Finishing any ultra at any age is already an amazing human achievement and is far beyond what most people will ever be capable of. The fact that you’re still at it, well, that’s just icing on the cake.

Ultrarunning is a sport you can continue to enjoy and benefit from into your twilight years. Making the right physical adjustments for training and racing are important as you grow older, but as always, a lot of your suc...

Completing one hundred 100-mile races is an enormous goal and requires a serious devotion to ultrarunning, a mega-dose of patience and determination, a not inconsequential amount of resources and a very, very long time....

Ultrarunners have never had it so good. You can run 50ks ‘til the cows come home, and 50-milers and 100ks abound as well. Not only do you have over 250 100-mile races to choose from, but the latest craze for the very dif...

We all struggle with the moment in a race when the wheels come off and the pain and suffering seem unbearable. As the saying goes, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” I don’t really buy that suffering is optional in the sense that you can escape it altogether, but how well you manage the suffering and your reaction to it are certainly things that you have control over.

Imagine you’re on the couch watching snow flurries out the window or maybe a very cold, uninviting rain. Every fiber of your being is telling you to skip your training run and wait for bett...

The training/race cycle goes on and on, and can easily lead to burnout, overtraining or wilting into staleness. The all-important positive attitude about running that supplies so much of the motivation to get out the...

Let’s stipulate that aging into the masters category and beyond isn’t exactly a bed of roses. But there is a silver lining. The adjustments you need to make in your running in order to stay healthy and extend your running well into the future can actually lead you to find running more enjoyable and rewarding.

One great aspect of ultrarunning is that, for the most part, it happens outdoors on trails, along country roads or across leafy suburban streets. We get the exercise and cardiovascular blast that long-distance running...

The Grandmaster Ultras would be business as usual as far as most ultra events are concerned except, and apologies to younger runners here, you are required to have lived at least half a century in order to participate. Grandmaster, in other words, is where the older generation gets to feel young again and pursue their ultra dreams without all those pesky young runners gumming up the works.

If you have experience in ultrarunning, I’m sure you’re familiar with the “pain cave.” It’s that bad mental place you go when you’re pushing through a tough workout or the last half of a difficult race. In the pain ca...

I love the idea of doing a 100-mile race on the anniversary of 9/11. It will give me a chance to do something special and positive on that day, and it will also give me a wonderful backdrop for reflecting on these las...

Alaska is fabulous. The Resurrection Pass Ultras showcase the Resurrection Pass area of the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage between the towns of Hope in the north and Cooper Landing in the south, which comprises just one tiny corner of the vast miracle that is the state of Alaska. Running the Resurrection Pass 100 was one of the greatest adventures I’ve had in 25 years of ultrarunning.

ABC’s Wide World of Sports crushed its weekend time slot for 37 years on network television from 1961 to 1998. The premise was simple: people would love to watch sports coverage that went beyond standard baseball, footba...

The Pulse Endurance Runs held in Eagle Island State Park just west of Boise, Idaho, in late May reminded me why I love running 100 miles on a short loop course. Much of the aggravation that comes with running an unfamiliar point-to-point course is stripped away and you can concentrate fully on the distance and on the joy of pure running.

If you’ve ever used the word “pleasant” to describe a 100-mile race, it’s likely going to be the C&O Canal 100 near Knoxville, Maryland. Forget about tripping down technical trails, battling brutal heat or sub-freezing temps and facing quad-burning elevation. Instead, imagine banks of wildflowers, a wide river flowing nearby and a running surface free of rocks, ruts and anything that would require your attention.

Faking it until you make it doesn’t seem like it would work in the sport of ultrarunning. After all, what could be more impervious to fakery or trickery, than slamming down a gnarly trail for hours on end? How do you...

The race directors seemed pleased as punch about the prospect of putting runners through the wringer. This Kentucky course promises below-freezing temperatures at night, rugged and rocky trails, numerous steep climbs...

Race Director Bryant Baker worked hard at making the inaugural running of the Rim to River 100 Mile, West Virginia’s first-ever hundred-mile race, something special. At packet pick-up, he mentioned that the course visits every spot in the area he would want his best friend to see if they were out on a run together.

The Mines of Spain 100 makes excellent use of the area’s colorful history, and the beauty and variety of habitats of the natural world there. Add to that, stellar race organization, great volunteers and exceptional runner support, and it all adds up to a cool event that is likely to become a fixture in Midwest ultrarunning.

