Its a Saturday morning and there is a consistent rainfall, with an occasional howl of wind, which presses up against the window of our living room. I am drinking a warm cup of coffee, with a nice soundscape created by a Youtube video called Fantasy Medieval Music for Focus & Calm: The Dwarf’s Long Mountain Journey.

My wife, Kerong, is due any hour or day now to give birth to our first son, Basil. The anticipation is overwhelming, as we have been in this state for about a week now. We went to the hospital yesterday when her contractions became more intense and frequent. But after several hours of monitoring, the nurse sent us back home. But we will likely return soon.

In this moment of waiting, I decided I would like to reflect on my running in the year 2025. It was a year of ups and downs.

The first six months of the year were entirely dedicated to training and preparing for the Tahoe 200 race. I had known since July 2024 that I would be running this event. The longest official race I had done prior was a 56 mile race at lower altitudes. Tahoe would be quadruple the distance and at higher altitudes. So, the training required would be immense.

In early January, my left hip/glute area became an issue. The nerves and tendons had some inflammation, which became bad enough that I reduced my running to one mile per day (to keep my run streak) and switched over to cycling and strength training. The inflammation lingered until about mid-March. This was not ideal training for a 200 mile footrace. Eventually the inflammation died down and I was able to start running big miles in the Santa Ynez mountains behind Santa Barbara.

In the final week of April, I did a four day “mini-block”, running 90 miles and 15,000 feet of vert. The next week, I went back down to the “base level” I built, about 60-65 miles and 10k – 12k feet of vert. I found that this strategy worked well. I was able to continue training after the heavy four-day block.

I did another a back-to-back long run weekend two weeks later, the first day being my longest run of the whole training cycle. It was a 10 hour, 40 mile, 12k feet of vert run. I followed it the next day with a 21 mile, 5k feet vert run. Training rolled smoothly into the next week.

These mini-blocks worked well for me in the middle of a larger training cycle. I will keep this strategy going forward.

When it came time to toe the starting line of Tahoe 200, I felt well trained and ready. But boy did I not know what I was in for. The high mountain air and the multi-day distance was something I could not prepare for without experiencing. And experience it I did. Here is my three-part race report.

There were many huge highs and deep lows throughout Tahoe and I learned many lessons along the way that I can take forward to future big efforts.

There were two major takeaways from the race. The first being a confirmation that the multi-day trail race is the event I want to continue as the focus of my running.

The second takeaway being the name of my son. My pacer Helen, had the clever idea of thinking of baby names to keep my brain active during the late stages of the race. The name “Basil,” came to me seemingly out of nowhere. Like a gift from the universe. Or maybe from the Tahoe environment. The Tahoe area is truly magical.

It took a while to process the race in the days after finishing. I was a bit disappointed in my performance because my finishing time was very far off from what I thought was possible. But my attitude shifted more towards the positive as the days went on. There is a lot to improve on, but now I know more about what to expect.

A couple weeks after the race, on July 4th, I ran our local Semana Nautica 5k trail race. I think I got into the top 10. We have some fast trailrunners here in SB!

My legs seemed to recover within a couple weeks after Tahoe, which was quicker than I expected. But, my heart and lungs took a bit longer. It felt like my cardio engine just did not have the same power to push.

I attempted to get back into my regular training volume, about 50 miles and 7k – 10k feet vert per week. There were many false starts, as random areas would give a bit of pain.

I had known going into the year that Tahoe 200 would be the main focus of 2025, but I wanted to take advantage of the fitness and endurance I had built by planning a late-fall effort. My friend Jon Sutherland was planning to go for a sub-24 hour 100-mile at Tierra Redonda, a fixed time race in mid-November. I decided that I would try to go for that goal as well. So I needed to get my training volume built up again.

In the first week of September, I decided to start a challenge I had thought about for a while. I would climb the steep, scrambly Arlington Peak every day for a week. Seven days, seven summits. I was hoping this challenge would be a good kickstart into training. I got it done, but it was a tough challenge. I wrote about that experience here, blog #20: a week on a mountain.

I was able to sustain a couple 60 mile weeks, including a couple track workouts with the Tuesday group at the UCSB track. Fitness was slowly built but things occasionally felt off or rusty.

At the end of September, a large group of SB trailrunners made the trek to Mammoth Lakes to support and pace Helen in her effort at the MAMMOTH, a 214 mile race through the epic eastern Sierra mountains. I went up for Friday – Sunday morning to help her crew. I owed her massively from her support given to me at Tahoe 200. She had an absolutely killer race performance, finishing fourth female in under 65 hours. Truly inspiring. I learned a lot watching her race.

In the month of October, Stephen Searer continued the Santa Barbara Trail League for Season 3. Participants organize into teams of 4 runners. The whole team completes 4 trail routes (created by Stephen, usually 3-6 miles with some vert) within a month. Teams can run the routes together or solo and as many times as they want within the month. Cross country-style scoring is used to rank team performances. I ran with my usual team – Wyles, Lydia, and Emily. We were team Dirty Bottoms Hiking Club. These routes gave me a chance to run fast a couple times a week to build some speed, while keeping my mileage up. Even with a couple of us battling injuries, our team placed 3rd for the mixed division.

