Anyone following the Gary Robbins/UTMB feud?

Yep. Posted about it on the previous page.

officially signed up for Black Canyons 100K finally.

WS100 lottery opens today. I'm starting over with 1 whole ticket.

Latest Freetrail podcast is Gary Robbins.

aggiespartan said:

---

Latest Freetrail podcast is Gary Robbins.

---

I'll be listening to that one.

Looking for a 50K (could also go 50M) in Texas on any of these dates: 1/13, 1/14, 1/20, 1/21.

Bandera is the leader thus far, but looking around at options. Big Bend is in that range, but its a long ass drive both ways and with work travel, i'd prefer not to be gone multiple days. Franklin Mountains is another one in that range, and could technically tack it onto a work trip, but that means spending my birthday solo (1/20). I'd rather spend at least part of it with the wife/kids. I saw the Frio Trail Runs on 1/20, but that's likely a weekend away as well, plus its 5 loops, which is a massive negative to me.

edit: Goodwater is the most convenient, but i've run that damn trail and race so many times that its not very appealing.

Any other suggestions? I'm in the austin area for reference regarding travel to a race.

AggieOO said:

---

Looking for a 50K (could also go 50M) in Texas on any of these dates: 1/13, 1/14, 1/20, 1/21.

Bandera is the leader thus far, but looking around at options. Big Bend is in that range, but its a long ass drive both ways and with work travel, i'd prefer not to be gone multiple days. Franklin Mountains is another one in that range, and could technically tack it onto a work trip, but that means spending my birthday solo (1/20). I'd rather spend at least part of it with the wife/kids. I saw the Frio Trail Runs on 1/20, but that's likely a weekend away as well, plus its 5 loops, which is a massive negative to me.

edit: Goodwater is the most convenient, but i've run that damn trail and race so many times that its not very appealing.

Any other suggestions? I'm in the austin area for reference regarding travel to a race.

---

I did Big Bend in January this year for my first 50 miler and really enjoyed it. Highly recommend the BB and Terlingua area if you have never been. It's a whole different world worth experiencing but don't expect too many creature comforts. The stars at night alone are worth the drive.

Dafstun said:

---

AggieOO said:

---

Looking for a 50K (could also go 50M) in Texas on any of these dates: 1/13, 1/14, 1/20, 1/21.

Bandera is the leader thus far, but looking around at options. Big Bend is in that range, but its a long ass drive both ways and with work travel, i'd prefer not to be gone multiple days. Franklin Mountains is another one in that range, and could technically tack it onto a work trip, but that means spending my birthday solo (1/20). I'd rather spend at least part of it with the wife/kids. I saw the Frio Trail Runs on 1/20, but that's likely a weekend away as well, plus its 5 loops, which is a massive negative to me.

edit: Goodwater is the most convenient, but i've run that damn trail and race so many times that its not very appealing.

Any other suggestions? I'm in the austin area for reference regarding travel to a race.

---

I did Big Bend in January this year for my first 50 miler and really enjoyed it. Highly recommend the BB and Terlingua area if you have never been. It's a whole different world worth experiencing but don't expect too many creature comforts. The stars at night alone are worth the drive.

---

I've been to the region more times than I can count, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm already doing a trip out there for a big run in december, so convincing the wife for another trip while she has to watch the kids isn't going to happen. i've not done the race since it moved to the state park, but I ran it back when it was in the National Park.

But I completely agree with your sentiment.

It's a stretch, but has anyone run these?

Buffalo Run 100 (UT)
Loco Challenge 100 (CA)
Rim Runner (TN)

Finished the Austin Rattler. I only had fitness for about 20 miles, and it showed. That last loop was rough, and of course it got warm. I have to say, I'm completely unimpressed. The run was obviously a complete afterthought to the mountain bike race. That course sucked. And the post race lottery? I didn't even get to throw my name in the hat bc they took so long to figure out what was going on with results. They actually announced the women's winners, and then realized they screwed up when they tried to do the men's. They took forever to correct things, after they falsely awarded Nicole Bitter the winner. What a complete **** show. Unless they make some changes to the course, avoid this race.

Nicole pasted about it today, but of course she only had good things to say.

What specifically did you not like about the course? I had a decent time. There are a lot of changes I'd make to make the course more accessible and guide runners and their support/guests.

My only pro for the day (other than finishing well above my goal) was the course. I thought it was very rocky, but very runnable. No covering for those that needed to relieve themselves - I felt bad for the ladies and heard a lot of grumblings about that. I thought they marked the course well.

I thought the lottery snafu was bad. I ended up leaving just before 4 and they had not even done the winners coins. That part was an absolute **** show.
I think they could have had a water station down by the lake/gate turnaround.
The guide was not helpful, especially for new runners this year. I had no idea where to park, set up our van, etc.

Was the Austin Rattler a new race?

A is A said:

---

What specifically did you not like about the course? I had a decent time. There are a lot of changes I'd make to make the course more accessible and guide runners and their support/guests.

