Meet Adam Dyas!
Age: 44
Where do you currently live: Columbus, OH
Occupation: Supply Chain Finance for Wendy's Company
Family (kids, spouse, pets): Wife (Lauren), Son (Jack, 6), Daughter (Abigail, 4), Cat (Spaulding)
Have you been a part of TR2E? If so, how many years? My first year
What is your connection to Adaptive Sports? Why did you choose to fundraise for Vermont Adaptive? I don't have a direct connection to adaptive sports. I'm choosing to fundraise for Vermont Adaptive as a result of my own experience with restorative and contemplative benefits of sport. In my mid-thirties, I finally found my bottom with addiction. Eight years later, I'm still sober. A lot went into my recovery. Some time was spent in a rehabilitation facility, lots of time in the rooms of a 12 step program and more time spent in running shoes. Ultrarunning pushed me past the point of just healing. Pass the point of just maintaining. Running past the marathon distance brought me to a place beyond just believing I could do hard things. I knew I could do them.
Number of Ultras run: 26
Name and date of first Ultra: JFK 50, November 21, 2015
What is your best race experience: The Antelope Canyon 50 mile in 2018. This race has all the hallmarks of a good ultra - great volunteers, efficient logistics and a well-marked course. There’s also a lot of other stuff going on. You’re running and preparing in and around the Navajo Nation through a totally alien and astounding landscape. It is beautiful, it’s tragic, it is eye-opening and it’s uplifting. I’ve never run anywhere or anything else that felt so significant and it continues to impact my thoughts and actions to this day.
Was there a specific person or event that has influenced or inspired you? There's so much inspiration and so many different types of inspiration in running that I'm hard pressed to identify a single individual. Watching people run blisteringly fast 13 hour 100s is amazing and their talent and training is certainly inspiring. To see people run FKTs along trails that are thousands of miles longs is a testament to their grit and determination. Following the careers of runner who have been in the game for 10, 20 or 30 years is inspiring when one thinks about their commitment and dedication. But the most inspiring people are those you see at an aid station in states of complete mental, emotional or physical destruction. You watch them try to pull themselves back together. You watch their crew and the aid station volunteers try to fix them. A lot of the times it doesn't work and that's the end, but sometimes you get to see them get up and go back on course. Sometimes they end up passing you later in the day. Those are the most inspiring people to me. They had to climb more than just the mountains on the course to overcome the challenges set before them on that particular and they were victorious in that effort.
Who do you admire in the Ultrarunning community: Karl Meltzer and Maggie Guterl.
What is your biggest fear: Something happening to my kids.
What’s your favorite comfort food: Flank steak, lima beans and mashed potatoes.
What race is on your bucket list: The Eiger Ultra Trail 101k
What makes you happy: My family, the New England coast and getting to the top of almost any mountain in the George Washington National Forest.
What is your biggest pet peeve: People who don’t care about other people. To quote a wise man, “Without people, you’re nothing.”
What are your goals for Vermont 100? I'd like to beat my VT100 2019 time!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years: I hope to still be running ultras and I hope I’ve managed to check some items off my bucket list. Hopefully, I’m still looking for and finding ways to give back to the community I’m a part of and helping people realize their own dreams. We keep making noise about moving to Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine, so there’s a good chance that’s where I’ll find myself in ten years.
