ERIN MACNABB: ULTRA MARATHONER, ULTRA ADMINISTRATOR

Michael Carlson '03, Director of Sports Information

September 28th, around 3:00 PM Mountain Time in Fish Haven, Idaho, Trinity Valley’s Assistant Athletic Director, Erin MacNabb, crossed the finish line of the 2024 Bear 100 Mile Race. Exhausted, MacNabb, who is also the program director for the Trojan Cross Country team, embraced her mother, her inspiration for getting into endurance sports. The Bear 100 Mile Race is a treacherous test of endurance, beginning in Logan, Utah and ending in Fish Haven, Idaho, involving not only the 100 miles, but also 22,800+ feet of climbing, with a max elevation of 9043 feet above sea level. 

It’s tough, with a capital “T,” but like everything else in her life, Erin approached the race with a positive attitude, a relentless work ethic, and a creed: “You have to be willing to just keep moving forward.”

Coach MacNabb was not always a marathoner. Her athletic career started when she was a gymnast in her hometown just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. “Gymnastics was my go-to my entire life,” says MacNabb. “By the time my parents realized how deep we were into it, it was too late.” Erin played other sports, including swimming and diving, and was a state champion pole vaulter on her school’s track team, but for Erin, gymnastics provided opportunities that to her that the other sports could not. 

When she was 13 years old, Erin attended the Team USA Gymnastics Camp in New York. There she met Coach Frank Kudlac, a meeting that seemed unremarkable at the time. By her junior year of high school, Erin, experiencing burnout from her gymnastics club, was contacted by Coach Kudlac who was now the head coach at Texas Woman's University. Her entire career as a gymnast to this point, she was constantly told about how going [NCAA] Division 1 was the only route, but Erin found comfort in Coach Kudlac and quickly accepted her offer to compete for TWU. “We get so focused on the high and mighty that sometimes we lose sight of the best experience for who we are,” says Erin. In 2003, TWU won the USA Collegiate National Championship with Erin as a competitor on the uneven bars. 

After graduation, with competitive gymnastics behind her, Erin began her career teaching and coaching at Bedford Junior High, but her love for competition and proclivity for a challenge found her trying out for the women’s professional football team, Dallas Diamonds. She recalls, “My friend told me about open tryouts for the Diamonds and I found I liked to hit people!” Erin was selected as a fullback, but was soon moved to the defensive side of the ball as it became clear her communication skills and competitiveness were a better fit for linebacker. “My favorite part of playing the SAM backer was the pressure of relaying all the information to align the rest of the defense to be successful. And,” Erin proclaims with a big smile, “getting to light somebody up!” With Erin at the helm, the Diamonds won the championship in 2005 and 2006. 

In 2008, after her third season in the Women’s Professional Football League, Erin traveled to Florida to watch her mother compete in her mother’s first Ironman race. Here, something changed for Erin. “At the Ironman, I witnessed the positive energy and environment of those athletes and community, and it was something that I wanted to be a part of.” Immediately following her mother’s race, Erin signed herself up for the following year's race. With the enticement of a new challenge, Erin walked away from football to begin training to race her first Ironman. 

In 2020, the world as we knew it changed. Now having competed in 10 total Ironman races, Erin, like the rest of us needed a new outlet. Trail running became a viable distraction from the COVID era for Erin. Through trail running, she found one race that was still open: a 66k race in Austin, TX. The Rattler Run is a qualifier for the 100 miler in Leadville, Colorado. After finishing the Rattler Run, Erin was selected to run the LT100 Run for 2022, which she enthusiastically accepted. That would be Erin’s first experience with a 100 miler, and the things she learned were invaluable for her next challenges. “If you just keep taking steps, you’ll eventually get to the finish line. You just have to be willing to just keep moving forward,” she says.

After her 11th Ironman in 2021, Erin began training again, this time for the Bear 100 Mile Endurance Run. On September 25, 2024, Erin departed Fort Worth for Salt Lake City, Utah. There she met her parents and the rest of her race crew, and it was off to Logan. At 6:00 AM on Friday, September 27, the race began. 

The “crew” is an important part of the 100-mile run. After mile 45, you are allowed to have a pacer with you. A pacer is someone who runs with you to help pace you and keep you safe throughout the endurance race. They are also there to help provide food and hydration during the race. 

“Training on the flatlands of Texas made climbing the hardest part of the race,” she notes, The Bear 100 Miler has an elevation range of 4852 - 9043 feet above sea level, with over 22,800 feet of climbing. “Just keep moving forward.”

There are no breaks, not even for sleep. “Getting through the night, you have to overcome the desire to sleep and keep moving forward,” says Erin. Erin’s friend Stephanie, a math teacher in Keller ISD, paced Erin through the night and through miles 51 to 91. “Once the sun hits your skin, you get a new rush of energy,” Erin says. “I was very proud of myself for making it through the night and being able to eat and drink to keep fueled.” 

Erin’s mother was her pacer for the last nine miles. Around 3:00 PM on Saturday, September 28, Erin crossed the finish line with her mom alongside her. Erin was exhausted but uplifted, getting to finish this test of endurance with her inspiration, her mom, beside her. “Doing these events is when I feel most alive because you experience all of the emotions in such a short period of time,” Erin reflects. “You have to push yourself beyond what you, and other people, think is possible.”

Erin returned to Trinity Valley School two days later, on Monday, September 30, still in recovery from racing. That week was Homecoming, one of the biggest weeks of sports at TVS. Erin missed zero days along her recovery. She continued to show up to morning cross country practice and getting her work done in her role as Assistant Athletic Director. In fact, the only time Coach MacNabb took away from school after her race was to go on the Washington, DC TOE trip with the eighth graders, immediately getting on a bus upon their return to campus to travel to Austin for a cross country meet. “I got some sleep on the plane.”

Never satisfied, Erin was still processing the entire event a month later and thinking about why she continues to push herself personally and professionally. “You have to be willing to put in hundreds and thousands of hours of work and feel content knowing that these hours are unnoticed,” she says. “I want to be an example to the kids that no matter how hard things get, just keep moving forward,” she advises. “Pushing your body to do hard things makes the other hard things in life a little bit easier.

“I'm not done either. I’m going to keep challenging myself personally and professionally until I can’t anymore,” which we all hope is a long way off and ends with the TVS community cheering her on at the finish line.