Articles by Jeffrey Stern
Whether you consider yourself an ultrarunner or not, making grandiose plans for the upcoming season is a common end-of-the-year activity. We tend to look back on what we’ve done and try to adapt for future pursuits and g...
Race directing a 50k is like running a 100-miler, or at least that’s my hypothesis as I recover from the Tamalpa Headlands 50K. It’s interesting to look back and realize when we started the whole process, a few conve...
An accomplished alpine skier, mountaineer, adventurer and all-around athlete for his entire life, France’s Nico Mermoud is intimately familiar with being at the forefront of innovation. After being heavily involved w...
As I trotted my way to the start, it felt cold on the coast of Washington. Surprisingly, it wasn’t raining, which was welcomed by the nearly 500 eager runners who lined up at Fairhaven Park preparing to tackle the 29t...
Back in January, I was ready to start training in earnest, with races on the calendar just a few months away and my physical recovery from the end of year races in November was complete. The flickering flame inside wante...
It’s easy to emerge from a winter thaw feeling rejuvenated and ready to roll on the trails. Pumping the brakes is likely harder than testing out the throttle after a deep hibernation, especially with...
Not many people would use a 160-mile fastest known time (FKT) attempt just one month after one of the world’s hardest 100-milers in preparation for another notoriously demanding 100-miler, but there are few like 37-ye...
At the end of each year, there are plenty of ultrarunners who’ve made a lasting impression, even if they don’t top the annual UltraRunners of the Year list. So, before racing season kicks off in 2023, we’re keeping our...
Just four short years ago, Adam Peterman thought his running career was finished. He was coming off a nagging Achilles injury that prevented him from having any success during his final years in the storied University...
“Imagine running 3 hours and 22 minutes for 50k…and getting beat by 45 minutes!” “Tropical” John Medinger said to me after, well, doing just that on October 8, in San Francisco, California, at the 35th annual Ruth Anders...
William Nguyen shows some excitement near the Grass Valley aid station. Brian Walker Ting There’s something about signing up for an ultra just days before the gun goes off. The pressure is low an...
Mount Tam Hill Climb runners at the finish. Alex Hudgins For the last four decades, approximately 100 runners from around the Bay Area have gathered in downtown Mill Valley for a jaunt up...
Last year at the 2021 race, while standing at the Hardrock start in downtown Silverton, Colorado, Courtney Dauwalter turned to her friend, fellow competitor and then four-time finisher Jeff Browning and asked him for...
Folklore has it that Alaska’s Mount Marathon started as a bar bet between two “sourdoughs”—slang for gold miner— on who could race from the middle of Seward, Alaska, to the top of the 2,974-foot-tall peak hovering ove...
Cocodona runners take off from the start line in Prescott, AZ, on their 250-mile journey. Howie Stern In Prescott, Arizona, 225 brave souls toed the line at the second edition of the Cocodona 250, wi...
The notoriously swift and historic Northern California season opener, Way Too Cool 50K, returned to the calendar after an absence in 2021, and was welcomed with wide open arms by the robust ultrarunning community. Pr...
For the fifth consecutive year, the Barkley Marathons course in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, conquered all of its 38 entrants. “I’m amazed that we ended up without a finisher,” said race director Gary “Lazarus...
Just three years ago at the 2019 Black Canyon Ultras, the course was adjusted to a tertiary route to avoid crossing the dangerously swift moving Agua Fria River after a heavy winter of rain. This year, the race ran tr...
A Minnesota Nordic skier at heart, this year’s women’s UltraRunner of the Year for the third consecutive season wishes winter would arrive soon at her home in Leadville, Colorado. She wants to get on her sticks. At th...