Congratulations

Tough break for Zach miller. Saw that he had to have emergency surgery for appendicitis, so he's probably out for hardrock.

He posted a run on strava and said he felt really good. The tagline was something like "this is going to be a harder decision"

Would be a hell of a story if he's able to run.

After doing the Silverton 50K Saturday, did the second part of the duo (Kendall Mountain Challenge). 12 miles and over 13,000 at its highest point.

Training partner and I almost finished DFL, but we had a blast. The winner ran the 12 miles (including the rock scramble) in 1:40 on a very treacherous course.

Sounds like Zach Miller still hasn't made a decision

he did not start.

Probably the right call though.

looks like it wasn't his call. the race told him no.

In one of his previous posts he said he needed medical clearance. I guess they didn't give it to him.

Ludo doing it for the old guys!

And Courtney doing Courtney things.

They made it a joke on the between two pines podcast, but is Jamil becoming big running?

I'll take him over utmb. Jamil just absolutely loves the sport and wants to improve everything while retaining the roots of the sport.

June Update is out. Shorter than the previous ones. Trying to keep this sub-10 mins moving forward. We just wrapped out our wisconsin trip and filmed a number of non-vlog videos, which is what we really want to ultimately do. Last full update before Angeles Crest 100.

Looking at dipping my toe into the ultra running world. What are some good Texas-based, or near to Texas, ultras I could look into? Time frame would be roughly next fall (2025).

LoneStarAg17 said:

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Looking at dipping my toe into the ultra running world. What are some good Texas-based, or near to Texas, ultras I could look into? Time frame would be roughly next fall (2025).

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I've had good experience with races by Tejas Trails, Trail Racing Over Texas, and Blaze Trails.

I will not run another Ultra Expeditions race even though they are in cool locations.

What distance and what part of Texas are you looking for? OO has run just about every race in Texas.

Thank you for the recommendations, I'll start my search there.

Very "pie in the sky" but if everything goes as I would like, I'll run a marathon this spring, built to a medium distance ultra (30-60mi) by the fall 2025, and a 100mi sometime the following spring/early summer of 2026.

I've ran two half marathons now and have the bug. That said, I recognize the vast difference between 13 miles, and what we are discussing in here, so I'm hoping that is enough of a runway to keep a healthy base and work up the mileage.

As far as location, I have time to plan and am open to suggestions. Was thinking I'd keep the first ultra Texas-based, somewhere 3-4 hours from either Dallas or Houston, but then find a really cool destination race for the 100.

You'll have a lot of options but the races that are around Austin probably have more fun terrain. Dino Valley could be a good introduction for you and is close to Dallas. If you find a race you're interested in, someone here has run it.

for a 100 miler in spring/early summer, i'd look outside of Texas.

I know spartan didn't have a great experience with Ultra Expeditions, but I can't complain about my experience with them.

what part of texas are you in. big state, so might be closer to head out of state depending on where you are. And the race might even be better than something in-state...potentially.

AggieOO said:

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for a 100 miler in spring/early summer, i'd look outside of Texas.

I know spartan didn't have a great experience with Ultra Expeditions, but I can't complain about my experience with them.

what part of texas are you in. big state, so might be closer to head out of state depending on where you are. And the race might even be better than something in-state...potentially.

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If you run with them, don't expect hot food (or any food other than chips or cookies, as long as they don't run out), and don't expect generous cutoffs. If I ran with them again, I'd just plan to run it as if it were a self supported event.

I'll likely be in Dallas for the first, shorter ultra, and then have moved to Houston when I'm looking for a 100mi.

For hundreds in the houston area:

Rocky Raccoon is a good first hundred. It was my first. Its up at huntsville state park.

Another "good" first 100 in the houston area is Brazos Bend, but, to me, that's not a trail race. Its basically completely flat and is a 10 foot wide crush granite path. Plenty of people like that, but its not for me.

spartan is probably a better resource for the dallas-area races. I've not done a ton up there, and the ones I have, its been awhile. I've raced pretty much all over the rest of the state though, or at least been on the trails.

Appreciate your responses. Its one of those things where there is so much information out there, its hard to know which direction to start in. I'll do some digging and planning and keep spying on this thread to keep up with you all!

If you're willing to drive over to Louisiana, Loup Garou is a great December race. It's looped, but it's still a lot of fun.

Grasslands is March but the weather is usually bad. A lot of people seem to like Lake Murray in OK in October, but it's always muddy too.

Rockledge Rumble is a nice little trail race in Grapevine in November. There is some interesting terrain there. They have distances up to 50k. It's on the Northshore trail by Lake Grapevine. A lot of it is still flooded right now, but Trailhead Running Supply has Dirt Church on Sunday mornings and leads group runs from their store.

I have not run Isle Du Bois, but have heard good things about it.

Possum's Revenge is early May. The only problem with that race is that usually no one is heat acclimated by that time and it's usually hot. Still a decent race though. I have run the 17 mile, and I have paced the longer distance.

Those are probably the closest to DFW.

aggiespartan said:

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Possum's Revenge is early May. The only problem with that race is that usually no one is heat acclimated by that time and it's usually hot. Still a decent race though. I have run the 17 mile, and I have paced the longer distance.

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you forgot to mention the sand...

I still had a great race at that one though when I did the 52 miler.

There's sand almost everywhere up here. My relationship with sand is better than my relationship with rocks.

If anyone wants a masterclass on how to run slow on rocks and still fall down multiple times, you guys know where I am.

So apparently Harvey Lewis asked his crew right before they finished badwater "what if we went back to the start?" And they are now running back to the start line. Insane.

Having crewed out there twice, I might have told him he was on his own.

How are you feeling about next weekend?

Fine? I don't know. Hard to say until I get out there. Could have always done more, but I feel better than I did for the last one.

How are you guys feeling? Your course is going to be a lot harder than mine.

funny you should ask:



but yeah, starting to get into a bit of "freak out" mode, which always happens about this time.