A couple of hundred mil, but that's really counting?
The distance between Portland and Eugene is about 100 miles. Imagine driving it-in just 24 hours. Nathan Blair would like to take the challenge, but he may need a little recovery time first.He's fresh off his first Ultra Marathon, the Hundred in the Hood 100 Mile endurance run. The trail stretches from Oregon: Timothy Lake to Frog Lake to Breitenbush Lake and back. The total height of climb is 12 448 meters. Just a week after the course of 27 hours and 58 seconds, Blair already went out for another run, despite the painful blisters pink lingering on his feet. "I could only run three miles," he says. "My body was fragmented and disconnected. I felt like a child. "My legs, instead of potential health risks long-distance running presents, practically involved in the ultra community. It seems that the weakening of the childish clumsiness is standard for ultra runners, who complete distances of 30, 50 and 100 miles each race. Men's Health contributor and author of Born to Run Christopher McDougall describes the sport as "a fitness version of drunk driving." "You can get away with it for a while, you might even have some fun, but the disaster [is] waiting just around the corner "McDougall says.At at least, these athletes undergo dehydration, nausea, vomiting, blisters, ankle sprains, scrapes from falling, and altitude sickness during the competitions. When they push themselves even harder to target, they put their hearts on risk.In 2009 Men's Health reported that the combination of muscle damage and inflammation during prolonged intense activity significantly increases one's risk of heart attack.Before he began training for ultra running, Blair achieved complete physical and stress test to see their heart's endurance. Convinced that the vesicles are his only major problem, he has already plans to run his next ultra, with wider shoes this time. "I've been wrong," he said quietly with a grin. "And I have a greater purpose." Blair motivation to drive surpasses achieve personal athletic goals, he has a lot of people riding on his miles. Since his first marathon in 2007, he logged 243 miles to raise $ 2,537 for EDURelief, a nonprofit organization for development assistance to education in rural Mongolia. Despite the availability of schools, noticed EDURelief founders that they lacked many of the materials they need and their remote locations to prevent access to radio and television programs, as the organization recently started collecting money to build new libraries in these isolated areas. It only takes $ 2,000 to sponsor a new library, which Blair believes is crucial for these communities. "The books are to reach a wider audience than just students themselves. They go beyond the school to families and friends. "Blair's international conscience may be the result of his different upbringing. Growing up with parents as missionaries, he lived there it was the church to do. He was born in Uganda and then moved to Hawaii. Blair spent his high school years in Kazakhstan, learning Russian with his graduating class of eight international students.Blair's classmates just made up an entire team sports, fell as athletics on the academic back burner. It was not until he began his second major at the University of Oregon, where he met Professor Craig Thornley, Blair discovered his passion for ultra running. Thornley sits at the heart of ultra-running niche in Eugene. He has been running ultras since 1997, and he founded Oregon's Where's Waldo 100km event. It is difficult to determine what is most inspiring about him: the fact that he has run eleven 100-milers in the past 12 years, or just because he is so modest about it. He says his ultra-count is somewhere around 75, but he is not quite sure. "I love to run, if there is a mil or 10k or 10 mil or 50K or 100 kilometers," he says. "I refer to myself as a runner first, and an ultra runner second." Whatever route they run, Thornley and Blair to train every week with her running group. At only 26, Blair is the youngest member of the crew, his age is just childish compared to the average ultra-runner. Cindy Bill Hartz Gregorian of the St. Louis Post-profile ultra-runners in his 2007 article reporting that the typical participant is 45 years old. She quotes the ultra-running veteran January Ryerse, who runs twelve 100-mile races in his 61 years. He says, "older runners have an advantage over the younger ones because they are more patient, which is crucial for pacing." Blair sits quietly on a cafe wall with his hands clasped over his stomach. His light freeze is likely that he is neglecting the to field questions. He seems to really patient. And he seems to fit the rest of the Gregorian profile of an ultra runner. She says they are often well educated. Blair received his first degree in Russian studies, and now he is back involved in product design graduate program. He tried journalism for a while, which is what he says makes him a good researcher.Gregorian indicates clearly when she characterizes the ultra-runners as highly motivated, a quality that allows Blair to