t the worst of the storms for me though. I knew that would end and I would dry off. The sun would come up, and I would warm up again. The worst of it was when we were approaching the time to switch back to the trail course. The race organizers made the first of a series of announcements concerning the wet conditions of the trail. At first the announcements left some room for hope: “we may stay on the road for a few extra hours if trail conditions are too wet.” The room for hope of going back to the trail at all for day two started to fade as we continued running the same 2-mile stretch of road out and back, hour after hour, into the second day. For 37 hours straight, 154 miles, that’s what we did. Two miles of road, out and back, repeatedly for two full nights and the day between them.

 

Jon Noll and Scott Snell enjoying a little rest between yards on day one.

My major issue during this race seemed to start during the second night. After the rain had stopped the morning of the second day I switched to dry shoes and socks thinking my feet fared pretty well for how long they were soaked. It was at some point during the second night that my feet just started aching terribly. At one point during the night, we popped my shoes and socks off to inspect and see what we could do. I had a few blisters and a bad case of trench foot. I’m guessing it was for the most part due to my feet staying wet for too long. We drained blisters and taped my damaged toes hoping it would help resolve the issue or at least stop it from getting worse. I’m not sure how much our efforts helped to improve the situation, but it at least felt good to try to fix the issue. As the night wore on, my foot issue seemed to just get worse. I thought about quitting before the sunrise but at some point something flipped in my mind, and I just accepted the fact that my feet were jacked up. I don’t remember it, but Jaron told me later that I just stood up from my cot and said “F it! I’m just going to suffer” and for the rest of the night my demeanor completely changed. As I struggled through the remaining dark hours of the second night, I just looked forward to getting back to the trail and off the road.

 

 Jon Noll and Scott Snell enjoying the weather.

It felt like such a relief when we got back on the trail for day 3 after being on the road for so long. And amazingly, my feet felt fine once I got off the road. The third day of running on the trails was one of the best days of backyard running I’ve had. My feet felt relatively good for having run 200 miles. My legs felt good. And most importantly, I was happy to be there doing what I was doing. Maybe I was just enjoying myself too much because the third day just flew by and before I knew it we were getting ready to switch back to the road course, a change I found myself not looking forward to. It’s a bit odd for me not to look forward to the change of courses during a backyard race. Usually that change is something positive for me. It’s a change of scenery. It’s a target to build towards in a race with no end. This time it was different, most likely because of how long we had spent on the road already.

The first couple yards on the road course felt ok. However, things went downhill quickly after that. All the foot issues I was battling the previous night seemed to come back with a revamped intensity. I tried to tap into the mindset that I had had the previous night of just suffering through it, but this time was different. At some point during the night, I convinced myself that even if I did endure and make it through the night and then still hang on to make it to the 100-hour threshold I so wanted to reach, there was no way I’d be competitive at that point with my foot condition. In short, I had convinced myself I had no chance of being the last one standing, so why even try.

 

 Michitaro Mizuno "Bagman" and Scott Snell.

I went out on my 66th yard expecting to time out but finish one more yard over the time limit. As I headed out, I noticed Harvey Lewis and Jon Noll running together doing a run/walk strategy for the night yards. I had a last-ditch effort of trying to hang with them hoping it would flip something in my head to get me motivated again. It was after the first or second time that they shifted from run to walk or walk to run that I realized how much worse my feet felt when I started or stopped running. I switched to just walking soon after and watched the crowd of runners pull away from me down the road into the night. I knew I was done at that point and tried to enjoy one last introspective walk on the road night course as I shuffled along in the dark.

 

 Laz presents Scott Snell with a commemorative race coin.

It’s somewhat paradoxical how a performance can be something to be proud of, yet you still feel disappointment about it. I tend to feel that way about backyards regularly. When the feelings were still fresh, I wrote a post about this idea. I feel it is a fitting way to close this race report.

"

No filter Friday: 

Running 270 miles in a single go over the course of 65 hours isn’t easy and should, under most circumstances, feel like a big accomplishment, something most would be pleased with. That’s how far I ran and how long I lasted at Big’s Backyard this year and even though it was my third best backyard performance, I still hobbled away feeling disappointment with my  performance. I think it was starting show on my face in this picture during the 59th hour. I share this not because I’m seeking any kind of consolatory words or “attaboy”s from anyone, so I truly hope it does not come across that way. I share it for the raw honesty in the fact that it is ok to feel disappointment when you achieve something that may be a respectable feat, but falls short of your intended goals. It is alright to be disappointed with landing amongst the stars when you were shooting for the moon. Grinding out a solid performance and feeling disappointment are not mutually exclusive. Maybe it’s all just due to my personality or some ultrarunner mentality that has infiltrated my being. Maybe it’s just a side effect of the backyard format itself, to always push to go farther and longer. I don’t have the explanation for the how or the why of them, but I am willing to share my feelings as I expect I’m not the only one.

