I’ve just run the Burning Man 50K again, my first race since running that one in 2024. The training year was very, very different though, so I had low hopes and simply wanted to finish without getting too injured. I didn’t give myself enough credit, though, for I finished in my fastest time, again. 5:11:28, down from 5:19:54!

This time around, aside from a 1.3 mile run in March (lol), I had not run at all from October through May 21, 14 weeks before the race. That run was spurred by having gotten tickets to Burning Man back on April 29. Yes, it took me another 3 weeks to get my ass in gear, as I was very busy with my classes on this mission to try to get into med school.

The only thing I had going for me was I had been putting in a lot time walking on the treadmill starting in January after I fixed the motor “for good” by replacing the carbon brushes. I increased my daily step totals from a baseline around 13K in December up to 29K in April. But then I had to back off because I was getting some annoying butt chafing, I assume from ramping up too fast and being sweat :-y throughout the day. So I switched treadmill time for starting to actually train for the race, which severely reduced my step totals.

Step count graph for past year

Step count table for past year

Anyway, I jumped right into my long runs and tried to see how fast I could ramp up comfortably. My first runs were 6, 10.3 and 15.6 miles. Then I spent a couple of weeks doing more “faster” 6 mile runs before pushing to 17 near the end of June. July was basically the same, ending with an 18.8. But that run, while I thought it went OK, ended up being too much for my left Achilles tendon.

I spent the rest of August mostly doing short 6 mile runs and only got another 18 mile run in once. I scrapped my training plan to get up to 26 miles before the race. My Achilles basically hurt after every run, and some days it was quite tender. I had other issues in my left foot as well. After talking with my brother, I got some “voodoo floss” straps and did some stretching. Once it got to be two weeks out from the race, I gave up on the long runs and just tried to maintain a bit of running and hoped it would be enough to finish the race. I knew I could always just walk if I needed to, so I tried not to worry.

The JavaScript charting program I wrote for the race last time was interesting use in this training season. At first it gave me hope I would be able to ramp up fast enough to catch up to some of my earlier training years. But then with the Achilles issue, it reinforced that this would basically be my lowest mileage training season ever. I think at the end I surpassed my worst year by a few miles. Oy!

50K 26 week training histories: cumulative miles vs. days into training

That all said, the race ended up going very well somehow! I could not have been happier that I didn’t have any foot issues at all despite running 65 percent further than my longest training run that was more than a month ago. And I didn’t have throbbing pain requiring painkillers for days, and was even able to go do some activities right after the race and that night. Success! Thank you Cherry Bomb and Pink Lightning camp for organizing a great event!

Running the 2026 Burning Man 50K

Running the 2026 Burning Man 50K

Running the 2026 Burning Man 50K

Running the 2026 Burning Man 50K

Bag drop for the Burning Man 50K. Don't mind a little dust!

Heading back to camp after the race!

My humble feet after the Burning Man 50K

Randolph, me and Oscar after the Burning Man 50K with our beautiful medals!

Entries in this series

1. Another great Burning Man Ultramarathon (September 1)