I’ve mostly used two running vests in my trail running career. The first was a Mountain Hardware vest that I don’t even recall when or where I purchased it, and the second was an Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest (Anton Krupicka edition) I picked up in 2018. Those two vests have served me for me for […]
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This year I’m compressing my running and biking review posts down to just one post and talking broadly about the trackable activities I did over the year. Broadly, this was a MUCH lower intensity year than I’ve had for a while. I got in just over 2100 miles throughout the year across running, biking, walking/hiking, […]
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I started my running career using a Petzl Tikka+ headlamp that got the job done, but after a year I decided to up to a Black Diamond Spot. Both of these headlamps were solid choices and they helped me through a lot of late night and early morning runs. Yet, as the calendar keeps moving […]
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This weekend I’m pacing and crewing a friend of mine at a 100 mile race out of state, and as luck would have it, I was reminded that 6 years ago I completed my first (and only so far) 100 mile race. It got me thinking about how many races I’ve run over the years, […]
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I was never a Boy Scout, but Mike was and a few years ago he heard about a new trail race starting up on the site of the Philmont High Adventure camp. He had been there a few times as both a youth and a troop leader and was excited to experience the place as […]
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Here in Minnesota we’re now solidly in early spring weather and that poses unique challenges for people who like to be active outside. In the dead of winter you know what to expect… it’s cold, possibly windy, and there’s most likely snow. You dress appropriately and go get it done. In summer it’s also somewhat […]
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Even though I’m a Liberal Arts guy, I’m a collector at heart and stats fill that inner need to acquire new information all the time. I’ve been a subscriber to a service called VeloViewer for many years, which is a website that ingests all your Strava workout data and lets you slice and dice it […]
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When I said the odds weren’t in my favor for completing Arrowhead, I at least assumed I’d be starting the race. However, the universe had other ideas, and unfortunately I didn’t set foot on the race course at all this year. We drove up to International Falls on Saturday, enduring a hundred miles or so […]
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As long-time readers of this blog will attest, I’ve had a pained relationship with Altra shoes. When I was first introduced to the Timp 1.5 I fell in love with it and the Timp 2s became my go-to shoe for many years. I skipped the 3’s, and had a struggle with the 4s before Altra […]
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2023 ended up not being quite the year I had planned when it came to running. I had some goals that I set at the beginning of the year, and unfortunately, only a few of them were accomplished in the way that I wanted. I had set a goal of three gravel trail based races […]
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It’s been a couple months since I posted here, and so I thought it was about time for a general life update post. August through October is always a crazy time in our lives with the fall running and biking calendar packed with activities. Between heat in the summer and cold in the winter, some […]
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As I start writing this race report, I’m still not 100% sure how it’s going to end up. I have a lot of thoughts running through my head right now about how the Badger 100 went for me. Perhaps some catharsis will happen as I process everything onto the written page? There’s a lot of […]
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