There is Just something about an Ultra Marathon says Arianne Brown

It was a Saturday afternoon, and I was sitting on my couch scrolling through my Instagram news feed. I saw picture after picture of good friends and acquaintances crossing the finish line of the Buffalo Run held on Antelope Island near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. As I did, I could feel the lactic acid in my legs build up and the soreness settle in after a morning spent racing several miles to a second place overall finish. While I should have been feeling the endorphins of a well-fought race, I was wishing I had experienced what my friends had that morning as they trekked those long miles on the island. Several weeks prior I had signed up to run the 50K distance of the Buffalo Run. It had been three years since I ran this particular course, and I was looking forward to doing it again. Sure, there are times when I quite enjoy pounding the pavement and pushing my body to its lactic threshold, using every single muscle in my body at a relentless speed. But today wasn’t one of those days. Today I wanted nothing more than to spend long, slow miles completing an ultra distance race. Because there’s just something about an ultramarathon. There’s nothing quite like the quiet, meandering about before the race as everyone settles in for a slow, methodical start. I love the restraint at the beginning because there are rarely any weekend warriors out there trying to prove a point. We all know that the miles ahead will be long. They will be hard and taxing. And slow and steady does often win the race.

posted Friday April 6th