I was walking down the street. As I passed two people having a conversation, I overheard someone say, “You gotta draw the line somewhere!” The lady stated this in disgust. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I laughed in my head. It got me thinking about athletes and whether they ever say that to themselves. Why would they say it? Where do I draw the line regarding the events and challenges I add to my calendar?
Where do you draw the line in Ultrarunning?
One of the events I think will go way past my line is a “Last Man Standing” event. I’m pretty sure I plan to add that to my calendar for next year. This race will force me to draw the line on how far I go. It will test how long I can keep things under control. What will be the first thing to cross the line? Will it be my body or my mind?
A Backyard Ultra is a unique and grueling endurance race format where participants run a loop of a specific distance every hour, on the hour, until only one runner remains. The standard loop distance is 4.167 miles (6.706 kilometers), which ensures that runners cover 100 miles in 24 hours if they continue for that long.
Each year, you should review your proverbial “line in the sand.” As an athlete, that could mean the biggest distances, hardest events, fastest times, or newest challenges.
Who drew your initial line? Think about that. Odds are it was the sum of past experiences or maybe someone you admired. At some point, you thought, “Well, maybe I could do that.” Maybe you and a friend crossed the line together in a race. You both expanded what you thought was your limit. Either way, you now have a line in the sand, and that’s it. A limit was born. Each year, I return to my running era. I contemplate ways to erase or redraw that line. I want to make it slightly higher or different than last year. A new line that puts me in new or novel situations to experience life.
It’s been a long time since I’ve crossed over “the farthest I’ve gone”
You should be near, above, or sometimes well below your line in training. That means you have easy days, on-target days, and days way over your line of what you thought was possible. That’s because race day does the same thing. If you are pacing it right, you will reach your limit on race day. Then, you will need to decide if this is truly your limit. Was it self-imposed the entire time—a fabrication of your sum of past experiences? The mind wants to know if there is an end to the suffering, but what if there is no finish line? I think that’s why I want to try a backyard event; there is NO DEFINED finish.
If you do ultras, people will tell you all the time that you’re crossing the line in these events. It will be way past where most people drew their line, which was at 10K, half marathon, or marathon. The term “ultra” encompasses EVERYTHING past the marathon. There’s no limit to the length that these races and events can be, and that’s a good thing.
“You gotta draw the line somewhere!” Or maybe you don’t. They keep making longer and longer events; 200-mile races are becoming the norm just as 100s seemed crazy a few years ago.
I am not at the 200-miler event yet; maybe I never will be. But I want to draw the line over 100, so that’s why I want to try one of these backyard events. I want to understand what happens mentally and physically as I cross OVER where I think my conceived limit lies. My furthest distance to date is 105 recorded at Rabid Raccoon. I can’t wait until my foot crosses over where I drew my line and I am in uncharted territory. That’s where the magic happens, outside of the comfort zone.
Patrick is an ultrarunner and coach from Philadelphia who loves documenting his running career. His mission is to provide useful tips and tricks to assist others along their ultra journey. You can find his coaching services at https://ultraruncoach.com.
It was a long journey from Philly to Abingdon. If you drive that far, I learned you should not race the following morning. That’s what I had done in the past. Some of my longest drives had me racing the next morning, and it’s bad for a few reasons. You end up trying to move too fast through these towns and miss the culture! It’s the best part of these races, not just the trails. Stop treating it like a business transaction, where you need to get in, get out, and then leave. Stop making it just about a challenge and collecting a time, buckle, or race under your belt. These races are NOT just another number to the people who live there; they are the heart and soul of the community. Come early and leave a day late if you can. You won’t regret it. Take in the local fair, visit restaurants, and enjoy yourself. SLOW DOWN—that is what the hurricane taught me.
2 – Fall 100s = bad for family life
The difference between tris and ultras 🙂
Kids’ sports and family life, in general, are busier for me in September and October, but that’s when several 100-mile races take place. After this race, I made a vow to ONLY race 100-milers in the summer when my wife is off from school, which puts the least amount of burden on the family.
3 – Ultra-self centered
Shortly after the hurricane, we lost power, and I only saw a few photos and videos of Damascus. Then we got the news that the race was canceled. I can tell you, it felt like a wave washed over me, lifting my eyes from the self-centeredness of completing my 100-miler. Trying to compare my problems to those of people who lost their homes was humbling.
Hundred-mile races are a weirdly intense focus on the runner, but many people work hard to give you the opportunity to run 100 miles uninterrupted. This focus on the runner and their race can make you lose perspective. Now, I felt like an idiot. I had inconvenienced many to get here, and now that the race was canceled, what was it all for? I was away from my family, sitting in a hotel without power, with nothing to show for all my selfish efforts.
I watched videos of homes being destroyed in Damascus. There was no way I could be mad that the race was canceled. It’s just a race, and while it may feel like your entire world, you get to run another day. It’s going to take time to repair the damage to this town. You can go on UltraSignUp and jump into another event next weekend. The local Yeti runners, who would have supported you in the race, now needed help.
Get over yourself and how important you think you are. It’s not about you; it’s about community.
What went right?
The Girl and The Raven Story
We ate at the amazing restaurant “The Girl and the Raven.” It’s named after a cute children’s story. In the story, a girl sees a total solar eclipse and, confused by what it is, thinks her life is over. In that moment of fear, she promises to be a better person. She vows, “If only I had another day, I would be kind and forgiving, I would love more and serve others.” The Raven overhears her promise and ensures she fulfills it.
