2013 -- The Year of Failure

In this time of looking back on the year that's ending and the new year on the horizon I always like to find trends going on in the sport.  And, I must admit, scanning the reports from 2013 makes one thing clear to me, 2013 was the "Year of Failure."  Sure, I bet that there have been other years with as many failures but have there been any other years like this one where so many people have written so eloquently, and often exhaustively, about those failures?  I don't think so.

So, here is a short annotated list of some of the failure reports from 2013 in ultrarunning and here's hoping all these athletes turn these failures into purposeful successes in 2014:

Dakota Jones report from Japan

http://www.irunfar.com/2013/10/dropping.html

Adam Campbell hanging it up as a professional runner

http://cdamaampbell.blogspot.com/2013/07/raw-honesty-decision.html

Anton Krupicka succumbing to injury at UTMB

http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/utmb-2013/

Anton Krupicka calling it a day in his record attempt at Nolans

http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/failure/

Jen Benna at Western States

http://www.jenbenna.com/?p=729

Jacob Rydman at Western States

http://jacobrydman.blogspot.com/2013/07/2013-western-states-100-broken.html

Joe Uhan at Western States

http://joeuhan.blogspot.com/2013/07/bending-map-2013-western-states-100.html

Jeremy Humphrey at Western States (and anything in the spring and early summer)

http://stayvertical928.blogspot.com/2013/07/western-update-im-ok.html

Rod Bien at the San Diego 100

http://rodbien.blogspot.com/2013/08/motivated.html

Ian Sharman at the Javelina 100

http://sharmanian.blogspot.com/2013/10/exploring-limits-of-body.html

Anna Frost

http://www.irunfar.com/2013/07/reigniting-the-fire.html

Happy New Year everyone!

AJW

Ultra Performance of the Year

Thanks everyone for voting in last week's poll.  In case you're wondering, I am using this as a test case for potentially launching a sort of People's Choice Awards type thing some time in the future so I am gathering data and then comparing it to the UR Mags awards over time.

This last poll was interesting as Rob Krar won the mens UROY in a landslide while Michele Yates and Rory Bosio had a very close vote on the women's side.  Of course, on the last day of the poll Pam Smith set a track 100 mile world record so that changed things.

Anyway, here are the POY polls.  Voting open through Monday morning.

Ultrarunner of the Year Voting

The votes have now been cast for Ultrarunning Magazine's year end awards and we should know the results in the next couple weeks. In that context, I have opened two new polls as kind of a people's choice awards type thing.  Please vote!