2013 Mendon Ponds 50K

That's me - in the red shirt left of center - starting near the back of the pack.
(Photo credit - Richard Detweiler)

This year I finished my third Mendon Ponds 50K trail run. That's three for three. I've run Mendon as my last race of the year each year I've been ultrarunning. It's the only race I've yet repeated, so it's become sort of the key annual measure of how I'm progressing.

2013 CanLake 50M

(Photo credit - Natalie Werner)

With the overwhelming popularity of trail races in the ultra world it might be hard for a lot of ultrarunners to believe just how beautiful the CanLake 50 is. On the east coast, trail runs can often be very closed-in. You run deep in the foliage and views can actually be few and rare - if you can take your eyes off the trail long enough to notice them without tripping over a root and killing yourself!

At CanLake you're treated to one vista after another of the lake set in blazing hillsides of near-peak fall foliage - and when you're running on roads you can afford to keep your head up and drink it all in. Increasingly, I find myself loving runs on the roads.

(Photo credit - Natalie Werner)