How am I going to do this race?
You don’t know, and you’re more worried about this every day. On long runs. At 2am. Every time someone asks if you’re excited about it.
Let’s answer it.
Race Crafting is my signature, proven process for planning a race, and you won’t find it anywhere else. In three 1:1 sessions, we build your whole race plan together (goal, pace, course, worst-case scenario, and the mental side) so you go in calm instead of anxious, run the smartest race possible, and give yourself the best possible shot at the finish line. Then we meet once more after the race to mine every bit of gold from it so you can do even better in the next race.
You planned your training with great care. In detail.
But the race itself? How are you going to do it?
It’s too overwhelming to plan. Too many unknowns.
But you can’t stand not knowing how it’s going to go.
And every day, the race gets closer and your anxiety gets louder.
So you do what you can to feel better about it. You calculate cutoff pace. You overthink drop bags. Maybe get a crew and pacer as insurance.
But none of it answers that question. You still show up to the starting line with no idea how you’re going to do it.
It feels like jumping off a cliff with no parachute. You’re relying on luck and hope, counting on your crew to say the perfect thing at the perfect time.
And once the race starts, the hardest decisions come when you’re least able to make them. Push the pace or hold back? Dig deep or give up? Keep going or drop? You’re deciding impulsively on the spot, exhausted, clock running. Those are the calls you regret for years.
When you’re anxious about a race, it’s not because you’re undertrained. You’re feeling the gap between well-planned training and an unplanned race.
That’s where your anxiety is coming from.
Decades ago, at the start of Mountain Masochist 50, I asked my more experienced friend Kerry what his strategy was. He laughed:
“Run as fast as I can and death march it to the finish.”
That was the moment I realized I didn’t know how to run the race I was in. I’d trained. I was physically ready. But my only plan was “run.”
I wanted something better. Over 150+ hundred-milers and 100 other races, I built it. Then I refined it client by client. That became Race Crafting.
A real race plan
It’s not a pace calculator. Or a complex spreadsheet of numbers you’re expected to hit.
It’s a full roadmap that answers “how do I do it?”, not just “how fast do I have to run?”
A Race Crafting plan does four things:
It combines mind, body, and race into one plan,
because that’s what has to happen in the race. The mind is the part that almost always gets left to chance.
It anticipates problems and fears ahead of time,
and plans for them.
It makes as many decisions as possible in advance,
so you’re not making them in the middle of the race on an exhausted, discouraged brain.
It maps everything out
so you can see how it works together, and fix anywhere it doesn’t.
For example: We’ll decide now exactly when you’ll let yourself drop. Not just for “injury,” but “a 911 call, or I can’t walk on my own, even to a car.” That’s one of many decisions you won’t have to make at mile 60. Race Crafting defines that and more.
Four sessions, you and me
You don’t have to know the process. I’ve already built it. I guide you through it and help you make every decision, drawing on everything I’ve learned from my own races and my clients’.
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Goal and Pace
We set a goal that’s better for you than “just finish” and build your simple pace plan.
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Course Mapping
We map your course, identify pinch points, plan your worst-case scenarios, and decide exactly how you’ll race through them with confidence.
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Bringing It Together
We add the mindset layer, answer your remaining questions, and walk through race day step by step so you see how it works before you run it.
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After your race
Post-Race Evaluation
We harvest every bit of learning so you know what to keep doing and what to change in your next race.
The only thing you need to bring to our first session is your race and whatever’s worrying you about it. We’ll build everything else together.
Because you made every decision, the plan is custom to you and your race, and you know exactly how it works and why. No app or AI plan can give you that.
Before, during, and after your race
You go in calm, because you know what you’re doing.
- You have a complete plan built for your course, your fears, and your goals.
- You’re excited about the race again, not dreading it.
- Every “what if” is already accounted for.
You run your plan, not your panic.
- When things change, you adapt clearly instead of reacting.
- Cutoffs stop being a constant worry.
- You’re running your own numbers, not a rigid spreadsheet.
You know you did everything you could to finish.
- You see what worked, what didn’t, and why.
- Next race, you know exactly what to change.
- You don’t second-guess this race, whatever the outcome.
One of my clients had DNF’d Superior 100 three times. She signed up for a fourth attempt and started working with me.
First, we used Race Crafting for Badger 100. She finished 6 hours faster than the year before.
For Superior, we planned for all of it: her goal, cutoffs, cutoff stress, why she’d DNF’d before, night running, the course, and what she needed to think to finish this time.
When severe thunderstorms hit, she adapted her plan instead of panicking. Even with doubts, and closer to the final cutoff than she wanted, she crossed the finish line and earned her buckle.
This isn’t theory — it’s a proven process.
Race Crafting was built in my own races over 30 years, 150+ hundred-mile finishes, and 100 other races of every distance and format, including Moab 240 (twice), Bigfoot 200, and multiple UTMBs. I have refined it with client after client, race after race.
Four 1-hour 1:1 sessions
You’ve put a lot into this race. You deserve to know you did everything you could to finish it.
Launch bonus: Book by October 31, and your $600 can be applied to 6 months of 1:1 Mental Mastery Coaching if you upgrade by November 30.
FAQ
How is this different from Mental Mastery Coaching?
Race Crafting gets you ready to run one specific race at your best, in four sessions.
Mental Mastery Coaching makes you the mentally strongest runner you can be, for every race, over six months of weekly 1:1 sessions and support.
Race Crafting is part of what I do with my 1:1 clients, now also available on its own.
My race is only a few weeks away. Is it too late?
This works best starting 3–8 weeks out. If your race is closer, we can do more than one session a week. If you’re under three weeks, email me and we’ll talk about making it happen.
What if I don’t know my goal yet?
That’s normal, and it’s part of Session 1. We define a goal you feel good about that’s better than “just finish.”
What if we plan and things change, like an injury or the weather?
That’s why we plan worst-case scenarios. You’ll know how to adjust your plan before or during the race.
I’ve made race plans before and they didn’t help. Why is this different?
Most race plans are just pace math and complex spreadsheets of numbers you have to hit. Race Crafting builds one complete plan: your goal, course, strategy, and mindset, with simple pace math as just one piece of it. And I walk you through every decision in advance, so you understand your plan and know exactly how to use it when it counts.
I don’t like spreadsheets. Is this for me?
Definitely. This is a roadmap of how you’ll run your race, not a sheet of numbers you’re expected to meet.
Does this cover nutrition and gear?
The focus is pace, strategy, course, and mindset, the decisions with the biggest impact on your race. But if nutrition or gear questions come up, we’ll talk them through.
You don’t have to wing it.
Kerry’s strategy was run as fast as he could and death march it to the finish. Mine is to plan it: decide ahead of time how I’ll run it (mind, body, and race), then relax and go run my plan.
Yours can be too. Having a Race Crafting plan is like walking into a test with the answer key. You stand at that starting line calm, knowing exactly how you're going to do this.