Not that race, but my wife has done one of the races by that company. They are definitely smaller races and sort of closer to "no frills" type of events. That said, my wife said the race was well organized and the staff were really great.

Looks like Freetrail is now doing a weekly live "Rest Day" episode on mondays. Not exactly a Mountain Outhouse replacement, but feels like it'll definitely be a longer form topical news type show.

Also, sounds like Hans is moving to either Golden or Boulder.

Well, my race calendar is filling out. I decided to go ahead and go for Three Days at Syllamo, weather permitting.

I signed up for Flint Hills 50 in Kansas in April. Doesn't look like the most exciting race, but it will be good for training.

Sedona 125.

And now I'm 8 on the waitlist for Yeti 100.

I'll also be signing up for Loup Garou 100 in December.

I might do some local races between May and October or try to pick up some pacing duties somewhere.

Flint hills area isn't the rocky mountains, but its a pretty area.

Looks like Singletrack is doing a weekly news show now too.

aggiespartan said:

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Do you need space for a lot in the back? I can carry a third bottle with my Salomon sense pro 6 but the back pouch is smaller. I don't usually carry that much in back for most races though.

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totally missed this. I can (and have) throw a bottle in the back of my salomon back, but i have to take the pack off to unzip and get the bottle out. The terignota pack has a vertical space below the main storage compartment for a bottle. I can reach around and that third bottle out while on the move, without removing my pack.

The Sense Pro 6 has a slot to slide in a bottle on the bottom that you can access while running.

i think i have the advance 6 or whatever its called. def doesn't have a spot for an extra bottle. I got in on the pre order for the Terginota pack so it was like 70 bucks. figured it was worth a shot.

Yea, definitely doesn't fit in the adv skins, but I've used it several times on the Sense Pro 6. Fits a soft flask perfectly. That pocket in my adv skin is kind of useless. Either stuff doesn't fit or it falls out.

Anyone running/pacing at Rocky Raccoon 100 this upcoming weekend? I'll be out there pacing a friend on the 100K.

No races for me until Panther City Ultra 50K in April, but pacing is always fun.

I got pulled (and re-entered)from the waitlist multiple times for the 100, but ultimately decided not to do it. Rocky was my first hundred. As much as I hate loops, its a great race, especially for first timers.

I'll be helping at Damnation aid station from noon to midnight. Good luck! The race almost made me hate trails but im going back to see it from the other side.

Thanks! I've really enjoyed being out there at Rocky as a Pacer. In 2023 I unexpectedly had to pace the final 40 miles when the final loop pacer failed to show up. It was my friend's first 100-miler, so it was nice to be part of her struggle and success.

And last year, I paced miles 80-100 getting a different friend across the line with only 26 seconds before the 30-hour cutoff. It was a thrilling finish, as she was way off pace after loop 4, and I was relentless in pushing her to make up the time she lost, and to finish before noon.

I'll never run Rocky, but both of the ladies continue to ask me to pace for them at events (Habanero, Dino Valley, Brazos Bend) so I'll keep on pacing for them as long as they'll tolerate me and my pacing style haha.

My runner just dropped Rocky. Twisted her ankle a couple days ago on a training run and still feeling pain.

I was already in 'trail' mode and looking forward to being out there.

if you watch the Tejas Trails FB group, i'm sure there's someone who will be looking for a pacer. Either that or just show up and i'm sure you can find someone mid race who would love company.

Great suggestion - I'm going out there mid afternoon and will either pace or volunteer. I need some miles for my upcoming Panther City 50K anyway and would love to help someone hit their Rocky goal.

Barkleys started.

Holy crap. Early this year.

Expected, but black canyon is starting crazy fast.

Molly killing it so far

aggiespartan said:

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Molly killing it so far

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Down to 4th. This section after deep canyon is fairly non technical for a few miles before they get back on single track. Will be interesting to see if she surges on the easier terrain.

Yea I wasn't sure how she'd do in the second half. She's got a bit of a learning curve too.

Looks like Hans is finally going to put together a crazy Black Canyon.

Heck of a race. Let's see who gets the last ticket and then its time to watch this fantastic women's race.

Molly got the golden ticket!

I think its a great outcome. She got the ticket and probably learned a bunch, but didn't show up and destroy the field.

No barkley finishers again this year.

I had to come up to waco for work, so I stopped to run in Cameron Park. I forgot how great those trails are. I basically ran around aimlessly, but if anyone has a good route to run or ride, Id be interested in checking it out next time.

That was a fun one. Great way to break up the monotonous miles through the year too, I bet.