"

One final note I want to add before I sign off for this report is to give a special thank you to my Mom for the "runner" pasta she sent me. The "runner" pasta and meatballs made for a great last meal at home before I started my trip to Bell Buckle this year. Thank you Mom, love you!

Scott Snell
4 December 2025

2024 Big’s Backyard - Team World Championships

Team USA at the start of Big's 2025

 

Eighty-eight hours is a long time to do pretty much any activity with little to no breaks from it. But that’s how long I ran for at the 2024 edition of Big’s Backyard. For the vast majority of the time, I was happy to continue on, mile after mile. There were a few low points and some loss of motivation along the way, but overall it was one of the most positive backyard running experiences I have ever had. Now, with over half a year passed since I lived it, I am attempting to capture the experience in race report form.

I’ve taken an extended amount of time to let all of the excitement from running and being the last one standing at Big’s to settle before even beginning to write this race report. It is currently mid May 2025, nearly 7 months after the race ended, as I begin to write. Why did it take so long? For all the reasons you’d probably expect; life is busy and I prioritize my time like everyone. When it comes to the order of importance between family life, household chores, work responsibilities, training for other races, sleep, and writing a race report, there are few exceptions when I would be willing to sacrifice time needed for anything else on that list to work on a race report. There’s a reason why it was the last item on the list. Even though I considered my performance at Big’s to be my best race, I still couldn’t alter my priorities. Additionally, my experience running Big’s was tough for me to comprehend completely. It was a race experience that morphed and confused me while I lived it. Which is an idea I’ll go into later in this report but the main shift in the race experience, or at least my perception of it, was due to the strange dynamic of the Backyard Satellite Team World Championships.

The 2024 edition of Big’s Backyard was a Backyard Satellite Team World Championships year, so slightly different than the Individual World Championship competition. The Backyard Satellite Team World Championships are held biannually alternating between an individual competition (on odd years) held on the original backyard course in Bell Buckle, TN and national team competitions (on even years) run remotely as a satellite competition at the home course of each team. The standard backyard rules apply for both types of competition, but there are some intricate differences between the two types of competitions. The primary differences being the team factor on even years and the satellite locations of the backyard courses.

The last two years (2023 and 2022 race reports) I had huge expectations to have my best performance ever and shatter my backyard PRs. Both years were a disappointment for me and I went home feeling unfulfilled and unhappy with my performances. I knew this year would be different. I had a different set of goals altogether in mind going into this race. The top goal was for Team USA to get the team win in the world competition. As a part of that top goal, I wanted to make a significant and valuable contribution to our team’s overall score. Beyond that, I wanted to run a race that I was proud of and happy with regardless of challenges faced and conditions presented during it.

It's hard to beat a Clif bar as for breakfast before a 366 mile run.

Beyond a different set of goals going into this year’s race, I also had a different mindset. I had lower expectations having experienced more hardships in the backyard race format. I’m mainly referring to my performances at Bob’s Big Timber Backyard and Capital Backyard in 2024. Both of which did not go as I had hoped and ended during the second night. Maybe those races just made my backyard race expectations a bit more realistic by showing me how susceptible I am to my race ending unexpectedly before I want it to. Whatever the cause, I felt a bit less pressure to crank out a huge performance at Big’s 2024 than I had in past years. With that being said, I was still extremely motivated to have a big performance since I felt like I had not run a great backyard yet that year.

It’s hard to summarize four days of running, especially something like seven months after and considering the fact many of the memories were formed while substantially sleep deprived and physically exhausted. Much of the experience just seems like a memory of a dream at this point. Even so, some aspects of the experience still stand out and I remember clearly.