It’s the perennial question for ultrarunners: “Why in the world do you want to run so far?” The question is usually meant rhetorically, as if it is self-evident that no reward could justify such pain and suffering. The a...

About two hours into the Maah Daah Hey Trail 100, I paused to take stock. Since the race began, we’d been riding roller coaster, twisting single track through the classic badlands terrain of western North Dakota, surroun...

There is a dynamic that runs through an ultrarunning career: the process of searching for the perfect clothes, equipment, food/drink and other products to use for racing. This includes things like ideal running shoes, ju...

Were it not for the circumstances of the pandemic, I would never have been shopping around for a race, but fate brought me together with the Strawberry Fields Forever 30 Hours in North Bonneville, Washington, near the Columbia River. It turned out to be a wonderfully well run and satisfying ultra with just 3,200 feet of elevation gain.

At last, I found a race held in the shadow of the COVID-19 lockdown, and there was no series of ominous email warnings followed by a reluctant cancellation notice. The Loco Challenge race series held in parts of the Lassen National Forest on June 6 in north central California.

The most remarkable thing about our sport is the sheer distance we cover during an ultra event. Yet it doesn’t take much ultrarunning experience to realize that your focus during a race is almost never on the entire dist...

Fort Ord Trail runs take place in Monterey, California, on the first weekend of February each year. It’s just a short drive south from San Francisco and runners can choose from a 100K, 50K, 25K or 10K, or run your ultra and let the rest of the family run the shorter distances.

Runners love Pinhoti. It seemed like everybody I talked to at packet pickup was either returning to run this race in Alabama because they couldn’t get enough of it or they were out to avenge a DNF. Pinhoti is like a flame in the night – drawing in moths, but also, ready to burn them into oblivion.

I follow a few basic rules in running that have served me well over the years. One of my rules is: don’t think about it. It’s a rule I follow each day, right when I’m about to make that decision whether to run or not. I’...

Runners experience a wonderland of rugged forest, waterfalls, natural arches, streams and river while tackling this demanding 100-mile tour of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area that begins in southern Kentucky and drops into Tennessee.

Burning River has always been a race with a heart of irony. The race celebrates health, strength, vitality, natural beauty and of course, the Cuyahoga River. Yet 50 years ago, the actual events that led to the Cuyahoga earning the name “burning river” were tragic and ugly.

The format at Forbidden Forest is not the usual 100-mile race with a 30-hour cutoff. It’s a no-one-DNFs 30-hour run with the win going to whomever runs the farthest, and special buckles for everyone that manages 45 laps of the 2.23 mile loop, or 100.35 miles. Consequently, the race was a mix of runners with widely varying goals and dreams.

I’m going to go a little grim here. Everything about your first 100-mile race is going to be over-the-top, out-sized and epic compared to the shorter ultras you’ve done. The sheer distance, the time it takes, the highs a...

The Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra 100 Mile in eastern Kansas is a rails-to-trails course that follows an old route of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad through the small town of Garnett. A brick depot building, built in 1934, serves as a key aid station halfway between the race start in Ottawa and Iola.

Only in its third year, race directors Valerie Abradi and Mindy Slovinsky have put together an ultra event with an old-school feeling and lots of down home charm that will simultaneously delight and challenge you. Riverlands is a great up-and-coming destination race. Put it on your calendar before the word gets out.

The Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra 100 Mile in eastern Kansas is a rails-to-trails course that follows an old route of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad through the small town of Garnett. A brick depot building, bui...

Compared to shorter ultras you may have completed, the 100-mile race is a strange and formidable beast and nothing like bowling. It’ll be harder than anything you’ve done before, so here are some ways to prepare and ensure your first hundo is a success.

24 Hours of Adrenalin was a popular mountain bike race that consisted of riding a technical course all day and night until 24 hours had elapsed. I’ll never forget a biker grinding to a halt near the timing table in the m...

At 66 years old, could I still go the distance? Was 2019 going to continue my bad luck from 2018? Could I still notch a 100-mile finish as a spanking-new granddad and add Florida to my long list of states where I’d run a 100-mile race?

