Articles

For a select group of ultrarunners, December brings not only holiday cheer, but also notices of Barkley race entry acceptance. Their belated gift of more than 100 miles, over 60,000 feet of vertical gain, an unmarked course and inhospitable terrain won’t be theirs to unwrap until April.

People get into the sport of ultrarunning for various reasons. Some to escape: the roads, the crowds, the noise and the stresses of everyday life. Others, to explore: nature, new places and the limits of both body and mind.

To our delight, what we find out is those limits lie far beyond our wildest dreams. “I went somewhere I never thought possible” is a common refrain of any 100-mile finisher.

Runners are different. We’ve got unique coping mechanisms which help us hurdle through our training. I’ve got friends who won’t slow down until their watch reads “.00” after the last mile. Some run religiously seven days a week, while others train on flat surfaces to avoid slower times on Strava.

“How you are now, is how you will be.” I was at a weekly group meditation sit and the guest speaker said this during his talk. My first thought was “if only I had heard this a few days ago when I was slogging through the Bryce 100.”

On September 10, John Vanderpot will attempt his fifth consecutive completion of the Los Pinos 50K. He currently has the most finishes by a runner for what some consider one of the most badass 50K courses around.

Over the years, I’ve seen numerous runners who, in my opinion, have put undue focus on a race. They become totally fixated on doing well at a particular event that they almost feel that they should not enjoy the training, as if in some way suffering through hard training is part and parcel with doing well on race day. This is totally wrong.