Who am I? I am a 44-year-old Boundless coached endurance athlete, father, boyfriend, physician, Florida resident, and finisher of the Cocodona 250!

Growing up in Oregon, I always loved the outdoors and activity. I ran and swam, but had the self-awareness early to realize longer efforts suited me better. I didn’t even allow breaking my neck in a snowboarding accident shortly after graduating high school to derail my athletic endeavors. I ran a few marathons and ironman triathlons, including Kona, during my undergraduate days. I completed my first ultramarathon at 22 during a marathon...

I started running consistently back in 2018. I completed a few marathons and half marathons but wanted a bigger challenge, so I set my sights on Ultras, specifically the Leadville 100 Trail Race Across The Sky.

Why Leadville?

Im not sure I can give a clear reason other than it's calling my name. It's turned into something I MUST do.

I must complete this race.

I finished the Leadville Heavy Half this past Saturday and completed it in 4 hours and 7 minutes. This was my first taste of running at elevation, and I did pretty damn well, being my first time running...

As an endurance athlete and ultrarunner, I am always looking for the next outrageous event or activity to participate in. After seeing photos and videos from last year’s Garmin Unbound Gravel race, I knew this was something I needed to sign up for. Even though I had not participated in nearly any cycling races, I was hooked on this event. I have always been inspired by Tony Krupicka; his looks, his free-spirit, his introspect, and perspective on movement in the mountains. After seeing him tackle Unbound XL as an ultrarunner, I knew I wanted...

An Accidental Shift?

Stage running the Appalachian Trail and dropping the lone wolf mentality!

This past winter, I was visiting my son at college in Phoenix. About a month before I went, I was mindlessly scrolling Instagram and happened to see a post by Boundless Endurance that it was the last day to sign up for their Arizona Running Camp. It happened to be the following weekend of visiting my son, so I thought, huh! Why not sign up and kick-start some spring training on the glorious desert...

11 January 2011, I had a life-changing event at age 52. I had a nearly fatal heart attack with a right coronary artery that was 100% blocked. When the doctors put in a stint and cleared the blockage, my heart stopped. The staff made me ride the lightning twice before God decided to let my heart restart. I didn’t have a cardiologist at the time, because just 6 months prior I had a physical and was given a “your good to go” diagnosis. The cardiologist that found me is a very active mountaineer (kinda weird he’s in desert of West Texas). He told me I didn’t have any sufficient heart...

What separates successful and unsuccessful race results can almost always be attributed to a racers ability to manage variables. In long distance bike racing, managing variables begins months or sometimes years before lining up at the start line. While physical preparedness is perhaps the most important variable, what we encounter on race day, and the way we respond is perhaps just as likely to impact how we finish the race.

My approach to managing variables has been to define those which I have total control over those which I do not. What’s critical however,...

“It’s going to be hard work, but we'll have fun.” The last words of the first phone call with my coach. It was the end of August and I was going to run the Austin Rattler 50K in November. I had my work cut out for me. Just to spice things up a bit, I had also signed up for Brazos Bend 100 in December. Yeah, you read that right. The month right after the 50K, 28 days to be exact, I was going to tackle my first hundred.

You might be thinking to yourself that I’m overly ambitious and tad insane, and you’d be right, but that little bit of...

Chris Barnett had run one ultra on a track previous to the Leadville 100. A 40 miler to raise money for charity. He was inspired to run Leadville even though he didn’t do any research about the race, and had no idea what he was getting into. He signed up for the Boundless coaching package with guaranteed entry, and was reffered to coach Cat Bradley by a friend. In the first couple of conversations, they both realized that he was in over his head. He had never heard of a pacer, didn’t realize it was on trails, and had no expereince with the details of ultra running including nutrition,...

Join Boundless Coaches Jay Friedman MD and Kathy Pidcock as they cover the following:

• Pacing and Crewing basics
• How to Pace
• What to Expect
• Logistics
• Safety
• Gear
• Crew and Aid Stations

We all have been dealt an injury,nag,surgery or setback in some shape or form throughout our life. I had a freak accident that cut my Achilles tendon at a young age that shaped my path to the Leadville race series. The one thing that has got me where I am today is my mindset.

