06/08/2024
2021…
I heard about a 250 mile single stage ultramarathon across the Arizona desert.
Without too much thought, I found a sponsor willing to pay the $1500 entry fee, and then started training like a madman in the swamps of Florida I called home!
I trained myself until I decided I “couldn’t take another step”, and then, deciding I’d done enough to earn my right on that start line, I tapered off for 3 weeks and went west to toe the line!
I ran from 10am Monday morning until 8pm Thursday evening, stopping only for 30 minute catnaps, to eat and s**t, and a longer 4 hour sleep sometime early Wednesday morning!
I fought through my own mind for days on end to keep moving, hadn’t been able to digest anything for near 2 days, either throwing it right up or squirting it back out… 😳
Thursday night, depleted, hallucinating, and alone on a forestry trail in the dark some miles until the next aid station, I sat down, pulled out my phone and sent a text to race command telling them I was officially done… 167 miles in, still some 80 odd miles from the finish line!
I would say that moment has haunted me ever since, but I’d be lying.
What has haunted me is how I decided one day in my training that I had done enough!
I made that choice from my mind rather than my heart, and it put me in a position where I decided to quit before I was done!
My “why” was weak. I was out there for all the wrong reasons.
Now, I could sit and tell you that my body wasn’t capable of anything more… I was depleted and in a dangerous place, in a deeply delirious state, but the truth is, I was far too uncomfortable, and I made the choice to quit!
I haven’t been able to enter that race since…
Financial and work commitments have kept me out of the game, and 2025 sold out in pre-sales even before it launched for registration!
For that to happen on the year that not only am I physically, mentally, financially and holistically capable of entering, running and finishing this race was initially a deep blow, but instead of falling into a victim mindset and quitting, I made another choice…
I decided to hit the trails here in southern Colorado (where I live now) faster, steeper and heavier than I ever have!
I’m claiming more miles, less sleep and greater discomfort in a quest to be mission ready for when that green light eventually shines in front of me!
Sooner or later I’m going to cross that Cocodona finish line, and I’m going to do it on my terms, in a way that few people even thinks possible!
Aravaipa Running
