WSJ-Ultra runners smoke hella weed

Junk Master wrote:

I'm not saying the top Ultra Runners are high when they race but I still insist it's part of the aesthetic.

How many top surfers are high in competition? I have no idea, but I don't think I'd get many arguments that weed is part of the surfer aesthetic. How many Skateboarders? Snowboarders? Rock climbers?

I seriously doubt Shawn White hits the pipe before he hits the pipe, but to deny that weed is part of snowboarding culture is ridiculous.

What is more of an ultra cliche then some mediocre D3 hipster slicing the heels off his shoes, taking off his shirt, growing a beard, and living in his car so he can slog countless miles in the mountains while chronicling his exploits on his blog.

What is your point, exactly? Weed is bad? Running a lot at once is bad? My god, man, you might be retarded.

There are those types, but generally the folks I see that retreat the the ultras are those that just can't handle competitive running. And when I say competitive I just mean local road races where people run to set PRs or against their peers. The people I know that have moved from marathons to ultras are the same types that would totally go in a hole if they have a bad race.

They go into ultras because there's no competition except just finishing. Nobody cares if you do a 50M in X vs Y, other runners know a 3:15 marathon from a 2:50.

Also ultra folks act like they are all about the simplicity and back to nature stuff, but honestly they seem to be into gear as much as cyclist.

Maybe that's your experience, but you and JunkMaster are both off-base in your characterization of the ultra crowd. I ran ultras for many years (still do occasionally), and my experience did not match what you describe. Ultras were a lot like shorter distance road races: you had a certain amount of competitive people, and a certain amount who just wanted to finish. You had some annoying ego-maniacs, and some really likeable people. But most importantly, I would say, this idea that competitive ultra runners are athletes who couldn't measure up at the shorter distances is a myth. By and large, the competitive ultrarunners were just people who wanted to be competitive at ultra-distances because that was the challenge that appealed to them. An analogy might be that some people are into mountaineering, and some are into pure rock climbing and bouldering, and there is some overlap of skills, but it would be silly to say that mountaineers are just people who couldn't compete at rock-climbing.

I have a track/XC/road race background, and if anything, I'd say the ultra crowd is slightly LESS nerdy and obsessed and gear-oriented than the running crowd at large. Guys like you seem like the insecure ones: you can't stand the fact that the average Joe sometimes respects ultrarunners merely because they cover a lot of distance, so you lash out at them.

What is the point of this article? Shock? Hype? Clicks, definitely.

Too bad this poster child for smoking and ultra running didn't see the downside of showing off the fact he smokes (yes, he vapes and eats... whatever) to a mainstream media outlet.

Read the comments. Both "running very long distances" and pot are negatively commented on in large quantities. Most of these comments are by people that have experience of neither. This reeks of some sort of propaganda even if the agenda is to simply generate clicks. But the fact that these are chosen as media punching bags means both are fair game to destroy. Those that are "different" are ostracized by the media.

Ok. Sometimes Ultra Guy has convinced me the sport has evolved from it's early days. I think there's a lot of merit to his rock climbing analogy. Good post.