Ultra Running (2014)

“I decided to go for a little run.”
– Forrest Gump

“If you can’t run, then walk. And if you can’t walk, then crawl.
Do what you have to do. Just keep moving forward and never, ever give up.”
– Dean Karnazes

In 2014 I decided to take up ultra running. I am not historically a runner. In fact, I can truly say that my running debut began in 2012 when I realized how much happier my body was when I ran/walked more than a single mile. I had just returned from a year traveling across South America and needed to get back into shape. I took a summer to work up to 4-6 miles. Then, in 2013, I upped my game to 16 miles while training for the Colorado Trail. By 2014, I had stable job that was less conducive to long summer adventures, so I decided to merge my love of the outdoors and boundless energy into running ultras.

During the summer of 2014 I set a pretty rigid training schedule and signed up for series of races to keep me on track. Those races included:
-> April 12, 2014 – Horsetooth Half Marathon (13.1 mi) ->Ft. Collins, CO
-> May 3, 2014 – Collegiate Peaks Trail Run (25 mi) ->Buena Vista, CO
-> June 1, 2014 – Steamboat Marathon (26.2 mi) ->Steamboat Springs, CO
-> June 29, 2014 – Heart and Sole Half Marathon (13.1 mi) ->Boulder, CO
-> September 13, 2014 – Run, Rabbit, Run Endurance Run (50 mi) ->Steamboat Springs, CO

I was supposed to run the Grand Traverse 40 mile race before the 50 mile race, but cut open my left achilles. I was off running for a few weeks and could not train. Though I did discover Cross-Fit during that time. I have an awesome gym with incredible coaches.

Some interesting and/or entertaining reads I found while conceptualizing my ultra dreams.
1) The Ultimate Running Experience: Completing Your First Ultra-Marathon – By David Horton
2) Ultra Mania – By Michael Finkel
3) Yes You Can: Run an Ultramarathon – By Erin Beresini
4) The Complete Guide to Running Your First Ultramarathon – By Jeremy Berger
5) I ran my first 50 mile ultra marathon last week – By The Oatmeal
6) How YOU Can Run an Ultramarathon (and Still Have a Life) – By Matt Frazier (No Meat Athlete)

“Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its supreme lack of utility.
It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers
to run vast distances on foot.
There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the approval of peers.
But as poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time,
there is more to life than logic and common sense.
The ultra runners know this instinctively.
And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary.
They understand, perhaps better than anyone,
that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort.
In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call
from the deepest realms of their being — a call that asks who they are …”
– David Blaikie