The Best of iRunFar in 2012
December 31, 2012 by Bryon Powell · 18 Comments
Wow, it’s hard to believe that this is the 479th iRunFar article of 2012… or that the year has come so quickly to a close. Over the preceding annum, we’ve traveled to Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Morocco, Italy, California (three times), Spain, Pennsylvania, Colorado (three times), France, and Virginia to report on the best trail running action (as well as covering races in our home state of Utah). Our reporting team has helped us cover even more races from around the globe. Don’t even ask us how many pieces of running gear the iRunFar crew has investigated… we lost track when our notepad got stuck on the other side of the Grand Shoebox Divide. Still, with so much content, some pieces rise to the top, whether through ideation, creation, discussion, or subject matter. It’s a few of these articles that we want to take the time to point out as iRunFar’s busiest and best year comes to a close.
General Editorial Content
- 100 Mile Intrigue: Embracing the Unknown – Geoff Roes looks at the draw of the 100-mile distance
- Ultrarunning is Dead – Geoff Roes explains why the term ultrarunning might be antiquated
- To Be Chicked – Ellie Greenwood talks chicking and being chicked.
- Proud to be Chicked – Mike Wolfe’s reply after being bested by Ellie at Western States 2012
- Voices of Hardrock – Evan Honeyfield’s six-piece video profile of the Hardrock 100
- Progression – Dakota Jones writes of the necessity of gradual progression in mountain sports
- Matt Carpenter – Will His Records Stand Forever – AJW looks at Carpenter’s impressive Pikes Peak and Leadville 100 records
- Coming to a Consensus on Cheating - Geoff Roes opens a discussion of what constitutes cheating in trail running
- The Politics of Prize Money- Ellie Greenwood looks at the effects of prize money
- New Concepts: Dakota Jones’ Road to the Cavalls Del Vent – Dakota uses charts and graphs to documents his (mis)adventures in Europe
- Unitasking – The Simple Beauty of the Solo Long Run – AJW writes about the long run, plain and simple
- Twenty-Seven Percent: Why Aren’t More Women Running Ultras – Asks Ellie Greenwood
- Hardrock Lotto Results – While not always comfortable, the breadth of the community’s values came out in this article
- A Weighty Issue – Ellie Greenwood tackles ultrarunners weight
Resources
- Waterlogged – A Dogma-Shattering Book (and Part 2)- Joe Uhan takes a look at Tim Noakes book on hydration
- Female Athlete Triad – Anna Frost’s open account of her struggles with BAT
- Your Ultra-Training Bag of Tricks – Ian Torrence’s ultra training series… but more on that tomorrow
- Fell Running: A Quick Guide Part 1 and Part 2 – The Fell Running Association General Secretary walks us through his sport
- On the Trail Triage and Long Term Trauma Treatment – Adam Barnhart and Joe Uhan explain the short- and long-term solutions for trail running trauma
The Personal: Interviews, Profiles, and Race Reports
- Ueli Steck, Trail-Running Speed Alpinist Interviewed
- What a Drag: Joe Grant’s Susitna 100 Experience – Joe’s race report
- Geoff Roes’ 2012 Iditarod Trail Invitational (350-mile) Race Report – Geoff’s race report
- My Path to Contentment: From Addict to Awakened Ultrarunner – Timothy Olson’s tale on growing from drug addict to competitive ultrarunner
- 100-Meter World Record Attempts on La Palma – Retro video of trail running’s elites going for the 100-meter world record … but running down the side of a volcano
- First Time Grand Slammer: Tom Green – Neal Gorman shares the story of the first grand slammer
- Mike Aish Pre-Leadville 100 Video Interview – Two-time Olympian from New Zealand about his first attempt at 100 miles
- Karl Meltzer Post-Run Rabbit Run 100 Video Interview – A legend earns an unexpected win
- Aliza Lapierre Interviews iRunFar’s Bryon Powell – I become the unexpected interviewee!
- Meghan Arbogast Keeps on the Sunny Side of Life – Meghan Hicks writes of how Arbogast stays positive in the darkest of times
- Dominic Grossman and His Mustache – Meghan Hicks humorously profiles Dom Grossman… and interviews his mustache
Gear
- The Making of the New Balance MT110 – An in-depth piece looking at Anton Krupicka’s and Erik Skaggs’ roles in the development of the MT110
- Drop: It’s Hot! – Dom Grossman discusses heel-to-toe drop and what it all means
- Best Trail Running Shoes of Summer OR – An annual classic with a slew of top trail running shoes, most of which will debut in early 2013.
- Suunto Ambit Review
- Inov-8 X-Talon 190 Review
- Hoka One One Bondi B Review
- New Balance MT1010 Review
- Saucony Xodus 3.0 Review
- Inov-8 Trailroc 255 Review
Contests
- Salomon Sense Mantra Holiday Giveaway – Okay, so we’re just throwing this out there as you still have until the end of January 1 (MST) to enter to win one of five pairs of Sense Mantra!
- iRunFar Holiday Run Challenge of Strava – Who’d have thought 1,000 people would participate in our simple 50 mile holiday run challenge … and collectively run around the globe. Help us get as close to 50,000 miles as we can over the next two days!
