Part 1: 20 Questions With Mikey Bee

Name: Mikey Bee

Location: Jupiter, FL

Company: Sand Spur Ultras

List of races: Jupiter Ridge Sand Spur, The Trident Trail Races, Hungryland

1. How did you first get into running, and at what point did you realize “normal distances” weren’t enough anymore?

I had always loved hiking and being outdoors, but after getting sober in 2012, I found myself with no direction, and when your hobby is drinking, your lifestyle needs to change for sobriety to be sustainable. So I walked. Like, a lot. Miles and miles per week. The love of exploration was there but I needed to satisfy the desire to occupy my mind and body with less time away from home. I ran a treadmill 5k every evening for weeks before I finally combined my love of being outside with my new found love of running. The distance build-up came naturally; normal distances were never enough. Every distance milestone for me was just a bridge to the next one. But at some point my distance aspirations exceeded my physical capabilities, and especially early on without knowledge of proper nutrition, cross training, taking care of budding injuries, etc. There are distances that have eluded me still to this day. And it’s okay because it’s just part of my story. We all have a path we’ve been on and the successes and failures were all meaningful in their own ways.

2. What has been your most memorable race or running adventure so far? 

No one event in particular stands out, but the best memories I have of  running were the early days when I met the many wonderful people in the Florida trail and ultra community - new faces, new places. Probably mundane to others, but I recall even shorter training runs with friends with great fondness, getting to know people, developing friendships, and seeing new places. A close 2nd would be Javelina in 2019. Best runcation ever, hands down. Good friends, good running, and I got a top age group award in the Jackass 31k Night Trail. Not even an ultra distance, but the whole trip was unforgettable.

3. What accomplishment in running are you most proud of—and is it the one people would expect? 

I don’t know what people would expect. I think it’s not commonly known that I excelled in the 5k to 50k distances in the early days with a couple overall wins and many age group placements. Ultra was always my happy place but I’m not the most patient person, so shorter distances satisfied my need to compete without the time commitment of a longer race. Those early wins and PRs that I never managed to break are still reminders that I used to be fast.

4. What’s one running mistake you made early on that you see newer ultrarunners making today? 

Overreaching without training. I 100% believe people can do anything, but humility is a good thing to carry with you as you attempt things that are out of your wheelhouse. Bravado will get you to the race, but training and execution will get you across the finish line. 

5. If you could go back and give brand-new runner Mikey Bee one piece of advice, what would it be?

Savor every moment. Even the crappy ones. What we do can be fleeting and intermittently wonderful/miserable. Even on short, mundane training runs, take some moments to just enjoy the ride. It’s a privilege to be able to run. 

6. How did you go from runner to race director? Was it planned, or did you somehow accidentally end up responsible for everyone else’s suffering? 

The arc from runner to race director started with leading group runs, which led to a couple years leading a neighborhood 10 miler in a more organized fashion. I think that’s when the creation and directing bug bit me. The next big step was creating the Sand Spur with my friend Jen Quellhorst. It just organically materialized as we’d run together at Jupiter Ridge, and the murmurs of “we should put a race on here” started. It was too good to pass up. It was a beautiful area, super challenging, and unique. In the trail and ultra community, sugar sand was uttered with groans of displeasure, but we leaned into it. It felt special from the get-go. And now that the race is coming up on a decade old, it feels validating to have done what we did. The Trident and Hungryland were just extensions of that same spirit of offering something unique and challenging. 

7. What surprised you most about the behind-the-scenes side of putting on races?

The amount of work involved, hands down. Promoting, marketing, communication, dealing with vendors and service providers, permitting, dealing with government agencies, rallying volunteers, course creation, race day operations - there’s a lot to it, and it’s always surprising to me how much there is, and the process can only be streamlined to a certain degree. Race directing on race day is less than 50% of the work done by some race directors, while the other 50% occurs before and after a race. It can be daunting.

8. What is the most rewarding part of being a race director?

No question, seeing people cross the finish line. It’s the ultimate conclusion to the entire process. If that reason isn’t paramount to you as a race director, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

9. Race directing means dealing with weather, permits, logistics, runners, volunteers, and everything in between—what has been your craziest race-day problem you had to solve?

Every race has come with its own unique challenges, and problem-solving should be the main tool in your arsenal. And even then things can go sideways - goods being delivered to the wrong address, shortages of volunteers, storms that blow course markings off the course, medical emergencies, etc. I’ve been fortunate in that those things, though not nonexistent, have been kept to a minimum. Holding a race is an inherently dicey endeavor for a variety of reasons, but the advice I’d give to new races directors (including myself) would be to prepare for the unknown, be ready to problem-solve on the fly, and own up to your own mistakes when they happen.Try to learn and grow from everything that goes great, and also everything that goes sideways, because something will. 

