Latest / Run Mountain Peaks / The Man Who Beat Mt. Ascutney | Conor Brown

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The Man Who Beat Mt. Ascutney | Conor Brown · Run Mountain Peaks

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OK, this week we have Connor Brown, the man, the myth, the
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guy who beat Mount Escutney last fall at the Mount Escutney
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Vertical Backyard Ultra. The one finisher.
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He goes for 200 miles, 108,000 feet of climbing and descent in
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a single effort over 4 days. Bonkers, Absolutely bonkers.
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Highlighted in Ultra Runner Magazine.
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So well deserved. Guy's a beast.
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We talked about his background, him getting into hiking in the
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4000 footers in New Hampshire, hiking the AT in 2022, coming
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back, doing 224 hour repeat challenges on Mount Unkanunic or
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the Unkanunic Mountains North and South.
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We talked about some of his races.
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We talked about Bubba's. He's done Bubba's three times.
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He's going back this year. Yeah, dude is.
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Dude is a super strong runner, strong hiker.
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If he's not a robot, he's a phenomenal athlete, just a stud
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and super nice and funny. Guy makes me laugh.
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He cracks me up. So it was a good interview.
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Stick around, listen to it. But before we get into this
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episode, we're going to do a quick 62nd training tip.
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We've done this one before, but I think it's very important.
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Hillstrides at the end of a long run, a lot of people do strides.
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Hill strides is good for speed, power, turnover.
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But I think doing them at the end of a long run during a big
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week of ultra running training, it reminds your legs, hey, even
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if you're tired at the end of this long ultra, we can turn
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over, we can run fast, we can be strong, and it's something that
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everyone wants to finish an ultra strong.
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So I think you should do a little bit of that in your
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training. If you have any questions, let
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me know. Yeah, but that's the tip today.
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And here's the episode. Boom.
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All right. Connor Brown with the Run
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Mountain Peak shirt. Holy smokes.
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In studio. What's up, man?
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Not much. Thanks for doing this.
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Thank you. We got it.
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We got like maybe an hour and a half.
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I'm thinking until it rains. I was literally Googling today
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like does this equipment stand the light rain?
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But we may get wrapped up early here, but we're going to get
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everything. I want to hear the full Connor
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Brown story because when I first heard of you, you did the 24
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hour on White dot. Right.
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That's right. Yeah.
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How many laps is that? That was 48 laps.
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OK. So you did 48 laps on White dot
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and then like two or three weeks later it seemed you did it on
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the incline trailer on Communic? Wasn't 2-3 weeks, so it was a
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little less than two months. Two months, OK, so under two
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months, but still crazy. And I'm thinking, I mean the
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white dots are crazy, like repeat.
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But then the incline trail like that great.
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I'm like, who is this? Yeah, that was not fun.
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So and then obviously mount a scut a Scutney ultra runner
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magazine. So epic.
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Oh yeah, that was really cool. So I want to talk about all
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this, but like, where? Where'd you come from?
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How? How did you get into doing this
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stuff? You grew up in Gothstown.
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Grew up in Gothstown. I did cross country, track and
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field for three years of high school, sophomore, junior,
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senior. After that, I kind of phased
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into the hiking scene, didn't run anymore.
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And then, well, I did the Appalachian Trail in 2020.
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Two, OK, so for when you started getting into hiking, were you
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doing it locally? Were you going to the Whites?
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Going to the whites. I tried to make it to the whites
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almost every weekend. OK, every Saturday.
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Were you doing 4 KS? Were you doing lists?
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What were you doing? Four KS Yeah, I tried to get my
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first round of the 48 and oh gosh, 7/22. 1020 OK, so that was
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how you got into hiking and then the AT this is, this is
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something on Ryan's podcast. I didn't really ask him about
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the AT too much. I felt I like I should have.
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But what like inspired you to do the AT?
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So it's 2022 you went. Yeah.
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So almost every Saturday when I was hiking up in the Whites, I
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would hike with my friend Josh, and he was doing the Appalachian
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Trail 1022, since it was 10/21, because I'm doing it next year.
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You should come. He kept putting that bug in my
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ear. Yeah.
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I'm like, oh, well, I don't know.
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I have work or so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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But then I was like, oh, you know what?
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I'm going to be working all my life.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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We got to go now. Why don't I give this a shot?
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Sounds like a lot of fun. So I went with him and we ended
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up with two more people. Group of four took us 128 days.
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Yeah, over four months. Did you know, like did you do
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any fast packing like long, long, you know, overnights in
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the whites or did you just jump into a full like?
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So, well, we did a couple. I did a couple like weekend
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backpacking trips with my friend Steven.
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Actually I did one in New York. I did the great range.
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Oh, OK. Traverse nice with Josh, I think
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that was November 2021, like just before I made my decision
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that I was going to go through hiking Yeah, with them little.
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Trial. Run, yeah.
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But other than that, other than like a day or sorry, a night or
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two, that was it. Yeah.
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Yeah, beforehand. So when you were obviously it
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sounded did that guy Josh, had he done it before this?
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He was just playing it for the first time too.
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I. Know he's playing it first.
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Time, first time too. So were you guys just like
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getting the gear? Were you weighing stuff for your
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kit? Because I know through hikers
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are very particular about weights, what is in their gear?
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Were you like getting Intel from anyone or you're just trying to
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like put together your own kit? Yeah, I got Intel.
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I watched like the same video from someone who hiked it the
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previous year. OK, I watched the same video to
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dial in exactly what he did, what I can do.
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It worked out pretty well. It was, I don't know.
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What's your name? It was Cody.
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It was New Hampshire hikers buddy.
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OK. That she hiked with in 721, I
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think. Nice.
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So you just base your. Stretch, I think was this
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stretch. Yeah, that's a good one Stretch.
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Yeah. So you just got your kit and you
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kind of went. So I haven't done a ton like
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obviously I've done the AT in New Hampshire, but it's getting
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pretty popular when you're going there.
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Like is there lots of like gear on, you know, on the route that
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you can get? Like are there like through
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hiking, hiking shops that you can kind of like tweak your,
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your gear or do you really just roll with what you have?
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Yeah, there's Outfitters along the way.
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There's a few. I know there's one in Hot
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Springs, NC. I made some minor gear changes.
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That's I think it's mile 280 or so, minor gear changes.
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I didn't really have to do any big gear changes along the way.
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I think it worked out pretty, pretty well.
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Yeah. I mean, everything I do, I try
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to dial in, dial it in beforehand to make sure you
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know, I'm, I'm good to go. Yeah, good prep.
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You know, I'm supposed to wing it.
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That's that's smart. That's very smart.
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What were your thoughts on some of those southern trails?
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I've been down to Asheville, NC, so I've been to that.
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I ran Hellbender there, so it was on some of those trails.
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But what what did you take, like starting in Georgia?
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Like, was that the first time you've been down there on those
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trails? Oh yeah, yeah.
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Yeah. Much different, yeah.
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Is it open country in Georgia? I know North Carolina gets more
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wooded. You know, as you get up you get
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more wooded, but is there more open?
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Yeah, the woods do change a little bit.
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When we were down there, the tree, the trees, the leaves
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weren't on the trees yet. So we were able to see it looked
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pretty open. Yeah.
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So when the leaves are on the trees, you probably won't be
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able to see as much. Yeah.
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Yeah, makes sense. Not much of views in the spring
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or the in the summertime, but yeah, it's definitely more open
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than up here, that's for sure. Yeah.
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Yeah. Did you like it, though?
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Did you like being down there? You think you'd go back?
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Yeah. Change of pace?
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Absolutely. Yeah.
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Yeah. No, it makes sense.
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And then how, how did the whole experience go?
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Were you halfway through? Like, Oh my God, we got another
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1000 miles to go Or like, did you have any injuries?
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Like how was the whole thing? Injuries.
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No, probably just some foot pain here and there at night.
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But I would I would roll my foot with a cork ball.
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That would work really well. I still do.
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That a cork ball, is that like a like a baseball size?
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It's like a maybe, maybe smaller than baseball, but bigger than a
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golf ball. OK, yeah.
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And I can't really compare a site sports size to.
