James Boler is a lifelong Memphis resident who has had a lifelong love of being active.

He says he's always been an athlete mainly in the baseball world.  He played competitive softball from age 22-38.    After that, he started running, at age 40 .He  made a bet with his wife that he could run a half marathon without training.  He ran the race and regretted not training as had to walk pretty much the entire race. Once he ran the half he decided to run a marathon the next year but would actually train for it.   

Since then, he's finished three hundred milers and tried a 200, but dropped at (only) 140 miles.

He will return to Cruel Jewel on May 19 and plans to conquer the Cowboy 200 in September, after last year's DNF.

He is going to be a first-time race director in November when he is in charge of the Mamba 100. There are shorter distances, too.

Amanda Eaton has only done a few races, but she has won a few of them. Most notably, she won the Habanero Hundred in August 2022, along with her fellow Rio Grande Valley compadre, Art Hurtado. Amanda talks to me about her running adventures, wins and future plans.

I also talk about "active listening" and upcoming events.

After the devastating loss of his longtime partner, Kenny Gardner got more bad news: he was overweight and diagnosed with diabetes. He had to change his habits from eating junk food as a comfort to finding joy in eating clean and working out. He's also returned to running and plans on conquering his first 50K this fall. As of this recording, he is down 47 pounds and counting.

Aurora Kerr ran her first 50K in February at Jackalope Jam. She turned 11 in November. Aurora, who has the cutest giggle, recounts that race and what led up to it in her running career. She likes math and science and has some ideas about what she wants to be later in life. Oh, and there will be more 50Ks.

Howard Avery suffered a stroke while training last fall. After a brief hospitalization, he was back at it. The only concession was that he dropped from the 50-miler to the 55K at Antelope Canyon race in mid-March.

He finished the race and is eyeing a flattish, warm-weather 50 or 100-miler in the not-so-distant future.

Avery, who hails from Memphis, will turn 74 in a few days.

I'm trying to make a lot of changes. Some are going better than others, but I haven't given up.

One of the biggest realizations is the need to be grateful for something every day, no matter how crappy the day is.

This is hard for me because I am hard on myself and sometimes set unrealistic expectations.

But I'm getting there.

Liza Howard is one of the kindest, most down-to-earth ultrarunners you will ever meet,. She wins races but is humble about it. She also coaches runners to reach their goals. She also has a couple of other hats she wears. Oh, and she has a family. On March 18, she will tackle Badwater Cape Fear.

Find her at https://www.sharmanultra.com/coaching

Vincent Antunez was sitting on a mountaintop in Afghanistan when the idea for Trail Toes foot creme came to him. The accomplished ultrarunner was deployed there at the time and was devising ways to soothe the tortured soles and toes of fellow runners. At first, people thought it was just for the feet. But, it can go anywhere -- and he means anywhere. The company has evolved from one creme type to three and a fourth is on the way. He has also developed tire-dragging gear, sewn and created travel bags and even gear and cremes for dogs. Oh, and his day job is as a professor at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth. https://www.trailtoes.com/

I spent six hours on Saturday running out .75 miles to a traffic cone that I named Bob and then back to the start over and over again. I was one of the slackers by comparison to some of my friends who spent 100 hours out there.

This madness was the Jackalope Jam, a timed event put on by Trail Racing Over Texas.

I found the experience uplifting, even though my left hip was hurting. (I'm going to start Airrosti therapy tomorrow to address this.) 

It was great seeing friends, old and new, each time you went out and back because we were passing each other.

I liked it so much that I am doing this again next year. "Just" the six-hour version.

Below: Bob.

Yeah, so today is my birthday.

It is marked by a morning spent helping at a road relay race.

Yesterday, I made some new trail friends.

Friday, things got heavy.

I had a therapy appointment on Thursday and the revelations from that weighed on me. That, and my job has become overwhelming.

I had to cancel a celebration with friends because of these things and I am sorry. I hope you understand.

The photo is from eighth grade and relates to my therapy issue.