Photo: Pete Schreiner @schreinertrailphotography
The following excerpt appears in Hard Prairie Volume 2, available now! To purchase your copy, please click the link on our homepage!
Waking from a nap, Michael shivered miserably, soggy from the moisture that had gathered in his bivy. Hardly able to control his trembling, he moved up the mountain toward Kelly’s Knob. “I just started thinking about everything,” Michael says. “One thing after another.” He thought about mistakes he’d made early in life and how far he’d come since. He thought about his parents and how it might be time to forgive his father’s transgressions. He thought about his daughter and wife, the beginning and end of all this, whatever this ended up being. And he thought about people wrestling with dark thoughts, and those who were lonely. “I cried a lot during those miles,” he says. “It was rough.”
Moving up Angel’s Rest a few days later, the temperature dropped, and rain began to fall. Michael crawled between some rocks to wait out the storm. “I should have just stayed there and slept,” he says. “If I had just stayed there and slept for two or three hours, none of this would have happened. But for some reason, in my mind, I felt I had to keep going.”
Looking at the weather tracker on his phone, Michael saw a big red blob moving his way. Not wanting to remain on the ridge, he moved down the mountain. “I was walking, getting soaked. It was maybe thirty-eight degrees. I was freezing.” Knowing he was in danger of hypothermia, Michael called his crew and arranged to meet at a shelter. Once there, however, he didn’t stay long. “There was just no way for me to get warm,” Michael says. “If I had stayed at that shelter much longer, not moving, I’d have frozen. Then they’d have had to pull me out of there. So I chose to keep running.”
Words: Chad Sullivan
CAPACITY: 120 runners
PRICE: $105 ($115 after 6/30/2023)
This race is part of the Road to Big’s. It is a BRONZE TICKET RACE! There are two ways to secure a spot at BIG’S BACKYARD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:
1. The winner of this race will get an AUTOMATIC ENTRY into BOB’S BIG TIMBER Backyard Ultra. The winner of BIG’S BACKYARD ULTRA gains automatic entry into Big’s Backyard Ultra World Championship.
2. The second way to get into Big’s is by completing enough yards to earn one of the “At Large” spots. These spots are awarded to the top 25 runners from around the world for the World Individual Championship (odd years), and the top 9 USA runners for the World Team Championship (even years).
Course
DAY: The race takes place on beautiful and very runnable trails on Countryside YMCA property. Fairly smooth, wooded trails, with small elevation changes. There are some roots and rocks on the trails, and the weather can play a role in trail conditions (mud). The course will be 4.1667 miles, wheeled and measured with GPS watches. The trails are accessible to YMCA members and the community. Detailed course map and Strava data coming soon!
NIGHT: The course is an out-and-back (2.08 out and 2.08 back) run on the Lebanon bike path. There are no road crossings and no car traffic on the bike path, making it an ideal, safe place for night running. The night course passes through residential areas (some properties back up to the Lebanon Bikepath). Please be respectful of private properties and keep your voices down passing through the area at night. No loud music etc to be played on the bike path. There is a gradual downhill and uphill on the bike path but no steep hills.
SUNRISE: 7:54 AM
SUNSET: 6:48 PM
DAY COURSE: 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM (10 yards)
NIGHT COURSE 6:00 PM – 8:00 AM (14 yards)
Shirt deadline
Please register by 9/27 to guarantee your shirt
Rules
Empower Backyard Ultra is a Lazarus Lake-sanctioned event. Every hour runners will line up to run the 4.1667 mile course (“yard”) until there is only one runner standing. The race will start at 8:00 am on October 22. Every hour runners will run the trails of Countryside YMCA, starting their loops at 8:00 am, 9:00 am, etc. until 5:00 pm when the last day loop will start. After 6:00 pm runners will run the night course (Lebanon Bikepath) every hour starting at 6:00 pm, then 7:00 pm, 8:00 pm, all the way until 7:00 am (last night loop) or until no runners are remaining.
RULES :
Runners must be standing in the starting corral when the bell rings and the next race starts, or they may not continue.
Runners will also not continue if they choose to stop (drop from the race).
No late starts once the bell is rung.
Races will continue until only one runner remains, and at that point, once that person completes a loop on their own, that runner is the winner.
All other runners are considered DNF.
At 3 minutes till each race, 3 whistles will be blown.
At 2 minutes till each race, 2 whistles will be blown.
At 1 minute till each race, 1 whistle will be blown.
At 30 seconds till each race, an announcement is made.
At 10 seconds till each race, a countdown will begin.
Once the bell is rung, runners may not visit their crew, their tent, their vehicle or receive aid from anyone.
Runners must stay on the course once the bell is rung.
The only reason for leaving the course once the bell is rung is to use the bathroom.
