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Bouncing Soles Posts

Keep Coming Back – Blues Cruise 50K Race Report

If your race didn’t go as expected, that’s OK; it doesn’t matter much. Whether you DNF’d, PR’d, finished DFL, or just got it done, in the end, they’re all just outcomes—they’re not who you are. 12 years of Blues Cruise, and I can tell you with certainty, that while each race plays out slightly different, they all had one underlying theme.  That’s what I plan to cover in this post.

I charted my performances over time… NERD!

This photo shows data points of each year.  That’s what all races are. They are just data points toward the person you want to become. Snapshots of a single day in your life.  Neither good, nor bad, it’s what life allowed for you on that day. Training, weather, mental preparedness, etc, course conditions, are never the same. If I showed you a picture of yourself year after year, it wouldn’t tell the full story of your life, let alone your training. Well, I am slowing down, that’s obvious.  What isn’t shown is everything going on in a person’s life, or how they coped with the stress on race day. Each runner’s experience—and their finish time—is shaped by countless factors: genetics, training, heat acclimation, nutrition, and so many more.

The biggest change I’ve seen in myself over the years is that today, I’ve stopped comparing myself to others—and especially to my past self. Yes, I know I graphed my times, but it was to prove a point. The numbers never tell a full story, like one of my favorite quotes:

“No person ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and they’re not the same person.”

Every year I come back things are so different from the previous year, I can never compare with a past performance. I may think I have control over how the race plays out, but more often than not it feels as though I am at a slot machine each year. Pulling the handle to see what the day brings. I care less about the clock, and more about how the training felt. Was I eager to get out of bed? Did I enjoy the process? Because if that starts to become an issue I will never even make it to the starting line the following year. The race is always the dessert, when it comes to running.  It’s that bonus you GET if you built your fitness AND remained injury free to toe the line. From experience, trying to have a perfect execution on “that” day is a tough, if not near impossible for most unless you have no other commitments. As I age, I care more about just getting to the start vs if I “win”. Winning in ultras is being able to do them, as long as you can, as often as your life allows.

Enjoying the process. Weekly vert over 5K for multiple weeks

In the graph above, my best races were always shared with others. I wrote about race day where I ran with 3 very fast females. I wrote about “Damn the Torpedoes” where I met my first athlete Zach I coached. When you get lost in conversation and focus on something other than yourself, you can transcend time, and surprisingly do your best. I had breakout performances where I shared more miles with people vs alone, I was focused on others vs self rumination.

Damn the Torpedoes with Zach (BC 2022)

The weather wasn’t on my side for a perfect execution this year, and that was OK.  What I was thrilled about was putting everything on the line. I went out hard, and enjoyed every moment. The old me cared about time, the new me cares about process and giving each race everything you can.   The races are a point in time on a given day, and truly anything can and DOES happen. You need to take risk, and be OK with failure to see what you are capable of. Like a magical wizard trying to cast a spell, where the incantation has to be perfect to summon the beast. If one word, or ingredient is off, you summon an abomination of a race filled with pain, cramping, blisters, and suffering. Even with all the training, nutrition, and gear, you can still have things fall apart. That’s what coming back each year has taught me, that things go sideways, reality doesn’t always meet expectation, and you need to adjust.

Race day friends – 3 Fast Ladies Race (BC 2019)

So take your data point and move on, evaluate what happened BUT come back next year! That’s what is critical, its not a representation of you, but a snapshot in time where maybe some years the stars aligned. Some runners get it 100% right 100% of the time.  Good for them! I keep signing up because its the process that keeps me motivated, happy, and a better person.  A patient father, and better husband.  Excellence is the ability to endure hardships. Ultras teach you that life isn’t fair, this is hard, and that nobody is coming to save you—except YOU! Well maybe that bean burrito at AS4 was your savior?? 😆

I carried 2 bottles and a bladder?!? WTF? (BC 2015)

While Blues Cruise was my race I came back to each year, it could have been any event. Fall in love with some activity, some race, and just keep doing it. Try to master something silly, as that’s what most people think of ultras. That’s what I love. I’ll NEVER master this race, or anything in the short time I’m here.  I’ll never master ultras, but it doesn’t stop me from trying. I have no choice!