10. As a runner yourself, what things did you know you wanted to include (or avoid) when creating your own events?

I have always wanted my events to have a strong psychological component in addition to the physical challenges. In my early running days, most races were a given that I’d finish, with my only iffy considerations being how fast I’d go, where I’d rank, and who I’d beat. But when I found races that, despite my best training efforts, would come with the uncertainty of even finishing, those were the ones I was drawn to. Fear and dread can be great motivators, and if you wake up on race day for one of my races, and you don’t experience even a little dread, I haven’t done my job. I want you to genuinely not be certain you can finish one of my races. What if every race was a gimme? What if every race was easy? You don’t get personal growth from that. We need the contrast of failure existing with success to recognize and gauge growth. I knew I wanted my events to not just have an element of uncertainty, but also a daunting feeling of going into battle with yourself physically and mentally.

11. What’s the funniest or strangest thing you’ve ever seen happen at one of your races?

Probably a pair of Hokas in the porta-potty with a huge #2 on top of them. I took a picture of it. It’s as funny and as gross as you can imagine it is. 

12. For someone who has never heard of The Trident before, how would you describe it? Where did the idea come from?

The idea was a total accident. I was training for UROC in 2017 and designed a short training loop on the dunes at Jupiter Ridge that had the most elevation gain/loss in the shortest distance. I was never an early morning runner, so in August I waited until 1 pm to try this new training loop and was absolutely decimated by it. You can still search my Strava for an entry entitled “OMG” to see the very first running of the loop that is now the Trident loop. It was horrendous - the heat, the humidity, the sun exposure, the sand, the hills, the flies, the disorientation of the loop configuration, the repetition - the Trident is very much a “sum of its parts” concept. While no one aspect is particularly terrible, all those things together make it, in my opinion, one of the toughest 3.3 mile race loops around. After finishing that run on the walk back to my car, I was able to see the GPS track on Strava, and even that looked positively sinister. From there, the ideas came pretty fast and by August of 2018, the race began as a half marathon starting at noon. It got traction pretty quickly and has evolved, by design, to be a revolving carousel of different races on the same course, but with different formats and distances. Describing it is a tough one, but it is essentially concentrated endurance. I don’t know of any other Florida race where you can get the most pain and suffering bang for your buck than the Trident.

13. The race format is definitely different—what kind of runner do you think thrives at The Trident?

Runners who have done specific training for this race: heat acclimation, sand training, fueling and hydrating under extreme conditions. You have to know what you’re getting into, and even that doesn’t guarantee a good performance. We’ve had road runners, triathletes, hikers, amateur and experienced trail and ultrarunners come have a go at it, and second to training is just the sheer tyranny of will it takes to finish it. People who embrace the concept and embrace the inevitable pain and suffering are who have historically done well out there.

14. What’s the biggest challenge runners underestimate about The Trident?

The heat and humidity. It’s just absolutely bonkers. It’s something people can’t fathom until they are in it. 

15. What do you hope runners are saying when they leave The Trident?

I’m just happy they are alive and talking. 

16. What’s one insider tip you would give someone showing up to race The Trident for the first time?

Talk to Trident veterans. They are a wealth of information for attacking this race. If they’re local, I also tell people to do on-course training in the heat of the day. The advice I give in pre-race meetings are to just take it easy on the first loop. See how your body and mind feel. Respect the difficulty level - the Trident is no course or race format to be taken lightly. It can be (and has been) dangerous when approached foolheartedly.

17. What do you think makes Florida ultrarunning special?

The community. No question about it. Florida may be big, but the Florida ultra community is like a family. From top to bottom and side to side, we all seem to know each other. It’s amazing.

18. Who is someone in the Florida running community you think deserves a shoutout?

Volunteers. No contest. We have people who travel on their own dime to volunteer. They use paid time off from their jobs to volunteer. They sit in often less than ideal conditions to feed runners, fix feet, encourage, ice down, talk to, and get people in and out of aid stations. People crew and pace runners. They photograph and video races. Where else but in ultra can you find that level of selflessness in a competitive sport? It’s such a gift to the race and everyone associated with it. It’s beautiful. 

19. You’re at mile 90 of a 100-miler and struggling. What food magically appears at the aid station to save your race?

Payday bar and an ice cold can of Coke. 

20. What is something people would be surprised to learn about Mikey Bee outside of running?

I’ve been called many things for the races I’ve created: evil, mean, sinister, etc. But outside of running and race directing, I’m pretty milquetoast. The only skeleton in my closet is the plastic skeleton I take to the races. 

Bonus: Finish this sentence: “You know you’re an ultrarunner when ______.”

When your Garmin reads 26.3 miles. 

For an in depth look at the community surrounding these races join the facebook group

For registration and results:

The Trident

Jupiter Ridge Sand Spur

Hungryland