Why Do We Do These Things Called Ultras? A Collection of 17 Personal Reasons, Shared By Listeners Just Like You…

Welcome back to Choose to Endure , the show dedicated to the back of the pack ultra runners , where we share stories , interviews , gear and training tips specific to the non-elite heroes of the ultra universe .

If you haven't had a moment to do so yet , please consider heading over to your favorite podcast app hit , follow , rate the show and , if you're getting something of value , leave a review and let others know about it . You can also now shoot me a text message , actually , if you like , straight from the show notes , which is a pretty cool new feature .

My name's Richard Gleave . I've been running ultras since 2017 . I have taken on and finished numerous ultra distances , all the way up through 220 miles , and I am unashamedly a member of the back of the pack , just like many of you .

Now , this being a bonus episode , not a regular season episode , I am sitting here on a pretty gloomy , wet evening sipping on a hazy beer hug , which is a 6.8% hazy IPA from Goose Island .

I acquired this beer from a certain Mr Jonathan Prosser as part of a beer swap during our recent 72-hour race that we ran together out at the Sticks in Kansas , put on by the wonderful folks over at Ultraverse Supplements . So cheers to you , mr Prosser . Jonathan is getting ready for his first 200-mile attempt out at the Summit 200 here in July .

What a race to pick as your first 200 . Good luck to Jonathan and everyone else doing that one . Good luck to Jonathan and everyone else doing that one . Now , as we approach the end of season one of the show and I began looking ahead to season two I received a fantastic suggestion from a listener to create an episode exploring the why behind ultra running .

So I figured why not give it a whirl in a bonus episode such as this one ? This is essentially you talking to you as listeners . Why do we choose to push our bodies and minds to the limit ? What do we gain from these extraordinary challenges we spend so much time and effort going out there to do ?

Behind Every Runner is a unique story , a reason that drives you to lace up your shoes and hit the trails , often for hours on end . For some it's about personal growth and overcoming adversity , for others it's the sense of community and the friendships formed along the way , and for many , it's the simple love of nature and the outdoors .

So in this bonus episode today , we'll dive into these personal motivations that drive us to take on ultramarathons . I reached out to our community the Choose to Endure community on Instagram , facebook and over on Reddit , and I asked people if they were comfortable to share their why , and the responses were incredible .

Each one is a unique story of endurance , growth and passion . As a back-of-the-pack ultra runner myself , I often find the most meaningful conversations happen during races , where we share our struggles , we're pretty open with each other , we share our triumphs and we talk about the reasons we keep coming back for more .

So today I'm super excited to share some of your stories with you . These personal reflections not only highlight the diversity of motivations , but also the common threads that unite us as ultra runners .

So , whether it's managing anxiety or exploring unknown places or developing a positive mindset , our reasons for running appear deeply personal , yet universally resonant , and are as applicable to elites as they are to back of the packers like us .

So , without further ado and , honestly , with no real idea how this is going to turn out , let's jump in and hear directly from you , the listeners to the show , about what inspires you to keep enduring during those races . So we'll start with Mr Glenn McCrill , hi Glenn . So we'll start with Mr Glenn McCrill , hi Glenn .

He is a great friend and one third of the marvelous McCrills , as I'm going to call them , with his wife , agatha and their ultra running daughter , aurora . Glenn wrote why , because of my faith , I believe God created me to use the talents created within me and to love others' talents exactly as they are .

The welcoming attitude of the trail ultra community is way different than the road community . I appreciate that elites and he cites Wes Rittner in here actually truly care and want to see and learn from those that choose to endure . The entire community is supportive .

This weekend , I guess when he was writing this , I got to crew along with Aurora , vicky Allen and Agatha at the Sedona 125 . I'll take my running gear in case God's plan is different than our plan .

Also , I got to know people like Casey Sanders , who appeared in season one , and Dave Sandry , as well as my wife , not for who we are day to day , but for who we truly are as humans out on the trail . So thank you , glenn , for sharing that comment . Next comment came from Dave Sandry . This was a Facebook comment .

When people ask me why I enjoy ultras , the main thing I usually talk about is the amazing people I've met and been able to come friends with . I always tell them about how amazing it is to get to meet folks .

Glenn McRill , agatha McRill , casey Sanders meeting the three of you at Bigfoot made that race a huge success for me , even though I didn't finish the race . The three of you are exactly what makes the ultra running community so amazing . Dave , thank you very much for sharing that .

I really appreciate you taking the time out and I'm glad you're getting some sense of community from the folks you meet on the trail .

Next up , mr Garrett Frederick . You might remember Garrett . He's from the trail trash podcast and Garrett says my why is pretty simple to show myself that I can do hard things and also want to show my daughter that she can do incredibly brave things too with the right preparation . So thanks , garrett . Very poignant . Next comes from Mr Stephen Dense .

Now , I met Stephen when we did the Swami Shuffle together back in February . Stephen writes my why I went through a difficult first marriage , gave up on myself , going through the motions of life , finally had enough and needed or wanted to complete something that I started . Self-loathing can keep you in a perpetual spin cycle .

