Earlier today Hardrock announced a partnership/sponsorship with Karl Meltzer’s ‘Speedgoat Trail Running Co.’ and that made me think how far this name has made it. What started (most likely) as one of those old school ‘trail names’ that folks who thru hike give each other, has become Karl’s brand identity, but so much more, right?

• Hoka’s Speedgoat shoes are legendary and were created in partnership with Karl. But in a stroke of genius Karl never gave away the rights to the name ‘speedgoat’. And you’d think a brand like Hoka would GIVE A LOT to own that name outright in the trail space.
• But no, there’s also the Speedgoat Mountain Races by UTMB. That event Karl sold to UTMB/Ironman and again he was able to keep the name for himself.
• And not just as a ‘personal trail name’ but he still (or started up again) his Speedgoat Trail Running Co. offering coaching, running retreats and selling gear on his website.

According to the US Trademark office Karl has owned the trademark for ‘Speedgoat’ for over a decade, which might explain with neither Hoka or UTMB were able to pry it away from him. Kinda brilliant, I must say.

Mallory Arnold writing for Outside Run and summarizing the entire saga, but I’ve posted about all this here already, so I just make one point:

On May 17, German endurance sport speciality shop Sports Hunger released a video stating that they, too, had Awesome Sauce gels tested by a third party, and allegedly found that each packet contains 16g of carbs instead of the 45g that Spring Energy claimed.

“The maker of Spring Energy assures us that they will rework their manufacturing process to ensure that they will again reliably achieve their high numbers that they declare to have,” a Sports Hunger representative says in the video. “We hope that this is really going to happen because we believe that natural food for many of our customers is a great alternative to the regular gels.”

The second half, the English translation of Jonas’ words, is taken word for word from my translation I posted here on Electric Cable Car. Mallory, it’s okay to link to someone’s work and crediting them when using it in your research and article – just a thought.

Reddit again coming through with user ‘Simco_’ posting the full timeline of events in the ongoing Spring Energy saga.

I’ll add a couple more:

• Koop posted another lengthy video on May 29 to Instagram that got deleted before I could watch it.
• The Feed has since pulled Awesome Sauce from their product catalogue.

There’s a lot at play here, but it comes down to accountability. Spring put a number on their product that just wasn’t real. They lied about their product. That’s the end of it. The New York Times finds a million words to avoid using the L word when businesses or other people in power lie, but in the end that’s what it is. Now athletes, coaches, runners, buyers of $4 gels, including me, feel duped and upset. They blame their poor performances on the product are asking for refunds and are wondering about class action lawsuits. Where this will ultimate lead to I don’t want to speculate. It sucks. Trust is eroded, unfair competitive advantage was gained in the market place, people were taken for a ride.

But there’s another conversation happening. That one that goes beyond some people being upset at Spring’s misleading claims. Jason Koop has used this blow up to continue his ongoing cyberbullying against Megan and David Roche and Sage Canaday. Remember we didn’t need Koop’s lab results that “he paid so graciously out of his own pocket”. Sport Hunger had done some testing and there is an ongoing GoFundMe campaign to get a larger variety of products tested. When you watch the full video that Koop posted on his Instagram account you get a sense that the reason why he jumped on this is not because “he wanted to get to the bottom of this Awesome Sauce issue” but because the results could further his vendetta and campaigns against other ultra running coaches. I’ve heard about this ongoing issue for a while now and have choses to stay out of it. I’m not here to understand why there’s so much animosity or who deserves what in this fight, but what I do wonder about the tone and necessity of the attacks.

(…insert something here about freedom of speech but not of consequences…)

In the past my focus and posting policy here on ECC has been to comment only on ‘company policies and/or decision’ not on individuals. But I wonder if this self-restraint is misplaced in a case like this.

Ethan Newberry posts on a IG story:

“Always on team support and uplift vs shame & bully (unless it’s UTMB, cause fuck them)…”

So maybe it’s time for me to recognize that these folks aren’t just individuals, but are brands and businesses in themselves and maybe it’s time I comment on these statements and actions after all.

