Western States is cult-like in how it completely sucks you in and takes over your life. It is with you every day during the six-month training process and then strips you down to your soul over the 100-mile journey on ra...
Articles by Karl Hoagland
The phone rang and on the other line was John Medinger. “Hey Karl, so we’re thinking about selling the magazine and this is my first call. What do you think?” It was April 2013 and I was sitting in my office, looking forward to how I would spend the next year – not working. After 17 tumultuous but great years in the hotel business I was exiting and my last day was May 1. As a goal-setter, my only plan was to not work.
The phone rang and on the other line was John Medinger. “Hey Karl, so we’re thinking about selling the magazine and this is my first call. What do you think?” It was April 2013 and I was sitting in my office, looking for...
Training for ultramarathons is hard work. It requires a huge commitment of time and energy to prepare yourself to run – maybe even race – up to 100 miles. Fifty-mile training weeks, punctuated with at least one long run...
Training for ultramarathons is hard work. It requires a huge commitment of time and energy to prepare yourself to run – maybe even race – up to 100 miles. Fifty-mile training weeks, punctuated with at least one long run of 20 or more miles, are the staple of the ultrarunner.
Labor Day is more than a fun weekend, it is a date on the calendar with significant meaning around transition. End of summer. Back to school. Weather getting crisp and colder. Days getting shorter and nights getting long...
For most ultrarunners winter and spring was all about training and preparing for a big summer race. The first half of the year had so much focus and promise. And now… it is fall. Fall. Even the name of the season implies pain and loss.
Transporting your body on foot for 100 miles in one go seems like an intensely personal and individual experience. And in many ways it is – only you can cover the miles, one step at a time. The physical pain and mental a...
Transporting your body on foot for 100 miles in one go seems like an intensely personal and individual experience. And in many ways it is – only you can cover the miles, one step at a time. The physical pain and mental anguish experienced along the way taps you into your inner stuff unlike anything else. But ironically it is during such a deep dive inside that I have felt more connected to others than at any other time in life.
Time stops for none of us, and that is especially true in the sport of ultrarunning. Whether it is Wally Hesseltine trying to finish the last 300 yards of Western States in under one minute so he could become the oldest...
THE LAKE SONOMA 50-MILER is an out-and-back on gorgeous but torturous single-track trails around Lake Sonoma, which is in the heart of California wine country at the head of the Dry Creek Valley. The race’s slogan is sim...
Time stops for none of us, and that is especially true in the sport of ultrarunning. Whether it is Wally Hesseltine trying to finish the last 300 yards of Western States in under one minute so he could become the oldest finisher at age 73, or Jim Walmsley trying to win and set records on the biggest stages at age 27, we all have windows that come and go.
“When 26.2 Miles Isn’t Enough” is the title of an article published last month by British newspaper and digital media outlet The Guardian that explores the “phenomenal rise of the ultramarathon.” It is an interesting top...
“When 26.2 Miles Isn’t Enough” is the title of an article published last month by British newspaper and digital media outlet The Guardian that explores the “phenomenal rise of the ultramarathon.” It is an interesting topic for any ultrarunner.
My dad retired in his late fifties and has been having the time of his life for the past few decades. He turns 85 this year and is still doing his thing – playing tennis, hunting all sorts of birds and doing real yard wo...
My dad retired in his late fifties and has been having the time of his life for the past few decades. He turns 85 this year and is still doing his thing – playing tennis, hunting all sorts of birds and doing real yard work. He loves to play games – especially bridge and gin rummy.
Mistakes are gifts. When we screw up or face big setbacks, we can learn from those experiences and reset our resolve to achieve goals and live the life we want. Behind every successful and happy person are many big mista...
Darcy Piceu has become one of the most accomplished ultrarunners in the history of the sport. She completed her first ultra, a 50-miler, in 2001 at the age of 26 and then less than a year later completed the Leadville 10...
Mistakes are gifts. When we screw up or face big setbacks, we can learn from those experiences and reset our resolve to achieve goals and live the life we want. Behind every successful and happy person are many big mistakes and failures. The mistakes themselves don’t really matter. It’s what you do with them that makes all the difference.
Recently my wife Erika gave birth to our daughter, Evelyn Rose. There is no way to fully describe the feeling and process of a new person coming to life. It is intense, transformative and beautiful. In my experience the world is always made better with the arrival of well-loved babies.
Recently my wife Erika gave birth to our daughter, Evelyn Rose. There is no way to fully describe the feeling and process of a new person coming to life. It is intense, transformative and beautiful. In my experience the...
UR: How does it feel to be a two-time UROY at age 27? Walmsley: It is pretty nice, especially since this year I had some learning experiences and setbacks even though there were some nice races, more so in the first h...
UR: Congratulations on an incredible year, you accomplished so much it is hard to know where to start. Herron: Thanks, but to be honest last year was a real roller coaster for me, it had as many or more challenges and...
Jim Walmsley is the male Ultra Runner of the Year for 2017. In winning the UROY for the second straight year, Walmsley excited many with his “go big or go home” style of racing. He set course records in winning the Tarawera 100K in New Zealand, the Gorge Waterfalls 100K in Oregon and the Speedgoat 50K in Utah. He suffered a DNF at Western States after surrendering a large lead with stomach issues at mile 70. At UTMB he was in or tied for the lead for 65 miles before experiencing an epic bonk and sliding to seventh place, eventually recovering in the late stages to finish fifth. The former Air Force Academy track standout lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.
This issue of UltraRunning is a new one – it is a “double issue” that combines both December and January. Previously we had a December issue that was followed by our big blast double issue – January/February with Ultraru...
This issue of UltraRunning is a new one – it is a “double issue” that combines both December and January. Previously we had a December issue that was followed by our big blast double issue – January/February with Ultrarunner of the Year (UROY) and Year-end statistics. But timing and logistics made it extremely difficult to complete the UROY voting process, tally all the year’s races and prepare an entertaining magazine by the January deadline.
Covering a lot of distance on foot is what ultrarunning is all about. And one of the best ways to do it is to just set aside a full day and pick an audacious route that traverses beautiful natural places. Recently some friends and I did just that – the fabled Rim to Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon.
If you’re reading this you probably love ultrarunning. The challenge, the fitness, the lifestyle. But as with everything, even good things, there are issues. And in ultrarunning we gots plenty: Long-odds lotteries for race entry, access to public lands, commercialization of the sport, gender equality, performance enhancing drugs, overtraining syndrome/burnout, too much growth, loss of culture, escalating costs of participation, central organizing bodies over-reaching and under-committing – the list goes on and on.
Without trails our sport would not exist. Sure there are road ultras and many “trail” ultras entail portions along fireroads, tow paths, running tracks and, gasp, even pavement. But if you look at the most popular and iconic ultras, they all include some epic trails. So yes, we need them.
Many comparisons have been made to modern-day ultrarunners and the Pioneers who crossed the continent in covered wagons back in the 1840s and 1850s. The Pioneers risked everything and took on a massively arduous 2,000-mile trek, often for a dream or nebulous “better life” out west. As with ultrarunners, a common question from onlookers was: “why?”