The Characters One Meets While Doing Ultras

People who run (or walk) ultras are a bit, uh, "different". For the non-sporting: an "ultra" is a footrace that goes beyond a marathon; common distances are 50K (31 miles), 50 mile (80 km), 100 km (62 miles), 100 miles, (or longer!) or races of a certain time duration (6, 12, 24 or even 48 or 72 hours).

Ultras are often run on trails (which can have roots, be rocky or hilly) but are sometimes done on groomed trails, asphalt bike paths, roads or even a standard 400 meter track (in the case of a 24 hour race).

Challenges include the terrain, sometimes altitude, and extreme weather (example: the Badwater Ultramarathon is run on a 135 mile course during the summer in Death Valley). There are usually cut-off times for ultras; these range from 7 hours (road 50K), 12 hours (trail 50K), 27-48 hours (100 mile races; varies by terrain with "basic trail" 100 milers typically having 30-36 hour limits).

As for me, I've done several, with all but two done as a walker (I walk/jogged a couple of 50K's). My times have varied between 6:20 (road 50K walk) and 8:11 (muddy, hilly trial 50K walk) for the 50k, to 23:40 (track 100) and 34:16 (technical trail) for the 100 mile walk.

Anyway, I am not very good at these events, so let's get back to some of the characters one might meet.

One of them is here:
http://www.birthdaychallenge.com/catra/2004.html

and another one can be found here:
http://www.ultrawalk.com