While Matt’s race report is titled, “I Didn’t Walk,” my race report speaks of another victory, perhaps not as admirable as running a fast time in addition to running the entire course, but just as important in races such as ultramarathons. To sum up this past weekend’s Ice Age 50 … Continue reading
Since we’ll be hiking the CDT this summer, I won’t be running or racing again until the Fall, which is fine by me. I’m looking forward to the break in running and hoping that the strength my legs get from hiking will be helpful for running later. Monday-Wednesday, 5/20-5/22 40 … Continue reading
Three weeks into our journey here in Thailand, we started getting antsy. We’d been to the big city of Bangkok to sightsee, to the northern region near Chiang Mai to learn how to cook thai food, to the beaches of Koh Tao to earn our scuba certifications, and we were … Continue reading
While here in Thailand, we’ve realized that we like to be active participants of the local culture and highlights rather than passive viewers. The cooking school was a perfect fit for us because it allowed us to both learn and practice an important piece of thai culture. This explains how … Continue reading
Tuesday, 4/30 Off. Felt a twinge in my right achilles yesterday while walking around and I’m not taking any chances with the race and the CDT coming up. Tried running but stopped after 10 minutes and just walked for another 40 minutes. Will probably just walk the next few days to … Continue reading
What have we learned since we’ve been in Thailand? Thai people love their food. Second, they like their food spicy, in addition to bitter, sweet, and sour. So, we decided the best way to experience Thailand and its people’s love of food was to learn how to cook it. We’d … Continue reading
As you might expect, it wasn’t just our parents that were nervous about us traveling to Thailand, especially to Bangkok. I was a little hesitant to visit a city that has a reputation for all-night partying and sex tourists looking for love in all the wrong places. Ask many Americans … Continue reading
My mantra during the 50 Mile Land Between the Lakes trail race yesterday was simple, “Keep it together.” I didn’t want to fall, I didn’t want to blow up late in the race, I wanted to run as much as possible of the course, and most of all, I wanted … Continue reading
Now that CDT preparations are in full swing, I have trail-talk on the brain at all times. I have pristine spreadsheets that calculate our pack weights (both under 10 pounds, woo hoo!), our daily calories (around 4200), and our resupply plan (25 resupply boxes). We have all our maps and … Continue reading
Sunday, 3/31 Off – Did 3 Advanced Open Water Scuba training dives and I was pooped. This is the most time I have ever spent in the ocean in such a short amount of time. Saturday, 3/30 43 minute out and back run on the main road in Koh Tao. … Continue reading
So, we have kind of a big adventure coming up this summer, the Continental Divide Trail. It’s around 3,100 miles (we’ll get to that in a moment) from Mexico to Canada through the Rockies, passing through the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. It’s the last jewel … Continue reading
“Campers, it’s 5:30. You should be up by now. Actually, it’s 5:29 and 37 seconds.” I didn’t hear my alarm clock go off, but I heard the voice of David Horton, the race director of the Holiday Lake 50k++ race, pierce through my cabin walls as he stood outside at … Continue reading
Thursday, 2/28/13 57 minutes with Matt, with 6 by 30 second strides in the middle of the run. Tried to run at Riverbend Park to get in some trails, but they were all flooded with the recent rain, like 3 feet of water. Headed over to the reservoir after that … Continue reading
Last night was a lot of firsts. First time running a marathon at night, first time running a marathon on snowy trails, first time running a marathon in 20 degree weather, and most surprisingly, first time winning! The race started at 6:30 last night and was exciting all the way … Continue reading
Aside from the publication of Julie’s second book, all has been fairly quiet on the Urbyville front, at least from the website’s perspective. We’ve actually been busy little bees these last few weeks, as Operation Grandparents has begun here in beautiful, snowy Ohio. Hey, at least it doesn’t rain as … Continue reading
Thursday, 1/31 25 minutes around Findlay. Really cold and windy, in the low teens, if that, with the wind chill. Looking forward to leaving town with the hope that it’s better somewhere else. Wednesday, 1/30 55 minutes in Findlay with 6×30 second strides with a one minute rest. Legs feeling … Continue reading
It’s Finally Here! We’re excited and proud to announce the publication of my second book, Between a Rock and a White Blaze: Searching for Significance on the Appalachian Trail. This book is a chronological tale about our 2011 AT thru-hike that covers everything, including the people we met, the crazy … Continue reading