My crew and my interactions with them were one of those aspects. I was blessed to have two crew members supporting me at Big’s: Jaron Holmes and Derek Tinnin. I was struggling to find crew leading up to the race and thankfully Harvey Lewis hooked me up with Derek who agreed to crew me as long as I was in the race. I was lucky to get Jaron as crew a little later after the runner he had already committed to crewing withdrew from the race. Jaron had crewed me at Capital Backyard in 2022 and I knew he was as solid of a crew as you can find and that we worked really well together. Having a two person crew is a huge plus, something I had never had at Big’s (previously I had always had a one person crew). Crewing is tough, physically and mentally draining. Having a two person crew allows your crew to tag in and out allowing them to rest and catch up on sleep lost due to crewing their runner.

Me and my crew: left Derek Tinnin, right Jaron Holmes

Derek and Jaron did everything right and all I had to do was run. They kept me well fed, hydrated, and mostly happy. They always had a variety of food and drinks for me to choose from and any time I requested anything specific, they made it happen. At one point, Jaron even managed to get a hold of some steak which he grilled and served to me which was a major highlight of the race for me. I remember being so surprised and impressed at him actually having a grilled steak for me and how amazing it tasted at the time. Earlier in the race, he made a Domino’s pizza run and brought back a ridiculous number of pizzas for many of the runners and their crews. It’s probably not recommended from a food safety perspective, but that Domino’s pizza still tasted good a day or two after as I have a clear recollection of eating a couple pieces as I headed out into the night loops on the fourth night. Thankfully, I never experienced any ill effects from eating the unrefrigerated pizza (kudos to Domino’s!) that had been sitting in a pizza box in our aid tent.

The rest of the crew work was on point too. Jaron came armed with some banger Dad jokes to keep my spirits up.

• Did you know that in Hawaii it's illegal to laugh loudly? You need to keep it to a low ha.

• How does Lady Gaga like her steak? Raw, raw, raw.

In addition to supplying the Dad jokes, Jaron was prepared to keep me motivated and positive by sharing messages from my wife and kids. Multiple times during the interloopal periods he would say “I’ve gotta show you something.” Then he would have an encouraging video message from my wife and kids to remind me who’s rooting for me at home. Not gonna lie, brought a few tears to my eyes. Even more than being prepared with all these motivational tools, Jaron improvised new tools as opportunities to do so presented themselves. All runners of Backyard Team USA were gifted a copy of the backyard ultra book “There is No Finish” at the beginning of the race. Jaron went beyond the call of duty to have Laz sign my copy and write a personal note to me. Then there were the impromptu reactions to dealing with me at low points. Although I feel like I had very few low points over the course of the race, there were a few and on at least two occasions I voiced those to my crew. Thankfully, Jaron was able to say the right thing to always keep me motivated enough to go out for another yard.

Another aspect of the race that stood out for me are all of the road miles I shared with Team USA under the night skies. Big’s utilizes a looped trail day course and a road out and back night course. Runners must complete 11 day loops (7 am - 5 pm) before switching to the night road course beginning at 6 pm for 13 night laps. Most of those 13 road course yards are in the dark with the sun setting during the first hour and the sunrise during the last. The road course is much wider than the trail course, most of which is single track. This allows runners to run side by side on the road rather than being limited to single file formation as we were on the trail. This tends to lend itself more to group running and usually more conversation (when you aren’t too sleep deprived to actually carry on a conversation).

Team USA in the starting corral.

 It was great getting to chat with teammates from the 2022 team and having the opportunity to get to know new teammates. This year I ran with Harvey Lewis a good deal during night yards. Although I had run with Harvey at Big’s in 2022 and 2023, I hadn’t spent much time with him on the road when there’s a bit more opportunity to chat. In 2022 I suffered from a severe case of imposter syndrome and didn’t chat much with anyone. In 2023 with it being an individual competition year, the course was just extremely crowded with 75 runners. During the second and third nights, Harvey seemed to be struggling a bit and was encouraging the rest of us to join him and run as a group implementing a run/walk strategy. I joined the group for probably the majority of those two nights with just a few exceptions when I tried to pick up my pace a bit for more nap time. Running as a group and as a team was a powerful strategy. It helped keep me focused on my major goals for the race: for Team USA to get the team win and for me to make a significant and valuable contribution to the team effort. While running as a group during those overnight miles, it didn’t feel like I was running a backyard. I didn’t feel like I was competing with anyone in the group I was running with. I just felt like we were all running for a common purpose, to accumulate points for Team USA.

The morning of day two, Team USA looking strong!

