#44: Stories from the Vero Beach Octopus Ultra

It was another year for the Vero Beach Octopus Ultra. Of the many runners across the numerous distances, this year Chris Stangle, Jacob Strezinski, and Phil Patterson Jr took on the course. Chris won the 50k race with a time of 5:41:25! As for Jacob, this was his first ultra-marathon ever and he placed second behind Violetta Yazlovskaya with a time of 8:27:09. Phil finished this year with a time of 28:04:16, this was a huge redemption race for him as this race last year ended his 100-miler finish streak! 
The race is directed by Michael Strezinksi, which was originally born from his garage during the summer of 2020. After races were getting cancelled during COVID, he and a few others ran an out and back 8 times for 100 miles (and 33 hours). In 2021, the race moved to Environmental Learning Center to where it stands as the Octo-Hub today. To date now, finishing all 8 Octo-Arms within 32 hours earns you the esteemed and well-earned Octopus Buckle.
The idea behind the Octopus race is to have a centralized location, a base station, with 8 Octo-Arms out and back. The Vero Beach Octopus allows the new Ultra runners to complete their first Ultra completing Octo-Arm one (A1) and two (2); a 50k by completing A1, A2 and A3; and a 50 mile Ultra by finishing A1, A2, A3 and A4. Add A5 and you get a 100K. For the 100 Miler, you will be completing all eight of the Octo-Arms!