I will have to get Sam's 3 things, but for now, here are mine which came to me while running up the fabulous Dias Ridge trail 15 miles into my run this morning. The 3 things I love about ultrarunning:
1) Women compete with the men, for REAL. I remember the first ultramarathon I watched. It was cold, foggy, horrible and I had just completed my own short, non-ultra race and was really ready to head home to warmth. We stayed at the race site though since one of our friends was racing the 50k and we wanted to see him come in. Our friend, Rick Gaston was an ultramachine and we knew he was going to come in fast (and he still does come in fast, check him out at his blog!) We wait, we shiver, I don't want to be there, we wait, we wait. Then the first runner is sighted down the trail. He is coming in. NO. WAIT. It is not a he. It is a she. It is Caitlin Smith, who I don't know or even know of. All I know is that men are supposed to win races outright. I know that men win, women kick butt but in their own category. Well, this was a game changer for me and made me love the sport immediately. Now that I am in the know and obsessively read ultra blogs and running articles I know that Caitlin regularly kicks boys' asses but so do other women in this sport. Diana Finkel came in second in the 2010 Hardrock 100 OVERALL people. Ann Trason -just look it up, this stuff is mindblowing. And don't even get me started on age, the oldies are the goodies in this sport.
2) I always feel like I win. Running long runs is like heading to battle. You prep for the fight. Training runs, massage, stretching, cross training, eating right, eating almost right, well just eating, then more running. You suit up in your armor, put on your hydration system and hope you make it. Then the battle begins, first it is fun, weeeee, we are winning. Mile 3, mile 5, mile 13, up hills, crossing streams, you are definitely winning, mile 15, eating, staying hydrated, floating over rocks and then after 3 hours the tests start, your battle is on. You trained. There are ups, downs, sometimes it feels like all you can do is just stop, curl up in a ball and nap but then the endorphins rush in, you think of that rockin' song and it kicks on in your head and you are back to life again and pushing, mile 18, mile 22, you on fire. Only on the truly long runs can you experience this true up with the full on down and the amazing feeling of coming back up. It translates into other things as this mental toughness. I love knowing I can push through and it makes me tougher at work, tougher in life and stronger for it. I win.
3) FOOD. Yup, I said it. I like to run real far so I can eat chocolate. I eat chocolate muffins, chocolate milk, chocolate cookies, even chocolate covered broccoli if that was any good. Nothing more satisfying then a post run snack of something sinfully delicious. Looking forward to TransRockies Run as that it going to be 6 days of indulgence.
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