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Absolute shock at the news that Ourea Events is closing up shop. The events business has razor thin margins, so it maybe shouldn't be a surprise, but wow. Here's hoping someone really does step in to snatch up Dragon's Back, Cape Wrath, and the others.
This past weekend I spent some time at the Prefontaine Classic, trading my trail-running fan hat for that of track enjoyer. So...I'm here to say that whatever flavor of #running you enjoy, if you have the opportunity to head to a Diamond League-level track event, you should do it, especially at a venue as amazing as Hayward Field.
Astonishing levels of talent, a world record (an epic drubbing of the 10k women's WR!), multiple national records, personal bests, etc.
The big hook though, is the storytelling. Middle-distance running has drama around the 1500m/1 mile events. Will it be Ingebrigtsen? Kerr? Nuguse? A lot of questions, and a lot of talk and inter-athlete drama. The event had storytelling around it that I don't often see in the #trailrunning space--a great example of how to get people engaged—enough for really stellar tie-ins from the NYTimes and Citius Mag, among others.
But wow--amazing running, throwing, and jumping. Bravo to Beatrice Chebet in particular with that 10k!
So, WSER takes a big step forward today in the anti-doping space. Moving from a black and white policy to one with nuance around violations, and officially partnering with USADA to manage formal anti-doping services at the race.
https://www.wser.org/anti-doping-policy/
This is an interesting pivot from the board. It's a race that many pride for their transparency and forward thinking approach in many areas (and probably wrongfully deride for their lottery), and I really do see this as a clear attempt to set the standard for the sport, at least in the US. 👏 👏
A friend this morning: “Hey, we have an extra ticket for the Prefontaine Classic, you in?”
So…I never actually thought about going to a Diamond League event as a thing people actually did, as opposed to just read highlights of after the fact or watching a clip of some race YouTube. But tickets are cheap, and it’s the pinnacle of the sport. It's also, conveniently, a tune-up event for the Paris Olympics. So: Why not?
As Jared Beasley noted.. it only takes everything. photo credit—Jacob Zocherman.
Another year, another year of the Barkley laying waste to all competitors…or…wait, all but 5!? A record number of finishers, the incomparable Jared Campbell getting his 4th finish, John Kelly with 3…but the internet rightly losing its cool to celebrate the astoundingly talented Jasmin Paris, who becomes the first woman to finish.
Back-to-back years that see the number of finishes soar…While Laz supposedly makes the race harder after each time someone finishes, where does he go from here?
The front runners are so strong, it’s almost as if the weather is the only thing that could possibly stand in the way of *someone* finishing, and Frozen Head just hasn’t cooperated. It makes you wonder how much further Laz can push the envelope while still keeping it possible and not having a single bad weather year destroy the field utterly. Regardless, bravo Barkley Marathons. Bravo.
We have moved beyond science in my PT sessions, and into the realm of witchcraft.
Today as we were fighting this issue I'm having my PT turns to me and asks, "So... What's your view on cupping?" My response, thinking of what both Michael Phelps and Nick Tiller might say: "I'd describe it as pseudo-science, at best, until someone convinces me otherwise."
While my PT laughed and said they agreed, we decided to give it a whirl, with me mostly just fearing how my interval workout later today would go.
Result? No discernable difference... Until I was running on technical trails, at which point all pain *vanished* and was replaced by joy, because moderately technical trail is the best trail. Intervals? Fine, though the joy was replaced by curious numbness. Maybe I was just too worked by how hard a rolling 10 minutes on punchy trails can be. Here's hoping we can move back to science, or at least art, since apparently we do some gait analysis next time.
Camille shatters records, news at 11…
The results from the FURTHER event are wild. 13 new world records (or "bests" depending on how annoying the governing body in question is) for Camille Heron.
It's like every time she enters a timed event it's a complete lock, something *is* going down, whether her own record or another. Weirdly for me, I think my feelings on this are kind of a "and?" sort of thing--not because what she did isn't absolutely astonishing, but because it's completely what I expect from her. She just has a complete death-grip on this facet of the sport of ultra-running. The only thing I am surprised by is that she didn't break them by more.
Seriously: What an absolutely mind-bogglingly impressive performance.
https://www.irunfar.com/camille-herron-6-day-world-record-2024-lululemon-further
This weekend I pinned on a bib at a trail race for the first time in almost 6 years. While I approached it as just a training run, it was neat to go through all the processes involved with running a race as opposed to merely volunteering or working an event.
Takeaways?
* Race directors are still super busy and distracted, especially at races where there is almost nothing in the way of volunteer or staff support.
* From the first 8k being on road, to the aid station setup, to some of the gatekeeping we'd hear, this felt more like a road race than what I'd want out of a trail experience.
* Logistics and runner experience matter. The race itself was cool, the scenery was solid, but most of the rest was severely lacking here.
* I felt relatively little impulse to break the plan to just treat it like a supported training run.
No need to name the event, but here's a view from the summit! Go run trails! #trailrunning
Casting a wider net for some trail-running podcast eps, and I finally start listening to UltraSignup’s Trailhead pod. But what does it say that by far my fav episode is the one where the company’s data scientist takes over? 🤔 📊
A lot of talk on various podcasts about the “state of the sport” or “where we’re going” vis a vis Ironman/UTMB, professionalization, etc. in trail/ultrarunning, but not a lot that extends beyond observation or anecdote. As someone who looks at data in this space occasionally, content like that pod ep seems vanishingly rare.
Why? Lots of reasons I imagine, some of which is that data in that space is even harder to get en masse than it is to analyze. This is both a challenge and an opportunity, I would argue.
