What happens to an ultra-runners state of mind when he is unable to run again EVER due to age or injury?
I was training for a fast-ish first half marathon and in the 2 week taper beforehand I sank into a complete depression which I attributed (perhaps mistakenly) to the sharp reduction in running which is not unheard of.
I always suspect ultra running fills a big hole that would be dangerous not to be filled.
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Theyâd have to find something else to obsess about, itâs a good point, but barring very serious injury theyâll keep going.
A great pal of mine is a top ultra runner, won the Tralee 100k last week in 8 hours, has won the Irish 24 hour race a couple of times, heâs an absolutely mad fucker, if you wrote his biography it would have to be 1000 pages long, when he does something itâs 1000% all the way, it was hurling which he gave up at about 15 when he was the best in Cork at his age, just stoped, you can imagine the clamour to get him back, but he had started running and became obsessed with that, then it was drink, then drugs, then both, I worked with him for a while, I got him the job in a tile shop, he was completely unreliable but the bosses loved him, when he was there heâd do the work of 5 men in the storeroom and still find time to sell more tiles than anybody while he was having a bit of a rest hanging around the shop.
Then a few years ago he packed in the drink and drugs and took up the running again, all or nothing
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I think training heavy duty is an addiction, and is a largely much healthier one than others. I feel myself itâs an addiction tbh, else why would anyone get up at 6am and half kill themselves running or swimming or cycling.
Thing for me is like others for whom itâs almost a problem, if you donât, you feel just bad and lazy all day after. Itâs like a kind of anorexia or something. I think it suits people with ADHD
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This article is a bit old but Iâm almost sure the great Ann Trason doesnât run anymore, because she canât. I love the bit where she stopped running out of solidarity with her (then) husband for 9 years because he couldnât.
I lived with a guy for a year from Cork. He was a mature student and I was in my final year of college. He let me know early days he had done some stints in rehab. During the year I lived with him, he went through phases of being addicted to the following:
- Smoking weed
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Baking bread (there were fucking loaves everywhere)
- Cooking homemade chips everyday and nearly burning the kitchen down.
He sent me a friend request on Facebook a few years ago and his latest obsessions seem to be Irish dancing and kayaking.
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Makes sense. I know a good few people in recovery from drugs and alcohol who have become ultra runners. It takes a certain character, I think.
I started regular pilates about a month ago, its unreal for the running, my hips were absolutely fucked and I didnât even know it
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Yer man Drew currently sixth (joint 5th really) around 50 miles in.
Walmsley ahead of his own record pace from 2019, which beat his record pace from 2018.
Game changer.
Hip health is key.
I guess the job wasnât one of his 1000% things
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Fair going. Is it a 24 hour cut off for it to be officially recognised? Will he go again
Wicklow Round similar. Especially at this time of year. The sheep paths and trails are overgrown so you canât make them out.
Paddy Buckley is 30k further, and over a third more vertical ascent, to put it into perspective.