Why We Do It

It hurts. It hurts really bad. But just like someone who has been broken-hearted, someone who swears never to love with their heart again, someone who refuses to get involved again, we go back.

Ahem.

Maybe not to the one that broke our hearts, but to another person, another race, another experience.

And it crushes us...but we love it anyway.

On the Ultra List today, people were talking a bit about why we run...and there were two delightful responses that made me think, "Yes, so absolutely true."

"Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot.  There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets,  apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time there is more to life than logic and common sense. The
ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something  else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand perhaps better than anyone that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort.  In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being – a call that asks who they are."
  – David Blaikie

I'll answer your question. I run ultras because they are FUN ! I love to run and walk. Travelling on foot is first class travel for me and doing an ultra makes it even more appealing. Most ultras are catered (aid stations). There is motivation (a touch of competition). there is companionship (much more important to me than competition. People mark wonderful courses where otherwise i would get hopelessly lost. People create devilishly hard courses that are more fun than can be expressed (i
love hard bits). There are lots of reasons to do ultras. One big reason is that they are always a great party. I volunteered at a 50k last month to fulfill my requirement for Vermont and i still had a great time.
Running is fun ! Running events are fun !
--Marina Brown