 

The one night conversation that stands out to me more than any other occurred during the third night. I’m not sure who was all in our group at the time, but I am certain that it included Harvey, Levi Yoder, and I. Midway through the third night we were approaching the 72 hour (300 mile) threshold. At this point we had already exceeded the number of yards run by most of our team to earn their spot this year. The bottom 10 qualifying runners earned their spot on the team with backyard performances that ranged from 49-65 yards. Beyond that, we had three runners qualify with backyard performances in the 70’s (Jennifer Russo with 74, Scott Snell with 75, and Piotr Chadovich with 76). Then there were the two outliers, Jon Noll (98) and Harvey Lewis (108). I had been thinking about this during the third night and how as we run as a team we are likely securing our spots, or at least setting the bar for qualification, for the 2026 team. As I’m thinking about this, Levi basically vocalizes the idea to the group. I was shocked to hear the thoughts in my head come out of his mouth. Maybe we weren’t the only two thinking about it, but it was great to hear Levi share the idea because that proved to me that I wasn’t the only one. I think the conversation bonded us a bit more as a team. Here we were pushing on through a third night as a team, working together to accumulate points knowing that if we all do our individual part we will likely have an opportunity to do it all again with the same awesome group of runners two years later.

Qualification list of 2024 Team USA Backyard
Satellite Team World Championships

 

Midway through the fourth day, 76 hours after the start of the race to be exact, I bettered my backyard PR. It was also around this time that the remaining members of our team still running were drastically reduced. We went from having eight team members at the 300 mile mark to just three a few hours later. Jon Noll dropped after 72 yards. Ron Wireman after 74. Levi Yoder and Greg Fall both ended their races after 75 yards. Harvey Lewis stopped after completing 76. I alluded to it earlier about how my race experience morphed and confused me while I lived it. I believe this combination of bettering my PR, seeing major race goals accomplished, and realizing I would be one of the few runners remaining deep in the race was the catalyst responsible for that change. It was around this point of the race that my outlook and goals started to shift. I felt like I had already achieved my primary goal of making a significant and valuable contribution to our team’s overall score. I was still feeling relatively good and moving forward through unknown terrain with every yard. My focus became more on wanting to find out how far I could push myself rather than how our team would place. With just three of our team remaining (Piotr Chadovich, Meg Eckert, and me), I was presuming most of the team placements had pretty much been settled already. As I ran yards that fourth afternoon, my head was getting bogged down thinking about the strange dynamic of how the Backyard Satellite Team World Championships eventually at some point become an individual competition. I wasn’t prepared for it as I did not expect to be one of the last three runners remaining on the team, but there I was. I had been so focused on the team aspect of the race for so long that the thought of shifting to pushing for my individual performance came as a shock.

The final three at Big's 2024: (left to right) Meg Eckert, Piotr Chadovich, and Scott Snell

Struggling to wrap my head around the shift of team and individual dynamics of the race format, I remember telling my crew at some point during the fourth day that “this is a team effort.” At one point that afternoon I took my one and only fall of the race on the trail. I caught my toe on a rock or root and just could not recover to stay on my feet. I ended up doing a bit of a superman dive and face down in the dirt. I did a quick assessment of myself before I got up. It seemed like it wasn’t bad and as far as I could tell I was uninjured. As I got up and brushed the dust off, I realized how much worse it could have been. Probably less than a foot from where my head had ended up on the ground was a pretty large, jagged stone. I thought to myself how lucky I was that I hadn’t face planted into that rock. As I ran the rest of that yard, I couldn’t stop thinking how close I had come to ending my race with that fall. That’s the point that the thought of the race ending creeped into my head. Once there, it sounded like a good thing. I found myself questioning if I wanted to keep going. It’s dark, but I actually thought to myself about how if I had hit my face on that rock it would have been the end of my race and my ticket home. I knew I had to make a mindshift when those thoughts showed up. Ultimately, it was shifting my motivation to my individual performance that drove me on following that episode. In my mind at the time, team placements had already been decided and my drive to keep going was to push myself as far as possible.

With only two day course yards left, Piotr failed to return on time for yard 81. This shocked me as it had happened so unexpectedly. Piotr showed no signs of struggling to complete yards. I was with him just maybe a mile from the start/finish with plenty of time to make it in when he started to walk and said he needed to make a pit stop. When the bell rang for yard 82 and Piotr had not emerged from the woods I was in total disbelief as Meg and I headed out for another yard as the final two athletes remaining for Team USA. I had just been running with Piotr a few minutes earlier and now his race was over. This reinforced my thought even more that the team aspect of the race had been decided and now it would have to be my individual performance that would have to be my driving force.

