Image from – http://www.geauxrun.com
I asked the question on Facebook and I got an incredible response. In actual fact, the answers keep coming in, so, I will try to add and update on a regular basis.
But here goes… ‘You know you are an Ultra Runner when… ?’
Look at some of the names who have posted too. A few Talk Ultra interviewees crop up.
Holly Rush you consider running to your friend’s house for lunch and she lives 30 miles away…
Carl Wibberley A marathon is a training run.
Ben Wittenberg You sell your road bike to buy a Fenix gps.
Wayne Sylvester 26.2 sounds like an aid station.
George Knights you can count your toenails on one hand.
Chris Beaven You’re diagnosed with atrial fibrillation…
Ceri Careful Roberts When you’ve vomited all over yourself, then get going again.
Dave Douglas One minute you swear you’ll never do it again, the next your’e looking at a bigger challenge!
Brock Currie Instead of memorizing what street you need to turn right on, you need to remember what city the street is in.
Nick Molina half of the dishes you take out of your dishwasher are water bottles.
Todd Fultz When you substitute (in conversation) hours ran, instead of miles ran…..
Scott Harris you take the time to read all the comments nodding approvingly at each one.
Carter Swampy You have wiped with a $15 pair of socks.
Karin Walder when you Change your Garmin to a Suunto because the Garmin only lasts 8 hours.
Tony Villano When you’re reading posts from Talk Ultra.
BE Murphy The length of the Adelaide Hills just because it is beautiful…
Sam Robson How do you know you’re an ultra runner and not a trail runner though? Or a mountain runner? Or a mountain trail runner? Or a…
Scott W. Kummer When duct tape becomes an option!
Sarah Girard Am I an ultra runner when I think of running through nature for 100 km as romantic and beautiful? I have never done more than 46km though.
Иван Димитров when… you run a mountain 100k, then hop on a mountain bike and do the route a second time in hope to make it to the cut-off time…
Gary Robbins You spend three hours listening to a podcast about ultra running…entirely while running…and it wasn’t even your long run.
Catra Corbett waking up at 3am and thinking you have to get ready to run a 100 miler. Realizing you don’t have another race for 3 weeks. LOL.
Nige Webber When you injure yourself and are told not to run for 2 weeks and you interpret that as one week.
Paul PT McCleery When you have to repeat the distance of your next race to everyone !
Jeffrey Wong you take pictures of your disgusting feet and then post them on Facebook: proudly!
James Short Your long run involves a train ride to get home.
Jeremy Spainhour That moment you realize you know more about running injuries than your PT… and you stop going to him.
Tammy Clauser Wuerth When you feel like you’re like giving birth to a baby. Then you say you will never do it again …but after a short break and a little foreplay you are ready to do it all over again:-)
Adam Lloyd When you need 3 shits in one race.
Dreama Lehman when you are not even sore after putting a 90 mile week in!
Russell Thomas when you go to bed before the dog!
Todd Fultz When you find yourself after 4-5 hours running singing to the trees, & every now then you swear something’s singing back!
Helen MacDermott Peeing in a toilet seems … unnatural.
Francis Pardo 1. You are signed up for more than one ultra at any given time. 2. When you think of a race and say: that’s equal to “x” number of marathons.
Ed Kumar When a dark moment lasts 20k or more and you’re fine with it.
Majo Majo You have more shoes than your girlfriend.
Chris Bair When there is no such thing as too much.
Johannes Kind When you run the last 20K on a sprained ankle.
Steve Blythe You check Talk Ultra on FB when you’re out with your wife!
David Mould 26.2 miles is speed work.
Tim Steele Your race outlasts your Garmin and two sets of headlamp batteries.
Ben Brindley When you decide running dusk till dawn is a great idea.
Darren Hutchings People say there’s something wrong with you.
Tim Steele You have more difficulty with the taper than with the race.
Neisa Condemaita When you apply super glue to your blisters so you can keep running.
Paul Beck a 4+ hour training run is your weekly long run, followed up by 2+ hours the next day.
Matthias Kodym you peel off the skin from your heels and think about the next run.
Scott W. Kummer you utter the words “only a 50”!
Paul Wathan you pick 210km with 14,000ft of elevation gain in a race to complete as your first distance over the marathon!
Mike Saporito 3-4 hour runs are recovery runs.
Mark Connolly You are injured.
Marissa Harris Only a 50 miler, It’s just a day race!
Steve Perkins You finish your first 50 miler then go home to sign up for a 100.
Martin Bell You just keep going!
Dat Le 50K’s become training runs for 100 milers.
Kate Driskell You enter a 50km race 3 weeks before the race, having done no specific training for anything in the last 5 months, having not run further than 9km in the last five months, have never run a marathon by itself ever, run the race, start at the back and pass half of the field of athletes in the last 5km of the race and run at pretty much the same pace through the whole 50km. Then enter an 80km race in 6 months time to have something to do after you get all of those pesky triathlons out of the way (they’re cross-training anyway, right?).
Steel Town Runner …the Barkley Marathons doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea!
