Susan Donnelly

This is a new experience for me.  Rob and I planned first planned this trip overseas for another run of the gorgeous 95-mile West Highland Way race in Scotland but somehow upped the ante for ourselves by adding the 52-mile Mourne Way Ultramarathon in Northern Ireland the weekend before the West Highland Way.  New race, [...]

May 14, 2011.  Caroline Furnace, Virginia Have you ever been merrily working toward a sure goal only to feel the world was increasingly against you?  That it wasn’t meant to be?  That the Universe was sending you clear messages to cease and desist even thinking about it? That was this year’s Massanutten 100.  I had [...]

May 7, 2011.  Rodeo Lagoon, California. Rob and I got a coveted entry to this beautiful, premier race through the lottery again this year.  When you win the lottery, you take it, so I happily wrote it on the calendar in pen. It’s a long, cross-country trip and well worth investing an long-ish weekend to [...]

April 16, 2011 Sweetwater State Park outside Atlanta, GA Course: This year, two loops on mostly single-track trail It’s the weekend after Zumbro 100 so today’s theme is Fun Recovery.  It’s also peak spring wildflower season in a peak year, which I hate to miss by racing other places, so today should be a colorful [...]

April 8-9, 2011 Zumbro Bottoms State Forest Recreation Area, MN Course: 5 x 20-mile loops of dirt road and technical single-track trail with some hills To be honest,I didn’t want to go.  Temperatures in Tennessee had barely warmed at all so it had to be colder way up north in Minnesota.  Even in the past [...]

March 19, 2011 Birmingham, Alabama This was definitely going to be an interesting day.  First, it was the weekend after Three Days, which made three racing weekends in a row – Old Pueblo 50 Mile, Three Days of Syllamo stage race (93 miles total) and this one, a 50k. Second, the forecast here in Birmingham [...]

March 11 – 13, 2011 Blanchard Springs Park, Arkansas I adore this weekend.  It’s such a fun, full, laid-back weekend with friends, it’s easy to forget it’s a race. Since you’re together in this stage race, not one day, but all weekend, the atmosphere – that magical combination of great people, beautiful place and je [...]

March 5, 2011 I love going to either Old Pueblo 50 Mile in March or Zane Grey 50 Mile in April, because both are beautiful 50 mile courses and most important, both are great ways to get out and see my parents, who live in Arizona.  Last year, it was Zane Grey, a technical course [...]

This post is way overdue because it’s hard to top last year’s race, with all the spectacular snow.  But you can’t compare one day to another any more than you can really, truly be compare people – they’re all individuals and all interesting in their own way.  No two courses, fields of runners, weather conditions, [...]

I’m a vegetarian.  An ovo-vegetarian, to be exact (read on).  Over the years people have routinely asked me about it, so here are some answers to the most common questions. What do you eat? For some reason, this is the most common question.  I get this a lot from people at work and there are [...]