From an outside perspective it may appear that I’ve been running ultras for a while but the reality is that I am relatively new to the sport. I was one of the many that took up the sport during the pandemic. I fell in love with the trails, the adventure and the challenge that trail and ultra running brought. During the pandemic I shifted my athletic focus from Ironman to trail running, the switch was anything but smooth.
Two weekends ago was a perfect opportunity to reflect on my first ever trail race. I was part of a relay team of 7 that ran the Sinister 7 100 miler in 2021. I was absolutely humbled and rocked by my 30km leg of the relay. I had severe calf cramps in the back third and on two occasions found myself flat on the ground due to the cramps. Fast forward to later that year in Sept at the Finlayson Arm 50k. I was less than halfway through the race I experienced debilitating cramps, I hobbled my way to the finish line of my first ultra. I made a lot of rookie mistakes going out too hard, under hydrated and under fuelling. Luckily after this experiences I course corrected and had some race results that better reflected my fitness. The beginning of my trail running was not a smooth take off but a rocky ride.
Every year since 2021 I’ve followed a trajectory of increasing race distance. 2022 100km, 2023 100M (DNF) and now I’ve settled nicely at 100 miles. As I trained longer distances became normalized the challenge needed to grow and that is how we got to 100 miles. Not that I don’t enjoy the other distances but venturing into the realm of the unknown is alluring, wondering what is possible and what you are capable of. The challenge to see if you are up for the task and able to finish such a feat. I think that is what draws a lot of people into running, trail running and ultra running. Most of life is comfortable compared to the hunter gather days where surviving was the challenge. We now look outward for a challenge, something that will take us out of our comfort zone and push us to something we aren’t entirely sure is possible. Hence the slippery slope of ultra running.
Through this process of challenge I discovered that I simply enjoy running for long periods of time. I believe that I’ve landed on a distance that I’ll remain at for a while yet. The 100 mile distance is an opportunity to run for a long period of time, essentially an entire day. In training we never run this far due to the stress on the body and save these efforts for racing. This makes the 100 mile race special, an opportunity to run all day long. What a treat! I realize that there are far and few people in the world who would say such a thing but when I line up for these long races I am most excited about the aspect of running for a long period of time.
That is how I got to running 100 miles, the initial challenge that ultimately resulted in finding pure joy in the sport. It wasn’t an overnight process or success, it was years in the making and staying patient. I look forward to where this adventure will take me
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