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Breakneck Trail Runs Race Report – A Nobel Quest

I was listening to a podcast that talked about the need to determine your “noble quest” in life. At the end of my life, I don’t want to have just accumulated a bunch of stuff. I want to gather experiences and enjoy moments of completing hard things. When I look back, I want to be shocked by the risks I took in pursuit of my “noble quest.” I want my mind to be filled with these things before I go, because I like to think that when we die, the experiences in our minds might be the only things we take with us. If that doesn’t happen, maybe your life flashes before your eyes. If it does, and my life flashes before my eyes as I lay on my deathbed, I want to know I went hard, had fun, and laughed a lot.

This race checks all of those boxes. Ultras are my “noble quest” in life, and I think everybody should have one. Your “noble quest” becomes your guiding light for how to structure your days, and it becomes the “why” that gets you out of bed. How can you complete your quest if you don’t put in the training? It’s the driving story you center your life around—what’s most important. For me, it’s my family and my noble quest. I want to spend more on experiences rather than things.

That said, I did just get a new 360 camera to film with 😊. I consider the camera more of a tool than a toy. It helps me document my quest and gives me the ability to reflect on the hard things I’ve done on those days when insecurity fills my head and negative thoughts tell me I can’t do hard things. I have proof that I can.

So below is my race report and a list of what went right, what went wrong, and what I would have done differently.

Shared a lot of miles with Colson Zucker

What went right:

Training:

What I did half worked. My peak total training time was about 40–50 hours per week, which was fine, but the main issue was that I couldn’t get anywhere near the amount of climbing this race required. My primary target had been the 3,500 ft trail marathon in Philadelphia, not this 9,000 ft race. So, I knew I was going into the race undertrained for the vertical gain, which was NOT a good strategy. But if you’re racing constantly, you can’t focus equally on multiple races. I decided to set this as a B race, not my A, so it was more of a side quest to see if I liked the event and the course. I had no expectations on finish time or place.

Gear:

My new racing shorts that I’ve been using this year worked GREAT! I was even at the start line with some other people using the same shorts and sponsored T8 athlete:

Those are not love handles, its SIS gels I swear

These shorts allowed me to hold 9 Oreos, 15 SIS gels, and a phone. You can NEVER have enough pockets, especially for food. I downed SO many SIS gels and never felt any GI distress. Because of this, I didn’t need to be weighed down by a vest—which I’m not a huge fan of, as they tend to hold in heat and bounce around. I also carried a waist Ultimate Direction Unisex Ultra Belt that held my filming equipment: a hat camera, a self centered stick, and a 360 camera.

Miscellaneous:

For the first half of the race, I wore a pair of gloves. While they were helpful for the rock climbing section, I would have ditched them if it had been any hotter—they mostly just made my hands sweat. I think the change in the course this year meant there were slightly fewer scrambles, so it was less vertical gain than the advertised 9,000 ft.

What went wrong

Camping:

I was still hesitant to camp out, fearing I wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep. In hindsight, I should have camped, because I ended up making a poor hotel choice with a host of issues (which I won’t get into, since they had nothing to do with the race itself). It was a cheap motel about 15 minutes away, and it just wasn’t a great place to stay. If you plan to check out this race, I recommend bringing a tent. Check out my video for a look at the camping situation. There’s also a large parking lot for campers right at the start, spots for trailers on the side, and tents are right at the starting line.

Shoe Choice:

Carbon fiber shoes can roll your ankles. After speaking with another runner, I learned how using carbon in a shoe can be a bad idea for a technical trail run. I rolled my ankle badly during my first half marathon trail race this season—it was extremely painful, and the injury happened two more times with the new shoes. This isn’t an issue on flat gravel, but if you’re running off-camber, rocky terrain, you’re much more likely to roll an ankle. That led to injury and caused me to miss a few training runs as I recovered.

Poles in Wet Conditions ONLY:

The race recommended no poles for the scrambles, but I disagree if it’s a wet day. Poles would have been helpful for the first half, and I could have ditched them for the second half.

Cramping:

My training wasn’t at the level it needed to be for this much climbing per mile (300–350 ft/mile). I knew I was undertrained when I took the risk—and I paid for it with horrible cramping during the race. It wasn’t a nutrition issue; my muscles simply weren’t adapted for the demands of race day. Pushing on more difficult terrain than your body is ready for just causes muscle damage, so my body was trying to protect itself.

