The Catalina Eco Marathon is well worth a trip to the west coast. OK, so I was fortunate to be traveling on business and suspect that had that not been the case I may not have looked for or entered this event. But having run it I would consider making the journey again. The race takes place on Catalina Island about a 1 hour ferry ride form Long Beach. The island is a playground to meet all tastes be it sailing, boating, hiking/running, fine dinning or playing the casino. About a mile inland roads give way to dirt and a network of hiking trails crisscross scrub land grazed by buffalo. [Read more...]

Waking up Sunday morning I was excited to be running my first endurance trail race. Actually, my trail running resume only included one other trail run a few years ago at the 10k Leather man’s Loop. My biggest fear was getting lost in the race and having people come searching for me long after the race was over. I listened intently at the pre-race instructions to try to pick up any information I could to help me navigate this journey. Mr. Bimble gave great emphasis on the type of markings that would be found on the course, flags, tape and big paper plates with arrows. OK, I thought this won’t be too bad after all. But then came the words “someone will get lost, they always do”. [Read more...]