In order to break these chains , I started running a few feet at a time and after a while , a whole mile without stopping . Every day is a blessing . Find something that challenges and excites you Brilliant . Thank you , stephen . Very personal and very open , but I totally appreciate you sharing . Great job . Next , I heard from Lisa Decker .

Now , lisa is a local runner here in my direct area and somebody I've spent some time on the trails with in the past . Lisa says why ? Because this community has welcomed me with open arms from the very start . Am I fast ? Nope , do I look like a runner ? What is that anyway ?

No matter the distance or pace , I have a tribe of people who want to see me finish . The first time I felt I belonged anywhere and I honestly don't know where I would be or who I would be without this community . Why ? Because I love how at peace I feel being outside . It truly is my therapy session .

I also get to explore some amazing places and see some beautiful landscapes . Why ? To prove how strong I am , to see what I'm capable of to do hard things .

Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail and I get to try again , but I never imagined how much trail and ultra running would be a part of my life , and now it's pretty much who I am , or at least a big part anyway . So thank you , lisa . Some great reasons , some great whys there . Wendy Peters also sent me a note .

Now Wendy is part of the first running group I ever joined , actually here in Kingwood , the Kingwood Fit Marathon Training Group . She's out there still doing her thing and , I think , training for some triathlons right now . But she says why ? Because I'm afraid .

And then when I do it , whatever the thing is , the reality of what I did sets in the reality of yes , I did it , no-transcript . So congrats , wendy . I hope your training goes well for the triathlons and I appreciate you sharing your message .

I also heard from quite a few people on Reddit , so I'm going to read these aloud too , along with their Reddit usernames , if I can pronounce them . But there's some really good stuff in here too .

So from Reddit , commonplace User wrote my why for running ultras is not only because I want to challenge myself mentally and physically , but mainly because I have the goal of hiking the AT Colorado Trail , cdt , pct at some point in my life .

But I don't really want to take half the year to do it , so I'm trying to train my body to a level where I can comfortably get 20 to 30 miles in a day of slow packing . That way I can do these long haul trails in half the time . I could spend an easy five minutes on how and why I fell in love with spending a long time in the woods .

We're all pretty similar , crazy people , but we all have our specific reasons for doing what we do . So thank you , commonplace user . Another Reddit user , thebravestchicken , whose username I really like there . If I don't have competition in my life , I go off the rails with bad habits .

I grew up in combat sports alongside running , but years of getting hit in the head narrowed it down to just running Road marathon training is too much strain on the body year round , so I bumped up to ultra running for some more easy mileage . It also gives me a good excuse to take frequent vacations from work .

My co-workers and employer have a hard time giving me heck for taking time off for fitness events , since a vast , vast majority of my industry is obese and out of shape . So thank you , bravest Chicken . Very brave of you to share and I appreciate the thoughts Also from Reddit .

Captain Hemingway Brilliant His why , or her why , I'm not sure To celebrate life and living . I was addicted to drugs and alcohol for over a quarter of a decade before I got sober and somehow now I'm able to run incredibly long distances , see and do incredible things and have adventures never in my wildest imaginings .

I am grateful for every second , for the opportunity and blessings of life , legs and health . Next up , tj Fenton , 12 . Hello , tj Fenton . 12 . Thank you for submitting a why , tj Fenton's ? Why ? I want to figure out how to strip everything else away and see what I'm made of at my core . Away and see what I'm made of at my core .

It feels like most things in my life have had at least a small bit of something external fueling whatever I'm doing . I think running long distances will eventually strip away everything else to where it's just me , the course and the finish line , and I want to know what that feels like to do something like that , where it's just left to me to get it done .

I think that's really cool and that's definitely something you'll find through ultras . So thank you , tj , for submitting that . Here's an interesting one from Remote Beyond .

Sounds awful , but I just wanted to prove I'm better than people think of me Faced a lot of rejection , and I just wanted to prove I'm better than people think of me Faced a lot of rejection , and I just want to do something that makes me proud of myself . It's a little different take there , but I kind of like it and very raw , very honest .

Thank you , remote beyond , for sharing your why . Here's a longer one Future Painting 9 2 1 , 9 . Future Painting writes I could write a book . I've been healing from CPTSD , from a very dysfunctional childhood , lots of emotional trauma . Running has always been in the background . It comes and it goes .

A few years back I started therapy and I also started sports at 40 . Swimming came first , then ballet , which was a dream come true . Then we sold everything and hit the road to you know kind of live life . We're road schoolers now . So on the road I had running , I've run into and out of several national parks and I started with some road races .

By March I completed a half and then I did the UTMB Desert Rats 10K in Fruscia , colorado . Something woke up in my soul that day and I haven't been able to get enough since . But it's healing my mind . I'm doing things and functioning in a way that absolutely blows my mind .

Nowadays , my goal is a 100 mile ultra and I'm doing it for all those who suffered trauma at the hands of our parents or loved ones . I'm running to show that we can change , we can heal , we can become so much more than what we ever considered . I'm crushing my trauma . These days , I'm a better person . I'm a better mom .