Once you finish your loop you may choose to do what you want, but must be back in the starting corral before the bell rings.
Runners will need to provide their own aid.
Crews are permitted but limited to just three crew members per runner at a time. Crews may leave and come back if needed.
There will be a space next to the start and finish line to set up a chair, cooler, and other small personal items.
A staging area will be close by where you may set up a tent.
Any runner that DNF’s must immediately vacate their spot close to the finish line to allow surviving runners to move closer. DNF runners are welcome to continue spectating. Porta-potties will be located near the start line.
A T-shirt will be provided to all entrants.
Alcohol is NOT permitted.
Water, coffee, and (non-caffeinated) Tailwind will be provided.
The winner of Empower Ultras Backyard Ultra will get automatic entry to BOB’S BIG TIMBER Backyard Ultra and be eligible to compete in Big’s Backyard Ultra if enough “yards” are achieved.
The winner will receive a cash prize of $3 per “yard” up to $300.
Thank you to Countryside YMCA and the City of Lebanon for allowing us to use their beautiful property and incredible bike path for our event.
About Our Hosts
COUNTRYSIDE YMCA
The second largest YMCA in the world is located in beautiful Lebanon, Ohio, only 30 minutes from Cincinnati and Dayton. Countryside YMCA programs are part of their mission to create a strong, vital, and caring community. When you think of the Y, you might first think of exercising or swimming. But the Y offers so much more. As a non-profit organization, our mission is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that help build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. The money given to our Annual Campaign through individual donations and corporate partnerships is used to provide outreach programs for our community. https://countrysideymca.org/about-us/annual-campaign/support-us.html
CITY OF LEBANON / LEBANON BIKE PATH: the bike path is adjacent to the YMCA grounds and offers a beautiful, wide paved path that passes through residential areas.
The City of Lebanon offers many amenities: there are several restaurants near the course, a beautiful old town area, several grocery stores, hotels, and medical services (Bethesda North and Kettering Hospital emergency branches). https://www.lebanonohio.gov/visitors/lebanon_charm/index.php
About Empower Ultras
Empower Ultras was founded by Aneta (Nettie) Zeppettella and Jennifer Russo, who met through ultrarunning and over the years gained a ton of experience finishing some of the hardest ultras on the East Coast and beyond. Additionally, Jennifer competed in Ohio Backyard, Capitol Backyard, and Big’s Backyard. She ran 250 mi at Capitol, 225 mi at Ohio, and 200 mi at Big's. We both want to empower you to try to push your limits and create your new adventures. Please join us. We will cheer for you with our whole hearts!
Introducing a new timed event produced in cooperation with the beautiful city of Lebanon, Ohio!
This event is a combo of a 100 mi race and a 24-hour timed event. The course loop is 1.05 mile long and will be USTAF-certified. The loop is flat with minimal elevation and crushed gravel, offering pretty views of the park as well as an ample place to set up your tent along the course.
We will also have a central aid station at the start/finish area offering a typical ultrarunning fair as well as a rotating menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items (including fresh fruit smoothies, pancakes, avocado wraps, popsicles etc).
This is a 24-hour event, however, if you want to run your fastest 100 miler - we will count this instead (for example: you ran 100 miles in 17 hours and want to stop, we will count you as a 17-hour 100 miler finisher, not a 24 hour. Or: you ran 100 mi in 17 hours but want to keep going, hoping to set the American Age Group record in 24 hours. You keep on running and we will count you as a 24-hour finisher. Let’s say you ran 140 mi in 24 hours. We will post this as your result. Only one result will be posted on ultrasignup. Either 24 hours or 100 mi - you can decide during the race, depending on how you feel.
We love this course- it’s so fast and gentle, flat, but not too boring (and our finish line will keep you entertained).
Brought to you by Empower Ultras, a women-owned and women-led Southwest Ohio-based company. We know timed events, having directed Vernal Equinox 48-24-12-8 Hour event for the past five years. Vernal Equinox grew to a nationally known event bringing in people from well beyond the Dayton/Cincinnati area and selling out every year.
You will get a high-quality swag, personalized, made in Ohio by a local artist, and awarded with your distance completed, and a beautiful belt buckle for everyone who runs 100 mi or more.
There are no refunds.
Runners of all races, ethnicities, and gender identities are welcome at Empower Ultras events and races. We are a women-owned and immigrant-owned company and inclusivity is very important to us. We encourage everyone, regardless of ability, age, body type, educational background, ethnicity, gender, gender expression/identity, nationality, political affiliation, race, religion, or any other demographic to participate in all our events. We support diverse groups through our donations. We are proud to offer Athletes With Disability divisions in our races. We are constantly learning and we encourage input into our efforts to improve diversity at our events.
