Bernie's race schedule is so massive he needs his own section!   It's no wonder he was last year's Master Mountain Runner of the Year.

Race Summary

In the past three years, Bernie ran 165 races, winning 80 of them overall with 138 Masters wins!   Results (indicating Open/Masters):

Besides doing at least two races every weekend, Bernie branched out with some "ultra" events as well:

Working solo against 6 person teams for 31 straight hours, Bernie sculpted a giant, eight-foot tall tricycle.   He finished at 1 am then had to leave for the USSSA Qualifying race that same morning.   Somebody - probably a drunk - broke off the left handlebar before judging could take place, leaving him with an "Artable Mention" award and $500.

That same morning he was third overall at the Swift Skedaddle 10K snowshoe race in Silverthorn, CO.

This is an uphill/downhill non-stop race on skis or snowshoes; competitors see how many vertical feet they can get done in 24 hours.   Bernie screwed his trail racing shoes directly onto a pair of skis. This was very lightweight, but presented other problems, as he describes:

First off, it was bitter cold: 18 below zero race morning.   My feet wouldn't fit into my shoes. The plastic-wrap waterproof protection I fabricated wouldn't expand in bitter cold and I missed the start as a result.   By the time I got to the top, I'd caught up with the leaders, but switching into my ski-shoes setup proved virtually impossible.   It was like trying to squeeze a pumpkin into a frozen sock.   It took nearly 10 minutes just to transition.

I gave up on the prospect of using my system of light shoes to go up and skiing down.   I kept my skis on and used skins to go up, but the skis were too short for climbing on the steep slope.   I was slipping backward every other step.   I tried to save time at the top by tying the skins around my waist for the descent, but I crashed and the skins got covered with snow and they wouldn't stick to the skis for the next round.

I had made metal cleats for an option and tried them for the next go.   This worked pretty well at first, until the uphill on the far left side of the run where it was off-camber caused a twisting motion that broke the cleats.

I switched back to my now dried out skins, but by this time the upper part of the slope had been scraped to ice.   I didn't have any control on the descent with my short skis, and my Colorado Trails were catching edges in the softer buildups, causing me to tumble.

I tried wearing skins down on the next run, but couldn't make a turn to save my life, because the edges were covered with skins.   Crashed at least 10 times on that run.

But that wasn't what stopped me.

By now, it was starting to get dark.   I got rid of the skis altogether and switched to snowshoes.   This was OK, but the climb was so steep, I needed heel-lifters to save my Achilles. I ripped some off my skis and built them to fit my snowshoes with some simple tools.   I managed a few reasonably good laps, but noticed my feet getting cold.

About midnight, I couldn't feel my toes anymore.   I finally stopped to check them.   One was blackened.   One was blistered.   None of them had any sensation except from a tight pinch.   I had frostbite on all 10 digits.

That's when I pulled out of the race.

I've got a little feeling returning to the tootsies now four days later, but they're still numb.   All the blisters have popped or disappeared and I'm only losing one toenail though the two big ones have some nice black streaks.

I can still run.

I'll be back...