Vertical Kilometers and USA National Team #19

The month of July has been busy and extremely festive at the same time. To start off I had some good friend from the Boston area come out to visit my new home. Of course I talked my buddy John G. into racing while visiting Colorado. Of course the course would start at an altitude of 8,000 feet! Not an easy feat coming from sea level but crazily he agreed to join me in Aspen for the Vertical Kilometer event as part of the Skyrunning series. The course featured a steady climb up Aspen mountain also known as Ajax Mt. by the local crew.

The race started mid morning with the sun high and bright. Temperatures were also high so the trail was dusty and dry to make matters worse. Nonetheless, once the gun went off the scenery you were instantly surrounded by made it easy to forget any gloomy thoughts. Initially I approached the starting line feeling pretty horrid. Wasn't sure how the race would play out. I knew I needed to have a solid performance if I wanted to win as a few elite ascenders were in town for the fun as well.

About 20 seconds into the race I found myself in 3rd and immediately noticed up ahead that the leader already had 10+ meters on us. I had to close the gap just in case. We ran neck and neck for over half of the race and as I took the last lead exchange I was able to distance myself en-route to breaking the Fastest ever ascent up Ajax/Aspen!! Was extremely motivating to hear that as I felt I ran very controlled on pretty tired legs. Next up was the USA Championships..

Heading into the USA Mountain Running Championships I had high hopes of repeating as Champion as any Champion would. I found myself closing the gap on the leaders on and off for most of the race never really feeling I could get myself into the race. I rolled my ankle a few times coming into this race so my downhill running ability was lacking. This left me closing the gap on the ascents each lap. As many athletes know, you can't win a race running only 50% of the course especially with the loaded field that attended this years Championships. My feet were well protected as I used extra precaution as to not get injured today by using Spenco Medical Gel Support Insoles in addition to the "To Be Released" Scott Sports RC Kinabalu to protect my forefoot from any potential rock punctures that could occur in a mountain race. The top 6 made the World Mountain Running Team to compete at the World Mountain Running Championships in Wales this Fall. This being the first time Wales has held the Championships made the field all the more loaded as athletes wanted to fight for a chance to compete in a new country...one most athletes have not competed in nor visited, including myself.

 The Top 3 (Pictured above) separated and eventually the soil laid its results with me going home with the Bronze. Although I was clearly upset, I was also extremely evoked with a sense of accomplishment. Today I was able to make USA history becoming the first and only athlete to make the USA Mountain Team 8 Years consecutively as well as now being the only USA Athlete with 8 USA National Mountain Running Teams under their belt! This also raises my number of Total National Teams to 19!!

I'm far from done this season. The World Championships are right around the corner and I plan to be ready to help my Team get a medal we have sought for years...#Gold #Oro


I couldn't have done it without the support of great sponsors...HUGE thank you to Mio Global, SCOTT Sports, Spenco Medical, Club Northwest, SOS Rehydrate, Garden of Life, Julbo USA, Flora Healthy and of course my group @ American Distance Project and Action Potential for keeping my body tuned!

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Congratulations to my new Team USA mates!!