Hydration:

My hydration was borderline (medium to low). I wish there had been a few more aid stations, or that I had carried slightly more water. On a hot day, this could be a major issue. If you’re able to filter water on course, though, there are enough stream crossings to make up for it. I might just carry one bottle that can filter for next year.

Bugs:

Bugs! The gnats were relentless in some sections—I had them in my eyes more than twice. A bug net definitely would have helped, and bug spray might have made a difference too. There are small, packable bug nets you can carry. The bugs were not an issue the entire race, it seemed like only the first half.

AMAZING views in this race

What I Would Do Differently:

Next time, I would make this my A race, train with a lot more climbing, and definitely camp onsite. That’s my plan for next year. The views and climbs in this race are hard to match, especially if you’re used to the PA trail running scene. I’d also bring a bit more hydration, given the distance between aid stations, and I’d make sure to go to the top of that fire tower I saw to enjoy the view. I regret not doing that—adventures like this don’t come around very often for me.

I would also bring poles. When I started cramping, I really wished I’d had them. I saw one guy absolutely fly down a rocky section with poles—it was incredible. No one without poles could have done that. Poles are great, as long as you have a way to store them during the rockier sections.

Final Thoughts:

I loved the race, the views, the food, and the overall vibe from start to finish. This was such a well-run event—credit goes to the race director, and his crew that have run this race for 11 years. You can tell it’s a mature event that’s worked out most, if not all issues.

In life, you have to make space for something new to come in. After 21 years of running a flat, road race down Broad Street, I think I’ve found a great event to make a new yearly tradition. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt are baked into running ultras; they’re uncomfortable by design. Most will choose a life of comfort and avoid obstacles, but what happens if you always take the easy path? If you choose hard things, life becomes easier. I decided not to choose Broad Street this year because I didn’t want comfort—at least, not the kind I was used to. Comfortable is relative: ten miles on Broad Street used to be uncomfortable for me, but life keeps changing, and so should your challenges. When life gets hard beyond your control, it just doesn’t stress you out as much when you know how to push yourself. It’s still tough, don’t get me wrong, just not as bad.

Shavasana

One final thought I had was about trail running itself. The nature of your happiness lies in your relationships: to people, to places, to your community, and to your family—and in a race, in your relationship to your own body and to nature. So take care of your body, control your thoughts, and talk to the people next to you in a race because they’re going through the same thing you are. We’re all interconnected, especially with nature. So when you think you’re “alone” out there, you’re really not. You’re always connected to the world around you—and that’s a big part of why I love trail running so much.

I shot this race in a new style with my 360 camera. Let me know how you thought it came out in the comments. Thanks for reading! If you found this interesting or helpful please let me know.

Philadelphia Trail Marathon – Race Report 2025

What went right

Mindset is the hardest aspect to train for in running. It’s the focus of most of my posts here. I constantly have to remind myself why I do it. Why do I get out there, explore new trails, participate in new races, and keep showing up? This was my mindset going into the Philadelphia Trail Marathon.

Except from the book “Do hard things”:

Lower the bar. Raise the floor. When trying to improve, most of us go for the lift-the-ceiling approach, judging ourselves by our best performance ever. In track, we would define ourselves by our personal best for an event. To get better meant running faster than we ever had before. Brian Barraza, a professional runner, sees performance in a different light. “My goal is to raise the floor. Being confident that whenever I step out on the track, I’m going to be able to run a certain time.” Instead of going all in for the massive breakthrough, Barraza sets a minimum expectation. “When you raise the floor, it allows for those days when everything is clicking to exceed expectations. It’s not that we are lowering our ceiling or playing it safe; it’s that we’ve developed the confidence to know that X performance is repeatable. That as long as we do what’s in our control, we can achieve a certain standard, no matter the circumstances,” Barraza told me one day after practice. As I watched this idea percolate through the athletes, I came to notice a trend. Those who raised their floors had an inner confidence about them. What once seemed crazy to contemplate was now the norm. Brian Zuleger, a sports psychologist out of Adams State University, taught me an exercise to reframe expectations. Instead of aiming for our best performance, something that we can only accomplish rarely, shoot for improving your best average. When we judge ourselves against our all-time best, we inevitably fall short more often than not. Instead, averaging out our five most recent performances gives us a still tricky but achievable goal. The aim is first to be consistent. Don’t lower your expectations just so you can become confident. Understand what you are capable of, and set a standard that falls within that realm or just a touch outside of it. Embrace reality. Understand that a breakthrough doesn’t come from creating a false sense of confidence; by developing the belief that you can achieve a certain standard, you free yourself up to take risks when the opportunity presents itself.