IAN CORLESS 
there are more gels than food in the cupboard.
When you DNF at 83miles
when i started to run 30km 6 days a week for a couple years without injury.
30 km 5/6 days a week (= 150/180 km per week)
when your standing in virgin buying another Nano Ipod ..because your first one only has a 15 hr battery life and it prob wont last the run 🙂
When you have to go to work for a rest 🙂
When you reply to the question “Are you insane?” with an unhesitating but casual “yes”.
You know you are an ultra runner when ….. you finish on a different day to the winner.
Reminds me of the first ever Ironman when one participant said,
“You know you are having a bad day when the morning papers have the results of a race that you are still running in!”
a vacation isn’t about the distance to the destination but the distance of the race at the destination. and the word “chaffing” is a common part of your daily conversations.
When you need food,your favourite food is in front of you but you just can’t face eating it!!!!!
You’re asked about upcoming races and reply “just a few little ones” when in fact they’re 26.2 miles, 50k or 100k.
You leave the house for a training run on Sat morning at 0730 and get picked up at 1600 hours. Then get disappointed you could have got some extra miles in!
During the week you run to work. Work. Then run home from work… and the mileage is equal to or greater than a full marathon.
When you go for a run with an injury that would send a “normal” runner screaming for a doctor. You assume it will loosen up in 5 to 10 miles.
When you actually read all of the above and recognize all or most.
When a mountain marathon with more than 3k of elevation is the “small one”
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When a 10 serving container of Vitargo just won’t be
enough.
When you get to the start of a 87 k race with an injury and
cortisone shot, and still finish it because otherwise training for
it would have bern pointless
Sounds Like the Comrades “up” run! in South Africa. DId it this year!
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Quite a few of these can also apply to marathons. I’ve only run 30 mi. on my longest run; just can’t take the plunge into an ultra…
I’m afraid 30 miles IS and ultra. Welcome to the fold
When you actually find this funny.
When you sign up to your next race while still being injured.
Reblogged this on Running In My Head and commented:
Many of these can apply to marathons as well. Therefore, I can relate to most of the list. Can you?
when you become so upset for missing a day of running. Anyway, thanks for the post. It was really enjoyable reading the comments
Reblogged this on rebeccasworld.
Lol “Helen MacDermott Peeing in a toilet seems … unnatural.”
In Afrikaans, Proverbs 28:1 states that the wicked runs when no one is chasing, but the righteous has the boldness of a lion… and the emblem on a Peugeot bicycle is a lion…
When a head lamp and extra batteries are part of you race gear, but the race starts at 8 am……
99% of the comments are soo funny, Helen’s answer (“Peeing in a toilet seems … unnatural”) is epic! 😀
ROLF 😀
When you start your race shaved and when you finish you need to shave.
I didn’t realize I wasn’t the only one but also Jeffrey Wong takes pictures of his disgusting feet and then post them on Facebook: proudly! I thought that was only me that did that! LOL!!!
I have a friend who runs Ultras. Now I understand him better. 🙂
You say to someone “there is nothing you like doing more
than spending 34hrs running” and they tell you there is nothing
they would like to do for 34hr 😉
You can sell bottle’s of your sweat in the local
supermarket!
rofl with all the responses….a hilarious post…. my
favourites were ‘half of the dishes you take out of your dishwasher
are water bottles.’ or ‘ You have more shoes than your girlfriend.’
congratulations on being freshly pressed!
your runs are longer than your workday !
You buy multiple pairs of running shoes at the same time because you go through them so quickly!
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Love this ,,, I always thought I would do an ultrarunner and then i crewed and paced a friend for the Leadville 100. The 4 of us crew / pacer teammates spent the full 27+ hours awake with our runner and I knew right then … hell no I would never do this. So, I remain in awe of you all who have the mental toughness to dig through whatever it is the race hands you. 30 miles, are, however are still a definite goal. I’m not totally a weenie when it comes to suffering 🙂
When you can sit here, and read this and it all sounds normal.
When you always prefix the word “marathon” with “only a”.
As in:
“I was starting to get tired but there was only a marathon to go.”
“My preparation for the race didn’t go too well, in fact my longest training run was only a marathon.”
“I would have entered the race but it didn’t seem worth the hassle as it was only a marathon.”
Thanks for posting this. keep posting.
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When you realize that your most meaningful relationship is with a foam roller!
“When you realise the 24-hr course isn’t suitable for a 120 mile effort, so you decide to run a 65 mile training run with the first 50 miles in 10hrs, you know, just to save the legs for a ‘fast’ 24-hour course”
Reblogged this on danika and her inner goddess somersaulting and commented:
First reblog. I just thought that this is nice. It’s something Bob can truly and undeniably relate. =p
loved it! Thanks. Very relate-able..
You get a hole in your foot and complete 27km on crutches in a week so you don’t lose fitness for your 100 miler
When you separate your laundry in whites, colors, and tech.
Pingback: You know you are an Ultra Runner when… ? | Ian Corless host of Talk Ultra podcast
When training for a marathon means a decrease in weekly mileage.