I Am Legion, For We Are Many

The most common opening remark for most people when they see me in passing is "Have you got any mad events lined up?" If people know that I've got something in the pipeline and I describe it to them the standard response, again, is that I am a bit unhinged. There seems to be something about ultra running that a large number of people can't get their heads around. Their experience of distance running of any distance is watching the London Marathon once a year and making a comment that they would love to do it but there's no way they'd ever be able to and, just like that, the dream dies.

What people (who haven't read Born To Run) fail to understand is that distance running, especially ultras, is totally natural. It is what humans were designed to do so they would be able to run down and kill far faster but less endurable animals and they could then feed their family. Over time the need to catch and kill has lessened and running distances has become a long forgotten ability only remaining as a primeval instinct that is all too quickly shaken off. There are now easier ways of travelling great distances so why would anyone want to run them?

What is it that drives those who choose to do these so called mad endeavours? I think the answer is best analogised by an incentive set up on the Grand to Grand Ultra Facebook page. A challenge is set each month, with the intention of giving those who accept some training benefit. The key word there is 'CHALLENGE'; some people want challenges and rise to them and these are the ones who are most capable of becoming an ultra runner. I believe that most people could train their bodies to regain a long lost skill but very few of those have the mentality to accomplish it. People who accept the challenge are the ones who will say "how can I accomplish that?" as opposed to "I can't do that"

A prime example is the challenge that finishes today. This was to run and ascend 30% of the G2G course over 7 days or less, which meant 82.25km of distance and 1640mtrs of ascent. Having not yet fully recovered from a training accident involving a collision with a cyclist (a blog post in itself) I realised last Saturday that I was coming close to the latest challenge cut off date. It never occurred to me that maybe I should sit this one out with a sicknote from my Mum. So I sat down and worked out a programme for the week. The thought that I had to cover the distance and elevation having had over 2 weeks out also didn't occur to me, only that I needed to complete the challenge. Taking on Wales' highest mountain and covering almost 1000mtrs of ascent on day 1 probably wasn't the best idea and left me with stiff quads for the remainder of the week but I did it all nonetheless.

I did think, as I was running this morning's final leg around Newborough Forest, that performance on these challenges would be quite easy to fake and who would ever find out. I would never take that option as the effort is no longer a challenge but a failure and I don't believe there's a single person in the group who would consider it.

With all that in mind it seems that the ultra runner is not mad at all but is a searcher, constantly looking for ways to test themselves, like Bodhi in Point Break looking for the ultimate ride. Ultra runners find a challenge and then, in the words of the great Patches O'Hoolihan "Grab it by the horns and hump it into submission". In my mind, the mad ones are those who don't take the opportunity to do what they are genetically made up to do, especially when there are so many beautiful places to do it. There are more and more people moving up the distances now so maybe one day we'll tip the balance back towards our roots.

I am Ultra Runner and we are many