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That yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And just rolled out and yeah, yeah.
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A tennis ball works too, but a cork ball, I think it works a
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little better and it's also smaller and lighter for the
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pack. Yeah, so.
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Yeah, now that's cool. When you got up to the Whites,
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are you like pumped to be back in the Whites like home turf?
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That was something, yeah, yeah, that was.
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It's very different being up there when you started from
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Georgia. Yeah, Holy cow.
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Yeah, yeah. That is, that is crazy.
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Whenever I see someone on the trail with like those big packs,
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I'm like, are you coming from Georgia?
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Like that's where you started? Yeah, that is insane.
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There there's some points on the AT where people would ask like,
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oh, where you coming from? I'd be like Georgia, like.
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Whoa, that's like the ultimate they're.
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Probably looking for like a trailhead or something.
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I was like, I'm coming from Georgia.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so awesome.
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That's sweet. And then you finish.
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Did you finish as a group all together?
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Yeah, we had a. Group of four.
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The group of four. Yeah.
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And. And is this where the is that
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the captain? Is that your trail name?
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Is that where that came from? With the captain's head?
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Yeah. Kind of.
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What is that? What does it give us?
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That story? How did that start?
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OK, so it it starts pretty much right out of high school.
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That's what my friend's nicknamed me, the Captain.
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Oh, OK, so this goes way back because I was going to say just
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from running with you a little bit, you are kind of a captain.
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You you lead the way. I'm I'm going with this guy so I
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could I could see it. So this goes way back.
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This is not just your trail stuff.
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Yeah, and then I think it was 2021 again.
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I noticed just looking at the map seeing where I would want to
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go next. In between South Hancock and
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Mount Kerrigan, there's a mountain called the Captain.
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Oh. That it it kind of mimics the
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Captain El Capitan. Yeah, Yosemite.
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Yeah, wow, I didn't even know that.
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Yeah, and it has no trail, so it's a bushwhack.
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So I'm like, I mean, OK, I'm up for the challenge.
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I I have to do? It.
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Yeah, yeah, I got to go. So I bought a captain's hat of
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Amazon, I think, for that, Yeah. And I've just been wearing it
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ever since. Oh, dude, that's awesome.
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Yeah, that's awesome. So that's the first part.
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Like, I mean, my child name is the Captain Frost.
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OK. And then a month before we set
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off on the AT, Josh and I made a silly decision to hike up AL's
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head, I think the day after 16 inches of snow.
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Oh boy. And I ended up getting frostbite
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on my oh big toe. No.
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Yeah. Oh man, was it a cold day or did
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you just like not have good shoes or it?
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Was cold. Everything.
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Yeah, and. Just your big toe.
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Just a big toe. Oh my gosh, what does that look
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like? I've never had.
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Frostbite. So maybe it was frost knit, but
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it was it was close. Yeah, it goes from either start
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some, you know, your toe is or any part of your skin is white
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to red or red to white and then purple and then black.
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OK, I didn't get to black, I got to purple.
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Yeah. Yeah, so I got really lucky.
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Oh, God. But since I got frostbite, that
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area will get cold faster. Yeah.
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And easier. Yeah.
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So 1 cold morning in Georgia. I mean, I had to heat it up with
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my portal self. So, Captain Frost.
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OK. Oh man, that is awesome.
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That is awesome. Does it does it bother you at
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all? Like to this day, is it just
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cold? Still not.
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As much. As much, yeah.
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So. I had a finger in college.
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I dislocated a couple to once in just playing basketball.
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I just located a pinky a couple times and this pinky gets cold
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faster than all my other digits just because like lack of, I
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think it's probably a little bit different, but lack of
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circulation, some sort of injury.
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But it is kind of kind of weird. I mean, we're always up in the
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whites where if you know, you can get into conditions where
13:52
stuff gets cold quick, so. Oh, for sure, you.
13:54
Got to be on top of that stuff. Oh, that's awesome.
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That's a good, that's a good. That's a good story, man.
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That that that exceeded expectations on my have.
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Oh nice. Yeah, no, that's awesome.
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So the AT, so you got back from the AT, is this where you kind
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of started hearing about like ultra marathons, ultra efforts
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and started thinking about those the two on community 24 hour
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challenges? I don't know how I heard about
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ultra. Honestly, I probably heard it
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from Philip Karsha. OK.
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I think after that or even beforehand, I started following
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him during like peak COVID I think and I saw him do a 24
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hour, multiple 24 hour projects going up and down his hometown
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mountain. Which you said.
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Which you said, yeah, yeah. And I was like, oh, this would
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be super cool to do it on Bianca Unix.
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Yeah. And I didn't really know what I
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was going to do at first, either north or South or what trail or
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whatever. I was like oh I'll just do 2
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separate days for both. Wow.
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So you went for like you want to both off the off the RIP, I
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guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So you landed on the White dot Trail, which for anyone that
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doesn't know, it's like a little over a half mile, 750 feet of
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gain and you did 48 times, so 2848.
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So 2 times every hour and and you just hiked that, right?
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Were you just hiking that you didn't do any running just.
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Power hiking. Yeah, yeah, that is, Yeah, that
15:30
is crazy. I mean, so do you know how much
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of earth that was in 24 hours? Can we do math right now?
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I can't do it if. You well, I didn't have a watch.
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I just used the the Strava app. So it's probably not that
15:42
accurate. Yeah, yeah.
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But it that did say 34,000. 34 feet.
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That makes, I mean, I think that makes sense.
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Yeah. Over in Everest, cause I've,
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I've paced, I don't know if you know Scott Patnode, but I paced
15:56
him on an Everest on a white dot and he's a crusher.
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He's like an old school ultra guy here in Western states like
16:03
20 years ago or something like done a bunch of these races.
16:06
And towards the end of that, you know, going up and down that
16:08
rocky trail, he was, he was in so much pain and I think he got
16:13
an Everest, but not 48 laps. So that is crazy.
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So the white dot I almost understand because it's kind of
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undulating. It's more rocky, it's more
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engaging. You get like a good view at the
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top, you know, over to over to Manchester and South on Kanunik.
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I'm not, you know, I haven't had any interest in doing laps
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things yet. I think maybe one day, but then
16:36
deciding that you want to do that on the incline trail at
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South on Canoonic is ridiculous. Yeah.
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Were you more into were you like this is not going to be a fun
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because it's pretty much one grade gravely rock.
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Yeah, it is one grade. It doesn't doesn't really stop.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, train for it.
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I was like, oh, this is going to, this is going to.
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Yeah, I was like, I can't wait till this is over.
17:05
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not even done with it yet.
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Yeah. How many do you do on the on
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that? That side I did 58. 58 yeah OK
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so I know it's a little bit less climbing yeah but it's still I
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mean that's crazy it's. Still, I think the grade is
17:19
slightly more. Yeah, it's steeper.
17:22
Yeah. Yeah, steeper.
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Yeah. 58. Oh, my God.
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Did you have a lot of people come out, come out for these?
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You had a you had a few. Yeah.
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Yeah, I think there was, there might have been more people at
17:35
least at once on North. That was super cool.
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Yeah. Well, getting multiple laps
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themselves, I think getting their own PR's, yeah.
17:45
And that got me going as well, Yeah.
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Seeing other people do. Yeah.
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Yeah. That's awesome.
17:51
Now that is sweet. I remember that was like when I
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first heard of you. Like, they were like, you know,
17:55
I don't know who told me there were a couple of the unconuted
17:57
guys. Like, you know, you know, Connor
17:59
Brown, this guy from Goffstown, he used to do this 58 times or
18:02
whatever. Yeah.
18:03
Oh, my gosh. So that was 2022.
18:07
No 23. 23 So after the AT, yeah. And then and then you started
18:12
hopping in some of the ultras. I know you did Manchester to
18:14
Monadnock. Oh yeah, that was 2024.
18:18
So I guess my first ultra was after that in 723 for Bubba's.
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OK, That was, yeah, that was my first.
18:28
One OK, 2023 Bubba's. Yeah.
18:30
How did that go? How was that experience?
