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1 month ago | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
In early October 2024, I headed to China to run the Ultra Gobi 400k for the second time. This 250-mile (400-kilometer) run is a self-supported, self-navigated, non-stop race through the Gobi Desert of north-central China’s Gansu province. I would have 142 hours to navigate to the 28 checkpoints (which supplied ambient-temperature water only) and 10 rest points (offering ambient and hot water, heated communal tents, and our drop boxes). There were no crews or pacers at the race.
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2 months ago | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
I hope that everyone, whatever their pursuits, may have an experience as transcendent as I did at the 2024 Ultra Gobi 400k, where I covered the race’s 250 miles/400 kilometers in 68 hours and 59 minutes. In the process of winning and setting a race record, I shocked no one more than myself. Despite the occasional blister, gastrointestinal moment, or emotional dip, for the better part of three days, I experienced a joyful ease of effectiveness.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
Even with an extra day in 2024, another year has flown by! While I enjoyed some stretches more than others, it’s gotta’ be up there with one of my best years ever. Here’s a look back at my 2024, mainly through the lens of running, first via a monthly rundown and then a broader look back before thinking about 2025. Monthly RundownJanuaryI started the year reflecting on running’s beautiful simplicity while exploring my temporary home on New Zealand’s South Island.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
Like many of you, I didn’t get my name pulled in a couple of race lotteries this past weekend. And I’m fine with that!The past two months have represented my running offseason, and I’ve spent plenty of time dreaming of all the races and adventures that could become part of my 2025 running plans. In this article, I’ll share some of them.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
While you’ll be hearing about my run at the 2024 Ultra Gobi 250 Mile in the future, I write now in praise of experience. What I would consider three masterful days of running on my part were more than three decades in the making. In large part, I attribute that success to what myself and some of my middle-aged iRunFar team members would jokingly refer to as “old man strength” (with no gender limitation implied).
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Oct 10, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
[Editor’s Note: Congratulations to iRunFar’s Bryon Powell for his course-record-setting win at the 2024 Ultra Gobi 400k in 68 hours, 59 minutes, and 40 seconds! The 2024 edition started Saturday, October 5, in western China.]When this article is published, I’ll hopefully have finished the Ultra Gobi 400k (250 Mile) in China for the second time. I last ran it in 2015, when it was known as the Ultra-Trail Gobi Race, while having failed attempts to return in both 2016 and 2019.
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Sep 11, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
Oh, wow! Now, THAT’S what I call a summer vacation. It took until the end of August to get out for it, but I’ve not been on an adventure like that since at least 2017 when I ran to and down the length of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah … if ever!What did I do? I completed a roughly figure-eight loop from and to my home in Silverton, Colorado, and through the San Juan Mountains over the course of seven days, by running and fishing during the day and camping at night.
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Aug 13, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
Under the radar, I returned to full-time work at iRunFar for the past five months while Managing Editor Sarah Brady welcomed her son Max into the world. (Hooray!) My relative lack of writing and running over that time are reflective of my priorities over the same period: namely, to help Meghan Hicks bring forth the best iRunFar possible over that time.
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May 8, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
Over the past few months, I’ve been leaning into my running weaknesses, literally and figuratively. While uncomfortable in many senses, I’ve largely found it rewarding and intriguing. The process involves a sense of wonder, learning, achievement, and excitement. Here’s a little bit about my journey. Readers of this column will know that I’ve dealt with bad Achilles for a couple of decades. They’ve slowly gotten worse over time, and with that, I’ve increasingly babied them.
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Apr 10, 2024 | 
irunfar.com | Bryon Powell |Bryon's Column
Bill Dooper. You’ve been gone for six years, yet you keep inspiring. You inspire me to be a better person. You inspire me to find simple joy in life. You inspire me to write this today. Despite running many trail races and being at countless ultras, Dooper never ran an ultramarathon. Still, if he did, I can only imagine he’d have carried an “I get to do this” attitude with him the whole way.
