Written by Christopher Thomas Round 3 – NorCal 100K Grand Prix Quicksilver 100K 62.2 miles – 13,000’ e.g. Quicksilver Park – San Jose, CA Here we are one more week and it’s over. There are only three of us left out of seven who started, Stacie Riddle and Satpal Dalal. This is what the last […]

Written by Christopher Thomas Round 2 – NorCal 100K Grand Prix Miwok 100K 62.2 miles – 12,000’ eg Stinson Beach – Marin Headlands, CA Coming off my big run at Canyons I was not sure how my body would react. My coach, Bob Shebest of Point Positive Coaching continually told me trust in the process, […]

Written by Christopher Thomas Round 1 – NorCal 100K Grand Prix The Canyons 100K 63.6 miles – 15,000’ eg Western States Trail – Foresthill, CA Canyons is deemed as one of the hardest 100K courses in California did not disappoint. At 15,000’ of elevation gain including Devil’s Thumb about 1,600’ in a little over a […]

Bishop High Sierra 100k Race Report By Luke Garten The Bishop High Sierra race was very close to being a race of the past. The original race director was retiring from taking the heavy work load so the race was open for someone new to take on the responsibilities. I tried to not get too excited about […]

Woodside Ramble 50K – Trail Jealousy Luke Garten I had the pleasure of running the Woodside Ramble 50k on a beautiful spring day last weekend. It was yet another great race put on by Inside Trail Racing. This is the second time I have been able to come to these great trails to race. The […]

Photo courtesy of Jesse Jay Jimenez, 2013 Chris began 2013 with a near 2-week running respite, primarily to recover after a New Year’s Eve 24-hour run–pamper and provide some muscular rehabilitation after having had a heavy racing season in 2012 which included winning the ITR racing series. With renewed enthusiasm, he decided to ease back […]

Inside Trail Racing Team member, Victor Ballesteros, dominated the illustrious Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50 miler this past weekend in Sacramento, CA. The course is a flat and somewhat monotonous 5-mile loop of paved and dirt path that delivers some of the fastest 50k and 50 mile times in recent US history. Such a race […]

This story has been nesting in my mind for months. It’s long, but hopefully entertaining… at the least… interesting. The miles we travel and those we meet along the way By Victor Ballesteros In January of 2012, I got an email from Palo Alto’s running superstar, Gary Gellin, asking me if I had any interest […]

This morning had the makings of the perfect day for a marathon.  The 4:00 AM wake up call was less than pleasant, but I managed to slither out of bed, get ready, and head out the door for the 90 minute drive to the start in Calistoga by 4:30ish.  The weather was perfect, right around […]

There was a good assortment of ultra races over the weekend.  From the soft, rolling hills in the Bay Area of California, to undulating and abruptly jagged desert trails in Moab, Utah, to ankle crushing rock-lined, steep descents of Virginia, there was variety in both the race terrain and the weather accompanying the events.  The […]

The growth of ultrarunning means so many things.  One of the benefits is the addition of new race events.  The Slickrock 100 kicks off its first year this Saturday at 7AM mountain standard time.  It will offer three race distances of 50k, 50 mile, and 100 mile.  Aaron and Jenna Kissler have done a fine […]

Though Inside Trail’s passion lies with off-road competition and adventure, we cannot overlook outstanding performances in our cousin sport, road racing.  First, congratulations to Lizzy Hawker in her jaw-dropping run at the 2011 Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Distance Running Championships 24 hour race in Llandudno (North Wales).  Just four weeks after winning the grueling UTMB, Lizzy […]

At the Wasatch 100 the weather held with warmer than typical temperatures and Timmy Parr took it out hot himself, running splits that nearly matched Geoff Roes’ course record pace.  Unfortunately, the speedster faded with a sour stomach and low energy, eventually dropping at mile 62.  Evan Honeyfield capitalized on Parr’s falter and made his […]

As race reports and articles come across the wires, a clearer picture is coming into view; but that doesn’t mean that additional questions aren’t raised.  The difficulty of the scheduling changes, the course reroutes, the way in which organizers communicate to participants can cause frustration at varying levels.  Some handled it well (exceptionally well), like […]