We talk a lot about trail culture and how special our sport is, but this here on display feels like personal attacks that create an unsafe atmosphere? Online, in the comment sections of the respective social media posts the war is already raging. Yes, we’re supposedly dealing with adults here (at least if we count their age and not their behavior). Everyone here is a grown-up and can block, delete, hide and manage their social profiles. But, inevitably this spills out into the real world, doesn’t it? These folks find themselves at the same events and races, supporting their athletes and working side by side each other. Are we okay with this sort of bullying in our sport?

The question I am asking myself is not where the line is to be drawn, but who gets to draw it.

Are there any adults in the room that will speak up and “call a spade a spade”?

LIVE: This weekend (June 1, 2024) on our Global Race Series Calendar:

mozart 100 (yes, lowercase mozart – it’s a German language thing) is happening this weekend. mozart 100 is one of the original “big events in Europe” and was part of the original Ultra-Trail World Tour.

Immerse yourself in the magic of the world-famous city of Mozart and experience an unforgettable adventure on the trails along the beautiful mountain backdrop and through the breathtaking and diverse nature of the Salzburger Land, crowned with a unique finish in Salzburg’s UNESCO-listed old town.

The races aren’t full on remote mountain races but the courses wind themselves close to the city of Salzburg around the nearby hillsides. Very Austria, very picturesque.

Follow the races live on the UTMB live tracking website.

Find more trail races on ECC’s Global Race Series Calendar.

Currently the product is not available in their online store for purchase anymore. Probably the last few sales all were sent to a lab somewhere anyways.

The Feed still has the product in stock.

Jason Koop sent Spring Energy’s Awesome Sauce to a lab to get tested and what others have been reporting seems to repeat itself. Spring’s Awesome Sauce numbers are just not at all what is printed on the package. As this is becoming more and more clear (and we still haven’t seen comparable products tested to compare Spring to the rest of the industry) we probably can can begin to talk about Spring’s disastrous public response to this, or the lack there of. Will Spring Energy survive this? The product is tasty, but also quite expensive and in a crowded field with competitors popping up seemingly every other month how could they possibly rebuild the trust with their customers? And beyond their relationship with their customers, how will their athletes and ambassadors respond to this?

(Linking here directly to the lab results report.)

The Trail Running Film Festival for “your couch” is happening this week! From May 30th to June 11th watch our incredible lineup of films for our Official Selection for 2024:

• IZTA – by Rabbitwolf Creative  
• KNOW TO RUN: YATIKA – by Jordan Marie Whetstone, Devin Whetstone  
• RED NEEDLE – by Dom Bush and Simon Sylvester  
• BRIAN REYNOLDS: THE LEADVILLE TRAIL 100 – by Michael Grasela  
• RUN LIKE A KID – by Guy Tucker  
• GIRLS RUN ULTRAS – by Ellie Windham and Christine Rivera  
• WELL WORN LIFE WITH DANI REYES-ACOSTA – by Daniel Mitchell and Trent Sugg  
• NOW – by Steven Mortinson  

Get your tickets, watch anytime from anywhere and as often as you like. Join us! And help us raise cash for filmmakers to create their next incredible projects.

The Mountain Ultra-Trail by UTMB happened this past weekend (May 24-26, 2024) along the beautiful and magical Garden Route on the south eastern coast of South Africa. Check here for my pre-race coverage.

