Did you say RUN 100 miles or RIDE a hundred miles?

I said RUN a hundred miles!

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Back in early November 2018, at the Lindsey Hein Run Rise Retreat Meet Up in Portsmouth, NH when Lindsey asked about what might be my next big goal after coming off a self supported cross country bike trip with Tom, I shared I might consider running a 100 mile event some day. Even though I was taking some time off running to nurse a leg ouchie, I put it out there.

In front of everyone.

Using a mic.

And yea, when I wasn’t even running. At all.

Portsmouth

So in January the work began, but slowly. First I tested the water at the Polar Bear Winter Classic Run (5k/8K), then at the Sam Costa Half Marathon (13.1 miles) and finally after a BQ finish at the Chicagoland Spring Marathon, and with the encouragement of Tom, we signed me up for the Hennepin 100 that would take place the first weekend in October 2019.

We put a training plan in place that would take into consideration time off from running to squeeze in a 444 mile bike trip up the Natchez Trace, a bikepacking trip on the Appalachian Gravel Growler, and a week in Hawaii to celebrate our daughter’s destination wedding on Kauai.

Come to think of it, this year also included a winter adventure to Whitefish, MT, another son’s wedding, welcoming another grandson, a couple of gravel bike races, a weekend at Sundance Mountain Bike Camp and celebrating 60th birthdays for both of us. It’s been a BIG year. Sometimes I don’t think I look back enough because I’m always looking forward.

Is that a good thing?

I think enough’s been said and shared about the Hennepin Hundred already but a friend of ours created a short vid about the event while he interviewed me on the run. Literally. We were both running when we chatted.

And we started running uphill. Notice me sucking wind at the beginning of the video.

Honestly the best thing about the video is not what I had to say about running 100 miles, but the way he shot the video using a 360 camera, and interviewed me while running.

Take a look. Chris is a talented, enthusiastic and speedy video storyteller and a speedy runner in his own right. And in just a week he’s running his first trail ultra at the Tecumseh Trail Challenge. Good luck, Chris!