I would not try for my BEST performance, but one in the top 10-20% of what I was capable.  I realized that running a PR can’t happen every single time, but that’s what our minds want.  I had a 3:53 and a 4:13 in previous years.  Goal was 4:03, but I felt that my training, weather, and nutrition warranted a sub 4 performance. That’s what I had set as my target, but would have been happy with a 4:05. Note, the big change this year was I haven’t had any alcohol, but that’s a post for another day.

Clothing

I tested shorts with large pockets that can hold poles! They allowed me to skip all but 1 aid station. They held my phone, 8 SIS gels and 8 mint Oreos.  The downfall is no support for men, so I wore a compression under them.  

The secret weapon! Shorts with MASSIVE pockets in the waist.

Nutrition

Constant fueling and WAAAY more carbs than in training.  When intensity goes up, so does nutrition.  I was hitting around 60-70 carbs per hour and that seemed to be a sweet spot with the cold weather. If it was hot, it could have been higher. I carried no water and didn’t take any on the course. I used only isotonic gels and only 1 cup of soda near the end. DISCLAIMER: This was tested in a half marathon a few weeks before so I knew this would work. Please don’t go and run a marathon with NO hydration except a 1 cup of soda.

Photo Credit: Doug Rafalski

MORE gels and More cookies next time!  I could have had more Oreos and SIS gels per hour. They went down easy. I had zero GI distress. Will that same thing happen if I ate them for 24 hours?  No idea, but for 4 hours they worked well.  My test for the upper limit for fuel consumption has still not been hit. 

Shout out to Alex Takacs and John Berry, they cheered me on at the start, and its amazing how much a small act like that can make a difference in your performance and mental state.  

What went wrong?

I took the first half too fast, but it was a risk I knew I was taking.  I was eating WAY more than I normally do in a race and I intentionally pushed intensity.  While I would say this worked to a point, I would have run an even faster time had I ran a negative split. If you negative split then you tend to run your fastest time capable that day. At least that’s what I have found with my training in the past.

Pacing – The race kicked off, and I went out too hard.  I met Bill Durante, no relation, when my running group, the EYB runners, decided to meet up with Bud Wilson and his crew.  He was going HARD off the start and we went back and forth all race.  Bill was having a tough run, he said he didn’t have any contacts left, and resorted to wearing glasses in the race that kept fogging. The dude fell 5 or more times, but he still kept pushing the pace.  That in turn triggered me to push the pace, I do know better and still ran my own race, but it was a plus to run with him.

I was pumped to be running this race for the 3rd time.

What would I do differently:  

More food, slower first lap, and letting my ankle heal properly after I had injured it.  I was so concerned about missing training that I kept running on an injured ankle.  I did a lot to rehab, but didn’t give it enough time to heal.  There wasn’t that much I would change with this event.

There was a shift in mindset about anyone who passed me. I just finished the book “Let them” by Mel Robbins, and I will say that I kept repeating that to myself. Let them pass you, and LET ME focus on my feet, fuel, and breathing. I can’t control others in a race, and 99% of pain in life is caused trying to control what we can’t.

When we lack control, our stress spikes. When we have sense that we can impact the situation, our cortisol response is dampened. Control doesn’t alter just our hormonal response but also the experience that accompanies the stress response.

I can’t control who shows up on race day, how much they train, and how much of a natural athlete they are. I can control my thoughts, barely, but most of the time as I have written about automatic negative thoughts. I can keep repeating to myself core principles when I race, that the current moment may feel tough, but it will pass. Races are a huge reminder of that topic. When you are surrounded by hundreds of people with the same goal, but wildly different backgrounds and how they got there. No single person comes to trail running with the same goals, or training. Each one of them is trying to run “the best they ever could”, but how ridiculously is that? Stop thinking you will run your best, and try for something that’s more attainable. Raise the floor, shoot for a performance in the top 20 or even 30%. Have a hard look at your training and see if it matches your expectations. Did you put int he work to warrant the performance you expect? That’s where most people shoot themselves in the foot, unmatched expectations.

Each race this year will be a different mindset that won’t put as much stress on this idea to perform “better than I ever”. That’s an idea that no longer serves me. I hit my 44th birthday tomorrow. I am getting older, and not to say that my best days are behind me, I know that I need more compassion for myself and my expectations. That’s a question I would put out to anyone who ran this race. Did you goals align with the performance you achieved, or were they mismatched? If so, you might have been fighting an uphill battle the entire race. Thanks for reading!