Welcome, outdoor lovers and friends!
(All smiles at the finish of the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Lahti, Finland, August, 2023)
You are invited to follow along my personal journal of endurance racing, traveling, and sports technology. I previously published the award-winning “A Trail Runner’s Blog”, but have switched to the Substack platform in 2023 to return to a more interactive medium. No paid subscription needed - just enter your email/follow to get full access to the newsletter and website. This blog is for longer narratives - if you prefer a more condensed medium, or like detailed stats/training tracking, you can also follow me on the adidas Running app, Strava, Zwift (look for “Scott Dunlap ///”), Twitter, or Instagram.
Who Am I?
My name is Scott Dunlap, and I have been enjoying endurance sports for a few decades now. It is a deep passion, and I find it to be an endless source of optimism, adventure, and metaphysical exploration, particularly as I enjoy my mid-50’s. Endurance racing is also a great excuse to travel, eat lots of good food, and meet amazing people! Trail running, triathlons, ultramarathons, big city marathons, cycling, or local 10k’s - you’ll likely find me at the start line with a smile, a camera in hand, encouraging others to embrace fitness and to get outdoors. Sometimes to compete, often just to be present, and always to have fun.
(Quinn [now 13], my wife Christi, Sophie [now 18], and me in our adopted US hometown of Santa Barbara, CA, in December, 2022. If you look closely off my left shoulder, you’ll see my brother-in-law and fellow endurance warrior, Brian Drue, hamming it up)
In 2019, I merged my Silicon Valley nerd career with my love of sports to become the VP, Consumer Experience & General Manager, Digital Sports for adidas. This gives me the opportunity to explore many intersections of sports and technology, such as new gadgets, web3/#movetoearn, GenAI, and working with some very talented teams to create the biggest virtual participatory events in the world (Run For The Oceans hit 6.76m participants in 2022, a world record). This also involved moving from California, USA, to Vienna, Austria, with my wife, two daughters, and two dogs, our first ex-pat experience. It has been quite an adventure!
Racing in 2024/2025
Here is what is on the 2024/25 race roster so far. Do let me know if you’ll be at any of these races, and let’s get a pic together!
Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico (March 18th, 2024) - highly recommended from my fellow 70.3 world travellers, and a location I have never visited. I’m looking forward to this hot and flat race! An early Spring race is always good to keep the training honest through the winter.
Boston Marathon (April 16th, 2024) - the “streak race” continues! This year will be my 20th consecutive Boston, a crazy unintended milestone. The truth is that I just never stop enjoying this race and meeting all the first-timers. I’ll be double marathoning this week so I can also get to the…
London Marathon (April 21st, 2024) - one of the big city classics, this will be my first trip to this event to knock off #5 of the six majors. Not a lot of time to recover, so I’ll likely cruise and take pictures.
Wings For Life World Run (May 5th, 2024) - race through Vienna before the car catches you, against runners all over the world! A great fundraiser event with Red Bull and adidas.
Ironman 70.3 Mallorca (May 11th, 2024) - another island race, this time with more hills, and a lot more racers. With 3,900 entries, this is the biggest IM70.3 in the world! Also a cycling mecca, so a great course for sure.
Passage del Stelvio (Sep 1st, 2024) - taking advantage of “Stelvio Day” to bike up the 48 switchbacks of the most famous climb in Italy.
Warsaw Marathon (Sep 29th, 2024) - heading to Poland with local friends who recommend this great city and race!
Ironman 70.3 Tangier (Oct 27th, 2024) - A nice tune up race for the 70.3 Worlds in December, this one takes us to Morocco, Africa. My first time to this continent!
Ironman 70.3 World Championships (Dec 14th, 2024) - earned my slot to compete at Ironman 70.3 Worlds in New Zealand at IM Mallorca (woohoo!). Another new continent for me, and we will be circumventing the globe to get there, so will hit a few new countries along the way too.
Tokyo Marathon (March 2nd, 2025) - my last of the six big city majors to complete the Abbott six-star challenge.
Boston Marathon (April 21st, 2025) - registered to come back to Boston for my 21st consecutive running.
