The First 100-Miler

Seventy miles into my first 24 hour race at the 2012 NorthCoast 24 Hour, I was standing at the doorway of the medical tent wondering if I should go back outside. It was 1 A.M., the temperature had dropped to the mid 40s,  rain & hail resumed, and I was convinced the arches of my feet were broken. Looking back inside the tent, the heater felt so nice and I saw the runner who had contracted hypothermia lying on the cot. "No one would ever fault me for only completing 70 miles," I thought. I looked back at the heater and said to myself, "That's it. I am done." And quit. 

But, a couple seconds after saying that to myself, my left leg picked itself up and turned toward the door. Then the right leg followed. We were back outside in the rain. Then, for the next 8 hours we trotted 30 more miles, hands in arm pits inside my rain coat, trying to average 16:00 minutes a mile. Twenty minutes short of the 9AM finish, we crossed our 100th mile.

The Spiritual Aspect

I was never a naturally-gifted stand out runner - not high school team captain or city champion material. Instead, life challenges vectored me into long distance running as it provided an experience to uncover and process a rupturing family, financial hardship, and racism. The 24 hour format enticed me as it seemed to be less about "racing" and more about my own personal decision to just take one more step. 

When I look back now, that moment inside the medical tent is so significant. It was labeling of seeking external validation, the moment everything had been stripped away, and the core stating "we know who we want to be - and that is a person that continues."

This spiritual aspect of long-distance running is quite commonly known amongst its participants. The 3,100 mile race spread over 52 days in Queens, NYC is aptly named "Self-Transcendence" and was founded by spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy. The race's website writes: "there comes a point in a race when one's physical prowess has reached its limit. To continue on, the runner must rely on his or her own inner determination, to tap into the infinite spiritual power that is within us all..." To this point, nearly every runner I've met ultra-running has shared testing moments that drew them in: drug addiction, death of loved ones, battles with diseases - and ultra running was also their method of exploring their spirit 

Nowadays, the reasons I originally began ultra-running have disappeared, but the new found appreciation is in its meditative qualities. Viewing ultra-running as more of a journey rather than a workout, I find the ability to "detach" and observe life from almost a third person perspective. Sometimes, a focal point for concentration arises by the fact that there is indeed some dull pain and I can be conscious about observing the body that way. For anyone looking for ways to process significant life events or a meditative activity, consider giving long-distance running/walking a shot!