By Davy Crockett

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Both a podcast episode and a full article

(Listen to the podcast episode too with audio clips from the runners.)

The sport of running 100 miles competitively has existed for multiple centuries. The earliest known competition was won in 1792 by John Hague of Great Britain with a time of 23:15. In 1882, an American, John Hughes, reached 100 miles in 13:57 but was suspected as being drugged up with stimulants. John Dobler of the United States probably ran the fastest legitimate 100 mile time by an American in the 19th century when in 1880 he ran in London and reached 100 miles in 14:52.

But through the years before 1980, no one ran dozens of 100-milers during their running career, only a handful of 100s. Ultrarunning legend Ted Corbitt ran fewer than ten 100-milers. By the mid-1970s, running 100 miles in competition started to become more available to anyone. By 1978 there were seven races in American where runners could reach 100 miles. During 1981 about 250 runners finished 100 miles in races in North America. In 1990 that had doubled to about 500 runners.

By the end of 1999 as few prolific ultrarunners had piled up 100-mile finishes. Richard and Sandra Brown of England were way out in front with 87 and 82, reaching 100 miles in both running and walking events. Ray Krolewicz of South Carolina was next with about 60 100-mile finishes to his name. Don Choi, the prolific multi-day runner from San Francisco, had more than 40 100-mile finishes but had retired from 100-mile running in 1997 at the age of 48. The world’s greatest, Yiannis Kouros had an estimated 40 100-milers, most of them wins and Tom Possert had about 30 100-milers. But as the decades passed, at the end of 2018, there were 15 talented ultrarunners who had achieved 100 100 milers. Who are they?

Hans-Dieter Weisshaar

When I attempted to run my first 100-miler at The Bear in 2004, I ran quite a few miles near the 100-mile legend, Hans-Dieter Weisshaar from Germany who was at that time 64 years old. That race would be Han’s 66th 100-mile finish. During 2004, he finished thirteen of them. He was indeed a legend.

Hans started running at age 46 because he was overweight. Before then, he said he was a typical “couch potato” and back in school didn’t participate in sports. He was laughed at by his classmates when he tried participating in sports. He started running ultras in 1987 at the Swiss Alpine Marathon (67K) and started running 100s at the age of 58 when most 100-mile runners have already retired from the sport. After running Kettle Moraine 100 in 1999, he became addicted to running 100 miles. His fastest 100-miler was the 2000 Rocky Raccoon 100 which he finished in 20:39 at the age of 59. Hans was a medical doctor and retired in 2002 at the age of 62, giving him more free time to travel and run.

For that 2004 Bear 100, I made it to around mile 85 and didn’t have anything more to give. I was provided a ride to the finish line and was able to watch Hans finish in 32:54 to a chorus of cheers. I was in awe. I had failed to finish my first 100-mile race and believed that I was in way over my head at age 46. Here was a man 18 years older than me, finishing 100-milers every month. If I could only just finish one! But I believed that this sport wasn’t for me and I quit dreaming I could do it – at least for a few days. I did get that first 100-mile finish, a few months later at Rocky Raccoon 100 in Texas and like Hans and was hooked on running 100-milers.

Hans continued to run. One year he finished an astonishing twenty 100-milers in one year. What was totally impressive is that his finishes each year always included some of the toughest 100s in the world, including Hardrock 100. He coined a “Super Slam”, to finish four tough mountain races in a single year that didn’t need to include the easier and hard-to-get-into, Western States 100. In 2007, he finished his 100th 100-miler at Hardrock 100. There were rumors that he was going to retire from running 100s, but he didn’t. Hans had many 100-mile DNFs along the way.

100 100 milers! Hans was the king of 100s in America. Han’s last 100-mile finish was at The Bear 100 In 2014 where he finished with a little more than an hour to spare. After some DNFs, he retired from attempting to run 100-milers. In 2018 he was 78 years old, dealing with health issues not related to running, and we all wish him well.

Hans once said, “To survive and finish any 100-miler you must be mentally strong. You have to be convinced that you will finish and keep moving and moving. Each race is different. You have moments when you think you are an idiot, what are you doing out here instead of sitting in front of the TV and eating chips having fun with music. But then you finish 100 miles. You are the big guy for yourself. Your life is totally different.” One of his favorite sayings was, “A 100-mile race is 90 percent mental, and the physical is the other 90 percent.”

