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With the New Hampshire state slogan, “Live Free or Die”, it’s hard to not stay curious here.

New Hampshire may not have any National Parks, but it’s home to one of the lushest National Forests in the country, The White Mountains. On any given day in the White Mountains, I am entranced by its wildness, humbled by its immensity, and awed by the mystery of it. It simultaneously amazes and awakens me, but it always elicits a sense of profound serenity.

What is a Fatass race? 

Tired of paying hundreds of dollars to run ultra marathons? Nickeled and dimed to death with logistics? Hotels, rentals, and on and on?

Let me restore your faith in running races and humanity in general. 

Ultra-distance races (in running, these are technically any races longer than the marathon distance) are some of the most unique, arduous, and downright crazy things you can put your body through. Appealing, right?!

If you’ve been contemplating trying an ultra but don’t know where to start, here are a few things to consider...

So you signed up for that OCR race your friends kept bugging you to try and now you have no clue where to start with training. Don’t panic, it’s not as scary as it looks on the YouTube videos.

It is very important to remember that no one was ever an expert at anything the first time they tried it, so go easy on yourself and stay determined!

Now, it's impossible to fully think of all contingencies when it comes to trail running but if you think about the main things, you can do a great job being ready and  hopefully not have to DNF a race over something that could have been avoided.

I've ran many races, training runs, and self supported adventures on trail. I've made a lot of epically bad mistakes over the years, so you don’t have to!

Orienteering is a land navigation sport primarily done by foot, but there are many different varieties, including mountain bike orienteering, radio orienteering, ski orienteering, and trail orienteering for Paralympic athletes, just to mention a few. As a cross country race, it has intense demands on your body and your gear.

VJ shoes were in fact first made for orienteers.

It seems most people who get into competitive obstacle course racing are runners who make a natural progression to OCR. That wasn’t the case with me.

In 2016 I got a wild hair that I wanted to try obstacle course racing, the only drawbacks…I wasn’t very strong and I wasn’t a runner! But I gave it a go and every part of it was challenging and immediately after that first race, I said I wouldn’t do another one. A week later after recovering, I knew I could do better, I wanted to do better!

How does running an Ultra-Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) style event just below “Everest’s Death Zone” at 21,000 feet sound?  What about running 200 miles of OCR in a week?  Maybe make things a little more challenging by doing that in the winter going through snow for several days? 

I developed this routine in early 2019, when after recovering from my second torn meniscus surgery, my knee started to buckle. I visited several doctors and physical therapists and they were unable to diagnose my issue or come up with any cause or solution. 

This routine was thoroughly researched and it’s tried and true when it comes to knee recovery, increased range of motion, and overall knee health and injury prevention.

As 2022 came to a close, it’s only natural to reminisce on the year and its most memorable moments. It’s fun (and enlightening) to reflect… 

• Where did I fall short?
• How did I grow/what did I learn?
• What were my favorite parts?