Below are the top finishers, for full results visit UTMB live:

MUT Miler (163K – 4 Stones)

Women:

1. Maria MARINCOWITZ – South Africa – 32:15:29
2. Sveta BECKER – South Africa – 32:43:55
3. Janet WOODHEAD – South Africa – 35:23:41

Men:

1. Douglas PICKARD – South Africa – 22:25:26
2. Christiaan GREYLING – South Africa – 24:43:28
3. Brandon HULLEY – South Africa – 26:10:17

MUT 100 (98K – 3 Stones)

Women:

1. Natalia MASTROTA – Italy- 13:29:49
2. Kerry-Ann MARSHALL – South Africa – 13:51:50
3. Simone MALAN – South Africa – 15:22:50

Men:

1. Axel SLEEBUS – Belgium – 11:48:51
2. Michael MOLYNEAUX – South Africa – 12:40:20
3. Thato KABELI – South Africa – 13:20:57

MUT 60 (58K – 2 Stones)

Women:

1. Emily DJOCK – USA – 07:17:18
2. Brigitte JOUBERT – South Africa – 08:42:51
3. Michelle ROLFE – South Africa – 08:46:09

Men:

1. Andreas LUNDEGÅRD – Sweden – 06:08:50
2. Kane REILLY – South Africa – 06:22:34
3. Admire MUZOPAMBWA – Zimbabwe – 06:22:34

MUT Marathon (44K – 2 Stones)

Women:

1. Rebecca KOHNE – South Africa – 04:52:52
2. Maryke VAN ZYL – South Africa – 05:07:51
3. Sabrina DAOLIO – South Africa – 05:22:44

Men:

1. Ryan SANDES – South Africa – 04:12:00
2. Robert RORICH – South Africa – 04:30:37
3. Iain PETERKIN – South Africa – 04:32:20

MUT Challenge (25K – 1 Stone)

Women:

1. Mila Bianca GELDENHUYS – South Africa – 02:12:36
2. Lijan BURGER – South Africa – 02:12:40
3. Lisa Kathryn GEFFEN – South Africa – 02:20:15

Men:

1. Philani SENGCE – South Africa – 01:49:01
2. Jacques DU PLESSIS – South Africa -01:49:11
3. Underson NCUBE – South Africa – 01:49:15

MUT Lite (11K – 0 Stone)

Women:

1. Jandri SNYDERS – South Africa – 00:58:53
2. Bailee NELL – South Africa – 01:01:23
3. Esrie LOOCK – South Africa – 01:03:04

Men:

1. Sindrino MATTHEWS – South Africa – 00:47:20
2. Luan VAN DER VYVER – South Africa – 00:47:48
3. Lunga NOLAKANA – South Africa – 00:48:34

Overall Mountain Ultra-Trail saw 1,518 starters and 1,450 finishers for all the events combined. Below are the numbers broken down by distance and gender:

• 100M Starters: 54 – DNF: 7 – Finishers: 47. Women: 7 (15%) Men: 40 (85%)
• 100K Starters: 83 – DNF: 17 – Finishers: 66. Women: 10 (15%) Men: 56 (85%)
• 58K Starters: 187 – DNF: 12 – Finishers: 175. Women: 36 (21%) Men: 139 (79%)
• 44K Starters: 403 – DNF: 21 – Finishers: 382. Women: 136 (36%) Men: 246 (64%)
• 25K Starters: 454 – DNF: 9 – Finishers: 445. Women: 218 (49%) Men: 227 (51%)
• 11K Starters: 337 – DNF: 2 – Finishers: 335. Women: 208 (62%) Men: 127 (38%)

In total the event saw 1,450 finishers. 615 (42%) women and 835 (58%) men reached the finish line and earned themselves stones and an UTMB index (or directly punched their ticket to the Finals in Chamonix for 2025).

So far for 2024 Mountain Ultra-Trail is the second smallest event in the UTMB World Series – only Desert RATS has been smaller so far. MUT has a fairly high percentage of local participation as seen on the countries represented on the podium. The overall gender split across all events looks pretty promising, although it’s somewhat skewed by the high percentage of women in the two short distance events, where combined more women than men were at the starting line.