make up for his youth and beginners to the sport. He finds inspiration from his driving team, whose members are all at least ten years older than he. "When someone is 20 years older than you and kick your ass, it's awesome!" He exclaims as he leans into the table. "These guys are gung-ho about running. They have helped me and taught me the ropes. I will be on the road, get to the point where I can do the same for others. It is about sharing what you love to do. "But to transfer the operation of other culture does not fit the typical ultra-running model, or at least the traditional anyway. Some of the original ultra-runners, the 400-year-old Tarahumara tribe Copper Canyon in Mexico, preferring to live in isolation and not make a spectacle of their current accomplishments. They would not even go so far as to call themselves runners. For those rock people, are fast climb is not sport, it is simply part of his day. In Born to Run, McDougall reports that this strain faces in running races, and each competitor often manages over 300 miles in 2-day periods. He also cites the Mexican historian Francisco Almada, who says a Tarahumara once ran 435 miles in one stretch.Despite their epic performances, the trunk is very private, almost mythical, hidden in the depths of the rocks. "The Tarahumara are so mysterious, in fact, they even go by an alias," says McDougall. "Their real name is Rarámuri-The Running Man." These people are running do not undergo intensive training as Blair and Thornley, and their primitive lifestyle does not exactly contain treadmill for endurance testing. They build endurance walking up and down steep trails in the canyons formed by the feet of their own ancestors. While most skaters guzzle water the day before, the Tarahumara hydrate with a different liquid: lechuguila, their home-made tequila. McDougal call Tarahumara preparation for running "Mardi Gras method". They do not train, rebuild between workouts, or even eat much protein at all. Instead of water and Gatorade, going for the tequila and corn beer. Come race day, "they walk to the starting line, laughing and bantering ... then go like hell for the next forty-eight hours. "Two days of driving, cake for the Tarahumara, a distance of today's ultra-runners and seemingly foreign to the 5K race. For patients in the Running the Sahara documentary, it was just the beginning. In November 2006, the Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin run in St. Louis, Senegal, with a camera crew at their heels. They were on their way east to the end of continent.Physically speak, Engle and Lin were more prepared for the long term than Sahab. Engle has been around for 30 years, and Lin just won the first 150-mil race over the Atacama Desert in Chile. Conversely adapts Zahab running philosophy more with it in the Tarahumara just wing it. A chronic smoker and beer drinker until 2004, believes Zahab driving abilities are more in mind than the body. "Education from 30 to 40 km per day does not really prepare you for that kind of mileage," he says in the documentary blog. "We got there and hoped and prayed our bodies would hold up." And their bodies did. One hundred eleven days, six countries and 4300 miles later, the three ran through the sand in Egypt to feel the calm waters of the Red Sea between the toes. The choir not only represents the personal, athletic travel, but also a victory for solving water crisis in Africa. Running the Sahara film-maker was founded H20 Africa, a clean water initiative to complete film. The campaign continues to raise money to build clean wells along the runners path.It is that runners' path as the Sahara can Tarahumara runners, Thornley, Blair and all the ultra runners find commonplace. Regardless of location, destination, mileage, training, preparation, or even publicity gained during the race, it seems that ultra runners like to find her Zen in their minds, conquer their bodies, pushing them further along the journey, whether wild environment, they can be embedded in.Safely in pro-running environment for Eugene, Blair is tamer than most ultra-runners. His sport has yet to take him to a barren desert and looking for the myths of the cliffs. For now he is running in Amazon Park and practice speed work at South Eugene High School. In between workouts, he is designing furniture for his product design degree. "I think the running and design complement each other," he claims. "If you have a deadline for a project, it looks like a contest. It's about building, working through it and finishing strong. "Does Blair proved to himself that he can finish 100 miles high. He went into it without expectations, which he believes helped him to conquer the distance, a very large share of which he says is mainly a psychological challenge. With a love for running and the mental stamina to keep one foot in front of the other, Blair will continue his route, unconcerned with technical issues along the road. "If you look into the future, it is easy to get stressed out about the details. I'm from Hawaii, so no worries. "# # # #
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