#ultra-marathon

[deweydecimalchickens]

Endlessly refreshing the Barkley Marathons updates to see if my girl Jasmin Paris makes it onto loop 5. About 8 hours ago she was on track to be the first woman ever to finish the race.

You might remember her from previous ultra running achievements like "fastest woman to complete a Barkley Fun Run (3 loops, 60 miles)" and "overall winner and record-smasher of the Pennine Way Spine Race while expressing milk for her baby at aid stations".

For the uninitiated, Barkley is the most straight-up insane race that exists:

Limited to 35-40 attendees

5 loops totalling 100+ miles

Entrance requirements are...unclear, but include an essay section and a scavenger-hunt-type item

Course is unmarked and very mountainous; GPS navigation not permitted

Invented to mock James Earl Ray, who managed a measly 12 miles in the area during his prison escape

Most people don't finish the race, or even the Fun Run (only 10 people were left running as of last night, and that was a record high)

"Checkpoints" come in the form of finding a book that's been hidden on the course and tearing out the page matching your race number

Start time is whenever the organiser lights his cigarette

[sisterfhood]

Truly blessed to be alive at the same time as Simone Biles. Just learned she’s EIGHT YEARS past the average female gymnast retirement age and she is still improving and winning against much younger athletes + she’s likely preparing to compete in another Olympic Games in 2024.

A male gymnast could never achieve Simone Biles’ feats, they simply aren’t built for it. I appreciate how gymnastics is uniquely sexed because it shows women can dominate in feats of strength and physicality if the movements are designed to play to their physiological strengths.

But I really can’t stress enough how important her story is to young girls interested in athletics. Sports were so important to me growing up, but female athletes reach a point where they can no longer ignore that the boys are drawing bigger crowds, they are drawing more attention, they get the nicer locker rooms, nicer fields, nicer training facilities. You grow up and you realize there’s no place for you at the professional level, but there’s plenty of million dollar opportunities for the males. You realize the furthest you can go is college and that level of play for women only exists because title IX demanded it. You start to question yourself and your purpose. It often feels like the rest of the world is screaming at you that women’s sports are boring and nobody cares. You understand that men have a brute strength advantage that you can never overcome no matter how hard you train. People often insinuate this means women’s sports have no value, why would anyone want to watch the weaker sex compete? And it’s heartbreaking, because you didn’t ask for this female body with higher body fat percentages and lower muscle-building capacity to support the reproductive system, you’re just a kid who wants to play her favorite game. Your body feels like a curse. But Simone Biles tells a different story. What if athletics were appealing not solely because of the strength involved? What if factors such as flexibility, endurance, and balance were emphasized more? These too are athletic qualities!! These too are exciting to watch and difficult to master!! She changes the narrative that is subtly but pervasively shoved down our throats that sports=strength. Her technical skill is almost unfathomable and I could really go on all day about all the boundaries she’s broken in sports and how important her presence in sports media is. In summation: thank you for truly being the greatest of all time 🐐 SIMONE BILES.

[just-anka]

My biggest goal for this year was to hike 1,000 km in 21 days. It felt big, almost impossibly so, but over the months of training and preparation it started to feel within reach, if only just. And on Sunday, I finished! I still can't believe it. So many things went wrong on this hike. There were so many times when I thought the goal was out of reach, so many times I wanted to give up or simply thought that this time, it really isn't possible anymore. Yet every time, I found some way to keep going, to keep fighting. And in the end, it was enough. I'm so proud of everything I pushed through, and so unbelievably happy to be done. Also, so very tired. More thoughts to come I'm sure.

Also, the trail I did most of the miles on was incredible - so much harder than I expected and some pretty unpleasant sections but all the higher mountain terrain was amazing and lots of it was beautiful and so much fun! Nordkallotruta through Norway, Sweden and a little bit of Finland, all above the arctic circle. The midnight sun was pretty special.

[bsaka7]

that dude eating a stroopwafel at hockey halftime (?). i do always wonder about fuel in pro sports

[thinknandothink]

Saddles 100 with balance running

[gramarobin]

Watch "Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Against The Wind (Lyric Video)" on YouTube

@thisgingersnapped50 This was YOU today! Runnin against the wind 😳 But you did it!👏💙

[luvrunfall14]

10/07/2023

50K training

Did my longest training run for the 50k. Oh man this one was hard! I mentally wanted to quit at only 7 miles into it. But my brother encouraged me to keep going and then my sister in law biked by me for the last 12 miles. They are the best! 🥰. I had to take a couple walk breaks and had dropped off some water and gatorade at a couple spots for my own personal aid stations. Really proud i did this! I finished strong and felt pretty great especially the last half of it, once i got out of my own head lol.

