r/ultrarunning

Didn’t this happen last year? Dropped of the UTMB start list and then he won OCC? Do we think he’s out or just switching to a shorter race? And Kilian out today too. Is this the end of an era, after their Western States drops too? Kinda feels like it could be…

This will be a long post, but bear with me:

Long range goal: Run a mountain 100 miler

Background: I have a strong backpacking, hunting, and hiking background. I recently hiked the TMB this summer and it’s planted the seed of being able to eventually run something along the lines of it.

I’ve always hated long distance running, which as I’ve gotten older, that’s why I want to do it. I was a sprinter in high school, so shorter (5’8” male), muscular build. Now I’m 32 and the recent 3-4 years have been climbing out of beer drinking shape. I was about 230 lbs at the peak of beer drinking shape LOL. Now I’m at 185 so still a few lbs of chonk to get off. Which brings me to my ultimate goal of endurance and durability.

Current status: I am only about 2 weeks into my running journey and have absolutely loved it so far. It’s just been easy, run/walk about 3 miles/day about 4 days/week with strength training on non-run days. Was able to run a 5k without walking a couple of days ago (all road) at about 9:45 pace, but was pretty spent.

Questions: I will continue to build my base/foundation with these easier runs but I have no idea where to start to begin training for my goals. Any tips on this, and/or good programs to look into? I am willing to pay for a program that focuses on ultras, just not sure if it’s too early for that?

I live in the middle of a super flat, hot, dusty-ass cotton field west Texas town, but have plenty of access to trails and topography about 30 minute drive away. So a lot of my initial training will be road. I don’t have any interest at all in doing road races, because I love the trail and the feeling of dirt and grass under my feet. BUT I’m open to doing some road races starting off. The mountains in NM are about 4 hour drive away and I go there often to hike/backpack/camp. How much trail time do I need to be getting?

Again, I can walk all day long with significant vert change with a 40lb backpack on, my running just sucks right now🙃

Any recommendations on gear? I live in Altras, hiked the TMB in Altras, so my feet are used to zero drop. Just bought my first pair of “road running” shoes the other day😂 Any recs on good trail running shoes? Are Altras and zero drop a bad idea for ultramarathons? I have a decent running vest, plate carrier, and ultraspire belt for short runs. Also have just normal hiking poles but seems like Leki trail poles are the gold standard?

Any books or resources about ultra running that are worth it?

I also have no idea about nutrition and the process it is during long distance runs, but learning. Any help here would be appreciated.

Note: I am in no hurry to get to my ultimate goal, as I know this will be a long process. What are some real expectations I should have for myself on timeline to 100 miles given my current status of just starting to run?

I am completely obsessed and in love with the mountains and is why the end goal is to run a mountain 100. Lived in MT for four years during college and enjoyed every second of it, spent time packing moose out in AK, but flat WTX is unfortunately where I have to be for work and it’s still home. I want to prove that a flatlander can accomplish something like Crazy Mountain 100 or something along the lines of it. I have had some pretty grueling mental and physical tests so far, but I am especially looking forward to the process and time to put into training and building up to my goal.

Thank you all so much in advance for any advice, tips, resources, etc.. Really looking forward to joining this community of folks, crazy or not!! And again, sorry for the long post.

Thanks!!!

I’ve completed 50,000 steps in a day before and I’m considering trying to reach 75,000.

For anyone who has done 75,000 steps or more in a single day, how did you approach it?

Did you build up gradually with longer walks beforehand, or just attempt the distance once you felt comfortable with 50,000? I’m also curious about things like pacing, breaks, food and hydration, footwear, and how you planned your route.

Was the jump from 50,000 to 75,000 significantly harder than you expected?

Interested to hear what worked for others and anything you would do differently if you attempted it again.

Finished a 50m race last Saturday. Only had pain in my second toes, never in the big toes or others. Now the nails are black. Anyone else experience this? I have no clue how its possible because they arent longer or even close to as long as my big toe, so they cant be slamming into my shoe without the big ones hitting too???

