Susan Donnelly

Just a few hours and Rob and I will start the North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc here in Chamonix, France. I’m nervous. Maybe you never get over that in big races and this one is extraordinarily big – 2300 runners in the 166k race alone! As our friend Mark Barnes [...]

This is a quick post to get the word out that I’m teaching a class on (what else?) ultramarathons (Take Running to the Next Level -An Introduction to Ultramarathons).  It’s a half-day, non-credit course offered through the University of Tennessee on October 17.  It’s another way to give back to the running community!
Here’s a brief [...]

Javelina Jundred 100

Fountain Hills, AZ
October 31, 2009
http://www.javelinajundred.com/page.php?12

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Though I’ve never aspired to, I’m finally directing a race.  A good one.  And most importantly, a new one.  The Cumberland Trail 50k.
It’s a lot of work.  I’ve sympathized with race directors over the years but never truly felt their pain until I started walking in their mocassins.  Case in point: I’m working what amounts [...]

No, I haven’t totally gone to the Dark Side.  There were good reasons to run another timed race:

I love the name of the race
The race means a lot to Rob and I wanted to bring all his stories to life
It helps me achieve another upcoming ultra goal
And the defining factor – Rob signed me up [...]

An Introduction to Ultramarathons (University of Tennessee Non-Credit Programs)
Knoxville, TN
October 17, 2009
https://aceweb.outreach.utk.edu/CourseStatus.awp?~~09FA371

Stumpjump 50k  (DNS due to schedule conflict)
Chattanooga, TN
October 4, 2009
http://www.rockcreek.com/stumpjump/

Cumberland Trail 50k
Caryville, TN
October 10, 2009
http://www.ktc.org/Applications2009/Cumberland09.pdf

Gold Bond

I grew up watching the hokey commercials for Gold Bond on TV and wrote it off a hoax.  ”Why,” I thought, “would you buy dust to put on perfectly clean skin?”  It made no sense.
At least until Massanutten this year.  What I failed to mention in my race report was that after hours of [...]

In all the years I’ve been running ultras, I’ve avoided timed runs like the plague.  They seem like the worse form of mental torture – confining something you love to do in a tight little box.  Running a loop for 8-hours just to see how many miles you can squeeze out of your body.  The [...]