If you have been an avid follower of this blog over the past few years you’ve literally read about me growing up in young adulthood from my first thru hike of the Appalachian Trail at 21 years old to my most recent of the Arizona Trail at 26. Those hikes will always be some of the best things I have done and will ever get to do in life however ,that life-style is not what the immediate future plans for me hold.
I got my Bachelors of Science in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences in 2019 with the intention of going to physical therapy school someday. Well “someday” is right now. For the past two years I have been working towards this goal again and I will submit my application later this summer. A lot of waiting to find out if and where I get admitted is involved since applying to physical therapy school is an extremely competitive process. I am so glad I am back on this path after getting to hike to my heart’s content and experience young adulthood. My passion for this particular field of study has only grown over time. I guess 16 year old me did know what she wanted to do with her life after all. I will never have to question if I just went to PT school because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. Trust me, it has taken so much work to get back here and I certainly wouldn’t have done that without the labor of love it requires.
I know that I will return to long distance backpacking someday but I don’t expect that to be any time soon given my particular academic and career related goals. In the meantime I have found a similar yet very different endurance activity to provide me some life force while being able to work a full time job and pursue academics. You won’t be surprised to hear that it is running ultra-marathons.
A year ago today I ran my first ultra marathon, the Mohican 50 miler. It was the hardest thing I had done at the time (in one day) and made me so hungry for more with this sport. When I was a part time cross country runner in high school I remember my coach Sandy DeBos told me that she ran the Mohican 100 miler and it was the first time I had ever heard of a 100 mile race. It was instantly added to my bucket list. This Friday I hope to check that goal off of my bucket list. I will be running the Scout Mountain Ultras 100 mile race starting on June 6th.
I could write a whole book about everything I have learned about running over the past year. Mostly I just have so much gratitude for being physically able to toe the start line and all of the work I was able to do along the way. It didn’t go perfectly but I am here and I can say that I am very proud of myself which is something I haven’t always been able to conclude. Whatever happens on Friday is truly a celebration of my love for this sport. I am not afraid to fail, I am not afraid to do hard things, and I am not afraid to try again. It has been my intention for some time to write about running on this blog but clearly this is the first I have gotten around to it and I don’t plan for it to be the last. I simply meant for this post to serve as a transition point for running content and to share where life has taken me lately. I hope you enjoy following along with the running content just as much. I am excited to share more about my deep dive into this sport because I plan to do it for a long time, hopefully until I find my way back to long distance backpacking. This blog name will remain the same because I will always be a thru hiker first and a trail runner second.
If you wish to track my race in live time on Friday please click on this link and sign up for notifications. You should get a text or email every time I run across a timing mat located at different spots throughout the course.
Happy Trails,
Deserrae “Early Bird” Potts
Des Hikes Thru 