Others have reached the 100 100-miler milestone, but I consider Hans the “Babe Ruth” of 100s in America, the person who showed us all what was possible. During his full career, he has amassed 140 100-mile finishes.

Others with 100-mile Finishes

Determining how many 100-mile finishes a person has is a difficult task because there is no official list and no database has a complete list of results. Hans himself had no idea how many he had until someone else researched and counted them. Some runners do their own solo 100-mile runs outside of a race. Those wouldn’t be in any finisher database and aren’t counted in this case. A multi-day race is counted once even if you do hundreds of miles during it.

I will attempt to share those who have reached 100-miles 100 times during a race. It is extremely possible that I have missed someone. Please let me know so I can update the list. As of he end of 2018, Matt Watts of Colorado has at least 94, and Louise Mason of Chicago has at least 94.

These runners have many things in common. All are very mentally tough, stubborn about not quitting, pretty obsessive, train year round, and never envisioned reaching this milestone. Most of them have ventured into multi-day events later in their career and can go well over 100 miles in a single event. All developed the ability to run at least one 100-miler each month and learned how to avoid significant injury. These athletes are:

Sandra Brown of England with more that 200, most were achieved in walking competitions

Ed Ettinghausen, of California with 176. He ran 41 in one year

Martina Hausmann of Germany with at least 142 in including nearly 50 200+ milers

Hans-Dieter Weisshaar of Germany with 140

Dan Brenden of Arizona with at least 135, probably more than 140

Richard Brown of England with at least 132, most were achieved in walking competitions

Mike Smith of New Mexico with more than 130

Monica Scholz of Canada with more than 125. She ran 25 in one year

Catra Corbett of California with more than 115

John Geesler of New York with more than 115

Susan Donnelly with more than 110

John W Taylor with more than 110

Ray Krolewicz of South Carolina with more than 105

Liz Bauer of Georgia with more than 105. She ran 36 in one year

And now me, Davy Crockett with 103

There could be others. Yiannis Kouros of Greece has reached 100 miles in races probably at least 80 times, but it certainly is possible that he has more than 100.

Sandra Brown

Sandra Brown (200+ finishes), age 70 in 2010, of England, is the world’s greatest woman ultra-distance walker ever, but she was also a world-class ultrarunner and still is for her age-group. In 2018 she was 68-69 years old and completed eleven 100-milers that year, including some sub-24-hour 100-milers. Her 200+ 100-milers came in several different types of walking and running events on tracks, roads, and trails. It wasn’t until the first version of this article was published that ultrarunners in America became aware that she actually had achieved more 100-milers than anyone in the world. Among her 200 100s, Sandra has completed about 130 100-milers in events that were judged with racewalking rules. But she also completed 100 miles in more than 30 ultrarunning events. Others were walking events where you could walk any way you wished to reach 100 miles.

Piling up 100-milers while living in England is very impressive because there are far fewer events compared to the US. Sandra wrote, “I’ve always envied athletes in the USA where there are so many ultra-distance and 100 miles events! In the UK there are now several, mainly off-road, 100s, and a couple of 24h events. In 1982 Sandra and her husband started to compete in 100-mile events and quickly excelled. In 1984 at the age of 35, Sandra finished six 100-milers. At Leicester, England, she finished with her lifetime racewalk 100-mile best time of 18:36:24 which also was a women’s best for Great Britain. She had established herself as a world elite ultra walker.

But Sandra ran too. Just a month later in 1984, Sandra ran in her first 24-hour event at Chorley, England, and reached a staggering 131.1 miles, setting a new world record. Across the Atlantic in America, women greats had been increasing the world 24-hour record a few years before, but in 1984 Sandra claimed the record for her own. She also went very far, reaching 426 miles in 1994 at Sacramento, California, reaching 1,000 miles in 1996 in Austria, in less than 15 days, and walking Great Britain end-to-end 840 miles in 1995, in 13 days, 10 hours.

Sandra achieved her 100th 100-miler in 2001, her 150th in 2012, and early in 2019 she was the first to reach 200×100. She still holds world racewalking records on track for 100k, 100 miles, 12 hours, and 24 hours. In 2018 at the age of 69 she achieved two sub-24-hour 100s at two running events along with her other nine 100s that year.

