“You have to admit”, she said as we hiked along the creek. “It seems kind of dangerous”.

“So you see me plop butter into my drinks. And you know I eat lots of bacon. And then you get unsettled when I announce I don’t want that food everyone loves. I don’t mean to offend anyone. I know everyone has concerns but no need to worry.”, I tried to explain.

As the canyon narrowed our conversation broke off as if we needed extra brain-power to concentrate on the trail. It climbed briefly and finally come to a vantage point. It was a beautiful scene. Raging water over moss-covered rocks. Simply gorgeous,

“I have learned so much about how dangerous it is to do what we are doing”, I started explaining again. “If us ultra distance racers continue to go to the limits and burn massive amounts of carbohydrates we will die sooner than later. There is emerging proof that burning carbs the way we have done burns the ends off the stem cells … ah telomeres … and we can die early of a disease. It is really very very unhealthy to race. Sorry for the bad news.”

“Right!”, she muttered. I could tell I was not convincing her.

“Tell you what, when we get back we can listen to this podcast that sums it all up.” “… kind of condenses all that I have found lately”.

“It has been almost a year since the Butte 100 and the last time I tried to eat carbs during a race. And in the last year I have tried some new “stuff” that at times nearly snuffed me out. Ok! I will be honest. My results have been poor. My racing has suffered. But that is so I can reach for new goals, new heights …”