My name is Mike McKnight. I've been an ultrarunner for 13 years. In 2019, I made my "breakthrough" as an athlete when I won all three of Destination Trail's 200-Mile races, setting records at all three in the process: The Bigfoot 200 in August, the Tahoe 200 in September, and the Moab 240 in October. Since then, I've focused on the long races and events within ultra running. 200-mile races. 500+ mile FKT attempts. In 2020, I set the FKT on the 500-Mile Colorado Trail. I'm also an ultrarunning coach and live in Northern Utah with my wife and two children.

In February of 2012, I was in a skiing accident and shattered my L1 Vertebrae. I was almost paralyzed and had emergency surgery where 9 screws and 2 rods were placed in my back. The surgeon told me I'd be bed-ridden for a while, and because of that, I dropped out of college for the year and lost my job. I had a miraculous recovery. Three and a half weeks after surgery, I started running again. 6 weeks post-surgery, I ran a 10k. Since I had dropped out of college and lost my job, I had nothing else to do, so I just started running for hours a day. I ended up getting a new job, where I met someone who told me about ultra-running. He invited me to train with him, and pace him at the Bear 100. I instantly fell in love with the sport and ran my first ultra just over one year post surgery.

Just ultrarunning! I didn't do sports growing up. I loathed physical activity. Some friends in high school invited me to go mountain biking with them. I borrowed a bike and gave it a try. Less than one mile into the ride, I convinced all of my friends to quit early by offering to buy them all dinner at Golden Corral. I hated sports that much. 

Earlier this year, I started having some lower back pain. I went to a few different sports doctors, and they all felt it was SI Instability [an excessive or abnormal movement between the sacroiliac joints.] So, I purchased an SI belt to use during my training for Cocodona 2025. This helped a little, but I was always a little uncomfortable. I did ok at Cocodona, but I had to wear that belt the entire time and it was uncomfortable. I'd make it super tight, which would make it hard to digest food. So, I'd end up loosening it up, which would hurt my back. Shortly after finishing Cocodona, some laundry detergent fell off of a shelf at our Airbnb and spilled everywhere. I didn't know about this because it happened while I was sleeping. I got up in the middle of the night, kept the lights off to not wake myself up, and walked through the detergent. I slipped and fell HARD on my back, which caused a herniated disk. 19x11 mm. According to all the doctors I've visited, it's a miracle that I've been able to walk through this injury because of how big the herniation is and how bad it has been pushing into my nerves. For the past couple of months, walking and standing has been very uncomfortable. I went from getting 20,000+ steps a day, to barely getting over 1,000. With walking being unbearable, running has been out of the question. I was going to get surgery, but my insurance denied me and said I needed to do 6 weeks of physical therapy first. 

I'm extremely passionate about being active. I love running. Lifting weights. Going for walks. Mountain biking with my son. Taking my dogs for a hike. To go from constantly being on my feet, to hardly being able to stand, has been extremely difficult mentally. In the 13 years I've been an ultrarunner (before this), my most serious injury only took me out for 2 weeks. I've never had an injury this severe. To put things into perspective, this has been harder to recover from than when I broke my back.

At first, it was extremely difficult. I was sad and in so much pain. But my wife, who is a cyclist, told me to get on a bike and see if I could do that pain free. Fortunately, with how I have to bend on a bike, all pressure is taken off of my herniated disc while riding a bike. So, I instantly signed up for a few races to motivate me, and dove headfirst into cycling. My base went from 0 miles a week, to averaging over 250 miles a week. Since June, when I started, I've cycled over 3,000 miles.I'm extremely passionate about being active. I love running. Lifting weights. Going for walks. Mountain biking with my son. Taking my dogs for a hike. To go from constantly being on my feet, to hardly being able to stand, has been extremely difficult mentally. In the 13 years I've been an ultrarunner (before this), my most serious injury only took me out for 2 weeks. I've never had an injury this severe. To put things into perspective, this has been harder to recover from than when I broke my back.

I honestly don't know what my definition of strength was before this experience. But now, it's pretty simple. How well can someone adapt when things go wrong? If things aren't perfect, are you going to give up? Or are you going to call an audible and adjust how you move forward? Things won't always be perfect, so we need to be able to adapt to whatever is thrown at us. 

My wife, kids, close friends, and the athletes that I coach.

Reminding myself that the lows aren't permanent. Whenever I'm deep in a 200-mile race, I have to remind myself that when things get low, those things won't always be low. I've had to think this way a lot lately. This injury isn't permanent. Things will get better, and I'll be back to running again. 

That I can succeed at anything I set my mind to. I knew nothing about cycling after Cocodona. But with just a few months of dedicated training, I've done two races and gotten on the podium at both of them. Dedication and consistency are greater than genes in my opinion.

It's all about mindset. Being on your feet for 18 hours is a long time. It hurts. It mentally drains you. Being on your bike for 18 hours is a long time. It hurts. It mentally drains you. But with both sports, you need to push through the pain and keep moving forward. Instead of "just one step forward," it becomes "just one crank forward." 

I don't like talking about my achievements. It feels like a form of bragging. But when it comes to this, I'll admit that I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I've learned that I'm a very resilient guy. And to me, that is one of my greatest accomplishments ever. 

Everyone tells me that they look at "professional athletes" and feel like everything is perfect for them. They get to do what they love as a job. They're always thriving. They don't have struggles. This isn't true at all. We struggle at times with motivation. We sometimes want to quit. We do get injured. And it absolutely sucks when we do. But, we gotta adapt and deal with the hand that was dealt to us.

That it's totally ok and normal. Yes, it sucks. But it's normal. We are pushing our bodies in an extreme way. And you can do everything possible to avoid injury – strength training, mobility, time off – but sometimes, injuries just happen. Think of it like a car. You can be perfect at taking care of it. You service it every 3,000 miles. You put in the premium gas. You take care of it. But sometimes, a car just shuts down. That's how our bodies are. When that happens, it usually is your body just crying for a break. My body wanted a break from running this year. It was ok with me cycling. But after 13 years of running with hardly any injury or time off, it was ready for a significant break. 

Stay hopeful and adapt. It's pretty simple.

When I first started running, my wife would write "just one step forward" on my arm. I ended up getting that tattooed on my arm. So, I've been leaning on a similar mantra. Just one day at a time.

Injinji rocks!!