“My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover”

“Beating the clock” – AI Generated of 2025 BC finish

Thanks for reading! This isn’t your typical race report; it’s more of a reflection on why I came back the twelve times. I hope you enjoyed it.

Ultra Hard – 20 Years of Blues Cruise 50K Preview

Active vs. passive challenges. The hard you choose vs. the hard you don’t. I’m back again for my 12th time at Blues Cruise 50K, the race that started it all. I was trying to figure out what made me take that initial leap of faith to the longer distance. How are things different now, having made that decision? Has it improved my life? That’s what this post will focus on, and why it’s so important to have challenges you choose vs. just the ones life hands you.

2011 – Blues Cruise had a mandatory stream crossing

I think part of it was I was searching for my endurance identity. I wanted to be able to call myself an “ultrarunner.” I had just finished my second Olympic distance triathlon. While they were fun, I never felt comfortable in the water, and a bike accident left me in the hospital for nine days. The first Blues Cruise opened my eyes to a world of adventure on the trails. I had done a handful of trail races, but nothing this long. It was the right amount of hard/uncertain fun, and the idea that some don’t finish really intrigued me. It was a hard I was choosing that most people thought was crazy. My parents were concerned about the distance and how long I was running, which seems hilarious now compared to some of my latest efforts. When others are questioning your life decisions, you know you are going in the right direction. They couldn’t wrap their brains around what was enjoyable about it.

For me, it was the fascination with new details that didn’t exist in any other race I had done before. Food intake, foot care, drop bags? How much pain could I endure? How do you pace this thing? Even as I come back after all this time, pace is one of those things you never know if you have fully dialed in until you’re more than ⅔ into the race. I was so nervous heading into this event, and now to see it morph into a footnote at the end of each season is amazing. This year, I gave it a lot more attention in my training, using lots of vert training and a very detailed plan for this year. I think I am primed to have a “good” year.

The reason this race was so important, like the shorter ones that came before it, was it was a challenge I picked vs. one I did not. There’s a lot of science on taking on challenges you choose; in psychology, it’s called “stress inoculation.” The basic idea: if you face manageable and chosen stress, you get better at handling all kinds of stress. That’s what I have seen in my life. I can’t be fazed by much after being completely drained in some of these events. When you master a hard thing that you willingly took on, you start to believe, “Hey, I can do hard stuff.” That belief has stuck with me, and life just keeps throwing something unexpected. The 50K was that first example of cramping and pain I had NEVER before felt in any event before it.

Ultras are a big part of my happiness, graph from longest running happiness study. Community was the biggest factor

Ultrarunners are experts at choosing suffering on purpose. Training for and finishing races means you’re constantly pushing through discomfort and testing your mental limits. Research has shown athletes have higher pain tolerance and can handle emotional distress better than people who don’t do endurance sports. It’s why sports are such an important part of life, and why it’s important for kids and adults to be involved in them.

I have discovered more about myself in the depths of ultrarunning than in any other activity that I have done. It’s built confidence and a deep sense of community and connection with others who are on the same crazy journey. Some of my best friends I have had were made and met on the trail and in the community.

Blues Cruise showed that if I loaded my year with a bunch of challenges that scared the crap out of me, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment, and kept meeting new people and seeing new places as long as I kept coming back and kept training. I always added Blues Cruise because it was that first important win that sparked many that followed. I kept increasing the challenge until the point at which I have done some amazing races, been to amazing places, and helped amazing people. They are my calling card in ultras; the 100s became part of the hardest things I have done, and there are still so many more to take on. How crazy is it that one simple decision so long ago could have such long-lasting effects? It all started with that first step, that leap of faith to a new distance that seemed crazy. 50Ks are now normal, like a 5K becomes nothing to a marathoner. It’s perspective, it’s relative, but it’s intense at any distance.

Challenges are coming for you regardless. They are coming in all different forms, from ones you choose to ones you do not. Stress is a necessary part of our system, but not too much. Each ultra presents a unique challenge that’s relative to the person, the training they have put in, and the physical state they are in. They all teach the same thing: that constant effort will get you to the finish line. Congrats to anyone who is about to take on Blues Cruise for their first time. They are lucky, because they could be at the doorstep to a life of adventure, friendship, and challenges that will bring them to some amazing places. Have a great race, and I’ll see you on the starting line!

My video back in 2022 when I had a break through performance.