My Year in Review 2017

Happy New Year! 2017 was both a good and bad year for me. The first half of this year was epic in many ways. I started the year by running the Bandera 100K in frigid temperatures, ran R2R2R in the Grand Canyon with a great bunch of guys and ran the Lone Star 100 miler only making it to mile 60 before dropping. I finished my third Jemez Mountain 50 miler, but made the last few cutoffs by mere minutes. I finished my 6th consecutive Bataan Memorial Death March and ran the Bighorn 100, but dropped at mile 50 due to a miserable night of rain, cold and soul sucking mud.

Watch slideshow of my favorite photos from 2017:



All my race times were slower this year and I felt something was off. All during the summer I was experiencing fatigue, chills and my vitamin D was very low. After Bighorn, I took it easy for a few months and tried to determine why I was feeling so bad. By October I became very sick with some serious complications and underwent medical testing. I saw quite a few doctors who were not able to determine the cause of my problem, but I recovered all the same. Doctors continue to monitor my health and have ordered further evaluations from specialists.

Per doctor's orders and on my wife's recommendation, I have changed my diet to a lower carb (no grains/legumes), low sugar regimen because I may have leaky gut syndrome. (I guess that's a thing now.) I feel much better and have been running the last month or so. All said, I'm grateful for the accomplishments I made in 2017 and am confident that 2018 will be a good year of running for me. I've already registered for the Bataan Death March and have run 13 miles for my longest run.

See you on the trail.