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Trail and ultra runner from Ottawa, Illinois. There is not a surface or distance he does not enjoy racing.
Running, coffee, and shenanigans.
June 1, 2020, 7am. St. Croix Falls. The plan: roughly 100k or 12 hours a day, whichever comes first, posting nightly updates if there was cell signal. Twenty one days later the Ice Age Trail had a new supported fastest known time.
Breakfast and coffee in the hotel parking lot, a two minute drive to the start, cloudy with a slight drizzle. Then the Gandy Dancer: fifteen-ish miles of rail trail, a lot like the I&M Canal back home.
The high The start. The low Ticks.
Spiderwebs, mosquitoes and ticks. A message to Jared on Instagram brought the fix. Doesn't make for a glamorous photo, but it works. When the thunderstorm rolled in, the running came back.
The high Jared's suggestions, and seeing them work.
From 50 metres out they looked like two people sitting by the trail. From 25 metres out, two bears. Grassy Lake, Tuscobia, Hemlock Creek and the Southern Blue Hills. A 60 mile day.
The high The bears. The low The hotel pool was closed.
Seventeen miles of road, then an old trail and a new trail, and a lot of wrong left turns with Joey, his training partner. Back up the road, back onto the trail, the missed distance covered. Finished in Cornell.
The high Moonridge Brewery pizza.
A police escort through Gilman, Lake Eleven with Joey, pizza rolls from Abe's camp kitchen, then Jerry Lake: standing swamp water, mud and downed trees.
The high Hot food on the trail. The low The final mile of Jerry Lake.
Puffy knees, a rolled ankle, Mondeaux Esker mud. First time ever with poles, and the day went from "just a hike day" to "I think I could run all day." Finished in the dark, but finished.
The high Trekking poles.
Out of the north woods, down through the middle of the state, around the kettles and moraines and up toward Lake Michigan, with a crew of friends taking turns on pacing duty.
Raising money for the volunteer-maintained Ice Age Trail and for Feeding America along the way.
The eastern terminus. The men's supported fastest known time on the Ice Age Trail.
Route drawn by hand through the towns and segments named in Coree's nightly updates.
A 200, 400 and 800 metre runner in high school and college, who never made state in cross country. Then a 2:26 marathon, two Half Ironman world championships, an Illinois state marathon title, and one afternoon pacing at Leadville that turned into a life on trails.
"Don't be afraid to try new things, and don't limit what you think is possible."
Keep scrolling, the printer is still going.
5d 07h 22m
About 350 miles of trail between Alabama and Georgia, six hours under the previous record, on roughly four hours of sleep in total. The pacers and crew kept it moving when quitting sounded better.
"That was an ass kicker."
After Western States 100, friends sent questions instead of a race report. Pick one.
Ottawa, Illinois, about 400 feet above sea level, where the biggest hill climbs 150 feet over a mile and a half. Training for mountain hundreds there means treadmill climbing, sauna sessions, midday runs in winter gear and long weekends on the Ice Age Trail up in Wisconsin.
Boulder after college, Leadville in November 2014, then Chattanooga. Somewhere along the way: a speedo full of ice at Western States, a 3°F start at Frozen Gnome in the same speedo, and a reputation as a runner who falls a lot but always gets up.
"That feeling small feeling is a good feeling."
No long run is a solo effort. Over the years Coree has run for inov-8, then The North Face, and since January 2024, Merrell, with support from brands like Darn Tough Vermont, Squirrel's Nut Butter, Kodiak Cakes, Leki and Smartwool.
For partnerships, media, podcasts, events or just a question about the trail, the crew desk takes it from here.
