50 Minutes

I’ve been reading books about so-called “ultra-runners,” people who make running a marathon look like a walk in the park. That’s right, these people run 50 or more miles at a time, sometimes even eclipsing the 100 mile barrier.  

I received my first ultra-running book as a gift. Born to Run is a book by an oft-injured runner that encounters a tribe of ultra-runners hidden away in the mountains of Mexico. Even though I’m a runner, I wasn’t expecting to be entertained by the book. I mean, how exciting can it be to read about someone else running?

Well, it turns out, much like this blog, the book is more about life than running, and, perhaps unlike this blog, is entertaining for that reason.

Still, running 50 or more miles at a time gives even a dedicated runner moment to pause.

Let me clarify.

I run 30 miles per week, every week. 

I do this by running less than 50 minutes per day.

When that 50 minute marker hits, I feel a sense of relief that the run is over. Sure, I feel a sense of accomplishment and a bit of the old runner’s high, but, make no mistake, I’m happy the run is over. This is one reason I don’t race. I’m not competing with anyone. I’m just clocking my miles at my own pace. Forcing myself to compete, to improve my time, to run at an hour dictated by others – none of this is for me. I run to escape life’s deadlines, not add to them.

So you can only imagine what goes through my head when I read about these ultra-runners. Undoubtedly, I am impressed. But I can barely imagine running a marathon, much less two, three or four marathons in one run.

Figuring my opinion was biased, I set out to see what someone else thought. So I consulted another runner, only this guy is someone who has raced in 50 marathons. When I asked him for his thoughts about ultra-runners, I got a one-word response.

Crazy.

OK, then.

I must not be that biased if a dedicated marathoner thinks these runners are a bit odd, too.