18:32
That was cool. I, that's probably, I mean, I, I
18:37
guess I just love repetition. Yeah, you love so.
18:41
I was. I was used to it that whole
18:43
summer. Yeah.
18:44
And then instead of going up and down, you just go around in the
18:49
woods. Yeah, flatter though, so this is
18:52
different. Flatter, yeah.
18:54
Were you training flat stuff or you just kind of like gave it a
18:58
go? I just gave it a go, honestly,
19:00
after Southern Community guy was kind of a little bit burnt out.
19:03
Yeah. So in between the end of July
19:07
and October, I didn't do a whole lot, to be honest.
19:13
But we have to. I did a little bit more and then
19:16
went for it and yeah, I said, I said to Steven, he did that race
19:25
as well. That was his first ultra.
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And I said yeah, until the wheels fall off.
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Yeah, that's the motto. And I literally did, like I made
19:38
it 2029 laps. 29100. 1 1/2 miles.
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Yeah. And I was something.
19:48
I think I tore a muscle in my hamstring on the 29th lap, like
19:53
literally halfway at the halfway mark.
19:54
Oh my gosh. So I'm like, Oh no, So I was
19:58
limping for half a lap. Yeah.
20:02
Just so I can make that 100 miles count because it's it's 3
20:06
1/2 miles each lap, so. You want it.
20:10
They don't give a buckle or anything, but you wanted that
20:12
100. Yeah, I wanted that hundred.
20:13
Yeah. I was like, oh man.
20:15
No, that's ball. That's bad as baller.
20:17
And that was obviously your first year.
20:19
You did the the through hike and then you've been to back to
20:23
Bubba's ever since, right? Every year since.
20:25
Yeah, I've done, done 3 back, yeah. 3.
20:29
Three straight years so far, yeah.
20:31
And you're planning to go back this year, right?
20:33
That's right. Yeah, we'll talk about.
20:34
You're on the list, so we'll talk about that too.
20:38
OK, so you did Yonka nuke challenge Bubba's and then the
20:41
next year was at the the Manchester to Manana.
20:44
Yes, and that was that's early one.
20:46
That's in May, right? First weekend of May, May.
20:48
First somewhere around there, yeah.
20:51
Yeah. And you smoked that one.
20:53
I was looking back, I think you have the third or fourth fastest
20:55
time. Fourth.
20:56
Yeah. And you won it for for your
20:58
year. How was that?
21:01
Because that's kind of, I think just some of the things you've
21:04
done and we're going to talk, keep talking about it, but you
21:06
like, you have the long distance stuff and you're fast, you can
21:10
do it all. So that was a pretty fast time.
21:14
Yeah, 8 hours or something, right?
21:17
I think it was 8 hours, 9 minutes, Yeah, and change.
21:20
Yeah, for a 50 mile or up and a knock.
21:22
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, that. I mean, it's mostly Rd., Yeah,
21:28
but it's hilly. It's hilly roads.
21:29
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's that.
21:31
I I loved it because, I mean, it's the start line's like 3
21:36
minutes from my house. Yeah.
21:38
OK. And then?
21:38
Roll out of bed. Yeah, it started at 4:00 AM, so
21:42
I still had to wake up early. OK, yeah, but but yeah.
21:46
And then you go. You do one lap of Ankanunic up
21:50
white. Yeah, the white dot, right.
21:51
Blue dot, Yeah, yeah. And then it's all Rd. until
21:56
Omanak. Yeah, damn.
21:59
Which was tough. You go all road and then you hit
22:05
the longest trail, man. Not Pompelli, Yeah.
22:07
Trail which, which is a good one.
22:09
It's not an easy trail. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:12
So that was that was tough, but luckily I had Larson there to
22:16
pace me at the Mananac part. I think that's the only part you
22:21
you're allowed to have. You can have a pacer so and then
22:23
what does it end down? White arrow or white dot?
22:28
White arrow, white arrow and then you shortcut to I think
22:33
it's Parker Trail. OK.
22:35
Yeah, gotcha. So for that effort, I mean what
22:39
you run out or I don't know the paces you were running, but were
22:42
you doing like more Rd. stuff? Did you change your change your
22:47
training with going into that? Not really yet.
22:51
For that spring of 24, I did a lot of roads because I did a
22:59
marathon. Wait, am I?
23:02
Do I have the same year? Yeah.
23:07
Was it Yeah if it wasn't last year.
23:09
I get confused the years ago by fast.
23:12
I think I did. Wasn't that the White Mountains
23:16
Marathon? Actually, I think 2 weeks before
23:18
I did a marathon. Yeah, two weeks beforehand.
23:21
OK, yeah, so I was training for that.
23:24
I just, I mean, I just want to do at least one marathon in my
23:29
life. I might do another one.
23:31
Yeah. But yeah, not right now, yeah.
23:33
Yeah, yeah, Yeah. So that's perfect.
23:36
Training a long run two weeks before and then right into like
23:39
a longer road race. Yeah.
23:40
Yeah. No, that's sweet.
23:42
That is sweet. Did you like training?
23:43
Like, do you like running roads? I don't know what you do a lot
23:46
on trails now. Do you ever run roads?
23:48
Yeah. Sometimes, yeah.
23:51
I like the fact that it's it's it's fast, Miles.
23:54
Yeah, that's up quick. Yeah, you can get, yeah.
23:57
But I love my vert. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know we we
24:01
were talking about that. Yeah, yeah.
24:03
You've been going, you've been stacking vert recently 20,000 a
24:07
week. That's that's your goal, right?
24:09
It doesn't always happen, but I tried to.
24:12
Yeah, yeah. In the in the summer I'll
24:14
definitely be probably the minimum.
24:16
Yeah, yeah. That is big vert.
24:20
Was there anything else in 2024 that you raced?
24:24
Was it Jigger Johnson, Jigger Johnson, Jigger Johnson 50
24:28
banger time, You're in 14 something, right?
24:30
Second place. 2nd place. But still super fast. 14 hours,
24:35
15 minutes. Yeah, yeah.
24:37
Yeah, because I I think I'd ran the I ran the 52 years before
24:40
that. You ran on a longer course.
24:43
You got the the 50? Miller added a couple miles.
24:46
Yeah. It was actually like 57 or 50.
24:48
Eight. Yeah, yeah, it's long.
24:49
It's long. It's long.
24:51
But yeah. But you had a crazy time.
24:52
Remember that year was you And then who?
24:54
Who wanted that year? Mead, Ben.
24:56
Hammer. Mead.
24:57
Yeah. And he, dude, he's a crusher.
25:00
Yeah, yeah. I didn't see him the whole race.
25:02
No, he just took off. Finished like an hour before I
25:06
did, yeah. I think he has a course record.
25:09
Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
25:11
Yeah. There was someone.
25:12
Person who ran it, who won it this year?
25:14
Well, last. Year, last year came close.
25:16
Close, but yeah. Yeah, What's his name?
25:18
He's super fast. I forget his name.
25:21
I was talking about him with Lyle the other day.
25:25
Yeah, he's, yeah, he's a crusher.
25:26
I I'm a fan of him from afar. He has some really good times.
25:30
It's not going to come into my head now, but yeah, that that
25:32
Mead guy, he I think you went to CCC this last year and he was
25:39
like top 30, maybe Top 40 at CCC.
25:44
And I'm pretty sure I read his, his race recap and he said, you
25:47
know, it didn't go, you know, his to his plan or whatever.
25:51
Like I'm sure a lot of these huge races like don't for
25:53
people's first time, but that is insane.
25:57
Like if he goes there, runs a little bit faster, race Recon
26:01
and has a good day, he's up there in like the top 20, top
26:04
ten with pros. So he's like a slugger and you
26:08
were not far behind him. So you guys tore that course up.
26:11
Was that a warm? I don't even know the weather
26:14
conditions. Was it warm, rainy?
26:16
Was that the rain? 2024 was the really wet year,
26:19
right? Every weekend it was raining.
26:21
Oh, I think so, yeah. I remember it being super hot.
26:26
It might have been because I know I did a bunch of training
26:29
runs that were very humid, yeah. But yeah, I don't think it was
26:36
too bad for like weather wise. Yeah, yeah.