Ed Ettinghausen

I met Ed Ettinghausen (175+ finishes) of California, for the first time in 2010 when he came to run my Pony Express Trail 100. He was very early into his ultrarunning career with only four 100-mile finishes. When he ran Pony Express, he was still experimenting with hats and wore a coonskin hat in my honor. Shortly after that he settled on his famed jester attire.

Ed, age 56 in 2018, the Jester, now wears a full Jester costume when he runs. I run with him at races several times a year. He has gone on to run 135 marathon distance runs in a year, and in 2014 finished 41 100-mile+ races in a calendar year, a world best. He embraces the Jester theme well and has his own “Jester Nation.” Ed is kind to all and very encouraging, usually with a group of runners following after him. He broke several age group American records for long distances. In April, 2016, he ran 717 miles in ten days at Sri Chinmoy.

At all the fixed-time races with Ed, when the direction of running changes, you will see the Jester coming toward you ringing a cow bell, blowing a train whistle and giving high fives. Ed said, “If I can bring some fun to the race, that’s my goal. I don’t take myself too seriously during a race, I want to have fun, have adventures, and make memories. I love nature, the trails, and the courses but it’s the people. I love all the people. I love big-scene marathons–the energy, the interactions. This is what really keeps me going.” Ed will likely achieve 200 100+-milers in the next couple years.

Martina Hausmann

Martina Hausmann (142+ finishes) age 58 in 2018 is from Germany. She started running ultras about 1988. She is likely the most prolific multi-day runner in the world, participating in more than 80 events. She runs and walks and is known to be relentless. She also is likely the world leader in 200+ milers with about 50, and is a four-time finisher of Spartathon, finishing in 4th three times. She has about 40 women’s 100-mile+ wins, and a regular winner at Across The Years.

Martina has excelled at 1000+ mile races with an amazing eight finishes, always on the podium. Her best 6-day was 470 miles. She has set world age group records for 48 hours and ran in the 2009 Trans-Europe race, 2,787 miles.

Dan Brenden

Dan Brenden (about 140 finishes), age 67 in 2018, from Phoenix, Arizona is a humble, friendly runner, and good friend of mine. He started his 100-mile career about 2002 at the age of 51. He has completed the grand slam of ultrarunning eight times, more than anyone in history. I’ve shared many miles with Dan. You will always see him smiling and running in his short shorts. DNFs are becoming more frequent for him, but he is tough as nails and continues do what he enjoys. He is very humble about his amazing accomplishments. I’ve tried to have him tell me how many 100-mile finishes he has, but he does not really like to put focus on himself. HMis last 100-miler was in 2016.

In 2016, after we ran at the same race near Las Vegas, Dan sent me a note that contained: “I was impressed how hard you were pushing it even so early in the run—any way you were impressive and motivating that I really need to follow your example more and push harder—I did sprints this morning—not fun but did it—OH well it was a start in your direction. Very Nice Davy thanks for getting me going in the right direction.” Amazing! I totally look up to him but he is always looking to others to improve.

Richard Brown

Richard Brown (132+ finishes), age 71 in 2018, of England, is Sandra’s husband. They both started walking and running 100 miles in 1982. The year 1988, at the age of 45 was a huge year for Richard. He logged a total of 5,936 miles. He first broke the world record walking Ireland end-to-end, 375 miles in 4 days, 12 hours. He then ran in the Sri Chinmoy 1,000 mile race held in New York, reaching 518 miles in six days, setting a British record. He then ran 144 miles in 24 hours at Preston, England. He then set a world record walking the Great Britain end-to-end, 826 miles in 10 days, 18 hours.

Richard’s best time racewalking 100 miles was 16:50:28 in 1993, that in 2018 was still the second best British time ever. In 1991 he became only the sixth person in history to go over 400K at a 48-hour race. Richard reached 100×100 milers in 2004, second only to Sandra. As he reached 60 and beyond he set world age group records for six days. Richard generously gave back to the sport as a coach. For about ten years Richard served as the team manager of the British Ultramarathon team. The men’s team became World Champions in 2015 at Turin, Italy. By the end of 2018, he had achieved more than 132 100-milers and was still being signed up by Sandra for more.