I have way more emotional intelligence than I did just three years ago . I love to run . It brings me joy . It has also saved my life and I would love to tell the whole story . Wow , that's pretty intense .

Thank you , future Painting and congratulations on getting through and finding something to get yourself past some of the trauma , kind of on the back of that . One Apprehensive Cut also wrote I relate to this so hard .

I've been healing from CPTSD2 , with lots of therapy , of course , and running , which has been a constant in my life , whether I was paying attention to it or not . I grew up , mormon , left the church at 19 , moved to a big city after living in Colorado my whole life and would find myself running after my art classes .

I made my way to LA because I missed the mountains and would run on my lunch break every so often , or to and from school because I didn't have a car . I then found out I was gay while at work one day and went straight to the trails to run just to process my new identity .

I was in jeans and vans , just running as hard as as I could up a trail , trying to figure out how to be okay with myself and trying not to freak out , since most of my family is homophobic . After that day , I'd go to the trails every day after work and just start running . No watch , no mile goal , just needed to move and just be . Now I'm engaged .

I'm living in the mountains . Needed to move and just be . Now I'm engaged , I'm living in the mountains and I'm training for races . I never thought I would be capable of doing . Life is funny and never the same , but running has always been there for me . It has allowed me to be present , embrace joy and hard times and just be human Again .

What a phenomenally personal post . Thank you so much , apprehensive Cut for sharing . Really appreciate and salute your approach to ultra running and your why . We also had Icy Trash . Give us their why . Being 48 , it's very satisfying to discover your body can do things it couldn't 20 years ago .

I enjoy the process of training , planning , anticipating and the fear that maybe this is the race where it all goes wrong . That's very motivating . The sense of accomplishment when you cross that line is way better than any marathon or road race I've ever run .

While I'm sure there are a-holes out there , the vibe at these trail ultras are so much better than road races . Don't even get me started on these oases in the middle of the woods that serve pancakes and potatoes and send you on your way . I'm not the least bit surprised at how the sport continues to grow . Amen to that .

Gotta love some pancakes and potatoes in the woods . Thank you , icy Trash . And as we get close to the end here , piggy Goes Wee is the next Reddit user with one of the best names out there Read a book at a library and had just finished training for a marathon and running . It Did a 50K and then began trail running .

I'm trail running now and I've done a 50 miler and a couple more 50ks . I might sign up for a 100 miler , but I'm very in love with the me time , the think time and the being in nature time . Yes , indeed , I think , piggy . That is something we all fell in love with as part of ultra running . And then Jack Frost 9P rounds us out .

Honestly , I feel like I lost my why . I dropped out of my last two hundreds . I haven't finished an ultra since 2018 , which was Grindstone 100 miler . From 2013 to 18 , I finished 10 hundreds and my why was proving to myself I could do really hard things , as this was nothing compared to my family members battling illness and cancer .

Unfortunately , they've since passed . My life's turned upside down since then and it's hard to find a why these days . Some of it is . I feel like there's nothing left to prove to myself in the running world . Maybe someday I'll find my mojo again , but it's awfully hard to finish 100 miles without a strong why .

Not giving in to demons at mile 80 is too tough if you don't have a big reason to dig deep . So a very honest and different approach to a why there from Jack Frost . But thank you again , whomever you are out there , for choosing to respond and putting yourself out there . What about me ? You ask your own , richard Gleave .

Okay , I'll be open and share mine with you . I did so on the Facebook post . For me , my why is all about a few things Managing anxiety , which I've had my whole life , increasing self-belief , something I've been afflicted with since I was a kid .

I just don't have great self-belief , and I don't have , and I'm trying to increase confidence in myself by going out there and finishing these things that seem ridiculously long . I'm also doing it for the challenge . I'm doing it to teach myself discipline . I'm doing it to teach myself discipline .

I'm doing it to explore unknown places and I'm doing it to find friendships with people who have shared values . I'm doing it for personal growth and lastly , and certainly not leastly , if that's even a word , I am doing it to continue to develop and maintain a positivity mindset in a world that I find increasingly negative . So that's me .

And there you have it a collection of personal whys from our incredible ultra-running community . Those stories is a testament to the power of endurance , the strength of human spirit and the profound impact that ultra running can have on our lives .

Whether it's for personal growth , overcoming adversity , finding community or simply the love of nature , our reasons for running ultras are apparently as unique as we are Huge . Thank you to everyone who took a chance and shared their why with us in public . Look out for more questions and more bonus episodes covering the answers out on the various social platforms .

These are an opportunity for you to have your say and be a part of this podcast community . Your stories are not only inspiring but also a reminder of why we choose to endure . As we continue through season two , maybe let's keep these motivations pretty close to our hearts and continue to support each other on this amazing journey .

If you enjoy this bonus episode , please subscribe , rate and review the podcast . Follow us on Instagram , facebook and Reddit under the Choose to Endure banner and share your own why with the hashtags Choose to Endure and podcast . Maybe we can keep the conversation going and continue to inspire one another moving forwards Until next time .

My name richard glee , signing out . Keep running , keep pushing the limits and , most importantly , keep finding your why , so that you can keep choosing to endure . We'll see you next time .