If Mottram Can't Do It Than No One Can?

Click on the title to watch part 1 of 3 of Craig Mottram.)

I came across this video about a year ago and it is very inspiring to see a person who respects Africans as much as he does, but who's whole goal is to conquer them. To me, that is admirable. I also enjoy this since it gives an inside perspective of one of the top distance runners of our time. Part 1 focuses more on the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 Common Wealth Games. Basically, this guy has some balls to go after such fast runners and not to show any fear like many people do.


Ultras?
Yesterday I did my long run with some of the HURT guys. I stumbled across them a few months ago. This is a group of runners who do /train for trail ultras. They are training for the HURT 100, which is a 100-mile trail race here in Oahu at the end of January. On my Thursday group run I mentioned how I LOVE trail running and they suggested that I talk to a guy who runs with them sometimes. I spoke with him and he wrote me off and said that they are two serious into their training and that I should wait until February to run with them. Well, being as stubborn as I am, what do you think I did? Yup, I went out Saturday morning to see what exactly it was that "I didn't want to do".

The race course and all of the trails go straight up and straight down the mountains here. We started at 6:00 am and 5 hours and 20 miles later I officially finished my longest run ever. Actually, I found out that ultra guys do a lot of hiking/walking. I wasn't prepared for that at first, but saw the importance of it, especially if you are going further like one of the guys that I was running with (he was doing 40 miles that day, NUTS!). My legs do not feel that bad as of this post, but the bottoms of my feet are a bit sore. We'll see later how everything feels in 2-3 days. Also, it was very enjoyable, both the trails and the people. Actually, I found the people very interesting and very down-to-earth. I have a new profound respect for ultra runners in general and for the HURT guys/gals too. I probably will do this every other weekend for strength.

While running with them I did a lot of contemplating in my head whether or not I think I could finish a 100-mile race. After finishing the 20 mile loop in a fairly fast 5 hours I felt comfortably tired. I know this would only compound loop after loop and would be especially tough running through the night, but I think I can do it. I don't know, but I find it partly amusing to run an ultra before I did a marathon. Maybe I am just being a bit cocky (hey I'm only 23 and have tons to learn), but the gentlemen I was running with said that I definitely had the physical capabilities to complete it. Since they just had met me the issue that they are not sure with is the mental aspect. They changed their minds a bit when I explained to them about an adventure race that I once finished after suffering from a mild case of hypothermia from flipping my kayak and being in cold water for over 15 minutes. Hey, I was in college and paid $125 to do the race. I was going to freaking finish and that we did, second place baby. Let me know if you want a more detailed description.

Training:
Friday:
Duration: 00hr 33min 13sec (pm)
Distance: ??
Comments: Ran up in Aiea. Felt weak again, cut the run short.

Saturday:
Duration: 05hr 05min 00sec
Distance: 20 miles
Comments: Felt great the whole time and could have pushed it harder, but I didn't want to change the purpose of their run even though I did a little.