Sorry for the ugly feet pics, im weird and consider blisters trophys from running 😂🤦‍♀️.

Took a little dip in the river afterwards felt like an ice bath a little. Felt good on my knees.

Really need to stretch, i stretched everytime i took a walk break today or stopped for water and that really helped. Im to tired tonight to stretch but tomorrow is a rest day and will stretch. The weather was beautiful and finally felt like fall. Got a little wet a couple times but not bad thankfully!

2 weeks till race day! Time to taper, im going to struggle cutting back on mileage.

This weeks mileage has been a 7, 5, 6, 9.3, 5 milers and todays 25 miler. 57 miles total for this week. 10 miles on the exercise bike Thursday, 2 strength workouts and 30 minutes of yoga. Really happy with my training this week 😁. Should of taken some pictures of my run, it was beautiful.

Well anyways im all over the place with this post 😝. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! Im off to bed now and to enjoy a quiet rest of the weekend with girls and hubby 😊.

[corrilibero]

Come affrontare al meglio la Maratona di Roma in modalità staffetta:

1 - corri la prima frazione da staffettista, spingi e cerca di dare il meglio (13km circa in 58'08") 2 - arriva nella prima zona di scambio, cerca il tuo compagno, trovalo e riparti con lui per fagli da pacer. 3 - raggiungi la terza zona di scambio, recupera il terzo compagno di squadra, chiedi che passo vuole tenere ed accompagnalo. 4 - raggiunta la quarta zona di scambio, recupera l'ultimo staffettista e riparti. 5 - arriva al traguardo, col sorriso dopo aver corso tutta la maratona di Roma... in modalità staffetta 😜.

Doveva essere staffetta, é diventata Maratona!

[ironmate]

The rise in ultra distance running is increasing in popularity, read more about it in this blog. https://curranz.com/blogs/news/the-rise-and-rise-of-ultra-running-why-running-a-marathon-is-no-longer-enough About Mark Kleanthous Mark is a full-time advanced performance coach and provides training plans, nutrition advice, mentoring, 1:2:1 coaching and for endurance athletes. Mark has been running for 43 consecutive years and has covered more than 100,000 kilometres in training and completed many ultra events including London to Brighton 88 km (sub 7 hours) Marathon des sables, Cyprus internal run challenge, European 100km championships, 24 hour track race plus 100+ marathons with a marathon personal best of 2:24:40. Coaching website- http://www.ironmatecoaching.co.uk/ Triathlon information website- http://www.ironmate.co.uk/ Instagram ironmate_coaching Face Book Mark Kleanthous About mark - http://www.ironmate.co.uk/about-mark-kleanthous-ironmate-mark #marathon #marathontraining #marathontrainingplan #ultra #runultra #longdistancerunning #nutrition #runcoach #ultracoach #marathonplans #nutrition #nutritonadvice #ironman #ironmantri #ironmantriathlon #ironmantriathlete #runcoach #runcoaching (at The World) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cngr1TorYXl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[oasisr]

I love watching ultra runners. They can do some tremendous things that require both endurance and mental toughness.

I am not a runner. I like to walk, jog, and lift weights. But, I am no Kerry Ward, Courtney Dauwalter, or David Goggins.

Also, the Barkley Marathons are really fun to watch, even if you don't care about running. It's put on near where the guy who shot Martin Luther King Jr. escaped prison in the woods. And, the guy who puts it on is a kooky, old, eccentric dude.

He has people search the forest for book pages in the mud and rain. The race is so intense that the runners start to hallucinate and nearly pass out. And, if you quit the race, a dude plays taps on the trumpet.

Ultra running is actually really interesting when you start watching it. Plus, it motivates you. If these people can run 200 miles, then I can walk around the block!

