The Future of Going Long

I wrote the following article for the July/August 2015 issue of the Huntsville Track Club News.

Over the course of the past two years, I completed my first two 100 mile races.  I haven’t been alone in this endeavor.  Several of our fellow HTC members have earned that coveted 100 mile buckle too, and others have been mastering this distance for some time.   However, as I was resting on my laurels thinking of those future days when I might brag about running 100 miles to my, as yet to be born, grandchildren, I was brought down from my high horse by a couple of articles that appeared in two different running magazines.

The first article was more of a brief blurb in the January/February 2015 edition of Ultrarunning magazine.  The title was, “200 is the new 100.”  The article pointed out that there are now over 135 100 mile races to choose from in North America.  Given that, many ultrarunners are now looking for new challenges.   The inaugural Tahoe 200 was so popular in 2014, that it has already instituted a lottery for entry.   The article notes that several new 200 mile races are taking place this year and others are in the works.  

While I was trying to digest the idea of a point to point 200 mile race – not a stage race – but a non-stop 200 miler, I was hit with the next article in the May/June 2015 issue of The Running Times, titled, “Is 100 Miles the New Marathon?”   The title has a little more shock value than the actual article, but it serves to get your attention.   It points out that 100 mile finishers have grown from 1,378 to 7,029 in the U.S. since 2003.   In 2014 alone, the number jumped by 17 percent.  Now, to put that in perspective, last year the New York City Marathon alone had 50,530 finishers.  However, the intent of the article is that many elite runners at various distances up to the marathon are now looking to ultra-distances as a next step, and a new challenge.

So, where does this leave us?  Clearly, the sport of ultramarathons and its closely related cousin, the trail run, are growing in popularity.   As these events become more popular we are undoubtedly going to see race distances continue to grow as the long runner looks for new challenges.   Also, as the sport continues to attract elite runners, the incredible capability of the human body will continue to amaze.  As an example, this year at the Graveyard 100, in North Carolina, the race was won by Marco Bonfiglio, of Italy, with a time of 13:01:52, and an average pace of 7:49 a mile.  He had no crew and no pacer.   When you wrap your head around that, you can see that this is an area of the running experience that will continue to entice runners at all levels to explore the limits of their capabilities.

For me, I’ve registered for “A Race for the Ages” in Manchester, Tennessee in September.   It’s a timed event and I will have 48 hours to see how far I can go beyond 100 miles.   After all, at whatever distance we choose, as runners we all want to keep knocking down those walls.   Have fun out there!