The Marathon I Didn’t See Coming
(Sort of like this newsletter when I started.)
Life is made up of moments. Some you remember, most you don’t. From time to time, there is a seismic shift in your existence that you don’t recognize at the precise moment. You never saw it coming, and didn’t sense or fathom the impact.
We often get by living moment-to-moment and day-to-day sprints, versus the reality of our marathon existence.
In September 2016, I was sitting on a plane heading home to Colorado after a business trip. I called Alisha to let her know my status and pleasantries. Something was a little different. There was an excited tone in her voice, one not usually reserved for spousal travel updates.
‘Jay asked me to pace him for 16 miles at his 100-mile ultra in Steamboat next weekend (in ultra marathons, the runner can have people with them for support - typically around mile 50 until the end. They’re called “pacers.”). She said, “I feel like I’ve been talking a big game about stepping up, so I said yes.” While not verbatim, that was the gist. I was equal parts stunned and not at all surprised.
We had moved in across the street from Jay and his family earlier that summer. He was 6’5”, with a shaved head (we later realized by choice), and was training to run 100 miles. It was like physically and emotionally looking in the mirror.
Alisha had always been a runner; she was running multiple times a week, but never more than about five miles. Ultra math is typically fluid, which she quickly learned while studying her section, and noticed a gaffe in the initial calculation.
‘It looks like my section is 19 miles.’ She was right, and just like that, a normal day's run had been tacked on to the end of 16 miles.
I had spent my life playing and working in sports, and none of that could prepare me to answer the question: What would possess someone to want to run 100 miles, and how did Alisha think she could just go from running 5 miles to 19? This was a new one for me, and I thought they were all insane.
Outside of driving to Steamboat, helping Alisha get ready, and dragging her large over-packed pre and post pacing bag (For the record: It is only now that I realize that my legendary ultras over-packing, stems from Alisha and her bag. I’m accountable for my actions, but the seed was planted.) up to Dry Lake, trying to steal some sleep lying in the dirt, shivering in the cold and waiting for them to finish her section, I was a bystander, just along for the ride.
But in the end, Alisha crushed her 19 miles, had the best time, and Jay went on to complete his first 100-mile run.
There was more to Run Rabbit than just Run Rabbit. Jay had his sights set on running the Hard Rock 100. A very popular event that is as challenging to get into as it is to run the San Juan Mountains course itself.
While on the trail, Jay was grateful and asked Alisha what he could do for her. She wanted him to get me to start working out. I was stuck in my apathetic NY state of mind. (Rumor has it that it was Billy Joel’s second choice as the song title.)
Turns out that moment on the airplane in September, when I thought I was simply touching base with my wife, wound up being a pivotal trajectory shift. My life changed by the simple impact of one person's vision and intent, and another’s willingness to step up.
So in the fall of 2016, I started working out before the sun came up a couple of times a week. Inspired by those at Run Rabbit Run, my new routines were a shift my intention needed.
Three years of early morning workouts, coupled with some runs and even some mountain bike rides, I was much less apathetic. But the summer of 2019 was a pivotal shift for me physically and emotionally.
In June of that year, there were a couple of major factors that kick-started my running. We rescued a 10-month-old puppy that needed to be exercised, and the second was in the energy psychology realm, I put my soul back in my body for the first time. The afternoon that happened truly awakened my existence.
I was distinctly focused and engaged in a way I had never been. So much so that for the first time in my life, I was thinking about signing up for a running race. Having never run a race of any length, I figured I’d keep it simple. With some guidance, I set my sights on Steamboat’s Continental Divide 50k. COVID canceled the 2020 race, but another friend, who was also a long-distance novice, and I, with the help of our crew and family, set up aid stations along the course. The 90-plus degrees and smoke in the air could not stop us, as we elatedly rolled into the base.
In 2021, it was an accidental 48 miles in the Tetons that set my sights on what once felt inconceivable.
Six years earlier, I didn’t live in Steamboat, and I was naive about my journey, but inspired by others. What once was inconceivable was now in my sights: the ‘22 Run Rabbit Run 100. Now in my backyard, my mind was blown as I shed tears in that final mile, with my last pacer (Jay), and my family at my side, I crossed the finish line in 34 hours and 20 minutes.
Two years later, it was a failed attempt at 200 miles in the Sangre de Cristo’s. (Read about it: My Marvelous and Gratifying Failure)
This story isn’t about me, it’s about all of us, but the origin got its chance to write its final chapter.
After nine years of lottery attempts and other hundred-mile races to bolster the odds, Jay got into the 2025 Hard Rock. Earlier this month, Jay completed the grueling course. As part of that weekend’s journey, I had the pleasure of pacing from Animas Forks, a historic mining ghost town, to Ouray.
What started as one person’s journey and a routine phone call, has blossomed into a crew that has cheered, laughed and cried our way through four different people’s hundreds, three other people’s (including Alisha) ultras, plus a host of grueling (by my standards) mountain biking endurance rides, all bound together by seemingly small moments as part of the biggest endurance event, life.
Whether physically or emotionally, intent does drive outcomes. Shifting our energy to set and work on our goals is the beginning. In making that first step away from complacency, our emotions, mindset, and body need the positivity of intent. Through it all, we need to manage our own personal expectations and have patience. It’s your mindset you need to start and optimize. Play the long game, and see past the initial period of excitement that will naturally include ups and downs. Give yourself the grace to recognize that perfection is a misguided construct, and every step is not always ideal, but along the way, you’re optimizing and getting stronger.
Life has its challenging moments, your wellness being one of them, but it doesn’t have to be as hard. Some experiences are more obvious than others, so keep your eyes open; your fortunes may turn you from an innocent apathetic bystander into a driver.
Peace be the journey.
Pete