Packet pickup will be at the start/finish area
Friday 9/20 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Saturday 9/21 5:30-6:30 am
The following excerpt appears in Hard Prairie Volume 1, available now! To purchase your copy, please click the link on our homepage!
Words: Cory Reese
It was 2019, and I was running the Vol State 500K–a 314-mile race stretching nearly the entire length of Tennessee. Over eight grueling days, I not only threw up in that Subway parking lot, but I also dodged dozens of armadillos dead on the side of the road, slept in the lobby of a post office, got a sunburn so deep that pockets of yellow goo formed on my kneecaps, birthed blisters so large and painful that each step felt like walking on shards of glass, sewed a needle and thread through those blisters, then left the thread hanging outside my skin for the blisters to drain. I had chaffing on my legs that was so extreme that it left scars. And at mile 174, I broke down in the kind of gut-wrenching, emotional sobbing that left my shirt covered in tears and snot. I experienced the deepest depths of hell. And I think about that experience nearly every day. It was one of the most profound, life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. And there have been times since that a part of me has wanted to go back and do it all over again.
However, this year, as I followed along with the race through social media, I noticed my perspective beginning to shift. I'm so incredibly grateful for the life-changing experience I had, and everything I learned about myself as a result of it, but I have also begun to feel sad about what I put my body through. I feel sad that I willingly volunteered for such intense and extreme suffering.
And for what? To learn that I can do hard things? I already knew that. I didn't need to traverse 314 miles across Tennessee to figure that out. Was it for praise and social media kudos? I genuinely don't think so. The amount of pain and suffering I endured would never be worth any attention on Facebook. Was it ego? Pride? The need for adventure? A longing to prove my worth? Was I running away from something? Was I running toward something? I had run dozens of 100-milers before Vol State. Why was I always on the lookout for bigger, harder races? I don't know. Was it a little bit of all of those things? Again, I don't know.
I don't know.
The following excerpt appears in Hard Prairie Volume 1, available now! To purchase your copy, please click the link on our homepage!
Words: Carla Landrum
For various reasons, I pretty much stopped trail running for about seven weeks after Canyons. I still had my eye on Europe, however, and decided to enter the UTMB-CCC lottery anyway. In January 2023, I received notification that my name had been selected. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to begin training in earnest until March, and, with the race occurring in September, this left me six months to prepare for one of the hardest 100K’s in the world.
When I was 12 years old I rode Grand Prix horses, training with professional equestrian riders and breaking green horses just off the racetrack. Growing up around professional athletes, I came to understand that professional grade doesn’t come easy. It takes incredible discipline. Success is a skill, talent is the norm. I had to train harder and at a higher level than I was likely to be competing at. This is what it took to be in the ribbons, to earn money. Performance level could be intense but I acclimated well. Extremes became my climate, sweat turned into equity, grit my territory, and winning was sustenance. All of this became normal to me, in part, because of my Mom. She was an extremely good rider. She rode for sport but was good enough to be a professional. Her confidence was magnificent and she surrounded herself with people who were equally confident and capable. While tagging along with her, I trained and rode amongst some of the best in the United States. The lead-up to Canyons had rekindled a familiar level of discipline and many of my old equestrian training principles without the pressure of performing. I felt confident but knew that I needed to do more to prepare for UTMB-CCC. I needed intel. I needed to know more about what it would take to finish a race in the European Alps, so I surrounded myself with a wealth of experienced runners. Their expertise, respect for the sport, training companionship, and knowledge would prove very valuable in the end.
I signed up for a series of local trail races that I thought would best prepare me for what lay ahead. The first race was Silver States in May, a 50-mile race near Reno, Nevada, with a rather benign 9,000 feet of vert and some mildly technical trail. The race is genuine, grassroots, and old school--one of the last not gobbled up by some commercial conglomerate or franchise. The race would serve as the longest trail race in preparation for UTMB-CCC and I was knocking it out early. This may seem counterintuitive, but I wanted to get mentally comfortable with the idea of long, slow miles from the get-go. My problem was that I had about eight weeks to prepare. I ramped up religiously but slowly with both miles and climbing/descent. I mixed in a lot of swimming to keep my cardio performance up while my muscles were still developing. I forced myself to do simple strength exercises and stretches to prevent injuries to which I’m prone. The longest and hardest training run I did leading up to Silver States was not so much strategic as it was opportune. It had been a bucket list item for me to run Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim (R^3) the Grand Canyon. The climate can be so extreme that you either knock the run out in early spring or wait until fall. Spring was my window and I knew it would be good training. For safety reasons, the run ended up zig-zagging up and down the south rim twice, amounting to nearly 40 miles and 10,000 feet of climb/descent, which, for scale, amounts to only half the vert I would bag during UTMB-CCC. It was a long, slow, beautiful day of running.