FieldRank is this year's standings for trail and mountain. Overall and by distance, even if people weren't in the same race.

https://www.fieldrank.run

Open a name to see the races that counted. Men's and women's lists. 50K, 100K, 100 mile, and others.

Free.

If a name is split, or a result is missing, use the mail icon in the header.

Edit: clarified what the ranking is.

hey guys I’m a 23 years old Alpinist / Ultra runner from a place near Chamonix.

I’m aiming to win many races of my choice ( ones I’ve always wanted to win since childhood like Templier, UTMB, Thors etc and local races ) and to do certain Projects and link ups in Alpinists

im extremely serious about this, and my objective is to live off my passion by Being a high mountain guide and by Running - Climbing.

would anyone know really qualified coaches for my Ultra competitive objectives ?

I’m a long term fan of the Adv Skin 12 women’s fit. I’m thinking about upgrading to something bigger for a 200 but the unisex version sits so much lower on my back and get uncomfortable after a lot of hours. The women’s just fits me better and these bigger packs are only unisex. I guess also if anyone has done a 200 what size pack do you need? I see bigger packs and I see a lot of normal packs on videos.

Hey All -

I've been trying to find the entrants list but have been coming up short... who are the favorites this year, both men and women?

Thanks!!

I've run a marathon. I'm about to do my second one in a few weeks. I've never done any real trail running. And I decided to sign up for a 50k in December.

My marathon is Sept 26th and I don't really want to change much before that. But what should I be doing between then and my 50k.

Terrain Trail Runners founder Shalini Bhajjan recently published an article called The High Cost of Cancel Culture in Running. The article argues that running communities can turn disagreements, rumors, screenshots, and misunderstandings into ostracism, boycotts, factions, and reputational damage, particularly toward race directors and community leaders. That certainly can happen, but reading this article in the context of Terrain and the St. Louis trail running community, I think it avoids a much more relevant question: What happens when the community isn't rejecting Terrain because of "cancel culture," but when individuals are independently choosing to distance themselves because of their own experiences with Shalini?

Over the years, a noticeable number of people who were once deeply involved with Terrain are no longer involved. These aren't random people commenting on the internet. They include people who ran with the group, volunteered, supported races, paid to attend events, promoted Terrain, helped build the community, and in some cases appeared to have close relationships with Shalini. Obviously, people leave running groups for completely innocent reasons. Families change, people move, injuries happen, interests change, and other groups become a better fit. But when departures and fractured relationships continue over a period of years, I think it's reasonable to stop asking what is wrong with everyone who left and start asking what role the one person at the center of the organization might be playing.

That person is Shalini, and that's the part of this article I don't think she seriously confronts.

The article asks the running community to extend curiosity, grace, communication, and self-reflection toward its leaders. Those are good standards. But leaders have to extend those same things back to their communities. From what I've observed, there has been a pattern of people who question Shalini, disagree with her, have a falling out with her, or leave Terrain subsequently being removed or blocked from Terrain's Facebook community. If you've experienced that firsthand, I'd genuinely like to hear about it. If you think that characterization is unfair, I'd like to hear that too.

What happened with this article makes that issue particularly relevant. Several people respectfully challenged its premise in the comments. They weren't calling for Terrain to shut down or organizing a boycott. They were essentially asking whether years of longtime members, volunteers and supporters walking away might have something to do with their experiences with Shalini rather than "cancel culture." Shalini actually acknowledged parts of this criticism in her responses. She agreed that leaders need accountability and self-reflection. She agreed that patterns of longtime supporters leaving matter and that leaders should ask themselves, "What am I not seeing?"

But then the conversation itself became restricted. Comments were closed. Discussion surrounding the article on Facebook was restricted. Blog comments subsequently reopened with approval/moderation, and some substantive comments and responses that had appeared earlier were no longer publicly visible. To me, that's where the article starts contradicting itself. You can't advocate for people communicating directly with you while controlling the places where they're permitted to disagree with you. You can't tell people to stop talking privately and engage in dialogue while blocking some of the very people who might have uncomfortable things to say.