Next up on the UTMB World Series Calendar we’re heading to Salzburg, Austria for the famous Mozart 100 on June 1st. “The hills are alive…”

Love everything about that project:

Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) systematically documents and monitors long-term glacier changes in the Swiss Alps. GLAMOS is operated jointly by the ETH Zurich and the Universities of Fribourg and Zurich and is in close contact with the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere observation (SCC).

Small geographic area, lots of money, big history of applying smart design to visualize data. And most importantly the identity of Switzerland is wrapped around “snow-covered peaks”. Mountains are in their DNA. The Swiss need these mountains to “stick around”. Climate change is already wrecking havoc on some of the areas, but if there’s any country that can lead us into a carbon-neutral future while keeping the standard of living at a level expected for our western world it will be Switzerland. What would the visuals of trail racing in the Alps look like without the stunning backdrops of massive glaciers against the blue summer sky?

In a world where I’d get a career do-over I’d become a scientist and study glaciers. Fascinated by them.

Via Sander Meijer on Mastodon.

LIVE: This weekend (May 24 – 26, 2024) on our Global Race Series Calendar:

The UTMB World Series is heading to Africa. The Mountain Ultra-Trail by UTMB along the Garden Route in South Africa is happening this weekend – the area around George is a beautiful place and I’d love to get back there sometime. Six different races will be offered, from a full 100M to a an 11K intro race.

Almost 2,000 runners head to the city of George on the Western Cape ready to uncover the paradise and biodiversity of the Garden Route National Park, the wild Outeniqua Mountain Range, and the passionate George Trails community.

Follow the races live on the UTMB live tracking website.

Find more trail races on ECC’s Global Race Series Calendar.

UTMB continues its expansion in Asia by adding its first event in Malaysia:

Malaysia Ultra-Trail™ by UTMB®, formerly known as the Malaysian Mountain Trail Festival has joined the UTMB World Series and is set to welcome runners from around the world to Taiping and the incredible jungles of northwest Malaysia. The 2024 event will take place from 14-17 November, with entries opening for UTMB Index holders on 4 June while general registration opens to all runners on 6 June.

This brings the total list of events in the UTMB World Series to 44:

• Europe (including the Finals in Chamonix): 21
• North America: 8
• Asia: 7
• South America: 3
• Oceania: 3
• Africa: 2

The Electric Cable Car UTMB Events calendar is updated.

Via Local Florida News:

Family members said the men were taking part in the Keys 100, a 100-mile race from Key Largo to Key West, when they were struck.

Keys 100 is a 100-mile point-to-point running race from Key Largo to Key West for both individuals and teams and held mostly on roads.

This is literally the worst and I feel for everyone involved.

This is only the second year for this event and it’s already selling out at almost 5,000 runners. The beautiful and magical Trail Alsace Grand Est by UTMB happened this past weekend (May 17-20, 2024) in the Alsace Region of France. Check here for my pre-race coverage.

Below are the top runners, for full results visit UTMB live:

UTDC (171 KM – 4 STONES)

Women:

1. Jenny JOSEFSSON – Sweden – 24:04:30
2. Francesca CANEPA – Italy – 26:35:00
3. Isabelle WASMES – Belgium – 29:10:02

Men:

1. Sébastien SPEHLER – France – 17:24:21
2. Florian PIERRE – France – 18:17:19
3. Clément DESILLE – France – 18:51:27

UTDP (116 KM – 3 STONES)

Women:

1. Anna CARLSSON – Sweden – 12:26:01
2. Jennifer KAISER – France – 13:04:20
3. Simone SCHWARZ – Germany – 13:53:06

Men:

1. Théo DETIENNE – France – 10:12:25
2. Régis RUCHAUD – France – 10:44:38
3. Xavier DIEPART – Belgium – 10:52:35

TDC (50 KM – 2 STONES)

Women:

1. Marie GONCALVES – France – 04:29:31
2. Megan MACKENZIE – South Africa – 04:38:15
3. Diane RASSINEUX – France – 04:48:31

Men:

