My First Time Streaking (Run Streaking That Is)!

Disclaimer: I received an annual Strava Summit subscription and Strava merchandise as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

After back to back weekends of racing at the Hyner View Trail Challenge 50k followed by the Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon, my May schedule is looking kinda lame and pretty empty without any races scheduled. I have nothing lined up until Worlds End (WE) 100k on June first. I had thought that I would be okay with this since I have a heavier race schedule planned for June and going into July, but now as the excitement of smashing my marathon PR wears off, I’m less certain. I feel the need to have something to train for and keep me focused between now and WE 100k, but nothing too big that will beat me up too bad. Thankfully, an opportunity knocked: The BibRave Run Streak.

BibRave is hosting a run streak for the month of May. All Strava users are invited to join many of the BibRavePros by running or walking at least one mile per day from May 1 - May 31. Want in? First things first, you have to join Strava. Believe me, if you’re a runner and you’re into maps you won’t regret it. Never heard of Strava or heard of it and not really sure what it is? Get a quick overview of it here and then join in the fun. Now that you’re a happy Strava user, join the BibRave Strava Club and get ready to streak for the month of May!

Why am I streaking for the month of May? Mainly because I have no races lined up and I want to stay motivated and focused on training to be ready for WE 100k. That and I feel a deep emptiness welling up inside of me as I come off of back to back race weekends and know I won’t get another fix until June. Kinda kidding, kinda serious. So I figured, if I’m not going to race in May, what better way to combat the post race blues but to try a new kind of running challenge like a run streak? Since it’s new to me, I’m not sure what to expect which will likely make it an interesting endeavor. Physically, I foresee no difficulties with doing a mile a day. However, mentally and logistically I expect it to be a bit more challenging. Just like pretty much all other runners, I have days where I just don’t feel like going out for a run (until I’m running) and have to practically force myself out the door. Those will be the mentally challenging days. Logistically, there are some days when I just don’t have an ideal block of time to run. This is where I feel like I’ll really benefit from this run streak. It will force me to find times and ways to work in a short run when I would otherwise opt not to run justifying it by saying that I wouldn’t have enough time for a “good” run. Even if it is just a one mile out and back on lunch at work, I intend to get that daily mile in for the month of May.


So if you’re interested and whatever your reason may be, I encourage you to learn more and join the BibRave Crew for their Run Streak this May!

Strava Swag!

24 Treadmill Miles To The Bowl

Twenty four miles on one bowl of oatmeal.

Just this morning I finished what will probably be my last long run (24 miles on the treadmill) prior to my first race of the year, the Rat Race 50k. It felt good for having not run much in the last week due to work obligations and some family celebrations. I know a whole lot of people will disagree with my opinion, but it wasn’t that bad doing a long run on the treadmill. Especially since I have a pretty solid spotify playlist prepared just for such occasions. The other benefit of long runs on the treadmill is the ability to set the pace and stick to it mindlessly, which is what I had planned for this run. I ran the first 18 miles at my target race pace for the NJ Novo Nordisk Marathon, (8:30/mile) which would be under my marathon PR by less than a minute. After that I increased my pace slightly until the last 2 miles when I ran sub 8 minute miles. Being able to run 22 miles at my target pace without feeling like I was struggling at all and then being able to pick up my pace a bit at the end is a huge confidence booster for my PR goal at the NJ marathon. However, I still have my doubts about whether I’ll actually pull it off. Not because I don’t think the fitness or ability will be there, but because the Hyner 50k is the weekend before. And not just because the Hyner is a tough 50k with some big climbs, but because now that I’m committed to running the PA Triple Crown Series all three of those races (which begin with Hyner 50k) are my “A” races for the year. This means that I intend to not hold anything back at Hyner and if it goes well and there’s nothing left in the tank at the finish, I likely won’t be fully recovered after one week when I go for the marathon PR. Whether I blame poor planning or just myself for making stupid decisions doesn’t really matter because I’m not changing my plans regardless of how dumb they may be. The way I see it is if I do run a good time at Hyner and still hit my marathon PR goal it will just be that much more impressive. Additionally, it will likely motivate me to go for another marathon PR soon after in hopes that I could surely run a better time on fresh legs.

