Grandfather Mountain Marathon. 2,600 ft. ascent. It was very hot and I got dehydrated and light headed late in the race. Beautiful course and I would run it again. – Fred S
Choose Your Own Path 2020. My divorce and custody battle was at its height. Topped with the pandemic, depression had caused me to lose interest in, and nearly stop, running. I was in “mile 24 of life”. But I showed up. I literally stopped at mile 24 because I wasn’t feeling well. But, with help of my Rogue team, I got another BQ under my belt. – Jennifer G
No doubt, hands down, Boston 2018. Hardest physically and mentally. – Erin A
Frosty Buck Trail race in February 2021! I was so excited to get back to racing, but found that trail racing is NOT my thing! Snow, ice, rocks, mud and 2,000 feet of elevation. I’ll stay in my lane of the road races! – Amy P
Boston 2018. I got hyperthermia for the 1st time and spent time in the medical tent. – Ryan A
Ironman Ohio 70.3 in 2018. I had signed up for the race in January that year prior to being in a car accident at the end of February that required surgery to repair my broken left foot. The surgery didn’t happen until May because I had hoped the foot would heal without surgery so I could run Boston that year but instead spectated in the cold rain. Anyway, my cast came off from the surgery at the beginning of July and I did the race on July 29 with no open water swims ever prior to race day, just a couple of training bike rides done wearing a boot, and only 4 walking miles since April. I survived the swim, did the bike wearing running shoes, and walked the half marathon portion in a boot per doctor’s orders. So tough on that hot day on the course, but super proud of the effort I put in to earn that Ironman title. – Dave P
Choose Your Own Path 2020 was definitely the biggest mental challenge. Attempting to race a marathon without water stops, crowd support, and the other race day basics messes with your brain… not to mention the challenge of a double out-and-back course with sneaky rolling hills. Like Jenn said, my Rogue teammates are 100% what got me through that course and up that final hill. – Emily B
Boston 2018. I look back at footage from that day and wonder how we all did it. It is probably the race that I am most proud of. – Kristina Z
It’s not even close, Boston 2018. I always feel like people think I am making up how bad the conditions were, but unless you were there, you would have no idea how horrible it was. But my wife had just gone through chemo, surgery, and radiation therapy. So nothing mother nature threw at me that day was going to be worse than watching her going through that, so there was no way I wasn’t finishing the race. – Jason H
Rock N Root Trail race in February 2017, temperatures were right around freezing and the course was an absolute sloppy mess. Most of it was either thick mud or standing (practically freezing) water from flooding. I ran the 30k distance but it felt like a marathon. – Brian K
