For the past two years, I’ve been seriously considering running an ultra. A large part of the appeal is the stories I’ve heard about the ultra community. And, then there are also the unanswered questions running through my mind. Could I really do it? Would I tap into something within myself I don’t even know exists?
Honestly, a marathon was still so hard, that going for more seemed a bit ridiculous. Normally decisive, I waffled and pushed it off. But the idea was fixed. I kept circling back.
Initially, I thought I’d go for my first ultra in 2018 to celebrate turning forty. Instead, I focused on my overall health, including better nutrition, sleep, and a lot more cross training. The efforts paid off.
I improved my marathon time by about 50 minutes – from my previous best of 4:38:03 at Richmond Marathon in 2016, to 4:13:57 at Baltimore Marathon in October 2018, to 3:48:27 in Louisiana in January 2019. With the fitness gained through my last two marathons, I finally felt ready to commit to a Fall 2019 ultra.
But which one? I actually made a spreadsheet to compare drive times, costs, course conditions, and a whole range of other factors for a narrowed field of five races. At some point, it occurred to me that maybe I was overthinking this and still fearful of committing for real.
Queue up the Scott Jurek event yesterday in Indianapolis. After an hour of stories and advice about his long career as a top ultra runner, he hung around to sign books and take photos.
Watching him energetically address each person in a very long line was sort of funny. I thought: Of course he has the endurance for this. It’s nothing compared to a 100-miler. When it was my turn, he’d already been doing meet and greets for almost an hour. Still, he was cordial and curious as I shared that I was planning on my first ultra this fall, possibly the Indiana Trail 50-miler.
And then he signed my book, with a major nudge to make my tentative race happen:
“Congrats IT50 2019!” His well wishes on a race I hadn’t yet finished, much less even registered! How’s that for motivation?
I’m still terrified – but also equally excited for a new challenge and bringing a beginner’s mind to running again. It’s kind of crazy to feel like a newbie in running, even with 11 marathons under my belt. I don’t have a firm plan just yet, other than continuing to build endurance by running Atlanta Marathon in March, then Missoula Marathon in June. I’ll roll right into ultra training after that. If anyone has advice for this first-timer, I’m all ears.