I have been a busy little bee in the last couple of weeks, and if you’re reading this story, hopefully you know why. In case you didn’t notice (and if you didn’t, we’re in trouble), Urbyville underwent some major remodeling. One of my projects over the last six months has … Continue reading
Green jacket, you’ve been good to me. We’ve been through a lot together, but it’s time to say goodbye. You just aren’t the same rain coat that I bought six years ago and I’ve found another, one that is better in the rain, is a lighter weight, and quite frankly, … Continue reading
12/13 – 12/31 Ok, so I ran for the rest of the month, but totally slacked in updating my training log. As with most things, I’m going for a fresh start in January. If you really want to see what I ran (as that’s how I was going to cheat … Continue reading
…or in the Kindle, because by the time Christmas rolls around, you’ll need the space for my new book about our 2011 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. I’ve been working on the book since June and just yesterday ordered my first sample copy of the book, so I’m excited to share the … Continue reading
Over the course of the countless races that Matt and I have run, none of those races would have been possible without the volunteers. They help with sign-up, they mark the course, they hand out water and Gatorade and they block the road crossings. They are definitely the unseen heroes … Continue reading
It’s time for another update on my runs over the last several days. I finally feel like I’m getting back into a routine where I’m getting faster and it doesn’t hurt so much to go further. I did find out from a blood test last week that I’m deficient in … Continue reading
I did my second week in a row of a long run this Sunday, and afterwards I thought, “Damn, it feels good to do a long run.” I love the feeling of finishing, heading home famished, taking a hot shower, putting on the sweats and sitting down to a satisfying … Continue reading
No, we’re not getting fatter; we’re getting lighter. While I’m sure our bodies could always stand to lose a few pounds, our real focus this winter and spring is getting lighter for the Continental Divide Trail in the summer of 2013. It’s the final trail to complete our triple crown … Continue reading
Matt and I were finally tired of just running an easy hour a day, so we started back on doing some workouts from the Daniels book again. I haven’t done a workout in nearly two years, and I’m sooooo much slower than I was before, but I need to start … Continue reading
Matt and I ran 70 minutes last night on a paved bike path near our apartment, the furthest we’ve run in a couple of weeks. We’re still getting our legs back after hiking the Colorado Trail in late August/early September. Then we got ghiardia, or at least it finally showed … Continue reading
1 hour training run with Matt from our apartment, to Green Lake, an outside loop around Green Lake, and then back home. My hamstrings have been horribly tight on all my runs lately, and it’s taken me about 3 miles just to warm up…which unfortunately is almost half my run. … Continue reading
The main goal of hiking the Colorado Trail was to prepare for the Continental Divide Trail, and I would say that we met expectations when it came to testing new gear and realizing what new gear we need to still research and purchase. The last few posts have been pretty … Continue reading
I thought about this post a lot while I was out hiking, as we were constantly evaluating our gear in terms of its functionality and weight, and always talking about ways to get lighter without losing much of that functionality. In the end, I think we could go lighter on … Continue reading
Another reason we hiked the Colorado Trail was to test out a few new resupply strategies. In past hikes, we’ve simply resupplied from stores along the trail rather than send ourselves mail drops, and after resupplying from a gas station for the nth time on the AT last year, we … Continue reading
Sitting in a coffee shop in Boulder, I feel well-removed from the trail even though it’s only been a few days since we finished. I plan on putting up a few posts that are more review-type posts of the trail, our gear, our food and the towns along the way, … Continue reading
As the Colorado Trail quickly approaches, we are nailing down the final details, loading up on chocolate, and preparing like we never have before. I have spreadsheets detailing the exact ounces of every single item in our pack, more spreadsheets with daily caloric values of the food we’ll carry, and … Continue reading