 

As the sun set for the fourth time since the start of the race, I found myself coming to terms with and accepting the fact that this was now a standard backyard format, in my mind at least, that would continue until just one runner was left standing. When we switched back to the road from the trail my legs felt good with the change of surface, my mind was thankful for the change of scenery, I was grateful to witness the sun set another time during the race, and I began to gain confidence about running through a fourth night.

During the first road yard of that fourth night, Rudy, the cameraman on site at the Big’s competition location, did what he had done the previous three nights, he rode his bike alongside runners getting some footage to share with the world via the YouTube livestream. The main difference this time was that there were only two runners left to tag along and chat with. Rudy would engage with us a bit and ask a few questions while riding near us. After three nights of it, I felt pretty comfortable with it and enjoyed the chats with Rudy. But by the fourth night, I think sleep deprivation had started to take its toll on my brain function and conversing was a little tougher and felt like it took more concentration than the previous nights. As I talked to Rudy I felt like I was failing to provide any decent content for the livestream as the main thing I remember saying during the chat was just that “I have to keep moving.” It wasn’t meant to be self motivational talk, but just felt like a statement of fact. My only purpose at that point was to move forward and complete yards on time.

The sun was setting on day four. 

As Meg and I completed yard after yard in the dark, we ran most of our miles alone. I can’t say for certain what Meg’s mindset was at the time, but I’m guessing we were both focused on individual performances at this point. It made for some quiet miles on that dark, lonely Tennessee two lane road. With the sleep deprivation, it made for great conditions for shadows to take the shape of random objects along the course. I had the most vivid hallucinations I have ever had during a race during those few hours between the fourth sunset and the end of the race. My four year old son was really into construction machines at the time and I started seeing shadows that looked like large excavators, bulldozers, and dump trucks. This was in addition to the animal faces that my brain usually forms for me in trees and shrubs during sleep deprived backyard night loops. Then during the last few night loops visions started forming in the gulleys alongside the road. At one point I thought I saw the roadside was completely littered with McDonalds happy meal boxes. Later the same area produced the most realistic vision I’ve ever had, a group of kittens hiding amongst the stone in the gully just watching me as I ran by. This was the only hallucination I have ever had where I actually stopped to look more closely to make sure it was not real.
 

As my mind was playing tricks on me and keeping me entertained with visions, Meg’s body was causing her some struggles. I wasn’t aware until I was on my way back from the turnaround of yard 85. The Big’s road course is a single out and back with a couple turns. It’s about a half mile between the final turn and the turnaround. When I made that turnaround I didn’t see a headlamp anywhere in the half mile stretch of road. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I couldn't help but think that Meg may have turned back. As I ran back it started seeming more and more likely with every step I took without seeing a headlamp round the corner. Eventually, Meg did round the corner, but it seemed like she would be cutting it very close to the cut off. As we approached each other, she stopped to tell me that she was having issues and didn’t think she would make it back. I kept the conversation as short as possible and told her that she had time and could still make it. I believe I said not to waste time talking to me and just keep moving. And that’s what she did.

This led to the most stressful part of the race for me. The whole time coming back after that conversation all I could think about is whether this was my last yard or is she going to recover and we will run through the rest of the night? When I got back into camp it only got worse. Everyone in the timing tent was talking about how she wasn’t going to make it. I assume they were basing this prediction on her recorded time at the turnaround (halfway) point of the road course. I overheard this talk and stopped to ask a few questions as I headed back to the start/finish to complete my yard. I tried to tell them that she was still moving well and not that far behind me. I was trying as much to convince myself that this race wasn’t over as much, probably more so, than I was trying to persuade any of them. I completed my yard and went and sat in my chair and waited. It felt like the longest interloopal period of the race. Some race volunteers were saying that she was done and there was no way she would make it back and others standing at the road shouting encouragement into the dark. I tried not to think about it and just focus on doing what I had to do to keep going but that was a losing battle given the excitement and commotion going on at camp during those few minutes. Eventually her light became visible from camp and there was a huge cheer from the onlookers. Meg hammered it in and completed yard 85 with only about a minute to spare.

