In August, 2010, I posted what I thought would be the beginning of an exciting adventure to another blog. The post went something like this:
I just read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougle and now I want to be an Ultra Marathoner. So I plan to go barefoot, run a marathon next month, a 50 miler the month after, and a 100 mile race in about six months. Go me!
Well as anyone who followed that blog (which no one did) knew, I only posted three other times before sub-coming to the inevitable truth: I was weak and naive and it would take a heck of lot more than reading a book to make me an Ultra Runner.
I recall vividly calling my brother and fellow runner at 6:45 AM one morning to brag about my greatest running accomplishment to date at the time: "Dude, I just ran 10 miles!" Double digits...
Then there was the day I headed out for an 18 miler in preparation for my first Marathon (about a year after the "next month" plan). Around mile 12 I was limping badly due to a pain in my lower leg and by mile 15 I was completely down. X-rays would later show a stress fracture that kept me from training for two full months. (You may notice that I always encourage runners to stay on the cautious side when building mileage...that's why).
I did run a baby Ultra in March of 2011. 50 Kilometers or 31 miles (about 5 miles more than a standard Marathon). It was incredible, although perhaps a little premature. My wife was within a hairs width of taking me to the hospital. I was severally dehydrated and suffering from heat exhaustion, so nauseated that I couldn't keep anything down and could not stand up without being overcome by dizziness.
But the journey continued. I learned that ultra running is much more about RFP (Relentless Forward Progress) than about barefoot running, sole searching, or the mythical runner's high. It is one thing to read a book and think, "26 miles is a piece of cake!" It is quite another thing to run those "easy" 26 miles.
More than two years after I set the goal, I finally feel that I am in a position to attempt to achieve that goal. In February, 2013, I will attempt to run 100 miles at the Rocky Raccoon trail race.