In its second year, the No Business 100 Mile Trail Ultra race course spills over the lower Kentucky border into Tennessee and provides the same amazing natural wonders and scenery of the Great Smoky Mountains, but, as Race Director Bryan Gajus points out, without the long lines.

Welcome to the wilds of central Idaho. Race director Jeremy Humphrey doesn’t sugarcoat his remarks at the race orientation. “Every big animal you’re scared of will be out there,” he said, “bears, cougars, wolves and snak...

Granted, we’re not all dressing up in Starfleet uniforms or going gaga over Spock lookalikes at Star Trek conventions, but I think all ultrarunners are Trekkies in a deeper sense. We embrace the starship Enterprise’s mis...

A thick mist hangs in the air above Chagrin River Road. It is very early and still dark as we pass through an idyllic pastoral farmscape of stone walls, duck ponds, rail fences, shade trees and brown horses. The hundred...

The first time you run an ultra you’re probably going to get a whole new perspective on what it means to suffer. Getting way out beyond your training at speeds and distances and numbers of hours you’ve never experienced...

Don’t let race day be a negative experience for you. Concerns about how well you will perform and worries about not meeting the goals you’ve set will detract from enjoying the race experience and can actually undermine y...

It doesn’t matter which distance you pick, the 100-mile, the 50-mile, or the 27-mile “fun run,” at the Lake Martin Trail Races. You’ll use the Russell Forest Trail System on Lake Martin in east central Alabama near Alexa...

When you first signed up to be an ultrarunner, you know, at your local ultrarunning recruitment center at the mall, I hope you paid attention to the fine print on the contract. It said in no uncertain terms, “You are now obligated to do a whole sh** load of training.”

Once I realized I could make it to the finish line of a 100-mile race, my first impulse was to do all the big, classic hundred mile runs. I put in for Western States over and over again, ran Leadville, Superior, Angeles...

At the start of the Uwharrie 100, you depart Wood Run Trail Head and are swallowed up immediately by a thick, dark, mysterious forest. Underfoot are protruding rocks and a snake pit of tangled roots, all camouflaged by a layering of dead leaves. The 20.5 mile trail, which follows a figure eight route, will prove to be an almost unbroken minefield of trip hazards.

When you first signed up to be an ultrarunner, you know, at your local ultrarunning recruitment center at the mall, I hope you paid attention to the fine print on the contract. It said in no uncertain terms, “You are now...

A surprise email arrived the Wednesday before the Saturday start of the 19th Cascade Crest Classic 100 held in the heart of the Central Cascades area of Washington State. Bad news: The Jolly Mountain fire was threatening...

Talk about a race that showcases a particular area of the country and its running community…and you’re talking about the Burning River 100/50 Mile in Northeast Ohio in the Cleveland, Akron and Cuyahoga Falls area. The...

Many runners have picked up on the close connection between running and mindfulness. When you practice mindfulness, you get a definite reduction in your levels of stress and anxiety. You also feel a lift in your self-est...

A gentle “angelic” loop around the valley floor gives you a chance to adjust to the altitude, enjoy the pine forest and valley meadows, and picturesque mountain cabins and ski chalets. The “fire” comes when you begin the 18.5-mile out and back over the top of the ski resort and down the other side, topping out at about 11,000 feet where you feel like the sun is microwaving your exposed skin.

Just fully completed in 2016, the 68 mile long Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California’s Golden coast has been designated a National Recreational Trail and offers a unique and stunning venue for the Coyote Backbone Trail Ultras.

The race’s name, “Burning River,” is of course ironic, harkening back to the numerous times the Cuyahoga River, once one of America’s most polluted waterways, actually caught on fire.

A regular program of LSD will certainly make you into an ultrarunner and get you ready to run the 50k, 50-mile or 100k distance, but the problem is that for many ultra courses, it will not be enough.

“Kettle Moraine.” The name is striking, weird, mysterious. But it turns out understanding the name helps you appreciate the awesome beauty and the mighty geology behind this classic Wisconsin 100 mile endurance run.

Industry representatives generally put the lifespan of a shoe between 400 and 600 miles. The mileage you personally can expect to get, however, will vary depending on factors such as your weight, the surface you run on, your foot strike tendencies, whether you switch off pairs from one run to another and of course the resilience of the materials and design.

As hard charging, fiercely driven, superhero ultrarunners, we love to pile up the miles, train until we drop and skimp on rest days. But one of the great ironies about…