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Tag: Running tips

Worlds End 100K – Quest for the Crown Race 2

Worlds End 100K – Quest for the Crown Race 2

Published by Patrick Durante on June 6, 2026

Race Recap

My goal going into this race was simple: be able to run at the end. That meant pacing the first half properly, matching my effort to what the weather and course allowed rather than chasing a preset number that’s almost impossible to estimate. I went out slow, staying aware of heart rate and temps, knowing the cooler conditions would work in my favor. The course was muddy in sections and very rocky. I kept waiting to see how the day played out before deciding when to push. I took a lot of time at aid stations because I could, and I don’t regret it. I ran my best 100K to date, below will be some of the tips and tricks that made that happen.

Preparation and Fitness

This was the most mileage I’d put in leading up to any race. I did double days when I could, I ran with my son Isaac on days he needed training for his race, went for quick climbs at lunch to build strength at the local park. I practiced power hiking on the treadmill through the winter months (walking), and it showed. I was catching people on climbs, and someone actually commented that I had an amazingly fast hiking (walking) pace going uphill. Climbing strength, nutrition, heat acclimation: there was nowhere I felt under prepared for this race.

My pace chart that I generated on UltraRunTools.com (in beta)

Nutrition

This was the high point of the race. Using larger bottles for concentrated gel was the right call (see tool here), and being able to eat consistently with just a quick sip is a game changer for running late into an ultra. I was eating far more than in any previous race: aid station food, concentrated gels, and bags of cookies and candy from my pack. Oreo’s and peanut butter M&Ms worked well early on, and even when I stopped wanting solid food late in the race, I could keep going on my gel. Real food was king: hot soups, protein, the egg and sausage burrito at the final aid station. Real food should always make an appearance late in ultras with adding in protein to avoid muscle breakdown. The constant high carb calories, with real food layered in, kept everything feeling great. Order of preference: gel first, then aid station food, then the bag of snacks as a backup.

Nutrition Guideline I generate on UltraRunTools.com, I was WAAAY over this.

Foot Care

It was a stunning course

I put an over emphasis on foot care and it paid off. I never let my feet get wet, changed socks constantly, and pushed my first shoe change back further than usual simply because my feet felt so good. Double socks are a complete game changer for rocky, high-friction courses, and there’s no better way to keep your feet healthy deep into a race. I was still running when others had slowed to a walk. The mud made me more cautious in spots, but staying conservative there was the right call. If my feet are in pain, I will slow to a crawl. I ended up using 3 pairs of shoes in this race, except I didn’t do the first change until 37 miles, which is farther than I normally let a pair of shoes go.

Gear and Execution

I decided not to use poles and it was the right call. They would have slowed me down, and I’d didn’t train with them for this race. The one gear miss was the pace chart, which got crumbled; next time I’ll print it cleaner and attach it somewhere accessible. A single earbud paired to my Garmin watch lasted twelve hours and was critical for navigation, keeping me on course throughout, I then had the 2nd ear bud in a later drop bag. The caffeine and pain management I saved for later in the race, and when I took them together it was massive jolt, and the feeling of fresh legs. I was suddenly running noticeably faster. One note: the caffeine kept me up after I got back to the room, which made the drive home rough the next day. Next time I’ll be more careful with timing caffeine late in a race.

Mental Game

The best feeling was when I left the final aid station, and I knew I had executed the race that I wanted, not the course dictating what should happen. I stayed focused on my own race, not what others around me were doing. That last 10K was genuinely runnable, and I felt amazing, as I passed over 10 different runners on the course. Using my camera to film kept me moving and present in the moment to always think to myself “would this make a good shot?” I shot over an hour of footage I compressed into 10 minutes, but this was only a brief glimpse of the 17 hour race I had that was amazing.

This race completes number 2 on the quest for the crown. This was actually the race that I most feared, the stories I kept hearing told me that I would be chasing cut offs. That was never the case, I was so lucky with the weather it was unbelievable. If you couldn’t get it done on a day like today, then either you just had some bad luck, or your training didn’t match what was needed for the course. I have never raced in such perfect weather conditions in my entire career. What a well run, and amazing race. I am having thoughts of heading back next year already…

The pace plan called for a 15:30 finish, and while I didn’t hit that (final moving time was 17:35:21), my main goal was to enjoy myself, and be able to run those last 6 miles. I did that, and shot a decent video in the process.