At that point I knew I was going back out. I thought maybe she was spent. Maybe just one more. But that’s what the backyard always requires: just one more. Meg completed yards 86 and 87 closer to the pace she had been running before the close call. As we started yard 88 at 10 PM, I believed we were going at least until sunrise. When I hit the halfway point and started back from that yard, I was shocked again not to see a headlamp. I was not about to put myself through the mental stress again of wondering if it was over or not. Even though I didn’t see Meg’s headlamp, I just kept telling myself I would have to go back out. I came up with several scenarios as I ran back to explain why I didn’t see her headlamp. I told myself that she may have just turned her headlamp off and I didn’t notice her when we ran by each other, certainly possible in my sleep deprived state. I also thought that maybe she turned her headlamp off to make a pit stop along the road and I passed by without ever seeing her, still a pretty feasible scenario. My last explanation was less likely, but I wouldn’t totally rule it out. That scenario was that for whatever reason, Laz had decided to change the road course to an out and back in the opposite direction and I wasn’t aware. I thought maybe Meg would already be back at camp having completed the “new” road course. That was completely just fabricated in my head and not reality.

 

As it turned out, Meg was back at camp when I got back; she had headed out on yard 88 then turned back soon after due to persisting calf issues. I never let myself believe that I was running my final yard of the race the entire return trip until I got back to the light of camp and Jaron was hollering and cheering for me that we had done it. I crossed the line, hugged Jaron and Derek, and then sat down in a camp chair in the corral to be congratulated and chat with everyone still at camp. It was a surreal feeling sitting in that chair in Laz’s driveway after running the most yards of anyone on our team. I felt like I accomplished my goal of making a valuable contribution to our team, but it appeared it likely would not be enough. I asked and Laz informed me that our team's current second place spot would likely be lost to Australia as both Phil Gore and Ryan Crawford were still running and only about 15 yards behind us. However our hold on third place was pretty safe. When it was all said and done, Belgium would take first place (1,147 team yards) and set a new world record with Merihn Geerts, Ivo Steyaert, and Frank "the tank" Gielen all stopping after 110 yards. Australia would take second with 971 yards and Team USA came in at third with 969 yards (team results spreadsheet). 

When I first applied for a spot to run Big’s in 2018 I wasn't sure if I would ever actually have the opportunity to run the race. I never would have expected to be the last one standing at Big’s when I first hit that “waitlist” button on the Ultrasignup page, but there I was with the single commemorative gold coin in hand surrounded by my crew, teammates, and all of the race support volunteers that helped me achieve my greatest backyard performance. The only thing missing in the moment was my wife and kids that have always supported my persistence to put in the work to improve in the backyard format but I knew they were watching and cheering for me at home. And soon enough, after a little rest and a recovery run, I would be on my way home to celebrate with them.

When I finally knew it was over.

Scott Snell
8 July 2025

Photo credit to Alyssa Justice Photo

2025 Capital Backyard Ultra

 

Who Says You Need Clear Goals to Achieve Success?

It’s kind of tough going into a backyard without having really clearly defined goals, but that’s what I did for this year’s edition of Capital Backyard. Granted, I had a list of items that I would be happy to see accomplished but for the most part they really weren’t specific black and white items that I could check off as completed. The primary goals were to enjoy myself and run a race that I was proud of. Obviously, measuring success there is a bit more ambiguous than a goal such as complete x number of yards. My measure of success for those two goals could also very well fluctuate throughout the course of a backyard; news alert - backyards aren’t always fun and enjoyable for me from start to finish. Even though I prefer the clarity of binary goals, these two were my focus at Capital 2025 in large part due to my current status for the qualification standards for Big’s 2025 and 2026. As the gold ticket winner of Big’s 2024, I am guaranteed a spot at the World Individual competition at Big’s 2025, so there is no pressure this year to secure a spot in the starting corral. My 88 yard run at Big’s last year also gives me a pretty comfortable spot on the at large list for the 2026 US Team; currently #1 of the eight available at large slots for the team. While it’s not a guaranteed spot, it would require eight US runners putting up a greater than 88 yard performance between now and mid August 2026 to knock me off the at large list. It’s certainly possible, but I do not believe it is highly probable. Hence my lack of feeling pressure to put up a huge performance at Capital this year and why my goals were a bit more open ended.

With my less than definitive goals in place, my headspace was a little funny leading up to the race. Thankfully, I had a chance to chat with Marty Fox (my running idol that crewed me at Big’s 2023) about it while setting up my aid tent the Friday afternoon before the race. I’m not sure if Marty knows it or not, but he’s kind of my unpaid, unofficial sports psychology coach. After talking with Marty and voicing my concerns, I felt better about my plan as a whole. He seems to always give insight and guidance that helps to right my ship.

 

Race Director Sarah Smith giving final instructions before the first yard.

