Why run ultra: the driving forces of an ultrarunner
“WHO could possibly want to run for that many hours at a time?!”
That’s a question I often get. After my recent five hour run on the local hiking trail for example. I understand that it sounds crazy in most people’s ears – setting your alarm clock for 6 am on a Saturday morning, starting your run still half asleep and wearing a down jacket, and knowing that you will be doing that for many more hours to come. Just placing one foot in front of the other until you, at some point several miles and hours later, arrive at your final destination of the day. And your company? Just your own mind.
Enjoying those first steps on a trail in the forest – magical!
“But how do you do it?”
The simple answer is that I’ve got a screw loose. The long answer is this (let’s shift our perspective for a second): I set my alarm clock for 6 am on a Saturday morning. By doing that, I get to enjoy the silence and calm that comes with the rest of the world being asleep. No stress, no worries. It’s just me, the early morning radio show and a cup of newly brewed hot coffee. After that there’s the freezing cold that hits me like a wall as I start my run, making me feel 1) fully alive and 2) badass for overcoming that first hurdle – which is actually getting out the door. And then the sun, the first rays of the sun greeting me hello this fine morning.
Those first, light steps on a forest trail. The sun seems to follow me wherever I go, and right now it’s peaking its way through the trees. The ground under me is hard and frozen. The birds are as awake as I am, good morning! I don’t meet another soul out there. Nothing else in the world exists, right then and there it’s just the forest and I.
Into the forest I go…
Yes, the fact is that I could philosophize about the driving forces behind my motivation for hours. Or what it really is that makes an ultrarunner continue for hours at end despite a lack of motivation, energy, sleep or food.
But actually, in this moment the last thing I’m thinking about is how much longer I’ve got. I’m not feeling the least bit sorry for myself. And that I am voluntarily out by myself, running alone for countless hours, doesn’t really have anything to do with deliberate self-harm. No, quite the opposite. I am embracing life to its fullest. Maximizing the experience of it. Because it’s in this particular moment, in the union between nature and me, where I really feel that I am alive. Yesterday is history, and tomorrow hasn’t yet arrived. Life happens right now.
Ultrarunning is a state of mind
For many of us, it happens all too easily that we let life pass by without being aware of it. We’re on autopilot. And once we realize a whole life has passed by, we can’t go back and change anything. To me, ultrarunning is my way of turning that autopilot button off, stopping for a second, taking in the present moment and reflecting about everything and nothing. This is just one of the many perks of ultrarunning – and I think many other ultrarunners out there would agree with me.
We run far – to remind ourselves that we are alive.
/Jënni