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Black Forest 100K – Black List

Black Forest 100K – Black List

Published by Patrick Durante on October 9, 2026

What a crazy season it has been. When I set this as a goal last year, it seemed so far away, but there were three new-to-me races I would be taking on in addition to Eastern States 100: Hyner 50K, World’s End 100K, and finally Black Forest 100K to complete the “Black List.”

The views don’t get better than this!

If you had asked me which of these four races I thought would be the hardest, I would have said World’s End. I had heard a lot of horror stories about racing the cutoffs there. I knew I could do ES100 without issue; I had done it twice before. Black Forest? Well, I thought that was a joke! It was the end, an afterthought after I would have the most fitness built up.

Well, I know now it’s pretty dumb to ever underestimate running 62 miles with 13,400 ft of climbing. That’s never easy, but compared to the others, I thought it was going to be “easier.”

I was wrong. I was dead wrong, and DEAD LAST. I headed into the race with a time goal of 17:00 flat, just because I thought I could run a better race than I did at World’s End. I was HIGHLY mistaken and should have known that was going to come back to bite me. I would say it had more technical sections than World’s End, and the navigation piece of it was bad. The back half of the race wasn’t marked, and having never done it before, I didn’t know what to expect.

I love racing in the fall.

First off, I had the fitness. That I knew. But something very strange happened in this race. A pair of shoes I had worn a ton in training started to irritate my Achilles. This was a brand-new pain I had never felt, and it had to do with the rocky terrain and how the shoe was digging into the back of my heel. It slowed me to a crawl until I could get a new pair of shoes around mile 30.

Pacing was fine at the start. I was moving fast enough to offset the cold weather. No issues there. I stuck to my nutrition of homemade gels that I FORGOT to use at ES100. I froze them after that race and used them for Black Forest. A fun new fuel I used a bunch in the race was Nerds Gummy Clusters. They tasted AMAZING.

OMG my new favorite fuel

This season did identify a flaw in my ankle mobility that I need to address for next season. I plan to work on that over winter break and during my transition season.

For motivation in the race, I for sure had the goal of completing the “Black List,” which was the entire reason I was there. As for race day, running with Doug from the Hills and Friends VF group was the highlight of the run. A few things happened that got me across the finish line. One was that Doug corrected a miscalculation I had made of the distance to the aid station after I went off course. Had I not run into him, I don’t think I would have paced correctly to get to the aid station in time. There is an energy you feed off of when you are running with someone. I was stronger on the climbs, he was stronger on the descents, and we just kept trading places.

You get some great views you miss in ES100 because you are there at night.

In my head, I was calling it a “mutually assured finish.” I knew I was finishing with him no matter what. Once we both left that aid station, I knew I had to keep up with him, and at times he knew he had to keep up with me. MASSIVE amounts of fear were driving my pace, and sprinting to the finish in the dark was insane! I tried to use the light on my watch to help see some of the rocks and roots, but I kept thinking, we can’t move this fast in the dark without going down. I would say luck was on our side, but we also both had the fitness. To pull off that long of a push was brutal!

Running groups and running with friends will be the biggest memories I take from this entire season. This season was so much fun. It was the group runs I got out on with people that had the biggest impact, and there were a lot of them. It was the people who made the season, not the individual races. We don’t remember days; we remember moments. I put the races on the calendar to create more chances for those magical moments to happen. Adventure may hurt, but it’s worth the risk every single time. Every race where I’m cursing my existence, suffering, or out in crazy conditions, I know that Monday is just around the corner.

Doug is a BEAST of a runner!

Make sure to subscribe, as I plan to do a follow-up video on the entire PA Triple Crown / Black List journey that will include the lost Eastern States footage from the damaged camera.

Hyner 50K Trail Challenge – PA Triple Crown

Hyner 50K Trail Challenge – PA Triple Crown

Published by Patrick Durante on April 26, 2026

This is my quick recap of the Hyner Trail Challenge, a 50K that kicks off the PA Triple Crown of racing for this year.

