I have some regard for Dean Karnazes view that modern society has developed to prize and provide comfort and convenience whilst the human body and mind require much the opposite, overburden, to strengthen and develop.
Ultra runners as a group are, well certainly nearly all I have met so far , friendly, social and organised; there is no small amount of logistical planning involved in designing and sticking to a training plan, turning up on race day properly equipped and on-time, as such I certainly do not view our group as mad or crazy.
As a group though we are eschewing modern societies pursuit of comfort and replacing it with long hard training and racing hours, add in a few external factors which we seem to like to seek out heat, cold, wind, rain, mud, hills, rocks and it is perhaps not too much of a stretch to suggest we represent a counter culture.
As with most counter cultures we have our own uniform cap, buff, Garmin, pack, calf guards, compression socks and more. We have our own diet including but by no means limited to bananas, malt loaf, flapjack, Gu’s and Shot Bloks. Of course no counter culture is complete without its own lexicon we will do almost anything to avoid a ‘bonk’, nothing engenders despair more quickly or thoroughly than a ‘DNF’, all too often life gets in the way and we ‘DNS’, we take huge pride in ‘trashing’ various bits of ourselves, we love to ‘buckle’, at least one gender hates to be ‘chicked’ and we speak disparagingly of ‘douche grade’.
Here’s where I have a confession to make as a member of this counter culture I wear the uniform proudly, speak the lingo earnestly, eat the food plentifully and put in the training and racing miles happily, I seek out external complicating factors hills, mud, cold and heat however in juxtaposition to what appears to be the founding principle of our counter culture the desire to eschew comfort in favour of discomfort I am constantly in search of anything that will make those miles less painful shoes, socks, shorts, gels, bars, calf guards, thigh guards, rock tape, body glide, arm warmers, buffs, hats, packs, belts, nip guards the list of purchases is almost endless.
So what am I to conclude am I just a poor citizen of the ultra-community who needs to have a jolly good talk with himself and man up, head out Anton like into the hills wearing nothing but Ron Hills, cast off marathon shorts from 1970, sustaining myself Killian like on roots and sips from streams or am I after all the thought and rhetoric just a different shade of normal?