Also in the month of October, SB trailrunner, Christopher St. Jean, organized the cul-de-sac marathon. A community fun run that uses a sweet loop, connecting the steep front country trails with the remote backcountry. Some folks did a partial loop, while a few of us completed the full loop. Local SB trail folks Jon Sutherland, Will Radis, and Claire Matheiu were kind of enough to setup a couple aid stations along the route to support us. It was an epic, long day.

By the end of October, I felt like my training was not really at the point to justify spending the money to run the Tierra Redonda race with Jon in November. I decided I would just go out to support him on his effort. Jon’s sister, Esther was also running, going for her first 50 mile effort (also her first ultra-distance effort). Additionally, Jeremy was running the 48 hour race, hoping to get to 100 miles. I couldn’t miss it. All of these folks had helped support me at Tahoe.

Jeremy ended up getting his 100 mile distance and Esther got her 50 miles. Jon fought hard but ultimately called it at 66 miles due to stomach issues and some tough weather. A noble effort.

I decided to shift my focus to the Camino Cielo Loop. An epic 47 mile route that uses all the SB frontcountry trails and connects to the backcountry, encircling the East Camino Cielo road on the mountain ridge behind Santa Barbara.

My plan was to establish an FKT (fastest known time) in the unsupported style. The route had been done in the supported style; Christopher St. Jean and Challis Popkey hold the current supported FKTs with impressive times.

I did several long runs on the route in November to scope out water sources and navigation. I decided to go for my attempt on Saturday, December 6th. I had a great adventure, mostly in good spirits, with a few challenging sections. I wrote about my run here, blog #23: the solo trek i needed.

I ended up finishing the route in 11 hours and 44 minutes, about 1.5 hours slower than Christopher’s supported time. I plan to go for this route again, unsupported, next year likely. Its an epic, local route that feels good to accomplish solo.

My 2025 running had some big highs and some deep lows; I worked through injury, and I finished the hardest race of my life so far. Overall, I’m satisfied with my year in running. But I hope to continue to improve next year.

According to Strava, I ended the year with 2,278 miles and 392,000 feet of vert. Thats an average of 44 miles per week. I hope to be able to increase my average weekly mileage to 50 miles in 2026. So, I will need to run 2,600 miles this year. In order to do this, I will need to avoid injury as much as possible. I have learned that a key piece to avoid injury is working on leg strength with exercises such as wall sits, lunges, and single-leg squats.

As far as race events in 2026, I have not committed to any races yet, but my plan is to go for two 100-mile races, with no crew. I would just rely on the race organization’s support and my own planning. A couple events that I will likely do are the local SB 9 Trails 35 mile race in March, the Coyote Two-Moon 100 mile race in Ojai in the month of May, and, potentially, the Lake Sonoma 100-mile race in October. I will likely finish 2026 with another unsupported Camino Cielo Loop FKT attempt.

As I write this year-end/beginning blog, my wife might go into labor at any moment. It is now January 3, 2026. The year is sure to begin with the most joyous event of all. The birth of our son, Basil. I am ready to support Kerong in an experience surely more challenging than the ultramarathons I ran this year, the process of child birth.

My frequent music selections of 2025:

Some runners definitively choose not to listen to music or some other technological audio while they run. I am not that type. I enjoy listening to music as I run across landscapes. It has the power to enhance the experience, sometimes weaving into the landscape and shifting my mind into a flow state.

I use the “bone conduction” headphones, Shokz OpenRun, which allow me hear the outside world along with my music. The crunch of my footsteps on the dirt, the chirping of birds, the stream of a creek, is still part of the experience.

I typically listen to listen to artists that might fall into the “jam band” category, such as the Grateful Dead or Phish. The improvisational nature of the music meshes well with the flow of running, especially trailrunning, where each step and stride has to adapt with the changing terrain.

In 2025, I listened to many live recordings from the indie-rock jam band, Goose. Ever since discovering their music around 2019, I have been a big fan of the band. They released two studio albums this year and toured extensively. The album Chain Yer Dragon was the soundtrack to many of my runs.

I also listened to a lot of live recordings from Billy Strings, a bluegrass artist that leans into the “jam improvisational” style. Billy’s technical skills on the guitar are incredible. He has the ability to weave classic bluegrass licks with wild, cacophonous sounds that take the listener on a journey.

Another bluegrass group, Greensky Bluegrass, was a frequent accompaniment on my runs. I really enjoy the songwriting and vocal style of mandolinist Paul Hoffman.

Its not always jam bands going through my ears. Indie-country/folk artist Zach Bryan was also a frequent listen for me in 2025. His album, The Great American Bar Scene, is incredible. I turned 28 years old in 2025, and found myself listening to the track titled “28” many times. Really, all his studio albums are masterful collections of songs that are put together with purpose.

The song, “Rusty Cage,” by Johnny Cash (originally written by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden) became the soundtrack to my race at Tahoe 200. I played it many times and it got me through some low points.

Another song, “Cherokee Purples,” by American Aquarium was a frequent listen. My wife, Kerong, also enjoyed this song, particularly the bright guitar riff.

These were some of my most frequent listens and music highlights of the year. I look forward to more running and music in 2026. Let it be a good one.