Skip to content

Category: Running

Eastern States 100 Pre-Race Report 2026

Eastern States 100 Pre-Race Report 2026

Published by Patrick Durante on August 4, 2026

Well, here I am again, back another year at Eastern States. PA’s best, and biggest 100 mile race. A year has past since the dreaded “DFL”. So what did I learn? What changed in my process and training to avoid it this year? Here’s a few things that are different than last years training build up.

What I did different?

World’s End, Hyner, and Breakneck got me ready for ES100
  1. Higher race volume of terrain specific training.
  2. (Breakneck, Hyner, and Worlds End). If you are training for other races your overall fitness and readiness to take on ES will be at a higher level. Last year I didn’t race as much except for a Last Person Standing and pacing my friend at Western States. Races are a great way to build fitness if you can work them into your schedule. The 2 other races in the triple crown series have the same type of vertical gain/terrain as ES100.
  3. Racing is its own microcosm, the way it feels, the stress, and how to handle different situations that arise. You can’t get that in training and why its best to have a test event before your A race.
  4. Higher volume of running in the heat (mid day running) with back-to-back training days. ES100 is basically two very long days of running. Running back-to-back days teaches the legs how to run fatigued and tired. I made sure to have a lot of double days of climbing.
  5. Gear specific training with vest/poles – I brought my gear I would be wearing and using on a bunch of runs, I didn’t do that too much last year.
  6. Large amount of uninterrupted training blocks. Last year we went on two short vacations and I traveled to Western States before the race. Total training volume and climbing was decreased before Es100 in 2025, not this time.
Highlight of this year – Trail Classic with my son!

What I would like to happen this year?

  1. Foot care is paramount.
    • This year, I have made huge efforts to make sure my feet stay happy and healthy. I had a massive amount of damage to my feet in last years ES100, I even say in the video as I come into this one aid station that I need to get my feet fixed. This is what slowed me to a CRAWL last year. Shoes that I should have broke in more, poor timing with a shoe change, and a whole host of issues like that caused the foot problems. I plan to wear double socks to cut down on the friction from the rocky terrain.
  2. Custom Gels and Aid Stations
    • Last year, I spent TOO much time at the amazing aid stations, mostly taking in the amazing buffet of food. I need to be mindful of getting in and out by just loading my pockets and keep moving. I won’t waste so much time this year. It’s hard to make up that time running when its easier to be more efficient at aid stations.
  3. I plan to put my poles away when I can and RUN. The power line trail, and many sections are very runnable.
I practiced putting my poles away to focus on running more.

Goal of the race?

Enjoying the course, and the event. I want to be less stressed than last year. I was a nervous wreck at the end, racing cut offs, and barely making it. I DO NOT want to be in that position this year. I would like to actually RUN the last 20 miles. I said in Worlds End I wanted to run the last 5 miles,and made that happen. I am looking for the same outcome this year at ES100. No time goal, just able to move well on the final sections and RUN vs hike. Enjoy the course, the aid stations, and the people I share the race with as much as I can before the pain and fatigue set in.

This race will grind you down to a nub with the 21,000K vert. Leading to tired legs, destroyed quads, and a level of discomfort you won’t find in other 100s. I’ve shared a lot of training runs with friends Buddy, Alex, and the EYB runners at the Wiss. I would like an enjoyable experience, but I am OK with whatever happens, either way I’ll learn something from it. This is only the 2nd time ever for a 100 I will have a pacer! The one and only Rich Sharkey, and experienced ultra runner who has agreed to join me for the last 20 miles. I am excited for that as well.

Murphs with friends made up most of my strength training

I am grateful to get to line up again for a 3rd time! Such a well run and amazing experience is always had, and if I can pull off another race finish, I will have achieved this year’s goal of a triple crown. After that, just one final race of the Black Forest Ultra to round out this years racing. What an amazing experience its been so far. PA trail racing doesn’t get any better than this!

