This past weekend I competed in the Ozark Trail 100 mile Ultramarathon. It’s a grueling footrace through the Mark Twain National Forest which includes 12,000 of elevation gain and some very rocky and technical trails. It was my biggest running challenge to date and I am happy to report that I finished in third place in a time of 20 hours and 23 minutes. I was not expecting that good of a finish and am still on cloud nine over the race.
I don’t think it would have been possible to have done this without the help of my friends. I had an amazing crew at the race that would tend to my every need and run with me late into the night keeping me company. I could tell a lot of the other runners were a little jelly at my crew that consisted of my buddies Jeff Stafford, Patrick Green, Troy Gizzi and Kyle Curtin. I owe those guys so many beers.
It’s not just the guys who crewed me at the race that helped me though, it was my friends that I trained with, each one of them giving me a little something and making me better. My friend Brittany for example: running with her pushed me to get faster because I had to so I could keep up with her. Or James, who I ran my first ever marathon with, who was there to remind me how far I have come in my running. Running with my buddy David made me mentally tougher; the guy never quits, he just keeps pushing and there are no excuses to cut the training runs short.
I do all this name dropping to make a point: surround yourself with awesome people. They will rub off on you and make you a better runner. We all enjoy running by ourselves, but just running by yourself can cause you to get into a rut. Running with a diverse group of runners will help you absorb some of their strengths and you can learn a lot from their experience. If you don’t have any running friends join the Clarksville Running Club, or go to the Runner’s Hub group runs on Thursday nights.