Susan Donnelly

 This was my 10th finish of this race.  Of any race. I’m still not sure how ten finishes happened so fast.  The first one seems like yesterday but the finishes happened over the past twelve years. Maybe it has something to do with being my favorite race.  It was my first 100- miler and [...]

Two weeks ago, Rob and I flew to Chamonix, France, to run our second Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB).  It was the biggest race of our year, Rob’s birthday race, and the only one we’d invested with so much effort.  We’d carefully scrimped vacation all year long from our jam-packed racing schedules, patiently navigated [...]

UTMB was cancelled.  I’ve been through a lot in the past several days and have been putting the pieces together to get as complete a picture as I can.  I’ll be posting conclusions here soon.  Stay tuned…

It really is. We’ve been in Chamonix, Switzerland, all week sleeping and resting for the start of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, which starts in about 6 hours.  Race stats show that 2707 runners are registered and most of the them are now here.  Despite the crowd that’s been growing in this small-ish town, [...]

I’m at the France/Switzerland border again for the Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc 100-mile race.  We flew into Geneva yesterday (no sleep on the flight – ugh) and arrived way early in the morning, and since we were staying here tonight, we spent the day exploring the city.  After all, who knows if I’ll ever [...]

Nope, no race. In fact, no running at all this weekend.  Yes, I know, it’s shocking.  Sometimes, one of my other priorities needs more attention than usual and this time, it’s the house.  I wanted to get it ready-er for my family to visit in September and also needed to work out some details for [...]

August 7, 2010.  Sweetwater Creek State Park outside Atlanta, Georgia. I may have explained this last year but Hot to Trot is different than my usual ultra.  Instead of covering a specific distance like 100 miles as fast as you can, an 8-hour race flips this on it’s head to give you (of course) 8 [...]

July 31, 2010. Smoky Mountains National Park, Big Creek Trailhead. Heaven knows I have more than enough things that need doing at the moment. Making travel arrangements and gear changesfor the upcoming trip to UTMB, arranging details for my own race (the Cumberland Trail 50k), making reservations for Superior Trail, coming up with Rob’s birthday [...]

July 24 – 25, 2010.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.  – Lin Yutang I love spending time with my sister and don’t get to do it enough.  We’re alike in many ways and opposite in others, and no one can make me laugh like she [...]

(July 10, 2010.  Kanawha State Forest, outside Charleston, West Virginia) Summer…Heat…Sunshine…Lazy days Right around the time everyone at work is getting together for summer fun with extended family at a house at the beach or in the mountains, my extended running family gather for a fun, low-key 50k in the mountains outside Charleston, West Virginia. [...]