Ted is a tough competitor. In 2019, I teased him that he was my ace in the hole because I ran more miles than him most months. I felt comfortable that I could callout Ted in any month I wanted. But I knew 2020 would be a different game.

When Ted has that desire to win in his eyes, watch out! I've seen him hustle to the podium for many beer miles, and I've seen him grind through the toughest of challenges. He has summitted 20 of the 58 Colorado fourteeners plus Ben Nevis in Scotland, Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, and Mt. Hood in Oregon. The dude has tons of grit and resilience.

That's why I wasn't surprised at all when he came out swinging in October. Since Ted is a former MMA fighter, when you see him swinging, it's best to cover and drop. He began running the virtual Yeti 50 miler at 12:01 am on October 1 - literally 1 minute in to our month-long challenge.

The Yeti challenge was to run 8.35 miles every 4 hours. No banking any mileage and you have to start each stage like clockwork. This ensured that I felt the pain of all 50 miles because it was six separate Strava notifications. Ding. "Your friend Ted has completed a run. Give him Kudos." Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.

About midway through the month, Ted felt comfortable enough with his lead that he backed off, but even if you remove his first day 50 miler, he still ran more miles than me.

I had the honor of crewing Ted during his solo Brew to Brew run in 2018. The temperature started around 37 degrees and dropped throughout the day. It even snowed during the race (in April!). That didn't stop Ted who grinded out all 44 miles that day.

He was slated to run Leadville 100 in August, but it was one of the first races to get canceled with the rise of Covid. He's planning to run it in 2021, and I'm planning to be there to crew and pace, even though he crushed me this October.