Why do we love Ultras ? Why do we abandon(DNF) them ?

We all have all sorts of answers to these two questions. I find however most of the answers wrong. Maybe because I am a holistic life practitioner ? What ? Simply means I like to take all aspects of life into the picture, when I have statements or when I make decisions. 

What triggered this blogpost ? Well, nothing and everything. A french podcast I recently listened was one of them. Not gonna tell you which one with who. However, we talk about a runner, who won a couple of medium key, but hard races, then he became a race organizer and a coach. I am not gonna do the same like they did in the podcast, that after the guy actually was selling his life philosophy for 35minutes, the interviewer asks, so you don't run anymore , but what do you do ? What ? Yeah actually, he was basically just selling how hard of a guy he is because he never abandoned a race, finished this and that with this sort of tendonitis, with that sort of knee issue, with a low back problem, that during preparation he lost that much weight to be light, that had arousal issues, that some of his nutritional practices were admittedly not great, BUT HE NEVER EVER EVER EVER abandoned a race. Though he completely abandoned the sport at it's finest, after only like 10-15 years of practice. He cannot run anymore and do some ultra cycling, that is it. I mean, yeah if for 15 years you run with a crappy form, training like a mad man, not knowing about periodization, posture, running form, nutrition, hydration, cross training, functional training and so, just running and running volume, yes, you can totally destroy your health on a way, that the only real training you'll do is breathing. Period.

I am not bashing on him, I am not trying to create controversy. The way however, he was talking, is like judging every one else, trying to making him look like a god, that he never abandoned a race.
I think it is a quite narcissistic and closed eyed view, on life or on our sport. Look at Jim Walsley, who abandoned many races, till he perfected them to come back. Look at many marathoners who abandon their event, to actually not to lose something, but create more fitness, by cutting a race in half, not loosing speed stimulus and trying it in another time, not so far off away. Look at these runners, who go un-prepped or overcooked, surprised by environmental conditions, injured or ill. DNF is not only a great escape route, but a way to future performance and motivation. Just part of the learning curve. Not less, not more.

This earth is giant, the universe is ginormous, we are dust particles. Who the hell will remember or draw inspirations if you abandoned one, two or 50 races in your life ? Second, why do you care ?
I have a great friend, one of the unsung heroes. Charly. He is like 93 and has been running for like 80 years now and still see him on the "Promenade" at least 3 times a week on his daily jog. Really ? Yes. OR the other Charly, who is also 93, just carried the Olympic torch and has been training for over 40 years. 

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Why do we ultra run ? 

All of us have different answers. Someone consider themselves an ultra runner. Someone likes the mental aspect, the disciplinary part. Others the organizational part and how it reflects on their daily life. Some really enjoy the ultra endurance section and how enduring is great for their overall well being. Some one wants to loose weight. Others just like mountains, moving through high passes, so time to time they throw in a challenge. Then there are the men who identify clearly as ultra runners, there are the pro athletes who chose or did not have a chance to do something else. There are many more sorts of idealistic descriptors for ultra runners.
Some who are pro, DNFing can mean issues with the sponsor. They might not really have a lot of chances, so throwing up and finishing with fever and piing blood is often over glorified. Even in this case, maybe DNFing and not finishing 5th or 8th, could mean, winning the next race, shortening recovery and eliminating further health issues and early quitting from the sport.
Sometimes, quitting for pain and fatigue is only a little mental glitch. That one needs preparation and different training methods. I did quit a race 2 times back in the day, before I finished the third time. For the first two events I was physically extremely prepped. For the second one, I got physically, nutrition and hydration prepped, all topped out in perfection. As I was in an extremely great shape for both, I did not try just to run them, but the come from behind and go on the podium. Then, for the third one, I did a very average very low volume preparation, some altitude training and loads of thinking and mental training. My only goal was to Finnish and never to come back.Done and dusted, over and out. The winnin time this year was I guess around  20 - 22 hours. I was out for 38 and two nights. 

I won many races in my life and podiummed even more. However, never in ultras. Well outside of one of the big races like 13 years ago, but that was also only 63km. 

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I personally don't really like ultras. I don't like suffering and pushing myself on a way, that it impacts me for hours on end in deep suffering. Nor do I like the downtime and recovery it needs post ultra. I tried on the TOR the Geants for instance. I did only 220km of it. Probably during the prep, I drank in a "toxic" stream, so post race immediately I had fever and this fever was on and off for a month, including diarrhea and fatigue. I love to move, jog, run, climb, trail run, so much, that it doesn't worth it. I don't even remember anything from the race. In addition it was very expensive. What do I remember ? The prep ! I spent a lot of weekends with friends in he Mountains proceeding. I went the alps twice and the Pyerenees twice during the preparation. I ran the 42km of Ubaye Salomon with a friend and the 53 of Trofeo Kima. I traveled and hiked a lot before. I did the UTMB tour on my own during the UTMB week while my wife worked at the stands. I mean, I absolutely loved the travel and the adventures. With Ben a great friend, we did a near 20 hour outing, scrambling and climbing, totally destroying our clothing and running shoes, leaving unscratched, but with great memories.

I am also way more performant in shorter races. This is why, if I want to go long, I prefer adventures. I eat when I want, I sleep when I want, I just do what, when and however I want. If I wanted to race, I race and kill myself over 10 or 30km, so there is no more, pain, only fast recovery.

I don't judge anybody. I don't underestimate the power of short races nor over estimate the difficulty of long races. I quit many races and completed even more. The hardest thing I have ever done was the GR20 with my wife. We had giant backpacks. I was carrying around 27kgs. 35% was snow covered, so we used a lot our ice axes and climbing boots. We had to escape from lightning storms many times. I lost like 10kgs for he 7days of through hike. We made it through and we enjoyed and cried every moment of it. Those are the moments I live for. I of course remember the races I did, I won, but I also have greater memories for events and races, that I quit or where I spent time with friends.

 

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