The Spiritual Life of the Long-Distance Runner

I'm envious of people who get the 'runners high'. I've run for hours to no effect except rubbery legs and boredom. I like riding a bike because going fast is fun, but the work of it gives me nothing.

18 minute miles for 40 days. It boggles the mind.

Keep in mind the average walker does 20 minute miles so it is barely faster than walking but still, 40 days. I've done marathons and I wouldn't walk for 40 days unless my life depended on it.

This story reminds me of that one guy with an actual "superpower". He has the genetics where his muscles can actually burn lactic acid as fuel. So he has impossible endurance. Dean Karnazes - has run 350 miles in 80 hours (13 minute miles). He's done 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days.

Long distance running has some interesting similarities with startup life, IMO, that relate directly to the author's premise. Not the same, of course, but you can still ask the same questions: What makes the entrepreneur keep going when it's hard work, and they're tired, nearly out of money, low on sleep, hitting the extremes of mood and ability, month after month? What motivation is there to just keep going when it's not clear there's an end?

I'm no ultra marathoner, but I've recently done some marathon length trail runs just for fun, it was liberating and fun to be able to cover long distances on foot without a vehicle, and I automatically started thinking about longer runs. The article seems to suggest there's a special brand of weird, that ultra marathoners are very different. I rather think it's human nature to see how far you can go, no matter what you're doing, and always curious and interesting to think about and/or experience what kind of mental states people go through when doing some activity to the exclusion of other things.

Reminded me of this couple on their 60s that ran everyday for 366 days covering 10,000 miles, and they live on raw fruits and vegetables: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/couple-run-marathons-r...

I can't really claim to have been an ultramarathoner--I ran four or five 36-mile races and one 50, all long ago. I don't remember the ultramarathoners I met (at my own races and a couple of 100-mile races where I handled for a friend) as being particularly spiritual.

I love running and I love praying. I can confirm that there is some overlap in the benefits of each.