Why run 100 miles?

By Henry Howard

It didn’t take me long to craft a plan for my 2025 racing calendar after the Western States lottery concluded without my name being drawn. Once again I structured my calendar around getting a qualifier for Western States as the top priority for the year.

After weighing various options, I circled back to Burning River 100 in Ohio, which I attempted two years ago. After a variety of issues, including relentless gut issues that forced me into a 16-mile walk, I opted to take a 50-mile finish at the midway point. It’s a decision I ended up regretting.

But that’s not the only reason I am heading back to eastern Ohio once again for the Burning River 100. Here are six reasons I prioritized this race.

My top six reasons to run Burning River 100

• A lot of times I get asked, “Why run 100 miles?” The full answer would require an entire blog post — or more — but the short answer is relatively simple. My quest is to get into, run and finish Western States. While there are some 100K qualifiers, I feel my best shot to achieve this goal is to do 100s each year to practice all the things I need to do once I toe the start line at Olympic Valley. Finishing Burning River next summer will be my fifth 100 and mean that I will have 16 tickets in the next Western States drawing. Maybe that will be enough to get picked, maybe not. Either way, the journey will continue.

• The four 100-mile races I’ve finished are Rio del Lago, the Hennepin Hundred twice and Kettle Moraine. Burning River will be hard, much more challenging than the Hennepin Hundred, and more in line with the other two. As I’ve progressed as a runner, I know I can handle tougher races. Burning River represents a solid challenge, which inspires me. After all, as ultra runners, we don’t do things because they are easy. We do these things because they are hard.

• I am stoked, honored and so appreciative that my team of crew from Kettle Moraine is back to help out once again. The self-named “Three Musketeers of Handsome” are an amazing group of friends, runners and humans who got me through Kettle and I look forward to sharing this journey with them once again. A huge thank you in advance for helping me out and accompanying me on this journey goes to Brandon Seaver, Michael Drazer and Mark Vega.

• I like the challenge of running 100 miles in the heat of summer. Two years ago, the race started after the bulk of a rainstorm and I remember the soupy trails that more resembled a creek than a dirt path. Western States will likely be hot, especially in the canyons, so getting a 100 with heat and humidity in late July would be good to get under my belt.

• The significant but not daunting elevation change, which is far different than what I found at Hennepin. Burning River is an estimated 8,000 feet of gain, well more than the 1,000 feet at Hennepin but a bit short of the 10,000 at Kettle.

• Burning River allows me the opportunity to give back, an important part of my process as a runner. As part of my participation, I am raising funds for the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Summit Metro Parks Foundation. It’s a pleasure to support the trails system and protect nature so that others may enjoy it, too.

I’d be honored if you would help support my journey and help the trail system. Please consider a donation at this link.

What’s on the race schedule

While Burning River is the primary goal, I have also identified a few other races for 2025. Those include:

• The Night Owl Trail Marathon in Ohio, which I also did in 2023. It was a fun race and a different challenge to run trails at night. I enjoyed the race immensely two years ago and the January date was a good fit for my schedule.

• The New York City Marathon, which would be my third of the World Marathon Majors. My recent PR at the Richmond Marathon qualified me for NYC (as well as Boston and Chicago, the other two U.S. majors in the World Marathon Majors). But since I have already done those races, New York is what I’ll be running, as long as I get in.

I’ll pick up some other races along the way. And I’m also open to picking up some more athletes who are looking for a coach for 2025. It would be an honor to be along for the ride on your athletic journey to a marathon, ultra or any other goal. Feel free to reach out for a free no-obligation consultation to see if we are a good fit.