[salihsally]

Vayalada moments @manmadhanvijayan #SalihSally #ultrarunning #trailrunning #running #run #ultrarunner #runner #trailrunner #runnersofinstagram #instarunners #runningmotivation #trailrun #marathon #trail #runhappy #runners #training #ultratrail #mountainrunning #ultra #fitness #ultramarathon #marathontraining #ultrarunners #runnersworld #garmin #runnerscommunity #instarun #instarunner #mountains (at Kozhikode, Kerala, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpnC802Pjg8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[deweydecimalchickens]

Soz not soz, not finished yelling about this yet

[just-anka]

1000 km in 21 days, self supported ✅️

Those numbers have been my focus for quite some time now. Early this year, I was looking for a big endurance goal. This one had been floating around for some time. It seemed like a cool idea - taking something I love and have done a lot of, namely long distance hiking ("thru hiking") to a bit of an extreme, make it a challenge. It never felt entirely possible - it requires averaging 47.6 km a day, which is technically an ultramarathon every day for three weeks straight, although walking not running, but with a backpack. Plus, that includes town/resupply days, days with harder terrain, bad weather days... It seemed crazy until I did that three day test hike in Scotland in the spring. After that, it still seemed crazy, I just thought that maybe I could do it anyway. But I couldn't possibly have imagined back then what the actual thing would be like. I'm proud of the numbers, but I'm more proud of what it took to get there.

In these three weeks, I saw everything from the lowest lows to the highest highs. So many times, I thought the goal was out of reach for good. There was one specific moment, 13 days in, where I realised I wasn't going to give up. After that, I kept going even when it felt impossible, when I couldn't, when I thought I knew for sure the goal was out of reach. So many days finished after 11 pm, 15 or 16 hours after I started walking. Days on end with wet feet, hours without a single stop because the mosquitos were eating me alive, knee deep bogs, and on one occasion, around midnight, finding myself on top of a sheer cliff instead of the trail. Then again, there were days when I still felt incredible 40 km and 1,500m of elevation gain into the day, days when I couldn't believe the views and wildlife (spot the reindeer!), that time I crested a pass at 11 pm to see a whole new mountain skyline spread out before me, the entire sky on fire in sunset colours; the feeling of getting to a cabin just as a downpour starts and making dinner while the wind whips the windows with rain.

Nothing could have prepared me for the terrain, all above the arctic circle. At lower elevations, it was unlike anything I've ever seen before, swampy forests full of mosquitos and overgrown trails; and high up, rocky mountains, often crossing massive boulder fields for hours at a time. Pictures 5 and 6 are both "the trail". Picture 9 kind of sums up some sections of the hike: trail? Yes. No. Maybe, if you're lucky. And then again, other days held miles and miles of perfect single track. I'm not sure anything will ever live up to the feeling of crossing five mountain passes in a single day, of leaving one mountain range and climbing into the next one in the span of a few hours, of hiking deep into the night under the midnight sun, of seeing the distance I just traversed with my own feet since I woke up this morning on a map. I definitely could have picked an easier trail for this whole endeavour, but I wanted to do the thing that inspired me most, and despite cursing the trail many, many times, I'm glad I ended up where I did. I did most of these miles on the Nordkallotruta/Nordkallotleden/Kallotireiti/Arctic Trail, and it was challenging but beautiful and altogether worth it.

Another less happy result of my high mileage was that I left behind anyone I met within a few hours at most, in a rather quiet place to begin with. Nevertheless I crossed paths with some incredible people, and thankfully had a lot of emotional support from some of my favourite humans back home, haha (extra shout out to Ben for keeping me on my feet as usual).

Altogether, this was certainly the hardest (physical) thing I've ever done, but it was also an incredible experience, and one I'm going to remember for a long time.

[laurastudarus]

The end of the year offers the perfect time to take a break. Work slows down (and hopefully, you’ve got a bit of time off). There’s some natural distance from the events of the past 365 days. And with the bevy of winter holidays, it’s the perfect time to sit — alone or with friends and family — over a round of freshly baked cookies and reflect. What are our priorities? How can we give back? How can we do it better in 2023?

(via Five Women Preparing to Make Big Changes in 2023)

[sandinmybed]

i'm 25 and i work in an old people's homebut i also spend too much time online so i exist in this really weird mental space where i feel like i'm too old at 25 but also i think 70 isnt old at all lmao

Just saw a very serious tumblr post refer to adults age 25+ as “older adults.” I am begging you kids to go outside and interact with diverse groups of people. Please. It’s for your own good.