1. Sammy CHELANGAT – Kenya – 03:33:31
2. Benedikt HOFFMANN – Germany – 03:43:20
3. Kipsang CHEBOI – Kenya – 03:43:41

TDP (34 KM – 1 STONE)

Women:

1. Émilie TISSOT – France – 02:58:12
2. Noémie LE GOVIC – France – 03:10:46
3. Stéphanie CAPPELLE – Belgium – 03:18:53

Men:

1. Dominik TABOR – Poland – 02:20:33
2. Dorian LOUVET – France – 02:46:00
3. Ludovic BOUR – France – 02:48:35

Overall Trail Alsace Grand Est saw 4,818 starters and 4,210 finishers for all the events combined. Below are the numbers broken down by distance and gender:

• 100M Starters: 637 – DNF: 256 – Finishers: 381 Women: 18 (5%) Men: 363 (95%)
• 100K Starters: 1,231 – DNF: 299 – Finishers: 932 Women: 111 (12%) Men: 821 (88%)
• 50K Starters: 1,734 – DNF: 33 – Finishers: 1,701 Women: 312 (18%) Men: 1,389 (82%)
• 20K Starters: 1,216 – DNF: 20 – Finishers: 1,196 Women: 437 (37%) Men: 759 (63%)

In total the event saw 4,210 finishers. 878 (21%) women and 3,332 (79%) men reached the finish line and earned themselves stones and an UTMB index (or directly punched their ticket to the Finals in Chamonix for 2025).

I know I’m repeating myself, but the whole idea of running through this historic landscape filled with castle ruins gives me everything. I love this event. One year!

Next up on the UTMB World Series Calendar we’re heading down to South Africa for the Mountain Ultra Trail by UTMB along the Garden Route in George, South Africa on May 24 – 26, 2024.

Down Under’s largest trail race and self-proclaimed “the world’s second-largest Ultra-Trail” Ultra-Trail Australia 2024 Results by UTMB happened this past weekend (May 16-19, 2024) in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. Check here for my pre-race coverage.

Below are the top runners, for full results visit UTMB live:

UTA100 (100 KM – 3 STONES)

Women:

1. Beth MCKENZIE – USA – 10:41:43
2. Lucy BARTHOLOMEW – Australia – 11:00:34
3. Stephanie AUSTON – Australia – 11:11:17

Men:

1. Michael DIMUANTES – Australia – 09:01:24
2. Shaun PETTIT – Great Britain – 09:55:27
3. Josef MCGRATH – Australia – 09:56:55

UTA50 (48.8 KM – 2 STONES)

Women:

1. Kate AVERY – Great Britain – 04:46:25
2. Sarah-Jayne MILLER – Australia – 04:49:13
3. Margie CAMPBELL – Australia – 04:52:35

Men:

1. Charlie HAMILTON – Australia – 03:57:19
2. David HAUNSCHMIDT – New Zealand – 03:59:41
3. Clément DURANCE – France – 04:05:16

UTA22 (21.8 KM – 1 STONE)

Women:

1. Sara LEVETT – Australia – 02:05:43
2. Jess RONAN – Australia – 02:10:04
3. Joanne MILLS – Australia – 02:11:54

Men:

1. Pat HENNESSY – Ireland – 01:45:05
2. Ben DUFFUS – Australia – 01:47:22
3. Billy CURTIS – Australia – 01:48:14

UTA11 (12.1 KM – NO STONES)

Women:

1. Rosie BOYN – Australia – 01:15:31
2. Mikayla MCLEAN – Australia – 01:21:47
3. Tessa PAXTON – Australia – 01:24:18

Men:

1. David BYRNE – Australia – 01:02:19
2. Elijah GOSBY – Australia – 01:02:22
3. Keeden HARRISON – Australia – 01:04:54

Overall Ultra-Trail Australia saw an astonishing 6,809 starters and 6,538 finishers for all the events combined. Below are the numbers broken down by distance and gender:

