As a “former” endurance athlete (last real race was the 2013 Chicago Marathon) who was intrigued by the opportunity to race Leadville, I made a decision early on that would pay dividends. IF I was going to do the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race, I was going to hire a coach for the first time ever. I came across Boundless through the Leadville Race Series and Lifetime, and sent a note on a Sunday to Ryan Krol. He responded within hours, called me, and gave me the comfort level needed to pursue this legendary race. I had already picked out the coach I wanted to work with, Jeff Winkler.

Along with crossing the finish line, this decision was life changing. I had let myself get out of shape, and had some battles during covid. In December of 2022, I weighed in at 219 lbs. By early January, when I started working with Jeff weekly, I weighed in at 209lbs. After learning my background, Jeff advised me to do the work, and I would be in a great position in August. I talked to Jeff weekly. It was simple – do everything he told me to do, and I would be well positioned to get my buckle in...

Everyone at Boundless was so warm and welcoming, and amazing to work with! Brad was an incredible coach. I would not have been able to achieve my goal of completing the LT100 Run without him. He was extremely organized in preparing my training schedule and he made sure that I understood why I was doing each part of my training and how it would help me in the long run. He understood and clearly articulated all the practical challenges of the LT100 course and how I could best tackle and overcome them.

He had me practice on the course itself with detailed strata maps that I could follow, which was immensely helpful. He was always available for any questions that I had, and even met with my crew privately over a Zoom meeting to go over every detail for race day. Finally, Brad was constantly motivating me to do my best with encouraging words, articles he would send, and by sharing his own experiences, mindset, and goals in preparing for the race. Simply put, Brad is the man.

My Coach, Scott Jordan, told me post race that "on paper, you weren't supposed to finish this race." The race was the Leadville 100. The things I was up against: less than a year in the Ultra space (8 months to be exact), having never seen the course in person, never properly trained at altitude, and my longest race to date was 36 miles. I've done plenty of shorter races over the years, but more for fun and compliments to my other training than anything.

Coach Scott picked me up on day one and expected nothing but work. You can respect that kind attitude. He'd listen to my complaints only to be followed up with an "Ok, are you done?" and we'd plan out what the next week to two weeks would look like. It was nice having the ability to reach out anytime I needed anything or had questions.

He and Coach Brad started a bi-weekly Zoom for all their athletes that was invaluable to say the least. It was great to connect with fellow runners and the same goal, listen to stories about Leadville from past finishers, and get into nitty gritty tactics on the course, nutrition,...