It’s been several weeks since my last blog post; it’s just hard to find time to write these days with our newborn, Basil, and working and running and family time. Life has been tough and rewarding at the same time. It’s hard taking care of a newborn, but, man, does it make my life feel so much more meaningful. Raising a child is by far the most important thing I’ve ever done, and without a doubt the most important thing I will ever do.

Basil is four months old now and during the past couple weeks he has had noticeable developments. He is much more vocal; it’s like he is discovering his voice and testing it. A similar phenomenon is happening with his mouth. He wants to put everything in there. He also likes to grab hold of anything he can with his hands. And then put it in his mouth…

He also seems to look at me and my wife more intently with his eyes, as if he is able to see more detail. It’s amazing to witness.

On the running side, I’ve had a somewhat unpredictable year so far. In my last blog I wrote about how I was planning to run the Vol State 500k in Tennessee. And my original plan going into the year was to run two mountain 100 mile races.

While I am still very interested in running the Vol State race, I have decided to pivot to yet another race- the Merrill’s Mile 48 hour race in Georgia. It’s a fixed time event; participants run as many miles as they can in 48 hours.

I decided to make this switch because the Vol State just seems too complicated to logistically make happen for me in this season. Plus, I’m still on the waitlist and am not sure I will get an invitation. However, I still want to do the race in the future; it seems like an epic adventure. And the lore of the race is enticing. Lazarus Lake is the race director….

Merrill’s Mile will be much easier logistically. It’s much closer to my parents’ house and the course is a one mile loop. I will set up camp right next to the course and not have to carry a pack. Plus, my dad will probably run the 6 hour event. I’ve done the 12 hour and 6 hour event in the past, so I’m familiar with the race.

I’m giving myself a challenging goal of trying to run 200 miles in the 48 hours. It seems tough but attainable. The past couple weeks I have been thinking about what kind of paces I might be able to run for 48 hrs. To get 200 miles, I would need to average 4.16 mph, or 14 min 20 sec miles. It’s a tough pace to keep for that amount of time, but I think I can do it.

My running this year has been mostly on the roads and flatter trails around my house. This should get me ready for the 1 mile, paved loop course at Merrill’s Mile.

Currently, I’m in week 3 of a three week volume build. I built a base weekly mileage of about 65 miles, and for the past two weeks I’ve hit about 80 miles, with a 37 mile long run last weekend. This week, I should hit about 90 miles, with a 45 mile long run on Saturday. I’ll drop back down to 60-65 miles next week.

I’ve been trying to focus on keeping a consistent, jogging pace on my long runs. I aim to run about 6.3 mph, or 9:30 pace miles. Usually, I run a bit under this pace for the first 1-2 hours and then slow down a bit. But I try to stay under 9:30 miles. I am hoping that I can do that for at least the first 12 hours of Merrill’s to build some cushion to fade. It would be great to be able to get in about 110 miles in the first 24 hours. But maybe this goal is crazy considering Tahoe 200 took me 92 hours…..but that was a mountainous, high altitude course and had 10 bonus miles. That accounts for the extra two days, right? 🙃

Basically all of my weekday runs are 6 miles, about 45-50 minutes. This has helped get the legs muscles used to consistency. On the weekends I have been getting a 20-25 mile long run followed by a 10 – 15 mile medium long run. One weekend I got back-to back 25 miles. It felt like I made some endurance gains after that one. This weekend I should hit a 45 miler and then a 15 miler. As long as I make it through without injury, I should be feel a confidence boost on my endurance durability.

I also just got a new pair of the Mount to Coast R1 shoes, so I’m looking forward to taking them out this weekend. Typically, I run in Topos for long trail days. My recent road shoes have been the New Balance Rebels. They have about 630 miles on them and I tore a big whole in the upper. So they’re done… good while they lasted.

Typically, I much prefer mountainous trail running over flat, paved roads. But, I am learning to like the long road days. I can feel my running legs get more durable. Long runs on the trails here in Santa Barbara really includes a lot of power hiking. My long road days are alllll running.

This is my year on the roads.

Music Selections:

I’ve been listening to a lot of new-to-me music recently. Here are some of the highlights

Yonder Mountain String Band’s new album Good As True

Charley Crockett’s new album Age of the Ram. It’s crazy how much music this guy writes and releases.

Sam Bush live album Ice Caps: Peaks of Telluride. Legendary bluegrass.

All Them Witches albums Our Mother Electricity, At The Garage, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker, Lightening At the Door, Live in Brussels, Sleeping Through The War, and ATW. Found this band through their Rig Rundown YouTube. Really cool style and song structures. Listened to basically their whole discography. Just a couple more albums to go, plus the new one once it drops in a couple weeks.

King Buffalo album The Burden of Restlessness. Found this group after All Them Witches. Pretty sweet.

Hiss Golden Messenger’s new album I’m People. Good stuff as always. Really like the track Who You Gonna Run Too? . Listened to this at 4am under a fantastic full moon.

Phish shows 4/25/2026 & 5/1/2026 Las Vegas, NV. Thanks to tapers: Charlie Miller & Chase London Smith.

Metallica’s black album. Rocked this while running a 10k PR on my trail/road/gravel loop. 39:12. In the middle of a 78 mile week. Felt good.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 11/12/2025 Vienna, Austria. Thanks to tapers: soundboard crew.

Mount Hush albums II & self-titled. Another new stoner metal band discovery. Loving them. Will deep dive on their discography.