26:40
What did you think of that course?
26:42
It's yeah, it's rugged. It's good, it's good.
26:46
It's. Good.
26:46
Yeah, yeah. The section it's, it's it's
26:49
sneaky because I feel like the moats at attach table like that
26:54
traverse, it's kind of out, out in the boonies a little bit.
26:57
You get really rugged off off the beaten path trails and then
27:02
the rest of the course is very much like you're either running
27:05
relatively flat or just straight up, straight down.
27:07
Right. Like Tremont, super steep up and
27:10
down. Tremont was a surprise that
27:13
kicked my. Butt yeah, that was a surprise
27:16
the the the backside of Tremont. I remember, I think every time
27:19
I've been down, I've only been down twice, but, or at least
27:22
racing my toes were just because it's it's 30% just just dirt.
27:28
And when you're, you know, 20 or 70, whatever Jigger Johnson race
27:31
you're in, that's tough. It is no easy course.
27:36
And then Hancock Notch. I don't know what you think
27:38
about Hancock Notch. Oh, Hancock Notch kind of
27:41
deceived me because I got, oh, I think a lot of word that people
27:46
like did not racers. Yeah, like, I think hikers.
27:49
Yeah. I was like, oh, OK, I've heard
27:51
great things about, yeah, this trail and then going through it,
27:54
I'm like, this is not a great. Yeah, I can.
27:58
I can actually agree. It is one of my favorite trails,
28:01
like off the beaten path, very quiet, like cool, you're by the
28:04
river. But as far as doing it fast, it
28:08
is so slow because you get no verts, you know, basically no
28:11
vert, but it's like a stream bed.
28:13
You're running on rocks. And it's not just like the, you
28:16
know, the rocky technical, it's overgrown.
28:19
So you're like fighting through, like you're in for part of it.
28:22
I I ran it those two years. It was really wet for stretches.
28:26
You're literally going up a stream and you're thinking like
28:29
it, this is not the course, right?
28:32
Is this the trail? Yeah, yeah.
28:33
Is this the trail? So, yeah.
28:35
And then you're you're so you're just running 15 minute miles
28:38
thinking why am I going so slow? So that was a good one.
28:42
I remember I did that Larson had paced me on my 100 mile through
28:47
that section for the Jigger Johnson.
28:50
And the first water crossing I I went over, I just immediately
28:55
jumped in it because I'm like this, you know, it's soaked.
28:57
I'm going to get my feet soaked. I don't, you know, I'm not
28:59
trying to, I'm not going to try to keep my feet wet.
29:02
And I do that. And he's just like, why'd you do
29:03
that? He was like, why'd you just jump
29:05
in the water? I was like, I don't know,
29:06
they're going to get wet. He's like, all right.
29:08
And then he kind of like does this thing where he kind of hops
29:11
skips and he doesn't get his feet wet.
29:12
And I'm like, OK, And then we keep going the next stream
29:16
crossing, he's like, hey, try to try to get over this without
29:19
getting your feet wet. And he's telling me to do this
29:21
like huge jump to this one rock. And I'm like Larson, I don't
29:24
know if I can do that, but I I find another another way.
29:29
And basically, Long story short, we go through the rest of the
29:32
Hancock knocks notch section and he never gets his feet wet.
29:37
And I literally I because he would be behind me and he would
29:40
just go off trail and find this little thing and like pop out
29:43
and like be be jumping around. And I'm like, I don't know how
29:46
you're not getting your feet wet.
29:47
This is wizardry. Like I was obviously beat, but
29:50
here I remember he goes, they say I'm sure footed.
29:53
I was like, yeah, you are you are sure footed for sure.
29:56
I was so impressed. And honestly, I kind of felt
29:58
stupid because I was like just jumping in, swimming in these
30:02
these streams in Hancock Notch, but it it worked out.
30:06
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
30:09
So that was the Jigger Johnson. And then back to Bubba's you.
30:12
Have you gotten better at Bubba's each year?
30:14
So 2023, go 101 miles. What did you do?
30:17
2024 do you remember? I did, I slightly.
30:21
I won a lot better. One lap better a. 105 miles, OK.
30:24
Yeah, slow but steady improvement.
30:27
Yeah, I'm not sure what happened.
30:31
Was that the really muddy year? No, the muddy year was the 1st.
30:35
Year. Oh, the hamstring year.
30:37
OK, Yeah. Yeah, that.
30:39
Oh, I forgot about that, actually.
30:40
Yeah, that was. I remember just seeing videos
30:44
and like it was, it was crazy. It was nuts.
30:46
Yeah, it. Looked like a pig pen.
30:48
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy nice.
30:53
All right, so you go back to bubbles, you improve, and then
30:56
2025. So this is last year.
31:00
What did you do last year? Oh, I didn't do for races.
31:04
I didn't do much. OK, so I was dealing with a hip
31:07
injury for the longest time. Winter and spring.
31:10
Yeah, yeah, I mean, so only thing I did last year was
31:18
Bubba's and a Scutney. Yeah.
31:20
For races, I mean before, before Bubba's, I think my longest
31:26
mileage was like 20 miles. Dang, So you're bad?
31:31
Yeah. You're battling back from
31:32
injury. Hips are tough.
31:34
I don't know. I've never had a bad hip.
31:37
I don't really want to. I don't.
31:38
I don't really think about my hips as a, you know, but it's
31:41
obviously a major joint. But yeah, it's like, I don't
31:45
know what what was hurting? Was it a hip flexor?
31:48
Was it a do you even remember? It was just.
31:51
I don't know, I didn't even get diagnosed with anything.
31:54
I went to an orthopaedic in the, I think early spring.
32:01
Yeah, Honestly wasn't really much help.
32:04
Yeah, I got kind of discouraged. Yeah, they recommended physical
32:09
therapy, but I I never went. Yeah, but it just sorted itself.
32:15
Out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:17
That's that's we can only hope. You know, the there's a memes
32:21
going around now. I'm on the the socials a little
32:23
bit now there's there's a Leonardo DiCaprio memes.
32:27
You know those. There's one of him just like
32:29
smiling with a glass and it just says when you do nothing to fix
32:32
your injury, but it goes away. That's so funny.
32:38
OK. So you came back and obviously
32:39
so would you do above us last year?
32:41
Last. Year.
32:42
Did you do 150? Yeah, big step up.
32:45
Yes, 43 laps, which I think was 150 1/2 miles.
32:50
Yeah, yeah. That's a huge effort off of 20,
32:54
you know, 20 mile long run. That's pretty good, I'd say.
32:58
Yeah. Well, the difference this year
33:01
was during the summer. I was, I guess, more consistent
33:07
in training or maybe like early fall or I guess fall is like the
33:12
week before or two weeks before. Above it, yeah.
33:15
Calendar wise, yeah. Yeah.
33:16
But after Uncanoonix, as I said, I kind of tapered off with
33:23
training, got a little bit burnt out. 2024, I think I did the
33:30
same thing. I can't remember why, but last
33:36
year I stayed consistent. Yeah.
33:41
So that might have been the difference.
33:42
Yeah, yeah. Just at least training something
33:44
every week. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:46
Now that's smart. And then and then a Scutney, the
33:50
man who beat Mount Scutney. So we thought I I mentioned it
33:55
briefly, but you got an Ultra Runner magazine for that, which
33:57
is awesome. Yeah, I love seeing.
33:59
That yeah, that was so cool. I ran, yeah, we ran to get the
34:03
get the copy of the magazine. Dude, you put oh, that's right.
34:06
We go to Mananaca in the winter and he puts the magazine it just
34:09
gets published in in a zip lock and runs back up in in the
34:13
middle of winter. That was awesome.
34:15
Shout out Larson and Sarita for giving me that episode.
34:20
Yeah, shout out. Yeah, that's awesome, dude, and
34:23
so well deserved. I mean, I just listened back to
34:26
that a Skutnie episode, the the from the Backcountry.
34:29
You just did too. You did too.