Several weeks later came Silver States. My goal was to finish in 12 hours. I knew I was pushing it with a long race so early in my training. After all, my legs were still green coming off R^3. I toed the line in the back of the pack and managed to finish the race in 11 hours and 30 minutes with a fairly sore and tender IT band but no real damage.
Mission accomplished.
The following excerpt appears in Hard Prairie Volume 1, available now! To purchase your copy, please click the link on our homepage!
Words: S. Trent Rosenbloom
At this point, we had no idea who we were looking for. We had swept all the runners. There shouldn’t have been anyone left behind us. We were beginning to worry that perhaps they had slid down the side of the mountain. This was a real possibility given how slick and steep the trails were. Eventually, we were able to raise the crew of the injured person on the radio and they confirmed that they were, in fact, on trail. However, this struck me as odd. If I was with the first response rescue team, how was it they had come across a radio? Was there another support team already with them?
After backtracking for two miles, I came across my answer. The injured person was not a runner at all, but a member of the Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team that we’d encountered earlier, a tough 61-year-old former marine. He had taken a bad step on a slick rock while wearing a heavy pack. He heard a pop above his right knee and fell. Now unable to stand up, he was in tremendous pain around his distal femur. By the time I reached him, his other team members had him immobilized, warmed, and as comfortable as one could be under the circumstances–a tarp protecting him from the rain. He was also, by then, reasonably medicated.
Given the mechanism of injury and the location and severity of the pain, we had reasonable concern that he had fractured his femur. A femur fracture is a serious injury that cannot just be splinted or walked off. Rather, it requires true immobilization and extraction.
We were in for a long day.
Start: 8am 50k, 9am 25k
When: Saturday, October 28th
Where: Red Gate Woods, Palos
The race starts and finishes at the Red Gate Woods in the Palos Trail System just 20 minutes from downtown Chicago. The course will wind you on mostly single track through the woods. If you’re running the 25k you’ll get about 1400 feet of elevation gain, the 50k will get about 2800 feet of gain.
Timely Nonsense brings the traditional 6 hour/12 hour timed events into the city. The race will be held at a park where runners will spend their allotted time running a .97 mile paved loop path around the park. The park is a 58-acre park located at the intersection of California and Montrose.
Registration Open!
Start: 7:00 am
When: April 27th, 2024
He goes to school, plays sports year-round, and hangs out with friends. He’s a busy kid. But many kids are busy. What makes Simon so interesting is the boundlessness of his busyness. He’s adventurous and refined—one moment he’s glancing headers off his noggin on the soccer field, the next he’s plucking jazz scales on an upright bass. Consider the chutzpah of choosing an upright over a guitar at twelve years old. To be that self-assured at so young an age.
To feel boundless.
What adult wouldn’t envy that? Even just a little?
With the sixth grade now behind him, and summer ahead, Simon has wiggle room in his ordinarily hectic schedule to pursue some of his other hobbies—running being chief among them. Last weekend, Simon finished his first half-marathon, taking top honors in his age group. In April, he paced his mother, Naomi, as she ran 50 miles at the Potawatomi Trail Races.
In this interview, Simon talks about his experience at Potawatomi, his favorite aid station snacks (one of which might just blow your mind!), and whether he intends to return to run it again.
What is the story behind pacing your mom at Potawatomi?
My family and I like going on hikes together. After a couple of years of hiking, I ran Galena (Sky Races). Last year I saw my mom run at Potawatomi and I wanted to try it out.
What were your first impressions of the course when you visited it prior to the race?
The first mile felt great. After three miles, it got a lot harder.
Were you nervous before the race?
No. I checked out the course beforehand, and saw my mom run it last year. I didn’t get a chance to train before the race. I was sick for a week, then my asthma kept me from doing any running. My mom helped me get my vest ready the day before. My dad thought I was starting at loop four, so when my mom got me at loop three, I was thrown into the race and didn’t have time to get nervous.
How was your experience on race day? Was there a section of the course that you enjoyed? Or perhaps a section that you disliked?
I liked going through the creek. It woke me up a bit, the cool water. The hills after it really sucked though. I felt very heavy and weighed down from the water. The people cheering me on while I was on the course helped me get through the race.
What was the hardest thing about Potawatomi for you?
The elevation: going up and down, that hurt.
Do you have a favorite aid station snack?
I like having Warheads with me. They're sour and perked me up. Another favorite is Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.
How did you celebrate after your incredible performance?
I went back to the hotel with my siblings and dad, and we went swimming.
Would you do it again?
Yes! If there was a 15 mile option, I’d do that. Maybe 30?
Photos provided by Naomi Copeland