Mike Smith

Mike Smith (130+ finishes) age 61 in 2018, is from Indiana, and now living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He started running in 1995 with a goal to finish a marathon. That evolved into finishing his first 100-miler at Umstead 100 in 1999. Mike has taken his running talents all over the world including Antarctica. He finished the Grand Slam of ultrarunning in 2014 and in 2016 he achieved his 100th 100-mile finish. He hopes to finish a 100-miler on every continent.

Like all the others in this group he has emphasized the grueling mental strength needed to accomplish this milestone. “Some people who are more qualified will give up mentally. You can’t undo what happens. You have to overcome.” Mike said to distract himself from the pain, he enjoys the scenery. In order to race so many 100s, he explained that there is no off season. He said, “I’m never really competitive. I’m not the fastest, but I finish.” For Mike it isn’t about collecting the buckles, “it’s the people, I keep collecting friends, because it’s such a neat community.”

Monica Scholz

Monica Scholz (about 125+ finishes), age 51 in 2018, is an attorney from Canada. She has a long list of accomplishments. She began her 100-mile running career in 1999, at the age of 31. She was fast with a 2001 18:48 overall win in Ohio. She also won the 2004 Trail Runner Series, female ultra division. In 2010, she set the best for most 100-mile finishes in a year at 25 (Later broken by Liz Bauer and then by Ed Ettinghausen). She has finished the very tough H.U.R.T 100 eleven times and Badwater seven times.

Monica once said, “Tuning out during a 100 is a nice break for me and allows me some fresh perspective when I get back to work. Also most of my 100s were on trails, which is another reason why I loved them so much. 100-mile races are peculiar events, and I think for the most part they tend to be along the prettiest trails in any given province or state.” On how to finish, she said, “You have to be very determined and stubborn. The mental determination allows you to get through. Make sure you have your head together, keep your focus, don’t waver.” Monica’s last 100-mile finish was in 2013.

Catra Corbett

Catra Corbett aka “Dirt Diva” (115+ finishes) age 53 in 2018, from California can’t be missed on the trail with her colorful dress, more than 50 tattoos and numerous piercings. She took up running in 1996 after finding herself in jail in 1994, a meth addict. She had abused drugs and alcohol for 20 years. She cleaned up her life, overcame her addiction, and instead became addicted to running 100 miles. She started running 100s in 1999 at the age of 34. In 2004 she did the 424 mile round-trip of the John Muir Trail over many 12,000 and 13,000 peaks in just over 12 days, a feat which no one has attempted to break yet.

Her advice for life: “Always think positive. You know, things will always be better, even if you hit a rough patch in life, just use what you learned from your running: go through it, keep going, always remains positive. Sunshine behind the dark clouds!” If you count Catra’s additional solo-100+ milers, she had completed more than 140 100+ milers. She has moved up to be a regular at 200-mile events. She is the author of the 2018 book, Reborn on the Run: My Journey from Addiction to Ultramarathons.

John Geesler

John Geesler (115+ finishes), age 59 in 2018, is from New York. John was a world-class 24-hour and multi-day runner. He has run marathons for many years and as of 2018 has a streak of 31 straight Boston Marathon finishes. In 1991 he started running 100-milers, his first at Vermont 100. “I ran a lot marathons and heard about ultras. I thought 100 miles sounded a little crazy, so I tried a 50-miler. That went so well I figured I’d try a hundred. At the time, there were only seven hundreds in the country. Being from New York state, Vermont was the easiest to drive to, so I signed up.” By 2018 he had finished an astonishing 26 Vermont 100s. He said, “The scenery and atmosphere are intoxicating. It’s a very laid back state. I love the horses and the whole package.”

John ran trail 100s for many years but in 1996 started to run 24-hour races at Olander Park in Ohio and he quickly developed into a world-class 24-hour runner on the flat surfaces. In 2000, he ran an amazing 157 miles at Olander and in 2004 set an American road 48-hour record of 400k (248 miles) at Across the Years, a record that stood until 2011. John could run 100 miles faster that 15 hours including a 14:44:44 split at 2004 Olander. I met John for the first time in 2008 at Across the Years and each year have enjoyed his company and tried to keep up with him. He is a humble, quiet, steady runner who has the ability to fight of sleep and stay on the track better than anyone else. I’ve seen him injured, yet it continues to walk slowly on the track piling up miles. As six day races returned, in his late 50s he became one of the best. in 2015 he reached his best of 437 miles. He has the most career miles at Across the Years with 4,541 miles in his 15 years there. He is a 3-time USA 24-Hour Run National Champion and 5-time national team member. I’m proud to call him my friend. John said, “I don’t train, so much as I just go run. Don’t have a log, or keep track of miles or time. I just want to enjoy the run.”