34:31
Yeah. So I listened back to it and
34:33
yeah, it is. What you and Bill did was just I
34:37
just so incredible and I'm glad it got like a larger scale
34:42
audience. Like it was pretty, you know,
34:43
you got a lot of hype behind that race and there were a ton
34:45
of people watching. I think maybe we should have put
34:48
it towards the front of the Ultra Run, a magazine which you
34:51
know. Yeah, towards the back.
34:53
You got it. We got to the truck and you kind
34:55
of like keep flipping, keep flipping.
34:57
Yeah, page 88. 88 we need to bump that up, but no, still
35:01
cool. But yeah, I mean, the stats on
35:04
that a longer and more vert than Tour de Jeans, all the 200
35:10
milers that you hear about Coca Dona Tahoe, like way more vert.
35:14
Just so crazy. And yeah, it was cool listening
35:18
back. Did you was a good listening
35:19
back to that podcast for you. You getting PTSD?
35:22
Yeah, no, no, not PTSD. Yeah, I've listening to the
35:28
second time this week. I think I did better than I
35:32
thought I did the first time I listened to it.
35:34
Yeah, like responding to the question.
35:35
Yeah, no, I thought it was great, dude.
35:37
I every story you told from that podcast had me cracking, dude.
35:44
And I've told you this like a couple times, but just the
35:46
things that you were saying were cracking you up.
35:48
The gist of it, like everyone, it sounds like that was the
35:51
joke. You do 88 laughs and go.
35:53
I think I got the gist of this. That one had me dying laughing.
35:58
The on the phone with Hannah being like, what are we doing up
36:02
here? And she's like, she's like, oh,
36:04
just tag this summit. You're like, oh, OK.
36:07
Like like that. Like it wasn't even like, oh, I
36:09
remember it was like, why would I be doing that?
36:11
But OK, yeah. Yeah, so, so wild.
36:17
How? I don't even know.
36:18
Yeah. Well, this was something that I
36:22
kind of wanted to ask kind of like a follow up because you
36:26
said like you just lost your your mind.
36:29
That's really what it is. Like you hear like you when
36:31
people start hallucinating, you're going on because you
36:33
didn't sleep at all. Was there a point where it
36:36
stopped like sucking and you just like almost didn't even
36:40
know what was going on? Like what day did you just like,
36:45
I would assume like physically it's hard.
36:46
It's hard, you know, mentally you're like, I got to keep
36:49
getting up this mountain. But then was it a point where
36:51
you just like, can't even remember what happened out
36:53
there? Or do you still have a good,
36:55
yeah. Do you still have any memory of
36:57
those last like days? I don't think, well, the last
37:00
night, yeah, I don't have much memory, yeah, at all, Yeah.
37:03
Just gone. Like even in the moment I was
37:07
like, I don't know, I was just existing.
37:11
Yeah, you said you were in a video game.
37:13
I did go up and hit made it to the turn around point.
37:18
Yeah, I have proof that on our phone calls, yeah, they would
37:24
hear the that was easy button. They had a that Staples.
37:28
Yeah, that was easy. That's awesome at the top.
37:30
Yeah. So there was that and they're
37:33
also tracking me on my phone. Yeah.
37:36
And they they saw that I was at made to turn on point and made
37:41
all like that. Yeah.
37:42
And stayed on trail. Yeah, so.
37:44
Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, no question that that you got
37:47
there. But just Oh my gosh, it reminds
37:49
me of and I think we talked about this, but Larson on his AT
37:53
effort. Like I just heard story and I
37:55
think you were there. He's like, guys, what are we
37:57
doing out here? Like how can I get us out off
38:00
off this trail? They're like you just keep
38:02
walking. That's right.
38:04
Yeah, I think, I think I had to bail when he still had 50 miles
38:09
to go. But I think he was still saying
38:12
like, oh, we could just go home now.
38:16
I had no idea. Oh my God.
38:18
Another good one was you being like on the phone, like wait, am
38:22
I doing an Everest every lap? Like what?
38:25
What is going on dude? Just.
38:27
I can't believe I said that. That's that's insane.
38:31
Yeah, dude. I mean, the, the race was
38:34
oriented on a or built upon, you know, Everest every 24 hours.
38:38
And then I guess I can 80 or so laps in I I switch it to Everest
38:45
every. I do.
38:47
I can totally see how you can like, think like, yeah, like
38:50
this is taking forever. Like what I mean is, oh, it did,
38:53
yeah. I mean, it felt like it.
38:55
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is.
38:58
It's a mess with my mind. I didn't really go that much
39:03
slower as I was, but maybe the effort was more.
39:07
Yeah, I had to put more effort into it.
39:09
And I mean just so fatigued because going down, you take a
39:16
slightly different route than up you, you avoid the T bar going
39:22
down and you kind of have to have a curve to it to go down.
39:28
And I thought that curve took forever.
39:31
And there's one point I said during the race, like I have to
39:36
go around a building that like, they're like, what building
39:42
what? What are you talking about?
39:45
Oh my gosh, so this is this is one thing I want to ask you
39:48
about the effort. Do you think because obviously
39:51
you didn't even nobody thought that anyone could could do this,
39:54
especially with the no sleep, which you weren't getting sleep,
39:56
which is which is kind of crazy that you only slept like 20
39:59
minutes a little. Bit not much, but a little bit.
40:01
Just a little bit. Do you think that you unlocked
40:05
this ability? Like, Oh my gosh, I can go way
40:09
further than that, I think. Or did you just unlock massive
40:13
PTSD? Like I never want to push myself
40:16
again? Like how do you feel about that
40:19
effort? Like, are there takeaways?
40:21
Like, oh, I can just like, are you confident I can just go for
40:24
four days or are you like, still nervous?
40:30
I don't know. I don't know how I did it, to be
40:32
honest. I mean, physically I felt great
40:37
the whole time. Yeah, somehow.
40:38
That's crazy. And mentally too, I was just in
40:43
the zone and then, I mean, mental fog came in.
40:47
But yeah. That is insane.
40:53
Just built different. Built different mentally and
40:57
physically, yeah. Yeah, I don't everything went,
41:01
most things went well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:03
So. Well, it sounds like you just
41:05
have so much experience with these lap things, vert like big
41:08
days that it all just like came together.
41:11
Do you have any interest in going back?
41:15
Potentially. Potentially, Oh my gosh, what
41:18
would it take? Who do we need to get in this,
41:20
in this race? Is it?
41:22
Well, we need Bill. We need.
41:24
It it doesn't matter who's who's in it.
41:26
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's I guess we'll talk about that.
41:29
That's what I told myself before the race because there was so
41:35
much talk about the competition. Yeah.
41:37
I mean, rightfully so. Yeah.
41:39
But I was like, all right, whatever.
41:42
I I can't worry about who shows up.
41:47
Yeah. I have to worry about how I show
41:49
up. Yeah, it doesn't, you know.
41:51
Yeah, But no, for next year, I want to do Bubba as well.
41:59
Yeah, to my full potential at like this year or last year, I
42:08
want to recover as well as I did from Bubba's.
42:12
Yeah. And then we'll see.
42:14
Wow. All right.
42:15
Fire. Fire me.
42:16
Oh, my gosh. Hype me up.
42:19
Yeah, no, lots of lots of, you know, who knows what's going to
42:23
happen, But that would be epic if you came back.
42:25
And especially, I mean, if you came back, there'd be sluggers.
42:28
I think I've said a couple times on the podcast, if you and Lucas
42:31
Janulitis went went off in a vertical backyard, we may, we
42:36
may glitch the matrix. Neither of these guys will stop.
42:39
We can't get them to stop. I don't know what's going to
42:41
happen. Yeah, with Lucas two last year's
42:44
stand insurance 1P's. Yeah, he's on a he's on a roll,
42:47
Yeah. And there's a lot of people that
42:49
would be, I mean, just like last year, like if you have a stacked
42:53
lineup and you get 2 people having a really good day and
42:56
they're going for it, it can go a while.
42:59
There was a, there was talk in the podcast about will this ever
43:02
be broken? And.
43:05
I don't know. I think I'm going to give my
43:07
take. I don't know if it if it will.
43:10
I mean, unless you go back. Maybe.
43:12
Maybe eventually. I know maybe.
43:13
Yeah, eventually all records will be broken eventually.