The path to happiness in life is filled with those four tenets from the story: kindness, forgiveness, love, and service to others. These are values I try to instill in my children. While I am still working slowly on that last one, I realize it’s an important path to a meaningful life.
On the way down, we listened to a bunch of podcasts that echoed the same lessons as a guide to happiness.
Once the power went out, there wasn’t much else left to do but go to sleep. There was no internet or TV, and my phone wasn’t working. I thought, what the hell, why not make the best of a bad situation and go for a run while I’m here? I had traveled nine hours to see the trail, so why not go see it?
The plan was to see how far I could get, but with a max of maybe 4-5 hours. At that point, I didn’t have much of a sense of the extent of the damage, just that the race was canceled and there was flooding in certain locations. I had only seen one or two posts on the FB Yeti page about some of the overflowing rivers near aid stations before the power cut out. All local restaurants and businesses had lost power.
I decided to just go to sleep, then wake up and go for a run. I would see just how far I could go, then turn around. The car was already packed to head home, so what was left to lose? I thought maybe I could salvage the trip in a small way and make the best of a bad situation.
Time with Dad
I work from home as a remote IT worker and can only get out for maybe two 100-mile races a year. For the last few years, these races have become sacred trips that I take with my father. They are not just about exploring my physical and mental limits, but also about spending quality time with my dad. I record these adventures to remember the moments we share and to show my kids.
Through these recordings, I hope to inspire my children to lead an active lifestyle and demonstrate that you can find a community of like-minded individuals willing to tackle tough challenges. Life is inevitably going to deal you some hard times—this is a certainty. But by pushing through these races and sharing these experiences, I aim to teach them resilience, the value of perseverance, and the importance of finding joy and camaraderie even in difficult situations.
The Adventure with Josh
I met Josh, and together we got to see some of the best parts of the Virginia Creeper Trail. We shared several miles and had what I call a condensed race experience. We witnessed the damage firsthand and saw how bad the course would have been for the 200+ runners. That gave me a full understanding of the decision to cancel the race and why it was necessary. If you had driven nine and a half hours, I’m sure you would have made the same decision.
I went out fast because I had no idea when I would be forced to turn around. Josh and I got to see some of the best parts of the Virginia Creeper Trail. You might think I’m an idiot for trying to run the course under such circumstances, but if I hadn’t, I would have left with a massive amount of regret. I wasn’t going to put my family through this again.
I promised myself to not be so self-centered, or travel this far, or stay away this long for a race. A piece of me shifted inside, focusing more on family versus racing. I can always come back to these races when my kids are older, but right now, I need to coordinate these events better with my father and wife so I don’t miss as many family moments. If the race gets canceled, is the trip still worth the drive? This experience has made me reconsider my priorities and the balance between my passion for running and my responsibilities to my family.
You should put in backup plans so that even if things don’t go as expected, you still have something to show for it. I had already spent a lot of time getting here, and I wasn’t going to let that go to waste. Working from home means I don’t get many novel experiences, so I was determined to make the most of my trip. Why not?
For you runners out there, this was my Yeti, and I enjoyed it just as much as any other 100-mile race I have done—maybe even more—because I made the best of a bad situation. This wasn’t the Yeti I was expecting, but it was the Yeti I got. Sure, I wish there hadn’t been a hurricane, but a quote that stuck in my mind is, “Happiness isn’t about an absence of problems, it’s your ability to solve them.” And with such an amazing town of runners and people, they will rebuild, repair, and thrive.
DNFs (Did Not Finish), DNSes (Did Not Start), hurricanes, and bad weather are all part of life and ultrarunning. Sometimes you don’t get a chance to toe the line, and you need to learn how to accept that. This experience has taught me the importance of resilience and adaptability, and I hope it inspires others to find joy and purpose even when things don’t go as planned.
While running with Josh, he said, “I think I am about to PR in the 50K.” That made me smile, and we kept pushing the pace the entire time. Josh was kind enough to give me a bottle of water, and we finished the rest of the run together. It was a little ray of sunlight on a pretty cloudy and stormy weekend, and I was glad to be a part of it. Josh got that 50K PR in the most unexpected way, turning a challenging situation into a memorable achievement.
No red meat?
The mother protecting her calf stuck with me.
One thing that shook me was seeing a cow guarding her calf in a video. It struck me deeply, especially since I don’t even eat much red meat. The idea that I might be eating the daughter she is trying to protect hit home, particularly because I have two daughters of my own. This interaction made me reconsider my dietary choices, and I’m now thinking about giving up red meat or at least significantly limiting it. It’s not critical to my diet, and this experience has given me a new perspective on the impact of my food choices.
Final Thoughts:
If you want to help, please consider donating to Feeding Southwest Virginia or the Red Cross. That’s all I could do. I couldn’t stay around to help directly, and I couldn’t be of any use other than showing other runners what the course was like. There was no way this race could have gone off, and I think everyone understands that.
Here’s my virtual Yeti 50K. This video documents that run and is meant to show how I made the best of a bad situation, and how amazing the Yeti community is. Look for the “Raven” in your life—the guide that will lead you to better paths and decisions, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling life.
Patrick is an ultrarunner and coach from Philadelphia who loves documenting his running career. His mission is to provide useful tips and tricks to assist others along their ultra journey. You can find his coaching services at https://ultraruncoach.com.
