Run Mountain Peaks

This week I tell the story of my White Mountains 100 unsupported FKT effort. The hardest 100 miles in the northeast and the hardest effort of my life. 94 miles and 36k ft of gain of seemingly never ending technical and steep trail. I talk about how I felt on each section, what went right, what went wrong, and everything in between. Finishing this thing so strongly is something I'm proud of. Ru...

This week I sat down with Lukas Janulaitis after he set the new fastest known time on the New Hampshire Appalachian Trail section covering 160 miles with 55,000 feet of climbing in 61 hours and 15 minutes. He added to his stacked resume of back to back Last Skier Standings, Bubba's Backyard course record holder, and multiple other tough mountain 100s. We break down his journey from the New Hampshi...

*Against my better judgement*: This week I discuss my upcoming unsupported attempt on the White Mountains 100. Linking together roughly 95 miles and 34,000 feet of vert across the most rugged terrain in the region, this route has been a goal of mine for a while. A bunch of people just finished / are still finishing the WM100 when this comes out. Very inspiring. I talk about how I feel going into t...

This week I ranked the toughest ultra marathon style routes in the White Mountains EXCLUDING the classics like the Pemi Loop, Presi Traverse, Hut Traverse, etc. I go through a bunch of honorable mentions before breaking down my official top 5 list. I think many of these are going to become classic household names, if they haven't already. If you are looking for new trails and new efforts to pu...

This week I had an awesome conversation with Tom Hanlon. Tom is a former college miler turned ultra runner who has thrown down some wild efforts in his two years in the sport. We talk about his recent 244 mile effort running from New York City to Boston in 72 hours and 50 minutes to set the FKT and raise over $14,000 for the Jason R. Flood Memorial Foundation. Tom breaks down the entire journey fr...

This week I sat down with Lexi Jackson and Conor Brown, the new course record holders from the Jigger Johnson 100 miler. Lexi smashed the women's course record by four and a half hours, finishing in 33:12, and Conor took first place overall in 29:41, beating the previous men's course record by over 40 minutes. We talked about how they were feeling leading up to the race, their training bui...

This week I break down the most important aspects of increasing your uphill running speed and how to get stronger on mountain climbs. Whether you do short races, ultras, multi day hikes, or just run trails for fun, getting better going uphill will translate to every other part of your mountain running/hiking. I talk about fitness, strength, power, muscular endurance, and uphill running. I also sha...

This week I sat down with Clark Plummer, Conor Brown and Lyle Cordes for a breakdown and preview of the upcoming Jigger Johnson races. All three guys are 50 mile finishers and top 10 overall placers, so we had a cumulative 5 for 5 finish rate at the event. We do the mandatory Jigger Johnson is the hardest race in the Northeast talk and then go through the full 50 mile course section by section: th...

This week I sat down with Lyle Cordes. He is a runner, biker, and climber who grew up in Pennsylvania, went to school at UVM, and now lives in New Hampshire, and the past couple years has been ripping around the White Mountains. He’s got impressive race results under his belt, including a second place finish at the Jigger Johnson 50 Miler, 24 hours at Mt. Ascutney secured a full Everest, and most...

This week I’m doing a full breakdown of the notorious White Mountains 100. How it was created, what the route entails, current records on the route, and why it's one of the hardest 100 mile routes in the country. Approximately 95 miles, 34,000 feet of climbing over some of the gnarliest White Mountains terrain. I share my experience pacing the last 35 miles of this route and witnessing first hand...

This week I sat down with Kevin Gagnon, a Triple Crown thru hiker who completed the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail by the age of 25. Kevin showed me the ropes of ultra running and long distance endurance feats when I was getting into the sport. He has so many different stories from thru hikes, fast packing long distance routes, and ultra marathons. Cohos Trail...

This week, I’m talking about search and rescues in the White Mountains. It feels like there are more and more rescues in the news and social media. I try to give a bit different of a perspective than much of the online hooplah. I pulled in some facts, talked about how missions are funded and tried to think about how we most effectively educate people to prevent avoidable scenarios. I also share a...

This week I react to the recently announced White Mountains Bounty by Run the Whites. $10,000 annually to be allocated to five of the most competitive mountain running routes in the Northeast. The Presidential Traverse - 18mi 8.5k ft vert Pemi Loop - 29mi 9kft vert Hut Traverse - 45mi 16k ft vert White Mountains 100 - 95mi 34k ft vert Mahoosuc Traverse 28mi 11k ft vert Each route has either $1,000...

