Well, I want to finish all the talk about The Umstead 100. It was amazing. It hurt like hell and it took two weeks to get back on my feet after it. Enough said. The reason i'm so driven to put the Umstead 100 in the rear view mirror is because there is a new adventure that looms, LARGE. This week, the Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI) introduced their field for 2014 and I was on the list. Therefore, I will be running 350 miles through the Alaskan Wilderness (in winter) on the Iditarod Trail next February.

     Of course, there is a story on how I got in. As many of you already know, I lived up in Alaska for a couple years of my life after I lost my mother to Cancer. I needed to get to the core of who I was and wanted all the bull shit out of my life. Alaska was the PERFECT call. I worked for Iditarod mushers and absolutely fell in love with the state of Alaska. Although I wasn't able to achieve my dream of running the Iditarod Sled Dog Race (YET!), I knew I would make many voyages to Alaska. The whole time I lived up there, I had never heard of the ITI. This is probably due to the fact that when I lived up there, I wasn't a runner.

     Fast forward 10 years and i've become a runner. The ultra running community is pretty small and you hear about some very far flung adventures. Somewhere along the line, I heard about the ITI. A few months ago I was reading another article about the race and something just clicked inside of me. This race was EXACTLY what I was looking for in a adventure. I wrote the race directors and spilled my guts about how badly I wanted to run the race. I told them about my Alaskan winter experience which included a 100 mile mountaineering route in The Chugach Range and the fact that I was finishing up my 50 marathons in 50 states in August. As the ITI was actually going on at the time I wrote the email, i didn't expect to hear back from them anytime soon, maybe ever.

     The very next day I got an email from the race directors. They went on to tell me that my summer race resume looked pretty weak (certainly not something that was ITI worthy). They said that my Alaskan experience held a lot of weight as I would understand much better, than the average person, what I was getting myself into. They then went on to say that what put me over the top was the quote that I had on the bottom of the email I had sent them. The quote is from Yvon Chouinard who happens to be the founder of Patagonia. Here it is:

“Taking a trip for six months, if you get in the rhythm of it, it feels like you could just go on forever doing that. Climbing Everest is the ultimate and the opposite of that, because you get all these high-powered plastic surgeons and CEOs, and you know, they pay $80,000 and have Sherpas put all the ladders in place, and 8,000 feet of fixed ropes. You get to a camp and you don’t even have to lay out your sleeping bag, and it’s already laid out with a little chocolate mint on the top. The whole purpose of climbing Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain; but if you compromise the process, [then] you’re an asshole when you start out and you’re an asshole when you get back.”

     Understand this, the ITI race directors get to handpick the field each year. There are only 50 spots available and most of the spots are taken by veterans. I truly feel like I won the lottery being asked to run this race. I will finish my 50 Marathons in 50 states in Telluride, CO in August. Then, I will turn ALL my attention to the ITI.
     This will absolutely be the adventure of a lifetime. I will pull a 40+ pound sled 350 miles through The Alaskan Wilderness. To be an official finisher, I need to finish the race in 10 days! I will need to average 35 miles a day for 10 days. Therefore, it is my intention to be in the best shape of my life when I get to the starting line of the ITI next February. 
     Once I finish the 50 states, I will take a break from running and start hiking with a weight vest or hiking while pulling a heavy sled. I'll be sharpening my navigational skills and amassing gear needed to survive the ITI. As it will be VERY cold, I will need to buy brand new gear that's worthy of the conditions that I will find in the ITI (You'll hear shortly about how YOU could help me with this).
     This is the type of run that i've been waiting my whole life for for. I'm ready to give EVERYTHING I have in me to get from Knik Lake to McGrath next February. With that said, I need to say a couple quick Thank You's. First, to Bill and Kathi Merchant who are the race directors of the ITI. You opened a door to me that I believe is Shackelton worthy. Thank you! I also want to thank Yvon Chouinard for telling it like it is. Mt. Everest is a freaking SHIT SHOW these days and for somebody to call out the people who are ripping the soul out of the mountains is a BEAUTIFUL thing. So, thanks Yvon for getting me into the ITI. Yee Haw!