Nathan Schiller

I always joked to myself that this blog would run its course when it turned into my running diary. If it’s no longer a joke, let’s get on with it.

A brief note on web ephemera: blogs disappear not only when you stop posting but stop paying. Sites holding history merge, morph, migrate, sell. Integrations go awry and information gets wasted. Everything’s detached from our attachment to it.

Most trail races and ultramarathons run payments through Ultra Signup, which also aggregates results. A typical story—we get convenience, they get control. I’d like to capture mine before it disappears. It may never. But if it does, then what? Subscribe to Strava?

So here goes—a minor personal history project.

Tecumseh Trail Challenge – Marathon – Nashville, IN – December 4, 2004 – 4:24:36

Junior year of college. I’d run my first marathon two months earlier, in Chicago, in 3:49. I had an itch to unload my fitness onto another, even if I had no idea how to tackle the trails. The course was runnable, except for one steep hill, which I ran, slowly, only to be passed by everyone on the downhill. 

Knickerbocker 60K – 60K – New York, NY – November 17, 2007 – 5:19:46 

For the next few years, I ran mostly on the roads, focusing primarily on half-marathons, before returning to Chicago, after I’d moved to New York City. Before oppressive heat became normal, 80 and fully humid at six a.m. and rising was noteworthy for Chicago in early October. I eked out a mechanical 3:30 and again itched for something more ambitious: my first ultra, a 37-miler in Central Park. It hurt; I wanted more.

Jay Mountain Marathon – 30 Miler – Jay, VT – July 26, 2008 – 6:56:53

Come summer I thought a couple upstate training runs made me fit for my first trail ultra, so in this race I went hard up the opening ski slope ascent and blew out my quads coming down—with 20 miles to go.

Disney Marathon – Orlando, FL – January 11, 2009 – 3:08

This isn’t on Ultra Signup, but I added it because despite being 15 years old it remains my most recent road marathon race and thus official PR. I think I chose it because it overlapped with family on vacation. I remember ideal weather, long stretches of wooded freeways, theme parks blurring by, and Snow White smoking a cigarette out back at seven in the morning. I qualified for Boston but had other plans. 

North Face Endurance Challenge – New York – 50 Miler – Bear Mountain, NY – May 9, 2009 – 11:35:34

The first of four ultras in seven months. I trained on the terrain. This one I eased into.

Finger Lakes 50s – 50 Miler – Hector, NY – July 4, 2009 – 9:39:18

I now knew enough about pacing—and had just enough confidence and experience—to go two hours faster (on a more runnable course). 

North Face Endurance Challenge – Madison – 50 Miler – Eagle, WI – October 24, 2009 – 8:36:33

Another runnable course, the gorgeous glacial trails, another hour off, another PR that’s now stood for fifteen years and counting. 

Knickerbocker 60K – 60K – New York, NY – November 21, 2009 – 5:00:54

My first repeat ultra. I wanted to break five hours, but was fine missing it by under a minute; I was progressing. I figured I’d one day return to break 4:30, but the race no longer exists, and I wonder why. 

Fort Yargo Thrill In The Hills – Marathon – Winder, GA – February 27, 2010 – 3:36:25

Six years after that first trail marathon, I ran my second, on what I remember as a harder course. I was now substantially fitter and faster, able to really run it. Another PR that still stands. 

L.I. Greenbelt Trail – 50K – Plainview, NY – May 7, 2011 – 4:36:49

After the winter trail marathon in Georgia, I started training for an August 100K. I didn’t quite realize I was burned out and overtraining until I tweaked my calf. I started the race without motivation to push through the pain and dropped out midway. I took some time off, ran at leisure, and by winter was ready. It had been 15 months since my last race finish, and this time I set yet another PR (50K trail) that still stands.

Laurel Highlands Ultra – 70.5 Miler – Ohiopyle, PA – June 11, 2011 – 15:49:18

The first race where I felt like an ultrarunner. It was actually 77 miles, extended to compensate for a bridge under repair. The reroute, halfway through, took us out of the woods onto a sunny essentially service road alongside the interstate. A long downhill, then up through an exurban development. I was nauseated and bonking, so I decided to take a Clif gel. As soon as it touched my tongue I had perhaps the most prolific vomit of my life. I walked to the aid station, ate real food, and reentered the woods with fresh legs and a settled stomach. I ran quickly for ~five hours. 

Green Lakes Endurance Runs – 100K – Fayetteville, NY – August 28, 2011 – 10:27:28

So I returned to the 100K I’d DNF’d the year before. This time there were hurricane conditions (Irene): warm, wet, windy air. I liked it. Another PR (100K) that still stands.

