This year, the author’s season begins on 25 April with the 2026 Canyons 100k. He describes a period full of uncertainty before the event, then, when the race went well, he says he was overwhelmed by emotion. He adds that he then shared his thoughts through interviews, an article on iRunFar and on social media.
Nine weeks after Canyons, he cites the Western States 100, then nine weeks later UTMB. He explains that each race brought new feelings, but that after the last two events, he did not pick up the pen again. He also уточifies that he was very happy with his performance at Western States, while saying he does not know why he didn’t write.
After Western States, he says he rested and moved into training with a transition toward the UTMB. In the immediate post-race period, he says he slept, ate, rode a bike, ran “easy” and (for the most part) finished the front porch on the A-frame. After that, he heads to Colorado to do dedicated UTMB training.
He attributes the most striking part of his experience at Western States to the people involved, notably the fact that he had both a crew and pacers. He says he had never used pacers before in ultra, and that he wasn’t sure what it would be like. He adds that his three pacers were chosen carefully: Morgan Elliott, Chris Jones and Than Helfferich.
For the race, his plan links specific points: Morgan accompanies him from Foresthill to Rucky Chucky, at which point he takes over Chris Jones. Chris paces him to Pointed Rocks, then he joins the finish with Than. His teammate Kaytlyn Gerbin makes an appearance for the final mile, and the trio then finishes the race to the finish. The author also says that his relationship with each person seemed to grow “twice” that day.
