Jameson Collins
Jameson Collins was so wrecked upon finishing his first 50-kilometer footrace in 2022 that he vowed never to repeat the distance.
Amnesia set in quickly, however, and within days he entered the lottery for a 240-mile race in Utah.
And 18 months later, the Eagle River resident completed the Triple Crown of 200s — three races in less than three months totaling about 650 miles — in second place.
How is that even possible?
“I’m still in awe that I was able to make that much progress and get over the imposter syndrome. Maybe I have the potential to be pretty good (at this),” Collins said by phone recently from Oregon, where he’s spending part of the winter.
Said TR Jamar, who witnessed his friend’s transformation from neophyte to endurance-racing savant: “He developed an unwavering belief that he could do something incredible and he trusted the process of development.”
Collins, 39, was a late bloomer to running after building solid fitness as a U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighter from 2004-18. “I was good at hiking, but I suffered through the running workouts (in training),” he said.
After hanging up his firefighting boots, Collins began running recreationally in 2018 while living in his native Northern California.
The pursuit started to take off upon moving to Fairbanks in the fall of 2022, when he discovered trail running.
“I had recently quit drinking and was making some changes in my life,” Collins said. “When we got to Fairbanks I saw signs around town for the Equinox Marathon. It sounded cool (so I decided) I’m obviously going to do that.”
He finished his first Equinox in a respectable 4 hours, 38 minutes, good for 120th place overall. And because he’d won the lottery for the Moab 240, he toed the line in Utah three weeks later.
The Moab race did not go well, though he managed to finish in 4 days, 14 hours and 24 minutes.
“It was an absolute catastrophe,” said Collins, who battled blisters, debilitating fatigue and myriad other challenges.
At the finish of the Moab 240. Photo by Jason Peters
Collins, joined every step of the way by Jamar, finished three hours before the cutoff time.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it most of the time,” he said. “I just had some really intense, life-changing experiences. (But I thought) I want to do that again. Basically, I signed up for the (2023) Triple Crown on the drive home from Moab.”
The Triple Crown of 200s begins with the Tahoe 200 Endurance Run in California in July, continues with the Bigfoot 200 in August (in the Mount St. Helens region of Washington) and concludes with the Moab 240 in October. An average of only 20 runners per year have accomplished the feat since 2018.
Collins became the first Alaska resident to finish by knocking all three off in a combined 224 hours, 17 minutes, trailing only Wes Ritner of Colorado (217 hours) in the 2023 standings.
To help prepare, Collins spent a good chunk of the 2022-23 winter in the Lower 48 (his wife Hannah works as a traveling physical therapist). He also hired a coach, Jeff Garmire, who has hiked long-distance routes including the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails and set Fastest Known Times on various shorter routes.
Collins’ training mileage is less than one might imagine — he averages about 70 miles per week while logging about 15-20 hours that includes a fair amount of hiking. His construction job also helps build endurance.
Bigfoot 200. Photo by James Myron Roh
“I have 8-10 hours on my feet (working), then I run. That’s a solid day of training,” he said.
For Tahoe, Collins had a goal of finishing in the top 10 and was pleased to place ninth in 71:47 while leaving something in the tank.
Jamar, who met Collins at a run club in Eagle River, joined his friend for about 70 miles at Tahoe. He recalls being amazed that Collins picked up his pace after being alerted that another competitor was not far behind them.
“For the next 20 miles it took everything I had not to let him drop me as we cranked out ~10-minute miles up and down the mountains at elevation while he was 200 miles deep into this race!” Jamar said. “I will never forget as the sun was coming up and we were shredding this single track up above Lake Tahoe. I was in absolute awe of what he was doing.”
With only 17 days between Tahoe and Bigfoot, Collins only ran once, focusing instead on recovery with quality sleep, nutrition, mobility stretching, and walking.
Bigfoot, at 208 miles with more than 45,000 feet of elevation gain and nearly 47,000 feet of descent, is considered to have the most difficult terrain in the Triple Crown. Collins met his goal of a 75-hour finish and placed 20th overall.
Bigfoot 200. Photo by James Myron Roh
That didn’t come easily.
“I got caught by the sleep monster and had to stop and sleep three hours,” Collins said. “Then I had a rebirth.”
Hallucinations are common and Collins says they can be alleviated by taking five-minute trail naps to “reset” his brain. At Bigfoot, Collins said he tried to use an outhouse that was in his imagination, and “stopped dead in my tracks to let a pack of sea turtles by.”
When he began speaking gibberish, Collins accepted that he needed a few hours of real sleep.
The Moab 240 concluded his Triple Crown. Collins said his sleep and nutrition finally clicked and he knocked an astounding 33 hours off his result from the year before, finishing fifth overall in 77:12. One highlight was sharing some miles with Torrey Short of Homer (32nd in 95:24). Unlike at Tahoe, Collins gave the trail everything his body and mind would allow.
Collins is currently enjoying a well-earned break in competition before tackling his next goal: qualifying for the 2024 Big’s Backyard Ultra “Last Runner Standing” event in Tennessee by placing well at the Saguaro Showdown in Arizona on January 20.
“His effort, dedication, and perseverance toward this audacious (Triple Crown) task have been astounding,” Jamar said.