Happy Tuesday, trail friends. Wow. Courtney Dauwalter stuns us yet again with a new course record at the Hardrock 100, a mere 20 days after resetting the record books at Western States 100.
This week, in her piece titled “Why Hardrock Endures,” Abby Levene has a look at this small race in the San Juans and how it continues to capture our collective imagination. And in the DFL, David Laney announces his latest creation and your next favorite race—the Mordor 783.2!
– Matt Hart
THE WEEKEND COOL DOWN
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What can we say that hasn’t already been said? Courtney Dauwalter steamrolled (?: 1) the counterclockwise direction of the Hardrock 100 course faster than any woman ever has. Bravo Court! ?
Anthony Snitker passed Nickademus De La Rosa (?: 3) at mile 87 of the 2023 Tahoe Rim Trail 100. A battle ensued, with De La Rosa finishing first. On the women’s side, Claire Walton took home the win.
Want more racing? Check out Justin Mock’s “This Week in Running,” then take a look at these upcoming events that are still open for registration.
It’s a small, hard race in a remote place, but the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run has captured “the hearts, minds, and dreams of ultra fans around the U.S. and beyond,” writes Abby Levene.
“Hardrock is my family,” nine-time Hardrock finisher and two-time winner Darcy Piceu told Leven.
“Hardrock has the San Juan mountains,” says six-time starter and three-time finisher (including 2012 runner-up) Joe Grant. “There’s a 14er. It hails, it snows, it’s super hot. It’s epic.”
Pacing Style, Elk Traverse, and Advice for Young Runners
After Courtney Dauwalter set a new record at Western States without a pacer, Buzz and Corrine discuss the pros and cons of having someone run with you.
Corrine interviews Michael Wirth about his full moon Elk Traverse FKT (54 miles, 23,500 feet of uphill). You can check out the gear he used for this adventure here. Then, Buzz chats with Kaitlyn about how to approach training as a young runner (hint: train like the Norwegians). And he gives Snehal a confidence boost and urges him to trust the training.
The Trailhead Podcast is a production from UltraSignup News. This episode is presented by Sidas, your foot company. Use promo code TRAILHEAD20 for 20% off your entire purchase at Sidas.com.
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Learn about the differences between the Sidas Running Socks and see which one suits you best, then pick up a few pairs so you can be pain-free and comfortable on your runs! Use code TRAILHEAD20 at checkout to get 20% off your purchase.
⬆️ David Laney announces his new event, the Mordor 783.2, with an innovative sliding scale entry fee of your entire net worth. ⬆️
✈️ Flying, Reconsidered: Collectively we care about the environment and the wild places that we love to run and explore, but how guilty should we feel about flying to races? Outside‘s “shameless running columnist” Martin Fritz Huber grapples with his own airline miles in this piece.