Vermont 100 – 100 Miler – West Windsor, VT – July 21, 2012 – 19:06:17

Other than the horses, I don’t remember much about this race, except that I kind of felt good the whole way. Yet another PR (100M) that still stands.

West Virginia Trilogy – 50K, 50 Miler, 1/2 Marathon – Circleville, WV – October 12, 2012 

My favorite race, regardless of this (first) result. Three distances on three days (94 total miles), in the remote high peaks of West Virginia, during fall foliage. I ran poorly. The Vermont 100 a few months earlier was a physical and emotional pinnacle; this was an add-on. My 50K was plodding (5:36), and the next morning I had no appetite. I ran 20M on an empty stomach and dropped out at ~30. My trilogy time shot, I ran the half with my wife (then girlfriend) (2:14).

South Mountain Reservation Mayapple Ultras – 50K – Milburn, NJ – June 1, 2013 – 5:29

I signed up for the 100K, but it was unseasonably humid, and the race director let you drop down. So I officially DNF’d the 100 while completing the 50K. Turned out to be a training run with a friend.

TARC Summer Classic – 50 Miler – Medfield, MA – August 17, 2013 – 9:13:00

Terrible tactics on a humid day. I went out to keep the leader in sight but hadn’t trained for the ups and downs and didn’t fuel well. A 10-mile loop course; I was fully cramping after the third. I wanted to drop but found humor in being reduced to a peg-legged trot. I was pleased to be passed with less than two miles left; I couldn’t have deserved it more.

West Virginia Trilogy – 50K, 50 Miler, 1/2 Marathon – Circleville, WV – October 11, 2013

A second attempt while fit physically and mentally. In the 50K I effortlessly glided to a 5:07, ~30 minutes faster than the year before. I was so excited for the 50M, I woke up before three and gritted out a 9:38. On beat legs I took the half hard for a 1:38. Again—my favorite race of all-time.

Febapple Frozen Fifty – 50 Miler – Maplewood, NJ – February 22, 2014 – 9:39:22

A five-loop winter 50. A foot of packed powder topped with a layer of crushable ice. Every step of the first lap entailed sinking in for extraction lacerations—permanent scars upon my calves. It was so painful and laborious I wanted to drop, but by lap two the trail flattened and I was cruising. 

C&O Canal 100 – 100 Miler – Knoxville, MD – April 26, 2014 – DNF

I thought this would be a tuneup for my first 24-hour race. But I overtrained, entered with low motivation, and disliked the flat, monotonous route. When I saw my family halfway, I happily dropped.

24 Hour Around the Lake – 24hrs – Wakefield, MA – July 25, 2014 – 111.89

This fell a few weeks after my honeymoon—not great timing for optimal fitness. I felt fresh-ish but weighed-down, and I was probably a bit undertrained, just a single slow overnight 50 miles to my credit (the race started in the evening). I aspired to hit 120 miles, with the caveat that I’d have no idea what was on the other side of 100. The answer was existential pain, a lot of it, especially on pavement. Yet we had good weather and I had a great crew. I kept my speed steady, ate endless watermelon and ramen, drank Mountain Dew, rarely slept, and after ~108 miles in ~21 hours was on target for 120. At the same time, I was spending too much time in the bathroom, and in mental anguish, to say nothing of knee pain. We calculated that with one more 5K lap I would win (funny to stumble into a full day race where you win at 111), so I walked it and called it a day.

I felt invincible, foolishly. I eyed an October road half for a PR and, three weeks later, not fully recovered, and far too decimated in the legs, hips, and lower back, suffered a tiny tear in the top of my right hamstring, on what was literally my first step of speedwork. In terms of pain, it was more irritating than injurious, so I trained for the half, executed the PR (1:22, in a Bay Ridge rainstorm, alternating between 6:40 miles into New York Harbor headwinds and 6:00s with the tail), then stopped running and scheduled an MRI. I was 30.

Watchung Winter – 50K – Mountainside, NJ – January 4, 2020 – 5:02:26 

It took me more than five years to return. Two years of no running (physical therapy, light weights, long bike rides), two years of easy build-up (10-second skips to start), another year to clarify. This trail race was a low-key early winter one; all I cared about was not suffering a setback. I surprised myself with my speed and stamina and, on the final 10K loop, welcomed the return of the ultra pain. I planned to push to 50M or 100K in the spring, but the pandemic. In late June, on a brutally humid morning, I turned a couple miles on flat country roads into an impromptu half and tweaked my right thigh. I sat out the next six months for a complete recovery and a new commitment to smarter everything.

