If it was, I would tell you that the USATF national championship for the 20k is a good example of an event that is WAY more competitive than any Ultra Marathon race in the world since you are the one that brought it up.
You know this is just not true to claim the USATF 20k road champs is more competitive than any ultra. The depth in UTMB, CCC and multiple other ultras in the world are way deeper in talent.
Come on Sage, get f****g real here. You're a sponsored pro ultra-mountain runner and have done nothing but complain about finances, about how you can't afford health insurance, about how one ER trip obliterated your savings, you're living in a run-down studio with a window unit AC. If you need to survive by shilling pube trimmers and vegan wafels and whatever other trinkets someone will pay you to promote (with no benefits, retirement, PTO), is that your idea of "lucrative"? How f****g old are you?
This is golden! And here is the reality of things:
It's "lucrative" compared to trying to make it as a "sponsored pro" 2:16 marathoner on the roads in the US (or like say 2:36 for women).
Again, I never got a salary/stipend at Hansons Brooks (although we did get free rent) even. I worked 25-30 hours a week in the shoe store for $10/hour. Do you have any idea how much (how little) "sponsored pro" track and road marathon distance runners usually get?
It's not about the race prize money at all either usually (that is usually a very, very small part of income...unless you win Comrades!). It's about the opportunity cost of having the free-time to train 21+ hours a week on beautiful mountain trails all over the world. Sure, a bigger salary and a lot of international travel support and race bonuses can all be key with a bigger MUT Running kind of sponsorship deal (not to mention a lot of gear and social media boosting).
If one can quit their day job and be able to run and travel the world full-time I'd say that's a pretty "lucrative deal."
It's true though, the vast majority of US ultra-trail runners don't make very much (relative to other careers) and have to have other streams of income to make ends meet (be that coaching or part-time job at least). But it's a heck of a lot easier to get sponsorship support and attention and financial support compared to "just being another 2:15 marathoner" on the roads.
"Lucrative" to me is about creating more free time and being able to do what you want and what you are passionate about. But yes, I took a huge financial hit with medical bills because i have a crappy self-employed health insurance plan and my medical costs and testing was quite expensive over the past few years....not to mention the apartment fire and having to pay essentially a double mortgage.
As far as Brian Sell goes....he would have been a great ultramarathon runner. I trained with him when he was at his last year at Hansons. The guy could grind 160-miles a week at an average of 5:40/mile pace and was awesome on hills/cross country.
If it was, I would tell you that the USATF national championship for the 20k is a good example of an event that is WAY more competitive than any Ultra Marathon race in the world since you are the one that brought it up.
You know this is just not true to claim the USATF 20k road champs is more competitive than any ultra. The depth in UTMB, CCC and multiple other ultras in the world are way deeper in talent.
They just had the championship in New Haven. Look up the results and give an honest opinion.
The runner that has better fitness (faster PRs) will race an ultra better if they have learned how to run by effort. The few fast elites that bomb out of ultras fail because they try to run their road pace rather than than running by effort (that is, first 1/3 feels real easy, second 1/3 you are in a groove, last 1/3 you are ready to gut it out). You can't just just add 20 seconds to your marathon pace if you're planning on running a 50 miler in the mountains. But the the runner with better PRs can run faster if they can judge their effort correctly.
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