At 7pm on Friday, June 24th in the tiny town of Ordino, in the tiny country of Andorra, I stepped to the start line of the @trail100andorra . At 9:20 am the following morning I was the first runner to reach the finish. That’s what you see here in this picture. What you don’t see is what happened before this. You don’t see me failing to finish my last attempted ultra, the @utmbmontblanc , in 2019. You don’t see the years of running with pain in my left foot, when the steps that were supposed to bring me joy brought a constant reminder of my brokenness. You don’t see all of the mornings that I woke up, stepped out of bed, and was immediately reminded by the pain in my foot that I was still hurt. You don’t see the scar on my ankle from the Haglund’s surgery that I finally got in December of 2020, and the LONG journey back to running. You don’t see the moments of doubt after surgery, still having pain, not knowing if it would ever fully subside. You don’t see the creativity employed to keep the training going via bikes, skis, swimming, and the splitboard. You don’t see the moment (about a month ago) when the pain shifted to the inside of my heal and I wasn’t sure this race would happen. You don’t see me visiting a physio in France and thinking about bailing on my plans to do this race. You don’t see me traveling to Andorra amidst an eight day running break in which I spent many hours on the bike and many more worried about my foot. You don’t see me getting so lonely, stressed, and desperate that one night, while praying, I simply asked for help, nothing very specific, just help. That’s what you don’t see. But you know what? You also don’t see a lot of good things. You don’t see all of the “helpers” along the way. You don’t see the prayers of my parents or the support of my family and friends. You don’t see the sponsors who stood faithfully by my side. You don’t see my surgeon, @briancrispell , who took such good care of me and told me I didn’t have to pay him if I wasn’t able to return to racing. (continued in comments) @thenorthface @thenorthface_trail @guenergylabs @run_ride_pa @cxpofficialltd @mauboussinanthony 📸: @trail100andorra