Please join me in congratulating Misty Wright for outrunning me in August. On August 1, 2019, Misty trash talked me because she ran 8 more miles than me in July. In fairness, I asked for it. I was calling out Steve Crutchfield because I ran more miles than him. She also boldly claimed that “My August and September are going to be high months, too.” Game on!

A month later, she ran an impressive 152 miles, but I bested her with 174. When I asked if she’d like a rematch in 2020, she eagerly accepted. This August, she was prepared to run 300 miles to ensure she won our outrun challenge. Unfortunately, I cheated her out of a competitive race by entering the month still recovering from an injury. Misty loving a good challenge, suggested we compete on something where I could put up more of a fight. She wanted an earned victory!

Brainstorming back and forth, we came up with Bonus Activities Deemed as Silly Shenanigans (BADASS) - twenty crazy side challenges. I’m thrilled to say I eeked out a victory in our Bonus Activities winning 10 of them compared to Misty’s 9 wins. But the larger fact remains, that she dominated the outrun challenge logging 114 miles compared to my 35.

Misty is pure badass. I knew of her reputation in the running community as a gritty runner who keeps going, and in January 2019, I had the opportunity to witness her endurance determination first hand in the Bandera 100k. I DNFed that miserable race, but Misty toughed it out to finish in 21:51. She’s impressive!

Two months later, she demonstrated more grit at the Pistol Ultra where she ran a 90-mile 100k. Overcoming blisters, shivering cold, and sharp shooting pains in her knee, she kept relentlessly moving forward. Her goal was 100 miles, and the only thing that stopped her was the clock.

Nothing stops Misty. She conquered her first 100 miler at Pumpkin Holler Hunnerd in October 2019. She is a woman of power and fortitude. She has so many stories of how she persevered and overcame obstacles. Like her journey into running when she bet two office mates she could loose more weight than them leading up to a race several months away. She lost over 80 pounds and won the bet.

Misty’s highlights for the month are captured in the chart below, but let me end with my favorite Misty story. She regularly trains by dragging a tire behind her. I saw this and though it was insane. Tires are heavy and the friction of dragging the tire on its side has to create tremendous resistance.

That was the first activity she added as one of our bonus activities. She was kind enough lend me one of her tires and take me on one of her training runs (the day after she ran 31 miles). Preparing me for this challenge, she said, “It’s harder than it looks” at least five times.

My response was always, “It looks pretty hard.” Misty has so much confidence and such an infectious “can-do” attitude, that most things look doable to her. One of her incredible traits is that she looks at difficult challenges as if they are easy. That’s because she breaks them down step-by-step, plans for the unexpected obstacles, overcomes them one-by-one, and makes things happen. Congratulations, Misty, and thanks for inspiring me and challenging me to embrace tough stuff.

Who won each activity. Misty won 9 and I won 10.