My brother (a Marine) does ultra marathons, such as Comrades in South Africa and the Marathon des Sables through the Sahara. He does it because they are there and he likes being in the company of serious runners.

Anonymous wrote:Most are running away from something..reformed alcoholics or liefestyle issues. I have done the JFK 50 miler and its not much worse than the MCM..just a little longer at that point its all mental

I know one person who does these, has for years, and s/he is absolutely running away from a few things. Interesting thought.

Anonymous wrote:Most are running away from something..reformed alcoholics or liefestyle issues. I have done the JFK 50 miler and its not much worse than the MCM..just a little longer at that point its all mental

Urrr...I've done a few ultras and I'm not running away from anything. I love the ultra community who are, believe it or not, in many ways much more laid back than other running communities. I also love that ultras are almost always trail runs. I much prefer going the distance in a beautiful place than pounding the miles on the road. Training did not take much more time than training for a marathon (assuming you are already in good long distance running shape). The longest I ever do when training is 30 miles. It really is all about the mental game. Ultras don't take any more of a toll on my body than marathons. I agreed to do my first while enjoying a beer with one of my running buddies. After my first, I was smitten and ended up doing 3 more.

Anonymous wrote:Most are running away from something..reformed alcoholics or liefestyle issues. I have done the JFK 50 miler and its not much worse than the MCM..just a little longer at that point its all mental

Funny, the one guy I know who is really into this, is running from his former life as a fatty.

Anonymous wrote:Most are running away from something..reformed alcoholics or liefestyle issues. I have done the JFK 50 miler and its not much worse than the MCM..just a little longer at that point its all mental

Speak for yourself. Geez. I know a bunch of people who've done them. I don't think they're running away from anything. Just looking for new challenges after completing marathons/Ironmans.

My husband did one just to prove he could do it. He did the north face endurance challenge 50k. He hasn't run much since then but he does still enjoy shorter distances. He was also inspired by the born to run book.

DD's soccer coach does the Leadville 100 and he seems like a normal person...just because PP runs to deal with her issues doesn't mean that everyone does.

Most are running away from something..reformed alcoholics or liefestyle issues. I have done the JFK 50 miler and its not much worse than the MCM..just a little longer at that point its all mental

Read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. It's a great book about marathons, ultra marathons and how we were built for long distances. Fascinating and inspiring read. I got it for Christmas in 2009 and ran my first marathon in the fall of 2010 at age 44.

I have not.

But I have run a marathon, and I would guess that after running several marathons, you are just up for the next challenge, you know?

I'm asking out of idle curiosity, not because I want to do it myself (my goal for 20214 is a 10k, which I find daunting enough!) I just read an article about someone I went to college with who trains for/runs ultra marathons and it piqued my interest. I'd love to know what motivates people to want to run one, how they make time for all the training, what (if any) toll it took on the body, etc. would love to hear about anyone's experience with one.