Hellgate
Awakening a Runner's Soul
By: Roger A. Sutton

Josh Stanton is a distance runner. When he was young, he tortured himself mercilessly on the track and, even though his goal of making an Olympic team always seemed just out of reach, he struggled to maximize his potential. While racing, every second was precious and no sacrifice was too large. The training paid off and, in his early twenty’s, Josh ran hundreds of races from the mile to the marathon, consistently improving and winning.

Then, at age 23 it was over. During a routine track workout, a nagging achilles problem escalated into a career ending injury. Knowing his best performances were behind him, he reluctantly retired from racing and tried to bury his dreams.

20 years later, by chance, Josh stumbles into the fringe sport of ultra-marathoning and rekindles his lost passion for running. After a few years of learning the ropes, he enters the Hellgate endurance run, a 66-mile trail race in the Virginia Mountains. Unable to come up with the performance he expects, Josh is compelled to answer a simple question. Why is he here? At age 43, Josh has to re-evaluate his motivation for running. Can he run for the pure joy of it, or is he to be forever tortured by the lost glory of his past. He has to search his soul to find answers to the questions that have haunted him ever since he started his comeback.