There is also a larger St. Louis context here that I think matters. One of the things I've always noticed about the running community here is how much overlap exists between groups. People run with multiple clubs. Groups support each other's events. Runners volunteer at races they aren't organizing. Friendships cross organizational lines. Race directors and club organizers generally coexist even though they're technically competing for some of the same runners, weekends, volunteers and dollars. Terrain increasingly appears to be the outlier in that ecosystem.

That's why I don't think this is really Terrain versus the St. Louis running community. I think the more useful question is about Shalini's relationship with the community around her. If one organization repeatedly experiences fractured relationships with former members, volunteers, runners, other groups, podcast hosts and people who were once vocal supporters, while many of those same people continue interacting normally throughout the rest of the running community, eventually it's fair to ask whether everyone else isolated Terrain or whether Shalini has progressively isolated herself.

Rather than having that conversation entirely in spaces controlled by Shalini, I'd like to hear directly from people who were actually involved with Terrain. If you were a member, volunteer, race participant, running partner, or otherwise worked directly with Shalini and you're no longer involved, why did you leave? Was it simply life changing or another group becoming a better fit? Was there a particular interaction or pattern that made you step away? Were you ever removed or blocked after disagreeing with Shalini? Did you attempt to resolve the disagreement directly, and if so, what happened?

I'd also genuinely like to hear from people who've had consistently positive experiences with Shalini and Terrain. This shouldn't become a pile-on where negative stories are automatically believed and positive ones are dismissed. The entire point should be figuring out whether the pattern people are describing actually exists. For that reason, firsthand experiences are much more useful than "my friend's friend said" stories.

Sean Blanton's response to the article also caught my attention. He described himself as a two-time victim of cancel culture and referenced winning a lawsuit involving false statements about him. There are people within the trail and ultra community who have their own experiences and opinions involving Sean. If that becomes part of this discussion, I think the exact same standard should apply: firsthand experiences and verifiable information rather than rumors.

Ultimately, I think there's a significant difference between cancel culture and consequences. Trying to destroy somebody based on rumors or an unverified accusation is one thing. People independently deciding they no longer want to attend your races, volunteer for you, participate in your group, promote your events, recommend you, give you their money, or maintain a friendship with you is something very different. Nobody has to coordinate that. Sometimes enough individuals simply reach the same conclusion based on their own experiences.

Shalini's article asks the St. Louis running community to examine its behavior toward leaders. That's a reasonable request. But the same standard has to work in the opposite direction. If people who once gave Terrain their time, money, loyalty, friendship and support have repeatedly walked away over many years, Shalini should be willing to seriously examine her own role in why that keeps happening.

Maybe there are explanations for all of it. Maybe some of the criticism is unfair. Maybe former members have completely different stories about why they left. That's exactly why an open discussion would be useful.

Calling every uncomfortable consequence "cancel culture" doesn't create that discussion. Allowing the people who were actually there to tell their stories does.

Hi. I’m looking for some opinions as I’m planning to upgrade mine 6 years old Salomon ADV skin12, as one of the main compartment strings is damaged.

I’m doing 200 miler in November, and more upcoming races all over 100km. Thinking to do solo longer runs on my own.

I’m split between Salomon Ultra 12, cross season 15 and adventure 20. But think what 20 bag will be overkill. I did 100 miles in summer and 80 miles in November in uk with 12 litres pack and had no issues.

Will be 12 pack good for 200?

Any opinions and experiences welcome.

Thank you

Hello all,

I have a 50 miler in 5 weeks and Arc Of Attrition 50 miler in january.
What are some good packable and passable waterproof jackets + trousers for UTMB events?
I’ve been looking at a few but want to know from experienced people!

TYIA