“I ran a marathon and I felt like I couldn’t run another
step.”
“Why?”
“What you’re going to RUN 100 miles?!”
“Where do you sleep?”
These are a selection of the bemused comments that I usually
get from people when I try to explain my passion for running ultras.
Ultrarunning has become more and more popular over recent
years. If you haven’t ever tried one it would be very fair to wonder why
that’s the case! Stories from these sort of races usually start with
comments like “I felt awful…”, “I’d been running for 6 hours in the dark….”,
“My big toe nail fell off at mile 43…” – where is the fun in that?
If you have tried one then you’ll know about the amazing sense of adventure,
the friendships, camaraderie, sense of achievement in just finishing races
(rather than achieving a certain time) and that 3 day period after you finish
when you just can’t eat enough food!
For me, ultrarunning is an adventure. Yes, it’s a challenge
and hard physically but it’s often harder mentally. It’s amazing what the
body can do when the mind is willing - there is a saying for 100 mile races –
the first 50 is in your legs and the second 50 is in your head! The
events/challenges take you to some beautiful places at times when many people
won’t be there. At some points you are desperate to give up but that
makes the achievement mean so much more when you do finish. There are so
many variables to it and things to think about – sticking to the course,
eating, drinking, not getting too cold/hot, meeting cut offs, the terrain…..
These variables make it all very uncertain – when you start you genuinely don’t
know what will be happening/how you’ll be feeling or where you’ll be in
5/10/15hrs! I’ve learned the hard way that however well you think you are going
it can all change in a second. This uncertainty can be so painful but
it’s what’s so addictive and inspiring about these adventures!
This all may sound a bit daunting but it really
shouldn’t. Ask one that’s run an ultra and they’ll tell you that for most
people ultrarunning should really be called “ultrawalking with a little shuffle
run every now and again”. It is also really an eating competition – eating
enough to sustain yourself often becomes the biggest challenge. The
community of people that both organise and participate in these events are so
friendly, encouraging and supportive. There are also a huge range of
events – you can start with flat 30 mile races in the summer and if you want to
undertake 100+ mile races in the winter. There really is something for everyone.
There are many Harriers that achieve amazing things in the
ultrarunning world but as we are primarily a road and cross country club these
achievements often go unnoticed. I am hoping to have a guest section in
Ian’s news that rounds up all of the ultrarunning achievements of our members
and shares plans for future races/trips. It’s only right that many of
these inspiring achievements are shared with everyone. If you have run an
ultra/long distance trail challenge or anything similar that you think everyone
might be interested in please do drop me a few details and a few photos and
I’ll include them. How often this happens will depend on how much I’m
sent.
In these times when we possibly all need something to look
forward to in the future, maybe next year is to set yourself a challenge that
scares and inspires you in equal measure?
If you’ve got this far and want a bit more there is loads of
information out there. I’ve heard great things about a book called “The
rise of the ultra runners” by Adharanand Finn (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41817453-the-rise-of-the-ultra-runners)
or if you want something a bit shorter I’ve (finally) just posted a blog about
a route I did in December in the Brecon Beacons (https://dansummersrunning.blogspot.com/)
– and if you were about to ask, no, I didn’t stop to sleep!
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