Whether you are racing one of the Leadville race series races or preparing for another race. Some of the key ingredients to getting to that finish line is listening to your body throughout your training cycles. Keeping your easy days easy and your hard days hard. Addressing, strengthening, and stretching the...

Wowza! It's hard to believe that summer is just around the corner. Hope Pass may still be buried under a blanket of snow, but before we know it, the trailhead will be packed with buckle-hopefuls every weekend until the race has come and gone.

As summer quickly approaches, so does the 2022 Leadville Run Camp, where athletes cover the course over three days in thirteen, twenty-four, and twenty-mile runs. All above 10,000 feet and all with significant elevation change. For some, it is the only opportunity athletes have to see the course and to run at altitude...

As a nutritionist, “what should I be eating?” is a question I get on a weekly basis from folks looking for nutrition advice. Ultimately, I hate trying to meal plan for people as I honestly don’t know what you want to eat. Rather, I think there are some staple foods that all endurance athletes should have in their pantry or fridge, and these should be incorporated into their diet on a daily basis. Below are 5 of my favorite foods that I think all endurance athletes should be eating on a regular basis.

1) Sources of Omega 3’s: Stock your pantry or fridge with sardines, tuna, canned...

We’re still six months away from the rifle blast signaling the start of the Leadville 100 mile trail run, so it may seem a little too soon to be making a bunch of decisions about gear. But in reality, this is the perfect time to start thinking about what equipment you’ll need in August in Colorado. Any ultra runner worth their salt tablets will tell you that the biggest mistake you can make in a hundred—aside from starting too fast and, obviously, accidentally running the race in wooden clogs—is trying out a new piece of gear for the first time on race day. As training starts to ramp...

We have all made Resolutions or Promises starting a New Year. Goals are good, SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Frame for completing) goals are better and moderation in deciding what our goals will be for the new year is best.

The holidays are fun but can leave us feeling as if we ate our weight in desserts or not so good food. We may have been distracted with family gatherings and didn’t get all of our planned work outs in which may leave us feeling frumpy. The new year can give us that shiny new feeling of here I come 2022!

Start your new year with a...

Just been reflecting a bit more on Leadville now that it's been almost 3 months since crossing that finish line... as I mentioned this morning, I just wanted to share with you how grateful I am for you guiding me through the training and then the race.

I know that everyone says that running the Leadville 100 will be a life changing experience, and before you do it you really wonder "how?" I've done a lot of cool things in my life that I am super grateful for. How will this be different? But it is. It stands alone as one of the single most life changing experiences I have...

When training for an Ultra event the probability of getting an overuse injury is very high. Your number one priority through any training program is to show up to the start line healthy. Taking a proactive approach to your preventing overuse injuries is key. Below you will find some quick tips from Coach Jill Becker.

• Warming up is key: Warmup drills- Moving hamstring stretch, moving quad stretch, hip circles, donkey kicks etc.
• Base miles- Building the foundation
• Incorporating cross training, especially if coming back from an injury to build your engine without...

As I trundled through the beautiful autumnal landscape on my trail run today, the cool breeze reminded me that winter’s chill is right around the corner. This time of year, hiking up Hope Pass under a blazing sun seems a long way off. But Leadville and the rest of our summer goal races will be here before we know it. What can we do now to help ensure that we get the most out of those highly anticipated adventures? Here are a few suggestions on how best to approach winter/off-season training.

1. Take a break. If you’ve been training steadily for an extended...

Limiting GI Distress - Low FODMAP diets

Low FODMAP diets

Basic Application and Thoughts on Race Circumstances

Huh? Fogmaps? Frogmats? Whaaa???

FODMAPs

Stands for: Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols.

These are an otherwise unrelated group of carbohydrates that have a short chain length and can be fermented in the small intestine or colon and are thought to contribute to IBS in many individuals.

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