2026 Big Alta 100K
The Inaugural Big Alta 100K A beautiful challenging course that traverses Marin’s most iconic trails and one of the most incredible environments I’ve raced in to date.
The abnormally severe winter in the Northeast forced the entire block to adapt, but honestly, it turned into something special. The work was 🔥. Fitness was there. I felt strong, confident, and ready to go dance across some California carpet.
As a final tune-up, I jumped into a local 3-hour race. The goal was simple: spend time with the community, get one last long effort in, and have fun. No major effort. No racing. Ironically, it was also my first trail run of the entire block.
That day changed the trajectory of the entire block. I have my assumptions as to why, but that’s part of the game we play. Part of training is being able absorb it and come out stronger. Water under the bridge nonetheless.
The final two weeks… nothing was clicking. Legs flat. Recovery off. I was in my own head, questioning everything. My wife and friends reminding me it’s about the experience. “I get to do this!”
After all this work and feeling so strong… I'm now asking "Am I going to hold up for 60+ miles?"
I desperately needed a reset.
The night before the race, I finished Andrew Glaze “Smile or You’re Doing It Wrong”. At the end, he closes with the “Man in the Arena” quote from Teddy Roosevelt’s 1910 speech. The one about daring mighty things and risking failure.
" It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "
" Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. "
I sat with that for a while.
There’s a similar line from a Roosevelt speech that has always meant something to me (see pic). I hadn’t thought about it since I was sitting in a small restaurant in Monson, Maine, the day before heading out into the 100mi wilderness years ago. That was the beginning of my ultra journey.
Felt like a very pointed nudge from the universe.
Didn’t feel random. Felt like a reminder.
You don’t need perfect legs. You just need to step into the arena.
So I kept it simple...
First 20 > Easy easy
Second 20 > Fuel better than everyone
Last 20 > Trust fitness
Plan held… until Mt Tam (around mile 21).
Legs continued to have nothing. Just empty. Heat began to rise (wtf is an inversion?). Cutoffs started creeping in.
I was in that moment where you either back off or accept it’s going to hurt either way.
I went with it.
This wasn’t the version I envisioned in training. This was the version I dreaded. The one where nothing clicks… where it feels like you’re running in a dream, but not actually moving.
That’s was “the arena”.
And as every ultrarunner knows… once you’re in it, there’s no clean way through. But when you come out the other side and really process what you just did, whether you hit your goal time or chased cutoffs… It doesn’t matter
It’s far better to dare mighty things and to suffer well… in beautiful places. ✌️