43:16
Sooner than we think, too, and. Yeah, whatever.
43:18
Yeah, I think the one the one if like in the last year standing,
43:25
they're getting so good at like sleeping in between laps and
43:28
even in the the like US champs, world champs, backyard events,
43:33
it's getting like a science of not just the running, but the
43:36
recovery of like sleeping and doing all that.
43:40
So I'm sure like people will get into some sort of I figured out
43:44
how to micro sleep 8 minutes the perfect amount for a scutney and
43:47
I could have my perfect gear and I could just go for a week.
43:49
But I don't know, man. It might be a long time.
43:52
Like I would not be surprised. We go back next year and it's
43:55
like 40 hours. Like I, you guys, I mean, if
43:59
it's bad weather, I mean, who knows.
44:02
I just think you guys did something like crazy special out
44:05
there. But we'll see.
44:07
I mean, prove me wrong. Hopefully you sign up and get
44:09
prove me wrong. Yeah.
44:11
Yeah. Now that would be exciting.
44:15
Yeah. Another thing I was wondering
44:16
about a Scotty was you and Bill were like the two last people
44:20
standing. And I've never done a last last
44:23
person standing race like I've I've been like in unofficial
44:28
backyard ultras where people are doing it, but never in like a a
44:31
race. Are you when you're just going
44:35
against Bill? Is there anything in your brain
44:37
like? How?
44:37
How are you really? Just focused on yourself or are
44:40
you thinking like I want this dude to just give up?
44:43
Like like I want the best for him but I hope he starts
44:47
cramping. Or like what are you getting
44:49
pissed every time that you both come back perfectly fine and go
44:52
back out? Like how does that mentally go
44:55
through your brain? Yeah, yeah, After every lap I'm
45:01
like, all right, well, we got to.
45:03
Yeah, God, he wants to go again too.
45:07
Yeah. So it started on Saturday.
45:09
We went until early Wednesday morning.
45:12
Tuesday morning, I think just after sunrise, we would come in
45:21
this guy same time, Every time he was right behind me.
45:25
Every time. I'm like, OK, this is not over.
45:29
He's still This is not over this.
45:32
Is far yeah from over. So I'm like, all right,
45:36
whatever, I'll, I'll do what it takes.
45:40
Yeah. Well, honestly, I think that's a
45:42
mindset you have like just going until you give out, like until
45:46
you're. That's the only way.
45:47
Because I feel like if you go in with I want to do this amount of
45:51
laps or I want to do this, it almost is so daunting.
45:55
Like if you had the goal of even just getting 50, if you do 2
45:58
laps, like 2 hours of running and then think I have to do that
46:02
25 more times, it's it can be mentally daunting.
46:05
So just going in like open minded, like I'm just going to
46:09
go one more. And then that's almost like, I
46:11
feel like the minds that you have to have to, to go super
46:14
far. I I think so, yeah.
46:16
Yeah. I mean, once you hit a A, once
46:20
you set a goal and you reach that goal, yeah, your motivation
46:26
depletes. Yeah, for sure.
46:28
Yeah, your brains. Oh, I did whatever I want to.
46:31
All this is kind of bothering me or I want, you know.
46:33
Yeah, you can it. It's like a every excuse you can
46:37
to to quit. Yeah, I feel like the same thing
46:40
happens to in races with people, if they're not hitting their
46:43
times, they pack it in, which would kind of be like similar.
46:47
Yeah. I don't know.
46:49
That was just kind of a side thought.
46:52
Yeah. No, I mean, that that event was
46:54
so crazy. I remember Monday morning I went
46:57
to work and I saw that you guys are still going.
46:59
And I was like, Oh my God, they're still going.
47:02
And I was talking to my girlfriend Jocelyn, and she was
47:05
like, oh, man, they're still going like almost three days.
47:08
Like, I don't know. They should call it like, this
47:10
is not safe. And I'm.
47:11
And I'm like, no, stop, you know, don't stop.
47:13
Greatness. They're doing great.
47:14
You know, we're witnessing greatness.
47:16
Don't stop this. And then I think Tuesday morning
47:19
I woke up and I was like, Oh my gosh, they may have to call
47:23
this. This is getting scary.
47:24
How, how, how long they may never stop.
47:26
So yeah, dude, just good, good memories from that.
47:30
That just epic effort. Which leads me into the next
47:35
question. Obviously talked about Bubba's.
47:38
You know, Scutney is happening this year.
47:42
You know, we won't make any claims, but it is going to
47:44
happen. And then, oh, you're signed up
47:46
for Jigger Johnson Hundred this year.
47:48
Oh, yeah, yeah. So that's on the docket for this
47:50
year. That's a pretty loaded, loaded
47:52
year. Lots of long efforts.
47:54
It is, yeah. In between Jigger 100 and
47:58
Bubba's is 7 weeks. In between Bubba's and Iskconi
48:01
is 7 weeks. You know, it's not the longest
48:05
of times, yeah, but it's I'm hoping it's enough, yeah.
48:10
Recovery wise and then shift of training for.
48:15
Yeah, yeah. I mean, recover for a couple
48:17
weeks and then it, you know, maybe 2-3, four, and then you
48:20
can put in at least a month block.
48:22
It's still very narrow, but it's it's you can kind of get back
48:25
into training. And I mean, it seems like you
48:27
recover from things fast. I remember after a scutney you
48:30
were ripping around the uncanoonics like a week later
48:32
with Lyle just ripping around like no problem.
48:37
Yeah, dude, it's so crazy. So yeah, so doing a scutney, do
48:43
you have any interest? Like what are your big long term
48:47
trail running goals? Like did you do a scutnie and
48:49
think, wow, should I hop in one of these 200 mile races 'cause I
48:54
think you could literally compete for for podium at the at
48:57
any big 200 after that effort. You know, you're fast, you got,
49:01
you know, a ton of this experience long distance.
49:04
What are your just like long, long term big goals?
49:06
Do you have any? And if you don't want to talk
49:08
about them, it's fine. We can cut whatever.
49:12
I mean, yeah, UTMB would be. UTMB very cool, yeah.
49:17
But yeah, I wanted, I wanted to see how Jig 100 goes first.
49:22
Yeah, because I haven't done 100 miles in that race.
49:28
Yeah, typical race style. Yeah, like raced 100.
49:31
Yeah, I just done, you know, 2, I mean multiple hundreds for
49:38
backyards. Yeah.
49:40
So, yeah, I want to see how it goes for a typical race style
49:45
and then maybe bump it up a little bit more.
49:48
Yeah, I don't know what race that would be yet, but.
49:52
Yeah, yeah, start looking nice. Well, next year there's a
49:56
there's that 207 mile race in Maine.
49:59
In Maine. Yeah, in Maine, that is
50:01
attractive. Oh.
50:02
That's maybe that's. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I did.
50:06
Yeah. That was, I forget what they
50:07
what they're calling that, but yeah, that's, that's coming
50:09
soon. That would be awesome.
50:10
I I hope like a ton of big eyeballs get put on that because
50:15
I think, I mean, Maine is just an awesome spot and that race
50:18
would be super cool to have close.
50:20
And I'm sure some locals, even if you didn't hop in or
50:22
whatever, there would be some locals that hopped in.
50:25
Yeah. Yeah, that is cool.
50:29
Yeah. Do you have going into Bubba's
50:33
and potentially Scutney, you know, who knows?
50:36
Do you have any like new strategies or, you know,
50:41
takeaways from all of these ultra backyard events?
50:45
Like, do you think I, I mean, I would assume you'd probably want
50:48
to sleep more than you slept at the last of Scott.
50:50
And like, have you learned any ways to be efficient?
50:54
What do you think about down time versus staying on course?
50:57
Like going kind of a little bit slower?
50:59
Because the big thing they're tracking is like, you know, at
51:02
these at these backyard ultras is how how much down time people
51:06
have. Like some people are doing super
51:07
fast laps, 20 minutes to rest. Have you thought about that at
51:11
all? Or you're just like, I'm just
51:12
going to go one steady pace and I'm just going to show them that
51:14
I can go forever. Yeah, I like my 8 to 10 minute
51:22
breaks. Yeah, I don't know, maybe when I
51:26
need to sleep I'll do a little bit faster.
