They said I was crazy, like I haven’t heard that before.

It was 95°F and fairly humid. I’m not a fan of hot weather, so I pulled on my Patagonia Puckerware shirt and pulled up to the starting line. Casual and cool, I didn’t overheat and actually I won the singlespeed category. (more…)

In this photo from Windsor, I’m obviously still smiling, floating inches above the Canadian soil and hanging on to a sub-6:30 minute per mile pace. I had originally planned on keeping a 6:30 pace from the gun. My racing partner Joe Deighan said he’d do the same. That first mile was 6:20 then 6:15. I slowed down as Joe continued to push the pace up and over the Ambassador Bridge.

Our pace changed during the next 21 miles.

Still, I hung on for a 2:52:59 finish, almost beat a bonking Kenyan, and qualified for a pilgrimage to the Boston Marathon.

The International Ice II Race is from Drummond Island (U.S.) to St. Joseph Island (Canada) and back for a total of 22 miles. The trail follows the ice bridge which marks the main snowmobile route between these two islands which are at the very east tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

It was a balmy 5 degrees Fahrenheit at the start.
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Originally published in Local Dirt (#5), the MMBA Southeast Chapter newsletter:

One of the big buzzes in sports these days is off road duathlons and triathlons. There are at least four of these races in Southeast Michigan this year.

Yesterday was the Addison Oaks Duathlon: a 2.4 mile trail run, 8 mile mountain bike, and a 2.4 mile trail run. The standard Addison Oaks mountain bike course was used for both biking and running. There were two challenging 4-mile mountain bike laps.

The weather was perfect: warm, sunny, and not too humid. I’m guessing there were around 60-70 participants competing as teams or individuals. I decided to do the whole enchilada. As the race began, the fast runners flew off the front, the fastest guy running sub-6 minute miles. I recognized two guys as the State’s top mountain bikers (one expert, one Pro-elite) and we ran together at around sixth position. With a mile to go I picked up the pace, adding five beats per minute to my heart rate. (more…)