My biggest concern and a factor that was pretty much out of my control this year was having my family join me for the race, the first time that had happened in about four years (last time being at Backyard Squatch). My two older sons would be my primary crew while my two younger sons would be there for moral support and to cheer on all the runners. My wife, Amanda, had the toughest task of keeping our wildlife out of trouble, mostly happy, and fed. I was confident my two older boys could handle crewing me with no problems as they have done it before multiple times (Bob’s Big Timber and BS Backyard) and both times impressed me with how well they handled it. My main worry was my two younger boys (ages 2 and 4) and Amanda’s stress level at keeping them entertained and safe for several days. I say it often, but it bears repeating, my wife is a saint. It was comforting to know that in the worst case scenario Amanda could bail from the race and take the little guys to a nearby hotel.

A live stream of the start.

After what I felt like was a pretty darn good backyard training block, all the travel logistics sorted and fallen into place, and the aid tent set up was complete, it was the morning of the race and I had my whole family there to cheer for me. It felt great and I was feeling extremely confident before the yard 1 bell rang. The only thing missing was other members of past USA Backyard Teams. The last two years of Capital had felt like mini Team USA reunions, but this year I was the only returning Team USA member running Capital. It was nice catching up with them after the last couple years so I missed that, but it also gave me the opportunity to meet and run with other backyard runners. There were a couple runners that had been the last ones standing at races that ended too early to qualify them for the team (Steven Carr, 33 yards at Little Dog’s Backyard) and Julian Long, 44 yards at Death at Dupuis) so I was looking forward to running some yards with them and getting to know them. This also leads to one of the factors I was using to assess whether I ran a race that I was proud of. I wanted this race to be an opportunity for any backyard runners looking to earn a spot at Big’s this year or on the team next year. If I could play a role and assist in pushing the distance of Capital this year for another runner to qualify for either of those, that would have been an accomplishment to be proud of regardless of whether my race ended as the last one standing or not.

Day 1 went smoothly for me and I felt like I was causing minimal stress to my body, largely in part thanks to the ideal temperatures we were treated to. The forecast leading up to the race called for high temperatures of around 70 °F Saturday - Sunday, a huge change from the higher temperatures I had run through at Capital the previous three years. With the less stressful temperatures and keeping my body well fueled and hydrated, I was expecting this would be a great year to push the distance of the Capital course.

Day 1, enjoying dill pickle chips with the crew!

Night 1 was as smooth and painless as running through the night can be. I battled some drowsiness off and on, but that is to be expected. I was trying to avoid caffeine as long as possible to fall asleep more easily between yards and bank more sleep expecting the need for sleep in the long run with the distance I was expecting the race to go. Around midnight it became too much for me and I needed some caffeine as I found myself dozing off during walk breaks. I chugged half a can of Rockstar energy drink and put my headphones on just before 1 AM between yards 17 and 18. It gave me a bit more of a boost than I had planned and I ran my fastest yard (47:44) of the night. The pace increase was short lived, but it did keep me from dozing off while upright.
 

An animated chart of my yard splits.

By sunrise, we had already lost nearly half the field of runners with only 17 remaining of the total 37 that were in the starting corral for yard 1. The drop that hurt the most was Marty Fox. At 74 years of age, Marty dropped after 19 yards only 5 yards short of a 100 mile backyard performance. I really thought he was going to get his 24 hour backyard this year, and I was really sad to find out he had dropped.

As day 2 progressed, runners continued to thin out. I was surprised because the weather and course conditions were great. I was expecting a long race, potentially pushing the course record beyond 75 yards. I still hoped for it, but with the declining numbers it seemed less and less likely. Eventually, the field declined to just five runners: Steven Carr, Julian Long (both mentioned earlier), Andrew Janeway, Megan Alverado, and myself. Andrew was the assist to Steven’s win at Little Dog’s last year and the two of them seemed to have a fun, friendly competition going between one another. I thought this was awesome as it would fuel both of them to continue to push far. Megan I was aware of because she was mentioned in a Capital Backyard predictions Reddit thread I was looking at leading up to the race. This was her first backyard, but she is an accomplished 24 hour runner and has represented the US on the National 24 hour team. With that background, she was a bit of a dark horse at her backyard debut. I hadn’t talked to her at all during the race because she was running her yards way faster than I was running mine. She was looking strong all the way through the second day as was Julian. Steven and Andrew were just talking about trying to survive into the second night. With only a few hours of day course yards left, I was expecting Megan, Julian, and I to run through the second night and push the distance of the race but the backyard always has surprises.