Susan Donnelly

Susan Donnelly (110+ finishes), age 55 is from Tennessee. She ran track in high school and quickly discovered that she performed well in the long distances but in the 1980s there wasn’t much support for girls who wanted to run long. She participated in 5 and 10ks and eventually ran a marathon. When she read about Ann Trason running Western States 100 in a magazine, she wanted to run 100 miles. But after a burst appendix and almost 10 years of diversions, she finally started running ultras in 1996 and she eventually ran her first 100 at Superior in 1999 in Minnesota. Her 100th also came at Superior in 2017.

Susan wrote about her 100×100 accomplishment. “I never set a goal to run 100 100-mile races. I mean, not at the start. Not until late last year when I noticed I was getting close. And of course, that would be cool. When I started running 100s, I set out to do one. One. Uno. That’s all I saw. I had such a hard time even wrapping my mind around the distance, it was all I could do to focus on it enough to run it. I didn’t imagine running 100 of them, much less aim for it.” She further said, “The best way to sum it all up is that even after so many 100s, I’m continually surprised at what I’m capable of. We all underestimate ourselves far more than we even realize.”

In 2018, Susan continues to run 100s, with eight finishes included a 240+-miler. She is now a life coach. She wrote, “To say life coaching changed my life is an amusing understatement. It helped me create a life I love, gave me that long-sought purpose, created a way to use all that ultrarunning wisdom for good, and gave the tools i needed to help lift others up. All in one.”

John W Taylor

John W Taylor (110+ finishes), age 57 in 2018, is from in Minnesota. He started running ultras in 2001 and ran his first 100-miler in 2005 at San Diego 100. He completed his 100th 100-miler together with Susan Donnelly at 2017 Superior 100. Earlier that year John had encouraged me to join both of them for my 100th, but I was too far behind to catch them.

John has shared many tales of his 100-milers including an experience while running 2015 Grand Mesa 100 at nearly 10,000 feet. “At about mile 88, I was running at a pretty good pace downhill on a smooth gravel road and a pickup truck pulled up alongside me. As he’s driving alongside me, he was telling me that I was quite the athlete to be out there running at that altitude. It was so odd to be out there alone for so long and to have some random guy out there driving by me trying to engage me in a conversation as I am running down a road. He also had no idea that I was in a race and that I had been out there for the last 28 hours.”

I’ve run many races with John who is always so friendly. Living in Minnesota, John doesn’t shy away from the difficult cold-weather races. He has finished Arrowhead 135 five times and to cap off 2018 finished Tuscobia 160-miler in 64:18.

Ray Krolewicz

Ray Krolewicz (about 105+finishes) age 63 in 2018, is a pioneer legend of modern-day ultrarunning. Of the entire group, he was the fastest 100-miler in his early days with a 13:58 in 1988 at Flushing Meadows in New York City. It is believed that he has finished more than 500 ultras and has more than 80 ultra wins. But even more important than these accomplishments, Ray is the champion for the common ultrarunner. He has taken on the role of mentor to the younger generation of ultrarunners, preaching that “there are no such thing as junk miles.” At the races, you will see him giving advice to young runners, helping them reach their potential, and cheering them on. It has been said, “If Ray K ever gives you advice on ultras, take it to the bank – it is good as gold.”

Along his way to more than 100 100-milers, Ray set records and excelled especially running 48 hours. He kept raising his American record and at one time held the four best 48-hour American performances in history. His best was 224 miles in 1984, set in France. In 1984 he was the first American to finish Spartathlon in Greece. Of Ray, Gary Cantrell (Laz) wrote in 1989, “Unarguably, he remains a fierce competitor and given the opportunity will crack the unwary opponent like an egg shell.” Ray doesn’t talk a lot about his amazing accomplishments and would rather encourage and help others. He still is running, finishing his most recent 100-miler in 2018.

Liz Bauer

Liz Bauer (100+ finishes) is from Georgia. She ran her first ultra in 2001 after overhearing some people talk about them on a bus ride. The next year she finished her first 100-miler.