---

Have you run/raced at Reveille before? There are some great trails out there, very few of which we saw. The mountain bikers got all the good trails. Also pretty disappointed that the ranch has cleared out so much vegetation that big sections of it are wide open...though, that's not the fault of Lifetime events. To me, it felt like, "you know what, we have the mountain bike race, and already have this property, so i think we can squeeze a run into this part over here.." Sections of the course were obviously just "bulldozed" in recently. You could tell portions of the course were literally, "well we need some more distance, so let's just run them down this side of the fence, and then they can run back on the other side." As warm as it was, they should have had at a minimum an unmanned water station on the course, and there were multiple places they would have put that that were easily accessible by the race organizers. And due to the course design, an aid station on that loop could have easily been accessible in both directions since there was a decent chunk of the course that essentially ran parallel or was two-way traffic. The course was definitely not designed with a runner's experience in mind. It was 100% selling out a feeder race to people hoping to get a slot in Leadville. Which, I'll readily admit is why I was there, but then I never even got the chance to put my name in b/c of the disorganization. I know they can't control my personal schedule, but I would have had plenty of time to stick around if they hadn't had issues.

Dafstun said:

---

Was the Austin Rattler a new race?

---

no. I can't remember how many years its been at reveille, but it was at a different venue initially. And they use to do the runs and rides on separate days, which allowed for use of more trails. I can surely understand from an organizer's standpoint that its easier to do both on the same day and save some costs, but as it is now, its definitely a mountain bike race with a running race on the side.

I've done the Buffalo Run 50 which the 100 is just the 50 twice. Running in the dark with bison all over the place is a little scary.

and if if makes you feel better, this guy worked at the same company as me. Spoiler alert: he didn't survive.

https://kutv.com/news/local/runner-injured-possibly-by-bison-on-antelope-island

Sponge said:

---

I've done the Buffalo Run 50 which the 100 is just the 50 twice. Running in the dark with bison all over the place is a little scary.

---

Well I signed up for it, so hopefully I don't scare any of them. I was wondering what they did at night.

AggieOO said:

---

and if if makes you feel better, this guy worked at the same company as me. Spoiler alert: he didn't survive.

https://kutv.com/news/local/runner-injured-possibly-by-bison-on-antelope-island

---

I have hunted and killed a transplanted bison from Antelope island in Utah. He tasted great. Meaner than a rattle snake.

They mostly sleep in a herd not that close to trails. There are always some stragglers that may be close to trails and occasionally you will have to go off trail to get around them safely but it's fairly rare. Only once did I see two in a full gallop trying to get from one side of the island to the other poking through a break in runners.

Well I ran Wild Canyons and didn't have any issues with the Bison. Hopefully the Utah bison are as unimpressed by me as the Texas Bison.

i know i do this from time to time, but anyone have any suggestions for endurance type youtube channels that are putting out good content? heres what i follow currently:

Sally McRae
Beau Miles
Jeff Pelletier
Billy Yang
Mountain Outpost
Solomon TV
Coconino Cowboys (pretty much defunct)
Payson McElveen
The Mocko Show (pretty much defunct)
GingerRunner
Vegan Cyclist (mostly for impossible route)
and anotehr group of lesser known stuff that are all basically dead channels.

Seth James DeMoor is somewhat of an acquired taste but dude is a machine. Best as a road marathoner but does a lot of high elevation training and big mileage training blocks with some mixed in weight training.

I enjoy watching Wes Plate. Dude just always seems to suffer but seems to always finish. Pretty good production quality on his videos as well. Dude is a total optimist as well...

I like:
Feet First Athletics - he's a Florida guy and just seems like an all around good guy
Borderlands Trail Running has some good back of the pack stuff
UltraTrailSteven is decent
Heather Jackson

forgot about Wes Plate. Though I don't follow him, I've watched a lot of his stuff.

thanks to both of you, i'll check them out.

AggieOO said:

---

i know i do this from time to time, but anyone have any suggestions for endurance type youtube channels that are putting out good content? heres what i follow currently:

Sally McRae
Beau Miles
Jeff Pelletier
Billy Yang
Mountain Outpost
Solomon TV
Coconino Cowboys (pretty much defunct)
Payson McElveen
The Mocko Show (pretty much defunct)
GingerRunner
Vegan Cyclist (mostly for impossible route)
and anotehr group of lesser known stuff that are all basically dead channels.

---

Jerimiah bishop
Nick bare

I watch a lot of Tri stuff
Jenna and Miguel
That triathlon life
Team Charles-Barkley
Lionel sanders
Trevor foley
Sam long
Gustav iden
Kristian blumenfelt

Run Steep Get High
Because it's run by Jam Jam of Aravaipa running, has lots of good content for their races including course previews and live streams of events.

Fergus Crawley is another good one.
Messy Happy - couple out of Australia I believe.

Usually nice cool weather for Buffalo Run. Like low of 40 high mid 50s. Although this happened this year so need a variety of clothing to be prepared for anything.

Yea, I saw a video of this year, and it looked rough.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Czdmme-OdHL/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Doing Dino Valley on Saturday. We are taking a canopy tent to set up. If anybody needs a spot to drop your stuff, you're welcome to our space. My husband will be there during the race.

Nice. I am doing the two rivers half in NB on Sunday. It is my favorite race to do. Just absolutely love River Road this time of year.

Could you please provide a brief summary post-Dino? I had that on my radar but admittedly didnt know much about the race - size, trail condition/type, support, scenery, etc. Thanks in advance and good luck.