I'm going to run 100 miles

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve run about a dozen marathons. Last year I ran a 50 miler. I’m doing it again in November. I turn 40 next August, so I’ve decided to run 100 mile race before than. I’ve settled on the Old Dominion 100 miler in June.

Some days I get up really early and go for runs of 15-30 miles, just because.

I’m not really sure why I’m doing this. I’m not a natural runner. I’m not built like a runner. I’m too big in the upper body for it. I’m balding and middle-aged. It’s kind of pointless.

I’ve kind of noticed that most people who get really serious about ultramarathons are pretty fucked in the head. I guess the running helps me get through and deal with all that worms in the brain mental stuff we all put ourselves through. Some people watch TV and drink beer. There’s a thing that happened to me a long time ago that makes me sad and bothers me sometimes. I suppose we all have such things and we get over them, or we don’t and we carry them with us and we deal with them. Sometimes they cripple us, sometimes we fight them and overcome them, sometimes they drive us to do things. I’m really not sure what my reaction is other than to run, and I’m not sure it really means anything in relation to anything, but to me the running provides a comfort unto itself, a place where I see and feel truth. There isn’t a shortcut, no bullshit, no rhetoric, no easy way outs. You either do it or you don’t.

On really really long runs, when I’m by myself I will sometimes have waking dreams or mild to extreme hallucinations, or vivid fantasies. Call them what you will. It’s interesting what your mind and body does in extremis to get through it.

As Jim Morrison says, nobody here gets out alive, and the only real fact of life is that we’re going to suffer some. We are in an age and a society that tries to hide that fact, that thinks of it as an obscenity. We medicate our way through the mildest pain. Our most common maladies occur from too much comfort. We hid those suffering in Hospitals or nursing homes.

I think that a deliberate acclimitization to suffering is a good thing. When the real thing comes it won’t be a stranger.

So anyway, I’m going to run 100 miles next June.

This can be one of those “ask the…” threads, or it can just drop off the page.

I felt the urge though to announce my intentions, foolish and meaningless as they may be and attempt to justify them.

2

That’s pretty impressive. I did it to get energy out and at one point, I was up to 8 miles a day but that didn’t last. I haven’t run at all in a couple of years.

Do you actually LIKE it in the typical way or does it suck but gives back something deeper? Also, are you worked what extreme running is doing to your body (especially your joints)?

3

There is a joy in exertion, endorphins and what have you. I like being able to eat like a big and be thin. I like the feeling of power and energy, but mostly I think I get something deeper out of it.

I’m not sure. There’s a guy who’s run 25 Western States 100 milers and he’s still going strong. If you run right you don’t have to hurt your joints.

I had my left knee scoped twenty years ago, and it bothers me off an on. One of the reasons why I want to do this before I turn 40 is that I’m afraid I might not be able to physically because of my knee if I wait.

This, of course, might completely wreck it.

But you can also hurt your joints skiing, or just being overweight. It’s a risk, but it seems like a good one.

I’d rather break something or wear something out than have it unused or wasted. Not that this run is accomplishing anything meaningful other than in a “because it’s there,” kind of way.

4

i love pointless “because it’s there” stuff. i did a couple or iron man comps in my wild and crazy (and thin) youth, but i can’t manage the runs any more because i got shin splints. totally worth it. plus now i have an excuse to go for a swim instead of running.

5

I ran the mile in highschool. I now play racketball 4 times a week. I could not image running 100. What do your feet go through? I do think we have to workout someway all our lives. But that is abusive to your body. You must suffer a while after the race.

6

One of my brothers (who lettered in cross country in HS and is now a drill instructor in the USMC) did 100 miles just because he was maybe able to and 100 is a nice round number to shoot for. Fucked him up something fierce, but he finished. I just called him and he recommends not doing it, but he understands why you might have to. You running people. Crazy in the head you are.

7

Sounds cool.
I have a couple of acquaintances who run ultras.
The most recent one guy told me about was a 24 hr run.
I think he said he did 80-some miles.
Enjoy, get a good support team, and don’t hurt yourself (too much!)

8

I think it’s like the Samuel Johnson quote: “Nothing so concentrates the mind as the prospect of being hung in the morning” (or variants). I recall in my psych nursing days talking to one of the psychiatrists about how difficult it is to deal with simple problems like depression. He assured me that if it wasn’t for the constraints the patient’s life presented he thought he could cure many depressions instantly. His method - dump them in the middle of the Atlantic in a rowboat, or in the Amazon with only a machete, or Death Valley with a desert survival kit.

Commiting yourself to anything at all is enough to keep you on an even keel according to the doc. The depressed guys problem is that his depression stops him being able to commit to running 100 miles thus the dumping in the middle of nowhere cure - he then doesn’t have to rely on his will to get him started, self preservation will look after that.

Excuse the interruption.

9

Wow. And I to think, I was happy to run 24 minutes yesterday (in a 36 minute stretch). I’m planning to work into a solid 30 minute run, and I’ll be happy. Good luck. I can’t even imagine it. I don’t even like to drive a hundred miles.

10

Didn’t you run 50 miles a while back?

11

Words 7-13, Post #1.

I’m a bit jealous Scylla. I ran a marathon a year and a half ago and never felt better about myself than I did after that. Unfortunately, for various reasons (most of them poor) I have not kept up with my running.

Good luck!

12

Also, a very memorable thread about that 50 mile run: Quantum Ultramarathoning or Shroedingers Scylla.

13

Sorry, what I should have said was “Didn’t you POST about running 50 miles a while back?”

Thanks for the link, Waenara

14

Slight hijack but I had to share this story of an ultramarathoner who has managed 350 miles in one stretch and plans to (or has) run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.

I’ll never understand this urge people have to run such insane distances but best of luck to you Scylla, hope you can complete it and recover fully!

15

I don’t get the distance running thing myself either, but my wife has decided that running a marathon is one of her new fitness goals. As a show of support, I have taken on this goal as well. Any advice from the running contingent on how to get two decidedly out of shape non-runners into marathon shape?

16

Where do you live? Joining a running club can be very helpful, there are usuallya number of clubs that specifically are geared to get people prepared to run a specific marathon.

17

Go to Cool Running or Hal Higdon’s website and look for training programs. Do you an your wife do any running currently? If not,why not start with a half marathon as your goal? You really should have a good base to work from in order to train for a marathon, and a half is a good stop along the way. I’m currently training for half, and I’ve been running for over a year.

Scylla, I am in awe. Do you post on Cool Running at all? Los of ultra runners there.

18

i am inspired. i am going to swim the english channel. i give myself until my 21st birthday because you have to book like a year in advance and it will probably take me that long to raise the money anyway.