51:29
Yeah, I do a little fast lap once in a while.
51:31
Yeah. Because I mean, I know one lap
51:36
or one break I had at Azkutni, I think I had an 11 minute nap.
51:39
So obviously that would be a little less than a 50 mile, 50
51:45
mile, 50 minute lap. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
51:50
But I think that's just worked for me.
51:52
So I might just stick with that. Yeah.
51:57
And I'd be really iffy on trying something new at this point I
52:01
think. I mean, whatever you're doing is
52:03
working, Whatever you're doing is clearly working.
52:05
But this is. Also, I would I would want to do
52:09
more Whole Foods I like I did as Scotty I did.
52:14
I started with Whole Foods, I think, and I think for the first
52:18
time, and that worked out really well.
52:21
Yeah, Whole Foods, more sleep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
52:25
I feel like I had a lower effort level too.
52:27
Like there's, you know, you don't need to to use those like
52:30
gels as much just because like. Yeah.
52:33
You, you, you aren't going as hard, so your stomach's able to
52:37
process more, you know, and you're probably, like, just
52:39
going to be more comfortable with regular food, for sure.
52:42
It makes sense. Yeah.
52:46
I mean, that just makes sense to me.
52:47
But I haven't done this. So part of me is like, maybe I
52:49
can't. I can't say anything about these
52:51
events really. Yeah, I didn't.
52:52
I didn't even have a ton of gels out of Scutney after, after a
52:56
while I I didn't. I was avoiding it because I
52:59
didn't want to mess up my stomach.
53:00
Yeah, Whatever's working, just don't touch it.
53:02
Yeah, yeah. One of the things I thought was
53:05
a was a good interesting point. It seems like how you kind of go
53:08
into some of these events. I think Will had asked you, he
53:14
asked you, you know, what was your training like?
53:16
And you were like, well, I kind of signed up for the race four
53:18
or five weeks before and I kind of just tried to get vert.
53:21
And it was like, so like, I feel like sometimes I'm too
53:25
structured with my training and some people can get into, oh,
53:28
I'm doing this workout this day, I'm doing this.
53:30
And it's, it seems like you're just like, I'm going to stack
53:33
vert. I'm going to go and just go as
53:35
far as I can. Like I feel like that mindset is
53:39
something that people could lean into a little bit more as
53:41
opposed to like, I'm going to eat 326 grams every, you know,
53:46
whatever, just going to be like, I'm, I'm going to go hard, not
53:50
overthink it. I'm going to get vert and try to
53:53
go hard. Yeah.
53:54
And I don't try to overthink it. I I mean, yeah, I just try to
53:59
get vert with however many time, how much time I had each day.
54:04
And yeah, it was a little bit more than what I usually do.
54:08
And yeah, yeah, I mean. Yeah, I think that's the way to
54:14
go sometimes. Yeah, sometimes I think I
54:16
overthink it. Speaking of UT MB, I want them
54:21
to make Jigger Johnson a UT MB qualifier.
54:25
I think that would be Baller if one day they did that.
54:28
I mean, I think every every local would happen because I I
54:31
think that's my big goal too, is I want to get to UTMB one day
54:35
and I would. I think it's such a good course.
54:37
Like obviously you have like you're 100 out West.
54:41
That's that's you know, they say that ones.
54:42
I think it's more vert 40 something feet a vert in
54:46
Colorado, it's altitude. But I mean, as far as like the
54:49
vert in the technicality, like trigger Johnson, 100 is pretty
54:52
good. You get a bonus 10 miles.
54:55
For just for. Free for signing up?
55:00
Yeah, I definitely want to try to jump into UTMB at some point
55:03
because right now I think it's just grindstone.
55:06
They I think they came up with a new a new race this year.
55:08
But I think Rhinestone is the closest to us for getting that
55:12
that bib. But I mean, who knows?
55:16
We'll see. Oh.
55:17
Yeah. Yeah, cool.
55:20
Well, well, big year coming up for you.
55:23
How's training going so far? I mean, you've been ripping
55:25
around. I mean, we were running into
55:27
each other on trails you've been on a couple times.
55:29
I've been trying, yeah, yeah. But how busy I am?
55:32
I mean, I'm in wedding planning and.
55:36
Oh, yeah. All that good stuff.
55:37
Yeah. June wedding.
55:38
Yeah. You're excited.
55:39
We're talking about this. Excited.
55:41
Yeah. You're in the depths of planning
55:43
right now. Yeah.
55:44
Yeah, sure. No, I should have very busy.
55:47
And then, oh, the other thing. Dude, you work construction?
55:50
That too, yeah. Which is I think is crazy.
55:55
Like, I don't know. I'm sure you work long hours,
55:57
long days can be hard on the body and you still get out and
56:00
train. Yeah, it's not.
56:03
It's not the easiest. Not the easiest.
56:05
I mean, maybe that's why you could just go for so long,
56:10
because I remember who's the guy that won, Bub was a bunch of Ed
56:13
Clifford. Yeah.
56:15
He said like he would just, you know, he would train, he would
56:17
run a bunch, but then he would just do, like, yard work.
56:20
He chop wood for, you know, he's just doing, you know, just like
56:23
hard tasks. I'm sure that plays into your
56:26
long distance stuff a little bit.
56:31
Maybe, yeah. Yeah, even though it probably
56:33
just feels feels sucky sometimes when you have to go for a long
56:37
run after working. Yeah, it's not.
56:42
It's hard sometimes, but I mean, I do what you got to do, yeah.
56:47
Yeah, and you train mostly at night.
56:50
Yeah. Afternoon.
56:51
Yeah. You don't get out two. 1024, I
56:56
did a couple morning ones, but I think that's when I was training
57:00
on road yeah, a little bit easier I think I mean I can do
57:05
it in the morning too or in the on the trails, but just leaning
57:11
towards the afternoon much easier yeah, I have to wake up
57:15
early anyway so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
57:17
I just get to work and get it done.
57:19
Well, hopefully we got a or actually, I don't know, we'll
57:22
get a little unconnected run club starting up here soon.
57:25
I think it's private right now, but if anyone runs at the Unks,
57:28
we're going to start doing some more weekly organized runs,
57:31
hopefully. Shout out Clark and Chad.
57:34
They're organizing. I think they're organizing it
57:36
all. I think.
57:36
So they're setting it up. Yeah.
57:37
They did the web. What is that, a monkey survey?
57:40
The whole the whole 9 yards. Oh, yeah.
57:43
So that'll be good because, dude, we have a bunch of
57:45
crushers running around on canoe next dude, any day.
57:49
I mean, there's just been so many people on trail this year.
57:53
Yeah, there has been, it's. Crazy.
57:54
I've the last like 2 years have been a little bit quieter.
57:57
Like I wouldn't see a lot of people, not anytime you go out
58:00
there someone's running Yeah lots of cars parked I mean
58:03
there's lots of hikers always, but yeah, it's cool.
58:06
Everyone's just biting at the. What is that biting at the?
58:12
Right, chomping at the bit. Chomping at the bit.
58:14
Yeah, save me. Everyone's biting at the bit.
58:18
Chomping at the bit for this trail season.
58:21
I'm excited. I Yeah, yeah.
58:23
I feel like races are getting stacked, entrance lists are are
58:26
filling up. I think it's going to be a good
58:29
year. So yeah, well, this is a good
58:31
preview. You got anything else or do we
58:34
miss anything big? I'm sure you'll come back on.
58:36
I, I really do want to have all of the Unka Nuna guys or at
58:40
least in Group chat in my truck bed.
58:42
If we can fit in and do a podcast, yeah, I'm sure you'll
58:46
be on again in the future, hopefully after some of these
58:49
big efforts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
58:52
We'll see how that goes. Yeah, where can people find you?
58:56
My Strava is Connor brown, Conor and brown like the color and
59:03
then on Instagram I'm C0N 0RB RWN because straight up Connor
59:11
brown is already taken. Taken.
59:13
Oh, can we get that back now it's gone?
