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Category: Thoughts

Ultra War

Ultra War

Published by Patrick Durante on July 3, 2026

I have no great war, no big enemy. My war is with the self. I only go to my version of “war” a few times a year. It’s the extremes of a day, that’s drawn out with no sleep, where I am tested against the elements. The battlefield are mountains, but I don’t fight other men, I run with them against a common enemy, the clock and the course. This war is man made, I wasn’t drafted, I signed up under my own will in my Ultra War, I had a choice. Ultras are a war with self, between the person you are, and who you want to become. A testament to better the self through a process of pushing limits.

“”I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent, no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”

From the History.com Tom Hanks documentary on WW2

Many take up arms against what seems like a noble cause of completing an ultra, and don’t make it. Wounded, they are casualties of blisters, GI issues, a host of things that could take you out. Some need this test they need these extremes to see if the idea that’s in their mind matches what their body can achieve. Races are senseless violence against the self. Just a few months ago, the previous version of me was browsing Ultrasignup and decided to enlist. Sent off to war with a foe of varying degrees. I curse this person as I make my way through the mud, rain, and dirt of this foreign land. I have to make sense of it. I have to find my why with my fellow ultra comrades as we battle the course. Why do we do this to ourselves? What are we hoping to find in an ultra war?

“The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution.”

Those athletes made a wager: do I think this version of me is strong enough? Without training, one won’t have the strength to take on the enemy on foreign soil. It’s a gamble every single time, and every race we answer the ultimate question: “Am I enough?” Even when we succeed, that glory is never long. After every finish line they bestow upon you a medal of honor around your neck or belt. Like an admiral who’s seen many battlefields, we want the glory and honor that goes with calling ourselves ultra, but we keep coming back to prove our worth. Why?

While I write this in jest, I still can’t get my mind around what actual soldiers and military personnel do, and had to do, back when the war was active. It’s hard to get into their mindset, and maybe a lot of that is they didn’t have a full picture of what it would be like. I think most don’t know how bad things can get before they sign up for these events. It’s both scary and exciting, much like war could be, but this is a joke compared to the horrors of war. I’ve worked with athletes who have a lot of fear about what it’s going to feel like. It’s the limits that people want to touch, the edge of how far they have gone. It’s a calling to be tested.

You are enlightened by suffering not successes.

Like those of the past who were called up to fight for their country many didn’t have a choice, as they were drafted I am one that seeks that excitement. That’s what sends me off to war with a course, and self. They are not drastically different, in that men and women want to make something of their lives, and in whatever way they choose to do it, for those who volunteer. The soldiers of WWI and WWII often did not have a choice, as many were drafted, but some enlisted. I have no great war, and no clearly defined enemy. I sit here celebrating the fruit of their labor and sacrifice. I get to choose my enemy, but I still have to put in the training. It’s the idea that my enemy is always out there, getting strong, and if I don’t rise to the level needed to face them, I will DNF on the battlefield but I will always come home. That is where this comparison ends. They never knew if they would. 

With an ultra, you WILL make it back, but you are FOREVER changed. It will expose you to extremes we do not face in our day-to-day lives. This was a reality for people fighting on the front. Our ultra war is a joke compared to what they experienced, and I am not trying to compare it to actual combat. This is just the closest analogy I have for the extremes of sleep deprivation, hunger, and pain. It’s something they had to deal with day in and day out, for years. Those are true heroes and hardcore individuals who could stand that and serve, every day, for days on end.

I am not trying to romanticize war, just the act of bringing yourself to your limit. There is honor in that. Not all of us can fight for our country. That doesn’t make me or you any less of a man or woman. The importance of an ultra is finding your limit, finding what you are afraid of most, and facing it head on. It opens your eyes to what you can do in times of despair, and gives you strength you never knew you had. Some break, some do not, but all come back different. I encourage you to go to war with the self, to find your limit, and to never stop fighting. Don’t give up an inch of the ground you’ve gained in progress toward strengthening what you THINK you are capable of. If you don’t, how will you ever know what you are capable of? It’s better to pass through life with an opponent.

Smile, you get to grow old, you get to choose your hard, when many men and women caught up in war did not. I am grateful I get to choose my hard, not because I was drafted into it. Happy 4th of July, I celebrate our freedom, our independence. 250 years! Forever grateful to all the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can all live in this amazing country.

