September 2025 VFE Featured Athlete – Francisco Hernandez. Sport: Ultramarathoning and mountaineering

In 2013, I ran my first marathon. I brute forced my way through training, pushing hard during every single run. You can guess how that went. When I came back to the world of running nearly a decade later, I decided I needed to be a bit smarter about my training. I reset my mentality, and was able to successfully run 3 marathons that first year. In between marathons, I saw an ad for the Kodiak Ultramarathons. While I was an avid hiker and mountaineer, it never crossed my mind to run on trails. I signed up for the 21K with basically no trail running experience. I finished the race and was so hooked on trail running that I got home and immediately signed up for a 100K, How much worse than a marathon could it really be? I was in for a reality check. While I was able to brute force my way to a 50K finish, the 100K was a different story. I suffered almost every mile of that race. By some miracle, I managed to finish.

I couldn’t really wrap my head around how I managed to cross that finish line. Then I remembered something I told myself before the race: Can you take one more step? Yes? Then you’re not done. That’s when I realized just how far a strong mind can take you. Of course you’re going to suffer during these races, everyone does. What makes a difference is how you decide to respond to that pain. Once again, I went back to the drawing board to change up my training.

With ultramarathon training, you quickly learn that its mind over body. You have to be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable situations to prepare your mind. That can look like running in 100-degree weather or running deep in the remote wilderness with no one in sight. These types of situations help you understand how you react to adverse conditions during a race. With mountaineering, your life can depend on making correct decisions under stressful moments. You truly learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

While running is a hobby, training can be a huge time commitment. I do my best to carve out countless hours of my week for training. I try to look at what life commitments I have for the week ahead of time, and schedule my miles, time and location based off that. The nice thing about running is that you can do it almost anywhere. Sometimes you end up running at weird hours of the day, other times you end up running in places that you would have never otherwise checked out. Then there are the times when life is just too busy, and you end up cutting runs short, and that’s ok. Part of fortifying your mind is accepting that a few runs not going your way will not make or break your training cycle.

After miles and miles of training, your body takes a toll, even if you aren’t pushing hard during every single run. I met Steven Goitia at Run with Us a little over a year ago. One of my calves was so tight that I was struggling to run. He was able to provide some relief with a quick 10 minute session, and I knew he was my guy. What made me go back for other sessions was that he didn’t just starting attacking my calf, but rather tried to get to the root of the problem. He has a great understanding of your body mechanics and really takes the time to understand your injury or pain. It’s definitely a part of my week that I look forward to, knowing that I’ll walk out of the VFE office with sore muscles, but ready to take on another demanding week of training.