Nathan and I happen to know a few of these crazy ultramarathoners from our church in North Carolina. They came down to the Greenville area last Saturday for the ultramarathon One Epic Run. One Epic Run is not your typical race. First of all, it is a 24-hour run. This means that some of the participants started at 9am on Saturday morning and were still running at 9am on Sunday morning. The goal is generally to amass as much mileage as possible. Second, it is a 3.16 mile loop on trails through the woods—trails that include steep hills, mud, a log crossing over a creek, and a long climb back to the starting point.
So on Saturday we headed down to Croft State Park where the 24-hour race was being held to support our friends and to run a few laps with them.
Personal photo. Nathan and I with two of our ultramarathon friends—clearly the shirtless guys.
Both of the guys in this picture have completed a 100 mile race, and the one on the right has completed two, both in less than 24 hours! Here's a picture of what the log crossing looked like, taken from the One Epic Run Facebook page.
These runners are crazy. If you didn't believe me, check out this picture...
For all of their craziness, they're great guys, and we had a fun time hanging out with them and even running almost ten miles ourselves! The race organizer set up a really amazing spread of food—if you're running 24 hours straight, you're eating 24 hours straight!
The top male runner completed just over 107 miles in 24 hours and the top female runner completed just under 73! The people we knew running completed anywhere from 22 to 101 miles.
If that doesn't make you want to get into ultramarathons, I don't know what will...
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