Is Ultrarunning still a joke?

I'm torn. Communing with nature is great, and all disciplines are valuable. However, I see a lot of ultra people who don't look fit and walk a lot. I'm beginning to think that some people like speedwork and and hard racing and some don't. The top guys like Jornet are incredible, but he'd be good at shorter distances. The culture of running/walking for a belt buckle seems like mid-life crisis stuff. To be sure, ultras require suffering and that's what sets us apart from everyone else: we seek out opportunities to suffer. Runners are Nietzscheans. I like ultras much more than those minimalist programs built on cross training.

Enter it. And if you finish within an hour of the winner, report back.

And if it's Rocky Raccoon, hope to see you there.

Check Out:

Sage Canaday

Max King

Killian Jornet

These guys are some of the toughest dudes in the world and prabably have run faster than you at some point.

Kilian hasn't done anything "fast" but has done unbelievable things like up and down Mt Blanc in 5 hrs. thats from 3500ft to 15,771ft and back.

Mattehorn 3 hrs

sciencetist wrote:

If you're interested in speed, sign up for a 400 meter dash. If you're interested in speed, distance and a true test of endurance, sign up for an ultra.

Wrong. If you are interested in endurance, sign up for a 10000m on the track or a competitive marathon. Ultras are where the guys go who don't want to compete against the best.

HeftyLefty wrote:

I think this interview proves it. The kid was a 9:42 3200 runner and wins his first two races.

http://www.irunfar.com/2014/02/jared-hazen-post-2014-rocky-raccoon-100-interview.html

Except that the kid trained 150 - 200 miles a week leading up to his sub-14 100 miler (in which he was 3rd, not 1st)

Still waiting on the talented (say 2:20 mary) guy with no specific training to simply blow away the field at a competitive 100 and tell everyone how easy it was.

Anyone.......?????????? C'mon now 100's are a jogging joke, right?

We're waiting.

Diababababa wrote:

sciencetist wrote:

If you're interested in speed, sign up for a 400 meter dash. If you're interested in speed, distance and a true test of endurance, sign up for an ultra.

Wrong. If you are interested in endurance, sign up for a 10000m on the track or a competitive marathon. Ultras are where the guys go who don't want to compete against the best.

You are simply biased. You have a competitive comfort zone that ends with a 10km/marathon. Many of us have raced these distances (at the 30:00/2:20 level) and then expanded our competitive levels to include 50 miles, 100kms, 100 miles, 24 hours, 48 hours, 6-days,and beyond races. It seems that you and others believe it is your right to determine where true competitiveness ends, but it is not. Until you attempt, you are not privileged to comment. We would welcome your entry into any ultra, any time, any place.

And here lies the difference between most competitive ultrarunners and most smarta*s letsrun posters. A top ultra guy would much rather get 6th place because some really fast track guys showed up and beat him. He got to compete with them in an environment he really enjoys. The letsrun crowd, who has not competed in an ultra, comes on an anonymous forum and talks about how easy and non-competitive they are. Nobody should be surprised by this, pretty much par for the course around here.

beantaxi wrote:

Enter it. And if you finish within an hour of the winner, report back.

And if it's Rocky Raccoon, hope to see you there.

It seems like you are unaware that the OP started this thread 2.5 years ago.

Ultra runners are a bunch of old fat ass joggers. It doesn't matter how much you whine. We'll never respect you.