In 2012 she accomplished the world best, with 36 100-mile finishes in a calendar year (breaking Monica Scholz’ best later increased to 41 by Ed Ettinghausen). She was accompanied by Scott Brockmeier who ran 27 of them with her. Liz said, “You can’t imagine the logistics.” The cost of accomplishing something like that was astonishing, about $25,000.

After it was all over, Liz said, “We’re so tired. We’re a little broken too. It’s going to take a while to put ourselves back together. But mostly we’re just tired.” Scott said, “I’m not surprised that Liz pulled off our goal and more. DNFing is not in her vocabulary.” She said, “Quitting was never an option. I ran through some pain, but never enough to stop me.” Asked about running so many back-to-back 100s, Liz explained, “I have learned that we can do so much more than we think. It is the hardest times in life we remember. A painful struggle can turn into a glorious victory if you are patient and believe in yourself.” She was still running strong in 2018, finishing off the year with 116 miles at Across the Years.

Davy Crockett

I never had visions of finishing many 100-milers. I was an average athlete. When I finished my first at 2005 Rocky Raccoon I was thrilled but managed to only finish one more 100 that first year. A respected elite runner called me that year a “DNF machine.” I had to learn and turned back to gaining more experience with the 50ks and 50-milers. When Hans finished his 100th 100-miler, I only had seven 100-mile finishes to my name. But, I had progressed to the point where I could finish ahead of Hans in a race. I could gage my progress by comparing our finishing times in the same races.

For years, I never had any hopes or goals on how many 100-milers I might one day finish, but with each year my finishes started to pile up. In 2011, I did set a goal to finish ten 100s that year and reached it, finishing my 47th 100. I noticed that on one list, it looked like I was among the top-20 for career 100-mile finishes.

One year at Bighorn 100, I rode in a car to the start with Hans-Dieter Weisshaar, Matt Watts and a couple other accomplished 100-milers. I started counting and realized that in the car were nearly 300 100-mile finishes to our names. When I experienced a severe tibia stress fracture in 2012, I wondered if my 100-mile days were over and if I would ever reach 50 100-mile finishes. I eventually recovered and finished my 50th that year at The Bear 100.

In 2013 I discovered that by running at least a 50K run every Saturday, my strength to run 100-milers more often increased and that I could recover very fast. That became my quest. I only averaged running 2.5 days per week to spend time with my family, but I still averaged running 62 miles per week by using the long run. My best year for long runs came in 2015 when I ran 40 weeks with at least a 50K run.

For 2015, I finished eleven 100-milers, in 2016, a personal best of twelve, and in 2017 eleven. I reached 75 finishes in early 2016 and I finally considered the possibility of one day reaching 100 finishes. So I set my sights on the 100×100 goal. That year I was running in the same race as Dan Brenden and Ed Ettinghausen and saw them walking together during the night. I thought about those two, their 100-mile accomplishments and longevity. I was so impressed. As I went by in the other direction, I called out, “There they are, the 100-mile legends!” They laughed. I have shared many miles with the two of them. Between the two of them at that point they had nearly 250 100-mile finishes.

By the end of 2017 I had finished 97 100s and the 100 finishes mark seemed within reach very soon until I became injured at Rocky Raccoon on its hurricane ravaged course, early in 2018. Surgery followed, healing didn’t happen as I hoped, and I started to refer to myself as a “former ultrarunner.” With little improvement, a second surgery was scheduled in late September 2018 but I cancelled it when suddenly I could start running again. I had signed up for the St. George marathon before my injury and decided to just go run it without much training and use it as a test to see if I could hope to run 100-milers again. The test worked. I finished in just over four hours.

I did careful low-mileage training and managed to finish two more 100s in October and November. I then decided to make Across The Years my 100th 100. It seemed fitting because I had a long history running there and accomplished my only sub-20-hour 100-milers there and PRs at all ultra distances.

It all worked out. I had a wonderful time finishing my 100th 100 and sharing the track with so many friends. To me this is astonishing. It seems like it was just a few years ago that I watched Hans finish his 66th as I DNFed my first attempt. I felt like such a failure and a poor runner. I never dreamed about being on a list that included his name.

For me, where does it go from here? I told everyone at Across the Years that I planned to take up bowling, so it is time to go shopping for a ball.