False Summits

False Summits

Published by Patrick Durante on March 23, 2026

I met a man training to summit Everest this past weekend.  I thought that surely if you can conquer that mountain for the average cost of 50,000 dollars, then there’s no other mountains to climb, right?  I started thinking about how many previous mountains I have climbed, and once I got to the summit, it didn’t provide any different view than some of the previous ones. Ultras can have that same effect, you think crossing the finish line will change everything, or once I get that PR I’ll be content. Life is filled with false summits, what you think is the peak, even your limit, but its not. There’s more left, and its critical you keep going. I’ll tell you why.

Life is filled with these things.  As I look back at my brief 44 years, I’ve chased after a lot of things. At the time it felt like an important achievement, house, cars, job titles, or PRs.  Each I ran down, like a persistence hunt, knowing it was only a matter of time and it was mine.  Once there, be it the new status, or title, its shimmer and glory was brief until they dulled over time and became the new baseline.  

There’s been a shift in my recent years as I had talked about my 100 – 100s post, that the more races I conquer at the 100 mile distance don’t provide any more sense of enjoyment as the first,  except ES100 the entire DFL thing that happened. That was just nuts, but even after that, like clockwork, I am back on ultrasignup, looking for my next fix.  Anthony De Mello covered it best in his book Stop Fixing Yourself. I am trying to shed awareness on why I am doing these events and boiled it down to these few items.

  1. Struggle – that 50/50 shot of success is magical.
  2. Novelty – I need new experiences.
  3. Reason to train – why I put in the work.
  4. Evolution of self – I learned so much when races go off the rails, not as much when they go perfect
  5. Experience for Coaching
What’s at the top?

How I help others achieve a massive goal if I am not on the same path?  It’s only through the shared experience, and getting humbled that I realize where others might make mistakes.  I can’t do it for just the finish line, or age group award, or bragging rights. Those are just a bunch of false summits, where you think you’ve reached the apex of your performance, your career, but no, there’s still more to go.  The journey over the past year of training is where all the magic happens, those early runs with friends, seeing new places, and trying new things you never dreamed you would do (see sleeping in my car).  The goal is to be content with my work at the end of the year.  To keep stacking those blocks, year after year, so I know that if I couldn’t do this tomorrow, I would be grateful for what I achieved.  Did I put myself out there in a new and interesting ways?  Did I meet others in the same fight?  Is the man in the mirror inspiring, or is he self absorbed?  

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

In the past few weeks I have been creating tools for myself, and athletes to be better at ultras. UltraRunTools 1.0 released for athletes I coach. To give them more insight to get to the finish line, because I have to keep evolving and learning.  The second I stop, and say, “that’ll do pig”, I stop learning, I will stop being who I am destined to be.  What’s at the top of the mountains?  More mountains!  There are endless mountains to climb.  Thank god, because if there was one ultra to rule them all, like Everest, and you finished it.  Would you then put down the sword and stop the fight?  Would you say, I can rest because there’s nothing more to conquer?

The journey of self improvement can be another endless trap, but we grow when under pressure, when someone depends on us.  You need something out there that demands you show up, be it your kids, be it that title of manager, its the thing that demands responsibility in all your actions.  Those are the main reasons to chase any “False Summit”.  They require your standard is high on all fronts, even down to what you put in your mouth on a daily basis.  They will command you to show up, say what your going to do, and and actually do it. Don’t talk about it, be about it! (I love saying that line to my kids)

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent, no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”

So it’s important to chase the summit, the top, not to say that you did it, but to say I have a goal that’s big. I don’t know if I am strong enough, but I wake up, every day, and work toward that goal until I achieve it.  I love the stories adventure creates, I love close calls with danger, I love that view from the summit, even if its false or brief.  I love the problems solved, and places explored.  I create a list at the end of every year for what I want next year to look like, because it’s the guiding light for connection, and my reason to get up.  Without that, we are nothing. Never content to sit idle. I will always want more.

PA Triple Crown… Let’s dance!