Ultra Brain

Ultra Brain

Published by Patrick Durante on February 13, 2026

Science has backed up what I have known about ultras:


Anterior midcingulate cortex (AMCC). Often referred to as the “willpower muscle,” its size and activity are driven by neurobiology rather than just a personality trait. The AMCC grows ONLY when you engage in tasks that are challenging. For instance, if someone loves cold water, an ice bath won’t change their AMCC, but if they hate the cold and force themselves to do it anyway, the area grows. This brain region is significantly larger in “super agers,” individuals who maintain high cognitive capacity and physical health well into their 80s and 90s. The AMCC shrinks or atrophies in individuals who live sedentary lives or consistently avoid challenges. The AMCC is the “seat of the will to live,” as its size and activity level are strong predictors of how well a person survives a major health setback or surgery. Doing “hard things,” such as pushing through difficult physical workouts or neural-activating drills, tells the brain it can overcome any obstacle, building a reserve for when life gets hard.

Failing to do hard things can lead to a breakdown of connectors and receptors in the brain, creating a cycle where the AMCC doesn’t grow, making it increasingly difficult to meet goals or resist sedentary behaviors. This discovery is critical because it moves the concept of willpower away from a moral failing and into the realm of trainable hardware in the brain.

This is something I have known for a while, but I love seeing that science now backs it up. After I completed my first difficult race I signed up for, it gave me a new perspective, the things I didn’t sign up for got easier. I used it as my measuring stick by which I determined if something was difficult. 5Ks became easy, similar to the 5lb weight that becomes easy to lift. That muscle became strong and able to lift greater and greater challenges. So I had to reach for the bigger goal, the bigger hurdle to overcome; the 5K became the 10K, the half marathon, and the rest is history. I used to think it was an addiction to running, but it’s more an addiction to growing these connections stronger to take on greater challenges. Seeking out these challenges year after year was a necessary part of growth.

Your hard looks different from mine, and that’s the beauty of this discovery. We all start off with a small, underdeveloped AMCC. With my kids, I can see how hard it is for them to take on new challenges, but we sign them up for sports. Sports force a hard on you that you don’t choose. You learn to win, lose, or play the game and be better than your previous version of you. There is a sense of danger. You may get hurt if you put yourself in the game, a real game, not a video game (as we are doing a lot now in the winter months). There has to be something that is on the line. You need to have the ability to get hurt, accountability to teammates, going off course in a race, just some type of failure. There needs to be that 50/50 chance of success, because you can’t trick your brain. It knows if nothing is at stake: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

This is the best understanding of the “WHY” for ultras. People think you’re insane when you tell them you can’t wait to run 100 miles in the woods, trying to find your limit. That limit is where the AMCC grows, as someone who has been doing this a long time. I can go back in my mind and remember those past events and feel the pain of the big races. I can look back at them, see the medal or buckle on the shelf, and actually feel how much I grew from a single event, YEARS after it has passed. I remember how tired I was, how hard it was to gain those wins. I know the exact points in races where I had to dig deep and where those synapses in my brain fired to get me a finish. It wasn’t for the buckle, medal, or right to say I completed it. It was for the urge to drive the growth, to be better than my previous best, and that’s it. That’s what drives me year after year, and why I’m excited to plan my adventures every year. Where will they take me? How hard will I push? Will I get in all the training needed to complete the challenges? What type of person will I become when the year is done and I look back?

Find what you’re afraid of most and GO LIVE THERE. That quote is so true because that’s the part of your brain that is scared and needs the inoculation to fear. If you do, you grow, you get stronger, and that fear fades, leaving less places for fear to hide. If you need to convince your significant other to let you sign up for a 50K or 100K, you can forward them this post as to WHY. You become stronger IF you complete it, and even if you don’t, you still grow because you put yourself out there. You can promise them that IF you succeed, you will be stronger mentally AND physically, able to take more of the burden of any problem that gets thrown your way.