Question 1: Did I achieve my outcome goal and execute my process goals?

The goal was just to finish for this race, so yes, I achieved that. I had set a PacePro plan of at 6 hours, and I was an HOUR late! I had set this from looking at stats of past races, but I really had no idea. The thing about running a course for the first time is that its very hard to predict. The heat slowed me down as well as the hard start. I should have seeded myself more toward the back, and picked up time as the race progressed. Instead I put myself at the front and blew up, like the bomb I was. That was OK, I didn’t fully “blow up” I was more just out there to get this race done. If I had to do it again I would have taken that first climb easier, and the first descent slower. Word to the wise! Watch that first descent and that you don’t wreck your quads.

Question 2: Was I clearly under-prepared in any specific areas?

Yes, I was not ready for this much vert, and the heat got me, it was a lot hotter than I thought it was going to be so I didn’t have enough hydration for some of the sections. While there was a lot of aid stations I needed more water in some of them. I tried to get away with just one handheld. That was a pretty fatal mistake, as even SLIGHT dehydration will severally affect performance. That was my only major failing of the race, and I was still “OK” but for sure I was thirsty.

Question 3: Did I start the race too fast — how was my pacing and RPE effort?

The pace starting out seemed fine, but something happened mid race where I was moving too fast and burning up. I can see from the HR data it was too hard that lead to a struggle at the end. My quads got killed on the downhill so I paid a price for that as well.

Question 4: Did I stick to my tested nutrition and hydration script?

Yes, except for the lack of water. Near the end I didn’t want to eat any cookies and just started slamming gels, they seem to be the only thing that I can get down in the heat when I am forced to eat.

Question 5: How effectively did I troubleshoot any issues that happened?

The water issue was mitigated by dipping my hat in as many streams as I could. I used ice in sleeves to help cool me at the aid stations that had them, then also dipped them in the streams and wrapped them around my neck.

Question 6: What were my primary “limiting factors” during the race?

Heat slowed my pace and poor hydration. I wasn’t ready for this much vert early in the season. The start of the season makes it always difficult to get in enough training with weather conditions, and this year wasn’t ideal. What is the total amount of training I can and should do to increase performance? What if tried 10-12 hours a week? I need to balance energy for kids as well. When I am older I will have all the time in the world to train, but right now I don’t. That’s OK. I am also OK with everything else that is going on in my life. I am content to A-finish, and B-have fun. I did both of those. I think I had more anxiety about sleeping in the car, as this was my first FULL night alone. It went amazingly well, I slept better than I thought, and dinner with some friends the night before was awesome.

Question 7: Did my gear perform as expected under race conditions?

Yes, the shoes and double socks I wore made my feet bullet proof. This new double sock combo of Injinji toe socks with darn tough create a barrier that absorbed the shock of all the rocks and roots. I could tell I would have needed a sock change soon after I had finished. I did keep my feet dry, as that always saves your feet long term in these races.

Question 8: Was my mental “WHY” strong enough to pull me through dark spells?

Yes, I told myself that I was a coach, that I set an example. I tried NO MUSIC, and just my thoughts. I focused on the now. This worked very well, I stayed present, and I kept moving.

Question 9: What is the number one thing I need to stop doing?

Thinking about the end, I had to rope myself back into just realizing I had to run the mile I was in. I didn’t know the distance to aid stations, I didn’t have a pace chart, I didn’t have it on my watch. Why not? Because this was just a 50K and for me that is a short distance. I can get it done with less planning, I had an idea but I didn’t have it written down. That did create a little bit of race stress but I knew it was always 3-4 miles away per aid station.

Question 10: What went well with the race, and I should keep doing going forward?

The social aspect of it. The fact that I met many people, talking with them, and hung out afterward was what made this great. I did things a lot different in this race than what I normally do. If I keep doing what I have done in the past, nothing will change, so try new things! I pushed myself in different and unique ways. The car camping seemed scary going in but now I love it. It’s never as bad as you think… I have to always remind myself of that.