• 100K Starters: 1,523 – DNF: 207 – Finishers: 1,313. Women: 240 (18%) Men: 1,073 (82%)
• 50K Starters: 2,151 – DNF: 46 – Finishers: 2,103. Women: 764 (36%) Men: 1,338 (64%)
• 22K Starters: 2,282 – DNF: 9 – Finishers: 2,273. Women: 1,284 (56%) Men: 989 (44%)
• 11K Starters: 853 – DNF: 4 – Finishers: 849. Women: 515 (61%) Men: 334 (39%)

In total the event saw 6,538 finishers. 2,803 (43%) women and 3,734 (57%) men reached the finish line and earned themselves stones and an UTMB index (or directly punched their ticket to the Finals in Chamonix for 2025).

These truly are BIG numbers for Ultra-Trail Australia. They are a bit skewed, as essentially half of them come from the 11K and 22K events which aren’t really “ultra distances”, but nonetheless Australia delivered a massive trail running event, wow.

Next up on the UTMB World Series Calendar we’re heading down to South Africa for the Mountain Ultra Trail by UTMB along the Garden Route in George, South Africa on May 24 – 26, 2024.

The whole “live streaming trail races” continues to evolve and expand. And Western States continues to blaze the trail. Rather than JUST trying to find knowledgable folks, having great personalities behind the mic is valuable.

Callie Vinson and Scott Traer will be taking over the show after Corrine Malcolm and Dylan Bowman’s coverage of the elite finishers:

This year’s livestream is gonna be extra wild with your usual pros anchoring all day long and then when the sun goes down, well, that’s when we’ll come in as your late night commentators.

Even though I myself am rarely watching any of it I think live-streaming is a terrific addition to our sport. Maybe if the personalities draw me in, rather than the action, which in long ultras can be a bit more of an in-action, then maybe I will get hooked on this thing. Live streams are also a terrific platform for more personalities to shape our sport.

Another tidbit of information comes from Corrine Malcolm in the comments on that IG announcement:

…there is a Google form going out to ALL participants to gather stories, their whys, and all the good stuff…

This is obviously super cool. Hardly scalable to a large field of runners, but for Western States this is perfect.

Via Press Email:

UTMB Group strengthens its commitment to clean trail-running

• 100,000 Euro investment in 2024
• Tests conducted by the International Testing Agency (ITA), an independent organization
• Creation of UTMB World Series anti-doping rules in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
• Educative training program for elite athletes and their managers to support and guide them in their practices

This announcement directly connects to yesterday’s status update on doping controls in trail running. And as Jason Koop pointed out in that post, these steps are incremental, probably not enough to catch everyone, but it’s pointing in the right direction.

Corrine Malcolm for PTRA adds (this was shared via the UTMB press email!):

“The anti-doping testing and framework that you’ll see implemented as in-competition controls as part of the UTMB World Series this year is more than a year in the making. We (the PTRA) are incredibly happy to be working with the team at UTMB Group and at the ITA to take what is the first of many steps forward when it comes to safe and fair sport in trail and ultrarunning. We recognize that in-competition controls are just one of many steps needed, and will continue to work with UTMB Group and the ITA to carry out athlete, team, and race personnel education. I want to recognize that this is no small feat and commend UTMB Group for putting up the financial resources to make this first piece of the puzzle possible.”

Just yesterday I was wondering out loud about the PTRA on a different matter. Great to see their work carry fruition, and yes, it’s again in partnership with UTMB.

Speaking of Cocodona, for 2025 the 250 mile distance race is already sold out*.

*We are hopeful that we will be able to accept additional entrants in a few months time as we go through our 2025 permitting process.

Per UltraSignup: 2023 saw under 200 runners. 2024 had close to 300. This year the team had some permitting issues and had hoped to allow more spot to be filled. For 2025 they opened conservatively with 250 spots and the sold out in under a month. Aravaipa smartly opens registration during the current year’s event, while the hype and stoke is high from folks following the live tracking and streaming.

