This summer, I am running a race known as a "backyard ultra." The basic premise of this race is that participants will run 4.167 miles every single hour. Participants will continue running 4.167 miles each hour for as long as they can keep going, with the last person standing being declared a winner. Sounds kind of crazy, right? The race that I am running is called the Ode to Laz, set as a tribute to Lazarus Lake. If you know Laz, you probably know him as the founder of The Barkley Marathons, a 100+ mile race through the hills of Tennessee. For those that have watched the documentary on Netflix…
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6 Great Reasons to Run an Ultramarathon
"100 kilometers? That is further than I drive!" This is usually the most common response when people find out that I run ultramarathons. And honestly, I completely get it. Running for 31, 62, or 100 miles certainly seems like it is a little bit crazy. Why do runners subject themselves to the pain and discomfort of running such incredible distances? We even pay to run these events. As my brother-in-law told me, he'd be happy just to drop me off 100 miles from my house, as long as I paid him $100 first. So why do we do it? Why do we spend months training just so we can go…
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Just Sign Up For It
Sometimes, you need to signup for something even if you are not quite ready for it. This past weekend, I traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana with my wife to run the Monumental Marathon. We both ended up running great times in the marathon. Laura ran her best marathon time since 2012 and I had my best time since 2007, one year after my oldest son was born. Besides just running well, we also had a great weekend in Indianapolis, enjoying some of the great sights and restaurants throughout the city. For me, this marathon was an extremely emotional return to running. As I was running through the last quarter mile or…
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Entering the Pain Cave at the Run Woodstock 100k
How do we know our upper limits unless we push through the limits that are already in place? As humans, there are physical limits on what we can do. However, since the earliest days of our species, Homo Sapiens have always tried to push through these boundaries. During our hunter and gatherer days, we pushed through these boundaries in the search for food or while trying to avoid our enemies. In the book Born to Run, Christopher McDougall even hypothesizes that we used endurance running to track down prey, literally running animals to death.
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Accept the Difficult Invitation: Running the Mohican Trail Marathon on 5 Days Notice
A few months after graduating from college, I ran the Detroit International Marathon. This marathon is awesome because you get to start in the United States, cross over a bridge into Canada, and then finish back in the U.S.! Although this marathon was awesome, it was also the hardest physical thing that I ever did. Walking up and down stairs the next day became almost impossible. I didn't run for a couple of weeks afterwards and my legs felt sore for months. I honestly thought that I would never run a marathon again … and I was almost correct because it took me 2 years before I ran another one.
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Using Marathon Endurance to Win in Life
Over my lifetime, I have run 26 marathons, plus numerous other “fun runs” that are as long or longer than the marathon distance. I am definitely not the best runner in the world and have never won any of these marathons. However, I am also competitive with many other runners and usually finish in the top 5-15% of the field. I have even qualified for the Boston Marathon a few times and have won a couple of shorter, local races. Overall, I consider myself to be a fairly good runner, but not the best one out there. However, if I lined against 7 other people in a 100 meter race,…
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5 Great Ways to Get in Shape
I may be in the minority, but I absolutely love working out. Even better than coffee, a good workout provides a buzz that lasts for many hours afterwards. It can help me to feel more awake and alert, be more confident during interactions with others, and generally feel better about myself. Working out also allows me to play with my kids and to avoid “Feats of Middle Age,” as are depicted in these hilarious advertisements. The bottom line is that being in shape helps me to live a long, full, and happy life. Since working out and being in shape are so beneficial to everything that we do in life, I…
