Recently my wife Erika gave birth to our daughter, Evelyn Rose. There is no way to fully describe the feeling and process of a new person coming to life. It is intense, transformative and beautiful. In my experience the...
February 2018
Features
Hi and Happy New Year! I am excited to be joining the UltraRunning Magazine team for 2018. In this column, I plan to dissect some general questions in ultrarunning while applying my basic philosophy that no issue is just...
There are many approaches to nutrition with the goal of getting to similar destinations: feeling your best every day, running well, recovering quickly, and staying healthy long-term. I have always been fascinated by what...
When I think of racing on the East Coast, I think of dancing through rocky technical trails, I think of power hiking up and cruising downhills with only rare flat terrain to test the leg speed, and I think of low-key but...
The wind-lashed trees I glimpsed through the window told me that it would be a cold morning. I snuggled deeper into the warmth of the covers and closed my eyes. Soon enough, however, I heard the little beep-beep-beep tha...
Every year is unique in our sport, but 2017 was a milestone year. For the first time ever, more than 100,000 ultra finishes were recorded in North America. When you consider that as recently as 25 years ago the total num...
UR: Congratulations on an incredible year, you accomplished so much it is hard to know where to start. Herron: Thanks, but to be honest last year was a real roller coaster for me, it had as many or more challenges and...
UR: How does it feel to be a two-time UROY at age 27? Walmsley: It is pretty nice, especially since this year I had some learning experiences and setbacks even though there were some nice races, more so in the first h...
The Most Notable FKTOYs is back for its second year. And with even more vigor: runners are really going after their personal projects. In June Cat Bradley won the prestigious Western States 100 race, then in November fin...
UR: So now you have the FKTs for the two longest and most iconic trails in North America, the PCT and the AT. Can you give us a little background on how this happened? McConaughy: Well, when I grew up my dad always en...
Barely past the halfway point of Run Rabbit Run 100 last September, my legs and feet rebelled. Stiff muscles, achy joints and soles so tender that I winced with each step conspired to abort yet another attempt to run. De...
I was a regular contributor to UltraRunning from 1982 until 1995. I was the Washington state correspondent and reported on races that took place there and also wrote some more free-form material. I have been checking...
Feature Races
One of the main responsibilities of the USATF Mountain, Ultra, Trail Council (MUT) is to select National Championship races. Part of that selection process includes outreach to race directors of past championships and co...

Camille Herron moving fast at Desert Solstice, while setting the World Record for 12 hours and an American Record for both the 100k and the 50-mile distance. Photo: Howie Stern