About this episode
In this episode, Jeff Garmire discusses the mindset around ultra running and the importance of joy and community over suffering.
Ultra running gets talked about like it has to be miserable. Stay hard. Go one more. Keep hammering. Suffer better. In this episode, I unpack why I think that mindset can miss the whole point of going long in the first place. Yes, hard things matter. Resilience matters. Pushing past limits matters. But if the only way to do something difficult is to build a hostile relationship with yourself, what are you really discovering out there? I talk about why joy, curiosity, adventure, community, and self-discovery are a much bigger part of ultras than the loudest voices on the internet sometimes make it seem. I also revisit my criticism of the BPN Go One More Backyard Ultra and admit where I think I was wrong. Then I’m joined by Kai Slough, who ran 103 miles at BPN Go One More in his first official ultra. We talk about what the event was actually like on the ground, the backyard ultra format, pacing, food, gear, the strange magic of running loop after loop, and what happens when you go from zero ultras to 100 miles in a day. We also get into why people really come back to hundreds and backyards, and it is not just to prove they can suffer. This one is about hard things, but also better…
People in this episode
Host: Jeff Garmire
Guest: Kai Slough
Topics covered
- ultra running
- mindset
- joy in running
- community
- self-discovery
- BPN Go One More
- backyard ultra
Keywords
- ultra running
- mindset
- joy
- community
- self-discovery
- BPN Go One More
- backyard ultra
- pacing
- gear
- food
Sponsors
Sawyer, Janji, CS Coffee, Garage Grown Gear
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: BPN
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