I spent most of the second afternoon running with Steven, Julian, and Andrew as a group. For the sake of strategy to try to push us all farther and make the upcoming night yards more manageable, we formed what we called our “wolf pack” and did a little howling. As we headed out howling for the first night yard, Megan didn’t take off fast out the gate as she had been consistently doing. I was surprised when she matched my pace as we ran the first out and back of the night course which was cool because one more member of the wolf pack would help get us all through the night. We chatted a bit during that time and I didn’t really pick up on the fact that she was struggling until she said she was thinking about stopping. Initially I thought she meant just taking a walk break but she meant the race as a whole. I tried to be encouraging and offered to run together through the night if she thought it would help. We talked a little about her goals and I suggested setting surviving the night as an additional goal. This interaction brought me back to my race goal of running a race that I was proud of. In order for me to be proud of my race, I had to give it my best shot to encourage her and keep her in the race. Eventually after a little walking and talking, she said she would finish the yard on her own and told me to run my pace. In retrospect, I wonder if I could have said more or something else that would have reignited a drive to continue on through the night, but what, I’m not sure.

One fueling option, although I think my crew drank more of it than me 😅

So in extreme contrast to what I had predicted just a few hours earlier, the final three runners in the race were Steven, Andrew, and me. Julian unexpectedly timed out on the second night yard (38) and Megan went out for one more after that which she timed out on. At this point, Steven and Andrew were both moving well and I thought the three of us may make it through the night. Just a few hours later, Steven hit me with the surprise that he had made the decision to end his race and stop after the current yard we were running, yard 41. I’m not sure of his entire thought process in his decision, but he seemed confident in it and just asked that Andrew and I get a picture with him at the end of yard 41.

In what felt like a whirlwind development, the race was down to the final two runners. Andrew was still moving well so I still thought we would make it to sunrise. But again, the backyard surprised me. After completing yard 42 with no apparent issues serious enough to be race ending (Andrew had mentioned that he was experiencing some acid reflux) I emerged from my tent about 10 seconds before the bell to start yard 43 and didn’t see him. I scanned the edge of the corral and there Andrew was hunched over in a chair just outside the corral line with his head in his hands. Then the bell rang as his crew and a race volunteer tried to stand him up and I heard someone say “it’s too late.” Having just woken up from a quick nap and still being groggy, I wasn’t sure what was going on but I thought he was hunched over vomiting. All I knew for sure was that to follow the backyard rules and not be disqualified myself, I had to begin forward motion out of the corral when the bell rang (as per Backyard Ultra Association rule 3.3: “All competitors must start at the bell (No late starts)” - https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=123339). As I walked out of the corral to start my unexpected final yard of the race I just said to Andrew that I was sorry the race ended this way.

I ran my final yard with mixed emotions. I was happy and relieved I would be the last one standing and secure another win at Capital, but at the same time I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that the race would end far sooner than I had expected and had prepared myself mentally to go. I returned to find Andrew bundled in a blanket and laid back in a zero gravity. Still thinking that he failed to get in the corral due to stomach issues, the first thing I said was how sorry I was that the race ended that way and so abruptly. Andrew told me that shortly after I left to run that yard he passed out. It turns out he wasn’t vomiting or about to vomit, but was about to pass out. After hearing that, I was relieved that he didn’t go out on that yard and pass out after getting out on the course. As scary as it was to hear he passed out at the corral, it would have been far worse and scarier if it had happened out on the course. Thankfully, he seemed fine after a little rest in the chair and the next morning after a few hours sleep he was in good spirits and seemed in pretty good shape all things considered.

The finish with Andrew recovering.

Although the race didn’t go as far as I expected or planned for, it felt like a huge success for me. I felt like I accomplished my two goals going into the race: to enjoy myself and to run a race that I was proud of. I felt like I ran a race that displayed determination and the results of consistent and dedicated work towards a goal for my two older boys crewing me to observe. On top of it all, all my family (wife and little guys included) also had a great time which was probably the greatest relief for me of the entire experience. Amanda enjoyed it so much that she was checking out races on Ultrasignup within a day or two of our return home to find other races that looked ideal to merge a family camping trip with a race! After seeing that, I’m pretty sure there will be more races in my future where I’m happily loading up all of our camp gear for another family camping/race adventure and I couldn’t be happier about it!


Scott Snell
4 June 2025