It's been a rough few months on this side. After DNFing Wildstrubel 70k in September (came into mid point aid station 4 minutes late) I felt pretty down. I know I'll always be the type of runner who chases cutoffs at a lot of races but since the DNF was due to speed rather than injury it felt like all those deposits made in training were for not. I still logged some miles to finish out the year. Hit my annual birthday runathon (40 consecutive days of 4.0 miles to celebrate 40 years) but it was without much joy. Signed up last minute for a trail marathon locally in December to finish out the year but it didn't feel very strong.

Come the start of 2026 I was set on rebounding and had my eye on a 50k locally around Kathmandu in April or a 50k out in the western part of Nepal in May (or maybe both). 4 weeks ago I rolled my ankle and ate it bad on a trail and have been recovering since. Tried a few easy miles yesterday and it was still quite uncomfortable and has been sore since. 4 weeks of lost time and lost fitness has made me nix anything this spring and honestly I'm struggling to even want to get back on the horse.

I think the only thing moving me forward is knowing I'm at an age where if I don't continue soon, I might never continue.

I've been going through the exact same thing minus the injury. DNF'd in May, half heartedly ran a race in October and didn't do nearly as well as I wanted. I went a couple of months without running at all because I was trying to figure out why I was even doing this if I can't get any better. I have my first 50k back tomorrow. My training has changed a bit. I've traded some miles for strength more training. It's really hard coming back from a failure, especially when everybody around you thinks it's still an amazing accomplishment. I know, every DNF is a learning experience, blah blah blah, but my mind still tells me I failed. Hopefully at least being around the community helps.

Turk Turkleton said:

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That was a fun one. Great way to break up the monotonous miles through the year too, I bet.

It's been a rough few months on this side. After DNFing Wildstrubel 70k in September (came into mid point aid station 4 minutes late) I felt pretty down. I know I'll always be the type of runner who chases cutoffs at a lot of races but since the DNF was due to speed rather than injury it felt like all those deposits made in training were for not. I still logged some miles to finish out the year. Hit my annual birthday runathon (40 consecutive days of 4.0 miles to celebrate 40 years) but it was without much joy. Signed up last minute for a trail marathon locally in December to finish out the year but it didn't feel very strong.

Come the start of 2026 I was set on rebounding and had my eye on a 50k locally around Kathmandu in April or a 50k out in the western part of Nepal in May (or maybe both). 4 weeks ago I rolled my ankle and ate it bad on a trail and have been recovering since. Tried a few easy miles yesterday and it was still quite uncomfortable and has been sore since. 4 weeks of lost time and lost fitness has made me nix anything this spring and honestly I'm struggling to even want to get back on the horse.

I think the only thing moving me forward is knowing I'm at an age where if I don't continue soon, I might never continue.

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I struggled a lot after my DNF at AC100. I already had something else on the calendar, so That didn't let me fester too long, but it definitely took a bit to dig out of that hole. I think we all go through it. I wasn't even coming off an DNF and yet REALLY struggled through the first few months of this year, just had zero motivation. That was due to being very, very close to moving near mountains and then having that fall through, knowing I was going to be slogging out hot, humid, flat miles again this year. However, I'm about to start training for AC100 again and I'm actually super excited to get back at it.

I've just found that motivation is a bit different these days. Maybe its just because I've been running so long that things have shifted or maybe its simply b/c I'm well past 40 and my mindset is a bit different. Last summer, I found that subbing in a long mountain bike every other week instead in place of a long run really helped. The bonus was that I didn't just hang up my mountain bike for months on end, but it gave me something to look forward to other than a long, humid run. And strangely, I have more people to ride with than run with, so it was nice to actually have company for a ride instead of months of solo running. It probably also kept me feeling fresher because it was less wear and tear on my body. I'm going to do that again this summer.

I guess all that to say, see if you can mix things up somehow to create some excitement.

most recent video. This was last year's Leona Divide 100K

Thanks for the encouragement, crew. It's really appreciated.

Looks like Courtney's making a last minute entry into Chianti this weekend. It's not quite the stacked men's field from last year but it'll still be fun to see her and Rachel battle a bit.

Three Days at Syllamo

I did the 50k and 20k (so only 2 days). The trails up there are hard. And the cutoffs are too. This is a hard race series for back of the pack runners. They are progressive cutoffs, so you have to run faster in the beginning - you can't just be very consistent. They decided to extend the cutoffs for the 50k to anybody that could get back before dark. They did pull a lot of people though. I got back around 7:30 and probably had the fastest 8 mile stretch I had during the whole race. I didn't want to get to the end and have the guy feel like he shouldn't have let me continue.

This race series has a great community, and people who do this race every year. I'd recommend it, but you need to look at the cutoffs. The second day is a 50 miler, and a lot of people go into that with the mindset that they are going to get pulled. If you want a big challenge, any of the 3 days would be good. It's pretty difficult for a flatlander to train for anything like that.