This week I sat down with Lars Hogne and Tyler Sheedy. A couple young mountain crushers with a cross country and track & field background. They both ran in Division I at URI and have brought that speed to the trail running scene. Lars is coming off a 7th place finish at the US Mountain Running championships at Sunapee Scramble. Tyler already has multiple race wins under his belt this year and...

Summer is here and June has not disappointed. It's one of the best times of the year. Full blown trail season with lots of people getting on trail, races every weekend, and big miles in the mountians. Without giving anything away, this week I rank the best months of year for trail running & hiking in the Northeast mountains. Lincoln Woods is officially closed and lots of people squeezed in...

This week I talk about my recent DNF on the notorious Hut Traverse. The Hut Traverse links all 8 AMC Huts in the White Mountains in an epic 45 mile 16k ft of gain route over the best of the best Whites terrain. You start at the Carter Notch hut in of the coolest spots in the Whites, traverse over the Presidential range over the highest and gnarliest terrain in the region, then take the A to Z trai...

This week I talked with Lexi Jackson who is fresh off her Wantastiquet-Monadnock-Sunappee ~100 mile unsupported FKT. This route combines the Wantastiquet-Monadnock trail with the Monadnock-Sunappee Greenway trail in a single push with 20,000 ft of climbing. An epic route and cool story, doing it all solo. We also discuss some of Lexi’s other FKT and race efforts including the White Mountains 100,...

This week I ranked the toughest trails in the White Mountains. Not just the most technical, but the hardest trails to go fast on. I got a ton of input for this list which was awesome and did a little bit of research on trail stats as well. I gave a bunch of honorable mentions and then ranked the top 10. I did a Chocorua Mountain race preview and some of the history from one of the coolest races in...

This week, I deep dive into the iconic Presidential Traverse. 18 miles and 8,500ft of gnarly White Mountains terrain. I discuss the required peaks: Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Eisenhower and Pierce. Yes on Clay, but no on Franklin? And Jackson was a president, but not that Jackson. I talk about the Presi FKTs and the blazing paces over those rocks. At the end, I brought ba...

This week I sat down with Eli Burakian. Eli wears just about every hat you can imagine in the Northeast trail scene. He’s an ultra runner, backpacker, professional photographer, author, and race director/co-founder of Northeast Trail Adventures. He just loves getting out on trails and being part of the Northeast community and it shows. We dive deep into his background managing the Moosilauke Ravin...

This week we were joined by a true NH trail running power couple, Clark Plummer & Allie Leveille. Clark is a staple NH & White Mountains trail runner. He is a Grid Finisher and stacked over a million feet of vertical gain on foot three straight years in a row. One of the most enthusiastic people you will ever meet on the trail. I asked if he will ever lose the stoke and he immediately said H*ll no...

This week, I’m breaking down everything I think about when it comes to moving efficiently in the rugged Northeast mountains during summer. Shoes, gear, strategies & more. If you don't listen, it could be summed up simply as: don’t ever stop moving, bring the lightest gear (safely) possible & don’t fight the trails and its many obstacles, just keep moving forward relentlessly and as unp...

This week, I dive into how the podcast came to be, lessons learned through 6 months, and how I feel being a content creator. Two years ago, I had zero social media presence, no TV, no laptop & no wifi. Now I’m posting a weekly podcast and posting on multiple social media platforms almost daily. The transition was gnarly and I talk about all the growing pains and why doing a podcast is so much...

This week I interviewed Joe Palisi. He is a runner, hiker, climber and skier and this March became the first person to finish the Northeast Ultra 8 Gold Skyrunner Challenge. Joe completed the Presi Traverse, Pemi Loop, Mahoosuc Traverse, Devil’s Path, Great Range Traverse, Taconic Crest Traverse, Saranac 6 & Cranberry 50 in both summer and winter all under strict time limits. These are eight o...

This week’s episode is an unplanned deep dive into setbacks and the uncertainty of training & running goals. I was gearing up for an FKT attempt, but an untimely ankle roll on my bad ankle that just got good, changed my plans and gave me some flashbacks of my long recovery this fall/winter. Luckily, it wasn’t bad at all and should be fine in the near future. I still wanted to get an effort in...