Hardrock will have to wait

Lining up 2026 plans

This is the season when trail runners plan out their race calendars for next year. I’ve got some ideas and one clear primary focus stands out: UTMB. In order to keep my eye on my A goal next year, I said no to my Western States M1 bib last week. Now, I’ve also been selected for an entry to the Hardrock 100. Does this change anything?

Not really. I have some plans that conflict with me being able to race Hardrock this coming year. I feel bad now that one of the few precious Special Consideration picks was used on me instead of someone else who could commit to the epic journey that is Hardrock. I let the race organization know a few weeks before the lottery that I had a conflict and wanted to withdraw myself from consideration for one of those picks. My only intention being in the lottery this year was to start the (sometimes very long) process of accumulating tickets.

Last time I was in the San Juans, I had long hair and Finn and Jules weren’t legally Fules Melanelli yet.

I can’t imagine how busy and chaotic the weeks pre-Hardrock-lottery must be for the race organizers. The selection process seems to be a bit of an imperfect system, and due to what I’ve now been informed was a clerical error on their end, I was selected anyway. We’ve cleared that issue up now and we’re all good. While I appreciate the vote of confidence from them and I really hope to get another entry to this race in the future, next year will not be my year for it. So Tom, Jimmy, Dylan, Ludo, etc. you can all breathe a huge sigh of relief ;) Sorry to miss the party.

Guess this San Juans summit.

I’m still finalizing the races that I’ll be lining up at next year, but more on that soon. I just want to reiterate that it’s not lost on me that getting into Hardrock is a unique, rare opportunity and that this might be stupid to pass up. It could be years before I have another chance to run Hardrock, if that chance ever comes back. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or thoughtless with this move, many hours of thinking have in fact gone into this decision. I’m taking a risk and hoping it pays off in the long run.

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