This is a controversial statement (and I apologize to everyone who lost a loved one, their livelihood, or struggled with their mental health), but Covid was good to Kelly and I. You are welcome to stop reading here and you are welcome to unfollow or unfriend me, but I said what I said. Trail Maniacs basically tanked, I qualified for Boston only to have it canceled, my struggle with alcohol really became a struggle, building costs skyrocketed in the middle of a remodel on our house, races canceled, Kelly lost a lucrative online job, etc. I’m not going to continue with all of the negatives because none of those things matter compared to all of the positive things that happened to me over the last year and a half. One of the most positive aspects has been the fact that I have begun to realize what is important to me and that’s what I have chosen to focus on. I haven’t written a blog post in awhile, but I have this new idea of what direction I would like to see Trail Maniacs go in, and I’m writing this to help me visualize this new direction for Trail Maniacs, share some insight about my struggle with alcohol, vent about increased prices for trail races, and of course b!tch about hackers.

I want to start with my frustration over what I feel to be price gouging in races in general. Yes, we have all missed racing, yes, we are all excited to have a goal race to train for, but no, the cost of putting on a race this year has not increased by 50%. I’m not complaining about races who started out with a low entry fee, then increased their entry fee by a small percentage over the course of a few years. I know how hard the race director is working to set up that course and he deserves extra money for his hard work. What I’m complaining about are new races that have popped up recently with race fees of over $100 for a short 5k or 10k, distances that really cannot justify such a huge entry fee. This isn’t what running in general is all about! Running is about the cost of your equipment, your mental health, community, and lifelong friendships. Racing is just the icing on the cake.

This brings me to Asylum. I had mentioned to a friend that I did not see myself continuing with putting on races through Trail Maniacs, and that friend told me “That’s a real shame because you have built such a community through Trail Maniacs.” The community of Trail Maniacs is what I miss the most. I’ve put a lot of thought into this statement, and what I would like to see Trail Maniacs turn into is an asylum. I know vague huh. Do you all remember how much fun we had at the free fatass runs? Do you remember how much fun we had with the Trail Maniac Club? What I mean by asylum, is that I would like to see Trail Maniac Club turn into a nationwide trail running club, and each of the local groups would be called an Asylum. Group members could join any local asylum, form their own asylum, and if they are traveling, find an asylum and join in a group run anywhere they travel to. Club members would receive a new logo design t-shirt, discounts, and community. I will have more information for people later, but my goal is that when a new asylum is formed the group leader keeps 60% of the membership fees for their time and effort.

I also want to talk about my struggle with alcohol. My father was a heavy drinker for as long as I can remember (I honestly cannot believe that he is still alive at 88 years old, we call him Papa Roach), and I found myself turning to a lot of alcohol during tough or stressful periods in my life. Most of you know that I love a good IPA, but one thing you don’t know about me is that I cannot stop with one, two, or even three IPA’s. I have told Kelly many times that if there is a 6 pack or a 12 pack, I feel like I have to finish it that night. I’m not a quitter! As well as this last year and a half has treated me, I still found myself drinking so much more than I have before. I don’t know if it was boredom, lack of motivation, or fear of the unknown. Whatever it has been, I’ve realized that I need to make better drinking choices for myself. I’m not saying this is what will help everyone, but I just wanted to talk about this issue in case anyone has experienced this. You would be surprised at how many people are in your same position, you are definitely not alone. One thing that has seemed to be working for me is a tracking app called Cutback Coach. I’m certainly not selling you on a tracking app, but I equate tracking your alcohol intake to tracking your diet, you would be surprised at how much it works!

And lastly of course, I wanted to talk briefly about our Trail Maniac Facebook page being hacked. Kelly is still dealing with Facebook trying to get her account back, disputing charges on her bank account, and changing all of her passwords. This has been such a nightmare, but I do want to say that I am now back in charge of the Trail Maniac Facebook page, and all future posts will be from me!

That’s it for now, we will have more details soon about the new direction for Trail Maniacs. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, concerns, or you just want to talk. I miss everyone so very much!