Call for Comments
What were your favorite iRunFar articles of 2012?
Related articles:
- Pre-2011 TNF UTMB with Geoff Roes and Dakota Jones A Pre-2011 TNF UTMB video interview with Geoff Roes and Dakota Jones....
- 2011 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Results Results from the 2011 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships....
- Ellie Greenwood Pre-2012 UROC 100k Interview A video interview with Ellie Greenwood before the 2012 UROC 100k....
Filed under Administrative ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Bryon, thanks especially to you for a wonderful year of race coverage, editorial content, and support of our beloved sport. Your work is much appreciated. AJW
Hear, hear! Thanks for a great iRunFar in 2012 Bryon and Meghan, here’s to a happy 2013…
Agreed! This site is amazing!
I agree with AJW.
It’s been a fantsatic year of reading and running.
Bryon, Meghan, it’s a pleasure knowing and dealing with you both, even from afar.
Glad to be able to contribute here and there.
I hope 2013 turns into another great year for iRF.
Morgan
Happy New Year all.
There were a lot of good articles this year. “Waterlogged” was a very interesting article. I think a follow up article would be great to find out what changes people have made. I have reduced the amount of water that I drink while running by following thirst. I was wondering what some of the elite racers are doing.
an excellent year of work Bryon & Meghan, so impressive what you do whilst still remaining a very personal site. It was great to see how you managed to cover races well like JFK live on the day without actually being there, hopefully something you can do in future to keep the coverage coming!
Geoff’s Iditarod report might be long but is well worth the time.
Oops – how did I end up posting as ‘anonymous’? Ellie G
An amazing year of reading, watching interviews and following your races coverage. Love this site. Keep on doing the great job!
And I bet you always strive to make it even better:) Any big plans for next year?
Thanks for the unmatched one-foot-after-another coverage, iRF guys!
Personally, The Making of the New Balance MT110 post was my favourite by far, including the astonishing 1,062(!) comments – I bought a pair based on it! Then another, just in case…I’ve 4 pairs now (two in rotation, two spares) and am thinking of picking up a few more (so ridiculously well-priced!) should NB discontinue it. Is it possible to be notified by NB when they do so, anyone?!
Everything Dakota writes is hilariously readable – I wish he’d write more; Leadville & WS100 pre-during-post coverage is always a huge favouite.
Timothy Olson’s WS100 2012 write-up was also greatly appreciated, as was Roes’ Iditarod report – I hope this guy recovers soon but I’m enjoying this meta-running musings while he’s out.
TBH pretty much every iRF article gets sent to Pocket and read a few times :) If anyone has any ultra longreads they’ve found, here or elsewhere, I’m sure this comments section would be the perfect place to post them :) [My non-iRF contributions, if just for the Economist’s url choice alone: http://www.economist.com/news/christmas/21568593-vomit-bleeding-nipples-and-hallucinations-why-would-anyone-their-right-mind-run & Caballo’s Last Run http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/sports/caballo-blancos-last-run-the-micah-true-story.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all Perhaps iRF could do a post on longform ultra-related reads?
Guys: THANKS!
2012 is the year I became an ultra runner! It is all thanks to you Bryon and your book Relentless Forward Progress. I am also a big fan of irunfar and enjoy reading what you and others post on this site. My favorite has to be Timothy Olsen’s story about his addict to ultra runner journey. Looking forward to 2013 and maybe some coverage of ultra running in the Northeast?
Thanks for great coverage and motivation to get out and run. This is my go to website and running store. Please let Sean know he does a fantastic job and his customer service is second to none. Happy New Year. Maybe I’ll see you at the Speedgoat 50. ;)
Bryon,
Thank you for all that you do for ultra and TrailRunning. I love everything about your site. It drives me to better myself and enjoy running and the outdoors. Been a good year for me. All your great coverage and got to meet you at the running event in Austin. Keep it up. Good luck at WS
Thanks for the great coverage – it is much appreciated. When I started ultra/trail/mountain running this year I was directed to this site and it is the best resource out there for ultra/trail running…I have learned so much from the articles, interviews, (and even comments!) here. I look forward to doing some more pre and post race interviews with Bryon. Keep up the great work!
You put a lot of blood and sweat (hopefully not too many tears, but maybe a few :-) ) into iRF and 2013 showed. We are all so lucky to have this resource and I am looking forward to what 2013 will bring in the Ultra/Trail world and the coverage iRF will provide.
Thanks Bryon and Team!
It’s been great to be a small part of the “IrunFar voice” in 2012. It seems like it grew into a collective entity this year that has come to include hundreds if not thousands of voices. That’s a really special thing. Thanks Bryon for having this vision and putting in the time to make it happen. Excited to see where it all goes in 2013.
Thank you Bryon. This is my favorite website. I come here everyday for knowledge and inspiration.
yaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!! Go IRF!
It’s a privilege to be a part of the iRF “team.” I am always impressed by the depth, humor, and knowledge that is shared here… both in the articles and the comments! Looking forward to another great year! Thanks Bryon!