Hanging with ultra-legend David Horton before the start of the White River 50 race I know we’ve titled a few blog stories just like this one, but there is no other title that fits the bill for the events that ensued this weekend while crewing for Matt in the White … Continue reading
I made a discovery this past weekend while running the Missoula Half Marathon: a half marathon is a fabulous alternative to the full marathon. I was done in half the time, my legs felt great afterwards, and I still felt that sense of accomplishment that comes from running a race. … Continue reading
Three things I know for sure: I don’t like the taste of seaweed, I’m not a huge fan of pickled things, and I love ice cream. Taking into account those three things, last week’s detox diet that strictly followed our newly purchased macrobiotic cookbook, written by Madonna’s personal chef of … Continue reading
Things have been a little off in the Urbanski household lately, as I have been injured with stress-fracture like pain since the marathon in the Netherlands, so I’m taking time off and missing quite a bit of the summer racing and training that we’ve scheduled. The upside to my injury … Continue reading
This past weekend was our first official weekend back in Washington, and what better way to spend it than in Vancouver for a marathon? We always manage to fit a lot of stuff into a short amount of time, and this weekend was no exception. On Thursday we moved into … Continue reading
We have been bitten by the hiking bug again, and we’re not talking about ticks. As if this summer wasn’t jam-packed with enough exciting adventures, including two marathons, a 50 mile trail race, a 100 mile trail race, and two long trail runs of 36 and 93 miles, we have … Continue reading
We woke up yesterday to crystal clear skies, temps climbing into the 80’s, and a 0% chance of rain, asking ourselves, “Are we still in Ireland?” Then we heard the gusty, 20mph winds and saw the whitecaps on the sea just outside our window, and said, “Yep, that’s the Ireland … Continue reading
In just over a week’s time, we’ve visited five countries, driven in four of them, will have run a marathon in three of them, spent time with two friends from the States, and had one heck of a unique tour of Europe. Just last Tuesday we left Prague, turning in … Continue reading
The Czech Republic is well behind us at this point, as yesterday we flew to Amsterdam, met up with our friend from the States (who we met in Guatemala), hopped in a rental car, and drove to Belgium. Matt wrote up his race summary from the Prague marathon, but I … Continue reading
Anyone who has ever been to a high school or college basketball game knows this quintessential phrase that’s blasted over the loud speakers before the start of each game, pumping up the players and fans for an exciting event. This phrase was in my head all day yesterday as we … Continue reading
Being from Cincinnati, with my mom’s side of the family being from Kentucky, I made several trips as a middle-schooler to the Kentucky Derby. To me, it meant dressing up, seeing my Mammaw (translation: Grandma), seeing other Aunts, Uncles and cousins, and eating lots of carrot cake at the buffet. … Continue reading
Today marked not only the first running of the Madrid Rock n’ Roll Marathon here in Spain, but also the first time for us to run a marathon in Europe. Without fail, it turned out to have its highlights, its highs and lows, and though I’m not happy that this … Continue reading
Our last visit to Ohio brought us to Matt’s parent’s home in Findlay, Ohio around the Easter holiday, and what is Easter at the Urbanski household without Easter baskets full of candy, and a house warmly decorated for Easter? This Easter was no exception, and it was also special because … Continue reading
First off, apologies for my absence from Urbyville stories. You may have noticed, and if you didn’t, it won’t bother me and I’ll most likely never know, that Matt has written most of the latest Urbyville content. Since March 18th, to be exact! While we both equally enjoy writing stories … Continue reading
What’s an ultramarathon in Guatemala without a few “firsts?” Already, I’d like to forget and never repeat some of the first-time experiences from this race, yet there are a few keepers in there that were pleasant surprises. On Saturday morning, Matt and I rode the 4 hour bus ride from … Continue reading
Each morning here in Guatemala, I either go for a 5-7 mile run, or a 3 mile walk, just to get some exercise in before the sun has gathered heat and before the rest of the town is awake and bustling with people, cars, motorbikes, buses, and everything in between. … Continue reading
The following story deserves its own special story because it is just too crazy not to share, and is too incredible to be a smaller part of a larger story. This past weekend, we had an amazing encounter with a friend of Matt’s brother, that also happened to be studying … Continue reading