So a 250 foot race mile race that can take up to 120hrs, requires a team for support to follow you along for days and costs $1,600 to enter sells out in just a few days. Destination Trail offers 4! 200+ mile events and they are all sold out. We seriously live in crazy times for our sport.

Singletrack – Episode 305:

Ben Mead is a finisher of Cocodona250 2024. After months of training, he almost didn’t make it to the starting line, and then just after a few miles his race seemed over before even the first nightfall. But, with his team by his side Ben rallied, adjusted, and gritted his teeth all the way to Flagstaff. The stories of humanity these ‘multi-day mega trail races’ like Cocodona generate are truly something special, and this is Ben’s story.

Links

• Ben Mead is Chasing Cutoffs on Instagram
• Cocodona an Aravaipa Running event
• Cocodona RD Steve Aderholt on Singletrack
• Cocodona winner Maggie Guterl and finisher  Staci Revel on Singletrack

A road marathon, in my hometown, on streets I run often, and in fact have run all once before. This is the Capital City Marathon, a Boston Qualifier with deep history and steep hills (compared to other road races, I am told). This race happened this week, and after over a decade calling Olympia, Washington my home I decided to sign up and race it.

I’ve never run a road marathon before. Once a 5K fun run for my kids’ school, but never a full marathon, all on roads, all on pavement. But that’s what I did this weekend.

I finished in 4:44:08, which isn’t something to write home about, but I achieved my goals: I wanted to run the whole thing, I wanted to finish closer to 4:30 than 5:00. I didn’t want to feel like shit and give up and walk. I did all that and I’m proud of it. I ran consistent and smart, fueled well, enjoyed myself – for the most part (the last 5miles were pretty tough – it got hot and so it became a bit of a grind).

Why did I as a trail runner and mountain lover run a road race?

Yeah, why?

Two reason really:

• Logistics: My A race goal this year is OCC and with that come tons of logistical challenges. Therefore I wanted my spring tune up race to be simple, cheap and straightforward. So a hometown race made sense.
• Speed: I am slow, still super slow by road marathon standards, but my hope (and my coaches suggestion) is that if I dedicate a portion of the year to road running and focus on speed then this should help me and translate into faster mountain running. Will this work? We shall see.

Did I love it?

It was fun, yes. So “simple”. Just run, keep your pace, don’t stop, fuel at the aid stations without trying to break stride, just keep going. One foot in front of the other, until the end.
The simplicity of it all made it beautiful. And yes, this being my first one I understand that the complexity comes in when you’re actually trying to improve, get faster, and fine-tune all the little things.

But compare this to a trail race. Even a reasonable short and local trail races has so many more logistical challenges for you. And running the same miles on trails is longer, so much stuff can go wrong with your body, you need to fuel more and better and you need to think of other elements. And don’t forget the terrain changes requiring different physical skills. In a road marathon all you do is run – easy.

Was it hard?

I was depleted when I finished, I pushed really hard the last 3 miles. So to stay committed to that goal and not give in and walk was hard, yes. But overall, compared to probably any other trail race I’ve ever run this race was easy.
Maybe next year, when I realize how hard it is to improve my performance I learn how hard it is to run a road marathon. For now, I’d say this was easy, easier than trail, and yes, because its’ still less than 36 after I finished and I’m still on that runner’s high, I’d say: of course I’ll do that again. Running a road marathon once a year makes total sense – sign me up again.

Back in March the Skyrunner World Series announced their partnership with Chinese electric car maker Aiways. When the announcement broke I wondered:

I’m curious if this announcement will generate any online chatter?

A few days ago on Instagram the Skyrunner World Series posted a photo of one of their electric vehicles.

• Results: 2 comments positively supporting the post.

That’s it. No negative barrage of outrage comments, no response from The Green Runners.

Which makes me wonder, aside from UTMB has the Pro Trail Runners Association, addressed any other organization, race management company or outdoor brand directly?