59:15
I don't know. I think, I think I messaged the
59:17
guy and he hasn't responded. Yeah, Yeah.
59:22
Well, that's cool. Well, cool.
59:23
Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, lots of, lots of people
59:25
know your stuff, but eyes on you this year man.
59:29
I know it's going to be, it's going to be different.
59:31
Yeah, yeah, a lot of people know about me now.
59:36
Yeah, yeah. I mean, on the scene, I mean,
59:38
rightfully so. Does it.
59:40
Does that has it played into your mindset a little bit, like,
59:43
oh, boy. Like, because it sounds like at
59:46
some of these races, you kind of kind of stay quiet, say to
59:48
yourself, it's true. Now everyone's going to be
59:51
wanting to come talk to Captain Frost.
59:53
Yeah, it did play a part into a Scotty, Yeah.
59:57
Because everyone was talking about everyone else.
1:00:01
Yeah. And I was like, OK.
1:00:03
Yeah. Well, just stack and chip
1:00:05
somebody one chip at a time. Yeah, yeah.
1:00:08
So. Yeah.
1:00:11
Well, so I think you have a good, I feel like you're not
1:00:13
overthinking it. Hopefully.
1:00:14
Like, I mean, I don't know, I think this happens, but pressure
1:00:17
makes diamonds and you're already there.
1:00:19
So I think this is just, it's all good.
1:00:21
That's true. Like, you know you can do it.
1:00:23
Get out there. Just keep crushing.
1:00:26
Yeah. Yeah, well, I'll be rooting for
1:00:28
you at all these events. Yeah, appreciate that.
1:00:30
And I'm sure you'll put up some big stuff.
1:00:32
And we're going to be on the trails again soon.
1:00:33
Sometime soon. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
1:00:35
Well, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.
1:00:37
It was fun. See you guys peace.
1:00:39
Peace. OK, to end this episode guys, we
1:00:44
have a couple race previews I want to do.
1:00:47
Both of these races are taking place on April 4th, so the
1:00:51
upcoming weekend. The first one we have, the run
1:00:55
across Connecticut 123 Miller. Here's the description.
1:01:00
This is a point to point, coast to coast epic that starts in
1:01:04
East Thompson, Connecticut and finishes at the coast in
1:01:08
Southport, CT, traversing 25 towns along the way.
1:01:13
The 123 mile course is a unique hybrid with roughly 57 miles on
1:01:19
well maintained trails. And the reminder and the
1:01:22
remainder hey ow on scenic back roads and local highways
1:01:27
offering a moderate but relentless elevation profile is
1:01:31
a major test of endurance and mental strength for 36 hour and
1:01:35
with a 36 hour cut off for solo runners.
1:01:39
So we got people out here, they're running across the state
1:01:41
of. Connecticut this weekend.
1:01:44
There were no entrance lists on ultra sign up.
1:01:46
So this is I may think a little bit under under the radar, but I
1:01:51
think there's going to be people tackling it.
1:01:53
Cool event, 123 miles, go for it.
1:01:57
And then the other ultra going on this weekend, Mount Toby 50K
1:02:01
and 24K. Located in Sunderland, MA, this
1:02:06
rugged trail race is a fundraiser for Girls on the Run
1:02:10
and is known for its Beast Coast character.
1:02:12
Guys, this is put on by Beast Coast.
1:02:15
The 50K course is highly technical, featuring 3 summits
1:02:18
of Mount Toby for a total of 6100 feet of elevation gain
1:02:23
along with signature scramble through a small cave in views of
1:02:27
a waterfall. So we got a little bit of
1:02:29
repeats. I mean talking about repeats in
1:02:32
this episode, this is a 3A3P of Mount Toby.
1:02:38
It's a no frills community favorite that offers a mix of
1:02:41
double track, single track, and Rockley New England terrain.
1:02:45
I think the description said this is again, another low
1:02:48
profile race, but it's a good one.
1:02:52
And this is on the run sign up page.
1:02:55
So there were a few entrants in there.
1:02:57
I think Matt Pacheco was in there.
1:02:58
I think he's really fast. That was the one name that kind
1:03:00
of jumped out at me. But no, no real preview will do
1:03:03
for that race. Just giving you guys the
1:03:05
information. And yes, check out social media
1:03:08
or whatever, wherever they're posting to get the results in
1:03:11
real time. And then I want to go back and
1:03:14
go through two other race results from March 21st.
1:03:18
So we had the Enchanted Forest ultra run enchanted forest that
1:03:22
poem that I read if anyone saw that enchanted forest, your six
1:03:25
hours and enchanted forest until I sleep.
1:03:28
Stratford, CT I said Vermont last episode.
1:03:32
God, can I read? We're going to go through we're
1:03:37
going to go through the results there.
1:03:39
So this was a six hour run. So it basically you get the
1:03:43
distance and then is like the number one metric and then time.
1:03:47
So if people did the same amount of laps, it goes by who did it
1:03:49
faster. So the top three men will start
1:03:53
with the first place, David Stosky, he goes 41.4 miles,
1:04:01
little bit under 6 hours. Second place, Michael Marcolone,
1:04:06
he goes 37 miles, almost 37 miles.
1:04:10
And then Chase Arsenault, he goes 34 1/2 miles.
1:04:14
That's the men's podium. And then the women's, Deborah
1:04:18
Kubis takes it home. First place, she goes 34 1/2
1:04:21
miles. Erin McDaniel, she goes 29.9
1:04:27
miles, so she goes 30 miles. And then third place, Anastasia
1:04:31
Rizik, 27.6 miles. That's the women's podium.
1:04:36
And just a fun little fun, fun fact for you guys.
1:04:39
Anastasia or yeah, there were a couple of people actually from
1:04:43
this town. I just thought the town's name
1:04:45
was very, very funny. Wappingers, Wappingers Falls,
1:04:50
NY, Wappingers Falls, New York, a couple people from there.
1:04:58
I just thought it was a cool name that jumped out at me, so
1:05:00
we highlighted it. That was the Enchanted Forest
1:05:04
Ultra event and then the Tark hailing back 6 hour Ultra.
1:05:08
So again, a six hour timed event. 1st place we have Anthony
1:05:14
Arcardi. He goes 31 1/2 miles, which a
1:05:19
few people did, but he did it in five hours, 27 minutes.
1:05:23
And then, yeah, 527. Yes, yes, yes, Yep, Yep.
1:05:30
OK, dialing in here. Don't come on, stay in it,
1:05:33
Andrew. Do not cut this out.
1:05:34
Stay in it. And then first place woman, so
1:05:37
second overall, Jade Behua Zhang, she goes 31 1/2 as well.
1:05:44
She runs it in 534. So she was only 7 minutes behind
1:05:49
outright. First place overall.
1:05:51
Those were the top 2. And then to round out the top
1:05:55
three for the men's second place, Jacob, Jacob Verkamp, he
1:06:01
goes 31 1/2 miles. He does it in five hours, 49
1:06:04
minutes. And then Alejandro Mesa Mazo
1:06:08
goes 28 miles. Second place woman who actually,
1:06:13
Oh my God, second place woman who actually was the 3rd place
1:06:16
overall. So pretend like I said this.
1:06:17
Third, Candace Lazoni goes 31 1/2.
1:06:21
Like, like the winners, she's a touch slower, five hours and 46
1:06:25
minutes. Minutes, but she snags second.
1:06:27
And then Allie Bartak, 28 miles, She does it in 5 1/2 hours.
1:06:33
That's the podium for the men's and women's at the tarp to hail
1:06:37
and back. And yeah, we're getting, we're
1:06:40
we're doing previews, we're doing results.
1:06:42
We're highlighting every single ultra marathon in New England.
1:06:46
That's the goal. Find it here at the end of these
1:06:49
episodes. And we're going to do some of
1:06:51
the big ones that I'm more involved in or vested in or huge
1:06:55
stories come of. We'll do those.
1:06:58
And maybe even guess from these races, we'll do that up front
1:07:02
and some of them too. So that's all I got for you guys
1:07:05
today. Appreciate you listening to the
1:07:07
podcast. Yeah, Thanks a lot.
1:07:11
We'll see you next week. Peace.