Ultramarathon Daily News, Wed, May 6

Feeling unmotivated? Here are 19 ways to get yer butt out the door.

Did you hear our most recent podcast with Western States Endurance Run President John Trent. Aside from being a super nice guy, John has a lot of insight into the greater sport, its growth, and how to incorporate family life into your passion. Listen here.

Ellie’s on the rebound! Look out Comrades!

An emotional dad ran the London marathon, then ran 159 miles home for a good reason.

If you listened to this podcast with Ken Michal, it was hard not coming away from it thinking “that’s the nicest, most positive guy in the sport.” And he is. That’s why it was unfortunate that another member of the community took Ken to court for defamation after he called her out for cutting the course at Miwok last year. The trial was yesterday, and by all accounts, Ken won. (Protip: Don’t cut the course, then post your route on Strava.) Score one for the good guys! Case closed.

A quick statistical analysis of US marathons. Interesting stuff.

Geoff Roes’ compelling essay on the trendiness and trajectory of ultrarunning and ultramarathons. Will it peak and die out? What’ll happen then?

Koozies are back! Here’s a great opportunity to kill three birds with one stone. Keep your water bottle cold on your run, keep your beer cold after your run, and help keep URP afloat! New FIDDY/Single Track Mind koozies are right this way. Thanks for your support.

Want to do something awesome? Qualify for the USATF 24 hour National Team and represent your country overseas! Here are the new standards.

The EMU 6 Day Race is going on in Budapest right now. Here’s a live feed. While not everyone’s cup of tea to watch, this is just another segment of the MUT world that joins us all together.

Here’s a great midpacker’s report from Miwok that shows the Marin Headlands really well.

dan says:

May 6, 2015 at 1:38 pm

Where can we find more about this court case?

eric schranz says:

May 6, 2015 at 4:41 pm

Her name is Ingrid Honrado and she filed the case in Marin County. It’s all public information. Last thing I need is for her to waste my time suing me, so I’ll leave it there.

Will T. says:

May 6, 2015 at 2:53 pm

Awesome for Ken! A Win for the good guy midpacker!Reference

Paul B says:

May 6, 2015 at 4:13 pm

A runner til another runner to court because they were upset someone caught them cutting the course. Wow. What an asshole move

Jason Green says:

May 7, 2015 at 5:12 am

We need a organization that can put shitty people on a banned list from ultra events.

Nate says:

May 7, 2015 at 8:37 am

He makes a lot of interesting points. It reminds me of a New Yorker article I read about skateboarding and the X-Games in general. Essentially, the writer went to the X-Games and found the old guys were still skateboarding and BMX-ing and all that jazz, and the younger kids were playing video games, because the X-Games had to add them to attract the youth. Essentially it felt like the old guys refused to give up the reins – i.e., evolve like Geoff says.

I point this out because the rebel spirit that started the X-Games is prevalent in ultrarunning. The last thing we want in this sport is to have it devolve into kids playing video games.

Paul B says:

May 7, 2015 at 3:08 pm

I get what Geoff is saying but I also don’t. This sport is changing and has already changed. I would say majority of people come into ultra running for the added challenge. We’ve got all sorts of races from 50k-100+ milers and everything in between. You want an uphill only or downhill only you’ve got those as well. There are the new companies like TNF, Go Beyong and Rainshadow that are adding to the after event festivities to make them parties and concerts and such. We got races that are big for the people who want to giant marathon feel, and the small races for those of us who don’t want all that. Building the races takes time, and there are already so many more races than there has ever been. When it comes to races there is not that much more you can do before everything turns into a color run or spartan style obstacle race. You start here, finish here and have a few aid stations in between. There are “easy” ultras and really freaking hard ultras, and more and more are created every year and month. There is more and more access to anyone who wants to get into the sport. Most of us invite and encourage all our running friends to try them. It’s a friendly community already with a few bad apples. One could certainly add more road ultras across the country to make it even more accessible. I think this sport is on a solid trajectory of growth.

Ultramarathon Daily News, Wed, May 6

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