Hudson River 50 – 25 Miler – Fort Lee, NJ – October 1, 2022 – 3:28:22

I was so happy to be running without injury that even when I found myself in a friendly back-and-forth through miles 9-22, I refused to push my pace.

Frosty Fat Sass – 6hrs – West Orange, NJ – January 28, 2023 – ~37 miles in ~5.5 hours

Take two on the first step back to 100-mile shape. Even wrote a report.

Mining For Vert Challenge & Silver Mine Trail Run – Mining for Vert 4 Hour – Woodbury, NY – May 21, 2023 – 20.8

A fun challenge on one of my favorite hills. Wrote a report.

Tesla Hertz Run – 100K – Rocky Point, NY – October 7, 2023 – DNF 

Supposed to be my bridge to 100 (M). Instead I made multiple mistakes while suffering a string of silly misfortune (somehow they always overlap). First I experimented with excessive weekly mileage, resulting in dead legs at peak training. I then went on a superfluous taper trail run that got me a bad bee sting in my left calf. Once it healed, I got a worse bee sting, in the meaty part of my right calf, while on the exact same trail in the exact same place as the previous one, on another run I didn’t need. For a few days I could barely walk. Race day coincided with the worst weather—mid-60s with 90% humidity the entire time—but instead of adjusting, I stuck to my strategy, except my strategy was “go out fast and see what happens.” I ran a swift 50K, forgot to fuel, realized I’d also misjudged the deceptively tough course, and cramped like crazy. I ran one more 10-mile lap and chalked it up as a training run, lessons learned.

NYC Trail Mix – 50 Miler – Staten Island, NY – November 18, 2023 – 9:37:18

I scheduled this the week of my mishap. My first run at 40. I paced smarter, fueled smarter. I overcame an early erroneous reroute into an extra three miles by a misguided volunteer that snagged the first five of us. In the end I was content with this time for ~53 miles on a relatively hilly three-lap course, especially considering my final 90 minutes: I was slowing down, yet my heart rate had jumped to marathon PR pace. I was in worse shape than I imagined, and not really surprised. So I started heart rate training.

Shore2Shore – 100K – East Islip, NY – April 13, 2024 – 11:37:33

I went into this relatively fast out-and-back with a tender right hamstring, the consequence of my final long-run intervals, and the end of any PR ambitions. I ran the first half at an average of 147 beats-per-minute and the second at 131. All things equal, my heart rate is significantly higher in mornings, but here I was partly consciously keeping a 100M pace and partly constrained by the protracted period of time it took my quads to transition from searing soreness to comfortably numb. I was in no rush, needed time more than speed. I finished refreshed, my hamstring no more strung out than at the start.

The NYC Trail Fest – The Half Marathon – Fort Lee, NJ – May 31, 2024 – 1:45:48

A fun Friday evening on a familiar path along the Palisades. A tempo training run with a 4.5-mile bookend to get there and home. It’s a cool course—you start up-river, run north for two-and-a-half miles on semi-technical riverside single-track, hike 500 feet straight uphill, run 10 miles south, toward the city, on twisty rocky single-track (200 feet net downhill), then descend the cliff via an uneven stone staircase, before a 400-meter flat finish by the base of the GWB. To keep from compromising my hamstring, I found a “push, but never fast” pace, quantified as “no sustained heart rate in excess of 170” (I averaged 172). My watch said 1:49, so someone’s off. Who cares—my leg was fine.

Buck 50 – 50K – Kattskill bay, NY – October 5, 2024 – 8:02:03

I discovered this race two months before it occurred, while I was away from home for the second half of summer and not running trails or many miles at all. I knew I’d have only three hectic weeks of September to train, with just one weekend in the mountains. Still, I was deeply excited—9,000 feet of vertical, five major climbs, in 33 miles, trails all new to me. I got as fit as possible and raced on soft edges approaching aggression. I paced properly, when at mile 20, after 4:20, a fueling error sabotaged my stomach and the lack of hyper-specific terrain training caught up to my inner right quad. My ascents slowed significantly, and I cruised in a couple minutes behind my original loose goal. It was hard to be upset. I finally solved my bathroom issues (previously costing me ~15 minutes every ~eight hours), I relearned the delicate alchemy of my ultra gut (it’s complicated), and, for the first time in exactly ten years—my final run while injured, that only partially ill-advised Bay Ridge half PR, took place on Saturday, October 4, 2014—I didn’t feel or think about my hamstring.