Thanks for reading! Happy 4th of July!

My current mindset has been inspired from listening to Dan Carlin, and watching the WW2 documentary on history.com featuring Tom Hanks.

False Summits

False Summits

Published by Patrick Durante on March 23, 2026

I met a man training to summit Everest this past weekend.  I thought that surely if you can conquer that mountain for the average cost of 50,000 dollars, then there’s no other mountains to climb, right?  I started thinking about how many previous mountains I have climbed, and once I got to the summit, it didn’t provide any different view than some of the previous ones. Ultras can have that same effect, you think crossing the finish line will change everything, or once I get that PR I’ll be content. Life is filled with false summits, what you think is the peak, even your limit, but its not. There’s more left, and its critical you keep going. I’ll tell you why.

Life is filled with these things.  As I look back at my brief 44 years, I’ve chased after a lot of things. At the time it felt like an important achievement, house, cars, job titles, or PRs.  Each I ran down, like a persistence hunt, knowing it was only a matter of time and it was mine.  Once there, be it the new status, or title, its shimmer and glory was brief until they dulled over time and became the new baseline.  

There’s been a shift in my recent years as I had talked about my 100 – 100s post, that the more races I conquer at the 100 mile distance don’t provide any more sense of enjoyment as the first,  except ES100 the entire DFL thing that happened. That was just nuts, but even after that, like clockwork, I am back on ultrasignup, looking for my next fix.  Anthony De Mello covered it best in his book Stop Fixing Yourself. I am trying to shed awareness on why I am doing these events and boiled it down to these few items.

  1. Struggle – that 50/50 shot of success is magical.
  2. Novelty – I need new experiences.
  3. Reason to train – why I put in the work.
  4. Evolution of self – I learned so much when races go off the rails, not as much when they go perfect
  5. Experience for Coaching
What’s at the top?

How I help others achieve a massive goal if I am not on the same path?  It’s only through the shared experience, and getting humbled that I realize where others might make mistakes.  I can’t do it for just the finish line, or age group award, or bragging rights. Those are just a bunch of false summits, where you think you’ve reached the apex of your performance, your career, but no, there’s still more to go.  The journey over the past year of training is where all the magic happens, those early runs with friends, seeing new places, and trying new things you never dreamed you would do (see sleeping in my car).  The goal is to be content with my work at the end of the year.  To keep stacking those blocks, year after year, so I know that if I couldn’t do this tomorrow, I would be grateful for what I achieved.  Did I put myself out there in a new and interesting ways?  Did I meet others in the same fight?  Is the man in the mirror inspiring, or is he self absorbed?  

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

In the past few weeks I have been creating tools for myself, and athletes to be better at ultras. UltraRunTools 1.0 released for athletes I coach. To give them more insight to get to the finish line, because I have to keep evolving and learning.  The second I stop, and say, “that’ll do pig”, I stop learning, I will stop being who I am destined to be.  What’s at the top of the mountains?  More mountains!  There are endless mountains to climb.  Thank god, because if there was one ultra to rule them all, like Everest, and you finished it.  Would you then put down the sword and stop the fight?  Would you say, I can rest because there’s nothing more to conquer?

The journey of self improvement can be another endless trap, but we grow when under pressure, when someone depends on us.  You need something out there that demands you show up, be it your kids, be it that title of manager, its the thing that demands responsibility in all your actions.  Those are the main reasons to chase any “False Summit”.  They require your standard is high on all fronts, even down to what you put in your mouth on a daily basis.  They will command you to show up, say what your going to do, and and actually do it. Don’t talk about it, be about it! (I love saying that line to my kids)

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent, no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”

So it’s important to chase the summit, the top, not to say that you did it, but to say I have a goal that’s big. I don’t know if I am strong enough, but I wake up, every day, and work toward that goal until I achieve it.  I love the stories adventure creates, I love close calls with danger, I love that view from the summit, even if its false or brief.  I love the problems solved, and places explored.  I create a list at the end of every year for what I want next year to look like, because it’s the guiding light for connection, and my reason to get up.  Without that, we are nothing. Never content to sit idle. I will always want more.

PA Triple Crown… Let’s dance!