Before I wrap this up, just a side note, or more so a bit of a humorous story. One of the earlier mentioned family celebrations was a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos of PA. While this trip took some time away from what would have been dedicated training time, I still got on a treadmill to run at the Great Wolf Lodge resort. While it wasn’t a great work out or run, it was a pretty entertaining one. The fitness room is small even by hotel fitness room standards. And one of the three walls is made of glass windows along a busy hallway. This hallway is a pretty high traffic area between the water park, arcade, and a wing of the hotel rooms. Never before have I had more ice cream eating children stopping to stare at me running on a treadmill than during this treadmill run at Great Wolf Lodge. I’m not complaining about this. I actually found it pretty humorous at the time and still do. It was somewhat surreal as I kind of felt like I was an attraction at the resort with all of the attention I was getting. If you’re ever at a Great Wolf Lodge don’t totally blow off your work out if the weather is crappy, you’re slightly drunk, or just feeling exhausted. Find the fitness room and run some miles on the treadmill. It will entertain the kids roaming the halls and if you’re like me you’ll get a few chuckles from their fascination.


Scott Snell
March 2, 2019

My Wife's First And Only (So Far) Marathon

Ah... The porta potty line at the start of a road race, really makes you appreciate ultras.

Author's Note:  I wrote this back in mid 2018 just a few weeks after the Tahoe 200. After writing, I left it untouched until now (February 16, 2019) when I finally decided to post it. 

It was at some point during 2016, I don’t recall exactly when, that my wife announced t me that she wanted to run a marathon. These were some of the most beautiful words she ever said to me. I write that rather facetiously. She didn’t elaborate on what motivated her to want to run a marathon, just that she wanted to run one before her thirtieth birthday which would be later that year.

My wife, Amanda, wasn’t a newbie runner, but she had not run as much or as regularly in recent years after having children as she had before we had kids. So hearing that she wanted to run a marathon wasn’t a completely radical or ridiculous idea, but it was still a bit of a surprise. In fact, Amanda was a runner long before I ever was and I credit her for me becoming a runner. I doubt that she ever thought that a passion for long distance running would burn so strongly within me once I discovered ultramarathons, but anytime she gets annoyed with my obsession I just remind her that she had a role in instigating this addiction.

Some final words of
encouragement before the start.

But this story is about her, not me. However, my obsession with ultrarunning plays a bit of a role in the story. She decided on a marathon, the Lehigh Valley marathon in PA in mid September. If memory serves me correctly, this gave her roughly three months during the summer to build up her mileage base and improve her overall fitness level to get to a point where she would be able to enjoy the marathon experience rather than just struggling through it. After all, that was her main goal: to finish a marathon, not run it as a Boston qualifier. With this in mind she looked over training plans and asked me about my training. Ultimately, she followed a similar training regimen to what has worked well for me: HIGHLY FLEXIBLE! With two young boys at home, there aren’t many other options.

She did her shorter runs when time allowed. Her longer runs were done on weekends incrementally increasing the distance. The training time seemed to go quickly for me at least and during that time Amanda enlisted a friend to run the marathon with her. Soon enough, we were meeting up with her friend at the pre race expo adjacent to the steel stacks in New Bethlehem, PA. The following morning I drove them both to the start and after some last minute goodbyes and words of encouragement from the kids and I they were off.

Since this isn’t my race report and I wasn’t around to observe Amanda’s progress throughout the day, I’m going to gloss over her whole race experience and just report that she finished running it in. While she was busy running her first marathon, I was busy swimming with our boys at the pool of the hotel we stayed at. As much fun as they were having, we made sure to be at the finish in plenty of time to cheer her in. She made it there, looking a bit tired, but running nonetheless.

Last photo before entering the start corral.

Since then Amanda pretty much went back to being an occasional runner for the last two years without ever even suggesting any interest in running another marathon. I was a

Just finished!

bit shocked just a few weeks ago when she unexpectedly said she wanted to run another marathon. I can’t help but feel like I deserve some of the credit for motivating that desire. I in no way blatantly or even intending to push her in that direction. I was simply doing what I often do: following a race online. Specifically, the Tahoe 200.
Likely, the majority of the credit for motivating Amanda to pursue another marathon should go to Courtney Dauwalter. Amanda usually doesn’t show much interest when I provide her unsolicited updates to ultras I’m live tracking and geeking out on. However, the weekend of the 2018 Tahoe 200 seemed a little different as I reported to her throughout the day that Courtney was still leading the field with a big gap between her and second. Towards the end of the weekend after Courtney’s epic and inspiring battle for first place overall, Amanda announced that she would like to run another marathon. So thank you Courtney for providing that spark to motivate my wife. Now I just need to come up with some great reasons why she should just go ahead and register for a 50k rather than another marathon. Any suggestions are welcome!

At the finish!