Jason Robillard - The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running and Ultramarathons: Expert Advice, and Some Humor, on Training, Competing, Gummy Bears, Snot Rockets, and More

Copyright 2014 by Jason Robillard

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Liz Driesbach

Cover photo credit Thinkstock

Print ISBN: 978-1-62914-774-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-165-2

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I never would have attempted a project like this if it were not for Shellys unwavering support and occasional tough love. My life is one awesome adventure after another, and I have her to thank.

Many of the pictures from the book were taken or edited by Stephanie Smedberg. Also, Shelly and I couldnt have done many of our adventures without her assistance.

I have to thank my friends... even those that dont really run much. Jesse Scott, Jeremiah Cataldo, Christian and Amy Peterson, Jon Sanregret, Robert Shackleford, Vanessa Rodriguez, Mark Robillard, Phil Stapert, Tim Looney, Jason Saint Amour, Nate Wolfe, Brandon Mulnix, Krista Cavendar, John DeVries, Stuart Peterson, Pete Larson, Mark Cucuzzella, Tony Schaub, Chip Tilden, Pat Sweeney, Bill Katovsky, Kurt Kwiatkowski, Damian Stoy, James Barstad, Mark Lofquist, Gordy Ainsleigh, Emily Snayd, Kevin Mullinax, Ryan Hansard, Dave Repp, Ken Bob Saxton, Rick Robbins, Tucker Goodrich, T. J. Gerken, Michael Helton, Josh Sutcliffe, William Garabrant, Ted MacDonald, Heather Wiatrowski, Shelley Viggiano, Kate Kift, Bob Nicol, Buzz and Sarah Johnson, Chase Williams, and all the rest of the ultrarunners and friends Ive had the pleasure of sharing the trails with over the years. You folks taught me everything I know.

I also have to thank those that helped foster and inspire my creative career, including my parents Gail and Al, Dirk Wierenga, my agent James Fitzgerald, Marianna Dworak of Skyhorse Publishing, Molly Noland, Dr. Cynthia Prosen, Charlie Kohler, Anne Lamott, Don Nohel, Seth Godin, Hugh MacLeod, Chris Guillebeau, Tim Ferriss, Tucker Max, George Carlin, Brian Doyle-Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Mike Sacks, Chris Kluwe, Melvin Helitzer, Dave Attell, David Ward, Will Ferrell, Mel Brooks, Norm MacDonald, Gerrit Elzinga, Tina Fey, Randy Macho Man Savage, Joe Rogan, C. J. Nitkowski, Daniel Tosh, Jack Handey, Steven Wright, and Weird Al Yankovic. I dont know many of you personally, but thank you for shaping me into the person I am today.

INTRODUCTION

Way back in 2005, I caught the trail and ultrarunning bug thanks to a strange mix of pineapple juice, Skittles, and vodka. It started innocently enough. I was teaching high school psychology and coaching football at the time, which had been my dream job since my college days. The coaching gig came to an unexpected end (our teams sucked; all of us coaches were basically fired). I was feeling somewhat burned out with football, so my wife, Shelly, introduced me to running.

I had always enjoyed the running I did to condition for football and wrestling, but I had never actually competed before. At first, it was just a component to our weight training routineit was an activity that helped keep my waistline in check. We decided to add an interesting challenge and entered a local fifteen-kilometer road race. I had no idea that simple, seemingly insignificant gesture would eventually change my life.

Shortly after signing up for the race, we were hanging out with some friends watching the Janet Jackson Super Bowl. Yeah, I dont remember which teams were playing, either. Anyway, after hours of enjoying the aforementioned vodka, pineapple juice, and Skittles cocktails, the conversation drifted to running. Doug Evink, one of our friends, was training for a twenty-five -kilometer race later that spring. To us, our fifteen-kilometer race seemed ridiculously long; Dougs race was almost unfathomable. Doug deflected the praise we were heaping on him by changing the subject to marathons. I knew those twenty-something-mile crazy races existed, but thought they were only run by Olympic-caliber running freaks. Doug chuckled at my naivete. He went on to explain that marathons were quite popular and regularly run by otherwise normal folks. In fact, Oprah had run a marathon back in 1994. Oprah ! If she could do it, I reasoned, it couldnt be that unfathomable.

We laughed it off, refilled our drinks, and went back to talking about our training for upcoming races. I more or less dismissed the marathon idea; it just didnt sound appealing. As the night (and drinks) continued, the running discussion died out. We changed the subject to cars, our blossoming careers, and the booming housing market. Soon after the nipple-slip whooping and hollering, Doug turned to me and quietly said, You know, there are races longer than marathons. Theyre called ultramarathons. There are fifty-kilometer races, fifty-milers... one-hundred-milers even. Theyre run off road on trails.

That piqued my interest. As a kid, I grew up in a small, rural northern Michigan town. My father was an avid outdoorsman. I spent many days exploring the vast forests near our house and had fallen in love with rolling hills, dense tree cover, the sweet smell of the vegetation, and the sounds of birds chirping and squirrels rustling in the leaves. Prior to Dougs mentioning of ultras, I had never considered that it was possible to run anywhere besides the concrete and asphalt jungle of our cities and suburbs. I had never considered the idea of running around my childhood stomping ground.

My interest in the idea of trail running was somewhat tempered by the stupid idea of running an incredibly long distance. Honestly, I thought Doug was making up the whole ultramarathon thing. At that point, the longest run Shelly and I did was somewhere in the ballpark of five miles. Running ten to twenty times that distance seemed impossible, not only for us but for any human.

When we returned home, the first thing I did was Google ultramarathon. Sure enough, it was a real thing. I was transfixed. I spent that entire night, despite having to teach the next day, surfing the web and absorbing as much information as I could find. I cant quite explain why, but I knew this was something I needed to do. The sheer stupidity of the endeavor appealed to me. At that point in my life, I had settled into a comfortable routine with moderate, easy-to-accomplish goals. I rationalized the desire to run an ultra as an attempt to fill the void left by the absence of coaching football, and I was quickly consumed by my new hobby.

Shelly and I ran the fifteen-kilometer race later that spring. They say youre supposed to pace yourself in racestheyre right. I committed the cardinal sin of running races: I went out way too fast. The race turned out to be the single most painful experience of my life, but I found a weird joy in the experience. I took the lessons learned and began planning for my first ultra. Throwing all common sense aside, I set my goal for a local fifty-miler that very fall. Our daughter was an infant at the time, so I started juggling work, helping Shelly care for the baby, and running.