About

About Shank Gym .... 

Shank Gym is not a business, brand, or coaching service. It’s my independent research project — built from a lifetime of Spartan racing, ultra running, lifting, and the questions that movement forces you to confront.
I’ve raced 230 Spartan Races, earned 70 lifetime Trifectas, run 10 road marathons, completed 20 ultra-marathons, fought through a bazillion shorter races, and earned two black belts along the way. None of this happened because I’m talented. It happened because I kept showing up.

I’ve been doing this long enough that when someone on course asks what time I started, I always give the only honest answer:
“8:30 AM, July 4th, 1974.”

That was my first race — a tiny Fourth of July 10K — and in a way I’ve just kept going. Everything since has simply been continuity, not achievement.

In 2025, I had a total hip arthroplasty. That experience changed the way I trained, the way I healed, and the way I thought — not just about running, but about the body, identity, and time. I wrote about it in more depth on Post Illusion Press, my Substack where I publish longer personal and philosophical pieces. That writing helped me understand rebuilding not as a setback, but as another chapter in the same long race that started in 1974.

Shank Gym exists because I needed a way to connect my endurance life with the world I was running through.
The trail systems, the geology underfoot, the sky above me during night runs, the histories of the regions I race in, and the philosophical questions that training pulls out of you whether you want them or not — it all started merging into one project.
So the site evolved into five pillars:

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• Way Through — race reviews and endurance notes

• Sky Above — astrophotography and the structure of the universe

• Ground Below — geology, deep time, and the landscapes we run on

• Human Story — the history of the regions I travel through

• Drive Within — philosophy, psychology, and meaning

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These aren’t hobbies. They’re one integrated system — the way I make sense of the world.

Everything here is part of a long-term study of how the body, the landscape, and the cosmos shape human understanding. The references and footnotes aren’t meant to impress anyone. They’re simply where I found the information, so you can find it too. I document all of this because it puts my training into context — and maybe it will for you as well.
If you find any of this interesting, welcome.
 


– T. Shankapotomous
Shank Gym / Post Illusion Press